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Time quickly passed into evening, and the deep veil of night once again shrouded Itogami Island.

When Bokue Keikain and Asagi Aiba arrived at their prearranged meeting spot wearing the matching yukatas they'd just bought that afternoon, Natsuki Minamiya had already beaten them there.

It was the rooftop of a commercial plaza building.

In the evening breeze tinged with twilight, the petite girl—who'd traded her usual gothic dress for a dark-colored yukata—had her long hair elegantly pinned up. The wind played with a few stray strands that had escaped her updo as she stood behind the rooftop terrace's railing, gazing out at the distant cityscape.

Beside her stood a blue-haired little maid also dressed in an indigo yukata, holding a freshly made box of takoyaki while quietly eating and waiting.

Sensing someone approaching from behind, Astarte stopped eating and turned to look, then closed the takoyaki box in her hands. She held it properly with both hands lowered in front of her and gave a polite bow.

"Good evening, Miss Aiba, Master."

"M-Master??"

Asagi Aiba froze for a second, then whipped her head around to glare at the young man beside her.

"Bokue, you better explain yourself! Why is Astarte calling you Master??"

"Uh..."

While Bokue Keikain was still figuring out how to explain, Astarte had already moved to his other side, bowing again to Asagi with one person between them.

"[Response], Because Master Bokue gave Astarte a second chance at life, saving Astarte from being consumed by the familiar beast within. Currently, Astarte's ability to move freely depends entirely on the energy Master Bokue provides."

"Ah... oh right, that makes sense."

Remembering the incident with that Armed Apostle invading Itogami Island, Asagi pressed her palm to her forehead in sudden understanding.

Taking advantage of this moment, Astarte also looked up and tugged at the young man's sleeve beside her.

"[Request], It has been quite some time since Master last charged Astarte. Please arrange a time in the near future to charge Astarte again."

"...I understand."

Bokue Keikain spoke while glancing at the blonde girl on his other side.

Good—Asagi still didn't understand what "charging" actually entailed.

So the young man cleared his throat.

"Anyway, back to business. Officer Minamiya, you came looking for us so late last night and now you've called us to a place like this—what exactly are you planning?"

"Hmm?"

Natsuki Minamiya snapped her folding fan shut with a click and raised an eyebrow.

"With an Island Management Corporation insider right beside you, didn't Asagi Aiba tell you?"

"She mentioned something about a fireworks festival in the city center over the next couple days..."

Bokue Keikain answered honestly while casting a questioning glance at a certain Attack Mage from the Island's Special Security Force.

After all, as he'd mentioned before, he really couldn't think of any reason why she'd invite him out specifically to watch fireworks.

They weren't that close.

However, catching the young man's expression, Natsuki Minamiya just smiled slightly.

"That's right, the fireworks festival. But besides that, she should have mentioned another matter to you."

"...What?"

Bokue Keikain drew a blank, momentarily confused.

Just saying "another matter"—how was he supposed to know which matter she meant?

Natsuki Minamiya shook her head, turning her gaze back to the distant cityscape. She then raised her hand to point at a certain commercial building in the twilight city center that had one corner smashed in.

"That building—didn't Asagi tell you about it?"

"Huh? Oh, that building—of course I mentioned it~"

Before Bokue Keikain could respond, the blonde girl beside him spoke up first.

"Bokue, don't you remember? I told you about it when we went out for dinner last night."

"Oh, I remember now..."

With that reminder, Bokue Keikain lightly slapped his forehead.

"Something about being hit by an unknown force, right?"

"To be precise, it was hit by the collateral damage from a battle involving unknown forces."

Natsuki Minamiya corrected him.

Huh?

A hint of confusion flashed through Bokue Keikain's eyes.

What did she mean by collateral damage from unknown forces battling?

This was Itogami Island—a Demon Sanctuary. Due to the special nature of the district itself, Itogami Island had more energy wave detection devices on this one island than all of Japan combined. Any area where supernatural combat occurred would be immediately reported to Special Security Force headquarters.

Whether it was familiars, magic power, or spiritual energy—though they were called different things and had slightly different properties, there would always be some kind of reading.

But this "unknown force" business—what was that supposed to mean?

Could it be they couldn't detect the nature of the power?

"Just as you're thinking—it's exactly what it sounds like."

Natsuki Minamiya shrugged as if reading the young man's thoughts.

"It appears to be a type of power that's never been identified before. So from when the situation occurred until we received the emergency call, none of the island's energy wave detection devices registered any abnormal conditions."

"However, it's not like we have absolutely no leads. This kind of thing has happened several times recently, and we've found the losers' bodies at the scenes. After investigation, we discovered that all these losers had the same part of their bodies taken."

At this point, the gothic girl in her yukata turned around and gestured at the right side of her abdomen.

"Right here, roughly in the area below the diaphragm on the right side—that's the human body's spiritual energy center... Coming from an onmyoji family, you should know this, right?"

"Sorry, no idea."

Bokue Keikain shook his head honestly.

He really didn't know. He'd always operated on instinct when using his powers, never paying much attention to theoretical knowledge.

For Bokue Keikain, power was something that worked when you used it—that was enough.

As for memorizing the origins of power, the meaning of power, including its profound impacts and all that... was he crazy?

"You don't know...?"

Natsuki Minamiya's eyebrows rose and fell unevenly, displaying a rare conflicted expression.

But she quickly pushed that minor confusion aside.

"Whatever, forget about that. The point is, that's how things stand. Based on our observations, these battles seem to happen every night, so we need to catch the culprit quickly before more serious consequences occur."

POP—!

Right at that moment, the sound of exploding fireworks carried over on the evening breeze from the distance.

A brilliant streak of light trailing a long, gorgeous tail flame soared upward, blooming magnificently against the dark canvas of the night sky.

This shot was like a starting gun—following the first firework's appearance, streams of fireworks soon launched from various points throughout the city center, bursting open one after another in the night sky.

The fireworks festival had officially begun.

"Perfect timing—things are starting over there too."

Natsuki Minamiya hummed softly, the brilliant lights still reflected in her eyes.

Bokue Keikain followed her gaze, then let out a soft "huh."

He saw them—amidst those dazzling fireworks, two figures cloaked in flowing light were darting through like fairies at incredible speed. They had perfectly blended their forms with the surrounding fireworks, constantly weaving together then rapidly separating.

Colliding, killing, dancing a bloody waltz.

And moreover—

"That appearance looks kind of familiar to me."

Bokue Keikain muttered to himself.

Then he waved at the three girls present.

"Wait here for me. I'll be right back."

With that, he'd already vanished from where he stood.

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