Chapter 159

The next day, Sunday, October 21st. The investigation scheduled for the day continued in two groups. Yet, Mikihiko was in a better spirits than yesterday, since his friend had revealed the true purpose of this trip.

Tatsuya, Miyuki, Minami were going with Masaki and Minoru to Mt. Arashi, while Mikihiko, Erika and Leo were going to Takaragaike, towards Matsugasaki. The eight of them planned to gather at the hotel early in the morning.

However, the situation took an unexpected turn.

"...I'm sorry, Tatsuya-san."

Minoru said so from the futon with a pitiful voice. He suddenly had a fever this morning, it was a completely unpredictable situation.

"Don't mind it. It's not your fault, Minoru."

"Nevertheless... I feel really pathetic."

Hanging onto words of consideration from Tatsuya, Minoru frowned as contrary to the hotness of his face.

"Minoru, you don't need to blame yourself. You've done well so far."

The only ones who were in the room were Tatsuya and Minoru. The other members with exception of the two had been waiting in the lobby.

"I've heard that you have a weak constitution. That is not of your will, I was willing to receive your help with understanding of this possibility."

Minoru averted his eyes from Tatsuya.

"You've helped enough. We wouldn't have been able to go to that shaman's place yesterday, were it not for your help."

"...Really?"

While averting his face in front of Tatsuya, Minoru answered with a weak voice.

"I do really think so."

Minoru returned his line of sight to Tatsuya timidly.

Tatsuya's expression was surly as usual. He did not wear a compassionate smile, nor the fake smile that was full of lies in his face. Tatsuya's face was as sincere as his words.

"You have been very helpful, you should not force yourself now. That way, you'd be more helpful in the case of an emergency later on."

"Am I still... Tatsuya-san's friend?"

"At any rate, we won't reach Zhou Gongjin's place today. We'll need your power by then. That's why, you can rest for today."

"…Understood."

Minoru smiled weakly. Although he was still depressed, at least he had stopped blaming himself.

"I'm going to let Minami stay behind. She can do universal household chores. Feel free to rely on her, since Minami will also enjoy doing so."

Minoru showed an embarrassed expression. He probably had other reasons than a fever for the blush on his face. Perhaps, he was ashamed to receive help from someone who rejoiced over it.

"Please watch our belongings while we are away."

This did not mean that they would immediately go back to Tokyo after their investigation, it was only until they came back here again.

"Leave it to me."

Minoru seemed to understand Tatsuya's kindness, he floated a smile.

After Tatsuya went out from the room, he met with Minami who had been standing there alone, and talked to her.

"Sorry to trouble you, please take care of him."

"It is no trouble at all. This is part of my job. Please leave Minoru-sama in my care."

Minami answered while bowing, Tatsuya headed to the lobby where Miyuki and his friends were waiting.

When she couldn't see his back anymore, Minami knocked at the door of the room where Minoru slept.

Without 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.

She 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.

"Minoru-sama, please don't mind me. If you do so, there is no meaning in me taking care of you."

Minoru 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.

"I understand. Then, I will dutifully sleep."

This time Minami wore a disappointed expression.

Minami sat beside Minoru while staring at him motionlessly, she sat with aligned knees as the correct manners dictated.

After 30 minutes passed, Minoru's closed eyelids suddenly opened, and he smiled wickedly.

"Sakurai-san, if you keep staring at a man like that, it's quite embarrassing, even for me."

He 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.

"Pardon my rudeness!"

Minami lowered her head to touch the mat in apology with 'uwaaa' voice, she also set two meters distance between them to be seated.

Her bright red face which was facing down on the tatami mat was not visible to Minoru.

As 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.

However, after hearing Minoru's words, Minami even doubted her own actions with a 'was that true?'.

The things that Minoru said about her staring at him.

Minami questioned herself, 'was I really staring intently at him?'.

—— 'And if I did, what did I do that for?'

Her face which had been red became more and more blushed.

Even 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.

"Ehh, umm… are you ok?"

Minoru was about to rise.

"I'm alright! Please continue your rest!"

She 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.

