Airi and Shiori parted ways at the station, heading to their hotel in Kyoto city.
Yugen and Kutsuco returned directly to their inn in Arashiyama, where Remi, who had already arrived and was relaxing, called out to them.
"Welcome back, Yugen-kun and Kutsuco-chan."
"We're back!"
"We've returned. Was there anything from your family?"
"Yes. Let's make some tea first, shall we?"
Since Remi took the lead in preparing tea, they sat on cushions and waited patiently.
The tea Remi offered was just the right temperature, making it easy to drink.
"It's delicious."
"Thank you. My family apparently owns tea fields in Uji, and they insisted I use it for Kagurazaka-dono's hospitality."
"Uji... By any chance, does it include information on Zhou Gongjin?"
"Yes."
The Yasuda family, a pillar of the 'Nine-Headed Dragon,' originally descended from the Kyoto Suwa clan.
After the fall of the Muromachi Shogunate, the then-head of the Kyoto Suwa clan served Akechi Mitsuhide, but they were defeated at the Battle of Yamazaki.
Afterwards, under imperial directive, the Kagurazaka family took in the Kyoto Suwa clan and had them adopt the name Yasuda, one of the Suwa Shintou families, thus establishing their origin.
Currently, they are based in the former southern Kyoto Prefecture.
The National Defense Ground Force Uji Second Supply Base was constructed on land "leased" from the Yasuda family (land owned by the Kagurazaka and Kaminaga families is treated as special private property, so on paper, it's listed as 'government land acquisition').
"Yugen-kun might have noticed, but apparently Zhou Gongjin entered the base on the 13th.
Since then, there's been no sign of movement."
"Hmm, were there no signs of 'Kimontonkou' activation either?"
"No. Not yet, even with the anti-sorcery barrier provided by the Head."
The six individuals who have actually experienced the sorcery 'Kimontonkou' from their Yokohama experience are Moto-tsugu, Leo, Erika, Yugen, Miyuki, and Shizuku.
Based on that experience, a specialized anti-sorcery barrier technique, including countermeasures for 'Kimontonkou,' was provided to the Yasuda family via Princess Sen.
"If he's not escaping... is he trying to buy time?"
"Or perhaps he's treating injuries sustained in combat with Saburou Nagura.
It's also possible he's replenishing his hand of cards consumed there."
"...Eh? That name, wasn't he one of the Saegusa family's bodyguards who died in Arashiyama last week?
How is Zhou Gongjin related to that?"
"Yes, about that, I'd like to keep this a secret."
Remi knew Nagura partly due to her family's connections, but also because she had met him by chance during a trouble involving Chiaki at last year's thesis competition.
Yugen revealed that Zhou Gongjin was the culprit who killed Saburou Nagura.
This surprised both Kutsuco and Remi.
"In short, the Saegusa family tried to kill Zhou Gongjin, right?
But if the Yotsuba family is pursuing Zhou Gongjin with the cooperation of Lord Kujou, was that the result of a Master Clan conference?"
"No, at the Master Clan conference, Mother alluded to Zhou Gongjin's existence to the family heads, but neither Zhou Gongjin's name nor a resolution for his pursuit was decided.
Moreover, it seems Tatsuya and others acted upon discovering the fact that they had met with Lord Kujou.
This raises the possibility that the Saegusa family had a problematic relationship with Zhou Gongjin that they didn't want revealed."
"...My goodness."
As a precautionary measure, they thoroughly investigated Zhou Gongjin's actions, including media reports, and discovered that in mid-February of this year—before the Parasite incident concluded—he had met Nagura in Yokohama Chinatown.
While it would make sense if he happened to be dining at a regular spot in Chinatown, Kouichi Saegusa, the head of the Saegusa family, was also present.
Zhou Gongjin, Saburou Nagura, and Kouichi Saegusa.
With such key figures gathered in one place, it was impossible for nothing to happen.
