Volume 2 Chapter 4 (1/2)
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Natsume didn't show up for the afternoon classes
Harutora was currently still in the classroom, about one hour after the afternoon classes had ended
He frowned listlessly, an appearance doomed to repetition, his fierce eyes like those of an intolerably hungry, fasting tiger Kon hadn't materialized, but if she did, she would definitely feel deeply anxious because of the aardness
Almost no other students could be seen in the classroo behind in the classrooh
Touji sat in a seat two seats away from Harutora, his back to the chair with his feet propped on the desk, un so that it was impossible to see whether he ake or asleep Kyouko was sitting in a seat farther away from the other tith her cell phone screen flipped open, constantly pressing buttons and trying her best to show an unconcerned appearance as if this had nothing to do with her However, she didn't leave first, but instead stayed behind in the classroom
They were all waiting for Natsume to return to the classroom
The three of the over the vast classroo out from Harutora as its center
The sound of a door opening rang out and the door to the classroom opened
The clueless Tenma hastily jumped back in surprise once he walked into the classroom He seemed to have believed that no one was left inside the classroo inside also surprised hiazes that shot at him as soon as the door opened surprised him so much that he almost withdrew and fled the scene
”Wh, What are you doing? And you three Why are you all together?”
”Nothing”
Tenma asked nervously, and Harutora coldly replied to him But it was fortunate for Ten to respond to hinored his question He felt like he had entered a dangerous and sensitive area, straining the kind smile on his face
”I, I see Ah, but it's perfect that Harutora-kun is in the classrooave ive it to you”
”To me?”
Ten rod in his hand, and one end was set with a metal tip, with a h six other ss like the shakujou[1] a
Harutora felt shocked, surprise all over his face, and Touji and Kyouko's gazes clearly showed great interest after taking in the shakujou one after another
”What's that?”
”It's a shakujou, have you never seen one before?”
”I've seen one, but why are you giving this kind of thing”
”Didn't that wooden sword from yesterday break? Sensei wanted you to use this instead”
”Hey, could he ami battles?”
”I don't think so Sensei was probably dissatisfied that the wooden sword soe”
Ten like he wasn't very confident
Indeed, after the fight yesterday had ended, Ohtoe) that he had enchanted hi: ”This is way too ridiculous!” It seemed that he hadn't expected the wooden sword to coet where the significance of revenge came in
”So annoying”
Harutora frowned, taking the shakujou from Tenma's hands
The shakujou was heavy, but ood, since it was easier to handle than the iave off
But even if he accepted this kind of thing, not only would it occupy more space, it would just create ht now so it didn't matter, but there wasn't actually much space in his dorm room
”Sensei wanted ive it to you as soon as possible, could it be that he already knew you were still in the classroom?”
”He already Why would he know? I didn't run into him”
”I, I don't know that But speaking of that, why are you and the others still in the classroom, Harutora-kun?”
Tenma asked Harutora, no malice at all discernable in his tone Harutora puffed out his cheeks upon hearing that like a child losing his temper
”Natsuht?” Touji leisurely replied from the side
”Ah, right, that's very curious This should be the first tiht?”
”It seeht with this idiot Kurahashi+ was there at the time”
”R, Really?”
Ten farther away Since the memories of what had happened the past two days were still fresh, the look Tenave Kyouko was obviously a bit surprised Even if she had become the focus of the topic, Kyouko still stubbornly stared at her cell phone screen, refusing to raise her head
”What do youto those special classes That suit-wearing ain before I left” Harutora spoke, his anger still not fully disappeared
”Special classes? What are those?”
”You didn't know? That person always disappears so breaks and after class ends, the teacher even specially comes to receive him”
Ten face after Harutora's explanation But once he said ”The person who asked you to notify us about him on the first day!” Tenma made a ”huh?” sound and was extremely surprised for some reason
”H, Hold on, Harutora-kun, that was--”
Tenma was about to hastily open hisfast to her silence suddenly interrupted
”Let me first explain, that person just noasn't a teacher, he was a Mystical Investigator”
”Mystical Investigator? You ator?”
”Are there any other Mystical Investigators?”
Kyouko replied coldly Harutora's face sank, and Touji took his feet off the table as if he s up in his chair
”Why would a Mystical Investigator come over and over to look for Natsume?” Harutora asked, his face still serious
”The Mystical Investigator caate the incident that happened before”
”The incident that happened before? What do you mean what happened before?”
Could it be that the Mystical Investigator had come about Dairenji Suzuka? But that incident shouldn't have been , and Kyouko and Ten that
”Harutora-kun, could it be that you didn't hear about it?”
”Hear about what?”
”What's going on, aren't you his shi+kigami? What's up with you two?”
”Hurry up and tell me what exactly happened!”
The two of them both knew about what had happened to Natsume, and he was the only one in the dark That fact annoyed Harutora, and he thundered, agitatedly standing up from his seat
At the same time--
”Harutora-sama!”
