Part 5: Chapter 1

PART 5: SWORD OF FLAME

    The cave sloped down gently, seemingly continuing on forever. Stiffening his limbs, Nakajima slowly held his balance, climbing backwards. As the sounds of his labored breathing echoed off the smooth walls of the shaft, the entrance far above him started to vanish in the distance. The reverberations made it almost sound as if Yumiko, strapped to Nakajima's back, was breathing, and several times Nakajima stopped and strained his ears.
    But the shoulders of the corpse were as slumped over as usual, and stopping, Nakajima only detected the stench of death.
    His sense of the passage of time was long gone. The tunnel was so long that he almost thought that it continued all the way to the center of the earth. Nakajima's arms and legs felt strained with the effort of supporting the weight of two bodies, and if he let his concentration slip for even a moment he felt that he would lose his grip and slide all the way down. Twisting his body, Nakajima pulled off his shoes and socks and continued downwards in bare feet. This way he could be more sure of his footholds. Had he been here by himself, he might have been able to slide all the way down the shaft. But if Yumiko's body was damaged, all his effort would have been for nothing.
    All of a sudden, Nakajima found his feet in thin air.
    "Agh!"
    Desperately extending his arms foward and clawing at the air, a sense of loss, terror, and despair shot through Nakajima's body. An instant later. Nakajima was painfully slammed against a hard stone surface. He had fallen straight down about two or three meters. Unconsciously moving to protect Yumiko's body, Nakajima's shoulders and back took more of the shock than they should have, and unable to stand, he lost consciousness.

    There was a faint light and a calm breeze. The cold caressing his cheek, Nakajima opened his heavy eyelids. A little ways away, Yumiko's body lay next to him silently. He felt light, and it didn't seem like he had any broken bones. In fact, while he hurt, it wasn't enough to worry about. Getting his energy together and standing up, Nakajima took a deep breath. As his eyes became accustomed to the darkness, his surroundings became clearer.
    And what mysterious surroundings they were! Nakajima found himself standing in a plaza carved out in a niche between towering cliffs. The face of the walls around him were deep crimson. About three meters up in one wall was a dark opening; most likely, it was the shaft that Nakajima had just crawled down. Being underground, there should have been a visible ceiling, but looking up, the walls simply climbed up until the red stones were shrouded in the darkness above. At the end of the plaza, a narrow path stretched out into the bottomless darkness. Was this the pathway to Izanami's burial chamber? Unlike the earlier shaft, this appeared to be a natural underground ravine. The phosphorescent light illuminating it, and the entire underground chamber, appeared to be given off from mossy plants growing on the rock face. Nakajima recalled the scene from the visions he had of being chased by the rotting woman.
    A viscous drop of water fell onto Nakajima's cheek. Listening closely, he could hear the steady sound of a trickle of water coming from high above. Over the aeons, the lime deposits in this trickle had accumulated here and there along the path, forming giant stalagmites. Nakajima touched the rising cliff face to feel it. The surface of the cold stone was wet with condensation. When he scratched it, the rock crumbled away easily, revealing a new layer of red stone below. When recalling that the ancient red paint used in ancient Japanese tombs was mercuric-sulfide based, Nakajima suddenly remembered Craft's words.
    When explorers discovered material that was apparently part of a demon's body in a Mayan temple, it evaporated when coming into contact with their mercuric-sulfide based paint. In other words, this tomb was designed specifically to keep demons out. Getting up his courage with this realization, Nakajima picked up Yumiko's body and walked toward the depths of the red valley. However, Nakajima never had that much in the way of stamina in the first place. In less than ten minutes, his legs were exhausted. He would have liked to have Kerberos' help, but he didn't want to put any more stress on the already terribly-injured demon. Besides, one could hardly say this path would be the most appropriate place for him, with the walls literally painted with demon repellent.
    Breathing heavily with exhaustion, Nakajima proceeded along the path to the burial chamber, the stone walls towering up into the air alongside him. The sweat dripping off of his forehead into his eyes blurred his vision, and each step took every ounce of effort he had. Nakajima shook his head back and forth to get rid of the built-up perspiration, and when his vision cleared, he noticed a white silhouette in his peripheral vision.
    "Who's there!?"
    Looking closer, he could tell that there was more than just one silhouette--in fact there were quite a few of them. But none of them displayed any indication of movement, and simply stood or squatted there. Gingerly approaching one, Nakajima could see that it was a bleached mummy, its head tilted to the side and its black eye sockets staring up into space. Whether it was the power of the mercuric sulfide or the cold of the underground chamber, the corpse had been preserved from natural decay. Its chest area had what looked like a deliberately drilled large hole in it. Looking around, it appeared that the dozen or so mummies here were scattered about without any order to them. Judging by their clothing, they appeared to be the bones of people from many different time periods. One wore primitive robes, another appeared to be wearing the eboshi hat of a Kamakura-era samurai, and yet another looked like an Edo-period peasant. Many of them had signs of their bones being crushed by large jaws or having their throats torn out. Few people would come into a place like this by accident; these were most likely grave robbers here to plunder the Kofun tomb. Who was it that did this to them?
    All of a sudden, the sound of a bizarre cry assaulted Nakajima's ears.
    "YAAH! GLULULU!"
    It sounded like the voice was coming from far away, but the unusual reverberations produced from the walls of the burial pathway made it difficult to judge the distance of sounds. Nakajima cast a sidelong glance at the butchered corpses of the mummies. If the grave guardian that mercilessly slaughtered these would-be grave robbers was still patrolling this path to the burial chamber now...
    As Nakajima shuddered, that very same guardian lept out in front of his eyes from the shadow of a great rock.
    "Yomotsu-Shikome!" Nakajima cried.
    The fierce image of the monster woman from his vision was burned into Nakajima's memory. But the Yomotsu-Shikome standing before him was far more grotesque in real life than he had imagined. She was almost exactly twice his height. Her purple-flecked squat legs glistened white with slime, and bloated lower stomach of the torso held up by them stuck out like that of a pregnant woman. The robe she wore seemed almost comical it was so small, and it did not even extend down far enough to cover her breasts, which drooped all the way down to her navel. Her webbed hands shuddered, thick with blubber. Her face was almost exactly that of a green frog, and as she exhaled, two gill-like slits on the side of her throat expanded, exposing the pink fleshy walls within. Her long, shimmering black hair made her look only all the more disgusting.
    Yomotsu-Shikome took a step forward. As Nakajima met her gaze, he carefully laid Yumiko down, wiped the cold sweat off his hands onto his slacks, and picked up his handheld computer.
    "Kerberos, please come here."
    Before the white haze that came out of the liquid crystal display could even take on the shape of a rough outline, it vanished with a weak bark. Apparently the crimson paint of this pathway really did seal off the power of the demon beast.
    Yomotsu-Shikome thrust her webbed hands down at the petrified Nakajima's shoulders. Leaping to the side at the last minute, Nakajima slipped and fell on the ground. He desperately tried to get up, but the large hands had already grabbed onto him. Yomotsu-Shikome's long tongue licked the area around her huge mouth, and her rancid breath assaulted Nakajima's senses.
    "Izanami, are you going to abandon me after I've come all this way!?" Nakajima instinctively cried out.
    For some reason, the instant that the monster woman heard Nakajima's cry, she started acting strangely. Her mouth agape, she looked at Nakajima with a blank expression, all hostility gone completely. Her eyes looked around the area, then fixated on the body of Yumiko, laying on the side of the path. An expression of awe came over her face.
    "Izanami..."
    Her throat jiggling, Yomotsu-Shikome spoke the name reverently. Putting Nakajima back on the ground, the monster woman clumsily waddled over to Yumiko, and carefully picked her up as if handling a fragile broken object.
    "Hey, wait, what are you going to do with Yumiko!?"
    Taking a disapproving glance at Nakajima, Yomotsu-Shikome cocked her head as if to signal him to follow her, and proceeded down the burial pathway, holding Yumiko.

Part 4: Chapter 6

    Meanwhile, Loki had left the Fourth Kangyo Bank and was standing at the summit of Tonomine, where he could look out over the whole of Asuka. Below him lay the groups of Asuka megaliths. The drizzle falling on his face, Loki opened his mouth. His throat expanded bizarreley and his tongue started vibrating. The extremely high-frequency pitch of his voice was inaudible to human ears, but as if drawn in by the sound, countless black dots the size of rice grains cut through the rain on a beeline toward him. It was a swarm of flies under Loki's command. Brushing his face with their hairy legs, they flew into his ear canals and each whispered something to him.
    After hearing all the information he needed, Lokie ordered the flies "OK, Go!" and they returned to their posts. Rubbing the wound on his forehead, Loki stared at Shirasagi Mound.
    Nakajima...what do you intend to do, going in there....?
    He knew that Nakajima did not escape to Asuka on his own power. Nor was it Yumiko's power that brought them there either. A human woman would never have the power to wound a demon. Most likely a Japanese god or demon had possessed her, and summoned them here to Asuka. And it would be safe to assume that it was quite a powerful one at that.
    "I don't care who you are, but I won't let you get away with this. I'll crush you to a pulp!" Loki murmured, charging down the slope toward Shirasagi Mound.

Part 4: Chapter 5

    After returning Kerberos to the demon world, Nakajima hoisted Yumiko on his back and arrived at the stone burial chamber of Shirasagi Mound. However, after peering into the small room through the the Kumazasa overgrowth, he could not hold back an expression of disappointment. The burial chamber was dug vertically into the ground and was just waiting for him to come in through an opening about 90 centimeters wide and tall. But the walls of chamber itself were only a few meters long at most. It was just tall enough for Nakajima to stand in if he hunched over. It seemed awfully small for the entryway for such a huge Kofun tomb. Was Izanami really here?
    Don't panic, this sort of burial chambers must have some sort of trick or secret passage, or something! Trying to reassure himself, Nakajima lowered himself into the chamber.
    The room was stagnant with cold air, and the basalt walls glistened, damp with humidity. Nakajima gently lowered Yumiko off his back and onto the ground. A frog that had been watching this strange intruder from one of the corners of the chamber croaked and jumped forward in surprise. Sitting down on the stone floor, Nakajima entered a trance and tried to make a connection with Izanami. But he had very little experience doing this sort of thing; maybe it was because of his anxiety, but the picture in his mind's eye was unchanging, and the only thing that happened as he sat on the ground was the passage of time. Nakajima furrowed his brow in frustration.
    "I can't feel anything, even though I must be much closer to Izanami than I was before. Izanami, answer me--how can I find you?"
    As if in response to his whispered question, the entire burial chamber started shuddering. The stones in the walls started to groan, and a bit of dirt fell from the ceiling. Coughing, Nakajima unconsciously pulled Yumiko's corpse closer to him.
    "Izanami, answer me, so I can revive Yumiko!" Like he was chanting a spell, Nakajima murmured the same words over and over.
    Soon the earthquake subsided, and as if trying to ask something, the frog's croaking became louder. As Nakajima turned and looked in its direction, his eyes glimmered with excitement at what he saw. The earthquake had created a gap between the stones in the wall, such that crimson paint on their edges became clearly visible. Approaching the divide between the flagstones, Nakajima could feel cold air flowing forth from the reddish crack. Twisting his fingers into the gap, Nakajima dislodged the stones one by one, revealing a crawlspace beyond large enough for a person to enter. The crawlspace sloped slightly downward, proceeding deep into the earth.
    The pit was shrouded in darkness, but for Nakajima there was no hesitation. Tearing his shirt and using the strips to tie Yumiko and his handheld computer to his body, Nakajima got down on his stomach and put his feet into the hole. A cold, smooth feeling like marble under his palms gave lie to the fact that the structure was man-made. Hunkered down on all fours so that he would not slip, Nakajima started carefully climbing down the shaft, backwards into the inky blackness below.

