Read Online The Amphisbaena by Gakuto Mikumo - Free Book Online Page B

Kanon was holding.
    It was hard enough caring for only one abandoned cat, yet here was Kanon taking care of one after another; it had to be a considerable burden on her. It was something that couldn’t be explained by a simple love of animals; Kojou felt a fierce motive behind it. And just as Kojou was about to spontaneously ask why she was going so far…
    “…My, a delicious-looking kitten there.”
    A small woman with a parasol raised emerged from the side.
    “Natsuki?”
    “Don’t call your homeroom teacher by her first name.”
    Kojou let out an anguished groan as he sustained a ferocious elbow strike to his side. Natsuki Minamiya looked back at the suffering Kojou with an upbeat look.
    “Did you know, Kojou Akatsuki? It’s forbidden to bring small animals onto school grounds. So, I’ll be confiscating that kitten. I was planning to have stew tonight, anyway…”
    Kanon sucked in her breath with a sharp “hiu!” at Natsuki’s casually conveyed words. Seeing her reaction, Natsuki smiled at her as if she was licking her lips.
    Clutching the blanket-wrapped kitten, Kanon backed off, as if frightened.
    “…I’m sorry, I must run away.”
    “R-right.”
    Kojou sighed as he beheld Kanon running off, her silver hair swaying all the while.
    Somehow, Natsuki looked somewhat wounded as she tapered her lips.
    “Hmph. Can’t take a joke. She didn’t have to run like her life depended on it.”
    “It doesn’t sound like a joke when
you
say it.”
    Kojou made an exhausted-sounding sigh. Natsuki glared at Kojou like that had been beyond the pale.
    “Incidentally, who was that brat just now?”
    “Who calls students of her own school brats? Sheesh. She’s Kanon Kanase, middle school, third-year.”
    “She puts a lot of attention into her hair. Teenage rebellion?”
    “No, no, it ain’t that at all. She said her dad was a foreigner, so it’s probably ’cause of that? Not that she told me details about her dad or even what country he was from…”
    “Is that so?” Looking like she was filing that away for future reference, Natsuki said, “Hmm,” but she immediately raised her face, looking at Kojou. “Well, fine. Kojou Akatsuki, you’re coming with me tonight.”
    “…Huh?! Um, ah, what exactly do you mean by…?”
    “What’s with that reaction? I want you to help me with
work
.”
    Kojou made a disagreeable face as he replied with a question. “…You mean, Attack Mage work?”
    Natsuki shot him a cold look. “You know that there was combat in urban areas in West a few days back?”
    “…Yeah, I heard from class that it was unregistered demons going nuts and stuff, but…”
    Kojou made a vague nod. He remembered how Asagi had complained about the ruckus costing her sleep.
    “It wasn’t unregistered demons running wild. Don’t spread that around, though.”
    “Not demons…? Who, then?”
    “I don’t know. We’ve apprehended one of them, but their true nature remains unclear.”
    Natsuki spoke in an animated tone. Kojou had a really bad feeling about this.
    “If you captured one of them, then the other one got away?”
    “Right. And the other night wasn’t the first fighting that’s taken placein urban areas, either. There’ve been five similar smaller-scale incidents over the last two weeks.”
    “Five…?!
    “Seriously?” said Kojou, If what Natsuki said was true, that was about one urban battle every three days or so.
That’s like a round-robin soccer tournament
, thought Kojou with a scowl on his face. “So you figure there might be another incident just like that taking place tonight…”
    “Very perceptive, Kojou Akatsuki.”
    Elegantly inclining her frilly parasol, Natsuki made a charming, satisfied-looking smile.
    “…So all this being the case, I want you to assist me in apprehending the suspects. After all, even I have difficulty catching several suspects at the same time by myself.”
    “No, no, no…” Kojou fervently shook his head.
    Natsuki was one of the