The Asterisk War, Vol. 2: Awakening of Silver Beauty Page 6

  “That’s right. That is the rule here in this city—the rule you lot abide by, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, that’s true. It is our rule. But it doesn’t apply to you, does it?” Ayato could be fairly certain that Kouichirou was not a student here. “And you don’t seem to be a Genestella, so—”

  “Of course not!” Kouichirou cut him off with a bellow. “How dare you suggest I’m one of you monsters!”

  Glaring at Ayato, he walked behind Kirin and placed his hand on her slender shoulder. “This is your opponent.”

  “Wha—?!” Ayato was dumbfounded. What kind of logic is that?

  “Don’t worry. I won’t demand anything from you if you lose.”

  “No, that’s not the issue…!” The problem with this went deeper than winning or losing.

  “Uncle! I—”

  Kouichirou shut down Kirin’s protest. “Shut up. Just do as I tell you.”

  “B-but—”

  As Kirin held her ground, Kouichirou turned to fix her with a bone-chilling stare. “Kirin. Would you disobey me?”

  A deep, dark voice full of overpowering force.

  Ayato saw Kirin’s heart and body wither in terror. “No…I would never…”

  “Good. If you can beat the Ser Veresta, that’ll gain you a measure of prestige. I expect you will.” With that, Kouichirou turned away from her and calmly moved away to a safe distance.

  He left Kirin to stare at the ground and bite her lip.

  At a loss, Ayato scratched his head.

  A few students had already noticed the commotion, and they were pausing to stare from afar. A good number of the student body here had a knack for rubbernecking.

  Ayato looked desperately to Eishirou, who stood at the front of the gathering crowd. Eishirou responded with a broad grin and a thumbs-up. It was clear that he would be providing no help at all.

  Ayato let out a deep sigh and turned to Kirin. “Um, Miss Toudou? I—”

  “I’m so sorry.” Kirin interrupted him with a trembling voice, her face still downcast.

  “Huh?”

  “I, Kirin Toudou…challenge you, Ayato Amagiri, to a duel.”

  In response, both Ayato’s and Kirin’s school crests glowed a bright red.

  “Why do I have to fight you?!” Ayato shook his head in confusion.

  Kirin only moved forward, looking miserable. “I don’t want to fight you, either. But we have no choice.”

  “No choice?”

  “I have a wish. And to make it come true, I have to do as my uncle says…” Her voice was full of barely contained emotion. But just barely—she could not entirely hide her sorrow. “Please. If you decline, this will be over. Please.”

  Ayato thought for a few moments, then looked straight into Kirin’s eyes. “If I decline, what about you?”

  “Huh?”

  “What’ll happen to you?”

  Kirin turned away from his searching gaze. “I… That doesn’t matter. No one can change anything for me.”

  “Then I can’t back down, either,” Ayato declared evenly.

  He knew it was completely absurd. To duel the person he was trying to help—that went beyond even defeating the purpose.

  Still, he couldn’t just stand idly by and do nothing for a girl who would describe the scene of moments ago—such unfair treatment—as something that no one could change.

  “I see… You’re so kind, Mr. Amagiri.” With a weak, sad smile, Kirin reached for the scabbard at her waist. “Then I have no choice. And I will not lose.”

  In that instant, he felt goose bumps rise all over his skin. His body seemed to move of its own accord as he took a giant leap back from Kirin.

  Her expression—conflicted, on the verge of tears—never changed as she smoothly drew her sword.

  He had guessed this earlier, but it was not a Lux. The construction was a modern style, but it was unmistakably a Japanese katana.

  There was no mana response, so she was not a Strega, either. He could feel a highly refined prana from her, but that was not what had made him jump back.

  A sharp and cool force, something akin to the presence of a sword, emanated from Kirin, who held her katana pointed straight at him. Ayato had never before sensed anything of the kind.

  “Well…I can’t exactly yield, either,” Ayato murmured, then touched the school crest on his chest. “I accept your challenge.”

