Vol 9 Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – Midnight“Claudia!”Ignoring the acute pain running through his body, Ayato held Claudia in his arms.A black blade was stuck deeply into her chest and the overflowing blood had soaked her torn uniform.“Fufufu…… are you safe, Ayato……?”Even so, Claudia stretched out her hand to Ayato’s cheek while smiling gently.“Yes, I’m fine……! More importantly, about you, Claudia……!”As he spoke, Ayato realized that she was in quite a dangerous condition.“Ah…… sorry, Ayato…… please, don’t make such a face…… you’ve done, nothing wrong after all…… Even if I say that, it’ll be no use, I guess…… Fufufu…… really, sorry……”Despite the situation she was in, Claudia had an expression of satisfaction that had never been seen on her face before.“I’m…… really, selfish…… but, Fufufu…… finally…… I’ve finally reached this time……”“Claudia! Hang in there!”Ayato pressed the wound trying to stop the bleeding even a little, but it was no use at all.“That’s right…… even in the dream…… no, exactly this moment that I saw in the dream…… how long I have eagerly waited for it…… you’ll probably never understand……”Claudia’s voice got gradually weaker and blurred.Her pupils have already lost their focus.Before long, a trickle of tears spilled over the corner of her eyes mixing with raindrops.“Ah…… I’m very happy…… Ayato…… to me, such…… such a wonderful time…… surely after this……no matter how much time passes……. Such a feeling, I will never……”The hand that was touching Ayato’s cheek weakly fell.“Claudia!”He shuddered for a moment, but it looked like she just lost consciousness.Although the wound was deep, he would probably make it in time if he carried her to a hospital. Director Jan Korbel’s motto was not just for show.──However.“Kukuku……! This is splendid; I picked up luck in an unexpected way……!”“……!”Ayato glared at Bujinsai who shook his shoulders as he said so while staggering.“After all, the original target is that young lady.”The old man, whose eyes glittered, picked up his staff that fell on the ground, his gaze showing no signs of faltering at all, and turned it towards Ayato and Claudia.“But, as expected I won’t feel relieved until I drop them. Both your heads, that is……!”It looked like Bujinsai still intended to continue.Though Bujinsai seemed to be wounded quite severely, Ayato had also reached his limit.Although he did not know to what extent he could fight back, he could not just sit back and wait to be beaten without doing anything.(No matter what it takes, I must pull through this and carry Claudia to a hospital as soon as possible……!)“Hmm……?”But then, a black-clothed figure suddenly appeared before such Bujinsai and whispered something into his ear.“──”“What……?”Bujinsai’s expression distorted and he annoyingly clicked his tongue.“Tch, no choice then……! Let’s temporarily retreat!”As soon as he spoke, Bujinsai plunged into the rainy, dark night and disappeared with the cloaked figure.“……I don’t quite understand, but did we pull through……?”『──Well, I caused quite a chaos in their ranks by crushing their healing ability users after all. And incidentally, the young ladies over there seem to have rampaged quite a lot, so they would probably soon reach their limits in blockading this area.』A space window that displayed these words suddenly appeared in front of Ayato as he was muttering to himself in utter amazement.“Uwah……!?”As the space window moved, Ayato followed it to the figure of a woman, with a strange mask, emerging from the shade of a warehouse.Although Ayato immediately put his guard up, the woman waved at him in a panic.『No, um, I know that telling you not to be on your guard would be unreasonable, but can you at least stay quiet there and trust me?』The characters on the space window were replaced by new ones and the woman raised both her arms as to show that he had no intention to fight.“Who on earth are you……?”Upon close inspection, the woman also had injuries here and there on her body. They were quite serious injuries at that, and in reality, just standing was probably painful for her.『I can’t reveal it, and there shouldn’t be time to leisurely explain the situation, right? There’s a pleasure boat, which I board on, nearby and a car has also been arranged on the opposite bank. I can send you two to a hospital.』Certainly, it was difficult for Ayato in his current state to carry Claudia to the hospital from here and he did not know how much time it would take.“……Got it. Then please.”As Ayato made up his mind and said so, the woman greatly nodded.『Okay, now that it’s been decided, let’s hurry. From what I see, she seems to be in quite a dangerous state.』“Yes……!”She did not need to say it as he knew it.Ayato carried Claudia and followed the woman moving ahead.『Oh, that’s right. I saw the fight earlier, but it was quite thrilling seeing how you kicked that old man’s ass. You ain’t bad.』“Yea……”『……As I thought, I want to have a bout with you one day, too.』These words, which were displayed, disappeared immediately after a short moment along with the space window.Thus, Ayato did not see them. ＊ “Retreat, you say……!?”The melee where allies and enemies were jumbled together suddenly stopped at this voice of Silas.Julis, who was breathing heavily, looked at Saya and Kirin to see what was going on, but the two girls also had perplexed expressions, indicating that they were also clueless as to what has halted the assault.