Part 2
The Onmyou Academy, one of the few Onmyouji training institutions in the nation.
To people who held goals of becoming professional Onmyouji, this was a trial to explore the future difficulties along the road. Its curriculum was practically famous, and the difficulty of its practical curriculum was even more special. The power of one who reached the highest, third year could be called practically professional with regard to first-class magic. It was more famous than famous among the knowledgeable in the magic community.
The building of this academy was built in Shibuya, Tokyo. The current academy was a new building constructed four years ago, and had been heavily ruined in June last year. But it had been completely repaired now, and the vestiges from that time had vanished without a trace.
Not only was it a building furbished with the newest equipment, it also had a solemn feel to conform to its half-century of history. To the large number of Onmyouji who had come from this academy, it was a school building that was difficult to forget.
But--
If the past graduates visited the current Onmyou Academy, they might feel a small sense of wrongness within their nostalgia. Of course, the building had a new look, but it wasn't that kind of outer change, but rather a change on the inside - a change in the atmosphere.
At least Tenma thought so.
Maybe he was the only one who felt this. Maybe he was only concerned by such a subtle change because of his experiences. Maybe that was it. Tenma harbored complicated emotions as he looked at the familiar academy building towering before him.
"Ah, Momoe, morning."
"Good morning. It's so cold today~"
A pair of male and female students greeted Tenma before he entered the academy building. Both were in the same grade. "Good morning. It is very cold." He smiled and replied, then the three of them walked into the academy building together.
The academy building's main entrance had two pairs of heavy automatic doors. When the first of those automatic doors opened, Tenma inadvertently looked to the side.
"............"
"Hmm? What's wrong, Momoe-kun?"
"Nothing...... I felt like I've unconsciously gotten used to this scene."
"Eh? Ahh. You're talking about Alpha and Omega?"
The two classmates stopped because of Tenma's words, turning their gazes to the same direction. The space between the pairs of automatic doors. There had been mechanical shikigami to the left and right with the form of komainu before. Alpha and Omega who had once been the door guards of the Onmyou Academy. The shikigami of Principal Kurahashi.
But now, there were no komainu there. As replacements, there were just several shikigami charms framed on the two walls. In an emergency, the teachers would materialize these to defend the academy building. In that sense, it was 'rational' given their function, but Alpha and Omega hadn't purely been guards. They had kind personalities contrasting with their haughty language, and had been well-liked by the students as the face of the Onmyou Academy.
Most of the students had been sad when the two of them had been taken away. Of course, Tenma was the same.
But before he noticed it, the scene without the komainu had become ordinary for Tenma.
"Come to think of it...... it feels lonesome from time to time."
"The current first-years don't even know Alpha and Omega. Now that I think of that, it feels estranging."
"......That's true."
Other students came in through the automatic doors opening behind his back as he replied briefly. He couldn't just stand there without moving forever. Tenma also passed through the second set of automatic doors, entering the first floor.
Unlike usual, the vast floor had been adorned with ornate decorations. They were red and white-toned, Japanese-styled ceremonial decorations with gold and silver trim. A banner hanging from the ceiling read 'Onmyou Academy New Year's Ceremony' in black letters.
His classmates looked up above their head and said:
"Come to think of it, it's tomorrow."
"That's not it, there's a dress rehearsal this afternoon."
"Really? I can't feel any motivation."
"There's no helping it, there's gonna be a lot of media coming in this year."
The girl shrugged her shoulders at the frowning boy. Tenma also silently looked above.
The New Year's ceremony was an activity where the Onmyou Academy celebrated the new year, just like its name. That said, it had only started being held last January. Its main purpose was more to raise the Onmyou Academy's image in the media than to ceremoniously celebrate the new year. In short, it was propaganda that the Onmyou Academy aimed outside.
The New Year's Ceremony was an activity that had been started last year by the thinking of the previous Onmyou Academy Principal.
Last autumn, Kurahashi Miyo who had been the principal since the academy opened had resigned from her post as Onmyou Academy principal citing health reasons. Her shikigami Alpha and Omega had also left the Onmyou Academy during that time.
The new principal after that was a former Onmyou Agency official who had retired. The Onmyou Academy had 'changed' bit by bit since then. This New Year's Ceremony - or rather, the fact that this kind of activity was being held in the first place could be called proof of that change.
"......But."
Tenma muttered.
"Actually, there were even more students who entered last year. The number of students withdrawing decreased a lot too."
