Gates of Gehenna Ch.01 p3

Chapter 1




part 3


Uwaaahhh! I have to hurry or she'll hit me again! It really hurts!

Koneko Nanase hugged her head as she ran through the path at park's exterior, heading towards building D. It was the path she always took every day since she became the Student Council's secretary.

Thinking back, it was a totally random incident. One day, the student council president herself appeared before her and asked her to take the secretary position. At first she refused, but the student council president simply gave Koneko an offer she couldn't refuse.

But, that guy... Sei-yan... fu fu fu, interesting... Koneko grins as she remembered about the guy she had just met earlier.

She slows down her footsteps as she went near the faculty office. She was in a hurry, but if she's running in front of the faculty office now, it would be like waving a red flag in front of a raging bull. And since she's a member of the student council, she won't get away just by saying a simple 'I'm sorry'.

Cutting down her speed to half, she fast walked through the faculty office doors. And on the other end of the hall stood a crimson haired girl, waiting right in front of a door with a plate that reads 'student council's office'.

"Yo, Homu-nyan!"

Koneko greeted her, though she used an impolite tone toward her superior.

Yes, this crimson haired girl in front of her is the current 34th Seihokami University's Student Council President, Nakayama Homura.

Nakayama glanced at Koneko, turned her body and enters the office.

"Get in," she said

Koneko silently followed her into the office.

The office was the size of a normal classroom, complete with the whiteboard and a notice board near the entrance. The chairs and desks was lined in the shape of a large U, mainly used as a mean to have a conference. Student council related papers were scattered at the desks, the table who had the most paper was... Koneko Nanase's desk.

Ugh... so much work to do… she frowns as she saw the hill of papers at her desk.

"Nana, you remember when you told me that there's something odd around the steel factory at the mountain this morning? Like a distortion or some sort?"

"Ah? Yes, well, I was on my way there to investigate it just before I got your phone call."

"There is no more need to do that, I already went there earlier."

"Eh?? I thought you said that I should look into it myself?"

"I have no morning classes today, so I took the liberty to check the place myself."

"So, did you find anything?"

"Other than the freshly wrecked remains of what's supposed to be an abandoned steel factory? Just this,"

Nakayama produces a small sealed plastic bag and threw it towards Koneko, inside it was a few gray colored fur crumpled together.

"Homu-nyan, this is?"

"I'm not well versed in the arts, so I can't chase the owner of that fur."

"And that's where I come in, right?"

"Yes, can you do it?"

Koneko stared at the small sealed bag on her palm.

"Hmm... it's not much, but I guess it'll just do the trick."

Koneko looked around and found herself an empty table at the office's corner. She pulled the wooden table to the center of the room. Then she pulled a black magic marker from her pockets.

She uncapped it and hummed a song from a commercial as she wrote some unknown words into the table’s surface. It wasn’t Japanese, or English, or maybe it’s not even words at all. She wrote it in a circular pattern, creating a circle that’s 15 centimeters in diameter.

Feeling satisfied with her work, she nodded and stow the magic marker away in her pocket. And from her other pocket, Koneko took out a weird shaped item covered in white cloth.

She unwrap the white cloth, revealing a handful of white rice inside. Koneko gently pours the grains of rice at the table, thus creating a second circle outside the magic marker’s circle.

Lastly she unsealed the plastic bag, took the strands of fur out and put it in the middle the magic marker's circle.

"Ahem…"

Koneko cleared her throat and closed her eyes.

"Inari no Okami, please hear my plea,"

She spoke with a tone devoid of all emotions, as if she had turn into a machine. The magic marker writings on the table suddenly glows a faint blue light. Soon after, the second circle that was made from grains of rice, floated up a centimeter above the table's surface and rotated clockwise.

"Impart to me, the knowledge that which I seek... reveal the owner of this article..."

At that very moment, Koneko open her eyes, but instead of her usual hazel colored pupils, her eyes were bright yellow, like a cat's eye reflecting light.

"I could sense it..." she turns her head to the side, facing a wall.

"Where is it hiding?"

"Please wait, I'll pinpoint its loca- eh?? It's... moving?? Homu-nyan, the creature is moving!!"

Koneko's gaze shifted slightly to the left, and continues to stare at the wall as if she could see through it.

"That's impossible, those creatures were nocturnal, there is no way it could be active during the day."

"I know! But this one is really moving right now, and with incredible speed too."

"Can you identify the creature?"

"Unfortunately no, it seemed to be blurred somehow. This never happened before..."

"..."

Silence fell into the room. Nakayama was deep in thought while Koneko was still tracking the creature in question.

What on earth is happening? Not only it moved in broad daylight, but Nanase's vision magic had failed to see it clearly... 

"Umm, Homu-nyan?"

"What is it Nanase?"

"If I'm guessing correctly, the creature is going straight to the direction of Taiga Mall..."

"That thing went straight for the all-you-can-eat buffet...” Nakayama scowls at the fact, “Nanase, you go on ahead to the mall, set up the void spell. I'm going to get Shizuko, meet us at the mall entrance at..." Nakayama looked at her wristwatch.

"...12:15 sharp."

"Roger, I'll call you when I'm done with the void spell."

The two girls quickly exit the room and went their separate ways.