Chapter 52.1

The fact that Inugami Hibiki had disappeared came to light in the middle of the welcome party. After saying a brief excuse to Welkano who was sitting next to him and to chieftain Bergel as well, Ryuzaki left the plaza and headed for the heavy cruiser branch school.
As guards for Akai whose physical condition had gotten worse, Utsurogi Kyousuke, Sak.u.ma Sachiko and others were on standby. He meant to consult with these guys. To Goubayas.h.i.+, he sent an eye signal, have them remain here.

“Yes! Then I will take a taxi and move to 74! Whoa, caught!? I caught him!?”
“No, not yet. Let see then, Mr. X’s actions. He used the bus here and…”

On the deck of the branch school, Kyousuke and the others were amusing themselves with Scotland Yard.
It was a foreign board game. Ryuzaki didn’t know the details rules either. But this was one of the goods confiscated at the old castle.

“Current location is 102.”
“Lie!?”
“I told you so Himemizu, I said to take the subway and go right a bit ago, didn’t I…?”
“Yup, I said that too…”
“Please say it a bit stronger then!”
“Or rather, Utsurogi is quite good at trickery. This too is growth?”
“Haha, I got mixed feelings about this…”

Without knowing the rules, Ryuzaki had no idea what they were talking about at all, but he thought it best that they seemed happy.
Had her condition gotten better? This time, even Akai had partic.i.p.ated in the board game as well. Or rather, everyone who remained at the heavy cruiser branch school were playing. Kyousuke, Akira, Rin, Akai, Sak.u.ma and then Zeku. Zeku was supposed to be unable to communicate with words, so it was unexpected that he partic.i.p.ated as a player in the board game that seemed complicated in its own way.

“While Rin had gone off course, Zeku’s reading is too precise it’s scary though…”

Moreover, he seemed to be putting up quite a fight.

No, this isn’t the situation to be thinking so carefreely. Ryuzaki raised his hand in order to consult about the present situation.

“Ah, it’s Ryuzaki-kun. Yahoo—!”

First to notice was Rin, she waved her body and greeted.

“Ryuzaki, has the welcome party over there ended already?”
“No, not yet. A little problem has cropped up so I come to report.”

When he briefly informed them, everyone’s expression … stiffened? He didn’t quite understand their expression, but tension was mixed in the air.
Kyousuke put down on the deck the thing that looked to be a memo board.

“What happened?”
“From the conclusion, Inugami has disappeared.”

Ryuzaki understood that the tension mixed in the air became more certain.

In the first place, the reason why Kyousuke and the others were guarding this heavy cruiser branch school where Akai slept was mostly due to that Inugami’s report. Vampire is on this island. In terms of sniffing out those guys’ existence alone, Inugami probably surpa.s.sed even Akai.
Ryuzaki had meant to instructed her not to do anything unreasonable by herself, but a lone wolf that she was, it didn’t seem to have much effect.

“Inugami-san…. I, should have followed her.”

Sak.u.ma muttered. Certainly, she was presently almost the only student who could grasp the reins of Inugami Hibiki. But there was no point to say this and that at this point.

“What do you mean by ‘disappeared’ in the first place? Is she just gone from the welcome party venue?”
“That’s right, Utsurogi. Therefore, we still don’t know if that girl is in any danger.

However…”
“Well, if Inugami is acting independently then 8 or 9 cases out of 10, it’s linked to the blood clan, therefore…”

Kyousuke crossed his arms and nodded.

“We had better hurry if there’s a possibility of Inugami fighting with those guys.”

From the side, Akira said.

“Inugami didn’t transform to a monster by the Transference Denaturation Gate, she’s a werewolf by birth. The blood clan has no reason to keep her alive.”

Exactly as he stated. Supposing the result of Inugami acting independently was a fight with the blood clan, the situation might even change for the worst. The uncertainties of the situation had produced a strange uncomfortableness.
The 2nd year cla.s.s 4 had already got Kogane kidnapped by those guys, Was.h.i.+o had been killed. On top of that, even Inugami…, they felt very impatient.

“Anyway, it’s not the time for Scotland Yard.”

Rin clearly said so and started putting away the board game spread on the deck. Only Zeku who couldn’t grasp the situation was making a little strangely lonely look. ∗Pon pon∗, Rin patted his shoulders.

“Yup yup, let’s play again next time. Something like Catan or Dominion. I don’t know the rules, but Saa-chan know them all.”
“Then what do we do? The sun has already set, but are we looking for the vampires now?”

Ryuzaki’s remark was probably intended for not only Ryuzaki. He was confirming it with Akai who was of the same blood clan. Although Akai’s condition had gotten better than in daytime, when thinking of the onset of Blood Crave Illness, they couldn’t let her push herself. On the contrary, the blood clan might even get to know of Akai’s bad condition and started to move.
Since Akai didn’t say anything, Ryuzaki decided to state his opinion.

“First thing first, whether or not will we inform Welkano-san and chieftain Bergel of the case of Inugami going missing.”

Saying so, Ryuzaki folded his fingers.

“Before the fact that they didn’t completely trust us, there is even the possibility of the humans having some connection to the vampires. I don’t want to say anything careless.”
“But if they’re connected to the vampires, they would have know of Inugami case anyway, there’s no point to hiding it, is there?”

That’s true. Once being told, Ryuzaki noticed. As expected, thinking alone will surely got your head trapped inside the box?
Akira supplemented Kyousuke’s words with his understanding.

