Chapter 2 - Spring Tempest
Part 1
The first control room of the Onmyou Agency's Exorcist Bureau was abnormally chaotic that day. Once the afternoon was over, many spiritual disasters had happened in Tokyo.
These spiritual disasters were mostly phase two disasters that began as phase ones, and they were relatively small-scale, but it was rare to see this many spiritual disasters happen before sunset. Most spiritual disasters happened from the evening until late night - especially during Omagatoki [12] and Ushimitsudoki [13] . They plummeted when the sun came out. The fact that spiritual disasters were occurring consecutively during the day was the best evidence that the aura inside the city was chaotic.
And, it was soon going to be sunset - time to enter Omagatoki.
"......It seems like we'll be busy tonight." The room supervisor sat on a seat in the room, speaking with a bitter face.
A huge screen was set up in the control room, on which a map was shown with Tokyo as the center. The positions of the spiritual disasters that had happened today were represented on this simple map with some related data.
"Do we need to contact the chief?" The control personnel next to the supervisor asked.
"No, we don't need to bother him. I heard that his blood pressure has been high recently, so let's look out for the chief's health... Actually, we don't have any reason to. Okay, put me on the line."
"Supervisor!"
The worktime joke made the room fill with laughter, and of course the specialized control personnel laughed back, though their attention never left the console. It was true that relieving emotional tension in a timely manner was important, but the sun was about to be in the west, and the tense atmosphere was unabated.
To a normal person who didn't care about magic, the Onmyou Agency was a 'government agency that purified spiritual disasters', and they lumped the Exorcist Bureau and the Onmyou Agency together, equating exorcists and Onmyouji. That was naturally a mistaken way of thinking, and actually only a small portion of excellent Onmyouji could become exorcists, and quite a few other non-Onmyouji workers held positions inside the Onmyou Agency and the Exorcist Bureau.
Of those belonging to the first control room of the Exorcist Intelligence Bureau, only the supervisor and several other workers had passed the 'Third-Class Onmyou' exam, and not a single one had Second-Class qualifications. They weren't permitted to use first-class magic - it was a group of workers far distant from the 'Onmyouji' that ordinary people imagined.
However, the Exorcist Bureau workers had to rely on the abilities of this group to operate smoothly. In the eyes of people familiar with magic, exorcism was an admirable industry, but exorcists could only take the stage without worry because they had these workers assisting from behind.
"......Speak of the devil. As expected of the chief, he has ears everywhere."
The supervisor stuck his tongue out jokingly, looking at his boss - the Exorcist Intelligence Bureau Chief who walked into the control room with his unchangingly serious face. Actually, the chief didn't have anything like ears everywhere, it was the Intelligence Bureau Chief's everyday routine to come to the control room to check the situation at this time.
The chief walked up to the supervisor's work desk, glancing hastily at the screen and then raising his eyebrow lightly.
"......The sun's not down yet, there's a few too many spiritual disasters."
"Quite some spiritual disasters happened, maybe it'll top this year's record."
"It's only been a month since the February exorcism...... Seems like exorcisms are getting less and less effective."
"More accurately, the effects started becoming weaker after work came from the Lingering Spirit Division." The supervisor spoke mockingly, and the chief's expression couldn't help but become grim upon hearing that.
The February exorcism meant the Setsubun ceremony held a day before the beginning of spring. 'Setsubun' was basically around the fourth of February every year, and was most famous for it's 'mamemaki [14] ' ritual. In fact, every year there wasn't only a Setsubun the day before the beginning of spring. There were also festivals held the days before the beginning of summer, fall, and winter. The current Onmyou Agency had also added New Year's Eve in order to stabilize the aura in the city, and held five magic ceremonies per year. Spiritual disasters arose because of aura distortions, so it was necessary to regulate the flow of aura and keep the aura from easily fluctuating.
This work didn't originally belong to the Onmyou Agency, but to the Imperial Household Agency instead, and the Lingering Spirit Division had been responsible for carrying it out.
"I really can't see any difference with my meager spirit-seeing ability. What about you, Chief? I remember you had Second-Class qualifications."
"Actually, I can't see much difference either...... But the data doesn't lie. Judging by the data on spiritual disaster numbers, spiritual disasters are truly tending to increase year by year. It really gives me a headache."
The Exorcist Bureau had quite a severe problem of insufficient manpower, and the portion of members using paid holiday leave was becoming lower and lower, but the work couldn't be performed properly if there weren't enough members coming to work. The choice between the two was really a headache for the management personnel in the middle.
"Hmm? What's up with that spiritual disaster? It's already been a very long time since it happened, how come it hasn't been dealt with?"
The chief suddenly stared at the screen and asked.
"Huh? Which one are you talking about?" The supervisor followed, looking at the screen.
"That one, the phase one that happened in Shibuya."
"Oh, you mean that one. Didn't a notice arrive yesterday? It said the Onmyou Academy--"
Upon hearing this, the chief instantly showed a look of comprehension.
