Yugen had no intention of just watching. He took a breath and leaped from the rooftop, plummeting toward the crowd. He landed with a bone-jarring kick into the ribs of one of the men. The man was sent flying into a wall, unconscious but alive.
"Yugen-san!" Miyuki cried out, her face lighting up with relief.
Ignoring the men for a moment, Yugen focused on the Cast Jamming. He infused the noise with his own Psion properties, effectively "enforcing order" onto the chaotic interference and seizing control of it. While modern magic emphasized Psions, the subtle control of the "Information Dimension" remained a mystery to all but those well-versed in Ancient Magic.
The men's leader tried to trigger another Cast Jamming signal, but a sound like shattering glass echoed through the air. The Antinite rings the men were wearing suddenly exploded into dust.
"Wh-What?! The Antinite shattered?! Did you use magic?!"
"Magic? I didn't use a single Systematic spell," Yugen replied coldly.
Yugen had simply flooded the Antinite with Psion-charged Psions, introducing a "Regularization" program that countered the noise. When the leader tried to force the Jamming signal through, the conflicting data caused a processing overload within the rings, causing them to physically disintegrate from the informational pressure.
Seizing the moment of confusion, Yugen caught Miyuki's eye. She instantly understood.
"Minami-chan, Riri-chan. Keep the barriers up and move outside the circle," Miyuki commanded.
"Understood."
"Yes!"
The gap Yugen had created by kicking the first man allowed the girls to slip through. Once they were clear, Yugen spoke to Minami and Riri.
"Minami, Riri-chan. You can drop the magic now."
"Miyuki, take them back to school."
"I understand... Good luck, Yugen-san," Miyuki said before leading the others away.
The leader finally regained his composure. "What are you doing?! Comrades, don't let the heretics escape!"
There were fifteen men in total, including the one Yugen had incapacitated. Five of them tried to charge past Yugen to chase the girls. Yugen sighed and clapped his hands together with a sharp crack.
In an instant, the five men collapsed as if their strings had been cut.
"You bastard! You think you're allowed to use magic?!"
"You're the ones attempting illegal confinement and targeting specific students," Yugen said, reaching into his jacket. "Furthermore... I am a Special Investigator for the Police Ministry."
Yugen produced a police badge, held it up for them to see, and then tucked it away. The badge was his official identification for when the Shenzhou Association operated publicly, but he didn't feel like explaining that to them.
"As of now, I am detaining all of you on charges of attempted assault, illegal confinement, obstruction of justice, and the illegal possession of military-grade rare materials under the Special Measures Act Against Terrorism."
Yugen snapped his fingers. Suddenly, thirty plainclothes officers emerged from the surroundings, boxing the men in. Among them were Toshikazu and Inagaki.
Yugen had anticipated that Miyuki, Izumi, or Riri might be targeted, so he had secretly requested protection from magic-capable officers. The activists had walked straight into a blatant trap.
"You... you're dead—"
"Quiet."
As the leader reached for something in his pocket, Yugen used Nukiasshi (Ghost Walk) to close the distance instantly. He delivered a controlled vibration to the man's chest, rattling his brain like a pinball and inducing an immediate concussion. As the man slumped over, Yugen noticed a curse mark on him and neutralized it.
While the police finished subduing the rest, Yugen activated Osiris Sight on the leader. He used the man's "history" to trace the origin of the curse mark. Through the Kaleidoscope, he peered into the Information Dimension and saw the home of the "Puppeteer," Enma Oumi.
Unlike Tatsuya, who would trace causality through Elemental Sight, Yugen's Osiris Sight allowed him to pull the exact moment the magic was cast from the information record.
(...Oumi is dead. And the one nearby... there's no mistake. It's Gu Jie.)
He had found him. Gu Jie was acting with an uncharacteristic desperation. It seemed his access to Hlidskjalf had been frozen. The USNA was clearly cutting him loose to prevent the scandal from reaching Echelon III. Even without his hacking tools, however, he still had the dregs of USNA military support.
"Yugen-kun. Or rather, Kagurazaka-dono. Are you unhurt?" Toshikazu asked, stepping forward.
"Toshikazu-dono. Yes, I'm fine."
Yugen had intended for Tatsuya to handle this, but the situation had demanded his intervention. He had already transmitted the coordinates to Senhime at the Kagurazaka estate. The results would be ready by the end of the day. Leaving the processing of the activists to the professionals, Yugen excused himself to head back to school and explain the situation.
Yugen found the meeting with the school faculty exhausting. He sat across from five people: the Principal, the Vice-Principal, and the instructors of the affected classes.
"—So, aside from Sakurai-san and Juumonji-san using barrier magic, no other magic was used?"
"That is correct."
Miyuki, Minami, Izumi, and Riri had gone to the Hachioji police station for questioning, accompanied by Tatsuya for protection. Yugen had explained that he had used Psion-charged Psions to shatter the Antinite and a focused Psion blast to simulate the impact of a shotgun at close range to incapacitate the men. He admitted to the physical kick but noted the man's life wasn't in danger—though his teeth might be.
"Is it true the attackers used Cast Jamming?"
"It is. The Antinite rings have been handed over to the police as evidence."
Yugen had used Heavenly Sun Discernment to restore the shattered rings before handing them over to Toshikazu. Since Antinite was a restricted military material, its possession by civilians was a serious crime. Because several Police Ministry officers had witnessed the entire event, and because Yugen had acted in his official capacity as a Special Investigator, he left the formal paperwork to the pros.
Principal Hyakuyama, who had been silent until now, spoke up.
"Kagurazaka-kun. I received a report from another student that the attackers changed their target the moment they saw the Shiba and Saegusa students. Is this true?"
"Yes. As soon as they heard the names of the Student Council President and the Saegusa girls, they abandoned their previous target and surrounded them. They then began aggressively preaching humanist doctrines."
"So they were targeted specifically?"
"Based on the circumstances, yes. There were three daughters of the Ten Master Clans in that group. The fact that they were surrounded after being identified suggests a clear, organized intent."
Yugen answered respectfully, setting aside his status as a family head for the moment. Upon hearing this, Hyakuyama announced that the school would be closed for five days, until the 23rd.
The Vice-Principal, Yaosaka, looked confused, but Hyakuyama's expression was cold. He recognized that if the terrorists were now coordinating hits on specific targets, the risk of escalation was too high to keep the school open.
"If it were random violence, it would be the act of a few disgruntled individuals," Hyakuyama said. "But if they are selecting targets based on their lineage, it is an organized, calculated crime."
The faculty around him turned pale. After the terrorist attack two springs ago, no one could afford to be optimistic. Yugen, however, simply looked at the Principal.
"Principal Hyakuyama. May I make a broadcast regarding the school closure from tomorrow until the 23rd?"
"Is this a decision made as the Chairman of the Club Management Group?"
"Yes. While the school will send out emergency emails, I believe a direct announcement to the students currently on campus is necessary to prevent panic."
"...Very well. You have my permission."
Hyakuyama nodded. He knew that Yugen held immense influence over the student body; if the announcement came from him, the students would follow orders without question.
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