"Hmm? Well, there were indeed a lot of new students last year. But of course the number of students withdrawing decreased. After all, when we were second-years, there were so many unprecedented incidents--"
As the boy spoke with a bitter smile, the girl next to him quietly said "idiot" as is to reproach him. "Ah......" After the boy noticed, his face became awkward.
There were particular students at the center of the 'unprecedented incidents' during the second year of Tenma and the others.
Tsuchimikado Natsume.
Also, Tsuchimikado Harutora.
Tenma's relationship with the two of them had been particularly good. Other than that, he had also always been with Ato Touji and Kurahashi Kyouko before.
The biggest reason the new principal was holding this New Year's Ceremony was to eliminate the bad image lingering in the Onmyou Academy. The New Year's Ceremony could be called a cleanup after Tenma and the others.
"...Let's go."
Tenma smiled and spoke to the two of them, passing through the floor towards the elevator. His classmates glanced at each other and then chased after Tenma.
The boy spoke in a tone meant to change the topic:
"......Come to think of it, it seems like there are more teachers after the vacation. The first-years are saying that."
"Ah, I heard that too. It seems like they're also former Onmyou Agency people too."
"After the principal changed, the number of former Onmyou Agency teachers increased. Well, there were a lot in the first place."
"Even former public servants who started working again?"
"Eh? Who knows......"
Tenma and the others rode the elevator and changed floors to head to their classroom. "Now that you mention it." The girl asked Tenma.
"Momoe-kun, are you not going to enter the Onmyou Agency in the end?"
"Ah, I don't know."
"You still haven't decided? You're as leisurely as always."
"Momoe's home was a shrine or a temple, right? Are you going to continue it after you graduate?"
"No, my family's not......"
Tenma spoke vaguely and uneasily. As expected, the matters that got the most attention among the third years were each other's future plans. But because Tenma still hadn't decided, he couldn't join in the topic.
Tenma's parents had died in an accident when he was still a child. Since then Tenma had been taken in by the Momoe family on his mother's side and had been raised by his grandparents.
Though the Momoe family wasn't that famous, it had been an Onmyouji family for generations. His grandfather and his mother had been professional Onmyouji. In particular, his mother's manmade shikigami inventions had left behind huge achievements. She was a famous person among those related to the professional magic community.
But his bold and daring mother had brought discord to his relationship with his conservative grandparents. After she essentially ran away from home in secret, they had never ended up making up even until her death. The feelings of Tenma's grandparents who had been left behind and Tenma himself who lived with them after he was also left behind were incredibly complicated.
His grandparents didn't speak of Tenma's future path too much. Or, maybe they still held recollections - or perhaps bitter memories - about their disputes with his mother in the past.
But to the left-alone Tenma, his grandparents undoubtedly expected him to become a professional Onmyouji able to succeed the Momoe family. Tenma himself was also grateful to his grandparents and had entered the academy with the goal of becoming a professional.
To become a professional, standalone Onmyouji. That was Tenma's future goal.
It was just that...... what exactly was a so-called 'standalone Onmyouji'?
"Hm~ But, you know? If you don't have the goal of entering the Onmyou Agency, are you thinking about joining some kind of organization? Or working alone?"
"I~diot, no one can do it alone. ......Ah, come to think of it, Nakata was accepted into a magic tool company last year, right? Although there was a condition that he obtained qualifications."
"Eh, what kind? Where? Witchcraft Corporation?"
"It's not a famous place like that. A place that was established just last year. Allegedly, it seems like it was opened by a household of Onmyouji. So it's more like a workshop than a company."
"Hey, that's a bit surprising. For someone of Nakata-kun's power, I'd think entering the Onmyou Agency would be certain."
"He said that it was good because he would be able to work feely there. He even bragged that 'I'll grow the business'."
Though Tenma didn't interrupt his classmates' conversation, he turned an ear out of immense interest.
If it had been established last year, then it was probably a business formed conforming to the Onmyou legal reform from last year.
The magic community had often been accused of being secluded from both inside and out. However, the current Onmyou Agency was continuously pushing for Onmyouji to participate in new areas of society in order to improve that outlook. The Onmyou legal reform was a very important part of that. It greatly alleviated the limitations on magic - along with the limitations related to the Onmyouji who controlled magic.
New magic-related careers would definitely further increase in the future. The demand for Onmyouji in society would gradually increase alongside that trend. It wasn't just the Onmyou Academy. The magic community itself would change in the wake of the Onmyou Agency.
