Chapter 5 (2/2)

“……If there was nobody already living here, one would think the locks would be shut Unless, that is, if the landlord of this location is incompetent”

While speaking such sarcasood to eht happen

Like that, they checked to see whether or not there were traps

Lavinia spoke

“Rather than that, this whole area has been covered by a ical technique to drive people aith this house at the epicenter It has beenpeople with special powers like us it is i that they have absolute and coical arts), shi+ntoism, and Onmyoudou are systems that excel in ‘exorcism’ powers such ‘concealment’ and ‘repulsion’”

……That is to say, it’s been made so that ordinary people are unable to perceive this house, huh? That we are capable of perceiving this house, this is because we possess Sacred Gears and ic? However, in that case it wouldn’t just be this house, but it is also predictable that the houses of the other fellow students had become subject to the same conditions

The Sacred Gears——Jin and Griffon were in position nearby It being unknoould be here, they had te Utsusee for theh they had done so, it was possible that the Utsuse them from behind

Ti door, they trespassed upon the entryway In the entryway, Tobio looked at the various accessories and fraht back how this scenery had looked in the past

……Although it was said theywere ency’, it doesn’t seem at all like a simple relocation

As a result of being completely closed off, the house’s interior was di daytime The foursome voluntarily entered this interior They did not re when they’d have to make a run for it

Natsu the dark interior

To start with, she began with the closest roohtly and shi+ned the light over the interior ——There appeared to be nothing

Inside was a table and a sofa Nothing had been relocated from within What had been moved was——the people Only Sae’s parents In all likelihood, this was the case at the rest of their fellow students’ houses

“Split up, let’s investigate If you find anything, contact us through Lavinia’s ic as usual”

Tobio and co crystals produced by Lavinia’s roups to search the interior they advanced on foot

The tea room A TV, a table, and a withered decorative plant were visible The leaves had fallen from the decorative plant, and were scattered all over the floor

In the kitchen, the electronic appliances such as the refrigerator andbeen cut, the resulting condition inside the refrigerator was one of rotten food that was releasing an offensive s the water faucet, as one would expect no water came out

“…………”

Sometimes, Lavinia would stop and draw a circle on the floor with her wand and say soed from the circle that had been traced on the floor, shortly after the o out

……Magic, or so it would see, it see the movements of the inhabitants

Hearing footsteps, they becailant, but it was only Natsu with the that way

Setting out fro the vicinity

“This place, was it like this previously?”

Tobio nodded in response to Natsume’s query

“Yeah, it’s as it was Nothing has been s that aren’t here——are Oji-san and Oba-san”

That was Tobio’s reply The things had been left behind, and only the residents were not currently present That is to say, that which the ‘Utsuseency’ desired was only the blood relatives of the second year Ryoukuu High School students—— What the significance of that was, Tobio and company had no idea, but they couldn’t help but feel a bad premonition about it

Tobio pointed his index finger up

“I’ate the second floor”

In response to Tobio’s suggestion, Natsu the situation of the first floor for a little longer,” and the four people once again separated

Tobio and Lavinia, returningthe stairs He spotted so a hu over at Lavinia, she had seen the saaze directed upwards She seized her ear and said

“……Natsume, Shark, I want you to be cautious”

This was an announcement of preparation for battle In an instant a tense atmosphere dominated the house

“……Jin”

Tobio, calave such an order As he sed his saliva, the puppy ascended the stairs from behind him

With all the effort in his s the second floor first, his nose sniffing began sniffing around Discovering it was nothing, he turned towards the A little relieved, Tobio ascended the stairs

Jin was clearly a great asset For such a small body, he provided much reassurance If it had just been him by hiht of that human silhouette, and likely would have started to panic

In the midst of his nervousness, his ues

Having ascended to the second floor, Tobio turned his feet towards Sae’s rooh the dusty corridor, he slowly turned the doorknob to Sae’s room

This roo irl’s room, the interior of which had been kept tidy and was clean

The bed and the desk were as they had been On top of the desk, nothing had been placed Tobio, as familiar with this desk, opened the drawer It held some study materials and notebooks

Searching through Sae’s desk almost made him lose his nerve, but even so he opened the drawer, and Tobio recognized a certain notebook What he took out was Sae’s diary

Holding it in his hand, he began flipping through the pages It was a silly diary Reading the nu to himself made him feel embarrassed from the bottom of his heart, so he couldn’t look at them directly However, each and every detail that had been written was aly funny

He stopped at the entry from the day before the trip

‘May: Tomorrow is finally the formal day of the trip to Hawaii, however Tobio’s condition hasn’t fully recovered I had wanted for us to go together, but it can’t be helped To, I expect I’ll head to the airport Too sleep early’

Right after that day’s description, the diary was interrupted It was natural Since the oas presently absent——

After Lavinia finished engraving her ic into the floor, they left Sae’s roo towards Oji-chan and Oba-chan’s room

Inside the second floor roo to Sae’s parents—— ……Since the family had disappeared, and since this included Sae’s parents, in regards to the iterand place in the house where it could likely be

Having entered Sae’s parents’ roo apologetic However, it seemed that it absolutely could not be found ——Then, he discovered a safe inside of the closet Perhaps here……Tobio had such thoughts

At that moment, the door to the room opened with a kii sound Tobio and Lavinia looked over that here there was a single young girl standing on the other side of the door That figure was recognizable It was obvious

“Sae!”

