“Perfect! This plan is perfect! It’s flawless! Foolproof! Wonderful! The world is mine!”

Nozomi laughed alone in the janitorial room. She had written a section in her handbook that was t.i.tled “Ultimate Empress Plan”. In other words, it was her last resort for becoming empress.

“This is truly my last resort. I’ll call the empress to my home! And I’ll use the special aspect of my home to mentally confuse her and have her give me the throne!”

She grew so excited that she shouted out all alone and her forehead glittered brightly.

“What is your home’s special aspect?”

“Ghosts! The Sasahara inn is haunted! …Wah!”

She realized someone had spoken to her from behind, so she jumped away.

She had not truly been all alone. Korone stood behind her.

“Wh-why are you here?”

“I am unsure why you would need to ask. You sent the empress a letter saying she had been chosen to spend a night at your hot spring inn.”

Korone held the letter in front of Nozomi.

“Th-that’s the letter I sent out! Why is the first step of my plan here instead of with the empress!?”

“You really are stupid. I am the empress’s maid, so I inspect all of her mail.”

“Y-you have a system like that!? But why are you here?”

“I performed a preliminary investigation of the inn and have decided we will go.”

“Ahh! My perfect plan has already failed! …Eh? You’ll go? Go where?”

As Nozomi realized what Korone had said, she turned back toward her.

“We will use these tickets and stay at the Sasahara inn for a night.”

“Eh? Really? But why?”

“Is there a reason why we should not?”

“No. Of course it would be better if you did.”

“Then that settles it. Oh, one other thing. These tickets are for a discount, but please make it free.”

“F-free!?”

“Would you rather we not stay?”

“Th-then the empress alone can stay for free…”

Nozomi hesitantly conceded that much and Korone nodded.

“Very good. I have a feeling some others will try to tag along, so try to adapt to the situation as needed.”

“U-um…”

Nozomi called out to Korone as she started to leave.

“What is it?”

“Well, um… Why are you going along with this even though you overheard my plan?”

“Because it sounds fun,” immediately answered Korone.

“Eh?”

Nozomi was taken aback, but Korone quickly continued.

“That was a joke. No, about half of it was a joke.”

“H-half? Then what about the other half?”

But Korone did not answer her question.

“That is a secret.”

“A secret…”

Nozomi was confused, but Korone silently left the room.

“Mhh. Now I’m curious. But this is my chance. I need to put together an even more amazing plan!”

Suddenly filled with even more excitement, she began drawing up an even more ridiculous plan.

“We get to go to the hot spring!”

Keena happily showed off the tickets.

“I see. That’s nice.”

Akuto answered without looking away from the screen he was reading a book on.

As usual, Keena was in Akuto’s room chowing down on snacks made from rice flower. His reaction was only natural, but Keena pouted her lips.

“No, A-chan. You’re going too.”

“Eh?”

He turned around and saw that she had three tickets spread out like a fan.

“Three? So that’s you, me, and…Korone?”

“Yeah! Let’s go. It’ll be fun. And it’s free. The rice at an inn tastes completely different!”

She was clearly excited, but Akuto looked contemplative.

“But if you stay somewhere like that, won’t it cause a small commotion? And if it’s just us…”

Akuto tried to decline, but Korone climbed down from her shelf and cut in.

“I have already arranged the security, press restrictions, and other formalities. All that remains is for you to keep your hands off the empress.”

“That’s right! Way to go, Korone-chan. I’m exhausted from my official duties, so I need this time to relax.”

“I don’t recall you performing any kind of official duties. No, I guess that doesn’t matter. But wait…”

He started to ask if there was more to this, but Korone stopped him with a look.

He picked up on the look in her eyes and took one of the tickets.

“Then I guess I’ll go. We have different rooms, right?”

“Yes. We leave tomorrow. It is not far, so we can walk.”

“It’s too bad we aren’t going farther away, but whatever. This’ll still be fun. Okay, see you tomorrow.”

Keena handed a ticket to Korone as well and left through the window.

After watching her leave, Akuto turned to Korone.

“So what is this about?”

“Look at the ticket. The inn is named Sasahara. That is the same name as that janitor. In other words, this is her home.”

“Oh, that’s the place I went the other day.”

“Yes. As you know, Sasahara Nozomi claims to have imperial blood and she has caused trouble on multiple occasions. But my investigation has shown that there might be some truth to her claim.”

“Eh? Really?”

“It is simply a possibility. I discovered a record that an imperial treasure was transferred to the Sasahara family. I have already had the Imperial Knights investigate further and they have confirmed the existence of that treasure.”

“What is it?”

“The Imperial Seal. I do not know what it does, but it may be made to react to imperial blood.”

“The Imperial Seal? Who would have thought the proof of an emperor would be found in a place like that.”

“Indeed. It was the loss of the Imperial Seal that led to the Imperial Regalia being used to identify the emperor. That was originally the Imperial Seal’s job.”

“So that’s why Keena has to go.”

“Yes. The Imperial Knights will be protecting her in secret. And I have had the inn operate as normal. The inn does not actually know what I have told you.”

“But won’t it still cause a commotion if the empress goes there?”

“This plan was suggested by Sasahara Nozomi-san who wishes to take the imperial throne. The inn is likely prepared. How they have prepared is another matter entirely, though. Also, I have prevented any effects outside the academy by shutting out all press. Rumors will spread, but only that she is spending a night at the inn. The whole truth will reach the world at large afterwards.”

Korone explained it all at once and Akuto nodded.

