Last Embryo V3 Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"...All things aside."

As they were walking through the woods, Prith suddenly looked up at the sky with a grim expression.

"There's quite a lot of pollution here. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call this place the planet's Aorta, and for it to become this impure. I wonder, in the end, just what in the world were they experimenting with here?"

"The Aorta is...polluted? Is it something like what happens to the cardiopulmonary system after long periods of smoking?"

"That's quite an interesting and accurate example. If you look at this woodland from the biological perspective, it should have maintained a perfect equilibrium at this point in its development, and yet it has been polluted to the degree that even I can notice the deviation. ......Basically~ I'm saying that the Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide production ratios have become rather strange. In a bad way, that is."

The Oxygen production has declined - apparently, that was what she was trying to say.

With that being the case, calling these magnificent woodlands the planet's Aorta wasn't exactly wrong either.

This was the most prominent oxygen producing place on earth, and combined with the tropical animals that consumed said oxygen, it was in charge of the planet's most essential cardiopulmonary function.

"Izayoi, have you heard about the natural world's cycle amplification and the ‘Terra Material(Planet's Gift)’?"

"Yea, I've heard a bit about it from Porol. I think it was 'The cycles of natural phenomenon are there to increase the cumulative amount of ‘Terra Material’ or something?"

"That's right. Divine Spirits gain power by faith, but Demi-Celestial Spirits and Spirits increase their powers by the local cycles. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the Amazon Tropics, famed for being the biggest oxygen production and consumption center, is the most unique and an enormous cycling bundle of spiritual veins within the natural world."

"Heeh? ......So that's how it is with the scale of the cycle. What other Aortas are there?"

Izayoi's eyes gleamed. It appeared that the story had stirred his curiosity.

Prith continued the conversation with a serious face.

"Well, with that said, there aren't that many places that you would call the planet's Aorta. In terms of earth veins───‘Yellowstone’, of the Great volcanic belt of USA, and the ‘Siberian Traps’ from the prehistoric age fall under the classification of Aortas. Other than that, it would be everything on the Solar Equator, and......ah, that's right. Japanese islands are the world's biggest Aorta."

"Huh?"

Izayoi leaked a shocked voice from the unexpected development.

Prith, looking amused by his reaction, explained the reason behind it while raising her index finger.

"There's nothing that surprising in that, you know? Japan is, after all, the world's most seismically active country. That country, being born on the earth's cracks, suffers up to a thousand earthquakes every year due to the problem with the flow of earth's crust, and the typhoons, known as the heavenly disasters, happen up to an average twenty times a year. In both the earth and the sky, it's the biggest and most important land among the planet's cycles. It can unmistakably be called the largest Aorta of the earth."

"Hahah. Indeed, that does seem to be the case. Although, whether it's something to be happy for is another matter altogether. ...Still, that surprised me. Are you saying that there are close to none of those Aortas in Europe?"

"Rather than close to none, there are none. Not a single one. It had been lost when the Atlantic, located in Greek coastal waters, had lost its original shape due to the eruption and vanished, and since then, Europe had been a region that Divine Spirits had declared as 'the Land Where Mankind Prospers.' As a result, while many cultures and ideologies had originated on those lands, it developed its ideology in a way that completely contradicted the Terra Material. So while there are many holy grounds of Divine Spirits there, there's not a single one of the planet's spiritual grounds."

Divine Spirits have always preferred the west side more and had implemented the planet's remodelling over countless years.

It was a land with few disasters and brimming with prosperity, an area where it was easy for mankind to prosper. Thus it brought forth many countries, and they went through the cycles of warring, merging and dividing, and continued to develop.

This was also the reason why one of the mythological systems was called 'Cycle.'

But since the West had been altered in a way that it was difficult for disasters to occur, it was only natural that the disasters would go elsewhere.

And with that, the West developed through the cultural cycles while the East through planetary cycles.

And that was the origin of the seismically active country Japan───the easternmost nation, situated at the other end from the western standpoint.

"That's where the main difference comes from between Japanese myths and foreign countries' myths and royalties. The concept of King, ‘one who governs the country’, in western countries is in contrast with the vastly different Japanese concept of Royalty, ‘one who opposes the disaster.’  There weren't many who could be called invaders by the Japanese, either. And that resulted in constitutionalism in the oldest country of the CE and also the living god ideology."