Kon suddenly materialized on the desk in front of Harutora
Why was that? Thesound like an explosion rang out and the een the classroo everywhere
The four of theasped, frozen and unable to move from where they were Only Kon shoariness on her face, drawing the wakizashi+ from her waist
Kon's wide eyes looked - upwards
There was so creature above the frozen four people and Kon who had taken a stance
It was a hazy, dark cloud A big cloud of fog that wasn'ton covering the ceiling of the classroo its body grueso hat had broken theand rushed into the room
Harutora and the others were scared into a panic upon seeing this
”Wh, What is that? Hey, Tenma, do you know?”
”I, I don't know! I've never seen that thing!”
”Tens too?”
”I don't know! Why do you always ask me!?”
The cloud of fog rayish white, but a gas black as ink writhed inside it, with dark-red tendrils flowing around covering its entire body In addition, it would often burst in a spasht
That appearance was like an erupting volcano belching out smoke, but also like a never-before-seen deep-sea creature, or even like a hideous chiest part was its texture, as that thing's outer forht as ifwhat had broken the
”A kodoku[2]”
Kyouko spoke as she stared upwards, and the other three boys simultaneously turned to face her
”This thing is a kodoku?”
Touji quickly spoke up to confiras, her face pale
The kodoku was quite a mainstreas like spiders or centipedes as a vessel By placing a large amount of them in a pot-like tool, they werewas the strongest individual This bug was used to perform the kodoku, na it with the y of the curse, it would becoami
”I, In other words, this thing counts as a shi+kigami?”
”Right And it's even a clearly banned ic”
The kodoku had been designated as a 'curse-type' shi+kigaency's consent, Onmyou law strictly prohibited its creation and use
”B, But this is too strange! There's a barrier around the entire acadeami shouldn't be able to force its way in!”
Harutora rea froauards?
Just then--
The center of the fog expanded, splitting into two halves, a giant eyeball e fro down on the bottoht above Harutora
Horror ran through Harutora's entire body, and Touji's eyes flashed with a sharp light, with Kyouko and Ten out screams
”Harutora-sama, please stay back!”
Kon shouted and leaped upwards, and the floating fog sticking towards the ceiling ly
The fog began descending bit by bit, pieces of it dripping off like rain The dropping fog drew out irregular paths inHarutora and the others
”Uwah! It's co!”
”Tch - H, Hakuou! Kokfuu!”
Kyouko's defensive shi+kigamioff the desk and neatly slashi+ng their katana and spear, slicing up the fog that ca tail for balance as shethe constantly attacking fog with her wakizashi+
The fog that had been attacked showed the 'lag' pheno in ed back with the big cloud of fog on the ceiling, and the
”Kon! Be careful!”
”Please do not worry - Iyaaaah, it touched my t-t-t-tail!”
”U, Uwah! Aah! Save me!”
”Shut up, Tenma! Hurry up and help!”
”No good, htful of them”
The classrooled battle The four of the the three shi+kigami as a shi+eld to combat the kodoku However, they were pushed back step by step by the gradually increasing fog that pressed forth, and finally retreated to the wall on the other side of the corridor
”Really, it's practically endless”
Touji frowned Harutora angrily went ”da to open thebehind his back He unlocked it, but the ouldn't budge no matter what, as if it were stuck
”The on't open! Why is it like that?”
”That's bad! There's a barrier, as it set!”
Kyouko turned around to size up theand called out lightly As she spoke, y that covered not only the , but also the entire surrounding classroom, visibly flowed It seemed like they had been closed off inside the classroom
Touji grabbed a chair, s Kyouko and Tenma flinched in surprise, but the chair smashed into the as easily bounced back It seeed physically
”Can't smash it open, huh Kurahashi+, do you have any way of destroying this barrier?”
”H, Hold on! Can't you see that I'm incredibly busy!”
The kodoku's assault didn't see was tre on Kon and the two Yaksha
”da? Why doesn't anyone notice this commotion!”
”Th, The probleet outside no matter how noisy we are inside the barrier!”
”Tenma! If you have spare time to explain, come over here and help! Those t students are useless amateurs”
Kyouko's expression was hurried, but the situation was quite dangerous Her face paled as she focused on controlling the shi+kigae drops of sweat seeped from her forehead
Tenma hurriedly took charms out from a charm box, but his hand slipped because his movements were too choppy and the charms scattered to the floor He floundered in panic for a moment, then hurriedly picked up the charms from the floor
As he was picking up the charami's blades
A cloud of fog deftly avoided Kokfuu's spear, rushi+ng towards Harutora Harutora readily raised the shakujou in his hands, but Kyouko 'tch'ed and took out a charm from her charm box a step earlier
She used a protection charwafted out, and the fog dissipated as the protective charm burned it up
”Th, Thanks”
”Shut up, don't talk to me!”
Tenma had finally picked up his char the char had now spread everywhere in the classroole cloud didn't pose reat since there was a mob of them
”This thing's goal should be Harutora” At that ti the battle from the , spoke up
”M, Me?”
”It looks like it, from its movements”
Kyouko and Tenlances upon hearing those words
”Could it be Yakou fanatics again?”
