The Amphisbaena (24 page)
“…Senpai.”
Kojou froze at the faint hint of bloodlust wafting up from Yukina’s voice.
“W-wait. I didn’t do anything wrong just now. That was probably just a little greeting…!”
“A little greeting, you say? Is that so…”
“So there’s no need to get the spear out!!”
Yukina’s hand was going to her guitar case as Kojou desperately tried to talk her down. Then…
“Kojou!”
Kojou spontaneously clutched his head as footsteps rose up the gangway in the princess’s wake.
The footsteps belonged to a small middle schooler with long hair worn in a short-cut style. It was Nagisa.
“Hey, hey, who was that?! She’s a foreigner, but she looks just like Kanon, huh? She’s really beautiful, like she’s some kind of princess. How do you know someone like that? I was so worried when you didn’t come home last night!”
“N-Nagisa?! What the heck are you doing here…?!”
Kojou was half in a daze as he beheld the sight of his sister firing off questions with the speed of a machine gun.
Kojou seriously had no idea what was going on here. Surely Nagisa had no way of knowing he was at the harbor. Furthermore, she might have witnessed him at the worst possible moment. He had absolutely no idea what kind of excuse he could use to gloss
that
over.
Having come this far, Kojou finally remembered a
very
important commitment that he’d made that he had completely forgotten about until that moment. Kojou’s face went pale as he looked at the completely innocent, smiling face of the one he’d made that important promise to.
For some reason, Asagi, in some seriously put-together street clothes, seemed to be enjoying watching the completely rocked Kojou.
“I brought her. Kirasaka told me that you were aboard this ship, you see.”
“A…Asagi… Why, when did you and Kirasaka become a thing…?!”
Kojou moaned as his back became slick from sweat.
He glanced to see what Yukina’s reaction was, but a bewildered look had come over her face. Apparently things had become even more complicated during their absence from Itogami Island.
“I was all worried about you being kidnapped by a corporation with a private army, but looks like I shouldn’t have bothered. Looks like you’re getting along
really
nicely with a cute foreign girl, too.”
“I’m not! Er, well, I am, but we don’t have the relationship you think we do… Right, Himeragi?”
“I suppose not… Certainly, senpai, you seem to be getting along with her quite a bit better than I thought.”
“H-Himeragi…!”
His request for a lifeline bluntly slapped aside by Yukina, the sight before Kojou’s eyes grew darker.
As a look of despair came over Kojou’s face, Asagi glared at him with a smiling, frosty expression.
“Well, fine. We’ve got lots of time, so I’m going to ask you
all
about what’s going on and why while you model for me.”
“Model, you mean…?”
That promise is still good?
wondered Kojou, his eyes starting to go dizzy. Certainly the deadline for the sketch was the next day.
Since she could hit the deadline if she drew the whole night, Asagi’s request wasn’t off the mark.
But under these circumstances, posing as her model meant that Asagi’s lengthy interrogation would continue until the moment she finished drawing, didn’t it?
“You won’t dare turn me down, will you? All of a sudden, I have
tons
of creative desire in me.”
An elegant smile came over Asagi as she snapped her fingers.
Kojou silently presented his hand.
This is what I get for defying a servant of God
, thought Kojou in anguish, once more cursing his own ill fortune.
As the evening sun sank into the horizon, a new night visited the Demon Sanctuary.
And so, the daily trials and tribulations of Kojou Akatsuki, the Fourth Primogenitor, continue even today.
Forgive the inconsistency, but if I were answering a questionnaire about what a girl who just falls out of the sky might have been riding on, I’d definitely put an “airship” pretty high up on my list, though I wonder if that’d be true for real. In this case, the girl in question really is a princess, so I thought an airship was picture-perfect in so many ways.
So, we’ve finally made it to
Strike the Blood
, Volume 3.
Usually the setting is a drab man-made island, but this time, I thought I’d go somewhere a little more “outdoor.” There probably wasn’t enough tension to make it a real survival situation, but since I personally enjoy stories where someone’s washed up on a mysterious island (…though the details vary in my case), I had a lot of extra fun writing this. Having said this, I actually cut about half the deserted island scenes I’d had in mind.
I’m sure most of you already started to guess, but the reason why was that it was focusing on those two without the story advancing one tiny bit. It felt a little like cutting an episode out, but if I’d submitted the whole deal, I’d probably feel like I was banging against the publisher’s door, so I figured, yeah, it’s a good idea to cut it.
So, we have the arrival of yet another heroine for this volume. But this time it’s Sayaka who got shoved aside. Actually, I hadn’t planned on Sayaka appearing in this volume whatsoever; even after meeting with the editor, I put my foot down and said, “She’s not in it.” But being that obstinate doesn’t do any good, so I relented in the end. Sayaka is probably
a bit concerned about being wedged between Asagi, the classmate with home field advantage, and our new heroine, but as the creator, I’m overjoyed to welcome such a wonderful new character to the fold.
While on the subject of new heroines, let me borrow Kanon Kanase’s personality for a moment and take the opportunity to thank all of the creators for your assistance. Thank you very much, you’re lifesavers.
And finally, sincere and deepest thanks to Manyako for another round of superb, charming illustrations! And let me thank from the bottom of my heart Yukiwa the editor and everyone who worked to get this book into print!
And a very hearty thanks to all of you readers who have read this book.
I hope to see you again next volume.
Gakuto Mikumo
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STRIKE THE BLOOD, Volume 3
GAKUTO MIKUMO
Cover art by Manyako
Translation by Jeremiah Bourque
SUTORAIKU ZA BURADDO
©GAKUTO MIKUMO 2012
Edited by ASCII MEDIA WORKS
First published in Japan in 2012 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.
English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through TUTTLE-MORI AGENCY, INC., Tokyo.
English translation © 2016 Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First ebook edition: May 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-34552-1
E3-20160426-JV-PC