The group of Juumonji magicians chasing Minoru, led by Katsuto, chased Minoru with harsh looks.
After the decision at the Master Clan Conference, they waited near Minami’s hospital ready to ambush Minoru. Their role was to capture Minoru with the help of the Saegusa family. However, the Saegusa family had been completely useless during Minoru’s attack, and Minoru completely outwitted the Juumonji family in his second attack by forcing them to protect citizens from Parasites. Though the head of the Juumonji family, Katsuto, led the defense, Minoru still managed to bypass the Juumonji and approach the hospital.
The Saegusa magicians, who hadn’t even made contact with Minoru, returned to their temporary residence at the direction of the family head, Koichi. This left the Juumonji family as the only magicians able to chase, so after failing to achieve their goal to interfere with Minoru’s plans and capture him, they chased Minoru in cars of their own.
The pursuing squad consisted of eight people divided into two seven-seater SUVs converted from military models. The battle formation may have seemed understaffed, but the Juumonji family couldn’t send more people as they were still needed to protect the capital. In addition, the eight people sent were the most elite fighters in the Juumonji family, so they arrogantly decided that more people wouldn’t be necessary.
They had fallen victim to Minoru’s tricks in Chofu because of the urban residents who had become hostages. In a fair battle outside the city, they wouldn’t lose. Minoru wouldn’t be able to pull the same trick again, so Katsuto and his subordinates kindled a fighting spirit, wanting to wash away the stain of their defeat.
By the time the Yotsuba found Minoru’s escape route with Parasite radar and the Juumonji family left in pursuit, 10 minutes had passed since Minami had been abducted.
To catch up, Katsuto ordered his subordinates to go as fast as they could. However, their cars weren’t police cars nor ambulances, and though most of their traveling would be done on the highway, they also had to drive in and follow the rules of the city. They had to be wary of being stopped by police due to “dangerous driving”, but despite this risk, they pursued Minoru west at the actual speed limit of their cars –
much faster than the limit of the road.
After this recklessness, Katsuto suddenly ordered the driver to turn onto a public road.
He ordered the second car to continue the pursuit while directing his own SUV on the route from Hachioji Junction to Kos Highway along the Ken-O ring road.
Katsuto had felt the signs of a fierce magical battle over the southern slope of Mount Takao.
None of his subordinates expressed doubt at Katsuto’s judgement – they knew his reasoning without needing an explanation and understood it was valid.
They were still within the old administrative division of Tokyo. As Juumonji magicians – the foundations of the capital’s defense – they couldn’t ignore the threat of a large scale magical battle.
Juumonji magicians were not particularly skilled at passive perception; especially compared to their active power in battle, so they detected the residual psionic waves from the battle fairly late. Katsuto was the most skilled at this among them, but even he didn’t detect the waves until they were fairly close to the site of the battle.
For all they knew, the battle had begun much earlier and was coming to an end. They had no way to know how the battle was progressing at their skill level. However, they couldn’t pass by without even checking what was going on. The Juumonji family’s entire purpose was to protect the capital from armed attacks – and magic was definitely considered to be a weapon in this case.
Kudou Minoru was undoubtedly a threat to the entire state, and they couldn’t neglect the decision made at the Master Clan Conference. However, they also couldn’t ignore their actual duty to Tokyo, so as the head of the Juumonji family, Katsuto had to leave to personally deal with this threat.
However, as Katsuto’s SUV turned south at the Hachioji Junction, the signs of battle abruptly disappeared. The residual psionic waves stopped, and the site became calm.
The battle had ended without their intervening, giving them a choice: they could continue driving the ring road to make sure the battle was, in fact, over, or they could resume chasing Minoru.
Katsuto gave priority to his duty to the capital. The last echoes of the battle had been observed in the sky southwest of Mount Takao, so Katsuto ordered the drive to head in that direction.
Tatsuya stopped and turned around at the same time he heard a car approach from behind him, but not because he was surprised to hear the sound of a car.
It was because he felt the presence of a person familiar to him, and he hadn’t expected to.
He was confused.
“Why did Juumonji Katsuto, who was supposed to be traveling west along the central highway chasing Minoru by car, drive along the ring road south-west of Mount Takao?”
Still, Tatsuya wasn’t necessarily annoyed at Katsuto’s appearance. It was a convenient opportunity for him to rest after his surprisingly difficult battle.
Tatsuya stood facing in the direction Katsuto would approach from and turned around.
Two minutes later, the SUV approached Tatsuya and stopped in front of him.
“Shiba?”
Tatsuya didn’t see Katsuto, but he assumed the person addressing him from the front passenger window was his former senpai from first high.
“Juumonji-senpai, if you’re pursuing Minoru, could you take me with you?”
Katsuto responded to this insolent response in a single phrase:
“Sit down.”
Katsuto indicated a seat directly behind himself – in the second row on the left side of the car.
Not even two months had passed since Tatsuya burned Katsuto’s left hand in Izu (though Tatsuya did restore his hand). Despite this, Katsuto turned his back to Tatsuya showing no signs of wariness.
