"Don't be scared. Don't be scared."
Lu Mingfei held Erii and awkwardly patted her back. He wasn't very good at comforting people, especially not a terrified girl—
The few times he had comforted anyone in his life had all involved friends losing matches at an Internet Cafe. In those situations, he would usually say, "It's fine, it's fine. We'll win it back next round."
But Erii wasn't some online friend.
She curled up in his arms, trembling like a leaf in the wind. Those beautiful wide eyes were filled with terror as she stared fixedly at the dark shape in the sea.
"It's just a snake," Lu Mingfei said. "I'll protect you."
He said it without thinking.
Only after saying it did he realize—Me? Protect her?
Behind him, Minamoto Chisaki's rage meter seemed to shoot up another huge chunk.
That was supposed to be his line.
Lu Mingfei didn't notice. He was staring at the dark shape drawing ever closer through the waves, another question turning over in his mind.
"Come to think of it," he asked, "does Yamata no Orochi have nine heads?"
"What kind of stupid question is that?" Finn's voice came from beside him. "Yamata no Orochi, as the name implies, obviously has eight heads." But he stopped short.
Because the dark shape in the sea had become clear—nine heads. Apart from the eight orderly arranged heads, there was a distinctly thicker, more ferocious main head in the center.
Finn opened his mouth but said nothing.
Minamoto Chisaki froze as well.
Was it not Yamata no Orochi?
No. The call in his blood could not be false. He could feel that thing carried blood from the same source as his own, like a curse that had lingered for thousands of years and had finally caught up with