Part 4: Chapter 4

    At about the same time, in the branch office of Fourth Kangyo Bank in Inai, four female employees were in the operations room, entering data in the host computer to write a patch to send the day's transfers to other bank branches. None of the four were looking down at their keyboards; their glances only turned back and forth from their displays to the numbers on the display vouchers they had been working with.
    "Why is my terminal always the one to break!?" One of the workers irritatedly got up from her seat.
    Her name was Mida Yoshie. She had been working at the bank for two years and was brilliant but somewhat short-tempered, her bob-cut appearance appropriately complimenting her energetic personality. Yoshie looked closely at the other workers' terminals, but it appeared that she was the only one experiencing the problem. Her screen was completely dark, and didn't respond to any keyboard input at all.
    "Isn't that what normally happens when you send data to the host computer?" Shimamura Yuko--whose appearance and personality were the polar opposite of Yoshie's--looked over at her while continuing to enter data into her own terminal.
    Yuko had been at the company a year longer than Yoshie and thus was slightly higher on the chain of command.
    "Is it just mine then? Oh well, I might as well go make some tea." As Yoshie left the room discontentedly, a blue haze started to seep from the display behind her. A pungent musky smell started to waft throughout the room, but engrossed in their work, nobody seemed to notice it. The blue haze started to coagulate and take form behind the chair that Yoshie had previously been sitting in.
    As if she was tired from all the data entry, Yuko thrust her arms toward the ceiling and stretched. A strange jelly-like substance grabbed onto her white throat.
    "Yoshie, cut it out."
    Yawning and turning around, Yuko found herself staring into the bronze face of Loki, his head atop a bizarre pillar of gelatinous flesh. She tried to scream but found that her vocal chords were frozen and she could not make a sound. The demon's tentacle constricted and crushed Yuko's skull with a lound crunch. From the neck up Yuko was nothing more than a grotesque lump of disfigured flesh, yet her hands continued to tap on the keys of the terminal out of sheer inertia. While the other two women sat paralyzed with fear, other tentacles grabbed them and pulled them inside the demon's body.
    Behind Loki, there was a sound of porcelain shattering. Yoshie had returned with tea and dropped her tray at the sight of the unbelievable bloodbath she had walked into. Loki's tentacle stretched out to her stomach. Heat shot through her chest along with a sticky sensation, and the next instant, blinding pain shot through her as fresh blood spurted out of her rent skin.
    "What's going on!?" Hearing the strange sound within the room, a male employee carrying a load of bills to the safe opened the door. Loki mercilessly threw Yoshie's now-decapitated head at his chest with incredible force.
    "Agh!"
    Knocked hard against the wall, the man just barely managed to search for the emergency alarm and press it with all his remaining strength before passing out.
    The shrill sound of the alarm echoed throughout the building. In the midst of the clamor, Loki calmly completed the transformation into his bronze human form, and turned his pitch-black eyes toward Asuka.

Part 4: Chapter 3

    Sinking their sneakers into the gravel of the path, the hikers in Asuka hurried along the trail. The faces of all the nearby tourists displayed irritation at the unwelcome arrival of rain. Kerberos shot through the hills at high speed, Nakajima tightly gripping the corpse of Yumiko on his back. But the extremely abnormal sight didn't seem to phase the hikers.
    "What was that just now?"
    "They must be shooting a movie here, I guess."
    The relaxed voices grew faint behind Nakajima. Presently Nakajima arrived at the hills he had seen in his vision. Nakajima did not know that this 200-meter tall hill was a Kofun tomb known as "Shirasagi Mound." Shirasagi mound was huge for a Kofun tomb, and was deeply shrouded in mystery. It was unknown whether or not it was a zenpokoen-fun "keyhole"-style tomb or just one that took advantage of a natural hill, let alone who was buried there or when it was built. However, it had been passed down in oral tradition that a woman had been buried here, and some of those who had studied the treatise "Gishi-Wajin-den" argued that it was the grave of Himiko, the ancient queen of Yamato. In the modern day, fully half of Shirasagi Mound had been cultivated into fields, and of the original burial mound, only a single stone chamber remained, along with a few Kumazasa shrubs and pine woods.
    As Kerberos climbed the hill, his movement became visibly slower, and the spasms of his rough breathing could be felt on his back. As soon what appeared to be the entrance to the stone burial chamber appeared, Kerberos finally came to a stop. Nakajima dropped to the ground, leaving Yumiko on the back of the demon beast. And as if his strained nerves had finally reached their breaking point, as Kerberos' front legs bent, he collapsed to the ground. Perhaps his wounds from the battle with Loki had worsened, or perhaps Shirasagi Mound itself caused pain to the animal, but either way, as if he could no longer take another step, Kerberos stuck his tongue out and started panting, while letting out a low whine. The flicker of fire in his eyes was gone.
    "You did good, Kerberos. You can go on back."
    Nakajima had no choice but to return the digital beast to his handheld computer.

Part 4: Chapter 2

    At about that time, in the now-decimated CAI room, Ohara faced the host computer, talking with Loki. Even after being able to take full form, Loki seemed to prefer staying inside the computer in a digital form--it was most likely less of a physical burden.
    "Damned Nakajima; he fled all the way to Asuka."
    "What should I do? Should I send my students after them, or do you have another idea?"
    "No, I'll go myself." Loki's voice was full of resolve. He fully realized that the revolutionary technology of summoning demons with a computers was on par with nuclear weapon technology. If only he could master the transfer of the data that Nakajima had developed, conquering the human world would be more than just a far-fetched dream.
    But the same thing could be said of other demons. In order to prevent the technology from getting into the hands of other demons and thus ensure his absolute superiority in the Assiah world, Loki could not let Nakajima live.
    Loki had servants that could be called spies--flies. Flies were one of the few creatures that could freely travel between the Assiah and Aztiluth worlds, and Loki had the ability to not only talk with all flies, but to sense everything they experienced on the surface as if he was there himself.
    And from them, Loki had learned that Nakajima had appeared in Asuka.
    "Well then..." Ohara entered a command into the computer.
    Maybe it was just part of Nakajima's database, but displayed onscreen were the numbers for City Banks in the Kinki region. Ohara scrolled the screen and pulled up a map of Japan, referencing it with the phone numbers.
    "I think that Fourth Kangyo Bank in Inai would be best."
    "OK. Then send me there."
    As the magnetic tape started spinning furiously, the screen became awash in brilliant colors. Setting the modem, Ohara pressed each button of Fourth Kangyo Bank's phone number carefully, as if not to make any mistakes.

Part 4: Chapter 1

    Since the previous evening, it had been drizzling in the Asuka area. There, ancient thickets of cedars blocked the sunlight, making it dark on Ayakashi mountain, even during dayling. A statue deep in the mountains that somewhat resembled a monkey--placed there ages before even the Tenbyo era in the eighth century--looked up at the sky with its huge eyes that almost took up half its face.
    The rain falling in front of the statue appeared to become tinged with crimson, and started to waver, despite the winds being calm. Presently something like an aurora appeared between two moss-covered old tree trunks. This phenomenon, called "Ayakashi" by the people of Yamato, was the origin mountain's name. The aurora increased in density, shining a brilliant festival of lights on the normally dark mountainside. A sudden gust of wind blew the light rain aside, and as it appeared to shake the aurora itself, the shapes of two people appeared in midair.
    In an instant, the two shapes took form and dropped to the grass below. Just as it had appeared, the aurora gradually lost its light and vanished. As if it had never been there, the drizzle fell through the area where it had hovered a moment before.
    According to the traditions of the local people, the gods of Yamato used this "Ayakashi" to travel to China and India. Those unfortunate humans who entered it unknowingly would vanish and never be seen again, so people were forbidden to approach it. Izanami surely had used that power to save Nakajima and Yumiko.

