Low-hanging clouds covered the entire sky.

A short walk from the Onmyou Agency building was a liquor store. A helicopter was on its roof.

In the center of the roof was a girl who had come here without permission.

Soon after, a young man appeared from the helicopter. He wore an out-of-fashion monocle and slowly approached the girl. Then, another young man suddenly appeared behind the girl as if to welcome the first. They were Yashamaru and k.u.momaru.

Takiko had used the Souma family"s secret magic that night two days ago. Though it was extremely simple, the ripples caused by the spell had disturbed the spirit flow of the surrounding area and caused a spiritual disaster chain reaction - a Phase Four. Since that night, spiritual disasters had been happening one after another inside the city. It had also more or less affected the magic-using Takiko. Yashamaru had frequently complained to Takiko afterwards when she regained consciousness. But actually, there was no helping it. Even so, shikigami were just a pract.i.tioner"s tools, so they lived for their pract.i.tioner regardless of what purpose they were used for. More importantly, Takiko was the shaman princess of the Souma family. She had been entrusted with the Souma clan"s desire two years ago.

Takiko"s aura had skyrocketed after her change. In addition, the strengths of her defensive shikigami Yashamaru and k.u.momaru had risen.

"To be honest, I"m really envious."

"Hmm?"

"What exactly was she looking at back then?"

"Hmm......"

"Was it the announcement?"

Yesterday, the Onmyou Agency had relayed an announcement from Tsuchimikado Harutora. He had announced the next spiritual disaster terrorist incident as the leader of the Twin-Horned Syndicate and taking the name of North Star King. Of course, Yashamaru and Kurahashi had fabricated all of this. And it had been very effective, with great commotions showing up all over Tokyo. Though the Hinamatsuri Repurification spiritual disaster two years ago had already been suppressed, the painful memories of the Great Hinamatsuri Purification four years ago still lingered in people"s hearts.

"It might be presumptuous to say, but we might have gone too far with our maneuvering this time."

"Is there opposition?"

"Yes."

The Onmyou Agency had engineered the spiritual disaster terrorism and pinned their crime onto Harutora. It was strategically important.

Challenging the North Star King was something that Yashamaru had always wanted to do.

"I"m really looking forward to it."

"Also, just as a safeguard, it"s time to curtail his actions."

"Ah, right."

"And just one thing, make sure to decorate the Princess"s surroundings."

"Ah, that. Understood."

"Then, let"s begin."

"...Yashamaru." Suddenly, Takiko called out.

"Harutora still hasn"t shown up yet."

Takiko became silent again and stared at the city below.

"That"s right. The Exorcist Bureau has started to enter a guarded state against spiritual disasters."

Yuge silently nodded to her boss"s words.

This was a meeting room of the Exorcist Bureau main branch.

Miyachi Iwao, the Intelligence Division Chief Kenichi Watanabe, Independent Exorcist Kagami Reiji, and Yuge Mari were present.

The Exorcist Bureau was very busy right now. Even though they were sitting in the meeting room, they could sense the shaky atmosphere inside the bureau. The spiritual disaster terrorism announcement had clearly been a shock. This spiritual disaster terrorism announcement had been in the name of the Twin-Horned Syndicate, but unlike before, it had been a single person - Tsuchimikado Harutora - rather than an organization.

The Onmyou Agency had been constantly hostile towards him since the summer of two years ago. A Phase Four had happened around Ogikubo a couple days ago. The people present at the time had confirmed traces of Tsuchimikado Harutora. Also, judging by the scale and expansion speed of the Phase Four spiritual disaster, it was hard to imagine that it had been a naturally-occurring spiritual disaster.

They finally understood that Tsuchimikado Harutora was Yakou"s reincarnation.

Come to think of it, the "Child Prodigy" Dairenji Suzuka had vanished from the Onmyou Agency a few days ago. Independent Officer Shigeoka had judged that she was with Tsuchimikado Natsume and the others.

The spiritual disaster early detection sensory net that the Onmyou Agency had laid out had already covered the entire city region. But the situation this time was very special.

"I"m very uneasy about the many spiritual disasters right now, but we"re very short on time right now. Let"s turn towards that direction."

"Okay, understood."

Tsuchimikado Harutora had been a fugitive for a long time. According to the Mystical Investigator"s hard work, he was still in hiding.

But if he was truly planning a spiritual disaster, he couldn"t stay in hiding forever. He would take some sort of action. In that case, they could find his whereabouts. Though he was Yakou"s reincarnation, he couldn"t completely eliminate his presence. Also, many Spirit Sensers were targeting Harutora and could curb his actions.

It had already been two years since then, but it had already been four years since the first spiritual disaster terrorist attack.