"Hmm......smooth words make smooth ways, is it? So, putting it differently, as the East was burdened with the Western debts and had pushed itself to the limit, it developed in a way that gods didn't expect it to, is it?"

"Haha, that's harsh, but it's exactly as you say! But pardon us. Even our eyes couldn't perceive that the Far East would have developed in such a grand way. ......And the West will sooner or later pay the price. The West had its share of hardships in the past when polytheism suffered an almost complete extinction, so please just think of it as there being a balance."

They cut through the forest’s ivy branches with knives and jumped over the marshland.

While imagining the world map in his mind, Izayoi decided to ask about something that stood out to him.

"......Hm? Then what about the Chinese and such? Do those cultures fall under the planetary too?"

"No, they are yet another one, different from both. Chinese people are the descendants of Dragonkind, but to explain about that, I would first need to explain the difference between "Dragon" and ‘Long’^[1] species....but let's save that for another time. ───I smell blood."

Prith's voice suddenly turned tense.

Izayoi quickly checked behind them and covered the blind spots. They didn't sense any hostility from their surroundings. Was it the aftermath of someone's fight or perhaps it was due to fight between the forest animals.

The two continued to advance through the marshlands in a slow pace while carefully watching their step.

If it were animals, they were no opponents for them.

No, in the first place, no wild animal would even consider approaching these two.

They were like walking mountains, oceans or storms even.

While they strolled through the place, most of the animals simply fled for their lives. That was the reason why they hadn't sensed any living presences nearby. Even the spirits and the forest sages hid and shivered as they held their breaths, desperately waiting for the storm to pass.

Since the spirits were so frightened of them, it was better for them to accept that getting the information out of them would've been impossible.

They exchanged glances and advanced.

As the two arrived at the middle stream of a river that crossed the tropical rainforest, they started to check their surroundings while being fanned by the wind that blew from the forest gaps.

A moment later, they received an attack from underwater.

"Move!"

"I know!'

The two of them jumped left and right and avoided the buckshot that flew out from the water. Considering their reflexes, that attack was no threat to them. Instead, what was more important was the nature of that buckshot.

Those shots didn't seem like solid objects, but instead, they were more like compressed balls of air. And their speed wasn't something to look down on despite coming from the water. While they were a bit inferior to bullets, they were still beyond the limit of what human reflexes were able to react to. While it was a trivial matter for these two who had fought many battles in Little Garden, they both understood well enough that it wasn't something brought forth with legitimate physical laws.

Judging that the assailant was hiding in the river, Izayoi jumped towards it. Seeing that, Prith’s expression changed and she grabbed his arm.

"Don't rush in! We are withdrawing, Izayoi!"

"What the hell are you saying? It's damn clear that we were attacked from underwater!"

"That's not what I mean! That attack contained a combustible gas! If we keep on fighting like this, the gas throughout this place will catch fire, and this whole place will be blown apart!"

Taking in her warning, Izayoi stopped his legs. As if aiming for that, the air balls were randomly fired from the river.

Clicking his tongue, Izayoi jumped back and tried to confirm the gas by its scent.

However, he couldn't smell anything of the sort.

He assumed it was an odourless gas that only Prith, who was the mother earth goddess, could sense. Since they were attacked with combustible gas, before talking about its flammability, it was more important to confirm whether it was poisonous or not.  

Clasping his mouth, he concentrated his gaze towards the depths of the water.

He estimated that he could easily trace the air balls with his eyes at that speed. But he changed the thought the moment he saw a large amount of foam gushing out from the water.

Seeing the rapidly declining water level, Izayoi finally understood the origin of that gas.

(Are they......dividing the river's water into hydrogen and oxygen!?)

He recalled Homura's report from earlier.

He was told that the 'Bull of Heaven' separated the sea water and manipulated the atmospheric pressure.

The odourless combustible gas and the rapidly declining water level...

Even though Izayoi realized that the foam and compressed balls scattered in the surroundings were produced by separating the river into hydrogen and oxygen, he was still a bit too late.

"Oh, crap...!"

He covered his particle detector in a hurry.

