The Amphisbaena by Gakuto Mikumo Page B

over its middle. It couldn’t have been even two kilometers’ radius. It looked like you could complete a stroll around the whole island in half a day. There were no signs of houses from the air. It was a completely uninhabited island.
    “That island’s a Magus Craft research facility?”
    As the doubtful Kojou asked him, Kirishima made a tedious nod.
    “It’s just a nameless, deserted island, but we call it the Goldfish Bowl.”
    “Goldfish Bowl?”
    When Kojou crooked his neck, thinking,
What’s that supposed to mean?
the airplane began a large turn. They were entering a landing pattern. The engine became even noisier; the fuselage shook even more fiercely.
    “Hold on tight, the runway’s a little bare bones. No margin for error.”
    “…By runway, you don’t mean that field over there?”
    “Don’t talk. You’ll bite your tongue!”
    “Wah… Seriously?!”
    The old propeller plane charged toward the field, with nothing but grass spread out over otherwise barren ground. It was about the same width as an elementary schoolyard; there weren’t even markers, let alone pavement. It wasn’t something you could call a runway in good conscience.
    Without hesitation, Yukina pressed herself into Kojou, but he had no leeway to blush over it.
    The aircraft violently touched down with roughly the same force as a crash landing. They bounced off the rough surface several times, slowly decelerated, and barely came to a stop before going over a cliff.
    With a practiced hand, Kirishima undid his seat belt and opened the ill-fitting door.
    “We’re here. Now get off, lovebirds. I’ve got a schedule to keep.”
    “We’re not a couple, you know.”
    Kojou objected, but there was no strength in his voice. Pulling the tottering Yukina by her hands, Kojou slowly made his way off the aircraft. It had been a long time since he’d set foot on solid ground, and it’d never felt so good.
    “Are the Kanases really in a place like this?” Kojou asked while gazing at the sight of the empty, uninhabited island. Kirishima made a thin smile rich with implication.
    “Who knows. I’m sure you’ll meet them soon enough… If you live that long, anyway.”
    “…Kirishima?”
    After confirming that Kojou and Yukina had moved away from the aircraft, Kirishima slammed the plane’s door shut. The airplane’s engine revved up with great force once more, sending the small plane gently running forward.
    “Sorry, honeymooners. Well, blame Beatrice for this, not me, ’kay?”
    With a wave through the window, those were Kirishima’s parting words. As he grasped the meaning of those words, Kojou’s facial expression froze in terror. In haste, Kojou ran after the accelerating airplane.
    “H…hold up, pops!”
    “Who the hell you calling pops?! I’m still twenty-eight…!”
    As the airplane gradually lifted off the ground, Kirishima’s shouts grew quieter.
    Kojou was beside himself as he stared at the small plane as it grew distant, seemingly vanishing into the pale sky.
    “…Gimme a break here.”
    The powerful tropical sunrays made the blue sea glitter.
3
    It was some fifteen minutes later that Kojou roused himself from his daze.
    Though the situation seemed hopeless, it might have been too soon to say that.
    Though he’d held on to paper-thin hope, the airplane that had vanished over the horizon did not return; all that remained were the cruel, mocking voices of the birds around them. They’d been abandoned on a completely uninhabited island. Beatrice Basler had deceived them.
    As Yukina stood still in shock near the cliff, Kojou timidly called out to her. “Er… Himeragi, are you all right?”
    Yukina looked back with a pensive expression before lowering her facein dejection. She no doubt felt responsible that she hadn’t seen through Beatrice and Kirishima’s scheme in spite of the powerful Spirit Sight ability she rightly took pride in as a shrine maiden.
    “I’m sorry, senpai. This is my mistake.”
    “It’s