She closed the sliding door forcefully. Yet, still leaving a little gap.

There was no sound of the front door being opened or closed.

Minoru seemed to be solidified for a while, with a hand stretched towards Minami who had now gone.

◊ ◊ ◊

Although 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.

The 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.

The 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.

"Shiba, aren't we going to Mt. Arashi?"

"We're going to get some clues before going there."

He answered Masaki while turning back, Tatsuya looked back at the foot outside the car.

"I want you not to talk about Zhou Gongjin from here onwards."

"...Is it supposed to be a secret?"

"I do not want to involve that person, if possible."

Masaki 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.

It had been three minutes since Tatsuya's group arrived here.

"Tatsuya-kun, I'm sorry for making you wait."

"No, you are right on time."

Tatsuya said so to assure the female college student who had rushed from her commuter.

"Huh? Miyuki-san?"

"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.

"I didn't expect that Miyuki-san would be coming along."

As she said, Tatsuya did not tell Mayumi that he was not coming alone.

However, Mayumi had to restrain herself from using her usual sarcastic tone due to the presence of the other companion.

"Ichijou Masaki-kun, right? This is the first time we have the chance to do self-introductions. I'm Saegusa Mayumi."

Instead of showing her wanton behaviour in front of Tatsuya, she introduced herself as a daughter of Saegusa Family from the 10MC.

"I remember your face. I'm Ichijou Masaki."

Masaki replied with a hint of nervousness. As both of them said, this was not their first meeting. Nevertheless, 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.

"I'm sorry, Ichijou-kun... Tatsuya-kun, come here for a second."

Mayumi 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.

"Tatsuya-kun, why didn't you mention that Miyuki-san would be coming along?"

Tatsuya showed a natural amazed face.

"I don't think you need to ask specifically about this. Didn't you expect me to come together with Miyuki?"

In a failed attempt to refute, Mayumi showed a 'giving up expression'.

"That's right…There's no way Miyuki-san would let Tatsuya-kun go alone, right."

She shook her head in exasperation, before suddenly turning back to her serious expression. Her sight was fixed upon Masaki.

"Then, I wonder why is Ichijou-kun also coming along."

"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."

"So Yoshida-kun and others are also here… Ah, of course, he is the current Public Morals Committee Chief after all."

"You are well informed."

Without 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.

"Then, does Ichijou-kun know about my situation?"

"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.

Tatsuya also noticed the suspicion that was directed at himself. However, Tatsuya couldn't be bothered about it.

"Anyway, senpai, do you really not want to explain the situation to Ichijou? I think he is someone you can rely on."

Tatsuya flakily made a smile at Mayumi.

Mayumi sighed heavily.

"I wonder if it's wise… To use the only son of the Ichijou Family under your chin."

"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.

"Ok, I will gladly accept his help then."

He finally scored, Mayumi might take it that way. Yet, she regained her mood, and gave permission for Tatsuya to explain the situation to Masaki.

Led by the detective on duty, the four of them entered the evidence storage room in the police station.

Masaki 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 10MC, the thought of (what he interpreted as) using a subordinates as a mere tool seemed to touch his heart.

Usually, this variance of purpose was not preferred. Since the ancient times, there was a saying `He who runs after two hares will catch neither'24, this was a predictable proverb. However,

24Nitowooumonohaittowomoezu, literaly: to chase 2 things and obtain not a single one; meaning: when you chase

2goals by greed, in the end you will get neither of them.

Tatsuya had a premonition. Rather than based on his reasoning, this time he was betting on his 'hunch'.

——Zhou Gongjin was the one who murdered Nakura Saburo——

Tatsuya 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.

While he was thinking about the matter, the detective came back with Nakura's belongings on the table.

"These were the clothes which were worn by Mr. Nakura on that day. Unfortunately his CAD…"

Nakura'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.

However, 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.

"Excuse me, Keiji-san25. Whose blood is this?"

The detective replied with a rueful shake of his head.

"Unfortunately, all of it is from the victim."

Even 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.

"Nakura-san's abdomen was pierced from behind, his chest muscle burst out from within, and his heart also ruptured."

