The gold sheath is pushed away, and a blade glistens wetly under the moon.
Girl in uniform: ——What are you?
Kei: Even if you ask me… what I am……
With this girl staring me down who could slice me in half at any time, I make an appeal with my empty hands, raising them above my shoulders.
Kei: I am pretty sure I’m just a regular person……
Girl in uniform: You mean to say a regular person… is in a place like this, at this time?
Kei: I was just over at that riverbank lighting fireworks, so I am no one suspicious…… anyway, my house is close by.
Girl in uniform: …………
Kei: Umm…… may I ask what you are? If you are holding something like that, then you wouldn’t be a normal person, would you?
Girl in uniform: I am someone whose life’s work is to slay the inhuman beings that cause humans harm, an Onikiri-Yaku of the Onikiribe.
As if reflecting the moonlight, her eye, opened wide in the midst of darkness, gives off a ghastly blue light.
Transfixed by the light of her iris, I find myself nailed fast to a wall of air.
Girl in uniform: To put it simply, I was in pursuit of a faint oni’s presence when I found you here.
And then, she gives moves a comparing glance between me and Obana-chan and breathes a sigh.
Girl in uniform: It would appear that you are not an oni…… but by any chance, are you someone from the Hazama family?
Kei: Eh?
Kei: Ah… yeah. My name is Kei. Hatou Kei.
Girl in uniform: I see—— I must apologize, then, for pointing a sword at you.
With a magnificent, flowing movement, she returns her tachi to its sheath.
Girl in uniform: My name is Senba Uzuki. If I may ask, Hatou-san, have you recently seen any suspicious phenom——