L7WtUJJn

1
2Minami answered while bowing, Tatsuya headed to the lobby where Miyuki and his friends were waiting.
3
4When she couldn’t see his back anymore, Minami knocked at the door of the room where Minoru slept.
5
6Without waiting for his reply, Minami opened the door with the electronic key that was entrusted to her by Tatsuya. Minami had no intention in disturbing the sleep of an ill person just for that.
7
8She closed the front door, and opened the sliding door, where Minoru tried to rise from the futon. Minami ran to sit by his side without any sound, she was pressing both of his shoulders gently as to let him lie back down.
9
10“Minoru-sama, please don’t mind me. If you do so, there is no meaning in me taking care of you.”
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12Minoru felt that those words were coming out of a villain who tried to blame him for overdoing things. However, no matter how hard Minami tried, she wouldn’t be able to treat Minoru that way, it seemed like Minoru had misunderstood Minami’s true meaning.
13
14“I understand. Then, I will dutifully sleep.”
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16This time Minami wore a disappointed expression.
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18Minami sat beside Minoru while staring at him motionlessly, she sat with aligned knees as the correct manners dictated.
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20After 30 minutes passed, Minoru’s closed eyelids suddenly opened, and he smiled wickedly.
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22“Sakurai-san, if you keep staring at a man like that, it’s quite embarrassing, even for me.”
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24He should have been accustomed to being stared at due to his good looks. Yet, he felt like his liberty was affected in this private close proximity, and the fact that his sleeping face had been observed intensely.
25
26“Pardon my rudeness!”
27
28Minami lowered her head to touch the mat in apology with “uwaaa” voice, she also set two meters distance between them to be seated.
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30Her bright red face which was facing down on the tatami mat was not visible to Minoru.
31
32As for Minami, she had not meant to stare at Minoru’s face. It wasn’t like there was anyone else in the room to talk to, and she thought it was rude to the patient if she read or watched videos, in fact, she was only dazed without any significant thoughts in her head.
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34However, after hearing Minoru’s words, Minami even doubted her own actions with a “Was that true?”.
35
36The things that Minoru said about her staring at him.
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38Minami questioned herself, “Was I really staring intently at him?”.
39
40—— “And if I did, what did I do that for?”
41
42Her face which had been red became more and more blushed.
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44Even Minoru who was lying down could see that her ears had turned red, Minoru was worried about Minami’s physical condition since the dogeza pose that she had maintained seemed to have burdened her much.
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46“Ehh, umm… are you ok?” Minoru was about to rise.
47
48“I’m alright! Please continue your rest!”
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54She was pushing with a strong tone on the verge of screaming as compared to the gentle push of her hands earlier, Minami rose noisily and went out of the room while hiding her face.
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56She closed the sliding door forcefully. Yet, still leaving a little gap.
57
58There was no sound of the front door being opened or closed.
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60Minoru seemed to be solidified for a while, with a hand stretched towards Minami who had now gone.
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66Although in the original plan Tatsuya’s group had consisted of five members, since Minoru was sick and Minami stayed behind to nurse him, in the end they had three members, the same as Mikihiko’s group. And Masaki who was supposed to follow their commuter with his bike, since the commuter was only a 4-seater capacity, they ended up riding the commuter together.
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68The two seats in front were occupied by Tatsuya and Masaki, while Miyuki was seated in the rear alone. Honestly, Masaki wanted to sit beside Miyuki, yet he suppressed his real intention and sat next to Tatsuya, since he prioritized common sense and manners in this situation.
69
70The one who set the destination was Tatsuya. Masaki had agreed on going to Mt. Arashi during yesterday’s meeting, hence Tatsuya proceeded directly to the parked commuter without even stopping to think twice.
71
72“Shiba, aren’t we going to Mt. Arashi?”
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74“We’re going to get some clues before going there.”
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76He answered Masaki while turning back, Tatsuya looked back at the foot outside the car.
77
78“I want you not to talk about Zhou Gongjin from here onwards.”
79
80“…Is it supposed to be a secret?”
81
82“I do not want to involve that person, if possible.”
83
84Masaki returned with questioning eyes at Tatsuya. Tatsuya suspected that Masaki misunderstood his words, but they had already reached their first destination. Furthermore, Tatsuya didn’t feel any need to give an excuse.
85
86It had been three minutes since Tatsuya’s group arrived here.
87
88“Tatsuya-kun, I’m sorry for making you wait.”
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90“No, you are right on time.”
91
92Tatsuya said so to assure the female college student who had rushed from her commuter.
93
94“Huh? Miyuki-san?”
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96“Good morning, Saegusa-senpai. I didn’t get to meet you last time, so ‘long time no see’.” Mayumi’s eyes were wide open, while Miyuki smiled at her.
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98“I didn’t expect that Miyuki-san would be coming along.”
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100As she said, Tatsuya did not tell Mayumi that he was not coming alone.
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102However, Mayumi had to restrain herself from using her usual sarcastic tone due to the presence of the other companion.
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104“Ichijou Masaki-kun, right? This is the first time we have the chance to do self-introductions. I’m Saegusa Mayumi.”
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106Instead of showing her wanton behaviour in front of Tatsuya, she introduced herself as a daughter of Saegusa Family from the Ten Master Clans.
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108“I remember your face. I’m Ichijou Masaki.”
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110Masaki replied with a hint of nervousness. As both of them said, this was not their first meeting.
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112Nevertheless, it had been four years since their last greeting and this meeting was their second. Although they both knew the other party as a celebrity in the magic world, otherwise, it would be weird to remember about each other.
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114“I’m sorry, Ichijou-kun… Tatsuya-kun, come here for a second.”
115
116Mayumi retreated away from Masaki with a dazzling feigned smile, while winding her right arm to Tatsuya’s left arm——not with any visible sweet intention——she pulled Tatsuya. After distancing herself about two meters away, Mayumi began to cross-examine Tatsuya in whispers.
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118“Tatsuya-kun, why didn’t you mention that Miyuki-san would be coming along?” Tatsuya showed a natural amazed face.
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120“I don’t think you need to ask specifically about this. Didn’t you expect me to come together with Miyuki?”
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122In a failed attempt to refute, Mayumi showed a “giving up expression”.
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124“That’s right…There’s no way Miyuki-san would let Tatsuya-kun go alone, right.”
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126She shook her head in exasperation, before suddenly turning back to her serious expression. Her sight was fixed upon Masaki.
127
128“Then, I wonder why is Ichijou-kun also coming along.”
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130“That is a total coincidence. Yesterday, Yoshida who did a preliminary investigation of the surrounding area for the Thesis Competition met Ichijou who had the same purpose. Since he has been wandering around the venue to look for suspicious people, I brought him along in place of a bodyguard.”
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132“So Yoshida-kun and others are also here… Ah, of course, he is the current Public Morals Committee Chief after all.”
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134“You are well informed.”
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136Without speaking out his real intention, Tatsuya was trying to say “You’re well informed despite having graduated”, Mayumi shot an “I won’t be cheated” look at Tatsuya. Seemed like Mayumi knew that Tatsuya had a habit of trying to find something that could be used against her.
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138“Then, does Ichijou-kun know about my situation?”
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140“I have not received such permission from senpai, I won’t blabber anything unnecessary.” Suspicion dwelled in Mayumi’s eyes, they had become increasingly distinguished.
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142Tatsuya also noticed the suspicion that was directed at himself. However, Tatsuya couldn’t be bothered about it.
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144“Anyway, senpai, do you really not want to explain the situation to Ichijou? I think he is someone you can rely on.”
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146Tatsuya flakily made a smile at Mayumi.
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148Mayumi sighed heavily.
149
150“I wonder if it’s wise… To use the only son of the Ichijou Family under your chin.”
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152“I’m not using him under my chin. In the first place, he wasn’t even that cute of a guy.” Tatsuya answered with a disappointed voice, Mayumi giggled and smiled.
153
154“Ok, I will gladly accept his help then.”
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156He finally scored, Mayumi might take it that way. Yet, she regained her mood, and gave permission for Tatsuya to explain the situation to Masaki.
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162Led by the detective on duty, the four of them entered the evidence storage room in the police station.
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164Masaki showed a surprisingly positive attitude when he heard that she wanted to search for the culprit who murdered Nakura. It seemed like he expressed a great sympathy in (what he interpreted as) the investigation to dispel the chagrin of the bodyguard. As a future head of a family of the Ten Master Clans, the thought of (what he interpreted as) using a subordinates as a mere tool seemed to touch his heart.
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166Usually, this variance of purpose was not preferred. Since the ancient times, there was a saying
167
168“He who runs after two hares will catch neither[24]”, this was a predictable proverb. However, Tatsuya had a premonition. Rather than based on his reasoning, this time he was betting on his “hunch”.
169
170——Zhou Gongjin was the one who murdered Nakura Saburo——
171
172Tatsuya had that conjecture. That was why even when Masaki inflamed his chivalry for Mayumi, it was not really conflicting his purpose. Therefore, he felt no inconvenience.
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174While he was thinking about the matter, the detective came back with Nakura’s belongings on the table.
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176“These were the clothes which were worn by Mr. Nakura on that day. Unfortunately his CAD…”
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178Nakura’s CAD was obviously retained by Kouichi. A CAD was not only useful for those who knew how to adjust it, but also an amazing research material to know about other magician’s magic by analyzing it. Thus, it was natural in the magic community not to pass such an important secret to non-relatives.
179
180However, Mayumi remembered the guilt covering Kouichi when he recovered Nakura’s CAD. In fact, it was possible to analyze the flow of the battle to a certain extent by examining the CAD. It could even uncover the state of the battle at the time, and guess the kind of damage that the enemy received. Further possibilities included narrowing the suspect list by investigating the patients who visited hospitals to receive treatment for grave injuries. It was a common practice for magicians not to let the CAD fall into the possession of others, but it might be due to the fact that Kouichi was not so cooperative with the police, or rather, blatantly uncooperative.
181
182“Excuse me, Keiji-san[25]. Whose blood is this?”
183
184The detective replied with a rueful shake of his head.
185
186“Unfortunately, all of it is from the victim.”
187
188Even though it was not easy to examine all the blood stains on the victim’s clothes, modern forensic technology had made it possible. To investigate all of the body fluids on the victim’s body for a hint of the perpetrator was a basic procedure in all murder case.
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190“Nakura-san’s abdomen was pierced from behind, his chest muscle burst out from within, and his heart also ruptured.”
191
192Which was why it was reported as a strange corpse.
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194However, the newspaper had not reported such details. Tatsuya learnt this from Mayumi.
195
196“Burst from within…?”
197
198Masaki voiced out with a deep suspicion.
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200“It was as if he was ‘exploding’.”
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202“No, Shiba! The Ichijou Family is absolutely not involved!”
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204Confusion floated within his mind during his conjecture, making Masaki show an excessive reaction.
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206Hearing such a loud voice within a closed room, Mayumi knitted her eyebrows lightly.
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208Tatsuya was not seriously doubting the involvement of the Ichijou Family.
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210“However, there is no natural phenomenon that can explain how one’s chest can burst from within, to control bodily the fluid of a human, a magician to boot, I think there isn’t any other magic that could manipulate the momentum of the burst to be strewn over this way.” The purpose of this discussion was to sort out the information.
211
212“That’s…”
213
214——Even so, it was a tough situation to be in.
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216“The Ichijou’s ‘explosion’ is not something that can be copied so easily though.”
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218“Of course! Ah, but still.”
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220“Calm down. I only said that it looked like he ‘exploded’. I didn’t mean to put any special meaning in the word ‘explosion’, I don’t even doubt that the Ichijou Family is not involved.” Masaki blushed faintly, realized that he had been distraught, and he was probably ashamed to be scolded. Tatsuya saw that as “his guy’s personality took a weak turn against an unexpected circumstances”.
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222“Magic which interferes with another individual’s body is difficult to be applied. However, it is not so difficult if it’s applied to your own body. For example, self-acceleration is a fairly popular magic.”
223
224Mayumi opened her mouth.
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226“Tatsuya-kun, do you think that Nakura-san exploded him——killed himself?” Mayumi questioned Tatsuya timidly, and Tatsuya shook his head.
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228“Even if he did explode himself, he did not commit suicide.”
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230“Onii-sama, do you think that Nakura-san chose to explode himself since he already had a fatal wound?”
231
232Tatsuya nodded to Miyuki who was beside him.
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234Before returning his sight to Mayumi.
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236“I think the ruptured heart was due to some sort of side effect from his magic.”
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238“He must have already received a mortal wound from behind that pierced through his abdomen, so he simultaneously attacked the murderer with this magic?”
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240“Senpai. Did Nakura-san have a special magic with liquid as his weapon?” After answering Masaki’s question, he turned to ask Mayumi.
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242“…I’m sorry, Nakura-san had never really used his magic in my presence.” However, Mayumi failed to answer that question.
243
244“I see.”
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246Tatsuya did not answer with a disappointed voice.
247
248However, Mayumi heard his patience wearing thin in his reply.
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250“Ah, but I heard something when I first met him. Wait a minute.”
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252Mayumi folded her arms, while thoughtfully humming “umm, umm”.
253
254(Somehow… She ticks like a manga character.)
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256Before Tatsuya thought that “it might be rude”, Mayumi made a revelation gesture with her hand.
257
258“Now that I recall, Nakura-san was good at magic to make needles from water.” Masaki knitted his eyebrows.
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260“Water needle? How? And what kind of effect would it result in?”
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262“I’m not sure how he did it, I wonder if it supposed to pierce through something since it was called needle. If you applied a Convergence-Type system to water, it could even securely gather force at a practical level for a weapon.”
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264Masaki was annoyed at the involuntary uninteresting answer, and was about to ask another question. However, right on that instance, he remembered that Miyuki was present.
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266“…That means, the victim turned his own blood into needles and shot the perpetrator, huh. A counterattack at the price of his life…”
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268Tatsuya stored the information of Nakura’s blood from the remnant of his clothes with his Elemental Sight.
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270“Shiba, what are you doing?”
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272“I was checking if there is any other magical trace at the area of the abdomen wound.”
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274“I see…” The one who squinted his eyes due to Tatsuya’s plausible lie was not only Masaki, but also Mayumi. They actually detected a usage of magic instead of observation with the five senses, to recognize magic with one’s eyes was the most direct analysis.
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276“Umm, nothing left.”
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278Mayumi dropped her shoulders in disappointment, Masaki also sighed heavily.
279
280“Me too. I can feel some traces here, but the pattern is just too blurred to be understood… Shiba, did you find anything?”
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282“I can’t obtain any specific clues to specify a certain individual. However, this injury was probably caused by a genjuu[26].”
283
284“Genjuu?”
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286“Onii-sama, what is this genjuu?”
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288Mayumi and Miyuki sought an explanation of the alien word. The detective behind the two of them was seen taking notes.
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290Tatsuya tried to impose upon Masaki to take the explaining role, yet Masaki casually denied his invitation. Either he did not know about the matter, or he was just tired of explaining things.
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292Since the one who asked was Miyuki, he’d probably answered it enthusiastically if he knew. Hence, Tatsuya interpreted that Masaki, most probably, also did not know.
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294“Genjuu is a kind of kasei-tai. It reflects the light that comes into contact with the body through magic, which causes a pretext that it possess an entity[27] and even applies pressure to the object. It shows a shape to the enemy via an illusion by reflecting the light. Therefore, it also has an effect to fit into a created form, the same as a Kasei-tai.”
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296“Kasei-tai can be seen by everyone since they reflect physical light. However, genjuu utilizes magic from the Spirit Interference System, it will only be visible to the opponent intended by the magician. Am I right?”
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298Tatsuya gave a satisfied nod to Miyuki’s explanation.
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300“That’s right. You’ve explained well. These type of illusions are not restricted to visuals. There are also established genjuu spells for auditory illusions.”
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302“Wait a minute, Tatsuya-kun. If I digested this properly, you said that genjuu would not form if it’s not recognized by the opponent?”
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304“The main difference between genjuu and Kasei-tai is found in the Magic Sequence that affects the opponent to think that there is ‘something’.”
305
306Mayumi did not fully comprehend this, her face was filled with questions.
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308“If that’s the case, then why did the attack come from behind? He would have realized if there’s noise. If it materialized behind him, Nakura-san should have realized it if the distance between them was close enough, he shouldn’t have ended up getting pierced from the back.”
309
310“He did not necessarily notice where the creature was.”
311
312“What do you mean…?”
313
314“In the case of genjuu, it can work even without clear recognition from the opponent. Since genjuu do not exist fundamentally, if one see its shape clearly, one will know that it is an illusion. As long as anxiety is risen, against some unknown creature, that will give strength to genjuu which is a phenomenon that is not supposed to exist in reality.
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316“…I don’t really get it.”
317
318“I’m sorry, did I confuse you? To put it briefly, his enemy firstly imprints a recognition magic of the shape of the beast that would give a pretext that he was going to be attacked by something, which in turn causes the enemy’s magic to get stronger. It didn’t even matter if the first illusion shown was only a kasei-tai.”
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320“By getting alarmed by the enemy’s magic, he strengthened the power of his opponent…?”
321
322“If you understood this, the effect is reduced by half. The effect was as you’ve seen in the remnants of Nakura’s clothes.”
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324She lowered her head lightly in appreciation of Tatsuya.
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326Mayumi was puzzled to the point of not knowing how to react.
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332The four of them rode on the same commuter and went to Mt. Arashi. (The commuter that Mayumi used had headed with other users upon release, since it was unmanned for quite some time.)
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334The front seats were taken by Tatsuya and Masaki, while Mayumi and Miyuki sat behind.
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336Once the commuter started to run, Masaki talked to Tatsuya.
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338“Shiba, about the genjuu earlier.”
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340Neither Tatsuya nor Miyuki had ever mistaken who he was referring to. Masaki called Tatsuya with “Shiba” without any honorific, while calling Miyuki with “Shiba-san”.
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342“Are they different than the ‘Kugutsu-shiki-oni’ that we’d encountered yesterday?”
343
344“I’ve also never heard about Kugutsu-shiki-oni before.”
345
346Tatsuya sat in the front seat, but the commuter did not require him to drive since it was automatically driven. Hence, there was no problem to shift his line of sight.
347
348“Nevertheless, you should have heard of Golems, since it’s quite common. You should be able to discern their differences by their name right?”
349
350“Ichijou-san, Onii-sama, sorry for disturbing your conversation.”
351
352Miyuki leaned lightly from the rear seat. To be more exact, she grabbed the back rest of the front seat and shoved her head forward.
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354“Onii-sama, I also only know Golems by name, do you mind explaining briefly about some of its characteristics?”
355
356Tatsuya shot a questioning stare for a moment. Golems were popular in the Christian and Jewish culture. Miyuki who had also received an education about foreign magicians who were less likely to “only know it by name”.
357
358However, he noticed his sister’s eyes were glanced towards Masaki, so he noticed her real intention. He did not think that she was a busybody, he didn’t even waste his effort to do so. Tatsuya began to explain about Golems a little bit for Masaki rather than Miyuki.
359
360“Golems are made by embedding parts from a number of organisms or a monster with a independent information body that is programmed to mimic the legend, it continuously changes the relative position of each part in addition to Convergence-Type Magic, a magical robot that reproduces an organism-like behavior.
361
362For example, a titanic golem stone soldier. At first glance, it only looks like a lump of hard stone joined together, yet once it moves, it mimics human movements. However, it was not due to a wholly connected system. It is similar to fortifying magic, the magic is only for securing a relative position. In short, each part of the body is only piled up on top of one another.
363
364As a consequence, golems would be irregular, depending on the substances that formed its body. Inorganic material such as water, or organic material such as wood, alike. However, it has every capability affiliated with physical materials, unlike kasei-tai and genjuu.
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366To move the golem, it is necessary to embed an independent information body behavioral pattern program. If the magician stopped supplying Psion’s, the magic sequence for the golem would stop working. If the magician himself were beaten, the golem would also lose its power. This is also applied to those which are created from a formless material, such as water, the golem will just collapse in the aftermath.
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368For wood or stone based golems, they are often used in the engraving magic technique to affix the magic type. On the other hand, the amorphous materials based golems, such as one that is made of water, it is used as a magical communicator that requires the magician to continue casting the magic over and over again. Yesterday’s golem was rather small and disposable, it was presumed from the blood of the Ninjutsu users as the communicator.
369
370Before Modern Magic was established, blood had been considered an important magical tool. The Ancient Magic seen is a highly effective offering, and there are many magics’, which require blood as a medium. In Modern Magic, the Eidos of blood is directly connected to the life support of your body, including the brain, which records the details of the Psion property of the owner in high density. Therefore, it can be said that blood is very suitable to project a magic.”
371
372“…In short, the difference between genjuu and Kasei-tai to golem is in the existence of its entity?”
373
374Mayumi summarized Tatsuya’s explanation in one sentence, she might feel that it started to get cumbersome.
375
376“After I heard your explanation, I think that the golem which has an entity seems to be easier to deal with.”
