116 Plo (1/2)

Hitaka Shuho was wearing a red dress with front side-slits. She was clad in black armor, and underneath her dress she wore shorts with stockings. While her clothes were also somewhat tattered, they had sustained relatively little damage compared to Shika Kagura’s clothing.

The rain glanced away from her body; presumably she was shielded by some invisible barrier.

However, this wasn’t the important thing right now.

She was wielding a longsword with her right hand. The sharp blade was etched with runes and blood dripped down from its edge and tip.

In her left hand she held a gun. This gun was larger than the average handgun, and similar to the longsword, it was also engraved with runes. Seiji saw a pentagram and various crisscrossing lines which shone with a faint green glow on the gun’s body.

But this wasn’t the important thing either.

The important part was her expression.

The… veins on her forehead—or at least Seiji assumed they were veins—were bulging and squirming strangely. She currently looked was shockingly fierce and strange due to this phenomenon.

Her bloodshot eyes were filled with a distant sense of iciness.

Just the way she stood there on the cracked ground caused her to emit an almost tangible frosty pressure.

”Shuho…-san?” Seiji called out to her.

He had an ominous premonition.

Hitaka didn’t respond to his greeting and walked towards him with a hollow look in her eyes.

One step, two steps.

She suddenly revealed a pained expression, and her expression contorted.

Her left hand let go of that mysterious gun, but it disappeared in a flash of green light before it could hit the ground. Then, she clutched at her face in a way that indicated she was suffering.

”Shuho-san, what’s the matter…?”

This time, the red-haired girl finally turned her gaze towards Seiji.

”Seiji… Haruta… why… are you here!?”

”That’s… Snow Girl… What’s… the relationship between you and her!?”

A strange light flashed through Hitaka’s eyes as she suddenly raised the longsword in her hand.

Snow Girl?

Seiji’s mind raced at top speed.

Shika Kagura was the Spirit-branded Retainer which Natsuya and Hitaka had desperately been trying to find and obstruct!? No… that was impossible! Natsuya had already investigated her background and eliminated Shika from her list of suspects!

‘That can only mean one thing: Snow Girls… there must be two of them!’

Seiji finally understood.

The Snow Girl who had spread the energy-draining drug and froze people to death was one Snow Girl retainer.

And Shika Kagura, who had entered school and tried to live an ordinary school life, was another Snow Girl.

Shika never did anything strange at school and tried to lead as normal a life as possible for her. That was why Natsuya had been unable to detect Shika’s true identity.

But when Natsuya’s detection spell activated and Hitaka set out to stop Snow Girl, the two Snow Girls exchanged places!

And so, Shika Kagura who shouldn’t have been a suspect anymore was the one who ended up fighting with Hitaka Shuho.

Shika possessed the ”Reaper’s Curse.”

In that case, since Hitaka had injured Shika to the point of death, what would happen to Hitaka…

”Answer me, Haruta!!” Hitaka screamed at Seiji.

It was evident that her current state was abnormal.

”Calm down, Shuho-san… Hitaka Shuho! I’m not your enemy!” Seiji said in a loud voice. ”I’ve figured it out; you might have made a mistake… You’ve fallen into a trap!”

”Trap… Me?” Hitaka clutched at her face again. ”I can’t… fall into a trap… I can’t fail… for Milady’s sake…

”Wahh…. AHHHH!!!!” she shouted in pain.

However, she suddenly stopped.

Seiji’s ominous premonition grew even stronger.

The red-haired girl slowly allowed her hands to fall down as her eyes turned empty and hollow again, displaying an incomparable iciness.

Pressure… or some sort of formless energy seemed to be pressing down on Seiji!

He almost felt like throwing up.

The next second.

The red-haired girl disappeared from where she was standing and reappeared right before Seiji in a flash, her sword raised… and she swung at him!

[Bullet Time] activation!

Seiji saw the sword speeding towards his neck.

He managed to dodge it in the nick of time by rolling on the ground.

*Slash!*

Even though Hitaka’s sword clearly didn’t touch the ground, a deep crevice appeared in the direction she had swung her sword!