Honoo no Mirage

Chapter 5: The Past

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Chapter 5: The Past

During the break after Fifth Period, Takaya went over to the First Year Group 5 cla.s.sroom with the music Yuzuru had left with him before he’d gone home. He conscripted a student near the door to fetch Hatayama Satoshi.

“Yes?”

Hatayama came over, a blank look on his face. The light chestnut of his eyes appeared quite j.a.panese, and he had pale skin and hair soft as silk thread. There was delicacy still in his body, making him look very much the junior high student.

Takaya thrust the clear folder containing the music at him.

“Yuzuru wanted me to give this to you. So there you go.”

“Eh? Yuzuru?—you mean, Narita-senpai? He didn’t come for the noon practice, though. Did something happen to him?”

“He wasn’t feeling well, so he left early. I dunno if he’s coming tomorrow either.”

“... I see...”

Hatayama looked down at the music with quiet disappointment. The other students, for some reason, were staring at them and whispering to each other. Ougi Takaya appeared to be a well-known personality within the school. The junior high students were in the same school, of course, and most of them recognized the Second Year with the rather scary face who was always being called to the principle’s office. If it was strange that Takaya (who should have no connection to those undercla.s.smen who went straight home after cla.s.s) was in a first-year cla.s.sroom, then indeed the fact that he had picked out the honors transfer student seemed to simply invite misunderstanding.

Takaya shot them a glare.

“Ougi-senpai,” Hatayama called his attention back.

“? What? You know my name?”

“Yes. I‘ve heard about you from Narita-senpai,” Hatayama replied with a smile, not timidly at all. “Everyone says that you’re a ’scary person’, but that’s not really true, is it? Is it because you get into fights? Or do you do things like hit the teachers or break the windows or something?”

“...What is it you want to say?”

“Oh, that I think you must be a strong person.”

Takaya looked down at Hatayama, eyes narrowed. There didn’t seem to be any malice behind this gritty young man’s words.

(He’s probably just stupid...)

“I moved last week, so I live pretty close to Narita-senpai now. Would you like to go visit him together later?”

“...”

It felt rather like something of a recurring pattern.

“Sorry, but I’ve got stuff to take care of.”

“Ah, I see. That’s too bad,” Hatayama pouted. “And here I thought I’d finally get to ask you about the ghost skeletons, too.”

Takaya started.

“What did you say?”

“Ah, well...” Hatayama waved a hand in front of his chest lightly. “It’s just that I heard that you exorcised those ghosts...”

“Yuzuru told you that?”

“Yes.”

He somehow doubted that Yuzuru would tell anyone about that, but Hatayama continued, “You’ve heard about it too, haven’t you?—that there’ve been a lot of ghosts appearing here in the school recently.”

Takaya scratched his head, not adding that he had met one earlier that same day.

“Everyone’s pretty uncomfortable right now, so if what Narita-senpai said is true, then it would be really great if you could exorcise these ghosts...”

“Do you really believe something like that?”

“I believe it.” For one moment Hatayama’s lips seemed to twist suspiciously. “It’s certainly not impossible.”

“...”

What was up with this guy?

Something like a warning flashed through Takaya’s chest, but before the suspicions could take form, Hatayama smiled lightly.

“The band has a concert next week. I’ll be playing in it too, so please come to see us.”

“Ah...yeah...”

Takaya, wrapped up in Hatayama’s hurricane pace, ended up responding with a nod. Hatayama gave him a friendly smile and thanked him before going back into the cla.s.sroom. Takaya thrust his hands into his pockets and headed back to his own cla.s.s, looking over his shoulder after Hatayama.

(What the h.e.l.l?)

This strange ghost phenomenon appearing with such frequency at Jouhoku High—the first case of injuries caused by these poltergeists appeared that day after cla.s.s.

The place was the southern building’s third-floor corridor.

Cracks ran through the windows along the corridor, and the gla.s.s suddenly shattered as if they’d been blown out of their frames. The members of the baseball team, who had been pa.s.sing through, were struck point-blank by the shards. They were taken to the hospital in ambulances, where they received st.i.tches for lacerations that would take three to four weeks to heal. Since there was no evidence of stones thrown or any other clues as to the cause of the windows breaking, the teachers were left scratching their heads.

Among the students, the gossip was that it was, of course, the ghosts who’d done it. There was also corroborating testimony. A student who’d been nearby had witnessed everything, including a bloodstained man with a topknot standing quietly in white burial robes near the injured students.

