The Death of Eiri Fumizuka

Touko Aozaki tidied up her belongings and left the home she had lived in with Aoko for many years.

She didn't take everything, only grabbing some magecraft equipment she might need soon. She felt she might return.

Touko decided to visit Wada Church first. Before she could have a final confrontation with her grandfather and sister, she wanted to seek advice from a certain person. After all, the Fumizuka family had always been close to the Aozaki family.

Touko had very complex feelings for Eiri Fumizuka.

As a young girl, Touko had harbored a vague, unrequited affection for the priest, whom she described as "mechanically fashionable and beautiful." She never voiced it, fearing Aoko's mockery. However, as she grew older, she found him increasingly incomprehensible.

Although Eiri Fumizuka had studied magecraft under her grandfather for a time, he undoubtedly lacked talent for it. However, that didn't negate Eiri Fumizuka's combat prowess.

If one were to categorize him using the class system from fantasy worlds, Eiri Fumizuka would likely be an assassin or a monk – a martial artist type, fast and skilled in disguise.

"He's probably the type to hide a long sword in his cloak," Touko thought, and she felt it was highly probable.

If she needed psychological reassurance before meeting her grandfather, Eiri Fumizuka would be a good choice.

After all, he was someone who would help others out of sheer interest. If Touko personally sought his help, there was a chance he would agree, right?

After a brief conversation, Father Eiri Fumizuka agreed to witness the negotiation between Touko and her grandfather as an observer. Since it involved the succession of a Magus, it was a significant event from both his position as the Fumizuka family's eldest son and as a member of the Church staff. He had no reason not to be present.

However, Touko instinctively felt he wasn't being entirely truthful. She suspected he was mostly going along to witness the rare spectacle.

Arriving at her grandfather's workshop residence, Touko took a deep breath. She skillfully used magecraft to disarm the magical mechanism on the gate and pushed it open, stepping inside. Eiri Fumizuka followed without hesitation.

It looked exactly the same as before, Touko mused. Nothing had changed after her grandfather transferred the inheritance to Aoko; her permissions within the workshop hadn't even been revoked. Bringing an outsider with her, she confidently made her way to her grandfather's most frequented study. As she opened the door, she saw his familiar silhouette.

"Is there something else, Touko?" her grandfather asked without turning around, still seated in his favorite chair, reading something.

"Why?" Touko asked, her voice trembling slightly. "Why not me?"

Her grandfather didn't answer immediately. He continued to turn the pages of his book at a steady pace, remaining silent for a moment.

"There's no particular reason," her grandfather said. "I suppose I just realized recently that Aoko is more pure, so I made that decision."

"Just for such an absurd reason...?" Touko asked incredulously.

"Ah, yes," her grandfather replied, his tone monotonous and cold.

Touko lowered her head slightly, her carefully styled bangs obscuring her eyes. Two drops of what looked like tears fell to the ground, but they quickly vanished into the intricately patterned carpet, as if they had never been there.

How did that saying go?

Sometimes, when people feel they've suffered a major blow and are in great pain, life deals them another harsh blow.

Touko felt she was in that exact situation.

Suddenly, Father Eiri Fumizuka, who had been brought along as a witness or for moral support, sprang into action. He drew a long sword from his impeccably neat cloak – a sword that looked impossible to conceal so seamlessly – and bisected her grandfather, who was sitting in his chair.

"You..." Touko's usually sharp mind ground to a halt. Almost instinctively, she questioned the priest, who was taking out a handkerchief to wipe his sword, "Why did you kill Grandpa!?"

"I just felt the timing was right, and I could kill him, so I did," Eiri Fumizuka replied mechanically, sheathing the long sword back into his cloak, making it completely undetectable from the outside.

This man had always been like this. For him, combat required no reason, no opponent, no fate or hatred. When the time was right, he would act like a handgun whose trigger had been pulled.

