Volume 12, Chapter 4

Even now in the 21st Century, Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya remained Japan’s three largest cities. Although Osaka once suffered dramatic changes in real estate prices, the price of goods was decreased thanks to the advent of a free-to-use airport and being the first harbor to operate 24 hours a day, allowing the city to regain its status as an industrial hub.

Yet tonight, the location of the incident to come was not Osaka, but Nagoya.

The time was approximately 2300 hours. The location was the paths located near Atsuta Park along the riverbanks of the Horikawa River.

“Speaking of which, choosing this practically deserted place as the site of their secret gathering is pretty much screaming that they have nothing to hide here.”

Entirely ignoring the location – in a thicket by the side of the walkways – that was surrounding them, a 15 or 16 year old young girl with long curls and dressed in a gaudy dress that appeared fresh from a lively rock and roll concert spoke quietly.

“I feel that those words should not be coming from Onee-san who was almost mistaken for a thug at this time and place.”

The voice that replied back sounded low for a girl, but still a touch too high for a boy. Maybe it was impossible to detect whether the individual was a young boy or girl based on voice alone. However, the black, sleeveless miniskirt and frock as well as the stockings of the same color were plainly girl’s clothing. As a side note, a black, high collared shirt with long sleeves was worn on the inside of the sleeveless frock, so the only visible flesh was the hands and face. The bosom was only slightly elevated and the black hairstyle was cut neatly short. From appearances, this was undoubtedly a young girl. However, based on the age of the first young girl and the title of “older sister”, she was either a sister of similar age or they were twins.

“Yami, you’re a knucklehead.”

Although the young girl who was referred to as “Yami” by her older sister furrowed her brows for an instant in displeasure, there were no other major complaints forthcoming.

“It’s precisely because of this outfit that we can be out here like this. At most, people would only think “Oh, it’s a delinquent”, right?”

There was a certain persuasiveness to that argument, so Yami had no reply to that. Still, taking into consideration that the mission given to them tonight required a certain degree of movement, clothing that facilitated movement should have been a basic requirement. Now, her older sister was wearing an outfit that hampered her more than anything else, which should not have fulfilled that basic requirement. Still, given that she had chosen a more fluid – owing to certain reasons, a dress was mandatory – set of clothing and yet was still dismissed with a mere “knucklehead”, Yami had a hard time putting that down.

No matter what, she had to muster some sort of rebuttal. The young girl wracked her brain, but a report that came through the receiver she wore over one ear put a halt to that pointless exercise.

“Onee-san, our target seems to have arrived.”

“Confirmed. Coming by boat is certainly a surprise, and a racing boat to boot. Given how eye-catching they are.... Were they not planning on hiding at all?”

On the other side, the large, thickset eye patch that her sister wore over her left eye appeared to be a HMD (Head Mount Display). She rubbed hand over the surface of the eye patch while her right eye squeezed shut for a moment before snapping open. It appeared to be a hassle even for the person wearing it. Yami thought “you might as well not wear it” while also coming across a more objective phrase and voiced it aloud.

“I believe that the target isn’t trying to obscure themselves. Even if someone saw them, the information would at most be provided to reporters.”

“Reporters, eh....”

Hearing her older sister mutter that word in a suspicious manner, Yami intentionally shrugged her shoulders in an ordinary manner.

“Let’s leave Yoru Onee-san’s theory regarding the media’s untrustworthiness for next time.” “Yami.... You’ve grown quite insolent!”

The small talk stopped there. The young girl’s intent was not entirely out of fun and games. Completely heedless of her older sister’s satire, she focused her gaze on the racing boat that was approaching shore. The cabin of the sailing boat was not visible from the outside. The boat stopped at the small dock that also served as a stopping point for tour buses. From the boat, two large men disembarked.

A middle-aged man of medium stature who was neither round nor slender greeted the two men. He gave off a shabby impression, but the two young girls were not fooled. Hidden beneath a layer of a business suit, his body had actually been trained through numerous battles. Furthermore, the man’s body gave off the smell of gunpowder.

“That’s a reporter? Looks more like a mercenary.”

“Actually, looks like he has experience being hired as a mercenary. The data should have been forwarded to you just now.”