Seconds later, along with a flick, that gas of hydrogen and oxygen caused a blinding light and then a gigantic explosion. The hydrogen explosion, created by dividing dozens of tons of water, had split the great river into two parts and made it overflow, blowing everything around it with a force that made one question whether it would blow apart the entire mountain itself.

　　　　＊

The woodlands that got wrapped in smoke after the hydrogen explosion had momentarily turned dead silent. While the river temporarily steamed due to having been boiled after the blast, it was now returning back to its natural flow. What suffered a real disaster was without a doubt the animals that happened to be present in the surroundings.

All the reptiles that made the river surroundings their home had been ripped to pieces, their flesh and blood splattered across the woodland, and the birds that were resting their wings on the trees around were blown away by the storm.

The explosion contained enough firepower to change the terrain itself. It was an explosion that didn't take into account the damage it would cause to the surroundings and had utterly destroyed the environment. If anyone saw it from above, they were sure to see a vast crater centred around the river.

The river regained its stillness after a moment.

And before long, the ripples appeared on its surface, and a human silhouette showed up from within.

"......"

That person–seemingly a young girl–had stood up on top of the water the moment she surfaced. With a leisure walk, like that of a water strider, she walked to the riverside.

It didn't seem that the reason she stood on the water was because she was floating. It appeared that she hid in the river during the explosion, but she was clearly submerged far longer than humanly possible. And her appearance suitably deviated from an average human.

Her long white hair was rough like that of an animal's, and her red eyes shined like melted rubies. Her constitution was similar to that of a Congenital Albino.

As the white-haired girl surveyed the surroundings with her sharp eyes, she suddenly heaved a relieved sigh.

On closer look, she had childish sunken cheeks and was severely fatigued.

Beyond being an Albino, her exhausted condition highlighted the girl's specificity. She looked even younger than Homura's group but seeing that she had become so thin, it couldn't be helped that she seemed more immature than she actually was. Her clothes only consisted of a tattered white robe and white gloves worn as if to hide her hands as well as handcuffs. Perhaps she had escaped from where she was bound by those cold chains. There were evident traces of cuts on the chains of her shackles.

As the Albino girl walked to the shore atop the water, dragging her shackles behind her, she held her mouth from surprise as she realised that the previous explosion caused the coastline to heat up.

Walking above it when it was that hot was not an option. Not knowing what to do, the Albino remained where she stood.

"───Hah! I was wondering whether it would be a demon or a snake that would come out, but it was just an Albino brat."

"Eek!!?"

The girl twitched up from the shock.

As she started to check her surroundings, a human figure appeared from the debris with a speed she couldn't even follow with her eyes. Izayoi, with a displeased look on his face, appeared suddenly and glared at the girl.

"But after all that grand display, all that came was a hydrogen explosion. Since I heard what kind of thing the particle accelerator was, I expected something like a hydrogen nuclear explosion. ......How are you going to deal with all these build up expectations of mine?"

Throwing away the broken particle detector, Izayoi looked at her with a faulting gaze.

Unbelievable, the Albino muttered with her mouth half open.

But no one could blame her. That last attack should've settled everything even if the whole army was there.

There couldn't possibly exist a human who would come out unhurt after getting hit by a hydrogen explosion of such a degree that caused the river levels to decrease. The scale of the blast was enough to pulverise a mountain.

"M-Monster...!"

She dashed above the river, making her hair flutter in every side.

Izayoi followed her with his eyes while recovering his posture, wondering how she managed to run on the water.

"Water walk, huh? I'm not sure if that's also thanks to the Particle Bodies, but───"

She chose the wrong opponent. There were no people who could walk on this dark red, molten riverside, but if we were talking about that, it was more unbelievable for someone to withstand that hydrogen explosion.

The Albino ran just like a leopard and quickly grew distant.

But Izayoi quietly leaked a sigh,

"Here we....go!"

And caused an explosion underfoot.

"H-Hya......!?"

A small voice leaked from the girl's mouth.

Describing it as an explosion was in no way a metaphor.

Izayoi literally blew up the ground under his feet while dashing forward as if he was a human cannonball, leaving afterimages behind. The strength put in his legs far exceeded the realm of what humans could do. With enough power behind his every step to leave craters on the ground, Izayoi quickly overtook the girl.

