Mikihiko, Erika, Leo and Masaki just finished the questioning process with the police, they were released under the recognition of legitimate self-defense. Undeniably, the Chiba name was also one of the strongest decisive factors in acquitting the records from the pre-installed street cameras in the area. Although it was harder to detect Ancient Magic by sensors, the fact was, only the operator would have difficulties, the scene was still recorded in the same way. One can easily state that magicians had showed up, both ancient and modern alike, it wasn’t possible to escape from the Psion radar associated sensor in conjunction with the camera.
After quite some time, the questioning ended, the four of them returned to the New International Convention Center.
"What are we going to do next? I don't feel like anything else is going to happen today, should we do another search of the perimeter?"
Mikihiko quickly shook his head at Leo's question.
"No, let's go back to the hotel for today."
"That's right. Don't listen to the fool, nobody will come out again for today."
"Agh? Who did you call a fool!"
"I wonder~ Who was it? Anyway, why are you angry?"
"Thi-, of, oh, wel-…"
Leo glared at Erika, Erika looked away with a relaxed face.
Masaki had asked Mikihiko 'should we say something?', but Mikihiko shook his head. 'Just leave them alone'.
"By the way, Ichijou-kun, which hotel are you staying at?"
Mikihiko seemed to be uncomfortable in the silence, and asked Masaki about another topic. "Ah, the KK Hotel."
Masaki seemed to be taken aback by the sudden question, but he dutifully answered. "I see~ We're staying at the CR Hotel."
"Really? Aren't they next to each other?"
"Yeah, what an amazing coincidence. Is Kichijouji-kun at the hotel?"
If Tatsuya was the one who asked this question, Mikihiko would obtain a sigh as an answer. He would say 'there are times when Miyuki and I are apart' with an additional amazed tone put in.
However, Masaki politely answered Mikihiko’s question.
"No, I've said this earlier, I came here alone. George is concentrating on the preparations for the competition. He is one of the representatives of Third High."
"I see."
The representatives of the Thesis Competition were to be extremely devoted to the preparations of the presentation, so Mikihiko, Erika as well as Leo didn’t ask about Kichijouji any further. "We are going to go back to our hotel, Ichijou-kun, how about you?"
"Let's see…"
Masaki wasn’t really taking a pause to think. He was also thinking to check out different places like Tatsuya, in other words, he still wanted to look around other places. However, he couldn't split up since he came alone, unlike Tatsuya's group. He also didn't need a guide. He visited Kyoto quite frequently, since it didn't take a long time from where he lived. Hence, there was no need of a guide for navigation purposes, however there were enemies that he wasn’t aware of, who made him run around the area.
However, he spent a significant amount of time in police interrogation, the troublesome process had killed off his motivation to do anything else for the day.
"I shall go back to my hotel as well."
"Then, why don't we go together?"
While he thought that it was a little blunt, Mikihiko invited Masaki to get into the same commuter as them.
"We have just the perfect number here, right?"
Mikihiko and company had seen that Erika had stopped teasing Leo for a change of pace, and suddenly they were talking about other topics.
Masaki's incongruous attitude recalled the confusion. Apparently he wasn't thinking to join them and wanted to decline Mikihiko politely.
"No, actually I rode a bike here."
"Oh, Ichijou-kun also rides a bike?"
There were a lot of girls that showed interest when Masaki rode on his bike. Many of them had a longing to ride together with him, Masaki was aware of this vaguely. However, he didn’t understand the reason.
Even in this era, the bike had retained its from. The two seater robot starter with two seats arranged side by side was popular in itself, but the circumstances still favored the classic arrangement which allowed a girl to cling on to the boy's back, it stimulated a girls dream.
"Me too?"
However, Erika's interest was clearly different from those 'dreams of girls' that he remembered.
"Tatsuya-kun… Umm... You know Shiba Tatsuya right? Tatsuya-kun also rides one, it was quite cool."
"He does?"
An image immediately floated in Masaki's mind. A boy drove a bike with a girl on his back. She was not straddling him, it was rather elegant. The girl's hand encircled the boy's waist, and the girl's body was completely glued to the boy's back.
The face behind the helmet was Tatsuya. The girl, was Miyuki, of course. Masaki was involuntarily divulged in his imagination.
His focus was shifted from the boy's face. The smoke shield gradually rose. Masaki's face changed. He could feel Miyuki's tender body on his back…
"What are you thinking?"
With her curious voice, Erika forced Masaki to end his imagination abruptly.
"N-No. It's nothing."