“In that case, I will focus on stopping Nozomi-san’s pranks. I hope nothing happens, though. Her parents seem like nice people.”

With another contemplative look, he continued speaking.

“But why do we have to maintain the imperial system? I know I’m not one to talk, but wouldn’t a system that doesn’t cause commotions all the time be better?”

“Artificial intelligences like me understand that humans enjoy those commotions,” said Korone.

“Yeah, I’m sure you think that and I bet the G.o.ds do too. When you aren’t taking part, even war and slaughters can look enjoyable enough.”

Akuto shrugged and Korone answered coolly.

“For a human, you are very much like us. And to answer your previous question, the imperial system is maintained because it is convenient.”

“I understand that, but I just don’t like it for some reason. I don’t want to start a war, but there are systems that I want to destroy.”

“That is a dangerous statement. But instead of discussing the world at large, we should focus on a much more imminent problem.”

Korone pointed outside the window.

“What is it?”

Akuto looked out and saw Nozomi selling tickets.

“Come and get them! I’m selling tickets! These tickets are for the same day the empress and demon king are staying at the inn. You don’t want to miss what will happen there. And they’re cheap!”

She was waving around a fanned-out pile of tickets while speaking with a thick accent. She wore sungla.s.ses and a mask and a sign made from cardboard hung from her neck.

“Wow…” said Akuto sadly.

“I did allow them to continue business as usual. Do not worry. No one would actually buy a ticket from-… Oh, there’s one.”

Just as Korone had said, Fujiko had latched on to the sales pitch.

“Really? Akuto-sama and Keena are staying there!?”

“Yes, it’s true. Very true.”

“Argh! I can’t allow that! I will stay too! How much?”

“Right now, you get the discount price of 20 thousand yen.”

“That is hardly a discount!”

“Then don’t buy it.”

Nozomi’s fake accent made the conversation sound ridiculous, but Fujiko managed to drive the ticket price down to 14,500 yen.

“Oh… I don’t know where she heard about this, but Kita Yoshie-san just bought one. And Kita-san has called over Hattori-san. Hattori-san is saying she does not want to go, but she just bought a ticket while pretending Kita-san forced her into it.”

Korone calmly continued her running commentary.

“You don’t have to explain it all…”

Akuto was holding his head in his hands after turning away from the window.

“Welcome.”

The husband and wife bowed and looked nervous when they saw Akuto. Akuto knew the situation, so he gave as kind an expression as he could manage. The information they had received after the fact would have shown them they had made a misunderstanding, but they could not help but fear Akuto after what they had seen.

His unexpectedly gentle behavior must have rea.s.sured them a bit and Fujiko’s well-mannered greeting must have been effective because the wife managed to properly greet Akuto like a normal guest.

In the end, Akuto, Keena, Korone, Junko, Fujiko, and Yoshie were staying at the inn. They had one large room for the girls and a private room for Akuto. Also, Nozomi greeted them in the entrance with a grin on her face.

—I’ll have the empress hand over the throne in their large room.

As she had that thought, she did an admirable job of bowing.

“Welcome.”

“Wow. This is amazing,” said Keena happily as she looked around the lobby. “I love this kind of atmosphere.”

“This kind of atmosphere? Well… I suppose it does have a sort of atmosphere,” said Fujiko doubtfully.

The lobby carpet was smooth and worn down. The leather of the sofa was thin and worn through in places and the gla.s.s table was cloudy. Not only were the thick wooden columns covered in small sc.r.a.pes, but the surface had been shaved down so much in places that they had visibly narrowed.

“It all looks maintained, but still…”

Yoshie was as outspoken as always. While everything was certainly damaged, nothing was covered in dust. It was just all so old that normal maintenance could not hide it all.

“You shouldn’t say that,” scolded Junko.

However, Yoshie was right, so Junko could not exactly defend the inn’s interior.

Normally, Nozomi would have said something too, but she did not react this time because she planned to make use of how old the inn was.

“It is old, but that shows how much history it holds,” she said. “For example, there is that wicker chair hanging from the ceiling.”

Nozomi pointed toward the back corner of the lobby where a wicker chair was attached to the ceiling with wire. No one could sit in it, so it looked like a piece of interior decoration.

“Anyone who sits in that chair will die within a week. Anyone who tries to get rid of it also dies, so we store it up there where no one can sit in it.”

The biggest problem was that Nozomi’s story was true.

“But… Curses don’t actually exist, right?” asked Junko worriedly.

She grabbed Akuto’s sleeve, but she was the only one that was afraid. Fujiko brushed Junko’s hand from Akuto’s sleeve and rebuked her.

“Of course not. Curses are often mistakenly thought to be a part of black magic, but anything that uses mana to function can be resisted like any other magic. If a spell has been used on it to interfere with people’s internal mana and kill them, it would give off a great presence.”

“Sometimes coincidences just keep happening. Then again, life would be pretty boring without those coincidences. In fact, maybe we should a.s.sume there are mysterious things out there.”

Yoshie did not seem to take either side, but she was certainly not afraid.

As for Keena…

“A-chan, that’s amazing. And scary.”

She said it was scary, but a smile covered her entire face.

“Well, there are some things that are more fun if you believe them.”

Akuto nodded with a look of disinterest.

—Kh. But I’ve only just begun!

Nozomi mentally bit her lip, but her actual lips were smiling.

“It’s quite popular with our guests. But even just looking at it can affect your health, so let me show you to your rooms.”