”It's very possible Ugh! What a joke!”
The pair's conversation also reached Harutora's and Touji's ears
The first day he had entered the principal had spoken about Yakou fanatics, but as the relationshi+p between Yakou worshi+ppers and this kodoku?
”What's going on!? Do you two know so?”
Harutora asked urgently frolanced at Ten hi
Tenma helplessly opened his mouth:
”Harutora-kun, well, you know Natsume-kun is Yakou's”
”Oh, you're talking about that ruuys are clear about it too, huh”
The principal had given an explanation that touched lightly upon that subject ”So then what?” Tened hi to explain:
”Actually, two days before you guys entered, a fanatic who had heard Natsu to coh person, and in the end he even planned on a forced kidnapping, resulting in both sides using ic”
”What did you say? Two days before we came here?”
Though there had long since been ru for Natsume, he hadn't expected an incident to have happened so recently
”Yeah” Tenma nodded at the shocked Harutora ”Didn't I just say a Mystical Investigator caate that incident I heard that there was a big group of acco that fanatic at the time”
Harutora was stunned Such a big thing had happened, but he hadn't even heard a whisper of it
”B, But, don't Yakou fanatics worshi+p Yakou? Why would they do that? Especially if they truly believe Natsume is Yakou, they wouldn't use a kodoku!”
”Hhts! Also, though the fanatic from before was subdued by teachers who rushed over, he was shouting so up”
”No way!”
In that case, the companions of the fanatic from that time had released the kodoku to make Natsume awaken as Yakou? That really couldn't be called worshi+p, it was simply a twisted and one-sided crazy faith
”damn, what 'special classes'! Why did that person lie to us?”
”I think He probably didn't want you who had just entered to worry too much”
Tens were truly as he said, but even if they weren't, Harutora was already so busy with dealing with his own situation that his , so no wonder Natsume would be so apprehensive and deliberately conceal it
'Harutora, Touji, let's do our best'
Back then, Natsume had said that with a so to soainst fanatics ere eyeing her and to talk about future counter the case Harutora couldn't help but get angry, half at Natsu, and the other half at hi the abnormal situation
Then, Harutora came back to his senses
”Hold on, what about Natsuht now?”
Ten
Since the opponents had used the kodoku to deal with the shi+kigami Harutora, Natsume couldn't be untouched
Moreover, Natsume hadn't co about counterator, and even if it was right after she had fought fiercely with Harutora, she had showed up in class the previous two days Could she have skipped class today because so had happened to make her unable to come?
Kyouko hurriedly glanced at the pale Harutora
”Harutora-kun, didn't you just reproach Natsue to talk to the people around him?”
”That”
”Don't you think that you can't fault him for that? Everyone believes he's Yakou's reincarnation, and when you add the crazy fanatics circling around hi to take the initiative to approach hi trouble to others”
Harutora bit his lower lip, not even noticing that he bit so hard that it bled
'I don't need Harutora-kun to tell s'
No wonder she would respond like that He was a shi+kigami and a childhood friend who knew her secret better than anybody, but had coest irresolvable weak point She would definitely feel eventhose words come out of his mouth
He understood - it was a fact that he had borne in his heart before entering the Acadelected it Since he couldn't keep up with the coursework, he had tossed the things ih that the principal had told hith in order to let himself have a place in the class
Actually, Harutora was the one whose mind was full of only himself, not Natsume
”Natsume”
Jangle - the small loops on the top of the shakujou made noise
Kyouko, Tenma, and even Kon turned around in surprise - towards Harutora's position
Harutora was too busy to care about what kind of expression appeared on their faces
”Kon, move aside”
”H-Harutora-sama? But”
”Hurry up and move aside”
Harutora barked again, and Kon threw off her hesitation, dodging to the side Harutora grasped the shakujou, iap ahead
The fog rapidly attacked, but was fended off by Harutora ni' reaction appeared for a moment, and it split apart
”H, Hold on, why are you doing this again--!”
This was different froame Kyouko couldn't say those words to stop him because that natural counsel couldn't keep up with Harutora's advancing back
Harutora brandished the shakujou, raining blows on the fog with an iure that even rivaled Hakuou and Kokfuu - his reater than the two of them
Kyouko and Tenasp
”Kurahashi+, Ten you involved” Harutora spoke without even turning around
”D, Don't be”
”But please, help ize seriously to you later Please helpand find Natsume”
Harutora pleaded
Tenma shi+vered and clearly nodded his head to reply
Kyouko chewed on her lip
”Since we'll die if we don't fight back, that's all we can do” She replied i on her face ”Sorry” Harutora apologized to the two of theain
”Things should be easier this way Actually, I have an idea, but I don't know if it'll work, so I'd like to ask the seniors to offer their opinion” Touji calmly spoke with a low voice as he watched
When Natsuround with both her hands tied behind her back and the ankles of her feet also tied with rope
She couldn'ther eyes and raising her body
”The ic practice field?”
Natsuami battle had been held yesterday
Why - once she thought this, the memories from before she lost consciousness instantly awoke