Kaze no Stigma:Volume2 Chapter 3

Kaze no Stigma Book 2 Chapter 3 Friendship –Contributions and Mistakes-

1

Late night------

“Damn it, I am not sure if I will make it in time.”

In order to get onto the last train, a teenager is rushing towards the station.

Takahashi Shuuji. A university student, twenty years old.

As a formal participant of the fencing club, his seemingly slender body is actually very well trained, there is no fat on it at all.

Due to an excessive intake of alcohol, his reflex is benumbed. Even so, the steps he take on the bricked ground does not seem that disordered.

“…… That’s weird?”

Shuuji suddenly had a strange feeling. He stops in his steps, and looks around him.

He found nothing suspicious, just an extremely normal underground passage that stretches a long way.

But------

“Hey…… Why is there no one here?”

Besides him, not a single soul can be seen in the area.

This is the underground passage to the ticket stand [actual text: 剪票口], even if it is past midnight, at this period of time at which the last train is about to reach the station, it is impossible that there is no one here at all.

“Rea…… Really, anything can happen.”

Shuuji finds some excuse to convince himself, and tries to suppress the uneasiness in his heart.

“I am…… I am going to miss the train at this rate……”

With a loud and clear tatata sound from his footsteps, Shuuji begins to move forward quickly. After a while it became a jog------ and in the end he ran at full speed, as if he is flying.

Tatata.

The sound made as the bottom of his leather shoes knock against the bricked ground, echoed throughout the entire soulless[or empty?] underground passage. Yet, no matter how long he walks, there is no sign of the ticket stand before him.

“Wha…… What the hell!? It should not be this long at all!”

The underground passage seems to stretch on endlessly. Surrounded by show windows with the metal doors pulled down at the sides, Shuuji gradually loses track of where he is.

He turns back, to check on the way he came.

“------ Eek!”

Shuuji takes a breath in. Before him is a long road that leads to who knows where. The stairs that lead to the surface which he walked past just now can no longer be seen.

“------!”

He changes his position[or direction?] once more. Back in the direction he was heading in earlier, the scene that is reflected in his eyes made Shuuji stare with his eyes widened.

The same as the way behind him, there is only one road that stretches until it disappears as far as he can see. Of course, there is no stairs or crossroads there either.

Shuuji is abandoned in the middle of the road that stretches endlessly, alone.

“What…… What is going on……”

Cold sweat breaks out from his face. Within the eyeballs that spin continuously, his pupils are slowly widening.

“What the hell is this about!!”

No one replies to his scream. His cry reverberates between the walls and ceiling, and gets sent back into Shuuji’s ears as a stacked echo. [actual text: 多重回音]

The teenager stumbles onto the ground, staring blankly on the floor with half mad, half sane eyes.

“……Ah?”

Suddenly, his eyes focus at one point. Because something is seeping through the gaps between the bricks on the floor.

“What……?”

That is a semi-transparent substance with a glue-like texture. It is originally the size of a ping-pong ball, it grows to the size of a baseball in a moment, and after not too long, it becomes as big as a soccer ball.

The glue-like substance shines with a rainbow coloured glow. If this thing is seen in a photo, maybe it will give a clear and lustrous refreshing feeling.

But the actual thing seen before his eyes, can only be described as ugly. It is just like a tumour, puke, or a filthy sticky piece of the two condensed to the maximum limit.

Under an instinctive disgust, Shuuji hurriedly jumps backwards. He jumps with force, landing two meters behind where he was, the sound of his steps spreads across the entire underground passage.

Gulch. [sound of some glue/fluid?]

“----------------!?”

He looks towards his feet in shock. There------ No, as far as he can see, the ground is covered in the filthy sticky pieces.

“Wa…… Wahhhh!!”

The sticky pieces that are in contact from under his legs slowly climbs onto Shuuji’s body. Even though he attempts to peel them off, but the sticky pieces are tougher than expected, firmly attaching themselves onto his limbs.

“…… Huh?”

The surroundings darken all of a sudden. When he raises his eyes that were staring at the area near his feet, his eyeballs almost popped out.

Before his eyes------ At a distance so close he can touch it by stretching his hand, a wall made from the sticky pieces appeared.

The sticky pieces scattered across the ground gathered around Shuuji, forming a semi-transparent round bucket. Looking through the round bucket that emits a lustrous glow, a distorted pillar, just like an avant-garde piece of art.

“……Argh……Ah……”

Shuuji shakes his head, unwilling to believe what is happening, in his mind he tries hard to deny the existence of that sticky piece.

However, this wish is not fulfilled.

The sticky piece that stacked even higher than his body, at this moment, collapses on him all at one go.

“…………..!”

Shuuji, who is too scared to say anything, his whole body completely wrapped within by the sticky piece.

Unable to withstand such a hair-raising feeling [or Unable to withstand this feeling that sends chills down ones spine] , Shuuji’s consciousness gets consumed by darkness.

And------ he never woke up ever again.

“The way you manipulated them left me speechless, but------“

In the space where there was no one originally, a boy’s clear voice sounds off.

“Don’t you think you wasted too much time?”

“This is the first time, naturally I had to be more cautious.”

A gentle female voice replies.

“Hmm, maybe!”

Kata.[sound of footstep.] The sound of one footstep sounded off.

Not sure since when were they there------ Two shadows suddenly appeared in the abnormal space that trapped Shuuji.

They are a seventeen or eighteen year old female, and a boy around ten years old. The girl’s height exceeds that of the boy by about thirty centimetres, but as for the position of the head, the boy’s head is slightly higher.

The two looks at Shuuji who is trapped in the sticky piece, chatting calmly.

“But, if you use so much time like this, who knows when it will be completed. To fulfil your wish, more power must be gathered.”

Right before the two of them, Shuuji slowly becomes emaciated.

He is being drained. [or absorbed?]

Is it his blood------? No.

Is it his moisture content------? That is wrong too.

Being surrounded by the sticky piece, Shuuji ages rapidly. All the vital essence across the teenager’s whole body------ The radiance of life is being expropriated, his life that should last over half a century has been used to its limit within a short period of several minutes.

“I understand this very clearly! I will do it more cleanly and quickly next time!”

The girl raises her head to look at the boy, and uses a determined tone to reply. As if to pacify the displeased girl, the boy gives a light smile.

“That is the way. You can do it.”

The tidily cut golden short hair waves lightly following the nodding motion.

Judging from the tone the two speak in, it seems that the young boy is of a higher status. [or position/standing/place/placing/rank?]

Maybe his actual age is not as young as his appearance, the emerald green eyes that looks innocent and naïve at first sight instead seems deep beyond comprehension.

The boy uses a clear and melodious voice like a silver bell to say solemnly..

“Because he who is right, will receive heaven’s protection.”

“……You mean this?”

Looking at the vital essence of the innocent teenager being continuously sucked dry by the sticky piece, the girl laughs mockingly.

“You are saying that this monster is the same as you? “Tenshi”-sama?”

“That sounds awful.”

The boy has no wings. A faint shine emits out from all over his body, as he floats in the air, the beautiful angelic face of his shows a bitter smile.

“Needless to say monsters, even devils cannot escape the grasp of God. Because, the only absolute God is capable of anything.”

The girl looks at the smiling angel(self claimed) with puzzled eyes. However, she does not reject the hand that he extends.

“No matter what your reason may be, I am very thankful that you lent me power. For mutual benefit, let us work together from now on!”

“------ One day, you are sure to experience the love of God too.”

Before the teenager who is gradually becoming a mummy, the two hands filled with personal desires and hypocrisy held together tightly.