"W-W-Wha...!?"

Unable to endure, she stopped her legs and stared at him wide-eyed in disbelief.

Izayoi seemed to have found her reaction amusing and showed her a wide grin.

"Now then, little snow white, what will you do now? If you have any other ways to attack me you can go ahead and try. You won't have any regrets if you use up all your power before I can catch you."

The Albino's eyes filled up with intensity.

Izayoi only intended to provoke her a little, but she became far more vigilant towards him than he had expected. He laughed with his hand on his waist, feeling that the situation would turn a bit more amusing that way, but at that moment───

Suddenly, her shackles came into his view.

"...Chained shackles? What the, are you actually a fugitive?"

He said in surprise. He didn't notice it due to the girl's long white hair covering it, but now he was able to confirm that she was weakened.

If she really turned out to be a fugitive, then the situation would drastically change.

If they had both mistaken each other as their enemies, it would be meaningless to continue fighting. She was instead someone they should protect and ask about where she ran away from.

But as the girl trembled before Izayoi, this time she was assaulted from yet another side.

"Hey there. Considering that this is not Little Garden, don't you think your little prank has gone a bit too far?"

"H-Hya...!!?"

Prith firmly grasped her shoulders and lifted her up.

It seemed Prith failed to avoid the blast and part of her clothes had gotten burned. Unlike Izayoi who escaped faster than the explosion, she probably received a direct hit from the hydrogen explosion. Her right side was mostly exposed, but perhaps it came with the wisdom of age, she didn't look particularly embarrassed and boldly constrained the girl.

While laughing, Izayoi fixed his eyes at her exposed chest that was like a feast for the eyes.

"It's not like she will understand it if you mention Little Garden. From the way she looks, there's a high chance that she's from this world."

"......Eh? But wasn't she the one who caused that explosion?"

"Probably. As Homura said, she probably divided the river water into hydrogen and oxygen───ah, I see. Are you the true identity of the 'Bull of Heaven'?"

Izayoi recalled part of the Epic of Gilgamesh from his previous theory.

The 'Bull of Heaven' was supposedly a Celestial Beast of drought that dried up the river that was like a thread of life for the Mesopotamians. In the end, everything was settled before he could come up with the explanation as to why it manifested as a storm monster.

And that wasn't surprising. Last time it was mixed up with the Minotaur, and everything became complex, but now that he thought about it separately, it wasn't such a hard problem to solve, after all.

"The reason why the 'Bull of Heaven' turned into a storm monster was due to the atomic dissociation of the river? Assuming you were dissociating the water into hydrogen and oxygen......hmm? Could it be that you can not only dissociate, but also create steam by chemical combinations?"

If that was the case, then the 'Bull of Heaven' could very well be something partly close to perpetual motion.

Izayoi became slightly more vigilant.

Meanwhile, the Albino girl was once again frozen in fear.

If the Star Particle Bodies could dissociate and combine elements without expending the energy, then the situation was far more troublesome than he had suspected. The earlier hydrogen explosion was a trifling thing compared to it. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that said deed would be an ultimate ritual comparable to the secrets of Alchemy.

(Homura told me not to directly come into contact with the Crystallized Particle Bodies, but is that related somehow?)

Izayoi gazed at the girl with narrowed eyes.

He judged that they still couldn't be negligent with her.

But the Albino herself didn't seem to understand what was even happening and didn't understand anything Izayoi was saying. She was flapping her limbs in panic while Prith firmly held her in place.

Looking at the situation, the pitiable one was that girl who didn't understand anything.

The two who should've been blown to smithereens appeared before her without having a scratch, not to say anything about the fact that just about anyone would've fallen into a panic if they were held up in the air.

However, the two otherworlders who were outside of such common sense merely looked at each other and nodded.

"Whatever is the case, she's a precious source of information. Let's change places for now and listen to what she has to say."

"You are right. However, before that......we have to teach this whitey here that destroying the environment is a bad thing."

Hah? Izayoi asked suspiciously.

But Prith was quick to act.

She grasped the Albino by the neck and gave her a big swing through the air───flinging the girl horizontally.

"Wha.......Hold it, you idiot!"

"Wahyaaaaaaaaaa───!!!"

