Tokyo Ravens Volume 9 Chapter 1

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"The true essence of sorcery is 'lies'?

Truly. That is just like you.

But I don't believe that.

'Lies' indeed become the flowers of magic, but flowers are supported by their roots.

Trust.

Without that, no 'lie' will shine."

--Hishamaru

The child didn't have a name.

A taboo child. An evil spirit. She was held in contempt and isolated. She understood she was that kind of existence ever since she learned about the world, even if no one explained it to her.

She wasn't cared for, she wasn't loved, and she just 'existed' through each and every day. She believed without a doubt that it would continue until her death. She believed that that was her 'life'.

But she was wrong. It wasn't like that.

Because her life was full of ripples, neither superior nor inferior to anyone else born in that era.

Everything began with a lively, spirited voice. The voice of a young boy who flung people aside and broke into her prison, opening the heavy door.

"You're my shikigami? I see. You're very strange."

It was a light shooting into the deep darkness.

The moment she was illuminated by that light, the true meaning of her 'life' began.

... "......I'm sorry...... for always hiding...... the thing about Hokuto......"

A healing charm.

Harutora came to his senses. What the h.e.l.l was he s.p.a.cing out for? Why was he wasting time. The bleeding was serious. He had to stop the bleeding right now. Quickly. Now. Right now.

... "But. You probably...... already realized......"

He had healing charms on him. He had taken them and other charms along as precautions against his aura going out of control, the oni Natsume had encountered, and the Onmyouji monitoring the dorms. Right, he had the necessary and sufficient amount.

... "Harutora-kun......"

He fumbled with the charm box on his waist, flicking open the lid with his fingertips and drawing out charms - but he couldn't complete his usual motion. His fingertips trembled and didn't listen to him. His mind was immediately painted over with anger and irritation, and he even became unable to breathe.

... "I love you."

Stay calm. No. Hurry. Hurry. He ignored his fingertips that still couldn't successfully move, using his whole hand to force open the charm box. Clatter. He grabbed all of the charms collected inside without any reservations.

... "......I won't forgive you if you die......"

"Order!"

Strength that should have been almost dried-up flowed out from somewhere. He pressed the charms he had grabbed onto the wound as if to stop the bleeding.

The moment he used magic, the fog enveloping his mind dispersed. Natsume remained motionless on his left arm with her eyes closed. The uniform was soaked from chest to abdomen. Fresh, warm liquid dripped down from the weight leaning on his arm, but it quickly cooled and hardened upon contact with the outside air.

His heart felt as if a chunk of it had been ripped off as he gazed at Natsume's body. The chill of coagulating blood. He resisted the urge to vomit that rose in his throat, throwing aside distractions in order to focus on his magic.

He searched for and infused magical energy into the healing charms that he pressed onto her body. At the same time, he meticulously rewrote the magic of the charms to match Natsume's wound. Every second counted. The effects were optimized when many healing charms were put together. He pushed his spiritual pressure to its limits, pouring in magical energy with so much force that the magic almost burst.

However, it still wasn't enough.

Of course, this was his first time treating someone's severe injury with magic. But for some reason, the things he had to do emerged one after another in his mind. He added his body's aura to Natsume's stagnated aura, forcefully making it circulate. He made his magical energy, that had been increased through connected five-element charms, flow into the healing charms. Then charm magic. He used a simple shikigami to momentarily fill the missing body tissue. It was even at a surgical level, but right now he could even understand those procedures. Anyway, he did everything that he could. He used all his means to bring Natsume back - he had to bring her back.

"...Haru...!"

He felt like he heard someone shouting above him. But he couldn't understand the meaning of those words, even though his mind was so clear.

"Harutora! You--"

The next moment, he heard someone's voice again and an impact came to his feet and knees with a bang. He immediately protected Natsume's body. He finally understood the situation after he collapsed on the hard asphalt road - they had fallen onto the ground and landed. Right, he had been flying in midair until just now - and out of control. No, right now he had to focus on healing Natsume.

He lay Natsume's body down on the concrete ground, continuously casting magic as if to cover her. He stopped the bleeding, closed up the wounds, and repaired the damaged organs. Not enough blood. Magic instantly emerged in his mind and his mouth chanted an incantation he had never heard of on its own. He had to restore her to before. No matter what. Without leaving a single wound. Absolutely.

d.a.m.n. He cursed unconsciously. d.a.m.n, d.a.m.n, s.h.i.t. Complaints overflowed from his mouth.

Why had things become like this, why had people done such things. Why.

Who was it.

Momentarily, he felt a terror and despair that he had never known, but Harutora instinctively denied everything. Anyway, he wouldn't admit such things, such things weren't allowed. It had to be undone as if nothing had ever happened.

It's alright, he desperately said to himself. The treatment was perfect, and Natsume's wounded body was clearly gradually recovering. She would be as good as new in a bit of time.

However--

A loud roar.

He searched for the next incantation from the endless knowledge that constantly streamed in. To make a stopped heart beat and make collapsed lungs expand. To make someone awaken. To make Natsume wake up again.

"......tora!"

How could he repeat the mistake he had made with Hokuto!? His current self was different from back then. His current self had only come to be after Hokuto had vanished and he overcame various experiences after setting his goal to be becoming an Onmyouji. He should be able to save her. Saving someone wasn't much. His important friend, his precious master, and his irreplaceable childhood friend.

He could definitely save her, so please, please, please......

"Harutora!"

His shoulder was grabbed from behind.

His body flinched, and at the same time, something quickly reacted in the corner of his vision.

Something black, like the wing of a raven--

"Gah!?"

Touji, who had put his hand on Harutora's shoulder, was blown away.

It was none other than the black coat he wore that had knocked Touji away - intending to protect its 'master'. This cloak-like, coat-like outer garment that seemed to be woven from raven feathers. The 'Raven's Wing'. The lower hem fluttered menacingly as it transformed.

Touji instantly crossed his arms to guard against the Raven's Wing's preemptive attack. He was. .h.i.t hard, but managed to land on the asphalt road. Fortunately, Touji had reacted reflexively, or else... Or if he hadn't luckily stayed in his oni form, he wouldn't have gotten off so easily.

Just like Natsume.

Harutora's face twisted, reflexively taking off the Raven's Wing and throwing it aside. Immediately, the spiritual power coming from the Raven's Wing cut off and an intense exhaustion swept through his body. Intense, pulsating heat ran through him. His overloaded nerves burned as if they had short-circuited.

Hah. Harutora slumped onto the asphalt road, the strength in his body wasting away.

He weakly turned his head towards Natsume, who lay beside him.

It wasn't Natsume who was there.

What was there was Natsume's corpse, wrapped in a bloodstained uniform.

