Kusanagi used his thumb to flick his lighter open.

A small flame appeared with a crackle, and the next instant it swelled. The fire split up, reacted loyally to Kusanagi’s thoughts, and scattered into several fireb.a.l.l.s. Screams rose from the point of their impact.

Several blue clansmen who had been protecting the Center were burnt, while several others managed to defend against the fireb.a.l.l.s using barriers that spread out from their sabers. Without pausing, Kusanagi swung the hand still holding his lighter to the side. Those movements caused the flame to /stretch/.

That flame became like a whip and sharpened as it burnt the air and scattered heat around, then a.s.saulted a clansman who had just defended against those fireb.a.l.l.s. The startled clansman tried to hold out against the fiery whip by filling their glowing blue saber with power. But, just before that could happen, Kusanagi flicked his wrist.

The flame that resembled a burning snake slipped by the blue clansman’s saber and dug sharply into their body. The burnt clansman screamed and fell. The fiery whip swiftly dealt with each of the remaining clansmen in turn, lazily moving about whenever one of them tried to dodge or block it. Eventually, the whip left Kusanagi’s hand and lunged at the last remaining blue clansman. When they fell like some great snake’s prey, the whip silently vanished.

Kusanagi put a cigarette in his mouth and used the lighter’s now normal flame to light it up. Suou, who had been standing around behind Kusanagi and looking bored, yawned. Beside him, Totsuka had the Center’s map displayed in the air from his terminal while he viewed the enemies who had been gotten rid of in mere moments.

“It’s been a while since the last time I saw Kusanagi-san fight.” Kusanagi listened to Totsuka’s relaxed voice while puffing on his cigarette and looking down at the fallen, moaning blue clansmen.

“Uh… pardon the sudden raid~. We’re just here to pick up a little girl who’s bein’ treated unfairly. If possible, we’d like to avoid any unnecessary fightin’. For the sake of avoidin’ pointless injuries, please make an effort not to come at us from here on out.”

After saying that, Kusanagi turned back to Totsuka.

“So?”

“It looks like Anna-chan’s in the bas.e.m.e.nt after all, but I guess it won’t be easy to get down there, huh… I think it’d be quickest to have someone tell us how.”

Kusanagi went ‘hmm’ and looked up at the ceiling. Right then, behind him from the shadow of the open door, a blue clansman who had his saber out attacked Kusanagi by swinging his blade down at Kusanagi’s back. He was fast. He closed the distance by leaping forward, and the saber’s blade was about to rip open Kusanagi’s shoulder.

Without even turning around, Kusanagi flicked the b.u.t.t of his cigarette behind him. The lit tabacco came up in front of the blue clansman’s eyes, and the next instant the tiny flame expanded and swelled, then swallowed him up. He fell without a cry.

While complaining quietly about how "the cigarette was still long’, Kusanagi turned his eyes towards the room the clansman who just attacked him came out of. A man in a white coat who appeared to be a researcher had been peeking out of the room and trying to see what was going on when his eyes met with Kusanagi’s and his shoulders shook.

Kusanagi moved his long legs and went right into the middle of the room. The man in the white coat jumped and readied himself, but he then took a combat stance upon seeing Kusanagi approach. Before he could do anything, Kusanagi got up in his s.p.a.ce and drove his knee into the man’s stomach while holding back. The man in the coat groaned and leaned in on himself. Kusanagi forced the man’s arm behind his back and tied his hands there using the tie from his neck. He then dragged the moaning man out of the room by his collar.

“Totsuka, ask him nicely.” Kusanagi said that as he leaned the man in the white coat against the wall, left him there, and took the terminal out of Totsuka’s hands. He looked at the map the terminal was displaying in the air and considered the situation, comparing how things were when they came in to how they were now. Totsuka tilted his head in a troubled way before giving up and kneeling down in front of the man in the coat.

“We’re looking for a kid named Kushina Anna. She’s being held in this Center, right? Would you tell us how to get to where she is?” Totsuka asked with a smile, but the man just clicked his tongue and turned away without answering. Totsuka scratched his head.

“I guess it can’t be helped if you won’t tell us… sorry, I’m weak, but my powers are good for torture.”

