Elegant Hunters

Almost at the same time that Kazama In engaged in a deadly showdown with Gray Owl deep in the rain-soaked forest, Koenji Rokusuke arrived silently at the outskirts of Class B's base, his figure like an elf beneath the moon.

The campfire at Class B's campsite had long since gone out, and most of the students were fast asleep, worn out from exhaustion. At the edge of the camp, a tall figure stood watch like a solitary pine, cautiously scanning the surroundings. It was Kanzaki Ryuji. He had taken Kazama In's warning to heart and remained vigilant despite the late hour. Cool moonlight fell across his sharply defined face, revealing the resolve and sense of responsibility of a military family.

Koenji made no effort to conceal his presence. He elegantly brushed aside a dense patch of ferns, their leaves rustling softly. In the silent night, the faint sound was unusually clear.

"Who's there?!" Kanzaki reacted like lightning! He spun around, his muscles instantly tensing, and his sharp gaze locked precisely onto the source of the sound like a searchlight. His right hand instinctively went to the baton at his waist, a simple defensive tool permitted by the rules.

Koenji emerged calmly from the shadows. Moonlight spilled over his luxurious silver hair and refined black tracksuit, draping him in a silvery glow. His face bore his customary, faintly amused, elegant smile.

"Oh, dear Kanzaki," Koenji intoned, his voice like an aria. "Alone on this moonlit night, guarding the camp's peace while all is silent... Such devotion and vigilance make for a truly powerful and beautiful picture!" His gaze shifted to the bright moon, half veiled by thin clouds. "And this moonlight, with its hazy, cool radiance, is another peerless, tranquil beauty bestowed by the Creator."

When Kanzaki Ryuji recognized Koenji, his tense nerves relaxed slightly, but the wariness in his eyes did not fade completely. He lowered the hand resting on his baton and asked in a low voice, "Koenji, what are you doing here so late?" He remembered Kazama In telling him to "stay alert," and there was something suspicious about Koenji appearing here alone in the middle of the night.

Koenji elegantly smoothed a nonexistent crease in his lapel, his smile unchanged. "Why am I here? Naturally, to... protect the beauty that deserves to be protected." His words held a deeper meaning, and his gaze seemed to drift casually toward the tent where Ichinose Honami was sleeping.

Just then, Ichinose Honami seemed to be roused by their conversation. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she lifted the flap of her tent. In the moonlight, she wore simple pajamas, her long blond hair tumbling in a messy cascade, and her sapphire eyes were clouded with the bewilderment of someone just woken, like a lost fawn. She saw Kanzaki and Koenji, and surprise crossed her face.

"Kanzaki? Koenji?" Her voice was hoarse with sleep. "What are you talking about so late at night?" She wrapped her coat more tightly around herself and walked over curiously.

Koenji was just about to launch into an explanation in his usual flowery language—

Then, without warning, everything changed!

A cylindrical metal object sailed out of the shadows of a dense thicket at the edge of the camp, making barely a sound as it cut through the air. It traced a low arc and landed precisely in the open space between Kanzaki, Koenji, and Ichinose!

"What is that?" Kanzaki immediately noticed it and barked sharply.

"Look out!" Koenji's senses were far sharper than Kanzaki's! The moment the object hit the ground, he even caught a faint breath from the thrower's position, like rock scraping against rock. A powerful, ferocious presence! But the object on the ground was the greatest threat now!

"Hiss—!"

Acrid white smoke erupted from the metal canister like a volcanic blast! It spread with astonishing speed, instantly enveloping Ichinose and Kanzaki, who had reacted a fraction too slowly! A powerful wave of dizziness and suffocation washed over them!

"Gas! Hold your breath!" Kanzaki reacted quickly, clamping his mouth shut as he reached for Ichinose beside him. But the smoke was too thick and stinging; it completely blocked his view!

"Cough... Ugh..." Ichinose managed only a short cough before the potent anesthetic gas invaded her airways. The world spun around her. Her legs buckled, and she collapsed helplessly toward the ground!

"Ichinose!" Fighting through the dizziness, Kanzaki lunged toward where she had fallen, guided by memory and the sound. His hand just grazed the hem of her clothes!

Whoosh!

A heavy, swift shadow, carrying a terrifying rush of air, burst from the edge of the smoke like a phantom! It moved so fast that the moonlight caught only a blurred afterimage!

Thud!

A muffled impact rang out!

