Vol 1 Chapter 1 (2/2)
”I I can't use ”
”Don't worry about it It will be enough for now if you sin and stamp here”
Nekoyashi+ki smiled and nodded
Itsuki's avenues of escape were vanishi+ng one by one
Suddenly, Mikan grabbed the ar onto it with her small hands, her mouth formed a へ shape
””
Wordlessness
””
Silence
””
Stillness
Itsuki finally cracked
”Al-Alright”
”Al-Alright”
He gave the slightest nod
”That's wonderful, President!”
”Onii-chan's a president~!”
”Meo! Meeeow!”
Cheers came from all sides of the office
Washed away by the sound of the cheers, Itsuki was crushed by despair
” A~ah”
Heaving a huge sigh, Itsuki unsteadily hit his forehead against the swing's chain Lowering his head, he looked like an old e of death
This is bad! This is really bad!
No matter how he looked at it, it was bad By soician company Even more of a mystery was his employees
”Along with Mikan andEurope, and we've got a new eot three or so freelancers helping us part-time,” Nekoyashi+ki had said
Since then, ten days had passed Furtherotten involved in ahome with heavy steps, it was natural for him to stop in the park
It was a small park
It was near his house and he would flee here often ever since kindergarten It was in a dead zone forh Occasionally, he would hide in the earthen pipe tucked away in the shadow of a tree and finally be able to sleep soundly
”Even if I hide, nothing will change”
He looked irresolutely at the earthen pipe He struggled over whether he should really hide in it Even if he went to America like Yuuka said, it wasn't likely that Nekoyashi+ki would give up on him
— But, at a time like this, the earthen pipe was a place where he could ball up his misfortune
After heaving his fifty-sixth sigh, Itsuki got up fro
Ping!
Suddenly, it felt as though a hot, iron spike had pierced his right eye
”--gh!”
It was just a hallucination, right?
Right?
Actually, it was a sensation like approaching death Heck, it felt like death itself So had turned the park into a veritable hell in just a moment
He couldn't turn around
No matter what happened, he couldn't turn around
But he did And there
”You are the president of
”Uwa~ah!”
Itsuki ju the voice from behind him
There shouldn't have been anyone else in the park There were only two entrances and he hadn't seen anything pass through either of them
Nonetheless, a girl stood before him
I am called Adilisia • lenn • Mathers
Like destiny, like a night
”ah”
Itsuki couldn't speak Stuck on his butt, he simply flapped his mouth open and closed
”My my”
At his appearance, the girl smiled from ear to ear
”Excuse me, but I did not want to intrude on your ho to link me directly to your location First, at least look me in the eyes I am called Adilisia • lenn • Mathers I am pleased to make your acquaintance”
Grasping the skirt of her pure black dress, she ant curtsey
She looked as though she had been pulled straight out of a western painting She was beautiful
Even in the night, her hair was a brilliant gold color, and it was set into vertical curls Her strong, green eyes looked down at Itsuki Here and there, coold and silver thread adorned her dress She seee as Itsuki
”You-You are”
As Itsuki struggled to regain the use of coherent speech, the girl smiled and waited
However, her s his next sentence
” Reading? Are you an employee of
”No”
The girl's—Adilisia's—cheeks quickly turned a rosy crimson
At the saht eye
Aah!
With that pain, he knew
This was spell power
The origin of all thesehad been captured thanks to spell power, and it was co any spells
”How dare you! To call me an employee of
Itsuki's skin began to go nuan to swirl Under his eye patch, Itsuki's right eye seemed ready to explode
”Uh Did I say so?”
”—!”
”Uwa!”
Seeing the girl's face freeze, Itsuki grasped his eye patch quickly
”It can't be you don't even know?” Adilisia asked in a too-gentle gentle voice
” Huh?”
”Are you telling me that you do not know the name Adilisia • lenn • Mathers?”
Itsuki's right eye, and his throat, hurt
When he gulped, the gob of saliva felt like a stone
If he answered carelessly, he thought he would definitely die He felt the touch of death through his individual hairs, creeping into the pieces of his soul Thinking only of that feeling, he was like a poor little animal about to be eaten
Feeling his heart thu loudly, he desperately nodded his head
”Y-Yes”
” Hmph I see”
Adilisia's eyes grew dead cold
”The president of
I only just became the president!
””
The girl glared at Itsuki, who si He felt as if he were a frog being stared down by a snake
”You aren't lying, are you? Are you really Iba Itsuki?”
”Y-Yes, I am, but”
His words caught in his throat, Itsuki looked back up at the girl before him
Her fearsohastliness about it had slightly diminished
Between the two of the
”It is okay It see you, President of
Throwing back her golden hair, Adilisia let out a sh She seemed to make all of her movements separately
Sloalking forward, she moved to Itsuki's side
With all the pomp of a queen, she issued an order
”Withdraw from the next offer”
”Offer?”