It was the next day when Takaya heard about the incident. So it seemed that this would not be something he could ignore after all—and he needed a hand from Naoe and Ayako.

“The aura here is certainly getting stronger day by day, isn’t it?” They had a.s.sembled up on the deserted north building’s roof during lunch. In addition to Naoe and Ayako, he had also included Saori, the other interested party. Naoe looked around at his surroundings, arms folded. “It feels like more spirits have been gathering here over the past few days. This spiritual aura certainly did not exist when I came here a month ago.”

“Ordinary people have seen the spirits, too. That’s pretty bad...” Of the four, Ayako’s expression was the most strained. “It wouldn’t be so much of a problem if they were just hanging around, but now they’ve started hurting people. It could go downhill fast if we don’t deal with this now.”

“It wouldn’t’ve been you guys who called them here, would it?” Takaya asked, leaning against the fence. “It’s not because you came to Matsumoto that these ghosts started dropping in?”

“... No, things were already happening when we came here the other day.”

“You just have great timing, then.”

“So it would seem.” Naoe’s eyes narrowed. Takaya had apparently sensed that there was something more. There was, in fact, another reason for their being here in Matsumoto, but Takaya, who had no concrete suspicions, said nothing further.

“In any case, we cannot take action without knowing something about the background of these spirits. What have you heard from those students who saw them?”

“Actually, I saw the ghost of a young woman, too.” And he turned to Saori for confirmation. “There’ve been a lot of different ghosts appearing, right? Like an old man and a kid...”

“Yeah. But there are some common features between them.”

“Common features? Such as?”

“They all wear white kimonos.” Takaya explained, “I’ve been asking my friends and stuff, and they said that the old man and the kid both looked like that woman from yesterday. They had hair like people from the Edo Period, and were pretty much all wearing white kimonos. Oh, and they were usually stained with blood. And there’s one more thing.”

“What is it?”

“This is from a friend too—he said that he heard a man’s voice crying out from an empty music room.”

“Crying out? Was it a scream?”

“It wasn’t a scream... what’d he say it was, Morino?”

“‘Nitogoshou’”.

“Nitogoshou”?

“Yeah. He was sure that that’s what the man’s voice was shouting.”

Ayako looked up at Naoe. “Nitogoshou? What does that mean?”

"Nito...2 to 5 shou? Could it perhaps be the rice-measuring system from the Edo Period?

Saori continued, “He said that the voice shouting ”nitogoshou“, ”nitogoshou“ sounded really bitter. You know, I was kinda scared when he said that too, because it’s just like the ghost stories I used to hear in Junior High.”

“What kind of ghost stories?”

"Um...let’s see. Well, actually, they said that there were traces of an old execution ground at our junior high school and that it had an interesting history...

And Saori told them the story.

The junior high school Saori attended had been built some forty years ago. Many skeletons were found at the beginning of the construction of the school buildings and removed from the site. Afterwards, calamities such as strange illnesses and injuries started to befall those related to the construction—calamities which, it was said, suddenly and completely stopped after a memorial service was held for the remains. Even those who had fallen ill recovered. An investigation began with these events as impetus, and they discovered that the ringleaders of the ‘Kasuke Uprising’, which had taken place in Matsumoto in the Third Year of Joukyou (1686) during the early Edo Period, had been executed there.

“‘Kasuke Uprising’?” Ayako questioned, and Takaya also nodded, his eyebrows drawn.

“I’ve heard about it. They taught us about it in elementary and junior high school. It’s a part of the local history. Something about ten thousand farmers marching to Matsumoto Castle to demand that their annual rice tax be reduced.”

“Matsumoto-han...yes, the uprising that occurred around Mizuno’s time?” Naoe nodded as well.

At that time, Matsumoto-han had been in dire financial straits, and the tax levied against farmers had been raised in an attempt to compensate. In Matsumoto-han, three to (one bagful of unhulled rice comes out to three to of unpolished rice after milling) was the yearly rice tax, but it was suddenly raised without warning to 3 to 5 shou in the third year of Joukyou. The farmers, whose lives were difficult even at the best of times, were now burdened even further, and public outcry swelled up in resentment against the government’s tyranny.

At a time when 2 to 5 shou was the standard tax, 3 to 5 shou was surpa.s.singly cruel.

It was Tada Kasuke, the headman of Nakagaya village, and the headmen of other villages who stood up to demand a repeal of the raised taxes. They went to the castle on October 14th of that same year to submit a complaint to the government. One by one, the peasants of each village took up their hoes and their firehooks and gathered at the foot of Matsumoto Castle in support of the appeal. In the end the number of pet.i.tioners swelled to ten thousand people, an uprising on an unprecedented scale.