  He channeled prana into his body and focused it. His instincts told him that he could not face this girl without his full strength. His prana heightened, and sparks of light materialized around him, followed by magic circles.

  He ignored the sharp pains that shot through him to imagine the binding—the cage and shackles that held him, the power swelling from his inner self to rend them apart…

  “By the sword within me, I break free of this prison of stars and unchain my power!”

  Instantly the magic circles around him were blown away. His sealed prana was released and strength flooded his body.

  Kirin’s eyes widened as she looked on, but the blade she held did not waver.

  “Kirin, don’t cross blades with that Orga Lux. It will cut through your katana and everything else,” Kouichirou called out, as Ayato drew the Ser Veresta from its holder and activated it. It seemed that Kirin’s uncle was quite knowledgeable regarding the sword’s powers.

  Still, one of the advantages of this Orga Lux was that even full knowledge did not make it any easier to face.

  Ayato held the Ser Veresta in the same fighting stance as Kirin, mirroring her. Let’s try a light intimidation move to see what she can do…

  “Here I come!” Kirin said curtly, interrupting his thoughts, and in the next moment, her blade was rushing at his chest.

  Half a gasp left him as he jumped back reflexively, and just when he’d barely evaded the first stroke, her katana swept relentlessly upward in pursuit.

  She was fast. Extraordinarily fast.

  Ayato tried to block the second blow with the Ser Veresta, but in the last instant, Kirin’s blade changed trajectory. The katana inscribed an arc in midair to evade the Ser Veresta and flew down toward his right forearm.

  Ayato released his right hand from his sword to dodge the strike, then with his left hand alone, repositioned the Ser Veresta while drawing back from his opponent.

  Kirin changed her stance, now holding her katana high.

  “You’re very strong, Mr. Amagiri. I’m impressed.” There was genuine praise in her voice.

  “Well, same to you…” Ayato felt a chill on his spine.

  He had expected her to be a formidable fighter, but now he realized that in terms of speed, she was just as fast—or even faster—than he was with his full power.

  “Oh man, now what…”

  He seemed to have landed himself in even more trouble than he had imagined.

  The gazebo in the corner of the courtyard was the one place on this campus where Julis was able to find calm.

  During the lunch recess and after school, and whenever she had some time to kill, she came here. Recently, she had found herself socializing more, but habits would not change so easily.

  And after that exchange with Saya the day before, she was eating alone today. She finished her lunch early and headed out of the courtyard, checking the news on her mobile.

  “Hmm…so the Holy Grail has found a user…,” she murmured to herself. “They probably won’t fight in the Phoenix, but still, that could be trouble down the road… And this scythe fighter from Le Wolfe sounds interesting, too… Hmm? Breaking news?”

  She noticed an alert scrolling across the air-window, which she had shrunk to the size of her palm.

  “Kirin Toudou in a duel? Now, that is big news. Who’s her opponent…?”

  Just then, she heard cheering nearby. She looked toward the source of the noise to see a large crowd gathered beyond a connecting hallway. “Hmm?”

  Julis thought she caught a familiar name amid the shouts, and an unpleasant premonition c
ame over her.

  She pushed her way through the crowd to reach the front, and what she saw there made her doubt her own eyes.

  “Wh-wh-wha—?!” Her voice rushed out before it even knew what syllables to make.

  The boy who was her tag team partner was there fighting Kirin Toudou, of all people.

  That imbecile! I just told him yesterday not to get in any needless duels before the Festa—!

  Julis was about to cover her face in frustration when a familiar figure caught her eye.

  A certain boy who had placed himself in the perfect position to observe the fight was merrily operating a handheld camcorder. Julis stalked right up to him and grabbed him by the collar. “What is the meaning of this, Yabuki?!”

  “Whoa, what—?! Oh, hey, Princess.” Eishirou looked up from his camera in surprise but then quickly pointed it back to the fight. “Sorry, but I’m in the middle of som—”

  “No, you’re going to tell me what’s going on!” Julis forcefully turned Eishirou away from the spectacle, camera and all. “I’ve got a bone to pick with you for feeding Sasamiya drivel about me and Ayato. And I won’t hesitate to roast you like a chicken.”

