Chapter 13: Code name: Shirokiyami
Chapter 13: Code name: Shirokiyami
The inside of my brain was painted in white.
My thoughts were suspended, the scene in front of me was so unrealistic that I felt like it wasn’t real, It was almost as if I was seeing the world from a computer screen and spectating some kind of FPS game.
In the residential area where the sun was beginning to set and evening was about to arrive, Taiyou stood in an upright fashion.
In the space that seemed to exude darkness——a white girl appeared.
The girl had a slender build and she was holding an unbalanced sword in her hand.
An attack!
Even if he realised what was happening inside his brain, Taiyou continued to stand still without moving a muscle.
The swaying street light reflected a dark grey light.
The dazzling sword……..approaches before his eyes!
「Taiyou-chan!」
「—-tsu!」
Taiyou whom barely reacted to his name being called, fiercely kicked the earth beneath his feet and flew backwards. Because it was so unpredictable, he landed in a unsightly/clumsy way falling unto his back, however, thanks to his timely response he was able to avoid the blade which blurred and sliced the wind creating a howling sound.
「Taiyou-chan are you ok!?」
With half his brain still paralyzed from the amount of killing intent that poured towards him, he looked in the direction that the voice came from. Before he was aware of it, what appeared in front of him was the worried expression of his level up fairy, Hera.
Gradually, his thoughts began to settle and he regained some control over his body.
「……..I’m safe, there’s no problem」
「I’m so glad?…..」
He patted the head of Hera who seemed like she could cry at any moment, and he slowly pushed himself up from the ground.
「What a strange, person」
The girl mutters. Taiyou rebuilt his stance, and looked at the girl who launched the slashing attack at him.
what stood before him was an unbalanced girl.
a distinctive feature of hers, was her long white hair which reached the back of her knees and was fluttering in the wind. possessing a skin that was similar in colour to her hair (albino skin), and red boundless eyes which seemed to be looking at everything and nothing at the same time.
In contrast to all of this, she was wearing a black gothic Lolita dress, which portrayed a witch like image.
on top of her white(fair) look she covered it with black clothing.
That was not the end of her imbalanced look, She appeared to be around 140 centimetres tall but she was holding a normal Japanese katana that had a wooden handle.
She was still standing in her battle Iai pose, whilst she looked at Taiyou in a mysterious way. (Iai battle stance = Kenshin move, the one where he draws his sword and uses that momentum to make an attack and immediately sheaths it again.)
「You….who are you?」
Taiyou questions her. Maybe because his brain wasn’t working properly yet, rather than asking why she attacked him, Taiyou was more interested in who she was.
「My name is not worth mentioning」
After the girl declared such a thing, she tilted her head as if she suddenly remembered something.
「Actually I misspoke…….You are not worthy to know my name」()
「Hey, was there a point to stating it like that?」
「Yes. It’s the manners I learnt from someone I know. they also told me that I should wear a mask whilst saying such things」
「I don’t really know whom you learnt such things from, but they don’t seem like good people to me!」
Taiyou intensely declared.
「Most likely, you are also not a good person」
「Why’s that?」
「The way you were speaking to yourself just know was weird」
「uuuu」
What she was trying to say was, he had been talking to himself all this while at the energetic thing that kept flying around his vicinity with a twinkle in her eyes.
In other words, although it seemed as though he was talking to himself, he was in fact talking with Hera.
To Taiyou all he did was thank Hera whom saved him from a pinch by giving her a nice pat on the head.
However nobody other than him could see Hera’s existence, that’s the reason it seemed like he was talking to himself in a soliloquy, even if he was called weird for it, there was nothing he could say in rebuttal.
「Taiyou-chan?……」
Hera also understood this fact and she showed him an apologetic look.
Taiyou was smiling and had an expression that said “its not your fault”. He turned to face the girl and Sakura, and rebuilt his expression to a more serious one and began to speak.
「That was quite an ambush」
「It was not my intention to hide anything from you, you know? She was right there from the start」
「Since the beginning?」
「Yes, since the beginning. she has been standing amongst the men」
「Aren’t you lying? I couldn’t detect her presence in the slightest」
「It’s my specialty to be able to hide myself within the, dark-ness」
The girl had a slightly proud look on her face as she stuck out her chest………well her chest wasn’t something to be boastful about though.
「Like I thought, wasn’t she intentionally trying to hide her presence!」
「Well I guess what you say makes sense」
「Don’t just suddenly agree with me! And what’s with that dangerous looking sword, isn’t it a violation of the law to hold that thing in public?」
「This is a piece of art. I also have a license for it, so it’s not a problem」
「The fact that the sword can cut people is strange!!」
「No problem」
The girl quietly repeated her statement, and as if she was showing off her sword, she pointed it towards Taiyou.
「Even if that’s the case, you can’t just go around and start cutting people up right?」
「That too, is, no problem」
「nonononono—-」
Obviously there was a huge problem—-The moment she casually claimed that chopping people up was “not a problem” I felt shiver go up my spine.
「It will all be good, after cutting them up, isn’t there always people that will clean up after me?」
Whilst saying such cruel things, she cutely tilted her head, and looked towards Sakura as if she was trying to confirm the validity of her words.