“……wha?” The man’s face twitched at Totsuka’s words.

“I’m pretty sure she’s in the bas.e.m.e.nt’s facility, but we can’t figure out how to get down there. Could you tell us?” The look on the face of the researcher who hadn’t responded with anything but a tongue click a moment ago had changed. He started to sweat when Totsuka smiled at him.

Suou, who had been waiting boredly behind the others, apparently got tired of staying quiet and gestured at their feet while scratching his ear.

“The bas.e.m.e.nt, right? Can’t we just get there by opening a hole in the floor?” Totsuka smiled wryly at that blunt opinion.

“King, Kusanagi-san told you not to do anything crazy, right? If we’re going to dig a hole, let’s make one in this person first.”

“…hole?” When the researcher asked that nervously, Totsuka smiled at him in a friendly way.

“Yep.”

Totsuka narrowed his eyes and stared at the wall right next to the researcher’s face. After a moment, with a sizzle, a small black hole opened in the wall. Smoke rose from it.

“Eek!” The researcher let out a short cry and twisted his body away from the hole in the wall.

“I can open holes like that. Since it burns, there isn’t a lot of blood. So if I pick the right places, even if I make several, I don’t think you’d die right away…”

Totsuka tilted his head while smiling.

“What do you wanna do? Should I start digging?”

+++++++++++++++++++

Ever since that morning, the Center was in a strange state.

The workers were oddly unable to calm down and were going back and forth within the Center. And then there was a strange announcement that "you must not leave your rooms today’. The Strains living in the Center were feeling anxious that there might have been some kind of incident when they heard a roar from outside. Then, there was the sound of an explosion that shook the building.

The Strain boy tried to rush out in a hurry when he heard the sound of that explosion. However, his room was locked. Normally, the Strains being examined at the Center were allowed to move freely about the Center as long as they didn’t cause trouble, but it was set up so that the rooms could be locked by the Center if something happened. The boy clicked his tongue and moved away from the door.

He remembered those red clansmen he had met before. At first, he had spoken to them a.s.suming they were new Strains, but then he was taken away to a deserted spot and threatened into telling them about the Center. It seemed as though they believed that something evil was being done by the Center. The boy himself had never had anything bad happen to him. At first, he had been scared of what they might do to him, but then he was just made to fill out some forms and register as a Strain, then taught the laws that apply to Strains. They investigated his ability, and then checked how well he could control it, and that was it. He was told that he would receive compensation if he kept coming back for tests, so he’d visit the Center occasionally. This time, he was also just here for the usual examinations.

Until he met those red clansmen, the boy himself hadn’t felt any sort of mistrust towards the Center. However, he had heard several dark rumors about it. According to those, powerful Strains were hidden away in the Center’s bas.e.m.e.nt and turned into test subjects. According to those, Strains who had committed crimes were altered and turned into human weapons. Stuff like that.

The boy hadn’t paid them any attention, since it seemed natural for a facility like this to give birth to such rumors. But the boy had coincidentally heard Mizuchi giving out orders to tense workers as though they were trying to hide something before an inspection from the "Rabbits’.

“Hurry up and dispose of it. If the "Rabbits’ get onto us, it’ll be a problem.”

At the time, he hadn’t thought anything of it. He had just thought it was unusual that chief Mizuchi, who was usually so calm and at ease, was behaving like a middleschooler who had heard rumors about an inspection and was trying to find a way to deal with his adult magazines. But, now that he thought about it…

There was another boom from somewhere, and he could still hear roaring from outside the Center. The red clan was attacking the Center. He couldn’t think of any other possibility. He remembered the red clansmen who had sneaked in. They were kinda scary and really caused trouble for him, but he didn’t think they were bad people. They claimed they had threatened him into guiding them when Mizuchi glared at him, like they were protecting him.

The boy felt unease rising from within his heart. What’s going on? Was it okay for him to just stay here like he was told by the workers? Would the Center even be okay?

…I’m going to leave.

He came to a decision rather easily. The door was locked, but if he really tried, it wouldn’t be hard to leave the room.

This place is probably dangerous.

