Volume 18 - CH 7(2/4)
At last, an enlightened expression appeared on Gouki's face.
"I wonder if you can prepare the move during this weekend? Then, he should be able to get into First High next Monday. So that will be one month until March 9th, right? Of course, if the case is resolved early, he can get back to Third High anytime."
"Thank you very much, Maeda-senpai. I'm counting on you."
From a parent's point of view, this solution was much more favorable than the original holiday plan. Gouki bowed to Maeda without any hint of objection.
After that, Gouki was detained by Maeda and drank until the sun rose.
? ? ?
Heigu's statement had set the public opinion towards Magicians aflame. Even some media outlets one-sidedly blamed the Magicians. Perhaps it was due to the heat of the moment, but the accused side didn't seem to be very optimistic that ‘the media is easily cooled down and heated up'.
The First High students were clearly losing their composure. Although they knew that they couldn't do anything, they kept checking the news shown on the TVs in every corner during lunch time. Irritated whispers could be heard from the students in response to the biased opinion from the mass media.
There were roughly three major opinions amongst the students. Most common were the ones who were angry at the media demonizing Magicians, and this group was mostly male. Then there were the girls who had a stronger fear of the possible hostility Magicians might be exposed to, and finally the students with Numbers in their name. They were affiliated with the Hundred Families and were being quite vocal in their complaints.
The Student Council meeting after school was accompanied by the news in the background. Usually there would've been some music playing as a distraction —— but today they didn't seem to find any desire for music
——anxiety seemed to be rampant. As expected, their efficiency took quite the hit.
Tatsuya was taking a leave from Student Council activities starting tomorrow onwards, but today's work wasn't something he needed to push onto others. He tried to break the silence despite his workload, otherwise they wouldn't be able to finish their tasks even if they stayed there all day.
As such, Tatsuya stopped his hand when he heard a remark that made his ears itch. The one who murmured affirmatives to the news anchor was a senior who was due to graduate next month. Kanon had stuck around the Student Council not to discuss the upcoming graduation party, but rather to hang around the Student Council Treasurer.
"Chiyoda-senpai, do you think that we are in the wrong?"
When Kanon raised her face to meet Tatsuya's gaze, Miyuki and Izumi joined in to protest Kanon's statement. Their objections caused her expression to change, but she suppressed her discomfort for the sake of politeness.
For Izumi, Tatsuya was not only a senior from the same school, but also a colleague on the Student Council. She wasn't in a position to rebuke him for his comment, and she would've stayed silent even if Miyuki had spoken up. What Kanon had said was enough to make Izumi angry.
Kanon replied with,
"Ahh.. for us to receive the backlash for failures caused by the Ten Master Clans."
The Student Council meeting had ended, but their chat continued with the news playing in the background. Kanon's words were remarkably harsh towards magicians, though the discontent wasn't from just her. The mainstream Hundred Families also cast out their dissatisfaction regarding how the Ten Master Clans had ruined their reputation as Magicians.
"Of course the terrorists are to blame for this, but the Ten Master Clans is also at fault for not handling the situation well."
Kanon wasn't the only one who was ranting with this opinion, her classmates seemed to have similar views. The fact that she wasn't the only one who thought this made her all the more vocal. Even so, after giving her opinion this time, she felt a little guilt.
"What is it that we did wrong?"
Izumi changed her attitude, similar to the one she had used in Hakone when talking to the detective. Courteous, yet cold.
Kanon answered back with energy. She understood Izumi's spiteful behavior was fully directed at her.
"Being accused of not helping the general public when you were present in the same place, you should've known this is how it would turn out!"
However, Kanon didn't let herself get too heated up. She managed to contain herself and only put a strong emphasis on her sentence.
Even so, her strong personality shone through. Her emphasis turned her comment into quite an emotional statement.
Though at the end of the day, if one considered the fact she was the senior here, quarreling with an underclassman would result in nothing but a hassle.
"The general public, huh? I wonder what you mean by that."
"What do you mean..?"
