Chapter 5

The day after Minoru’s attack, Tatsuya received a call from Maya.

He boarded the VTOL piloted by Hyougo that welcomed him and then went towards the Head House with the usual subterranean tunnel. They arrived at a time that could be considered morning rather than just before noon.

“We’re really early.”

Being called by Maya isn’t particularly strange. The question is why would she summon him directly instead of using the telephone, and why so early.

“Frankly, important information has been brought to me from the Pentagon collaborators. The source of information being the source of information, I thought to discuss it directly.”

The USA may have become the USNA, but the location of the Department of Defense didn’t change. As the building’s outward appearance didn’t change, its nickname remained Pentagon.

“I didn’t know we had collaborators in the Pentagon.”

Ayako did not tell Tatsuya about Colonel Balance. Ayako properly differentiates her affection towards Tatsuya from the professional morals in handling information.

“Eventually, I will introduce them to you, Tatsuya-san.”

Though his social position within the family was recognized, Tatsuya wasn’t informed of the whole story of the Yotsuba family yet. There were many things he knew without being told, but it was far from everything.

“So that’s what this is about.”

“Yes.”

With Maya’s words, Tatsuya too restored his focus.

“Seems like the Stars’ execution team has been dispatched.”

“Execution instead of capture? That’s a bit surprising.”

He thought the Stars would almost certainly send a pursuit unit for Lina. She escaped one week ago. It’s rather late.

But assassination was unexpected. Lina – Major Angie Sirius is a state-recognized Strategic-Class magician. The USNA has a substantial amount of regular forces, so the priority is lower than other countries, but it should still be a valuable military asset.

“It was not the Pentagon’s decision.”

“It was the judgement of the Stars?”

“Seems like they are turning a blind eye.”

“The USNA has some serious internal conflicts, don’t they?”

“Yes. That seems about right.”

Tatsuya doesn’t know what kind of conflict it is. But one force thinks of Lina as a hindrance and the other is reluctant to act due to her war potential as a Strategic-Class magician, so assassination is inevitable if she defects to another country. That was Tatsuya’s guess.

Maya knew USNA’s internal affairs very well, but didn’t explain it here.

“Do you know the specific invasion route?”

“If you knew, could you handle it?”

Tatsuya’s question turned into a question from Maya.

“With orders, I will deal with it.”

There was no hesitation in Tatsuya’s response.

Maya’s smiled broadly, her lips showing she was having fun.

From the facial expressions these two had, no feeling of repulsion towards murder could be seen.

Stars members arriving in Japan to officially carry out a lawless assassination in another sovereign nation. Reversing the situation, they can’t complain if they are killed? Perhaps this was what these two were really thinking.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t been told of any invasion routes. But I know the estimated time of arrival.”

“When is it?”

“Tonight.”

“...In that case, there’s no time to investigate.”

“That is so, isn’t it?”

Tatsuya’s bitter face seemed suspicious. After Maya spoke, she hid her mouth with a hand and dropped a refined laugh.

“...Sorry. But it’s not like I’m just sitting here doing nothing. I dispatched observers to the capital’s airport and air base. Though I haven’t done anything for sea routes, I think it’ll be fine to ignore them this time.”

“Problem is, can’t they just use an airport other than the capital’s?”

Tatsuya instantly pointed out the issue.

“That is so, isn’t it?”

To Maya, such thinking was not bad. Though at the same time she also wasn’t impressed. She seems to believe that becoming aware of things to that extent is natural for him.

“Because we can’t let this leak outside, if that happens we have no choice but to go with the plan of dealing with it as soon as it is detected.”

“Yes.”

Tatsuya had no objections to this plan.

“Then, in that case I’ll leave it in your care.”

Even if he had to restart the discussion, Tatsuya wasn’t flustered.

“So it’s fine for me to deal with it?”

“Truth be told that way there would be no future problems but...the gentlemen of the government will have a different opinion.”

“Understood. I’ll capture them as much as possible.”

“Yes, please do that.”

With that said, Maya stood up from her seat. Seems that with this, she has finished saying all she wanted to say.

Tatsuya also stood up and bowed towards Maya at a 45-degree angle.

After escaping from the combination of the Juumonji and Saegusa led by Katsuto, Minoru got off the Cabinet when he arrived in Toyama and entered an adequate private room in a café. The goal was confirming whether he completely got away from his pursuers.

Instead of having to face other guests and employees, the private room in this café had a full robot service, so there is a risk of being observed over the network attached to the eye camera of the androids – rather, a lot of female androids – that work in place of a human.

But given that Minoru changed his appearance with ‘Parade’ now, there is no caution towards being seen over the camera. In the first place, if you avoid being observed by cameras you can’t walk in public spaces in this country nowadays.

The café private room, other than offering drinks and light meals, also offers network services and limited video software. Minoru didn’t use it for anything other than order drinks though.

He considered trying divination to kill some time. According to knowledge acquired from Zhou Gongjin, though he can’t hope for a perfect prediction, he can get abstract information that can be used as a reference for his future actions.