Itsuki boggled his eye at her
He was utterly un-infor
Nekoyashi+ki-san, you said I would just have to sign and sta would be fine!
”Uh sure”
”Wonderful If that is the case, then there is a way”
Saying this, the girl pulled a sheet of so from somewhere in her dress
It was piece of parchment
It was also kind of oh surface seeh it, and the red letters scrawled across it looked sort of like human blood
”Uh um this is”
”Did you not just make your decision? If you do not understand anization> Everything will be fine with just one signature”
Adilisia smiled
It was a flowery smile, but it made Itsuki break into a cold sweat
”Sign?”
”Yes, if you just pull out of the next job, everything will be fine”
She spoke in a whisper that could well have been that of Mephistopheles, who had stolen the soul of a philosopher
However, Itsuki hesitated in taking the quill and parchment held out to him by Adilisia
”What is the matter?”
”Nothing, it's just”
Stiffening his face, Itsuki laughed a skills as president
Unable to judge his appearance, Adilisia gave a single nod
”If that is the case, allow me to lend you a hand”
”Huh?”
”--Co sixty armies--”
A shrieking snake appeared in Adilisia's hand in a flash
”U-Uwa!”
In front of Itsuki, who had begun to shout, the snake's eyes twinkled brightly
In an instant, Itsuki's voice was caught in his throat and his body became petrified
”Now, let us continue”
Hunh?
His body began to move on its own
With empty eyes, Itsuki took the quill and parchment and his body obeyed Adilisia
Huh--!? This isn't good!
His body neglecting his will, he took the quill and touched it to the parchment
” Yes”
A smile bloomed across Adilisia's face like a flower
But then
”That's as far as you go”
A third cold voice fell
Yes—it fell to the ground
Part 3
Soh the darkness
With a swift gust, the parchh the air, they caught fire and burned to ash
”Uwah!”
Itsuki reflexively waved his hand Just as the parchained control of his body
”— Mistletoe Spear”
Picking up the s thrown at her feet, Adilisia looked up at the sky
”Honami!”
Another character had appeared, floating in the night sky
She sat horizontally on an old broom with her back to the moon Her chestnut-colored hair was tied back with a ribbon She wore a surprisingly large, pointed hat Her fingers wrapped around a twisted oak rod
— Yes, she had the appearance of a witch straight out of a fairytale
However, the one thing about her different fro a sailor uniforirl of about fifteen or sixteen wearing a pointed hat and a dark cape
And though it was unrelated to the situation, Itsuki thought she was pretty
If Adilisia was a ly raised, blue rose She didn't have the brilliance of a geure was unparalleled She wasn't a sure winner but there was no counting her out of the race just yet
”Aren't you overdoing things a bit, Addie? I think su a bit too far”
Frolasses, her ice-blue eyes smiled
”Do not act overly-fa me by such a name!”
Adilisia waved her hand widely
She took on a belligerent deance had been a lie
Anger flared up in her eyes She see at an irreconcilable enemy
”I have already explained According to the <organization>, the next <night> is going to be rather significant It is no time for
”Okay,” the girl called Honanificant', <goetia>'s youngest leader in history came all the way out to this Far-East back-country?”
”That is none of your business I take on the work that I wish to do That is all”
”Well then, I suggest you stoppasses at our president”
Honaed
Itsuki, watching from the side, could tell howabout The pain in his right eye that he had forgotten about suddenly returned in full force
Even so, the witch on the broohtly brushed off Adilisia's words
With that, he could tell that this person was of the saher than Adilisia
gh
Finally realizing as going on, Itsuki held his breath
Does this ician shon!?
And of course, he ide open in the middle of it Not only was his life at risk, his soul was too
However, he couldn't escape
The spell power in Adilisia began to areater aical battle of uniin
Itsuki felt as though a drill was boring through his eye patch straight into his right eye
More than the pain, though—he felt a horrible sensation that so invaded
Finally, the park itself seemed to turn into an alternate world
” Let us stop this Tonight is not the ti her arm ”Since we are contracted to do the same work, ill unfortunately be in conflict That is e shall weigh our relative merits”
”Whatever”
”—!”
Adilisia bit her lip at Honami's blunt response
However she i her head and chanted, ”Co thirty armies”
A pale, phantoht wind blew through the park, Adilisia's figure disappeared
”A Solomon demon that transports people instantly? There's quite a crowd of them, aren't there?”
Giving a sh, Honami looked down at the park
”This little spell power probably won't disappear quick What was she planning to do if that turned into spell wave pollution?”
