135 "Divine Child" (1/2)

Seiji was sipping on tea when Natsuya returned to the main hall.

”Did you find out our enemy’s name and identity?”

Although Seiji seemed calm on the surface, a pent-up rage was simmering beneath.

Natsuya sat down on a chair. ”Yes, I did… it was who I expected.”

”Who you expected?” Seiji raised his eyebrows in surprise.

”I recognized the final spell which attacked you in Shika’s soul and thought of a certain person,” Natsuya explained while pouring tea for herself. ”There’s only one person I’m acquainted with who knows how to use that spell—Okubo Yoshiaki.”

She took a long sip of tea after she finished pouring it.

”He’s a Yin Yang Master of the Yoshiaki family from my generation. He’s one year older than me, to be exact.

”When he was young, he was viewed favorably by everyone in his family. He was known as a ‘divine child,’ but as he grew older, the ‘divine child’ didn’t mature into a ‘genius’ as everyone had hoped. Rather, he became more and more ordinary.

”I’ve only met him three times. The first time was during my childhood. Back then, he was already known as a ‘divine child,’ and everyone in his family doted on him. He seemed prideful and haughty. Recalling how he was back then, he was basically a child that had been completely spoiled, resulting in too much arrogance.”

”My second meeting with him was… when I was a 5th-grade elementary school student. At that time, he was no longer considered as much of a ‘divine child.’ He still was better than his peers, but he was already showing signs of being ordinary. The grim and dark expression on his face left me with a deep impression.”

”The third time I met him was when I was a middle school second-year student, which was two years ago…”

Natsuya took another sip of tea as her eyes flashed with a thoughtful light. She seemed to be thinking about how to describe the meeting.

”At that time, I had a bit of a heated discussion with him… an argument, really. It was a pretty bad argument. In our passion, we asked our elders to be the judges and had a Yin Yang Master duel.”

”In the end, I emerged victorious from the duel. Before the duel, he was supremely confident that he would be the ultimate victor, so… he seemed to receive a huge shock at the outcome.”

”The expression he had back then left me with quite the deep impression. Even now, I can recall it clearly. It was… an expression that couldn’t accept reality. It was filled with anger, unwillingness, and… hatred.”

Natsuya paused for a moment.

”This unplanned duel was later taken as irrefutable evidence that the ‘divine child’ had become nothing more than ordinary,” the president stated calmly. ”Another way to put it is that I was the final straw that broke the camel’s back—the final blow that knocked away all his past pride.”

”It’s only natural… that he would hate you,” Seiji said.

Silence reigned once more in the hallway.

Seiji finally raised his own cup and took a sip of tea after he finished listening to this story.

”A fallen ‘divine child’ trying to take revenge and prove himself by declaring a duel against his enemy… what a cliché story.”

”But reality is made from clichés. Clichés are how many incidents begin.”

”Now that we finally know who our opponent is, do we have any other information? For instance, just why it was that this guy dared to treat Shika Kagura in such a way?”

This was the biggest suspicion in Seiji’s mind.

Recruiting the ‘Reaper’s Curse’ as his Spirit-branded Retainer, using her as a scapegoat, and even going so far as to place a hidden spell in her soul… Didn’t this Okubo Yoshiaki fear having spectacular catastrophes befall him?

Natsuya remained silent for a few moments.

”Okubo might believe that he’s really strong, to the point where he can resist against any catastrophes, or perhaps he’s resolved himself to withstand any catastrophe in order to defeat me… There’s also another possibility: that he has a way to control the misfortune brought about by the ‘Reaper’s Curse…’ or to mitigate it.”

”What method is that?” Seiji felt like he was catching on to something.

Natsuya sighed. ”That would be to… before a calamity befalls him, he makes one for himself. He either makes his own catastrophe or forces someone else to harm him.”

‘Harm…’ A flash of inspiration came to Seiji.