The “Hero” girl fired her gun a few more times. The man dodged each shot effortlessly, but he seemed rather indignant about it.
“Could you please restrict your fights to other Divine Vessel hosts? Fighting me won’t get you anywhere.”
Concerned about stray fire, Yuichi moved Mutsuko and Yuri to the wall, then watched things develop, wide-eyed.
Why had the girl ignored Yuichi, who had a Divine Vessel, in order to fight the young man who didn’t? That was what he didn’t understand.
The man seemed content to remain on the defensive, so it must have been true that he had no intention of fighting.
With an air of frustration, the man leaped into the air. He kicked off the wall of a nearby building, then off the wall opposite it. He repeated the process until it carried him to the roof in a flash.
“See you around. You’re both Divine Vessel holders, so why don’t you stay there and settle things?” With that, the man disappeared.
They were now alone with the Hero, so Yuichi decided to talk to her. “You’re Maruyama from the next class over, right?”
Her name was Yurika Maruyama. He’d investigated a few things about her after the incident over summer vacation, but he hadn’t learned much beyond that.
“Sakaki! Have you seen Natsuki?” Yurika burst out as she ran up to him, looking distressed. It looked like she really didn’t intend to fight him.
“Takeuchi? What about her?” Yuichi asked.
“She saw him and ran, and I’ve been searching for her! I saw her and she was injured but then I lost them! They were running from something together, I think!” She seemed to be so flustered, it was hard to understand what she was saying. He wasn’t sure of the connection between them, but it did sound like Natsuki was involved in some kind of trouble.
“How hurt was she? What happened?”
“Hey! Will you persist in ignoring me?” a voice from the phone shouted. “I can hear through the phone that there’s some sort of fight going on, and I’m feeling very left out at the moment!”
Yuichi suddenly realized he’d forgotten to hang up the phone. “Oh, sorry. We’ve just got a lot to deal with, you know?”
“True as that may be, it appears quite a few have gathered there. Are you well?” Chiharu spoke about the same time as it arrived.
Someone had just dropped down from the sky.
“No, we’re not well at all,” said Yuichi.
The resonance could tell hosts where other hosts were. Some used this as a chance to be cautious, but apparently this person was using it as an opportunity.
It was a boy about Monika’s age. He was wearing a small black cap, a white kimono, and a brocade stole, the outfit of a mountain monk. On top of that, he also had black wings like a crow’s sprouting from his back, and wore high-platformed geta sandals. He certainly seemed superhuman.
“It’s a tengu, right? A tengu did it, right?” Mutsuko asked excitedly.
“I think you just wanted to say that line,” said Yuichi. “He hasn’t done anything except land in front of us.”
If he was here, that certainly suggested he was a Divine Vessel host. He was clearly raring to fight.
“I don’t have time for this! I’ve gotta go!” Yurika ignored the tengu and broke into a run.
The tengu didn’t pursue Yurika, but remained right where it was, looking down its nose at Yuichi.
The tengu seemed to want to fight him.
Yuichi steeled himself for the fight. He needed to pursue Yurika to find out more about what was going on with Natsuki, and right now, the tengu was in the way. Which meant he’d just have to get him out of the way.
The tengu was standing at the center of a crossroads, about five meters away from Yuichi.
“I’ll start with you. I am—”
The tengu boy was probably about to introduce himself, but he didn’t get to finish. Instead, he just went flying to the side at great speed.
A man dressed in black vestments was standing where the boy had been. He looked like a priest. His hips were lowered and he held a fist thrust to one side.
“For heaven’s sake... one thing after another. It’s just impossible to follow,” Yuri said, agape.
Yuichi felt the same way.
Not a moment after the tengu had appeared, the priest had punched him out. It was hard to keep up with these rapid-fire developments.
“That’s chongchui! It’s Bajiquan!” Mutsuko shouted delightedly.
Bajiquan was known from manga and games, but there weren’t many people who were willing to put the training in to learn it. It couldn’t really be used in street fights, for one thing, so you didn’t see it very often.
“Why would a priest know Chinese kung fu?” Yuichi wondered. There was nothing wrong with it, of course, but it didn’t seem to fit, somehow.
“What are you saying? Bajiquan is a priest’s best friend! Everybody knows that!”
“I don’t think anybody knows that...”
While they were talking, the priest approached the tengu boy and took his Divine Vessel. It looked like a bat’s wing. The priest put it in his pocket.
Even with the Divine Vessel stolen, the boy’s crow-like wings remained, suggesting that they belonged to him.
“I don’t suppose you intend to give me your Evil God part, do you?” the priest asked calmly.
“No. Also, get out of my way.”
“If your intent is to pursue Yurimaru, I shall not permit it.”
Yurimaru? It took him a moment to realize that he was referring to Yurika Maruyama.
“You’re with Maruyama?” Yuichi asked.
“How troublesome... there was an Evil God part right in front of her, yet she’s preoccupied with something else. Therefore, I shall have to retrieve it in her stead.”
The priest had a placid demeanor, but he seemed to have nerves of steel. A fight was looking inevitable.
“Hey! Wouldn’t it be funny if another enemy appeared and punched him out right now?” Mutsuko asked.
“Shut up! We’ve had too much of that twist already!” Yuichi snapped.
It was a troubling situation, but Mutsuko was acting as airheaded as ever.
“Bwahaha! I was just thinking the same thing!” a voice called from the phone.
Yuichi, suddenly realizing Chiharu had been listening in to the entire conversation, hung up the cell phone and put it in his pocket.
Suddenly, the priest’s fist was in front of his eyes.
He had caught Yuichi completely flat-footed.
It was chongchui, a Bajiquan move that consisted of nothing more than a mid-level punch aimed at the throat. But the fist was already too close for him to dodge.
Yuichi drove the blow off course by directing the priest’s hand down with his left arm. At the same time, he tried to counter with a right jab, but he then realized the first strike had only been groundwork.
Yuichi forced his furukami to activate.
He expelled a breath of explosive power and kicked off the ground, propelling himself backwards while protecting his heart with his right hand.
A shockwave.
Yuichi was blown back with force greater than that which he’d applied. He just barely managed to block the priest’s right elbow.
It was true that he’d left an opening. But he’d also thought he was far enough away to work things out. That distance, though, had been closed in an instant.
The priest’s movements were strange, seeming to ignore gravity and inertia.
He dropped his hips low and struck out with his right elbow from horse stance.
Yuichi was blown back to where the girls were standing, and landed. He had probably been thrown back about five meters in all. The man’s power was unbelievable.
Yuichi steadied his breathing. No damage had been done. The shockwave, which he hadn’t been able to offset entirely, even with his backwards jump, he now dispersed with the release of internal power in his chest.