Kanzaki Ryuji felt as if a heavy iron hammer had slammed into the back of his head! His vision went black. His consciousness and strength ebbed away like the tide! He never even saw who had attacked him before he crashed to the ground, overcome by frustration and a violent dizziness, and lost consciousness completely!

"Oh?" The instant the gas grenade burst, Koenji Rokusuke had already drifted several meters backward like a light feather, holding his breath! His golden eyes shone brilliantly through the smoke, like a feline's in the dark! He clearly "saw" the hulking figure that had charged into the smoke and felled Kanzaki with a single blow. That oppressive presence, like a prehistoric beast, that familiar, ferocious aura—it was Blood Claw!

The smoke quickly dispersed in the night wind.

All that remained was Kanzaki Ryuji, unconscious on the ground. Ichinose Honami, who had just collapsed there, had vanished without a trace!

Standing beneath the cool moonlight, Koenji Rokusuke looked at the unconscious Kanzaki and the empty ground. For the first time, the handsome face that usually wore an amused smile turned utterly still. His golden pupils contracted slightly. There was no panic in them, only a cold fury that flowed like molten gold!

"Oh ho ho..." A low chuckle escaped him, no longer elegant but filled with a chilling menace. "To treat such a beautiful star so brutally, as if tossing a precious work of art into the mud... What a waste! This twisted 'aesthetic' is... utterly revolting!"

Without the slightest hesitation, he raised his wrist and rapidly typed an encrypted message into his customized communicator, sending Kazama In the essential details: Ichinose had been abducted, Kanzaki was unconscious, and Blood Claw was responsible. The message was brief and precise.

After that, he went to the unconscious Kanzaki, bent down to check his pulse and breathing, and confirmed that he was merely unconscious and in no danger.

"A diligent guardian, Kanzaki." Koenji's voice regained some of its warmth, with a hint of praise. "Your 'beauty' hasn't faded just because you've fallen for a while." He quickly moved Kanzaki to a relatively safe, dry spot.

Then Koenji's gaze swept like a precise probe toward the direction in which Blood Claw had disappeared with Ichinose—northwest! It was the same direction Kazama In had gone to pursue Gray Owl! His target was the Waterfall Area!

Koenji's figure melted into the night once more, speeding northwest! He moved incredibly fast, yet retained his strange elegance, as if dancing beneath the moon. But now, each step of that dance carried a deadly rhythm.

Once he entered the dense primeval forest, tracking became exceptionally difficult. Blood Claw was clearly experienced. He had deliberately chosen the paths with the thickest vegetation and the softest, most difficult terrain, trying to conceal his tracks. The muggy air, heavy with the promise of a downpour, also hastened the dispersal of scents.

However, Koenji Rokusuke was no hunter who relied on brute force alone. His nature, devoted to the pursuit of ultimate beauty, had given him extraordinary powers of observation and a terrifying eye for detail!

A young twig no thicker than his little finger had been snapped off by force. The break was fresh, and it pointed northwest. Koenji crouched and brushed his fingertips over the broken end, sensing the moisture in the wood fibers.

A huge, thick-leaved fern bore an unnatural, blurred-edged indentation, slanting at an angle, clearly made by a heavy object brushing past at speed. The indentation also held a trace of a dark substance unlike the surrounding soil: the distinctive mud caked on Blood Claw's combat boots!

Koenji closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath of damp air. His keen senses filtered out the earthy smell of the forest and the fresh scent of plants, picking up an incredibly faint trace, almost entirely scattered by the wind: the unique freshness of Ichinose Honami, like sunlight mingled with a faint floral scent, and... Blood Claw's ferocious body odor, like rust mixed with sweat! The scent was as unsteady as a candle flame in the wind, intermittent but clear in direction!

He tilted his head and listened. His keen hearing picked up a sound from far away, only for it to be swallowed almost immediately by louder wind and insect calls! The direction—northwest!

"Oh... It seems this brute, so devoted to the 'aesthetics of strength,' isn't entirely without method." A cold curve touched Koenji's lips, and intelligence gleamed in his eyes. "But the tracks left by brutish force are as impossible to hide from the 'beauty' of harmony and detail as ink spots on white paper!"

He didn't linger. His body became a silver shadow blending into the moonlight once more. Following the likeliest route he had deduced from those tiny clues, he raced northwest toward the Waterfall Area, where deadly traps might be waiting. His heart, devoted to the pursuit of ultimate beauty, now burned with an unprecedented fire called "protection" and "retribution." The calm before the storm had been shattered completely, and the elegant hunter had set out to reclaim his star.