Yoru turned her face aside to avoid the “Didn’t you read it?” look sent her way by her younger sister. She had already verified the reporter’s appearance. Even if the person in question tried to hide it, they were currently unaware that they were under surveillance. The data image had already identified their target.

“In other words, he was a hardline anti-establishment reporter from the get go.”

“Hmph, a model reporter.”

“I’ll patiently listen to Onee-san’s biases after this is concluded.”

“Did you say bias....? Yami, you’re more than just a little insolent now!”

“OK, OK, it’s about to start. Let’s start with the boat first. Onee-san, it’s all up to you.”

The older sister wore an unhappy expression at being so rudely sidelined, but in spite of their youth, they weren’t so unprofessional that they would bungle their task because of personal feelings.

“I know, I know.”

Although her replying tone was casual, Yoru’s expression had grown serious. She unwrapped the leather decoration covering her left forearm and revealed a braclet-shaped Generalized CAD. Yoru pressed the power button that was slightly removed from the number pad and summoned the Activation Sequence.

“Well then, I’m setting it off, OK?”

Yoru moved behind her sister. Standing in the gap between the trees, she pinpointed the location of the boat.

Following that, Yami’s body vanished.

In the next instant, Yami stood on the sailboat’s bow.

Mock Teleportation. That was the name Yoru used for this magic. This was a type of magic that removed an object’s inertia (including the human body), surrounded it with a cocoon of air, and created an even larger tunnel of vacuum around it to move the object through that tunnel. Since this was only a magic with four processes that utilized Weight-Type, Convergence, Convergence, and Move-Type Magic, it wasn’t a very complicated technique. Still, it still had its disadvantages, such as scouting out the destination prior to forming the surrounding air currents that buffered the tunnel of vacuum. If someone had the ability to repeatedly leap into the air while using this ability, they might even be able to continuously use this ability to confuse their opponent. However, this technique was fundamentally incompatible with attacking and was more suited for fleeing.

Nevertheless, the Mock Teleportation Yoru employed didn’t leave any trail over the river’s surface. She even controlled the air currents that buffered the constructed tunnel of vacuum. This proved that the showy young girl actually possessed an extraordinary caliber in magic.

Using her older sister’s power to charge straight into the midst of their prey, Yami lightly tapped off the deck and stormed into the cabin interior. There were five men waiting there. Much like the reporter who had once served as a mercenary, their bodies had also undergone training. However, unlike the barbaric impression that the reporter left people with, their eyes carried a decidedly loyal and pure gaze.

“Who’s there!?”

The voice rattling off the question sounded a touch stiff. A stiffness that came from the mother tongue being wrenched out of one’s mouth but forcibly changed into Japanese. There were many Japanese people in the Americas and Europe, and the number of East Asian individuals who appeared similar to the Japanese was even larger. Personal identification might have to wait until after the arrest, Yami thought.

Under the light, Yami’s appearance was simply adorable. She had a pair of large pupils within almond shaped eyes with a finely shaped set of red lips beneath a straight, narrow nose. It was such a young girl who had suddenly burst into a cabin filled with only men. The confusion felt by the men was palpable. Not that Yami had any reason to allow these men to recover their wits, of course.

Yami reached out with her right hand. At this point, the men finally noticed that this young girl wore a shining black set of brass knuckles over her right hand.

Yami’s action only served to confuse the men further. Brass knuckles were weapons that increased the force of punches and had little purpose if not within range. Four of the men were actually wondering if this was cosplay of some sort.

“Hey, what’s going on!?”

All of a sudden, one of their companions fell forward. It was abundantly clear now to the men that the situation before them was not a joke. One of them crouched over their fallen comrade and shook his body. He was probably oblivious to the fact that he was speaking in English. The other three men no longer had the leisure to worry about such trivialities.

Just before he could verify that the fallen man had lost consciousness, it was the crouching man’s turn to let out a shout of pain as if struck before collapsing. Yami’s right arm was pointed at the second victim.

“A Magician!?”

By this point, the men had realized the connection between their companion’s collapse and Yami’s right hand. Wherever the young girl pointed with her right hand, one of their fellows fell to the floor. Between the young girl and themselves stretched a distance that was difficult to cover with arms alone. Nor was there any sign of any object being fired from the young girl’s hands. The only remaining explanation they could think of would be a magical attack.