Which was why it was reported as a strange corpse.

However, the newspaper had not reported such details. Tatsuya learnt this from Mayumi.

"Burst from within…?"

Masaki voiced out with a deep suspicion.

"It was as if he was 'exploding'."

25Keiji: detective

"No, Shiba! The Ichijou Family is absolutely not involved!"

Confusion floated within his mind during his conjecture, making Masaki show an excessive reaction.

Hearing such a loud voice within a closed room, Mayumi knitted her eyebrows lightly.

Tatsuya was not seriously doubting the involvement of the Ichijou Family.

"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.

"That's…"

——Even so, it was a tough situation to be in.

"The Ichijou's 'explosion' is not something that can be copied so easily though."

"Of course! Ah, but still."

"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 'this guy's personality took a weak turn against an unexpected circumstances'.

"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."

Mayumi opened her mouth.

"Tatsuya-kun, do you think that Nakura-san exploded him——killed himself?"

Mayumi questioned Tatsuya timidly, and Tatsuya shook his head.

"Even if he did explode himself, he did not commit suicide."

"Onii-sama, do you think that Nakura-san chose to explode himself since he already had a fatal wound?"

Tatsuya nodded to Miyuki who was beside him.

Before returning his sight to Mayumi.

"I think the ruptured heart was due to some sort of side effect from his magic."

"He must have already received a mortal wound from behind that pierced through his abdomen, so he simultaneously attacked the murderer with this magic?"

"Senpai. Did Nakura-san have a special magic with liquid as his weapon?"

After answering Masaki's question, he turned to ask Mayumi.

"…I'm sorry, Nakura-san had never really used his magic in my presence."

However, Mayumi failed to answer that question.

"I see."

Tatsuya did not answer with a disappointed voice.

However, Mayumi heard his patience wearing thin in his reply.

"Ah, but I heard something when I first met him. Wait a minute."

Mayumi folded her arms, while thoughtfully humming 'umm, umm'.

(Somehow… She ticks like a manga character.)

Before Tatsuya thought that 'it might be rude', Mayumi made a revelation gesture with her hand.

"Now that I recall, Nakura-san was good at magic to make needles from water."

Masaki knitted his eyebrows.

"Water needle? How? And what kind of effect would it result in?"

"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."

Masaki 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.

"…That means, the victim turned his own blood into needles and shot the perpetrator, huh."

"A counterattack at the price of his life..."

Tatsuya stored the information of Nakura's blood from the remnant of his clothes with his Elemental Sight.

"Shiba, what are you doing?"

"I was checking if there is any other magical trace at the area of the abdomen wound."

"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.

"Umm, nothing left."

Mayumi dropped her shoulders in disappointment, Masaki also sighed heavily.

"Me too. I can feel some traces here, but the pattern is just too blurred to be understood... Shiba, did you find anything?"

"I can't obtain any specific clues to specify a certain individual. However, this injury was probably caused by a genjuu26."

"Genjuu?"

"Onii-sama, what is this genjuu?"

Mayumi and Miyuki sought an explanation of the alien word. The detective behind the two of them was seen taking notes.

Tatsuya 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.

Since 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.

"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 entity27 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."

"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?"

Tatsuya gave a satisfied nod to Miyuki's explanation.

"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."

"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?"

"The main difference between genjuu and Kasei-tai is found in the Magic Sequence that affects the opponent to think that there is 'something'."

Mayumi did not fully comprehend this, her face was filled with questions.

"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."

26Genjuu: cryptid or mythical beast

27Entity  real body/substance

"He did not necessarily notice where the creature was."

"What do you mean…?"

"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.

"…I don't really get it."

"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."

"By getting alarmed by the enemy's magic, he strengthened the power of his opponent…?"

"If you understood this, the effect is reduced by half. The effect was as you've seen in the remnants of Nakura's clothes."

She lowered her head lightly in appreciation of Tatsuya.

Mayumi was puzzled to the point of not knowing how to react.

The 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.)

The front seats were taken by Tatsuya and Masaki, while Mayumi and Miyuki sat behind.

