Ciel, Kojou Akatsuki, and the sleeping Nagisa Akatsuki were all brought up to the surface by Natsuki Minamiya.
Natsuki's title was the "Witch of the Void." She specialized in high-level magic—spatial control magic—and moving from inside the ruin to the surface took only the blink of an eye.
Gajou Akatsuki had already been waiting on the surface for some time.
He had been riddled with bullets, injuries that would have killed even a vampire, yet Gajou had miraculously survived. That was the Death Returnee for you.
In the past, an accident had occurred while he was investigating the ruins of the Necropolis of the Devas, leaving half his body behind there. Strictly speaking, that accident meant he belonged neither to the living nor the dead, and he did not exist anywhere in this world. Therefore, he could not die.
When he saw Nagisa and Kojou return safely, Gajou was overjoyed. He rushed over, hugged Nagisa, and was about to give her a physical examination, while his cheap son Kojou was kicked flying by him.
"You brat! As her older brother, were you properly protecting your little sister or not?"
"Huh? What are you talking about, you irresponsible scumbag who suddenly ran off?! Do you have any idea how hard Nagisa and I had it down there? I almost died, you know!"
"Who cares about you? A brat who shows his old man no respect only needs to still be breathing. But if Nagisa loses even a single hair, I'll be heartbroken for ages!"
"What part of you deserves respect? What kind of father sees his son escape death and, instead of asking if he's all right, kicks him first?!"
Kojou and Gajou, father and son, began arguing until they were red in the face.
This was probably how the father and son interacted with each other. Or perhaps it was their own peculiar way of showing concern.
Ciel watched from the side with great interest, but Natsuki only found them noisy and unhappily furrowed her lovely brows.
"Gajou Akatsuki, put your close father-son bonding aside for now. I have something very important to discuss with you."
Natsuki, both a teacher and an instructor, spoke with an authority that even her petite frame could not hide, easily intimidating both Kojou and Gajou.
Kojou was afraid of Natsuki because children were naturally afraid of teachers. As for Gajou, his years of traveling all over the world had made him very familiar with Natsuki's famous name.
The "very important matter" Natsuki mentioned was naturally Avrora's custody.
"Since the twelfth Kaleid Blood body has appeared, we'll be taking her back to Itogami Island. You have no objections, I assume?"
No, this should not be called a discussion. Judging from her domineering tone, she did not seem to have the slightest intention of consulting anyone.
"Of course I don't. The twelfth Kaleid Blood... If I took something like that with me, I'd definitely be hunted by the entire world, right? Spare me. I'm only an ordinary archaeologist."
Gajou raised both hands as if surrendering, smiling wryly again and again.
"And besides, you saved Nagisa's life. Both emotionally and logically, I have no reason to fight you over anything. If you want her, go ahead and take her."
"Exactly. My little sister saved your daughter's life, so engrave that debt in your heart and repay it properly from now on like an ox or a horse."
"Being an ox or a horse is a little too much..."
Gajou had not been particularly interested in Avrora to begin with. He was a man who knew his limits and understood that he could not swallow a treasure this valuable. The one truly fixated on Avrora had been Liana.
Unfortunately, she was already dead, killed by Hazaroff inside the ruin.
As for Hazaroff, whom Ciel had subdued, he was naturally taken away by Natsuki. Prison was undoubtedly waiting for him afterward.
Natsuki also found twenty-three survivors nearby, but they were all minor figures with no authority to make decisions. They did not even know what had been inside the ruin.
Therefore, it seemed no one could change Natsuki's decision to bring Avrora and the Fourth Primogenitor back to Itogami Island...
She suddenly turned her head to look at Ciel. Noticing her gaze, Ciel showed a puzzled expression.
"How unusual. I said I was bringing the Fourth Primogenitor's vessel back to a city where people live, and you didn't try to stop me? Don't tell me you're planning to kill her while I'm not paying attention."
"Natsuki-oneechan, is that really the image you have of me...?"
Ciel clutched her chest, looking deeply disappointed.
Then, in the very next second, she looked at Natsuki with anticipation, as if the disappointment and heartbreak from before had only been an illusion.
"So, can I kill her?"
"No."
"Tch!"
Ciel curled her lips like a resentful child whose toy had been snatched away.