After taking off the Raven's Wing, Tsuchimikado Harutora collapsed to the ground as if whatever possessed him had vanished. Only after confirming this did Ato Touji drop his guard.

Touji was also extremely confused, but he forcefully suppressed his wavering heart and began studying the area.

The place where Harutora had fallen was the middle of the road. Though they were quite far from the location of the fireworks festival, it seemed that traffic from the nearby areas had also been blocked off. But instead of cars coming by, there were several visitors pa.s.sing by who had stopped nearby to see what had happened. "......Reboot." Touji quietly chanted the incantation, releasing his demonic transformation.

The fireworks festival's fireworks still continued blooming. The night sky was dotted with bursts of color. The light dissipated from the explosions slowly winked out around them.

Dairenji Suzuka was also there, in a location slightly farther than Touji. She and Touji - and also Natsume - had chased after the rampaging Harutora together after he had been possessed by the Raven's Wing. Though she had touched down to the ground, she hadn't gotten off her paper shikigami. Frozen in place, she looked at Harutora with a pale, naive expression - and at Natsume who lay in front of him.

Her mind was probably blank. Even though Touji thought this, he wasn't an exception. A nearly crazed destructive impulse stood right behind Touji, peering over at this side.

But Touji, who had continued facing his demon, had learned ways to deal with despair.

He gave up on thinking, wiped his emotions, and approached Harutora.

Harutora was slumped on the concrete with a soulless expression.

His rampage until just recently had almost depleted his spiritual power. Harutora had lacked spiritual stability since he had fought with Shaver in the Meguro branch. He had also lost control during the day today and had been suppressed by the 'one-armed oni'. He had instantly gone rampant because of the Raven's Wing.

But the current Harutora seemed to have recovered a bit from the boundary where his life was in danger, like he had been during Natsume's final moments. After Touji confirmed that fact, he decided to stop his a.n.a.lysis there and turned his gaze away from Harutora.

Then, Natsume.

He slowly approached her, feeling her pulse and checking whether she was breathing.

She could still feel aura from the girl's body. However, Touji had learned that this was what General Onmyoudou called 'lingering aura'. The aura lingering on Natsume's body wasn't too different from Natsume's familiar aura. But even so, it was no longer Natsume.

She had no pulse, nor was she breathing.

Natsume was already dead.

A faraway impulse started baring its fangs at Touji again. It would be so liberating to just entrust himself to that impulse. But Touji kept completely calm. Right now, he had a mission that he had to stay calm for.

"......Harutora."

Touji called out. Harutora didn't respond, but Touji understood that unlike before, these words reached his friend.

But he didn't know how to continue speaking after that. It was too heavy of a burden. Touji made every effort possible to eliminate his emotions. In this kind of time, it was meaningless to force himself to do things that he couldn't do. Touji clenched his teeth slightly, rising and turning to Suzuka.

"Suzuka."

"Suzuka!"

Suzuka shivered, turning to him.

"Help me put up a barrier to drive people away. Can you do that?"

"......Uh, yeah."

Suzuka nodded, her expression stiff. But something descended from above faster than Suzuka could put up a barrier.

"Yukikaze......"

The white horse shikigami that Natsume had ridden while chasing after Harutora, Yukikaze.

The ancient shikigami that had served the Tsuchimikado family for generations seemed to already understand the situation. After descending and standing some distance away from Natsume and Harutora, it remorsefully lowered its head. Touji left Harutora and approached Yukikaze, putting his hand on its neck with a pat.

Also, it wasn't only Yukikaze who appeared.

"Ah, they're here! Everyone!"

Even Touji, who was keeping calm, inadvertently stiffened because of that sudden voice.

Across from where Yukikaze stood. His cla.s.smates Momoe Tenma and Kurahashi Kyouko ran over from the direction of the road. When Harutora had lost control, Natsume had mounted Yukikaze, and Touji and Suzuka had ridden Suzuka's shikigami and immediately flew into the night sky. Tenma and Kyouko who were left behind seemed to have run after their friends. The yukata-wearing Kyouko had taken off her wooden sandals and run in her tabi[1].

Seeing the two of them run up, Touji felt the impulse to escape, but he dismissed that desire, walking up as if to greet the two of them.

Tenma and Kyouko were short of breath. They had to have run quite a distance.

Even so, they desperately approached Touji's side.

"H-How's Harutora-kun? Did you find him?"

Touji only nodded at Tenma's question after hesitating for some time. After some confusion, Tenma's gaze was drawn to Harutora sitting on the road. Instantly, the eyes behind his gla.s.ses shone, but when he noticed the 'other person', he was stunned.

Kyouko, who arrived a step later, bent down in discomfort, putting her hands on her knees. Then, she raised her head to look up at Touji, looked at Tenma, and then turned her gaze in the direction he faced.

"......Eh?"

A dumbfounded sound leaked out from a gap in her chaotic breathing.

She asked with an almost stupefied expression:

"......Natsume-chan?"

The smile that had reflexively emerged on her face slipped off. Then, she suddenly paled.

"What are you doing?"

Tenma asked. Then, as if his own words had brought him to his senses, he grabbed Touji's sleeve.

"What are you doing!? Hurry up and call an ambulance!"

His voice and knees shook. "Hurry!" Touji didn't move in response to Tenma's pleading words, his face pained. Tenma slowly comprehended the meaning of that and went speechless.

On the other hand, "......Natsume-chan?" Kyouko repeated her question in an almost inaudible voice.

"No way. ......You're kidding, right? Enough is enough. That's not possible...... Why did this happen...... Why......"

Hysteria slowly entered Kyouko's voice.

The visitors watching from afar also began making a racket. Touji's heart was invaded by a hard-to-control restlessness again. He wanted to bellow loudly, he wanted to go on a rampage. But doing that wouldn't help anything. Calm down. Touji desperately clenched his fists.

"......Tenma. What about 'that girl'?"

Tenma seemed to instantly realize who he was referring to.

"......She's probably still in the same place...... We just tried to catch up to you guys."

It seemed like Tenma was calmer than Kyouko, or he still hadn't gotten a grip on the reality in front of him. "I see." Touji nodded slightly, then shouted to Suzuka again:

"Suzuka! The barrier!"

Suzuka nodded shakily after he instructed. She tried to use magic immediately but was unsuccessful. Anyone who saw her like that wouldn't believe her to be a Divine General.

Then--

"......Right."

Suddenly, Harutora mumbled to himself. Touji, Suzuka, Tenma, and Kyouko inadvertently looked at Harutora in surprise.

"I'll go ask my dad. Even if I can't do it, my dad...... my dad can definitely treat Natsume."

They were realistic, but obviously empty words. Touji's anger suddenly rose.

