6:03 PM

A single light was visible after night fell on the Nandaimon Shrine.

The door to the sanctuary was open and a single girl cast a shadow in that light while crouched down.

It was Yuuki Yuuki in her red blazer modeled after the Suzaku.

She had her back to the light coming from the open sanctuary and her eyes were staring into the night.

She had no expression on her face as she simply sat there.

Her unmoving gaze was directed toward the Ikoma Mountains west of the Koto region.

Time pa.s.sed.

As it did, the surrounding darkness grew deeper and the air grew colder.

Small, white breaths escaped her lips.

A dog howled somewhere in the distance.

It sounded fearful.

It was pleading for its owner.

When she heard it, a small change came over her expression.

She wrinkled her brow ever so slightly.

But…

"Sorry about the wait, Yuuki."

After that sudden voice, a giant red and white staff was thrust in front of her eyes.

She turned around to find Senga in the sanctuary"s entrance.

The woman held Housei out in one hand.

"I wasn"t too sure about swapping out the parts, but I think it came out well. As you asked, the contents are focused more on the Aqua High than the Cold High."

"Thank you."

Yuuki stood up, looked down at short Senga, and gave a quick bow.

"Thank you, grandmother."

Senga smiled bitterly at her granddaughter"s thanks.

"You really haven"t changed, Yuuki."

"Isn"t it normal to thank people?"

"Not your family. You didn"t two years ago."

Yuuki said nothing in response and took Housei from the woman. She used a single hand to swing around the staff that resembled a tuning fork shaped like a long triangle.

Senga watched the giant staff slicing through the air.

"Your father and I couldn"t use Housei that well when we were eighteen."

"This much is to be expected of a girl who can kill."

Yuuki stopped Housei in front of her eyes.

"It feels light when holding it, but it feels heavy when stopping it."

"The gaps are filled with floating emblem panels sold by Izumo Aviation and Virtual Industries. It has a lot of heavy components in order to increase its power, after all. …That means it isn"t very heavy, but it has more ma.s.s than before. Be careful."

"I don"t mind. More ma.s.s should make it more satisfying when I hit someone with it."

"Hit someone? There"s someone who can get that close to you?"

"Nagoya Chancellor Yamas.h.i.ta Taeko."

Yuuki spoke the name quietly and nodded while looking to Housei in her hand.

"Now that Nagoya has joined Tokyo, I have no reason to avoid fighting the girl whose brother I killed."

"That Nagoya Chancellor hasn"t left her hotel. …Are you going to attack her yourself?"

"I don"t need to. Everything is going to gather around Ixolde."

"Then you need to hurry. Ixolde will be activated in another hour."

Yuuki looked to the western mountains again.

Wrapped in the colors of the night, the boundary between mountain and sky was growing blurry.

"Hey, grandmother."

"Hm?"

"You tried to do a few things thirteen years ago, and failed, didn"t you?"

"I don"t know what you"re talking about."

"That"s fine. I know you sometimes have nightmares…and that you call the names Kuki Udai, Nakamura Midori, and Iba Masaaki when you do."

"I do not recall raising the kind of granddaughter that spies on people as they sleep."

Yuuki ignored Senga"s bitter smile and asked another question.

"Is this the same?"

"Is what?"

"Are Hizaka Shoui"s apparent lack of Words and my current state leading us in the same direction as thirteen years ago, as the rumors say?"

"Are you asking if I"m going to have the students kill each other like during the Kinki Riot in order to adjust everything to my liking?"

Yuuki did not nod at that and more of Senga"s words reached her back.

"You are who you are because of your own decisions. And Shoui didn"t have any Words when he was found, right? He had already lost his Words as he trembled in the burned-out ruins of that building, right?"

"Words…hm?"

Yuuki gave a powerful swing of Housei.

The joint between the rod and power device bent, and the staff transformed into something like a giant wing.

With a metallic sound, the transformation was complete.

She held the device in its portable form and looked to Senga.

"Grandmother, does it look to you like Hizaka Shoui has no Words?"

"Hm? Has he ever recited any Words?"

"When you traveled around the country thirteen years ago, you said there is a mystery concerning Words and Rhythms, didn"t you?"

"The former Osaka Chancellor used a Rhythm without using a Rhythm. …Weren"t you investigating that sort of mystery concerning the relationship between Words and Rhythms? Wasn"t that the point of the Kinki Riot?"

Senga sighed as if to deflect Yuuki"s tone.

"Hah. I"m surprised you still remember that."

"How could I forget when that mystery was solved two years ago? …What are Rhythms and Words? Where do they come from and why? All of those mysteries were solved."

"And that"s why you became the Killing Holder, right?"

Yuuki did not answer that question.

She looked away from Senga and began walking.

She left the shrine and started toward the city.

She was on her way to Osaka.

But she did say one final thing.

"Either way, all I can do is wait."