The man who dropped the question was not anticipating any answer. He was just calling out on reflex.

Yami’s hand reached out towards that man and, just like his fellows, the man stretched out on the floor.

“You monster!”

Hatred lacing their words, two guns were aimed at Yami. Shouting alone could be absorbed by the sound barrier that they had deployed ahead of time, but Yami wasn’t confident that they could silence gunshots. Given that the guns they pulled out weren’t even equipped with silencers, they seriously hadn’t planned on covering their tracks.

Still, Yami had no reason to simply wait there to be killed.

One finger pressed a button at the end of the knuckles. The bar she held in hand was the actual CAD itself, whereas the brass knuckles on the outside were just decorations. The Specialized CAD loaded with Yami’s specific magic deployed its Activation Sequence.

This was a magic that directly bestowed pain on the human senses. After sustaining pain as if they had been hammered in the abdomen, the men easily lost consciousness.

After putting down resistance within the cabin in record time, Yami also dispatched the three men at the docks in swift succession before removing a transmitter from a bag on her waist to contact support. Yoru walked towards her as the three layers of her dress fluttered in the wind. The eye patch over her left eye was gone now, probably due to her frustration. With her real face revealed, the older sister’s appearance was actually rather childish. On the other hand, as cute as Yami’s appearance was, it also gave off the same neutral impression that her voice did.

“Yami, have they been identified?”

“We’re matching their appearances now, so we should know soon. The people on board were members of the Humanist organization active in the USNA. If we brought them back for intensive investigation, might we have a chance at finding out who is pulling their strings?”

“And the reporter?”

“Based on the transmission records left in the terminal, that one appears to be an independent congressman famous for loathing Magicians. What a careless mistake.”

“Really.... I feel a little disappointed.”

“Yeah. Looks like our intervention wasn’t even required.”

Compared to her older sister’s disappointed smile, the young sister was earnestly complaining.

“Hey, Yami!”

Yet, those words roused a scolding from her older sister. “How can use you that form of “our”?”

That being said, it’s not like it was directed towards the complaints about the job.

“Uh.... There’s no harm in me using “our” once!”

“Although there are girls who use that form, they are still the minority. Separating yourself from the pack and drawing attention to yourself is a big no-no!”

Though the phrase “And Onee-san has the right to talk?” was stuck in his throat, his older sister’s reprimand was undeniable, so Yami could only swallow his retort.

However, Yami’s conflict became completely meaningless with the arrival of the stream of countless men in black.

“Young master, we’re about ready to move.”

The men who looked suspicious under any context directly referred to Yami as “young master”.

“You idiot! It’s “milady”, not “young master”! Did you want to waste the young master’s painstaking effort in cross dressing!?”

The one who appeared to be the leader of the men furiously struck one of the men in black on the back of the head.

“I’m terribly sorry, young master, no wait, milady.” “You, you, you....”

“Ah?”

“You completely ruined it!”

The beautiful young girl quaking in fury was actually a cross dressing young boy. In a soft voice, he furiously admonished,

“And that’s not “cross dressing”, it’s a “disguise”!”

“Yes, yes, it’s a perfect disguise. Even in our eyes, there’s no way we could have thought that it was Young Master Fumiya.”

“What the hell are you doing leaking it all out!” “Yami, relax.”

Yoru, or Kuroba Ayako, warned Yami, or Kuroba Fumiya, as the latter was rapidly losing control of his volume. As a side note, “Yami” was a pseudonym that came from reversing the last two phonetics of the name “Fumiya”, whereas “Yoru” was devised from the middle character in “Ayako”.

“Still, you guys are all too careless. With that sort of diligence, I wonder how terribly the master will scold all of you.”

The men in black all paled in an instant. Fumiya’s brain also cooled down. A clear sign of how greatly the fear of the “master” was imprinted in their hearts.

“We should not be staying here. Prepare to retreat.” “Affirmative.”

In an organized and efficient manner, the men in black hauled the reporter and foreigners away in large sacks.

“I’m sorry, Onee-san.”