"Harutora......"

Touji spoke solemnly. Then, Harutora turned to Touji, still slumped on the ground.

His expression was that of someone who had been defeated and was about to be crushed, yet still stood firm in the last moment. The expression of someone who had lost everything but still hung on to the final thread. Touji was helpless before those eyes that might crumble at any moment.

"Isn't that right? My dad's a professional Onmyou doctor, right? Touji, didn't he seal your oni too?"

"Harutora, that's enough."

"Although he's usually joking around, his skills are top-notch. My dad can definitely do it. My dad definitely can."

"Harutora."

"He'll definitely be able to help, even with Natsume. After all, he's a professional Onmyou doctor, a true Onmyouji, different from someone like me! As long as he tries, even someone dead--"

"Harutora!"

He reached his limit. Harutora's expression crumbled with Touji's shout. Also, the thing swirling in Touji's body was spat out along with his angry shout. He felt like there was a hole deep in his chest and felt a numbness surpa.s.sing pain.

"......Harutora."

Touji spoke to him again.

Then, he took a breath to let himself calm down, and continued.

"No Onmyouji can resurrect the dead, no matter who."

He said that indifferently, as if convincing himself.

Touji just naturally said the obvious truth.

At some point, the shooting of fireworks had also stopped.

A heavy, depressing silence weighed on everyone present. Touji lowered his head, as if pushed down by that weight.

That was the weight and bitterness of 'reality'. He couldn't escape from it or reject it. He could only accept and endure.

But--

There was some 'twistedness' in that silence. Touji suddenly became conscious of that twistedness as he was immersed in that silence.

He frowned. He noticed that Harutora, who had been staring straight at him until just now, had turned his head.

An undisguised face of one who had been forced into desperation, cutting off everything unnecessary. His eyes held a strange light.

Harutora was staring at Suzuka.

He quickly looked at Suzuka. She had also noticed Harutora's gaze and was looking back. She had a childish, timid expression, but at the base of it was a terror of a different kind from before.

A cold current ran through Touji's back.

The words he had said before hazily reawakened in his mind. The premonition that formed before thinking - the unpleasant, ominous premonition - made his hair rise.

"......Hey."

He hastily spoke up.

"Harutora, you......"

However, the situation didn't wait for Touji to convey his 'suspicions'.

Suddenly, Yukikaze neighed shrilly next to Touji as if to catch his attention. Immediately afterwards, a siren that had been mixed in with the sound of the fireworks before suddenly rushed into the road.

A large black vehicle unlike a sedan and giving off a rough impression appeared. Because of the familiar model, Touji inadvertently took a stance. He didn't even need to look at the words 'Onmyou Agency' stenciled on the body. It was a transporter that spiritual disaster purification teams used.

Black-clothed Onmyouji jumped in twos and threes out of the braking transport. Exorcists. Though they attempted to make a formation as their miasma protection clothing flapped, their movements suddenly became disorderly. The man in front looked at Touji and the others, his eyes widening. "A kid?"

Touji inadvertently clicked his tongue.

Harutora had lost control in the middle of the bustling fireworks festival area. There had been a battle involving first-cla.s.s magic and even a midair battle after Hokuto was summoned to stop the rampaging Harutora. There would be many witnesses.

More accurately, it had been the Raven's Wing that had lost control, not Harutora. Moreover, the Raven's Wing wasn't a pure magical tool, it was a shikigami. The out-of-control Raven's Wing was originally a mobile spiritual disaster, a Phase Three. It wasn't inexplicable that the Exorcist Bureau had noticed that aura and seen it as a spiritual disaster, or that exorcists - a spiritual disaster purification team - had suddenly come here.

The spiritual disaster purification team that disembarked from the transport still surrounded Touji and the others regardless of the confusion they felt towards the circ.u.mstances. Also, their faces changed when they saw Natsume collapsed on the ground and covered in blood.

Exorcists were specialists in spiritual disaster purification and supposedly amateurs in magical battles, but it didn't feel that way from their practiced formation. This was the unwavering pressure given off by professional Onmyouji.

Yukikaze snorted as if asking 'what do we do'. Touji managed to suppress his impulse to click his tongue again.

In any case, there was nothing their group could do now. Rather, it would be beneficial to hand the situation over to adults. Honestly, his faith in the Onmyou Agency had been shaken because of the matter concerning Souma Takiko. She had once said that it was the Onmyou Agency who had attacked Natsume's old home, the Tsuchimikado main family residence. Then, she had appeared in front of Harutora and the others with the Raven's Wing that originally should have been at that residence. Hence he had to conclude that Takiko was a.s.sociated with the Onmyou Agency and see the two of them as 'bad'.

But the Exorcist Bureau was alright compared to the Onmyou Agency. Even if they were of the same ilk, there was at least one person that he realized he could trust. Kogure Zenjirou of the Twelve Divine Generals. He was a former cla.s.smate of Touji's and the others' homeroom teacher, and he knew Harutora, Natsume, and Kyouko. If he successfully got in contact with him, he might seriously listen to their explanation.

Most importantly, if they were entrusted to the Exorcist Bureau's hands - the hands that could be called 'the law', they should be able to stay away from the ominous premonition he had felt earlier.

Touji breathed slowly, putting his hand on Yukikaze's head.

"......Suzuka."

He spoke while raising his hands, showing that he had no intention of resisting.

Upon seeing Touji's att.i.tude, Suzuka also obediently - actually, with an expression even more relieved than his - put her hands up. The exorcists next to them were surprised, perhaps because they knew the 'Child Prodigy'.

Kyouko was still stunned, but he decided that she wasn't in danger upon seeing her appearance. Though Tenma didn't put his hands up, he lowered his head and didn't make any actions of resistance.

But Harutora was different.

Harutora, who had been slumped on the ground until now, reacted to the exorcists surrounding them, his body twisting fiercely. He desperately shook his head, sheltering Natsume, then held her tightly.

"Harutora!"

Touji shouted. But Harutora let it pa.s.s by his ears. He glared at the exorcists with bloodshot eyes.

Finally, one of the exorcists took a step forward.

"......We are a spiritual disaster purification team belonging to the Onmyou Agency. We're arresting you all. If you comply, we won't get rough."

He stated their allegiance while proclaiming this. Harutora's breathing quickened and a vicious expression emerged on his face.

Harutora's appearance looked like he was shaken by the confusion and had fallen into a state of panic. But that was wrong. That was just on the surface, and Touji had keenly seen through it. Unlike when he had seemed soulless before, a resolute will had arisen in the heart of the current Harutora.

A dangerous will.

"Harutora! Settle down!"

Touji couldn't help but call out. But it ended up becoming the trigger.