Hearing those explosions and disquieting voices, and sensing the Center’s disturbed atmosphere because he was someone with powers, the boy made his decision like a rat about to escape a sinking ship

++++++++++++++++++++

Suou, Kusanagi, and Totsuka were on an elevator that activated with a biometric scan and were headed down towards the bas.e.m.e.nt. The "biometrics’ needed to move the elevator were provided by the man in a white coat from earlier.

“Kusanagi-saaan, would you please not force the unpleasant roles off on me?” Totsuka, who nearly had to torture someone, looked at Kusanagi with his eyes half closed. Kusanagi let that look go over his head.

“At least work that much. Gettin’ people to talk is your specialty, anyway.”

“IF it’s in a peaceful way.”

“It was plenty peaceful, wasn’t it? In the end, he told us the way to the bas.e.m.e.nt without any further violence.”

Apparently, using the lab coat man’s biometrics key, they wouldn’t be able to get to the lowest floor. In fact, apparently the elevator didn’t even go all the way down. It seemed that the further down someone went, the more dangerous and powerful the Strains kept there became. In order to go there, one would have to switch to a different elevator in the bas.e.m.e.nt and would need a higher level key.

At the moment, they would only be able to reach the floor with slightly secret research rooms. The elevator boarded by three people slowly opened. Kusanagi prepared himself a bit, a.s.suming there would be enemies waiting on the other side. There were indeed enemies. But they didn’t attack as the door opened. Kusanagi saw who it was and smiled bitterly.

Getting off the elevator, he spoke to the other two without turning around.

“…sorry. Could you go on ahead?”

“Kusanagi-san?” Totsuka called out to him questioningly. Kusanagi smiled and shrugged.

“This guy’s my buddy. I’m gonna talk with him a little, so you guys go on and get Anna-chan.”

Totsuka looked at Suou. Suou looked thoughtfully between Kusanagi and the enemy standing before them for a moment. It was a man wearing a loose, messy blue uniform. He had lots of white mixed into his hair. It was Scepter 4’s replacement leader, Shiotsu Gen.

Totsuka looked at Shiotsu’s face, then moved his eyes to Kusanagi, a bit worriedly.

“Kusanagi-san.”

“Don’t worry. You make sure Suou doesn’t go overboard.”

In response to hearing that said jokingly like Kusanagi was forcing the role of babysitter off on Totsuka, Suou frowned deeper in protest. He sighed lightly and stepped forward. As he pa.s.sed by Kusanagi, he snagged the cigarette box out of Kusanagi’s breast pocket. He took one out, put it in his mouth, and carelessly threw it behind him. Kusanagi looked exasperated as he caught the box.

“What happened to yours?”

“I forgot it at the bar.” Saying that roughly, Suou flicked the cigarette he took without permission and lit it.

As he pa.s.sed by Shiotsu, Suou didn’t acknowledge the man at all. He just pa.s.sed by as though taking a leisurely walk, as though the blue clan’s leader was just some sort of pillar. Totsuka looked between the three others as he followed.

Shiotsu didn’t move as Suou and Totsuka pa.s.sed him by. He didn’t try to attack them or stand in their way. He didn’t even really look in their direction as he stood there like a post.

As he watched Suou and Totsuka disappear down the hall, Kusanagi took his own cigarette from the box and lit it. The smell of tobacco drifted through the Center’s inorganic halls. Purple smoke rose thinly.

“You sure let them go easy.”

When Kusanagi said that wryly, Shiotsu snorted.

“There wouldn’t be any point.”

“Haha, then why don’t y"just go home and take a nap?”

“I’d like to, but…”

“Thanks to receivin’ unreasonable orders, a bunch of your boys upstairs got hurt.”

“Fortunately, the golden clan has a hospital right next door. I’m sure they’ll be healed up nicely.” Shiotsu’s tone sounded like he was just throwing out his words, and it always seemed a little desperate, somehow. Kusanagi knew what was behind that. And, somewhere in his heart, he was feeling both empathy and sympathy towards this man.

“How "bout you quit? …being a clansman without a lord is nothin’ but hard, right?”

“Apparently, Mizuchi is going to /give/ us a lord.” Shiotsu suddenly spat that out. Kusanagi’s expression hardened.