  “Okay, okay. Your wish is my command, Your Highness.” Resigned, Eishirou let out a long sigh and awkwardly scratched the scar on his cheek. “Well, not much to tell. It all started when in this hallway— Whoa!”

  He suddenly leaned in toward the fight, and Julis automatically turned to look.

  Ayato dodged Kirin’s stroke by a fraction of an inch. The katana had swung upward just in front of Ayato’s forehead, close enough that a few pieces of his hair floated away on the breeze.

  Julis exhaled in relief and wiped away a bead of sweat on her forehead.

  “Man, this is great,” Eishirou gushed. “You don’t see a match like this every day—not even in the Festa. Amagiri was completely hiding his strength.”

  “But it doesn’t look too good for him.”

  “Well, no surprise there. Even if he does have the Ser Veresta, he’s still up against the Keen-Edged Tempest.”

  As Eishirou said that, Ayato crouched to avoid a viciously fine sword stroke that went just above his head.

  Ayato swung the Ser Veresta from that position as if to sweep at Kirin’s feet, but she had already moved, a breath ahead of his attack. From her backward leap, she instantly sprang again to close the distance and swung down before Ayato could regain his stance.

  He dodged the strike with a roll then pushed himself back up with one hand.

  Even if one wasn’t close enough to see the sweat on his brow or the strained expression on his face, it was obvious that Ayato was at a disadvantage.

  Julis had a hard time believing it. He had clearly released his power, and she knew firsthand his abilities in that state. They had been training daily, and she was finally able to follow the way he moved and wielded his weapon. Even so, once he got her within his range, he could beat her in an instant.

  As far as she could tell, Kirin was not fighting him with anything less than her full strength. Still, it was amazing to Julis that she could fight so well against Ayato.

  “And all this without their blades meeting even once…?”

  Indeed, Kirin had evaded all of Ayato’s attacks without using her sword to parry or block.

  That was the correct strategy against the Ser Veresta, a sword famed for cutting through anything in its path. Kirin was fighting not with a Lux, but with a conventional katana. If she tried to parry with that, it would be ruined instantly.

  The amazing thing was that Kirin managed to avoid the Orga Lux even when attacking.

  Of course, Ayato was trying to block her attacks with the Ser Veresta, but she appeared to be changing the trajectory of her strokes in the last moment—without slowing the speed of her blade.

  “But then again, it looks like Amagiri doesn’t seem to be handling his sword that well,” Eishirou said. “Take away that disadvantage, though, and who knows?”

  Julis was surprised at this assessment. “Not handling it well? The Ser Veresta?”

  “I don’t know anything about the Amagiri style, but I’m guessing it was never meant for a sword that big. A sword like that demands big, wide strokes, and you can’t maneuver very easily with it.”

  “I see…”

  Julis hadn’t noticed, since Ayato’s technique was unusually fast to begin with. Now that Eishirou pointed it out, though, the Ser Veresta was much too large for the way he moved. In light of its destructive power, that wouldn’t seem to be such a shortcoming at first glance. But against an opponent with the skills to take advantage of it…

  Those thoughts went through her mind, and then Julis looked up at Eishirou in sudden realization: He can see all that…?

  Even for Julis, who was ranked fifth at Seidoukan, it was still difficult to completely follow Ayato’s movements at his full strength. So it was dubious that very many among the assembled crowd had a good grasp of the fight.

  True, it’s easier to follow his movements as a spectator than as an opponent, but still…

  Either Eishirou had very sharp eyes, or—

  Julis cut off her own thoughts. “Wait. Never mind that. How long have they been dueling?”

  “Huh? I think just four or five minutes. Why?”

  The color drained from her face.

  That meant Ayato could remain at full strength for only three more minutes at the very most.