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378Tatsuya shook his head lightly in response to Masaki’s opinion.
379
380“If only Kasei-tai and genjuu were strong enough, there wouldn’t any need for troublesome and inefficient biological forms. In fact, the magic was centralized in the narrow range of its nucleus, and can be erased easily if you destroy the nucleus. Or you can simply destroy the force field which shapes the virtual image. Moreover, golems are much more useful in terms of physical strength, it possesses destructive strength for physical work.”
381
382While they were having this conversation (through the one who was mostly doing all the talking was Tatsuya), the commuter ran closer to their destination.
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388Minami read quietly beside the sleeping Minoru.
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390Aside from his fever, his condition was stable. There wasn’t any household chores to be done at the hotel, and there was no need to compete for preparing the meals and teas either. Minami was finally in a relaxed mood after a long time.
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392Still, she was together with a young man——or a boy with the same age, just the two of them. Moreover, the other party was superbly beautiful, so she was feeling impeccably content. Yet, she was wondering why she felt this relaxed.
393
394It shouldn’t be because she was used to Miyuki. Both her and Miyuki were——though sometimes she did not think that——female. Minoru was a male. Of course she would feel different about him.
395
396Moreover, the visit to Nara before, and yesterday, too, when she was nearby Minoru, she had been really nervous. She was aware that she was nervous. It was by no means due to the fact that he was a “son of the Kudou Family” that she had been kind of nervousness. Most likely, because she saw Minoru as a member of opposite sex who was of the same age as her. He was a “boy” as contrasted to Tatsuya.
397
398He had great magic power, and could even be said to be a tremendous one. He might even stand on par to the Yotsuba’s masterpiece, Miyuki.
399
400His looks were also extraordinary, which didn’t need to be said at this late hour.
401
402Yet, why did she feel a sense of familiarity. Somewhere inside, she felt just like him. She was attracted to him, she was aware that Minoru was aware of this, which resulted in her nervousness.
403
404Minami held both of her cheeks with her hands. She blushed as she was ashamed of her delusion. She stood to cool her head, and went to wash her face.
405
406However, she immediately returned to her position. Not for reading a book, but a seating pose beside Minoru. She noticed that Minoru’s breathing was suddenly raged.
407
408His breath was short and painful. His hand was getting hotter. Minami rushed to call a doctor, but she stopped in the middle.
409
410Minoru was from the Kudou Family. A magician who inherited the bloodline of the former Ninth Laboratory. I wonder if ordinary doctors would be allowed to examine him?
411
412Minami wavered. Minoru’s illness was certainly not to be nursed by an amateur. Nevertheless, she could not decide if she can call the doctor by herself.
413
414A solution flashed in Minami’s mind.
415
416She wanted to ask Tatsuya.
417
418Minami hurriedly retrieved her information terminal, and launched the voice communication function.
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424Tatsuya received the call from Minami right after he got off from the commuter.
425
426“How is Minoru? I see. You made the right choice for not asking for help from the front desk. Contacting Fujibayashi would be the best choice… Yes, no problem. In fact, she told me in advance to contact her if something happened to Minoru. I asked for you to do simple nursing since she’s probably heading to the hotel now… No, I didn’t give him any medicine… Ok, that’s good. It’s probably a little troublesome for you alone to do it, but I’m counting on you… Yes, I’ll leave it to you.”
427
428Miyuki looked up anxiously at Tatsuya who had just finished the call.
429
430Moved by her gaze, Tatsuya called the number that had been registered in his information terminal.
431
432“Fujibayashi-san? This is Shiba. Actually, Minoru is sick now, and Minami is nursing him, she said that his breathing looks painful… CR hotel, room XXX… I’ll leave everything in your care.”
433
434“Was that just now Kyouko-san?”
435
436From the side, Mayumi’s voice came out with an anxious tone.
437
438“Has Minoru-kun’s condition worsened?”
439
440Questioned by his sister, Tatsuya nodded in silence.
441
442“Shiba, is it ok for us not to go back?”
443
444Masaki asked so with a serious face. They had just met yesterday, but he seemed to be seriously worried about Minoru.
445
446“I’ve contacted his relative, she will reach the hotel in about one hour.”
447
448“Sudden illness? Kyouko-san’s relative?” Mayumi hadn’t met Minoru yet.
449
450“The youngest son of the Kudou Family. He was helping us out as a guide around Kyoto for a little while before.”
451
452“The Kudou Family’s last son, is he that Minoru-kun? I heard he has a weak constitution.”
453
454It was surprising that Mayumi knew about Minoru. As expected of the eldest daughter from the Saegusa Family, rumored to be the most socialized in the Ten Master Clans.
455
456However, even for Mayumi, she still did not know about Minoru’s constitution. From the information she received, she imagined Minoru to have a similar constitution to that of Itsuwa Mio. Since Mayumi often visited Mio, she had been preconditioned to associate everyone with poor health from Mio’s appearance.
457
458“He is sickly, but he doesn’t look frail. I haven’t heard from his doctor, so I don’t know much about the details, but it seems like his magical power is too strong that it causes an excessive load on his body.”
459
460“…Can such a thing happen?”
461
462Mayumi tilted her head with a puzzled and skeptical face, while Miyuki showed her face from the other side to see what was happening.
463
464“At any rate, since Fujibayashi-san is rushing there, we can proceed with our planned investigation.”
465
466Mayumi was acquainted with Fujibayashi. Even before the Yokohama Incident last year; from the relationship between their houses. Of course, she knew the situation of Fujibayashi Kyouko and the Kudou Family.
467
468On the other hand, Masaki did not know a thing about Fujibayashi. Yet, he didn’t add on any extra comments from his mouth.
469
470Nakura’s corpse had been discovered across at the river bed of Katsuragawa[28], right beside the Arashiyama[29] district at Nakanoshima Park. Just before the Katsuragawa River, towards the south, there were small sandbars scattered.
471
472The site of the police investigation seemed to be over; Tatsuya was able to enter the site without any problem. Of course, there were no blood stains that remained. Although, using Elemental Sight might help to trace and verify the data which he had obtained earlier, Tatsuya decided not to waste any effort there.
473
474“Was it here?”
475
476“Yes.”
477
478Masaki asked, Mayumi nodded. Masaki was quite optimistic for this investigation.
479
480“This much momentum, it is unlikely that he was shed from upstream.”
481
482Miyuki said so while looking at Tatsuya. Tatsuya thought, apparently, his sister had poor skills to be a crime detective.
483
484“That’s a possibility that probably doesn’t exist.”
485
486Tatsuya stopped his answer there, he didn’t say the following words, that there hadn’t been any signs of a trail of blood to be found in this area.
487
488“Shiba, what do you think of the situation? Was Nakura-san approaching the criminal that stood here, or did the perpetrator approach him after Nakura-san arrived first?”
489
490“I don’t know.”
491
492Tatsuya immediately answered Masaki.
493
494“The conclusion wouldn’t come out even after we think about it. In the first place, we don’t know if Nakura-san and the perpetrator had made an appointment to meet up, or if Nakura-san was just attacked randomly by the criminal.”
495
496“…Certainly.”
497
498Masaki did not show any useless rebound, and seconded Tatsuya.
499
500“Onii-sama, what should we do now?”
501
502After Miyuki asked him, Tatsuya turned to Mayumi.
503
504“I want to investigate the surroundings a little bit, do you mind?”
505
506Mayumi was surprised from the sudden offer, and answered, “Yes, I’m the one who asked for your assistance, if you have anything on your mind, I will follow it”.
507
508Tatsuya did not stay by the Katsuragawa river bed, but headed upstream across the Togetsukyou Bridge. Rather than going back, it was further forward in the direction of the Arashiyama district at Kameyama Park; there was a small warehouse at the peak of the eastern part of Mt. Ogura.
509
510Tatsuya headed there according to the clues obtained from the shaman he met at the tofu shop nearby Kiyomizu Temple, the place where Zhou Gongjin had been hiding. He did not tell that to Mayumi, but she was following him without any complaint.
511
512
513
514
515
516Autumn had deepened, Mayumi was overdressed in her own way with a pair of sandals. In contrast with Miyuki who wore long pants and sneakers, Mayumi wore heels with long sleeves and a long dress. She mustn’t have fully understood what they were going to be doing and just dressed confidently, still it wasn’t an extreme up and down hiking course.
517
518Inevitably, the four of them moved at a slower pace.
519
520Within the park, in the slope area, there was a sign stating of a “bamboo forest”. Tatsuya headed there without hesitation. Mayumi found it to be uncomfortable that she hadn’t found any hesitation in him.
521
522“Hey, Tatsuya-kun.”
523
524“What? Are we moving too fast?”
525
526Hung with Mayumi’s voice, Tatsuya halted his feet. Masaki and Miyuki also halted together.
527
528“No, we don’t, but.”
529
530Now that he mentioned it, Mayumi noticed that she was starting to lose her breath. She could understand that Tatsuya’s and Masaki’s breath would not be affected, but even Miyuki did not show any sign of fatigue, she found this unreasonably indescribable.
531
532“Tatsuya-kun, do you have any place in mind? You seem to be very sure of where to go since earlier.”
533
534After Mayumi pointed out so, Tatsuya realized that his attitude was certainly unnatural as she had said.
535
536He wanted to dispose of her suspicion, not because he wanted to continue his lies, but he didn’t want to involve Mayumi. To Minoru, he said that he was a direct descendant of the Ten Master Clans officially since the first time they met, Masaki was also not suspicious after his involvement, since they hadn’t had any excessive contact more than usual. However, Mayumi was a close friend. It would feel awkward once she got dragged into his own circumstances. Although she wouldn’t ask Tatsuya to “take responsibility” over the matters, but she would end up lending her power to Tatsuya. Tatsuya did not want to break the appearance of him lending his assistance to Mayumi, this was his lie.
537
538He was troubled without much to say.
539
540He wavered for a second.
541
542Only for a second, since he had no time to do so the next second.
543
544“Onii-sama!”
545
546Miyuki extended her interference area.
547
548The onibi’s that flew towards them disappeared, swallowed by her magic. The Ancient Magic “Onibi” was not a physical fire, it was a magic with visualization of fire. There was no way that it could possibly breakthrough Miyuki’s interference area.
549
550The enemy seemed to perceive that well, and pounced the wind blades next. However, it ended up the same. Whether they be blades or compressed air blades, he must maintain his magic continuously under the strong interference.
551
552“Ichijou!”
553
554“Leave it to me!”
555
556Tatsuya attacked from the front, with Masaki behind. The two people took their stance to protect Miyuki and Mayumi.
557
558Thin straps extending from the left and right of the bamboo grove towards Miyuki. Blue, red, white, black, and yellow breaded with 5 colors.
559
560Tatsuya caught it before it reached Miyuki.
561
562Waves similar to Cast Jamming came out from the braid.
563
564(Esoteric system trap from Ancient Magic rite!)
565
566Unlike Cast Jamming which scattered the Psion noise to inhibit magic activation in space, this method effectively sealed the opponent’s magic by pouring the noise directly through the string.
567
568Tatsuya decomposed the noise without disassembling the strap itself. He tore the string apart with his own hands.
569
570Tatsuya had strong physical power, yet he did not boast superhuman strength like a juvenile villain. Originally, such a strap might need the brute force of two people to haul it in each hand. However, it stunned their opponents, now that they’d seen their magic was broken in such an unexpected way. Tatsuya used that chance to figure out where they were hiding.
571
572Tatsuya raised his guard. Furthermore, he noticed that someone had disappeared. Tatsuya assumed the barrier was erected to protect themselves from him and his friends, but the barrier was made to prevent the public from entering the area.
573
574However, it was to their convenience too, that they had no worries of being seen by the public.
575
576The strap extended to Masaki and Mayumi, Masaki pushed it back with a gush of wind. The wind itself hadn’t affected the magic actuation inhibitor sequence in the strap, since it was a product of magic.
577
578The bamboo in the forest buzzed violently, the leaves danced in the wind.
579
580Mayumi activated her magic. It was the original form of her specialty “Magic Shooter”, the magic that rained a hail of dry ice, “Dry Blizzard”.
581
582Carbon dioxide concentration in the air was 350 to 400 ppm. About 3/10,000 to 4/10,000. It was within normal standards, in fact, it did not contain less than the common area. However, this number only accounted for up to 10,000 meters in the troposphere, and it’s possible to form the dry ice from pressurized carbon dioxide only within two meters.
583
584Components of the air were evenly distributed in the atmosphere. When the distribution was disrupted by magic, the Eidos would try to rectify this. Targeting a specific gas in a narrow area, in this case, collecting the carbon dioxide, and concentrating them together. Since nature tried to rectify this phenomenon, the concentration of molecules in the area where the magic was activated would cause the airflow which replaced the gas molecules to decrease.
585
586The magic to make dry ice was a carbon dioxide convergence process, the gas molecules were replaced with a speed which exceeded the speed of sound. It was an interesting phenomenon to be observed at the microscopic level. Yet, the event modification triggered by the magician didn’t actually change the configuration of the macro-gas molecules at the atmospheric level. The technique focused on unilaterally converging carbon dioxide, which was the raw material for the dry ice; in a narrow area, the world will immediately procure the raw material shortage in order to counteract the effect of the natural phenomenon modification caused by the magic.
587
588Hails of dry ice stormed in the bamboo forest. Its speed was 500 to 600 km/h which was far slower than the speed of sound. The bullets were also much lighter as compared to lead bullets. However, they had been hardened by magic and were enough to pierce through human flesh.
589
590Six men came out of the bamboo forest in a hurry. There weren’t any serious injuries, perhaps due to the magical shield to avoid the dry ice bullets. Still, there were traces of blood on their limbs.
591
592On the other hand, two magicians were dragged out by Tatsuya, and immediately Miyuki activated her magic to drop the temperature of their bodies into a point of hibernation. His sister had some resistance towards killing others, hence, Tatsuya struggled to actuate the limiter for her magic power.
593
594Tatsuya used his hand, forming a karate chop pose with Decomposition Magic. He hadn’t brought with him his Silver Horn this time. He wore a specialized CAD in bracelet form on his wrist instead. He could add multiple directions to the antennas which in turn, would provide a similar effect to a short sighted auxiliary support.
595
596The CAD that was attached to his chest used thought-operated input commands. This forced him to use a new fighting style which didn’t require the use of his hands during combat.
597
598After all, at this distance, Tatsuya could activate his Decomposition Magic even without a CAD or sight auxiliary. His aim was, the bamboo above the head of the person in hiding whose Psion’s were detected earlier. There might not have been any blood splatter from the blow, but the magicians’ decided to close their eyes.
599
600Since they shut their eyes, the traditionalists couldn’t verify the identity of their attacker. They had understood that this deliberate attack was a warning. It was not an indiscriminate attack, which meant hiding any further wouldn’t serve any purpose.
601
602Soon after, they decided to show up, four traditionalist magicians came out of the bamboo forest. Including the two that he had dragged out earlier, there were 12 assailants detected, yet another one was still missing.
603
604“Ichijou!”
605
606“Leave this to me!”
607
608Tatsuya knew very well the extent of Masaki’s capabilities. He was never worried about Masaki in the first place, and now he reaffirmed that such a worry was baseless. Tatsuya focused to take care of the four opponents in front of him.
609
610In front of Masaki, there stood six magicians. He knew that the opponents were of the traditionalists Buddhist sect beforehand. Thus, there was no confusion in his preliminary action.
611
612From behind Masaki, a sign of magic being activated could be detected. Mayumi was ready in position to use magic.
613
614Masaki and Mayumi both had distinguished power.
615
616The Ten Master Clans, the eldest daughter of the Saegusa. A rival from first high, the former student council president who was considered a genius in long-range precision shooting magic.
617
618However, Masaki had no purpose to fight Mayumi.
619
620The technique earlier, Dry Blizzard. Masaki found out by sight that she purposely reduced the power.
621
622Although as a result, she failed to neutralize the opponent. It did manage to smolder the enemy, but Masaki thought that was due to the idiocy of the opponents.
623
624He wondered if she was not used to the battlefield. The older traditionalist magicians appeared in front of them.
625
626Ancient Magic had inferior speed as compared to Modern Magic.
627
628This was an undeniable truth.
629
630The traditionalists from the Buddhist sect knew about this. They were developing a technique called “Ichijishu” that could activate magic with a much faster time, close to the activation speed of Modern Magic.
631
632Nevertheless, it was still impossible to surpass the speed of Modern Magic. Modern Magic was created by fusing ESP and magic, and it was fast.
633
634Masaki thought so.
635
636However.
637
638“Down!”
639
640Masaki directed his favorite gun-shaped CAD, the traditionalists cried simultaneously. Immediately, Masaki’s magic started to take effect, the right hands of the traditionalists lit up in fire.
641
642“What!?”
643
644“What the heck is this!?”
645
646They didn’t think it wasn’t an illusion. No, it was not. The men’s clothes were already on fire. First from the right hand, to the elbow, they were burnt black, before the unpleasant smell rose to Masaki’s and Mayumi’s nose, the smell of burnt protein.
647
648“Ugh…!”
649
650Mayumi held her mouth. She seemed to have a nausea due to the smell instead of the sight.
651
652Masaki was staring at the sight and forgot to pull the trigger of his CAD.
653
654From the right hand that was still burning, a sword of flame was coming out.
655
656The flame swirling around the sword, a double-edged stick, wrapping around it like a dragon.
657
658If Mikihoko had been present, he would have identified the sword.
659
660Kurikara Sword[30], and.
661
662Two people held the swords, and they plunged at Masaki.
663
664The four of them, they had no time to ask any questions. Masaki put his specialized CAD into his right hand and operated a general-purpose CAD on his left wrist to put up a barrier.
665
666However, this barrier was easily torn down by the sword in a single swing.
667
668Kurikara Sword was a Kōmanoriken[31]. It cut through the “magic”. By that logic, it had the power to cut through the phenomenon that was altered by magic.
669
670“Impossible!”
671
672While his barrier was torn apart, Masaki shouted in reflex.
673
674The sword swung in front of his eyes.
675
676A gust of wind blew from the side and hit the two traditionalist magicians.
677
678“Ichijou-kun, slash the magic!”
679
680In spite of the few words that were said to him, Masaki understood Mayumi’s warning. The gust of wind was created by a phenomenon modification. Not the magic itself, it was a result of an ongoing phenomenon re-writing process. The effect of the flaming sword, fell short.
681
682Masaki re-gripped his red CAD which had fallen from his right hand.
683
684The Magic Activation Selector was placed on the trigger.
685
686Their right hands were getting thinner——burnt down over a period of time——the six traditionalists raised their flaming sword all at once.
687
688The look on their faces expressed anguish.
689
690Masaki fully understood that these magicians had no conscious of what they were doing.
691
692——These magicians were only flesh puppets.
693
694——In place of the threads which manipulated marionettes, he used magic to manipulate their limbs.
695
696Masaki pointed his red CAD at the bodies of the six puppets.
697
698——The magic which controlled them was slashed?
699
700——My “Explosion” should not have resulted in such a lousy thing.
701
702Masaki pulled his trigger six times in succession.
703
704The dolls protected the flaming swords with their bodies. It was a poised magic defense.
705
706Neither Masaki nor Mayumi knew what good that would do.
707
708After all, it had no meaning.
709
710The feet of the traditionalists who were just meat puppets had burst open.
711
712Red flowers bloomed.
713
714The flowers bloomed in the air, due to the red blood cells which were scattered from the skin after the plasma was vaporized.
715
716Masaki adjusted his “Explosion” power, and purposely used it at an un-fatal level just to neutralize the opponents.
717
718In no time, each of the traditionalists had a leg that burst open one after another.
719
720Burst open.
721
722Burst open, again and again.
723
724Six red flowers bloomed, which were immediately scattered by the wind.
725
726The six magicians fell miserably to the ground, with one of their legs bursting open.
727
728Due to the severe pain they experienced, the fire in the swords had extinguished.
729
730Their right hands had carbonized from their elbows; little remained.
731
732One of their legs had ruptured, blood vessels, muscles and skin, with the exception of his bone which turned to shreds.
733
734Mayumi held her mouth at the ghastly sight.
735
736Quite an obstinate young lady from the Ten Master Clans, as the usual reaction would have included some vomiting.
737
738Masaki turned back to face her, there was neither hesitation nor regret on his face.
739
740The same phenomenon occurred before Tatsuya.
741
742The four magicians’ hands were lit on fire.
743
744The difference was here.
745
746Those hands were covered by white mist.
747
748The flame tried to resist the cold air, the cold air went over the skin and burnt them.
749
750The magical flame that was supposed to burn, succumbed to the overwhelming “magic”.
751
752Needless to say, it was Miyuki’s magic.
753
754Miyuki’s magic could freeze the spirit itself, it wouldn’t be difficult for her to freeze a Magic Sequence.
755
756Tatsuya pointed to the enemy’s feet.
757
758The blood from the four enemy’s thighs had blown all at once.