“…you’re talkin’ about Anna-chan, huh. Are you guys okay with that? Are the blue clansmen okay with forcin’ a little kid into a corner and making her your king?”

“Of course not.” An irritation that had warped under too much pressure appeared in Shiotsu’s voice. The personal feelings he had hidden became clear. It was a voice like the growling of an old, wounded beast. Hearing that, Kusanagi understood Shiotsu’s feelings and shut his mouth.

With deep wrinkles in his face, Shiotsu put a hand on his saber. The cold blue blade appeared with a click. Shiotsu held it up, and from his body spilled the blue light that was proof of his power. He spoke in a heavy voice.

“I advance with sword in hand, because my cause is pure.”

“Don’t lie.” Kusanagi smiled bitterly.

“Your cause is totally impure. Even though you’re the guy who knows that best, it’s impressive you have the gall to say something so fakey.”

Shiotsu said nothing. He didn’t object, or show his anger. He simply looked back at Kusanagi with blank eyes.

The tip of his sword did not waver.

Kusanagi sighed.

“…well, I guess that’s still your job, officer.”

“That’s right.” With a voice like a rock, Shiotsu replied. It sounded like the voice of someone much older.

“Eliminating dangerous elements like you guys is Scepter 4’s duty. I have no intention of debating where my cause lies with you.”

The corner of Kusanagi’s mouth twitched into a smile. He held out the hand holding his lighter horizontally and got ready.

“No wastin’ your breath… in other words?”

“Yeah… get on with it, brat.”

Shiotsu’s saber was clad in blue light.

Even if her skin was burned or she was sunk into water, she was immediately healed.

There won’t be any scars left on your body. Nor will there be any aftereffects. Of course, you won’t die, either. Right now, we’re just giving you the stimulation you need. Your powers become more sensitive the more you’re driven into a corner. Mizuchi said this with the smile usually stuck on his face.

Since she was told this so naturally, she was led to believe it was also a matter of course for her to just endure it. Anna slowly opened her eyes. She was in a tube of water. It was a thin tube like a pillar, just big enough for her to stand up in it. The sleeves of her clothes swayed in the water.

The water was nearly up to Anna’s face. Until just a moment ago, it was above her head, and stealing away her breath. In order to escape the pain of her body, Anna had been tearing her consciousness and senses away from it and sending them towards the tower’s "Slate’.

A bunch of electrodes were stuck to Anna’s body. Cords stretched from them, allowing her biological information to be checked. Attached to so many cords, it was as though she were trapped in a spider’s web.

“No abnormalities in consciousness level.”

“Physical wave spectors, stable.”

“How is it, how far have you gotten with accessing the "Slate’?”

She could hear the researchers’ voices from outside the gla.s.s. She raised her head. She could see several people in white clothes. They were glaring at the machines while watching Anna as though she were an inanimate object.

“…the same as before. I heard the "Slate’. But it hit me back.”

Hearing her reply, the scientists discussed something as though they were whispering amongst themselves.

“At this point, it doesn’t appear as though sharpening via pain is very effective…”

“Right now, her powers are at a height. Rather than stimulating her, perhaps we should have her focus on accessing the "Slate’ and make her only think of synchronizing with it…”

While they went back and forth somewhere unrelated to Anna, she felt the water in the tube drain out. Apparently, she was to be released from being submerged for this experiment. As the water disappeared, Anna’s hair, which had drifted through the water like seaweed, stuck on to her body.

Her lungs, which had been filled with water until a moment ago, still felt kind of choked. But this was healed right away, and no sign of her earlier pain was left on her body. She closed her eyes. When she did that, the inside of her eyelids looked red, making the presence she had tried to lock out of her consciousness feel raw.

That person is coming.

A hot, strong, beautiful, red presence.

It had come very close.

Anna’s heart began to beat fast, and she tried desperately to force it down. It felt as though her feelings would mix up and make it so she couldn’t stay in control. It was wrong to have expectations. What she had to hold right now was a sense of danger. She had to succeed in contacting the "Slate’ and become the blue king before that person reached this place. Even as she told herself that, she couldn’t completely hold down her wavering heart.

She wanted to be saved.

