Volume 4 -A Chapter 9 (2/2)
”Eh? Oh, really?”
”It sounded like a bunch of nonsense.”
”I can't believe this…”
He looked to the Taromaru on his shoulder, but the creature only scratched at the back of his head with his back paw.
”I need to get back to normal as soon as possible. That way this guy won't have to speak for me anymore.”
”Really? He saved me. I've always been able to read a little bit of other people's Lives. That's why they influence me so much.”
She smiled a little.
”I couldn't even go outside during elementary school, but then my cousin came and made Taromaru from my Live without speaking a word.”
”Then, he's…”
”Yes. He's apparently a Dog G.o.d highly tuned to my thoughts. I said I could read the thoughts of the people he possesses because it was a trait of Dog G.o.ds, but that might be unique to Taromaru.”
”I see.”
”Dog G.o.ds apparently choose someone to possess if not given any specific orders, but to be honest, you're the first one he's chosen on his own other than me.”
”Really?”
”Yes. If what my cousin said is true, then you must be indecisive about something.”
”I'm not sure what to tell you…”
”But it's true,” said Takada. ”Taromaru reads people's thoughts and eats them as Lives, so he possesses people who are indecisive and conflicted…”
”And speaks for them like this?”
Takada spoke as Shoui scratched at his head.
”I think it means you have a dual nature.”
”What? Is that like being both an S and an M? …Wait, no!”
”I like how you've been playing both the boke and tsukkomi.”
”Well, I guess playing both roles myself would be another sort of dual nature.” He sighed. ”Anyway, I guess this means I'm worrying over something even more than I thought.”
”Yes, that kind of dual nature. But it isn't a bad thing.”
”Really?”
”Most people have something like that, even if it isn't on the same level as you. Including those indecent thoughts. …Some people's public side is stronger and some people's private side is stronger.”
”The way I see it, the more indecisive someone is, the stronger their ultimate answer will be.”
”…Their answer, huh?”
Takada nodded.
”You have more on your mind than those indecent things, don't you?”
”Personally, those are the things I've been trying to think about the most, though. …Why does this b.a.s.t.a.r.d have to say all those things aloud!?”
”I don't mind.”
”Eh? Really? You don't mind that the guy standing next to you was imagining you naked? …Stop it, you idiot!”
Shoui reached for the Taromaru on his shoulder, but the creature hid behind his back.
He chased after the creature as if scratching at his body, but he could not catch the thing.
Takada gave an honest laugh as she watched.
”Don't worry, Shoui-san. I know you're only thinking those things on the surface.”
”…R-really?”
”Yes, I can see the girl in gla.s.ses you're thinking about deep down.”
”Oh, wow. So I'm talking to a girl while thinking about another girl? Am I a wishy-washy A-type with a lucky color of red, or something?”
”You're troubled by this self-a.n.a.lysis, aren't you?” said Takada while peering into his face. ”My family is naturally skilled with Lives, so how about I read your destiny a little?”
”…You can do that? That sounds like a Tuner.”
”I am a Tuner, actually. It's just that I abandoned that path due to the instability I mentioned before.”
”I called myself a Fast Reader when I introduced myself, didn't I? I borrow Taromaru's power to read the Lives of people's or the world's destiny.”
”Hmm… I'm not so sure about this. It sounds more legit than a fortune-telling.”
”Please close your eyes. That will help calm your mind.”
She did not give him a choice and he closed his eyes on reflex.
She immediately held his cheeks between her hands.
He opened his eyes and found her face right in front of him.
She had kissed him.
After two breaths, she pulled her lips away and returned to her previous position.
He stared at her face.
”Oh, dear. I just had my lips stolen…”
”Why the effeminate tone of voice?”
”Well, it was so sudden…”
”Is it that surprising? You went all the way with that gla.s.ses girl.”
”…You have no problem saying some pretty outrageous things, you know that?”
”Anyway, that wasn't what this was about. I was reading your kotodama. In other words, your Live.”
”…That seems like a bit of a sad explanation to me.”
”If you hadn't been so surprised, I could have read a little deeper.”
She closed her eyes and the Taromaru on her shoulder looked up toward heaven.
The creature sang with her voice.
A white flower blooms in the darkness
An empty party begins in the fire
A memory of death floats in nothingness
A king saves him
A queen laments him
A sage resigns himself
Fall into indecisiveness while looking to another's path
Choose your own path and hesitate
The true path lies in the past
After the clear voice came to an end, Taromaru sighed.
Speaking so much seemed to have been tough on his small body.
Takada opened her eyes and Shoui asked a question.
”Was that…my Words?”
”No, it wasn't. Not in your case.”
”Then what was it?”
”Good question. …Your destiny can always be changed, but that song was your future based on your current Live. It's a little vague since I didn't get a perfect read on you, though.”
She smiled and Shoui sighed. The Dog G.o.d spoke his calmed thoughts.
”I'm not gonna be able to fondle this girl's b.r.e.a.s.t.s… Wait, no!”
1:48 PM
As the morning sun slowly began to drop from its midday height, a single guest arrived at the Nandaimon Shrine.
It was the monk who had been referred to as Iba back at Nara Station.
He stood at the center of the shrine's grounds. Without speaking a word, he stared straight forward.
Senga stood before him with a bamboo broom in hand.
She spoke with Iba's gaze on her.
”Instead of standing there, how about you say something?”
”…I see you haven't changed in the last thirteen years.”
”That's because I'm so young.”
”I believe you turned sixty-seven this year.”
”The man with the greatest grudge against me was indeed the type to say such hopeless things with a straight face.”
—Senga - Mind Tech - Take - Sense Killer Intent - Hit.
