The Amphisbaena (12 page)

Seeing Sayaka so plainly agitated, Yaze made a face that said,
Whoa, land mine
.

“Apparently, right now Kojou’s off the island.”

“…The Fourth Primogenitor is outside the Demon Sanctuary?”

Sayaka’s expression hardened. It wasn’t that she completely trusted what Yaze was saying; but even if not expressly related to her mission at hand, if his story
was
true, it certainly was a matter of grave concern.

“Of course, Yukina Himeragi is together with him…”

“Uh…gh…”

“Y’see, right now it’s kinda bad if they get wrapped up in this whole business with Kanon Kan—”

Speaking in a listless tone of voice, Yaze suddenly cut off his words.

Sayaka’s look grew sharp when the name of Kanon Kanase passed through his lips. However, for some reason, Yaze seemed to be in a vortex of distress as he clutched his head.

“What’s wrong?”

Sayaka glared at Yaze with a guarded expression. Yaze was sweating bullets.

“This is bad… Correction, it’s worst case. Why did
they
come here?!”

“They?”

When Sayaka tilted her head, the warped door creaked; she sensed that someone was entering the building. The tension-filled atmosphere was shattered when a sunny, slightly lisping voice reverberated.

“Hellooo! Kanon, are you there? Did my Kojou come visit?”

The one who hopped out from behind the cracked wall was a schoolgirl small in stature.

It was Kojou Akatsuki’s little sister. Her round eyes were especially large as she looked at Yaze as he crouched down.

“Ah, Yaze?”

“Motoki? What are you doing in a place like th…?”

Following up was another girl, but her feet came to a halt when she noticed Sayaka. She was a high school student wearing refined street clothes. She was a beautiful girl with an urban air, with her whimsical, aristocratic air reminiscent of a cat.

“Aaa!!”

“Aaa!!”

Both raised their voices and pointed at the other almost simultaneously.

“You’re the serial killer who attacked Kojou not long ago?!”

“K-Kojou Akatsuki’s bimbo?!”

Both were in shock at the other’s declaration. Both raised their voices once more.

“Wh-who are you calling a bimbo?!”

“I’m not a serial killer, you know?!”

As if about to begin a cage match then and there, the two drew near each other and forcefully glared, as if willing the other to die.

Nagisa’s eyes popped wide, having no idea what was going on whatsoever.

“Er…ah, what? What’s going on?! Hey, Yaze, tell me!”

Looking over the sides of Sayaka’s and Asagi’s faces, Nagisa furiously slapped Yaze’s back as he remained bent over.

With a tired look, Yaze put his cheeks into his hands and muttered weakly, “Leave me out of this…”

“Kojou Akatsuki, heir to the Kaleid Blood lineage, releases thee from thy bonds…!”

Standing on a rocky area on the coast buffeted by violent waves, Kojou raised his right hand.

Where he pointed, a crimson haze of fresh blood spurt forth.

Finally, the bloody haze was replaced by a thunderbolt, emitting a golden glow along with a magical surge of incredible force. The volatile, massive electrical energy became a pillar of light that rose into the sky.

“…C’mon over, Beast Vassal Number Five, Regulus Aurum!”

A giant lion enveloped in lightning emerged above Kojou’s head. This was Regulus Aurum—one of the twelve Beast Vassals Kojou had inherited from the previous Fourth Primogenitor.

Thanks to Kojou having drunk Yukina’s compatible blood, it had recognized Kojou as its new master, enabling him to summon it in this fashion, but that didn’t mean it was easy to control. It was truly a difficult Beast Vassal to use; one small slip and it would go berserk, indiscriminately destroying everything around it.

As he paid diligent attention to detail, Kojou sent the lion toward the sea.

If Kojou failed in controlling the Beast Vassal here, it would no doubt fry a tiny island like this to a crisp in the blink of an eye and sink it into the sea. Well aware of this, he was being extremely cautious.

The lightning lion’s thick, swordlike claws calmly approached the surface of the sea. Restraining its might as much as he could manage, Kojou unleashed the Beast Vassal’s power—

That instant, the air yielded completely as massive electrical force flowed into the sea all at once.

The overwhelming energy boiled the seawater in a single moment, causing the water to evaporate and turn into an explosion of steam. With a tremendous roar and a heavy shudder of the air, shock waves scattered about and made the ground shake.

“…No good, huh? Bwah!” Kojou exhaled in dismay, wiping off his seawater-drenched face. Then—

“What do you think you are doing, senpai?”

Behind his back, Koujo heard Yukina’s low, muffled voice.

The Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency, dripping from head to toe, glared sharply at Kojou.

Transparent water droplets rolled down her face; her bare flesh could easily be seen through her damp uniform. Apparently the explosion from just then had sent a large amount of sea spray scattering about, including right on top of her head.

Kojou had been much closer to the center of the explosion, but the fact she’d suffered considerably more “damage” than he had made him feel a bit like a heel.

“Er, ah… I heard that there’s a way to fish with electrical shock, so it got me thinking…”

“Therefore, you used a Beast Vassal in an attempt to collect fish?” Yukina asked while combing her drenched forelocks upward. Kojou timidly nodded.