Nozomi led the group further into the inn. As she walked down the hallway, she indicated an empty room.

“Three people hanged themselves in this room over a hundred year period. You need not worry because you are staying in the next room, but people sometimes hear a creaking sound from the ceiling joist. That is the sound of the joist creaking from the weight of the rope in the next room.”

Her forehead shined smoothly as she gave the creepy explanation.

“Wait a minute… Please stop that.”

Junko’s voice was trembling once more, but the others reacted much like before.

“You can always use necromancy to hear what the dead thought while they were alive.”

“That would be the wood expanding and contracting in the cold night.”

“That sounds scary, A-chan.”

“Yes. Suicide is an unfortunate thing.”

—I-I know modern people tend not to believe in ghosts, but these magic students are especially tough.

Nozomi began to panic.

“This here is the girls’ room. It is a large room, but please be careful with the mirror on one side of the room,” said Nozomi as soon as she showed them the room. “A woman in white sometimes comes from it and I’ve heard she will drag people into the mirror.”

“I-if you get dragged in, do you die?”

Junko’s voice was trembling.

“You do,” a.s.sured Nozomi.

“Eeeee!”

Junko let out a high-pitched scream, but Akuto placed a hand on her shoulder.

“If someone had died like that, there would be records of it. Sasahara-san, I know you’re trying to make this an enjoyable experience, but you’ll ruin it if you go too far.”

“No, this is very true. I am trying to warn you.”

“Sure, sure.”

Akuto did not feel like arguing, but then Fujiko clung to his arm.

“Kyah! How scary! What should I do? The evil spirit of the mirror is going to kill me! If that happens, will you protect me, Akuto-sama?”

She gave him an upturned look, but he gave a troubled frown.

“Sorry, but even I can tell you’re faking that.”

“Tch!”

Fujiko clicked her tongue.

Afterwards, the girls remained in the large room and Nozomi led Akuto to his room.

And for some reason, Korone was tagging along.

“You don’t have to see my room.”

“I would like to know where your room is just in case.”

Nozomi was giving the histories of the rooms as usual and Akuto had been ignoring her, but what she said next caught his attention.

“And the room beyond this one is sealed off. Soon after the inn opened, a horrible ma.s.s murder occurred there and it has been sealed ever since.”

Akuto exchanged a glance with Korone.

“Could something be hidden in there?”

“Heh heh heh. I take it you’ve heard? The legendary vase that seals an evil spirit is contained inside. And that vase is actually…”

Nozomi continued her explanation, but Akuto looked Korone in the eye.

She nodded and whispered to him.

“The item was found in their underground storeroom, but the knights have not actually performed the final check to see if it is real or not. It looks like we need to continue the investigation.”

“Yes,” said Akuto.

“Huh? Why are you whispering to each other? Are you scared? Then you should be careful.”

Nozomi grinned while ignorant of what they were truly talking about.

And while Akuto placed his things in his room, she whispered to Korone.

“How do you like this perfect plan? I am scaring the empress until she feels mentally trapped.”

“I can see that,” replied Korone. “But more importantly, is the story you just told true to the best of your knowledge?”

“Eh? Of course it’s true.”

“Understood. Keep up the good work on your plan.”

Korone walked past Nozomi who was giving a confused look and she entered Akuto’s room.

“I do not want to believe it, but this could become a problem. Be careful.”

“She doesn’t seem to be threatening us, but ghosts don’t exist.”

“Do not be so sure.”

Korone’s expression was quite serious. Then again, her expression was always serious.

“Now that looks like a threat.”

“Not at all. Oh, we will all be eating in the large room. And feel free to visit the bath until then. We can carry out the investigation during the night. We will look through the inn and protect the Imperial Seal until morning. Then we will show it to the empress.”

“Understood. Let’s take it easy until we start investigating tonight.”

The sun began to set and Akuto walked to the large bath on his own. The girls seemed to be busy changing, but the men’s bath and women’s bath were separate, so there was no need to head there together. Looking forward to being alone for the first time in a while, he peacefully opened the door to the changing room.

The changing room was clean but old. The baskets to put one’s clothes in had a layer of fluff from years of use. Akuto did not believe in the paranormal, but he still sensed a gloomy air in the room.

“I feel bad saying it, but I can see why they don’t get many guests.”

He opened the door to the bath and found an open air bath of decent size. It was surrounded by trees, so no one would be able to see in from outside.

“I haven’t been able to relax like this in a while.”

He sank into the water and let out a relaxed sigh. The warmth wrapping around his body seemed to take away his weariness.

Meanwhile, someone hid in a tree right next to Akuto. Needless to say, it was Nozomi.

“Heh heh heh. If he’s here in the men’s bath, he can’t immediately track me down if I mess with the women’s bath.”

While straddling a branch, she pulled a bottle from her pocket and grinned.

It contained a powder that turned red when dissolved in water. She could turn the women’s bath into a lake of blood by scattering it from above.

“And the red conveniently returns to clear after a few minutes. After they scream and run away, they’ll come back and wonder if they were imagining it or if it was something paranormal.”

Because Akuto was in the bath, Nozomi averted her gaze and felt her heart beat a little faster as she waited for the girls to enter the women’s bath. But an unexpected voice from below brought her gaze to Akuto.

“E-Etou-san! Why are you here!?”

Akuto could not be blamed for crying out in surprise. Fujiko had embraced him from behind while completely naked.

“Why else? Because I missed you, Akuto-sama.”

Her voice could only be called bewitching.

