Chapter 53
Encounters at the Science Museum
The Man in Black
“Sorry for making you accompany my daughter.”
“No, not at all! I actually had a lot of fun — he explained the constellations in such detail and made them so easy to understand!”
Yui was having that sort of conversation with the male curator. We were moving through the museum while listening to the two of them talk.
…Well, Shirō and Hanayama, and Mikagami-senpai were also talking about something or other.
It turned out the male curator was, of all people, Mikagami-senpai’s father. Perhaps because his daughter had been praised, he was smiling a little bashfully.
Because Mikagami-senpai’s father was a curator at the museum, it seemed that she had often come here since she was little. That was apparently why she had come to love constellations so much.
Right now he was guiding us to the planetarium/telescope tower in the building. Though, strictly speaking, only as far as the entrance.
Even if a curator’s family is present, it seems they aren’t allowed inside except for special tour events.
The path to the observatory was a single corridor and there was no one else. The only people there were one curator and five high school students — just us.
Our voices and footsteps echoed easily.
However, a man walked toward us from the opposite direction. He was dressed in black with a hood hiding his face — the kind of suspicious outfit you’d expect from a shady character.
But that man, with a perfectly calm expression, bowed to Mikagami-senpai’s father.
Then he passed by us and walked on.
…No matter how you think about it, that was strange.
Sensing the oddness, I leaned toward Mikagami-senpai and quietly asked, “Um—”
“Do you recognize most of the curators here by face?” I asked.
“Well, most of them…”
“Do you know the person who just passed by?”
“Now that you mention it… I feel like I’m seeing him for the first time…”
Hearing that, the odd feeling I’d felt turned into certainty.
I stopped walking and turned back. Then I called out to the back of the man in black.
“Hey you. What are you doing here?”
The man in black stopped.
“I’m a bit lost. I’m just going to head back the way I came,” he answered — without turning around. His voice was gentle; like a prince’s manner of speaking, you might say.
To my ear, though, it sounded nothing but suspicious.
Yui said, “Hey, Maa-kun!?” but I ignored it and kept speaking.
“That excuse might fool ordinary people. But you can’t fool me. Show your true form.”
The oddity I’d sensed — it came from the faint presence of a malaise when we passed him and from how the others reacted.
Ordinary fallen-stars don’t usually suppress their malaise. But this man was intentionally suppressing his. And the others reacted as if his being there was completely normal.
That’s the effect of perception-inhibiting sorcery.
This man was no ordinary person.
After a brief silence, the man in black sighed.
“I was trying to be sneaky so I wouldn’t be caught… but I guess I’ve been found out. Hey, are you the rumored Capricorn-kun?”
“You talk as if we’re meeting for the first time. If you’re not a Serpent, what constellation are you?”
“That’s a secret. I could fight you here… but I’m done with what I came to do today. So I’ll be leaving.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the malaise poured forth all at once.
A large number of malaise-forms appeared in the relatively narrow corridor. Of course, we were surrounded.
We heard the screams of Mikagami-senpai and her father.
Then the man in black, seeing the malaise appear, waved his left hand and walked away. His back disappeared beyond the mass of malaise.
If things stayed like this, that man would get away.
I hurriedly gave orders.
“Shirō, exterminate the malaise. Yui and Hanayama, take Mikagami-senpai and her father to the observatory and find out what that guy did!”
“What about Maa-kun!?”
“I’ll chase him. Leave this to me.”
Yui and Shirō protested, but this wasn’t the time to argue. Ignoring their words, I set my left hand in the direction the man had fled.
Then I spoke a short phrase.
“Wind, rage and blow. Scatter the malaise!”
A gust of wind blew forward centered on my left hand. The gust blew the malaise away and they were dispelled.
A hole opened in the malaise-wall.
As soon as I confirmed that, I started running — using recognition-inhibition and body-enhancement magic on myself.
I ran through the building while checking the situation.
There wasn’t a commotion yet. If so, he must have left through the normal exit.
Thinking that, I set my course for the museum exit.
At the exit, I found the back of the man in black. Rain was still falling; the man held an umbrella and was leaving the museum.
I had caught up but wasn’t carrying an umbrella. However, just before coming out I had used waterproofing magic, so my body wasn’t wet.
I called to him, “I caught up with you, fallen-star.”
“Oh — you caught up to me. Well then… shall I play with you a little?” he said.
With those light words, the man in black’s form transformed into something monstrous.
Wings grew from his back, a beak appeared near his mouth, and his whole body was wrapped in black feathers.
Screams rang out and people around us ran away.
But the fallen-star didn’t seem to care. That actually made it easier to move.
