The ringing in his ears was sharp and piercing.
Covered in dirt and ash, Kitahara Minakaze slowly picked himself up and shook his buzzing head.
His first instinct was to look in the direction his stepsister had been thrown.
Then, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness.
Her head was still attached…
Wait, no.
Whether his stepsister’s head was attached or not wasn’t the point.
The point was…
Sitting on the ground, Kitahara Minakaze finally processed the situation and turned his head toward the station exit.
The exact spot where he had just been crouching.
It was a complete mess, billowing with thick smoke.
There really had been an explosion.
Kitahara Minakaze stared at the station exit and the churning smoke.
The romantic Your Name moment he had been expecting abruptly morphed into a what the fuck, why.
Furthermore, everything around him had frozen.
The men and women chatting with smiles on their faces, the delinquents sneaking peeks at high school girls, the crying infant, the helpless mother holding her child…
Everyone was completely motionless.
The debris blasted outward by the explosion hung suspended in midair.
Many fragments had stopped mere inches from pedestrians’ faces, yet the bystanders didn’t react at all.
No wonder he hadn’t heard any screaming during the explosion.
“Did we get her?”
“I don’t know. Let’s check and then head back to report. There’s only about twenty minutes left on the ‘Stasis’. I don’t want to get targeted by those wild dogs from the Countermeasures Division over some stupid mistake.”
“Relax.”
Because the surrounding environment was frozen in time, the sudden conversation rang out with exceptional clarity.
Kitahara Minakaze looked toward the billowing smoke.
Two figures stepped out of the haze and into his line of sight.
A middle-aged man and a young man.
The middle-aged man looked exhausted.
His eyes were sunken, with dark circles so prominent they looked painted on.
Wearing a black suit, he was the textbook definition of a veteran corporate slave.
The young man was the exact opposite.
Sporting a floral shirt, blond hair, and a frivolous expression, he looked like a classic deadbeat.
Just as Kitahara Minakaze looked at this bizarre duo, they noticed him too.
Both of them immediately stopped in their tracks.
“Hey, hey, hey, what’s this? Why is there a normal guy here?”
The youth pointed at Kitahara Minakaze, turning his head and squawking in a frivolous tone.
“An accident, probably,” the older salaryman said uncertainly, furrowing his brows.
“Brother…”
Right at that moment, the fingers of Kitahara Minakaze’s stepsister, who was still sprawled on the ground, twitched as she called out to him.
The bizarre duo immediately shifted their gazes to behind Kitahara Minakaze.
“…Are you okay?” Pushing herself up from the ground with both hands, his stepsister slowly climbed to her feet, softly muttering about the pain.
“I’m fine, but… are they here for you? How about you explain the situation to me first?”
Kitahara Minakaze pointed at the bizarre duo.
His stepsister glanced at the two men.
After a moment of silence, she fully stood up.
“I’m sorry, Nii-san. I’m sorry for dragging you into this.”
Keeping her eyes fixed on the two men, she wiped the dirt from her cheek with the back of her hand.
“…So what exactly is going on?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t say.”
His sister gave him an apologetic smile, then pursed her lips and said firmly,
“But I won’t let you get hurt. As long as I have my sword, I won’t let any harm come to you.”
“Then where’s your sword… No, wait, you should still explain…” Kitahara Minakaze raised a hand.
But his sister didn’t want to waste time talking.
She slightly lifted her skirt.
Clink.
Accompanied by a crisp sound.
A nearly one-meter-long uchigatana, which had been strapped to the outside of her thigh, dropped down.
The tip of the blade struck the ground, emitting a clear ring.
Seeing this, Kitahara Minakaze leaned back slightly.
If one had to describe his expression…
It would be…
The ‘old man squinting at his phone’ meme.
Ignoring Kitahara Minakaze’s slightly repulsed expression, his sister let her skirt flutter as she gripped the hilt and gave it a fierce swing.
