The Asterisk War, Vol. 2: Awakening of Silver Beauty Read online

  Kirin flinched. She tried to reply, and her mouth only fumbled without forming words. “I—I’m sorry, Uncle,” she finally managed, in a voice so faint it almost disappeared into the air.

  “He was skilled, I’ll give you that. But don’t let yourself take so much time with a student who’s not even in the Named Charts—even if he is an Orga Lux user. Your reputation will suffer,” he went on curtly, still facing forward. “In the next round of ranking matches, number seven will probably challenge you. He’s an Orga Lux user as well, but you will defeat him quickly, not like today. Three minutes, no more.”

  Then Kouichirou turned around at last. He took out his mobile device and opened an air-window displaying the data on the aforementioned student. “Look through this data later. We’ll take care of most of the Page One students within the year. That’s the first step. Then your ranking at Seidoukan will be secure. That Enfield girl should be the only one who will give us trouble.”

  “Yes, Uncle,” Kirin replied quietly, her head down.

  “And…I saw the midterm test results. Less than ideal, I have to say.” He opened a new air-window and pulled up Kirin’s test results from the previous month.

  All her scores were above average, most near the top of the class, but the dissatisfaction was plain on Kouichirou’s face.

  “Didn’t I tell you not to slack off in your schoolwork, either?”

  “…I’m sorry.”

  Kouichirou clicked his tongue in annoyance and seized Kirin by the hair, forcefully pulling her head up to face him.

  “You listen to me. I expect more than brute strength from you. You will be a first-ranked student to go down in the history of Seidoukan. Don’t you forget that…ever!” He held her by the chin to peer coolly into her eyes. “You’re a slow-witted brat good for nothing but swordplay. But I can make something of you. Don’t you ever forget that, Kirin. Without my perfect plan you won’t get anywhere.”

  “Yes, Uncle… I know…,” Kirin answered weakly, her eyes still downcast.

  “Hmph,” Kouichirou snorted. “If you do, you’ll never disobey me again. Never talk back to me, not a single word. You will do nothing but follow my plan.”

  He shoved the girl away, and she fell to her knees. Sneering down at her, Kouichirou straightened the lapels of his suit. His gaze was filled with disgust, as if he looked at a smear of filth rather than a member of his own family.

  “So far, everything is going according to my plan. Do everything in your power to make sure it stays that way. After all, the moment this plan is achieved is the moment when your wish comes true.”

  With a nasty smirk, Kouichirou headed for the gate, leaving Kirin there on the floor. The high clacking of his footsteps faded into the distance.

  “Yes. I know…,” whispered Kirin, alone on her knees in the dimly lit passageway.

  “So that girl is ranked first in the whole school? Is that true?”

  “Why would I lie about that?” Julis snapped. “And to think you don’t know who the top-ranking student is in your own school! How clueless can you be?”

  She was clearly irritated, but she plopped a cold, wet towel on Ayato’s forehead as he lay on the floor. The cool sensation was a relief. He was now feverish and practically immobile after having broken his seal for so long.

  They were in Julis’s personal training room, which he had gotten to know quite well by now. This was the only private place they could think to take him, though with that gaping hole in the wall, it wasn’t exactly private.

  “Well, uh…I’m sorry.” With no excuse for his ignorance, he could only apologize. But Julis scowled even more fiercely.

  She seemed to be in a truly foul mood.

  “Um, so you’re mad at me…right?” Ayato asked timidly.

  “Oh?” She impaled him with a glare. “You say that as if you know you’ve done something to make me angry.”

  He had done a whole pile of things fitting that description. He did not say so.

  Instead, he named the item that was probably at the top of the list: “Well, I did get into a duel.”

  After all, she had just told him the day before not to do that. He had already explained the gist of the situation, but the fact that she had not said a word in response made him only more nervous.

  He was bracing himself for her to unleash a maelstrom.

  “I don’t care about that anymore.”