Harutora shot off the ground, quickly extending a hand. What he grabbed was the Raven's Wing that he had originally taken off and thrown away. Fwip. The black outer coat leaped up like a flapping banner or like a living thing. Ripples of golden light billowed over the black fabric. Harutora put on the Raven's Wing and held Natsume's body in his arms.

Touji shouted Harutora's name again.

At the same time, the exorcists put up a barrier.

"Don't move!"

The exorcists barked a warning. The Raven's Wing flapped its hem like a wing.

A gust of wind. The flapping Raven's Wing whipped up a stormy swirl of magical energy. Then black feathers like arrows were released in all directions at the same time as it beat its wings. Those feathers cut the barrier the exorcists had put up into shreds.

The forcefully-broken barrier scattered magical energy into its surroundings. The exorcists along with Touji and the other students immediately dropped to the ground, letting the violent magical energy pa.s.s. In that span of time, a black figure flew into the night sky.

Harutora beat his wings like a bird with Natsume in his arms.

"That idiot......!?"

The exorcists constantly released magic one after another into the sky as Touji gritted his teeth next to them. Most of it was charm magic or simple Unmoving Golden Chains. But the Raven's Wing that wrapped around Harutora deflected them all back or just dispersed them. Their movements were well coordinated, but the Raven's Wing's automatic defense worked perfectly.

The Raven's Wing's outline was absorbed into the night sky in moments and Harutora gradually drew away from them along with Natsume. Touji was instantly a.s.saulted by an intense emotional conflict.

"......d.a.m.n!"

Enough, he would leave the thinking until later. Touji rapidly pulled on Yukikaze's reins.

"Suzuka! Come!"

He shouted while mounting the horse, flipping onto it.

It was his second time riding Yukikaze. The veteran shikigami comprehended its rider's intents, leaping into the night sky without needing him to even touch the reins. "Touji-kun!" Tenma's voice was accompanied by shouts and magic that flew from the exorcists, but the white horse easily avoided them.

Suzuka still hadn't caught up with the situation and hadn't acted decisively like Touji. Even so, she tightly shut her eyes in the end, directing the shikigami she still sat on to rise while she generated a large number of new shikigami to throw the scene into chaos. An alternative to a smokescreen. "As expected of her." Touji moved his consciousness towards Harutora ahead of him as he thanked Suzuka in his heart.

"Yukikaze, I'm counting on you!"

After saying this, he vigorously shook the reins.

Wind rushed by him immediately after he rose into the air. Touji's hair, from which he had taken off the bandanna, became disheveled. On the other hand, Yukikaze galloped into the air without any fear of the night wind. Right after him was the shikigami Suzuka sat on. It was like a chase scene.

But this chase had been tainted with despair from the very start.

"What are you going to do!?"

"Stop Harutora!"

"How!?"

"I don't know!"

The force of the wind was very strong. Touji and Suzuka's throats became hoa.r.s.e as they conversed.

In the end, even Touji wasn't sure what to do. But he couldn't just sit still.

In front of him was the darkness of the night along with a giant-winged silhouette faintly illuminated from below by the streetlights. An alien raven. But its flight was still very awkward. It dropped while it tried to glide. It beat its wings chaotically, suddenly swerving and bouncing as if it had stumbled. Its unstable, twisted trajectory seemed to directly portray the feelings of its master.

But at the same time, it was like a wounded, violent, wild beast.

"d.a.m.n. That......

...Idiotic b.a.s.t.a.r.d......!"

Anyway, he would try getting closer. Fortunately, although his movements were clumsy, it seemed like the Raven's Wing was currently under Harutora's control. Then as long as Harutora didn't tell it to, it wouldn't launch an attack. Of course, he couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't 'counterattack'.

"Yukikaze!"

He shook the reins and Yukikaze sped up again.

He wasn't sure how fast the Raven's Wing normally flew, but Yukikaze steadily closed the distance to the snaking Raven's Wing. As he predicted, there were no attacks aimed at him, but he could feel that the Raven's Wing was alerted to his presence, even if Harutora wasn't.

"Harutora!"

Touji leaned out and yelled.

"Calm down! Land for now! Harutora!"

Though he shouted, Harutora didn't give him a reply. Yukikaze accelerated again, getting side by side with the Raven's Wing. Then, Suzuka's shikigami circled around to the other side of Harutora as Touji was. When they had created a formation with the Raven's Wing in the middle, Suzuka yelled: "Bakatora!"

But Harutora didn't stop.

Just then, the Raven's Wing suddenly swerved and Yukikaze dipped to the side almost simultaneously. Touji, who was leaning to the side, hastily grabbed the reins tightly. Immediately after, narrow figures tore through the night sky, flitting past the rapidly-swerving Raven's Wing.

Gray swallows. They were 'WA1 Swallow Whips'. Moreover, there wasn't just one. After it was a second, then a third. When Touji hastily stabilized his position on the dodging Yukikaze, a total of ten Swallow Whips were dancing centered on the Raven's Wing. "What!?" Touji couldn't help but gape.

"A Mystical Investigator? Here!?"

Swallow Whips belonged to the ranks of manmade shikigami and were called binding shikigami as they were in a specific category. It was a manmade shikigami designed for the Mystical Crime Investigation Department whose main use was to capture magic-using criminals. Most of the time, Mystical Investigators didn't mistake their target pract.i.tioner.

"Careful!"

Suzuka shouted a warning in a panic.

"These things are modified! They're basically different things!"

'Swallow Whips' were commercially available manmade shikigami created by the Witchcraft Corporation. But it wasn't strange for Mystical Investigators to personally make various minor adjustments in most cases before use.

But it seemed like, as Suzuka had predicted, that the magic of the high-speed Swallow Whips flying before them had been heavily modified. Indeed, Touji had seen this kind of binding shikigami several times but the Swallow Whips before him now felt different from the things he had seen before. Their mobility and most importantly their coordinated movements as a group of ten were different.

"Could it be......!?"

...They were being controlled by one person?

As if responding to his suspicion, the ten Swallow Whips moved together, surrounding the Raven's Coat like a pair of hands.

They kept a close distance to the irregularly-flying Raven's Wing, maintaining their surrounding formation completely orderly. Their group mobility made them seem like a single organism.

Ten gray swallows surrounding a giant raven.

Moreover, it was like a group of hyenas hunting a wild beast. Though they wouldn't attack directly, they stayed on his tail. Even if the Raven's Wing bat its wings powerfully trying to shake them off, they were able to dodge easily and lightly as if entrusting themselves to the wind, and it couldn't even touch them. Suzuka's eyes widened at those ingenuous movements.

"How is that possible? They're not dodging automatically. Long-distance control? At this height? How can that be?"