Izayoi was too late to stop her, and the Albino flew away with a scream.

She who was turned into a human skipping stone drew an arc and flew towards the downstream of the Amazon river that she had damaged. Before she could understand what happened to her, she bounced on the water for the third time and lost her consciousness as her life flashed before her eyes.

　　　　＊

───The Federative Republic of Brazil - 'Favela' slums.

Several hours passed after that incident.

Both of them returned back from the forest to the capital and were now nursing the Albino girl. By nightfall, the woodlands were visited by heavy rain, and they decided that any further search would be quite tricky.

Looking at how weakened the girl was, it was safe to assume that she wasn't even provided decent meals. It wasn't a good idea to let her wear those soaked clothes in such a weakened condition. She was the primary suspect for producing the 'Bull of Heaven,' however they feared that her condition would worsen if they left her remain the way she was.

Not to mention the fact that her appearance clearly suggested that she had escaped from some kind of establishment.

They decided that they would first prioritise waiting before her strength recovered and then question her about where she had fled from, however───

As Izayoi searched for a doctor, he couldn't help but question whether the 'Twelve Devas' were actually just a group of problem children.

Hiding in the slums alley, Izayoi chose the right moment and criticised Prith.

"Good grief...... You sure are something to make even someone like me retort, earth goddess-sama. Here I heard you guys were supposed to be the experts when it came to problem-solving in the outer world, you know?"

"Of course. But at the same time, I'm a deity that guides the humans. All the more if the last explosion was caused by that white girl. If she were to cause that big explosion within the human habitation, she would have to face a fitting punishment. So before something like that happens, it's basic discipline to teach her to differentiate what’s good and what’s bad through painful punishment."

Prith replied to his sarcasm with a slightly off-mark argument.

It wasn't like Izayoi didn't understand where she was coming from. Even he recalled receiving similar discipline from Canaria when he was a kid. But in her case, it wasn't the physical but emotional pain that she utilised against him.

When it came to physically educating them, there wouldn't be many who wouldn't reform after experiencing being tossed like a skipping stone.

With all that considered, Izayoi understood that her method wasn't wrong, but he would've preferred if she considered the time and place for it.

"An Albino kid......huh. What kind of inhuman experiment were they conducting, I wonder."

"That is something unrelated to us. It's not like I don't want to properly protect the kid, but the investigation is what we should prioritise right now."

"You say that, but we are already in a stalemate. Our detector is broken, and we did the opposite of what Homura told us. Didn't he say that there was some device that operated the Particle Bodies? After seeing that explosion, it seems to me that the 'Bull of Heaven' appeared with this girl's power."

"I'm not so sure about that. If she really was able to create 'Bull of Heaven' she should've shown something similar to it in the last encounter."

Izayoi nodded after seeing her point.

"There are three possibilities I can think of now.

　① She was so weakened that she couldn't muster enough power for 'Bull of Heaven.'

　② She couldn't use the power because the environmental conditions were unsuitable.

　③ It's impossible to muster enough power for the 'Bull of Heaven' with just her alone.

And that's about it. What do you think? It will be bad news if there's a cooperator somewhere."

"No way. Even if we assume that there is someone like that, they won't amount to a threat anyway. I agree that it's an interesting power, but it's at around the seventh digit in terms of rank."

"Well... you have a point, but..."

"In the first place, that Snow White had the power to separate electrons, didn't she? I'm still not sure if it's restricted to hydrogen and oxygen, but atomic compounds are the necessary power to make the dissociated atoms turn into water vapour, right? Separately they wouldn't amount to anything big."

───Is that how it is? Prith said in wonder. Izayoi continued his speech.

"Rather than that, the main point is the physical condition of that Snow White. She's too weakened, so it's better if we just wait and see for now. Either way, I find it hard to believe that there would be a research facility in the dead centre of that forest. It would be more problematic if we lose a valuable source of information."

Izayoi proposed that they should temporarily go back to the city and threw firewood into the fire.

Prith knit her brows in dissatisfaction. She was also worried about her condition, but it was too illogical to just conclude that there wouldn't be a research facility in the forest.

Even if they prioritised her protection, dividing into two groups–one staying back, another heading to the forest–would've been a good compromise plan. It was unlike Izayoi to not even consider that compromise.