Yuge had been through both spiritual disasters. She had been an exorcist the first time and an Independent Exorcist the second time.

Yuge hadn"t been able to show herself up during the Great Hinamatsuri Purification, the first spiritual disaster terrorist attack. Of course, it had been the same for the Exorcist Bureau, and Tokyo had suffered huge damage as a result. But the second time, during the Hinamatsuri Repurification, the Exorcist Bureau had minimized damage even without preventative measures. But now they faced a third time.

"Then, Yuge and Kagami will be a.s.signed to headquarters and the Meguro Branch. I"ll go to the main agency, and Shigeoka will go to Shinjuku."

This way, Kogure would be able to move freely, which was good for the Onmyou Agency. Yuge was just a shield, and Kogure was currently a sword. The Exorcist Bureau"s former ace had already become the Onmyou Agency"s trump card.

"Director, where is Officer Shigeoka today?"

In response to Yuge"s question, Miyachi said:

"Ah, that guy"s in Hachioji."

"Hachioji? The warehouse?"

There was an Onmyou Agency warehouse in Hachioji storing a military-use Armored Juggernaut that Yakou had left behind.

"He"s going to pick up equipment for responding to the upcoming spiritual disaster."

"Eh? From Fujikawa? But the test models were supposed to be next year."

"Of course, it"s not complete."

"Is he going to use the Armored Juggernaut?"

"It"s uncertain. Of course, everything depends on how the situation develops, so who knows."

"Don"t forget that this spiritual disaster announcement was made by Tsuchimikado Harutora by the name of the North Star King. That means that he accepts that he"s Yakou"s reincarnation."

"So this time we have to keep in mind that any number of things might happen."

Miyachi stroked his beard and smiled coolly.

"This......"

The Onmyou Agency Development Lab in Hachioji was in a magical object warehouse. Shigeoka was fascinated by the thing in front of his eyes. At first glance, it seemed like nothing more than a bus or truck. There were eight in total. These were all specialized, top-of-the-line test models to be released in the near future.

They still didn"t have an official name.

Their development code was "Model FAR Version 7".

They were multilegged general-use mechanical shikigami made jointly by Fujikawa Industries and the Onmyou Agency Development Lab.

There were many people gathered here. Other than Shigeoka, there was also the Onmyou Agency Chief Kurahashi Genji and the Development Lab Chief Iehara Tadashi.

"This is truly spectacular. A shikigami worthy of defending j.a.pan"s capital."

"Twelve FAR were created in total, but right now only eight are complete."

"As for functional adjustments, it should be more effective to do them during actual use."

"Chief Kurahashi, it"s as you say. Tokyo is being threatened for the third time now. Deploying the FAR is key to rescuing Tokyo."

This time, Shigeoka would use all eight FAR that could be used. Shigeoka had lost many shikigami in the battle pursuing Hama before.

"Chief, when will the adjustments start?"

"Right now. There"s no time anyways, so do your best to use the FAR to their full capacity."

"Understood."

The Onmyou Agency Magic Crime Investigation Bureau seemed to have become a battleground.

There were clamorous voices interweaving, bells, people leaving, and data piling up into mountains.

The Mystical Investigators were busily hurrying about.

But it was all productive activity.

The spiritual disaster terrorism announcement was unprecedented. The Mystical Investigators were directly involved with stopping it beforehand if possible. Everyone in the Onmyou Agency had come over to the Mystical Investigators to investigate in conjunction with the metropolitan police. The Mystical Investigators were investigating Tsuchimikado Harutora to the utmost.

Of course, that was the same for the Mystical Investigator Yamashiro. This was an opportunity for him. He had already been on a team with Kogure and Miyoshi for three months, but they hadn"t produced any results. Also, he had let Tsuchimikado Natsume escape during a prior incident. But if he were able to successfully capture Tsuchimikado Harutora this time, not only could he clear his name, he could also improve his reputation. Yamashiro was one of the most junior National First-Cla.s.s Onmyouji, and he didn"t have any real exploits to name. He couldn"t pa.s.s up this opportunity, more so than the other Divine Generals.

"Miyoshi-san, has Kogure-san not contacted us?"

"No."

"But why? Where"s Kogure-san and what"s he doing right now?"

"It"s the fourth time you"ve asked the same question. The answer"s still the same - I don"t know either."

Yamashiro, Kogure, and Miyoshi had formed a team. But the three of them usually didn"t move together. Ignoring Miyoshi for now, Yamashiro and Kogure often acted independently.

"Could something have happened?"

"It"s possible. But it"s his business. Even if something happened, he can relay it to us immediately. Even if he were sneak-attacked by Tsuchimikado Harutora, for example."

Miyoshi replied calmly.

