Before the assembly, Isamu walked out of Meisei in search of a can of coffee. A smile spread across his face as soon as he held the drink in his hand.
He leaned against the nearby wall and took a moment to enjoy the peace.
When he had been away from Japan, he could rarely find his favorite brand. On the other hand, the variety had been endless.
Many countries had far better quality. He opened the can and brought it to his nose to inhale deeply.
"..." No… it didn't smell the way he remembered. The difference from traditional coffee was obvious. "It's not the same anymore."
He was no longer the person he had been two years ago. Sighing, he resigned himself to it.
He took a reluctant sip.
After the first swallow, he stared at the can with little enthusiasm.
"…Why… am I even doing this?" He felt tempted to throw the can away, but decided to keep drinking even if it tasted bland.
Each sip brought a wave of nostalgia. Before he had left Japan, coffee had been his favorite drink.
Aimi used to scold him about it constantly, forcing him to drink juice or water instead.
He glanced at the vending machine and spotted mineral water and a strawberry yogurt drink.
He ended up buying one of each.
Maybe he was taking too long in this spot, but no one would notice his absence anyway.
The sun was at its peak, the warmth pleasant, and he felt good to be back in his country.
BRRRR
BRRRR
BRRRR
His phone vibrated. Isamu pulled it out and saw Western characters on the contact name.
P. Jiménez.
Isamu's face turned serious. He brought the phone to his ear. On the other end, he heard a voice notably lacking in emotion.
"Kuroda." It was the closest thing to a greeting the person on the other side could manage. "I'm afraid I have two pieces of bad news."
Isamu couldn't help but smile ironically.
"Always a ray of sunshine." He took another sip of coffee and waited.
"I don't get paid to have a good mood," the other man replied flatly. "And you're not exactly the delicate type, so drop the nonsense."
Isamu faked a sigh, exaggerating it as much as possible.
"Always so serious." He couldn't blame him—his job was demanding and left no time for small talk. "What are the bad news?"
"There are rumors about your involvement in the destruction of the Black Library." Isamu stayed silent; it didn't sound too urgent. They could come after him if they wanted—he wouldn't be easy prey. "…and Ajitsuke let Hebimaru go."
Isamu's brain took a moment to process that.
"…What?" he said after a few seconds.
"You heard me…" The voice on the other end was cold and grave, yet clearly laced with anger and disappointment. "Ajitsuke let Hebimaru go."
Isamu remained silent for several seconds, staring up at the sky.
"Where is he now?" The priority was to find him, corner him, and neutralize him.
Horrible memories flashed through Isamu's mind.
Research centers that were closer to slaughterhouses than laboratories.
People in chains, locked in cells and subjected to the most horrific experiments.
It hadn't mattered whether they were male or female, adult or child.
Isamu felt his stomach churn at the images.
"For now, we have him under surveillance," his contact said, pulling him out of the memories. "But we know what kind of person he is. If it becomes necessary… I'll inform you of an extermination mission."
"Please," Isamu said, then stayed quiet a moment longer. "Have you spoken to Daniela?"
"…Half the time she says she's going to catch a plane to wherever you are, and the other half she says she wants to kill those idiots." There was exhaustion in Jiménez's voice. After a pause he added, "She's rarely sober these days… You should have taken her with you."
His tone turned accusatory, and Isamu laughed nervously. His friend had slipped into informal territory.
"…She had responsibilities there." That was one reason. "Besides… what reason would Daniela have to follow me to the other side of the world?"
A deep silence followed.
"How are you?" There it was—the moment his friend always asked.
"…Everything feels different." Isamu looked at his can, shook the last drops, and finally drank what remained. "It feels strange."
"It's inevitable," Jiménez said with finality. "Life is a river that keeps flowing. Even if you don't want it to, the world continues on its path. You're no longer who you were… like a rock worn down by water, your shape has changed."
Isamu felt strangely comforted by those words and let out a small laugh.
"Always so poetic." He stayed silent for a few seconds before speaking again. "Take care of yourself."
"You too." The call ended.
"…Time to head back." Isamu tossed the empty can into the trash and—
His hairs stood on end. A dark, unnatural presence blanketed the entire city.
The atmosphere grew heavy and murky. The oppressive aura permeated the air.