    With the feeling of the calm wind through the trees on his skin and the cold rain on his cheek, Nakajima opened his eyes. Next to him, as if buried in fern leaves, lay the half-naked Yumiko.
    Where are we?
    Not letting go of Yumiko's hand, Nakajima warily looked around at his surroundings. The world he had seen beyond the Aurora had been one of fields and rolling hills, yet the two were currently in a dim forest.
    Either way, they were safe. That, of course, was due to Yumiko's courage and remarkable power. Wondering how that sweet expression could possibly hold the power to stop a demon in its tracks, Nakajima put his hand on her cheek.
    However, Yumiko's cheek was hard and cold, almost as if she was a doll of ice. Telling himself it was because of the rain, Nakajima took off his shirt and sat Yumiko up so he could to put it around her. However, when he put his hand behind her delicate shoulder, it came back covered in thick black clots of blood. Timidly looking at her back, Nakajima surpressed the urge to cry out and shuddered.
    From her right shoulder to her waist, Yumiko's back had been brutally torn open, so that even her bones were visible. Just trying to grab her, Loki's claws had dealt her a terrible wound. As if awakening from a deep sleep, Yumiko opened her eyes. Her calm, pure expression betrayed no hint of pain from the wound as she gazed at Nakajima and whispered "I'm sorry."
    "...."
    Nakajima did not know how to respond, and simply hugged Yumiko tight. He should have been the one apologizing. Having Yumiko say as much to him hurt far worse than it would if she had condemned him.
    But Yumiko's words had a meaning to them. She murmured into Nakajima's ear.
    "Sorry...I don' t think I'm going to survive this. But will you wish to bring me back?"
    "What are you saying! You won't die just from this wound! Hang on!"
    "No, that's not it. Izanami told me earlier. It's not just because of this wound on my back. I borrowed Izanami's power to fight Loki. But her power was far too strong for me to handle..."
    "Izanami?"
    Nakajima was shocked by the words that came suddenly out of Yumiko's mouth. With his background in magic and mythology, he was able to grasp the meaning of what she said, even if only vaguely. At the same time, he realized the meaning of the strange visions that he had seen several times before.
    They had been an exact replay of Japanese mythology. In order to bring back his dead wife Izanami, Izanagi, the father of the gods, went to the land of Yomi. But while there, Izanagi looked at his wife, who had become hideous, breaking a great taboo in doing so. Therefore, he was forced to abandon her and flee back to the surface.
    "She told me that I am a reincarnation of Izanami. And that if you desire for me to return to life, you should bring my body deep into her grave, right to the room where she is entombed. If you do so then I will return to life, and this time we can live together." Saying so, Yumiko started coughing fiercely.
    As her throat shuddered, Nakajima wiped aside the fresh blood that she coughed up.
    "Yumiko, don't talk like that. You're not going to die. We're going to live happily ever after." Nakajima had never opened up to a woman before, but at this clear statement of his feelings, Yumiko's pale face turned into a smile.
    "Thanks. Don't abandon me mid-way like Izanagi did in the myth..." Yumiko closed her eyes and as if going to sleep, drew her last breath.
    Embracing her body and stroking her wet hair, a fire of emotion blazed forth inside Nakajima. Putting aside those visions, he had never had any contact from Izanami. But he believed what Yumiko had said entirely. Or perhaps it would be better to say that he had decided to believe her. After all, he had summoned Loki, the god from the legends of northern Europe. Nakajima had no idea how the mechanism for reincarnation worked, but if Izanami from Japanese myth really existed, then he would seek her out.
    "Hold on. I promise I'll bring you back." Carefully laying down Yumiko's body, Nakajima picked up the handheld computer that had dropped to his side and turned on the switch. It fortunately appeared to be working.
    If only I can summon Kerberos...
    As the white mist appeared from the small liquid crystal display, Nakajima breathed a sign of relief. The fully materialized electronic beast roared once, and looked at his master with fire in his eyes. But the wounds he had sustained fighting Loki had robbed Kerberos of his usual vigor. It even looked as if his entire body had gotten a little smaller. It would probably take at least a few months for wounds that serious to heal. It might be possible to heal him by fixing errors in the data that comprised him inside the computer. But Nakajima had never tried to do anything like that before. Even if he did, it wouldn't be something that could be completed in a day or two, and Nakajima didn't have that kind of time. Patting Kerberos' muzzle as if to encourage him, Nakajima pulled Yumiko's body up onto his back and set out.
    After ten minutes walking along animal tracks, they emerged from the trees. Far beyond a steep slope covered in kumazasa growth was the scene of a small mountain hamlet shrouded in the mists from the humidity in the air. On the right was a great stone tumulus, and behind it rose mountains emitting a greenish aura.
    That's an Ishibutai grave and Tono Peak. So this must be Asuka!
    The scenery before Nakajima matched perfectly with the photos in a book about ancient history he had eagerly read over and over long ago. Maybe it was true that an ancient Japanese goddess had called them to the mountains of Asuka, which were intimately entwined with Japanese myth. But how was he supposed to search for Izanami's tomb without any guidance?
    As if to encourage Nakajima, who was standing still staring ahead blankely, the demonic beast beside him let out a low growl.
    "Yeah, you're right, Kerberos. That has to be it..."
    Drawing in his breath deeply, Nakajima balled his right hand into a fist and touched the tip of the beast's sharp fang to his wrist. In an instant, a sharp pain ran through his arm, and fresh blood flowed out of the wound. In order to find the location of Izanami's tomb, Nakajima tried to use his own blood to power and create a thaumaturgic circle. But as his blood fell to the muddly ground, the rain simply washed it away, distorting the shape of the circle. Even though he was dizzy from loss of blood, Nakajima tried to redraw it.
    Though he was well-versed in magical theory, Nakajima had always relied on computers up until now, and this was his first experience trying to cast a spell by himself. But there was no hesitation in his expression. There couldn't be a bit of ambiguity when casting spells using a computer. He was sure that there was nothing he could not do, having mastered the theory to that extent. Deciding on the direction from the Ishibutai and Tono Peak, he used his handheld computer's astrology software to find the position of the stars and phase of the moon, and used it to draw his circle. Completing it and sitting down, Nakajima murmered "Izanami, please tell me where you are," made a sign with his hands, and started to meditate.
    Nakajima was far from having any sort of psychic powers, but his feelings toward Yumiko and the unique magnetic field at Mount Ayakashi easily pulled him into a trance. Nakajima concentrated on the silver thread of fate that connected himself and Yumiko. The thread he pictured presently started to glow. Entering a state of deep meditation, Nakajima tried to superimpose the thread that he was picturing on the scenery of the real world. As he focused his spirit to the utmost, deep wrinkles formed in his brow. Finally, in the image he pictured, he could clearly see the silver thread being pulled into two small knolls, knolls that had been plowed into grape fields.
    "That must be where Izanami's grave is."
    Awakening from his meditation, Nakajima knelt down and looked for something in the scenery around him that matched what he had seen in his trance.
    "That's it! That's Izanami's grave!" Nakajima cried aloud.
    The two knolls stood in an area to form a perfect triangle between the Ishibutai and Tono Peak. At that moment, perhaps drawn by the smell of blood, several flies crowded around Yumiko and landed on her wound. Brushing them aside irritatedly, Nakajima picked her up and put her up onto Kerberos' back.

Part 3: Chapter 2

   Yumiko ran into her classroom and managed to make it to her seat before the opening bell rang. Soon afterwards professor Ohara entered the classroom and looked over it with a calm face, just as usual. Yumiko had seen her crazy state that night in the CAI room, but even before that, the two had never gotten along. Looking down as if not to make eye contact with anyone, Ohara directed the students to go to the CAI room.
   The CAI room for a classical Japanese lesson? What does she intend to do there?
   From Yumiko's experience, the CAI system in Jusho High was only    used for science, math, and English. Why would they need computers to teach classical Japanese?
   Paying no attention to the dubious Yumiko, her classmates closed their books and stood up, leaving their pens at their desks. Yumiko instinctively looked around to see if Nakajima was in class, but his desk was clean, and it looked like he hadn't arrived at school yet.
   "He's after you. You should stay away for a while." All of a sudden, Yumiko remembered the words from the mysterious telephone conversation the night before. A bead of cold sweat ran down her neck from her temple to chest.
   "Hey, are you OK?" Yumiko's friend Kano Miyuki entered her spaced-out gaze. Yumiko's big black eyes were sparkling mischievously.
   "Hey now Yumiko, no cutting class."
   "No, I really don't feel well...."
   "Come on, let's go." Miyuki was oddly enthusiastic as she grabbed Yumiko's arm and pulled her up out of her seat. Right at that moment, Ohara came close to the two.
   "Ms. Shirasagi, you look a little pale. Do you need to take a rest in the infirmary?" She spoke in a voice that sounded a little bit too kind.
   "It's OK, professor. I'll be with her to make sure she's all right." With a grand gesture, Mikuki patted Yumiko on the shoulder. The other students ignored the exchange as they left the room. But Yumiko sensed that there was something unnatural about the way they moved.
   They're not acting normal!
   A shiver ran down Yumiko's spine, and Miyuki gripped her hand more tightly.
   "I'm OK, Miyuki. I can walk on my own." Despite her confident words, Yumiko's voice was shaking. She was determined to throw off Miyuki's grip and make a break for it as she left the classroom, but the minute she stepped out of the door, a throng of male students surrounded her.
   "Come on, let's go." As he urged Yumiko along, Takai's eyes wandered aimlessly through the air. Before she knew it, Yumiko was in the dead center of the throng of her classmates. Miyuki continued to hold her arm tightly. Her delicate frame belied the incredible strength of her grip.
   "Please, let go of me." As Yumiko opened her mouth to cry out, a handkerchief was thrust into her mouth to gag her. The students walked in file along the corridor, centered around Yumiko as she tried to escape.