Once the commuter started to run, Masaki talked to Tatsuya.

"Shiba, about the genjuu earlier."

Neither 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'.

"Are they different than the 'Kugutsu-shiki-oni' that we'd encountered yesterday?"

"I've also never heard about Kugutsu-shiki-oni before."

Tatsuya 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.

"Nevertheless, you should have heard of Golems, since it's quite common. You should be able to discern their differences by their name right?"

"Ichijou-san, Onii-sama, sorry for disturbing your conversation."

Miyuki leaned lightly from the rear seat. To be more exact, she grabbed the back rest of the front seat and shoved her head forward.

"Onii-sama, I also only know Golems by name, do you mind explaining briefly about some of its characteristics?"

Tatsuya 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'.

However, 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.

"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."

"For 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."

"As 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."

"To 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."

"For 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.

"Before 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."

"…In short, the difference between genjuu and Kasei-tai to golem is in the existence of its entity?"

Mayumi summarized Tatsuya's explanation in one sentence, she might feel that it started to get cumbersome.

"After I heard your explanation, I think that the golem which has an entity seems to be easier to deal with."

Tatsuya shook his head lightly in response to Masaki's opinion.

"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."

While they were having this conversation (through the one who was mostly doing all the talking was Tatsuya), the commuter ran closer to their destination.

◊ ◊ ◊

Minami read quietly beside the sleeping Minoru.

Aside 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.

Still, 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.

It 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.

Moreover, 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.

He 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.

His looks were also extraordinary, which didn't need to be said at this late hour.

Yet, 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.

Minami 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.

However, 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.

His breath was short and painful. His hand was getting hotter. Minami rushed to call a doctor, but she stopped in the middle.

Minoru 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?

Minami 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.

A solution flashed in Minami's mind.

She wanted to ask Tatsuya.

Minami hurriedly retrieved her information terminal, and launched the voice communication function.

◊ ◊ ◊

Tatsuya received the call from Minami right after he got off from the commuter.

"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."

Miyuki looked up anxiously at Tatsuya who had just finished the call.

Moved by her gaze, Tatsuya called the number that had been registered in his information terminal.

"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."

"Was that just now Kyouko-san?"

From the side, Mayumi's voice came out with an anxious tone.

"Has Minoru-kun's condition worsened?"

Questioned by his sister, Tatsuya nodded in silence.

"Shiba, is it ok for us not to go back?"

Masaki asked so with a serious face. They had just met yesterday, but he seemed to be seriously worried about Minoru.

"I've contacted his relative, she will reach the hotel in about one hour."

"Sudden illness? Kyouko-san's relative?"

Mayumi hadn't met Minoru yet.

"The youngest son of the Kudou Family. He was helping us out as a guide around Kyoto for a little while before."

"The Kudou Family's last son, is he that Minoru-kun? I heard he has a weak constitution."

It 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 10MC.

However, 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.

"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."

"…Can such a thing happen?"

Mayumi tilted her head with a puzzled and skeptical face, while Miyuki showed her face from the other side to see what was happening.

"At any rate, since Fujibayashi-san is rushing there, we can proceed with our planned investigation."

Mayumi 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.

On the other hand, Masaki did not know a thing about Fujibayashi. Yet, he didn't add on any extra comments from his mouth.

Nakura's corpse had been discovered across at the river bed of Katsuragawa28, right beside the Arashiyama29 district at Nakanoshima Park. Just before the Katsuragawa River, towards the south, there were small sandbars scattered.

The 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.

"Was it here?"

"Yes."

Masaki asked, Mayumi nodded. Masaki was quite optimistic for this investigation.

"This much momentum, it is unlikely that he was shed from upstream."

Miyuki said so while looking at Tatsuya. Tatsuya thought, apparently, his sister had poor skills to be a crime detective.

"That's a possibility that probably doesn't exist."

Tatsuya 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.

"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?"

"I don't know."

Tatsuya immediately answered Masaki.

"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."

"…Certainly."

Masaki did not show any useless rebound, and seconded Tatsuya.

"Onii-sama, what should we do now?"

