Ch-3 Aiyana Kisaragi Novaric

Soon after, Alex saw the faint shadow of what looked like a human running toward him—or rather, toward the shrine gate.

The Death Flames also seemed to have changed their target.

"BWAAAHAAAH!"

Alex looked again at the screaming figure. This time, he saw her clearly—a girl around his age with long golden hair and red marble-like eyes.

She had a beautiful face, and Alex mentally praised the character designer. "Good job, devs."

"Crap—my HP!"

Alex saw his HP hit 20. He decided to run out of the shrine.

If he wasn't wrong, this girl should be related to the plot.

The Death Flames launched their black fire toward the running girl.

"BWAAA!" The girl dodged the flames easily, still sprinting forward. Behind her, even more Death Flames appeared—much larger than the others.

"I should've known coming here was the worst choice—WAAAHHHH!!"She screamed, her eyes getting misty.

Alex, who was just about to cross the shrine gate, saw a shadow flash in front of him. Looking back, he saw dozens of Death Flames preparing to fire.

Luckily, just before their attack hit him, he managed to cross the shrine gate.

The sky returned to normal. The weird, creepy background sound vanished.

Alex looked across the gate—no Death Flames in sight. He looked up; the sun was back.

He sighed, stretched his arms, and took a sip of his coke while checking his HP, now down to just 10.

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IN JAPAN, NEAR KYOTO

There exists a shrine named Tsukikage Shrine, abandoned since the Meiji era due to several mysterious deaths.

At its entrance, two figures could be seen—a boy and a girl. The boy wore all white, from head to toe, with a creepy smiling mask.

The girl had long golden hair and red marble eyes, with a sword hanging at her waist. She was dressed in shrine maiden robes.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" the girl yelled, pointing her sword at the boy's neck.

"Whoa, calm down, miss. My HP's low right now." The masked boy replied with a deadpan tone.

"HP? What the heck is that?" the girl asked, confused.

"Anyway, how'd you get here?" she asked, grabbing his collar.

"Huh? By walking." The masked boy tilted his head.

"EH!? You think I'm stupid?!"

"...No. Well, I'm Alex. Alexander."

"Never heard that name." The girl stared into his blue eyes, as if searching for something.

"Are you even human? It seems like you have a soul, yet… not?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… I can't sense any life, magical, or divine energy from you."

"Life, magic, and divine energy, huh… Anyway, isn't it your turn to introduce yourself?"

"You don't know who I am? You really don't know? How ignorant can you be?"

She let go of his collar, placed her hands on her hips, and declared proudly,"I am the Young Miss of the Novaric Syndicate and the daughter of the current head of the Japanese Imperial Family—Aiyana Kisaragi Novaric!"

The boy stayed silent.

Aiyana smirked."Hmph, shocked, are you? As expected. A girl from two powerful families like me is worlds apart from you."

"Now, now, I'll allow you to lick my feet for your ignorance."

"…No wonder. Still, you do know your eyes are still red, right?" Alex said.

"EH?! W-WHAT?! S-SHUT UP… BAKA!" Aiyana's face flushed red.

Turning her head away, she fidgeted for a moment, then looked at him again—her eyes now back to normal, her cheeks still pink.

"I-It was because I didn't get enough sleep, not that I was crying or anything like that… OKAY?!"

"…Okay."

"So… can we skip this?"

"Skip what?"

"I don't like long dialogue scenes. Let's just jump into the plot."

Aiyana looked into his eyes. She still couldn't figure out what he was. He definitely wasn't a ghost—she would've sensed it instantly.

"I have a question," Alex said.

"What?"

"You were stronger than those Death Flames, but…"

"Oh! So you did notice—"

"You were crying and running like a coward."

"…"

Aiyana had a smug look at first, but it shattered instantly.

"W-WHAT do you know?! Those black flames… they just appeared out of nowhere! And my attacks didn't work on them!"

Alex listened and realized that even without the speed debuff, he probably couldn't have done anything either.

Aiyana, snapping out of her fear, returned to her arrogant posture.

"Anyway, why do you call them Death Flames? Because of the heavy death aura?"

"No, because of my skill—Analyze."

"Skill? You mean magical arts? But I don't sense any energy from you."

"…Well, I don't know."

"Then use it on me."

"I can't. You're too high-level for me."

"You say weird stuff. By the way, where are you from?"

"…U.S."

"U.S., huh? You don't have an accent, but I guess you do speak like a robot."

"…Interesting. What AI did they use to make you?"

"…"

"YOU… You're AI. Your whole family's AI!"

"haha."

"Stop laughing! It's creepy!"

Aiyana stared at Alex, who had stopped laughing and was now just quiet.

"Anyway, you're lying about being from the U.S., right?"

"…"

"C'mon, who do you think I am?" Aiyana pointed at her eyes."These are called the Eyes of Death. You can't lie to me."

"Huh? So you knew I was lying? And my name's not Alexander?"

Aiyana laughed confidently. "Of course! I knew all along that your name isn't Ale—"

"Wait. WHAT?! Your name's not Alexander?!" she blurted out, then blushed when Alex silently stared at her.

"No, my name is Alex."

"~Cough~ I see… Alex. Nice name."

"..."

"So, your eyes let you see a person's soul and detect lies, but because by soul is bit special you can't tell correctly if I am lying or not?"

Aiyana nodded with a red face. "Anyway, I'm going now."

She started walking downhill, and Alex followed.

"Why are you following me, creep?"

"For the plot."

Aiyana didn't understand what he meant, but she still looked back and warned him.

"Look, where I'm going next is dangerous."

"I know. That's why I'm following you."

Aiyana was stunned for a second but then came to a realization.

"Hmph! Let me tell you—I'm not easy to get close to! I have millions of pursuers. Many are young masters from great families—or even princes! So just give up!"

To be continued...