'Go back to my own home?'
Saeko Busujima instantly rejected the idea. She had a chilling premonition. Something was probably already coming for her... So, there was no way to avoid it by simply hiding. She had to face this supernatural crisis head-on.
'Should I ask Yukinoshita to come back?'
Probably not… The predetermined crisis made Saeko deeply aware of the horrors of the mystical side. Since Yukinoshita was an "observer" with the prerequisite of remaining uninvolved, asking her to come back would likely just delay her with various obstacles, only for her to arrive later and be shocked by the devastating news of their deaths.
So, what should she do?
Faced with an unprecedented crisis, even the usually decisive Saeko hesitated, afraid to make a rash tactical decision. One wrong step, and it would be all over… Two lives were already resting heavily on her shoulders.
Thus, Saeko became increasingly hesitant and anxious, while Miko Yotsuya beside her became increasingly worried and panicked by the suffocating atmosphere.
The streets were desolate. The population seemed to dwindle to nothing. The sky gradually darkened, turning cold and harsh.
A sudden phone ring startled Miko. It was Rom. She quickly answered the phone, only to hear an extremely urgent shout from the other end.
"Where are you?! Are the three of you together? If not, meet up right now! Hurry!!"
Rom's panicked urgency was loud enough to reach Saeko's ears. They panicked too. Their lives were at stake, so they couldn't afford to be slow.
However, it seemed that Rom's frantic communication had acted as a metaphysical signal. In a split second, the highly perceptive Saeko felt a freezing chill run down her spine, and the fine hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.
'Someone's there! Something sinister has its eyes on us! Who is it?!'
Saeko quickly looked around the empty street but found nothing physically amiss. It seemed… the entity was still quite far away. Therefore, they still had a brief window of time to survive.
Stay calm! Especially in times like these, a swordsman needed to stay calm!
She gestured sharply to the hidden guards secretly watching over her from an unmarked van down the block, then quickly dialed Yukino's number.
At the same time, Yukino Yukinoshita, who was in the back of a taxi driving towards Minazuki's home, frowned at her screen.
'Busujima-senpai's call…'
She answered without hesitation, but a seemingly calm sentence from the older girl made her heart clench violently.
"They're here…" Saeko said softly.
"Now?" Yukino asked, gripping the leather seat.
"Now."
"Then let's go! Quickly!" Yukino urged.
"Where to?"
"Suginami Ward! Get to Suginami Ward as fast as physically possible!"
Having received confirmation of their sanctuary, Saeko didn't delay. She pulled the terrified Miko directly into the armored SUV the Busujima guards had rapidly brought to the curb.
"Suginami Ward! Hurry!!" Saeko commanded the driver.
"Damn it! Hurry up!"
The Patriarch of the Busujima family yelled at the driver in the front seat, his eyes reddened with stress as he watched the live GPS monitor. He sensed something highly unusual brewing in the city. His daughter was in danger...
He cared deeply for his daughter, yes. But a certain unspoken, pragmatic thought weighed heavier on his mind.
Murasame.
Murasame could not be allowed to suffer any harm or be lost in the chaos. To put it bluntly in the harsh terms of a grandmaster, the magical Murasame was more important to history than Saeko Busujima's single mortal life.
That was the harsh reality of the Busujima Patriarch. Family was important, but not above the legacy of the family itself. Moreover, he would gladly exchange his own life for Murasame's safety in a heartbeat.
No one who hadn't experienced the water-condensing magic firsthand could possibly understand the importance of the legacy Murasame carried. It was the absolute cornerstone that could ensure the family's continued dominance for centuries to come...
'Anyone in the Busujima family could die, but Murasame cannot be lost!'
At the same time, Rom, on another side of the city, also anxiously urged his cab driver to go faster.
He was even more anxious than the Busujima Patriarch. Because he vaguely suspected that his teacher, Granny Mitsue, might actually be watching him from beyond. This raised the terrifying question of whether he could finally gain his teacher's forgiveness and return to the true lineage of her teachings.
He had to go back. He absolutely must go back!
"Drive faster!!" Rom urged, throwing a massive stack of yen onto the front seat, ignoring the driver's dangerous swerving as the accelerator practically smoked.