759
760The defeated magicians overturned. The noise of pain arose and shook their control strings.
761
762Vibrations propagated in the reserve direction.
763
764(Over there.)
765
766Tatsuya looked sideways through the bamboo forest, with an unvoiced glare.
767
768A disturbance from in the thread was caused by a Psion, no Psion waves could escape Tatsuya’s “eyes”.
769
770He turned his right hand in the direction of the bushes.
771
772He dealt with the spiders who had rained over his head with his left hand.
773
774The spider disappeared without a trace, simultaneously, a scream from the bushes was heard.
775
776“This still feels awkward.”
777
778Tatsuya soliloquy said so, he tried the prototype of the fully thought-operated CAD bracelet “Silver Torus” instead of the Silver Horn specialized CAD (Torus meant ring rather than Taurus), he was commenting about the combination response.
779
780“Seems like it will take quite some time to master it smoothly.” However, Miyuki mentioned a reverse evaluation.
781
782Both of them had something else to think about, namely the scream behind the bushes and the six people who laid before their eyes. However, Tatsuya knew that the Houjutsu user wouldn’t be able to escape due to the pain, Miyuki also believed that there wasn’t any prey that could flee her brother.
783
784
785
786
787
788Tatsuya threw the Houjustu user that he had dragged out of the bushes. The man was quite old, he appeared to be at least in his 60’s.
789
790The Houjutsu user was forced to regain consciousness violently. He stabbed himself with a long needle through his waist, apparently shutting off the pain from being shot at the thigh. Tatsuya wondered if it was a kind of acupuncture method.
791
792The Houjutsu user only did that, he did not resist any further. It seemed like he was hit by a wave of pain again the moment he tried to use magic. He was hesitating as if he should beg for mercy or if he should just give up.
793
794“Tatsuya-kun, Ichijou-kun, what should we do with them now?” Tatsuya faced Masaki.
795
796The first one to open his mouth was Masaki.
797
798“Originally, I would interrogate this man, but.”
799
800Masaki saw the Houjutsu user who is an old man that sat down on the ground with a defiant face. The only one who still conscious among the assailant group was only this old man.
801
802“He doesn’t seem to be able to give a straightforward answer, since they’ve been defeated, the Ancient Magic ward should also have collapsed.”
803
804“People… Might come, huh?”
805
806“That’s right. I think we can claim that we counterattacked them in legitimate defense, but… Their charred right arms was their own doing.”
807
808“However, an interrogation done by civilians like us is not recognized. We are likely to get arrested due to suspicion of… Torture, unfair arrest, intimidation, assault, right?”
809
810“Exactly my thought.”
811
812“Tatsuya-kun, what do you think?”
813
814“While I don’t think that we’d get arrested, I agree with the other arguments. More importantly, let’s try to ask for a wise detective to hand them over to.”
815
816Mayumi pondered while frowning her eyebrows, before giving up and sighing.
817
818“Let’s contact the police.”
819
820“Senpai, I will contact the police.”
821
822After saying so, Miyuki took out her information terminal.
823
824“Miyuki-san, I’ll leave it in your care.”
825
826While Miyuki called the police, Mayumi and Masaki kept their sight on her.
827
828They were not aware that Tatsuya was watching the Buddhist sect traditionalists that laid on the ground.
829
830Both of them also did not realize that Tatsuya did not focus his eyes on the injuries.
831
832
833
834
835
836In the end, Tatsuya’s group investigation of Mt. Arashi ended with being questioned by the police.
837
838Their wounds must have been too severe. The detective who handled them didn’t seem to complicit things even under the name of Saegusa and Ichijou.
839
840Moreover, the detective in charge seemed to be a little antagonistic towards the Ten Master Clans, he even purposely looked for their mistakes.
841
842Detectives in charge of magic crimes were mostly magicians, but not all were Modern Magicians. In the eastern area, where Modern Magic influence was strong, the police force was also dominated by modern magicians. However, in an area like Kyoto, where there were a lot of Ancient Magicians, they also made up a considerable number of the force, sometimes even more than the modern police officers.
843
844The detective that questioned them was an ancient magician from the Yin-Yang System. Although he was not related to the Buddhist sect, his strong antipathy towards the Ten Master Clans, without a doubt, was affecting the investigation. He kept insisting that they were excessive in their defence, it as quite a mentally exhaustive process. However, Mayumi and Masaki seemed to be able to handle this much, lest they would reach their boiling point and turned everything into a disaster.
845
846Tatsuya had his hands full in suppressing Miyuki’s outburst against the detective who doubted them and even told them that they used excessive force in their own defence.
847
848When they were finally released from the police station, Tatsuya had a significantly lowered tension and returned to the hotel. Fujibayashi was waiting in the room. ——Masaki was going to the station with his bike to travel back to Kanazawa, he rode a long-distance train where he could mount his bike. Mayumi stayed back at the hotel, as she had already booked a room.
849
850“Tatsuya-kun and Miyuki-san, both of you look somewhat tired.”
851
852After a light greeting, the first sentence that came out of Fujibayashi’s mouth was this.
853
854“We were detained by the police.”
855
856“The police? What on earth did you do?”
857
858“We’ll talk about that later. More importantly, how is Minoru’s condition?”
859
860Tatsuya asked so while sitting in front of Fujibayashi. Miyuki also sat beside her brother.
861
862Minoru had slept. Judging from his sleeping face, seemed like he had calmed down.
863
864“He slept after the medicine worked. He was suffering quite a bit until not long ago.”
865
866Fujibayashi answered with a clouded face. From her facial expression, it could be seen that it was not “a little misfit of health”.
867
868“…Hey, Tatsuya-kun. Can I ask you a favour?”
869
870“What is it?”
871
872Tatsuya returned the question to Fujibayashi.
873
874She averted her eyes subtly, hesitating to answer the question.
875
876Fujibayashi told the content of her “favour”, after the long hand of the clock had rotated a single round.
877
878“It’s about Minoru-kun’s body.”
879
880Tatsuya listened to Fujibayashi in silence.
881
882“This child, had undergone all sorts of medical check-ups and was declared healthy. Even from his nervous system to his immune system, there are no anomalies. Yet, why is he so susceptible to disease, even the doctors couldn’t figure out the reason.”
883
884“Second Lieutenant, I don’t have any medical knowledge, you know?”
885
886“If that were my goal I would go see a hermit monk instead.”
887
888“Naturally. Then, what is it?”
889
890“I… not only me, but all the researchers from the Fujibayashi Family have the same opinion of the source of Minoru’s weak constitution, I suspect that the reason lies in the Psion-body.”
891
892The Psion body, was one of the various names for Eidos, which records physical information, it was a flesh-like existence. In theory, it should be called an ethereal body, however that conclusion has yet to be concluded.
893
894The Psion body is backed by the body itself. Humans are trained to control their body movements regardless of Psion’s through the nerve pulses which conduct the movement of the body. Furthermore, by controlling the information of the parts that were linked with the internal organs, it was possible to fix the visceral function, or even to strengthen them.
895
896For magicians like Tatsuya, the idea of upsetting the Psion body that modulates the body was simply an impossibility.
897
898“What would you like me to do?”
899
900The Psion body can affect the body. It was a popular idea in the magic community. In fact, many researchers did some studies on this subject. The Fujibayashi Family’s researchers would be one of them. Tatsuya had never thought that he would be asked to investigate the matter himself.
901
902“I want you to take a look at Minoru-kun’s Psion body with your Elemental Sight.”
903
904Tatsuya was flooded with unexpected feelings. Not only Tatsuya, but also Miyuki who had been sitting beside him in silence.
905
906“As far as I know, Tatsuya-kun, you can analyse the Psion information body. However, it is entirely up to you to do it. I’m not asking you to cure Minoru-kun’s constitution. I just want to know of the cause.”
907
908That was right on the spot. It was not unnatural for her to think so, as she knew of Tatsuya’s power. However…
909
910“Lieutenant Fujibayashi. Do you fully understand what it means to ‘show’ me that much information?”
911
912Tatsuya’s eyes read the information, “What were you made from”.
913
914From what materials, how did you come into existance.
915
916What was the fundamental cause, which could result in such a condition.
917
918His “eye” can read the structural information, and analyse the cause and effect. The target of his “eye” was the “roots” of a human being called Kudou Minoru.
919
920“Please. I will take full responsibility.”
921
922“I understand.”
923
924No one could take that kind of responsibility. Tatsuya knew this, and nodded.
925
926Fujibayashi herself should have known about that. She promised to take the responsibility of something she couldn’t bear. Tatsuya didn’t understand why she would go that far. However, if it was only to see the current state of Minoru, there was no demerit for him. He had also been troubling Fujibayashi with a lot of things, so he planned to go along with her request at least that much.
927
928He directed his “eyes” to the sleeping Minoru. Since he was sleeping from the medicines effect, he shouldn’t be able to resist the “sight” which was directed at him. As Tatsuya thought, access to the Psion body of Minoru proceeded smoothly.
929
930“Onii-sama.”
931
932Not even a single second had passed, when he was pulled back to reality by Miyuki’s voice. Tatsuya was covered with sweat.
933
934“I’m ok, don’t worry.”
935
936After he said so, a smile bloomed on his sister’s face.
937
938Miyuki immediately showed a relieved expression, and headed to the bathroom with brisk steps.
939
940She came back with a wet towel in her hand.
941
942“I’ll do it myself.”
943
944“No, Onii-sama. Please let me do it for you.”
945
946Without further argument, Tatsuya allowed Miyuki to wipe the sweat from his face.
947
948“Tatsuya-kun… How was it?”
949
950Fujibayashi asked him, after he finished wiping the sweat on his face.
951
952Tatsuya figured out in that instance what the Fujibayashi, no, the Kudou Family had made a great deal of to create. He was able to see the roots of Minoru, and had gotten to know the secret of his birth.
953
954However, even with an entire explanation, Tatsuya would only answer of what she asked.
955
956“As you’ve said. I believe Minoru is healthy, his fragility is due to the abundance of his magic power. His body cannot tolerate the strong Psion pressure within him.”
957
958“In other words, his magic is simply too strong is that what’s affecting his body?”
959
960“The Psion body is the container of Psion’s within the human body. The pressure concept is similar to the concept of gas pressure, where the amount of Psion’s and the usage capacity are determined. In Minoru’s case, his Psion’s move about too violently even for a magician to handle.”
961
962“The pressure of the Psion’s… Is damaging the Psion body?”
963
964“Although it’s a little hard to imagine, the Psion body consists of thin pipes with countless branches and turns, in the same shape as the human body. The pressure within these pipes is too overwhelming that it breaks parts of the pipes, which in turn give a feedback that damages the body.”
965
966Fujibayashi was about to scream. However, Tatsuya continued his words.
967
968“I don’t know if I should say that this is a fortunate one, the pipe of his Psion body was torn due to the Psion pressure. His Psion’s have been very active and it actually is actively repairing the tear. The tear and the repair of the Psion body happens in a short cycle. I think that is the main cause of Minoru’s weak constitution.”
969
970“It would not remain broken, right…?”
971
972“I think, he has more power to repair those than the average magicians.”
973
974Fujibayashi showed an expression of relief on her face. However, her beauty was to be soon clouded in sorrow.
975
976“But, I wonder what can we do?”
977
978“The most direct way is to limit Psion activity, but it also means that will cause shackles to be put upon him as a magician. His family wouldn’t want him to lower his magic capabilities. Then, the only choice is to strengthen his Psion body.”
979
980“How?”
981
982“I don’t know that much.”
983
984Fujibayashi hid her facial expression with a bow. She might not want to show the conflict that happened on the surface. If you think about Minoru first, to limit his magic power is the first solution. However, magic is Minoru’s foothold, him being a good magician is a part of his identity.
985
986Tatsuya did not think that Minoru would be happy to live in a healthy body at the price of his magic. Yet, it must have been hard for his family more than himself, to see him spending a quarter of his time in a hospital bed.
987
988“…Thank you. It should be sufficient enough information. I’ll try to consult with the experts later.”
989
990Fujibayashi said so with a bow.
991
992
993
994
995
996Minoru woke up approximately 30 minutes later. By that time, Fujibayashi had regained full reign of her emotions. She worked hard in order not to show Minoru her horrible face.
997
998“Minoru-kun, how do you feel?”
999
1000“I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”
1001
1002Minoru deeply bowed in response of his question. No, he was about to do so.
1003
1004Before Tatsuya interrupted with his hand, and straightened Minoru to see his eyes.
1005
1006“There is no need to lower your head. Even if you didn’t neglect your health, your body has a weak constitution, right? It’s not your fault. You can’t take responsibility and lower your head for something you have no control over.”
1007
1008Tatsuya’s voice was strong. But more soothing than comforting, with a chiding tone. He was scolding Minoru with “you’ve felt too much guilt”, and encouraged Minoru after.
1009
1010“Sorry, no, thank you.”
1011
1012Minoru agreed with Tatsuya.
1013
1014Tatsuya did not say anything this time.
1015
1016“Then, Tatsuya-kun.”
1017
1018Fujibayashi asked him, “Can we hear about your case in the police that we dismissed earlier?”, before re-enacting “Welcome back~ Tatsuya-kun, Miyuki. Huh? Lieutenant Fujibayashi-san?”
1019
1020“Lieutenant Fujibayashi? Ah, Tatsuya reached here first.”
1021
1022“We’re back, Tatsuya. Well, Lieutenant Fujibayashi-san, long time no see.”
1023
1024Mikihiko’s group who went to the Thesis Competition venue had come back. They were uniformly surprised that Fujibayashi had shown up.
1025
1026“Today, I’m not here for a military mission. You can stop calling me lieutenant and call me Fujibayashi.”
1027
1028Fujibayashi smiled to see their surprise with an “adult smile”. Erika was of the same sex, and Leo didn’t really care about it. The only one person left, reacted like a normal youth. It might be very fortunate that Mizuki was not around.
1029
1030Erika was sitting on the opposite side of the futon where Minoru slept. As compared to Miyuki who sat elegantly, Erika’s siting pose was straight and neat, they had different flavours, but their figures were similar.
1031
1032“Minoru-kun, how are you doing?”
1033
1034“I-I’m alright now. Sorry to make you worry.”
1035
1036Erika was certainly a beauty, however, Minoru’s face was objectively better. Yet everyone would be agitated at those friendly smiles that were cuter than his appropriate age. One thing, Erika spoke in a friendly manner, he had no experience with an overly-familiar girl in his surroundings.
1037
1038“I see.”
1039
1040Seems like Erika also noticed the TPO, she did not make a joke out of Minoru’s reaction.
1041
1042Tatsuya repositioned himself to the center of the room. Miyuki followed her brother. Fujibayashi moved beside Minoru, Minami moved to Miyuki’s side instead. Erika sat in front of Tatsuya, while Leo and Mikihiko sat down. Hence, everyone was seated in a circle.
1043
1044“Let’s exchange information from today’s results.”
1045
1046“I’ll start first.”
1047
1048Mikihiko agreed to start first.
1049
1050“Even so, there is almost nothing to say. We didn’t find any locations likely to be a hideout at all. There wasn’t any feedback from the Shikigami either. Moreover, there are many police officers making rounds since yesterday. With that, even if there is a threat of foreign spies, I doubt it will grow as big as last year.”
1051
1052“Thanks for touting your body, the safety of the Thesis Competition is assured.”
1053
1054“Touting my body, well, you can put it that way too.”
1055
1056Mikihiko’s face did not falter, but Erika was pitching at Leo with their regular gig, “That’s your role”, “What did you say!”, so nobody cared about them and left them alone.
1057
1058“In other words, we have succeeded in searching for the foreign spies that targeted the Thesis Competition, since there were none.”
1059
1060“Yesterday’s capture was enough of an achievement right. The police seemed to enter their hideout, we can leave the rest to the authorities. Originally, the investigation work is also a part of police work.”
1061
1062“Onii-sama, you don’t have to say that so blatantly[32].” At Miyuki’s rebuttal, Tatsuya continued his report.
1063
1064“We were attacked at the foot of Mt. Ogura.”
1065
1066“The foot of Mt. Ogura, isn’t that in the Arashiyama district at Kameyama Park?”
1067
1068Tatsuya nodded as an affirmation to Minoru, before continuing with his explanation.
1069
1070“There were 13 assailants. 12 from the Buddhist sect, and one exiled Houjutsu user who was controlling them. All of them are in police custody.”
1071
1072“It’s an obvious result with Tatsuya-kun, Miyuki and the heir of the Ichijou Family in the battle. They wouldn’t win even with 10 times the numbers.”
1073
1074“They weren’t that easy.”
1075
1076Tatsuya smiled wryly and suddenly remembered the earlier question.
1077
1078“Mikihiko, the attackers wielded a double-edge sword with snakes, or dragon fire wrapped around it. Do you know what kind of magic it was?”
1079
1080Although he threw in a sudden question, Mikihiko reacted immediately. Still he only answered 10 seconds later.
1081
1082“…That should be the ‘Kurikara-ken’.”
1083
1084“The sword from Acala[33]’s possession?”
1085
1086“Yes, it is a magic that borrows its power from the sword of Acala. The symbol of power that can annihilate ‘magic’. When it faces Modern Magic, the sword will activate the Eidos and become a kind of counter-magic to destroy the overwritten Magic Sequence.”
1087
1088“Hee… To have such magic, Ancient Magic is quite powerful too, huh.”
1089
1090Mikihiko frowned at Erika, which was in response with “Poro”. He felt her words were looking down on Ancient Magic. However, Erika wasn’t insensitive enough not to realize that she was rude, even if she wanted to rephrase her words, it was too late.
1091
1092“I’m amazed that they have magicians that can operate such a high level magic. Kurikara-ken is very difficult to maintain in nature, since the magicians themselves would be disabled in order to maintain the magic.”
1093
1094“What will happen if you force others to use it?”
1095
1096“That’s kind of impossible. The origin of magic activation is in the hands of the magician, it consist of a Kurikara-ken spell that can’t be touched by others. The blade will automatically disable any magic that comes into contact with the flame, so there is a need to hold it with a little gap in the magician’s hand. There isn’t a magician capable of doing such a thing… Though, it’s another story altogether if he forced others to wield it.”
1097
1098“After forcing them to use it, what would happen to the person?”
1099
1100“Their hands would burn.”
1101
1102“Eehh!?”
1103
1104Erika shouted out loud. Miyuki knitted her eyebrows down uncomfortably.
1105
1106“Despite being formed with a magic, Kurikara-ken’s flame is real. Given that fact, it’s only natural if your hands burn after you wield it right? There was even a rumour that the sword was purposely thrown at the enemy to use, in order to burn their hands, however, that was not the Sword of Wisdom that was the Sword of Evil.”
1107
1108Tatsuya and Miyuki stared at each other secretly. They decided not to tell them the full story with that eye contact.
1109
1110“I see, that was quite masterful.”
1111
1112“You’re really something, Tatsuya, to be able to beat that kind of opponent unscathed.”
1113
1114“Thanks to Miyuki and Ichijou. Then, about what we’ll do next.”
1115
1116“Eh? Aren’t we going to check out the hotel today and return to Tokyo?”
1117
1118As Erika said, they originally planned to check out in the evening and go back to Tokyo.
1119
1120“Yes, you guys can go back to Tokyo first. I’m staying for another night. Tomorrow, I’m going to the police station in order to listen to the testimony of the captured assailants.”
1121
1122“I’m same with Onii-sama.”
1123
1124“Miyuki.”
1125
1126Tatsuya interrupted Miyuki’s words in the middle.
1127
1128“You’re the student council president. It’s not good for you to take a leave of absence for two days in a row.”
1129
1130Tatsuya was far more important to Miyuki than school, however, since she was ordered with a firm tone, she did not rebel.
1131
1132“I understand.”
1133
1134“Then, I’ll stay here! You always need an intermediary with the police.”
1135
1136“Erika, don’t look for an excuse to skip the school.”
1137
1138“Skip school!? How could you!”
1139
1140Tatsuya turned away from Erika to Mikihiko.
1141
1142“Regardless to say, it’s best for the Public Morals Committee Chief not to skip two days in a row either.”
1143
1144“If it’s ok with Tatsuya.”
1145
1146“I must investigate something else a little bit more.”
1147
1148Mikihiko and Leo knew Tatsuya’s “stance”. Erika had figured out the details. Once he said this, they could only back down.
1149
1150
1151
1152
1153
1154Miyuki and the others went to the station and Tatsuya returned to the hotel. It took quite some time to put Miyuki on the train, but somehow he managed to get her on a train to Tokyo. He was prepared to cancel his plan when he saw her with tearful eyes while saying “Onii-sama, please take care” in his right hand’s embrace, it seemed like he was thinking too much.
1155
1156Minoru was supposed to go back home with Fujibayashi since his condition was stable. Minoru himself seemed to want to help with the investigation tomorrow, however he had his own share of absences. He agreed to return home after Fujibayashi, whom he regards as an older sister, had rebuked him strongly.