“But it… It’s not gonna work, is it?”

“Apparently not.” Yukina sighed in resignation.

Kojou’s Beast Vassal attack had caused substantial environmental destruction in the local area. A large amount of sand had been thrown up from the gouged-out sea bottom, muddying the boiling surface of the water. Most likely the fish that had been swimming in the area had been pulverized into smithereens. The force had been far too much.

Somehow, Kojou could understand why the Japanese government had banned fishing by electrical shock.

“So, um…what are you doing here, Himeragi?”

“Supper is ready, so I came to invite you.”

“R-right…thanks.”

As he gave Yukina his thanks, Kojou climbed up the cliff.

Yukina, who had received survival training from the Lion King Agency, had actually done a very skillful job piling stones up to build a hearth, easily lighting a fire from the dried branches she’d gathered.

She’d used dried branches in place of a table upon which to serve the meal she had prepared.

An expression of doubt came over Kojou as he looked over the cooking placed there.

“Er…what’s that?”

Kojou pointed to the relatively orthodox dishes. There were fruits encased in hard fibrous husks.

“Coconuts,” Yukina replied with a hint of triumph.
I see
, Kojou thought with a nod.

“…And that white stuff?”

“Coconut slices.”

“So that means that over there is…”

“Chopped coconut and coconut strips. And this is coconut soup with seawater.”

“That’s some…pretty creative cooking there.”

Kojou conveyed his thoughts with carefully chosen words. Since coconuts were the only ingredients she had to work with, there wasn’t any other cooking to be had; he wasn’t exactly in a position to complain. If anything, he should have been praising Yukina’s spear skills for being able to use that stupidly long Snowdrift Wolf to slice coconuts up like this.

“How does it taste?” Yukina asked hopefully as Kojou tentatively took a sip of the coconut soup.

“Mm… Suppose I have to say, it tastes like regular coconut.”

Yukina sighed.

“Come to think of it, sometimes Nagisa really wrecked my stomach when we were little kids and I went along with her playing house…”

“Why something like that comes to mind right now bothers me somewhat, but since you do not seem to be in a good mood, I will refrain from pushing the issue.” Yukina’s cheeks were puffed up as she glared at Kojou.

Kojou didn’t notice at all as he gazed at the sea, illuminated by the setting sun.

“If we’re stuck here for days on end, Nagisa’s gonna get worried. We left without saying a word, after all. Well, since it’s Sunday tomorrow, she probably won’t be all that worried y…”

Just as he was saying that, Kojou’s eyes popped wide. He’d suddenly remembered something
very
important.

“…Senpai?”

Yukina looked at Kojou in apparent concern. Kojou flopped onto his back then and there.

“Uh-oh. I promised to help Asagi with her art homework today. She’s gonna be pissed, I just know it.”

“A promise with Aiba…?” Yukina muttered in a voice that seemed stale. Then, she suddenly turned serious.

“That might be a small reason for hope.”

“…That would be nice.”

Kojou nodded as he realized what Yukina was getting at.

In the first place, Asagi would surely notice that Kojou wasn’t on Itogami Island. And knowing her personality, she wasn’t the type of person who’d just let that go. She’d chase Kojou down to the ends of the earth just to give him a piece of her mind for breaking his promise.

With her supreme hacking skills and the mainframe computer of the Gigafloat Management Corporation at her disposal, it was entirely possible she’d realize the connection between Kojou, Yukina, and Magus Craft.

“But if she isn’t careful getting too close to Magus Craft, she might put herself in danger, too… So there’s that problem. More importantly, we can’t just leave Kanase with ’em like this.”

The dilemma was how to try to save someone without putting someone else in danger as a result. It was a source of great anguish for Kojou, especially now that he was helpless to do anything about any of it.

A faint smile came over Yukina as she watched Kojou be so earnest.

“…You really worry about other people, senpai… Even though you’re on a deserted island with no way back.”

“I know. This isn’t really the time or place for worrying about other folks.”

Kojou’s lips twisted with the shame of it all. But Yukina gently shook her head, murmuring in a voice he could barely pick up. “No… I think that’s one of your…somewhat good points, senpai.”

“…Hmm?” Kojou asked back in bewilderment. She looked back at him with a teasing smile.

“It’s a lovely view, isn’t it?”

Yukina spoke as the coastal breeze toyed with her wet hair.

The rays of the setting sun beautifully highlighted the side of her still rather young face.

It seemed like a mirage. For a while, Kojou’s eyes were captivated by the scene.

“Yeah… I suppose it is.”

He nodded with a sigh mixed in. Soon, night would fall—

It was an Internet café on Island West. Three people were crammed into a booth meant for one, their faces pressed close, sucking in their breath as they looked at the image scrolling onto the monitor before them.

“Got it… Here. Ryogami Heavy Industries, Inc. Aerostellar RA II.”

Asagi stopped the fast-forwarding video and enlarged the frame. The image data was crude, filled with garbage. The image displayed an aircraft just prior to takeoff. It was an old propeller-type aircraft with a capacity of four.