“So, the government was intimidated and allowed the repeal, didn’t they?”

“Yeah. But the real goal of Kasuke and the others was to reduce the tax to the standard level of 2 to 5 shou. The government also agreed to this for the time being.”

“Then wasn’t it a huge victory?”

“Not really; you see—...”

The victory was not the end of it. Afterwards, the government decided to arrest the ringleaders, revoke the promise of 2 to 5 shou, and execute Kasuke and the others. And it didn’t stop there. For not only were the ringleaders executed, but also their families. Kasuke and the other headmen were crucified, their heads put on display within the city, and their corpses given to government officials for sword practice and the like in a particularly brutal display of tyranny.

The government probably meant it as a warning, but the punishment brought to bear against these innocent people was atrocious even by the standards of that time.

Such was the legend of the Kasuke Uprising and how the government revoked its promise of 2 to 5 shou to Kasuke and the others and put them to death.

It was said that just before his death, Kasuke fixed Matsumoto Castle with a glare so full of hatred that the main tower began to shake and tilt. (Before the renovation of the castle, its main tower did actually have a noticeable slant.)

On the crucifixion rack, Kasuke shouted at the distant Matsumoto Castle with every breath until his last: “It’s 2 to 5 shou! Don’t forget! 2 to 5 shou! 2 to 5 shou!”

The heroism of Kasuke and the others until the bitter last became the legend of the selfless martyrs of Matsumoto, a tale pa.s.sed down through the generations.

“So it was that...‘nitogoshou’...?”

“...Yeah.” Perhaps a bit touched by her own narrative, Saori sniffled. “But that place where they were executed was at my junior high school. People say that you can hear it sometimes, a voice shouting Kasuke-san’s last words: ‘2 to 5 shou!’”

“...”

“I’ve also heard stories of ghosts wearing white kimonos—just like now.”

Naoe rested his chin against a hand in thought. “I see. The ‘2 to 5 shou’ part is now clear. But why would Kasuke’s voice be heard here in this school?”

Ayako added, “Say that these people wearing white kimonos are the ghosts of those who were executed during the ‘Kasuke Uprising’—it would still be weird. They have no special connection to this school, so they shouldn’t be causing this ruckus here, right?”

“That’s true.”

“Also, they would’ve become the jibakurei type of onryou...so it’s unimaginable that they would’ve just picked up and migrated here without reason.”

Also true. The strong grudge remaining in the place where they had died or their hatred (towards someone or something) usually bound the onryou to that piece of earth, and they seldom moved. It took a strong impetus to incite them.

Then what in the world had called them?

"I can’t figure it out. Anyway, we should confirm whether or not they actually have any connection to the ‘Kasuke Uprising’.

“Then we need to start with a reisa. ...Saori-san, can you guide us around the junior high school you attended?”

“Eh?” Saori panicked on the spot. “M-m-me, guide you? No way, no way! I can’t do that!”

“Is it not convenient?”

“N-no, that’s not it! O-Ougi-kun, wh-wh-wh-what should I doooooo?!” Saori thumped Takaya’s back in single-minded agitation. Naoe replied for the nonplussed Takaya:

“... We must ask you to act as our guide.”

It took around five minutes by car from Takaya’s school to Saori’s junior high, located at the foot of the Jouzan Hills, a place known in Matsumoto for its flower-viewing. A handsome monument stood now near the highway, and a ‘Giminduka’ had been built to properly house the excavated remains of the twenty-eight individuals of the Kasuke Uprising. A memorial service had been held for their spirits, and a memorial event took place here every year on the anniversary of their executions to honor Kasuke and the others for their sacrifice.

Takaya and the others climbed out of Naoe’s car.

“...So it’s here...?”

“I don’t sense any particularly evil spiritual auras. Shall we take a look at the tomb?”

The four stepped deeper inside, towards the ‘Giminduka’.

In front of them was a modest plaza, and a luxuriant, hemispherical grave mound had been constructed beyond the fence and small shrine. In the quiet of that place they heard only the chirping of birds.

“So this is the ‘Giminduka’ where the remains of Kasuke and the others are buried?”

Naoe prompted, “...Haruie.”

