The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume2 Chapter2

Status: Incomplete

3/10 parts completed

   

Stage 02: Summoners Fight in the Shadows Behind Strange Phenomena

“Would it be a violation of your style to ask why?”

“This is to keep you from telling anyone what you just now realized. I can’t say any more than that.”

(Stage 02 Open 04/30 19:30)

Summoners Fight in the Shadows Behind Strange Phenomena

Part ?

Yomikiri Newspaper, 10/22/20XX Edition.

Newspaper clipping of an editorial.

A young life has been lost. Her name was Umie Shouko-chan and she was an eleven year old girl living in Natsumi City. She was attacked by a man on the way back from school and was stabbed nineteen times in the head by a grass sickle.

How can people grow so violent?

The murderer…yes, the paperwork has yet to be completed as his address, occupation, and other identifying information are still unknown, so a name has yet to be revealed in the papers even though an arrest was definitely made. The man was apparently shouting nonsense such as, “They protect the children, they protect the women, they protect the sick, and they protect the old, but who’s going to protect me?” That large man had undergone genetic tuning by an underground doctor in order to leave behind no records, so it must have been strange indeed to see him throwing a tantrum.

When did people grow so very weak?

Why couldn’t he see that as his chance to be a protector?

Taking a life is the most unreasonable act there is. Even if it is taken in a fight over lifeboats and even if there is legal justification, I doubt the people of this world will ever approve of taking someone’s life. If you are willing to take a life to save a life, you must be taught the weight of a life as the guilt weighs on your conscience.

And in cases like this, it will not be rewarded.

Let us at least pray for her happiness in death. And let us pray that heaven really does exist.

Whatever result the human courts reach, that man will never go there. If heaven really does exist, it must be an ideal place where Shouko-chan will be surrounded by nothing but warmth and kindness.

Although that may be nothing more than a selfish wish of us adults who could not make this world into heaven.

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 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 friends 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.”

Part 3

They dealt with Kyousuke’s errand first.

He picked up a chance of clothes from a storage locker near the monorail station and he changed from his uniform and into his usual hoodie.

They then stopped by a student apartment in M Block.

It seemed to be Librarian-chan’s home.

It was located on the 27th floor of an ultra-high rise building towering up from the city. But with the large bridges on either side every five or ten stories, it felt more like being on the second or third floor.

The room was a stereotypical one-room apartment.

That meant she must not have been living with her family.

“Where are your parents?”

“They live somewhere else. …It’s like time stopped for them after my sister died. It was like being surrounded by the awkward silence of an elevator twenty-four hours a day. I just couldn’t stand it, so I used high school as a chance to leave.”

Librarian-chan turned on the lights and grabbed the air conditioner’s remote as she spoke.

“My mom and dad are kind and there isn’t any real problem with them. In fact, I think they’re more loving than in a normal family, even including the amount they give for allowance. But I couldn’t stand it. It was like I was getting everything that should have gone to my sister. They were probably telling me to be happy enough for my sister too, but it was a complicated feeling for me.”

That may have been why she talked about working part-time so often.

She did not want to rely on what should have gone to her sister, so she had decided to live off of money she earned herself.

“…”

Kyousuke glanced over at the table.

A few hard cover books sat there. At school, she had claimed to have only bought two or three books and to borrow the rest from her parents. That suggested their relationship was not entirely cut off and she visited them from time to time.

It was a complicated relationship, but she must not have felt completely cut off from them.

At the very least, she did not want to lose her connection to them. That was obvious from the fear she had felt when faced with the fact that summoners and vessels were so easily forgotten.

Some people who were dissatisfied with their life would actually rejoice when they heard that.

“Do you have a picture of your sister?”

“No.”

As she selected her clothing from the closet, Librarian-chan replied with a self-deprecating smile on her lips.

She walked to the changing room with the clothes in her arms.

“I haven’t been able to face her since that day. That’s why she’s so angry. That’s what I realized when rumors of the Rainy Girl first started showing up on the internet around Japan. I knew people must be seeing her everywhere because she was searching for me with a look of pure rage on her face.”

She disappeared beyond the frosted glass door.

He could tell she was removing her clothing from the movements of her silhouette.

“What kind of person was she?”

“I’m not really sure,” replied a muffled voice in the changing room. “To be honest, I can’t really remember her anymore. And I don’t just mean I’m too scared to remember. Because of how her body ended up, her coffin was empty during the funeral. …That’s all I can remember now. I should have so many memories: when we went to the beach, when we went to festivals, when we stayed up late into the night together, and so on. But there’s just a blank spot there where her face should be. Just that blank emptiness seen through the coffin’s window.”

“…”

Kyousuke narrowed his eyes a little.

(If she knew how the Rainy Girl acted in life and where she generally went, we might have been able to get ahead of her, but this doesn’t sound very hopeful.)

“I see. Then that’s fine.”

“You’re so kind. After the incident, I was surrounded by people asking all sorts of questions.”

The Rainy Girl herself could be annihilated with a single Incense Grenade.

It was hard to say if that was truly the best choice, but that was what Librarian-chan wanted.