Faced against Izumi's philosophical question, Kanon lost her words.
"Are you referring to a civilian? Perhaps, a civil servant? In that sense, the Heads of the Ten Master Clans who are neither soldier nor civil servant can also be labelled as the 'general public'..?"
"What are you trying to say?"
"Nothing really, but I wonder why only some of the 'general public' should give priority to, and rescue, the rest of the 'general public' before themselves?"
Izumi covered her mouth with her left hand. Kanon thought that Izumi was mocking her. "Hey you!"
Kanon rose from her seat and slammed her hand down on top of the table with a loud bang.
"Kanon, calm down!"
Isori stood up a beat later to hold her back by grabbing her shoulder.
"Izumi-chan, sorry, but do you mind helping me buy something warm for everyone to drink? I'll pay for it."
As silence descended between Kanon and Izumi, Miyuki requested Izumi to run an errand while handing over the Student Council's cash card.
The Student Council room came equipped with a hot water supply, as well as the fixings for tea and coffee. Usually, there was no need to venture outside to buy drinks.
In other words, this was a call for Izumi to cool her head outside.
"I understand.."
Izumi stood up with a regretful look on her face. Being scolded by her favorite, Miyuki, had instantly chilled her temper.
"I will come to help"
Minami rose to offer Izumi her assistance. "Yes, please."
"Understood. ..Saegusa-san, let's go."
Minami bowed toward Miyuki, and took Izumi's hand in concession.
Izumi and Minami's presence faded away on the other side of the door.
After making sure of that, Isori, who sat in front of Kanon, began to speak.
"..That just now was your fault, Kanon. Even if the Ten Master Clans were able to save the victims, they had no responsibility to do so. Ultimately, it was wrong to force your opinion of goodwill onto others."
"But.."
Kanon gave an unsatisfied reply, but Isori interrupt her with a stare.
"Well, if you have people fallen right in front of your eyes, it's instinctive to want to try and help. However, if you were also in danger, it's reasonable to assume you'd want to flee to a safe space before rescuing someone else. Even the Ten Master Clans aren't invincible."
"Well.. that might be true."
"Even firefighters would not rush to jump into the fire when death is the price. What they do is a brave and noble act, rescuing others while putting the victims before themselves. But even so, nobody is ever in a position to say 'It's your duty to guarantee our safety' even if you're paying them. It's a cowardly and foolish thing to do, forcing someone to bear such a huge risk, especially when the captain would be held responsible for the lives of his personnel."
Kanon faced down and averted her eyes in anger from Isori.
"Let alone pressuring someone to do so when they have no obligation to risk themselves, that's just not right. I don't like it when you behave this way, Kanon. Even you would be angry if someone accused you of such a thing, right?"
"..Yeah."
Faced with Isori's gentle reply, Kanon nodded without lifting her face.
"It's good that you understand. Then, when Saegusa-san comes back, you must apologize."
After Isori said so, Kanon once again nodded.
? ? ?
Kanon promptly apologized to Izumi after she returned to the Student Council Room, and correspondingly, Izumi apologized for her bad attitude towards Kanon. They had successfully made up with each other, but this result could only have been achieved thanks to Isori's rationality which dissolved their anger.
In real life, there were no private exchanges between Magicians and non-Magicians. No entity existed to mediate between the two groups, either. Hence, the resentment, which grew due to the large number of non-Magician victims, would continue to escalate.
It wasn't like there weren't any Magicians trying to justify themselves, but their voices were simply too small. No matter how reasonable and logical they may be, their words simply didn't have the power to reach the ears of others.
The Magicians of this country don't seem to have much choice besides just grinning and bearing these opinions. Such a view was hard to swallow in the eyes of the youth.
The eldest son of the Shippou Family, Shippou Takuma, of the newly appointed clan in the Ten Master Clans, was one among the youth who that idea didn't sit well with.
He was only 16 years old and lacked the means to channel his discontent towards society outwards. Takuma was in the peak of his adolescence, which meant instability covered up by sports and music. In the midst of his turbid emotions, bursts of misguided anger turned into violent incidents.