Ayako nodded and sat down in place with her legs crossed in the lotus position. She closed her eyes and relaxed her shoulders, breathing deeply in a slow, even rhythm to sweep away idle thoughts and focus her mind. Solemnity settled over her face. With the other three watching attentively, Ayako began the spiritual sensing.

Nothing moved.

Only the chatter of birds served as an accompaniment to the beams of sunlight streaming through the leaves overhead. Voices and the sound of bouncing b.a.l.l.s came distantly from the direction of the junior high school’s gymnasium. Takaya and Naoe and Saori watched over Ayako from behind.

Ayako sat motionless with her eyes closed.

Her focused consciousness spread out of her still body, and she sought with all of her senses centered on the reisa for residues of thought from the past as well as signs of unpurified spirits.

Moment by moment, time was the only thing that moved.

Even the wind was still.

When Ayako finally opened her eyes, no more than five minutes had gone by. She let out a big breath before turning her attention to her companions.

“Are you done?”

“...yeah...”

“That was very fast.”

“I couldn’t keep my concentration any longer.” Ayako turned, looking a bit tired. “I was trying to go up the stream of residual thought. This place really is Kasuke’s execution ground. It left very intense traces of hatred.”

“What of responses from the spirits?”

“There aren’t any. The spirits of Kasuke and the others are no longer here.”

“No longer here?” Naoe asked. “Were they purified?”

“Nope. They weren’t purified either, as we suspected. The aural patterns from the residual thoughts of the ghosts that’ve been appearing so frequently at Jouhoku High are a match. So it looks like those spirits really are the ones from the Kasuke Uprising.”

“What do you mean?”

Ayako stood and replied, “There are traces that someone performed a reidouhou here very recently.”

“What?” Naoe said.

Takaya asked Naoe in turn, “What’s that? That reidouhou thing?”

“It’s a ceremony for the guiding of souls. It means that someone has released the bindings that tied the spirits of Kasuke and the others to this place and lured them away.”

“Is something like that even possible?”

Ayako looked towards the ‘Giminduka’ grimly.

“But this wasn’t just any reidouhou. The nature of the residual auras here is totally different from the malice we saw at Jouhoku High. This is actually a protective force. The memorial service that took place here was performed with such warmth and sincerity that it changed the onryou of Kasuke and the others into shugorei. But since their spirits had completely reverted back to the malicious onryou from what we saw at Jouhoku High, this was probably...”

Naoe was the first to say it. “Anji reidou,” he finished in a low voice.

Ayako nodded in agreement, her expression hard.

Naoe scowled, chin resting in one hand.

“...This is becoming ugly...”

“Wait wait wait! You’ve totally lost me. Stop speaking in technical babble and explain it so that we can understand it too!”

“...”

Naoe looked up at Takaya at his shout and exhaled a sigh that must surely have had some degree of annoyance in it. It was perhaps at such times that his lack of memory was most troublesome.

“In other words, it looks like someone hypnotized Kasuke and the others. They became the guardians and protectors of this place after the memorial service revived their conscience, but someone used hypnotism to call back the malice that was laid to peace within them, turning them back into evil onryou.”

“Hypnotism on a ghost...”

“It is not impossible.” Naoe’s unwavering eyes narrowed. "Spirits are also human. The only difference between us and them is that they do not have bodies. Only, because their most primitive emotions are laid bare, they are that much easier to manipulate. It is especially dangerous for those shugorei who were once onryou; in the depths of their hearts there are many places that may conceal the darker emotions.

“—”

“Someone is probably using the hatred and «power» of the spirits of the Kasuke Uprising.”

“Using? For what?”

“Well...” Naoe thought for a bit, his brows knit. “There should be some purpose behind it if someone is going so far as to performing an anji reidou to call them to Jouhoku High.”

“Is there something at my school?”

“A reason for calling them to that school... Could it be—” Ayako murmured, looking towards Takaya. “Could it be that the purpose is...Kagetora...”

“?”

“You...?”

Naoe raised his head at Ayako’s words. Saori also turned her attention to Takaya. He glared, startled.

“Me? Why me? That’s nuts!”

“Is it the act of some onshou?”

“I don’t know, but you guys sure made a flashy enough announcement of Kagetora’s reappearance. Uesugi Kagetora would be considered a threat to be eliminated by all of the onshou. It wouldn’t be surprising for any of them to want to kill him.”

Indeed, it was not unheard-of for an onshou of the «Yami-Sengoku» to carry such «powers». And the onshou certainly did not appreciate this ability to force-expel spirits to the other world called «choubukuryoku». Of course, Kagetora’s return was not welcome news to them either. Naoe returned Takaya’s gaze steadily.