“Corporate plane owned by Magus Craft, huh?”

Yaze boldly smiled as he looked at the corporate logo on the fuselage.

Asagi silently typed on the keyboard. The two people sitting side by side in the back of the aircraft were expanded further. One was a boy wearing a parka with a listless-looking face; the other was a girl of small stature with a guitar case.

“This is from an airport surveillance cam so the quality’s only so-so, but that’s definitely Kojou and the transfer student.”

“…Looks like it. Know where they’re going?”

“From the flight plan, they were expected to fly to a proprietary research facility, but that’s probably fake, huh…? But judging from the flight time, I don’t think it flew all that far.”

Even while engaging in conversation, Asagi continued executing programs she’d cooked up herself on the spot. Viruses granted short, transient lives now acted like familiars for a cyber-witch and began invading Magus Craft–related facilities one after another.

Asagi followed up using her Gigafloat Management Corporation server administrator rights. The support AI that was her “partner” booted up. This was Mogwai—the avatar of the five supercomputers that managed all of Itogami Island’s urban functions.

“How’s your end, Mogwai?”

“It’s coming. As expected of a major corporation, its public finances are all dolled up…”

Mogwai, in the process of invading Magus Craft Incorporated’s American headquarters, spoke with a very humanlike tone at times.

He was investigating Magus Craft’s accounting department. He’d blasted through several firewall layers and was reconstructing data that seemed to concern hidden accounts and past business dealings.

“
Heh-heh
… Fishy. This part really smells suspicious.”

“…Private land bought through subsidiaries?”

Asagi inclined her head as she looked over the map displayed on the screen.

“Why would they buy up entire uninhabited islands like this? And this is outside Demon Sanctuary jurisdiction, isn’t it?”

“The cover story is that it’s for tourists…”

“It’s less than thirty minutes one way from Itogami Island… Convenient times for round-trips by an old prop plane.”

Looking over the specs of Magus Craft’s private airplane, Asagi made a snort through her nose.

Mogwai made a cackle and a sarcastic chuckle.

“I finally found something interesting. This is their list of major customers.”

“…The Confederate States of America military? What is this, a giant order for cleaning robots?”

As she pieced together the disparate information, Asagi questioned the incongruous data before her eyes. However, she thought Mogwai was the last AI that would make such basic mistakes.

“I see. I finally get what game they’re playing…”

Yaze made a displeased-sounding murmur in place of the perplexed Asagi. He seemed to have some idea of what business Magus Craft was engaged in under the table.

“Asagi Aiba… Who are you?”

Even Sayaka, not much inclined toward information technology herself, could grasp that Asagi’s skill in handling digital information far exceeded the norm. Though she should not have been so surprised that any resident of the Demon Sanctuary was not a normal human being,
but Asagi’s ability was clearly exceptional even so. She could accept that this was the girl who’d destroyed the Nalakuvera.

“You’re not just with the Gigafloat Management Corporation, you’re able to break into Magus Craft’s head office so easily, too…

“I already thought you couldn’t be an average Joe for the Black Death Emperor Front to set eyes on you, but…”

As a look of wonder came over Sayaka’s face, Asagi looked up in mild annoyance. She waved the issue off like it was a bother.

“Sorry, but I’m just a regular high school student. I just work for the Management Corporation part-time here and there.”

“Hah? Part-time?”

This time Sayaka was in complete shock. Where information warfare was concerned, Asagi Aiba was every bit a monster as the Fourth Primogenitor. But even so, she had not yet come to realize the fact herself…

Shuddering at the danger that could pose, Sayaka spoke. “Kirasaka…is it? Well, who are you? Can you really get Kojou and Yukina rescued?”

“Leave that to me. I can use my connections to get a coast guard ship dispatched.”

Sayaka nodded crisply.

Even if it was not her assigned mission, the monitoring of the Fourth Primogenitor, Kojou Akatsuki, was the Lion King Agency’s top priority issue. And it was Sayaka’s natural and expected duty to save his watcher, Yukina, who had been whisked away with him in the process.

Besides, it seemed that Kojou and Yukina’s disappearance was not unrelated to Sayaka’s own mission after all.

Using the Lion King Agency’s name, Sayaka had booked an appointment with Kensei Kanase. There were things she wanted to ask him as Kanon Kanase’s guardian. If Sayaka had gone to Magus Craft ahead of Yukina and Kojou, it might well have been her who’d have found herself whisked off the island instead.

“…Connections, huh?”

As could only be expected, Asagi murmured in a tone of complete distrust.

However, Sayaka could not invoke her own title here. If she revealed she was with the Lion King Agency, she’d be exposing Yukina’s identity,
and Kojou Akatsuki’s secret would be revealed along with it. That would probably be unpleasant for Asagi.

But fortunately, Asagi seemed to have no intention of ferreting out Sayaka’s identity. Instead, she gazed right into Sayaka’s eyes from the front.

“So…”

“So…”

“What’s your relationship with Kojou?”