However, Takuma had clues on the person who ‘started the commotion'. For him, she was the very image of an ‘unfortunate incident' that happened in the past, yet he had no one else to turn to for now.
Until last spring, they were still on equal ground. The fact that they were lending their powers to each other unilaterally didn't damage Takuma's pride.
But at this moment there was so much more at stake than his own puny pride. Takuma convinced himself that what he was about to do was for the sake of Ten Master Clans and the Magicians in Japan.
He thought that it was an act worthy of the Ten Master Clans, so even if he needed to grovel in front of that woman, he would do it. After he decided that, Takuma proceeded to Sawamura Maki's apartment.
Takuma had prepared for the worst, but Maki smoothly invited Takuma inside.
"Good evening. Long time no see, Takuma."
"Yeah. Maki, long time no see."
It was still 9 in the evening, yet Maki was dressed cozily. She was wearing a nightgown that sported a sheer fringed hem that reached down to her calf.
"Sorry. Were you about to rest? If so, I can come back another time?" Takuma didn't bow in the slightest and was about to turn back, "Wait, Takuma. I don't mind, so come in."
Maki sat down on the sofa.
Takuma, who was standing still, got offered a seat in front of Maki across the table from her.
The seating arrangement was quite distant compared to the days he visited last spring.
"Takuma, do you want anything to drink?"
"No, don't bother."
For him to show up without any prior arrangements was trouble enough, Takuma didn't want to impose any further.
Maki went wide-eyed and was surprised by his reply. "..Then, how about some coffee?"
"Yeah, thanks."
Maki pressed a button on the inner part of the sofa's armrest and said "Please serve some coffee". Takuma didn't see any obvious microphone from where he was seated, but it was clearly somewhere.
"Takuma, you knew that today was a day off for me?"
"No, I did not. I was planning to leave a message on the interphone and come back sometime later if you were not around."
"What the heck?"
Maki voiced her amusement out loud. Her facial expression didn't change much, thus Takuma wasn't sure if it was her acting skills or real feelings in play.
"If that's the case, wouldn't calling in advance have saved you the time?"
With Maki's remark, Takuma showed a smile while lamenting his reason for all of this.
"Well.. I didn't want to call you for this. To be honest, I hesitated a lot while deciding if I should come here."
Maki didn't inquire into his reluctance to call. Takuma and Maki had parted amicably already, and she was the one who requested it. She could imagine how hard it would've been for the proud boy in front of her to call someone who had dumped him.
"Yet, you didn't think that it would turn into a fool's errand?" Instead, she asked this.
"Since I'm about to ask for help, I think it's expected to make some effort to meet you."
Maki stared intently to Takuma's face.
Right at that moment, the door of the living room opened.
A women slightly older than Maki emerged, and she politely placed a saucer and coffee cup in front of Takuma.
"Thanks."
The women bowed respectfully to Maki before retreating back to the living room's door.
"..That woman just now was not a 3H, right?"
"No, she isn't."
Maki smiled faintly hearing Takuma's murmur.
"She's my new housekeeper. You know that I hate the 3H, right?"
"I remembered. That's why I asked."
It came up in one of their little chats incidentally, and Takumi hadn't forgotten that Maki felt like she was 'under constant surveillance' with a 3H around.
Takuma wouldn't normally be one to commit such a small detail to memory, but he was still able to remember his partner's likes and dislikes as long as it didn't inconvenience him.
Maki was staring at Takuma, and he averted his eyes awkwardly.
Due to that, he missed Maki's expression when she uttered the next sentence.
"Takuma.. you really changed."
Yet, Maki's voice was enough to make Takuma blush in embarrassment. "Well, somewhat."
Takuma kept reminding himself that this woman was an actress.. that she could manipulate other with her voice and expression. He kept his eyes off of her and said,
"It's not a big deal."
Even though he was looking away from Maki, her voice still mysteriously managed to entangle his thoughts.