After Miyuki asked him, Tatsuya turned to Mayumi.

"I want to investigate the surroundings a little bit, do you mind?"

Mayumi 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'.

28Katsuragawa: Katsura river

29Arashiyama: Mt. Arashi

Tatsuya 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.

Tatsuya 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.

Autumn 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.

Inevitably, the four of them moved at a slower pace.

Within 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.

"Hey, Tatsuya-kun."

"What? Are we moving too fast?"

Hung with Mayumi's voice, Tatsuya halted his feet. Masaki and Miyuki also halted together.

"No, we don't, but."

Now 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.

"Tatsuya-kun, do you have any place in mind? You seem to be very sure of where to go since earlier."

After Mayumi pointed out so, Tatsuya realized that his attitude was certainly unnatural as she had said.

He 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 10MC 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.

He was troubled without much to say.

He wavered for a second.

Only for a second, since he had no time to do so the next second.

"Onii-sama!"

Miyuki extended her interference area.

The 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.

The 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.

"Ichijou!"

"Leave it to me!"

Tatsuya attacked from the front, with Masaki behind. The two people took their stance to protect Miyuki and Mayumi.

Thin straps extending from the left and right of the bamboo grove towards Miyuki. Blue, red, white, black, and yellow breaded with 5 colors.

Tatsuya caught it before it reached Miyuki.

Waves similar to Cast Jamming came out from the braid.

(Esoteric system trap from Ancient Magic rite!)

Unlike 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.

Tatsuya decomposed the noise without disassembling the strap itself. He tore the string apart with his own hands.

Tatsuya 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.

Tatsuya 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.

However, it was to their convenience too, that they had no worries of being seen by the public.

The 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.

The bamboo in the forest buzzed violently, the leaves danced in the wind.

Mayumi activated her magic. It was the original form of her specialty 'Magic Shooter', the magic that rained a hail of dry ice, 'Dry Blizzard'.

Carbon 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.

Components 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.

The 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.

Hails 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.

Six 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.

On 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.

Tatsuya used his hand, forming a karate chop pose with Decomposition Magic. Ha 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.

The 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.

After 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.

Since 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.

Soon 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.

"Ichijou!"

"Leave this to me!"

Tatsuya 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.

In 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.

From behind Masaki, a sign of magic being activated could be detected. Mayumi was ready in position to use magic.

Masaki and Mayumi both had distinguished power.

The 10MC, the eldest daughter of the Saegusa. A rival from first high, the former student council president who was considered a genius in long-range shooting precision magic.

However, Masaki had no purpose to fight Mayumi.

The technique earlier, Dry Blizzard. Masaki found out by sight that she purposely reduced the power.

Although 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.

He wondered if she was not used to the battlefield. The older traditionalist magicians appeared in front of them.

Ancient Magic had inferior speed as compared to Modern Magic.

This was an undeniable truth.

The 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.

Nevertheless, it was still impossible to surpass the speed of Modern Magic. Modern Magic was created by fusing ESP and magic, and it was fast.

Masaki thought so.

However.

"Down!"

Masaki 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.

"What!?"

"What the heck is this!?"

They 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.

"Ugh…!"

Mayumi held her mouth. She seemed to have a nausea due to the smell instead of the sight.

Masaki was staring at the sight and forgot to pull the trigger of his CAD.

From the right hand that was still burning, a sword of flame was coming out.

The flame swirling around the sword, a double-edged stick, wrapping around it like a dragon.

If Mikihoko had been present, he would have identified the sword.

Kurikara Sword30, and.

Two people held the swords, and they plunged at Masaki.

The 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.

However, this barrier was easily torn down by the sword in a single swing.

Kurikara Sword was a Kōmanoriken31. It cut through the 'magic'. By that logic, it had the power to cut through the phenomenon that was altered by magic.

"Impossible!"

While his barrier was torn apart, Masaki shouted in reflex.

The sword swung in front of his eyes.

30Kurikara-ken: Buddhist sword of wisdom, cuts through 3 passions, desire, anger, and confusion

31koumarinoken: the sword of acala that made the devil surrendered

A gust of wind blew from the side and hit the two traditionalist magicians.