”Iba, you're the same as back then. You can be silently and expressionlessly staring at someone but still overflowing with killer intent.”
”That is my way of doing things.”
Senga smiled bitterly.
”More importantly, Iba, what do you want? I would like to finish cleaning before the sun sets.”
”Then I shall get straight to the point.” Iba furrowed his brow as he was wont to do. ”I would like to declare war.”
”Oh?”
”This is a declaration from Tokyo to Osaka, and from those who died in the Kinki Riot to you.”
”Oh? And why would you be doing this?”
”To clear away all of the mistakes that led to the Kinki Riot.”
”For how expressionless you are, you must really see me as an enemy.”
”I no longer have any comrades.”
”Did you learn nothing from the Kinki Riot, Iba?”
”I have a question concerning that.”
Senga gave an exaggerated tilt of the head and Iba gave a straightforward question.
”What was the Kinki Riot from the perspective of the teachers?”
”Based on that killer intent, I'm guessing you already know more or less. …That explains why you hid in the Mountain and never appeared before me in the thirteen years since that battle came to an end.”
”I would like to hear the truth in your words.”
”For example?”
”Most of those at the center of that war were taught by you.”
”Yes, that's true. Once Yuuki could walk, I made a trip around j.a.pan and visited the local Mountains.”
”Was it a coincidence?”
”Was what?”
Iba maintained his straightforward gaze and clarified his question in an emotionless voice.
”That you taught students to use Heavy Rhythms everywhere you went.”
”What do you think, Iba?”
”Tell me.”
”Very well.” Iba nodded before opening his mouth. ”That battle was meant to reveal all of the Heavy Rhythms the Mountain had sanctified and to create a public fear of those Rhythms.”
”And?”
”This is only my personal view, but did you set it all up in order to eliminate those Heavy Rhythms that you viewed as such a danger to the world?”
”I see.”
”It is a fact that the students you taught to use the Heavy Rhythms fought each other, even when they were friends or family.”
”If I had not taught them to use the Heavy Rhythms, that conflict would not have dragged on so long…”
”And the Heavy Rhythms would not have been eliminated.”
”…So you're focusing on the result, are you?”
”The Kinki Riot added most of j.a.pan's Rhythms to the list of Death Techno.”
”Although most of them were only sealed by the Mountain or by me.” Senga smiled bitterly. ”You plan to bring back the Heavy Rhythms, don't you? A moron showed up here before…and named you as his teacher.”
”…His teacher?”
”Yes. He sounded proud of it. It was a kid with spiky hair.”
”He sounded…proud?”
”Yes.”
”…Ha.”
”Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha!”
Iba laughed. He opened his mouth, shook his shoulders, and erased his usual self in laughter.
A moment later…
”Interesting!”
By the time he shouted that word, his usual lack of expression had returned. He stared straight toward Senga.
”I am honestly surprised he would call me his teacher.”
”Does it delight you that much for Nakamura Midori's brother to call you his teacher?”
”Oh? I see you did your homework.”
”He was interested in the Flame High and in his sister, his family name was Nakamura, and he called you his teacher. Who else could it be? …So you want to clear away your regrets from thirteen years ago?”
”Is that so strange?”
”I respect you for it.”
”And I you. …I came to realize that over the past thirteen years.”
”Did you?”
”Out of concern for this country, you gave everyone power and then killed them in an attempt to eliminate the king.”
”You sound confident in that theory.”
”I did not spend thirteen years at the Mountain for nothing.”
”Is that so? Then are you building on my plan to kill everyone but one in an attempt to create a king?”
Iba did not nod.
Senga rotated her broom with her wrist and aimed the bottom at him like a spear.
”Iba, is this conversation a declaration of war from former student to former teacher? History will repeat itself. This could lead to many deaths once more.”
”Do not worry. We have a prophet with us, so we can avoid all danger.”
”You're hopeless.”
”Then shall we spar as we used to? I never could get a single strike past your spear at that Mountain training ground…but things have changed.”
”Have you dabbled in White Noise and the s.h.i.+nkage Style?”
That brought a change to Iba's expression: he frowned.
But Senga continued regardless.
”I prefer my method over all else. If you are intent on destroying the situation I have created here, then I will take the appropriate countermeasures.”
”Can I take that as an acceptance of my declaration of war? Yet the only card in your deck is your granddaughter.”
”Your trump card is Ixolde's activation tonight, isn't it? The only way you can conquer this country is to borrow Osaka's power. Befitting of the former Osaka 1st Special Duty Officer who let Kuki and Midori die…”
—Senga - Intimidation Tech - Take - Intimidation - Hit!
”…to become the sole survivor of the Kinki Riot!”
Iba released a voiceless shout and took a defensive stance.
At the same moment, the cellphone in Senga's pocket rang far too quietly for the scene.
Their eyes met.
Iba released killer intent and Senga spoke with the broom in hand.
”When you hear why this emergency phone is ringing, you'll have better things to do than fight me.”
”Nonsense.”
”Can you still say that after I tell you only the Emergency Teachers or the Mountain leaders can call this phone?”
—Senga - Mind Tech - Take - Decode Expression - Hit.
”See? You're curious. …And there goes your bad habit of growing even more expressionless when I say that. Listen. There's only one reason the Emergency Teachers or the Mountain would be in a hurry to contact me now.”
She went on to tell him what that reason was.
The persistently ringing phone seemed to show just how badly whichever group it was wanted to contact her.
The words Senga spoke over that background noise elicited movement from Iba.
He began to run.
That signaled the end of this confrontation between teacher and student and signaled the beginning of a new battle.
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