Back in Tokyo, Mr. Wan didn’t pick up his story straight away. Instead, he paused and remarked, “Hmm. Someone leveled up, didn’t they?”
“Can you tell, even though we went to the White Room?”
“My consciousness shifted for a moment.”
So, he could tell. I guess I expected no less from Keiko’s master. Just then, Wan’s phone rang. He only exchanged a few words with the caller before hanging up.
“It looks like they detected an unusual flow of power,” the ninja master reported. “The enemy’s familiars were lurking all around.”
“Familiars…”
“Small familiars. They were referred to as ‘bone mice.’”
So, there are familiars out there that are smaller than the crows I use. They must have been deployed over a wide area… keeping an eye on Wan’s whole group.
This meant Diasnexus had been able to find out about their plans for the Demon King. It was surprising how quickly our speculation in the White Room was confirmed.
Bone mice, though. They would be pretty convenient for hiding in the dark, but as soon as they’re discovered, exterminating them wouldn’t be too difficult… Ah, but the problem would be their numbers.
“It seems we’ll need to allocate people to deal with them. We might have to delay the start of our operation.”
“Even that would be a favorable outcome for him.”
“Yeah, it’s frustrating, but that’s the situation.”
This highlighted the nuisance of facing an enemy summoner who utilizes numerous minions—a tactic I had relied heavily on until now.
“It’s as if Kazu himself has become the enemy,” Rushia pointed out.
“Okay, I know you’re joking, but that still stings a bit.”
The corners of Rushia’s mouth curled into a slight, mischievous smile. For her, that was the equivalent of a neon sign that read “I’m teasing you!”
“It means Kazu possesses a terrifying power,” she continued.
“I’m aware of that. The problem is, if one of the Four Heavenly Kings did the same, it would be way more horrifying.”
“That’s right. The original power of the Four Heavenly Kings is much greater than all of us combined.”
According to Wan, it was possible, in theory, to block familiars with barrier magic. However, setting up barrier magic everywhere was impractical, so there were inevitable limits to preventing eavesdropping. We would just have to be more cautious moving forward.
“We’ll significantly change our personnel deployment and move the starting points of the barriers. That should allow us to cope to some extent.”
“How long will that take?”
“We should manage something by evening.”
I glanced down at the bulky wristwatch. Despite everything that had happened in the battle, Mia’s watch was still ticking.
It was around 3 PM now. I remembered sunset was around 5:30, so that left us with about two and a half hours.
✦ ✦ ✦
We went to the White Room a couple of times.
Arisu and Kayla caught up with Shiki, and it seemed like the number of Shadows they defeated had increased significantly. Including Tamaki, who was working separately to them, they said they’d defeated about 25 to 30 in total.
First, Shiki leveled up, then me, followed by Rushia and Kayla. Shiki increased her Throwing skill to 5.
✦ ✦ ✦
After we’d cleared most of the Shadows, everyone reconvened. We boarded a ten-seater van arranged by Mr. Wan—even Coeurl piled in—and began our journey toward the waterfront area. The entire vehicle was protected by a stealth barrier, rendering it invisible to scouting techniques.
We turned into a sealed-off side road within a tunnel, where we switched vehicles. This maneuver would effectively lose any potential pursuers.
“It’s intriguing to know that secret underground passages really exist,” I mentioned.
“They’re not particularly long, though,” Wan chuckled. The ease with which he utilized a route that presumably required government permission indicated his significant influence, despite his appearance as a simple, kindly old man.
“So, why doesn’t the Ghost King directly join forces with the Demon King?” the ninja master asked casually.
“That entity… The Demon King probably isn’t someone the Four Heavenly Kings can just talk or negotiate with, right? Am I wrong, Coeurl?”
“Indeed. That is why my lord decided to defect.”
Coeurl’s telepathy seemed to startle the driver, who caught himself swerving slightly. Coeurl, already looking uneasy, shuddered visibly.
The driver apologized, but the black panther familiar appeared slightly disgruntled.
“Don’t you like cars? Sorry about that.”
“I acknowledge the necessity of using this mode of transportation. It is not a problem. And I am not frightened.”