“It does seem like the target here is you, Takaya-san.”

“That’s not...that’s—no way! That’s totally insane!”

“O-O-O-Ougi-kun! I’m going to fire you as a friend for the time being. I hope you become a Buddha in your next life, okay?”

“Morinooo!”

He appeared to be in quite a pickle. If it was true, then the reason for the ghost riots at Jouhoku High was none other than he himself.

“However, we have no definitive evidence, so we cannot say for certain.”

Even so, Naoe’s expression was hard. He probably also had vague misgivings that this was the case.

Takaya narrowed his eyes to long slits. “Why does the target have to be me?”

“Please don’t point any fingers. This would have happened sooner or later, now that you have a part of your «powers» back.”

“I’m not Kagetora—!”

“Are you going to continue denying it at this late date? Please stop this childish pretense.”

“—”

At a loss for a response, Takaya sulked in silence. Naoe, deep in thought, ignored him.

“But who in the world would...”

“Someone who could perform an anji reidou would have considerable «powers», I would think. That would limit it to...hmm. But they would have to have the awareness as well...”

Takaya jerked at Ayako’s words.

Awareness.

The one who had given the spirits of the Kasuke Uprising the suggestion to call them to Jouhoku High.

The strange events which had begun at almost the same time.

The student who had hypnotized all his cla.s.smates so that no one would notice him.

Hypnotized...

Could it be...

(Chiaki...!)

Naoe noticed Takaya’s start.

“? Takaya-san?”

“...”

Takaya’s lips were pressed tightly closed, his hands clenched into fists. Could Chiaki be one of the onshou from the «Yami-Sengoku»? If that were true, it would explain everything. He had insinuated himself into the school in order to get at Kagetora. Those strange events at Jouhoku High. The hypnotized souls of Kasuke and the others.

“Naoe...”

“? Yes.”

“Let’s go back to the school. Before the students go home.”

“You’ve thought of something.”

“I’m gonna talk to him face to face.” Takaya fixed a glare on the empty air. “No way I’m gonna let him keep them hypnotized.”

“...”

Naoe eyed Takaya coolly. Enmity towards Chiaki had already sprouted in Takaya’s mind; seeing it, Naoe’s gaze shifted slightly.

The tranquil chime of bells signaling the end of cla.s.ses sounded strangely out of place within the strained atmosphere of Jouhoku High. That this tension had been engendered by the malice-filled spirits of Tada Kasuke and the other spirits of the Kasuke Uprising was, for the time being, something known only to Takaya, Naoe, Ayako, and Saori.

Or, perhaps...

“Is this really okay, Naoe?” Ayako asked worriedly, standing next to the parked Benz near the school gates. “Should we have let Kagetora go by himself?”

“We don’t know his intentions either,” Naoe replied, holding a light up to the cigarette between his lips and not looking particularly concerned. “He must have had a reason for sneaking in like this. It would not be a good idea for us to b.u.mble into forced contact with him.”

"But Kagetora seems to be jumping to conclusions.

“Not without reason. However, the problem is finding the real culprit, who is probably already quite close. But what in the world is he hoping to accomplish by using the Kasuke spirits?”

Standing motionless, Ayako pondered the question grimly. That they had not yet seen the form of their opponent was an ominous sign.

“Probably because if he used the local jibakurei, we cannot use our power offensively. Reidouhou itself cannot be done without considerable power.”

“Not your common onshou, then?”

“But what should we do? If this continues, we’ll have to perform choubuku on the Kasuke spirits to protect Kagetora.”

Naoe, his glare fixed on the asphalt, was silent for a brief moment.

“That may be true. Without another suggestion, they probably cannot go back to being the good shugorei. If only we could remove the suggestion that was cast on them...”

Ayako said, her face hard, “So we have no choice but to ask him for a favor?”

“Our opponent is someone with the «power» to perform anji reidou. I don’t know if even his powers of suggestion are up to par.”

“Ugh—...” Ayako groaned, her brows creased. “I just wanted to see Kagetora, but of course we had to get some party-crashers—”

“Our combat strength is now at its full, but the problem is the essential Kagetora-sama.”

Naoe’s worries rested on this point. Takaya’s «powers» were not yet completely awakened, and his insecurities were only stifling those powers further... Would he be able to call upon them at need? It was more and more problematic that he couldn’t use them, and when his life hung in the balance...

His life...?

“What does life matter to you?”