"Boys around your age sure grow up fast.. Not yet a man, but it's somewhat pleasant.."
Maki didn't move an inch from her seat in front of Takuma, but he could still smell the sweet scent of her skin.
"What should I do.. I was told to stay away from you, but if it's only this once.."
Even though they were separated by a short distance, he still could hear her murmuring something.
"Maki, I want to ask for a favor!"
To dispel Maki's doubt he lowered his head as he said this.
"A favor..?"
Maki's startled expression went unseen by Takuma as he was facing the floor. All of her playfulness was dispelled by her shock.
Maki and Takuma had a unilateral relationship in the past, which had her fulfilling Takuma's requests. Hence, his bowing gesture caught Maki off guard.
Instead of just asking for her charity, Takuma was willing to pay her back. Maki understood his intention to do so from his actions.
Therefore, Takuma didn't do anything more than lowering his head. Even though he depended on Maki, he still had the resolve not to look lame and weak in front of her.
Even so, the sight of Takuma bowing to the extent of his body being parallel with the floor was too bizarre for Maki. She was almost at a loss trying to figure out how to react to Takuma's changes.
"Takuma, first off, raise your head."
Maki hadn't forgotten Tatsuya's warning. Even if Takuma had been the one who initiated today's meeting, she still wanted to get out of this situation. She just had embellished things with her acting. Maki wanted to avoid any scandals, and she wasn't certain if what Tatsuya had told her earlier was a joke or not.
But even with that possible threat hanging above her, she wrestled with her feelings while looking at how much Takuma had changed.
"What do you need me to do?"
Takuma wasn't the calculating type, and Maki felt that he had truly changed a lot in the past 6 months. Somewhere within her, a feeling of affection sprouted, much like one would have for a younger brother. She became emotionally attached, to a degree, to this young boy who struggled to become a full-fledged man.
Takuma was taken aback by the positive response given by Maki, even more so when he realized she was warmly smiling at him. He quickly got his wits about him and answered in a rushed voice.
"You should know well of the terror incident that happened recently."
"The one in Hakone? By the look of things, it was quite bad."
"Yeah. Despite the fact that Magicians were victims in this as well, we're the ones taking the brunt of the public's outrage."
"But there are reasons for that, right? Due to that incident, innocent people became collateral damage. It's not exactly a baseless complaint."
Maki was not an anti-magician. On the contrary, she wanted to get close to Magicians. The statement she made just now was just the general opinion reflected by the public.
Takuma was not irked by her comment, so either he was being understanding or simply putting up with her.
"Maybe the reason is obvious to you, like you said. But we, Magicians, aren't going to just settle with being labelled as the bad guys in this. If a proper line isn't drawn, Magicians will start to lose their basic human rights, and people will start witch hunts in the name of 'justice'. Humanity is twisted like that."
Maki didn't try to tell him that was a paranoid notion. Rather, she thought it was just a matter of time.
"I understand. Takuma, you want to borrow my father's power rather than mine, right?"
Maki's father was a president of a corporation with media companies under his wings, including a TV station.
"——Yes!"
After his intentions were laid bare, Takuma faltered for a second.
"I understand this situation will put you at a disadvantage. There's no merit for your father to side with us Magicians on this. Even you would be stigmatized for it. But still, please help me!"
Takuma lowered his head once again. If he was kneeling down, his head would probably have touched the tatami mat.
"I couldn't think of anyone else to depend on other than Maki..!" Neither could see the other's face, and it worked to Maki's advantage.
Maki recalled her blunder of developing a crush on someone nearly 10 years her junior.
However, she was an actress. There was no way she would let something like this slip out.
"Takuma, you'll return the favor to me."
"Maki..!"
Takuma raised his face with a joyous expression. "I will definitely ask for a return."
"Yeah, if it's within my power, I'll do anything!"
Takuma would come to regret these words 3 years in the future, and it was recompense he would've never expected. ——In the year 2100, while Takuma was still in college, he would debut on the silver screen as Maki's co-star. He would be the first Magician in the last year of the 21st century to do such a thing.
