Chapter 26

"Let's go! Time for school!"

In the elegant and antique manor, Tenyo Ei energetically slung her backpack over her shoulder.

"I wonder if the situation in Machiyamachi has settled down."

Nagisa Ichiyo still looked worried. Even for someone as privileged as her, she only had access to vague reports of a "terrorist attack" in the Arakawa district.

After all, she wasn't the true power behind the Nagisa conglomerate. The best she could do was receive some inside information from her elders.

"Don't worry," Souta Kiryuu said with composure. "Tokyo has a population in the tens of millions. There's no way we'd be so unlucky as to run into an incident ourselves."

The so-called "terrorist attack" had, in fact, been him training his Earth Release techniques and setting things up so the police wouldn't interfere with his sister, Aki no Sora.

Whether or not an incident occurred—and how it played out—was entirely up to his whim.

"A whole day has passed. The Metropolitan Police Department must have taken care of it by now, right?" Class president Nao chimed in. Meanwhile, Aki no Sora was glued to her phone as they walked toward the manor gate.

Two young women in maid outfits pushed open the tall wooden gates.

A black sedan rolled into the courtyard and came to a stop.

?!

Tenyo Ei, who had been skipping along, froze. Her pupils contracted, and she instinctively lowered her head, her small frame trembling slightly.

Because from that black car stepped out a middle-aged man.

His gray hair was slicked back, his expression stern. Deep nasolabial folds, crow's feet, and heavy eye bags carved his face. He wore a traditional dark robe, giving the impression of someone in his fifties or sixties.

But he was not.

"Father," Nagisa Ichiyo bowed respectfully. Souta Kiryuu and the others halted in place.

Indeed, this man, who looked like he was pushing sixty, was actually just in his early forties—Nagisa Ichiyo's father, head of the Nagisa conglomerate, and Tenyo Ei's biological father.

His aged appearance was partly due to the noble attire that aged him visually, and partly because maintaining his seat as family head wasn't easy.

Internally, he had to fend off power grabs from other branches of the family. Externally, he was constantly challenged by upstart elites.

The "new money" of Minato Ward were always looking for a chance to dethrone the old aristocrats.

"Ichiyo," the stern man said, his gaze scanning over Souta and the others, not asking but stating, "These are your classmates."

"Going to school? Be careful."

"Yes, Father."

Ichiyo tried to speak further, but her father was already making his way toward the main residence.

From start to finish, he hadn't spared Tenyo Ei a single glance.

?

"Father!" she called out desperately.

The man simply lifted a hand, a gesture that said, "Don't speak."

That simple motion was enough to crush Ichiyo's spirit.

"Let's go, Ichiyo," Souta said. "And you too—Tenyo."

He gently placed his hand on the trembling girl's shoulder.

"There's an old saying: 'Thirty years east of the Arakawa River, thirty years west.'"

As his sister Aki no Sora quietly questioned, "Is that really a saying in Tokyo?", Souta continued.

"In short, even if he doesn't value you now, who's to say he won't be forced to look up to you one day?"

"That's impossible. I'm just an orphan..."

Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, Tenyo Ei looked up with her usual carefree grin.

"Hehehe~ I just got scared by his aura, that's all."

"Little Ei, I'm so sorry," Ichiyo said, instinctively pulling her into a hug, guilt all over her face.

She was caught between her father and her older sister—a tough spot to be in.

That's right. Even though Ichiyo was taller and more composed, Tenyo Ei was actually the older sibling.

"I'm fine," Tenyo said, gently pushing her sister away.

"Come on, Ichiyo. Let's go!"

She was the first to walk toward the gate. This place—she longed for it, but also feared it.

After all, it wasn't really her "home."

"Wait up, Ei."

A figure hurried over from the side. Always absorbed in her phone, Aki no Sora had tucked it away and took Tenyo's hand.

"Let's walk together."

"Okay! You're the best, Sora~~"

Ichiyo, who had also wanted to move closer, paused for a moment.

As rude as it might sound, perhaps Aki no Sora—having also lost her parents—could understand her older sister's feelings better than she could.

"Don't overthink it, Ichiyo," Souta said, tilting his head as he walked ahead.

"As long as your feelings for Tenyo are genuine, that's all that matters."

As for her parents?

He believed their attitude toward Tenyo Ei would soon change.

Whether for better or worse, though—that was something only time would reveal.

Souta was merely giving the girl a chance.

And giving her parents one, too.

Bunkyo Ward. Tokyo Metropolitan Koishikawa Secondary School.

Sitting by the window, Kishida Jun frowned.

That target was moving again.

Yesterday, after tailing it to Arakawa Ward, he fought the "Flaming Skeleton" it had released. Though he obtained a fragment of the Killing Stone, he couldn't defeat the black fish monster with the torii on its back that dove underground.

That creature carried a large piece of the Killing Stone.

Since receiving a mission from Shiro the Death Envoy, Jun had developed a vague sensitivity to demonic energy.

According to Shiro, at this point in time, almost all demonic power surfacing in the human world came from shards of the Killing Stone.

The Killing Stone could imprison souls—a blatant violation of the underworld's domain. Jun's job was to collect the fragments.

Shiro promised that if he retrieved 100 shards, she would break the rules just once.

And resurrect Miyashita Ryoko.

Gathering the shards meant opposing the legendary Demon King.

But Kishida Jun no longer cared.

Even if it meant going against the most powerful of the Three Great Demon Kings—

He would not back down.

"Tamamo-no-Mae..."

He murmured the name.

In Japan's mythology, there were countless demons and gods, said to total eight million. But only three were deemed Demon Kings:

The Great Tengu, Shuten Doji, and the White-Faced, Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox.

Technically speaking, the Tengu were a race, not a single being.

There were said to be eight Great Tengu in total, with countless lesser Tengu.

They were known for their red faces, long noses, and wings that let them soar. Wielding fans or magic hammers, they could stir up storms that reached the heavens.

Though famous across Japan, they were not united. Arrogant by nature, cooperation was impossible.

Shuten Doji, on the other hand, was the demon king of Mount Oe.

He could appear as a handsome youth or a grotesque monster. As a human, he bewitched women; as a demon, he breathed fire that could boil oceans.

But in legend, he was quickly decapitated by Minamoto no Yorimitsu and his retainers, who got him drunk first.

Not a very glorious defeat.

Only Tamamo-no-Mae...

Flipping through a borrowed copy of Gazu Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro, Kishida Jun felt a chill.

Unlike the others, Tamamo-no-Mae truly went toe-to-toe with onmyoji, monks, and warriors during the Heian period.

She infiltrated the imperial palace and drained the Emperor's life force. Eventually, she was sealed by the great onmyoji Abe no Yasuchika.

But her demonic energy, ambition, and hatred persisted in the form of the Killing Stone, lying dormant in Nasu Fields—waiting to be revived.

And just a year ago, the stone cracked.

Jun recalled the news.

Maybe that was the beginning.

Maybe monsters—supernatural beings—had already begun infiltrating human society then.

Once, he had scoffed at talk of demons and gods.

Now, he was a true believer.

Ryoko...

His gaze drifted to the umbrella hanging beside his desk, eyes softening.

You won't have to wait much longer.