Tokyo Ravens - Volume 11 - Chapter 5.4

Part 4 
"......Got it." 
Suzuka found that file in complete darkness, relying on the light of a small penlight [44] . 
There were countless libraries in the Onmyou Agency building. After all, it was a government institution, so there were tons of management information and accounting numbers, and they also kept countless books of magic. The magic-related objects weren't put in a database, and there probably wasn't a single person in the Agency who knew where every single thing was. It was even possible that mysteries of magic that hadn't seen the light of day and were still unknown to man slept within the countless libraries. 
But what Suzuka just found was a report unrelated to those romantic notions. It was a file of the Mystical Investigators. 
"............" 
After Suzuka sat down on the ground, she held the penlight in her mouth and rapidly flipped through the file using the illumination of that beam of light. 
It had already been seventeen hours since Takiko visited the research lab in the morning bringing just-baked bread. It had just passed two in the morning now. Though there was basically no one left in the agency building, she had still turned off the library's lights for caution's sake. If Suzuka took a single step out of the research lab, she would be followed closely by surveillance shikigami, but she had hijacked them momentarily by forcing a camouflaged spell into them. She couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't be exposed, and it was hard to stay calm. 
Suzuka had been provoked by the television broadcast she had watched this morning. The shikigami group dance finale embellishing the Onmyou Academy New Year's Ceremony. The 'Swallow Whips' in midair during the dance were doubtlessly not part of the plans for the performance, and it was clear who had planned them. 
She couldn't stay still after being shown such a thing. 
Right now, Suzuka had started seeing the enemy's blueprints in her eyes bit by bit. Also, that was evidence that the enemies' goals were gradually approaching their ends. That wasn't something so easy to see. Suzuka had been able to realize this because of the second-class magic cast by their arrogance. 
What was their goal? 
Until now, scattered parts had slowly depicted a huge magical pattern. But Suzuka had seen a large part of it. It was the biggest 'move' among anything they had done so far. 
The spiritual disaster terrorist attack. 
The 'Great Hinamatsuri Purification' and the 'Hinamatsuri Repurification'. Two complex spiritual disasters brought about by humans in Tokyo on the same date. Emphasizing the threat of the Twin-Horned Syndicate had expanded the jurisdiction of the Onmyou Agency as a countermeasure. Amami had believed that was the goal of the strategy, self-profit. That was undoubtedly one facet of the truth. 
But was that really it? 
If they wanted to expand the jurisdiction of the Onmyou Agency, then there ought to have been a multitude of methods. Why had they deliberately chosen bringing about spiritual disasters? More importantly, there were two. On the same day, Hinamatsuri. 
"............" 
She had already been in the library for three hours. Suzuka's face showed exhaustion. But the zeal that had emerged in her eyes didn't show any sign of cooling down. She looked through the file without letting up. 
Then. 
"......Tch." 
She clicked her tongue and tossed away the file. She let go of the penlight in her mouth and leaned backwards, putting her hands on the ground. 
"Not this either...... The Mystical Investigators really didn't collect much information on the Lingering Spirit Division......" 
Immediately after the first spiritual disaster terrorist attack occurred, the Mystical Investigators infiltrated into the Twin-Horned Syndicate's stronghold of the Imperial Household Agency Lingering Spirit Division and caught all of its members. But allegedly, most of the information in the Lingering Spirit Division had been destroyed afterwards. Because of this, the Twin-Horned Syndicate continued being a mysterious secret society even after a sweeping investigation. 
"......The goal of the spiritual disaster terrorist attack......" 
Two spiritual disaster terrorist attacks, and both by manipulating Tokyo's aura flow, caused by disrupting the spiritual stability inside the city. Hence, the numbers of naturally-occurring spiritual disasters still rose even after purifying the spiritual disasters caused by the terrorist attack. That had already been confirmed by checking the database of the Exorcist Bureau. 
But mysteriously, after the number of spiritual disasters grew, it didn't return back to normal after the aura flow was stabilized. Though it was better than right after the spiritual disaster terrorist attack, the numbers didn't return to where they were before the spiritual disaster terrorist attack. They had definitely increased. One step after the 'Great Hinamatsuri Purification'. And one more step after the 'Hinamatsuri Repurification'. 