Gajou secretly glanced at Ciel, as if trying to burn her appearance into his mind.
The "Witch of the Void's" younger sister...
A mysterious figure surrounded by riddles.
No one knew where she came from. No records contained any information about her past.
The girl was like an alien who had suddenly descended into this world. The first time she entered the public eye, she was already at Natsuki's side.
Natsuki said she was her younger sister, and the girl named Ciel herself admitted as much.
Even though, no matter how one looked at them, they did not seem like sisters.
It was only a fleeting glance. Gajou soon looked away, and an unserious smile returned to his face.
There might be many secrets surrounding her, but those were not things an archaeologist like him should be concerned about.
One should only do what one had the ability to do. If he did not even understand that much common sense, he would have died long ago.
In the burned-down camp, the air was still filled with sulfur and an inescapable stench of rot. Even the soaring flames from earlier had been unable to burn away the smell of dead bodies.
Everything that could burn had mostly burned, leaving only a ruined mess behind.
...
Natsuki pulled Ciel to a deserted spot. After confirming that no one nearby was eavesdropping, she looked at Ciel with a grave expression.
"All right. Now, explain clearly, thoroughly, and specifically what you didn't finish saying inside the ruin earlier... What do you mean, you were possessed by the Fourth Primogenitor?"
"I mean it literally."
This was an accident even Ciel had not expected.
Inside the ruin, she had only been performing a ritual to soothe the soul of "Root" within Nagisa, sending it into slumber so it would stop devouring Nagisa's life force. While she was at it, she replenished the life force Nagisa had lost.
As a result, while examining Nagisa's body, the soul inside her that seemed to be "Root" suddenly trembled and slipped into Ciel's body.
...Could it be because Ciel had once been Roa's seventeenth reincarnation?
In the world of Tsukihime, Ciel's real name was Elesia. Her father was the owner of a bakery in a small French town. However, after the girl's sixteenth birthday, the soul of Michael Roa Valdamjong, one of the Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors, who had reincarnated into her, gradually awakened. In the end, the girl was controlled by him and began an endless slaughter, until she was finally hunted down by the Holy Church and Arcueid.
After the girl died, Roa's soul reincarnated into his next target, but no matter how many times the girl was killed, she would resurrect. After discovering this, the Holy Church decided to have her join the Burial Agency.
Whatever the reason, it was indeed a fact that the soul that seemed to be "Root" had entered Ciel's body.
"!!!"
Natsuki's pupils suddenly contracted.
Anxiety, worry, anger, confusion, sadness...
All kinds of emotions intertwined in her eyes.
This was the first time Ciel had ever seen Natsuki-oneechan so flustered.
"You idiot! Isn't that an enormous problem? Why didn't you explain it clearly sooner?!"
"Calm down, Natsuki-oneechan. I'm safe. Whether we're talking about immortality or the toughness of my soul, I'm the one with the advantage. I've placed multiple layers of protection on my soul, so you don't need to worry about my body being taken over... Besides, the Fourth Primogenitor is still asleep right now. She can't do anything."
This was not comfort, but fact.
Seeing that the gloom between Natsuki's brows still refused to disperse, Ciel hugged her coquettishly and kept rubbing her cheek against Natsuki's as if holding a teddy bear.
"Natsuki-oneechan~ You know what I'm capable of~..."
"Fine, fine! Don't give me that. I've never seen what you're truly capable of, and I don't know what the Fourth Primogenitor is capable of either..."
Her tone was full of distaste, but Natsuki's brows did indeed relax. Her slightly baby-faced cheeks warmed faintly under Ciel's rubbing.
Not only did her body fail to resist, it even relaxed slightly, both hands naturally dropping at her sides.
"Let me ask you... Are you certain the Fourth Primogenitor's soul inside you won't harm you? I want the truth."
"Natsuki-oneechan, how would I dare lie to you? I swear to Heaven! This soul is being properly suppressed by me. I guarantee she won't be able to stir up even the slightest wave!"
"I couldn't care less how much trouble she stirs up. Let those useless fat cats get headaches over it for all I care. I'm more than happy to stay out of it... Do you still not understand? The only one I care about is you. I only want you to be all right..."