As if to confirm this, media reports influenced by the Saegusa family showed an overwhelming proportion of anti-magic articles after April.
The one who tacitly approved this after being consulted was none other than Retsu Kujou.
After the 'Stellar Furnace' experiment, scandal articles about opposition party politicians became prominent due to pressure from surrounding media.
Then, in early June, Zhou Gongjin and Saburou Nagura met, and immediately after, Zhou Gongjin visited the Kujou family and met with the current head.
This strongly suggests that Zhou Gongjin facilitated a conversation with the current Kujou family head via Nagura, Kouichi Saegusa, and Retsu Kujou.
In the original story, Gu Jie, who learned about the Parasite Doll via "Fliethschalfr," moved Zhou Gongjin, who then visited the Kujou family without any prior notice.
At this point, one should have suspected something, or rather, that the Kujou family's secret development of the Parasite Doll had been discovered, but the current head chose to accept him, planning to use him to enhance the Parasite Doll.
As a result, continental sorcerers are troubling the 'Traditionalists' in Nara and Kyoto, and the Kujou family should admit their fault and apologize, but they cannot.
No, doing so could lead to suspicion that the Kujou family developed the Parasite Doll, and at worst, the order of the magician society could collapse.
In any case, despite being inevitably forced to relinquish their seat among the Ten Master Clans in the future, they are futilely struggling and only worsening the situation.
To return to the topic, when Kousen consulted him, he apparently noticed Zhou Gongjin's visit (he was feeling unwell and had skipped school that day).
At that time, he heard from a servant that the visitor was "introduced by the former head."
Even Zhou Gongjin himself might have been wary that an unannounced visit, breaking custom, would cause unnecessary suspicion.
Although, by the time he was targeted by the Yotsuba, it had become a meaningless act.
"Actually, at that time, I copied and retrieved Nagura's CAD data."
"Eh, Yugen-kun was at the scene too?"
"I was.
However, my objective was the 'retrieval' of Nagura-san, and they didn't notice my presence, so I ignored them."
Ultimately, Tatsuya should handle Zhou Gongjin's capture, and it wasn't his place to intervene as he would become involved with the 'Elder Council'.
Furthermore, this would be a significant achievement for Tatsuya's inauguration as the next head of the Yotsuba family, so he judged it wasn't his territory to act, to silence the branch family heads of the Yotsuba.
He also believed that the matter concerning Nagura held great significance for Tatsuya to accumulate achievements.
"'Retrieval,' you say...
Knowing you, Yugen, did you retrieve his soul?"
"Strictly speaking, it's called a 'konpaku' (soul-spirit).
It's a type of 'phantom' or 'ghost,' but Zhou Gongjin killing Nagura allowed me to conduct an experiment."
While defining 'soul' itself is difficult, he knew of the parasite's human control process—the event in the original story where Zhou Gongjin tried to possess Kousen's body—as knowledge.
Therefore, with Pixie and Alice's cooperation, he measured and analyzed the parasite's spirit particle waves.
The mental body that separates from the physical body at the moment of death traditionally cannot be maintained due to the loss of its psion supply structure, and thus decomposes down to particle units.
He believes this part is undeniably true, given the fact that parasites cannot maintain themselves independently in either the real or informational dimensions.
From the examples of Pixie and the Parasite Dolls, he considered that if an independent informational body composed of spirit particles could be halted in some way, then a human mental body—a 'soul'—could perhaps be preserved.
Fortunately, he had collected more than enough data on Parasite Dolls during the Steeplechase Cross Country, and the basic construction itself was completed without difficulty.
Of course, it couldn't be used on living humans, so he hadn't experimented, but he decided to utilize this incident.
"For convenience, I've named it 'Kougyoku' (Crimson Jewel).
It was originally a byproduct created during the process of making something else, but it proved useful after I completed it to see if it could be used for anything."
"Sealing a soul... you don't seem to want to spread that."
