Chapter: 62. The Authority of Azure Thunder
“Le, where are you now? Why is there no one in the Four Seasons Pavilion?”
“Ah, ah, don’t worry, the plan is progressing smoothly.”
In a warehouse relatively far from the center of the island.
After confronting Nagino, Oto took off his mask and tied him up.
At Kitano’s request, he recorded Nagino’s words while he struggled.
What surprised him a bit was that the quality of the recording was unexpectedly good; regardless of his tone or lines, though the atmosphere in the recording was incredibly chaotic, every word could be heard clearly.
Even he couldn’t help but marvel at his own talent.
Just then, an urgent contact came in, causing Oto to pull out another phone from his pocket with a look of disdain and answer the call.
Thus, the above conversation took place.
“….. Does the other party really trust you?”
“Ah, ah, that guy seems to think I’m trustworthy, and has arranged for me to observe others in the Four Seasons Pavilion… My disguise must be quite successful, huh? Even Ark Academy is completely unaware that they’ve entrusted a traitor’s accomplice.” Oto laughed.
“….. The other party is the real traitor, don’t mistake this.”
“That’s true, we must make those guys… pay blood for blood, right?”
“…… So? What does the other party want you to do now?”
“He seems to believe that Tsukimi Kanade has the ability to obtain that thing and intends to have her trade it with him, so as long as we take action, we can successfully get it.”
“A trade?”
“It’s about the hostage~” Oto said, looking at Nagino lying on the ground.
Currently, Nagino’s hands were bound behind his back, and even his feet were restrained, lying on the ground like a cat.
Although Oto had prepared paper tiles on the ground in advance.
At this moment, the joints of Nagino’s body were slightly red and swollen from lying on them.
In this position, Nagino’s curvy figure was on full display.
However, what troubled Oto slightly was that for some reason, despite seeming completely unguarded, Nagino appeared to have no flaws whatsoever.
While his graceful body curves stood out, with the perfect concealment of his clothing, Oto saw nothing particularly valuable.
Moreover.
Even when Oto had tried to bind Nagino earlier, she struggled fiercely, but he found that the process of tying her up was remarkably smooth, and he didn’t even manage to take advantage of the situation.
“Hostage? Who is the other party?”
“It’s Tsukimi Kanade’s childhood friend~”
“Hah, huh!?” The voice on the other end was startled and exclaimed, “You kidnapped the ultimate masterpiece?”
The female voice conveyed disbelief.
“No, no, no, it’s another childhood friend, Hoshimiya Nagino!” Oto hurriedly corrected, realizing the misunderstanding.
Did I really kidnap Aohara Mana? Is that true?
“That girl? Be careful… she seems to have a familiar…”
“Really?” Oto sounded skeptical, as the defenseless girl before him should have summoned her familiar if she really had one, right?
“Have you become overly sensitive lately?”
“No, there’s definitely something wrong. She was completely unharmed after the attack, which proves it.” The other party added, “Although I was aiming for Nishikawa Fuuko, there was interference from a force other than her present; besides her, there was no one else.”
“And during the inspection that night, her mana flow reaction… Although I didn’t feel anything wrong at the scene, thinking back now, it feels very strange, that sensation is almost identical to what I experienced back in the day—”
Realizing the other party was about to mention that name, Oto interrupted, “I understand, then I’ll end her life first to avoid any unforeseen circumstances.”
“You want to kill her?”
“Is there a problem? If what you say is true, she has been a fraud from the beginning, pretending to be a normal person close to Tsukimi Kanade; perhaps she’s also an undercover agent like Nishikawa Fuuko, in any case, she doesn’t belong to the innocent anymore—”
“But she is our hostage for that thing, isn’t she?”
“If it’s about this matter, there’s no need to worry—” Oto smiled sinisterly while looking at Nagino, who was lying on the ground, “Kitano never intended for her to survive the exchange.”
……
……
Beep, beep.
The sound of the machine echoed in the dim hospital room.
The girl lying on the hospital bed slowly opened her eyes.
“I… this is…” Fuuko softly murmured.
The next second, the last scene before she lost consciousness flashed through her mind.
—That was Tsukimi classmate… no, it was a certain someone who had turned into Tsukimi classmate…
In her eyes, at the last moment when she tried to pull herself back into unconsciousness, that person’s identity suddenly changed.
“That… light…”
Although Fuuko was unclear about the current time or if there was still time left.
She still mustered the last bit of strength from her weak body and struggled to reach the nurse call button.
—————–
“What do you want? What have you done to little Nagi?”
In the library of Noah Hall.
Kanade tightly gripped the phone in his left hand, subconsciously pressing his fingers and joints until they turned white.
“We were supposed to have a trade, remember? Tsukimi classmate.”
“Answer my question, where is little Nagi now!”
“As long as you complete the trade, I will ensure she’s fine, after all, she is also a student of Ark Academy, right? Ultimately, it’s all your fault, Tsukimi classmate, that your childhood friend is now involved in this matter that has nothing to do with her~”
“…… This thing.” Kanade looked at the black sphere in his other hand and spoke with a sinister expression, stressing each word.
“Hand that thing over to me, and I’ll return Hoshimiya classmate to you, how about it? Is that the outcome you desire?”