“But this is the men’s bath.”

“There are no other guests. I even entered through the main entrance.”

“Yes, but…”

“Oh, do you not like it? I hurried here before the others, so we do not have much time. Now, let us hurry up and get down to business.”

“G-get down to business? What do you mean?”

The sight made Nozomi gulp as she watched on from above. She naturally had no experience with this kind of thing, so her heart beat so fast she thought it would burst from her chest. She knew she should not watch, but her eyes were glued to the two of them.

“I think you know perfectly well what I mean.”

“Yes, but we shouldn’t do things like that.”

“Oh? If you are referring to your religious doctrine, that no longer applies to you. And this is not a problem under standard ethics, so I will give you a healthy child.”

Fujiko stroked Akuto’s chest from behind and brought his hand to her chest.

“A child!? No, um… wait!”

“Ahh, I love you how you are usually so strong and yet so cute at times like this.”

Akuto and Fujiko began to squirm about inside the bath.

By this point, Nozomi’s blood had completely rushed to her head. Her eyes were glittering and she was breathing heavily.

—E-ee… Amazing… This is amazing enough, but what if it gets even more amazing? Wait. Why is my face wet? Oh, my nose is bleeding.

By the time she caught on, it was too late. The blood dripping from her nose fell on Akuto and Fujiko.

“Wait, Etou-san. Something just fell on me.”

“Heh heh. Do you really think you can trick me like that? Or are you embarra.s.sed by what’s going on down here? …Huh? Blood?”

—Oh, no!

Nozomi thought about running, but it turned out she did not have to.

“Stop right there!”

She heard a shout and the sound of something being sliced.

She looked over just in time to see the bamboo divider between the men’s and women’s baths being sliced apart by a j.a.panese sword.

Junko then kicked it down from the women’s side and appeared on the men’s side.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” she shouted, but she received oddly calm responses.

“Wait a second. This is blood,” said Akuto.

“Wh-why is the water red?” asked Fujiko.

“Do you really think you can trick me like-… Hyaaaaaah!”

Junko’s initially energetic voice changed to a scream.

—Eh? Isn’t that a bit much for a small nosebleed?

Nozomi looked away from Junko and towards the bath Akuto and Fujiko were in.

The entire bath was growing red.

—Ah. Don’t tell me I dropped the bottle.

She checked the bottle in her hand, but it was still closed, it had not broken, and it retained its contents.

“Th-then what is that?” she muttered.

Akuto and Fujiko put on towels and left the bath. The open-air bath was not that large, but it still contained dozens of times the water of a normal household bath. Disturbing red smoke was rising from about half of it.

“Wh-what is that? I-is it a real curse?”

Nozomi’s voice was trembling with fear.

“This is human blood,” said Korone after testing the composition of the water.

They had called Nozomi’s mother to get permission and have her check if anything was wrong, but they had only learned two things: it was human blood and it had been thrown into the bath from outside rather than entering through the hot water opening.

“Is this hara.s.sment from the group that was trying to buy up the land?” suggested Akuto.

“It would be difficult for them to accomplish this,” said Korone with a shake of her head.

Akuto recalled that the Imperial Knights were secretly protecting the area.

“Then I don’t know… J-just to be sure, this isn’t one of your pranks, is it?”

“I do not blame you for suspecting me, but I did not do this. However, I was neglecting to monitor Nozomi-san’s actions.”

“Then it’s possible she did this.”

Akuto groaned with a sullen look, but Nozomi had vanished.

In the end, they all took turns using their rooms’ indoor baths, changed into yukatas, and ate dinner. Eating all the food kindly served by Nozomi’s mother should have been an enjoyable experience, but their discussions naturally turned toward the paranormal.

“H-hey. There really is not anything going on here, is there?” asked Junko worriedly.

“You believe in that nonsense too much. It is entirely possible that Nozomi-san prepared a large quant.i.ty of human blood.”

Fujiko teased Junko, but Fujiko’s voice was less cheerful than usual.

“That actually scares me more. But it’s real human blood, so someone had to have been there, right? Can you detect their mana?”

Yoshie turned toward Korone.

“I do not think a mana canceller was in effect, but I cannot detect anything. I do not know why.”

Korone’s words silenced them all.

“I am very sorry. That is where someone once had their head split open with a rock as they bathed,” said Nozomi’s mother as if that were an explanation.

All their expressions grew even heavier.

“Well… At any rate, let’s think of this as an actual incident. Korone and I will search for Nozomi-san. The rest of you stay in the room. Does that sound good?”

Everyone agreed with Akuto’s suggestion.

Once they had finished eating, Nozomi’s mother left apologetically and Korone began making some tea. Akuto chose his words carefully in order to put the others at ease.

“I’m sure it was just a prank.”

“I hope it was…” said Junko in a gloomy voice.

“Of course it was a prank,” said Fujiko. “We have some kind of enemy and we are looking worried because it is creepy. You are the only one that actually believes in ghosts. How can you believe in ghosts in an age where almost all mysteries have been solved?”

Junko pouted her lips.

“My family’s religion performs some traditional rituals and they include a belief in mysterious powers.”

“That is a discrepancy created by mixing belief in such powers with a G.o.d who is nothing but a system. And Akuto-sama hates that, remember? Suhara was even the first G.o.d he destroyed.”

“But!”

Junko and Fujiko were beginning to argue, so Akuto tried to cut in.

“Let’s stop talking about this…”

“No, I view it a little differently.”

But Yoshie spoke up and continued the discussion.