"I"m not sure what Kogure-san intends. I wonder what he"s thinking exactly."

"There"s not much time until Hinamatsuri."

"Kogure-san probably realizes that."

Miyoshi maintained his composed att.i.tude.

"Right, Miyoshi-san, did you get any information from the captured Tsuchimikado family?"

"No detailed information."

Miyoshi flipped the pages of his book as he replied.

After a while, Miyoshi closed the book and spoke.

"Yamashiro-san, it"s time to eat lunch."

Miyoshi pointed at the clock on the wall. The clock was pointing to noon exactly.

Kogure had said that he would contact Harutora directly. It felt wrong to him that Harutora was planning a spiritual disaster and had announced this. After all, Harutora had exorcised a spiritual disaster before with Natsume and the others.

"But Kogure doesn"t know the current Harutora."

Though Harutora was Harutora, he had still changed. If they could tell Kogure that Harutora"s nature hadn"t changed, they might be able to convince him.

"But we still don"t have any evidence that Harutora hasn"t changed."

The only thing they could bring up was probably Akino"s testimony. She had told them that he was still the Harutora they were familiar with. But Akino and Harutora had only crossed paths for a brief while. It was still insufficient evidence.

"The only thing we can do now is talk with that fool Kogure and pull him over to our side. This is urgent."

Natsume and the others had immediately moved out according to those instructions.

But it was still hard to get in touch with Kogure. Though Kyouko"s divination was very accurate, it was still difficult to accurately find one specific person. Also, Kyouko"s fatigue had already reached her limits. Kyouko and the others had been forced to rest since then.

It was already nine in the morning when Amami called for everyone.

Time was mercilessly ticking by.

The first thing Natsume felt when she woke up was regret.

Her body was very light, her mind was sharp, and her thinking was clear. This was the result of getting adequate sleep, as well as a reminder of the time she had wasted. Natsume checked the time. It was already four in the afternoon. She jumped up in a panic.

"Ah, Natsume."

"Ah, you"re awake?"

Akino and Tenma looked at Natsume. Suzuka showed her face through Hama"s window and said:

"You"re finally up. You must have had such a nice sleep."

"Sorry."

"We don"t have time to dawdle here."

Natsume spoke anxiously and Tenma nodded.

"To be honest, this is an emergency. But if we don"t properly rest, we won"t be able to maintain our spiritual power when it"s important."

"Especially Natsume-chan. Both Hokuto and your lightning magic exhaust a lot of magical energy."

"Yeah, Natsume-chan hasn"t gotten much rest recently."

"How"s Kyouko"s recovery?"

"She herself says that she"s fine, but that"s probably not true."

"Nothing we can do about it. We"re not superhuman. All we can do is believe in Kyouko."

Pleasantly surprised, Tenma spoke up.

"I didn"t think you could say things like that, Suzuka-chan."

"Hah? You d.a.m.n Gla.s.ses!!"

"It sounded very mature."

"Hmph, I"m not a kid anyway."

Suzuka had changed a lot, and for the better.

"Akino?"

Natsume noticed Akino and spoke.

Akino raised her head and replied hastily.

"Hmm?"

"What"s wrong?"

Akino smiled and answered "Nothing", but she didn"t look very energetic.

Just then Suzuka spoke from the window:

"Hey, you should say something."

Akino lowered her head, her face reddening.

"Akino"s already working very hard."

Natsume defended her.

Tenma smiled and said:

"Don"t worry, Akino, Suzuka was always very strong-headed."

"Why are you using that tone again!? Enough of that, stupid Gla.s.ses!"

"Huh~ You"re not a kid, right~"

"Wanting to kill you has nothing to do with age!"

"Dairenji Suzuka, if you inflict harm to my master......"

"You stupid machine, you"re so annoying every single time!!!"

Suzuka"s face reddened and she turned in a different direction. Everyone laughed. Akino laughed too, her rabbit ears swaying.

Just then, a voice sounded out.

"Hoho, how troublesome."

At that moment, everyone was shocked.

"You have a spiritual presence I have never sensed before. I cannot guarantee your safety." Hama"s engine started on its own.

Touji was already wrapped in demonic aura as he jumped down from the second floor.

A black-clothed boy appeared in a corner of the warehouse.

"Hahaha, everyone looks to have improved."

It was Ashiya Doman.

The Onmyouji "D" who had once attacked the Onmyou Academy had a different body from before, but his aura hadn"t changed.

"Priest, please take your pranks somewhere else. There"s no time."

Just then, a white-haired man wearing gla.s.ses and a coat appeared in the middle of the warehouse.

"Ohtomo-sensei!"

"I"m glad to see you, Natsume-kun, I really am."

Ohtomo smiled warmly from the bottom of his heart.