“Right, got it. Then that’s settled.”
“I really am not frightened.”
The whole group was trying hard to suppress their laughter. Kayla, meanwhile, was straining against her seatbelt, looking out the window with keen interest.
Everything must be so new and fascinating to her, I realized.
As a parent, I wanted to give her a bit of a tour. Unfortunately, there probably wouldn’t be any time for that.
“It’s okay, Papa,” she reassured me. I wondered what my expression was telling as I sat next to her, looking at her face.
My wise daughter looked up at me and smiled brightly. “Kayla’s so happy to be with Papa right now.”
I couldn’t help but hug her. “Me too,” I said.
“Officer, over here!”
“Enough already, Shiki-san,” I said, rolling my eyes.
✦ ✦ ✦
As our vehicle entered the expressway, the TV screen mounted in the front showed the dire situation in Shibuya. Whatever would normally be playing at this hour was interrupted by emergency news broadcasts.
Collapsed buildings. Skeletons and Shadows attacking citizens. The scene was being filmed from a helicopter, likely too disturbing to show what was happening on the ground. Fortunately, we weren’t in the shot—maybe we had been censored out.
If that’s the case, I thought, this whole commotion might also be a kind of camouflage… Yeah, seems like the kind of thing Mr. Wan’s organization might do.
Haneda Airport had been closed since the Demon King appeared. I guess since he was floating south of Urayasu, the airport would have been a quick trip for him.
Meanwhile, Kayla had been paying a lot of attention to Coeurl. She seemed to love his fur, hugging his neck and rubbing her cheek against him, calling him “doggy, doggy.” I didn’t bother pointing out to her that, as a black panther familiar, he was more feline…
Coeurl seemed annoyed at first, but eventually he sat still on the seat, enduring Kayla’s affection. “Just don’t touch the whiskers,” he warned. When Kayla’s hand stroked under his chin, he purred for a moment in pleasure before suddenly shaking his head as if snapping back to reality.
“It’s nothing,” he stated.
“Right, it’s nothing,” Shiki managed to reply, barely suppressing her laughter. Coeurl looked bewildered, then he pushed Kayla away.
“I simply cannot treat the boss’s daughter rudely,” he explained.
“Sorry about that. Thanks for babysitting her a bit longer,” I said, ignoring Coeurl’s glare as we continued our meeting.
We were heading toward Haneda Airport, but Mr. Wan, though he was participating in the meeting, kept glancing at his phone screen. Apparently, he was on some app that showed the movements of the others in his organization.
“Don’t you use social media?” I asked him.
“Those platforms have their data mined by the tech companies. We did consider it, though,” he replied. Suddenly, his expression changed. “It seems there’s been an attack on one of our teams by skeletons. A very powerful individual was among them. One team is fleeing right now. Can you help?”
“Where is it?”
“Somewhere near Umeyashiki.”
The rest of us looked at each other, clueless about the geography, then Mr. Wan flicked open Google Maps to show us.
“It’s close. But this is a residential area, isn’t it…?”
“It’s Tokyo. Everywhere is residential,” Mr. Wan said matter-of-factly.
So… he’s basically giving us the green light to engage in a firefight in a neighborhood.
“Let’s go,” Shiki declared.
“Whatever their intentions, if we protect the barrier, we’ll end up confronting Diasnexus. The worst-case scenario for us right now is facing the Demon King and the Ghost King at the same time.”
“That’s right. Although this might be a trap.”
“Then let’s be lured out. Kazu-kun, can you manage your MP?”
I glanced at Mia’s watch on my wrist. It had been nearly an hour…
“I’ve used Deportation to send back all of my familiars, so I think I can manage.”
The car stopped at the side of the road, and we got out, along with Wan.
“I’ll go with them from here,” Wan informed the driver. “You can go back.”
“You’re coming with us? You know it’s dangerous, right?”
“We can’t have you getting lost, can we?”
“We’re not all Keiko-san, you know.”
“And that’s probably a good thing,” Wan laughed. “But thank you.”
The seven of us, including Coeurl and Mr. Wan, took to the air.
To the west, explosions lit up the sky.