   As soon as the class was inside the CAI room, Ohara quickly shut the door.
   Click.
   As if signaled by the sound of the lock, the students stopped moving. Finally released from Miyuki's grasp, Yumiko looked around the classroom and let out a shrill cry.
   It's just like it was that night!
   There were no chairs or tables in the classrom; Nakajima sat in a leather sofa in the middle of the room. There was a twinge of pity and regret in his face as he stared at Yumiko.
   Nakajima, why... Yumiko's lips moved as if pleading for an explanation.
   Looking straight at Yumiko, Nakajima slowly stood up and pointed at the sofa that he had been sitting in.
   "Today, this is your seat." His low murmur pierced Yumiko's soul. The events of that night vividly resurfaced in her mind.
    "No, I won't!" Unable to stand, Yumiko slumped to the floor. The many scratches on the linoleum tiles only too vividly reminded her of that evening. That night, Nakajima said that he offered Ohara to a demon. Was that for real? And now, was she going to be the next offering? Unable to run or get help, Yumiko started sobbing, and her tears trailed off her cheeks to the floor.
    Black vinyl high heels stepped on Yumiko's tears pooled on the ground. Nervously looking up, Yumiko saw Ohara looking down on her with an eerie smile on her face.
    "There's nothing to be afraid of. Come on, stand up." Holding out her hand, Ohara spoke in a soft, coaxing voice.
    "No! No!" Yumiko furiously shook her head, and looked to Nakajima as if seeking rescue.
    "It's too late now. There's no other way." Nakajima spoke as if trying to convince himself, and Yumiko listened in despair. Nakajima's narrow eyes turned to the host computer beyond the plate glass as their magnetic tapes began to spin. As if in time with the tape, the display in front of flashed in brilliant colors.
    "Prepare the sacrifice." There was no hesitation in Nakajima's voice as he gave the order. Yumiko saw several students approach her to bring her to the chair. However, the next instant, a sudden earthquake stopped them.
    "STOP!" A gut-wrenching, solemn voice cried out.
    "Why did you stop them, Loki!?" Losing his calm at the unexpected turn of events, Nakajima gripped the microphone, his hands covered with cold sweat.
    "I don't need your help any more," Loki said.
    "What!?"
    "Don't you get it, Nakajima? I already have the ability to materialize in the Assiah world on my own."
    Nakajima's eyes were filled with shock as right in front of his eyes, the monitor displaying Loki started to ooze a blue haze. Right then and there, a dimensional tear between the demon and human worlds was starting to form. Giving off vibrantly-colored light like an aura, the atmosphere twisted and writed unusually, and a pungent cold air burst forth.
    Yumiko just stood and watched the haze billow forth, her mouth agape. She was probably paralyzed with fear at the unbelievable events unfolding in front of her eyes. The haze gradually thickened, and started to move itself into a vaguely-defined shape, much like a hologram. Slowly, the form solidified. The light dancing amongst the frigid gust changed into flowing black hair, and the outline of a handsome face gained bronze skin, its deep black eyes gazing at the students in the room.
    "Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh." In an ancient language, Loki declared his own divinity. Ohara, who had at some point fallen on her knees in front of him, put her hands together, looked up at him in awe, and spoke the same words as if worshiping an all-powerful god.
    To think that Loki would have affected Ohara this much... Powerless, Nakajima stared at Loki and Ohara.
   I should have considered the possibilty that this could happen. I'd better find a weakness, and soon!
   Nakajima frantically pointed a sensor connected to his computer at the nearly-fully-formed Loki. Calling up the ISG host computer, he sent the data about the demon that the sensor gathered to the Craft AI. Meanwhile, Loki extended his hand toward Yumiko, who was rigid with terror. His bronze, naked body was beautifully symmetrical, almost like the Greek Apollo, and his muscular chest was covered in black scales. His black eyes, from which no one could possibly fathom any emotion, paralyzed her.
   "Come over here." Pointing his taloned finger at Yumiko, Loki ordered her in a low, cold voice. Yumiko looked to Nakajima for help, but he merely glanced at her and continued talking with the AI.
   Nakajima knew he wouldn't have a chance if he tried to fight Loki directly. But Loki could probably not risk doing anything to him so long as he had control of the computer environment. Nakajima urgently knew that he had to find some sort of weakness to Loki while he still had the chance. He also was guessing that Loki would not be able to leave the magnetic field being generated by the computer.
   However, just as Yumiko tried to stagger away and flee, a strange sound emanated from Loki's arms. For a moment they looked like they were beginning to melt, and then all of a sudden changed into a giant, jiggling, pink-colored blobs of protoplasm. From their tips, multiple tentacles lashed out and wrapped around Yumiko's limbs like whips.
   "No, stop!" The tentacles grabbing onto the crying Yumiko's limbs pulled her up into the air, toward the body of the blob. A new pink tentacle sprouted and grabbed onto Yumiko's body, and the liquid emanating from its membrane melted her clothes, grabbed onto her now-exposed skin and started writhing along her slender body.
   >CRAFT, HURRY!
   Plugging his ears so he wouldn't have to hear Yumiko's screams, Nakajima frantically kept hitting the keys. Finally the data transfer LED lit up, and Craft sent a response.
   >ACCORDING TO THE DATA YOU SENT, THE JELLY SUBSTANCE IS 58% WATER AND 17% ECTOPLASM. THE REMAINING MATTER IS NOT NATIVE TO THE PLANET AND CANNOT BE ANALYZED.
   >HAS THERE EVER BEEN A CASE OF SIMILAR MATTER BEING DISCOVERED BEFORE?
   > YES. THIS CENTURY, SIMILAR MATTER WAS DISCOVERED IN A MAYAN TEMPLE AND IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.
   > WHAT IS ITS WEAK POINT?
   > I CANNOT MAKE A HYPOTHESIS DUE TO INSUFFICIENT DATA. HOWEVER, THE MATTER DISCOVERED UNDER A RELIEF IN THE MAYAN TEMPLE WAS REPORTED TO HAVE EVAPORATED WHEN IT CAME IN CONTACT WITH MERCURIC SULFIDE-BASED PAINT.
   > MERCURIC SULFIDE? YOU MEAN A MIXTURE OF MERCURY AND SULFUR. BUT I DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO FIND SOMETHING LIKE THAT. TELL ME HOW TO DEAL WITH HIM NOW!
   > UNFORTUNATELY I DO NOT HAVE SUFFICIENT DATA TO PROVIDE AN ANSWER.
   Angry at Craft's request for more data, Nakajima punched the keyboard.

   At that moment, a strange gasping voice broke Nakajima's train of thought. Turning around, he noticed Ohara, who was writhing around at Loki's feet, hugging her breasts with her chest fully exposed. Nakajima did not miss the fact that a fist-size patch of her skin below her breasts was glowing. He immediately reported the situation to Craft and asked what happened.
   > THE MOST LIKELY CONCLUSION IS THAT SHE IS PREGNANT WITH THE DEMON'S CHILD. SIMILAR SYMPTOMS HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN EUROPE BEFORE.
   "That's impossible! Ohara only had sex with Loki in a virtual world. Could it be..." Thinking of the terrible possibilities, Nakajima shuddered in fear. Could it be that Loki had already materialized several times before, only he never realized it? Meanwhile, as if in tune with Ohara's gasps, Loki's entire body started to change into something bizarre. Aside from his face, all his skin turned pink, and as if its cellular structure changed entirely, started to secrete a viscous substance.
   "Aah..."
   Letting out a cry of joy, Ohara tore off her clothes and grabbed onto Loki's legs. Loki's body started to jiggle like jelly and started to envelop her. Be it the gods on Mount Olympus or the monsters of Hades, many of those from other worlds had their hearts stolen by the beauty and sexual allure of human females. Most likely even for a demon as powerful as Loki, he could not resist becoming aroused by the prospect of having his way with two beautiful women.
   Leaving his handsome face the way it was, he started changing into a cylindrical lump of flesh that sprouted countless small tentacles. The pink protoplasm started to glow and the movement of the tentacle fondling Yumiko's body became faster and rougher.
   Yumiko lost all will to resist, and her head fell to the side limply as she passed out. Loki started to pull her doll-like body into his own. But he did not notice that Ohara was glaring furiously at Yumiko even as she was eveloped within the protoplasm.
   Many women could not resist the allure of demons and fell madly in love with them once they had sex with them once, even if they despised them normally. For Ohara, who had devoted herself body and soul to Loki, watching him have sex with one of her students in front of her eyes was an unbearable humiliation. Once both of Yumiko's slender white legs had sunken into the the protoplasm until she was almost inside Loki up to her chest, Ohara went mad with jealousy, grabbed her head, and started to twist it.
   "Agh!" Yumiko's face twisted into pain, and her body spasmed in agony.
   "Stop! Stop it!" Crying out in anguish, Nakajima ran to her, only to be struck hard in the face by a thick tentacle. Knocked back against the wall, his vision blacked out for an instant, and when he finally managed to pull himself off the floor, Yumiko's body showed no signs of life; her head was twisted to the side unnaturally and her eyes were open and glazed over.
   Sitting atop the pillar of flesh, Loki's face took on a surprised expression, and glared with displeasure at Ohara inside his body. But being closer and more used to her, she was most likely more important than Yumiko. Loki lifted his tentacle and dumped Yumiko's body on the floor.
   Inside, Nakajima went mad with regret.
   Why didn't I warn her more seriously last night? If I hadn't made such a half-assed phone call and instead told her everything, this never would have happened. I killed Shirasagi Yumiko!
   Not only did he never think that Loki would have attained the knowhow to materialize himself, but he also never thought that Ohara might kill Yumiko. But here Loki's sinister body was here in the Assiah world and the innocent Yumiko had been killed.
   And he just looked on, powerless.
   Reflexively biting down in his lip, Nakajima noticed a faint scarlet light in his peripheral vision and jerked up his head. Loki's body had spread out to the entire CAI room, and the classroom looked like a jungle of protoplasm. Pink tentacles pulsated and twisted, grabbing hypnotized students, pulling them inside Loki's body where they were consumed one by one. However, the red light that had caught Nakajima's attention lay beyond the carnage. By the entrance of the room the atmosphere was permeated with red, and shook like an aurora.
   There's a dimensional warp! It can't be--a demon other than Loki....!? But as Nakajima's attention was drawn away, several stentacles wrapped around his legs.
   "Loki, what are you doing to me!?" Nakajima could not believe that Loki would attack him, and was shocked in surprise to his very core.
   "I bet you thought you were safe so long as you were in charge of the computer. But this woman can serve as your replacement easily enough. Now that I can appear in the Assiah world, not only are your abilities no longer useful--they're a liability." As if to back up Loki's statement, Ohara laughed inside his body.
   Nakajima immediately grabbed his handheld computer and entered the command to summon Kerberos. From the liquid crystal display, a white mist wafted into the room.
   "Go, Kerberos!"
    As if in response to Nakajima's cry, the mist rapidly solidified, and as if impatient to fully take form, assaulted Loki.
    "You are a beast of the demon world and yet you side with the human!?"
    Flame-like breath burst forth from the fang-lined maw, and Loki let out a cry that shook the very earth. Deftly dodging an attacking tentacle as it gave forth a slimy sound, the demon beast Kerberos bit down at its base and tore it off of Loki's body. Loki's purple blood gushed out and melted the linoleum tiling on the floor. With the two demons letting out roars like thunder, cracks shot up the plate glass window, and the ceiling and walls started to cruble. Despite fighting fiercely, Loki refused to drop Nakajima.
    "Kerberos, over here!"
    As Kerberos lept through the air in response to Nakajima's cry, he was finally caught by a tentacle that wrapped around his body. However, his tail split into half and became two serpents which raised their heads and tore off the tentacle grabbed onto him. Freed from Loki's grasp, Kerberos leapt at the tentacles restraining Nakajima in an attempt to save him.
    As if to thwart the beast's effort, Loki bent his tentacle and smacked Nakajima's head to the floor. The impact was almost enough to crush his skull, and Nakajima's consciousness wavered as fresh blood poured from the split in his forehead, his field of vision becoming drenched in red. With his vision distorting, the ferociously fighting Kerberos seemed like a far-away illusion.
    So this is the pathetic fate of the magician...
    As his consciousness faded and he prepared to die, memories of those strange illusions from before spontaneously appeared in a corner of Nakajima's mind.
    What were those? The woman from them called that man that looked just like him "Izanagi." Did it have any connection to the story of Izanami and Izanagi from Japanese mythology?
    Even if I knew, what difference does it make now...?
    Muttering to himself, Nakajima closed his eyes as if in acceptance of his fate.

