Part 4 "It wouldn't do me any good to look for trouble with him now, right?" Harutora wanted to speak with Suzuka alone, but Ohtomo and Kogure showed difficult expressions in unison when they heard this. Only when Suzuka said this did they reluctantly agree. "......I can only give you five minutes." "Don't be too agitated, Harutora-kun." After saying this, Kogure and Ohtomo immediately left. But, they actually didn't walk very far, they just moved to the other side of the corridor, watching the two's every move from afar. Ohtomo and Kogure seemed to both be very clear about the animosity between Harutora and Suzuka, but considering that they couldn't stop them forever from coming in contact, they decided to just let them meet under their supervision altogether and save from future complications. After being separated for a long time, Harutora and Suzuka only met again in the academy building corridor with Ohtomo and Kogure watching the situation from afar. But even if the two adults had given him the opportunity to prepare the dialogue, the two of them didn't know what to say to each other for some time and were only able to silently look at each other, let time pass, and invite each other to go on. ...Come on, didn't I come here for this goal? Harutora urged himself on, quietly taking a deep breath to encourage himself. "It's been a--" "How is it?" The two of them opened their mouths at almost the same time, but Suzuka's tone was a bit stronger, momentarily setting back Harutora's momentum. "Huh? What do you mean......" "......I~diot." Suzuka turned to avoid Harutora's eyes under his gaze. "I obviously mean the incident in the morning, I hope you suffered a bit." "......It's as you expect, I was truly trapped." "Hahaha, serves you right, that's called taking revenge." "Then congratulations to you." "Yup, I guess there was some worth in coming to the Onmyou Academy." Saying this, Suzuka finally turned to face Harutora, a brilliant smile filling her face. ...This damned brat...... Harutora realized that he had come to talk with Suzuka this time, but he couldn't hold back his anger, frowning. Come to think of it, though he hadn't forgotten about her personality, there was a kind of contradictory refreshing feeling from speaking with her after a long time, a kind of anger filled with a refreshing feeling. "Your whole face was scared white back then, it was really laughable." "......I wanted to ask you what was up with your greeting at the beginning. Don't go so overboard even if you're going to pretend to be well-behaved, I even thought I mistook you for the wrong person." "Hmph - I'm not as stupid as you, and if you really want to talk about it, our positions are completely different. Do you know how our positions are different? You probably don't know, how could an ordinary student know." "You're walking the path of an idol because our positions are different? Must be tough. I certainly don't understand much about positions, it must be really tough to be a Divine General." Harutora couldn't help but rejoice that he had strictly ordered Kon before he had come here, barring her from appearing. Harutora and Suzuka wore haughty smiles, sparks flying between the two of them. Both sides were in a stalemate, and Harutora simultaneously felt that it was an unavoidable stage. To be honest, Suzuka's personality was twisted. The incident that had happened with Natsume last summer proved this point clearly, and the two of them couldn't open their hearts to each other without this wanton verbal abuse. Moreover... ...It's annoying, but...... He didn't hate it. Because they both spoke with their true intention, it was rather refreshing even if they were insults. Suzuka might also have a similar feeling. "...Let me ask you," Harutora slowly cut to the chase. "Why did you come to the Onmyou Academy? The principal said it was because of certain reasons and at the urging of others...... Anyway, those reasons are probably just sugarcoating, right? What exactly is your true reason for entering the Onmyou Academy?" "Hmph, I don't have a reason to explain everything to you. You're so stupid." "Hey hey, how can you be so cold to the one you shared your first kiss with, sweetheart?" Harutora spoke ironically, but Suzuka's lips curled reflexively in anger once she heard this. She returned a glare to Harutora, only saying after a while: "......This is a penalty, a punishment, you should know without thinking, or else why would I be in this kind of stupid place." "Punishment? Because of last year's incident?" "Could there be any other possibility? ......Tch, you're so annoying, I'm a National First-Class Onmyouji, so why am I mixed in with these useless little brats? It's an insult!" "How unfortunate." "Who are you to say that! I originally shouldn't have even been alive anymore! Thanks to a certain someone...... I ended up being