Some people were frozen in fear and couldn’t move. I shouted, just in case, “If you don’t want to die, run away now!!”
Meanwhile, Karasu-za (the Corvus constellation) was making a snide remark: “Yeah, yeah, run away, run away~.”
He made no move to attack civilians. So this time we didn’t have to worry about that.
Thinking that, I calmly guessed the constellation from his form.
“That form… Corvus, right?”
“Correct~!”
As he said that, Corvus sent out feathers. I jumped left and rolled to dodge them.
While rolling, I summoned my gear. No follow-up attack came, so I stood and did the usual sequence.
“Star Armor: Activate.”
As I chanted, I pressed the upper button on the gear.
In the rain, the constellation’s light wrapped around my body.
Within that light, my body was encased in star armor. Then the light cleared.
Seeing me wearing star armor, Corvus muttered, “So you really are Capricorn…” and said, “Then let’s see what you can do,” before flying up.
He charged directly at me.
I grabbed Corvus’s hand and took him on. A contest of strength began.
At first we were evenly matched.
But after a while I began to be pushed back.
Still, before my balance broke I redirected him to the left as if deflecting, and then leaped to the right-front.
…As expected, this fallen-star is strong. He can hold a conversation, too. Fighting head-on isn’t wise.
So how should I attack?
The answer came to me quickly.
Because today’s weather was rain. I could imagine a successful plan.
I rolled to regain my footing while thinking this.
At the same time, Corvus sent feathers again. I slapped my left hand in front of me, making a wall of wind using wind magic to block them.
Then I created a staff with my right hand and formed words.
“Water — source of life. Grant me now that great power. Pursue and pierce the Corvus that has fallen, defiled with malaise.”
As soon as I finished the incantation, I pointed the staff at Corvus.
The rainwater and puddles around condensed into palm-sized spheres and then flew at Corvus.
The water projectiles chased the fleeing Corvus like homing lasers from an anime. Corvus kept fleeing, smashing the projectiles against walls, between projectiles, and even with his own feathers.
In response, I fed star-power into the falling rain to replenish the projectiles and make more water bullets that homed in on Corvus.
That fight continued for about a minute before a victor was decided.
My water-bullet generation speed won.
Corvus was surrounded by water bullets slightly above me and was hit from all directions. The tremendous amount of water collision made his form invisible.
For now I’d landed one decisive blow. What would he do next?
At that moment, I noticed something black falling directly from above.
It was Corvus. He came down with a heel-drop attack.
I barely dodged it and rolled along the ground.
Corvus landed where I had just been standing and muttered disappointedly, “Missed, huh…”
“By the way, if I get wet I can’t fly. Did you know that and plan that attack?” I asked.
“Yeah. A bird gets its feathers’ oils ruined when wet and can’t fly. …but you can still fly. Why is that?”
“Simple. You didn’t hit me because you attacked from above. That’s all.”
…I see.
I can control only the rainwater around me — I can’t control the rain high above. Given that, if I want to finish him and he keeps running around, I have to chase him and keep a proper distance. But my magic lets me float — it doesn’t let me fly like a bird.
…Then.
I had to use a secret move.
I pulled the Capricorn plate from my gear. I momentarily dispelled the star-armor located at the pocket of my trousers, took the Aquila (Eagle) plate from my pocket, and slotted it into the gear.
This plate was something I’d obtained back in middle school. I’d been carrying it around intending to use it.
It had never worked well before… but if it didn’t work now, I was in trouble.
I steadied my breath and concentrated. I re-felt the star-power flowing through my magic circuits.
I can do this. I’m stronger than I was then.
Then I spoke the words.
“Generate — Armor imbued with the power of the constellation.”
At that moment, searing pain shot through my whole body.
Hold on. To beat him now, this was the only method. I must make it work at any cost.
I told myself that.
But the Capricorn star-armor vanished in vain.
Unable to bear the pain, I sank to my knees.
That failure created a fatal opening.
“Looks like you were doing something fun, but you failed,” Corvus’s voice came through the rumbling thunder.
Things had gone from bad to worse.
I forced myself to stand despite the pain and reinserted the Capricorn plate into the gear.
“I won’t let you do that,” Corvus said — then he was already right in front of me. A kick struck my solar plexus.
I was blown away and rolled on the wet ground.
“Playtime’s over. If I beat you here, I think the Serpent-kun will be pleased. So sorry, but you’re going to die here. Besides, it’s your fault for showing an opening.”
Again, Corvus reappeared right in front of me.
His right leg had already been raised.
Then, immediately after, his right foot came down toward me.
