The closing of the case was announced the very next day after the Onmyou Agency arrested Suzuka. But even with that broadcast, Suzuka's name still wasn't made public. Harutora's parents returned home from Tokyo the following morning. At that time, Harutora was still being questioned by the Mystical Investigators. In the end, he was detained for the entire night. This matter reached his parents' ears. When they came to take Harutora home, they quickly and indiscriminately scolded him fiercely. However, when they saw the pentagram on their son's cheek, their faces changed and they went speechless out of surprise, only able to gape quietly. In the end, how carefully had his parents guarded him while growing up during the past years? Harutora only learned the answer to that question much, much later. Harutora and Touji met the following afternoon. He explained everything in detail and laid it all out on the table, everything regarding Hokuto's death, himself becoming Natsume's shikigami, and the battle and events on the Imperial Hill altar. Of course, he also talked about the remark Natsume had made about Hokuto. The Hokuto that the two of them knew had disappeared, but 'that person' still lived. Touji asked a few questions in between, grasping the cause and effect of Harutora's words. His attitude was even more attentive than usual. "......I see, so I was wrong after all." After listening to all of Harutora's words, he murmured some words quietly. "Wrong? What were you wrong about?" Touji's sudden words led Harutora to ask about them. "I also thought a lot after things happened." Touji shrugged his shoulders, starting with an introduction. "......Yakou reincarnated, no, let's assume that he reincarnated." "Yeah." "Then where did his shikigami go?" "Yakou's shikigami? Ah, are you talking about the branch family person?" In that case, Touji had also mentioned those things before the festival. But. "......Yeah, I guess. Yakou should have had numerous shikigami at the time, including from the branch family. I was just thinking, we don't know what happened to those shikigami after Yakou reincarnated."
"Oh...... so?" "When I heard that Hokuto was a shikigami, I believed that she was one of them." Harutora's mouth gaped when Touji said all of that. "W, Wait a second! You couldn't have believed Hokuto was Yakou's shikigami, right?" Harutora's eyes widened with a stunned expression. Touji just shrugged his shoulders, looking quite calm. "It was just a speculation...... Judging by the words of that main family successor, it seems like I guessed wrong. A directly manipulated shikigami is like a remote control toy, right? Since it's a toy that needs its controller, it's impossible for Hokuto to have been Yakou's shikigami." "O, Of course. How could she have such an important role." "In that case, the problem of what happened to Yakou's shikigami still hasn't been resolved." "Who knows about that kind of thing! ......After all, its master died, so it should have died as well - or maybe it was released from its bindings, and it went who knows where to live its own free and unfettered life?" He was always saying that kind of confusing and incomprehensible thing. Harutora exhaled deeply, muttering a few words. Touji heard him, and an unfathomable smile emerged on his face. "......Maybe they're still looking for their master." "......So? Now they'll turn to Natsume? What unfortunate things." He replied indifferently, unable to keep from grinning along with Touji. This was the first time he had shown a smile after telling Touji about what happened. Touji leaned back in his chair, lightly shrugging his shoulders. "That mysterious girl was a mystery to the very end." His tone was as harsh as usual, but it sounded like there were a few differences from before. The sound of cicadas rose from somewhere. The summer days were still scorching, but maybe the summer days of the three people Harutora, Touji, and Hokuto had ended here. The two of them were silent for a long time, watching the end of the summer sun. Afterwards, in order to welcome the coming new season, they switched to a different topic. Time slowly passed. When the short summer vacation ended, Natsume would return to Tokyo. The next day, Harutora told his parents that he wanted to leave his current high school and leave to study in the Onmyou Academy.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login