1157
1158Fortunately, the hotel still had other empty rooms. Tatsuya moved to a single western-style room from a Japanese-style room, since it was too big for a single occupant. Soon after, Tatsuya met Mayumi at lounge.
1159
1160“Tatsuya-kun, is it ok for you to skip school? Though I’m not qualified to say such a thing either.”
1161
1162“No, I have decided myself to first investigate further.”
1163
1164“Is that connected to… that work?”
1165
1166There were other people in the lounge. She couldn’t afford to expand the sound barrier field in a place such as this. Mayumi rephrased her words due to this circumstance.
1167
1168“Yes, so you need not be worried, Senpai.”
1169
1170“Honestly, I appreciate that. I already feel that I’ve troubled you so much today.” Tatsuya changed the subject after shaking his head.
1171
1172“Anyway, about tomorrow, Senpai, can you wait for me here again?”
1173
1174“Here… do you mean at the hotel!?”
1175
1176When Tatsuya nodded, Mayumi visibly repaired her mood.
1177
1178“Was I really a hindrance? Well, I may not have been really useful today.”
1179
1180“No such thing.”
1181
1182Tatsuya shook his head and laughed.
1183
1184“I have high regards for Senpai’s ability.”
1185
1186Tatsuya said so while looking straight at Mayumi’s eyes.
1187
1188Mayumi diverted her eyes while blushing.
1189
1190“Then why did you ask me to stay behind?”
1191
1192“It’s not because of the danger.”
1193
1194Mayumi probably thought that he would answer “Because it’s dangerous”. She looked back at Tatsuya with an “Eh?” expression.
1195
1196“The situation was not so obvious today, but tomorrow will be a little rougher. I do not want to show such things to a girl. Especially a lady like Senpai.” Mayumi diverted her eyes from Tatsuya yet again.
1197
1198“It’s alright. Despite my looks, I’m used to this kind of thing.”
1199
1200Certainly, she even won over the “Man-Eating Tiger” in the battle field of Yokohama. She might be able to take the roughness, but the conversation had gone in an awkward direction.
1201
1202“Even so, I don’t want to let you see such things.”
1203
1204Tatsuya pressed again, unwilling to give up. Mayumi still looked away, and began to put her hands together and massaged her hands with her fingers.
1205
1206“If that’s the case, then I can’t do anything.”
1207
1208By the time she said those words, she had completely turned away, Mayumi’s body was trembling lightly even without her noticing it.
1209
1210“…That was close.”
1211
1212Mayumi returned her gaze to Tatsuya. Her eyes were narrowed with hints of suspicion.
1213
1214“I was about to get caught in your hand.”
1215
1216Tatsuya opened his hands, and shook his head lamely at Mayumi who was glaring at him.
1217
1218“I was not deceiving you. I truly don’t want a lady to see such a scene.”
1219
1220“Onee-san will not be fooled.”
1221
1222Mayumi still glared at Tatsuya. Tatsuya chose not to care about it.
1223
1224He had no memory that he was ever trying to trick Mayumi, yet, apparently Mayumi had a strange belief.
1225
1226It was unmistakably his true feelings, when he said that he didn’t want to show a lady such a scene.
1227
1228However, he couldn’t afford to be glared at forever.
1229
1230“…Very well. In exchange, please don’t faint at anything you see, ok?” Tatsuya succumbed and Mayumi laughed happily for some reason.
1231
1232“I’m fine. Despite how I look, I’m still an adult.”
1233
1234Unreliable, Tatsuya thought so, but of course he wouldn’t purposely say such thing from his mouth.
1235
1236
1237
1238
1239
1240“Ah, thank goodness. You arrived safely.”
1241
1242“Miyuki was quite anxious since Onii-sama was not around.”
1243
1244“It’s ok, I’m always looking after you. My ‘eye’ has never left you.”
1245
1246“That’s right. I’m sorry.”
1247
1248“It’s not something to apologize over. I’m the one who was supposed to say so because of this sudden change, I’ll be surely back by tomorrow, so please be sure to lock the door and rest tonight.”
1249
1250“Dear, Onii-sama, I’m too old to be treated like a child.”
1251
1252“No matter how old you are, you will still be my sister.”
1253
1254“…I think that’s what a father says to his daughter though.”
1255
1256“You don’t want our father to say that to you right?”
1257
1258“That’s right. Then, I’ll do as Onii-sama said, I will lock up carefully and rest well tonight. Onii-sama, good night.”
1259
1260“It’s a little early, but, good night, Miyuki.”
1261
1262Soon after he finished calling Miyuki, the room door where Tatsuya was staying was knocked on. He went to the front door, and turned on the installed monitor. Mayumi was reflected in the screen.”
1263
1264“What happened? At this hour…”
1265
1266Tatsuya opened the door, and Mayumi asked so. Even though it was still 8 P.M., it wasn’t the time for a young women to be visiting a man who wasn’t her lover.
1267
1268At the very least, that was what Tatsuya thought, though apparently Mayumi had a different stance.
1269
1270“Tatsuya-kun, you haven’t had your meal right? Why don’t we eat together?”
1271
1272Certainly, Tatsuya had not had his meal, but he could easily do so in a public dining room. Although he had no intention to dine at the luxurious restaurant within the hotel.
1273
1274“At the restaurant?”
1275
1276“Yes, I reserved seats at the front desk just now, since he told me there were free seats. It’s French cuisine.”
1277
1278Apparently, she had decided that he would escort her.
1279
1280He had to be careful not to show a sullen expression.
1281
1282“I understand. Could you wait at the lobby while I change?”
1283
1284“It’s fine as it is.”
1285
1286“I won’t go if you insist on that.”
1287
1288
1289
1290
1291
1292Although Mayumi’s dress was not so formal as a cocktail dress, the A-line black one piece with lace on top could be seen as glamorous attire. Moreover, she wore appropriate shoes and accessories to complement the dress, it was not an appearance you could afford to be wearing for daily activities.
1293
1294Tatsuya closed the door with a strained smile.
1295
1296“Wah! Tatsuya-kun, it suits you well.”
1297
1298“Not as much as you.”
1299
1300Tatsuya’s words were based on the fact rather than humility. What he was wearing was a suit and tie that was prepared for emergency cases, to meet the minimum standard of the dress code.
1301
1302“Then, let’s sit down.”
1303
1304This restaurant had not been as formal as what Tatsuya expected. There was no waiter, only a waitress who guided them.
1305
1306“Here you go.”
1307
1308Tatsuya pulled a chair out for Mayumi.
1309
1310“Oh dear, thank you.”
1311
1312Mayumi sat in the chair and smiled over her shoulder.
1313
1314Tatsuya sat on the opposite side, Mayumi opened her menu book to choose her course. It was a rare type, having been printed on paper.
1315
1316“Tatsuya-kun, what will you have?”
1317
1318“Let’s see. I will go with this course.”
1319
1320“I see~. I think the À la carte is also good, but since this is my first time, it’s safer to go by this course.”
1321
1322After their exchanges, the both of them ordered the same course for two.
1323
1324There were no noteworthy events during the meal.
1325
1326Since they weren’t sure if they were being spied on. They couldn’t talk about the incident.
1327
1328When suddenly Mayumi complained “It’s inconvenient not to be able to use the sound barrier field”, Tatsuya focused his eyes.
1329
1330He found out that within the past two days. The people of Kyoto were unfriendly to magicians. Since the Magic Association HQ was placed here, Tatsuya thought, the locals would at least be neutral, however it was the exact opposite.
1331
1332——Did something happen between the Association and the locals.
1333
1334He ended up thinking about such thing. That was the reason he hid his CAD in his sleeve slightly above his wrist. Tatsuya thought that he should avoid acting like a magician here.
1335
1336However Mayumi did not wear her CAD. He could only wonder about the reason, whether to avoid the hostility of the people in the surroundings, or simply because it didn’t fit in with the style she wore today.
1337
1338The eventful night started while he was enjoying a dessert with coffee. Mayumi saw this and asked him to accompany her to the bar.
1339
1340“I don’t need to say this after all this time, but I’m still a high school student.”
1341
1342“Well, nobody here thinks that you’re a high school student. Since you aren’t wearing your uniform, you don’t look like one.”
1343
1344Mayumi’s remark was without harmful intention. Nevertheless, Tatsuya received a slight shock.
1345
1346Perhaps, due to that shock, Tatsuya was successfully forced to the front of the bar.
1347
1348Once they got in, Mayumi closed the distance between her mouth and Tatsuya’s ear.
1349
1350“ ‘Senpai’ is prohibited here, so can you call me Mayumi?”
1351
1352“…Why?”
1353
1354Tatsuya replied a single tempo later. Even if he didn’t show it, he was quite disturbed by Mayumi’s pace.
1355
1356“If you call me Senpai, they’d know that we’re Senpai-kouhai from school right? I’ll call you ‘Tatsuya-san’ too.” He wondered if Mayumi wanted to do role-playing.
1357
1358“It would be troublesome if they think you’re a student.”
1359
1360With that reason, Mayumi pulled Tatsuya by the arm to the bar. It was a small size, counter-only shop.
1361
1362There were only a pair of customer in the back who were a couple.
1363
1364The bartender only glanced at the two who just came in, and continued to steer (lightly stir the cocktail that he was making).
1365
1366Mayumi sat at the other side of the counter, followed by Tatsuya next to her.
1367
1368“Master, can I get an Alexander. Tatsuya-san, what do you want?”
1369
1370“One Summer Delight.”
1371
1372The well-toned bartender fixed his eyes at Tatsuya. He nodded soon after without saying anything, and took out a large cup in his hand.
1373
1374After some observation, not only was his skin well-toned, his body was well-built and firm. Even though his behaviour was crisp, he made an impression that he had received some specialized combat training in the past. What did he do in the past… Tatsuya couldn’t help but wonder.
1375
1376“Why did you order a non-alcoholic beverage?”
1377
1378Yet, Mayumi was intrigued by Tatsuya’s order. The content of Summer Delight was lime juice syrup and carbonated water. It was indeed a non-alcoholic cocktail as she had said.
1379
1380“Please forgive me, Mayumi Ojou-sama.”
1381
1382“Huh?”
1383
1384“I must not dampen my response in the case of an emergency as your escort.”
1385
1386“Huh? Huh?”
1387
1388Mayumi probably looking forward to enjoying being a pretend lover. However, as expected, it was contrary to Tatsuya’s principles.
1389
1390The bartender waved the shaker tenderly and poured out a brown- chestnut colored liquid into a transparent glass, before serving the beverage to Mayumi.
1391
1392He spoke to Tatsuya instead of Mayumi.
1393
1394“Customer, are you a bodyguard? You are young, yet you look considerably strong.”
1395
1396“I’m only an apprentice.”
1397
1398“You are very humble.”
1399
1400The bartender took out a new shaker, he poured in lime juice and red Grenadine syrup. After fully pouring the mixture into the glass, he added a small amount of sugar syrup.
1401
1402With a nimble movement. He poured in the carbonated water into the glass and served the beverage to Tatsuya.
1403
1404“Customer, with all due respect.”
1405
1406The bartender said so before asking Tatsuya.
1407
1408The couple sitting at the other end of the counter were in their own world, and weren’t listening to their conversation.
1409
1410“Customers, are you not magicians?”
1411
1412Tatsuya didn’t show a surprised face.
1413
1414“If you can figure that out, Master, you too are a magician right?”
1415
1416The couple left their seat. The bartender sent the two a polite bow.
1417
1418When the bartender was washing the dishes, he continued the conversation.
1419
1420“It’s an old story. I lost my power as magician due to an accident during training.”
1421
1422“I see. Pardon my rudeness.”
1423
1424The bartender shook his head in response to Tatsuya’s apology.
1425
1426“As I’ve said, it’s an old story. Furthermore, I’m the one who started this conversation.” In that instance, Mayumi spoke with a stuffy voice.
1427
1428“Master, give me a second one.”
1429
1430“Ojou-sama, would you slow down your pace a little…”
1431
1432“I’m fine. Tatsuya-san who doesn’t want to drink sake should just stay out of it.”
1433
1434Apparently, she didn’t like that Tatsuya kept talking to the bartender. Or perhaps, she didn’t like to be the escorted Ojou-sama.
1435
1436“Pardon my rudeness.”
1437
1438The bartender lowered his head as he interpreted that it was his fault, he returned to washing the dishes while grinning.
1439
1440However, Tatsuya had no intention in stopping the conversation with him despite the situation.
1441
1442“Master, I have something that I’d like to ask.”
1443
1444Although the bartender asked him through an eye gesture, “Is it ok to leave her alone?”, Tatsuya never took Mayumi’s mood into account.
1445
1446“Is there any problem between the Magic Association and the local residents of Kyoto?”
1447
1448“Why do you ask of such thing?”
1449
1450“It might be my false impression, but the people in this city don’t seem to have a good impression of magicians.”
1451
1452“Ah, you noticed that the Kyoto locals are not so friendly to magicians.”
1453
1454The bartender wiped his hands with a towel. He began to polish the glasses with his dry hands. Tatsuya observed the process, all of his products were not made by machines, and he thought that it really looked like a stage setting than a bar.
1455
1456“There wasn’t any big trouble in particular. There were stacks of minor misunderstandings. From outsider’s point of view, it was a very common thing to say. However, since the other party was a magician, the people in this area had overreacted.”
1457
1458Tatsuya had an unsatisfied face. The bartender handed out a small dish with a single piece of chocolate.
1459
1460“The lady over there, please help yourself.”
1461
1462“Thank you very much.”
1463
1464Tatsuya received the dish and placed it before Mayumi.
1465
1466Mayumi grasped the one piece chocolate and put it in her mouth, while turning away, likely in a gesture of a “hmph”.
1467
1468Tatsuya smiled wryly at the bartender.
1469
1470The bartender laughed through both his mouth and eyes, while continuing the conversation.
1471
1472“It might be fuelled by the existence of the Magic Association HQ’s. The locals might have felt that the magicians had taken over the city.
1473
1474Even though they weren’t hijacking it, there were still magicians who lived here who were also residents of Kyoto, but.”
1475
1476“Although you’ve lost your magic, you understand us, but for non-magicians, magicians are a fearful existence. As humans who cannot use magic they wouldn’t stand a chance against a magician. Furthermore, they don’t know what magicians will do to them, whether to restrict them or to wound them, or worst, to kill them, I understand their anxiety of this.” The bartender cut in when Tatsuya was about to continue.
1477
1478“There’s no room for resisting, even with a gun. However, please consider the other end. For locals who aren’t magicians, magicians are mysterious creatures with an invisible gun. Kyoto residents are not special, such things happens in every other city.” Mayumi left the bar, with a pretty strange step.
1479
1480(That’s why I told her that three cups was too much.)
1481
1482Tatsuya complained in his heart, yet it was too late. He didn’t know that the alcohol content in that cocktail was more than 20%.
1483
1484“Senpai, it’s your room, please get a hold of yourself.”
1485
1486“Yeah, thanks, Tatsuya-kun.”
1487
1488Mayumi felt like she could fall asleep at any moment. He had delivered her safely to her room, so Tatsuya’s mission was supposed to be over, yet.
1489
1490“Ugh.”
1491
1492After seeing Mayumi sit down and slurp in front of her room door, as expected, even he, couldn’t say “Excuse me” and leave her here.
1493
1494“Senpai, where do you keep your key?”
1495
1496“Here…”
1497
1498Mayumi shook the card key in her hand. And for some reason, she was about to put it in her chest, Tatsuya snatched the key immediately.
1499
1500(…What in the world did she want me to do, this person.)
1501
1502
1503
1504
1505
1506When he recalled the horror briskly, Tatsuya unlocked the door.
1507
1508Fortunately, there wasn’t any underwear scattered in the room like in a popular fiction setting. “Saegusa-senpai, please sleep in the bed.”
1509
1510“Yea, I know…”
1511
1512Tatsuya learnt one thing. Mayumi was the type to regress into an infant when she was drunk. Seems like he was surrounded by these type of people. It might still be better than crying and hugging, but it didn’t change the fact that it was time-consuming to take care of.
1513
1514Mayumi walked to her bed, Tatsuya supported her, since she was staggering.
1515
1516Tatsuya led Mayumi to the bed side that way.
1517
1518“Senpai, you’ve reached the bed. It’s better to take off your clothes, lest your precious dress be crumpled.
1519
1520What do you want?”
1521
1522“Help me undress.”
1523
1524Hearing the expected answer, Tatsuya’s head began to earnestly ache.
1525
1526
1527
1528
1529
1530Monday, October 22nd. Tatsuya went to Mt. Arashi, Sagano again. It was the place where he was attacked by the traditionalists the day before.
1531
1532Mayumi was sleeping in the hotel due to feeling sick. Needless to say, it’s a hangover. Tatsuya thought that this is the only positive effect of last night’s incident.
1533
1534There were no signs of the police. At the very least, there was no one investigating yesterday’s incident. Seems like the detective who hated the Ten Master Clans had no willingness to do a decent investigation on yesterday’s review. Or perhaps, another emergency had arose. Either way, it was advantageous for Tatsuya not to pay any concern for being in the eyes of the police.
1535
1536Tatsuya stood at the gate, he recalled the information that he had gotten yesterday. It was similar to a state of hibernation since he wasn’t hurt yesterday, and there hadn’t been a release of Psion waves to get in his way, the possibility of fainting due to recalling this information had been kept to a minimum, he opened the data of “where they had come from”. The coordinates of the traditionalists’ groups’ hideout.
1537
1538It would be unnecessarily conspicuous of him to stand still in the middle of the bamboo forest. Hence, Tatsuya went down the road while collating the map from his memory and the data from the information terminal.
1539
1540The destination was easily found.
1541
1542It was a mundanely big house. No, if it was this big, it probably couldn’t be categorized as mundane.
1543
1544At first glance, the rural atmosphere still existed, it was a building similar to those used as meeting places in towns and villages.
1545
1546Tatsuya secretly scanned the building with Elemental Sight from the outside. It seemed that there hadn’t been any hidden traps inside. Tatsuya went through the gate without hesitation.
1547
1548Even after he entered the site, he didn’t feel any sign of magic. However, it was not something that he could confirm just from scanning the outside.
1549
1550He put his hand on the sliding door. Of course, it was locked. It was a double key, electronic and physical. Unfortunately for Tatsuya, he couldn’t obtain either of them. He didn’t have such a handy magic. Therefore, he decided to open the door by magic that he had on his hand.
1551
1552The lock on the door was broken apart.
1553
1554Tatsuya opened the door without hesitation and proceeded inside, the same way as when he passed through the gate. A wheel shaped weapon flew in soon after. The blade had a circular ring with eight spokes extending radially from the center. It was a Buddhist magic tool called Hourin[34], which seemed to be used as a projectile weapon.
1555
1556When Tatsuya dodged the Hourin, it stopped in the air before it went out to break through the door in the reverse direction. The Hourin came flying in from another direction, it carried out the same movement. After some observation, there was an extended thin thread of Psion’s to guide the Hourin.
1557
1558“Yoyo, huh?”
1559
1560The movement was very similar to a yoyo. The rest was simple. Tatsuya dodged, now, the four Hourin, and broke down the yarn of Psion’s.
1561
1562The Hourin flew towards the door and broke through to outside.
1563
1564There was agitation spilling out from the other side of the wall. Tatsuya decomposed the four threads, and closed the distance between him and the magician who was hiding in the optical camouflage in a single jump.
1565
1566The transparent figure was shimmering, and was gripping a blade-like weapon in both hands. This was a magic tool of the Buddhist sect called Dokumeikine[35]. It was a reformed weapon, the same as the earlier “Hourin yoyo”.
1567
1568The Magic Sequence projected off from both ends of Doukumeiki was for lightning magic. It was projected, but had not completely overwritten the Eidos. Disregarding the magic that was about to be activated, Tatsuya used Flash Cast on his palm and slammed it at the opened chest of the shadow.
1569
1570Due to the virtual waves that made vibrations inside solids, and also by active Aerial Mines. The tissues within the body vibrated violently from the point of contact with Tatsuya’s palm. The vibrations spread to the upper body along with the fluids, and the man collapsed. The optical camouflage he used was solved, he had a similar appearance to yesterday’s assailants.
1571
1572Tatsuya ducked his body, while the invisible man approached him from behind——he had clarified that it was optical camouflage instead of transparent body tissues——hastened the steps. Rather than welcoming the opponent’s large swing of his feet like Chinese Martial Arts, Tatsuya raised his foot to hook the opponent’s foot.
1573
1574The invisible man was wavering. His figure was flickering, there was a visual of a man’s back.
1575
1576He used his palm with vibration magic to strike him down. The second assailant laid on the floor.
1577
1578“Even I know how the transparent spell works. Stop wasting my time and show up.”
1579
1580After Tatsuya’s provocation, men within a wide range of ages came out from the shadows. There were 10 of them. Fortunately, there weren’t any women. It wasn’t as if Tatsuya would go easy on woman, but the aftertaste would be quite difficult to forget[36].
