Even an idiot would know that it wouldn’t be a good idea to fight against a scary darkness that might devour them at any moment.
But as for “playing a game?”
Who knew what type of game that would be? That might be even more dangerous!
The smiling silver-haired boy and the pitch-black dark shadow behind him made for a sharp contrast. Yet, the boy’s smile still seemed so happy and open, making things seem even stranger.
Seiji discovered that he had been wrong.
Itsuki Kamitani hadn’t been acting at all. He was truly such an “innocent” type!
His “innocence” was pure yet also allowed him to smile while killing people. He was just like a child, with an innocent and cute side. Yet, the same child would also cruelly destroy ant nests, take apart insect limbs, and kill small animals!
This type of person… while it seemed like he was giving Seiji a choice, there was no choice at all.
“Earlier, you asked me why I chose green tea, and I didn’t tell you the answer yet.” Seiji remained calm. “Do you still want to know the answer?”
“Of course. Why?”
“Take a closer look at the label on that juice can of yours.”
Kamitani reflexively looked at the juice can still in his hand.
*Whoosh…* Seiji instantly cast the [Body-strengthening technique] on himself and jumped backwards, running away at top speed!
Kamitani was still inspecting the juice can, as if he didn’t notice anything at all. Yet, the dark shadow behind him started moving and suddenly reached out with a gigantic claw!
This claw moved quite quickly and was about to catch up to Seiji.
[Evolved Fire Bullet]!
Seiji instantly borrowed power from his bonded spirit and shot out a tremendous golden spiritual fireball, which exploded against the black claw in a brilliant light.
The black claw was shattered by the explosion. However, it soon reconstructed itself and chased after Seiji again!
Seiji shot another fireball which shattered the black claw for a second time. Yet, it was able to reconstruct itself yet again.
*Boom boom boom boom…* There was a series of explosions as Seiji delayed the black claw while continuing to retreat. He backpedaled at an extremely high speed across the street, astonishing the bystanders that saw him.
Ordinary people were unable to see the black shadow claw or the spiritual Mana Bullets. They could only hear the sounds. So, all that the bystanders saw was a jacket-wearing boy running backwards for no apparent reason at an astonishingly high speed together with some mysterious explosion sounds.
Since Seiji was on a street, a car just happened to drive towards him. The driver noticed that someone suddenly appeared before him, causing him to panic and step on the brakes!
Yet the boy vanished the next instant and there was a loud bang from the top of his car roof, as if someone had stomped on top of his car.
What’d just happened? The middle-aged driver was rather confused.
Meanwhile, the people on the street saw to their astonishment that the jacketed boy covered his face with one hand while speedily stepping on top of the car roof and going through the street! There were also mysterious explosion sounds as he jumped with far greater jump power than any normal man should have. He then jumped up onto a wall and ran along it before finally jumping onto a rooftop!
“Amazing… what was that?”
“Was that parkour? Did he use some special equipment that makes exploding sounds?”
“I didn’t see any such special equipment on his body…”
“He was definitely no ordinary person! He must be someone with superpowers!!”
“So cool… a pity that I didn’t get a picture.”
Although it caused a small commotion, it wouldn’t be a problem as not many people saw it.
Unless there was video evidence, this degree of mystical incident wouldn’t even make a ripple on the internet now.
Seiji moved at high speed on the rooftops and continuously delayed the black claw with his [Evolved Fire Bullets].
The black claw shrunk somewhat. However, it also increased in number! There were now eight claws that were even faster than before.
At this rate, Seiji would definitely be caught up to.
He’d already expected that he wouldn’t be able to simply run away… After all, Seiji felt that if he himself wanted to deal with a specific person, he would of course first think of some method to stop that person from running away. Having such a long-distance running fight was already half a failure.
Had Kamitani not prepared at all? Or…
Seiji thought things over while continuously flying across rooftops. He gradually reached a flourishing part of town.
At this moment, the eight black claws suddenly split apart and transformed into countless black needles that shot at him from all directions!
Protective curse, [Demon Suppression Bell]!
Seiji had already prepared this spell and cast it on himself as the center. The tremendous golden bell appeared and blocked off all the black needles, shattering them all!
Seiji’s massive increase in Spiritual Power had helped him to utilize his already known spells in different methods. He could now cast [Demon Suppression Bell] on himself as a protective spell without harming himself.
Seiji then stopped and observed the situation.
“I’ve carefully looked at the juice label. What’s next?” a voice suddenly spoke behind him.
Seiji suddenly turned around, only to see that the silver-haired boy was sitting on a nearby rooftop with the juice can still in his hand. He was looking at Seiji with a casual expression.
It was as if he had been waiting here all this time.
“…What do you think about this label?”
“It kinda sucks, since it’s ugly.”
“That’s exactly it. I wouldn’t choose the fruit juice because the label is ugly,” Seiji told him.
“I see~” Kamitani smiled and took another drink of his fruit juice. Once again, he revealed an expression of sourness from the fruit juice.
A slightly chilly night breeze blew past.
“I’ve already requested backup from Soul Society,” Seiji told the silver-haired boy. “Support will soon be here for me.”
Asking for backup was what Seiji was actually doing.
Running away was simply to stall for time so that he could ask for assistance. He didn’t expect that it was so easy to run away, easy to the point where Seiji felt it was strange.
Kamitani continued maintaining that carefree sour expression of his as he drank his fruit juice.
After a few more swigs, Kamitani sighed.
“It really tastes so bad… Sparrow, help throw it away for me.”
There was no response.
“I know that I shouldn’t be wasteful like this, but this really tastes so bad,” Kamitani continued talking to something next to him.
There was still no response.
‘No… there’s probably something answering him that I can’t see or hear,’ Seiji thought to himself.
“At any rate, I can’t drink this anymore! If you force me to drink this, I’ll… first put it away and drink the rest at home.”
At first, Kamitani seemed resistant to the idea of finishing the juice, but he seemed to compromise in the end and agreed to finish the fruit juice.
The fruit juice can then started floating and disappeared into the darkness.
Something flashed in Seiji’s eyes as he watched this.
“Did you have fun playing?” Kamitani looked back at Seiji.
“What?”
“Did you have fun playing tag right now?”
Seiji was rendered speechless.
“I didn’t have fun playing because it was too simple. Even though I was going easy on you, that was all you were capable of.” Kamitani shrugged. “Let’s play something else instead.”
He then waved his hand, causing a blood-red card to fly towards Seiji.
Seiji reflexively caught the card.
“This is a game card. You’ll be able to activate it and enter the game if you inject your Mana,” Kamitani explained.
Seiji frowned as he looked at the card in his hands.
This card was blood-red and shiny, as if it was made from actual blood. Complex black runes and a gray pentagram could be seen on the card, giving it an ominous aura.
“I’ll be waiting for you inside this game. You should hurry and enter it.”
Seiji then looked over but could no longer see the silver-haired boy anywhere.
“And if you don’t come, people will die~”
This sentence was left behind together with a deep iciness.
As if it was wind that came from the abyss.