"Suzuka! Can you trace the pract.i.tioner from the magical energy?"

"I-I'll try!"

The fact that they weren't sure who was controlling these shikigami made him uncomfortable. If he thought about it properly, it was probably someone from the Mystical Investigators, but how could he have gotten wind of this? No, come to think of it, Harutora and the others had been monitored by unknown people when they had been at the male dorm. Had it been a mistaken judgment that they had called off their surveillance for now?

...d.a.m.n. What should they do!?

He wanted to stop Harutora, but he couldn't act recklessly since he didn't understand the goal of the pract.i.tioner controlling the Swallow Whips before him. Suzuka was trying to search for the location of the pract.i.tioner, but tracking things back to the pract.i.tioner required extraordinary technique and her current strength was limited because of her seal. Though she was focusing on her surroundings, tracking down magical energy was a strenuous effort.

Then, while Touji and Suzuka were tied up, the Raven's Wing - Harutora - was the first to move.

"...Don't get in the way!"

With a flap, the Raven's Wing's lower hem spread open like an explosion, stopping immediately. Yukikaze and Suzuka's shikigami were taken by surprise and pa.s.sed by Harutora, immediately turning back. The swallows also overshot him and their formation was ruined, but they corrected their trajectories with the slightest adjustments and continued chasing the Raven's Wing. But the Raven's Wing spread its lower hem again, rising into a higher s.p.a.ce before they recomposed their formation.

The Raven's Wing repeated this complex maneuver, drawing out an arc while rotating downwards. The ten Swallow Whips accurately followed its movements, agilely chasing after it. Never mind the latter, but the movements of the former really didn't feel like the movements of a human carrying another. Every time the bottom hem of the Raven's Wing billowed like a wing, golden light danced in the night sky like stardust.

But the swallows were not inferior by comparison. They didn't all make the same movements, but rather subtly changed their formation while steadily approaching the Raven's Wing. Similarly, the Raven's Wing didn't give them any opportunity to flank it. "Ridiculous." Touji suppressed his restless mood.

Then, it was time for the Swallow Whips to act.

Two of them spread their wings at the same time, their feathers 'stretching'. Like their name, their wings became several whips, covering the Raven's Wing. They carried out the 'binding' that was the shikigamis' original usage. The Raven's Wing viewed this as an 'attack'. Making use of a momentary opportunity to slip through the whips that extended from the two binding shikigami, its hem flashed. The front of the Raven's Wing's wing instantly turned into a sharp blade, cutting apart the Swallow Whips' wings with one slash.

However, the Swallow Whips - the pract.i.tioner controlling the group of shikigami - wasn't concerned about the shikigamis' wounds. After the first two, the swallows that were left started going to catch the Raven's Wing in twos and threes.

The whips extending from the gray swallows approached. The Raven's Wing flitted around to its heart's content, shredding them all. Complex, mechanical, and precise. In the eyes of the observers, it looked like some sort of performance.

Lag flashed across the cut Swallow Whips and they stopped moving.

But.

...What's going on? That's strange.

The Raven's Wing continued counterattacking, but the enemy numbers didn't decrease. The cut Swallow Whips stopped from lag and then immediately flapped their wings to return to the formation. Moreover, the places they had been cut in had already recovered by the time they returned to the next wave of attacks. Of course, this was a function that ordinary Swallow Whips couldn't possibly have.

Their means of attack slowly became stronger as well. The number of shikigami simultaneously extending whips went from two to three and then four. A continuous attack without any gaps. Alongside, the Raven's Wing's responses started becoming sluggish.

Then, the moment one finally entangled it, the other nine instantly flitted towards the Raven's Wing which prepared to escape upwards. Though the Raven's Wing fended off two of them, the other swallows all transformed into whips, binding up the Raven's Wing along with Harutora and Natsume.

"Harutora!?"

The Raven's Wing lost its flight ability like a bird caught in a net, starting to fall freely in a parabola. Touji and Suzuka hastily chased behind it. At some point, the scenery below them had changed from residential streets to roads with ma.s.ses of buildings. The Raven's Wing hurtled towards the wall of one of them. Touji desperately shook the reins, but he would be too late.

He was going to collide.

In the moment he believed that:

"...Noumaku saraba tatagyateibyaku saraba bokkeibyaku sarabata tarata senda makarosyada ken gyakigyaki saraba biginnan untarata kanman...!

Harutora's incantation. It was the Fire Realm magic. At the same time, the Raven's Wing was covered in flame, and the Swallow Whips binding its wings were incinerated.

"Gah!?"

Fire spilled forth and Touji shut his eyes. The flame blooming in the night sky instantly burned away all of the shikigami. The Raven's Wing's lower hem flapped in order to clear away their remains. It barrel rolled, avoiding colliding with the building by a hair's breadth. But its movement was even more bizarre than before its struggle. It faltered and dropped down.

Touji urged Yukikaze on, dashing up to the Raven's Wing in a flash. "Harutora!" he shouted loudly, checking his appearance.

Harutora glided while desperately staring ahead of him. There was no calm in his eyes. Though he planned on telling him to first land, but judging by the current situation, it was likely that carelessly landing would result in a fall.

Just then--

"Headband! There!"

Suzuka, who closed in from the side, pointed an arm and shouted loudly. Upon careful observation, there was a building in construction ahead of them. The highest floor had no outer wall, and its steel skeleton was exposed.

The height was perfect. The moment he considered that, Touji powerfully urged Yukikaze on.

He had the horse slide in the forward path of the gliding Raven's Wing. "Stop." Harutora's eyes widened and he stopped the Raven's Wing that reflexively tried to attack, changing his trajectory. Hence, he rushed into the unfinished building approaching them from the front.

Harutora held on to Natsume with both hands. At the same time, the Raven's Wing shot out in front of him to absorb the impact. He managed to pa.s.s through the gap between the reinforcements and land on the floor.

Harutora slid across the floor, carrying Natsume and wrapped by the black coat. Yukikaze followed right after him, landing on the ground and slowing down as the clacks of its horseshoes rang out.

Harutora and Natsume, covered by the Raven's Coat, crashed through the building materials placed nearby as they slid, only stopping when they were near the center of the floor. Then, they collapsed on their side, exhausted. Touji breathed deeply, lightly patting Yukikaze's neck and stepping down to the floor to approach Harutora.

Harutora shakily raised his upper body, but even so, he also tried to shelter the motionless Natsume. He panted for breath, his shoulders moving up and down. Though he was mentally and physically exhausted, for now he didn't look injured.

Touji sternly spoke to his one-year-younger friend with a reproachful tone:

"Harutora."

Harutora lowered his head, continuing to pant.

"Harutora!"