1581
1582“Why, the Marishiten[37] way doesn’t work on him…”
1583
1584It’s because your magic is inexperienced, though Tatsuya didn’t say this. Their skill level was low, Tatsuya was sure that it was the cause. If Yakumo used the same spell, even Tatsuya would have difficulty to finding his whereabouts.
1585
1586“Bind and curse him!”
1587
1588One of the men shouted out the instruction. He didn’t appear to be the oldest, but Tatsuya felt the strongest magic came from him. Tatsuya set that man who seemed to be the leader as a target.
1589
1590Tatsuya stepped forward daringly to the center area. There wasn’t any furniture or obstructions in the room, just like a Kendo dojo. “So it was not a meeting place, but a dojo”, Tatsuya suddenly thought of that out of nowhere.
1591
1592The 10 magicians surrounded Tatsuya at regular intervals.
1593
1594A regular decagon. Overlapping a pentagon with a 36° interval, or a staggered five-pointed star.
1595
1596Tatsuya jumped, while five of the magicians threw a strap each from their hands.
1597
1598Not towards Tatsuya, but towards each other diagonally.
1599
1600After they threw the straps, they received another end of the strap from another person.
1601
1602The five-pointed star made of a strap with five different colors was pitched.
1603
1604Tatsuya observed it from above.
1605
1606Most probably, the five-pointed stars was some sort of magic that pinches the target in the middle by multiplying pressure from five different directions.
1607
1608However, Tatsuya had no plan to just stand in the center until they completed their magic.
1609
1610The moment the straps were thrown, he flew directly above it.
1611
1612Before he reached the ceiling, he kicked the air and headed to one of the vertices of the fivepointed star.
1613
1614It was a move that was hardly used in a match. Yet, that scene caused the other party to be amazed, it was a peculiar war-specific skill.
1615
1616He created a foothold for his foot, and accelerated through kicking the panel, he punched the magician’s face with the total force of his body weight plus the acquired speed.
1617
1618The magician fell down. The after effect momentum was usually worrisome, but Tatsuya didn’t have time to worry about such things.
1619
1620The five-pointed star formation collapsed. However, this was not the end of their effort.
1621
1622Tatsuya graced a knee kick at the magician next to him before he landed on the floor.
1623
1624The magic was only activated when he wanted to make a foothold. It was only possible since he made it with Flash Cast that had a fast activation speed.
1625
1626The Buddhist sect of traditionalists who had gathered here had by no means weak psyches. Despite their emphasis on asceticism, they were first-class combatants. However, that was only in decent fights. They couldn’t keep up with Tatsuya’s acrobatic movements.
1627
1628By the time they were able to respond to the surprise attack, only five of them remained.
1629
1630Six eyes gazed upon him, while the other two magicians were behind him. One of the magicians behind him had activated a lightning magic.
1631
1632Modern Magic couldn’t generate electrical currents directly at the subject.
1633
1634However, Ancient Magic talent could emit the shock from the magician towards a specific location.
1635
1636This difference usually didn’t matter so much, as the speed of lightning is 100,000 km/s. It was an impossible attack to dodge even for someone who noticed the lightning was coming.
1637
1638Just before the lightning was fired, Tatsuya jumped sideways to interrupt the attack.
1639
1640The magician who casted the lightning had lost sight of Tatsuya. However, it was too late to abort the magic. The lightning struck out from the Doukumeiki Blade and collided with his fellow’s attack.
1641
1642Due to this fact, those magicians were hesitating to use another magic.
1643
1644The gap that was created, provided a sufficient time for Tatsuya.
1645
1646By reflecting a force field, he could obtain a speed equal to self-accelerating magic by supporting his frame, Tatsuya knocked out the remaining traditionalists.
1647
1648
1649
1650
1651
1652This traditionalist magician who served as the base’s leader, awoke due to severe pain piercing his body.
1653
1654He couldn’t think well amidst the pain.
1655
1656However, he couldn’t stay unconsciousness due to the pain.
1657
1658“Are you conscious now? If you understand my words, nod. I’ll loosen the pain a little.” The pain lightened, and the man’s consciousness steeped in, he shook his head hard.
1659
1660As promised, the pain would be reduced a little.
1661
1662His line of sight was hazy due to the severe pain, he regained a little clearer profile.
1663
1664A young man.
1665
1666The man had shaded his own face, to hide it.
1667
1668The leader was trying to join his hands to form a magic.
1669
1670At that instance, severe pain struck his consciousness.
1671
1672“Don’t do any unnecessary things. You only need to answer my questions.” The leader nodded hard, when the voice told him to obey.
1673
1674The pain lowered again.
1675
1676This time, to even allow him to think, yet his hazy sight was still intact.
1677
1678“Zhou Gongjin was here right? The foreign magician who fled from Chinatown in Yokohama.”
1679
1680The leader didn’t have any reason to lie, he nodded honestly.
1681
1682“That man was here until Friday, the 12th. Am I right?”
1683
1684The 12th, 12th… the leader was thinking hard as his head still wasn’t working well. Then, he recalled that Zhou Gongjin was there until Friday, he shook his head vertically over and over.
1685
1686“Where did Zhou Gongjin go?”
1687
1688A new wave of pain struck him. Strangely, he could think clearer.
1689
1690His eyes were still hazy and his limbs couldn’t even lift a finger, yet his mouth could speak freely.
1691
1692“He said he wanted to go to Uji. He said that there was a good hiding place nearby the tomb… I don’t know if it was the truth or a lie… I don’t know.”
1693
1694“Your men have been used as a puppets by the Houjutsu users from the continent, did you give your consent to this?”
1695
1696“I’m not… their teacher… I don’t have any… position to instruct them.”
1697
1698“You are the leader right?”
1699
1700“They were comrades… we’re equals… we don’t receive any orders from among us…”
1701
1702“I understand. Good work.”
1703
1704Immediately, the greatest amount of severe pain passed through the leader’s mind. His consciousness had broken, falling apart.
1705
1706Tatsuya sent a mail to Fujibayashi, regarding the place of these unconscious traditionalist magicians. Finally, he asked her to pick up the traditionalists, he wondered if it was an unnecessary note. Even without the note, Fujibayashi would have arranged to collect them.
1707
1708Tatsuya could weigh the credibility of the information that he elicited from the leader of this base. It was hard to believe the story that there hadn’t existed anything like a chain of command in such a group. He didn’t think it was possible to conduct a collective battle in conjunction only to a share a sense of purpose.
1709
1710However, the information of the hiding place of Zhou Gongjin was consistent with the information Tatsuya obtained from the shaman at Kiyomizu Temple. He decided to believe this fact as both Buddhist monks and the shaman couldn’t have possibly given him the same information just to mislead him, he didn’t plan to doubt them that much. There wasn’t a need for a clear division line for conjectures.
1711
1712Tatsuya decided to report to Hayama that Zhou’s hideout was likely to be around the tomb at Uji, as he needed to go back home today.
1713
1714
1715
1716
1717
1718After finishing his work, he was greeted with ashamed, diverted eyes at the hotel. She didn’t say “Terrible” or “It’s different from your promise” from her mouth, but she was blushing from her cheeks up to her eyes.
1719
1720He had an idea of the cause of her embarrassment.
1721
1722Last night, Tatsuya had received an unreasonable request from a young lady (Mayumi) to strip her from her dress. He stripped her quickly before it became troublesome, and shoved her into her bed with just her underwear. He went out of the room without a seconds glance at her.
1723
1724Even Tatsuya thought that she had been quite wild last night. However, he also had his share. It was good enough that she wasn’t (sexually) assaulted in that situation.——Of course, he didn’t say such a thing out loud.
1725
1726“By-by the way.”
1727
1728Up to here Mayumi who had been quite confident to stand beside him, suddenly entangled her tongue.
1729
1730“Umm, that, I have something to say to Tatsuya-kun.”
1731
1732Tatsuya thought from his heart, “I decline” or something along that line, while remaining silent. He could guess the topic while observing Mayumi’s attitude.
1733
1734“I…”
1735
1736Despite knowing that they were alone in the room, Mayumi looked restlessly to her left and right, as if she was afraid to be heard, she closed the distance between her lips and Tatsuya’s face.
1737
1738“Why… did I sleep with only my underwear?”
1739
1740Because you said you wanted to strip… But this was not the right way to say it, Tatsuya couldn’t find a way to to say this phrase.
1741
1742“Didn’t you do that yourself? No matter how drunk you were, you should have enough discernment as to not remain in your dress while you go to bed right?”
1743
1744Tatsuya took a step from Mayumi’s lips which almost touched him, and answered so innocently.
1745
1746“I wonder if a drunken human could think that much?”
1747
1748“Who knows? Since we’re talking about Senpai here, you should understand yourself better than me right?”
1749
1750“Tatsuya-kun, I.”
1751
1752The perimeter of Mayumi’s eyes reddened with shame, she faced Tatsuya for the first time since he was back.
1753
1754“I can’t hold my liquor much, but I’m the type who remembers everything.”
1755
1756Tatsuya wanted to flee that place at that very moment. Unfortunately for him, he understood that he couldn’t do that in such situation as a man.
1757
1758“…Though I feel that you didn’t have to be that rough.” Certainly, he did shove Mayumi into the bed roughly.
1759
1760However, could he be blamed because of that? He questioned himself when he recalled. Yet, to say “You’re the one who wanted to strip to your underwear” would be a king-cobra-grade boomerang.
1761
1762Mayumi was still looking at Tatsuya shyly.
1763
1764In this very awkward atmosphere, it was a mental labour intense mission to send Mayumi back to the nearest station in order to go home, while Tatsuya waited at the end.
1765
1766
1767
1768
1769
1770The moment Tatsuya opened the house’s gate, the front door opened.
1771
1772“Onii-sama, welcome back.”
1773
1774The one who greeted Tatsuya back was Miyuki, as usual.
1775
1776“I’m home. Sorry for this time.”
1777
1778Miyuki couldn’t hide the color of relief of worry from her face. Logically, it was impossible for Tatsuya to get hurt, but her worries were of a different aspect. Tatsuya said “sorry” since he understood his “crime”.
1779
1780“No. As long as Onii-sama is safe, Miyuki is satisfied enough.” Miyuki shook her head at his apology.
1781
1782Tatsuya immediately went into the house, and proceeded to the living room after taking off his shoes. His travel bag was taken by Minami, while he was sitting with Miyuki on the sofa.
1783
1784There was no meaning in resisting. Rather than giving the service, he was probably receiving the service. He let his sister do as she liked quietly.
1785
1786Miyuki sat beside Tatsuya joyfully while Tatsuya lifted the coffee cup. However, he suddenly put down the cup and the calmness disappeared. She repeatedly shifted her eyes from and to Tatsuya’s face.
1787
1788“It’s alright. I have progressed well on the request of Oba-ue. At this stage, it should even satisfy even Oba-ue herself.”
1789
1790Miyuki must have wanted to hear about today’s progress. Since he thought of that, Tatsuya gave her a rundown of today’s events.
1791
1792“No, It’s because of Onii-sama after all.”
1793
1794However, it seemed like Miyuki had wanted to ask something different.
1795
1796“Say it. What do you want to ask?”
1797
1798Tatsuya encouraged[38] her to speak, Miyuki seemed to hesitate for a while and finally shook her hesitation and asked her brother.
1799
1800“Onii-sama, what causes Minoru-kun’s weak constitution?”
1801
1802In response to this unexpected surprise, Tatsuya failed to answer immediately.
1803
1804“…As I said yesterday. Minoru’s magical power is too strong for his body to contain it.” Miyuki’s face was cloudy, while furrowing her eyebrows anxiously.
1805
1806“That’s his current situation right? Onii-sama, have you seen the cause?”
1807
1808“Why are you interested in such a thing?”
1809
1810“Your state from that time wasn’t something Onii-sama would usually have had. I just wondered what had made you do so.”
1811
1812It was Tatsuya’s blunder for being speechless. It was the same as confessing that “there was something”.
1813
1814“Onii-sama, please. If you have anything that you are worried about, please let Miyuki hear it. I want you to share your worries with me.”
1815
1816Miyuki worked very hard to stare at Tatsuya. He appreciated his sister’s effort to lighten his heart from the depth of his heart.
1817
1818“It’s better for you not to know.”
1819
1820However, he was hesitating to tell Miyuki about the secret that he had gotten. ——By the way, Tatsuya didn’t feel anything wrong about violating Minoru and the Kudou Family’s privacy.
1821
1822“Please. I don’t want Onii-sama to suffer alone.”
1823
1824However, since Miyuki solicited a haunting teary look, Tatsuya could no longer keep the secret hidden.
1825
1826“I understand. This is a pretty shocking story, so you have to hear it with strong heart.”
1827
1828Miyuki breathed in relief. To see that his sister was calm, Tatsuya proceeded to tell the secret. “Minoru and Fujibayashi-san are half-siblings.” Miyuki failed to show any reaction for a while.
1829
1830She must have digested her brother’s words when she covered her mouth with both of her hands.
1831
1832“But! Fujibayashi-san’s mother is Minoru-kun’s father’s real sister.”
1833
1834“Minoru was an experimental body. Probably through artificial insemination. Strictly speaking, it was not incest, but he is still a child born of two real siblings.
1835
1836Miyuki’s shocked face was intensified. It took her a considerable amount of time to regain her ability to speak.
1837
1838“Then… Minoru-kun’s constitution, was the harmful effect of incest?”
1839
1840Tatsuya shook his head. However, he did not indicate a definite denial.
1841
1842“I can’t make any conclusion. The problem lies in the imbalance of the Psion body, which affects his physical body. It might be from the cause of mis-adjustments throughout the process.” Tatsuya sighed before continuing his words.
1843
1844“However, it might be due to the close relationship between the genes being undeniable. Even during the research of magic, researchers have refrained themselves from using genes from parent and child or between siblings. There are still a lot of aspects of a Psion body, and also the spirit being affected, to be discovered.”
1845
1846The color had bereted from Miyuki’s face.
1847
1848She received a big shock, as if it were her own doing.
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853
1854Chapter 9
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859Saturday, October 27th. Finally the day before the Thesis Competition, the support team, First High representatives and the security team all went to Kyoto in the afternoon. First High was the sixth school to present, actually the competition started at 1:40 P.M., so they should have been able to arrive in time even if they departed the morning of the day itself. However, it had been the custom of First High to go one day earlier whenever the competition was held in Kyoto.
1860
1861They rented a large bus and a truck dedicated to carry the demonstration equipment for the presentation to a dedicated terminal. The Car train (a high-speed train which mounts a large passenger vehicle and enormous luggage) was opposite the station in Kyoto’s suburbs, thence, they would go to the Kyoto hotel.
1862
1863CR hotel was one of the high standard luxury hotels for high school students to stay in, but it was difficult to change the mindset of people when there was some degree of fixation. Nobody dare to move to a lower grade hotel, since it had been their tradition since long ago.
1864
1865“We’ve arrived~!”
1866
1867The first one to get off from the bus was Kanon, who enjoyed the bus trip with much excitement. Last year, her expectation to travel by bus along with Isori during the Nine Schools Competition was shattered, that was the reason she looked forward to this trip. Although she should have gotten her revenge during the last Nine Schools Competition this year, but it seemed like the result was not as expected as she still recalled last year’s Nine Schools Competition disgruntledness.
1868
1869The last person to get off the bus was Izumi. Actually, Miyuki as the student council president was supposed to check the attendance and left behind items, but Izumi said “there such chores” and volunteered to do it for Miyuki.
1870
1871Instead, Miyuki checked into the hotel as a representative from First High. The keys were then distributed by Tatsuya and Honoka.
1872
1873Thus all First High students scattered to their assigned room.
1874
1875The First High students stayed at a cheaper type room than the Japanese-styled room. It was a twin Western-style room. Tatsuya shared his room with Mikihiko. It was certainly not a coincidence, but a deliberate choice.
1876
1877“Mikihiko, I’ll leave the rest to you.”
1878
1879“Leave it to me. It’s a pity not being able to accompany you.”
1880
1881“I can’t depend on you that far, there is also information disclosure issues. Moreover…”
1882
1883“What’s wrong, Tatsuya?”
1884
1885Waiting for Tatsuya to say something, Mikihiko tilted his head.
1886
1887“…No, I have something that I want for you to ask everyone in school. I don’t think that anything will happen, but it’s better not to neglect the warning.”
1888
1889“Yeah, I understand.”
1890
1891The thing that Tatsuya failed to voice out was “Isn’t Mizuki here too?”. The art club had been greatly participating in the making of the current demonstration instrument and were selected to support the members by preference. Mizuki was included among the selected members. Tatsuya was wondering if Mikihiko was concerned about her.
1892
1893In the end, Tatsuya did not say that. He judged that it was not his business. Tatsuya thought that it wasn’t something that should come out from an outsider’s mouth.
1894
1895“I might be late. I’ll contact you if I can’t come back tonight.”
1896
1897“Got it. Be careful, Tatsuya.”
1898
1899Tatsuya hid his favorite gun-shaped CAD, Silver Horn, before responding to Mikihiko by raising his hand, while walking out of the room.
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905Tatsuya headed to a hotel, one smaller than the CR hotel where First High students stayed, but inconspicuous. It was a hotel that was frequently used by the Kuroba Family for work purposes.
1906
1907“Good afternoon, Tatsuya-niisan.”
1908
1909“Tatsuya-san, we have been expecting you.”
1910
1911Fumiya and Ayako were waiting for him in the lobby.
1912
1913“I’m sorry for asking you to come all the way here.”
1914
1915“No, the case was originally brought to us after all.”
1916
1917“We can’t keep talking while standing up like this, Tatsuya-san, why don’t you sit?”
1918
1919Ayako welcomed Tatsuya to the sofa. After Tatsuya was seated, Ayako sat at the opposite end of the table, while Fumiya brought in some drinks.
1920
1921He was wondering if it was allowed to bring food or drink here, before he noticed a 3H wiping another table. No, it was a business type “Humanoid Servant”, it was similar to the type found in the aircraft which was called “Servanoid”. Since Tatsuya determined that it was not a problem, he received the drink without refrain.
1922
1923Ayako expanded the sound barrier. There was no warning against unauthorized use of magic. It seemed like this hotel was not only at the level of Kuroba family’s work, like what he had been told, but also completely modified for the work of the Kuroba——no, the Yotsuba.
1924
1925“This will do, and. Tatsuya-san, here are the things that you’ve requested.”
1926
1927“The bike is the same model with the one that Tatsuya-san has been using. It is parked in the parking lot.”
1928
1929“The clothing is stab proof and also bulletproof, do you want to change into it?”
1930
1931“Boots, gloves, helmet and all of the combat requirements are fulfilled.”
1932
1933“How gracious…”
1934
1935They had put in much more effort than he had expected, Tatsuya was about to laugh. Of course, he didn’t actually laugh, since he knew what the two of them think about him seriously.
1936
1937“Thank you. I’ll use them well.”
1938
1939Hearing this response, Fumiya and Ayako showed a really happy smiles.
1940
1941“Then, we will guide you to your room.”
1942
1943Ayako put down her tea cup and rose. Fumiya stood and left the drinks at the table, hence Tatsuya followed him. The change in clothes that were prepared really fit into Tatsuya’s body, that it felt creepy. Tatsuya wanted to ask where did they get his measurement from, but in the end he decided that it’s best not to ask, so he stopped himself from asking.
1944
1945“How far have you narrowed it down to?”
1946
1947Tatsuya asked about the hiding place of Zhou Gongjin.
1948
1949Hayama had been sharing the information that he got on Monday to the Kuroba Family. Based on that information, the Kuroba’s had been investigating around the hideouts of Zhou Gongjin this week.
1950
1951“We are almost certain of this.”
1952
1953“I see, as expected of the Kuroba. Then?”
1954
1955At Tatsuya’s question, Fumiya showed a slight hesitation.
1956
1957“That, it’s hard to believe, but,”
1958
1959“JSDF, Uji Second Supply Base. There is almost no other place to shelter him in this area.” In place of Fumiya who couldn’t speak about this so lightly, Ayako answered him.
1960
1961Tatsuya failed to say, “No way”.
1962
1963“I see. It is indeed quite a hideout.”
1964
1965After he wore a blazing look, Tatsuya move to take the communication console.
1966
1967“Fumiya.”
1968
1969“Yes.”
1970
1971After being called with a hard appalling voice, Fumiya answered with a louder than necessary voice. This voice was evidently showing that Tatsuya’s feelings had reached a critical level. Since Tatsuya was not able to have a high level of strong emotions, the moment it reached a certain stage, he would show it as an non-emotional intention on the surface.
1972
1973The treachery of the National Defense Forces, was way over his tolerable limit. Since rebels had shot Miyuki in Okinawa, he was especially intolerant against betrayers.
1974
1975There was a phrase called “nukeba tamachiru mizu no ha[39]”. It was a representation to say that a Japanese sword would shine coldly, eerie like when it was sharpened. Tatsuya who lost his feelings in anger, was reminiscent of this phrase.