The words Takaya had once said to him suddenly echoed again in his ears. At the time they had angered him, and he had responded with unthinking sarcasm. But now Takaya himself realized that these words had rebounded on him.

For him, for the kanshousha that he was, what was this thing called ‘life’?

(For him...)

Naoe’s gaze fell slightly.

(He seems to have circled back to the beginning, to that same pain.)

He hadn’t been able to do it, after all—he hadn’t been able to look away. If Naoe could explain that this, too, was inevitable, he wouldn’t feel such pain. It would set him free. If he could just explain...

(...Could it really bring him comfort?)

Naoe’s eyes suddenly lifted. Leaden clouds cast their heavy shadows upon the white school buildings.

One chance to sweep the slate clean.

Kagetora had probably chosen to take this gamble. But had he understood that this chance to start over again also meant that the past he had wanted to abandon might repeat itself? And had he accepted that it could give birth to more brutal consequences still?

Despite knowing this, he had felt himself left with no alternative but to choose the possibilities. ...He had been driven into a corner with no way out.

(And I drove him...)

“You alone I shall never forgive for all eternity!”

The cigarette glowed. Standing motionless, his brows knit as he stared down at the ground.

I know.

That the past does not disappear.

That my own confusion and impatience drove him into that corner.

That my hideous desires wounded him.

These things could not be erased. Even if he had forgotten, he had not forgiven.

This unfading sin etched into his soul— When Kagetora regained his memories... When he remembered everything....

Naoe would probably no longer be allowed to remain by his side.

And yet... And yet.

This time, at least, let me give that person a place where he can cry. Let me be able to protect him.

Even if, this second time...

Let it not happen again.

(—Let me do what I can, now...)

A strong wind began to blow.

He felt the whole of himself judged and condemned.

Naoe opened his eyes.

The rooftop after cla.s.ses. An empty can tumbled on the concrete. Chiaki turned his face away a little from the growing wind and opened his mouth to speak.

“What did you want to talk to me about?”

“...”

Takaya glared at Chiaki full-on.

He had returned to the school and called Chiaki out here at the end of cla.s.ses. The hostility glittering in his eyes precluded all caution. Takaya finally asked menacingly, “What are you after?”

“—”

Chiaki returned his gaze impa.s.sively.

“‘After’?”

“Playing dumb won’t do you any good, Chiaki. It looks like your hypnotism won’t work on me.”

“... Hmm.” Chiaki smiled audaciously. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“!”

Takaya seized Chiaki’s collar violently. “You think you can keep playing innocent?”

“...”

“You hypnotized my cla.s.smates so you could slip into the cla.s.s, you called the Kasuke spirits, all so you could...!”

“So I could...?” Chiaki scoffed. “And what did you think I would do?”

“...ss...!”

He grabbed Takaya’s wrist in turn. Takaya involuntarily released Chiaki’s collar as the bones of his wrist grated.

“...d.a.m.n...you...”

“Rather rash of you, isn’t it? Talking alone to someone who might kill you?”

“!”

“You might as well send out an invitation.”

“So you really are...!”

“Stop your whining,” Chiaki interrupted him, and Takaya gulped down the rest of his words.

Chiaki gazed at him with eyes as calm as a waveless lake surface.

“You’ve become a total brat since the last time I saw you. Stop blundering about. If you try to stick your nose in without the full use of your «powers» when you’re this clueless, you’ll seriously get yourself killed.”

“Chiaki, you...”

“If you value this current body of yours, you’ll stop being childish and let them protect you.”

“...”

Takaya’s breath stilled as he looked at Chiaki.

(Who in the world is he?)

Chiaki declared in a bored voice, “Humph. Your face is practically shouting that you really don’t remember anything. What a carefree guy. Jeez.”

“... Are you on my side?”

“Though it really rubs me the wrong way when you put it like that.” Chiaki took a long hard took at Takaya’s face and muttered, “But you know...”

“?”

“Naoe’s pretty b.a.l.l.sy too, if he’s able to face you. Well, it’s been thirty years, I suppose?”

“Huh?”

Takaya gave him a blank look, but Chiaki appeared to be speaking to himself with no intention of making a reply. Takaya frowned at the incomprehensible words.

Just then.

A terrible sound came from the floor underneath them.

“!”

They turned at the same time. What was that just now?

“Below us is...the entrance.”

“—!...”

Takaya took off running like a shot bullet. Chiaki, startled, shouted: “Kagetora!”

The apprehension shivering through his body was fast becoming reality.

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