There was no time to waste.
He ran to the main street and looked toward the source of the anomaly.
A pillar of darkness stretched into the sky from Meisei Academy, tinting part of the horizon blood-red. Isamu noticed the pedestrians staring at the phenomenon.
Many people had already lost consciousness; others were struggling to breathe.
There were children, adults, elderly people, and teenagers his own age—all fighting for their lives.
Pure indignation flared inside Isamu's chest.
"Enough." His eyes glowed faintly. The terrible atmosphere crushing the people dissolved. "Rest."
As he walked, he made a small gesture with his right hand. One by one, those still conscious began to fall asleep.
Once he was certain everyone was safe, he focused on the dark pillar, which was shrinking and forming a dome over the entire academy.
"…" The source of the rupture in normality was stabilizing, but that was not a good sign.
Isamu's figure vanished from the middle of the street in the blink of an eye. A faint buzzing was the only trace of the speed with which he left.
He appeared at the entrance of Meisei. He was not surprised to see a perimeter of people already in place or to notice the protocol underway.
"Greetings." The moment he took a step toward the school, a young man in monk's robes blocked his path, flanked by two older, rough-looking monks. "I'm afraid the academy is currently closed. I must ask you to leave the area."
The young man's voice carried a subtle tone of contempt and an obvious supernatural suggestion.
"I'm a student here," Isamu said, walking around the young man and his escorts. "Save the act, Onmyōji."
Surprised by Isamu's blunt honesty, the young monk froze for a few seconds.
Isamu moved past them toward the large gate, where a chain of inscribed paper talismans blocked the way.
Above the dome of darkness, he noticed a denser distortion in the atmosphere.
"Three… no, four barriers." The number seemed far too small. It would not be enough given the size of the anomaly and the power it was still gathering. "Whatever is in there must be very old and very dangerous."
He stared at the anomaly. Nostalgia washed over him again.
'This is a bad idea,' Aimi—always the voice of reason—had said, her eyes fixed on the old building from their village. 'We should leave this to the experts.'
'Nah,' Ajitsuke had replied with his bright smile and eyes full of confidence, stepping forward. 'We have to do what we can, at least for our classmates…'
Back then, Isamu would have followed Ajitsuke to the ends of the earth.
And he had.
'Tch… always so emotional,' Saya—the only one in the group who dared challenge Ajitsuke when he was about to do something stupid—had muttered. 'Let's think before doing something this dangerous.'
They should have listened to Saya. Only now, after so much time, did he realize it.
'Let's go,' his younger self had said with a confidence he barely recognized. 'Nothing can stop us as long as we're together.'
He forced himself back to the present, sighed, and prepared to enter.
Part of him felt a certain thrill; the idea of conflict excited him.
He shook his head, reminding himself that innocent people were in danger inside.
"Wait!" The shout from the young Onmyōji made him sigh wearily. Turning around, Isamu looked at him with indifference. "You do not have authorization to enter."
"…" Isamu scanned the entire perimeter. At least twenty people were there, all ready for a fight. "The longer we wait, the more casualties there will be."
The Onmyōji's face twisted. His two escorts positioned themselves on either side of Isamu, muscles tense, stances ready.
Ignoring the two fighters, Isamu locked eyes with the leader.
"…We don't have time for this." The man on his right threw a punch straight at his face.
Isamu leaned his head back, raised his fist, and slammed it into the man's chest.
The man flew backward.
The other man kicked toward his abdomen. Isamu stopped the attack with his left hand and hurled him beside his companion.
Three talismans flew toward him. He didn't even bother to catch them; the papers burned to ash before they could touch him.
The Onmyōji's eyes widened. He recovered and jumped back out of Isamu's reach.
"…" Isamu scanned the perimeter again. Everyone was on alert; none of them seemed willing to negotiate. "I am Isamu Kuroda."
He spoke calmly. The effect was instant.
"Impossible."
"Wasn't he abroad?"
"The one who took part in the last Black Tournament?"
"I thought he was dead."
"Ajitsuke Kinshimiya must have returned too."
Isamu almost snorted at that last comment. His former best friend was probably too busy with his honors and honeymoon to even consider returning to Japan anytime soon.
