Those ears moved with a PIKO-PIKO! What’s more, she even grew a tail! What deadly cuteness! Strange. I was this excited!? Even though I didn’t have a loli-fetish, did I have a beast loli-fetish!? Koneko-chan’s nekomata-mode was deadly cute! Koneko-chan pointed somewhere far away with her finger and spoke. “…They’re moving. There are two people straight ahead moving towards us.”
“You can tell?”
“…Yes. Because I released a part of senjutsu in my current state, I can read the flow of spirit fairly well. Naturally, I can’t grasp the fine details of it, but…”
I see. But, were those cat ears like sensors? How incredibly handy. This is the senjutsu which can read the spirit of one’s entire surroundings! Thinking about it, nekomatas can understand everything that happens to a certain degree through smell, after all. Since she’s a cat, her nose was better than devils like me with a human base. “…How long until we meet up with those guys who are heading towards us?”
“…At this pace, most likely within ten minutes.”
—Ten minutes, huh. We had better prepare ourselves. Should I use my Sacred Gear normally? Or should I use Balance Breaker? I wavered between them, but I still didn’t know what kinds of abilities the opponents’ had. My strong point was—my simple physical strength that I prided myself on. I barely had any magic. Even if I increased my magic power with my Sacred Gear, I would quickly run out of gas…Even if I had strong power, if I mistakenly used it, I would instantly lose! …I was always in a dangerous situation. I had to bear at least that in mind. Koneko-chan was looking at me seriously. Was it my imagination that her cheeks were red? “…No. Ise-senpai wears a warrior face when it’s important. Even though you usually have a lewd look…”
…Seriously? Did I really have that kind of lewd face normally? W-Well, it’s because I’m having erotic delusions everyday, after all…
As I was touching my face with my hand—. “—!”
Koneko-chan suddenly looked up at the ceiling ahead of us. “…Above!”
What, what? As I followed the gaze of the surprised Koneko-chan—. Stretching straight up to the ceiling was a rope—no, a line! Descending from the ceiling using that Tarzan-like rope was—. “—Hyoudou! The first attack is ours!”
It was Saji! He prepared to attack me while positioning himself for a knee kick! Moreover, there was someone on Saji’s back! I quickly guarded using my gauntlet as a shield! Dogon! The impact of the combined force of the momentum of their fall + the kick + the weight of two people was transmitted to my body through my gauntlet! My stance shook from the force of the attack, but I somehow recovered and I prepared to advance on the—enemy in front of me. “Yo, Hyoudou.”
Saji had appeared. Next to him, the one who had been riding on his back was—a girl. A member of the student council, huh. I think she was a first-year student. She often acted together with Saji from behind him. Saji’s right arm—had a black snake wound around it several times. Its shape was different from before! There had just been a deformed lizard head there before. Did his Sacred Gear change!? …Wait, there was a black snake wound around my gauntlet on my left arm as well, and it was connected to Saji’s Sacred Gear. He must have put it on me when he attacked before! There was also a line connecting to my right hand, but…it wasn’t connected to Saji’s Sacred Gear. Rather, it seemed to be tied to something far away. Was this line connected all the way to the enemy base? It was weird, but it didn’t feel like my power was being sucked away. Saji noticed that I was looking at his Sacred Gear, and spoke while smiling bitterly. “Well, I did some training. The result of that is this. So, when I had stuck a line in the ceiling and rose up in order to observe the store interior from above, I saw two people hiding under cover further away. Since you didn’t notice me, I used that brief chance to do a Tarzan attack.”
I see. So that’s how you arrived here. Yeah, I understand somehow. If I had gotten here first, I would have done the same to you. I understand somehow. You also think that, right? Hey, Saji. We’re similar, you and I. From head to toe, we’re similar. When it comes to our lewdness, our earnestness towards our masters, our idiocy, and our tendency to plunge straight forward only. We really are too similar. That’s why I understood it right away. That you and I will fight today. “I also trained. I spent almost all my summer vacation being chased by a dragon!”
Sorry, Saji. I will beat you and advance forward. Winning today is what’s most important for us. I have to get closer to Vali. He will aim at me at some point. At that time, he may cause harm to Buchou, Asia and the others. For the sake of preventing that, I will become strong! I can’t stop at a place like this! Yes, at that moment when I was filled up with fighting spirit. An unbelievable announcement reached the ears of me and Koneko-chan. [One of Rias Gremory-sama’s “Bishops”, retired.] —! What!? Which one! Hadn’t the game just started!? Asia was with Buchou, so—. Saji grinned. “The one that was taken out is most likely Gasper-kun.”
…Gasper was taken out? That was too fast, wasn’t it? Wasn’t he transformed into bats and moving around the inside of the store for the sake of surveillance? “Gasper was caught.”
Saji continued as I thought dubiously. “We were contacted and told that Gasper-kun’s Sacred Gear was sealed according to the rules. As such, it was inevitable that he would use his vampire powers instead. [He will change into bats and observe the situation within the store]. This is what Kaichou thought. So we utilised our base.”
Your base? That was the grocery store. Saji continued further. “First, one of our members moves suspiciously at the Sitri base. Then, Gasper-kun who was doing surveillance would naturally be interested and follow them, you know? Then, when we showed more suspicious behaviour, he would call the other bats he had launched and start to observe with several of them. When all the many bats had gathered, that’s when it happened. If something happens to the bats when all of them are gathered, they revert back to Gasper’s body. Near the place where the bats had assembled together was—garlic, a vampire’s greatest dislike. Our base is a grocery store on the first floor of the west side. There were large quantities of garlic left there. It was easy to catch Gasper with that.”
So they captured and took him out while he was incapacitated by the smell of garlic! No way! So there was such a way to deal damage to him! “It’s pretty simple, right? But even if I say that, this method of taking him out won’t work again. Kaichou said that, no matter how much training he did, he still wouldn’t be close to overcoming his aversion to garlic yet. It was a lucky coincidence that we had a base at such a location, but even so, a defeat is a defeat.”
…So you’re saying it was his blind spot?