Chapter 36: Confrontation
There was a loud noise like thunder in my ears.
"Huh? Has Senryo started fighting too?" The kimonoed man before him, wearing an eyepatch, slowly lit the cigarette between his lips. "But I'm almost done here."
"Ha ha……"
Kotobuki Toushirou panted and half-knelt outside the opponent's attack range.
His armor was burned by the black flames and turned into something like charcoal in the blink of an eye. His clothes and hands were also burned to varying degrees.
That was no ordinary flame.
However, what was even more troublesome for him was that the pain that had been burning his body in his memory surged up from inside his body again.
"You seem to be afraid of fire?"
"……"Oops!
The tall man smiled slightly, and his left arm transformed into a huge metal blade. "Although this is a battle, I am not the kind of person who likes to take advantage of others."
As soon as he finished speaking, the man turned into a shadow in an instant, and the fierce blade flashed with a cold light, and the blade was approaching Kotobuki who was in a defensive posture.
No, there's no way to defend against such an attack, I have to dodge it——!
"Do you think I'll let you have your way?"
The devil's whispers rang in his ears. Although the short-haired boy jumped into the air and avoided the black shadow that attacked him, one of his feet was tightly entangled by a strange and hot iron rope!
"As long as I'm alive and can find out something, that's all that matters."
The man in black spoke creepy words in a matter-of-fact tone.
"It doesn't matter if I lose a few hands and feet."
“Hmm…!”
Just when Kotobuki Toushirou lost his ability to move for a short time and his right leg was about to be severed—
"Four White Thunders of the Broken Path!"
"Huh?"
The masked man paused slightly, and taking advantage of this moment, Gu Kui made a feint, exerted force on his feet, flipped into the air, and broke free from the hot iron rope that had loosened for some reason.
The boy used his hands as a cushion, and after falling to the ground, he slid back a distance due to inertia. Deep marks appeared on his right leg, visible to the bone. If it weren't for that moment of relief, his foot would probably have been completely useless.
"Owner?!"
However, he did not care about his injuries, but looked towards the source of the sound, and his calmness when facing a strong enemy disappeared in an instant.
"Why are you here? It's too dangerous. Let's go!"
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This was the first time I saw Kotobuki look so angry.
His armor was burned black, and his clothes were torn, revealing his burned arms. His right leg was covered in blood, and several crisscross wounds were still bleeding.
At this moment, my mind went blank.
"Huh? You're human?"
"Owner--!"
When I came to my senses again, I found myself rushing in front of the man in black.
A crimson light bloomed before my eyes, and the red flames instantly enveloped my right hand.
Inside, one could feel the hard handle of the knife.
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"Wait, why do you smell..."
Before the man in black could finish his words, the girl suddenly swung her right hand!
There was a loud bang and the flames dissipated. It turned out that the man used his left arm, which had turned into a weapon, to block the girl's murderous attack.
"...Master?"
Kotobuki stared blankly at the girl in front of him, who was wrapped in red flames.
"Hey, hey, that's an exaggeration!" The young man with the eyepatch gave a wry smile, his cigarette long gone. He also didn't retract his left hand, which he had used for defense. "With that kind of force, if I didn't block it, my head would explode. Are you really human, little sister?"
The girl didn't have any questions from the other party, but kicked the floor hard and suddenly disappeared from everyone's sight.
In the blink of an eye, the sound of metal clashing reverberated. By the time the two men were once again frozen in a stalemate, the smile on the man in black's face had vanished.
"……snort……"
A blood mark appeared on his fair cheek.
"Bone Eater!"
"Hey, Black Rose, what happened...eh?!!"
"Hotsugumaru?"
What appeared before Kotobuki Toushirou was one of Honmaru's full-level combat forces, Hotarumaru, who had the form of a large sword but was as petite as a short sword. This was the sword that came with him and his master this time.
For some reason, he appeared at the scene along with a strangely dressed man with pink hair behind him.
"Wait... Black Rose! Pause, pause! We made a mistake!"
"Qianliang-kun, could you please shut up?" The young man known as Black Rose dodged the sharp slashes and, in the next round, blocked the red-haired girl's attack again. "So, it's not that I don't want to stop."
But some people don’t intend to stop at all!
"Huh?! So...that's why we're not enemies!"
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"Excuse me, ma'am, but are you too overwhelmed by the blood in your head to listen?"
The man's left hand turned into a huge, pliers-like weapon, placed between him and me.
"We are not enemies, there is no need to fight anymore."
"So what?" It didn't matter whether he was an enemy or not. "You, hurt my companion..." I stared at his intact eye.
My heart was beating wildly and a strange red color covered my eyes.
...unforgivable!
"Wake up... Jia——"
However, the moment I shouted out the first words, the bracelet on my wrist suddenly issued a shrill alarm!
"What!"
"What happened again?!"
"Owner!"
A biting chill suddenly spread from my wrist to my whole body. I was caught off guard and my head went blank. My knees went weak and I knelt down!
