Chapter 19: Enemy in the Shadows
Sitting in his classroom, Kazama quickly sensed the feedback from The Windy card. The assassination had failed.
Shizukuha Sarina wasn't dead. The car had struck her, but the impact had deflected. She was severely injured, not killed.
In Kazama's design, using compressed air to lock the brake pedal—killing with a borrowed blade—should have been foolproof.
But The Windy's feedback indicated that at the final instant before impact, an external force had forcibly intervened, deflecting the vehicle's trajectory.
Sarina had still been clipped by the car body, breaking several bones. She'd likely spend a month or two in intensive care. But she'd definitely survived.
Kazama chalked it up to an accident.
After all, The Windy card was relatively weak in his hands. Plus, he'd ordered it to kill through indirect means, which naturally increased the card's hesitation. Combined with its gentle personality, last-second reluctance was predictable.
Still, the outcome was acceptable.
Severe injuries, coma, concussion plus fractures—she'd be hospitalized for at least two weeks. By the time she woke up, the police would have closed the case due to insufficient evidence.
When that happened, a raving mental patient trying to reopen the investigation would find it harder than climbing to heaven.
That was enough.
Risking another attempt at a surveillance-heavy hospital would be putting the cart before the horse.
The class bell rang at that moment.
The old-fashioned electric chime echoed through the hallways, forcibly dragging students still lingering in lunch break's afterglow back to reality.
Kazama was the same. He steadied himself, pushed thoughts of Sarina aside, and prepared to focus on class.
The classroom door slid open.
The previously whispering class instantly fell silent, every gaze drawn to the figure at the podium.
It was an unfamiliar woman.
She wore an impeccably tailored black silk blouse paired with a dark gray pencil skirt, a white long coat draped over her shoulders.
Ice-blue hair cascaded casually across her shoulders, the ends slightly curled like flowing waves.
Most striking were her eyes—deep purple, carrying an expression that seemed to see through everything.
"Pleased to meet you all."
She wrote four elegant yet powerful characters on the blackboard: Ougihoshi Kaguya.
Turning around, she spun the chalk between her fingers.
"I'm your new history teacher, and I'll also be handling your classical literature courses. Please call me Kaguya-sensei."
"I look forward to working with everyone in the days ahead."
The class erupted in enthusiastic applause.
Especially those boys who normally only slept during class—now they sat ramrod straight, eyes practically bulging.
For these adolescent high school students, such a mature, elegant beauty of a teacher was nuclear-level impact.
"A new teacher? She's gorgeous!"
"That presence... absolutely incredible! She's got to be the pinnacle of beauty at our school!"
"Sensei! Are you mixed race? Your eyes are beautiful!"
Faced with these overfamiliar questions, Kaguya didn't get angry.
She simply smiled faintly, her gaze casually sweeping across the class before stopping at the corner by the window.
Stopping on Kazama Chiba.
"Regarding personal questions, if you can score perfectly on the midterm exam, perhaps I'll consider answering. Now then."
She smoothly redirected the topic and opened the textbook.
"Let's begin class. Today we'll discuss supernatural legends from the Heian period."
The entire forty-five minutes.
Kazama felt this was probably the most agonizing class he'd endured across both lifetimes.
Though Kaguya-sensei's lecture content was vivid and engaging, filled with classical references that even those academic slackers who normally only slept listened with rapt attention.
But Kazama felt uncomfortable throughout because of a sensation of being watched.
Whenever he raised his head, he felt that woman at the podium was looking at him.
Yet when he actually directed his gaze toward her, Kaguya was either writing on the blackboard or looking down at her lesson plan.
As if it were all his imagination.
Imagination?
Kazama frowned.
Seemed like recent events had made him paranoid.
Actually experiencing that "beautiful teacher is watching me" life delusion—that kind of delusional male protagonist scenario from third-rate harem anime—was genuinely pathetic.
He lowered his head, no longer looking at that radiant podium, focusing intently on his textbook.
Eventually the dismissal bell rang.
"Alright. That concludes today's lesson."
Kaguya closed her book, smiling as she nodded to the class.
"Your next period is PE, correct? Everyone hurry and change. Don't be late."
The classroom immediately filled with the sound of desks and chairs scraping as students grabbed their gym clothes and rushed out in groups.
Kazama also stood up.
He glanced at the depths of his desk where a ball of yellow fluff rose and fell with breathing.
That damned plush toy was sleeping soundly, a trace of crystalline drool hanging from the corner of its mouth—probably dreaming about some limited-edition pudding.
"Sleep all you want, just don't snore loud enough to get discovered."
Kazama casually stuffed a thick English dictionary inside, blocking the yellow form from view.
Just a toy anyway. Even locked in a drawer for an entire class period, it wouldn't suffocate.
Having done this, Kazama grabbed his gym clothes and left the classroom.
...
Five minutes later.
The classroom was empty.
Just then, a figure who had supposedly already left appeared silently at the back door.
Kaguya walked toward the window seat as casually as strolling through her own garden.