He took out a Pan [20]  made of cloth from his waist pouch. It was made by embroiding threads with various colors, green, red, yellow, white and blue onto a black handkerchief-sized cloth. It’s a tool for divination for legitimate ‘Qi Men Dun Jia’, not to be confused with ‘Ghost Walker’ [21] .

‘Good fortune’ regarding himself, and the result of location prediction was ‘southwest’ ‘island’ ‘sky’ ‘port’.

(Usually when you think of sky and port you get airport? Southwest from here, an island with an airport...No, an island that is an airport?)

Kansai International Airport and Kobe Airport were the candidates that came to Minoru’s mind. From instinct rather than divination, Minoru determined Kansai Airport as his destination.

Next, ‘time’ was predicted. The result, ‘today’ ‘night’.

He still had time, but he didn’t know what would happen there. It’s better to arrive ahead of time.

The time for confirming the presence of pursuers has long passed. – The pursuers did not follow up.

Minoru left the private room of the café, and went towards the Cabinet station once more.

In this season, the time the sun sets in the Kansai region passes 19:00.

If the sky was clear, an afterglow would still be resisting the darkness. However, the sky covered in thick clouds announces the arrival of the evening to the ground.

A direct flight from Los Angeles, USNA, arrived at Kansai International Airport. In that airplane was one young man and one boy, but most of the passengers were Americans. The Anglo-Saxon appearance didn’t stand out at all.

Maya’s information and Tatsuya’s guess were roughly right. There was one mistake, the execution team didn’t come to Japan today, they sent a preparation team.

The young man with dark sunglasses – if you look closely, you can see that the right eye is artificial – is First Lieutenant Jacob Regulus. He was sent from Stars alone.

The boy who was his companion is Raymond Clark. He didn’t come to Japan a second time on the instructions of his father Edward. It was decided by ‘discussion’ among the parasites.

Raymond became a parasite while embracing the twisted obsession to bring Tatsuya down. With this strong desire, Raymond seized the initiative on the assassination of Tatsuya among the parasites.

“There’s something like a train station that way.”

Raymond finished the immigration process with a falsified passport and left the arrival lobby, pointing while looking back at his companion Regulus.

“Do you use trains?”

In contrast with Regulus who responded with telepathy,

“Shh!”

Hurriedly, Raymond warned him with his voice not to use his ‘voice’.

“Ah, uuh, I apologize.”

Regulus apologized to Raymond.

Instead of having to worry about bugs, telepathic conversation has the risk of being perceived by magicians and people with odd abilities. If they were to say which one is more troublesome, the latter wins by a vast margin.

Microphones have limited effective range. You can pick up a voice even if you are away from a specific target, even in crowds you can single out just a specific voice with voice filtering. But if you don’t know the target, that is impossible. At best, keywords can be recognized, but not to the extent required to chase a voice.

On the other hand, telepathy has no range limit. The range that can be caught changes depending on individual ability power, but it is the same as other magic, not naturally bound by physical distance.

Besides, the absolute number of people having conversations with telepathy is scarce. If by chance they were heard talking with telepathy, the other person may realize their true identities.

So before coming to Japan, the two discussed and decided not to use telepathy. However, telepathy is the natural mean of communication between fellow parasites. Regulus thoughtlessly used telepathy when he wanted to speak normally. Thus he immediately apologized honestly when it was pointed out.

And, their caution was not needless worry.

“This is Officer Karasawa from the Kobe Coast Guard Headquarters. We have received a telepathic transmission. It seems to be a passenger of the flight that arrived from Los Angeles just now, requesting a check on the country entry data.”

One magician policeman who came to assist the airport security sensed Regulus’ telepathy and immediately inquired the security center via radio.

“Affirmative...Magician cannot be confirmed in the passenger registry. It’s possible the passport was forged. Officer Karasawa, do you know how they look?”

“It’s a pair, one is a man in his twenties and the other a boy in his late teens. Both are Caucasian, the man has sunglasses on his grey hair. The boy has blonde hair. It seems it was the grey haired who used telepathy. They appear to be heading towards the Cabinet terminal.”

“We will assist. Track and don’t lose sight of them. Also, send a photo of those two.”

“Roger.”

“Raymond. The police are following us.”

“Huh?”

Regulus was the first to notice the officer in uniform chasing them.

It is noticeable if a cop in uniform follows them, but in this case it seems the policeman’s skill exceeds Raymond’s, who is a novice.

“Sorry. I think they perceived the telepathy from before.”

That said, Regulus is an elite magician soldier. Furthermore, at the time of the operation, he often can be trusted with the sniping jobs, which require good observation powers. Cops in uniform are easy to distinguish by their appearance, making it difficult to follow without being noticed.

“What do we do, Jack.”

“We’re not familiar with the territory. Hide and seek puts us at a disadvantage.”

“Well then.”

“Throw away the luggage. We didn’t bring important things anyway.”

Even if you’re Stars, he didn’t underestimate the world enough to think he could pass through the customs house carrying weapons. He is currently unarmed, he was planning to get supplies from Tokyo’s embassy.

“Do you have your passport with you?”

