"……"

  98

  Akiyama felt that he needed to pose a counter-argument. But he couldn't find the right words in his head to accomplish this.

  [Otherwise, many lives that should have been saved from a catastrophe that could have been prevented will be lost. It is imperative that magic and science work together freely on a global scale, so that magic becomes more than just an instrument of destruction and slaughter, but be used for the prosperity and survival of human society.]

  Tatsuya stopped here for a moment and said,

  "And of course, I wish to see a future in which magic contributes to the prosperity and survival of our society."

  After a pause, it was added.

  "Is that… a demand that Magicians be allowed freedom of movement?"

  [Your Excellency Director-General. The citizens, be they magister or not, are entitled to the freedom of movement. Why should we demand the freedom that we already have? I am talking about the future of human society here.]

  "……"

  [I hope not to see a situation where the information about a meteorite falling on Japan isn’t passed on to a Magister, and have the opportunity to intercept it be missed.]

  "Is that so…"

  [Yes. Well, Your Excellency, thank you very much for your time. If you'll excuse me.]

  Akiyama stared impassively at the now silent speaker for a while.

  Until yesterday, he was oblivious and uncaring about the risk of a meteorite falling on his head.

  An inevitable death that would surely come. ──In normal circumstances. If the world continues as it has been.

  But with Shiba Tatsuya's magic, it’s a catastrophe that can be avoided.

  By neglecting the rights of magicians, they would very well be choosing to sit by and watch as a meteorite falls on Tokyo ── this is Akiyama's impression of what Tatsuya had told him.

  99

  On the afternoon of the 22nd, an emergency leadership meeting was held at the Ministry of Defense, with Furusawa, the Minister of Defense, in attendance.

  Thereupon, the Chief of Staff, Akiyama, disclosed the contents of his telephone conversation with Tatsuya, and fervently stated that cooperation with magicians had now become more essential than ever.

  As to the restrictions on the departure of magicians from the country, Furusawa stated that "there were no such laws in effect against it," and this young minister, who took nothing but the superficial legality of the matter as his point of contention, made it clear that the sabotage against Mayumi and Ryousuke's trip to the United States by the Army Intelligence Department not only should be called off, but that it should have never happened in the first place. ──Behind Furusawa's statement was a sense of urgency that had been instilled in him from his meeting with Saegusa Kouichi. As it turned out, Inukai's attempt to have Furusawa persuade Kouichi had backfired.

  100

  Chapter 7

  [A Distinction]

  By the time Tatsuya and company returned to their apartment in Chofu, it was 6 P.M. on the 22nd.

  Miyuki was the next head of the Yotsuba Family, and Tatsuya was the president of the Stellar Reactor Plant management company. Besides the demonstration for the Ministry of Defense, there was a lot of work to be done on Miyakishima. As a result, by the time they reached a stopping point, it was almost sunset.

  Tatsuya not so much, but Miyuki wanted to stay on Miyakishima for one more day for emotional reasons, but they had already skipped university two days in a row. And they couldn't very well use work as a justification. Tatsuya could argue that he was there for Magian Company business, but Miyuki was there to accompany Tatsuya and Lina as Miyuki's friend. It wasn’t that he couldn't tolerate any more absences from her studies ──

  Tatsuya just wouldn't let her.

  At the Yotsuba Family's Tokyo headquarters building in Chofu. As soon as they arrived at their apartment on the top floor of the building, it was five minutes later, to be specific. It was then that Tatsuya received a call from Fumiya and Ayako asking for permission to pay them a visit.

  Tatsuya decided to meet them at the restaurant on the third floor. Tatsuya made reservations for five people out of consideration for Miyuki, as he felt it would be too demanding on her to prepare the meals for them at that moment in time.

  As a result of renovations made to the restaurant, six private rooms had been created where they could have secret conversations over a meal. These were for the exclusive use of customers affiliated with the Yotsuba Family.

  Within the most luxurious, or in other words most secured, of the private rooms, Tatsuya, Miyuki, Lina, Fumiya and Ayako sat around a single table. As for the seating layout, Miyuki was seated next to Tatsuya, Fumiya across from her, Lina beside Miyuki, and Ayako across from her.

  "Tatsuya-san, congratulations on your success."

  101

  With his rouge tinged nails dyed in black nail polish, Fumiya ── whose manicure was typically unisex and not uncommon for even men to get ── mentioned the first words in a congratulatory tone to Tatsuya.