    At that moment, unbeknownst to anyone, the heart of the seemingly dead Yumiko started to beat faintly.
    Yumiko, Yumiko! A kind voice was calling her name.
    Who are you? Is that you, Mom? Yumiko asked instinctively in her mind.
    As if recognizing that she had awakened, the voice cut off briefly, then started to speak again in a kind voice.
    Stand up, Yumiko.
    Yumiko did not hear the roars of the demon beast nor the sound of the classroom being destroyed. In fact, she had no sense of the terrible experience that she had had at all. All she could hear was the voice of the woman. Timidly opening her eyes, Yumiko realized that the voice was coming from the red aurora in the warped area in the air.
    Through the aurora, the mirage of a peacful countryside was visible. Blue rice paddies with not-yet-ripened seeds. Rolling hills covered in summer grass. And groups of giant boulders, simple yet mysterious.
    Yumiko had seen that scenery somewhere before.
    Isn't that the Asuka Ishibutai tomb...? As the thought popped into her mind, the woman's voice spoke again.
    When you were Izanami in a former life, that's what you called it.
    My former life? Izanami...you mean the goddess from Japanese mythology?
    Yumiko was confused by the suddenness of the words. But what the voice said had the sense of an undeniable truth to them.
    Stand, Yumiko. This space in the air is connected to Asuka, where I rest. Take Nakajima--no, your dearest Izanagi--and come to me.
    The instant she stood in obediance to the voice, the angry cries of Loki and the roars of Kerberos filled Yumiko's ears as she was brought back to reality. Overwhelmed with a sudden dizziness, she immediately sat down again. But as blood rushed to her head and she saw the crumpled Nakajima on the floor, she was struck with an overwhelming sense of duty.
    I've got to save him!
    It was a feeling greater than love or friendship, but closer to instinct. It was a powerful emotion, as if the boy named Nakajima Akemi was literally a part of her, and if he was lost there would be no meaning to her continued existence. Without any idea how to save him, she stood up and clenched her teeth, and the voice sounded again.
    For a moment, I am going to enter your body so you can use my power--the power to burn anything you stare at with conviction. I pray that your body can take the strain of it.
   From the dimensional rift, a blinding flash pulsed, and a pure power Yumiko had never felt the likes of before rushed through her body.

   "GYAAH!"
   A bizarre cry snapped Nakajima Akemi back to consciousness.
   Opening his eyes, he saw that Loki's tentacle was spasming over his head, smoking and giving off the stench of cooked meat. Enduring the headsplitting pain, Nakajima sat up. Pillars of flame burst out of various spots on Loki's body, and his charred tentacles flailed through air like waves, all giving off the same smoke with the cooked meat smell.
   Furthermore, Yumiko--who he thought was dead--was facing off against him; gouts of flame shot out of everywhere she stared at. In medieval Europe, when magic use was at its height, the ability was called spontaneous combustion.
   What the heck is going on...? Nakajima stared dumbfoundedly at Yumiko, wielding a power he could never have imagined her controlling. But soon, Nakajima noticed that her face was unusually pale, and that her entire body was shuddering. Just with the force of her will, Yumiko was channeling the immense power of Izanami, and her body was getting close to the limit of what it could stand.
   Meanwhile, under intense attack from the flame, Loki ejected Ohara from inside his body and started to chant a spell in an eerie rythm. The pink protoplasm started to condense, changing back into the form of the bronze-skinned youth that Loki had first appeared as.
   Yumiko desperately channeled her will and attempted to incinerate Loki with the power of Izanami, but the flames simply dispersed harmlessly off of the bronze skin, showing no effect at all. However, Loki did not budge and inch and simply stood still as if waiting for her to expend all her energy. A wave of intense exhaustion swept over Yumiko's body, and her vision started to waver. Right as she felt like she was going to drop to her knees, no longer able to withstand the effort, the voice sounded once more.
   Hurry, get Nakajima and escape!
   Her courage restored by the voice, Yumiko ran over to Nakajima, but slipped and stumbled. However, determined not to show any weakness, she immediately looked up and glared at Loki. Looking at her determined expression, something awoke in Nakajima's despair-filled soul. Ever since he was beaten up over a foolish misunderstanding and made the decision to summon a demon, Nakajima sealed off his emotions, but in that instant they came back, and he felt a kind of love that he had never experienced before.
   For her sake, I can't die!
   Nakajima's dizziness dissipated. He quickly looked around the room. At some point, the still-naked Ohara had gone over to a terminal's keyboard, and was looking up at the screen while typing in commands. She was not as nearly as skilled as Nakajima, but she was clearly used to operating a computer. As Nakajima realized that Ohara was saving the changes in the data that had occured when Loki materialized, he immediately understood his unusual actions.
   The reason that Loki was staying close to the terminal was almost undoubtedly because he was not completely confident in his own materialization. There was a very good chance that his protoplasmic blob-form was a result of a coincidental bug in the transfer of the data. Loki must have been practicing transforming into that form. He probably did not know what would happen if he tried to leave the magnetic field generated by the computer in his true form. It may have very well been that he had gained his freedom by escaping the limitations of existing digitally, but there was still a danger of anhilliating himself entirely. Just in case, Ohara was saving all the data.
   In the instant Nakajima realized this, he decided that he would be able to escape if he tried now. As he quickly used his handheld computer to recall Kerberos, who had been defeated in the battle and was now lying on his side as if he was dead, Loki noticed Nakajima's movement.
   No matter what happened, Loki could not let Nakajima escape; he knew everything about him. Even knowing the danger it would put him in, Loki stepped toward Nakajima, away from the computer.
   "Nakajima, look out!" Yumiko desperately stood up. At that moment everything went red, and Yumiko's lips moved in words that even she was not trying to say.
   "Back, demon!"
   For a moment, Izanami took over Yumiko's body entirely and released all her energy. A gout of flame erupted on the approaching Loki's forehead, at the one spot where his body was still in gelatinous form. Loki let out a cry like an enranged beast, and the Izanami-possessed Yumiko grabbed Nakajima's body and headed for the aurora.
   Overcome with shock and rage, Loki let out a roar and went after them. For an instant, Loki's body wavered like heat haze and his bronze skin became almost translucent. Numbers flowed like mad over the terminal's display, and Ohara powerlessly glared at the screen.
   However, a few instants later, the host computer stopped going haywire and Loki got back his form. Right before the folds of the aurora enveloped Nakajima and Yumiko's bodies, billowing as if being carried by the wind, Loki clawed at the two.
   His long talons gouged deep into Yumiko from the nape of her neck to the middle of her back, and fresh blood poured out from the wound. But as soon as the aurora enveloped the two it immediately started fading. The only thing left behind in space where the aurora was were streaks of Yumiko's blood, and the the room shook with the anguished cry of the now completely summoned Loki .

Part 3: Chapter 1

    When confronted with something too unbelievable, people have a tendency to subconsciously avoid thinking about it. Or else, they will attempt to rationalize what they saw as an attempt to relieve their anxiety.
    Yumiko did the same sort of thing in regards to her experience with the demon summoning in the CAI room.
    That evening, Nakajima had said he summoned a demon using the computer. But when she really thought about it, there was no real hard evidence that what she saw really was a demon. With enough skill manipulating computer graphics, such a scene could easily be staged. As for that demonic beast, Yumiko only saw it for an instant. It would probably be more natural to think that it just been a large dog that Nakajima had used as a guard, and Yumiko's fear and surprise deluded her into seeing it as some sort of horrific monster. Nakajima might be a genius-level computer nut, but the whole ceremony could have been nothing more than something him and his followers had cooked up together. Nakajima had probably just started some sort of occult or magic club.
    As the days passed by uneventfully, this was how Yumiko started to think of the whole experience. Jusho High's "gifted" class was still not a place that she felt entirely comfortable at, but she was still able to make a few friends there that she could banter with like a normal girl her age.
    Still, it was definitely the case that Nakajima seemed to hold some sort of special authority about the school. Lately he had been spending all of his time holed up in the CAI room, and rarely if ever showed his face in class. The only time he would show up was when other classes were using the CAI room, and even then he would ignore class, programming on his handheld computer instead.
    No matter how you looked at it, there was something not right about the situation. But whenever Yumiko tried talking to her friends about Nakajima, they would just clam up and try to change the subject. However, it wasn't as if they disliked him. Their silence was more like a sense of fear and awe, as if they couldn't find the right words to use when talking about such a powerful persona.
    Well, no big deal. Besides, it doesn't really affect me anyway...
    Even though Yumiko could explain the situation away to herself in such a manner, she couldn't keep her heart from racing whenever she pictured his profile in her head.

    It was a morning in July, close to the start of summer vacation.
    Yumiko walked to school along the highway between Kuniritsu Station and Hitobashi University every morning. The branches of the trees stretched out to their limits so that their leaves would absorb the blinding sunlight, and as Yumiko walked beneath the lines of gingko trees with their outstretched, pale green leaves, she rubbed her sleepy eyes and thought of the phone call she had received the night before.
    That call had come while she was cleaning up after dinner. Her mother casually picked up the receiver, then called to her.
    "Yumiko, it's from someone called Yamanaka. Have you got a boyfriend already?"
    "Yamanaka...?" As Yumiko cocked her head, wondering if she had a classmate with that name, then had a flash of insight.
    "I'm sure he's just passing on a message from school," Yumiko lied at once. While thinking of who it might be, she waited a little bit before gently picking up the receiver.
    "Hello, this is Yumiko..."
    "...."
    The sound of faint breathing was all that could be heard from the other side.
    "Hello?"
    "Stay home from school tomorrow." All of a sudden, a hushed voice sounded into Yumiko's ear. For an instant, Yumiko thought the voice sounded like Nakajima's, but she couldn't be sure.
    "Hello, who is this?"
    "He's after you. You should stay away for a while." The tone of the voice became urgent. But that only made it seem more suspicious, and as Yumiko tried to decide how to resopnd, she noticed her mother had stopped cleaning the dishes and was watching her suspiciously.
    "We can talk about this at school tomorrow." Yumiko calmly said.
    There was the sound of a clicking tongue as the phone hung up on the other end.
    "What was that about?" Yumiko's mother asked worriedly.
    "It was nothing. Being really popular is really a pain sometimes." Distracting her mother with an unintelligible response, Yumiko tried to recall what Nakajima's normal speaking voice sounded like.

    College students in blue jeans and T-shirts passed by Yumiko, discussing their plans for summer vacation. One of them who was carrying a guitar case in his left hand bumped into her.
    "Ah, sorry!" As Yumiko looked up suspiciously, the college student smiled shyly at her, but she simply ignored him and looked away.
    That really might have been Nakajima...
    Yumiko wasn't sure at the time, but thinking about it afterwards, she had the sense that the mysterious person that called her talked a lot like Nakajima.
    But if that was the case, what was he trying to tell her? The voice on the phone had been very serious. It was full of desperation, almost like that of someone trying to escape from a pursuer.
    What could have happened to him?
    After the call, Yumiko had tried to prepare for the next day's class, but even when trying to focus on her textbooks, she kept picturing Nakajima's stare while looking at the typeface on the page, and none of the information in the book stuck. Not only could she not study, but kept up wondering about the phone call, Yumiko had barely slept a wink. Her head dizzy with insomnia, the baseball club members, having finished their morning practice, chatted amongst themselves as they walked by.
    Yumiko turned to the left off of University Avenue and through the gates of her school. At that instant, a harsh shiver ran up her spine and her arms broke out in goosebumps. Wondering what happened, she looked around her, and noticed that Ohara was staring at her from the window in the faculty lounge. Her pitch-black eyes had an almost supernatural, sinister look in them, and watched Yumiko's every move. Absorbed in the stare, Yumiko started walked uneasily, and a male student on a bicycle lightly touched her.
    "Hey, careful! Watch where you're going!" The bicycle sped up and the student pedaled away.
    Returning to her senses, Yumiko looked back up at the window to the faculty lounge, but Ohara was no longer there. As waves of students proceeded inside the school so as not to be late, they turned around and gave quizzical looks at Yumiko, who was standing there as still as a post.
    What are you doing? This isn't like you! Admonishing herself, Yumiko ran into the school.

