Touji first asked Suzuka to move to a different place. They left the courtyard where the students ate, circling around the auditorium and entering the shrine area. Touji, who walked in the front, didn't say a word, and Suzuka who walked behind was naturally also silent. Suzuka's hands carried the plate of curry and her spoon as she stared maliciously at Touji's back ahead of her. They walked all the way to the back of the shrine area. Touji finally stopped only after checking that there was no one around. Leaves were fallen all around them, and verdant shoots had already grown on the cherry trees. The sound of birds came from the distance, resounding vigorously in the air of the shrine. "......Hey." Suzuka couldn't stand her impatience, speaking up to prod the continually-silent Touji with barbed words. "Stop acting, aren't you getting a bit carried away?" Both Suzuka's tone and gaze were filled with animosity and scorn. Careful wariness was also hidden inside. Suzuka seemed not to be very good at dealing with Touji compared to Harutora and Natsume. She forced herself to be brave while wanting to hide, like a prideful schoolgirl who had been called behind the school for a lesson by a delinquent senpai. Others would definitely think that was the case if they saw them. Though Suzuka had her guard raised, Touji didn't pay her any heed. "I'm not acting, it's just...... I don't want to make trouble if possible." His tone was relaxed and casual, just like always. "......Let me say first, the two Tsuchimikados are none of your business." "I have no plans of intervening. I don't even have any desire to right now." "Then--" "I'm talking to you about the 'Dairenji' family situation, not the 'Tsuchimikado'." Touji spoke honestly, carefully eliminating any change in his expression or tone. "What?" Suzuka cried out, clearly very shocked. "......Wh, What are you saying......? Don't joke around, could it be that you want to say that you like me?" Though Suzuka was shocked, her attitude was still unyielding. She showed a mocking smile, but Touji didn't have any response for a while. She felt more and more anxious. "H, Hey, you're not serious, are you...... Y, You should give up on that thought, a small fry like you wouldn't suit me!" Suzuka held the plate and spoon in her hands, slowly pulling back from Touji. Even so, Touji still silently thought for a good while. Then, as if he had suddenly realized-- "......Right, I brought you here when you hadn't even finished eating. Go ahead and eat, it's alright, I already ate before coming here--" "Who cares about your meals! I'll kill you, bastard!" "Hmm......? I see, sorry. But you can relax, I don't mean to confess to you...... No, this counts as a 'confession' in some sense, but it's not a confession of love." Suzuka roared angrily, her face red from anger, but Touji still replied indifferently. He had especially called Suzuka out, but he looked absentminded as if he had called her out and then couldn't decide what to say. He had definitely been silent the whole way here for the same reason as well. Judging from Touji's personality, this was a very rare situation. But, he finally made his decision. "......Yeah, anyway, we're all lambs waiting to be slaughtered if this continues, and there's no meaning in negotiating with you. It's better to just say everything." "......Hey, what exactly are you saying? Honestly, that's really disgusting." Suzuka cursed at him, trying to conceal her anxious emotions, but Touji didn't pay her any heed, his expression serious - even with a bit of arrogance, very like his style. "Dairenji." He spoke while staring at Suzuka. "Do you know that there's a spiritual disaster in my body?" "......I, I know, so what?" "Do you know what kind of spiritual disaster it is?" Suzuka seemed not to have expected Touji to mention this topic. She blinked blankly, carefully observing Touji's body and 'seeing' the aura from his body. "......Hmph...... Sorry, I don't know, nor do I have any interest in finding out." She said indifferently. Touji nodded upon hearing this. "You can't see it, huh. I guess that's because your strength is restrained right now...... Or maybe Harutora's father's sealing techniques are exceptional......" Touji leisurely said those words. Suzuka raised her eyebrows upon hearing that, her expression ferocious. It couldn't be seen because her bangs concealed it, but there was a small 'X' on Suzuka's forehead. That was the magic seal laid by the Onmyou Academy used to restrain Suzuka's magical energy. It was one of her punishments, like entering the Onmyou Academy to study. "......You--" She spoke ferociously as if she would fly into a rage at any time. "If you have something to say, then hurry up and say it. Stop beating around the bush." "Okay, I'll let you see it with your own eyes, that'll save me some breath too. I'll test my skills a little." Touji said calmly. He suddenly took off the bandanna from his forehead, clenching it in his right hand and bringing it in front of his chest. Then, he closed his eyes in front of the frowning Suzuka, focusing his mind. "...First seal, purge." He chanted the magical 'incantation' that had been set beforehand, injecting