He had to get there. If he couldn't get there in time to help, he'd go mad. Wasting half his life as a fraud, destined to remain in a cynical daze forever? He wouldn't accept that…
He nervously and instinctively touched his glowing prayer beads. Only the wooden beads could give him a sliver of peace of mind. But that wasn't enough. Even if he gets there, what could a mortal conman do against a true spirit?
He took out several genuine white talismans he had hoarded in his treasure chest over the years.
Fight to the death… Rom's face twisted and contorted with desperate rage.
'Can't go back? Then I'd rather die on the true path of seeking the truth than live as a coward...'
Suginami Ward: The Minazuki Residence
Mrs. Yukinoshita's face was ashen, her elegant features contorted with profound resentment. She felt a genuine urge to kill.
Useless! Utterly useless!
She glared down at her second daughter, Yukino, who was kneeling properly before her in the opulent hallway, and coldly questioned her with sheer exasperation.
"You want to save people?" Mrs. Yukinoshita hissed. "Save whom? Two little high school girls possessed by some demon? What right do you have? Do you even know the precarious state the Yukinoshita family is in right now? You want me to sacrifice our last shred of 'face' with Him for two completely unrelated classmates?"
'I know He's not that heartless,' Yukino thought, keeping her eyes cast down.
Yukino had her own unique perspective on Seiran Minazuki. She was his lover, and perhaps she and her family had made grave political mistakes in the past. But in his physical presence, she knew there was no way he could be completely devoid of affection for her. For two innocent lives, she believed burning her own political capital was worth the risk.
"I don't care what you think, Yukino. I want you to be useful!" Mrs. Yukinoshita was so angry she could barely speak.
She wasn't entirely devoid of maternal emotion, but the Yukinoshita faction truly couldn't withstand any more turmoil within the inner circle. If it were a minor, secular matter, she might have helped. Even if it was about saving someone from a kidnapping, asking the Metropolitan Police Department for help wasn't out of the question.
The problem was... Yukino actually dared to bring this supernatural mess directly to Suginami Ward! This was undoubtedly a massive lack of common sense. Why use a divine sledgehammer to crack a mortal nut? What did she take Minazuki for?! An errand boy?!
"He is my man," Yukino said, her voice steady and very serious.
That serious, unwavering attitude, however, slightly stunned her furious mother and the other women present in the lounge.
No. This possessive sweet talk caught them entirely off guard...
Especially the current leading mistress of the faction—Eri Kisaki. Her heart skipped a beat as she sipped her wine.
'Oh no...' Eri thought, her eyes narrowing. 'This seems to be aimed directly at my position.'
Hearing Yukino claim Him so boldly, Eri felt like the velvet seat beneath her was suddenly burning hot... Because those words were played too well. You really couldn't make a power-play statement like that without ten years of experience in palace intrigue...
And Mrs. Yukinoshita, after being stunned for a moment, simply smiled a predatory smile.
Good. Very good. Whether Yukino had finally grown up to play the game, or if she really thought of Him this way out of pure romance, it was undoubtedly very good for their family's standing.
Just as Eri Kisaki forced a polite smile and was about to say something to counter the younger girl...
A message relayed from upstairs made Yukino look up in surprise.
Upstairs. Standing to one side of the grand staircase, Haruno Yukinoshita, suppressing a wild laugh, secretly gave her younger sister a massive thumbs-up.
'You've really made something of yourself, little sister...' Haruno mouthed.
In fact, based solely on Yukino's bold, possessive declaration, Yukino's status in the inner circle was likely to rise dramatically. This wasn't just a wild guess. Haruno could hear the pleased emotional fluctuation in Minazuki's tone when she received the message.
The older women had been "married" to this dynamic for a while now; even a mere cough from Minazuki was enough for them to know exactly what position they needed to assume.
At that moment, Eri Kisaki felt the ground beneath her grow even hotter. Sitting comfortably wasn't an option anymore, but standing defensively wasn't an option either.
"Wait a minute… aren't the Sawamuras and Yukinoshitas all allies…?" Eri asked, looking at Mrs. Yukinoshita with a strange, strained expression. "What exactly is your daughter trying to do?"
However, Mrs. Yukinoshita was incredibly thick-skinned, simply sipping her tea with a serene, victorious smile.
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