She didn’t want him to come.

Between those conflicting feelings, Anna wavered.

“Honami.”

As though casting a spell, Anna spoke the name of the person she needed to protect. A kind, warm person with a pretty voice. Someone who always tried to wrap Anna up. The reason why Anna hadn’t fallen to pieces after her parents died was because Honami was there for her.

She would protect Honami. There was no way she would let Honami meet the same fate as her parents.

She wanted to be saved.

She didn’t want him to come.

Honami looked up with a start.

“Anna?”

She felt like she had been called. Honami was sitting on the couch in Suou’s room at the bar. She was waiting as she had been told, trapped without knowing what she was supposed to be waiting for. Some boys who were likely Suou’s friends were in the bar downstairs. They were concerned for Honami, but they had probably been ordered by Suou and wouldn’t let her leave.

(I’m what you would call a monster.)

(If I had to say one or the other, your niece is also someone leaning towards this side.)

Suou’s words circled through her head. Honami didn’t understand what he was trying to say. She didn’t understand anything except that she knew nothing about what was important. She put her face in her hands and looked down. Her black hair fell forward from her shoulders.

She thought about when she took Anna in. When Anna’s parents- Honami’s brother and his wife died in an accident, Anna had lost any expression and refused to talk, like a doll. She had lost her parents suddenly at such a young age. Honami a.s.sumed it was because of that without suspecting a thing, and wished to heal Anna’s wounds even just a little.

But, what if the cause of Anna closing off her heart was not just the simple fact that she had lost her parents?

What if Honami hadn’t understood anything about Anna?

Honami got up off the sofa. She felt a stirring in her chest. She had no way of knowing what was happening to Anna. But, it was certain that the girl was in some sort of dangerous situation. Honami looked at the window.

It was bright outside. She went up to the window and opened it. From the opened window, a soft wind drifted inside. As Honami’s hair was swayed by the spring breeze, she remembered the past.

“You’re not cut out for being a teacher.” Suou, with an exasperated look, had told her that back when he was in highschool. She couldn’t remember the context anymore, but it was probably when Suou had caused a problem and she had let him off or protected him.

“Really? I’d get angry if someone did something that was actually bad.” When she said that with a tilt of her head, he looked even more exasperated.

“…you really live by your own rules, huh.”

Honami hadn’t really been a.s.sessed that way before, so she gave Suou a look full of interest. He glanced at her, then spoke as if he didn’t care.

“You only do what you want.”

That may be the case, Honami thought now as she looked at the opened window. She didn’t know what she ought to do. It wasn’t as though she didn’t trust Suou. She thought he surely had a reason for seriously attempting to keep her there. But since she couldn’t get him to tell her that reason, it didn’t seem as though she would be able to keep waiting.

She didn’t know what she ought to do. But she clearly knew what she wanted to do. If Anna was in danger, if she was in pain, then Honami wanted to run to her right away. Honami pushed herself out the window.

This was the third floor. Honami carefully stepped on the bar’s thin eaves and exited the window entirely. She walked sideways while sticking close to the brick walls. The wind blew and swayed her hair. Coming to the corner of the bar, she slowly moved across to the small boutique next door. The eaves became even more thin, to the point that she could barely stand on the b.a.l.l.s of her feet. After managing to move across, she hugged the wall and tip toed over to gently lower herself to the boutique’s shade. She felt the shade’s thick cloth beneath her feet. It managed to hold up her weight, and she jumped down from it to the ground. The shock of having jumped down from a high spot made her legs numb.

Standing up, her eyes met those of someone working in the boutique, and they gave her a shocked look.

“I’m sorry, excuse me.” She bowed her head politely to the worker and ran off. She took off up the quiet hill with the bar behind her.

She was off to pick up Anna.

She was so inexperienced she couldn’t even see through Anna’s problems, but right now, Honami was Anna’s guardian- she was Anna’s mother.

+++++++++++++++++++++

The fireb.a.l.l.s from Kusanagi’s lighter a.s.saulted Shiotsu like a lunging beast.