“How do you view it?”

“Most of the world’s mysteries have been solved, but the problem of the soul has not been resolved. I have already proven that a soul exists separate from our body. And we do not know why that soul is created. You all remember that Zero actually had a soul, right?”

Yoshie began explaining her view.

“When L’Isle-Adams spend a long time with an individual, they gain a sense of self. If we equate a sense of self with a soul, it means that a soul can be transmitted. We are living in an unexpectedly mysterious world.”

“I suppose I must agree with you about that.”

As one of those involved, Fujiko had no choice but to concede the point.

“And that means souls can see souls. In which case, we might be able to see ghosts.”

But when Yoshie brought her argument there, Fujiko argued back.

“But that has nothing to do with this incident. After all, human blood is a physical object.”

“Well, yes. Even if it can be created with mana, it requires the original person’s DNA and the proper chemical elements. It’s best to a.s.sume someone was there. But I also want to agree with Junko-kun’s opinion. Also, she’s kind of cute when she’s scared. Don’t you think?”

Yoshie winked at Akuto.

“Oh…um…well… I suppose,” he mumbled.

“Ah…”

Junko blushed and Fujiko immediately argued back.

“She is not cute!”

“Okay. Let’s get going.”

Akuto left along with Korone.

Junko and the others were left behind and they felt uneasy. Or more accurately, Junko felt uneasy.

“Th-they will be all right, won’t they?”

Junko clung to Yoshie. She must not have noticed because she jumped when Yoshie began stroking her head.

“Oh, you really are cute. Good girl, good girl.”

“S-stop that…”

“You’re the one that grabbed on to me.”

Yoshie stroked Junko’s chin like she was a cat, but Junko could not move away and could only make ticklish complaints.

“Stop… no, stop!”

“Nyo, nyo, nyo. I’m gonna tickle you.”

Junko was half in tears, but Yoshie intended to continue having fun.

Seeing them, Keena joined in.

“I’ll do it too!”

Keena grabbed on to Junko and started petting her too.

“I said stop… Hey, that tickles!”

Junko struggled and the three of them collapsed while tangled together. They were all wearing yukatas which shifted out of place and created an immodest scene. Fujiko smiled bitterly and scolded them.

“Stop that. And it looks like Hattori-san has finally calmed down.”

“Eh?”

Junko turned toward Fujiko.

“C’mon, don’t say it like that. It makes it sound like I did it on purpose.”

Yoshie smiled bitterly as well.

“I thought we were doing it because it was fun.”

Keena was still tangled around Junko.

And then…

They heard a low, heavy creaking noise.

“Eh?”

They all froze in place and looked to the ceiling.

The creaking came from the ceiling joist.

It sounded like something heavy was hanging from the joist in the next room.

“Did someone hang themselves in the next room?”

Junko grabbed on to Yoshie once more.

This time, Yoshie was not about to play around.

“That sound is real, isn’t it? In that case…”

“It would be faster to a.s.sume this is another prank!”

With a flip of her yukata hem, Fujiko charged out of the room.

She ran down the hallway and cautiously peeked into the next room while pressing her back against the wall.

And then she froze in place.

She saw the back of a girl with long hair. She had what looked like a white rope around her neck and her feet were floating in the air. She was swaying back and forth like a pendulum in time with the creaking.

“Enough pranks!”

Showing no fear, Fujiko immediately fired a mana sphere into the hanged girl.

She held back so as not to do any damage to the room. She was mainly trying to determine what this was.

A small explosion of light burst out and filled the room with light.

“This sensation…”

But the light sensation confused her.

“There was something there, wasn’t there?”

Keena arrived and peered in the room from behind Fujiko.

“I saw it too. It looked like a hanged corpse.

Yoshie lined up alongside them as Junko clung to her chest.

“S-stop it… Was there really something there?”

“Yes. But it disappeared.”

Fujiko shook her head.

After the explosion vanished, the room was perfectly calm and the only noise was the ticking of the clock.

“Eeeee! Then it was real?” cried Junko in fright.

“If we can’t prove what it was, we can’t call it a real anything. Look, it could have gone in and out as it pleased.”

Fujiko entered the room and pointed at the ceiling. The ceiling panels were loose and could be easily removed. Leaving through the ceiling would not have been impossible.

“We should wait obediently in the room until Akuto-sama returns,” said Fujiko.

After returning to the room, they sat around with serious expressions and speaking little.

“P-please say something…” begged Junko in a trembling voice.

“It is a little too gloomy in here.” Yoshie folded her arms. “Not that I think I can feel cheerful right now.”

“If this is an attack by someone, we should stay put unless they attack this room,” said Fujiko calmly. “We need an escape route, but this place is so cheaply made that we can easily break through a window or even a wall. How about we calm down and drink some tea for now?”

“It would kind of be a relief to find out it really is a ghost,” said Keena innocently.

Junko shook her head back and forth.

“No it would not! Not at all!”

“I have to side with Keena on this one,” said Fujiko. “If this is someone targeting Keena, it may be too much for us. Or rather, I do not want that responsibility.”

“If you get down to it, I guess I agree,” said Yoshie. “But whether this is something physical or something spiritual, we’re definitely in a strange place. Mana acts oddly here. I’d only ever heard rumors, but places like that are known as mystery zones. In those places, gravity acts oddly and things happen that drive people insane.”

“There is no need to discuss that. We need to decide what to do in case there is a threat.”

“Our only choice is to protect Keena and run away. If something happens, we’ll leave this mystery zone. That should be our priority.”