"I apologize for the disrespect, Lord Kuroda," the young Onmyōji said, forcing a bow. Isamu could hear the man's teeth grinding in fury. "We did not expect your presence in this situation. Could you please take our humble order into consideration?"
Isamu's instincts warned him he was not going to like what came next.
"Explain," he said. He could sense everyone around him shifting into attack positions.
"Are you familiar with the legend of Tamamo-no-Mae?"
Frowning, Isamu recalled everything he knew about that name.
"A powerful yokai. A kitsune, if I remember correctly." Then the pieces clicked. "Do you believe she is the source of this anomaly?"
"Very likely," the young man finally lifted his head, his face serious and professional. "We don't know how, but it's highly possible the stone that kept her sealed has been desecrated."
Isamu noticed the Onmyōji's pupils dilating. He was lying.
"And what do you plan to do?" He glanced at the others, who now seemed less eager to attack.
"We have already sent a group of shikigami and specialists to deal with the imperfect manifestation of Tamamo-no-Mae." This part was truthful. He added, "We are maintaining constant surveillance and can assure you that civilian casualties are minimal."
Another lie. This time it was a slight twitch of his lip that gave him away.
For now, Isamu decided to play along.
"And… what do you plan to do with the families of the victims—no matter how few there are?"
The Onmyōji smiled—the kind of smile a politician or a demon would give.
"Are you familiar with memory-alteration methods?" Isamu nodded. "Good. For all practical purposes… none of the victims ever existed."
Something inside Isamu clicked at that answer. His eyes turned cold and distant… a long-buried memory reared its ugly head.
…
…
…
Aimi and he had been running down a hospital corridor, their wounds not fully healed, yet the pain in their bodies hardly mattered.
When they reached their target, Aimi kicked the double metal doors off their hinges.
'Bastard!' she had screamed at the top of her lungs. On the hospital rooftop stood Ajitsuke and a man in an elegant suit with neatly combed black hair.
The calm of that day had disturbed Isamu. A perfect blue sky and the fresh spring breeze—something so wrong against what they had just lived through.
'Well, well,' the pale man with mystical green eyes had said, offering a friendly smile. 'If it isn't the other two great prodigies of the hour.'
Aimi had moved faster than Ajitsuke or Isamu thought possible. She grabbed the man by the throat, eyes blazing with rage.
'What did you do to Nagumo-senpai's mother?!' Isamu had never seen his friend so furious. Honestly… he shared her indignation.
'I can assure you, miss, that our compensation for the inconvenience is more than generous,' a wolfish smile appeared on the man's carefree face. 'Six million per year lost—more than enough to raise another child or invest in long-term projects.'
'You made his own mother forget him,' the young Isamu had said in disbelief. After everything that had happened—even after resolving the incident and stopping the culprit—it didn't feel like a victory.
'It's a shame, truly,' the man had sounded anything but sincere. 'I'm afraid that, unlike the other disappearances, Ishii Nagumo's case was entirely due to his own lack of critical thinking.'
'Son of a bitch!' Aimi had been about to strike with everything she had, but Ajitsuke caught her fist.
'It's not worth it,' Ajitsuke's tone had remained strangely calm. 'We'd only tarnish Nagumo-senpai's sacrifice if we did something like this.'
Aimi had looked like she wanted to say something, but she swallowed her fury and released the man, who calmly straightened his suit.
'I can say without a doubt that in the future you will be very valuable assets to the Twilight World. This may be only our first meeting.' Something in the man's voice had turned Isamu's stomach. 'It will be a pleasure doing business with you.'
Isamu had noticed how Aimi clenched her fist until it bled and how Ajitsuke's face had become so expressionless it looked carved from stone.
'Let's go,' his friend had said after a few seconds of studying the man. 'There's something unpleasant in the air.'
…
…
…
Isamu returned to the present and stared directly into the eyes of the Onmyōji leader, who smiled at him with confidence and poorly disguised disgust.
"I've made a decision." He extended his arm outward as if grasping something.
Everyone present shifted back into attack stances.
"And what is it?" the young leader asked, voice caught between nervousness and fury.
Isamu waved his hand. A spear with a black shaft and a gleaming golden blade appeared in his grip.
Its edge cut the air with a sharp sound. The radiance pouring from it was accompanied by pressure that forced many of those present to their knees.
