I wonder who she is…
She wore a wide-brimmed hat, and Miyo saw that her neck and shoulders, covered in a white blouse, were very slender.
“Let’s go.”
Miyo walked a few paces behind Eugene as he hurried forward.
Recognizing them, the woman stood up gracefully.
“Good day. Miyo Kudou, is it?”
The beautiful woman, glistening silver hair flowing down behind her, looked at Miyo and flashed a charming smile.
Godou set foot in the old capital at an hour that would technically still count as morning.
He had boarded the overnight limited express train immediately after Kiyoka requested his presence. Godou had anticipated the possibility he would find himself in the old capital following Kiyoka’s first message, so he acted quickly.
Though it was morning, it certainly wasn’t early, as the temperature had already begun to rise in the clear-skied old capital.
Alllll right then. They’re at the Miyakouji estate, yeah?
Kiyoka and Godou hadn’t settled on a specific place to meet. Godou thought for a moment that they should meet up at the Second Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit station, but it was still morning, so he decided to first head to the Miyakouji estate, where Kiyoka was staying.
Godou had come to the old capital several times for work in the past, but this was his first time going to the Miyakouji estate.
The family had produced Gift-users and arts practitioners for hundreds of generations and were the head family of the Kudous. Despite the family’s size, however, none of its members was particularly skilled or exceptional.
Consequently, Godou hadn’t been involved with them very much and never had a reason to visit their home.
He only remembered the general area where the estate was located, and after following his gut on which direction to head, he asked for further directions from passersby until he walked through the Miyakouji gate.
It appeared Kiyoka had explained the situation, as Godou was readily welcomed and led to the annex, where Kiyoka was staying.
“Commander? Comaaaander, are you in there?”
There was no reply. Godou stepped into the annex without a moment’s hesitation.
“Commander?”
Sensing someone in the guest room, Godou came to a halt. After tentatively calling out again, he received a reply.
“That you, Godou?”
“Yup. Your loyal subordinate has answered your summons! Well? Got here fast, didn’t I?”
When Kiyoka slid the screen open and appeared from within, his face was drained of all color to a chalk white, and his expression was taut and stern.
Wh-what in the world happened here?
Godou had never seen Kiyoka looking so weak and defeated. It was inconceivable. The man’s force of will was clearer and stronger than anyone he knew.
Shooting a glare at Godou as he stood there in shock, Kiyoka shut the screen behind him. In that brief moment, Godou saw someone lying on the futon in the room.
Something about this was giving him a bad feeling.
“Commander, why isn’t Miyo with you?”
“…She won’t wake up.”
“What…? Huh? What do you mean she won’t wake up…?”
A shadow passed over Kiyoka’s face, and he lowered his eyes. He had paid only the bare minimum attention to his personal appearance, wearing his casual kimono without his hair tied up at all.
He lacked all his usual vigor, seeming as though his soul had left his body or his mind was elsewhere.
“Did something happen to Miyo?”
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t wake up this morning… I had a doctor look at her, and they said she’s just sleeping and not in any danger, but they still didn’t know why she won’t wake up.”
Godou was simply at a loss for words.
However, he immediately roused himself back to normal, realizing now wasn’t the time to be stunned stiff. Without any hesitation, Godou slapped Kiyoka on the back.
“You have to get ahold of yourself. There’s a good chance Eugene might have something to do with this.”
Kiyoka looked at Godou with a start.
“What do you mean?”
“Eugene is a Gift-user. On top of that, his family is… They’re kind of like the Usubas of England, or at least, I heard a rumor to that effect when I was abroad. I never personally saw Eugene use his Gift, and I had totally forgotten about him until you mentioned him to me.”
For the past few days—ever since he had seen the long-forgotten name in the letter from Kiyoka—Godou had dug back into his memories of his time abroad over and over again.