1976
1977“Is it possible to do external communication?”
1978
1979“Please wait for a second.”
1980
1981Fumiya outstretched his hand beside Tatsuya, and keyed in the security code in the keyboard.
1982
1983Tatsuya was prompted by Fumiya, he sat down in front of the console.
1984
1985Tatsuya entered the complex code. He waited for about 5 seconds before a female officer appeared on the monitor.
1986
1987[Tatsuya-kun, what’s suddenly wrong?]
1988
1989Tatsuya entered the code for emergency calls that are assigned to Fujibayashi’s own line.
1990
1991“Lieutenant, I’m in Kyoto now.”
1992
1993[I see…]
1994
1995With only those words, Fujibayashi seemed to understand him.
1996
1997[Did you find out?]
1998
1999She intentionally omitting words in her question, Fujibayashi sighed in the midst of resignation.
2000
2001“I have an idea of Zhou Gongjin’s hideout.”
2002
2003Tatsuya hadn’t only shared the information from the traditionalists at Kiyomizu Temple and Mt. Arashi to Hayama only, he also shared it to Fujibayashi. It was a serious crime for this country’s army to assist Zhou Gongjin who led the foreign troops in this land. Tatsuya could not afford to avert his eyes even if he’s asked to. Tatsuya was going to use that.
2004
2005[Where is it?]
2006
2007Fujibayashi showed a painful expression in response to Tatsuya’s straightforward question.
2008
2009[The military police are scheduled to be dispatched. Special Lieutenant Oogura must not interfere.]
2010
2011“This is not subjected to the military rule of secrecy. Fujibayashi-san, where is Zhou Gongjin? You’re part of the Kudou Family who promised me cooperation, please answer me.”
2012
2013[…He’s inside the JSDF, Uji Second Supply Base. Tatsuya-kun, leave the rest to the Armed Forces. Even if it is you, you won’t be left unexcused if you trespass on the base.]
2014
2015“I understood. See you.”
2016
2017[Tatsuya-kun!?]
2018
2019Without clearly saying what he “understood”, Tatsuya cut off communications. Additionally, he locked the line via the console.
2020
2021He looked back, behind him Fumiya and Ayako had seen his exchange with Fujibayashi with rounded eyes.
2022
2023“Support is cut off. How about the plan?”
2024
2025“It starts at sunset, and then we get into the base.”
2026
2027Fumiya who just regained his sense answered Tatsuya.
2028
2029“How about the intrusion path?”
2030
2031“We’ll enter proudly from multiple gates. It is not a big problem to overcome such a plain fence.”
2032
2033“Of course, we have to have someone to standby by the gate.”
2034
2035“We don’t have the numbers…” Tatsuya stood up while glaring.
2036
2037“Fumiya, Ayako, I will get someone to help us. I might not be able to enter the base on time, but I will do so if the time allows me to.”
2038
2039“Understood. Tatsuya-niisan, the communication device will not be connected at that time.”
2040
2041“Tatsuya-san, be careful.”
2042
2043“Fumiya and Ayako, you too, don’t let your guard down.”
2044
2045“Yes.”
2046
2047“Of course.”
2048
2049After hearing their replies, Tatsuya proceeded to the bike that had been parked at the parking lot.
2050
2051He immediately recognized the bike. However, he rode the bike in a different direction than what was shown by the arrow.
2052
2053
2054
2055
2056
2057The sky in the west had started to turn the color red. Not much time until the start of the operation. Tatsuya called Ichijou Masaki while riding the bike, he used the radio interface from information terminal that was charged in the helmet.
2058
2059“Shiba? Do you have something?”
2060
2061For Masaki, a phone call from Tatsuya seemed to be a surprise. On the other hand, Tatsuya might show a similar reaction if he received a phone call from Masaki. Since he knew that himself, Tatsuya did not say anything unnecessary.
2062
2063“Ichijou, I narrowed down Zhou Gongjin’s hiding place.”
2064
2065“Really!?”
2066
2067“Yes, where are you now?”
2068
2069“Nearby Kamigamo Shrine.”
2070
2071As Tatsuya thought, he came. Third High usually arrived the day of the Thesis Competition itself, not a day before. However, Masaki should have come earlier for a preliminary inspection when he considered last week’s situation.
2072
2073“Let’s meet up at the southwest entrance of Uji Park at 5:00 P.M.”
2074
2075“5:00 P.M.? Understood. I will be there.”
2076
2077Masaki probably thought that there was no more time. However he understood immediately the meaning of the specified time. Despite the unfriendliness of their communication, he still immediately took action.
2078
2079He would be a formidable adversary, but a reliable ally. He understood well that Masaki was a good man, which was why Tatsuya preferred to contact him.
2080
2081(I should hurry up myself.)
2082
2083It would be awkward if Masaki managed to get there on time while he’s late. Tatsuya increased the speed of the bike.
2084
2085
2086
2087
2088
2089At the JSDF, Uji Second Supply Base, Zhou Gongjin who had been pursued by Tatsuya’s group was preparing to leave the base.
2090
2091“Zhou-sensei, do you really need to leave?”
2092
2093The man who was barely over 30, said so with a disappointed voice.
2094
2095“Captain Hatae, I also have no plan to leave, but it seems like this place has been found out.”
2096
2097“I see. How regrettable. If you stay here longer, I could shield you even from the Ten Master Clans, I won’t let any of them touch even a finger on you.”
2098
2099Captain Hatae was not only an advocate for integration with the Great Asian Alliance, but also committed to Ancient Magic from the continent, and was one of the individuals that adherently believe that Japan was “a history of upstarts from less than 100 years ago”. He fervently believed and claimed that Zhou Gongjin “was not involved in the Yokohama Incident”, he had been harboring Zhou for a week due to his sense of justice as a retaliation to modern magicians until the Kuroba had tracked him privately.
2100
2101“We have no choice. Their side is backed up by his excellency Kudou after all.” Zhou laughed thinly. The smile was very becoming of his beautiful face.
2102
2103Captain Hatae pursed his lips. As Zhou Gongjin said, it was not possible for him to refuse an order from the base commander for an inspection request as he was only a captain. Originally General Kudou Retsu had so much influence that he could step over the regular procedure for inspection in this situation.
2104
2105“I wanted to listen to more about senjutsu from you…”
2106
2107“I myself, am still a fledging mage. I am still immature, which is visible in unexpected ways. I still have a ways to go before being able to teach others the arts…”
2108
2109Zhou used his usual excuse to softly reject Hatae’s request.
2110
2111Hatae changed the subject without any sign of feeling rejected.
2112
2113“So, when will you depart?”
2114
2115“I think during your spare time tonight.”
2116
2117“Certainly, the inspection is scheduled to take place early tomorrow morning, so that would be for the best…”
2118
2119“I’m grateful that you could obtain information prior to the inspection notice.”
2120
2121When Zhou lowered his head saying so, Hatae wore a pretty pathetic looking expression.
2122
2123“However, the gate will be closed at night.”
2124
2125“I can take care of that much.”
2126
2127Watching the confidence show up in the form of a smile, Hatae recalled Zhou’s special magic. “You’re right. At the very least, I’ll prepare a car for you. It’s from my personal belongings instead of a military vehicle. I think you wouldn’t be followed that way.”
2128
2129Official cars, not limited to military vehicles, had a tracking device planted for theft prevention. That means, for disguise purposes, it was better to use a private car for sure.
2130
2131“I thank you for all of your good will.”
2132
2133Zhou showed his gratitude carefully by lowering his head.
2134
2135
2136
2137
2138
2139Tatsuya had been leaning against the bike that he borrowed from Fumiya when he noticed a red bike approaching him after 15 minutes of waiting.
2140
2141(This guy really likes red.)
2142
2143Somehow, he was heart fully dazzled. Since the emblem of Third High was a red colored star, it probably sparked some love for his school. Tatsuya wondered if Masaki was aware of this.
2144
2145“I’ve made you wait.”
2146
2147Masaki got off from his bike and took off his helmet while greeting Tatsuya.
2148
2149“No, you’re quite early from the specified time. We still have enough time to form a strategy.”
2150
2151The current time was 4:50 P.M. The sunset would be at 5:10 P.M., so they still had some margin of time.
2152
2153“Then, what kind of setup is it?”
2154
2155At the very least, he had to explain the strategy that he had prepared beforehand to Masaki.
2156
2157“Zhou Gongjin’s hideout seems to be over there.”
2158
2159Tatsuya pointed in a southern direction while saying so.
2160
2161The immediate place that he was pointing was the JSDF base.
2162
2163Masaki did not immediately catch Tatsuya’s intention. However, after a few seconds, he understood the meaning of “over there”, and widened his eyes.
2164
2165“No way, are you saying that he’s inside the JSDF’s base!?”
2166
2167“JSDF Uji Second Supply Base. There is a high possibility that Zhou Gongjin is hiding inside.
2168
2169“…Are you sure?”
2170
2171“It’s a possibility, and we’re about to confirm it.”
2172
2173“Into the base!?”
2174
2175Masaki wore the face of “is this guy serious” or “is this guy insane”.
2176
2177However, Tatsuya was experienced in the matter of the forces inside and of the JSDF. Hence, he did not flinch at this late hour to enter the JSDF blockade area.
2178
2179“The arrest of Zhou Gongjin has been mobilized in secret by a certain magician group.”
2180
2181“Apart from the military police, is it?”
2182
2183“Yes. It is not a formal operation.”
2184
2185Masaki perfectly understood that he was suggesting of an illegal operation.
2186
2187“Soon they will be entering the gates of the base.”
2188
2189“From the gate? …I see so they are using Outer-Systematic Magic?” Tatsuya nodded at Masaki’s question.
2190
2191Masaki guessed the identity of the “magicians who were mobilized in secret”.
2192
2193Magicians who specialized in Outer-Systematic Magic, magicians who might go against the JSDF. Masaki only had one idea of where it was heading to.
2194
2195“Shiba, you are…”
2196
2197“I’m different from them.”
2198
2199Before the question formed, Tatsuya denied him flatly.
2200
2201“It’s about time. I will be entering the base by jumping over the fence. Ichijou, what are you going to do?”
2202
2203Masaki did not answer immediately. Trespassing into JSDF base was an obvious criminal act. He still had a law-abiding spirit which couldn’t be conveniently shut off like Tatsuya’s.
2204
2205His parents would place the priority of the Ten Master Clans over that of their morals as citizens. His father, especially, might even skip pushing his back and go straight to kicking his ass if he saw Masaki hesitating like this.
2206
2207The problem was his position as the production team of Third High. If he gets caught in police matters right before the Thesis Competition, moreover causing a serious incident isn’t just a misdemeanor, the competition might be affected. The shock given to the students of Third High, regardless of being an upperclassmen, classmates, or juniors, would be big. More than anything, he was afraid to let his best friend’s effort to go to waste.
2208
2209(——But, I’m of the Ten Master Clans.)
2210
2211Masaki was lost in his thoughts for a few seconds.
2212
2213“…I will go. In the first place, I was deceived by that man last year. I couldn’t just act indifferently.”
2214
2215Tatsuya glanced at his information terminal, before gripping his bikes handle.
2216
2217“The operation starts in 5 minutes. Let’s go, Ichijou.”
2218
2219“Understood.”
2220
2221Both of them put on their helmets at the same time and began to ride their bikes.
2222
2223
2224
2225
2226
2227At that time, at the east side of the Uji Bridge just outside of the infamous Byoudou-in Temple, a car stopped.
2228
2229“Thank you. I’ll call you once I’m done, so you can wait at the usual place?”
2230
2231The one who got out from the car and talked to the driver was no doubt, a beautiful boy.
2232
2233The passerby who happened to be at the scene stared at him as if his soul had been pulled out of his body. With the background being that of the ending of the day, Minoru’s ethereal beauty drifted through the time of this world.
2234
2235A middle-aged man followed Minoru from behind. There wasn’t any need to say that he was Minoru’s escort, as he was visibly trained, despite not having a large build.
2236
2237“Minoru-sama, should we wait here?”
2238
2239“Yes.”
2240
2241It was a clearly different tone than the one he used for Tatsuya and friends, he seemed accustomed to ordering people.
2242
2243“Zhou Gongjin may flee through here to escape from the siege. When the time comes, I must detain him here at any cost.”
2244
2245“However, there is another bridge in Uji River towards Oshima.”
2246
2247Rather than doubting Minoru’s words, the timid bodyguard asked him a question. It was not as if he was acting miserly, however it was futile of him to hide being afraid of something. If Zhou Gongjin chose a different route, Minoru’s efforts to push his still unhealthy body would be wasted.
2248
2249“That side is a private flyover right? His escape route would be limited once he got on to that flyover. He needs to be able to move freely in all directions in order to exert the true power of Qi Men Dun Jia. Zhou Gongjin will not use that route.”
2250
2251“However, that means there is a possibility that he will flee in the eastern direction…”
2252
2253“There’s Mt. Takamine at the east side. As seen from his escaping pattern, Zhou Gongjin prefers the city more than mountainous terrain. I guess it relates to his Ghostwalker skill.”
2254
2255“But.”
2256
2257“Noisy.”
2258
2259The bodyguard who was still trying to express his concerns, was blocked by Minoru’s hand.
2260
2261“Are you trying to say that my reasoning is flawed?”
2262
2263The bodyguard fell silent. He was not meant to refrain someone from his employer’s family. However, the clear and cold air that was drifting out of Minoru’s body had sealed the mouth of the bodyguard.
2264
2265
2266
2267
2268
2269“It’s time. Start the operation.”
2270
2271“Yes! As you wish, young master.”
2272
2273After answering so, the man turned his head while still wearing his black spectacles, making a nimble cracking sound.
2274
2275“You idiot, its young lady! Young master’s disguise is.”
2276
2277“Shut up!”
2278
2279The quarreling between the black glasses’ men was blocked by Fumiya who had turned into “Yami”.
2280
2281“It’s not the time for twiddling! Start the operation!”
2282
2283“Yes!”
2284
2285The men in black glasses lowered their heads and with one knee down, and dissolved in to thin air like a mirage all at once.
2286
2287“For goodness sake… to think that they’re Kuroba’s genjutsu[40] users…”
2288
2289Fumiya lamented while holding his temple, when Ayako came out, dressed as “Yoru” and approached him from behind and spoke a word of comfort.
2290
2291“Yami-chan, there’s nothing to do but to use them right. Competency and personality are two different things. Rather than having good but incompetent subordinates, competent ones with bad personalities are favorable right?”
2292
2293“Well, that’s right, but…”
2294
2295“More importantly Yami-chan, it has started.”
2296
2297The flashing alarm was resounding within the base. His subordinates were not supposed to make such a blunder. There were a lot of flaws in their personality, but their abilities were acknowledged even by Fumiya.
2298
2299
2300
2301
2302
2303“I wonder if it’s Tatsuya-niisan.”
2304
2305“Yes, he must have been thinking of becoming a decoy. I wonder if he intends to evict the prey from the northern side to the south.”
2306
2307“Tatsuya-niisan, why is he doing such a dangerous things.”
2308
2309“Tatsuya-san has his confidence. No matter how he is threatened by compromising situations, he is still be able to walk out safely. That’s why he shouldered the most dangerous role.”
2310
2311“…I see”
2312
2313“We must not waste Tatsuya-san’s good will, let’s not keep standing around. We must confirm the whereabouts of Zhou Gongjin soon.”
2314
2315“I got it”
2316
2317Behind Fumiya, there was a small passenger car, which was painted dark-blue had refrained. It was not a normal car, for sure. Its body strength was equal to that of tanks, it was a custom-made robotic car with an engine which was comparable to a race cars.
2318
2319
2320
2321
2322
2323The alarm rang in the JSDF Uji Second Supply Base. Additionally, one or two shots could be heard.
2324
2325“What’s happening!”
2326
2327Captain Hatae yelled from outside of the room. The subordinates heading outside answered the question with pale faces.
2328
2329“Intruders in the base! There are two of them! Both of them are probably magicians!”
2330
2331“What!?”
2332
2333Hatae’s surprise could not be said as exaggerating. Magicians are powerful adversaries, even if he’s alone. A magician’s power can’t be generalized due to the difference in capacity between individuals, but it was said to be comparable to the strength of a single squadron of forces. If he is a powerful magician, his power could be that of a battalions scale force by himself.
2334
2335There were two of them. Rather than infiltrating the base secretly, they were boldly showing resistance, supposedly there was no way that they were below average.
2336
2337“How’s the situation!?”
2338
2339“The intruders are coming towards us while destroying the supply goods. They can’t be stopped even after were to fight back!”
2340
2341Even with the alerts, Zhou Gongjin continued to pack without raising his face, after he made a snap sound, everything became quite.
2342
2343“Just in time.”
2344
2345“Huh? Zhou-sensei, what…”
2346
2347“It’s a good opportunity. Everyone, please eliminate the intruders. Utilize the full strength of this base.”
2348
2349As soon as Zhou said so, Hatae and his men were trembling as if they were electrocuted.
2350
2351It hadn’t happened exclusively in that room. The same thing occurred to the squadron under Hatae’s command.
2352
2353“Captain-san, as your gracious words, I will borrow your car. Hand over the key.” Hatae handed over his car key to Zhou in an awkward fashion.
2354
2355“Then, what should you be doing now. If you do not eliminate the intruders who entered the base, the military wouldn’t be able to maintain its pride. You must thoroughly eradicate them without even leaving a piece of their corpse.
2356
2357Yes. This is a challenge to the pride of JSDF. Don’t underestimate them. Crush them.”
2358
2359“Yes.”
2360
2361The tone of his voice was contrary to the content.
2362
2363At the neck of Hatae and his subordinates, who saluted and left the room, the mark of spider bite could be seen.
2364
2365
2366
2367
2368
2369The two intruders entered the base with a full-face helmet for bikes on their heads. Just in case, Tatsuya had decomposed the surveillance cameras after a thorough search.
2370
2371Of course, he didn’t only destroy the surveillance cameras that were hard to see.
2372
2373“What’s that magic!?”
2374
2375“It’s not the time to ask that.”
2376
2377Tatsuya brusquely dismissed Masaki’s question. They were careful not to call each other’s name in front of the enemy, the conversation between the two had become increasingly not amiable.
2378
2379“I’ve never heard about such magic!”
2380
2381Masaki cried out so, it probably couldn’t be helped. It was his first time to see Tatsuya’s “decomposition”.
2382
2383Against Tatsuya’s CAD, weapons and weaponry was broken down and scattered on the ground in pieces. The guns were taken apart. For vehicles, first the wheel would come off, then the door, until everything was gradually loosened and scattered around.
2384
2385“More importantly, the fuel vaporization is really slow.”
2386
2387“This is time consuming!”
2388
2389Masaki was vaporizing the hydrogen absorbing liquid in the fuel and separated the hydrogen gases by convergent magic, as to prevent ignition from the leaked fuel. The hydrogen gas was collected and tailored into a hydrogen balloon within a spherical fire which prevented it from escaping into the sky. The difficulty of the magic itself was much more complex than the “decomposition” magic that Tatsuya using doing.
2390
2391“So explosions aren’t your only talent.”
2392
2393“I know!” Masaki followed Tatsuya’s instruction despite some complaining, he understood that this technique might be useful in the future for him. Magic vaporized the fuel as to avoid ignition by converging and isolating the hydrogen before releasing it into the sky. This would help him to neutralize weaponries on the battle field without unnecessary casualties. It could even be a more useful technique than “Rupture”.
2394
2395The two of them broke down the weaponry randomly, the shower of bullets at them had suddenly intensified. The bullets had changed from the powerless rubber bullets to live ammunition. Masaki expanded his barrier. The partial part that couldn’t be covered by him, was secretly tackled with decomposition magic by Tatsuya. The two of them separated, while jumping behind the shield.
2396
2397“They’re shooting!”
2398
2399“Live ammunition. Apparently they seem to be manipulated. Just like the traditionalists.”
2400
2401Masaki’s face was colored by understanding.
2402
2403Last Sunday, he was attacked by magicians, who ultimately committed suicide, at Mt. Arashi. They had been manipulated by the houjutsu users from the continent who had been hiding behind the bushes.
2404
2405A roar came from the building. Tanks appeared one after another. It was not only a single vehicle, but a line of four of them.
2406
2407“Hey, they’ve even taken out the tanks!”
2408
2409“They don’t learn. They intend to bring it to a higher level, huh.”
2410
2411They were small vehicles for urban warfare, but it was excessive to be used against two individuals on foot. However, depending on the situation, they were still insufficient forces against two magicians.
2412
2413In this case, it was the latter.
2414
2415“I’ll go at once. Don’t let it ignite.”
2416
2417“Don’t ask for… the unreasonable, leave it to me.”
2418
2419Masaki was trying to say, don’t ask for the impossible, was cut off as he did not perceive that such whining was something to be done at this situation.
2420
2421The wheels fell off at the same time. The barrels fell and guns displaced. Armor plates peeled of all at once. This all happened at the same time to the four tanks.