“Yeah, I’m good.”

Raymond replied to Regulus’ question with a voice that was filled with unrest.

“Alright, let’s run!”

The two ran off, leaving the suitcase behind.

“Officer Karasawa here. The two people suspected of being magicians who illegally entered the country threw away their suitcase and started running. They changed their course to a manned taxi stand.”

The uniformed cop who was following Raymond and Regulus notified about the runners with his communicator.

“Chase them. Send a photo of the suitcase. We’ll collect it here.”

“Roger.”

The cop operated the information terminal while running and sent a photo of the suitcase to secure evidence.

“Received the data.”

“Requesting permission to use magic for movement.”

“Approved.”

At the same time he heard those words, the policeman flew towards the sky above the men.

“He’s chasing!”

A uniformed cop drew closer from the sky and stomped the ground.

Raymond noticed it quickly and gave Regulus the warning.

“Are you serious!?”

A Japanese policeman, having such flashy behavior in front of so many people! To Regulus, this was a completely unexpected event.

Flashy drama-like chases like this are seldomly seen in the USNA. In many States, there is the general rule for the police to not stand out as much as possible when they use magic, and the reason is to not threaten the mental state of ordinary people. There are far more opportunities for citizens to witness magic from firefighters than policemen.

Actually, the circumstances in most regions in Japan are the same as in America. The Hanshin region is the exception. Naturally, it doesn’t appear likely that this situation can be avoided even with prior knowledge.

Raymond pointed to the policeman, waving his hand in order to ward him off.

Right after, the body of the policeman who was approaching them until then was blown away.

“Raymond!”

“It can’t be helped!”

Regulus ceased his reprimands. It truly couldn’t be helped. – It had to be done. But with this, it has been exposed that they are disguised immigrants invading the country who can use magic.

There were signs of Magic Activation. Looks like the policeman who was hurled a few moments ago has come back. Other people are assembling to envelop them. Probably police assistance.

Regulus was in a hurry. By no means was he thinking of failing on the first step of the invasion of Japan. The base predicted that airports around the capital would be watched, so Kansai International Airport was chosen. That concern has become truly useless. Though the cause is his own carelessness, to be chased this far for such a minor mistake was not within Regulus’ expectations.

Was it reckless to smuggle themselves in without mobilizing local collaborators?...

Such regrets crossed Regulus’ mind.

However, getting caught quietly here is out of the question.

“It really is unavoidable. Raymond, force your way through.”

Regulus invoked Self-Acceleration Magic and ran through the gaps in the crowd with no hesitation.

Raymond followed immediately. Raymond seemingly made contact with a passerby, but he wasn’t concerned about serious injuries right now.

The two struggled to arrive at the manned taxi stand that also served as a tour guide.

“Steal a car.”

“Understood!”

Raymond responded lively to Regulus’ instructions.

Once prepared for a battle, Regulus is a first-class Star member of the Stars, referred as the strongest magic specialized unit in the world. He is not frightened by policemen. Raymond is an amateur who is neither a soldier nor a policeman, but because he is an amateur, ‘not being afraid’ is being very effective in the current situation.

They searched for a manned taxi that looked fast. It would be even better if the driver wasn’t the type that thinks of making pointless resistance.

However, both of them stopped their eyes – a large high-class car painted in black, rather than a taxi, attracted their look. It’s a vehicle that the leaders of violent associations typically drive in.

“Get in.”

Raymond and Regulus exchanged glances. They were spoken to with telepathy just now. It was obviously one of their brethren, that is, a parasite that spoke to them.

Raymond nodded towards Regulus.

Regulus rushed to the black vehicle and opened the rear door.

Raymond opened the passenger-side door.

The two got into the large sedan, which took off right away.

The presence of powerful magic covers the entire self-driving car.

“Is this...‘Parade’?”

Regulus mutters with telepathy.

“Yes, but please refrain from using telepathy.”

He talked with his natural voice, and Regulus looked at the boy sitting next to him for the first time.

And he was lost for words.

He even forgot to breathe.

He had never believed in his wildest dreams that such a beautiful boy existed until now.

If it was just mere beauty, Angie Sirius’ true face – Lina did not fall behind.

But Lina exudes a calm familiarity due to her personality beyond her gorgeous looks, there is no impression that it is hard to get close to her.

But this boy’s good looks don’t just look like a model, they are unworldly.

Bewitching, inhuman beauty.

I wonder if fallen angels have similar beauty? Regulus unintentionally thought about such incoherent things.

“There is a possibility that telepathy cannot be camouflaged with ‘Parade’.”

The boy continued, not caring about Regulus’ impolite looks. He is likely used to being looked at.

“Ah, uum, sorry. You saved us. Thank you.”

Lightly lowering his head while sitting,

“I am Jacob Rodgers. Call me Jack.”

Aware that he had not introduced himself, and feeling flustered gave out his name. Also, ‘Rodgers’ is Regulus’ real name.

“Don’t mention it. My name is Kudou Minoru.”

“I’m Raymond Clark.”

Raymond turned his head and joined the conversation from the passenger seat.