"...In any case, future plans are very important, but I'm just thinking about obtaining professional qualifications for now. I'm still learning and practicing every day until then."
After Tenma said this, it was the turn of the other two to show discontent.
They just happened to arrive at the classroom when Tenma rebutted. But after Tenma called out, "Sorry, I'm going to the restroom," he walked through the hallway alone without entering the entrance to the classroom.
Then--
The moment he turned the corner and entered a blind angle for the rest of the students, he started to stealth himself as naturally as breathing.
Of course, a 'vanishing aura' for a sudden, perfect stealth magic would attract the attention of a keen spirit seer even more easily. He did it bit by bit, in no hurry. He maintained a constant pace, gradually deepening the stealth magic as if he were melding his body in with the air.
He understood in his heart that this was 99% useless worry.
Even so, he had no reason to ignore the remaining 1%.
Tenma's stealth magic had already completely activated before he entered the male restroom. He walked into the restroom like that, entering the deepest stall and closing the door.
He still didn't release his stealth. He closed his eyes, quickly and thoroughly inspecting the surrounding aura.
There was nothing suspicious. Tenma opened his eyes, taking out the letter from his backpack. The letter that had been given to him this morning by the bespectacled girl.
He wordlessly turned the pink-colored envelope over several times to confirm. He couldn't find any magical traces. He opened it and took out the contents.
There was just one sheet of paper.
He first swept over it with a sharp gaze, then slowly read it again.
The name of the sender hadn't been recorded on the message. Nor could he find any clues to trace back to the sender. It wasn't coincidence, she had deliberately concealed herself. Though it had been handwritten, Tenma wasn't familiar enough with this penmanship to know the answer.
More importantly, the contents seemed superficial. Even if this message were given to a third party's hands, they wouldn't be able to grasp any concrete information. Someone who knew about the 'circumstances' to some degree might realize something, but he wouldn't necessarily be able to obtain any more information than the situation. It was a message written after such consideration.
There was just one thing.
The feelings of the person who wrote the letter were deeply conveyed.
And those feelings most clearly pointed to the sender of the letter.
Tenma closed his eyes, silently suppressing the emotions that spilled forth. Then, he checked the letter again, this time paying attention to intent rather than words.
He checked whether there were any hidden words written somewhere. But even though he checked once again, Tenma grasped that there weren't such things. Gratitude and apology were clearly written in the letter, especially the feeling of not wanting to bring Tenma or others trouble. This letter was completely one-sided news sent from the other party.
Even so, Tenma read the letter again several times.
He checked the time with his watch. It would be bad if he didn't return to the classroom soon. Tenma ripped the envelope into fine bits and flushed them into the toilet. Then, after a slight hesitation, he folded the message as small as possible. He took out a shrine protective talisman that he had carried in his bag and opened the bag to put the message inside.
Then, Tenma left the stall and washed his hands, heading to the classroom.
The place that had become the location of the New Year's Ceremony was the magic practice field underneath the academy building.
It had originally been a place used for practical first-class magic skills, but it was the only place that could accommodate the entire student body, and hence it had been used for the entrance ceremony and other things. It was constructed like an athletic stadium, and the arena bordered by magic barriers was also encircled by spectator seating on all four sides. The day of the New Year's Ceremony, only the third-years were on the arena ground. The second and first-years along with the media that had been invited to cover it watched from the spectator seating. The third-years also carried the ceremony forward.
Hence, the final coursework of the day had been canceled for Tenma and the third-year students, and they were having a dress rehearsal to prepare for tomorrow instead.
"Why do ceremonies and rituals have to be so formal? They're so tiring."
"I know what you mean, but isn't it a problem for an Onmyouji to say that?"
'Rituals' like this had been important work of Onmyouji since ancient times. Tenma smiled and advised his classmate about his statement.
The New Year's Ceremony was overall split into two portions. The first half that was held after the principal's greeting was the same as the demonic aura purification that the Onmyou Agency carried out at the end of the year.
But this was just an imitation. The Onmyou Academy's New Year's Ceremony was just held with the goal of 'purifying the evil of the old year and praying for the beauty of the new year'. They ceremoniously carried out the demonic aura purification ritual along those lines. But the process itself had more meaning than the actual effectiveness of the magic ritual. In that sense, it wasn't that far apart from the original work of Onmyouji. As Tenma had said before, conducting rites and rituals were important duties of Onmyouji.
