ch61-ch80 · 080-ch79

Chapter 79: The Vault

My head is a mess.

I, Mikato Reiya, am lying face-down on my bed in my own room, clutching my head.

Two days ago, on Saturday.

That was the day I first went to greet Ai-chan’s father... no, not greet him. The day I went to the food truck he runs.

Ai-chan and the others were there, and for some reason Shudo-san showed up partway through too, but up until then it was truly a fun, calm, and heart-pounding day.

And then, after that.

What followed was a string of surprises--or rather, incomprehensible events.

Ai-chan’s father turned into a black-clad figure, some foreign person who looked like a movie actress was wearing armor? and a strange person came flying in from the sky.

And then I... no, Ai-chan was attacked by a black-haired woman, and Shudo-san protected her.

It was all so, so impossible to make sense of...

But Ai-chan and Kiri-san and Sumi-san all seemed to understand the situation better than I did, even while being shocked by it. ...And more than that, so did Shudo-san.

After that, Ai-chan’s father was stabbed by the black-haired woman, and Ai-chan stepped in to protect him, and it turned into a terrible mess--but somehow, while I was still half-confused, everything got resolved and her father took Ai-chan away.

And we were the ones left behind, so we left the area.

We rested a little for Shudo-san’s sake after he got kicked in the head, but he soon said he was fine.

Then we parted ways at the station.

“I’m sorry. I’ll ask Ai how much I can tell you before I say anything.”

Kiri-san apologized like that, but of course that was only natural.

So I thought I’d wait quietly.

Then what is it that’s turning my head into a complete mess?

It’s the words I blurted out to Shudo-san at the end.

“Are you... using me just to get close to Ai-chan?!”

...Aaahhh, what on earth was I thinking, saying something like that!

And after Shudo-san risked his own safety to protect us, too.

The very first thing I should have done was thank him. This is exactly what they mean by wanting the ground to open up and swallow you.

If I ever get the chance to see him again, I’ll apologize and thank him... no, maybe he won’t even meet with someone as selfish as me ever again.

　―　◆　―

“Are you... using me just to get close to Ai-chan?!”

Well, I can’t blame her for thinking that.

If some prospective marriage partner showed up knowing nothing and not being told anything, and then acted like they knew something and started fighting people from another world, I’d be suspicious too.

But what she was angry about wasn’t that she herself hadn’t been told anything.

It was because she cares about her friend... Shirakawa Ai-san.

Her friend is caught up in something so bizarre, and she’s angry that I, who became one of the entry points into it, ended up being used.

That mixture of nobility and kindness in her heart makes me shake.

“...You’re cool as ever, aren’t you.”

I mutter it under my breath, and Ten-bro, who’s walking ahead of me, stops and turns around.

“Did you say something, Taiyo?”

“Nope, just talking to myself. More importantly, it’s gotten completely dark, but are we still climbing?”

We’re walking up the back mountain behind the manor.

It’s a mountain I’ve known since I was a kid, but climbing it at night is a real pain.

“Don’t worry. We’re already there.”

“Huh? There? But... there’s nothing here.”

All there is here is a gently sloping mountainside thick with trees.

There’s no path, no shrine or cave, not even a proper boulder. Just plain old woods.

“--There isn’t some entrance hidden somewhere. For tonight, this is simply the place.”

“Huh?”

Ignoring my confused look, Ten-bro took a round object from inside his suit.

It looked like a bronze mirror, the kind I’d seen in pictures during history class.

When Ten-bro held it up in one hand toward the sky, it began to shine in the moonlight.

“H-hey, wait a second, don’t tell me that’s for going to the world beyond the mirror?”

“No. The mirror that lets you travel between this world and Ceylo only exists in the Ceylo Kingdom. This is a limited application of that mirror’s power.”

While Ten-bro was talking, colored smoke like the kind used on stage started leaking from the bronze mirror, spreading to surround us.

Then the smoke that had gathered at our feet suddenly surged upward, and my vision was wrapped in a faint reddish haze.

“Whoa! ...Huh?”

For a moment I thought I couldn’t see anything at all because of the smoke.

But before long, Ten-bro and I were standing in a room I’d never seen before.

My first impression was that it was a fairly large basement. It was about two sizes smaller than the dojo, but the ceiling was high enough to move around in while training.

What was strange was that there was no entrance or vent, and the walls weren’t concrete or stone, but made of some mysterious material polished like a mirror, with a reddish-copper color.

“What is this...? There aren’t even any lights, and yet the walls themselves are faintly bright...”

“This is a vault, if you will. A secret place of Grandmother’s, built in a dimension separate from our world and from Ceylo.”

Well, if anyone could do something like this, it’d be Grandma.

As I nodded in agreement, Ten-bro pointed at one of the walls.

In that wall alone, a thin crystal rod about twenty centimeters long was embedded in the center, and silver liquid was moving around inside it.

“This is...”

“It’s an ‘armor’ Grandmother brought with her when she crossed through the mirror. She apparently kept it hidden even from Grandfather.”

She brought something this dangerous with her without telling her husband?

Grandma’s way too battle-happy.

“Dad, and neither I nor Kai had enough eiyōso to use this thing. But you, who naturally have the most eiyōso out of the brothers, might be able to wear it.”

“W-whoa! That means I can actually go toe-to-toe with those guys!”

I get hyped up like a kid.

But Ten-bro steps in between me and the crystal, takes off his jacket, loosens his tie, and raises both arms into a stance.

“...‘The half-baked will only be swallowed by power.’ That’s why Grandmother’s order to me is to make sure I judge your limits.”

“Seriously? So the company has jobs like that too, huh. Makes me think about applying.”

Keeping up the banter, I also drop into a side stance and glare at Ten-bro.

--I’ve beaten Kai-bro in sparring when eiyōso was involved.

But I’ve never beaten Ten-bro, not even once since I was born.

“And yet, that doesn’t mean I’ve got a choice not to do it!”

I have something I need to protect.

That’s right, just like that parent and child pair who would stake their lives protecting each other for one another’s sake.