his magical energy. The incantation stirred the seal binding the oni in Touji's body, releasing its very first stage, and dirtied yin aura immediately poured from Touji's body - demonic aura. "That--" Suzuka's eyes widened, shocked. The 'Child Prodigy' rapidly spread out magical defenses, but the 'change' to Touji's body didn't stop. The oni whose portion of the seal had temporarily been released began to eat at Touji's spiritual body, hastening the demonic transformation - this process was forcefully altered by the new magic set in the seal, and every action was still controlled by Touji's own will. "......Ugh." He uttered a muffled grunt of pain. Two flickering, sharp objects sprouted from his forehead where the bandanna had been removed - growing into two or three centimeter horns. He grit his teeth, fangs slipping through his lips and growing out of the corners of his mouth. Demonic transformation. Immediately after, Touji borrowed the strength of the seal and forced the demon under his own control. The demonic aura exploding from his body covered him, not spreading outwards. Intense 'lag' reactions encircled his entire body, appearing half-materialized and forming a hard armor and helmet. Ohsode [18] , domaru, [19] , gusoku. [20] And a helmet like the iron mask of a demon. The armor flickered with 'lag', then fluctuated intensely, appearing as a looming, full-body suit of armor. The visible appearance of the half-materialized demon inside Touji's body was as a half-transparent armored warrior. "......Good......" Touji maintained this state, opening his eyes and taking a breath. The current him looked as if he were wearing a flickering suit of armor over his Onmyou Academy uniform - an oyoroi [21] from ancient times. Though it didn't look too stable, it was actually already maintained in a half-transformed state with magic. "......The process went pretty smooth, but I wish the speed of the change could be a bit faster...... It looks like I'll need to practice some more." The horned and fanged Touji grinned coldly from behind the flickering iron mask. His mighty appearance dumbfounded Suzuka.
"......A phase three...... You're a living spirit?" She spoke with a trembling voice. "It's as you see, but that wasn't what I wanted you to 'look' at." After saying this, Touji spread his arms in front of Suzuka, maintaining his samurai appearance. Suzuka was taken aback for a while, reflexively shrinking back. "I wanted to ask your opinion of 'this oni'. How is it? Do you have any thoughts?" "H, How would I know what that thing is......! I just know that it's definitely a 'Type-Ogre' spiritual disaster, but as for anything deeper...... A, And even if I'm a Divine General, that doesn't mean I know about every kind of spiritual disaster, my area of expertise is 'Imperial Onmyoudou' research. Also, spiritual disasters generally all have their own characteristics, so how could I know what spiritual disaster that demon is!" Suzuka rattled off, unable to placate her fretful emotions. "......But, you should know." Then, Touji furrowed his brows, closing his eyes again and focusing the demonic aura to form magical energy. He called out: "Reboot." The released portion of the seal immediately moved in place again, binding the demon in Touji's body. The demonic aura encircling his body immediately dispersed along with the armor formed by demonic aura. Touji breathed deeply. Horns could no longer be seen on his forehead, and the fangs by his mouth had also vanished. He had slowly undergone a demonic transformation sequence when the seal was released, but the re-sealing was completed instantly. Hence, compared to the releasing of the seal, the re-sealing had a higher response rate. "......Yeah, maintaining the transformed state for a long period of time will be a problem from now on." He calmly muttered, shaking his shoulders and checking his own physical condition. Suzuka was stunned for a while, unable to speak for some time. But, maybe not wanting others to think she was cowardly, she glared ferociously at Touji, saying with a rough tone: "......What does that mean? What do you mean by 'you should know'? What exactly are you referring to?" "I really am beating too much around the bush. I should just say it directly." Touji's voice was gentle. He tied the bandanna around his forehead again to change the mood. "The demon possessing my body is from the incident two years ago, from the Tokyo spiritual disaster terrorist attack." He spoke seriously. "...!" Suzuka held her breath, and Touji continued speaking without paying it any heed. "The full situation is, I heard that this demon was the one that the mastermind behind the spiritual disaster terrorist attack used himself as a vessel for. It descended into his body and finally even grew to a phase four - a Hyakki Yagyou, scattering spiritual disasters everywhere. I ran into it back then." "............" This time, Suzuka truly couldn't say anything. Her face was pale, the blood drained out of it, as if she might faint at any time. Her legs inadvertently trembled, and she hastily mustered the strength to stabilize herself. Touji calmly watched Suzuka's reaction without saying anything more, just