Left behind was Fumiya, still standing there as Yami, with his head bowed down in shame.

“Oh well, there was nothing we could do anyways. If I had taken your feelings into account....”

“....I am overjoyed to hear you say that.”

Fumiya’s shoulders seemed to slump at his sister’s reassuring words.

“Just bear with it a little longer. Once you hit puberty, there’s no way to disguise yourself as a girl any longer. Though it will be a hassle, we will be forced to come up with another disguise for you.”

“Yeah.... You’re right....”

Though he was plainly a high school student, there was no sign that he was physically unable to continue pretending to be a girl. Fumiya nodded encouragingly to himself as if trying to avoid facing that fact.

? ? ?

On the surface, Zhou Gongjing was the young owner of a popular Chinese restaurant, but he had several other personas on the sly.

One of the more well-known ones was an intermediary who helped transport refugees who were staying in Japan temporarily after fleeing from the totalitarian regime in the Great Asian Alliance to a third country. Not only was he assisting in transportation, he was also providing funding for various resistance movements against the Great Asian Alliance afterwards.

As if to balance the scales, he also served as a spy for the Great Asian Alliance. To be precise, he was the local collaborator for spies. During the Yokohama Incident last October, he had provided assistance to the Great Asian Alliance’s operational units.

Even within the Vampire Incident at the dawn of the year, Zhou had provided critical assistance in aiding the Parasites secretly enter the country.

Superficially, his secret activities appeared downright treacherous as he aided and abetted both Japan and the Great Asian Alliance, but naturally there was a method to the madness. A student of small government, this political view did influence him somewhat, but above all else, Zhou served as cat’s paw to someone else in order to further anti-Magician activities to damage both Japan and the Great Asian Alliance.

It was deep in the night on China Street. In the basement of his restaurant, Zhou Gongjing knelt in a room that no one else had tread in before. The target he bowed to was a large, humanoid doll dressed in Chinese finery woven with countless gold and silver threads while sitting in a chair. This was a Sorcery Booster medium that had been created from a human corpse, with its entrails removed and preservatives applied before directly modifying the brain. Behind the doll, a gigantic transmission device that rivaled the freezer used for the restaurant sat there with a cable coming out that plugged directly into the back of the skull.

“Great One.”

Hearing the young man’s summons, the corpse that served as the medium opened its eye lids. From within the empty sockets, a will-o-the-wisp was lit.

“Gongjing, how go the preparations?”

The doll let out a rattling voice. Given the obvious lack of any lung movement, the voice was created from Ancient Magic that came from mainland China, Zombification. Using the same technique found in CADs to transform psion signals into electronic ones, the corpse was turned into a communication device that could not be wiretapped.

“Alas, the Humanists gathered from America have all been apprehended with the reporter.”

“So the plan to devise sympathetic witnesses has failed.”

Completely the opposite of the utterly revolting voice, the phrases and tone emitted by the corpse were both modern and commonplace. This proved that the one speaking through the corpse’s mouth was no spirit but a living, breathing human being.

“It is as the Great One has surmised.”

Zhou respectfully bowed. Though the corpse doll had no gift of sight, it was still able to convey the atmosphere here. At the very least, Zhou’s attitude was not supplicating.

“Their mission was merely complementary. The project with the media is proceeding smoothly.”

“What is your progress?”

“Approximately 40% with televised media and 30% with the press.”

“Once you reach 50% with the televised media, begin operations at once. Continue until the politicians beholden to the voters are forced to act.”

“As you command.”

Zhou bowed deeply and the doll emitted a satisfied aura. The will-o-the-wisp in the empty eye sockets flickered out.

By the time the young man raised his head, the doll had closed its eyes.

Zhou rose to his feet and remained facing the doll as he backed out of the basement. After closing the door behind his back, the young man finally sighed in relief now that the doll was no longer in sight. Even Ancient Magic users from the mainland who specialized in Ghostwalker like Zhou who had nothing to do with Zombification; speaking to a corpse was always a grotesque experience no matter how many times he did it.

(Well.... I suppose that is a vessel that befits a malicious spirit who carries a grudge against the Great Han.)

However insulting to his leader, Zhou’s private ruminations failed to detract from his devilish smile in the slightest.