Father Eiri Fumizuka's sudden strike was a profound shock to the nineteen-year-old Touko Aozaki. It was the first time she had directly witnessed the death of a close relative, and the killer was someone she had brought to the victim herself.

The priest said no more. Ignoring Touko Aozaki, who stood frozen in the study, he strode towards the door.

"Ah, excuse me," a young woman's voice called out from outside the workshop. "Father, please wait a moment."

Upon hearing the voice, Eiri Fumizuka froze. An inexplicable sense of unease washed over him. He immediately drew the long sword he had just sheathed, preparing to face this unexpected guest.

However, to everyone's surprise, the priest's drawing motion suddenly stopped. Touko could even see his body stiffen, trembling slightly. But it didn't seem to be from fear or nervousness; he was being held in place by some unknown force.

Emerging from the shadows was Aoko Aozaki, a smile on her face. She held a beautifully bound leather book in her left hand and made a peculiar gesture with her right, emitting a faint glow.

"Hold Person," Aoko said. "Isn't it strange?"

Touko wanted to say something, but seeing the immobilized Eiri Fumizuka and her grandfather, now split in two, she remained silent.

"Long time no see, Father Eiri Fumizuka," Aoko said. "Honestly, I don't really like seeing you. Your handsome face made my dear sister overthink things for a while, and I'm not happy about that."

Aoko finished with an exaggerated sigh and shook her head.

"Your twisted logic, saying you 'felt you could kill him, so you did'?" Aoko questioned the immobile Eiri Fumizuka. "To be honest, I quite like that theory, but you used it on my grandfather, and I don't like that at all."

Hearing this, the already numb Touko blinked, a bad premonition forming in her mind.

"Because 'I felt I could kill you, so I killed you'," Aoko's tone was filled with disdain and indifference, an extreme disregard for life.

"Wait—!"

Touko reached out, trying to stop her sister from doing what she was about to do, but realized it was already too late. Aoko raised her right hand, forming it into a gun shape. Then, a series of projectiles, trailing luminous wakes, flew out in an eerie arc, shattering Eiri Fumizuka's head. Some of the blood splattered onto Touko's face.

It was Magic Missile, an Arcane Arts spell Aoko favored.

"Ah, sorry, sorry," Aoko said apologetically upon seeing the bloodstains on Touko's face. "Let me wipe it clean for you, sis."

With that, Aoko produced a pure white handkerchief from somewhere and walked over to Touko, gently and earnestly wiping the dirtied part of her face.

"That carpet is very expensive," her grandfather's figure, which had somehow risen from the damaged chair, said. For the first time, his tone was filled with regret. "Clean this up before you leave, and remember to replace the carpet for me."

After saying that, his grandfather's soul left the study and headed for the basement deep within the workshop. The room was a mess, with only the bodies of her grandfather and Eiri Fumizuka, and the two Aozaki sisters remaining.

Hearing her grandfather's command, Aoko frowned. Then, she conjured a medical body bag out of thin air, put on a mask, and began systematically using magecraft to place Eiri Fumizuka's remains into the bag.

She also handed Touko a body bag, gesturing for her to put her grandfather's corpse in it as well.

Touko Aozaki numbly accepted Aoko's suggestion and began working. While enduring the discomfort in her stomach, she felt out of place in her current situation, as if she were the odd one out in this family.

Perhaps Aoko was more suited than her to become a qualified Magus, or even a Mage.

Touko thought this for no particular reason, but immediately dismissed her absurd notion and focused on putting her grandfather's body, split in two, into the bag.

The next morning (actually, it was noon), when Aoko got up for breakfast in her pajamas, yawning, she discovered that Touko had run away from home.

A letter was left for her on the dining table. In it, Touko said she was going to study abroad at the Clock Tower... and that once she returned, she would settle things between them as sisters.

What the heck? Aoko sighed, thinking, This idiot, couldn't she have at least said goodbye in person before leaving?