Boom. The night air rumbled. Harutora cringed as if startled, but he still didn't plan on looking up, nor was he prepared to reply to Touji.

The shikigami Suzuka rode glided in next to the two of them. Suzuka looked at the pair, Harutora with his head lowered and Touji glaring at him, and dismounting wordlessly from the shikigami.

Touji glanced at Suzuka out of the corner of his eye.

"......The pract.i.tioner?"

"Sorry......"

It seemed that she hadn't been able to find the person controlling the Swallow Whips in the end. "I see." Touji didn't blame Suzuka, he just quietly uttered those words.

Then, as if noticing Suzuka's presence because of the dialogue, the bowed Harutora suddenly turned his head.

He put his strength into his shaking knees, standing up with a ghastly expression. Then, he rushed towards the timid Suzuka, grabbing her slim shoulders with both hands.

"Suzuka."

Harutora stared straight into Suzuka's eyes.

Then, he spoke those words.

"Suzuka. The Taizan f.u.kun Ritual. The Taizan f.u.kun Ritual can revive Natsume. Just like how you wanted to do before, if we use the Taizan f.u.kun Ritual......"

He spoke in a vicious tone.

The ugliness of someone who had succ.u.mbed to his delusions - and also one whose soul cried out.

"Get a grip, Harutora!"

Touji bellowed angrily, but Harutora didn't listen, staring only at Suzuka. His hands that grabbed Suzuka's shoulders constantly trembled, but he definitely didn't let her escape.

"Please."

"No."

Suzuka replied immediately.

Her voice that burst out in a wail was cowardly, unbefitting of her usual behavior.

"Suzuka."

"No! Don't...... Don't joke around! What are you saying!?"

"I'm not joking, I'm serious."

"Shut up! H-Have you forgotten what you said to me back then?"

Suzuka spoke as if hurling her words, the light of teardrops flashing in the corners of her eyes. He feared that things had developed as he predicted when Harutora escaped from the exorcists.

However, Suzuka herself still hadn't recovered from the shock of Natsume's death. The scattered words from her mouth trembled because of her wavering and the sound of her desperately crying out pained him.

"You stopped me like it was natural when I was being arrogant back then! Now you plan on turning away so easily when it's your turn? How could you! How could you! There should be a limit to selfishness! You're, you're despicable!"

It was basically a sob at the end. Harutora had no intention of letting go of the whimpering Suzuka.

Suzuka glared at Harutora with her tearful eyes.

"First...... First off, what about the price? What are you going to do about the cost of the ritual!? Whose life are you going to use for Natsume's......!"

Her final question was filled with terror, as she already knew the answer.

Harutora answered clearly after a short silence.

"I'll die."

"Don't talk nonsense!"

"I'm not speaking nonsense. Natsume...... I caused her to die, so that's natural compensation."

Touji didn't need to see his eyes at all. He was speaking completely seriously.

"Suzuka, please. I'm begging you."

Harutora put strength into his hands as he pleaded from the bottom of his heart. Suzuka's eyes widened and tears started trickling from her eyes. She shook her head back and forth while crying. Refusal - but even so, she couldn't escape Harutora's hands.

He couldn't keep on watching.

Touji reached out a hand wordlessly, putting it on Harutora's arm. The Raven's Wing didn't react, but Harutora kept clutching Suzuka's shoulders, not planning on backing down.

Touji spoke, seemingly murmuring to himself:

"......Is it fine to leave Natsume in that kind of place?"

He could feel Harutora trembling underneath the fabric of the Raven's Wing. His strength receded. Touji slowly moved Harutora's hand from Suzuka's shoulder.

After his right hand moved away, his left hand naturally left her shoulder. Suzuka stood still, sniffling.

In the next moment.

The Raven's Wing, which had been idle, suddenly fluttered. It pointed its hem towards the corner of the room, like a snake rearing its head into a sickle shape.

"...My, I apologize for disturbing you while you're busy."

A voice sounded. Touji, Suzuka, and Harutora turned their heads in surprise.

The figure of a young man slowly appeared in the darkness.

A trendy young man wearing slacks and a shirt paired with a vest. No, it would be better to call him a boy than a young man. His age looked to be about the same as Touji's. But he didn't instinctively feel like a 'human'. He was probably a shikigami. Moreover, his presence wasn't that of a manmade shikigami. A servant shikigami.

Carefully-kept black hair and untanned white skin. He wore an ascot and white gloves. He was dressed like an old aristocrat, but the most remarkable thing about him was the round lens set over his right eye. It was probably a monocle.

Then, Suzuka froze the moment she saw that monocle.

"......No way."

She let out a hoa.r.s.e voice as if this were a joke.

Touji and Harutora instantly took up stances, confronting the man who appeared before them. But the man didn't care, leisurely drawing close and then stopping.

With a calm face, the man smiled refreshingly and said:

"Nice to meet the other two of you. I'm Yashamaru, please look after me."

A monocle from the wrong time period.

But Suzuka had recollections of that monocle. It was something that she wanted to forget but couldn't.

It wasn't just that monocle. That clothing, voice, and appearance. The age was completely different, but there were too many similarities. Even the aura wrapped around him was the same. This was impossible. Definitely impossible. Because he was already dead. Dead. Since two years ago.

But her instincts sharply cut off her weakly-protesting reasoning.

"......Father......"

There was a momentary lag before Harutora and Touji reacted. Her words were outdated and the tone wasn't like her style. Their understandings weren't able to catch up immediately.

Their expressions didn't look like they understood the 'implication' in Suzuka's words. That was natural. Because she herself didn't understand what was going on.

The male who called himself Yashamaru smiled slightly.

"Suzuka."

He called out to her in an extremely natural tone.

"This is a bit sudden, but even though I wanted to spend a bit more time on our reunion, this way might have its own drama."

The way he spoke was also completely the same. He was completely identical. Even if he had grown this much younger, the personality at his core hadn't changed.

"But I can't have you calling me 'father'. It can't be helped that you're surprised, but you're also an independent pract.i.tioner. You have to correctly interpret things no matter when it is. Most importantly, you shouldn't 'curse' yourself so easily. I want to be a bit strict with you, but you're still very clumsy in dealing with second-cla.s.s magic. Pay attention."

Suzuka's knees inadvertently started shaking because of his happy, gentle instructive att.i.tude.

She slowly started sweating and her willpower shrank. It was like a frog being stared down by a snake. She felt rejection, a desire to escape, and terror, but she couldn't even resist. Because obedience had already been carved into her soul.

"......Suzuka? What's going on?"

Touji asked, watching Yashamaru. But she couldn't reply. Touji glanced quizzically at Suzuka's appearance. After realizing that she wasn't in a state where she could seriously make a reply, he immediately turned his attention in front of him.