Pushi+ng up her hat whileinto each of the four corners of the park
”Ah”
Itsuki raised his voice
The pain in his right eye disappeared in a flash The spell power that re ritual
”That'll do it, probably”
The witch on the broom dusted off her hands
She then lowered her gaze to Itsuki
”Is your right eye alright?”
”Ah ah, yeah”
Since it looked like she had been worried for him, he nodded quickly Not a bit of pain remained
”I see That's great, then,” she said nonchalantly She slowly floated down and stood in front of Itsuki
Standing right in front of him, the witch seemed even lovelier Her chestnut hair mixed with the color of her eyes was probably because she was of mixed race
Blood began rushi+ng to Itsuki's head
Walking up to him to the point that he could feel her breath, the witch held out a hand to Itsuki's cheek
”Uwah!”
”You're bleeding”
She wiped a white finger below his eye patch It was soft, pleasant, and sood
She slid the finger softly across his eye patch
””
The witch's eyes grew slightly narrow
”Wh-What is it?”
”— Nothing It's pretty sensitive, so you could have lost your eyesight from that spell power Be careful Also, take this Nekoyashi+ki-san asked ive it to you”
She pressed a se into Itsuki's hand Frorae
”A co you're an
Not responding to his question, Honaonally It should have fallen over, but it floated in the airthe witch's petite body
”— Honami Takase Ambler”
”Huh?”
”That's et to know each other for real to home like this, okay?President”
S faintly, the witch's shape flew off somewhere into the sky
The badge in Itsuki's hand sparkled, reflecting the light of the moon
Part 4
The next day
Itsuki exae as he sat at his desk in the classrooht and ended up going to school early
I wonder if there really isn't any way to get out of this
Itsuki began to worry again
He felt al incident and the park the night before, he felt as though he had died and come back to life He had been involved in supernatural incidents before, but nothing like as happening now
No, there's only one way
Holding onto the badge, he ran his hand across his eye patch
He thought of when he had to start wearing it
He didn't rearten He had been chased by a e wound that could have cost hiht eye was completely useless for a week and eventually beca the use of an eye patch
Though I can still see h the patch is over it
Itsuki sighed No ht, it was bad luck that he couldn't sell back Rather, they were having a bargain on hees
He tapped the badge on his desk,like a wind chime
I wonder if that girl's going to be at the office today, he suddenly thought, becoain
Nekoyashi+ki had told him to come to the office after school However, wasn't that just stepping deeper into the swa Yuuka and flying off to America
”What's that badge?” Yamada asked from behind him
”Ack! Uh, it's nothing”
Flustered, Itsuki waved his right hand He had apparently been lost in thought for a while When he looked around, he saw the usual boisterousness that preceded homeroom
Cutting through two or threethe start of class rang
The door rattled
”—”
Itsuki was frozen solid, right down to his individual brain cells
In contrast to Itsuki's reaction, cheers began to echo across the classroohty percent of the male students and all of the fe out
It was because the hoirl
No correction
There were two girls
”Uh I don't know if you've all heard or not, but these two transfer students will be joining our class from now on First, introduce yourselves”
Itsuki didn't hear the teacher's sleepy voice at all Probably because his ears wanted to refuse what he was hearing
”I am called Adilisia • lenn • Mathers I will only be here for a few months But for now, it is a pleasure to meet you all”
”I'uys”
Ah the roo
It was the sound of his peaceful life being smashed and scattered across the floor
Scene change
Later that evening, a single man stepped into a certain park
It was the park where Itsuki had first seen Honaht before There were no children left in the park and against the backdrop of the deep cri swayed forlornly in the wind
”Looks like this is the place after all”
The man slackened his blank face
He was a hard ested he was in his twenties And he wore a business suit with no peculiarities He was about th of his nose, the thickness of his lips, the size of his eyebrows, the deepness of his eyes—they all seee
It was as if his characteristics defied any attempt to characterize him
There was one thing that didn't follow the rule: the L-shaped wires he held in each hand
The two parallel wires occasionally twitched left or right and the man followed their direction precisely, as if he were remote-controlled
This was the
It used a person's subconscious to find hidden treasure or a source of water It was one of the old land
”Yes, yes”
Nodding, the le gym and the monkey bars
As he did, the ue and made a notation on his small map
It was a municipal map It was a 1/300,000 scale reduced map with several X marks and small annotations scrawled across it
”— Spell wave pollution class six to seven It looks like someone tried to clean it up, but it seems to have revived afterward The Ley Line[15] waves are all according to the calculations The <night> is near Now, the participants”
Folding up his map, the man took out a notepad
He let out a sigh
”<goetia> and
He see himself
Even so, his eyes did not shtest Only his lips stretched to either side of his face It looked al slash
The round of the park
</goetia></night></goetia></night></organization></organization></organization>