"Of course not.
Theoretically, it's something that could enable 'infinite reincarnation,' so if rulers or ambitious individuals knew about it, it would undoubtedly trigger a world war."
"That's a relic-level item, Yugen!"
He somehow devised a way to utilize Nagura's power, which was too valuable to let simply die.
'Tenyou Shouran' might have erased the blood needles of Nagura remaining in Zhou Gongjin, so this was his conceived alternative.
Fortunately, due to the effects of experiments related to modern magic, there were many experimental subjects and modified bodies that couldn't be released to the world, so he had thought he could make arrangements as needed, but he was fortunate to be spared that much trouble.
However, he intends to do this only once.
The 'Kougyoku' itself will be buried deep beneath the Kagurazaka main residence, and its usage method will not be passed on to anyone other than the Kagurazaka family head.
Disassembling it might be faster, but he intends to keep it as an "insurance" in case the imperial family ever faces extinction.
After all, this 'Kougyoku' itself contains an interesting byproduct: if the Tenjin Magic 'Amaterasu' or 'Tsukuyomi' is used with 'Kougyoku' as a catalyst, the Five Elements mutual destruction and mutual generation can be activated independently.
When Princess Sen tried it, this effect was confirmed.
However, Princess Sen's desire to pass the headship to Yugen remained unchanged, and she judged it best to keep this as an emergency trump card.
The manufacturing method for this exists only in his head, and it was originally just an accidental creation during the process of replicating relics for the 'Stellar Furnace,' so he has no intention of making multiple.
Just in case, for future insurance, he did teach Princess Sen the manufacturing method, but she told him, "I can understand why the Parasites would want to avoid Yuu-kun."
He wanted to express his sincere regret.
"So, the only people who know about this are me, Mother, Fumiya, Ayako-chan, and the two of you."
"I absolutely won't tell. No, I can't tell."
"Precisely. It could cost us our lives, let alone our engagements."
"I'm not the Demon Lord, you know."
He understood their situation, but he wished they would stop being scared just by looking at him.
No matter who he was, he had decided only to talk to sensible people, and it was somewhat unsatisfying to hear it from people who had pushed themselves on him as fiancées or lovers.
After this, when the two told him things like, "We'll do anything, please forgive us," he reflexively unleashed his mother's patented Thor's Hammer (temple grind).
During this, Kutsuco thrashed in pain, causing him to push her down, Remi cheered him on with "Go on, do more," and Kutsuco, blushing, looked at him with an expectant gaze, as if wondering, "Am I going to be eaten?"
What happened after that, you ask...?
Even if his mental age was advanced, what man would do nothing when invited by attractive women who held affection for him?
No, none would.
If there were, they would probably be an exceptionally unperceptive person or someone completely unaffected by lust.
"..."
"Onii-sama? You're looking out the window, is something the matter?"
"No, I felt like someone was talking about me, but it seems it was just my imagination.
Perhaps I'm tired from recent busyness."
"Then, for Honoka to-"
"Shizuku, you were just about to say something outrageous, weren't you!?"
At that time, in the student council room after school, Miyuki tilted her head and asked Tatsuya, who had suddenly looked out the window.
Tatsuya convinced himself it was due to being overly stressed, and as Shizuku was about to propose something, Honoka, anticipating what she would say, blushed and frantically covered Shizuku's mouth, interjecting.
"..."
"Izumi-chan, is something wrong? You're touching your chest."
"Ah, no, it's nothing... Onii-sama is..."
"...If I say anything now, I feel like I'll be put on the spot."
"I agree..."
Hearing this exchange, Celia asked Izumi, who was idly checking her own chest, but Izumi hastily tried to cover it up.
Mizunami and Riri, in low voices, didn't feel like commenting on the atmosphere and fell silent.
◇ ◇ ◇
"...I messed up again, dammit."