She raised the sword, pointing the tip straight at the salaryman and deadbeat duo.
“Dragging ordinary people into this… That really is your style.”
The Frivolous Youth cracked his knuckles.
“…Hey, hey, hey, do all high school girls carry swords around these days? Are they really that wild?”
The older salaryman, on the other hand, shouted, “Pointing a blade at someone is incredibly rude! Bow and apologize, junior!”
“Then from here on out, I’ll be sure to show some manners.”
His sister pulled the katana back, holding it horizontally on her left side.
She slightly arched her back and turned sideways.
After gathering her strength.
She looked up at the two men.
And softly uttered a single word.
“Swallow.”
Taking a step forward, she seemed to half-float as she gracefully dashed toward the salaryman and deadbeat duo.
Like a swallow spreading its wings to glide through the sky.
Erratic and unpredictable.
“Uncle.” The youth glanced at the Salaryman Uncle.
“The usual.”
The older Salaryman Uncle raised his right hand, forming a finger gun, and aimed it at the erratically moving sister.
“Here she comes!”
The Frivolous Youth responded with excitement and charged at her.
The Salaryman Uncle kept his eyes locked on the sister.
Raising his other hand, he forcefully slapped the shoulder of his finger-gun arm.
Accompanied by the soft sound of a palm striking fabric…
Bang!
Flames suddenly exploded in midair.
His sister stumbled, spinning around to dodge.
Right as she did, she came face-to-face with the charging Frivolous Youth.
“Fist.”
Rushing at her, the youth raised both hands.
He clenched his fingers into fists, then opened them, repeating the motion three times before throwing his hands forward.
His sister landed heavily, taking a series of quick, small steps before abruptly twisting her body to the side.
Boom.
A wave of compressed air erupted from the youth’s fists.
Where his sister had just been standing, the shockwave blasted forward, leaving a shallow trench in the ground.
The gale blew back the hair by her ears.
She gripped her katana horizontally and slashed straight at the neck of the youth who had just missed his attack.
Just as the youth was about to lose his head due to the recovery lag of his skill…
Bang.
The Salaryman Uncle standing nearby slapped his shoulder again.
Sparks and thick smoke exploded right next to his sister’s ear.
She immediately jerked her head away.
Her horizontal slash also stalled for a fraction of a second.
“Haha… Fist!”
Accompanied by the Frivolous Youth’s voice, a pair of fists tore through the air and instantly pierced the smoke, appearing right before his sister’s eyes and planting themselves firmly into her abdomen.
A shockwave erupted.
His sister was sent flying backward with a crash.
She hit the ground heavily, tumbling and rolling a fair distance away.
Only by stabbing her katana into the ground did she barely manage to halt her momentum.
“Just surrender.”
The Frivolous Youth slowly lowered his fists and called out to her, “Women really are too weak. You can’t take a hit at all.”
“…”
Biting her lip, his sister glanced back at the expressionless Kitahara Minakaze and prepared to stand up.
Bang.
Behind the youth, the older salaryman shifted his right hand, aimed his index finger at the sister, and slapped his shoulder once more.
Flames and thick smoke exploded by her ear.
Sending her flying once again.
“Uncle, don’t you know how to treat a lady?”
The Frivolous Youth looked at the billowing smoke from the explosion and turned back to complain.
“Cut the crap. There’s less than ten minutes left on the ‘Stasis’. Finish this quickly.”
“Aw… I wanted to have a heart-to-heart with a high school girl.”
“Take this seriously!”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it, I got it.
“Then…”
“Excuse me, you two.”
Watching them start chatting as if no one else was around, Kitahara Minakaze—who had maintained a wooden expression the entire time he watched them fight—swallowed the urge to say ‘if you want to fight, take it outside’ and calmly asked:
“Could you guys explain to me what exactly is going on right now?”
“Eh?”
Hearing Kitahara Minakaze’s voice, the Frivolous Youth turned his head, looking utterly shocked.
“Why are you still here!?”