“Yo, yo, aren’t you all girls from that hostess bar over there?”
“We are–. Can we help you all with something, onii-san?”
“We were heading home just now, but~”

[Susukino], Sapporo’s entertainment district. 

On the side of a less popular street in that city, a taciturn large man with a countless number of piercings on his ear and 2 men with brown dyed hair casually start a conversation with a pair of hostesses who are in ordinary clothes.

“onii-san, are you three hitting on us? If you come to the shop, we could all drink tea together.”
“This is a bit different than hitting on you. For now, how about we go someplace more secluded?”
“Wai– Eh, what?”
“Hold on, let go!”

The men forcefully bring the 2 hostesses to a deserted back alley.

“It’s fine, we won’t do anything obscene. We’re just going to hit you in the face 2 or 3 times. If you don’t want us to do anything too crazy, then stay still. If not, you might end up with a permanent reminder for the rest of your life.”
“St- stop.”
“Someone, help…”

Just as a brown hair dyed man finishes speaking, the large man raises his fist and swings it at 1 of the hostesses.

“Ah–, stop there, ssu yo. You can’t be violent to our establishment’s girls, ssu.”

Immediately after that, a laid back voice can be heard from behind the men along with the sounds of bones snapping.

“Ah? Who’s the bastard? So you’re trying to be a hero, but it’s too late…”
“Uh, gaa…!!”
“……!?”

A brown hair dyed man looks to the side at the groan. The large man is suffering from pain, his right arm ruined. The snapping bone that rang out earlier came from him, and thus he was kept from hitting any of the girls’ faces.

““Dius-san!!””

“Thank you for serving as our decoy, ssu ne. A car is waiting over there. You should take it and hurry home, ssu yo.”
“Un- understood!”
“Thank you very much!”

The hostesses, following the instructions of the man called Dius, hurry for the car.

“Are you the lot attacking our establishment’s girls? Don’t make any trouble and give up, ssu yo. If not, you might end up with a permanent reminder for the rest of your life, ssu.”

The men look from the fleeing hostesses to the man blocking their path. The man called Dius is a large man in a suit with short, golden hair, and a deep chiseled face. Not only does he not hold a weapon, he isn’t reaching for one either.

“Quit messing around, there’s 2 of us!”

The brown hair dyed man pulls out a knife from his chest pocket and thrusts it forward while the large man picks up a nearby signboard with his unharmed left hand and slams it down.

“……!?”
“No way!?”

Immediately after that, the expressions of both men change into surprise. The thrust knife not only failed to stab even 1 millimeter into his flesh, the edge chipped where as the slammed signboard, despite shattering into pieces, failed to make the golden haired man called Dius budge. 

“A- a knife proof vest?!?!”
“Incorrect, but… Well, you won’t be able to kill me with only that much, ssu ne.”

Dius, while brushing off the remains of the signboard, glares at the 2 men who attacked him.

“Well then, the permanent reminder for the rest of your life course it is, ssu yo ne.”

The muffled sounds of bones snapping quietly ring out from that secluded back alley.

– – Noble Star goes here– –

“This is the source of the noise?”
“Yes. According to the investigation, the rattling sound was that.” (Near)
“This… rattled?”

Laying before our eyes is an antique katana from jii-chan’s collection.

A strange sound rang out from the storage room while we were cleaning. Near operated a puppet made from [Toy] for the sake of verifying the cause, and came across the katana before us after an extensive search.

“This situation, it’s undoubtedly dangerous…”

The katana rattling like it did is more than bad enough, but the situation this katana is in makes it worse. The letter from kami-sama that I had kept near the katana seems to have lost its power and crumbled.

It’s absolutely dangerous. This pattern carries an incredible power behind it.

“Umu… the only thing I can determine is that it possesses a hidden power. I can’t sense anything even with [pseudo・perception].”

I turned to Kuro’s cheat ability that can closely reproduce special abilities and techniques at a glance, but not even he can understand anything.

I have clay dolls unsheath the katana so it can be better examined, but maybe the blade has rusted. The sword can’t be drawn.

“This sensation is similar from somewhere, but from where… I can’t remember.” (Near)
“Kaka–ka…”

Shiro also says he can’t remember where he felt such a sensation from. As for me, I’ve never seen anything like this before, nor do I have any memory of ever coming across anything like this before.

Shiro and Near then try to analyze the sword, but can’t figure anything out.

“Directly touching it would be a bad idea.” (Kousuke)
“It might be a cursed magic tool. You should absolutely avoid touching it.” (Kuro)
“That’s right, and even if it isn’t cursed, it might be an object that triggers upon being touched like that [Fairy All Seed] did.” (Near)
“Ka–ka.”

Shiro seems to be of the same opinion.

Alright, I’ll just ask the class representative about this katana. Until then, it’ll stay sealed away. The divine that remains untouched won’t inflict its divine wrath on you.

“Home–!”
“Ho’ome–!!”

Rin and Urd return at the same time I decide on what to do with the sword.

“Welcome back you lazy bums. We still haven’t finished cleaning, so come help out.”
“Ugee! And I thought you’d have finished already!”
“Katana–!”

Urd and Rin become interested in the katana as soon as they return home.

“This katana is from my jii-chan’s collection. We heard a strange sound from the storage closet on the second floor, and investigating it– Rin!!?”
“What–?”

Just as I start explaining, Rin picks up the katana like normal. Her action was so natural, I couldn’t stop her!

“Rin, put that down right now.” (Kousuke)
“Rin-san, that object might be dangerous. Please set that down immediately.”
“Kaka–ka, ka–ka.”
“Don’t wanna–!”

Rin holds the katana by its handle as she runs around the room. Then, without any trouble, its sheath slides off.

“Uuwa!”
“This sensation is…”

Kuro seems to feel something upon seeing the blade. It’s similar to the odd feeling I got when I battled that black dress. That katana is dangerous!

“Rin! Drop that katana right n… hmm!?”

The katana in Rin’s hands shines with seven colors of light.

“[Quadruple Barrier]!”

I take the katana from Rin’s hands and seal it within the strongest [Quadruple Barrier] I can muster. If by some chance it explodes, everything should be fine with this.

“The quantity of light being emitted hasn’t changed.” (Near)

“The assortment of lights appear to be random.” (Kuro)
“Ka–…”

Since it started, 10 minutes have passed.  The katana is shining seven colors of light, but nothing is happening.

“Isn’t this the same pattern as Urd!?”

As my tsukkomi echoes within the house, the katana glow stick continues to shine seven colors of light. It’s as if it’s complaining that it isn’t dangerous.

---

T/N: Could be worse??  At least it didn’t explode… yet?

~Lyfe  

<59. The Letter From Kami-sama