“You said ’Kudou’, you mean the ‘Kudou’ who founded the Ten Master Clans?”

Raymond innocently inquired, based on the knowledge obtained with Hli?skjálf.

“That is right. Clark, the Clarks from the Project Dione staff?”

“Yeah, that’s it. Oh, you can call me Raymond.”

“Alright. By the way, any places you want me to take you to?”

Regulus showed a slightly grim expression to Minoru’s question.

“...The hands of the police are going to be around the hotel we booked.”

“That is so. The passport data will have circulated due to the search.”

Regulus scowled. Regulus also guessed that they would have been photographed and checked against the forged passports. But when so clearly told from someone else’s mouth, the impatience could not be helped.

“If you don’t mind, may I prepare a place to stay and new passports? Of course, with American nationality and with country entry records.”

Regulus was cautious of Minoru’s proposal, rather than thinking of ‘being thankful’.

“Although you saved us, why are you going this far?”

When Regulus asked the question, Minoru expressed a smile that enthralled the others and made them tremble.

“Because I am the same as you two.”

Regulus also knew. But it didn’t seem like the only reason.

“Besides, there is something I want you to help me with.”

“Huh, what?”

Raymond does not appear to be alarmed like Regulus.

As a parasite, Raymond seems more natural. Parasites are all pieces of a whole. While having independent consciousnesses as individuals, at the same time the whole shares one purpose. Essentially, it’s impossible to betray a comrade, they just can’t.

“There is a girl I want to be a comrade.”

“A lover?”

Raymond got into it, his eyes shining.

“No, it’s just unrequited as of yet. Oh, I don’t intend to force her to become a comrade against her will. If she doesn’t give me the okay, I’ll give up.”

“Heh...You’re very patient. Worthy of praise. I respect that.”

Regulus had a sense of discomfort from Minoru’s words.

The idea of giving up on a comrade is the reverse of a parasite’s instinct in the first place. It’s a mentality more human than theirs.

Moreover, Regulus can’t see Minoru’s mind. He can’t access Minoru’s consciousness that should have one shared purpose.

There is no doubt that Minoru is a parasite. That is known without any question.

However, Minoru is something different from them.

This was Regulus’ conclusion.

The use of telepathy by an illegal immigrant who escaped after being surrounded by the police was reported to the Futatsugi Family by the local police, and through the Futatsugi Family the information was shared among the Ten Master Clans.

“So it was Kansai?”

A telephone call from Hayama notified Tatsuya in the date of the night, just before the date change.

“Yes. The Kuroba Family has taken charge of the search. Like before, Tatsuya-sama should wait in Tokyo or Miyaki Island to receive madam’s orders.”

“If the illegal immigrants are from Stars, Lina is their goal. I understand. I will remain on alert.”

“We will send you a photo of the illegal immigrants taken by the police. One of them is Raymond Clark.”

Tatsuya opened his eyes lightly.

“Raymond Clark?”

“There is no definite proof yet, but it is presumed that Raymond Clark has parasitized, as seen from the Psion wave data observed at the same time.”

“You have become able to distinguish parasites with Psion radars? The results of your research, right?”

“All because of Tatsuya-sama’s assistance in securing a parasite for experiments.”

It was revealed by Maya at the special Master Clans Conference the other day that the Yotsuba Family took a parasite sealed at First High in February of last year. Tatsuya’s remarks were irony based on that, but it didn’t reach Hayama.

Tatsuya also doesn’t particularly intend to give Hayama a sour stomach by mentioning it. The fact that they became able to detect parasites with some device was what was important.

“Can’t we detect Minoru with those results?”

“Kurebayashi is developing a radar tuned for Kudou Minoru. Please wait a little while longer.”

Kurebayashi is the third butler in the Yotsuba Family hierarchy, and also the person in charge of the whole Yotsuba Family technical department and manages the former 4th Laboratory. He was also an excellent magic engineer and was the first teacher who taught magic engineering to Tatsuya.

“Understood. I’ll be waiting.”

“Tatsuya-sama’s words will be transmitted to Kurebayashi. Incidentally, how is Major Sirius doing?”

“She doesn’t seem to be bored yet.”

“So that’s how it is. If there is any need for something, we’ll prepare it instantly.”

“I’ll tell Lina.”

“Much obliged.”

After that, a simple salutation was exchanged and the Visiphone’s terminal screen turned dark.

Tatsuya was in his own room, not the living room. Miyuki wakes up early, so she was already in bed.

Ending the phone call, Tatsuya didn’t turn his thoughts to Miyuki, but Ayako.

One of the parasitized illegal immigrants is most likely a Stars magician. The Kuroba Family are in charge of tracking.

In itself, it is natural to take into consideration the division of roles inside the Yotsuba Family. The likelihood that Fumiya and Ayako will join is not small.

Those two have school work. Unlike Tatsuya, they are not exempt from attending Fourth High. But if it is the Kuroba Family, they’ll prioritize their duty instead of high school.

He doesn’t worry too much with Fumiya. His ‘Direct Pain’ is a Mental Interference Type Magic. It should work well against parasites. Rather, it can be said that the compatibility is good.