  “Huh?” Her reaction took him by surprise.

  “That man, Kouichirou. His behavior is abhorrent. Uncle or not, he has no right to treat her like a tool.” Her voice was calm and quiet, but pure rage blazed in her eyes. “If you had done nothing, I would have lost all faith in you. And if it were me who happened upon that scene, I would have done exactly as you did.”

  Julis was speaking from her heart, her unclouded honest feelings.

  How very like her. Ayato couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks. That means a lot to me.”

  As soon as he told her how he felt, though, a blush began to spread across her face. “Wh— You have no reason to thank me! I—I only…” The rest of her sentence trailed off into an unintelligible mumble. “Anyway, that’s not what I’m angry about!”

  “Um, then what…?”

  Seeing Ayato stumped, Julis let out a small sigh. “I’m in a bad mood because you lost,” she mumbled, turning away.

  “What?! But that’s—”

  “I know! I know how selfish and unreasonable that is and that your opponent was number one, undefeated in Seidoukan. Even so, I thought you had a chance…!”

  “Julis…” He had no idea that she thought so highly of him. He wanted to live up to her hopes. If only he could—

  “But apparently, Kirin Toudou is so strong that even you can’t beat her,” Julis said.

  “It hurts to admit it, but she’s better with a sword than I am.”

  This was an indisputable fact. Her shy demeanor seemed at odds with that incredible swordsmanship, but for speed, precision, everything—she matched or exceeded Ayato at his full strength. He could hardly imagine the training she must have endured.

  “I see…” Julis leaned back against the wall with a sardonic laugh. “But I suppose I should be praising her. After all, she’s only thirteen years old—in her first year of middle school. She enrolled this April, and on her first day, she dueled the student ranked eleven and won. In her first official match, she defeated the former number one. Saying she’s got potential is an understatement in the extreme.”

  “Th-thirteen?!” Ayato nearly jumped up in surprise and winced at the pain when he tried.

  She wore the middle school uniform, so he’d known that she was younger than him—but he had not guessed that she might be a first-year in middle school.

  That made her prowess even more inconceivable. Not just her sword technique, but the way she moved, how she judged the range of the opponent’s attack, all the immediate, tiny judgment calls she made in the midst of battle—in every possible aspect, Kirin operated at an immensely high level.

  And she’s awfully well-developed for thirteen…

  His brain conjured up images of her physical proportions, which seemed rather advanced for her age. Ayato violently shook them out of his head.

  “Hmm? What is it?”

  “Oh, um, nothing,” he said, brushing off the inquisitive look from Julis. “Anyway, do you know any more about her?”

  Julis scowled again. “Sounds like she’s piqued your interest.”

  She was right, so he nodded, though he had no idea why this seemed to put her in a bad mood again. “W-well, yeah. Kind of.”

  “Hmph. I see. Fine,” she said, sounding almost bored, then took out her mobile and opened an air-window. It displayed the names of twelve students—the Page Ones, those on the first page of the Named Chart. “As I said earlier, there are a number of fighters stronger than me. If we restrict the conversation to students at this school, there are three, I believe, against whom I currently stand no chance: you, Cla
udia, and Kirin Toudou.”

  “Claudia, too?” It was unusual for Julis to openly admit falling short to Claudia, Ayato thought.

  “I don’t like it, but that’s the reality. She’s strong. She may not look it, but she’s our second-ranked fighter.”

  “Wow…I had no idea.” He remembered hearing that she was a Page One, but he hadn’t known where on the page she fell.

  “You really… Well, you didn’t know who number one was, so it shouldn’t surprise me that you didn’t know number two, either.” Nonplussed, Julis shrugged, then flicked at the air-window to set it spinning. “Claudia Enfield, known as the Commander of a Thousand Visions, Parca Morta. She uses the Pan-Dora, an Orga Lux with the power of precognition.”

  “Precognition? You mean she can see the future?”