“Rather, if they’re connected to the vampires, they would take our not informing them of Inugami missing case as unnatural. I think it’s better to tell them that news of Inugami has been cut off and predict the situation based on their reaction.”
“Akira, their reaction … you say, but what exactly do you mean?”
“In short, Kyousuke, if they’re good humans who know nothing, they should show a sympathetic correspondence at the news that Inugami has gone missing. In case it’s not so, it doesn’t feel too serious, or else they treat that information with cruelty, we can judge that they’re connected to the vampires.”

What Akira pointed out was most reasonable, to the point of being absolutely natural when thinking theoretically. He was a reliable man exactly at times like these. He was completely down during the voyage due to seasickness, but accordingly, the statements he made at these times was highly credible. Kyousuke, Rin, and then Sak.u.ma, each and everyone nodded to Akira’s words.

Now then, the next problem.
First, they had to recognize once again that they were completely behind the vampires that were supposed to be hiding on this island. Does the opponent know of Akai’s condition? What kind of purpose will they have when trying to contact us? Is Inugami safe? If safe, then where is she?

Every single information was overwhelmingly insufficient.

“Even though we won’t lose if it’s a simple fist fight…”

Because Kyousuke unusually spat out words unsuitable to him, Ryuzaki’s eyes went round.

“Utsurogi, you’re quite confident…”
“Kyousuke-kun, you see, is in the midst of searching for his new self, forming a character.”
“Don’t put it so strangely.”

∗Pechin∗, Kyousuke slapped Rin lightly. Sak.u.ma was watching that with eyes that seemed a little envious.

This sinful love triangle ain’t nothing you want to meddle with.

“Well, since we can’t make Asuka move, there’s no doubt that Utsurogi and Rin are substantially the strongest in the cla.s.s, but it’s certain that there’s nothing we can do while knowing neither the opponent’s movement nor their location.”

Once they tried thinking about it, most of the crises that befell the cla.s.s so far were mostly ones that could be resolved with honest brute force. There was no pattern like this time where they had too little information to either attack or defend and was completely stuck still, unable to move.
This was why Ryuzaki couldn’t make a move either and had come to consult with Kyousuke group. In terms of result, he was able to obtain a more or less fruitful opinion, but the situation itself still didn’t progress.

“Anyway,”

Saying, Kyousuke started to stand up.

“If the vampires of Red Moon who are hiding on this island have already come into contact with Inugami, our being here on this island has already been leaked. The purpose of the opponent is still unknown, but it’s better to make sure our cla.s.smates act as a team to a certain extent.”
“That’s certainly right.”

Ryuzaki nodded too.
The vampires of Red Moon aimed to take in the students — who was transformed into monsters through the Transference Denaturation Gate — as war potential. It was dangerous to act alone on this island. First was to take the utmost attention so that no more student would stray like that.

So to speak, it was a story of ‘defense’.

And with Inugami falling into the enemy’s hands and going missing, the story of ‘offense’ became necessary as well.
That in turn led to the question of how to do that.

“Don’t be so cold, cla.s.s rep. What are you doing talking about such important things without us?”

A voice was heard from behind. Ryuzaki turned around and there stood a gillman, Uozumi Sakeichiro, before one knew it, he was standing there, leaning his back against the side of the s.h.i.+p.

“Ohh, everyone came back.”

Rin brightly said. As she said, the ones over there weren’t just Uozumi alone.
Ascending the gangway extended to the beach, the students of 2nd year cla.s.s 4 were returning in succession. Naturally, Goubayas.h.i.+ among them. Kyousuke group welcomed the return of other members normally, but Ryuzaki was a little perplexed.

The welcome party was in full swing. Not so many minutes had pa.s.sed since Ryuzaki had slipped out from within that big excitement. Does that mean everyone slipped out in the middle of the welcome party and come over here?
From the direction of the plaza deep inside the forest, the light of the bonfire illuminating the night sky was still visible.

“Cla.s.s rep, did you say Inugami is gone?”
“Do you know the circ.u.mstances?”
“As expected, it’s the deed of those vampire lots?”

The students, while intruding on the deck, forcefully approached. Ryuzaki sent a little resentful gaze at Goubayas.h.i.+. I’m sure I sent an eye signal saying to remain there though?

“That gaze, Ryuzaki. I take it as «I’m leaving everyone in the cla.s.s to you».”

Goubayas.h.i.+, arms crossed, said.

“Since everyone in the cla.s.s was circulating this kind of thing, I decided to exit the welcome party.”

What Goubayas.h.i.+ took out after saying that was a small piece of paper.
It was a folded memo pad. By the side of Ryuzaki who was making a quizzical face, Kyousuke took that up and opened it.

“«Cla.s.s rep and Inugami are gone. Those who worries about this, give it to your neighbor». Ohh, this kind of things used to go around in the middle of cla.s.s. Never got to my place though.”
“Kyousuke-kun…. Let’s stop joking about having few friends at this timing…”

Ryuzaki remained silent and peered into the memo pad Kyousuke had opened. He instantly recognized whose was it in the cla.s.s just by looking at the handwriting, but he didn’t say it out loud. At the welcome party, the cla.s.smates of 2nd year cla.s.s 4 were seated in a circle formation together with the merchants of the maritime caravan. The student who wrote this was at one end, Goubayas.h.i.+ was at the other end. Which meant, this memo had doubtlessly pa.s.sed through the eyes of everyone in the cla.s.s.

The fact that they were here was the consensus of every cla.s.smates.

“As might be expected, I’m not unfeeling enough to be so carefree while one of my cla.s.smate has disappeared.”

Nekomiya — with the same pretentious tune as usual — said so.

“I would hate it if another Was.h.i.+o came out.”

Hakuba’s manner of speaking was cold, but his tone was a little strong.

“It’s time for that Ryuzaki. Another cla.s.s meeting in a different world.”
“Right…. Look like we should do that.”

Ryuzaki nodded to Kyousuke’s words.