“W-What is the meaning of this……?! I didn’t hear about it……!?”It seemed to be the same for the enemy side though.Surrounding Julis and company were the Shadow Star’s agents, who put on a hood, and several men in black clothes that joined in the middle of the battle. The latter was probably the Yabuki Clan.When they were facing only the Shadow Star, Julis and company had the upper hand instead ── probably because the Shadow Star’s number one purpose was to hold them back at all costs ── but, after the Yabuki Clan joined, the situation instantly reversed and Julis and company were steadily cornered.Even so, that they could somehow hold out was the results of their repeated special training for the <gryps>. Even inside the melee, they promptly took coordination and escaped from a predicament, and at times they struggled through by entrusting their backs to each other.However, one could not deny that they were outnumbered from the beginning.Moreover, the enemies were not a mob of small fries, each one of them was a suitable expert on his own.At this rate, they would be overcome before long ── or at least it should have been like that when at that time, Silas’ flustered voice of earlier resounded.“Are you telling us to pull back despite cornering them so far? Such, such a thing, I’ll never……!”“──”Standing beside Silas was probably a man of the Yabuki Clan.As he was calm in contrast with the perplexed Silas, no sooner than the man gave a signal, the Yabuki Clan disappeared as if melting from the place of the melee.“Guuuuh! We’ll retreat as well……!”Though Silas was bright red in frustration and anger, the containers, who were floating in the air until now, came down one after another at the same time. It was not as if they were aimed at Julis and company, it was just that he simply cancelled his ability.Water splash and splinters of the gouged ground flew about, and Julis unintentionally protected her face.It was just an instant, but the Shadow Star’s figures have disappeared when Julis raised her face.Left behind were Julis and company, who looked at each other and then sank down to the ground at all once before long.“Haa…… does this mean, that we somehow managed it……?”With a face saying that she hadn’t quite grasped the situation yet, Kirin muttered so.“……I’m tired.”Saya rescinded her lux as well and lay down face up.At the area where water splashed, there seemed to be a big puddle of water, but all of them were already sopping wet anyway. So it would change nothing at this late hour.“No, our original purpose is Claudia’s rescue. Until we confirm it……”Julis said so and was going to stand up, but she staggered as he could not fill strength in her legs.“Um, are you all right?”“Y-Yea, no problem.”She held back the worried Kirin with one hand and greatly exhaled while putting the other hand on the ground-covered debris to support herself.Because she has released large-scale techniques in succession until a while ago, she seemed to have considerably consumed prana. Thinking about tomorrow’s semifinal, she should naturally have saved it, but it was also a fact that it was not a situation where she could save spare energy.──Then, she received a call on the portable terminal inside her pocket.“! Is it Ayato?!”As Julis cried out, Saya quickly got up and Kirin bent herself forward.When she hastily opened a space window, Ayato’s serious face was projected there.『──Julis, are you safe?』“Well, somehow. More importantly, what happened to your side? Where are you right now? And what about Claudia……?”To Julis, who enthusiastically questioned in rapid succession, Ayato answered.『I’m in the hospital right now. And, Claudia is──』 ＊ It was about time when the date changed that Claudia woke up.“Where is…… this place?”To Claudia, who slowly opened her eyes, Ayato, who has been at her side all along, teasingly said.“Unfortunately, it’s not heaven.”Then, Claudia revealed a lonely wry smile, moved only her head and looked at Ayato.“I know that. Either way, where I’ll go will be hell, right?”“Since you can speak that much, it looks like you’re all right.”For the time being, he heaved a sigh of relief.“This is a special room of the hospital. Until a little while ago, there was a doctor that is a healing ability user……”“……Ah, no wonder the wound in my chest is already healed.”In fact, the power of a healing ability user that Ayato witnessed for the first time should have been something to be impressed about.But, prana’s consumption seemed intense accordingly and he could agree that unless it was a life-threatening injury, one could not receive its blessing.Because of that, even though Ayato should have suffered considerable injuries, he was given only normal treatment. Although, Director Jan Korbel expressly showed up and made the treatment personally, so he should be thankful.“As expected, the healing ability users of a hospital are excellent after all…… to the point of being hateful.”Ayato did not fail to hear these words that she added in a low voice at the end.“──Claudia, could you explain it to me?”When Ayato said so with a serious expression, Claudia cast down her eyes diverting her gaze and kept silent.A long silence.Even so, as Ayato was patiently waiting, Claudia eventually spoke.“……What do you want to hear?”“Just about everything.”Ayato gave an immediate reply without hesitation.“……Haa.”After heaving a somewhat indifferent sigh as she gave up, Claudia slowly raised her body and looked at Ayato.“I got it. You certainly have the right to hear it, I guess. But, you have already realized it, right? ──That dying today at that place was my true wish.”Deep dejection blurred on Claudia’s voice.With that alone, he was made to understand, whether he wanted it or not, that Claudia’s words were serious.As Claudia said, Ayato had vaguely realized it; but as expected, it was a shocking thing to hear her say it to him.“……Why would you do such a thing?”But, he asked as he managed to squeeze only these words.“Fufufu, well. You will definitely not understand why even if I explain. No, it’s not only you. I think that anyone on this earth other than me will never understand.”Claudia, who lonelily laughed, slowly closed her eyes as she said so.“I obtained