this miserable." Suzuka spoke, a self-deprecating smile appearing on her face. Her usual self-confident attitude couldn't be seen when she was this self-deprecating, and it even looked like she had somewhat low self-esteem. It seemed like she had inadvertently leaked her true feelings. Harutora momentarily frowned, his expression serious. "I'm glad a certain someone was there." "......Ugh......" Suzuka's face flushed when she heard this. She stared viciously at Harutora, but when Harutora looked back at her, she lowered her eyes, seeming to think about what kind of harmful words she could use to lambast her opponent...... However, she didn't end up saying any words. Then, like she wasn't going to let the opponent see her own expression, she turned her head to the side. Harutora couldn't help but sigh lightly upon seeing Suzuka's childish opposition. He asked with as gentle of a voice as possible, "......Did you properly bury your brother afterwards?" "......Yeah." "That's good." "............" Suzuka lowered her eyes and turned her body, seeming like she was trying to hide the change in her expression. Harutora didn't force any questions, continuing to talk slowly. "How long are you going to be punished?" "......Three years, until I graduate." "Three years, huh. But it's good that things will be resolved that way." "......What do you mean, resolved? You're really a hopeless idiot. How can things be resolved like that, do you really understand what exactly I did?" The naive words of an outsider made Suzuka slightly regain some of her spirit, sneering at Harutora. "Anyway, your homeroom teacher and other teachers will let it slip eventually, so since I have this opportunity, I'll tell you directly." Then, she suddenly lifted up her bangs with her right hand. Suzuka revealed her forehead, and just as Harutora was wondering in incomprehension, he suddenly noticed that there was a small 'seal' on the girl's forehead. Two straight lines about one centimeter long crossed, drawing an 'X' mark. When he saw that 'seal', Harutora immediately associated it with the pentagram on his cheek. Though the seal on Suzuka's forehead was far more delicate than the one on his own face, the two seemed very similar. "Wh, What's with that? ......Magic?" "Right, this is to seal my magical energy." "Huh? So your magical energy is being sealed right now?" "Didn't I just say that?" "......Is this also a punishment?' "You really love to ask stupid things." Suzuka showed her forehead, her expression visibly disgusted. Then, Harutora approached her face, staring unblinkingly. That action made her face redden, and she hurriedly put her bangs down. "...Actually, they just sealed a part of my magical energy, as I'm a researcher after all...... But I still committed taboo. On that note, sealing my magical energy is a loss to the entire magical community, so who knows how rotten their brains were to make such a stupid decision." She spoke quickly, seeming mad, but not a single bit of anger discernible from her. Harutora could understand why they would use this kind of punishment. Even one of the Twelve Divine Generals, no, because she was one of the Twelve Divine Generals, the Onmyou Agency recognized Suzuka who had brought about such an incident as a 'dangerous person'. If they let a 'dangerous person' enter the Onmyou Academy - even as a punishment - they should take countermeasures to reduce future troubles. If they sealed her abilities, the danger would be lessened even if she caused trouble in the future.
Suzuka's ability was outstanding, but she lacked a mature personality, and there was a giant disparity between the two. Even an outsider like Harutora had this feeling, and the Onmyou Agency couldn't possibly have failed to notice Suzuka's imbalanced condition. Sealing her abilities for now, letting her study at the Onmyou Academy with similarly aged students like she originally should have and trying to make her personality grow in the process might be an extremely suitable punishment. It could be seen that the Onmyou Agency had quite a high appraisal of Suzuka's ability from how they had specially taken this response. Even with the incident she brought about, The Onmyou Agency still needed the 'Child Prodigy'. "Don't forget, my magical energy wasn't completely sealed, and I could easily defeat a small fry like you, so be careful not to be too arrogant." "I won't, and I didn't come to fight with you either." "Hmph...... That's true, unless you were overconfident, you wouldn't have the courage to dare find me to fight." "I won't do that." Harutora couldn't help but smile wryly upon hearing Suzuka's sarcastic response. Harutora had a hard-to-forget painful memory because of Suzuka, and even now he still couldn't conclude that he was no longer afraid of her. Even so, Harutora noticed that he was becoming more and more able to