Masaki frantically shook his head, while tightening his face. Erika looked at him with a pair of evil eyes, it was impossible not to notice, and he looked at Mikihiko's face.
"Since that's the case, why don't you follow us from behind?"
"Of course, I don't mind doing that…"
Mikihiko thought, what exactly happened, but he didn't voice his thought.
Erika who had diverted her eyes was also putting up a puzzled face like Leo.
Leo faced Erika and shrugged his shoulders lightly.
They also visited Kinkakuji just to be sure, they didn’t get any results even after checking the surrounding area. Tatsuya's group went back to the hotel early, with a sense of futility as they didn’t even find the sites of the traditionalists.
The hotel where Tatsuya's group stayed, was close to the Kyoto New International Convention Center, the venue of the Thesis Competition. Although it was inconvenient, the First High Thesis Competition members and staff were expected to stay here, the pretext they used this time was to check the security of the venue. Even though some students would come and stay here to cheer for their schools representative, it was not unusual for them to stay at the nearby temple or shrine.
It should be noted that Minoru spent his time at the inn. Although there wasn't any need for this, considering the travel time to his home was short, it seemed to be the correct decision, since Minoru was sick.
Since magicians are severely constrained in their private travel to go abroad at a younger age, it was normal to travel with friends within the country. However, Minoru found it hard to travel for a long period due to his weaker constitution, on top of that, he also didn’t have any friends who were close enough to be a companion. This time, even though Tatsuya didn’t come to Kyoto to play, the family had thought that this was a good opportunity for Minoru.
By the way, the room was supposed to be shared between Tatsuya's group. Minoru was an add- on, but it wasn’t so much different with three or four people inside, since the room he reserved for the boys was of a two to five person occupancy.
Tatsuya was about to check in while taking the luggage that had been stored in the lobby, he saw familiar figures in the group from the entrance when he was walking to the counter. Although they hadn’t made any arrangement to meet up, it was not so strange, as it was a high time to return to the hotel.
However, Tatsuya found an unexpected face in it, he couldn't help but raise his voice.
"Ichijou."
"Shiba-san."
The person in question should have reacted the same way. However, Masaki didn’t raise his voice.
Tatsuya and Miyuki looked at each other, Tatsuya smiled wryly while Miyuki responded with her smile.
"Long time no see. Ichijou-san, you've come to Kyoto as well."
"It's been a long time. I’m on a preliminary check for next week's Thesis Competition."
Masaki transformed into a naïve boy in front of Miyuki as usual.
"I see. So are we."
"Yes, I heard so from Yoshida-kun and the others."
Nevertheless, he had become more familiar or working hard, for the conversation to go smoother.
"Did you meet Yoshida-kun's group by the New International Convention Center?"
He had difficulty saying that he helped them from danger, as it sounded like he was boasting.
Masaki let Mikihiko answer the question.
"He helped us when things got dangerous."
Yet, the answer came from Erika instead.
Masaki and Mikihiko, even Leo gave a wry smile. Since Masaki asked the others to answer, he didn’t feel any discomfort. However, he thought that this freedom suits this girl very much, Masaki had understood that about Erika this much.
"Please tell us the full story in the room."
Tatsuya try to refrain from chattering. Unexpectedly, Masaki noticed first, and Erika nodded in agreement.
"Ichijou, are you staying at this hotel as well?"
Miyuki asked Masaki in a roundabout way for the sake of Masaki's convenience.
"No, I'm staying at the neighbouring KK Hotel. However, I think I want to know the details and circumstances first."
Masaki parked his bike before following Mikihiko's group again, he was concerned about the circumstances behind the previous attack. He thought of the same thing as Tatsuya.
"Then, let's talk in our room."
Leo encouraged so.
"Then, I'll fetch the luggage~."
"Wait a minute."
After giving the answer, Erika and Leo went to the front desk. Mikihiko chased them from behind.
Masaki didn’t know that Tatsuya was a part of the JSDF. So the explanation must be done well to cover that part up. Erika, Leo and Mikihiko thought so.
"The perpetrator of the Yokohama Incident last year, which involved the invasion of the GAA magicians has been detected in Kyoto. I've come to Kyoto on a mission to search for that person."
"Mission!? Shiba, who are…?"
"I am a student from the National University Affiliated First High School, at the same time, also a member of the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion from the JSDF as a secret military officer."
However, Tatsuya himself gave away the secret information easily, which made the three people shocked.
"What... The."
Even though Masaki was the man to be the next head of the Ichijou Family, it didn't keep him from being surprised.
Yet, he had not allowed the words 'you're lying' to escape his mouth. He immediately absorbed those words as the truth.
