Chapter 16: Dark Overcast Sky

“How should I know. If you don’t want to get wet, grab an umbrella.”

Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei spoke, turning a cold gaze on Shiga Inui.

“It’s a shame. You would have made a fine pawn… for it to end like this. Truly a shame.”

Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei turned on his heel.

Shiga Inui tried to go after him.

“You think you’re getting away…!”

As he lunged forward, Shiga Inui slipped.

He thought he’d slipped on the rain-sodden ground, but he was wrong.

She, the daughter of Tsunoi Mon’o, was wielding her Art.

She used the same Lubrication Art as her father.

(So her Flow is mixing with the rain, spreading a lubricating fluid across the ground?)

The Tsunoi daughter’s Lubrication Art had fused with the water, expanding its effect.

As Shiga Inui fell—tripped up by an Art that could reduce friction to zero on contact—another woman leaped over him.

“Hah!”

The incandescent heat streaming from her fingertips shot toward Shiga Inui’s body, but—

He channeled Flow into his hands to reinforce them, dug his fingers into the ground, and used his arms to shove the slick surface away.

Since the lubricating fluid had eliminated all frictional resistance, his own brute strength was enough to easily fling him out of the way.

Sparks flew as the Kammuri daughter’s fingers stabbed into the ground.

The Art of Kammuri Kokeiraku’s daughter was the Welding Art.

The source of incandescent heat concentrated in her fingertips could melt Flow and turn it into a bonding agent.

If her attack landed, her Flow would fuse into his flesh, causing excruciating pain.

(I can’t let that hand touch me.)

Thinking this, Shiga Inui tried to wipe the lubricating fluid from his body, but it was useless.

(The resistance is less than it was with that old man… but I still can’t make a careless move.)

He wondered, however, how Kammuri Kokeiraku’s daughter was able to walk on the ground slick with the Flow-infused rain.

But he soon understood.

Sparks flew every time she took a step.

She was employing the Welding Art from her legs; its heat instantly evaporated the rain and lubricating fluid beneath her feet.

This way, she could fight unhindered by the Lubrication Art.

“There’s no helping it, now that it’s come to this… All of you, he is the enemy. Fight as you see fit. After you kill him, you’ll be on service duty for the Tsuchikurenai-ke.”

Leaving them with those words, Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei exited the department store rooftop.

Shiga Inui’s expression filled with rage as he watched Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei leave everything to these women and depart alone.

(Pisses me off.)

Shiga Inui looked at their faces.

They showed no sign of being focused on the coming battle.

There was only despair.

They wanted this—being controlled—to end.

(Every last one of them… they just keep pissing me off.)

Shiga Inui didn’t want to look at their faces any longer.

And so, to end it quickly, he wielded his Flow.

(“‘…'”)

The rest was simple.

The women fell, bleeding.

Shiga Inui stood motionless, drenched in their blood.

“Ah… ah…”

With a raspy voice, one of them whispered.

Was it her last words, or was she muttering a curse against Shiga Inui?

In the rain, with nothing but the sound of splashing droplets, she murmured.

“Th… ank… you…”

With those words, she drew her last breath.

Shiga Inui ground his teeth at their words of thanks.

They had fought.

As slaves, their bodies defiled, having lost those they loved—yet in the end, they fought and died as sorcerers.

At the very, very end, they had reclaimed their pride as sorcerers.

That was why she had thanked Shiga Inui.

“So you got to pass on as sorcerers, huh.”

Shiga Inui stared at them, and then began to walk.

This was no time to wallow in sentimentality.

If they died as sorcerers…

Then Shiga Inui, too, would fulfill his duty as a sorcerer to the very end.

Afterward, Shiga Inui sat down at a nearby shrine.

Even in the rain, he was reluctant to move to a place where he might be seen.

With wet hands, he used his phone to contact the Hitsugiya.

“Yeah, it’s me, Shiga Inui. I’m at the shrine near the closed department store… right, two sorcerer bodies over at the department store… I need you to collect them.”

After requesting the recovery of the dead women’s bodies, his task complete, Shiga Inui began to doze off.

Mentally exhausted, he was about to sleep as if he might just die right there.

“Hey.”

A voice reached him.

He opened his eyes in response.

There stood Mineki Shian, holding an umbrella.

“…Huh? Shian-chan, what are you doing here?”

He asked, his tone light and flippant.

She showed him her phone and said.

“The Hitsugiya contacted me. I took the liberty of asking where you were, too.”

Hearing that, Shiga Inui remembered that, oh yeah, he’d told the Hitsugiya he was at the shrine.

“You came to get me? You’re usually so standoffish… what’s this, a soft spot?”

As he joked, Mineki Shian sat down next to him.