Fujiko and Yoshie began to gain a sense of danger.

“B-but we won’t fall victim to a deadly curse, will we?”

Junko had yet to let go of Yoshie.

“Well, if that happens, there isn’t much we can do. There’s no point in worrying about it.”

“I still say a ghost would be fun,” insisted Keena. “Ghosts turn invisible, make strange noises, and scare people, right?”

“You can do all of that yourself,” said Fujiko in annoyance.

Keena pouted her lips.

“Eh? You shouldn’t say people are like ghosts. …Ah.”

Keena stood up to complain further, but she dropped her empty teacup as she did.

“Oh, no. I dropped it.”

She reached out an arm.

And a white hand came from under the table, picked up the teacup, and handed it to her.

“Th-thanks.”

She returned the teacup to the table and started to speak again.

“As I was saying…”

But the others were completely motionless.

They all stared closely at their own hands.

They then stopped moving again, but a moment later Junko screamed and they raced to be the first out of the room.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“I cannot detect it very well, but from the voices and vibrations, there are several people inside the inn,” said Korone.

Akuto and Korone were currently walking around the inn. They had yet to find Nozomi.

“But that can’t be, can it?”

“Not counting Nozomi-san, the only workers at the inn are her parents and the single servant L’Isle-Adam. The couple is at the reception desk and the L’Isle-Adam is working in the garden.”

“And you would receive a report if someone arrived from outside, right?”

“Yes. But I cannot currently receive telepathic communications. The mana is unstable. But if something did happen, the Imperial Knights would arrive to inform me directly.”

“This doesn’t make any sense. What is going on?”

Akuto looked at the box in his hand that contained the Imperial Seal. They had brought it from the bas.e.m.e.nt, but it did not seem like anything more than a box containing an antique.

“At any rate, this is the only place Nozomi-san could be. The sealed room.”

Korone pointed forward.

Akuto placed a hand on the door and found it was unlocked.

“It doesn’t seem especially sealed to me.”

“The knights performed their secret preliminary investigation, but they said nothing about a sealed room.”

“If we don’t find Nozomi-san here, let’s head back to the room.”

Akuto entered the sealed room.

It looked a lot like a storeroom. The walls on either side were covered in shelves and the shelves were lined with antiques. Other than the large vase placed conspicuously in the back, nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary. That might change if they investigated each individual antique, though.

“Is this the vase she was talking about?”

Akuto headed further in. The vase was about as tall as a child and it was white with a complex blue pattern. Akuto peered into it and drew back in surprise.

Nozomi was inside.

“What are you doing in there?”

“E-eeee! It’s here! Help me! Forgive me!”

She was in a state of confusion.

“Hey, just calm down.”

As soon as he said that, he heard a distant explosion. That was the mana sphere that Fujiko had fired, but he had no way of knowing that.

“We can deal with her later. We need to hurry back.”

With that instruction to Korone, Akuto tried to return.

But Nozomi was clinging to his arm.

“Oh, thank goodness! You’re human! Don’t go! I-it’s here! It’s really here! Please help me! It’s scary! It’s too scary!”

“L-let go of me. You heard that explosion, didn’t you?”

“Th-that’s why you need to help me! There’s a monster! A real monster!”

Nozomi was crying.

Akuto turned to Korone, but she was holding a hand to her ear.

“I hear Etou-san and the others speaking. It is a normal conversation. Everything appears to be okay.”

“Hm? I don’t think they would cause an explosion just for fun.”

“Based on the conversation, they seem to have seen something.”

“So it was a ghost or a monster?”

Akuto turned back to Nozomi.

She was clinging to him while crying.

“Like I said! There really is one! I saw a hairy monster! I’m sorry! I was lying before! But what happened here is true! I know you won’t believe me, but there was a monster!”

Akuto could not make sense of what she was saying, but he could only a.s.sume she had seen something she did not expect to see.

“Well, it seems something is happening. That’s for sure. Let’s head back with her. We have the Imperial Seal, so we can contact the Imperial Knights.”

As he spoke, Akuto lifted Nozomi out of the vase, left the sealed room, and checked his surroundings. The room was at the corner of an L-shaped turn of the hallway. When he looked down the narrow hallway to the right, a chill ran down his spine.

Standing at the end of the hallway were two small children with bobbed hair and wearing worn-out kimono undershirts. They had identical but differently-colored kimono undershirts, they had the same hairstyle, and they faces were equally well-featured, so they looked like twins. They said nothing and simply stared at him.

But Akuto managed to calm down and prepare himself. The twins then vanished down the hallway as if sliding.

“What was that?”

He turned toward Korone, but this time he saw Junko and the others screaming and running toward him.

“Waaaah! Help me, Akuto! I’m going to be killed!”

Junko clung to him.

“C-calm down. You aren’t going to be killed!”

He wrapped his arms around her shoulders to calm her.

“That girl is too scared to be of any use,” said Fujiko as she casually embraced him. “We need to be dealing with the actual threat right now.”

“Hey, A-chan. Do you feel anything funny?” asked Keena as she grabbed onto his arm. “It feels kind of exciting!”

Keena was acting different from normal which increased his unease, but Yoshie pressed up against his back before he could say anything.

“Oh, sorry. Everyone was doing it, so I thought I would too.”

“S-stop that… A-anyway, I understand, so calm down. If we are up against something with an actual form, we can do something about it.”

He called out to all of them.