Appearing right in front of his eyes, this person was his childhood friend Sae She was jii staring in his direction

……At last, we’ve met up!

His eyes , driven by a sudden desire to immediately rush over to her, he frantically resisted

“Sae, it’s me Can you understand me?”

However, despite Tobio’s cry, the figure he had perceived over there, Sae, showed no change Before his eyes Sae was aze perceived so

The prayer beads on her left hand——

That, it was sonizable It was the precious prayer beads he’d inherited fro he’d passed to Sae before the trip

Tobio could do nothing but show a sorrowful expression

Keeping the chronology up until now in mind, she should have become an Utsuse her during the present situation

But, he could not issue simple instructions to Jin That Sae would be killed, this was not so he could permit

Sy with the present situation, Lavinia was carefully observing

“As expected, slaying her is impossible huh”

The voice of a third party was heard froed nizable Indeed, from that time when they’d battled at the departuy called Douuy had appeared before their eyes

……This guy, Doumon had called him ‘Himejima’

The tough looking man spoke slowly

“I aht already be aware, I have undertaken the role of leader of the organization called the ‘Utsuseency’”

Indeed, this guy was the head of the organization that began this series of events——

……Without warning, the opponents’ boss has ht for an instant that this man would appear accompanied by Sae

“……The Five Principal Clans”

Tobio murmured in that way

Hearing that the reat interest

“Hred gang If that’s true then it s simple ——Those of you who possess the ‘Four Fiends’ will be retrieved”

“…………”

He hiards to the plan, he was an irregular existence

However, the hed

“Of course, you are also souess I should call you Himejima Tobio?”

……They’ve already investigated my circumstances

The

It eha was a member of the ‘Hi with desire for this power that issued from their family but……”

“……I arandmother’s maiden name”

“Although you may think so, as far as those in the underside of this country are concerned the Himejima bloodline takes precedence However, it’s ironic For the ‘Dog’ to be of the genealogy of one as expelled from the Clan……”

Hiazed at Jin His pupils were dark, containing absolutely no eave off the sense that it had been manufactured

“……Speaking honestly, I believe my only desire has been partly fulfilled ——Ikuse Tobio, was how you introduced yourself huh A ‘de’ has been born from that Himejima Moreover, it is an authentic creation coree of comedy is boundless Rather than the ‘red’ of the ‘Suzaku (Vermillion Bird)’ of shi+ntoisiven birth to ‘jet black’ Having acknowledged you since your face reuess I am sufficiently satisfied”

The man shook his head

“However, the minds of my own brethren don’t think that way ……I must conform to the ‘Project’ until the end as the one whose responsibility is to govern that organization”

…………

……What this s Hi, he couldn’t understand the he said was mixed with deep-seated enmity

The

“Ikuse Tobio, why not lend us your power? No, for argu us down, for the present——instead of us, why not overthrow those monsters from the Five Principal Clans?”

“……You’re saying what’s convenient for you Moreover I don’t understand the significance of that……!!”

Tobio expressed his displeasure at his unilateral way of speaking To think that it had reached the point of hia else, to proclaim such ridiculous words while Sae was beside his, it was intolerable

Seeing that, the first emotion that man shoas to put on that pleasant smile

“……Draw that ominous blade of yours, and you shall be made aware of my responsibility”

The er At that instant——Sae, who had been standing beside Himeji horizontally Thereupon, the shadow at her feet began to wriggle as though it possessed intention, spreading throughout the roo controlled The shadow that had spread out bulged, forure

“——That’s”

Tobio could do no more that to widen his eyes in shock at what appeared before hile enormous wild beast Jet black fur——it was the er than the Barbary Lion which is the largest lion Its flashi+ng golden eyes were filled with bloodlust Baring its bare sharp fangs, it raised a lol

Through the pores all over his body, a chilling sensation was transh his skin, Tobio was forced to realize it ……This lion, it was different froht up until now From the basic ‘structure’, it was a monster on a whole other level——

With Tobio’s whole body tre with fear, only Jin boldly faced the lion, co posture Without understanding the difference of his opponent’s power he did not pointlessly raise a growl

——For the sake of protecting theup his small body

Regarding Jin’s state of excessively brave loyalty, Tobio was deeply er shaking in fear in the least In such a situation, he would not betray Jin’s courage He absolutely would not It was his duty as this puppy’s master

Himejima Hanezu spoke from beside the lion that had appeared from Sae’s shadow

“……This was developed by a group ofwith us ——It’s called the ‘Cowardly Leo’ This one experiment is the bearer of the nucleus of our ‘Four Fiends Project’ Toujou Sae alone was the only test subject who could adapt to it”

……Sae is co, the killing intent enveloping its body is keenly distinguishable

Lavinia scowled at the lion with a rare face of annoyance and spoke to the man

“……Lion……one of the three has already finished being manifested? This is the reality behind ‘their’ experiment (TN: the ‘their’ used here is feminine)?”