2422
2423Fuel leaked from the engines.
2424
2425It ascended to the sky and vaporized prior to ignition, as it mixed and diffused in the atmosphere.
2426
2427“Good work.”
2428
2429“It doesn’t make me happy to be complemented by you.”
2430
2431Towards Masaki’s cold attitude, Tatsuya smirked wickedly.
2432
2433“Should I ask Miyuki to complement you?”
2434
2435“Do-don’t joke around! It’s not the time for that!” Masaki was upset about an interesting thing.
2436
2437“At any rate, let’s go! Zhou Gongjin is escaping… It’s him!”
2438
2439“What?”
2440
2441Tatsuya extended his “eye” towards the direction of Masaki’s sight.
2442
2443Tatsuya didn’t ask if Masaki was certain.
2444
2445Masaki had seen Zhou Gongjin in close proximity face to face. There was no way he could be mistaken about any information that he got during that situation.
2446
2447Zhou Gongjin was heading to the south gate, riding a gunmetal colored sedan. He chose to pass through the passage where the surveillance devices were not recording, he must be planning to get out of the base.
2448
2449(This…?)
2450
2451Within the perimeter of Eidos, the foreign matter was mixed into Tatsuya senses. It didn’t belong to Zhou, it was something he unintendedly devoured.
2452
2453(A stung of the bee, huh… I won’t let your death wasted.)
2454
2455Tatsuya made a convenient oath for the sake of the deceased that he only met once.
2456
2457
2458
2459
2460
2461“Zhou Gongjin is approaching the south gate.”
2462
2463“I wonder if the other gates had been guarded by the people of the base. As expected of a magician who has beaten us, the Kurobas and escaped.”
2464
2465At Fumiya’s words, Ayako responded with a tone of irony and admiration.
2466
2467“Otherwise, we’ll be troubled.”
2468
2469Fumiya sat in the rear seat of the autonomous car, while Ayako sat next to him.
2470
2471At the same time, a gunmetal sedan with Zhou Gongjin in it had appeared out of the south gate.
2472
2473“Chase him!”
2474
2475“Yes, young master. No, young lady.”
2476
2477“Anything will do! Start quickly!”
2478
2479Even the autonomous car was not allowed to speed up if there was no emergency driver outside the area of traffic control. The previously elected leader of the black glasses operation team who was yelled at, was chosen as the driver to chase Zhou Gongjin.
2480
2481
2482
2483
2484
2485(What is this obnoxious feeling…)
2486
2487While driving the car to the south, Zhou Gongjin gradually felt a sense of being tied up that he had never felt before.
2488
2489Strictly saying from the result, he was successfully evading the enemy with a narrow gap. He acknowledged that Kurobas——Yotsuba’s chasing team was obstinate, but in the end, he managed to get away from them. He was living peacefully for the last 10 years in Chinatown, but he was previously being hunted constantly for about 30 years, and kept living in hiding.
2490
2491(Oops… I’m still only 24 years old now.)
2492
2493At least, that was stated in his identification. He bought his restaurant in Chinatown four years ago, and he remembered that he wrote “20 years old” on the documents that were submitted at the time.
2494
2495(Years are but like a name for us, it is just another label.)
2496
2497Perhaps, he was too absorbed reminiscing in the thought that he failed to recognize that there was a shadow of a human blocking his way, before the anti-crashing device was activated.
2498
2499Zhou attempting to ring the horn, he wore an expression unbefitting of his character.
2500
2501He saw the boy’s face.
2502
2503He was an otherworldly beauty.
2504
2505Zhou himself had a beautiful face, but this boy was on another level altogether.
2506
2507However, he recognized the beautiful boy.
2508
2509He remembered seeing the boy before.
2510
2511“Kudou Minoru! Why are you here!?”
2512
2513He was one of the very few magicians that Zhou kept in mind to be wary of.
2514
2515He learnt the extent of Minoru’s capability during his attack in Nara.
2516
2517Zhou disabled the anti-crashing device in the car forcefully.
2518
2519Minoru raised his right hand to aim at the car.
2520
2521A flame started within the car.
2522
2523Zhou jumped out of the vehicle before the engine was ignited.
2524
2525Zhou Gongjin felt a chill running down his back. He didn’t feel this way when he faced Kuroba Mitsugu or Nakura Saburou.
2526
2527Kudou Minoru did not hesitate even a second when he blew up the car.
2528
2529He didn’t only aim at the target without any hesitation, he was also not afraid to drag in any bystanders within the vicinity.
2530
2531There were no bystanders. There hadn’t been a car that had passed by either. However, he could see that the boy had never really cared about the surrounding.
2532
2533His ethereal beauty matched up very well with his ruthlessness, it made Minoru looks mysterious in the eyes of normal beings.
2534
2535Zhou took out his artifact and aimed at Minoru. It was not kasei-tai, but genjuu. Zhou realized that he had to use his strongest technique in order to go against Minoru.
2536
2537A black one horned beast materialized, it ran towards Minoru at a high speed that couldn’t be tracked by the eyes.
2538
2539It was not a speed that humans could react to.
2540
2541Minoru couldn’t deflect the attack, the black beast pierced through Minoru——and soon after Minoru’s body slipped through it.
2542
2543“Disguise!”
2544
2545Zhou Gongjin recognized the magic. It was “Parade” the trump magic of the Kudou Family. The magic did not only hide Minoru’s actual position, but also altered the position information in Eidos.
2546
2547Zhou decided to flee. He realized that he couldn’t break through “Parade”. He understood that after seeing Minoru’s technique once.
2548
2549Minoru aimed his right hand at Zhou.
2550
2551However, the lightning he initiated landed one meter away to the right of Zhou’s position.
2552
2553Minoru shook his head childishly. The expression that he had was not humanly, it was more like angelic. Like an exact image of a angel who smiled mercilessly.
2554
2555Lightning struck down at Zhou Gongjin’s surrounding.
2556
2557Minoru did not miss. Zhou used Ghostwalker to influence Minoru’s aim.
2558
2559However, the one feeling the horror was Zhou. He was planning to shift Minoru’s aim by 90°. However, Minoru was always able to spot his position and his aim was only shifted by 30°.
2560
2561Zhou called all the remaining beasts from his artifact.
2562
2563At the same time, he took out a black handkerchief, and spread it in front of his eyes.
2564
2565All the beasts were simply slipping through Minoru’s figure.
2566
2567The black handkerchief fell down on the ground.
2568
2569Minoru kept an eye on the downstream of Uji River, while smiling without malice.
2570
2571His eyes were looking directly at the Eidos, he caught ——the “shadow”, “yin”——of Zhou who fled, and did not lost sight of his position.
2572
2573Zhou was running at a speed of 40 to 50 km/h along the Stream of Uji River. It was a popular technique of Suikoden[41] called “Shinkouhou”.
2574
2575He was running back in the direction of the base, but he was planning to go down to the lower side of the bridge in the middle and going over to the opposite shore.
2576
2577However, an adversary showed up in front of him all a sudden. She didn’t jump from the side of the road, instead, she materialized from thin air.
2578
2579“Mock Teleportation!?”
2580
2581He knew the technique when he acquired a parasite who was able to do this. However, it was in a much lower level than hers, her technique allowed her to appear without any premature sign.
2582
2583A girl in a bob-hair-style shoved a fist with a knuckle duster while fluttering the hem of her skirt.
2584
2585The distance was too wide.
2586
2587Yet, Zhou suffered a blow enough to make his right leg fumble down.
2588
2589Zhou spread out a white handkerchief.
2590
2591It was large enough to hide him when opened.
2592
2593Behind the shade, Zhou pierced his own acupuncture point to numb the pain in his right leg. The severe pain continued, but he affirmed himself that it was just an illusion.
2594
2595He took out his last artifact which he had kept as a spare from his chest.
2596
2597When visibility of the blockade fell, the bob-haired girl had disappeared.
2598
2599In exchange, there was a familiar boy with a red CAD in his hand standing in front of him.
2600
2601“Ichijou Masaki!”
2602
2603“Long time no see, Zhou Gongjin. You deceived me well last time.” Zhou tried to jump down from the Uji Bridge.
2604
2605However, in that instant, the water from the river blew up causing water to splatter.
2606
2607“Jumping into water in the face of the Ichijou Family’s ‘Rupture’ is the same as charging in to a mountain of bombs.”
2608
2609After hearing that voice from his back, Zhou Gongjin turned around.
2610
2611“Shiba Tatsuya…”
2612
2613Zhou activated Ghostwalker at his best. He tried to get away by slipping through Tatsuya’s side.
2614
2615However, in front of his eyes, Tatsuya formed a hand chop. Zhou Gongjin knew the sharpness of the Demon Blade that could even shear through steel, he was forced to step back.
2616
2617Zhou was sandwiched between Tatsuya and Masaki for the second time.
2618
2619“Why does my Ghostwalker not work on you!” Zhou was still smiling in this kind of situation.
2620
2621Was it a façade?
2622
2623Masaki didn’t comprehend his real intention.
2624
2625Tatsuya didn’t really care about his real intention.
2626
2627“Ghostwalker, what an amazing technique. I heard it may not work in close proximity, but yours can work just fine. I didn’t know that you’re going to slip through by my side.”
2628
2629“…I don’t understand. Then, why did you prepare to attack just now?” A smile bloomed in Tatsuya’s lips.
2630
2631That smile was at the same essence as Zhou’s, albeit not as beautiful.
2632
2633There was no feeling in it, a façade smile.
2634
2635“I didn’t know your position. However, I knew the position of Nakura Saburou’s blood that resides within you.”
2636
2637
2638
2639
2640
2641Zhou opened his eyes widely in surprise.
2642
2643For the first time, Masaki felt like he was seeing the true face of the ageless Taoist magician.
2644
2645“Nakura Saburo’s blood… from that time?”
2646
2647“Did you get pierced by needles of blood? Usually foreign elements would disappear from the body within two weeks. Seems like it contains quite a strong desire.”
2648
2649“Desire, was it? I thought that concept had been tossed away by Modern Magic.”
2650
2651“No matter how you reason, the things that exist, exists. Likewise with the opposite.”
2652
2653“There are things which exist, yet do not materialize.” Tatsuya raised his silver CAD at Zhou.
2654
2655“You can continue your lecture in jail. Though they might not give you much time.”
2656
2657“Either way I would be killed right.”
2658
2659“I’m not the one who can decide that.”
2660
2661“In other words, asking to spare my life is useless?” Tatsuya did not return any further answers.
2662
2663“As long as Nakura Saburou’s blood is within you, you cannot escape from me.” This was Tatsuya’s ultimatum.
2664
2665“So, this is it…”
2666
2667Zhou sighed, accepting his fate.
2668
2669At the next instant, he was jumping towards Masaki.
2670
2671Shinkouhou had no connection with leg muscles. Even if the legs were numb, so long as the magician had them, it could be activated.
2672
2673Masaki did not know about that.
2674
2675However, he did not expect this kind of case. It was probably a good coincidence, that he was prepared.
2676
2677At the moment Zhou Gongjin jumped at him, Masaki pulled the trigger of his red CAD.
2678
2679In no time, his magic “Rupture” was activated.
2680
2681He improved his technique by vaporizing the blood from the body parts instead of the whole body.
2682
2683Both of Zhou Gongjin’s legs burst from within.
2684
2685Shinkouhou was canceled, while Zhou lied on the ground.
2686
2687“This is it.”
2688
2689Masaki still ready with his CAD, encouraged him to surrender.
2690
2691Zhou Gongjin got up immediately. His pride did not allow him to lie pathetically.
2692
2693“Certainly, this is the end.”
2694
2695Zhou stood up slowly, even though the parts from his knees downward were not supposed to be able to move.
2696
2697It was a ghostly movement.
2698
2699“However, you cannot catch me.” Zhou masked his face with a smile.
2700
2701It was a mask-like smile.
2702
2703“I shall not perish. Even if I die, my existence shall prevail!”
2704
2705“Ichijou, back off!”
2706
2707Tatsuya leaped backward at the same time as he shouted.
2708
2709Ichijou also took a distance away from Zhou Gongjin.
2710
2711The next moment, Zhou’s whole body was spouting blood, red blood, which turned into red flames.
2712
2713“Hahahahahahahahaha…”
2714
2715An endless laugh followed the burning flame. It lasted until the fire died out.
2716
2717After the flame disappeared, there wasn’t any trace of bone.
2718
2719“Has Zhou Gongjin really died?
2720
2721Masaki was dazzled and stunned, the sunset turned into night, and the stars had begun to shine.
2722
2723“There was no trace of him escaping somewhere else. He had undoubtedly died in that fire.” Tatsuya didn’t face Masaki. His eyes were looking at the direction of Uji River.
2724
2725Masaki had somewhat the same feeling, he answered Tatsuya, “I see”.
2726
2727Masaki didn’t ask him, how he knew that.
2728
2729“With this, the case of the Yokohama Incident has ended?”
2730
2731“Yes.”
2732
2733“I see… It was dangerous.”
2734
2735“What was?”
2736
2737Tatsuya asked back at Masaki.
2738
2739Since Masaki didn’t say anything else, even Tatsuya couldn’t understand it.
2740
2741Masaki faced Tatsuya.
2742
2743“The JSDF was manipulated, they even took out tanks. It could have triggered insurrection.”
2744
2745“They had already used flashy magic. They were already in the stage of insurrection.” Masaki laughed at Tatsuya’s serious answer.
2746
2747“Then, should we say to ourselves ‘good job’ since we’ve managed to bring the situation under control before expansion of the insurrection?”
2748
2749“You can see it from that point of view.” Tatsuya also laughed aloud.
2750
2751The laughter of the two, was dissolved by the lonely autumn wind.
2752
2753
2754
2755
2756
2757“Tatsuya-niisan, thanks for your hard work.”
2758
2759When he returned the bike to the hotel, Fumiya and Ayako had arrived before him.
2760
2761“Fumiya and Ayako too, thanks for your hard work. I was able to stop his movements thanks to your stunning combination.”
2762
2763The two of them looked away in embarrassment when Tatsuya praised them.
2764
2765“By the way, Tatsuya-san, how did you figure out that man’s position? We lost sight of him despite chasing him with a car.”
2766
2767Ayako was indeed embarrassed, she didn’t look at Tatsuya’s eyes when asking this question.
2768
2769“Thanks to a certain magician’s obstinacy, who cornered him even after death…”
2770
2771“?”
2772
2773Ayako made a confused face. Fumiya stopped looking downward, tilting his head curiously.
2774
2775“I still don’t know how that had happened. I will tell you more, once I figure it out.” Tatsuya entered the room next to the one that the both of them used.
2776
2777He left his clothes there when he first came to the hotel.
2778
2779Tatsuya left the door open while he changed, Tatsuya spoke to Fumiya.
2780
2781“Fumiya, why don’t you report to Hayama that the mission has been completed. I still need to settle a lot of things from now on.”
2782
2783“I understand. Please leave that much to me.”
2784
2785After having finished changing his clothes, Tatsuya came out.
2786
2787“I’m counting on you.”
2788
2789He said so as an exchange for saying farewell, Tatsuya left the hotel soon after.
2790
2791
2792
2793
2794
2795Chapter 10
2796
2797
2798
2799
2800The next day, Sunday, October 28th.
2801
2802It was finally the day of the 2096 Thesis Competition.
2803
2804Tatsuya didn’t participate in the Nine Schools security as one of the joint guard, but only came as a supporter, so that he could move relatively freely.
2805
2806During the lunch break, Tatsuya met Mayumi with Miyuki who was freed from her judge seat in the Thesis Competition.
2807
2808“I see… So the culprit who murdered Nakura-san has committed suicide.”
2809
2810“Well, it was the result of us cornering him, so I don’t know if you can say that it was suicide.” Tatsuya told Mayumi that the case of the murder of Nakura had been resolved.
2811
2812“That’s good. Since Tatsuya-kun has helped me to settle Nakura-san’s grudge.” Tatsuya received a heartfelt smile from Mayumi.
2813
2814“Thank you, Tatsuya-kun. I will forget about what happened that night.”
2815
2816“Senpai, that.”
2817
2818“See you. Work hard on the security work. Miyuki-san, good luck in judging.”
2819
2820She didn’t listen to Tatsuya’s answer, Mayumi stood up from her seat and disappeared into the crowd.
2821
2822“Onii-sama.”
2823
2824In the tea room, Tatsuya remained with a bomb that had been thrown onto his hand, Miyuki forcefully smirked while staring at Tatsuya.
2825
2826“What did she mean by that night?”
2827
2828“No, about that.”
2829
2830“And? Please tell me if it doesn’t trouble you… Or perhaps.”
2831
2832Miyuki put her hand on top of Tatsuya’s while asking this question.
2833
2834“Is there any harm in me knowing about it?”
2835
2836Miyuki’s hand was cold, yet it felt soft. Her hand had restrained Tatsuya in that place.
2837
2838
2839
2840
2841
2842“——This way, there isn’t any need to position a sensitive alloy plate at the ‘engraved’ part in order to activate the engraved type magic. ‘Engrave’ is intended only to induce Psion flow, as we can see right now at the projected image, the same pattern of ‘engrave’ can be obtained after the Psion’s fill in. The essence of engraving magic, as you can see, does not depend on the engraving itself.”
2843
2844After the main presenter finished his words, First High ended the presentation. A round of applause arose from the audience.
2845
2846“It is the greatest applause until now.”
2847
2848Miyuki had been selected as one of the judges, she described the reaction of the audience in the auditorium next to Tatsuya. They also thought that “the content was innovative enough”. Both Miyuki and Tatsuya agreed that First High could win this year’s Thesis Competition.
2849
2850“Then, Onii-sama, I’ll return to the judge’s seat.”
2851
2852“Next is Second High. Huh… who’s that?”
2853
2854“Huh? Isn’t that Minoru-kun?”
2855
2856The venue was filled with buzz. Perhaps, amazed by the beauty of Minoru who stood at the stage in preparation for the presentation. However, Tatsuya was surprised due to another reason.
2857
2858Soon, there was an announcement from the facilitator.
2859
2860“This is an announcement to everyone in the venue. There is a change in the presenter from Second High, as the original presenter suddenly fell sick, thus the presenter has been changed.”
2861
2862“…Miyuki, don’t you need to go to the judging seat.”
2863
2864“You’re right. Then, Onii-sama, excuse me.”
2865
2866Normally, the audience would leave their seats in the time between the announcement and the presentation. The audience who supported the schools also changed. However, this time, none of the audience left their seat.
2867
2868The presentation from Second High began with a peculiar atmosphere.
2869
2870“I will start the presentation of Second High. The theme is ‘The Principle of Mental Interference Magic’ and the Theory behind its Activation Sequence.”
2871
2872The buzz within the venue had just risen. Little was known about magic of the Mental Interference System. This is definitely an ambitious and revolutionary topic in magic research.
2873
2874“——As you can see from this observation, when a person has recognized something, a Psion Information Entity is formed. Then, when this Information Entity is no longer recognized, the information body will break down. It’s noted that for a Psion Information Entity, which forms due to recognition, is actively erased by the recognition target. For example, for momentary incineration, the object will start to collapse before the actual disappearance.
2875
2876The Theory of Psion’s being a particle that makes an Idea or a thought into a form has been proven by many observations up to the current date. It shows that the passive cognition of human’s is what makes a Psion Information Entity, but it’s actually the active mental process that is what makes the Psion Information Entity.
2877
2878I think, an Idea has to turn into the Psion Information Entity in order to create a reaction in the physical dimension from the mind. If we apply this theory, we can translate and categorize Mental Interference Magic starting from Telepathy to Sensory type ‘ESP’ as a magic that uses a Psion Information Entity.
2879
2880——Therefore, I believe a Psion Information Entity forms through the mind, the mind has characteristics that I have explained. Of course, my theory has not covered every characteristic, but if we can write the elements which are shown in this presentation into an Activation Sequence, we can speed up the formularization of Mental Interference Magic. At the same time, it will lead to magic that can counter or nullify Mental Interference Magic. This will also become an opportunity to remove any mythical fear towards Mental Interference Magic.
2881
2882——In this way, Mental Interference Type Magic is not essentially different from Four Great Systems and Eight Major Types. The mind forms a Psion Information Body within the correlation with reality. Correlatively, a Psion Information Body is formed from the mind. Thus, by building an Activation Sequence that can alter Psion Information Body, we can at least reform the current consciousness. This magic can alter the active consciousness through altering the cognition of a person.
2883
2884If a person’s mind is not divided into consciousness and sub-consciousness, instead has two parts within itself as present part and dormant part, I believe, every Mental Interference Magic can be developed into actual magic skill through observing and analyzing Psion Information Entity.”
2885
2886Minoru concluded his presentation.
2887
2888A moment of silence.
2889
2890The venue was wrapped in a thunderous applause.
2891
2892The 2096 National Magic High School Thesis Competition crown of victory was won by a freshman from Second High, with Kudou Minoru as an appointed main presenter.