He was refrained by Miyuki’s serious look, she was seated next to Tatsuya.
"Ichijou. I don't need to say this, but this is a top military secret."
Masaki could only nod since he didn’t manage to skip the shock.
Erika’s eyes stared into the far distance. She was thinking, "This was Tatsuya-kun's plan…" and "I was forced to be involved in his circumstances, in the same way…".
"According to their information network, it seems that there is a possibility for a disturbance to arise during the Thesis Competition.
Mikihiko and the others have been asked to ensure the safety of the competition."
This was the first time Erika and Leo heard this. The purpose of this trip was to specifically seek out an enemy magician, rather than a mere preliminary inspection, they could have received grievous injuries from the enemy's attack, had they lowered their guard, they'd surely have died. Yet, the two of them took in this story calmly. Had they been told about this earlier, they would have declined this trip. Both of them thought of this at the same time, and shook their heads in denial.
Perhaps, the most upset one this time was Masaki.
"Do you know the name of the person who had… guided the invasion army?"
Even so, Masaki still asked the most important question. He stared at Mikihiko strongly, while expecting the answer from Tatsuya. Mikihiko, too, still hadn’t known about this information. "He is called, Zhou Gongjin. He appears to be in his early twenties. However, his real age is unknown. He has long hair, and his appearance is as it looks in this picture. He is a user of the Kimon Tonkouno-jutsu."
Surprisingly, Tatsuya gave his name upfront.
"You said, Zhou Gongjin!?"
Masaki raised his voice, it seemed to be more of a surprised for him than Mikihiko.
"Ichijou, do you know Zhou Gongjin?"
At Tatsuya's returned question. Masaki was still surprised.
"Ah, ah… I see, so it's him. It's him!"
A fire of anger had started to light in Masaki's eyes. The fire swirled into a flame.
"What happened?"
This wasn’t only a coincidence. He was reacting with a considerable level of boiling anger. "…Last year in Yokohama, part of the invasion force fled to Chinatown. I led the siege against them."
Tatsuya had asked to read the Yokohama Incident reports, yet he had never heard about this story. Masaki didn’t mean to hide it, it was simply due to unorganized information. Though Tatsuya secretly thought to get a glance of that record once more.
But now, it was his turn to listen to Masaki's story.
"Contrary to my expectations, the gate to Chinatown was immediately opened. The invasion force was handed over to us, restrained, by the young man who was in front of the residents and identified himself as…"
Masaki gritted and tightened his teeth.
Tatsuya spoke the name in Masaki's stead.
"Zhou Gongjin, huh."
"Yes. He said that it was his real name while laughing…"
Masaki shut his mouth. Since he could understand his feelings, he didn’t voice out anything this time.
"What kind of magic is Kimon Tonkouno-jutsu?"
The one who changed the topic was Erika. Albeit coming from her pure curiosity, no doubt, she did it with Masaki in mind.
Moreover, it was necessary to keep and share information about the enemy's magic.
"It is the Kimon Tonkou (Ghost Walker) from divination arts, right?"
Mikihoko asked, looking for confirmation.
"Yes. It is a magic art from the continent, the art of Kimon Tonkou, in essence is Spirit
Interference Magic that derails orientation."
The one who answered was Minoru.
"Derails orientation? Like, you wouldn't know up or down in the water? Or it makes you drown?
Minoru showed an impressed expression at Leo's question. That idea, was so novel that it didn't even cross Minoru's mind.
"You certainly can use it that way, but the main usage is to disrupt the consciousness of the individual, to cause psychological damage that he isn’t keeping up in time, despite seeing the culprit, or being led to wander endlessly through a camp of piled up stones."
"…Kudou-kun."
"You can call me Minoru, Ichijou-san."
The introduction between Minoru and Ichijou ended immediately after they entered this room.
He also proposed the same way to address him to Masaki, since he was younger than Masaki, he preferred to be called by his name instead.
"Understood. Minoru-kun."
However, Masaki refrained himself from overstepping since it didn't look manly.
"Isn't that similar to the legend of Shokatsu Koumei (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuge_Liang) from the Three Kingdoms?"
After he called Minoru by his given name, he proceeded to ask so.
"Yes. The Ninth Research Institute didn’t only study the Ancient Magic of Japan, but also that of the continent."
Tatsuya thought that it was a given. The magician’s development institute was the most sought activities during the 20 years warring period. Since the foreign Magic Sequence such as 'Golden Electron Silkworms' had become a real threat, it was natural to examine it.
From the former researchers of the Ninth Institute, Shokatsu Koumei have a high likelihood in mastering the Houjutsu of Kimon Tonkou, the report seemed to be concluded as such.