Right before he was swallowed up by the flying flames, Shiotsu put more power into the blue light surrounding his saber. The saber was swung as though to slice the approaching fireb.a.l.l.s in half. The flaming red spheres and the blue blade cancelled each other out. As Shiotsu dealt with the fireb.a.l.l.s, she also stepped forward to attack. A blue line was traced in the air.

Kusanagi dodged back lightly and tried to kick Shiotsu’s torso. However, Shiotsu twisted away and sliced his saber upwards diagonally. Kusanagi bent and avoided the blade just barely. As he felt the breeze from the sword sway his bangs, he spat his cigarette out in Shiotsu’s direction.

The cigarette suddenly swelled into a great fireball right in front of Shiotsu’s eyes and swallowed him up. Being licked by the tongues of the flame he gave birth to, Kusanagi remained bent over, put a hand on the floor, and got back.

…did he do it?

Right as he felt some resistance, Shiotsu sprung out and at Kusanagi from the flames that had swallowed his body. It wasn’t to escape the fire. Even as he was burned by those flames, he was only looking at Kusanagi, and only thinking of swinging his saber.

Kusanagi wasn’t expecting that, and his reaction was a moment late. Moving without a care for the fact that his uniform was on fire and burning him, Shiotsu sliced at Kusanagi. Kusanagi tried to guard quickly and the saber’s tip sliced his arm, sending blood flying. He grimaced and jumped far back, putting distance between them.

Shiotsu, who was still burning, didn’t try to close that distance right away. He strengthened the blue flames surrounding his body. With a sizzle, the flames burning his uniform vanished. Control. It was the effect of the blue clansmen’s barrier. By wrapping himself in a blue barrier, he had erased the red clansman’s fire.

Despite that, Shiotsu had taken the fireball born from Kusanagi’s cigarette flame head on. His blue uniform was blackened, and the skin showing was burned black and red. Even then, Shiotsu didn’t bat an eyelid, and simply readied his saber with a meloncholy, annoyed sort of look.

Kusanagi raised an eyebrow and laughed wryly.

“Maan… since you weren’t too enthused about your cause or whatever, I thought you’d just go easy… but you fight surprisingly hard.”

“I’m getting paid, after all.” Shiotsu replied in a voice that sounded bored after all.

“You’ll do your pay’s worth of work, that’s the spirit of a pro… you mean?”

Kusanagi smiled cynically after saying that.

“Nah. You just don’t wanna bother thinkin’ anymore.”

Shiotsu’s eyebrow twitched slightly.

“You don’t wanna think about anythin’ anymore, so you stopped and you’ve been draggin’ yourself along for ten whole years out of force of habit, haven’t you.”

Before he realized it, he was speaking in a taunting way. Kusanagi was surprised at himself. When he taunted people, he’d taunt them as part of a plan. He didn’t just do it without thinking about it, like this. But he continued.

“You’re totally sick of this job, aren’t you. You’re thinkin’ it’s stupid. And yet, you’re killin’ those feelings and just movin’ your body. Are you a robot or something?”

“You sure talk a lot, even though you’re in the middle of a fight.” Shiotsu narrowed his eyes and glared irritably at Kusanagi. Kusanagi glared back.

“You’re obsessed with your king, you lean up on him, and then once he’s gone you just stop thinkin’ with your own head!?”

As he said that as though making fun of Shiotsu, the gap between them which was supposed to be wide was closed. Shiotsu’s saber stabbed straight at Kusanagi. That stab was overflowing with anger, in contrast to the movements before that were robotic and held no emotion. Kusanagi dodged it and pointed his lighter at Shiotsu. Fireb.a.l.l.s sped at him with the speed of bullets, but Shiotsu’s saber dealt with them. The forth shot was long and drawn out, like the fire from a flamethrower.

Shiotsu straightened up his saber and spread a blue forcefield. It split the flames like a rock in the way of a river’s flow. But Kusanagi turned the lighter turned into a flamethrower sideways. The flow of fire became thin, and turned into a flaming serpent. The fiery snake, split in two, separated from the lighter and tried to wrap around Shiotsu’s body like it was a creature with a will of its own.

Shiotsu spun his saber around and cut one of those snakelike flames as though he were stroking it, which canceled it out. However, the other snake squirmed and dodged Shiotsu’s sword like it was teasing him, then aimed for his body.