Which meant…

“Sorry about the wait,” she said after sliding open the frosted glass door.

She wore a tight black shirt, a beige culotte skirt, and thick black tights. Overall, the outfit had a chocolate coloration and it was fairly adult-looking, just as he had requested. Like this, she would not immediately be taken into protective custody.

“I’m ready to head out now, so where are we headed?”

“I want to start by gathering some information.”

“On my sister?”

“That and anything else related to the current situation. The ghost phenomenon can be explained with the larger rules of the summoning ceremony. So if a ghost is showing up under unnatural circumstances, the odds are good the rules of the summoning ceremony are being used in some unnatural circumstances. …That means I want to see what that ‘industry’ is up to right now.”

He was not going to get anything out of Librarian-chan, the closest information source to the Rainy Girl herself, so he had to come up with another plan. That was one reason behind his suggestion.

He pulled out his smartphone as he continued.

“Aika and Lu-san. It looks like I’ll have to buy some information from the usual sources. …Although being too indebted to those two could seriously be a matter of life or death.”

He complained as he used his index finger to send a text message to Aika’s apartment. It said he had accepted a new job, he had bound a contract with a vessel, and he was on his way to buy some information.

And there was one more thing.

“Yes. I should probably look into that as well.”

“?”

“Ghosts do occur naturally, but since they’re explained by the summoning ceremony, it’s also possible for a summoner to intentionally cause one. The Rainy Girl herself is definitely your sister, but it bothers me that she started appearing so suddenly. It sounds like the rumors have spread throughout Japan and even to places like Guam and New York, but if we assume it truly started here in Toy Dream 35, it’s worth seeing if a nearby summoner maybe had something to do with this.”

He did not wait for a reply to his message. He had just about turned into Aika’s caretaker, so he had a spare key. Also, that true shut-in and that top-class assassin had no concept of day and night.

“Let’s get going. Knowing Aika, she’ll welcome us as long as we stop by a convenience store and buy her some limited edition chips or something.”

“Come to think of it, I haven’t had anything to eat since I skipped work. Can we buy something on the way?”

They discussed their plans as they left the one-room apartment.

It was still raining outside, but that did not mean the streets were not crowded with pedestrians.

The Rainy Screen may not have been a useless endeavor after all.

The police’s anti-juvenile crime team was probably beginning their patrol at this time, but they could still see a few boys and girls wearing the same school uniforms walking across the bridges.

“Huh? Isn’t that the student council president?”

“Where?”

“Over there in that crowd.”

Librarian-chan pointed over, but Kyousuke could not see any specific person among all the colorful umbrellas.

As he searched, something bumped into his shoulder.

“Hm? What is it, boy? Isn’t it a little late for someone with no club activities and no job?”

It was Benikomichi Fuuki.

Their umbrellas audibly pressed against each other.

“And what are you doing here, Senpai?”

“I’m only now heading home, you coldhearted boy. As usual, I had to waste the entire day working things out between those spoiled student council members. Honestly, if you had acted as my human shield, I wouldn’t have been dragged back to that boring student council room.”

“If you’re going to complain, can you at least not ignore the laws of this world as you do so?”

“And after all that, there was some trouble just before leaving. Oh, you probably wouldn’t know, but every speaker in the school was blasting static. We had to go around checking them all and we never did figure out what caused it. Sadly, it was about as wasted as wasted effort can be.”

“…”

Librarian-chan’s shoulders shook at the student council president’s exasperated and exhausted comment.

The supernatural phenomenon in her head was now an objective fact and not just a vision she had seen.

That simple fact seemed to peel back the thin layer of common sense from her mind. It seemed like she would have blood oozing from her heart before long.

Benikomichi Fuuki seemed oblivious and continued casually chatting.

“Thanks to that, I suddenly realized it had gotten this late. I won’t miss tonight’s drama since I can set my digital recorder with my smartphone, but I might have screamed if I couldn’t do that.”

“I see,” said Kyousuke just to have something to say.

However, the president seemed unwilling to say goodbye and leave.

She pressed her umbrella further in against his and gave him an upturned look.

“B-by the way, Shiroyama Boy, I have a request.”

“What is it?”

When Kyousuke asked, she used the hand not holding her umbrella to fidget with her long hair by her ear.

“This might ruin your image of an upperclassman, but I’ve never actually walked out in public this late before. I’ve heard rumors that the type of guest at Toy Dream 35 completely changes when all the neon turns on, so I’d really rather not walk around alone at night if I can avoid it…”

“You can’t, Shiroyama-kun!! You promised you’d help me, didn’t you!?”

“Oh, what’s this? You’re a popular guy, Shiroyama Boy. But I’m not going to give in so easily.”

“Wait, wait, stop pulling on my arms! And I dropped my umbrella! I’m getting soaked!”

An outside observer might have been jealous, but the girls were acting out of fear. That meant they did not hold back. Pain raced through his shoulders and he was legitimately concerned his arms would pull right out of the sockets.

And then, with no warning, all sound instantly vanished.