Erika wore an impressed face to Leo's analogy of the unexpected celebrity. Since Tatsuya had no interest in military losses, he tried to shift the conversation back on track before it deviated too far.
"Kimon Tonkou is not only a large-scale spell, isn't it considered a high skill for personal combatants? I think we’d rather be worried of this instead."
"For example?"
Tatsuya didn’t retort 'think yourself' at Masaki's question.
"Anyway when one side has stopped their movements while exchanging blows due to him losing the sight of the opponent during a battle, changing location vigorously will lead to a fatal gap."
However, before he reached the end of his explanation.
"I see. If our orientation were derailed, we wouldn’t even know which direction we’d be facing."
With Masaki as his counterpart, any further explanation wasn’t needed.
"At the same time, it was also probable that his own allies would be affected by the spell, and lose their sense of direction. Kimon Tonkou might cause them to lose sight of their own enemy."
"That is also a possibility. Miyuki."
Miyuki opened her mouth promptly after her brother's reply.
"Ichijou-san. I was confronted with the same Kimon Tonkou of spell at the Kanto branch of the Magic Association by someone called Chen Xiangshan."
"Is this true?"
"Yes. However, I was only looking at the surveillance monitor, certainly I wasn’t able to see him closing in when I walked down the corridor. I should have been looking at the same scene from the monitor's, yet only the monitor was reflecting the correct situation."
"How do you beat that magic, Shiba-san?"
Tatsuya glared at Masaki after his query and said 'as expected' in his mind. Asking 'how' instead of 'why'. Although it was not pointless to ask 'why', but the most important thing in the combat was to ask 'how'.
"I was together with a friend who has a pair of special eyes. I received directions and timing from her, and was waiting for the door to open."
Masaki had fallen into his thoughts. Tatsuya waited for him to open his mouth again.
"That means... Kimon Tonkou isn’t really independent of time? The essence of the magic is to direct the opponents consciousness to a particular direction, or interfering with the mind as to avoid their awareness. However, if we know at which point they would reach at a certain time, I think we could predetermine the direction in advance, we can prepare our minds and resist the mental interference induction."
"As expected of you, Ichijou-san."
Minoru spoke of praise after hearing Masaki's reasoning.
"Not only does it interfere with orientation, but one’s sense of timing as well, it’s a combination of Mental Interference Magic. It is the most logical explanation so far."
Minoru looked for affirmation, and turned to Tatsuya.
Tatsuya nodded lightly to Minoru.
"Enough with the interpretation of the magic art, Ichijou, can you think of any specifics in responding to this?"
"Then, we must not rely on our senses to predict the movement of the opponent."
"About a specific method, each of us should think of a way on our own."
Tatsuya pretended to issue a lifeboat to Masaki, as a follow up of the Kimon Tonkou conversation. Tatsuya had heard from Kuroba Mitsugu that Kimon Tonkou was useless against opponents at a visible close range, it certainly made sense to talk about methods to disable this magic.
"Let's halt the discussion of Kimon Tonkou here, regarding today's incident. The battle you've won with the help of Ichijou, Mikihiko has been using Shikigami to detect the 'traditionalists' who are harboring Zhou Gongjin, I think they were trying to investigate us, and ended up attacking us by mistake."
"Not only that, Tatsuya."
After Tatsuya finished explaining to Masaki, Mikihiko opened his mouth. Both Tatsuya and Mikihiko turned their faces to Mikihiko. Of course neither Miyuki, Minami nor Minoru were at the scene.
"The enemy who attacked us was a Ninjutsu user. Most probably, from Mt. Kurama, they've absorbed the Houjutsu users from the continent as their center. Isn't Zhou Gongjin hiding over there? He might have taken over the traditionalists’ sect now after firstly being sheltered by them."
"Not the traditionalist’s sect, but a part of the sect."
This time, Mikihiko gave Tatsuya a 'What do you mean?' look. Erika, Leo, and Masakai followed after.
"Actually, it’s still a little early for us to say. The clues are also a little weak, but we've narrowed down the possible area where Zhou Gongjin might hiding."
Before Mikihiko could even show his amazement, Tatsuya talked about the traditionalists 'shaman' whom he met around Kiyomizu Temple.
"To have installed such a barrier… As expected of the land of the old traditionalist magicians."
Mikihiko responded as such when he heard about the Uji River barrier.
"The southern part of the old capital means… South of Fushimi, from the Uji River onwards. It’s still quite a huge area for a detailed search."
"In the first place, can we believe that old man's words?"