“All of them” being everyone clinging to him. Junko was in front, Fujiko was on his right arm, Keena was on the left, Yoshie was on his back, and Nozomi and Korone were clinging to either leg.

“Korone, it’s pretty obvious you’re doing that as a joke. …And the rest of you, let go. Look, there’s nothing-…”

As he spoke, Akuto pointed down the hall.

But there was something there.

It was a tall girl. Her hair was long enough to almost reach the ground. Her bangs hung straight down and completely hid her face. Her slender body was covered by a plain dress. The strangest part was her movement. The joints of her arms and legs moved like a spider or crab. Also, she even moved portions very close to the trunk of her body that one normally did not think about as having joints. Her shoulder blades and pelvis slid forward and back, left and right as she walked forward.

Yes, she was approaching Akuto and the girls.

Her creepy movement left Akuto speechless. When the others noticed his reaction, they reflexively looked in the same direction.

“Waaaah!”

Even Fujiko and Yoshie screamed this time. Only Korone remained calm. Junko went beyond simply losing her composure.

“No! I am going to die from a curse! That is the legendary spirit told of by my family. My grandmother told me about it. That is the physical form of a curse that kills you with just a touch!”

“C-calm down. You’re a strong girl. You can cut down any enemy. So let’s just start by moving away a bit.”

The girl’s creepy appearance had made Akuto hesitate, but he had decided to act on the a.s.sumption she was an enemy.

But…

“What!? That is how you see me?”

Junko appeared to have received quite a shock, so Akuto frantically denied it.

“No, it isn’t. I know you’re actually sensitive and have all sorts of cute aspects to you. I’m just saying we need that strength right now.”

“Thanks. I am glad to hear that at the end.”

“W-wait. What do you mean ‘the end’?”

“Aren’t we all about to die?”

“No, we aren’t,” denied Akuto, but Junko was staring off into the distance.

“You are only saying that so as not to worry us. But I love that kindness of yours. I can say it now. I know it is cowardly to only confess my feelings on the verge of death, but I can be honest now. I love you. I love you from the bottom of my heart. Please hold me until we die!”

Junko wrapped her arms tightly around Akuto.

“Wait… Um…”

Akuto blushed and was unsure what to say.

That had undeniably been a confession of love.

“Please… Please just tell me you love me!” shouted Junko.

She looked up at him while clinging to him.

Unsurprisingly, Fujiko could not remain silent after hearing that.

“Please stop joking! You are not the only one to love Akuto-sama! Why will you not return my love? Give us a clear answer now, Akuto-sama. Which one of us do you love?”

Fujiko also looked up at him while asking her question in a demanding tone.

“Why now…?”

“The time does not matter! This is an important issue!”

“Hm, if we’re doing this, how about putting me in as a candidate?” said Yoshie.

“A-chan, I have a funny feeling in my chest. I want to know too!”

Keena also clung to him with a somehow desperate ring to her voice.

Akuto was bewildered and he glanced over toward the monster. She had already arrived quite close by.

“Gogagagagegigagagigogogogogo…”

She spoke as if her throat had been crushed as she approached.

“Okay, fine! I’ll do it.” He began to speak with a serious expression. “It isn’t that I’ve been indecisive. As you know, I am a special existence. For that reason, the one I should be with is Keena.”

The group froze in shock when they heard that.

“But if you want my honest opinion, I love all of you. The story of loving a single person is another illusion. I want to respond to all of your feelings. I am still an unstable existence and I haven’t decided what my future will be yet. But once I decide how I will live my life, I will definitely live for all of your sakes. That is my answer.”

Akuto spoke decisively.

“That goes beyond indecisive…”

“It sounded like he was saying he would make all of us his…”

“Oh? I’m fine with that.”

“A-chan, I still have a funny feeling in my chest.”

As they all muttered their thoughts, their expression relaxed as if the venom had been removed.

“Anyway, that is how I truly feel.”

Akuto was confused by the odd atmosphere.

But they were not the only ones who were confused.

“Guga…”

The monster’s cheeks flushed as if she were embarra.s.sed. She lifted her hair to reveal her face and she – Arnoul – placed her hands on her cheeks.

“I’m not sure what to say when faced with a romantic scene like that, arinsu.”

Ootake Michie appeared and her cheeks were also flushed.

“Ahh, ahh. This is what happens when we scare someone who wasn’t a target, gya.”

Kamiyama Kanna also walked down the hallway.

The three student council officers were all gathered.

“H-h-huh?”

Junko frantically looked between the three of them in confusion.

The others were also surprised to varying degrees.

“Was this all the student council’s doing?” asked Akuto.

Michie nodded.

“That’s right, arinsu. But in our defense, we didn’t know you all would be here, arinsu. Or rather, we didn’t when we were putting together our plan, arinsu.”

“Eh? What do you mean?”

“After the previous incident, we became friends with the L’Isle-Adam here named Monami and we came to play with her, gya,” said Kanna. “We heard Nozomi was planning something odd, so we thought we would give her a scare instead, gya.”

“Then the blood in the bath was you?” asked Fujiko.

Michie embarra.s.sedly brought her hands to her cheeks.

“I was hiding there and I got a nosebleed when I saw your immodest behavior, arinsu.”

“Wasn’t that a little much for a nosebleed?”

“I have a special condition that lets me create blood indefinitely as long as I have the nutrients, arinsu. I must eat red things to keep it up, though, arinsu.”

“Y’know…”

Fujiko could not believe what she was hearing.

“Then the hanged girl and that last thing was you too?” asked Yoshie.