The crowd walking every which way around them was still there and the rain providing constant noise had not vanished.

It was a psychological issue.

As a great number of people crossed the bridge, he heard a sound within the parade of so many lights. He heard it as clearly as a pebble thrown into a cave.

It was a footstep.

“————”

“Wah! Shiroyama…-kun?”

“What is it, Shiroyama Boy?”

He did not have time to answer. He looked back and saw a short boy standing about fifteen meters away.

The boy was at most twelve. He wore a black shirt and bike shorts as well as a fluorescent yellow helmet and similarly colored elbow and knee protectors. They looked like kids rollerblading gear and the coloration was reminiscent of a hornet’s abdomen.

His eyes did not contain the bright and innocent look one would expect at his age.

The darkness lurking in his eye sockets was that of someone who lived in a world of killing.

“Hi.”

He spoke to Kyousuke.

Immediately afterwards, he pulled something from his back. It resembled a three-sectioned staff, a nunchaku-like weapon of three connected rods, but when the internal wire tightened, it was remade into a long rod.

It was a Blood-Sign.

This was clearly a summoner.

Benikomichi Fuuki knew nothing at all about the summoning ceremony, but even she must have noticed the odd aura surrounding the boy. Or perhaps without the summoning ceremony as a mental “excuse” or “point of compromise”, her mind worked uselessly and failed to process it.

“Do you…know him?”

The desire for any answer at all may have been why she asked that.

But Kyousuke did not look back her way.

He did not want to take his eyes off of this opponent.

“Are you an Illegal assassin? I saw your disgusting handiwork at the international airport.”

“Even if you don’t know why, surely you know where this is headed. A killer was sent out to kill, and here I am to do just that.”

If this assassin was from their industry, he would not have been sent out for something unrelated to the summoning ceremony.

But at the same time, it would not be a continuation of the airport occupation surrounding that attache case. Thanks to Lu Niang Lan, Kyousuke had been taken out of that fight partway through. It had all ended just how Illegal had wanted, so he doubted they would do anything to him now.

He also could not imagine it was related to the issue Alice (with) Rabbit was working on. He had only just bound his contract with Librarian-chan, so that would not have any connection to that industry.

With one exception.

Namely, the Rainy Girl who was connected to Librarian-chan and could be explained within the rules of the summoning ceremony.

(We’re investigating the Rainy Girl, we stopped by Librarian-chan’s apartment, and we’re taking this route to Aika’s apartment. Where did he pick up on that information?)

After some thought, he easily found the answer.

Their communications had been intercepted.

However, the problem would not be with Kyousuke’s smartphone or Aika’s computer. A professional would focus on the flow of information more than the average person. More importantly, there was a simpler and more realistic answer.

(Had he already set something up in the Librarian-chan’s apartment and the surrounding cellphone towers? That way he could have stolen my message inside the relay hardware. …That would mean he’s been monitoring anyone connected to the Rainy Girl for a while.)

But that was all he knew.

Illegal was a collection of about 330 criminal organizations.

This assassin belonged to that group and he would supply professional violence for anyone who paid an appropriate sum, so why would he be fixated on a ghost like the Rainy Girl? Kyousuke had no way of figuring that out.

The only path to revealing the answer was to fight.

“Would it be a violation of your style to ask why?”

“This is to keep you from telling anyone what you just now realized. I can’t say any more than that.”

Just as he gave his answer, the wall of the building behind the small assassin exploded and crumbled.

Pieces of concrete larger than bricks poured down. They collided with the glass of a monorail passing by nearby and the monorail rapidly braked, creating a row of orange sparks and a screeching noise. Quite a few umbrellas were broken and people screamed as they fled in every direction. They were all driven by the identical desire to escape as quickly as possible, but they pulled at each other’s legs as they tried to push forward.

Kyousuke immediately reached behind himself to pull out the Repliglass Blood-Sign coiled there.

But a hand tugged on his arm.

It was Benikomichi Fuuki’s as her face grew pale with fear.

“Wh-what was that!? Did that boy do that? B-but…ah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah! The police…we need to get down…um, we need to do something…!”

“——————”

Meanwhile, the assassin lifted the corners of his mouth in a smile and raised his Blood-Sign.

He moved the tip from Kyousuke’s face and aimed it at Benikomichi Fuuki instead.

As soon as he saw that, Kyousuke swept the nearby president’s feet out from under her to knock her to the ground. At the same time, he took a step forward and pulled an Incense Grenade from his hoodie.

Only after completing the series of actions did his mind realize why he had taken them.

——Yes, why did he need an Incense Grenade?

To set up an Artificial Sacred Ground.

——What did it mean if an Artificial Sacred Ground had yet to be set up?

The environment was not yet prepared for summoning a Material.

——Then where was the assassin boy’s vessel? It was true that building’s wall had crumbled, but had a Material really done that?

It happened a moment later.

Suddenly, a dull impact struck him from behind.

He looked over his shoulder and saw a large pair of sewing scissors stabbed into the center of his back.

He looked up at who held them down at their hip with both hands.

It was Student Council President Benikomichi Fuuki.

Facts

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