understand Suzuka. She was indeed hard to get along with, but she wasn't completely impossible to get along with. "Anyway, what are you doing? Could it be that you still hate me, from what you did in the morning?" He asked while pretending to be frivolous, and Suzuka went silent for a while, perhaps because she was hesitating over what harsh words to retort with. However, what she said in the end was: "......Hah, you're as stupid as always, that's called being self-centered. I'm a dignified Divine General, what reason do I have to bother with a person like you? The thing in the morning was because I happened to notice you standing down there and I felt like teasing you a bit." She deliberately used a disagreeable tone to speak. Harutora felt angered, unable to help but smile bitterly. ...Could this girl be even simpler than I thought? Of course, Harutora might have just fallen into her trap. "I can rest assured after hearing you say that. I also said just now, I hope to avoid conflict with you as much as possible." "Don't think so much of yourself, last summer was an exceptional exception, you aren't qualified to be my opponent in the first place. You'd better first figure out how much you're worth." Suzuka mocked him, her lips curling. Endure it, endure it, Harutora constantly warned himself to swallow back his words. But, Suzuka continued speaking. "Ah, right, not just you, that next Tsuchimikado head - that Tsuchimikado Natsume - is also the same." After hearing her say this, Harutora's whole body unconsciously trembled, but fortunately Suzuka seemed not to notice. "I heard that all of the people in the Onmyou Academy make him out to be a genius, but to be honest, he's just a little amateur brat. You haven't forgotten, right? I absorbed the aura from his body last summer like it was nothing." "......I, I didn't forget......" Harutora managed to respond. At the same time as he responded, he desperately thought of countermeasures in his mind. ...Judging by those words...... Suzuka hadn't yet noticed Natsume's true identity. Then, as if confirming Harutora's speculation-- "In the end, I didn't even see Tsuchimikado Natsume, what kind of a person is he? He should be much more powerful than you, right?" "......I, I guess so." "Hmph, I don't expect much anyway. Even if he's Yakou's reincarnation, he doesn't have the qualifications yet, and he even stays in this kind of place to study. He can't possibly be my opponent." "Th, The reincarnation thing still can't be verified--" "What kind of nonsense are you talking about? A National First-Class Onmyouji and a specialist in Yakou research like me decided that he was Yakou's reincarnation, could it be that you don't understand what that means?" "Uh, but he doesn't have any awareness of it...... Didn't you mention that stuff called soul magic before? It doesn't have a reliable explanation either, right?' He wasn't wrong, Suzuka hadn't noticed Natsume's true identity at all. Though this was true, Harutora really couldn't help but ask. The rumor that Natsume was Yakou's reincarnation had brought forth a lot of things, forcing her to suffer quite a bit since she had become aware of the world. But he didn't expect that this question would backfire on him. "Since you're wondering, let me meet him. That annoying person won't be supervising me anymore tomorrow, and I'm a bit interested in what kind of person Yakou's reincarnation is." "Uh, that--!" "Hmm? What is it? Is there a problem?" Suzuka's face was full of suspicion, and Harutora was even more fretful, unable to think of what kind of good reason would let Natsume and Suzuka who were in the same Onmyou Academy avoid meeting. He was scared that he would be exposed immediately if he just said anything, especially since refusing her with a 'Natsume doesn't want to see Suzuka' might make Suzuka feel more interested instead, wanting even more to come in contact with Natsume. ...Damn......! What kind of excuse should he find to deal with this? Harutora hesitated, the surroundings shrouded with an awkward silent atmosphere. Just then, "Dairenji, time's up." Kogure who was watching from afar helped him resolve the crisis without being asked. Kogure walked towards the two of them, taking out his phone to check the time. "Sorry, we've still got work to do, we should be leaving now." Suzuka knit her brow upon hearing those words, and it seemed like she wasn't putting on that fake pretense in front of Kogure, who was also a National First-Class Onmyouji. "......Go if you want, I don't care." Her words were thorny, her tone exactly the same as when she had spoken with Harutora. "Unfortunately, I have to bring you along today. Though your grades are different, you're both Onmyou Academy students anyway, so there will be opportunities later if you still have things to say." After saying this, Kogure cast a candid smile towards