But Ayako has no means of attack that are effective against parasites.

She can give damage to the parasite’s body like normal. But she won’t reach its real body.

Even so, if the opponent is Stars she may do something. If the situation becomes unfavorable, she should at least be able to escape.

However, if she is confronted with Minoru—.

(Am I overthinking?)

The Kuroba Family were ordered to search for the illegal immigrant assumed to be from the Stars. Not to find Minoru.

— Tatsuya did not even consider that the Stars’ preparation team and Minoru had already joined together.

Minoru took Raymond and Regulus along to the chinatown in Kobe. It is a small area called Nankin-machi. Before World War 3, chinatowns were successively established all over Japan, but only the ones in Yokohama and Kobe were left as towns when the war concluded.

In Kobe’s chinatown, as well as Yokohama’s, Zhou Gongjin had a hideout. The people who work there, even though Minoru is their new master, obey without question. They are not concerned with their master’s appearance. Just holding the ‘key’ to the treasure warehouse that can only be opened by the master was enough to welcome him as their master. Since Minoru pulled the information about the mechanism of the ‘key’ from Zhou Gongjin’s ghost, he could open the treasury with no problem.

Without deliberately trying to know the contents, when Minoru opened the door of the treasury in anticipation, he was dejected to find it was mere junk, but that is another story.

It was the next day, Thursday the 27th, when Minoru and his comrades had a discussion.

“...In other words, Jack’s goal is to find the current location of the deserter Major Sirius, right?“

Regulus nodded to Minoru’s question. He didn’t reply immediately because he was forcing himself to not use telepathy.

“I will destroy Major Sirius with my own hands if I can. If it turns out to be difficult, I’ll wait for the arrival of my comrades to unite our forces.”

“How soon will your comrades come to Japan?”

“They are scheduled to arrive at Camp Zama in 4 days, on the evening of the 1st of July. However, severe surveillance is expected from the Japanese authorities because of the operation in February of this year. Even when they arrive, we probably won’t be able to move much. We need to gather some information to fulfill our objective at once.”

The operation in February of this year was an assassination mission commanded by Canopus for the sake of not letting the Japanese authorities get their hands on Gu Jie. After that incident, the National Defense Forces toughened their attitude towards the USNA, who crushed their honor.

“I understand. My subordinates will follow you in your search for Major Sirius’ location.”

“Subordinates, from the Kudou Family? I thought the eldest son, Haruaki-san, would succeed in the Kudou Family, can you even move your troops freely?”

Raymond asked, inserting his mouth from the side.

“You’re very informed, aren’t you, Raymond? Did you search with the Hli?skjálf?”

However, it was Raymond who received a shock.

“You know about Hli?skjálf!?”

Minoru ambiguously smiled. If you’re an ordinary person, this is a ‘deceptive smile’, but when it’s Minoru it becomes a ‘mysterious smile’.

“I also have many information sources.”

“......”

“The matter of cooperation in the search, I request your assistance.”

Raymond’s face solidified in surprise, and Regulus restored the original discussion.

“Also, would it be fine if we help you? Would it be fine to bring someone to your girlfriend?”

“If possible I’d like to request your assistance, but...”

?

Minoru bitterly smiled.

In contrast, Regulus’ expression looked stuffy. He thought his ability was being doubted.

Even seeing that, Minoru didn’t appear impatient.

“She is a member of the Yotsuba Family.“

Regulus opened his eyes wide when he was told the honest facts with a casual tone.

“Yotsuba, that Yotsuba?”

“Yeah. The ‘Untouchables’ Yotsuba Family. Even though I said member, she is a servant and a close associate of the next head of the Yotsuba Family.”

Raymond muttered ‘close associate of Miyuki...?’, but made no further remarks.

“She is currently hospitalized in a hospital in Tokyo, but the Ten Master Clans have secured the surroundings to capture me, who became a parasite.”

“You mean not just the Yotsuba Family, but also others of the Ten Master Clans?”

“Yeah.”

To Regulus question, Minoru nodded.

“Specifically, the Saegusa Family and the Juumonji Family. But that’s only what I figured out.”

The evening of the day before yesterday, Minoru was met with nothing but a painful experience at the hands of Katsuto. But he already thought of some plans to pass through the Saegusa Family’s and the Juumonji Family’s guards.

“The problem is the last barrier of the Yotsuba Family’s protection. Shiba Tatsuya-san...You know the name, don’t you? It’s someone also connected to you.”

“Oh, I know him.”, replied Regulus.                                                 

Raymond was about to say something, but for now he was displaying a listening posture.

“I know the magicians of the Yotsuba Family have skill that separates them from the other families. When Tatsuya-san joins there, I won’t be able to reach her.”

The other day was a draw. But Tatsuya was not as serious as Minoru himself. Though they didn’t surpass one another, they were not serious in the sense of ‘killing the other party is inevitable’.

This time, Minoru does not intend to attract Tatsuya. As an opponent, he is different from Katsuto. Against Tatsuya there is a conflict of policies over his existence. Tatsuya is stubborn. If he attracts Tatsuya many times more, he will have to accept he is wrong.