? ? ?
Late that same night, the bodies of the perps behind the terrorist attack, currently located in the police morgue, were visited by two people.
One wore a felt hat that covered his eyes, and had a trench coat over his body. On the less suspicious side, he was a middle-aged man who looked like a detective. The other person wore a cap with large sunglasses, topped off with a muffler that covered the lower features of their face. This figure was too tall to be a woman, yet too short to be a man, and was covered in a large woolen coat which caused their body to look ambiguous. Based on just their outward appearance, even if was a young woman in her 20's, nobody would be able to tell.
The one who let them into this place was the coroner. As he let them in, he moved out of the room to leave them to their business. It wasn't from being threatened, but the coroner had been bribed by the man wearing the felt hat —— Kuroba Mitsugu.
Mitsugu turned over the body bag at the side of the bed, looking at the head of the corpse that was about to be swapped. The ones brought in here were all assailants judged to be the terrorists. Suicide bombing as a modus operandi normally wouldn't leave an intact corpse, but there were still some bodies that were relatively undamaged. The corpses on the bed were among those.
For their purposes, leaving the head out wasn't a problem. A freshly severed head would work, but so would something as extreme as a brain that had been blown to pieces. As long as there was something of the head area present that was more or less intact, it would cause no problems and could be used as a clue.
"Yoshimi."
Mitsugu called to the woman accompanying him. It could've been her given name, surname, or nickname. "Yoshimi", with her cap, sunglasses and muffler, nodded, and touched the laid out corpse with a hand wrapped by a leather glove.
A pale Psion-like light was produced where her hand touched the corpse's forehead. It was similar to the light that was produced when a CAD was activated. In essence, it was about the same. A distortion-less homogenous Psion wave without intention was injected, then the rebound of the Psion was read. Treating the corpse as a CAD, in other words, was a method to process the Psion information body that the corpse stored.
The woman, Yoshimi, was currently reading the corpse's residual thoughts. She was a psychometrist who was skilled in reading traces of psionic information in bodies.
Psions are particles that form thoughts and intentions, while Pushions are particles that result from thoughts and intentions, such was the consensus of current studies in Magic.
In the end, it was still just theory.
The nature of Pushions are still largely unclear.
But the fact that a Psion information body changes according to intention and thoughts was something that has been observed.
Magic sequences, too, are Psion information bodies. Which is why even if the human body was subjected to external magical interference, a person's active and passive mental faculties will cause the Magic Sequence to deform and disappear.
But the dead cannot feel anything. The dead cannot think of anything. Hence, the Psion information body left and the magic sequences stored in a corpse last for much longer compared to that of a living body.
The Kuroba family, the information gatherers of the Yotsuba clan, had a trump card for secret intelligence activities that allowed them to read the Psion information body recorded in a corpse: "Memory of the Dead".
"Yoshimi."
"It's still okay."
Yoshimi coughed from the inside of the muffler, then reached out her hand towards the corpse once again.
"Don't go in too deep. Lest you might not return."
Treating Mitsugu's warning as unnecessary concern, Yoshimi successively retrieved information from the corpses.
Then, after backing off from the sixth corpse, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Found it."
"I see. Then, let's leave."
Mitsugu pulled the gloves from Yoshimi's hand. Yoshimi then took out a new pair of gloves from her coat pocket.
They then left the morgue. Before anyone could notice, Yoshimi's gloves disappeared from Mitsugu's hand.
? ? ?
Needless to say, the Ten Master Clans weren't the only people looking for the terrorists.
A large-scale terrorist attack taking place right in front of the capital city was an insult to the pride of the police, and was sufficient to anger the top management.
The responsibility for the investigation of the incident fell not on the Kanagawa Local District Police (referred to as the "Japanese FBI") but the Police Department's wide area search team. Usually, the local district police should've been mobilized, but with the nationwide deployment of the Special Investigation detective team that was gathered in South Kantō, it was clear that all manpower was being put into investigation.