But the highlight of the New Year's Ceremony was the latter half, not the former. After the demonic aura purification ritual, the students summoned shikigami to put on a dance performance.
Unlike the demonic aura purification, the shikigami dance performance had no other magical significance. But the materialized shikigami had unique appearances and beautiful movements. Hence, even if an ordinary person unrelated to magic watched, he would easily understand that it was 'amazing'. In other words, it was propaganda for the Onmyou Academy's skills. Though the news planned on reporting on the present situation, the eye-catching shikigami summoning was also well-received on television.
"In the end, it's more like a simple performance than a ceremony."
One of his classmates said this, and it was actually true. And just like Tenma had said earlier today, this kind of performance was associated with certain outcomes.
In any case, the third-years were split into demonic aura purification and shikigami-controlling groups, carrying out their dress rehearsals individually. Tenma was in the latter, the shikigami controlling group.
Initially, several students in the group who were particularly good at controlling shikigami would summon and control shikigami on their own. The summoned shikigami were different types of self-made simple shikigami and manmade shikigami that they owned themselves. It was the highlight for any spectating practitioner.
But the biggest highlight that they publicized to the outside was the shikigami group dance performance to end the New Year's Ceremony. The students all brought forth a large amount of manmade shikigami together and performed a group dance.
The created shikigami were old-styled general-purpose 'M1 Domestic [5] ' and also general-purpose 'M3 Asura'. The former was originally a smaller shikigami, but the size of the latter had been modified and reduced slightly. In the end, there were many, close to fifty in total. The magic practice field arena that had become the location would be completely covered by shikigami, giving off quite an overwhelming feeling. It was undoubtedly a spectacular dance performance to someone who didn't understand magic at all.
Though the group dance performance was so gorgeous on the outside, actually controlling it wasn't so tough. That was also because the movements of the shikigami had been set up in the spell beforehand.
Even that spell was shared. It looked like people were individually controlling the shikigami just for show, but actually everyone participating just sent their magical energy into a single spell. With that, all of the manmade shikigami would comply with that spell and dance autonomously.
When he returned to the bedroom and quietly closed the sliding door--
"......Was it Tenma?"
He was spoken to like that.
Tenma's grandfather turned his gaze towards where his wife lay in the darkness. His wife moved her body with a rustle, pushing aside the sheets that covered her and propping up her body.
"Did he leave?"
"No, it seems to be different. It looks like he'll probably be back in the morning."
His wife breathed a sigh of relief in the darkness due to her husband's words. Even he felt the same way. Though he had prepared for it, it seemed like in the end he wasn't able to make up his mind whether to stop him or let him go. He was frankly relieved that the problem was resolved without needing an answer from him.
"......Honestly, I was surprised. The moment that kid entered stealth, I practically couldn't see him even though I knew he was there. I turned on the lights as fast as I could - but even so, I didn't see him immediately......"
Though he had been retired for a very long time, he was at any rate a professional Onmyouji. Even to him, his grandson's stealth was astonishingly remarkable.
Also, his grandson had entered a state of being able to use other magic while being stealthed. Moreover, it had been in a brief moment. Casting other magic while putting up stealth was actually quite a difficult thing. His grandson had calmly - after he had clearly been taken by surprise - accomplished it.
He knew that his grandson had been secretly training and honing his skills. Though he had reported poor practical skills grades, he had already noticed that those were just on the surface. But his growth seemed to have surpassed the level of skill that he had imagined.
He held expectations of his grandson's growth and felt happy about it.
But at the same time, the anxiety deep in his heart grew.
Simultaneously casting stealth magic and other magic was indeed a difficult technique, but it wasn't a necessary technique for most Onmyouji. There was no need to master such a technique if one's goal was purely to become a professional. That kind of skill only became necessary for people who were going to use Onmyoudou to 'fight'.
Should he stop him? Should he let him go?
Or was thinking about it just a waste of effort in the first place? Maybe the answer had long since appeared in a place that he couldn't reach.
"......In the end, that child has finally left the house as well......"
His wife murmured a sentence.
The voice that came from the depths of the darkness reflected her optimistic, transparent feelings. But it seemed in addition to loneliness, an equal amount of sadness was hidden in that voice.
A smile emerged on his mouth that always wore a stern expression.
"Even so, this time wasn't a mistake."
He quietly announced that, as if swearing it to himself and the soul who had left the house in the past.
The bedroom was dark and he couldn't see his wife's expression. But he knew about his old wife's illusory smile and her nod of assent.
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