“Of course. You are my retainer. Just as you devote yourself to me, I shall devote myself to you… It is my duty as the head of the house to take on your hardships and your sorrows.”

She was speaking in a roundabout way, but in the end, she was just worried.

“…I was a little on edge. I didn’t mean to say all that… Sorry, Shian-chan.”

He remembered what he had said to her in the moments between leaving the dungeon and getting above ground, and he apologized.

She accepted his apology and forgave him without a second thought.

“That bastard… Soui Shuryakuma. He’s… how do I put it… It felt like I was looking at myself, and it pissed me off.”

The feeling of having something precious stolen from you because of your own weakness.

Because he understood that all too well, it was like looking at his past self, a self he wanted to deny.

“Are you angry… because you couldn’t protect Rindou?”

This time, he didn’t get angry. He just nodded.

“…It happened because I was weak. In the end, it was my fault.”

At the hands of the Yukoku Clan, Hiryuuin Rindou had been captured and forced to endure a horrific ordeal.

Shiga Inui had been forced to watch the whole tragic scene, feeling as useless as garbage.

He, more than anyone, should have been the one to protect her smile, but his hands had failed to save her.

Regret turned to vengeance for Shiga Inui.

More than anything, he could never forgive himself.

Shiga Inui, still dragging his heavy past behind him, let out a single breath.

Then, his expression twisted into its usual self-mocking sneer.

That look wasn’t for anyone else; it was directed at himself.

“That’s why I got stronger. But it’s still not enough. To keep from having things stolen from me, I’ll keep stealing from others. Women, pride, whatever. If you show off your strength, you can take anything… That’s why—”

His collar was seized.

Shiga Inui was yanked forward.

Perhaps she found his self-deprecating words too grating.

Her lips sealed his.

Shiga Inui’s eyes went wide at the sudden move.

When their lips parted, Mineki Shian looked him in the eye and spoke.

“You were saying things so unlike you… so I shut your mouth.”

This was likely her own way of comforting him.

Blushing deeply, she turned her face away.

“I know your strength, and I know your heart. That’s exactly why I can’t forgive this.”

She stared at Shiga Inui’s face.

He was blaming himself.

That wound, she knew, must be deep.

“I am the only one who is allowed to look down on you. I am the only one who is allowed to scold you. No one else…”

That is why.

So that he wouldn’t blame himself.

Mineki Shian would berate him in his place.

So that the one who saved her own sister wouldn’t be crushed by the weight of his own sin.

In his stead, Mineki Shian would continue to be strict with Shiga Inui.

“On this point, I won’t even yield to you yourself.”

At her words, Shiga Inui couldn’t help but laugh.

“…Haha, but that’s no reason to suddenly kiss me, is it?”

He hung his head, hiding his face.

He processed the surge of emotion not as tears, but as laughter.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. It didn’t mean anything more than that… I’m serious.”

Even if there was truly no other meaning behind it.

Her desperate attempt to look away was endearing, and he couldn’t hide his arousal.

“So, you’re telling me to cheer up? Meaning you like the cool-and-refreshing-guy-with-a-hint-of-darkness me more than the full-of-ennui me?”

He looked up.

Shiga Inui was back to his usual self.

“…Don’t get carried away, Inu.”

She rebuked him.

Her voice was guttural, almost menacing.

Still, he understood how she felt.

That’s why he had to keep joking, he thought.

“You’re the one who let me get carried away, Shian-chan…”

He looked up at the overcast sky.

The downpour had lessened.

The light drizzle showed signs of clearing up.

“Yeah. So, I feel better… I don’t regret my choices. And I won’t ever say that choosing to be a sorcerer was a mistake.”

He stood up from the shrine steps.

Just as he’d expected, the light rain had stopped.

“Alright, shall we head back? I’m sure we’ll be fighting the Tsuchikurenai-ke from here on out, so we’d better prepare.”

Just as a small smile graced her lips in agreement.

Mineki Shian felt something was off. She looked at his face and demanded.

“…Wait. You. Why did you just mention the Tsuchikurenai-ke?”

At her words, Shiga Inui tilted his head, and then let out a small, “Ah.”

“Eh? Ah, right, I forgot to mention… a few hours ago…”

He had made contact with the Tsuchikurenai-ke.

When he finished telling her that he had even fought them—

“You… bastard! Why didn’t you say so sooner?!”

She flew into a perfectly understandable rage.

Once again, Shiga Inui had dragged them right into the middle of trouble.

Looking at her face as she processed the awful new reality, Shiga Inui said.

“It’s fine, Shian-chan.”

He puffed out his chest, full of confidence.

“You’ve got me.”

No matter how strong the enemy.

Shiga Inui believed he could win.

As long as he had them, defeat was not an option.