Just because you fight seriously until the end, it doesn’t mean it won’t be a draw.

In that case it’s meaningless. If he falls, he won’t be able to save Minami.

Minoru had fallen into such dilemma.

Besides, he wasn’t completely aware but there was another thing worrying him.

The last match was even. But during this time, Tatsuya may be thinking of magic to oppose the parasites.

Minoru learned a lot of new magic from taking in Zhou Gongjin’s knowledge, but Zhou Gongjin is a ghost. He can’t create something new. But Tatsuya has the Yotsuba Family – along with the former 4th Laboratory, and Japan’s top-class Ancient Magician, Kokonoe Yakumo.

It is not Tatsuya’s power that Minoru is afraid of in the depths of his heart, it’s his wisdom and the people around him.

“Then, is it fine if I am Shiba Tatsuya’s opponent?”

To Regulus’ question, Minoru nodded once again.

“You don’t need to defeat him. If you can take Tatsuya-san to some faraway place, I can take her out.”

“A diversion?”

“Exactly.”

“That is so half-hearted!”

So said Raymond.

“Minoru, isn’t Tatsuya an obstacle to you? Then he should die. Otherwise, even if you succeed in taking that girl out, Tatsuya will chase you!”

Minoru raised his eyebrows at Raymond’s hysterical tone.

“That doesn’t matter. If she gives a nod, the parasite transplant will end within that day. If she disagrees, I intend to return her to the Yotsuba Family at once.”

But the tone that explained this to Raymond was calm.

“Weak! Minoru, do you truly love this girl? If you like her enough to carry her away, it’s ridiculous to consider such half-baked things like returning her!”

“Hey, Raymond...”

Regulus reproved Raymond. But his voice did not reach Raymond’s ears.

“Tatsuya is an obstacle that should disappear from this world!”

“Raymond, calm down!”

Regulus strongly held Raymond’s shoulder, forcibly silencing him.

“I apologize, Minoru.”

“No, I don’t mind.”

As those words suggest, Minoru didn’t care about Raymond’s wave of excitement, at least on the surface.

“I also consider Shiba Tatsuya an opponent to be killed, but for now let’s give priority to Minoru’s objective.”

“It would be really helpful if you do so.”

“But...if we can kill him, there is no problem if we do it?”

“Yeah, there is no problem.”

There was a small delay in Minoru’s response regarding the words added by Regulus, but this could hardly be noticed.

Today, Tatsuya spent the morning in Miyaki Island, and in the afternoon he went to First High.

He spent the school hours in the library, and after school he went not to the Student Council, but to the Public Morals Committee Headquarters.

“Mikihiko, are you here?”

“Tatsuya!? You came today?”

Good timing, Mikihiko was not patrolling, he was working at his desk.

“Since afternoon.”

Tatsuya replied to Mikihiko. Next to him, a small silhouette tried to pass him silently.

“Kasumi, is your body fine?”

Tatsuya called out to his junior.

Kasumi reluctantly stopped her feet.

“I’m fine. Sorry for making you worry.”

“I see. That’s good.”

Kasumi lowered her head to Tatsuya with a sour look. Then, she hurriedly left the headquarters.

“...What happened?”

It’s natural for Mikihiko to wonder what that scene was about.

“Kasumi’s attitude didn’t mean anything, but I’d like to ask you a favor related to that.”

 “Ask me...?”

“Oh. The other day, we talked about Minoru?”

Mikihiko’s complexion changed. Tatsuya’s favor involves sensing parasites, so he became nervous.

“Yeah, I remember.”

“The day before yesterday, Minoru appeared near the hospital where Minami is.”

“Eh!? Then...”

Mikihiko shut his mouth and eyes in surprise.

He quickly closed the Public Morals Committee Headquarters’ doors and finally ‘closed’ the room with a barrier from a charm he took out.

“...Sorry to keep you waiting, Tatsuya. Let’s sit down and talk.”

“Yeah.”

Tatsuya and Mikihiko sat face to face with the long table between them.

“Umm...The day before yesterday, Saegusa-san fought Minoru-kun, didn’t she?”

“Exactly. There were no physical injuries, but she was put to sleep with genjutsu magic. Even before that, there was concern of after-effects from the damage she took from magic that caused oxygen deprivation. Still, it seems that there isn’t any problem, which gives me some peace of mind.”

“Is that so...”

While it was Tatsuya who said peace of mind, he looked indifferent, unlike Mikihiko who was listening to the story while holding his chest in relief.

“And what is your request? If you need help catching Minoru-kun, I will gladly lend you my assistance.”

Mikihiko leaned his body on the table. Like he said Monday, Mikihiko considers it his job as an Ancient Magician to deal with parasites.

“I may ask you to lend a hand with that too eventually. But right now, I wanted you to help with my training.”

“Training?”

With Mikihiko’s incitement, Tatsuya explained the details of his training.

“Since I only have time after school, you’ll have to take a short break from Public Morals Committee work, can I still ask you to do it?“

“What are you talking about?”