「Well now, what were we talking about again? I don’t really comprehend the conversation just now」
Although she was feigning innocence, her unnatural tone of voice told a completely different story.
「Is this the forgetful giveaway stall?」
「Mhmm, I have absolutely no recollection of such things ever occurring」
「Well, apparently that’s how it is」
the girl faced Taiyou and pointed her sword right at him.
「Are you prepared…..to die?」
A killing intent that was three times thicker than before rose up and assaulted Taiyou.
It was after all a killing intent so strong that it could bind his movements, however, having already experienced this feeling multiple times in a short period he was able to gain some experience dealing with it and he was slightly more used to it. In order to rile himself up Taiyou released a fearsome warcry and savagely headed towards the girl.
instead of shrinking back in fear, he faced her head on.
「—–tsu」
Perhaps it was because she did not expect him to actually rush at her, the woman’s noble face was lit brightly in surprise. Facing such a Taiyou, she pulled back the tip of her sword for a moment.
However, Taiyou did not let her escape. He extended his hands forwards and faster than she could sheath her sword into the scabbard, Taiyou grabbed the sides of the sword with both his hands——and he put strength into his arms.
BAKIN! (*snap*)
both of his arms crossed each other and in that moment a snapping sound could be heard echoing in the surrondings.
Taiyou gripped the girl’s sword…….and crazily enough it seems that he snapped it in two!
Completely blowing her mind, the girl looks at her broken blade in utter shock. It would seem that Sakura was also in the same condition, her eye’s seemed to grow so big they would pop out and she did not expect for such a development to happen that she was at a loss for words.
It’s now or never!
Thinking such things Taiyou threw the broken piece of the sword which he held in his arms directly at Sakura.
He thought that if he threw the sword at the mysterious girl she would just deflect the sword easily, therefore he threw it at Sakura whom he predicted was not a martial artist.
And just like he predicted, Sakura could not react to his throw so the mysterious white girl overtook the broken sword piece flying towards Sakura and easily deflected it away.
A metallic sound resounded and sparks scattered everywhere. In that moment of opportunity Taiyou turned his body and together with Hera, he dashed away with lighting speed and escaped.
「Haa……..Haa……..If I have ran this far, It should be safe right?」
Taiyou whom ran away with all his might had gone out of the residential district,and he arrived in the down town where it was bustling with people everywhere. Taiyou had a frantic expression on his face, after barely escaping he was out of air and was trying to catch his breath on the roadside, passersby who saw him all gave a doubtful/suspicious look.
Although he was being stared like he was some weird person, funnily enough he actually welcomed it right now. If there are this many witnesses around, there was a less likely chance of him being attacked in public.
「Haa…….I thought I was going die…….. More like, If I had to fight her again one more time, I would be 100% dead」
When any one of his emotions became too overpowering or approached their limits, Taiyou would on the contrary become calm and composed, that was the kind of unique personality he had. Even now it was the same, faced with overwhelming killing intent he literally felt his death approaching but instead of pissing his pants, he actually became calm enough to analyse the difference in each others strengths and make a judgement based on that to maximise his survivability.
An adult or a child?…….No it was more like seeing the birth of a professional hand-to-hand fighter take its first baby steps.
There was a huge difference in strength between him and that mysterious girl.
facing such a woman he was able to create a moment of opportunity and escape with his life.
He imagined that it would be difficult to catch them off guard like that again a second time.
If they were to meet again, he thought that the next time he would surely be cut down, he was overlooking this as if he was seeing the problem from someone else’s eyes.
「Even so, Taiyou-chan you were so cool?. As expected of my Taiyou-chan?」
「Before you say anything else, Hera, I have a favour to ask of you. Are you able to part from me and act on your own?」
「Separate from you? uhm, with your level the way it is right now, I can separate from you up to a radius of 1 kilometres?」
「So even that is dependant on my level huh………..well for now this kind of this is not something I should worry about. you said that you can do around 1 kilometre radius right?」
「What would you like me to do?」
「Won’t you find Kotone and the other girls for me? The situation became quite messy when I was battling and beating the men dressed in black, and as soon as possible I would prefer it if we could regroup together」
「I understand, leave it to me?!」
After saying such things, Hera rigorously flaps her wings and took off into the night sky.
Taiyou saw her off and then he leaned his back against a nearby wall, his whole body was completely exhausted.
It was as if his hands suddenly remembered to feel again, pain shot through his fingers into his arms.
When he looked closer, the palms of his hands had cuts on it and bloodstains could be seen. It probably happened when he gripped her katana and broke it off with his bare hands.
He fumbled around his pockets in search for something to stop the bleeding. However, he was, after all just a high school student boy living alone, things like handkerchiefs or tissues was not something a school boy would bring around in his pockets and he did not have such things on him either.
When he thought that there was no other choice but to tear the hem of his shirt to use it as a bandage….
「Here, You can use, this」
In front of his eyes a white handkerchief was presented to him.
When he looked to see who it was, he discovered that it was the white mysterious girl he had just fought with.