shrugging his shoulders. "Actually, I only learned of that incident recently. My primary physician - Harutora's father - was a Mystical Investigator at the Onmyou Agency before. His rank was pretty high, so he knew information about the spiritual disaster two years ago that wasn't disclosed to the public. I asked him carefully again today just now, and I mentioned the primary suspect of the terrorist attack - Though he didn't want to say much about it, he told me that man's name." A complex expression flashed over Touji's face, not like anger, and not sympathy either. He tried not to show his emotions as much as possible, saying his conclusion. "That person's name was Dairenji Shidou, the National First-Class Onmyouji known as the 'Professor'...... And the father of you, Dairenji Suzuka." Suzuka's eyes widened and her body shook - as if she had received the final ultimatum. From her appearance, it was hard to imagine that she and her father were both National First-Class Onmyouji, and the genius Onmyouji whose power was at the top of the nation couldn't be seen in her weak figure. Once she let go of her glamorous title, she was just a young - and lonely - normal girl. "......I......" She shook, managing to let out her voice. "I, I...... I......" The eyes that gazed at Touji showed guilt and fear. She wanted to rid herself of these emotions, but she had never succeeded. She tightened her lips and lowered her head, her thin shoulders constantly shaking. She could do nothing facing a 'victim' of her father's harm except silently lower her head. "Okay." Touji opened his mouth again, speaking relaxedly, completely different from the tense atmosphere that Suzuka gave off. "Next is the real topic. Listen up, Dairenji." "......What?" Suzuka was taken aback, raising her head with an expression full of confusion. Touji didn't pay any heed to Suzuka's reaction. "I didn't call you here for that, I hoped that we could cooperate. Of course, the 'we' I'm talking about includes Harutora and Natsume...... Maybe also Kyouko and Tenma." Touji spoke seriously, but Suzuka didn't understand him at all. The topic had changed too quickly, and she seemed to be unable to deal with it. "Cooperate...... What does that mean?' "Yakou fanatics are eyeing Natsume." Touji continued to explain. "I don't know how much you know regarding that matter, but I shouldn't need to say the reason she's being watched, right? As far as I know, she's been accosted by Yakou fanatics three times and fallen into danger. Once was not long before Harutora and I came to Tokyo, once after we came to Tokyo, and the third time happened this spring, in the second spiritual disaster terrorist attack." "............" "I heard that the spiritual disaster terrorist attack that happened this spring resembled the methods of two years ago, and the suspects who carried out the terrorist attack this time were Yakou fanatics. Judging from this, the prime suspect of the terrorist attack two years ago - Dairenji Shidou - was most likely also a Yakou fanatic, am I right?' "............" Suzuka was silent, not responding. But she hadn't ignored Touji's words. Rather, it was the opposite. She was completely preoccupied with trying to read the motive behind Touji's remark. Touji wasn't flustered, his tone always staying calm. "Natsume's enemies are the enemies of Harutora and me. Those enemies have already targeted us, but we don't even know what kind of enemies we're facing. Just this much would be bad enough already, but an even tougher person came out during the spiritual disaster terrorist attack last time." "......A tougher person?" "I'll tell you about that incident in a while...... If we include that person, we're powerless against the people who brought about the spiritual disaster terrorist attack, and we obviously know that. But even if we don't have the strength, we don't want to be played with blindly in the palm of their hand." "So......" Touji put weight into his words, his gaze firmly staring at Suzuka. "I know that you have your own difficulties, but I hope that you can tell us what you know. We don't have anything much to tell you back, but we can only rely on your goodwill, and...... You don't need to force yourself, anything you can tell us is alright. Please help us out." He spoke truthfully and sincerely, and finally lowered his head and pleased with Suzuka: "Please." Suzuka's whole body stiffened. She chewed her lip, frozen in place. A long silence spread. The breeze blew lightly, the tree leaves rustled, birds chirped lightly, and the sounds of their classmates' laughter sounded in short snippets from afar like a hallucination or the din from another world. The girl stayed silent and speechless. The boy waited quietly and calmly. The long silence passed, and Suzuka slowly turned her body. Touji finally raised his head once he noticed that she had moved. The two of their gazes crossed, and Touji saw from Suzuka's eyes that she was taking a new step forward - evidence that she had moved forward from her past. Suzuka trembled slightly, breathing deeply. "......Let me ask, do you know about...... The Twin-Horned Syndicate?"
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