Mochi was shoved into the center of the hall by the three tengu.
In front of her, surrounded by tables covered with scrolls, documents, and modern laboratory equipment that clashed completely with the ancient wooden architecture, there was no winged demon.
There was a man.
"A human?" Mochi spat. "You're the 'Master'? Why are you working with anomalies?"
The man looked up from the scroll he had been examining. His face was thin and pale. Deep dark circles stretched beneath his eyes, making him look like someone who had not rested properly in years.
"That's right. I am the master of these three. My name is Shimamoto Tadashi. I was OHRA's greatest researcher... until they decided my vision was madness."
He set the scroll down on the table and began walking slowly around Mochi.
"They wanted to do nothing more than hunt anomalies. Destroy them. Eliminate them. Waste their infinite potential. I, on the other hand, wanted to understand them... improve them... strengthen them."
A twisted smile appeared on his face.
"I wanted them to fight for us."
Mochi remained silent.
"This village was the perfect laboratory," Shimamoto continued with obvious pride. "I sacrificed the entire tengu colony that lived on this mountain. I extracted their ether and concentrated it into these three subjects."
He turned toward the winged warriors standing motionless by the door.
"They are no longer ordinary tengu. They are masterpieces."
The three inclined their heads slightly, like soldiers acknowledging the presence of their commander.
Shimamoto approached Mochi again, his eyes shining with unhealthy enthusiasm.
"You're probably wondering why I'm telling you all this when we've barely met."
He stopped in front of her.
"The answer is simple. I know what you did to my barrier."
Mochi's heart skipped a beat.
"That real-time code rewriting... that method of modifying the structure without destroying it... it was sublime."
The researcher's eyes lit up even more.
"A high-level sorcery technique. Something I've only seen a handful of times in my entire life."
Her mind immediately began racing.
Then she realized something.
A small spark of hope appeared.
Mochi straightened her back and crossed her arms. Then she adopted the most arrogant expression she could manage, unconsciously mimicking the attitude Kotone constantly displayed.
"Oh, that..." she said with a smug smile. "That was child's play."
Shimamoto raised an eyebrow. "Child's play?"
"Of course. If that was enough to impress you, then you haven't seen anything yet."
Inside, she was terrified, but outwardly she tried to appear completely confident.
For several seconds, Shimamoto watched her in silence. Then he smiled.
"Wonderful." He began pacing back and forth across the room. "Join me."
Mochi blinked. "What?"
"Join my research."
Shimamoto spread his arms as if offering her the entire world. "With your talent, my work will advance years in a matter of months. Together, we can achieve knowledge that the Agency cannot even imagine."
His voice grew more intense.
"You could become a goddess among humans."
He leaned slightly closer.
"Not a mere tool obeying OHRA's orders."
Mochi swallowed hard. The offer was insane, but it was also an opportunity.
If she accepted, even if she was only pretending, she could buy time. More time meant more chances to escape. More chances for Kotone, Miyu, or Zeke to find her.
"Well?" Shimamoto asked, his smile vanishing completely.
"Because I should warn you of something."
The three tengu stepped forward at the exact same moment.
"If you refuse my offer... I will have no choice but to order them to kill you."
The atmosphere in the room became oppressive. Mochi felt sweat slowly running down her back.
She opened her mouth.
She was about to accept.
About to play along.
But before she could utter a single word, a violet glow illuminated the room. One of the scrolls on Shimamoto's table began to shine. The lines written across it slithered like snakes.
"Hmm?"
Shimamoto turned immediately.
The relaxed expression vanished from his face.
He approached the scroll and began reading the new lines appearing across the paper. For several seconds, absolute silence filled the room.
Then his eyes widened.
"Intruders."
A wave of relief washed over Mochi.
But that relief lasted less than a second.
Shimamoto's expression quickly shifted from surprise to confusion.
And from confusion... to fury.
"They're in the second perimeter," he muttered.
His fingers tightened around the scroll until it crumpled.
"And they're..."
The veins in his neck began to bulge.
"They're modifying the barrier."
A very bad feeling settled in Mochi's stomach.
A really bad one.
"Using the exact same ether signature as the first time."
The silence that followed was ice-cold.
Shimamoto remained motionless for several long seconds.
Then he slowly turned his head.
His eyes locked onto Mochi.
Mochi felt her blood run cold.
<...Oh no.>
"Tell me something..." Shimamoto said in a dangerously low voice.
The room fell silent.
"If you're here, standing right in front of me... then who is out there manipulating my barriers with such flawless precision?"
A chill ran down Mochi's spine.
She tried to answer immediately, to sound confident, but hesitated.
Only for a fraction of a second.
A brief moment of uncertainty during which her feline ears involuntarily flattened.
For most people, it would have gone unnoticed.
But for an obsessive researcher like Shimamoto, it was more than enough.
"It was me..." Mochi tried to say.
"LIAR!"
The roar shook the entire room.
Shimamoto slammed his fist onto the table with such force that several vials were sent flying. Glass shattered as they hit the floor, scattering colorful liquids everywhere.
"How dare you try to deceive me?!"
His eyes were bloodshot.
Shimamoto pointed toward the exit.
He didn't give an order.
He didn't need to.
The three tengu reacted immediately, spreading their enormous wings.
"Bring me whoever is tampering with my barriers."
Shimamoto's expression darkened even further.
"And kill the rest."
The three tengu took off simultaneously.
A powerful gust of wind swept through the room as they shot through the open doors and vanished into the darkness outside.
Shimamoto watched them leave.
Then he slowly removed his glasses and set them on the table.
Next, he extended a hand and picked up a wooden sword resting beside several scrolls.
That surprised Mochi.
She had expected some bizarre weapon or a powerful spell.
Not a simple training sword.
Yet the way Shimamoto held it filled her with instinctive dread.
"As for you, little impostor cat..."
He slowly advanced toward her.
"Since you're of no use to my research..."
A sickening smile spread across his face.
"We'll see how much ether I can extract from you before your light goes out."
Mochi swallowed hard and took a step back.