Mikihiko revealed a sarcastic laugh.

For Tatsuya, it can be said that a girl was the only important thing.

For society, the most important thing is suppressing the rampant spirits.

And yet Tatsuya has the honest sense of duty to care about the effect on what is only high school extracurricular activities, which Mikihiko found strange.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but Public Morals Committee work is less important than your training. Besides, it’s about time I started thinking of who will inherit the Public Morals Committee chairman position. In that sense, this is a good opportunity.”

Mikihiko expressed his agreement to Tatsuya’s request.

In general, it is believed that supernatural beings are active in dark nights. Particularly vampires have that strong image.

But parasites are not weak in the sun. Because of habits from when they were human, they sleep in the night and wake in the morning unless there’s something to do.

Since they are parasites, they became immune to jet lag. Regulus had great interest on what mechanism this is based on. But he is not a scholar, so even if he thinks about it he won’t know the truth. He kept his interests as they were and went into his bed.

It was exactly at that time that the door to his room was knocked on. While he was hearing the knocking sound, he knew who it was.

When Regulus opened the door, Raymond stood alone as he had inferred.

“Is it fine if I come in?”

“Feel free.”

Honestly speaking, it was a bad time to bother him, but it must be an important matter if he visited so late. Regulus thought so when he opened the door.

“So, what is it?”

“It’s about Minoru.”

“What about him? I don’t think there was anything he did that was particularly suspicious”

“You don’t think so?”

Seems that Raymond didn’t agree with Regulus’ words.

“Minoru is strange.”

“What’s strange about him?”

Raymond shut his mouth for a little while. It was not hesitation, it was time to rethink how he should say it.

“...Our telepathy, for some reason, can’t communicate across national borders.”

“And?”

“But if we use telepathy, we share the same purpose. Even if our original parasite is different, the rule should still apply.“

Raymond and Regulus became parasites in the micro-black hole experiment held this month.

On the other hand, Minoru changed the host of a parasite who lost its way into this world with the experiment done in November of 2095.

However, even if the details of how they became parasites differ, they are still the same kind of living thing. That is both Minoru’s and their intuition, no, they understand it with their true feelings.

Besides, the origin of the parasite that Minoru assimilated is also USNA, it has its roots in the same experiment facility in Dallas. Even if Raymond pointed out the difference in their origins, strictly speaking, it was not correct.

“Raymond, what do you want to say?”

“Why doesn’t Minoru agree with us?”

Raymond responded to Regulus’ question with a question of his own.

“...The Shiba Tatsuya thing?”

“That’s right. Our purpose should be uniform about eliminating Tatsuya. And yet, why did Minoru disagree with Tatsuya’s death?”

“He didn’t seem to oppose to Shiba Tatsuya’s elimination. But for Minoru there is something else that should be prioritized.”

“That is strange. We decided that burying Tatsuya was our current top priority.”

“Didn’t we have that discussion in the States? Our telepathy can’t cross borders, you said it just now, Raymond.”

Raymond kept silent when stabbed by his contradictory words.

“We are pure intention, strong desires, and we are drawn to unification with humans. Our strong will invites parasites.”

These words from Regulus denote the duality of parasites. The point of view of the parasite before unifying with a human, and the point of view of the human before being eroded by the parasite, coexisting within the original parasitized human.

“The strongest will inside Minoru was the desire to save the woman he loves. If that’s the case, it would be strange not to give it top priority.”

Regulus and Raymond discussed in the morning, and heard why Minoru wanted to make Minami a parasite. – While revealing that much, Minoru had yet to tell them Minami’s name.

“That’s unacceptable! Our top priority target must be Tatsuya!”

“You shouldn’t say that...”

Regulus, like Raymond, is being drawn to erase Tatsuya. However, that is because Regulus intends to ‘neutralize Strategic-Class Magic which has become a threat to his country’.

Raymond’s original feelings were also ‘to bring Tatsuya down’, not ‘to erase Tatsuya’. This was the effect of the intentions of Stars members who recognized that a threat like ‘Material Burst’ should be eliminated.

Like this, the intentions of the parasites were mixed together. It’s certain that the individuals who hold the strongest desires take the initiative of the parasite’s collective consciousness, but the intentions of one individual don’t dominate other individuals. For example, by associating with Minoru, even if he takes the initiative, Regulus’ and Raymond’s intentions won’t be ignored.

“Understood. Then, I will discuss it with Minoru tonight.”

“If you want to do it, then fine.”

They already made sure last night that Minoru communicates with the same ‘line’. Since Regulus, Raymond and Minoru are connected, if Raymond and Minoru ‘talk’, Regulus will be included.

Someone taking the initiative is characteristic of them. Regulus had no reason to stop Raymond.

Minoru suddenly woke up in the middle of the night. It was not caused by physiological desires. He was awakened by a noisy voice he heard in the depths of his heart.

(–Wake up, Minoru/us.)

To this call, Minoru had a wry smile.

(Raymond, huh? What is it at this hour?)

Minoru didn’t recognize ‘Raymond/us’.

(No surprise uh? I thought this is your first time talking within our collective consciousness.)

