652 Are you really a member of the Haruta Family? (2/2)

”I haven't.”

”I haven't, either… both of us only know about the Haruta Family through secondhand accounts. That's why we shouldn't say whether he's like a Haruta or not. I can only say that he doesn't fit what we know about the Haruta Family.”

”Is there any difference?”

”It's fine if you treat it as there being no difference. This is simply my opinion.”

”Your opinion is rather difficult to understand for me, Rota-san.”

”I apologize for that.”

Both of them slowly puffed on their cigarettes.

”Although he isn't like a Haruta, if he really is, I think that would be pretty nice.” Saitou glanced at the direction that Seiji and Shika left in. ”Although we only played a few rounds of cards together, I don't think he's a bad person at all… If the Haruta Family, and even the youngsters of the other six major Yin Yang Master families are all like him, Sakura Island will become a really great place to be at.”

Rota fell silent for a moment before responding.

”Perhaps… but that's impossible.”

The last part of his sentence had an ironclad adamant tone.

Seiji heard that voice again.

”Stop…”

”Who's talking!?” Seiji immediately spoke up.

There was no response except for the sound of the wind.

”Brother, did you hear that voice again?” Shika looked at him.

”Yeah.” Seiji nodded and furrowed his eyebrows.

There was nobody near at all… or he should say that he saw nobody.

Was this a hallucination?

Absolutely not!

Something obviously happened, yet he was unable to find what caused it. He had just recently experienced such mystical phenomena at the Genhana High School sports competition day.

Could it be that another Inner World was hidden on this ship and causing all this?

Seiji thought about it and decided to take a tour of the entire ship.

Looking around everywhere as he went, he decided to treat this as a walk.

”Are you really a member of the Haruta Family?”

Not long after he started walking, a short youth who wore earphones stopped Seiji and asked him this question.

This youth was leaning against the railing and gazing at the sea. When Seiji and Shika passed behind him, he suddenly asked such a question.

This person was Ikuko Takeuchi, a ninja who was Mitsuko Kitajima's partner in this tournament. Her appearance as a teenaged boy was a disguise. Appearance-wise, she was actually just an ordinary girl. She typically worked in spy activities and was extremely low-profile. She acted as the backup support for Mitsuko whenever they worked as partners, and it was possible that Ikuko had never even killed a person before.

All this information popped up in Seiji's mind when he saw this short youth looking at him.

This youth… the female ninja named Ikuko Takeuchi removed her earphones and looked at him as well. A sharp glint could be seen in her eyes even underneath her magical disguise of having a blank expression.

”That's both true and false,” Seiji answered vaguely.

”…Why are you attracting everyone's attention by using such a method?”

”No reason at all.” If he had to forcefully come up with a reason, he had just acted pretentiously on a whim.

Ikuko took a deep look at his face.

”You know about that… right?”

”Know about what?” Seiji blinked in surprise.

However, the female ninja only glanced at him one more time before she stopped looking at him, put on her earphones, and speedily left.

”Wait a moment!” Seiji reflexively tried to top her. ”What do you think that I know?”

Ikuko didn't respond.

She didn't even look back at him and swiftly walked off as if her earphones blocked out his voice.

Seiji furrowed his eyebrows. He faintly felt as if he had just missed something important.

The problem was, he really had no idea what Ikuko was talking about… what did she think that he knew? Was this connected to that mysterious voice from earlier?

Just what was happening on this ship right now?

The confusion he felt was like fog that wouldn't clear up in his mind.

At this moment, he suddenly heard a nice sound...

*Ding-dong~*

This clear and pleasant sound resembled the sound a bell would make.

Seiji reflexively looked around him.

*Ding-dong~*

He heard the same sound once again, clearer than last time. It sounded like the source was closer to him this time.