Though logically Katsuto should know that Tatsuya had no ill intentions towards him, the power Tatsuya held combined with his seeming lack of emotion should still inspire fear in most people – especially after suffering from him in the past. Was Katsuto’s confidence courage? Good nature? Or perhaps another way of thinking?
Tatsuya didn’t know Katsuto’s feelings on the matter, but he accepted the show of goodwill and sat down in the indicated spot.
“Shiba, who did you fight with?”
Katsuto’s first question was about the fight that had just occurred, which was to be expected, considering his purpose for coming near Takao Mountain in the first place.
“It was a USNA soldier turned into a Parasite.”
Tatsuya had no reason to hide the details of the fight, so he answered the question honestly, but his response felt like an understatement.
“The true body of the Parasite, leaving its owner, flew all the way over here?”
Katsuto came to an erroneous conclusion, but this could probably be expected given that he had recently been forced to deal with the true bodies of many Parasites after Minoru’s Parasite dolls self-destructed.
“No, it wasn’t the true body of the Parasite. I don’t have the ability to distinguish spiritual bodies, so I can’t say for sure, but it could be an astral body that left the physical body using Astral Projection.”
After Katsuto’s comment, Tatsuya realized his previous explanation was insufficient and expanded on his answer.
“Astral Projection? From a Parasite?” Katsuto asked.
“It isn’t clear whether he was a Parasite or not.”
“…but you said yourself that it was a ‘USNA soldier turned into a Parasite’?”
“This was my second time fighting this adversary. The first time, he was definitely a Parasite.”
Prior to this, Katsuto asked questions while facing forward in his seat, but now he turned around. The head restraint blocked part of his face, but what remained in Tatsuya’s view was still enough to give the effect of a sharp glance.
“…you’re saying that the Parasite might have become human again?”
“I can’t justify it with anything other that my own impressions, but this possibility can’t be completely ruled out,” Tatsuya answered.
Katsuto turned forward once more, folding his arms across his chest as he sighed softly.
Almost nothing was known about Parasites. The possibility of turning Parasites human again could add a new way to counter people assimilated by them.
“…was this American soldier killed?”
Katsuto temporarily postponed his questioning on Parasites to ask about the result.
“Maybe. I at least managed to neutralize it for a while.”
“I see.”
Katsuto nodded.
“As you assumed, we are pursuing Kudou Minoru. The Juumonji family has a second car at the moment currently heading towards Lake Kawaguchi based on information provided by the Yotsuba family.”
Katsuto explained the situation to Tatsuya as he looked at the navigator screen.
“It will be troublesome if he goes onto suburban streets…” Tatsuya said.
“Compared to the center of the city, there won’t be much damage. Chasing him towards the suburbs can be considered an improvement, at least to an extent.”
Katsuto decided to act while accounting for the possibility of involving 3rd parties.
Minoru had already used citizens as human shields when fighting near the Aoba Clinic in Chofu, so he was well aware of the possibility of him using the same tactic again.
Katsuto’s eyebrows twitched, but not because he felt the situation was worse.
“They seem to have turned onto the highway, but this route doesn’t lead to an urban area. They seem to be heading towards the Sea of Trees1?”
Katsuto said this with doubt. He hadn’t expected them to head away from an Urban area.
Tatsuya put on the helmet he was holding and looked into its display, looking at the same data Katsuto was.
The circle giving Minoru’s location still had an error of 1 kilometer, but he was currently south of the town at the shores of Lake Kawaguchi and moving west. With this course, it was probably safe to assume that he had some kind of shelter in the sea of trees.
In the previous century, there were rumors that it was impossible to get out of the forest, but searching for someone they knew was in it with the assistance of the Parasite radar wouldn’t be overly difficult.
Despite this, Tatsuya’s outlook on catching Minoru and retrieving Minami was not at all optimistic.
The van with Minoru and Minami was driving on a narrow road in the Sea of Trees.
It was a dirt road, but they didn’t feel any irregularities during the ride.
1This is also known as Aokigahara, as well as the Suicide Forest. This forest was the source of Youtuber Logan Paul’s controversy in early 2018.
On either side of them were walls of trees, and above them was a green canopy, and the winding road was only one car wide, so they could only see about 10 meters in front of them at any time.
“There’s a road in the Sea of Trees at Mount Fuji ?”
Immersed in her self-repressing thoughts, Minami couldn’t do anything but open her eyes in amazement.
Minami hadn’t noticed them turn onto this road, so she didn’t have much of an idea where they were. They had been moving from east to west on a road south of Kawaguchi lake and Saiko lake, after which they moved south along a road going around the western side of Mount Fuji. Considering how long they had driven on this path, when had they turned onto this road? Minami had no idea.
Since the road was only one wide, if they met a car traveling towards them, they would hit each other – the passage was too narrow. However, for the entire time traveling on this road, there had been no signs of vehicles or even pedestrians. The road was well-groomed and smooth, so it should probably have been used by tourists for walking, but there were no signs of that.
