But saving Yanagi took priority. Just as Hana was about to call Saku’s phone, a loud explosion rang out with a boom, rattling even the ground beneath their feet.
“Oh, what now?!”
Botan was shocked, her eyes darting around.
It seemed for a moment that that would be the end of it, but the two heard multiple explosions shortly after, with each one seeming to get closer and closer to the Campus Cup’s arena.
“No way, did the talismans activate? But Kazura was supposed to do something about them!”
Hana had tried to get Arashi to go along with them, but Kazura turned her down; he said that he learned the traces of the talismans’ powers and didn’t need Arashi. If an Obsidian-rank practitioner like Kazura could be that confident, then Hana figured it must have been too trivial a task for Arashi to help with, if Kazura hadn’t already disarmed a few already.
But now it looked like he was too late. Hana regretted her choice, instead wishing she had forced him to take Arashi.
But a voice spoke just as Hana started to panic.
“Ha…na…”
Hana and Botan turned at nearly the same time to see a battered and bruised Kazura.
“Goodness, Kazura!”
Botan rushed to his side.
“Whatever could have happened to you?!”
“Botan…”
Kazura’s eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise, but he again turned to Hana.
“Seems we got a bit careless. We came across the masterminds behind the Skull of Nirvana and tried to take them on, but Yanagi got beaten first… I couldn’t fight while also protecting him…”
“My goodness! To think someone could get the upper hand against you!”
Botan was shocked, as though she couldn’t believe it.
“Where are these Skull of Nirvana people now?”
Hana, on the other hand, sounded perfectly calm.
“I barely managed to fend them off. But the talismans they planted are still in place. I can’t seal them off with what’s left of my power after that fight. Please, Hana, would you lend me your strength?”
Hana stared intently at Kazura, as though trying to pry into what exactly he was thinking. And so, after a pause, Hana stopped applying pressure to Yanagi’s wound and stood up.
“Miyabi, call someone over to get my brother to safety. I can bet Saku’s got his hands full with the commotion going on.”
“Understood.”
Miyabi vanished. Hana turned to face Kazura.
“Take me to them.”
“Thank you very much, Hana…”
Kazura, covered in bruises, led the way. Hana could see Botan just behind them, which concerned her a bit.
“Why are you coming along, too?”
“I wouldn’t dream of abandoning Kazura in his time of need. While I may be no match for an Obsidian-rank practitioner, I’m still a candidate to be the Yotsukado clan lord, and I can’t look the other way knowing that the Skull of Nirvana are involved.”
Hana quietly clicked her tongue at Botan’s fiery sense of duty.
“So long as you don’t slow me down…”
Hana muttered this too lowly for Botan to hear. After watching Kazura for a bit longer, she gave a hushed order to Azuha. Azuha then left her master’s side without a sound.
The most heavily populated spot on the campus was undoubtedly the arena in which the Campus Cup had just been held, which was on the exact opposite side of the school grounds as this empty field where Kazura hurriedly led Hana. It was deserted, perhaps as a consequence of the explosions.
When Kazura stopped in this all-too-quiet spot, Botan called out to him out of concern.
“Kazura, are you all right?”
Her expression was pained as she sidled up to him and reached out to hold his arm, but Hana suddenly jerked her away.
“What is the meaning of this?! Let me go!”
“Hey… Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?” Hana paid no mind to Botan’s objections. She only sized Kazura up with an ice-cold glare. “If so, you must really take me for a fool.”
Botan didn’t seem to understand what she meant, but the kindhearted expression that Kazura wore until this moment now warped into something disturbing. Kazura wore a grin that stretched just a bit too widely as the blood and bruises on his body suddenly vanished, revealing that he didn’t have a scratch on him.
“So you actually did notice, eh?”
Kazura’s smile was the same as ever, but the impression it gave now was completely different. It was like watching the veneer of an angel being torn off to reveal a devil in disguise.
“Those techniques are Azuha’s specialty. I’ve used her abilities before to change my appearance into Hazuki’s, too. That’s why I can spot a fake right away.”
“How absolutely unexpected. To think you had that much power, eh?”
Hana made no attempt to hide her suspicion, and Kazura made no attempt to hide his delight.
“You’ve got potential, you know.”
“Much appreciated.”
The words between them were small talk, but Hana now stepped forward to cover Botan.
“You’re the one who injured my brother, I take it?”
“Right you are. He was starting to be a bit of a bother.”
“Ngh!” Despite inflicting such deep wounds on Yanagi, Kazura chuckled as though he’d merely swatted a fly. Hana’s glare sharpened. “So should I take that to mean you planted the talisman Arashi found?”
Kazura didn’t answer, but his grin grew wider. This was nothing short of an admission.
“I get it. No wonder you refused to have Arashi tag along.”
“I put a lot of work into burying those talismans, so I couldn’t have them getting dug up now.”
Kazura had walked around the campus plenty of times under the pretense of “scouting the area” for the school festival. And with all the teachers and students knowing that he was working security, nobody suspected a thing. He had countless chances to plant who knows how many talismans.
Just then they heard the biggest explosion yet coming from the Campus Cup arena. Hana turned toward it on reflex, but she managed to keep her cool by reminding herself that Saku was there to handle it.
“Are you saying that Kazura caused these explosions? B-but why would he…?”
Botan asked this with a trembling voice from behind Hana. She likely didn’t know the details, but she must have inferred from their conversation that Kazura was the culprit behind the explosions and been in a state of shock.
“That’s a damn good question. So what is your reason?”
As Hana asked her question, Aoi and Arashi stood on the sidelines, ready to act at a moment’s notice.
“Because I can’t stand it. The country, the world of practitioners, and the state of affairs where the five clans control it all.”
“The same motive as the Skull of Nirvana. Hard to be surprised at such a blatant rehash.”
“Well, who do you think controlled the Skull of Nirvana from behind the scenes?”
Kazura’s disarmingly casual smile just made his expression all the creepier.
“Thanks to that Nijouin clan member…”
Now that the cat was that far out of the bag, Hana remembered what Saku had told her before. That there was a Nijouin practitioner who went missing after cutting a deal. That every single Skull of Nirvana member was killed by curse.
Hana looked at this man smiling before her and had an awful thought.
“You were the one who made that bargain?! And all those Skull of Nirvana members who were cursed to death…”
“Keh-keh. Ha-ha-ha-ha!” Kazura cackled loudly, as though this were a laughing matter. “Maybe, maybe not. What do you think?”
Hana felt like he was getting a kick out of her reactions, which really pissed her off.
“Don’t play dumb!”
“Come now, no need to be so angry. It’s just… When you come across just the right tool for the job, how can you resist using it? And when it stops working, you throw it away. Simple as that.
“Why, you…!”
He had no respect for human life.
“Isn’t it funny? Being Obsidian rank is all it takes for everyone, even Saku, to trust me beyond a shadow of a doubt. He knew I was a specialist in curses, yet it never crossed his mind. Guess that Obsidian rank of his is just a fancy title. Doesn’t it make you weep to think that’s what’s become of the clan lords?”
Kazura’s shoulders slumped; one could tell that he saw even Saku as beneath him.
Kazura might have had a point, but that just spoke to how much faith Saku had in him.
“It’s proof of how much Saku believed in you, right? You had all that trust from the Ichinomiya lord and were even called the strongest of all Obsidian-rank practitioners, so what’re you stooping to this terrorist crap for? You don’t need this to get all the status and fame you could want.”
He wasn’t on the level of those failed, grudge-holding practitioners who made up the Skull of Nirvana.