"The ones who said they wanted an artificial spiritual disaster for examination purposes, does it really need to be marked?"
"In the end, a spiritual disaster still happened."
No one other than those with spirit-seeing abilities could observe aura. Hence, no system for automatically detecting spiritual disasters had yet been invented, and they relied on Onmyouji with particularly outstanding spirit-sensing abilities - positions known as Spirit Sensors - to monitor the aura inside the city. The Onmyouji who went to the scene following the information they provided would report the actual situation to the Intelligence Bureau. So, the information displayed on the screen had been collected through various means. Even now, the phones of workers around the area were still ringing nonstop inside the control room.
Though Spirit Sensors weren't very prominent, they were important people that the Exorcist Bureau couldn't go without. Actually, there were three National First-Class Onmyouji among the current Spirit Sensors.
"But, how worthy of the Onmyou Academy, to think they would want their students to exorcise a phase one artificial spiritual disaster during an exam. That's basically industry training."
"The graduates from that place are indeed quite outstanding. Haven't more than half of the exorcists recently been from the Onmyou Academy?"
"Maybe that's true. The students who pass the exam this time might enter the Exorcist Bureau in the future."
The supervisor showed a slight smile, looking at the Shibuya indicator on the screen. The number of people who were gifted and who could become Onmyouji was extremely limited, and hence excellent Onmyouji were even more clearly valuable.
Unfortunately, what happened next made him stop smiling.
A phone ring sounded from the console in the control room, and one of the control personnel manipulated the console, taking the phone call through his headset. Immediately after, one phone after another began ringing, a new one ringing as soon as another was picked up. The control personnel hastily picked up the phones one by one, but were still overwhelmed by the sound of ringing phones.
"...Hmm?"
The supervisor sat upright. The phones were still ringing nonstop, and the tones of the control personnel picking up the phones became more and more frantic.
"......What's going on, did something happen?" Just as the supervisor wondered in incomprehension - "There's a spiritual disaster! The location is Ueno [15] , and according to the report of the bureau member who just arrived, the scale of the spiritual disaster is approaching phase two!"
"According to the report of the Meguro [16] branch, a spiritual disaster is also happening in Shinagawa [17] ! They predict they will arrive at the scene in a few minutes!"
"Report from the sixth team! The spiritual disaster undergoing purification suddenly rose to a phase two and the spiritual pressure is still continuing to rise, please provide assistance!"
The control personnel frantically reported the situations. The stunned supervisor unhurriedly replied with orders one by one. Just as he was thinking about contacting the Exorcist Command Center of the management exorcists, the phone on his work desk rang preemptively. The phone on his desk was different from the consoles the control personnel supervised, as it was specially used for contacting the Spirit Sensors.
The supervisor picked up the receiver, and after only a few words he raised his voice and shouted: "What did you say!" The face of the Chief who was observing the situation from the side sank upon hearing that.
"...What's happened?"
"The Spirit Sensors reported that the spirit flow is chaotic, and abnormalities have emerged."
"What's the location?"
"That......"
"What? Hurry up and say."
"......The e, entire city...... At least, the Spirit Sensors noticed that there were abnormal phenomena in all of the spirit flow within the range that they can check."
The man took the Yamanote Line outbound train.
He sat in his seat with his head raised high and his legs spread wide. Since it was the after-work rush hour, the train compartment was full to bursting, but the seats in either direction of the man were empty without any passengers. Even though there were often people in the distance who glanced furtively in the man's direction, no one dared to approach him, each and every one of them keeping away from him, scared of the violent air emanating from his body.
The man was about twenty years old. His body was skinny, with an almost sharply angled chin and a head of short hair dyed silver. He had sunglasses with silvered lenses on his face, with several piercings in his ears. He wore a fur-collared jacket, with a sparkling necklace draped over his chest and a belt decorated with silver rivets tied around his waist. Silver chains were hung on his jeans, and his feet were in a pair of bright, polished engineer boots.
A cold smile was on the man's lips like he was ridiculing the entire world. An intense beat came from the headphones in his ears. Even if he didn't say a word, his unruly arrogance could be felt in abundance.
One of the most frightening parts was the scar on his forehead. On the man's forehead was carved an 'X' that seemed like a blade wound.
Suddenly, a ringtone sounded from inside the man's jacket. He creased his eyebrows, taking out the phone. His fingers were unexpectedly thin and long, and every finger wore a flashing ring.
He looked at the screen of his phone, clicking his tongue forcefully in displeasure.
"......Unexpected overtime."
Not long after, the train reached the JR Shinjuku [29] stop. The man briskly stood up from his seat, pushing through the passengers orderly leaving the train and forcefully and leisurely left the compartment and walked onto the platform. The criticizing gazes never met the man, dissipating powerlessly into the air.
The evening twilight shone on the sunglasses, momentarily lighting the man's face vividly.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login