"Ichijou-kun, slash the magic!"

In 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.

Masaki re-gripped his red CAD which had fallen from his right hand.

The Magic Activation Selector was placed on the trigger.

Their right hands were getting thinner——burnt down over a period of time——the six traditionalists raised their flaming sword all at once.

The look on their faces expressed anguish.

Masaki fully understood that these magicians had no conscious of what they were doing.

——These magicians were only flesh puppets.

——In place of the threads which manipulated marionettes, he used magic to manipulate their limbs.

Masaki pointed his red CAD at the bodies of the six puppets.

——The magic which controlled them was slashed?

——My 'Explosion' should not have resulted in such a lousy thing.

Masaki pulled his trigger six times in succession.

The dolls protected the flaming swords with their bodies. It was a poised magic defense.

Neither Masaki nor Mayumi knew what good that would do.

After all, it had no meaning.

The feet of the traditionalists who were just meat puppets had burst open.

Red flowers bloomed.

The flowers bloomed in the air, due to the red blood cells which were scattered from the skin after the plasma was vaporized.

Masaki adjusted his 'Explosion' power, and purposely used it at an un-fatal level just to neutralize the opponents.

In no time, each of the traditionalists had a leg that burst open one after another.

Burst open.

Burst open, again and again.

Six red flowers bloomed, which were immediately scattered by the wind.

The six magicians fell miserably to the ground, with one of their legs bursting open. Due to the severe pain they experienced, the fire in the swords had extinguished. Their right hands had carbonized from their elbows; little remained.

One of their legs had ruptured, blood vessels, muscles and skin, with the exception of his bone which turned to shreds.

Mayumi held her mouth at the ghastly sight.

Quite an obstinate young lady from the 10MC, as the usual reaction would have included some vomiting.

Masaki turned back to face her, there was neither hesitation nor regret on his face. The same phenomenon occurred before Tatsuya.

The four magicians' hands were lit on fire.

The difference was here.

Those hands were covered by white mist.

The flame tried to resist the cold air, the cold air went over the skin and burnt them. The magical flame that was supposed to burn, succumbed to the overwhelming 'magic'. Needless to say, it was Miyuki's magic.

Miyuki's magic could freeze the spirit itself, it wouldn't be difficult for her to freeze a Magic Sequence.

Tatsuya pointed to the enemy's feet.

The blood from the four enemy's thighs had blown all at once.

The defeated magicians overturned. The noise of pain arose and shook their control strings. Vibrations propagated in the reserve direction.

(Over there.)

Tatsuya looked sideways through the bamboo forest, with an unvoiced glare.

A disturbance from in the thread was caused by a Psion, no Psion waves could escape Tatsuya's 'eyes'.

He turned his right hand in the direction of the bushes.

He dealt with the spiders who had rained over his head with his left hand.

The spider disappeared without a trace, simultaneously, a scream from the bushes was heard.

"This still feels awkward."

Tatsuya 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.

"Seems like it will take quite some time to master it smoothly."

However, Miyuki mentioned a reverse evaluation.

Both 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.

Tatsuya 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.

The 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.

The 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.

"Tatsuya-kun, Ichijou-kun, what should we do with them now?"

Tatsuya faced Masaki.

The first one to open his mouth was Masaki.

"Originally, I would interrogate this man, but."

Masaki 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.

"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."

"People… Might come, huh?"

"That's right. I think we can claim that we counterattacked them in legitimate defense, but… their charred right arms was their own doing."

"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"

"Exactly my thought."

"Tatsuya-kun, what do you think?"

"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."

Mayumi pondered while frowning her eyebrows, before giving up and sighing.

"Let's contact the police."

"Senpai, I will contact the police."

After saying so, Miyuki took out her information terminal.

"Miyuki-san, I'll leave it in your care."

While Miyuki called the police, Mayumi and Masaki kept their sight on her.

They were not aware that Tatsuya was watching the Buddhist sect traditionalists that laid on the ground.

Both of them also did not realize that Tatsuya did not focus his eyes on the injuries.