"......Come to think of it, these few years I've always been hearing rumors that there aren't enough exorcists...... That also started after the spiritual disaster terrorist attack." 
Because the baseline number of spiritual disaster occurrences increased, it surpassed the workload of all the exorcists. 
Of course, the Exorcist Bureau - or at least the Exorcist Command Room - had long since known the relationship between the spiritual disaster terrorist attack and the number of subsequent spiritual disaster occurrences. But how many people were there who were paying attention to the meaning hidden in this? Even if there were such people, it had already been a year and a half since the Twin-Horned Syndicate had been swept clean. There probably wasn't a single person left who was concerned about why they had brought about spiritual disaster terrorist attacks in the past. 
The Twin-Horned Syndicate had certainly been eliminated. 
But the people controlling them from behind were still alive. 

Also, there was one more concerning thing. 
The main culprit of the 'Great Hinamatsuri Purification' was Suzuka's father, Dairenji Shidou. He had been pulled into the spiritual disaster terrorist attack he himself had caused and died. Then, he had been resurrected as Yashamaru. 
The main culprit of the 'Hinamatsuri Repurification' was her father's subordinate, Mutobe Chihiro. He had killed himself after causing the spiritual disaster terrorist attack. Then, he had been resurrected as Kumomaru. 
What was the relationship between those facts and their goals? Or had they just simply become shikigami after dying? 
The 'Great Hinamatsuri Purification' had happened four years ago. The aura flow had been greatly disrupted. The number of spiritual disaster occurrences had increased sharply. 
Two years later, not long after the disrupted aura flow regained stability, they caused the 'Hinamatsuri Repurification'. The number of spiritual disaster occurrences had further increased. 
Then, it had been two more years until now. The aura flow that had been disrupted by the spiritual disaster terrorist attack two years ago had already completely regained its stability. 
On the other hand, their goal seemed to be gradually nearing its end, and had already gradually reached the phase where 'it wasn't a problem if people knew of it'. 
She had a bad premonition. 
Of course, it was just a prediction. Suzuka had never gotten ahold of 'certain clues'. Right now, she couldn't rush to conclusions. 
But she couldn't sit still and wait. 
After all, until the next Hinamatsuri, there was only-- 
"......Only two more months......" 
Just then. 
? 
"You're working hard so late. How motivated you are, Suzuka." 
The library lights turned on. Suzuka's body went stiff, then goosebumps rose over her entire body and she rose from the ground as if she had touched a piece of ice. 
When she looked back, there was a young man in front of her. A young man with a fashionable and refined air. But he also gave off the image of a corrupt aristocrat. He wore a shirt and vest, slacks, and an ascot tie. He wore white gloves on his hand and had a round lens over his right eye - a monocle glinting with light. 
He was Takiko's shikigami and Suzuka's past father, Yashamaru. 
"......!" 
Suzuka's face paled as she looked at Yashamaru. Yashamaru was no different from usual, showing a 'gentle cold smile' as he looked at Suzuka. 
"I haven't seem you for a while. Happy New Year." 
"............" 
Suzuka didn't reply. The work she had done to the surveillance shikigami had been exposed. Though she had realized the danger, maybe she had stayed too long. 
But ironically, although she had fooled the surveillance shikigami and snuck out of the research lab, she hadn't obtained any results to show for it. The files she had found were far from a decisive blow that could expose their plans. Originally, Yashamaru and the others had used Suzuka knowing that she was a double agent. Then maybe they wouldn't punish their stupid captive who hadn't accomplished anything at all after slipping past the surveillance. 
As Suzuka pondered those things: 
"I knew it. Next time will be for real." 
Yashamaru grinned as he spoke. She felt as if her heart was being unconditionally squeezed. 
"You should research properly until that time. I'm expecting a lot of you." 
Yashamaru suddenly vanished after only saying that much. He had dematerialized and left. But even though Yashamaru left, Suzuka's heart still felt the intense feeling of being enveloped by those white-gloved fingers. 
Suzuka couldn't move, standing frozen in the library. Her breathing trembled lightly. She couldn't control it on her own. 
Suzuka gritted her teeth and closed her eyes with a pained expression. Then, inside her eyelids, the trails of blue and pink she had seen back then repeated themselves again and again. 
Again and again. Until the sensation vanished from her heart, again and again.