Part 2: Chapter 2

    At roughly this time, Nakajima was in the CAI room of Jusho High, facing the Host Computer which was connected via a modem to the outside, and trying to talk to Loki.
    "So what's the story? Did the movement experiment work?"
    "I suppose it would be best to say that it showed some results--at least to an extent." The low, rumbling voice that came out of the speakers shook Nakajima's very bowels. Nakajima did not know that Loki had already achieved the ability to take form on his own. He thought the "results to an extent" meant that Loki could exist inside another computer as an AI construct.
    "So, I guess you have no choice but to recognize how good my technology is?"
    "If that's what you want to think, go ahead. But let me just say that we're a long way from perfection."
    "Well, that's to be expected. When trying to send that much information in a single burst, there's bound to be some data loss." Sweat glistened off of Nakajima's forehead where his microphone headset gripped his temples. Nakajima continued to talk with a calm and disinterested air, but his entire body, stiff with tension, belied a hint of uneasiness in a corner of his mind.
    What will happen if Loki gains the ability to take form? Nakajima asked himself, ignorant of the true situation.
    No, that's impossible. Just look, Loki is dutifully obeying me in these demon transfer theory tests.
    Demon Transfer Theory.
    Gaining the ability to move freely about the earth had been a dream of demons for aeons, not just Loki. Since ancient times, the areas in which a demon could appear on the earth had been extremely limited. Furthermore, once a demon had actually been summoned, it could only hold form within a radius of a few kilometers from the point it was called to. It could easily be said that this was the reason why Earth had gone for so long without seeing an demon invasion.
    Nakajima had created a technology that turned what was once common knowledge in the demon world upside-down. This technology would digitize a demon and transfer it to other computers over communication lines. If perfected, it would completely remove the physical restrictions on demon movement on Earth.
    Nakajima thought that his experiment had finally succeeded. He was naive in his line of thought. To start with, he was just an ordinary high school student who had never made contact with a demon at all before, yet here he was immediately jumping to deal with an incredibly powerful demon lord like Loki, which could very well lead to tragedy. Still, one could say that he was being prudent and showing forethought by realizing the danger that Loki could pose, should he gain the ability to gain form.
    I may end up having to summon another powerful demon from the Atziluth World that can counteract Loki.
    Unable to suppress his growing uneasiness, Nakajima started pondering walking down an even more dangerous road when a voice suddenly surged out of the speakers.
    "Give me Shirasagi Yumiko."
    "What!?"
    "Give me Shirasagi Yumiko."
    "No. I can't do that." The instant he heard Yumiko's name, Nakajima cried out. Even he was surprised by his own reaction.
    "Child, who do you think you're ordering here!?" Loki's voice displayed an anger he had never shown before. The machine let out a strange whine, and sparks flew from where the cables connected to it.
    "All right, all right, calm down..." Nakajima folded to Loki's threat with no resistance at all. Angry at himself, Nakajima bit down on his lip, almost enough to produce blood, and an image of Yumiko's face hovered in his mind. Once again, he was pulled into an illusion.

    The towering rocky mountains and azure skies were not visible to the youth. His narrow eyes were fixated grimly on the track ahead of him. His parched, earthen-colored lips were encrusted with red-and black dried blood. His feet were swollen and purple, with sharp shards of rock embedded in them. However, the sound of the gasps drawing close behind him made his injured feet speed up his pace even more.
    "Izanagi, why won't you wait? Is it because I've become so hideous? You promised me when I entered Yomi that you would bring me back, no matter what happened to me! Was that a lie? I would never run from you, no matter what happened to you!"
    "Forgive me..." As if trying to flee from his fear and guilt, the youth clenched his teeth and took off. But the woman's tenacity was slowly bridging the gap between them. The woman's tears, falling from eyes with their lids rotted off, dropped to the ground with her hair as she cried out.
    "Izanagi..."
    As she cried out, the hole in her cheek became larger and larger, until her white molars were fully exposed. Soon the path ended, and the youth could see a wide expanse of shadowy wetlands in front of him.
    "I made it back to Toyoashihara..." His lips trembled with relief. Opening his arms wide, the youth took a deep breath of the humid air, pursed his lips forcefully, turned around, and sat down.
    For a while, he stared at the form of the grotesque woman chasing him, then shook his head sadly and closed his eyes.
    The youth started to meditate. When the woman had gotten within reach of a stone's throw, his body seemed to float slightly in midair for a moment, and then there was a huge undulation in the atmosphere. As if a huge invisible power had been released, the earth shook, and the fissure that appeared directly beneath the youth spread to the surrounding moutains, and countless rocks started to fall on the path. As the woman stopped, a giant boulder rolled in front of the path in front of her eyes, sealing it off.
    "Izanagi! I will come to you! Even if it takes hundreds or thousands of years!" The sound of the woman's bitter cries rose from beyond the towering pile of earth.
    "Forgive me, Izanami..." Plugging his ears with his hands, the youth staggered into the wetlands, the tall reeds rising even above his height.

    As Nakajima snapped out of his trance, he left the CAI room in low spirits, and a few minutes later, as if waiting for him to leave a dark shadow slipped through the hallway and into the room. Two hands reached out of the inky blackness, searching for the power switch to a terminal, and soon the light of a display was illuminating fingers on the keyboard.
    They were white, smooth fingers. Soon they stopped moving at the coercing sound of a low voice.
    "OHARA." That was what the voice said.
    "I'm showing you the list for the transport program Nakajima wrote. Can you operate it?"
    "I think I can operate it, but not much more than that."
    "That's fine. There's no more need for any changes to the technology. If I can move and take form on my own, I can conquer the Assiah world singlehandedly."
    "Your will be done." The microphone picked up the excited whisper.

Part 2: Chapter 1

PART 2: TRANSFER

   It was midnight at Marunouchi, yon-cho-me. Buildings with darkened windows rose up against the skyline. Not a soul could be seen along the walks under rows of gingko trees, and the only presence was that of flitting moths attracted to the streetlights, shedding their tiny scales on the sidewalk below. The office district was so quiet that you could almost hear those moths bumping into the iron lampposts.
   But the silence outside apparently made no difference to the big trading firms that held the weight of the economy on their shoulders; even now, there was still light coming from the twelfth floor of the Mitsune Productions building. The Third Export Division managed all trade with Europe. There were only two weeks left until August, when the EC Import Regulation Act would take effect. In a last-chance rush to get exports out, all the department's traders were being forced to work at full capacity around the clock.
   Inevitably having gotten tired at this hour, some people were taking catnaps on the sofa, whereas others had gone out for a bite at the ramen shops near Tokyo station. Inoue narrowed his bloodshot eyes and inputted the next day's projected exports into the online system's workstation that connected him with the overseas export system. But with his metal-framed glasses covered in fingerprints, he didn't look nearly his normal stylish self.
   "How much is left?" Hashiguchi, who had been napping on the sofa, propped himself up on his elbow and called over to Inoue. His voice clearly stifled a yawn.
   "It shouldn't take too long--all that's left is the household electronics slated for shipment to France." Using his vinyl code sheet as a fan, Inoue blew air onto his chest through his V-neck T-shirt.
   "So how much have the exports increased by?" Rubbing his swollen eyelids, Hashiguchi looked over Inoue's shoulder at the screen.
   "200% more than last year, most likely. When I think that all this might get stopped at customs, it scares me."
   "Some friction has to be expected. After all, in two weeks, we're going to take a 90% hit off of last year's exports."
   "The kacho and the others are sure taking their time. How long does it take to eat a bowl of ramen? I bet they stopped for drinks afterwards."
   "Why don't you have a rest. I'll take over with the data entry for a bit." Hashiguchi patted Inoue on the shoulder and smiled sympathetically.
   "OK then, thanks." As Inoue stood up and stretched, the modem rang. The LED signalling data transfer from the national branch office lit up.
   "What do they want at a time like this?" Hachiguchi said.
   "Oh, I'm sure they just want some of our leftover stock. Of course with all our efforts focusing on exports right now, this isn't the time for that." Already getting ready for a rest, Inoue had no other excuse to make.
   "No need to get upset at them...the poor guys at the branch office are still working at this godforsaken hour, just like us."
   While soothing his coworker, Hashiguchi swiched over to the disk drive and turned the computer over into receive mode. The list of enumerations vanished, and the screen turned completely green. Normally at this point, the ID number of the person sending the transmission would be displayed onscreen. However, the display was changing many colors and displaying strange unknown symbols instead.
   "What the heck is this?" Unusual letters scrolled down the screen, but the two of them had no way of knowing that it was ancient Hebrew. Presently the screen displayed an image of a standing statue of a man.
   "I'd like to tell those guys at the branch office not to play stupid jokes in the middle of the night like this." Looking disinterestedly at the screen with a sidelong glance, Inoue lit a cigarette.
   Perhaps it was because of the tobacco smoke, but the two men did not notice the musky smell that started seeping through the office. Still, even as a prank, this mysterious statue was pretty well-done CG. A body with the symmetry of an ancient Greek sculpture. Long, black hair. Vivid, rose-colored lips. And his deep black eyes had an unfathomable devilishness about them.
   "Not that it makes any difference, but this is some pretty high-level CG here," said Hashiguchi.
   "Is it CG? It looks almost like a photo." As Inoue looked closely at the display, the unpleasant smell of singed cigarette filter wafted through the air.
   "Oh! Sorry 'bout that." While Inoue turned his attention to putting out his cigarette, the man drawn on the display smiled and pointed at Hashiguchi. His finger was tipped with a claw that looked almost like a bird of prey's talon. This was about the time where the concept of polygons first started becoming widely-known. Hashiguchi was enthralled by the graphics--graphics that would normally be impossible to display without the use of a massive supercomputer.
   Right about that time, Hashiguchi noticed that the display looked like it was damp, as if covered in a layer of condensation. As he tried to wipe off the sreen with his hand, he felt something stick to his fingertips, and jumped back in surprise. Something slimy was stuck to his fingers, and as he shook them violently, a heavy-feeling, disgusting jelly-like substance fell to the floor with a splat.
   "Ugh! What the hell is this!?" Turning around at Hashiguchi's cry, Inoue was hit with a wave of shock and stood still, dumbfounded. Beneath the skin of the pink protoplasm, a mesh of green-colored veins spread out, and the whole blob pulsated like some sort of organ torn out of its host. The repulsive lump of flesh made a squishing sound as it started to approach the two men. Backing up, Inoue stumbled over a chair and sprayed the contents of his stomach all over the floor.
   "Inoue! Get a hold of yourself!" Grabbing his coworker's arm to keep him up, Hashiguchi ran toward the the door. As he turned, the gelatinous blob lashed out tentacles covered in a viscous sticky fluid like red jam, and in an instant grabbed onto the legs of both men.
   "Shit!" Crying out, Hashiguchi grabbed files and the phone off his desk--any object within reach--and began throwing them at his attacker, and when it showed no fear, grabbed a chair, lifted it over his head, and brought it crashing down on top of the thing. However, the skin of the gelatinous blob simply pulled the steel chair into its body, where it was quickly dissolved right in front of Hashiguchi's eyes.
   Thump, thump.
   Hashiguchi could no longer tell whether the sound he heard was that of his own heart beating, or whether it was the sound of the lump of flesh pulsating. When he was brought back to his senses by a strange sensation emanating from his foot, Hashiguchi's entire right leg was surrounded by the pink lump of flesh. He tried to cry out, but terror had sealed his throat and he could not even speak.
   Steadily, greedily, the pink blob started to pull Hashiguchi's body into its own. He felt no pain. Like sinking into warm mud, along with a boundless feeling of loss, there was only the sense of his impending death.
   Help me... No longer able to speak, Hashiguchi clawed at the air as if trying to find something to grab onto as a last resort, and in that instant, the blob clamped down onto his torso with an incredible force.
   The shock sent Hashiguchi's eyeballs flying out of their sockets, and in an instant his crushed ribs shredded his internal organs; the blood that came pouring out of his body was absorbed by the blob. Only Hashiguchi's skull protuded from the mound of flesh, and presently pink tentacles started flowing out of his open mouth and eye sockets.
   Now the only person on the deserted floor of the building, Inoue could hardly believe that Hashiguchi's gruesome death was for real. His capacity for rational thought completely gone, he stabbed maddly at the tentacle grabbing his leg with a ballpoint pen, as if to try to tear it off, and at that moment he felt someone looking at him and returned to his senses.
   At some point, the gelatinous lump had grown an eyeball. Sinister and full of malice, it stared at Inoue. The tentacle slowly crawled up his body from his leg to his chest.
   Watching his body being sucked into the grotesque mass of protoplasm, something snapped inside Inoue. Overcome with a rush of madness, he let out a shriek of cackling laughter. Right at that time, the floor's elevator made a sound, opened, and his coworkers returned from their break.
   "What's with those guys? What are they laughing at?"
   "I bet they're slacking off on the job and watching TV." Not having any idea what was going on, the men looked at each other, unaware of the carnage that they were about to step into the middle of.