What the hell? ! !
It was so cold that my teeth were chattering, and my fingers seemed to be frozen so that I couldn't even hold the knife.
The man who fought with me had already taken the opportunity to return to his companions.
"Owner!"
Hotaru and Kotobuki came to my side.
"Master, are you okay? What happened?"
I'm wondering! Why... wait, the bracelet made a noise?
"If Miss Jiujing's spiritual pressure exceeds the range of her body's tolerance, the defense mechanism of this bracelet will be activated. However, it can only be used once at present."
...Urahara Kisuke!!!
"Although, although I don't know what happened, just stop it!"
The cat demon's voice came from the side, and at the same time, Hotaru put his little face in front of me. "Master, listen to me, they're not bad people... probably not." He helped me up. "That man named Senryo knows your brother."
"So, this girl is actually——"
"Is she someone Jiu Jing knows? I can smell it." The black-haired man pulled out a cigarette from somewhere and put it back in his mouth. "During the fight, I smelled that guy's scent on her. It wasn't very strong, but it was very obvious. At that time, I thought she might not be an enemy."
"Huh? Then why don't you stop?"
"Qianliangjun, if I hadn't blocked it just now, your head would have been split in two, okay?"
"Huh? Is that so? I thought you couldn't bear to do it because the girl was so cute, Xiao Hei."
A light female voice suddenly sounded, and I looked in the direction of the voice.
Four more people appeared in the ruined corridor.
"Don't get me wrong, this kind of immature girl is not my type, Ji."
"Really? But when Xiao Hei sees a cute little girl on the street, he will wag his tail happily."
The one flirting with Black Rose was a beautiful girl with long curly golden hair and blue eyes wearing glasses.
"Let's leave before we continue chatting. The noise was so loud just now that the school thought there was an explosion and has started evacuating."
The Japanese-style beauty with long black hair tied in three braids spoke with a thick Kyoto accent. As she spoke, the cat demon named Senryo called out "Mayako" and transformed into a black cat and jumped onto her shoulder.
And standing behind them was——
"Jiu...Jiu Jing classmate?!"
"Humura..."
It was my brother and his friend Shiman Ago.
Although we made a lot of noise in the old school building, we were able to slip away quietly during the chaotic evacuation of students.
"Eh—?! So you're really Jiu Jing's sister? Sister??"
"Stop arguing, Qian Liang. It's enough to emphasize this matter once."
I squatted beside Gu Kui, concentrating on bandaging his wounds, and didn't want to say anything more.
"I was also shocked when I first found out." Zhi Wanjun began to patiently explain to everyone the relationship between Saburo and me.
"Is it strange that I have a sister?" But Sanlang's voice was very flat, different from his usual vague feeling, and sounded strangely indifferent.
He's angry? Why is this guy getting angry?
"Because Jiu Jing-kun never mentioned anything about his younger sister before."
"She looks a lot like you, except for her hair color," Mayako said softly, her voice rising slightly at the end. "And it seems your cousin has a lot of secrets, too."
“…” You are really bringing up something that is not related to the topic.
"Homura."
I bandaged Kokugoshi and looked up at the red-haired boy who was already a short distance away. For the second time today, I heard Saburo call my name.
"What's going on?"
The collar of his shirt was open, revealing the scar-like birthmark across his neck and the magatama necklace.
The rage that had been suppressed rose again. "What's going on?" I stood up and looked him in the eye. I didn't know when, but his light-colored pupils had become even lighter, gleaming a faint silver in the sunlight. "I still want to ask you what's going on!"
"The other day you told me you'd made some new friends, and then you said you had nothing to do recently..." I pointed at the people standing around, "You mean nothing to do? Except for Zhi Wanjun, these guys aren't human. Even Zhi Wanjun is an exorcist... Why did you lie to me?"
"Jiu Jing, um, the thing is not—"
"So what if I lied to you?"
My thoughts paused for a moment.
"Will Homura be relieved if I tell you the truth?" He said calmly, his silver eyes looking straight into mine. "Besides, when it comes to lying, Homura's not bad, is she?"
“…”
"Those people, you always say they are the bodyguards given to you by the Hongo family, but in fact they are not bodyguards, not even human beings."
Don't say anymore.
"You always hide your own affairs from us, so why are you asking us now?"
Stop talking!
"I won't tell you because it has nothing to do with you."
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The author has something to say: Well, we had a fight.
Although Sanlang usually looks like a nonsensical optimist, he is actually quite... Is it black when cut open? Thanks to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution between 2022-03-11 23:32:54 and 2022-03-18 21:47:35~
Thanks to the little angel who threw the rocket launcher: Zhuo Batian 1;
Thanks to the little angels who cast mines: Dream Chaser and Mu Qiuhe;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Lu Yiqi 123 bottles; Jinjiu_ 20 bottles; Yemingsu 11 bottles; Yun☆Luo 10 bottles;
Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!
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