Suddenly, a spectacle appeared in front of Minami’s head as her thoughts spun.
The path suddenly opened to a rather spacious and well equipped plot of land with a one-story wooden house.
It was here the road ended – at an unassuming little house which while not luxurious, had an exotic feel.
The narrow road’s only purpose was to get to and leave this house.
The territory the house was located on was perfectly circular among the trees, and it had no fence or gate.
The van stopped in front of the main entrance, and while automatically looking back, Minami was surprised for a third time.
The narrow passage they had come through had disappeared.
“Huh?”
Katsuto moaned with doubt in his voice.
Tatsuya didn’t need to ask him why. He felt the same way.
The small circle marking Minoru’s approximate position suddenly disappeared from the map.
Tatsuya took off his helmet while Katsuto contacted the other car by radio.
“…I see. Got it. Wait for me there.”
After completing his short conversation with the person on the other end of the radio, Katsuto turned to face Tatsuya.
“It seems like the car Kudou Minoru used to escape eventually disappeared from sight, and its signal was lost in front of a cave on the west side of Mount Fuji.”
“So they turned into the Sea of Trees, but we don’t know where they turned into it?”
Tatsuya asked.
“Unfortunately, that’s how it is.”
“…there are two possible options.”
Tatsuya didn’t say anything like reproach towards the Juumonji family. He had also lost sight of Minoru.
“Yes. Either Kudou Minoru regained his magical power or hid in a shelter with a powerful concealing effect. Or both options at once.”
Tatsuya didn’t object to Katsuto’s third option.
“In any case, all we can do now is look for traces of his presence.”
Everyone agreed with this conclusion voiced by Tatsuya.
***
When Tatsuya and Katsuto caught up with the first car chasing Minoru, it was already 16:20.
The summer solstice had passed, but the days were still long, so though the dense forest towered along the edges of the road, it wasn’t dark enough to require artificial lighting.
Katsuto alternated looking left and right at the walls of trees on either side, looking for any possible path, but found nothing. He sighed a little before turning to Tatsuya and asking:
“Shiba, any ideas?”
“Let me check something.”
Tatsuya went to the west side of the road and entered the forest.
After seeing what happened, Katsuto’s subordinates were a bit surprised, but they didn’t say anything as they understood what had just happened.
Tatsuya didn’t go to a gap between the trees, but to a wall as dense as a thicket.
However, instead of being stopped by the solid mass of trees, he nonchalantly passed through the branches and tree trunks as if he were a ghost.
Then, he spread his arms out and slowly turned around.
His hands, half turned, didn’t touch the branches or the leaves; instead, the trees they passed through disappeared, replaced by a road only wide enough to fit a single car through.
“An illusion?” Katsuto asked the returning Tatsuya.
“Yes. It’s a pretty powerful illusion magic that can’t be detected until you get close.”
Since there aren’t any traces of a magician, this was probably done using a magic item.”
“Magic item?”
Katsuto asked another question.
“I don’t know exactly what it is. It might be made using an ancient magic technique.”
“Hmm…”
Katsuto folded his arms and thought. The magic hiding the entrance was dispelled, but he didn’t know what other spells were lying ahead. In addition, this might not be the only hidden passage. There may be others, so it was impossible to be certain that Minoru traveled on this road in particular.
Still holding his arms together, Katsuto faced Tatsuya,
“We won’t find it if we search from air, will we?”
His tone dropped at the end of the end of the question, as if he was making a statement rather than a question. He already knew the answer and was only asking for confirmation. A barely perceptible bitter smile came up on Katsuto’s face. Tatsuya returned the same smile as he answered.
“You won’t.”
If this illusion could be detected from the air, reconnaissance satellites or stratospheric platforms would already have done so. Self-defense forces would not have disregarded this road. Aokigahara, the Sea of Trees, was not just a tourist spot – it was also a military facility used by national self-defense forces to train for forest raids.
To conduct exercises in a forest where an illusion could be created was a rather stupid act as it endangered the soldiers. They wouldn’t have allowed the spell to continue working.
However, this illusion was still set at this place. The self-defense forces made a fairly serious mistake by missing this illusion. It most likely wasn’t due to carelessness as the military would have primarily scouted the area by air, but the soldiers were still put at risk due to the military missing this illusion.
However, looking at if from another angle, this meant that observing this territory from the sky would not reveal the magic installed here – if it could, the military would have caught it.
“Let’s move forward. Going into a tiger’s lair doesn’t guarantee you catch the cub, but turning back now won’t improve the situation,” Katsuto said.
“I agree,” Tatsuya responded.
Katsuto probably didn’t need Tatsuya to concur to make the decision to continue, but as soon as Tatsuya agreed with Katsuto’s reasoning, the other Juumonji magicians returned to their cars.
However, despite pushing on, they couldn’t find anything. The narrow road suddenly cut off halfway, and they couldn’t find anything even after checking the entire route several times.
Katsuto’s choice to state the possibility of failure seemed to have been prophetic, as if he had jinxed the situation. Murphy’s law held true for this situation: “Anything that can go wrong, will.”
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