Masaki and Erika had raised an, 'in the first place' question.
"It's still much easier than searching all over Kyoto vaguely. Moreover, we knew of his hiding place up to last week right? If you check that place, you can easily find out if you can trust that old man right."
Leo returned a positive opinion, Tatsuya showed a wry smile favourably.
"The fact that Zhou Gongjin hid at Mt. Arashi and the evidence that the traditionalist magicians provided at Kiyomizu Temple is undeniable. I have some theory’s that mix some lies with the truth to make his story credible."
Erika directed a wicked smile at Leo.
Before Leo had the chance to react, Tatsuya continued speaking.
"However, I agree with Leo's opinion that we can believe the information about Zhou’s hiding place at Mt. Arashi. If it was the truth, it is a great lead, if it was a lie, we still cand keep the confusion to a minimum."
"Then, Onii-sama, are we all going to Mt. Arashi tomorrow?"
Surprisingly, Tatsuya shook his head before answering Miyuki's question.
"If we all go together, we'll attract attention, the safety of the competition also cannot be neglected. Mikihiko, Leo, and Erika will do the same thing as today, look for suspicious individuals in the venue's surrounding, please investigate if there are places where criminals and terrorists can lurk around."
"…Understood, Tatsuya."
Mikihiko didn’t seem to be fully convinced, yet he couldn’t afford to neglect the safety of the students who would participate in the Thesis Competition as First High's Public Morals Committee Chief.
"I have asked my family to file a complaint against those who were at Mt. Kurama for today's attack. They also reported this to our affiliates in Kyoto. About this attack from Mt. Kurama, and also some dogmatic strife within their sect, I would think it might become a checks and balances system for the future."
"First of all, what kind of situation was it?"
Tatsuya hadn’t heard the details about the attack, it was quite late in the conversation to ask this kind of question.
"Now that I remember, I haven't shared the details with you."
Mikihiko spoke with a 'damn it' facial expression.
Mikihiko described that Masaki helped them when they were attacked by the puppets used by the Ninjutsu users from the continent, while occasionally asking for confirmation from Erika and Leo.
"...Did they use the blood of the defeated Ninjutsu user to shape the golem from water? From what you've said, the Ninjutsu users were also likely have been deceived by the Hojutsu users." Minoru turned immediately, curious of the answer to Tatsuya's question.
"I think so too. Yoshida-san you have the power in you, blood in particular has an important meaning for ancient magicians. When you use it to generate magic, it would act as an offering, I don't think that the ritual could be complied with lightly without any side effects." "Then I'll make this short."
Masaki opened his mouth this time.
"The shaman at Kiyomizu seems to hint that the ancient magicians have become minions of magicians from the continent, they were being deceived rather than forced to surrender by force, so it's good as long as we can find proof that they're being deceived. Regardless, it might still be impossible to make them our ally, so long as their hostility stops, it’s good enough."
Tatsuya nodded at Masaki's proposal.
"The greater the commotion is, it will also reduce the chance of Zhou Gongjin from escaping. I think it's better to crush the enemy while spreading confusion and speculation about him."
"It's our loss if he manages to create mayhem like last year, are these all or nothing conditions?"
Masaki threw in the question to Tatsuya.
"I'm fine with acting as a representative from the Kudou Family, however, I don't think that I alone can represent the houses of 'Nine' to stimulate such a big population of both the traditionalist magicians and the ancient magicians in Kyoto."
"You're right. You’ll provide an excuse for the traditionalists that way, it's best to avoid that."
Minoru spoke with a regretful tone, and was comforted by Miyuki who supported his decision.
"The complaint from the Yoshida Family will probably be a just a constraint for the traditionalists. Regardless of what we do next, if they plan to become violent, they will do so."
Mikihiko nodded in agreement with those words.
"That's right… Understood. Then, we will do the same thing as today, to look around the perimeter of the competition venue. We should focus towards the residential area, just to be sure."
"What should I do?"
Masaki asked Tatsuya. Tatsuya couldn’t respond to his 'what should I do' question with a 'do as you like', even when he had no power to dictate Masaki. However, the situation would turn murky if he actually said that.
Anyway, Masaki's feelings were obvious, he was glancing at the shimmering Miyuki.
"Ichijou-san, we encourage you to accompany us if you're willing to."
Miyuki answered proactively for her brother. It was due to the fact that she was asked to accompany them instead of asking permission to join them. —— Nevertheless, Masaki thought that she was very motivated, yet, she didn't have a hint of such thoughts.
"Yes, please leave it to me!"
With this, the course of action for tomorrow was decided.
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