He wasn't regretting having a relationship itself; rather, he resented himself for being swayed by the atmosphere.
After relaxing in the bath before dinner, he enjoyed a luxurious meal and then took another bath.
There was no bath raid today, but in the room, perhaps reading the mood, three sets of futons were laid out perfectly side-by-side.
The two had gone to the onsen in turns, so he resigned himself to it and lay down on the middle futon when his communication device, placed by his pillow, rang.
The caller was someone Yugen knew, but he was curious about the rare voice call and pressed the answer button.
"Hello, this is Kagurazaka."
"Ah... Yugen, are you free now?"
The caller was Shizuku, but she sounded breathless, as if she had overheated.
He surmised that Honoka was staying at the Kitayama residence, so he asked if something had happened related to that.
"I'm fine, but... by the sound of it, did you and Honoka take a long bath and overheat?"
"...As expected, Yugen, you see right through everything.
Were you peeking?"
"How could I peek, you idiot."
Even if the other person was his fiancée, and even if he had the desire to peek, things that were morally wrong were wrong.
It wasn't impossible, but he would end up seeing not just Shizuku but also Honoka naked.
Even if he tried to hide it, Shizuku might find out, and Honoka would likely become withdrawn.
He didn't want to take such risks, so he was extremely careful when using 'Kaleidoscope'.
"Besides, I'm in Kyoto, you know.
Even if I have that kind of relationship with Shizuku, I don't want to do anything that would make her dislike me."
"...Yugen, you're such a gigolo after all.
Because you know where to draw the line, I love you even more... so much that I want you to love all of me."
"Shizuku-san, are you overheated and have your screws flown off?"
Then, hearing Shizuku's conversation, Honoka interjected with, "What are you saying, Shizuku!?"
She was undoubtedly blushing and admonishing the embarrassing remarks.
Then, the other device seemed to switch from voice call to video call, and when he switched to video call as well, Shizuku and Honoka were shown in their nightclothes.
Cooling sheets were stuck to their foreheads, so as he largely expected, they had overheated from taking too long a bath.
"Yugen-san, um, it seems Shizuku said some strange things."
"Don't worry about it, Honoka.
But seeing you two like this, it seems you overheated in the bath...
I won't ask about the contents of your girls' talk."
"I asked if you didn't want to go to Kyoto, and Honoka understood.
Also, I said Honoka was a good woman.
And, I couldn't forgive her chest, so I kneaded it."
"Shizukkuuu!? Even if it's Yugen-san, don't say such things so honestly--!!"
As expected, what happened in the original story was happening here too.
But honestly speaking, Shizuku's chest was above average even for her age group.
He wouldn't say whose fault that was.
Still, Shizuku probably envied larger breasts.
"Hahaha... Well, Honoka is easy to like by nature.
I understand Shizuku's feelings.
Honoka, I'm sorry, but you'll have to stay at the Kitayama residence for a little longer."
"N-no, I heard from Shizuku that Yugen-san asked her to."
"Yugen, when you come back, lots of m-"
The call was cut off just as Shizuku was about to say something.
Honoka probably cut the call in a panic.
Based on what could be predicted from her interrupted statement, it wouldn't be surprising if Honoka realized his relationship with Shizuku.
However, forcing that upon Honoka would certainly lead to nothing good.
Then, as if reading the atmosphere, Kutsuco and Remi returned from the bath in yukata after he finished the call.
"We're back!
Oh, were you talking to someone?"
"To Shizuku and Honoka.
Shizuku was about to say something when the call was cut...
Anyway, let's discuss tomorrow's plan a bit.
We're scheduled to meet Tatsuya and the others in the morning."
They spread electronic paper on the tatami, discussed tomorrow's plans for a while, and then went to sleep.
He really wanted to be discreet as they would be active from the morning, but he gave in to the close physical contact from Kutsuco and Remi.
Needless to say, the two were in a good mood the next morning.
-----------------------------
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