Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume2 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 2===

It was a rainy night.

Countless giant bridges crisscrossed through the air, as if weaving their way through the gaps in the giant buildings. The rain never seemed to end, but the light from projectors reflected off of those raindrops. In addition to the normal decorative lights, giant mascots danced through the night sky. If one leaned over the railing and looked down to the dark sea at the lowest level, they would find it filled with dancing light, as if glow-in-the-dark paint had been dumped into the water.

This was the Rainy Screen campaign.

It was supposed to be a special event to keep guests coming to the amusement park, but to the residents who had to live with it for days on end, the colorful lights and deluge of noise from directional speakers had grown into a horrible nuisance.

According to the clock of light projected on a film of water flowing down a building wall, it was 7:30 PM.

That was when Librarian-chan should have arrived at her “risky job”, but she had not made it due to some trouble.

However, she did not have to worry about her boss being angry with her.

She looked incredibly confused as she held the umbrella and held a cellphone to her ear.

“U-um, like I said, I’m telling you I’m going to be late…”

“I’m not sure what to tell you. Recruit #1077B? …I’ve checked several times now and I can’t find that file.”

“Boss! I worked there last week too.”

“Yes, yes. If you’re trying to claim I messed up so you can work without any paperwork or an interview, it’s not going to work. Adult society isn’t that simple.”

When her boss hung up on her, she stared at the small screen in a daze.

“Didn’t I tell you?” asked Kyousuke with a sigh. “You have to be in their field of vision.”

“…I can’t believe this.”

“If you want, you can try someone from our class, your family, or the police. Try calling whoever you want. I guarantee you not one of them will take you seriously. It’s like you’ve been forgotten by the entire world.”

“…”

Librarian-chan rubbed her thumb across the phone’s buttons.

She hesitated for a bit, but she did not try any of the speed dial numbers.

The boss she had only known for a week had been enough of a shock.

Her heart may have been rejecting the fear of being forgotten and left behind by someone she knew far better than that.

“But the information hasn’t been completely erased or anything. Once you’re directly in their field of vision, they’ll remember it all for as long as you’re there.”

“Then…”

“Are you finally ready to hear about the summoning ceremony?”

Kyousuke doubted any normal person would be able to accept a description of summoners and vessels if it was just suddenly thrown at them.

The fastest method was to actually summon a Material, but that required a one-on-one battle. That is, it was easy to do, but it would mean a fight to the death.

On the other hand, safely and surely demonstrating that paranormal world was quite difficult. It was said that you did not even take your first real step into the world of summoning until you could smoothly explain it all.

“Anyway, you don’t have to worry about your job, so I think it would make sense to focus on your sister. Or should I call her the Rainy Girl?”

“You can do something about my sister?”

“As long as we can catch her. We control the beings that lurk beyond the gods, so there’s no way we could lose to a human ghost.”

“…”

Librarian-chan’s face looked pale and thoughtful as it reflected the countless lights in the rain. It almost looked like she herself had become a ghost, left behind by the flow of time.

Kyousuke sighed.

“Your condition is only temporary, so don’t worry about it.”

“Eh? I can go back…to normal?”

“Once this is over, you just have to end your contract with me. Not counting extreme outliers like Lu-san who earned more than 100 Awards as a vessel alone, the supernatural is generally reliant on the summoner. The vessel becomes a normal person again once the contract is gone.”

That meant Kyousuke could not return to normal.

Once they lost sight of him, even a friend or lover would completely forget about him. And that would never change.

And once he died and was buried, no one could ever see him again.

The fact that he had died – no, that he had lived – would be sealed away behind the lid of forgetfulness.

“If you just want to return to normal, we could do it right away. But that would leave your sister’s issue unresolved. You might not know what I mean by the summoning ceremony, but you’ve at least sensed that there’s a ‘strange power’ at work here, right? Separating you from your sister without that would be quite difficult. Can you believe me about that?”

“It’s true I can’t rely on a knife or a gun when my sister’s like that. But I don’t know of any staffs that shoot out fire when you swing them. …This is the only mysterious power I know about.”

She seemed to be speaking to herself more than to Kyousuke.

Stepping past the “common sense” that bordered on science worship was more painful than one would expect.

But it was probably not due to Kyousuke’s way with words that she had been able to do so.

It was due to how cornered she was already feeling.