“……The young lady of Grau Zauberer {Grey Magician} (TN: Grau Zauberer is Gerician) What I report to you at this tiood if you could convey it to Lord Pheles ——They are serious”

Hearing that Lavinia let out a voice of complete displeasure

“…………How utterly unpleasant”

As Lavinia pointed her wand at the ical communicator in his ear

‘Ikuse-kun! The house, it’s been surrounded!’

——!!

Hearing that Tobio turned around Turning towards the rooht of a ure one of his fellow students there Its hostile gaze was releasing a thirst for blood Arriving on the verandah of the second floor, in the house’s surroundings, as well as in the garden, it see that there was a swarm of Utsusemi

He gave Hied his shoulders

“You want to quarrel with estion”

The er as he continued to talk

“If it’s okay with all of you, we could show you around our research facility All of your fellow students you’re looking for are on standby there, along with their relatives who are in good health Consider first, with this lion, and the house being surrounded by an abundance of Utsusemi, I’m sorry to say there’s no safe way out Given that this is the case, can we ask that you co as peacefully as possible?”

Meaning that they were being personally invited to their hideout But then, there was no doubt they would be taken as unconditional captives…… However, they holeheartedly pursuing the truth behind that location

——Was this a chance, or was this a desperate situation?

Either way, cutting their way out of here would co victory……in all honesty, such an outco the restricted conditions of the ‘Blade fro over the past three days, with this lion and Hi decisive power

Even in the case that man called Doumon, he possessed more power than a multitude of Utsusemi As the man who commanded those of such supernatural power, the possibility that he eaker than Doumon was nonexistent

More than anything else, in the confined space of this room, the ‘Blade from the Shadoould appear to be an ordinary attack, due to the restriction on h Jin possessed a shtly affected……the chance of injuring Sae as as far too high

……Then, should we escape? No, even supposing we escaped, someone would invariably be seriously injured

…………

……In no way losing interest in the current circu out of his breast pocket

——It was a square wooden box

There were talis that, Tobio instantly reached a thought

That, it randmother passed to Sae’s parents which is connected to his roots——

Himejima Hanezu spoke

“There is so it for some time What it is, I haven’t checked at this point Is it the same for you, Ikuse Tobio-kun? In terms of the contents——“

The er at Sae

“Which one you desire more I wonder?”

Thehis nerves ……Directing his sights towards Sae, her eyes didn’t contain any emotion towards Tobio

Lavinia spoke to Tobio

“……I entrust this decision to Toby Surely, Natsume and Shark will also understand If I can also speak honestly, I ahtfully curious about their institution”

As though sensing Tobio’s inner thoughts Lavinia had spoken thus

After several second Tobio bowed his head, his face showing an expression that was full of bitterness, and grasped his ear to instruct Natsume and Samejima

“……Minagawa-san, Sa us! We’ll meet up afterwards without fail!”

What Tobio chose——was for Natuset away They couldn’t have all of their ht it would be a better if they had multiple options He and Lavinia would re The final goal of those guys was the ‘Four Fiends’ In that case, the tho are included in that ought to be the ones to get away

‘——!! Ju-just a minute, Ikuse-kun!? What you said——‘

‘Ikuse! What happened up there!?’

In contrast to the surprised Natsume, Samejima seemed to somehow or another suspect Tobio’s true intentions

‘Let’s go, Birdbrain! It seeuished Ikuse have gotten theuys outside were drawn to gather here for us, it seeo’

‘B-but! Aah geez! Ikuse-kun, Lavinia, I forbid you to die okay! We will absolutely welcome you back!’

Listening to the voice of his colared at the man

The man exhaled

“Indeed, since it’s only us who reet away huh Whether for all ht, or for all members to escape, both are far from prudent decisions”

Hi this, tied some kind of token to his hand and the space inside the room warped Fro screen) appeared A scarlet divine bird had been elegantly painted on it The fusule roo like a ‘gate’ for crossing between locations by linking one point to another

Hi to Tobio and Lavinia

“Well now, after you”

Holding Jin in his arhts

——Jin, please accouys from within the whale’s belly, will save Sae and everyone

In spite of the fear that was clinging to his body, Tobio’s fighting spirit did not waver