  “I don’t know much more than that. They say she’s the only one able to wield the Pan-Dora,” Julis went on, looking grave. “Rumor has it that she can probably see into the future by twenty or thirty seconds or more. But that’s only speculation by those who have seen her fight.”

  “That would make her incredibly strong.” If she knew all of her opponent’s moves, even just twenty seconds ahead, she had to be close to invincible.

  “And that’s why there are almost no students who would challenge Claudia. I don’t want you challenging her to a duel, either.”

  Ayato laughed nervously and scratched his cheek, but something occurred to him as he watched the air-window spin like a top. “Wait… If Kirin is first and Claudia is second… You’re ranked fifth, right? You’re not including third and fourth on your list?”

  “I must have told you this before, but rank doesn’t always reflect strength. The third-and fourth-ranked students—number four in particular is a formidable Dante, but my powers match up well with his. If I fought him ten times, I would probably win five times. On the other hand, I can have much poorer odds facing a specific lower-ranked fighter. Number seven, for instance, is an Orga Lux user, so I’d be lucky to win three times out of ten.” Then Julis pinched the spinning air-window to stop it. “But you, Claudia, and Kirin Toudou are in a different class. I couldn’t beat any one of you a single time out of ten. That’s what I mean when I say I have no chance.”

  “I see…,” Ayato said.

  “Kirin Toudou has never lost since coming to this school. Neither has Claudia. But what sets Kirin apart from you and Claudia is that she is neither an Orga Lux user nor a Strega.”

  And Kirin didn’t use a Lux at all, but a conventional Japanese sword. She seemed very well attuned to it, Ayato thought, so it had to be her weapon of choice.

  “I know I said that the rankings don’t mean everything, but still, number one is special. They become the face of the school, and competition for the spot is fierce. They’re challenged at virtually every official match, so only an extraordinary fighter can hold the spot. The fact that she’s defended her rank with just a katana, even if only for three months—it’s unheard of. In fact, the top spot in every other school is held either by an Orga Lux wielder or a Strega.” Julis snapped her fingers and the air-window disappeared. “Well, those are my thoughts on Kirin Toudou. If you’re looking for more personal information, ask Yabuki. I don’t deal in gossip.”

  “Thanks, Julis. That was plenty.”

  Truth be told, Ayato wanted to know more about Kirin’s uncle, but that was not something to ask Julis.

  “Then let’s talk about the Phoenix,” she said.

  “The Phoenix?” Puzzled, Ayato cocked his head.

  Julis gave him a thin smile of strained patience. “Now that everyone knows about your real power, we need a change of plans.”

  “Oh, right…”

  They had managed to keep his time limit a secret, but Ayato’s prowess would have been obvious to anyone who saw him fight Kirin head-on. There had been quite a crowd gathered around the duel. The videos were most likely already circulating.

  Which meant that most of his skills were now public knowledge. Their previous plan, which had relied on their opponents not knowing about Ayato’s true strength, was now useless.

  “Sorry,” he apologized, dejected.

  “No need to make a face like that. It wasn’t going to be a secret forever,” replied Julis, ruffling his hair. “Well, it might have been better if you’d won—but there’s no point in dwelling on that now.”

  “How would things be different if I won?”

  “Well, then you would have been the new top-ranked student. That would give us better odds of having an easier spot on the Phoenix board.”

  “An easier spot…? Oh, you mean in the tournament matchups.”

  The matchups were not random, but were heavily influenced by the planning committee’s calculations to maximize public interest in the Festa. They manipulated the tournament in specific ways—for instance, favored teams were spread out, so that they would duel in later rounds rather than knocking one another out of the tournament early.

  “I’m ranked fifth, so that has some influence, but you’re unlisted right now. Even if your skills became known by fighting Kirin, without official standing to back them up, you won’t be considered a favorite. If you were a former Page One, things might be different.”