Held in Ciel's arms, her body heat passing through the contact of their skin, Natsuki felt as though her thoughts had slowed. The softest part of her heart was exposed unconsciously. The distant authority and pressure she showed when facing Gajou and the others had now vanished completely.
Afterward, Natsuki pressed a hand against Ciel's face and pushed her away. Her pearl-like teeth bit tightly against her lip, and an embarrassed flush spread across her face.
"Forget that..."
"What?"
"What I just said. Forget it! Forget it completely!"
"Sorry, but I can't. Natsuki-oneechan was too cute just now. I've already decided to put this memory into my brain's favorites folder, back it up a hundred times, and engrave it into my DNA while I'm at it!"
"Don't engrave random nonsense like that into your DNA! Damn it... If you can't forget it, then I'll help you with some physical amnesia! Don't run! Stand right there!"
"Uwaaah! Natsuki-oneechan is killing people!"
...
It was late October on Itogami Island, and the ground was like a steam oven, radiating scorching heat.
There was no such thing as a "clear, refreshing autumn" here. Itogami Island only had cloudless skies, not the coolness of autumn.
In stories, vampires standing beneath the sun would be burned to ash like cooked charcoal. But in this hellish place, everyone received the same treatment as vampires. It made one want to imitate a certain figure from Chinese mythology and shoot down the sun in the sky.
Inside a certain classroom at Saikai Academy, the bell urging students to hurry home from school shook the air, its cheerful rhythm seeming to reflect the students' hearts.
"Please be careful on your way home. The crime rate on Itogami Island has been rather high lately, so unless you have something important to do, everyone should head home as soon as possible. Don't stay out too long."
On the podium, Ciel adjusted her glasses. The gentle smile on her face always seemed to easily close the distance between people.
Before leaving the classroom, the students all warmly said goodbye to Ciel with a "Goodbye, sensei." They truly were polite, well-behaved children.
Saikai Academy's coursework was not as heavy as the studies Ciel remembered from when she was in school before, so there was no need to drag class out. The students were relaxed, and as the teacher, she was all the happier to have things easy.
Holding the textbooks she used for teaching, Ciel walked out of the classroom and saw Natsuki in the hallway.
Even in this sweltering autumn, she still wore that luxurious black dress covered in frills. Standing in the hallway, she drew an extraordinary amount of attention.
Ciel gave a wry smile.
"Natsuki-oneechan, you don't need to go out of your way to eavesdrop outside the classroom while I'm teaching."
"Watch your wording. What do you mean, eavesdrop? This is supervision. Supervising my little sister so she doesn't do anything stupid is an older sister's duty."
Natsuki answered with perfect righteousness.
Behind them, the laughter of several students reached Ciel's ears. They seemed to be entirely used to Natsuki's appearances.
Ciel let out a long, helpless sigh.
"You're a teacher too, aren't you, big sister? Don't you need to go teach class?"
"I don't have class at this time, which is why I came to see how my little sister was doing. After all, you haven't been a teacher for long. I'm worried."
"What's there to worry about? Right now, I'm Ciel-sensei, admired by everyone in the academy. Students and teachers alike are full of praise for me. A responsible, knowledgeable, understanding, beautiful young teacher is a rare commodity in any era, you know."
"Of course I'm worried you'll teach the students bad habits. When you do something stupid, at least you have some ability to protect yourself. But if you get the students to do stupid things with you, that's dangerous. People could die."
In the past, Ciel had said that being a student was redundant for her. With the amount of knowledge she possessed, she was more than capable of becoming a teacher and instructing students.
But Natsuki had strongly opposed it and insisted that Ciel start as a student.
"You're not even from this world. How can you be certain the knowledge you had before applies here? If a classmate asks you a history question, are you going to answer them with the history of another world?"
That was Natsuki's reasoning.
Only after Ciel graduated from Saikai Academy did Natsuki allow her to stay there as a teacher. After all, the reason Natsuki had wanted Ciel to be either a student or teacher at Saikai Academy from the beginning was so she could find her at any time. If she let Ciel go to university, that would be putting the cart before the horse.
What? You say a high school graduate cannot get a teaching license?
Unfortunately, those rules only applied to ordinary people, and Natsuki was part of the privileged class.
---
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