"......What's wrong? It's not like you to be skimping on work."

"Skimping you say?"

"That's what it looks like. No, if I had to say, it's like you have your priorities backwards. Are you perhaps sympathising with her circumstances?"

That's not it, Izayoi laughed mockingly and shook his head.

"That's not really it. Rather than her circumstances, it has something to do with the fact that the Albino kid was used as an experimental subject."

"With albinism? What, did you know someone who was an Albino?"

Prith raised a slightly surprised voice. Albinism was indeed a rare symptom, but it wasn't something this guy who was a self-proclaimed hedonist should've cared about.

Izayoi ignited the fireplace of the abandoned building and stared into the empty space for a bit.

"......Yeah. Long ago, there was one Albino of my age."

"Oho? Were they a friend of yours?"

"I considered them my best friend."

This time Prith was extremely surprised.

That shocked state was an unthinkable reaction for her who usually carried herself in a composed manner. But that was only natural. Even if she was a deity, never did she expect words like 'best friend' to come out from Sakamaki Izayoi's mouth of all people.

Brimming with curiosity, Prith drew closer to Izayoi with an impish smile.

"That was surprising. I never thought you of all people would ever say that word."

"Now that's a surprise even for me. Was it so strange of me to call someone my best friend?"

"For Sakamaki Izayoi, that is. The word 'close friend' is among the top three words in the 'even if I feel that way deep down, it's too embarrassing to actually say it' word rankings, am I wrong?"

"....... I feel like that's a god's prejudice there. While we are at it, what are the other two words?"

"'I love you' and 'I'll kill you'. Saying them is too embarrassing for you, and they require courage. ...But putting that aside, what about this best friend of Sakamaki Izayoi. What kind of person were they?"

Prith's curiosity knew no end. The look in her eyes was just like a female leopard that had found her prey. But for Izayoi, the person in question, it wasn't a topic he could speak of while messing around.

He scratched his head awkwardly and returned back to the topic.

"Leaving that aside... why did the researchers of the Particle Bodies use Albinos as experimental subjects? That's the main question."

"......Ugh. That was quite a blunt way to change the topic. But you have a point, it's indeed strange."

Prith stopped smiling a bit regrettably and pondered with a hand on her chin. There might have been some reason for using Albinos, who were more prone to illnesses than ordinary people, as experimental subjects.

But for these two who were basically outsiders, there was no knowing what that reason was.

Izayoi continued his speech.

"We might find a lead if we examine this little Snow White. Even more so if she is the subject of Particle Body research. It will be better if we ask 'Everything Company' to safeguard her."

"......You have a point. It can't be helped. Let me hear about your best friend some other time."

"Just forget about it. That was just your imagination, you got it?"

"Fufu, sorry to say but you better give up on that. This Mother Earth Goddess here is a huge peeping tom, being a mother and all. ...For now, let's focus on safeguarding her for the sake of investigation. Though we are assuming that she would know the location of the research facility."

"Taking her condition in mind, it would better if we assume that she knows something. On top of having special powers, she has shackles and chains on her. Don't you think that it's perfectly normal to think that she escaped from that facility? It would be best if we could get in touch with Homura and give her a proper medical───no, wait a minute."

Izayoi's relaxed expression tensed up.

He approached the Albino and touched the chains attached to her shackles.

"......Prith. Take a look at this chain. It's been severed."

"What?"

Prith leaned forward and took the chain in hand. Those cold steel chains weren't destroyed as they would be with the previous explosion but instead were severed with something sharp.

If she didn't escape by her own efforts, it would completely change the situation.

"It's cut...... which means, it wasn't this girl but someone else that let her escape?"

"What's more, it wasn't someone with similar power to hers like we believed before. Since the chains were cut, the cause was completely different from in it."

The two exchanged looks and tried to understand the situation.

It was no doubt at this point that she escaped from the facility and was loitering in the forest.

The real question was whether she escaped by her own effort or if other experimental subjects helped her escape.

Or was it a third party that let her escape?

"Maybe there was some trouble inside the research facility, and she used the chance to escape......or maybe a third party attacked the facility, and she escaped in the chaos."