Shiotsu had his concentration stolen by his attempts to cut away the fire snake, which was like trying to grab smoke. Even then, the struggle only lasted but a few seconds. But, the moment Shiotsu’s saber caught the snake and his blue power pressed onto the flames and snuffed them out, those bulletlike fireb.a.l.l.s a.s.saulted him while his guard was down.

They had more power than before. Shiotsu fell without a word.

“…don’t get up again.” Kusanagi said that bitterly while looking down at Shiotsu, who was burned black.

“You did your pay’s worth of work, didn’t you. I didn’t come here to fight you guys. Stop gettin’ in the way.”

He heard a low laugh from by his feet. Kusanagi frowned and looked down at the owner of the voice- at Shiotsu who was burnt up and in a sorry state. Shiotsu raised his face. On top of the face of an old man who didn’t care anymore, there was a smile. His eyes alone shone strangely, looking up at Kusanagi.

“Ahh, it’s been a while since anything hurt like this… ten years ago, maybe I should’ve gone ahead and tasted this pain.”

“Make your confessions elsewhere, please.” In response to Kusanagi’s cold reply, Shiotsu twisted the corner of his mouth into a taunting smile.

“You’re scared, aren’t you.”

Kusanagi wasn’t expecting that, and looked at him questioningly.

“…of what.”

“You’re scared that /you might end up like me someday/, aren’t you.”

Kusanagi stopped breathing. He wanted to kick himself for reacting like Shiotsu had hit a bullseye.

That had always quietly been inside Kusanagi’s heart.

“Apparently, that’s the previous red king’s power.” He remembered talking to Suou about the Kagutsu Crater. It was when they talked about how the crater was the result of the previous red king’s power, and the sword of Damocles.

“Huh.” Suou just responded vaguely, without any interest. But Kusanagi realized that those eyes seemed to be looking at something distant, admiring something.

…you wanna go over there.

Kusanagi never let the feelings smoldering in his chest out of his mouth.

A bomb that wants to explode.

That was how Kusanagi had seen Suou since before Suou had become king. Back when Suou was just a single human, Kusanagi had gotten angry at him for going too far and getting hurt. Probably, mixed in within the anger he felt back then was something like a feeling of guilt that ended up shoving him into a position along with Totsuka where he had to call Suou king.

Back then, Kusanagi got angry while Suou looked at him with a wry smile.

Now, Kusanagi would never get onto Suou seriously again.

The blue light sparkled.

When he came to his senses, Shiotsu’s sword which had jumped up was. .h.i.tting his shoulder. Kusanagi, who had completely gotten lost in thought, was cut quite deeply. He clenched his teeth at the sharp pain running through his shoulder. Just a moment late, blood came spurting out. In response to the pain that now also held heat, for some reason his head actually cooled off.

He couldn’t put pressure on the wound and didn’t put distance between the two of them, instead Kusanagi just clicked his tongue and sharply lifted his leg. His toes. .h.i.t Shiotsu’s sword wrist. He felt bone shattering. Shiotsu’s saber flew from his hand. Kusanagi then swung that same leg. His heel dug into Shiotsu’s temple. He stomped on Shiotsu’s chest, and pointed the lighter at his head like a gun. At the same time, Shiotsu’s sword stuck itself in the wall with a thud.

The blood from Kusanagi’s shoulder stained his shirt red. Both him and Shiotsu were breathing hard. Enduring their slowly spreading pain, they glared at each other.

After a while, the venom left Shiotsu’s eyes, and as though to show he no longer had any desire to fight, he relaxed his body. Kusanagi’s expression twisted as he looked down at that, and responded quietly to Shiotsu’s earlier taunt.

“…it’s an advisor’s job to consider the worst case scenarios too, right?”

“You’re so admirable.” Said Shiotsu in a tone that could have been sarcastic or serious, it was hard to tell.

“Relax… you won’t turn into me.” He looked up at Kusanagi with narrowed eyes.

There was no murderous intent left in Shiotsu’s body. Losing even the slightest venom, he looked even older, and yet even as he was enduring pain, there was something peaceful about the look in his eyes.

“I lose.”