Chapter 50: The Reply
Theoretically, a Campione should not encounter a language they cannot speak or a script they cannot read.
Language and writing are the most direct products of the power of human thought. The most powerful manifestation of this thought-power is the creation of divine statuses by "Great Beings" who utilize human belief to make themselves immortal. Having attained a divine status, these beings truly achieve greatness; they become undying and indestructible—they become Gods.
Therefore, Campiones, whose power is usurped from the gods, possess a "cheat-like" ability to rapidly learn any language or script.
However, there is a prerequisite: it requires time. This duration isn't particularly long, but it is necessary.
Since his reincarnation, relying on this Campione "cheat," Hikigaya had become capable of conversing in Italian, Ancient Egyptian, and Ancient Hittite, and had learned to read Italian, Ancient Egyptian, and Ancient Akkadian.
Yet, he had truly never touched English until now.
After returning to his room, Hikigaya first transcribed Alexander's letter onto a sheet of paper. He then pulled a dictionary from the bookshelf and began reading it at a speed of ten lines per glance. By the time he finished the dictionary, the conditions for the Campione language cheat were met. English no longer intimidated him.
He then began to read the letter Alexander had written.
The text was roughly 200 words long and written quite concisely. The general gist was that Alexander had recently had a "brainstorm" while investigating the King of the End. He wanted to come to Tokyo to find several ancient swords and was asking if Hikigaya was interested in joining him.
Hikigaya wasn't quite sure exactly where or when he had first heard the name "King of the End," but after rescuing Hikari, he learned from her that this fellow was a "cleaner" specifically designed to exterminate Campiones.
God knows if Hikigaya fell within his hunting range? Even if there was only a slight possibility, it constituted a threat. To Hikigaya, the King of the End belonged to the category of a natural, absolute enemy that had to be eliminated. Anything or anyone related to the King of the End could not be ignored.
In the letter, Alexander stated that the King of the End had a direct connection to a certain sword. Japan, being a country where sword culture flourished, might hold clues in this regard.
Since that was the case, Hikigaya would naturally participate.
Opening the window, a small cyclone swirled in his hand. Friendship between Campiones always includes a moderate amount of competition; after all, they are all people with a high fighting spirit. Alexander sent a message via thunder, so Hikigaya would respond in a similar fashion.
Transmitting a message in the form of natural forces to another continent and having it manifest as text was quite feasible from the perspective of Authority powers. Hikigaya couldn't respond with the power of thunder, but the wind was a different story.
Every Campione has a specific domain they excel in. The wind was Hikigaya's most proficient field. Even the solar power, which outsiders regarded as his trademark, could be utilized with wind as its carrier—which was very "Dongyi" (Eastern Barbarian).
In Dongyi mythology, the sun is carried by divine birds, and the bird that carries the sun is simultaneously the God of the Winds of the four directions. This image extended to the later "Crow in the Sun," the three-legged Golden Crow, also known as the "Handsome Bird." Thus, saying the power of the sun acts through the wind is perfectly acceptable.
The powers of the sun and wind intertwined in Hikigaya's palm, forming an arrow of wind. With a wave of his hand, Hikigaya shot the wind arrow into the sky, then closed the window. Task complete.
He then found a book and sat down to read.
About an hour later, he heard the voices of Komachi and her friends. The girls' chirping was full of excitement. A promise is a promise; from the girls' discussion, Hikigaya didn't hear about any "blind" playboys attempting to hit on his sister—not that they could if they tried. Such threatening species would surely be knocked unconscious by the martial artists lying in wait near Komachi and dumped in a toilet.
Although Komachi was back, Hikigaya didn't go out to "show off" his presence today. It was the Cherry Blossom Festival, after all; letting Komachi enjoy herself was a brother's duty.
Closing his book, Hikigaya thought to himself that Ena had been practicing her sword for too long. During such a long night, how could one focus solely on sword practice?
So, he opened the window again. Since coming to Hinata House, he had developed a bad habit of preferring windows over doors. He felt he had been led astray.
In an instant, he appeared at the ruined building on the back mountain. Most of this ruin had collapsed; even the clock tower was gone, leaving only a small section in the west standing stubbornly. This was the place where Keitaro Urashima and Naru Narusegawa were supposed to have made their vow of marriage.
Yet now, the person with Keitaro was the one who had failed back then, while the successful one had vanished without a trace.
Hikigaya walked into the ruins and saw a bell buried mostly in the debris at the very back, covered in dust. Hikigaya had never come inside to look before; in his heart, he didn't really want to enter this place. He felt that once he entered, the distance from his original home would grow even longer—though whether it was long or short didn't really matter, as it was unlikely he'd ever travel back. If he actually did go back, he might end up missing this side instead.
With his hands behind his back, Hikigaya walked out of the ruined hall and into the forest behind it. The lush woods used their canopy to block out the light of the stars and moon. The forest was pitch black; a less courageous person might have been afraid.
However, before becoming a Campione, every training ground provided by the Fist Demon Evil God had more "atmosphere" than this—any place where you couldn't walk for a bit without seeing a mangled corpse or a skeleton was simply lacking in effort. Compared to those places, the back mountain of Hinata House had no advantages other than being quiet. There were wild animals, but none of a significant size.
After walking for a while, Hikigaya jumped directly onto a tree. He saw Ena.
Clutching the Ama-no-Murakumo, Seishuin Ena sat on a branch with her eyes closed, seemingly focused on meditation. She was training—or rather, maintaining—her compatibility with the Ama-no-Murakumo. This was an essential part of her cultivation.
Ultimately, the Ama-no-Murakumo was not her sword. To be precise, it wasn't a sword meant for humans at all. The degree of compatibility between Ena and the blade was something even the sword itself couldn't decide; they could only use this slow, painstaking method.
This was also why Hikigaya intended to go with Alexander to find ancient swords. He wanted to see if there was a sword suitable for Ena, so she wouldn't always have to rely on the Ama-no-Murakumo. Besides, the Ama-no-Murakumo was incredibly talkative. If they hadn't "done battle" together before and weren't familiar, Hikigaya would have really wanted to burn it with solar fire to see what happened.
Appearing silently beside Ena, Hikigaya sat down, watching her clean face and the charming lines of her body, waiting for her to finish her meditation.
After a moment, Ena opened her eyes.
"Hachiman, why did you come?" Subconsciously, she hugged the Ama-no-Murakumo tighter, and the blade sank deep into her cleavage.
Hikigaya felt that spot was clearly only suitable for his own head to be stuffed into—well, in every sense of the phrase.
"The gathering is over, and Komachi is back, so I came to find you." He glanced at the shameless sword in her arms and asked, "How is the cultivation going?"
"It's going well! The environment here is great," Ena said, her joy overflowing. "It really has to be a place with no people."
"That's good," Hikigaya nodded.
'Well, though... you're doing fine, but things are 'not fine' on my end.
How about you rub me first? Or should I rub you first?
Never mind, he would be the first to rub as a sign of respect. A man must strike first to gain the advantage.'
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