  “Oh. I get it…”

  “Even if you wanted to try for a high ranking, the official matches for this month are already over. And I doubt anyone would be interested in dueling at this point…”

  It was said that the planning committee waited until the last possible minute to make the bracket, in part to prevent any dishonest conduct such as throwing matches. So it would make sense for them to take into account late changes in the rankings, but without any opponents, there wouldn’t be much Ayato could do to change his.

  “Well, don’t worry about that too much. Just keep it in mind in case an opportunity does come up,” Julis said, lightly tapping Ayato’s head.

  The next day after class, Ayato headed to the student services counter at the Committee Center. He had to get a new school crest, since his had been broken in the duel against Kirin.

  The school crest also functioned as a student ID, used at security checkpoints and to take attendance. It was too inconvenient to try to live with a broken crest. When he’d applied for a new one first thing that morning, they had told him to pick it up after school.

  “Oh yes. You can get your crest in person from the student council president,” the woman at the counter said in an extremely bureaucratic voice, then took out several forms. “Please sign here and here.”

  “Uh, okay… The president? So I should go see Claudia?”

  “Yes. We’ve been told she will be waiting in the student council lounge.”

  “The lounge…?”

  Ayato had no idea where it was, but before he had a chance to ask, the service window’s shutter came firmly down.

  With nothing to go on, he decided to try the top floor of the high school building. His body ached all over, but not enough to hinder normal activity. Julis had given him the day off from training, so he had time.

  “Well, all the rooms related to the student council seem to be up on that floor, so I can probably find it,” he told himself.

  The windows showed a pleasantly clear summer sky. Indoors, it was air-conditioned and comfortable, but one step outside and it was an inferno under the scorching sun. He would rather avoid going outside until after sunset.

  Thinking idly along those lines, Ayato looked for the lounge and found it with surprising ease. It was just two doors down from the council room on the corner, but even before entering, he could tell that it would be quite spacious.

  There was an intercom at the door, so he pressed the button to be greeted immediately by Claudia’s voice. “Welcome, Ayato. Please come in.”

  Ayato obeyed, and whatever luxury he might have expected did not prepare him for what he saw. A small tropical paradise spread out before him.

  In the middle of the room was a pool, surrounded here and the
re by plants he didn’t often see—palm trees and cycads. The walls were all glass, letting the sun shine in bright and strong.

  At the poolside, there was a single white deck chair, where Claudia reclined. She seemed to be at work with several air-windows.

  “Um, wow, this is…”

  “Did the room surprise you?” Claudia closed the displays all at once and unhurriedly sat up.

  Ayato froze at seeing her fully.

  Claudia was in a swimsuit, which fit her surroundings. But the design of the suit was much too bold for Ayato. To be fair, it was a perfectly fine design, and she wore the bikini-style well. The figure of the woman beneath the suit, however, was so captivating that he did not know where to look.

  Simply put, too much of his field of vision was taken over by naked skin.

  “This room was made on the orders of one of my predecessors a few terms back. It was quite a waste of resources, but changing it back would also be a financial drain, so we’ve continued to use it.”

  “I—I see…”

  Claudia noticed Ayato averting his eyes and laughed softly.

  “B-but there’s a lake right outside,” Ayato said. “Why would someone make an indoor pool?”

  “Oh, you don’t know? Swimming in the lake is prohibited.”

  “Huh? Really?”

  “This area has a high concentration of mana. Several mutants have been discovered.”

  Mutants were animals and plants that had mutated due to the effects of mana since the Invertia. Humans had mutated, too—the result, of course, being Genestella—so it followed that other organisms were no exception. So far, however, there were no reports of mutants that posed a threat to humans, nor of mutants like Genestella whose abilities differed significantly from the original species.

  “It’s only a rumor for now, since no live specimens have been captured, but there are reports of a giant shadow in the water and sightings of monsters in the underground sectors.” Claudia laughed. “Scary, isn’t it?”

  She got up from the deck chair and crept close to Ayato, spreading her arms wide and mimicking a growling monster. “Grar!”