Chapter 80: (Future Timeline) Fusing the Rat Talisman
As mentioned before, setting aside whether Kazama Chiba had any plans for reproduction...
Just considering the point of turning Clow Cards into Kazama Cards—he would absolutely never do that. The reason was simple.
Kazama Chiba himself believed in "all methods return to one."
Simply put: the tree he planted, the fruit it bore must be enjoyed by himself alone. He'd absolutely never share with others.
After all, the Clow Cards he'd painstakingly collected were already his private property.
To collect this power then transform it into dispersed cards, even letting others use them freely?
Don't be ridiculous.
Unless Golza had kicked his brain, he'd never do something so selflessly stupid.
Therefore, this Bocchi before him using Kazama Cards couldn't possibly be his future daughter from this timeline.
Since there were no blood relation constraints, there was nothing to hold him back.
Kazama Chiba pulled The Thunder card from his chest.
"Holy crap! Kazama Chiba, are you insane?!"
Kerberos floating nearby nearly fell from the sky seeing this maneuver.
"That's your biological daughter!! Even a vicious tiger doesn't eat its cubs! You're actually going to use The Thunder card?! You'll kill her!!"
"Righteously exterminating relatives?"
Kazama tilted his head, looking completely matter-of-fact.
"Don't get it wrong. She attacked first just now, right? I'm just exercising legitimate self-defense. Besides, for anyone who tries to kill me—no matter who they are—I won't be polite."
"That was a misunderstanding!!"
Kerberos anxiously jumped up and down, flying in front of Kazama with those little stubby hands frantically gesturing.
"Bocchi... she mistook you for an imposter. After all, some cards specialize in disguising themselves as close people. This child is inexperienced—being cautious is understandable!"
"A bit too cautious, don't you think?"
Kazama didn't stop. The lightning at his fingertips only grew brighter. "Attacking without even asking first?"
"It's not what you think. In this kind of world, you could die from accidents at any moment. Is being cautious wrong? This is clearly a safety awareness worthy of praise! If it were you, you'd do the same thing."
Kerberos desperately explained, since it had told Bocchi to attack first.
Afraid the child would suffer, who knew the other side was real?
As for Bocchi-chan herself—she'd completely crashed.
She crouched on the ground hugging her head, her entire being shaking like a sieve, mouth continuously repeating delirious phrases like "it's over," "social death," "ritual suicide to apologize."
Finished.
All finished.
That was Dad.
That really was Dad.
And she—who'd maintained a good girl image before her father for sixteen years as a socially anxious girl—had not only attacked her own father in public today, she'd nearly created a patricide tragedy.
Thinking of this, Bocchi-chan's complexion shifted at visible speed from deathly pale to ashen gray, finally becoming death-ash white.
Her soul seemed to have already separated from her body, floating in midair watching that petrified gray-white version of herself below.
"This is patricide... this is high treason... I'll be written into the family's pillar of shame... Mom will definitely cry herself to death when she finds out... no wait, Mom will probably beat me up first!"
"Waaah... I can't live anymore... let me die... is there a crack in the ground... preferably one that goes straight to the Earth's core..."
Just at this moment so awkward you could dig out a three-bedroom apartment with your toes...
"Ring ring ring—!!"
A piercing ringtone suddenly broke the deadlock.
Bocchi-chan jumped, fumbling to pull out her phone from her pocket.
On the screen flashed the words "Nijika Angel."
Bocchi's expression instantly switched from "social death" to "death penalty."
"H-hello? Nijika?"
An angry shout immediately came through the receiver.
"Bocchi! Where are you?! The Live is about to start!! Komichi Kazue is already backstage! If you don't come we're really going to have to pay breach of contract fees to the Live House until we're bankrupt!!"
"Where are you? Ryo is already backstage muttering about whether to sell you to a circus to pay the debt!"
This shout was like a wake-up call.
Compared to that ethereal patricide guilt, the real terror of "being late, getting scolded, paying money, social death" instantly seized the high ground.
"I-I'm sorry!!"
Bocchi released a wail.
Compared to facing the father she'd nearly burned to death here, going to the Live House to face thousands of audience members suddenly didn't seem so terrifying.
Even socially dying on stage was ten thousand times better than being struck by lightning and killed here!
"Um, Dad... I'm sorry!!"
Bocchi turned around and gave Kazama and Kerberos a ninety-degree bow, moving so fast she nearly threw out her back.
"I sincerely apologize! I... I need to go save the world... no wait, I need to go play guitar! Anyway, after the performance ends I'll definitely come back to accept my punishment! But right now please allow me to temporarily take my leave!! I'm truly very sorry!!"
After speaking, she didn't dare look at Kazama's expression. She grabbed the guitar case from the ground, slung it on her back, turned and ran.
"..."
Kazama Chiba blinked, staring at that rapidly fleeing rabbit, somewhat unable to process what just happened.
"She just ran like that?"
"Hey! Bocchi, you ungrateful brat! You're just abandoning me like this?"
Kerberos watched that silhouette instantly disappear into the smoke and dust, releasing a wail.
"So... you're really dumping this whole mess on me, huh?"
It turned its head, meeting Kazama's half-smiling eyes.
"Um... Kazama, since Bocchi already left, can we just let this matter drop? Look, we're all old acquaintances..."
Kerberos rubbed its hands together with an ingratiating expression, trying to get through.
"Let it drop."
Kazama dispersed the lightning in his hand. He didn't pursue.
Whether that girl ran or not made absolutely no difference to him. Since the threat was eliminated, there was no need to waste time playing cat-and-mouse games.
"Put that girl's matter aside for now. The immediate priority is I have some private business to handle."
"Private business?" Kerberos paused.
"Yeah. Kerberos, since you're so free, stand guard outside for me."
Kazama didn't explain. He casually released The Shadow card.
The shadow at his feet instantly came alive, transforming into a hemispherical black dome that completely enveloped him.
"Hey! Kazama! What are you doing?"
Kerberos tried to approach but got bounced back by that black wall.
This was a domain constructed with The Shadow card's full power. Without Kazama's permission, not even light could penetrate.
In the end, Kerberos could only stare blankly at that pitch-black barrier, completely unable to figure out what medicine Kazama was selling.
Inside that pitch-black absolute domain...
Kazama sat cross-legged, isolating all external sight and sound.
"Finally... it's time."
He pulled out the Book of Clow from his chest and extracted that thing he'd always considered his greatest trump card—the Rat Talisman.
The octagonal stone talisman lay quietly in his palm in the darkness, that rat pattern on it lifelike.
Undeniably, while this thing was useful, it was still an external object.
Once lost, the consequences would be catastrophic.
The Book of Clow, the Sealing Staff, even Kerberos—all would become unusable. Moreover, in Kazama's subsequent plans, the Rat Talisman was an extremely critical tool.
Kazama Chiba really didn't like this feeling of being controlled by an object.
So today he was going to eliminate this hidden danger.
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