  It was bad enough that his full strength was now public knowledge, but if people knew that it came with a time limit…that would be the worst possible scenario.

  Julis thought for a moment about barging in and nullifying the duel, but such an action would have serious repercussions for herself.

  “Oh, hey, it looks like Amagiri’s going for it now,” Eishirou remarked.

  As if he had read her thoughts, Ayato, who had been entirely on the defensive, began to attack. He stepped in past the katana attacks, even more closely than before, and swung the Ser Veresta straight across.

  Still, Kirin was one step ahead of him.

  Dodging with a light step, she brought her blade down diagonally, faster than Ayato could pull back his weapon to block. He barely escaped, but his uniform was cleanly sliced open.

  “Ooh, this doesn’t look good for him.”

  “He was barely holding on as it was,” Julis argued. “I wouldn’t think going on the offensive was such a bad decision.”

  Eishirou shook his head. “That’s not what I mean. He’s giving himself even less margin for error to dodge her attacks.”

  “Again, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. That means he’s keeping good track of what his opponent’s sword is doing.”

  “Well, normally, I’d agree with you, buuut…”

  “Just what is it that you want to say?” Julis fussed at him.

  Eishirou gave her a knowing smile. “He fought Your Highness right after he transferred, but he hasn’t really been in any other duels, right?”

  “And what does that have to do—”

  Then Julis finally understood what he wanted to tell her.

  She looked back in a panic toward the duel. Ayato had just stepped closer inside Kirin’s reach.

  With a shout, he swung down the Ser Veresta, but it cut through nothing but air.

  In the next instant, Kirin countered with a one-handed thrust that grazed the left side of his torso—again, the blade missed him by less than the previous attack did.

  The extended edge flashed, then it turned to slice upward at his chest.

  With a grunt, Ayato leaned back to dodge the attack, and as he recovered his stance—

  “End of duel! Winner: Kirin Toudou!”

  He stared blankly as the AI announcement rang out. He apparently had no idea what had just happened.

  But then, as if catching on, he looked down at the left side of his chest. “…Oh.”

  Ayato’s school crest had been sliced perfectly in two.

  “Ugh, he is ju
st unbelievable,” Julis muttered and rolled her eyes skyward.

  This was the obvious result of him losing sight of the crest and trying to dodge Kirin’s attacks while accounting for only the meat of his body in his calculations.

  “Yup. That’s a pretty common mistake, you know, for people who learned to fight on the outside but aren’t used to dueling here.” Eishirou gave Julis a helpless smile and patted her shoulder.

  “Hmph. Finally. Let’s go.” Kouichirou nodded with the air of a man who had been certain of the outcome all along. With one glance at Kirin, he walked back toward the school building.

  He seemed to have already lost all interest in Ayato.

  “Y-yes. Coming, Uncle!” Kirin sheathed her katana and bowed politely to Ayato. “Um, I…I’m sorry!”

  And then she was running after her uncle with her dainty steps.

  “Wai—” Ayato began to call out to her, only to think better of it.

  He had lost. He did not have the right to interfere.

  That was the rule here, in this school—this city.

  As he let out a long sigh, someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to see Julis glaring at him, looking every bit as furious as she had yesterday.

  Except that she was right there in front of him, instead of in an air-window. The difference in impact was tremendous.

  “I have a great many things to say to you and questions to ask. But first, let’s get out of here. You must not have much time left.”

  She was absolutely right, and when Julis pulled him by the hand, Ayato went obediently along with her.

  “And once we’re somewhere safe,” she went on, “you are going to tell me everything. Starting with what possible reason you could have for dueling the number one ranked student at this school!”

  CHAPTER 4

  COMPLICATING EXPECTATIONS

  Kirin plodded behind Kouichirou, her head down. The restricted passageway they took led to a campus gateway for the exclusive use of those with connections to the school.

  There was no one else in the passageway and no sound but his shrill, brisk footsteps.

  The sound came to a sudden halt. “That took you longer than I expected,” Kouichirou rumbled, without even turning to face her.