"......Yashamaru, huh."

His murmured words were mixed with a tense tone that was more than irony.

"So? That 'father', is it your nickname, or something else?"

"Hahaha, what a pleasant thought. But the answer is no. I'm quite sorry, but it means what it means."

"Hmph. That's very strange then. No matter how good you are at dressing young, you don't look old enough to be Suzuka's father, and before that, you're a shikigami, not a human, right? What's more, as far as I know, Suzuka only had one father and that man should have died already."

Touji carefully piled up questions as if he were calculating the distance between him and his enemy. Just then, "Yes." Yashamaru affirmed with a straightforward and undisguised att.i.tude.

"So, what exactly is going on?"

"Just like I warned her about just now, her words were not correct. Let me introduce myself. My name is Yashamaru. My name in my previous life was Dairenji Shidou. Though I died two years ago, I was resurrected as a shikigami. Anyway, that's what's going on."

Yashamaru spoke simply. Touji, Harutora, and Suzuka forgot to breathe in their stupors.

Dairenji Shidou. A National First-Cla.s.s Onmyouji called the 'Professor' - a member of the Twelve Divine Generals.

He was also the father of the 'Child Prodigy' Dairenji Suzuka, the chief of the closed-down Imperial Household Agency Lingering Spirit Division, and had once been a central member of the Twin-Horned Syndicate. Also, he was the mastermind behind the 'Hinamatsuri Great Purification' spiritual disaster terrorist attack two years ago.

Dairenji Shidou had been drawn into the spiritual disaster he caused and died in the terrorist attack. Just like how he himself had admitted.

But......

"......Resurrected? ......Shikigami?"

Suzuka moaned, stunned.

Yashamaru put his white-gloved hands on his hips and said lightly:

"Isn't it amazing?"

His att.i.tude was somewhat sarcastic and didn't have an ounce of tension, greatly contrasting with the three people he confronted.

He really hadn't changed. Nothing had changed. He didn't have anything special and he hadn't lost anything. His usual leisureliness and randomness. His soul was dyed in a trivial and dishonest atmosphere.

But Suzuka knew more than anyone else.

Her father was 'tyrannical' since as far back as she could remember. Wrapped in that atmosphere, he indifferently used her and her brother as experiments, repeatedly performing magical research. During her childhood, he had casually used multiple prohibited magics just 'for fun'. Suzuka had observed this with her own eyes.

This man's 'leisureliness' was directly linked with the 'danger' he presented. There was a thoroughly calm brutality beneath that loose aristocratic atmosphere. He had wisdom, knowledge, and powerful 'strength' as a pract.i.tioner.

"In any case, the 'current me' is called Yashamaru, not Dairenji Shidou. Strictly speaking, I'm a different person - though it's also very strange to say that. Because I'm not 'human'."

Suzuka felt light-headed.

An unpleasant feeling as if her head was spinning, even though it was obvious nothing had happened. Moreover, there was a roaring deep in her ears. Her sense of balance vanished and she mistakenly felt the ground beneath her feet crumble. She couldn't breathe properly.

...He died...... He died...... Dead...... and then......

He had been resurrected? What kind of absurdity - No. Even she had spoken of the possibilities in that area.

The Taizan f.u.kun Ritual.

Dairenji Shidou - her father - had been the highest-ranking member of the old Lingering Spirit Division. And the Lingering Spirit Division was a department established to research the 'mitama' called ara-mitama and nigi-mitama.

In General Onmyoudou, which had been established with a strong exclusion of religious concepts, 'mitama' referred to 'souls that had become spiritual disasters'. Right now, magic related to souls was designated as prohibited magic, but the Lingering Spirit Division was the department that had tread the farthest into the prohibition. The so-called Taizan f.u.kun Ritual was exactly 'soul-controlling magic'.

More importantly, her father had once been a central member of the Twin-Horned Syndicate, a secret society of Yakou believers. One could say that her father was in a position where he was more knowledgeable than anyone else about the Taizan f.u.kun Ritual, a resurrection ritual that Yakou had incorporated into his own system of magic.

Suzuka had actually tried to use the Taizan f.u.kun Ritual in the past and had followed the research that the Lingering Spirit Division had conducted. No, more accurately, it was a portion of that research. Half of the Lingering Spirit Division's research results had been lost due to the spiritual disaster terrorist attack. Even Suzuka wasn't clear 'how close' the Lingering Spirit Division - her father - had gotten to Yakou's Taizan f.u.kun Ritual. She couldn't a.s.sert that something like reviving as a shikigami after death was impossible.

"......Dairenji Shidou...... The real one, huh......"

Touji's voice shook as he murmured. Right. Suzuka remembered.

The oni in Touji's body. That was the thing he had been 'possessed' by due to being dragged into the spiritual disaster her father caused. To Touji, her father was the culprit who had twisted his life.

Then--

"Right."

A cold smile emerged on Yashamaru's face and he looked happily at Touji.

"To tell the truth, I greatly looked forward to meeting you, Ato Touji-kun. I heard of your situation, and it seems like I've caused a lot of trouble for you."

"Haha, alright, don't glare at me. I'm very interested in the 'demon' in your body, as after all it seems that we've happened to end up in the same boat."

"......What did you say? What does that mean?"

"That we've obtained 'the same blessings'."

Yashamaru grinned, pointing lightly at Touji with an index finger of his crossed arms.

"Let me first say that it's quite a valuable thing, you know? Non-related humans matching by chance is a rare miracle. To be honest, I think there's no reason not to pay attention. You're very interested too, right?"

Touji carefully avoided replying to Yashamaru's provocative words. The fact that he was uncharacteristically alert might be proof that he innately sensed the 'danger' that Yashamaru posed.

Needless to say, Suzuka didn't miss a word. What he had said just now. Her father knew about the oni that possessed Touji's body. Moreover, according to what he had just said, it seemed like Touji's oni wasn't the same as a simple spiritual disaster. The same boat. The same blessings? What was going on? How much had her father......

"Then--"

Ignoring Suzuka's shaking, Yashamaru continued speaking as he pleased. After parting his crossed arms, he put his right hand to his chest and turned his body to face Harutora face-to-face.

"...Needless to say, I was also extremely looking forward to meeting you. But more accurately, that's the 'current you'. If I may be so rude to say so, I didn't pay much attention to 'Tsuchimikado Harutora-kun' before. That was up until a few hours ago."

Yashamaru grinned after saying this.

A handsome and deluded smile. A demonic smile that was only eye-catching because of the darkness it harbored deep within.

"Then, how should I address the soul of such a great Onmyouji? From what I saw before, it's no longer the standard 'North Star King', right? Should I simply call you 'Lord Yakou'?"