Sorcery was a power that resembled a systemized version of the jinxing arts in Godou’s homeland, and compared to the arts he knew, the input used to cast sorceries was the same, while the method used to produce its effects was different. That was the broad overview of it.
In England, sorcery was extremely well developed, and Gifts that relied on one’s innate potential were not regarded as highly as they were here in the Empire. Everyone at school had been studying and researching sorcery.
It was for this reason that Godou had never paid much attention to the rumor that Eugene possessed a Gift of his own. Besides, Godou himself never openly revealed much about his own Gift, either.
“If Eugene has a Gift like the Usubas that affects the human mind, then he could be able to prevent someone from waking up, right?”
“You may be correct, but…Miyo can use her Dream Sight if she’s asleep. She should be able to do anything. Would it even be possible to keep her locked inside a dream?”
That point had stuck out to Godou, too.
“Okay, maybe she’s having a very realistic dream, and since she’s mistaking it for reality, it hasn’t even occurred to her she needs to escape…?”
“Either that, or she is experiencing something that makes her so happy, she doesn’t want to wake up. If that is the case…”
Kiyoka glanced with a mixed look at the closed sliding door. Godou could generally surmise what he was getting at.
“Miyo is more than happy enough in the real world, Commander. I’m pretty sure, for her, the kind of happiness that would make her want to stay in a dream forever can only be found in the waking world.”
“…I hope you’re right.”
Following this, Kiyoka explained everything that had happened to them since coming to the old capital.
The young man named Eugene whom they’d met in the hotel restaurant on the day of their arrival. The mysterious title of shaman princess the man had mentioned.
Miyo saving a young girl in the Miyakouji family from insomnia, and the Miyakouji men who attacked Miyo out of resentment toward the Kudou family. And finally, the connection between these men and Eugene.
Godou could only groan.
Eugene appeared to be a kind and mild-mannered gentleman, but because he pursued his goals with the utmost dedication, he readily engaged in behavior others would view as abnormal… A perilous person to cross paths with.
Eugene was the kind of man who would even exhume a grave if it contained something he wanted to know.
Making a pass at a woman he had just met or inciting unrelated men to attack her were things Eugene would do without a second thought.
If there was anything Godou could trust about Eugene, it was the man’s tendency to get up to no good.
“…He hasn’t changed at all.”
“Is he really that cunning?”
“It’s not cunning. I just think he’s a simple man. He’s oblivious to small details, for better and for worse. Abnormally straightforward and direct.”
An amused look came to Kiyoka’s face as he tried to digest what Godou was saying.
It was rather natural for him to struggle with imagining someone who was abnormally straightforward and genuine. Eugene Wood had a few loose screws rattling around in his head; that was for sure.
“For now, let’s arrest Eugene. Him using a Gift on a citizen while in foreign lands is more than enough of a reason for us to capture him under the military’s jurisdiction.”
“…Right.”
All at once, Kiyoka’s face tightened, and the Kiyoka Kudou whom Godou was accustomed to appeared before him. Kiyoka turned around with firm footing and took a step forward before turning back to Godou.
“I’ll get changed. You should take a minute to relax and then get yourself prepared for anything.”
“Yup, you got it.”
The instant Kiyoka realized what he needed to do, his bearing completely transformed. His unyielding figure seemed all the more magnificent.
That’s how it’s supposed to be.
Godou was sure a normal person would never even consider leaving his wife’s side while she remained unable to wake up.
But in Kiyoka’s case?
There was no telling when Miyo would wake up. Even if he waited, there was a chance she wouldn’t return to consciousness for quite some time. It would be far more effective to find Eugene and capture him. At least, Godou was convinced this was Kiyoka’s thought process.
Love wasn’t merely about crying and nestling close at times like this, and Miyo would almost certainly accept Kiyoka’s thoughts on the subject.
That was simply how much trust there was between the two of them.
“Maaaan. I am so jealous.”
Godou heaved a sigh.
“Welcome. You’re Ms. Miyo Kudou, yes?”