"Yeah. After all, there are at least two organisations that are researching the Particle Bodies. ......This is troubling. If we knew it would turn out like this, we would've asked for more details───"

Right at that time, they heard a plain ringtone ring.

As Izayoi grabbed his vibrating chest pocket, the two exchanged glances.

"......Incoming call? Is it from Homura?"

"......Yeah. That brat's actually monitoring us via the satellite isn't he?"

Speak of the devil or whatever, but his timing was too perfect.

Even if the satellite thing was a joke, he couldn't help but be suspicious on whether they were being monitored in some way. Even if Homura himself didn't have such hobbies, there were more than enough people around him who did.

Feeling unpleasant omens, Izayoi answered the call with a displeased face.

"───Woah, I can't believe it. It actually connected, Tokuteru!"

"As expected of Queen! Last time was the same, but for her to even send out the electromagnetic waves from Little Garden, it's like there's nothing she can't do! Anyhow, we have a light hope with this!"

Homura and Mikado Tokuteru's cheers came from the other side.

Izayoi raised a brow from slight surprise and then turned on the speaker mode so that Prith could also hear it.

"What, are you two already in Little Garden? There's still some time before the opening ceremony, isn't there? Isn't that quite cunning of you two getting a head start on me."

"It's not like that. I have an overall idea about the Particle Body research and the cure of the illness, and since the summer vacation starts today, I thought I'd go and enjoy the otherworld trip a little───"

"There's no time for that, Brother!!"

This time Ayazato Suzuka's voice came from the phone, who snatched it away from Homura..

"Listen to me, Iza-nii! We had one foot in the grave due to the debts Mikado has made! Or rather, we are in quite a pinch even now! As matters stand, Aya-chan, Uesugi-san and this Suzuka-san will be sold off as the beauty maid set!!!"

"...You what?"

The two exchanged doubtful gazes. As expected, they didn't get what she was trying to say.

Prith who stood next to Izayoi asked again in a calm manner.

"Suzuka. It's me. Prith."

"Eh?───Ah, Prith-san, you are with him too. You both work in the same field, after all. Our Iza-nii had been in your care."

"No no, it's me who's in his care. That aside, please calm down and explain. Are you two, along with Tokuteru in Little Garden now?"

Izayoi suddenly opened his eyes wide. That was quite unnatural indeed. If they were in Little Garden together with Tokuteru who was supposedly hiding his identity from them, that left several questions unanswered.

At that point, Tokuteru took over the phone.

"Prith. Let's save that for later. I want us to exchange information for now. According to Queen, you have some questions for Homura too, right?"

"That's indeed the case, but I'd like to hear from your side first. If our president was troubled over loan problems and finally decided to resort to beauty trafficking, then it seems it's time for me to visit a certain place."

Prith's chillingly cold voice made Tokuteru leak a little shriek and swallow his breath.

"No well... I'm also troubled. It's like I'm not directly at fault....or should I say I'm also a victim."

"Huh!!?"

"Haah!?? Are you seriously saying that now! If you don't stop screwing around I'll drown you in Sumita river along with Shibamata Buddha statue, you shittyteru!!!"

"......Father of mine. It might sound odd coming from myself, but that was too thoughtless of you."

Hearing Suzuka and Homura's, as well as an unfamiliar youth's voice, the two bent their heads in wonder.

In any case, Sumita river in question was in the territory of Shibamata Taishakuten. If one were to throw the Buddha statue inside that river, the War God's honour would be completely ruined without a doubt.

That was something even the 'Twelve Devas' needed to avoid.

The only person with common sense there, Kudou Ayato, took over the phone, perhaps realising that the conversation would get nowhere as the matters stood.

"Prith. Also, Senpai's big brother. Can I talk about our business first?"

"Hm? ......Ah, is it the masked ojousama. If it's you, you should be able to calmly tell us what's going on."

"Well, yes. But please stop with that nickname."

Ayato seemed a bit embarrassed due to the name Izayoi called her.

Izayoi wanted to say something, but he decided that it was time to get to the point already.

And so, Kudou Ayato started to tell them about this morning───about the incident that occurred after Homura had returned home.

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1 Chinese dragon (龍) as opposed to western (竜). While both are read as Ryuu in Japanese and mean the same in most cases, I choose to go with the Chinese reading for one of them here. ^↩

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