Part 1: Chapter 2

   Later that day at 7PM, Yumiko stood concealed in the shadows of the schoolyard, watching the CAI room carefully. An uncomfortably warm breeze struck her, carrying with it swarms of irritating insects that refused to leave her alone. The full moon showed itself from a break in the clouds, and illuminating the gloomy, flat-roofed separate building that housed the CAI room.
   I feel like an idiot--a high school senior playing detective! Yumiko smiled bitterly while carefully observing the silent, empty CAI room. Yumiko asked herself just why she was out here doing this.
   Yumiko was pretty sure that Nakajima had said "tonight." It just wasn't normal for a student to call a female teacher to the CAI room in the middle of the night. Of course, it was probably none of her business what the two of them would be doing there. However, after seeing Ohara's nearly drunken gait as she left the classroom, Yumiko had been very upset, and was overwhelmed with the urge to find out what the relationship between the two were; thus she had been hiding here all afternoon long.
   Is this love at first sight?
No, that was too hasty a conclusion to make.
Yeah, right...
   Yumiko could not deny that Nakajima had a very unique appeal to him, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was drawn to him on some sort of deeper connection, on a level beyond an ephemeral "love or hate" sort of emotion.
   The arms of the clock passed 9PM, and just as Yumiko's arms and legs were starting to fall asleep, the silhouette of a person passed through the connecting hallway and entered the CAI room. Yumiko's body stiffened in nervousness. Presently a light went on inside the CAI room, and through the glass of the window, the outlines of several people moving about the room were faintly visible. But before Yumiko's heart even had a chance to start racing, the shadow of a very large man approached the window, and in an instant, all the blinds were lowered.
It would appear that Ohara and Nakajima were not the only people meeting tonight. The mystery only deepened, and Yumiko, overcome with curiosity, decided to move from the rear of the schoolyard to the CAI room to get a better look.

   Right as Yumiko left her former watchpoint, Ohara stealthily approached the CAI room, opened the door slightly, and slipped inside. The room was lit up brilliantly, and three students arrived to greet her. The three of them were garbed in black robes; one of them reverently carried a silver platter, and the other two carried swords and candlesticks. The desk in the center of the room that normally sported several computers had been removed, and in its place was a leather sofa. Nakajima Akemi was sitting on that sofa, deep in meditation. A large circle divided into twelve sections like a horoscope was drawn on the floor, with the sofa situated in the center; at four places inside the circle were astrological symbols representing the Moon, Sun, Mars, and Pluto.
   "Hello, and welcome." Realizing Ohara's arrival, Nakajima stopped his meditation and slowly stood up; as he left the sofa, the several several belts attached to it on the backrest, arms and base--belts expressly designed to bind a person down--became clearly visible. However, even seeing this, Ohara displayed no signs of fear, and in fact her expression even calmed a bit. Smiling and nodding, Nakajima ordered the three students to turn out the room lights and ignite the candles. They obediently followed his orders. As if enthralled by the mysterious aura the now-dark room seemed to hold, Ohara knelt on the ground in front of Nakajima.
Nakajima's white, translucent hand touched Ohara's flushed cheek.
   "Come, relax a bit. In just a few minutes, the demon Loki will arrive. Loki is well known for his beauty and mischievousness; a perfect match for you, Professor..." Nakajima spoke in a voice that had a composed, sweet sound, one that could melt the heart of any person. As Nakajima's hand slid from Ohara's cheek to the nape of her neck, her breath became deep and heavy.
   "It's time to turn on the host computer. There's no need to worry, Professor. I'm sure that you will satisfy the demon..." Whispering in Ohara's ear, Nakajima stepped away and entered a command into a nearby terminal. Beyond the thick plate glass, the reels of magnetic tape slowly started to turn. Nakajima picked up his handheld computer and entered a quick command. A white haze appeared from the liquid crystal display and began expanding before seeping out the doorway; as soon as it disappeared from view, the low growl of a beast sounded throughout the outside hallway, enough to send tremors of fear into the bowels of all within earshot. It was Kerberos, a digital beast summoned from the Atziluth world and given form by Nakajima; he was to perform the role of guardian for tonight's ceremony.
   Meanwhile, the three students in the room led Ohara to the sofa, and fastened her firmly to the seat using the leather belts.
   "Come, steady your breathing. Concentrate your spirit, and call forth the demon from the Atziluth world."
   Click, Click.
   As if impatient, the sound of the terminal's disk drive echoed throughout the room.
   "The Moon and Mars are opposite each other, and so are the Sun and Pluto, forming the Grand Cross in the heavens. No night could be as perfect as this to summon a demon." Speaking as if chanting a spell, Nakajima took a helmet-like device from the machine room and placed it on Ohara's head.
   It was a brainwave Modem Helmet. It digitized human brainwaves, and acted as an interface to directly communicate with the computer. Two long cables extended from the back of the helmet by the base of the head, one red and one black. The red cable connected to the host computer, and the black one connected to one of the terminals in the room. Nakajima entered a command on the terminal, and the magnetic tapes started to spin rapidly. Ohara's body started twitching slightly, as if her consciousness was already blending into someone inside the host. A pungent musky spell wafted up from somewhere, enveloping her. The faces of the three students watching over the ceremony with glazed-over, unfocused eyes, lit up with an expression like awe.
   "Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh." The instant the low, rumbling voice sounded from the machine room, Ohara let out a cry and started twisting her body about. As she continued to scream intermittently, her eyes opened wide with fear, staring emptily into space. The legs of the sofa started to come off the floor as Ohara twisted her limbs as if trying to escape from something, stretching the cables connected to her helmet.
   The leather straps binding her ground against her wrists, breaking the skin and staining the belts black with oozing blood. But the expression of panic on Ohara's face soon dissipated, her face became calm, and she closed her eyes. Her mouth turned up at the corners into a smile, even though her bottom lip was still bleeding from where she had bitten down on it.
   "I see you've succeeded in taking in Ohara, Loki. Now, what are you going to do with her?" Nakajima looked into the display of the computer connected to the modem helmet.
   The digital modem helmet had taken Ohara's thoughts and sensations, digitized them, and sent them into the world that virtual Loki had created in the host computer. One could say that her earlier pain had just been a temporary autonomous rejection reaction when her digitized nervous system initially came into contact with that of the demon.
   Nakajima looked into the display of the computer, hoping to get a glimpse of the world that was currently being fed into Ohara's visual cortex. All of a sudden, Kerberos' angry roar echoed throughout the corridor outside. In reaction to Nakajima's gesture, the two stern students carrying swords started moving toward the door.

   Shortly after Ohara had entered the CAI room, Yumiko moved from the rear of the schoolyard to the hallway that connected the outlying building with the rest of the school. She slowly walked along the corridor, using the reflected moonlight off the linoleum floor as a guide. From a crack in the blinds by the darkened window, a slight flickering light was visible, most likely from candlelight.
Stop this foolishness. Let's just go home, take a shower, and forget all this. Yumiko's normal instincts anxiously tried to persuade her. But tonight, there was another Yumiko pulling the strings.
   What are you so afraid of? This is our chance to find out what's up with Nakajima! Like all other girls her age had done at least once or twice, Yumiko obeyed her more daring, curious voice. From the CAI room, she could hear the sound of a far-off cry, like sobbing. The instant Yumiko's heart started racing, something suddenly crawled out of the darkness right in front of her, before she had a chance to even react.
   The moon broke through the clouds, illuminating the form of a terrible beast. Its body was larger than even a lion, and its huge mouth--which practically looked like it took up half its body--had two rows of long, sharp fangs. Its eyes glared at Yumiko, shining like a flame, and the metallic feelers growing out of its head near the ears moved around as if trying not to let a single tiny change in the area escape them. Its burly shoulders and thick body were striped like a tiger, and its heavy-looking tail was plated with snakelike scales.
   It was the digital beast, Kerberos. Breathing out a puff of air that had the stench of bloody meat on the petrified Yumiko, the beast roared. Yumiko's stomach twisted so powerfully that she felt almost as if her intestines were being gouged out, and her vission blurred. Unable to withstand the shock, she passed out.