(First time talking, but it’s not the first time hearing voices.)

(That shouldn’t be the case.)

Sensing confusion from Raymond’s telepathy, Minoru couldn’t hold back a laugh.

(Didn’t telepathy not reach across national borders?)

Minoru didn’t intend to mock him. But unlike a conversation using their real voices, along with the fact he didn’t use polite language, Raymond mistakenly thought he was being looked down on. – Misunderstanding other’s intentions is something that can’t naturally happen with parasites that share intention.

(That thinking is wrong. Telepathy can reach across borders. As evidence, becoming one intention also interfered with me. But across borders, the consciousness just can’t understand the meaning the words from telepathy have. In human telepathy this phenomenon doesn’t happen though. There are many inexplicable restrictions to the abilities we have as parasites.)

(That is strange...)

(Maybe the process of transmitting from the parasite’s real form to the consciousness of the original human is failing in translation.)

Raymond was not the only one in silence. Regulus who was in the mixed consciousness was speechless as well.

(That doesn’t really matter right now. You’ve contacted me in the deep consciousness like this. Is there some intention you want to unite?)

(How do you know things like that...isn’t Minoru/us the only active comrade in this country!?)

(There is one more. He is completely sealed now, but he was screaming sometimes when used for experiments. I want to go help, but there is a strong barrier so I can’t interfere.)

Minoru is talking about the parasite sealed by the Yotsuba Family. The seal from Yotsuba Family’s Mental Interference Type Magic doesn’t break with the power of the parasitized Minoru. The very opposite, he can’t even understand where he’s being held captive.

The signs of others becoming speechless are once again transmitted.

It seems that he really despises him, Minoru thought.

(No, Minoru/we weren’t making fun of you. We don’t want you to misunderstand that.)

Because that thought wasn’t concealed, the explanation was transmitted in a hurry. They were Regulus’ words, but Raymond’s ‘voice’ was mixed within.

(Understood. And?)

Minoru once again asked what their business was. In fact, though Raymond’s thinking was transmitted to Minoru, he tried to make him say it from his own mouth to advance this messy conversation.

(We are a single body, all of us a single living being. Our intentions must be one.)

Minoru did not agree with nor deny it.

That Raymond and Regulus are such a living being, Minoru understood.

But Minoru denied that he became so.

If I don’t stay as I am, I can’t make her into a parasite. If I can’t use it to cure her, becoming a parasite has no meaning for me.

Minoru didn’t intend to deny how Raymond and Regulus are. But, when ‘we’ was said, he wasn’t planning on being included.

(We intend to destroy Shiba Tatsuya. Minoru’s/our intentions will also be the same!)

Those intentions and thoughts surged in.

Raymond and Regulus are not just the thoughts of two people. They don’t seem to be aware, but their minds are connected to their compatriots of the USNA even if they don’t communicate. At the Stars Headquarters, all parasitized members are in complete harmony with the thought, as it continues to grow even now and is now trying to swallow Minoru whole.

Minoru is fighting against it. By fighting, various thoughts that should be one barged into Minoru’s ‘ear’. Dozens, hundreds of whispers grazed his consciousness.

Among them, the most predominant was the intention to eliminate Tatsuya.

The members of the Stars are behind Raymond’s and Regulus’ backs, and they have just been informed of the threat of the Strategic-Class Magician Shiba Tatsuya. It may be natural that it will be so.

Minoru didn’t use magic techniques to confront the surge of thoughts swallowing him, instead he fought back by facing it and embracing his strongest ‘desire’.

He doesn’t want Minami. In Minoru there is no desire to make her his. He just abandoned his humanity for his desire to save that girl from the same situation he was in. Because it was for someone other than himself, he could win against the encroaching temptation.

Individuality acquires form. Impulses and desires in the core of the spirit, how to make use of the law, what to forbid and what to allow, the connections within society, each person’s associations, it takes its form with resistance.

As such, the frame confining the self is thrown away, and the self exists as a person with its own desires different from other living beings. – If greed was the core, he would certainly not be able to withstand the temptation. Because it was ‘for the sake of someone other than myself’, and not ‘for my own sake’, Minoru could preserve his ‘self’.

It was a long battle.

It was an instant battle.

In the spiritual world, time has no length. Time is not a continuous line, it is made of points. The only information is ‘long time’ and ‘instant time’.

At the end of that instantaneous eternal battle – the one standing was Minoru.

(Raymond, will you cooperate with me? First, we bring her along. After that, Tatsuya-san.)

(I/We follow Minoru’s intention.)

Until the end, Minoru was himself.

But whether he changed or not, something was different.

Even humans change when they are exposed to the same things dozens, hundreds of times. Even if denied at first, empathy will slowly grow.

Even Minoru was not indifferent to such human weaknesses. Even if he isn’t a human being, he is still concerned about himself, and has similar strong points and weak points as he originally did.

Continuously being exposed to whispers to eliminate Tatsuya dozens, hundreds of times,

(Let’s deal with Tatsuya-san later.)

Minoru’s consciousness was also led into changing without him realizing.