This had not been her first time to encounter the Rainy Girl, so she had already tried everything she could and discovered first-hand just how fragile “common sense” could be.

So she had stepped past it.

She had let go of the world she had been born to and she had plunged into this world.

“Where should we start?”

“Well.” Kyousuke spoke in his usual tone of voice while holding an umbrella. “How about we start by binding your body?”

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Librarian-chan fell silent for a bit.

Then she smiled brightly.

Lastly, an impressive sound burst out into the city night.

A girl’s wholehearted slap contained a special power!!

“Bgh, gbhah!?”

“You’re the worst!! You really are the worst!! Shiroyama-kun, did you think you could take advantage of my situation to do whatever you wanted with me!?”

“N-no, wait. Let me explain…”

“Explain what!? The details of your special ‘proclivities’!?”

With umbrella and school bag in hand, Librarian-chan tightly held her own body, blushed bright red, and snapped back at him.

Kyousuke was a little overwhelmed at being branded a pervert.

“I-in the world of the summoning ceremony, a summoner fights alongside a vessel. You’re that vessel right now, Librarian-chan. But there’s a risk of you summoning vengeful or evil spirits and other things beyond my instructions.”

“…”

Librarian-chan could not have understood even half of what Kyousuke was talking about.

However, the mention of vengeful or evil spirits was enough for her expression to cloud over.

“We need a safety to prevent that. …It can be anything really, as long as it’s a symbol that solidifies your heart. Collars and handcuffs are the most obvious, but it can also be something closely related to your everyday life. There has to be something you use to restrain your actions or desires, right? Like a scale or your skirt’s zipper.”

“Why are your examples focused on my weight and measurements?”

“Because those are pretty common for girl vessels. For example, some use a push up bra, bra pads, or-…gweh!?’

As soon as Kyousuke made his insensitive comment, Librarian-chan acted on behalf of every worrying maiden on the planet by slamming her school bag into his face.

“Sigh. In other words, it can be anything I wear that keeps me focused? I have no idea if it will work, but I suppose it’s worth trying, just like a protective charm or something.”

“Uuh… I made sure to explain everything properly, so why do you have to treat me like this?”

“In that case, hmm. This might work for me.”

Librarian-chan showed Kyousuke her right wrist.

She wore a very, very small wristwatch that’s face was only the size of her little finger’s nail.

“I always wear it when I head out, so it’s the first thing that came to mind when it comes to switching my tension on and off.”

“Then that would be best. Do you have any emotional attachment to it?”

“It cost a fair bit, but not really.”

“Then let’s stop by a clock shop. I want to modify it a little.”

“By adding in a magic charm or something?”

“No, I’ll just swap out the strap. I want to add in the symbolism of the summoner modifying it and giving it to you. That will make sure it works.”

To get the work done, they left the usual path and looked around for the necessary store.

They first tried a brand-name shop that sold all the best clock maker brands, but they gave up when they saw all the zeros on the price tags. They next tried a repair shop run by an old man and had the watch’s strap replaced with one made from a thin silver chain.

“That completes our preparations. I doubt it will be a problem since you always wear it anyway, but make sure you don’t forget to keep that on. Got that?”

“Understood.”

Librarian-chan rubbed her wrist to check the feel of the new strap.

“But what exactly do we do now? Stay up every night waiting for my sister to show up?”

“We’re going to bring the fight to the Rainy Girl. I don’t know how much truth there is to the rumors, but I recommend changing into clothes you can wear out on a rainy night.”

“Even though everyone will forget about me?”

“They’ll remember if you happen to run into them. And wouldn’t it be best to avoid playing a game of tag with a police officer?”

Just once, Kyousuke checked the surrounding area on his smartphone’s map.

“We’re a bit far from my cruiser, so I’ll go grab a change of clothes from a storage locker near here. You head back to your home and change into some casual clothes. Try to make it as adult-looking as possible to match the situation.”

With that said, Kyousuke started to leave, but Librarian-chan tugged on his arm.

“Wait,” she said in a weak voice. “Don’t leave me.”

“Summoners and vessels are both ‘removed from the norm’, so we won’t forget each other even if we can’t see each other.”

“That doesn’t matter.” She bit her lip once and finally continued her confession. “I’m scared to be alone ‘here’. Please stay with me.”