   Yumiko was brought to her senses by the sensation of an unusual heat, and the sound of intermittent panting. The surrouding area was dim and gloomy, and the only thing she felt was one of her cheeks pressed to the cool ground.
   Oh, right! That monster...!
   As Yumiko sat upright, Ohara, bound to a leather chair, entered her field of vision. She was wearing a strange helmet and breathing heavily. Next to her, Nakajima was staring at a computer display, an eerily cold smile on his handsome face.
   "Nakajima..." As Yumiko blurted out her surprise, someone grabbed her right shoulder. Yumiko gulped back her words as she looked around.
   Standing behind her was Takai Ken'ichi. Normally Takai was weak-willed and reasonable, but now he looked at her with a hollow stare as if almost possessed by something, and Yumiko certainly didn't think he knew where he was or could even recognize her. Furthermore, there were two other students garbed in black robes in the room, standing still with a look like sleepwalkers.
   At that moment, Ohara's heavy breathing got stronger. Furiously panting and writhing her body around, she was giving off a ghastly aura that seemed as if it would pollute the soul of anyone that came close to her.
   Yumiko cried out. "What is this!? What have you done to the teacher?"
   Takai tried to force Yumiko to the ground, but Nakajima slowly raised his hand to stop him. At his signal, Takai's strong hand stiffly moved away from Yumiko's sholder.
   "You're....Shirasagi Yumiko, was it? Come and have a look at this. It's fascinating."
   As Yumiko stood up, she noticed that part of her skirt was torn, as if a dog had bitten it. At that moment, she realized that the beast she had seen earlier was all too real.
   Nakajima pointed to the screen of the terminal connected to Ohara's helmet by a cable. There onscreen was a magnificent bronze statue of a youth, like an ancient Greek sculpture. No, it couldn't be a sculpture. The divinely beautiful image was calmly moving, as if life had been breathed into it. The image zoomed in to a view of the youth's head and chest. His expression displayed an intellect beyond anything a human could hope to have, and his jet black eyes looked almost like two black holes that would absorb everything they gazed on.
   "That's the demon Loki." Nakajima spoke into Yumiko's ear.
   "This is just CG, isn't it?" Yumiko's eyes remained glued to the screen.
   "If I could think up a demon this realistic and draw it, I wouldn't have to go to school in the first place. No, this is a real demon. Though I imagine you won't believe that."
   Loki flexed his muscular chest onscreen. It was shining black, and covered with scales. At that moment, Yumiko noticed that Ohara's gasps were in perfect synch with Loki's movements. The next instant, she realized what that meant and gasped.
   "That's right. Professor Ohara and Loki are having a little fun together right now. In the virtual world, that is." For some reason Nakajima spat out the words as if slightly upset.
   Ohara was getting closer and closer to orgasm. Her heaving chest, covered in sweat, was visible through her open blouse. Her body had entirely accepted the invisible demon in the virtual world. At that moment, Yumiko noticed a faint blue haze floating about the area of Ohara's chest. Furthermore, that haze was increasing in thickness, and an unbearable stench assaulted her nostrils. Looking confused, Nakajima knelt in front of Ohara with his handheld computer in one hand, typing on the keyboard while waving a sensor rod around the area. As Ohara cried out and lost consciousness, the blue haze dissipated.
   Nakajima let out a deep sigh of relief. In his expression, Yumiko sensed a faltering of his normally rock-solid confidence.

   Nakajima was not a magician. Had he been one, he would surely have known how important it was to iron out a purpose and duration of service when negotiating a contract with a demon.
   However, Nakajima had neglected that. When Loki turned Kondo, Takamizawa and Iida into bloody lumps of flesh, he had been deluded into believing that he had become a great ruler of some sort.
   Loki's power was tremendous. Taking the subconscious respect that the students and teachers had for Nakajima and nurturing it with his power, he made the men obey him and the women fawn over him. For a formerly powerless high school student, it was a dream come true.
   Loki demanded female sacrifices. Those offered to him would groan, contort, and eventually reach orgasm. Perhaps deep in his subconscious, Nakajima took a sadistic glee in violating women. But he had always thought that what went on was not for real, as it only took place in a virtual world.
   Loki could not escape from the computer. Unless one used the world's most powerful computer, the immense amount of data that would be needed to give him form would be far too much to process. He could only act within the confines of the software that Nakajima had written. So what was that blue haze that had shroudded Ohara....?
   "Nakajima, you're afraid of something, aren't you?" A woman's voice sounded.
   Nakajima remembered that he had been talking to Yumiko about what he was doing.
   What was I thinking? I shouldn't have told her all of all that. Affixing his gaze on Yumiko, Nakajima looked straight forward. For an instant, it looked like Yumiko's eyes glowed scarlet, and Nakajima was engulfed in darkness. An unfamiliar, illusory world opened up before him.

   Several reddish-brown rocky mountains towered above toward the heavens, not even a blade of grass sprouting from them. As if threaded between the treacherous mountains, a small pathway wriggled forward as far as one could see. A youth ran down the path desperately, clenching his teeth and exhaling breaths that felt like fire. He was dressed in a sleeveless flaxen robe, his long, chest-length hair tied in a ponytail behind him, and as his feet struck the dusty ground, the string of curved jewels around his neck shook. He was dressed as one might have in very ancient times.
   However, the youth's face was definitely that of Nakajima Akemi. Beads of sweat ran down his cheek, wiping off the dust on it.
   "My husband, why do you abandon me? Izanagi, why..." A sad voice full of misery reached the youth's ears. Reflexively, he slowed down. It seemed as if his head was trying to turn around on its own. But the youth bit down strongly on his lips, glade at the path ahead, and started running ahead. The woman behind him chased him as if dragging her feet, covered in blood from injuries sustained from the rough stone ground. Her long, graceful white arms extended forward as if futilely trying to gain ground on the youth. Her long black hair and desperate voice were both blown backward by the wind.
   However, the face beneath that hair was rotted and melting, and her eye sockets were completely exposed. Maggots writhed in the space between flesh and bone, and when she gasped for breath, vile fleshy juices fell from her cheeks like tears. Her lips had rotted and fallen off, and as her exposed white teetch clenched together in frustration, she let out a shrill cry.
   With the woman's cry, a bolt of purple lightning shot through the gloomy clouds in the sky, before coming down to strike at a nearby rocky mountain. A ghastly creature appeared from where the bolt struck. It was a huge woman that looked large enough to reach the clouds, with a slimy green hide and an appearance something like a frog. The woman stood in front of the path of the youth, extending both arms out as if to stop him.
   "Yomotsu-Shikome, out of my way!" As the youth called out, the woman's squat neck jiggled like a blob of jelly, and she let out a hideous voice.
   "STOP."
   Seeing the youth continuing to press onwards, Yomotsu-Shikome took a step toward him. When her thick, misshapen leg struck the ground, the earth shook with a great sound. Not faltering for a moment, the youth glared at the giant form larger than a colossus in front of him, pulled a red comb from his hair, broke off one of its teeth, and threw it at the woman. The tooth of the comb lodged itself into Yomotsu-Shikome's exposed chest, and the woman's ugly face suddenly twisted into an expression of pain. As if her whole body was being affected by some strong poison, she gripped her chest in pain and vomited syrupy bile all over the ground. Even still, she tried to grab onto the youth, but her body convulsed furiously and she fell face-forward onto the ground, shaking the very earth itself.
As the youth delicately passed by the side of the huge corpse, the sound of the sad voice sounded in his ears once more.
   "Please wait, Izanagi...."

   "Nakajima, what's the matter!?" Suddenly brought back to his senses by the sound of someone calling his name, Nakajima saw Shirasagi Yumiko looking at his face closely with a perplexed look. Her eyes were full of both fear and pity.
   What the hell just happened? Was that halluciation connected to the Demon Summoning Program in some way? Or else... For a moment, Nakajima was lost in Yumiko's eyes. But his excessively stubborn pride would not allow him to show Yumiko any more weakness.
   "Forget it, just get out of here." Nakajima's words were curt and cold, as if he was trying to blow off the situation. Yumiko looked like she wanted to say something, but was unwilling to oppose him and thus obeyed.
   "At any rate, I've got to figure out what that haze was." Recovering his composure, Nakajima turned on the modem and called up ISG's host computer.
   HELLO NAKAJIMA, WHAT'S UP?
   Checking the Craft AI's message, Nakajima changed disk drives and turned on another customized computer, an automatic translator equipped with a database of 50,000 magic and occult-related terms. Of course, Nakajima had created it himself.
   > AN UNKNOWN VAPOR APPEARED ABOVE THE SACRIFICE. I'M SENDING A ROUGH ESTIMATION OF ITS FORM AND COMPOSITION. TRY TO ANALYZE IT FOR ME.
   The data stored in the handheld computer traveled over the phone lines to Massachusetts. Nakajima tapped his fingers impatiently on the desk for a minute...two minutes. Five minutes later, Craft finally sent its analysis.
VOLUME AND MASS SUGGESTS AN ECTOPLASMIC CONTENT FIVE TIMES NORMAL. JUDGING FROM THE SITUATION IN WHICH IT AROSE, THE CHANCE OF THE VAPOR BEING LOKI HIMSELF IS QUITE HIGH.
   > I HAVEN'T PREPARED ANY DATA THAT WOULD ALLOW LOKI TO TAKE A BODY. BESIDES, THE CAI ROOM'S COMPUTER COULDN'T POSSIBLY UNDERTAKE A SIMULATION OF THAT SCALE IN THE FIRST PLACE.
   FROM THE DATA THAT YOU PROVIDED, I CANNOT GIVE YOU AN EXACT ANSWER. THE ONLY THING I CAN SAY IS THAT THE DEMON YOU SUMMONED INTO THE COMPUTER IS LIKE A GENIUS-LEVEL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. ONE CANNOT DISCARD THE POSSIBILITY THAT HE HAS FIGURED A WAY TO TAKE FORM HIMSELF.
   > THANK YOU, CRAFT.
   Sending his closing message, Nakajima cut the connection.
   I can't possibly believe that Loki could have figured out a way to take a body on his own. Still, I had better start working on some new technology that I can use to take complete control of him.
   Thinking to himself, Nakajima walked over to the window and looked up at the black expanse above.