2893
2894It was the birth of a new star for National Magic University from the First to Ninth Affiliated High Schools.
2895
2896
2897
2898
2899
2900At the same time, in the Yotsuba Main Manor, there was a more serious meeting held than the Thesis Competition.
2901
2902“As you’ve heard, this time Shiba Tatsuya has faithfully fulfilled the mission despite not having any helping force, and even having successfully fulfilled the request of the client. He is a valuable resource for the Yotsuba and through this mission, I can see that loyalty is not an issue.” While everyone showed a bitter face, Maya slowly opened her mouth.
2903
2904“This mission was set as a test for Tatsuya. The result is as reported by Hayama-san. Everyone, don’t you agree?”
2905
2906“We can only acknowledge him.”
2907
2908The head of Shiiba family, opened his long sealed mouth.
2909
2910“His power is certainly valuable.”
2911
2912The head of Mashiba family also agreed.
2913
2914“This time he passed, only this time.”
2915
2916The head of Shibata family did not hide his displeasure while raising his opinion.
2917
2918“Shouldn’t we drop our strange prejudice?”
2919
2920The head of Mugura family proposed, “I second that. If we think about it, we have expect too much of him from the beginning, hadn’t we? It’s time to judge him more objectively.” The head of Tsukuba family agreed.
2921
2922“I think that we’d made a premature decision. Objectively, it is true that Shiba Tatsuya has a disproportionate talent.”
2923
2924The head of Shizuka family prudently proposed so.
2925
2926Everyone fixed their eyes to the head of the Kuroba family, Kuroba Mitsugu who had kept silent.
2927
2928“Kuroba-dono, what do you think?”
2929
2930The head of Shibata family asked him.
2931
2932“I have failed the mission this time. I believe I’m not in any position to talk about this matter.” A heavy silence fell upon the room.
2933
2934A bland voice, which disregard the silence concluded the discussion.
2935
2936“Then, let’s postpone the final decision until the New Year Celebration meeting.” It was the final statement, until the final decision would be made on the New Year.
2937
2938No branch families could object to the words of the head of Yotsuba Family.
2939
2940
2941
2942
2943
2944(To be continued in “Yotsuba Succession Arc”)
2945
2946
2947
2948
2949
2950Afterword
2951
2952
2953
2954
2955
2956How did you like “Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei” Volume 15 “Ancient City Insurrection Arc (II)”. Although the subtitle “Ancient City Insurrection Attempt Arc” might suit the content better, but the title would been a spoiler for you. That’s why, I ask for your understanding and forgiveness that I didn’t put “attempt” in the subtitle.
2957
2958
2959Now, we finally see the Yotsuba’s branch families. Although they were only in supporting roles in this installment, for me this is something memorable as “…finally these guys can come out”. Well, I can say that they will be in supporting roles in the future as well, since they are an essential part to producing the climax of “Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei”, they were always waiting for their turn. The installment where they will make a major appearance will be one of the climaxes of this series.
2960
2961
2962The appearance of the branch families itself had been decided from the beginning, although their structures and family names were only decided recently. The various NG[42], I was quite troubled by them. Shiiba, Mashiba, Shibata, Kuroba, Mugura, Tsukuba, Shizuka. Among those, Shiiba, Mashiba, Shibata are the easiest to understand. Each of them carry “four-leaf”, which is a variation of “Yotsuba”.
2963
2964
2965Maybe you’ve already noticed about Kuroba, it was taken from “Yotsuba no Kuroba” (four-leaf clover).
2966
2967
2968Mugura was derived from a plant called “Yostsubamugura[43]”.
2969
2970
2971Tsukuba was taken from “Tsukubanesou[44]”. Tsukubanesou is a perennial plant of the Lily family with four leaves.
2972
2973
2974Shizuka was inspired from a plant called “Hitorishizuka”. It is also a perennial four leaf.
2975
2976
2977During the process of choosing their surnames, I had a hard time in attempting to follow the naming law, thank goodness I could find good names.
2978
2979
2980Lastly, a little background story of the creation for the setting of “Zhou Gongjin mixed up with Qi Men Dun Jia” (in the end I’m going with this setting), in “Yokohama Disturbance Arc” and this “Ancient City Insurrection Arc” came from the “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms” (to be exact, the play which was written by Yoshikawa Eiji-sensei) with some improvisation in the episode where Zhou is coming out. In other words, rather than using the story of Kongming and Qi Men Dun Jia, I only used his Qi Men Dun Jia as a part of the setting. It doesn’t mean that Zhuge Liang wasn’t depicted in “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, in the end, I was just using the setting of Qi Men Dun Jia in this story.
2981
2982
2983I’m heart fully thankful to you for having read this series up to here. If it suits you, please look forward to the next installment Volume 16 “Yotsuba Succession Arc”.
2984
2985
2986
2987
2988
2989(Satou Tsutomu)
2990
2991
2992
2993
2994
2995Illustrations
2996
2997
2998
2999
3000
3001Cover
3002
3003
3004
3005
3006Teaser #1
3007
3008
3009
3010
3011Teaser #2
3012
3013
3014
3015
3016Teaser #3
3017
3018
3019
3020
3021Teaser #4
3022
3023
3024
3025
3026Teaser #5
3027
3028
3029
3030
3031Map
3032
3033
3034
3035
3036Chapter 6
3037
3038
3039
3040
3041Chapter 7
3042
3043
3044
3045
3046Chapter 7
3047
3048
3049
3050
3051Chapter 8
3052
3053
3054
3055
3056Chapter 8
3057
3058
3059
3060
3061Chapter 9
3062
3063
3064
3065
3066Chapter 9
3067
3068
3069
3070
3071Advert #1
3072
3073
3074
3075
3076Advert #2
3077
3078
3079
3080
3081
3082Notes
3083
3084
3085
3086
3087
3088Old Girl: Ex-female student of First High.
3089
3090
3091Translator’s Note: The original word “Uwasabanashi o Nana Jū Go-Kakan,” literally “75 days life span of rumor.” It means that rumors in the world do not last long, it is something to be forgotten soon by its nature.
3092
3093
3094Onibi (鬼火): Is a type of kaika in legends of Japan. According to folklore, they are the spirits born from the corpses of humans and animals, and are also said to be resentful people that have become fire and appeared. Also, sometimes the words “will-o’-wisp” or “jack-o’-lantern” are translated into Japanese as “onibi.”
3095
3096Also, Yukumo used Onibi for Miyuki’s Mirage Bat practices.
3097
3098
3099Kunai (苦無): Is a Japanese dagger, possibly derived from the masonry trowel. The two widely recognized variations of the kunai are short kunai (小苦無 shō-kunai) and the big kunai (大苦無 dai-kunai). Although a basic tool, in the hands of a martial arts expert, the kunai could be used as a multi-functional weapon. The kunai is commonly associated with the ninja, who used it to gouge holes in walls. Kunai were originally made to be farming tools but soon evolved into the weaponry they have become today. Many popular manga and ninjutsu characters use kunai as both their primary and secondary weapons.
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3101The kunai was conventionally wrought in lengths ranging from 20 cm to 30 cm. It was used by peasants as a multi-purpose gardening tool and by workers of stone and masonry. The kunai is akin to a crowbar. The blade is made of soft iron, and is left unsharpened because the edges are used to smash relatively soft materials such as plaster and wood, for digging holes and for prying. Normally, only the tip is sharpened.
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3105Kunai normally had a leaf-shaped blade and a handle with a ring on the pommel for attaching a rope. The attached rope allows the kunai’s handle to be wrapped to function as a grip, or to be strapped to a stick as a makeshift spear; to be tied to the body for concealment; or to be used as an anchor or piton. Contrary to popular belief, kunai were not designed to be used primarily as throwing weapons. Instead, kunai were primarily tools and, when used as weapons, were stabbing and thrusting implements.
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3109Varieties of kunai include short, long, narrow-bladed, saw-toothed, and wide-bladed. In some cases, the kunai and the shikoro, a wide-bladed saw with a dagger-type handle, are difficult to distinguish.
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3112Hand Seals (印): Is an Ancient Magic technique for evoking magic. There are also spell chants, talismans, magic staves, tomes, etc.
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3115Translator’s Note: Slank word which means “How dangerous,” or “That was close!” (in this case).
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3118Bunshin: Shadow Clone.
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3121Kasei-Tai: Is one in which were visualized the spiritual energy. Make a mass appearance in illusion magic with the foundation of the Psion, interfere weight in substance, acceleration, and shows as if they have a body, etc. Movement magic. The name “kasei-tai” were given by researchers of modern magic when analyzing ancient magic, to be used exclusively for ancient magic. More details here: 魔法科高校の劣等生@wiki - 化成体.
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3124Kugutsu-Shiki-Oni: A Demon-Type puppet or shikigami.
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3127Souryuu: Or Xiangyou is a nine-headed snake monster that appears in Chinese mythology. An oral version of the Xiangliu myth was collected as late from Sichuan as 1983, in which Xiangliu is depicted as a nine-headed dragon, responsible for floods and other harm.
3128
3129According to the Shan Hai Jing, Xiangliu was a minister of the snake-like water deity Gong Gong, Xiangliu devastated the ecology everywhere he went, leaving nothing but gullies and marshes devoid of animal life. Eventually, Xiangliu was killed by Yu the Great whose other labors included ending the Great Flood of China (or else he was killed, according to one modern version, by Nüwa, after being defeated by Zhurong), but so poisonously virulent was the blood of Xiangliu that the soil which it soaked could no longer grow grains.
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3132Kyoda (巨蛇): Or Madtsoiidae are an extinct group of mostly Gondwanan snakes with a fossil record extending from early Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) to late Pleistocene strata located in South America, Africa, India, Australia and Southern Europe. Madtsoiid snakes include very primitive snakes, which like extant boas and pythons would likely dispatch their prey by constriction, such as Gigantophis, one of the longest snakes known at an estimated 10.7 meters, and the Australian Aboriginal mythology-named Wonambi, Waugl and Yurlunggur. As a grouping of basal forms the composition and even the validity of Madtsoiidae is in a state of flux as new pertinent finds are described.
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3137Unfruitful Swamp: Acidic soil that can’t be used for agriculture.
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3140Houjutsushi: Doll forming magic.
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3143Kiyomizu no Butai Kara Tobioriru: An idiom. Literally: “To jump from the stage of Shimizu.” It means to be prepared in doing something out of desperation.
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3146Usankusai: Fishy business, suspicious.
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3149Yudofu (湯豆腐): Is blocks of tofu simmered in hot water along with veggies, eaten with condiments like ponzu and yuzu kosho. It takes no time to make and is incredibly satisfying, healthy and delicious.
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3154Yuba Nabe: Yuba, also called tofu skin, is a food product made from soybeans. During the boiling of soy milk, in an open shallow pan, a film or skin forms on the liquid surface.
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3158Although the taste isn’t very different from tofu, many people like yuba better because of its texture.
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3160Yuba Nabe is one of the many different ways to eat Yuba.
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3163Nanzen-ji (南禅寺): Or Zuiryusan Nanzen-ji, formerly Zenrin-ji (禅林寺 Zenrin-ji), is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. Emperor Kameyama established it in 1291 on the site of his previous detached palace. It is also the headquarters of the Nanzen-ji branch of Rinzai Zen. The precincts of Nanzen-ji are a nationally designated Historic Site and the Hōjō gardens a Place of Scenic Beauty.
3164
3165Nanzen-ji was founded in the middle Kamakura period (1291, or Shōō 4 in the Japanese era system). It was destroyed by fire in 1393, 1447, and 1467, rebuilt in 1597, and expanded in the Edo era. A large complex, it has varied over time between nine and twelve sub-temples.
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3169Zenkei Shibayama, who provided a popular commentary on the Mumonkan, was an abbot of the monastery.
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3172Shugenja (修験者): Were the 7th century practitioners of the Japanese religion of Shugendō. They were sometimes known as yamabushi.
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3175Onmyoudou (陰陽道): lit. “The Way of Yin and Yang”) is a traditional Japanese esoteric cosmology, a mixture of natural science and occultism. It is based on the Chinese philosophies of Wu Xing (five elements) and Yin and yang, introduced into Japan at the beginning of the 6th century. It was accepted as a practical system of divination. These practices were influenced further by Taoism, Buddhism and Shintoism, and evolved into the system of onmyōdō around the late 7th century. Onmyōdō was under the control of the imperial government, and later its courtiers, the Tsuchimikado family until the middle of the 19th century, at which point it became prohibited as superstition.
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3179Abe no Seimei (安倍 晴明, February 21, 921 – October 31, 1005) was an onmyōji, a leading specialist of onmyōdō during the middle of the Heian Period in Japan. In addition to his prominence in history, he is a legendary figure in Japanese folklore and has been portrayed in a number of stories and films.
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3181Seimei worked as onmyōji for emperors and the Heian government, making calendars and advising on the spiritually correct way to deal with issues. He prayed for the well-being of emperors and the government as well as advising on various issues. He was also an astrologer and predicted astrological events. He enjoyed an extremely long life, free from any major illness, which contributed to the popular belief that he had mystical powers.
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3185The Seimei Shrine, located in Kyoto, is a popular shrine dedicated to him. The Abeno train station and district, in Osaka, are sometimes said to be named after him, as it is one of the locations where legends place his birth.
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3188Shishi Shinchuu Nomushi: Literally: “Insect within the body of lion.” It means those who bring harm while at inside and, even if those who return the favor in revenge.
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3191Kimon Tonkou no jutsu: Or “Ghost Walker (鬼門 遁甲)” in the anime, is a specialized branch of Mental Interference and Ancient Magic that selects positions based on fortune. The user consciously manipulates the target’s direction, unrestricted by physical parameters. However, Ghost Walker also has a side of its own. It is a magic that manipulates the vectors. Based on the user’s wishes, this secretive magic can redirect other people’s attention to the desired location and people with their vectors scrambled will never locate their target. Much like someone who intends to walk straight forward but is actually walking in circles, or maybe seeing a carriage plainly in walking distance but is never able to catch up.
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3195Qi Men Dun Jia (simplified Chinese: 奇门遁甲; traditional Chinese: 奇門遁甲; pinyin: Qí Mén Dùn Jiǎ) is an ancient form of divination from China, which is still in use in China, Taiwan, Singapore and the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia. Qi Men Dun Jia may be applied to business, crime-solving, marriages and matchmaking, medical divination, Feng Shui, military affairs, finding missing people, travel, personal fortune divination etc.
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3199Along with Da Liu Ren and Tai Yi Shen Shu it is one of the collective Three Arts or Three Styles (三式 sān shì), China’s highest metaphysical arts.
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3202
3203Check the afterword for details.
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3206Zhuge Liang: Was a chancellor (or prime minister) of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He is recognised as the most accomplished strategist of his era, and has been compared to Sun Tzu, the author of The Art of War.
3207
3208Often depicted wearing a Taoist robe and holding a hand fan made of crane feathers, Zhuge Liang was an important military strategist, statesman and accomplished scholar and inventor. His reputation as an intelligent and learned scholar grew even while he was living in relative seclusion, earning him the nickname “Wolong” or “Fulong” (both literally mean “Crouching Dragon”).
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3212Zhuge is an uncommon two-character Chinese compound family name. His name – even his surname alone – has become synonymous with intelligence and strategy in Chinese culture.
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3215Nitowooumonohaittowomoezu: Literally: “To chase 2 things and obtain not a single one.” It means when you chase 2 goals by greed, in the end you will get neither of them.
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3218Keiji (けいじ, ケイジ): Is a Japanese given name usually used for males. Meaning varies depending on the kanji characters used. Keiji can also refer to a police detective, using the kanji 刑事.
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3221Genjuu: Cryptid or mythical beast.
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3224Entity: Real body/substance.
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3227Katsura River (桂川): Is a continuation of two other rivers, the Hozu River, a small, speedy river which begins in the mountains near Kameoka and then slithers through the mountains separating Kameoka and Kyoto; and the Ōi River (大堰川 Ōi-gawa), which emerges from those mountains and expands into a shallow, slow-flowing river until Togetsukyo Bridge in Arashiyama. From that point forward, the river is referred to as the Katsura River, and its flow continues for several kilometers through Osaka Prefecture until it joins the Kamo and Uji rivers.
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3229The Katsura River area features some of the oldest shrines in Kyoto and Japan, such as Matsuo Shrine, and, as a counterpoint to the channelled Kamo River, supports acres of agricultural area on its flood plain. It also is known for its summer supply of ayu and is a popular place for holding barbecues.
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3232Arashiyama (嵐山 Storm Mountain): Is a district on the western outskirts of Kyoto, Japan. It also refers to the mountain across the Ōi River, which forms a backdrop to the district. Arashiyama is a nationally designated Historic Site and Place of Scenic Beauty.
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3234Mount Arashi (Arashiyama) across the ÅŒi River pictured above.
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3237Kurikara-ken:
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3239Buddhist sword of wisdom, cuts through 3 passions, desire, anger, and confusion. More details here Fudo Myo-O - Introducing Japanese Deities: Kurikara, the Sword of Fudo Myo-o.
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3242Kōmanoriken: The sword of Acala that made the devil surrendered.
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3245Translator’s Note: Miyuki was saying “mi mo futa mo arimasen” which literally: “no body and no cover.” It means too blatant.
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3248Fudou Myouou: Acala (Sanskrit: “immovable”) is a dharmapala primarily revered in Vajrayana Buddhism, particularly in Tangmi traditions of Japan where he is known as Fudō Myōō, China and elsewhere.
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3250He is classed among the Wisdom Kings and preeminent among the Five Wisdom Kings of the Womb Realm. Accordingly, his figure occupies an important hierarchical position in the pictorial diagramatic Mandala of the Two Realms.
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3254In Japan, Acala is highly venerated in the Shingon Buddhism, Tendai, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism and in Shugendō. Fudo Myo is also highly revered amongst some Yakuza members, who oftentimes draw on his intense facial expression and demeanor.
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3257Hourin: The dharmachakra (IAST: dharmacakra; Pali dhammacakka; “Wheel of the Dharma”), is one of the Ashtamangala of Indian religions such as Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism. It has represented the Buddhist dharma, Gautama Buddha’s teaching of the path to Nirvana, since the time of early Buddhism. It is also connected to the Noble Eightfold Path.
3258
3259The Sanskrit noun darma is a derivation from the root dhṛ, which has a meaning of “to hold, maintain, keep”, and takes a meaning of “what is established or firm”, and hence “law”. It is derived from the Vedic Sanskrit n-stem dharman- with the meaning “bearer, supporter” in the historical Vedic religion conceived of as an aspect of Ṛta.
3260
3261The word chakra “wheel” derives from Proto-Indo-European *kʷekʷlos, and its cognates include Greek kyklos, Lithuanian kaklas, Tocharian B kokale, Slavic koleso and English “wheel,” as well as “circle” and “cycle.” *kʷekʷlos is derived from the root *kʷel-, a verb that meant “to turn.”.
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3265The wheel is also the main attribute of Ganesha, the Vedic god of preservation.
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3268Translator’s Note: Kinda hard to explain, here goes the pics Taobao or do a Google search.
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3271Yariniku: Remembering a difficult thing after you do it (you won’t forget).
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3274Marici (Buddhism):
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3276In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, Marici is a devi or bodhisattva associated with light and the sun. She is known as Molizhitian (摩利支天) or Molizhitian Pusa (摩利支天菩萨) in China and Marishi-ten (摩利支天) in Japan and in Tibetan as ’Odzer Canma, “Woman Endowed with Rays of Light” (Wylie: ’od zer can ma). She is one of the 20 (or 24) Celestials (二十/二十四諸天). In Taoism and Chinese folk religion, Marici is known under the epithet of the Lady of Dipper Mother (Chinese: 斗母元君; pinyin: Dǒumǔ Yuánjūn) or Doumu, a name sometimes used by Buddhists.
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3279Mizuwomukeru: Literally: “Directs the water.” It means to encourage other party to speak something that you’re willing to entertain.
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3282Translator’s Note: Usually heard in the narration of activities in a sword play (as in stage play).
3283
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3285Genjutsu: Illusion.
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3287
3288Water Margin: Is a novel attributed to Shi Nai’an. Considered one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, the novel is written in vernacular Chinese rather than Classical Chinese.
3289
3290The story, set in the Song dynasty, tells of how a group of 108 outlaws gathers at Mount Liang (or Liangshan Marsh) to form a sizable army before they are eventually granted amnesty by the government and sent on campaigns to resist foreign invaders and suppress rebel forces. It has introduced to readers many of the best-known characters in Chinese literature, such as Wu Song, Lin Chong and Lu Zhishen.
3291
3292
3293Translator’s Note: A surname of Asian origin.
3294
3295
3296Yotsubamugura (ヨツバムグラ):
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3299
3300
3301Tsukubanesou:
3302
3303Click here for more info.
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3308
3309Did you enjoy the book?
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3313Grab a copy at your local bookstore once localized in your area.