Harutora. "But I still need you for something." Then, his arm suddenly looped around Harutora's neck, drawing the surprised Harutora away from Suzuka's side. "Wh, What do you need?" Harutora asked in a fluster, and Kogure quietly whispered secret words into Harutora's ear, his back still to Suzuka. "How is it? Did anything strange happen around Natsume-kun after that terrorist attack last month?" "N, No." "That's good. It was chaotic at the time, and I wasn't able to greet you properly, but I heard from the tengu that you helped out a lot, so I've wanted to thank you in private for a while." "......Uh......" Just as Kogure said, Harutora almost hadn't had the opportunity to speak with this Independent Exorcist when the spiritual disaster terrorist attack had happened since the area had been in chaos. Though he had heard Natsume and Kyouko's explanations, Harutora hadn't imagined at all that he would be this casual and frank - someone who did things at his own pace. "Other than thanking you, there's also one more thing--" Saying this, Kogure lowered his voice. "I'm counting on you to help look after Dairenji. She isn't a bad person, her personality's just a bit twisted and she doesn't know how to interact with others." Harutora inadvertently stared at Kogure. Kogure put his hand on Harutora's shoulder, grinning again. "Don't make that kind of bitter face, I just hope that you can get along nicely. Don't worry, I didn't hear what you were talking about, but just by looking at your interaction, I'm confident that you can definitely get along well." After finishing quietly speaking, Kogure didn't wait for Harutora's reply, releasing his arm and patting him a couple times on the shoulder as a goodbye. "......Alright, let's go, Dairenji." After leaving Harutora's side, Kogure urged Suzuka who was looking at them to hurry up and move on. Suzuka cast a hesitant gaze towards Harutora but didn't end up opening her mouth. She didn't wait for Kogure to come, walking towards the rear entrance a step ahead. Harutora didn't grab the opportunity, only able to silently watch Suzuka leave. "Jin, I'm counting on you tomorrow." "Yes, yes." Uttering some final words to Ohtomo, Kogure and Suzuka vanished in the corridor together. Only Harutora and Ohtomo were left in the area. Ohtomo's final reluctant reply had surprised Harutora. Also, if he hadn't misheard, Kogure seemed to have called Ohtomo by the name 'Jin'...... Ohtomo noticed the doubtful and questioning gaze pointing at him from the side, shrugging his shoulders at Harutora. "That guy and I are old friends. Never mind that for now, how are you? Do you think you can be peaceful with Suzuka-kun in the future?" "Uh, I......" Harutora couldn't reply for a while and Ohtomo smiled lightly. It didn't seem quite the same as Kogure's though they were both gentle smiles. "I can probably guess what Zenjirou told you, but honestly, I also believe Suzuka-kun needs friends." "F, Friends?" "Right...... I don't know if you noticed or not, but Suzuka-kun's current position is about the same as Natsume-kun when she had just entered the Onmyou Academy, though the focus everyone had on them is completely reversed." "......!" After hearing his homeroom teacher's unexpected remark, Harutora was so shocked that his eyes inadvertently widened. Harutora had transferred into the Onmyou Academy half a year late, and back then Natsume had deliberately kept a distance with her classmates, going about alone inside the classroom. One reason that led to that situation was Natsume's shy personality, but the most important reason was the rumor that she was Yakou's reincarnation, and also - Ohtomo didn't know either - Natsume even had to live her life hiding the fact that she was actually a female, and couldn't let others know. Before Harutora had come, Natsume didn't have any good friend that she could bare her heart to. On the other hand, Suzuka was the 'Child Prodigy' of the Twelve Divine Generals, a famous person that everyone would recognize, even the new students who had just entered. Just a day after she had entered, she had become the idol of the students. However, Harutora knew very well that the 'Dairenji Suzuka' that the outside world interacted with was an act. No one understood Suzuka's personality, and the only person Suzuka could converse with unbridled was Harutora. In the aspect of being alone, Suzuka was completely the same as the Natsume from the past. "......After you transferred, Natsume-kun's interpersonal relationships improved quite a bit, all due to you. This time, Suzuka-san has entered the Onmyou Academy, so why don't you help her again." After saying this, Ohtomo placed his hand on Harutora's shoulder, the shoulder on the other side of where Kogure had patted. Harutora silently stood still, not knowing how to respond.
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