"I'll follow my own plan." Isamu turned faster than any of them could react and, in a flash of speed, launched himself toward the school.
"Wait!"
He heard the Onmyōji's shout but ignored it. With the spear tip pointed forward, he tore through the four barriers.
Each one broke with the sound of shattering crystal, falling as easily as if they had been made of butter.
He saw the mass of darkness forming the dome ahead. He poured power into the spear tip, making it shine brilliantly.
He pierced the distortion.
The air was heavy, gravity increased, and a sinister presence covered everything.
His feet touched the ground.
"Ominous."
A red sun seemed to burn the world. Black clouds cast shadows as they passed, and he could hear the faint murmur of children.
It reeked of blood.
The ground trembled, and guttural moans approached him.
"…"
Gigantic masses of flesh with vaguely humanoid shapes charged toward him, mouths full of teeth gaping open, hands outstretched.
There were three.
Isamu tightened his grip on the spear. The golden tip glowed intensely again.
With his gaze fixed on the monsters rushing at him, he let out an exhausted sigh.
With a burst of speed he shot forward. His spear pierced the first giant's skull with terrifying ease.
A light rain of blood and flesh sprayed from the impact, but there was no time to worry about it.
He landed on the still-standing giant's shoulder, looked at the nearest one, and thrust into the space between them. The spear released a golden energy blast that tore through one of its eyes.
The monster fell to its knees, unquestionably dead. Isamu leaped from the corpse he stood on and focused on the last one still standing.
In mid-air he gripped the spear shaft with both hands and, with professional calm, passed straight through the monster—from its head to where its groin should have been.
Covered in blood, Isamu walked on without looking back as the giant's body split in two and fell to either side.
"I'm still on time." Walking calmly, golden light burned away the blood and filth clinging to him. "They're only loose manifestations of power—not too strong."
The released presence was warping space-time within its influence. Isamu realized it would be problematic to cover the entire campus in its current state.
"Besides…" Looking around, he could hear the screams.
"Help!"
"No!"
"Please!"
His classmates were scattered at relative distances through the warped space.
"I wish Willow were here." His housemate was the expert in magical matters; Isamu's skills usually leaned toward combat or support. "I can't waste time either."
Isamu had no way of knowing how many victims had already fallen, but he knew how to stop the number from growing.
"It would be a problem if any of them manage to escape." Raising his right hand to the sky, his brown eyes blazed with intense blue light. "Et nox ultra non erit, et non egebunt lumine lucernae, et lumine solis, quoniam Dominus Deus illuminabit illos. Lux Aeterna!"
The sky was pierced by an intense golden brilliance.
The pocket reality itself trembled. The red sun shattered like glass as the real sunlight began to seep in.
Everything started returning to normal. Even the clouds in the false sky stopped moving.
Smiling, Isamu touched the pendant beneath his uniform. The corruption was being purged by a denser, more powerful force.
Now the anomaly would have to fight against a far stronger presence.
"It's going to lose," Isamu had no doubt. "Good. Now…"
He lowered his stance, holding the spear in his right hand and pointing it outward.
He took a breath. His eyes glowed, and he shot forward.
Transformed into a streak of golden light, he raced across the campus—too fast for any normal person to see—stabbing, impaling, and destroying every monster in his path.
Then he felt it.
A slight change in the atmosphere, a sudden increase in density at one specific point.
Concentrating, he focused all his senses on the source.
The main building.
Isamu leaped several meters and locked onto a window.
In mid-air he accelerated, shattered the glass in his path, and burst inside.
TRAAAAASSHH
Two insect-like monsters had cornered the source of the anomaly and a girl.
Isamu stabbed each monster seven times in vital points, ensuring they were finished.
With his back to the two innocents, he noticed the stench of death and saw the remains of a human body.
"…" He had taken too long.
"Thank God…" He recognized that voice. What it said made his pendant feel heavier.
"No," he said heavily. He had failed. "I arrived too late."
He turned around and saw Junpei Tsoryu clutching the source of the power surge.
A staff that radiated power.
He had an idea what the object in his classmate's hands might be, but…
BAAAAMMM
An impact shook the entire building. Isamu almost sighed in exasperation.
There was no end to the problems.
"AAAAAAH!"
"NOOOO!"
"NO, NO, NO!"