She stopped before the desk, extended one finger, and lightly pushed aside the English dictionary, revealing the yellow lion plush sleeping spread-eagled inside.
"Heh."
Kaguya chuckled softly and reached out, pinching the toy's scruff and lifting it up.
The soft ball of fluff swayed twice in the air.
"So this is the so-called 'Guardian Beast'?"
Kaguya's other hand stroked the plush toy's fluffy belly. Her fingertips detected warm sensations and magical fluctuations from within this body.
The Rat Talisman's power.
"I see."
She murmured to herself.
"Using this magical power as the core, forcibly granting life to a pile of cotton and fabric—what a mad yet brilliant idea."
"Though just a counterfeit, this core's power tier doesn't seem inferior to what my creator produced."
At that moment.
Being dangled upside down, Kerberos finally sensed something wrong.
That sensation of being freely fondled—definitely not something that cold bastard Kazama would do.
It snapped its eyes open. What filled its vision was an extraordinarily beautiful face.
"Nya?!!"
Kerberos let out a completely un-lion-like shriek. It frantically waved its stubby paws, wings beating wildly.
"Let go of me! Who are you?! Release me this instant!"
It kicked frantically mid-air, but the hand gripping its scruff remained motionless like an iron vice.
"Oh my. Awake?"
Kaguya watched the small creature flailing in her grip, her smile deepening.
As a Guardian Beast who once served under Clow Reed, Kerberos's sensitivity to magical power was exceptionally acute.
The aura emanating from this woman...
Vast.
Profound.
That pressure felt like facing an infinitely deep night sky. More powerful than any magician it had ever encountered.
"Who am I?"
Kaguya chuckled lightly.
"What's wrong? Changed masters just a few days ago and already can't recognize kindred auras? Or is it because you're a cheap knockoff, so even your sense of smell has degraded?"
"You..."
Kerberos's beady eyes widened.
"You know me?!"
"Naturally."
Kaguya leaned closer, bringing her face near enough that her breath touched Kerberos's flat nose.
"Cerberus. Guardian Beast of the Sun. Personality traits: gluttonous, lecherous, long-winded."
She enumerated the characteristics like reading a product manual.
"Though right now you're at best a toy with Cerberus's memories. You can't even use true solar power, can you?"
"Wh-what are you?! I'm not some toy! I'm the real Cerberus!"
Though the words sounded tough, Kerberos's voice clearly trembled.
This woman was too dangerous! Definitely the type who could casually dismantle it into spare parts!
"Who I am doesn't matter."
Kaguya withdrew that oppressive presence. She dropped the still-trembling lion and turned toward the door.
"What matters is telling your so-called master—that boy called Kazama Chiba—the game has begun."
Having said this.
She didn't look back, walking out on high heels.
The door closed.
Leaving only Kerberos alone in the empty classroom, clutching its tail, scared enough to shed several strands of fur.
For a long moment, the guardian beast sat frozen, processing what just happened.
That woman knew about Clow Reed. Knew about the Guardian Beasts. Even knew Kerberos itself was a fake—a replica created by the Rat Talisman rather than the original.
But more terrifying than her knowledge was her power.
That magical presence had been overwhelming. Like standing before an ocean trying to block it with bare hands.
Kerberos had served Clow Reed himself—the greatest magician who ever lived. It knew what true power felt like.
And this woman...
She might actually rival him.
"I need to tell Kazuma," Kerberos whispered, finally gathering enough courage to move. "Right now."
But even as it said this, the guardian beast wondered: What could Kazama do against someone like that?
The Rat Talisman was powerful, certainly. The Clow Cards were formidable weapons.
But against a magician of that caliber?
They might as well be children's toys.
Kerberos thought back to her words. "The game has begun."
What game?
Why was someone that powerful interested in a high school student who'd only recently acquired magic?
Unless...
Unless she'd been watching from the start.
The thought sent ice through Kerberos's stuffing.
If she'd been observing since Kazama first activated the Rat Talisman, then she knew everything.
The scattered Clow Cards. The triple murder. The attempted assassination this morning.
Everything.
And she'd chosen this moment to reveal herself. Not to stop him. Not to punish him.
But to announce the game's beginning.
"We're in serious trouble," Kerberos muttered, crawling back toward the desk drawer. "Serious, serious trouble."
Outside in the hallway, Kaguya walked calmly toward the stairs, a satisfied smile playing across her lips.
The seed of fear had been planted.
Now to see how the little beast would react.
Would he panic? Flee? Try to hide?
Or would he do something interesting?
She'd saved that girl this morning not from kindness, but to preserve the game. A predator who killed too quickly wouldn't be entertaining.
But now he knew someone was watching. Someone powerful enough to counter his magic from a distance.
The next move would reveal his true nature.
Would he become cautious and defensive?
Or would he escalate, trying to eliminate this new threat before it eliminated him?
Either way, the game had entered its second phase.
And Kaguya intended to savor every moment.
After all, it had been so very long since she'd found a specimen worthy of proper judgment.
END OF CHAPTER 19