“——Why should I trust you?”
“Because you have to.”
“….. Is this really okay? Don’t you want the thing in my hand right now? If it disappears, you will also be troubled, right?” Kanade squeezed out his last ounce of rationality, trying to strengthen his tone and negotiate.
But the next line from the other party directly broke down his defenses.
“Indeed, but I believe that compared to me, you should be more unable to part with this girl, right? She’s heard you were deceived, and without a second thought, she stated she’d go save you, right? And said she’d do anything for it… Do you really want to watch such a good child lose her life because of you?”
“Do you think what you said can sway me?” Kanade mustered to struggle until the end.
“Really? Although this child just acted very bravely, now she only keeps sobbing ‘Kanade-kun, Kanade-kun’—”
“——Damn!!! What do you want me to do!!”
Kanade felt as if he was about to bite through his own teeth.
His heart felt like it had fallen into an endless abyss, a chill spreading from his spine to his limbs.
At that moment, simply standing seemed to drain all his strength.
“Within half an hour, take that thing and come alone to the scene of the previous attack.” Kitano’s voice came through the phone with a smile. “Remember, within half an hour, and alone, or else… Tsukimi classmate, your beloved childhood friend might just disappear before your eyes.”
With that, the other party hung up directly.
In the next moment.
Kanade dropped to his knees as if he had lost strength.
“Damn it, it’s all because of me… that little Nagi…”
“Tsukimi-kun, I also bear some responsibility for this; I was careless enough to leave Nagino-chan alone in the dormitory.”
“No, since I am the commander of this operation, I should have thought of this earlier, damn it!” Kanade threw away his phone and pounded the ground fiercely.
“….. Now is not the time to talk about this.”
Mana took a few deep breaths, quickly adjusting her mindset and rallying herself.
Reflection can wait until after the situation is resolved.
The current priority is to save Nagino.
“I’ll go with you, Tsukimi-kun. Although he requested you alone, I can hide in the shadows and wait for a chance to subdue him the moment he shows a flaw.” Mana suggested: “Otherwise, it’s too dangerous for you to meet him alone without any powers.”
“No, we can’t follow all his arrangements…” The pain in his hand slightly restored some of Kanade’s rationality.
He raised his bloodied left hand, which was bruised and bleeding, and passed the black sphere in his hand to Mana.
“We can’t trust him completely… Right now, the only thing he cares about is this thing in my hand. If I just hand it over, he might just kill little Nagi…”
“Tsukimi-kun? What do you mean?” Mana received the item in confusion.
The sphere was heavier than expected.
Clearly, earlier she couldn’t even perceive its existence, but for some reason, she could now hold it in her hands.
“You hold onto this for now; if anything happens to me, at least you’ll still have the bargaining chip for negotiation.” Kanade’s gaze was unprecedentedly firm.
“If I fail, don’t worry about me; use this item to trade back for little Nagi.”
“Tsukimi… no, Kanade-kun, what are you intending—”
“I can directly reach little Nagi’s side.”
As Kanade spoke, he looked at his left hand, which was throbbing with pain.
The power of regression.
As long as he regresses back to the wish made through the False God Shiroki’s token from back then.
He could appear in front of Nagino.
This was his own wish, and there was no way to bring Mana along.
Although there would definitely be someone guarding Nagino, how long could he last with this “regression” ability…
But at least there would be a chance to fight back.
As long as he didn’t hand over this black sphere, he could ensure Nagino would not be in danger.
“That’s too risky; you don’t have real powers, Kanade-kun!”
Mana sensed the resolve in the boy’s eyes and quickly grabbed his arm.
“It’s fine. I’ll think of a way to create a commotion. This is Ark Academy, a school city filled with many power users; surely someone will come at the sound.” Kanade forced a reassuring smile at Mana.
“Stop saying foolish things! If you aren’t there, what about that child… what will become of Nagino-chan?”
“Then she… will be left to Shina when the time comes…” Kanade for the first time forcefully broke free from Mana’s grasp.
He then turned and walked out of the library, silently chanting “trade” in his heart, attempting to re-enter that white space.
The pitch-black flame.
Reappeared along with Kanade’s active call.
The white space enveloped him once again.
“Regression—”
—Just like back then.
—Please let me go to little Nagi’s side once more.
—I promised that child, no matter what happens, I will stay by her side, never to part.
The pitch-black flame then swelled.
Dingling.
The sound of a bell rang again.
This was the authority from the fog.
The power of a wish.
But—
The mist that should have appeared seemed to be cut off in an instant, vanishing without a trace.
Kanade abruptly opened his eyes, and the scene before him shifted from the white space back to the corridor of Noah Hall.
He raised his head in disbelief.
What was there was—an azure sky.
That was the domain opened by authority, enveloping the entire Noah Hall.
A figure descending slowly from the sky, back facing the flickering azure arcs.
“Tsukimi Kanade, and Aohara Mana, it really is you two?”
With azure blue short hair fluttering, they resembled an enraged Shura statue; the light of magic radiated from their eyes.
“…… Tojo Seiryuu.”
Kanade’s golden eyes fixed intently on the figure blocking his way.
Tojo Seiryuu.
Ark Academy No.3, the Azure Thunder Dragon.
The holder of the authority of Azure Thunder.