Unexpectedly, Officer Toshikazu, who had been put on standby in the home office, had gone ahead to investigate without waiting for the detectives to be mobilized. Much like many others, he, too, felt resentment at the incident this time. Hence, his rare motivation surfaced.
However, the investigation hit a wall right off the bat. "All the perpetrators are dead? How is that possible?"
Toshikazu was idly grumbling while standing by an unmarked police car.
"It's because they're suicide bombers, which was already mentioned before, right?"
Assistant Inspector Inagaki, acting as the driver, replied as though to pacify Toshikazu. But Inagaki, too, found it strange. The explanation wasn't too persuasive.
"I understand that suicide bombers naturally die. But for those who don't have any traces of wounds from explosions to die, isn't that strange? There are corpses here that don't have many injuries."
"Moreover, the autopsy report states that the time of death is at least 1 day before the day of the incident. Taking into the account that the body might have been in cryopreservation, the time of death could possibly go back up to ten days.. Corpses carrying bombs and walking?"
"Is this a B class occult movie!? ..If only that was something to laugh at."
Toshikazu said as he leaked a smile filled with despair.
"As I thought, the police department thinks that it's a magic that can control corpses?"
Toshikazu nodded reluctantly towards Inagaki's question. Inagaki, who was driving, noticed the subtle gesture and muttered "is that so?".
"That explanation fits the scenario most logically. ..How annoying."
To conclude that Magic was a result of fiction and, therefore, excluded from investigations was a thing of the past. Police investigations could no longer disregard magic as a factor, with Toshikazu being a magician himself. To deny the existence of magic would be to deny his own existence.
Having said that, to current magic users like him, magic that can control corpses, no matter how you looked at it, was a suspicious and shady thing.
"As expected, we have no choice but to consult a specialist huh?"
"Spirit magic specialists? Well, we're definitely amateurs in this field. Having someone well-versed in that area to explain it to us would be a great help, but─"
Toshikazu knit his brows at Inagaki's suggestion. There were Magicians who were privy to some knowledge of magic that could control corpses but it certainly presented an ethical problem. It would be unthinkable to publicly announce having that knowledge.
"The only information that came up when searching the police database for ‘Necromancy' was that of those who were dead."
Though it was something that he himself suggested, Inagaki understood that looking for such personnel was difficult.
"That is so.. But, we have no useful leads. Let's just try that plan."
Sighing, Toshikazu muttered slovenly to his subordinate. "Inagaki-kun. Head to Roter Wald."
"That information shop huh..? I understand."
With an "it can't be helped" face, Inagaki drove the car to Yokohama.
In the middle of the Yokohama Yamate Hill, there was a tea cafe with a mountain hut design called "Roter Wald." Upon entering the calm atmosphere of the interior of the shop, Toshikazu instinctively moved his eyes to look for someone.
He was very aware of who he was looking for. It was in the fall of 2095, just before the "Yokohama accident" which shook Japan, no, the whole word. He recalled meeting that woman, Fujibayashi Kyouko, when he was investigating for clues regarding illegal immigrants.
Toshikazu hadn't met with her except for that one time at Sakuragichou Station. It wasn't a date, but rather spurned by their interests and duties being aligned. ——Though, Toshikazu's feelings did not stop there.
After it had all been resolved, Toshikazu was busy chasing after the illegal immigrants who were still in hiding, hence he didn't have the luxury of contacting Fujibayashi again. Just as he wrapped up his collecting, the "Vampire Incident" had begun, which ended up keeping him occupied. Last Spring, he had also taken a short leave from Kantō. Due to all of this, he never had a chance to even think about her.
Toshikazu had started thinking about Fujibayashi again because this was the first place he had met her. Was it romance? Sentiment? Possibly.. regret? Engaging in self-derision, which was totally unlike him, Toshikazu sat down at the counter.
Catching Inagaki seated beside him from his periphery, Toshikazu ordered "two Blends".
The o-->>