The air quickly chilled. It was as if the truth that Suzuka and Touji forcefully avoided thinking about had become an invisible block of ice and chilled the surrounding air.

The truth that Souma Takiko had told them of and proved with the Raven's Wing.

Tsuchimikado Yakou's reincarnation.

Suzuka couldn't see Harutora's expression from her position. Harutora was currently still wrapped in the Raven's Wing - the clothing that Tsuchimikado Yakou was generally believed to wear often - as he listened to Yashamaru's words. Perhaps because of that, the Harutora currently before Suzuka seemed like a different person from the Harutora she knew.

...Bakatora......!

Her throat was dry. Suzuka clenched her fists tightly, staring at Harutora's back.

Harutora's back slowly began to twitch.

"...My name is Harutora, Tsuchimikado Harutora."

The tension in Suzuka's heart was alleviated the instant she heard those words. A slight smile also flashed over Touji's mouth.

In contrast--

"......Hmph."

Yashamaru's expression changed.

But he immediately returned to his former att.i.tude.

"Understood. Then let me greet you again. Tsuchimikado Harutora-kun, I'm very happy to meet you. Please pardon my rude greeting, I just couldn't wait. After all, the previous me could be called the greatest authority on Yakou. I thought about him while awake and asleep."

Yashamaru spoke elegantly while staring at Harutora with a composed expression. That att.i.tude was sleek and gentlemanly, definitely not the one of a hypocrite, but that was just a part of her father's nature - just the surface.

"Moreover, it was later that I was going to offer my hand to you. So I was actually planning on watching quietly for a while longer...... But things turned out decently well. Well, I tried acting independently like this."

After Suzuka heard this, she immediately understood her father's intent. Gooseb.u.mps rose all over her body.

She cried out almost instinctively.

"......B-Bakatora!"

She had the courage to try and stop her father to his face. The Suzuka from before definitely couldn't have done this.

But.

"Don't listen to him! Th-This guy's the leader of the Twin-Horned Syndicate! He's the one who got the Yakou believers to carry out a terrorist attack!"

She shouted desperately. She was scared, so scared that she was at her limit, but the 'developments' that might follow if she didn't speak were even more frightening and hard to accept.

Then, the moment her shrieking voice finished shouting, she felt her father's chains that had tied her down until now slightly loosen. Right, she was already different from before. She wasn't an experimental subject of the 'Professor', she was the 'Child Prodigy' Dairenji Suzuka.

Yashamaru said with a wry smile:

"Hey, hey, Suzuka, you get along quite will with Harutora-kun, huh? You should invite him to join us if you want to be with him."

Suzuka felt furious at her father's words. What did he mean, 'us'. In her father's heart, Suzuka was still on his side - no, she was 'below' him. She couldn't forgive how he so naturally considered Suzuka to be in the same camp as him.

"......Don't be ridiculous!"

She compressed her anger and hatred and spat it out. Though there was still fear in her voice, she couldn't let her heart be warped. She did her best to glare at her father who had taken a displeased expression.

Just then--

"......First, there are two things I want to confirm."

It was Touji who suddenly interjected from the side. Yashamaru replied pleasantly:

"What are they?"

Touji gathered his expression and said:

"The shikigami from before were yours?"

"Ho, starting from the conclusion is one of my favorite speaking techniques.[2] You're talking about the 'WA1'? Yes, that was me."

After saying this, Yashamaru slowly reached his index and middle finger into the pocket of his vest. He drew out a folded charm with a slow motion as if teasing the vigilant Touji.

A shikigami charm. With the flick of a finger, an owl was summoned.

It was the 'W12 Owl Eye' created by the Witchcraft Corporation. It was a shikigami called detection-type, a manmade shikigami that shared its five senses with the pract.i.tioner's for long-distance investigation and similar situations. But just like the Swallow Whips from before, this 'Owl Eye' had been extensively modified. In particular, its feathers - and its body - appeared black.

Unlike the inorganic, mechanical shikigami that the Onmyou Agency created, the majority of the Witchcraft Corporation's shikigami had the shape of real animals. Hence, their exteriors were blue in order to indicate that they were shikigami. This color change was a requirement from the Onmyou Agency and had become a fundamental standard a.s.sociated with the magic. Since the 'Owl Eye' Yashamaru summoned had been changed left and right, it could be described as already a different shikigami than the commercially available product.

Then, Suzuka regretfully cried out "Ah" the instant she saw the black owl. It was because she realized the trick Yashamaru had used to control the group of Swallow Whips. He had probably had the black Owl Eye concealed in the night sky and observed the ins and outs of the situation. The control of the Swallow Whips' flight had to have been coordinated through this detection-type shikigami.

Yashamaru raised his right arm. After the black Owl Eye flapped its wings a couple times, it stopped on its master's arm. Its round owl eyes that flashed in the darkness seemed related to the lens of his monocle.

"......And your goal?"

Touji asked.

"Haha, I don't really want to say it because I feel like I'll be hated, but the biggest reason was because I wanted to be 'meddlesome'."

Yashamaru laughed apologetically. Perhaps those were his true feelings.

But on the other hand, it was her father's style to absolutely never act without calculating the value of the action.

"I showed myself for the same reasons. Though I endured it at the start, the Exorcist Bureau ended up stepping in...... I wanted to try my hand no matter what. Actually, I do gain something. Originally, commercially available manmade shikigami with slight modifications shouldn't have been able to match you even in a group if you were wearing the Raven's Wing. That serves as proof that Harutora-kun still hasn't regained his 'original' power. Your original power...... or your memories. Well, that's why I appeared so cheekily like this - I can't deny that."

He spoke with a disorganized manner of speech from start to finish.

Just then--

"Original?"

Harutora leaned forward, perhaps because he couldn't turn a deaf ear to this. Suzuka still couldn't glimpse Harutora's expression from her perspective, but a dense restlessness with nowhere to be vented radiated from his voice and att.i.tude.

"Didn't you hear? I'm--"

"Got it. Next question."

Touji forcibly continued, stopping Harutora as he gritted his teeth.

Harutora's uncharacteristically aggressive att.i.tude proved that he was still mentally distressed, as expected. In contrast, Touji felt somehow adept. Even if he was far from Suzuka's level as a pract.i.tioner, she might be unable to match him when it came to tenacity and mental fort.i.tude.

"You're a shikigami, right? That means you have a master, right?"

Suzuka was taken aback by that question. She hadn't thought that far either.

On the other hand, "Of course." Yashamaru replied simply.

Touji grinned - a sinister smile.

"I see, then next question. Actually, we had a spat with the master of a shikigami named k.u.momaru just recently.