Arnoul nodded.

“Guga.”

“Then what about that hand?” asked Akuto.

A voice responded from the hallway to the right.

“When I heard about this from them, I thought it sounded like fun. And thanks to that interesting scene just now, it was even more fun than I expected. That’s the problem with a lady killer like you.”

Student Council President Lily Shiraishi approached while grinning. Walking next to her were two children wearing kimono undershirts: Monami and Keisu.

“Now Nozomi can’t act so superior all the time.”

“Boss, I made a friend who has j.a.panese clothes that fit me!”

Monami and Keisu waved happily.

“But I thought no one could approach because of the Imperial Knights,” said Akuto.

Lily shrugged.

“They’re really full of themselves and they don’t know me, so a few of them tried to attack me. If they were friends of yours, you should’ve said so.”

“I wouldn’t say they’re friends, but they’re the Imperial Knights.”

“Who cares about the details? Now, how about you use that open-air bath. I think there are a few girls here who want to wash your back for you.”

Lily grinned cruelly.

Junko had remained oddly silent, but she started speaking in a bitter voice.

“I…I…I…”

“Are you okay?”

Akuto placed a worried hand on her shoulder.

But she suddenly brushed it off.

“I…I…I confessed…”

Her shoulders trembled as she squeezed out her voice. And then she started shouting.

“I confessed! And in front of everyone!”

She blushed and began flailing her limbs around, but everyone responded coldly.

“Are you an idiot? Everyone already knows that.”

“And what’s wrong with it? Your confession was a success.”

“And since it succeeded, shouldn’t you be thanking your uppercla.s.sman instead of getting angry?” complained Lily.

“Waaah! This is too embarra.s.sing! This is all your fault!”

Junko seemed to try to punch Akuto or something similar because she waved her hand around and toppled in an odd direction.

“W-watch out.”

He tried to support her, but she tumbled into one of the antique-filled shelves in the sealed room.

A loud crash filled the late-night inn and an even more delicate atmosphere surrounded the group.

“Ahh, ahh. That ruined the mood.”

“Honestly, what was that? The student council isn’t paying for it.”

Fujiko and Lily, the uppercla.s.smen, gave their respective complaints.

Korone then spoke up after noticing something.

“But one problem has not been resolved: the mana abnormality.”

“Did you detect something?” asked Akuto.

Korone nodded and pointed down the hallway.

Everyone looked in that direction.

A woman wearing white stood there. Her long hair and slender body were the same as Arnoul’s, but she had a n.o.ble air about her that Arnoul had lacked.

But there was an even greater difference.

“Hey, who is that?”

“I don’t know, gya.”

“Do any of you?”

Lily asked Akuto that, but he shook his head.

“What even is it?”

“It is not human,” declared Korone. “I also cannot hear a heartbeat or any mechanical noises.”

Hearing that, Lily gave a snort.

“Hmph. Stop right there. I know you’re made from mana.”

She extended an arm toward the woman and tried to grab her shoulder, but her hand only reached empty air.

“Eh?”

When her hand pa.s.sed right through the woman’s body, even Lily’s eyes opened wide.

“That isn’t mana…”

She extended her hand toward the woman a few more times, but the woman walked forward as if that hand was not there. But “walk” might not have been the best term as her legs were not moving. She was sliding forward while standing straight.

“Don’t tell me this one is real,” shrieked Junko.

Her hips gave out and she crawled over to cling to Akuto’s leg.

Akuto placed a hand on her head.

“But I don’t see any ill intent.”

True enough, the woman’s air of n.o.bility remained even as she approached. Her slightly narrowed eyes glowed as if trying to say something.

And then Korone spoke.

“Her appearance has allowed me to locate the center of the mana abnormality. It is one of the antiques on the shelf Hattori-san knocked over. That appears to be the source.”

“That is?”

Junko stood up in surprise and turned toward the antiques she had knocked over.

A wooden box had opened and a small wooden branch that glowed gold could be seen inside. It looked like a normal decoration at first, but it emitted a light different from mana. It was the same light that came from the approaching woman.

“Eh!?” shouted Akuto.

A similar glow came from the small box he held. In other words, the Imperial Seal was emitting light.

“Wh-what?”

Junko turned toward Korone to demand an explanation.

Korone shook her head.

“I do not know. This may be a secret of a former emperor.”

Nozomi was trembling in fear and clinging to Akuto’s leg, but Korone took her hand and stood her up.

“Fweh? Wh-wh-what are you doing?”

Nozomi looked confused as the light from the Imperial Seal and small branch reflected from her forehead.

“Your family does not contain imperial blood. But it has likely been following an order made by an emperor. Your unexplainable bad luck may be the power of the Imperial Seal or this small branch. It may be a means of preventing anyone from finding them.”

As Korone explained, Nozomi’s eyes opened wide.

“Then we were a family that served the imperial family?”

Nozomi’s voice trembled and tears gushed forth as if washing away all of her previous worries.

“Well, I guess this is a happy ending. But what happens to her now?”

Akuto turned to Keena.

“I don’t really know. But she’s supposed to serve the empress,” she said.

As if in response, the glowing woman spoke.

“Bearer of the Imperial Seal, the preparations are complete. For the creation of the true empire, return the Jewel Branch of Hourai to its rightful place.”

No one was able to say anything in response.

Except for Keena, that is. She tugged on Akuto’s sleeve and pouted her lips.

“Hey, A-chan. I told you I had a funny feeling in my chest.”