  "Thank you. It seems that both Fumiya and Ayako have also been working hard."

  Tatsuya had requested for Fumiya and his team to monitor a member of the Izayoi Family, a prestigious family of Ancient Magicians and arguably the most powerful of the Hundred Families, namely the younger brother of the family head, Izayoi Shirabe. Considering the task was to determine whether or not he was practicing sorcery, a 24-hour monitoring regime was probably more taxing than merely monitoring his outings.

  Of course, it was unlikely that they were alone in this task, but it was likely that the Kuroba Family's subordinates were the ones who did the bulk of the work. However, this job wasn’t an order from the head of the Yotsuba Family to the head of the Kuroba Family, but rather a direct request from Tatsuya to the two of them. No doubt the responsibility of commanding and managing the subordinates was left to Fumiya and Ayako, as they were the ones who accepted the request. The mental burden would have been far greater if they were on their own for the entire mission.

  "That's part of the job. Tatsuya-san trusted us with the job, after all."

  Ayako, fully armed in make-up and a dress, replied while giving Tatsuya a lustrous smile.

  No matter how much of a beautiful woman Fumiya may look like, he doesn’t have the same appealing allure as Ayako, to which he just can't quite evoke.

  To bring this upon a married man might lead to the collapse of a family. Even for those still unmarried, unless the man is single, she might very well introduce a crack in his relationship with his girlfriend or fiancée. But since the recipient was Tatsuya, Ayako felt she could get away with it.

  "Just don't take it too far."

  Tatsuya casually brushed off Ayako's impassioned glance.

  Fumiya's face tightened up for a moment, likely trying to suppress a laugh. He must have thought that if he laughed here, it would spoil his sister's mood.

  "So far, there has been no sign of Izayoi Shirabe making any particular move of that nature."

  Fumiya put on a particularly serious expression and brought the subject up to Tatsuya, preventing a further digression.

  102

  "I see. According to Master, in this case, the Hieizan, or rather a Tendai Esoteric Buddhist monk, was contracted to perform the hex. It’s unlikely that Izayoi Shirabe would be involved. Now that I’ve settled my affairs, if there are no indications that he received any requests until today, then I have no problem in lifting the surveillance."

  Izayoi Shirabe's surveillance was originally given to Fumiya and his team as Tatsuya had his hands full until now with the demonstration to the government and military. Now that the comet has been successfully blown up, all that was left to do was wait and see what the National Defense Force would do. Which means Tatsuya was now able to keep an eye on Izayoi Shirabe himself.

  "There is no need, its only been three days. We'll continue for a bit longer."

  Fumiya, however, insisted on continuing.

  "I would like to take this opportunity to investigate Izayoi Shirabe in more detail."

  Fumiya seemed to regard him as a person to watch out for, judging from the memory of how Izayoi Shirabe's magic gave him a hard time the other day when he was chasing down the leader of the New Humanity Front.

  That being the case, Tatsuya saw no need to withdraw the request.

  "In that case, I’ll continue to leave things in your hands."

  Afterwards, they moved on to a friendly dinner with alcohol, discussing their daily lives at the Magic University as a table topic.

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  The despicable plan of the Army Intelligence Department that consisted of placing a hex on the women in Tatsuya's circle in order to apply psychological pressure on him was called off with a voice of authority by the Minister of Defense.

  However, this mission was backed by a powerful person behind the scenes, by the Four Great Elders of the Senate. Well, it would be better to mention that the original idea came from Kashiwa Kazutaka, one of the Four Great Elders. He wasn’t fully aware of the circumstances ── or even about the existence of the Senate itself, for that matter ── the young minister could easily order the suspension of the operation, but for those already embroiled in this matter since the start, they couldn’t simply say, "Yes, we will stop" and everything will be settled.

  103

  One of the deputy directors of the Army Intelligence Department ── there was more than one deputy director ── Inukai to be precise, requested for a meeting with Kashiwa Kazutaka to explain the situation and apologize.

  [Sensei’s words were that there was no need to make a visit to apologize.]

  Inukai went directly to the lawyer's office which acted as Kashiwa's representative on the very same day the operation was called off, and hand delivered a letter pleading for a meeting. On the following day, he was contacted by the lawyer's office and these were the first words of the call.

  "But if I don't, this would be insulting not only to me, but also to Saionji! Please, could you kindly ask his excellency to reconsider!?"

  Inukai insisted, bringing up the name of the former army general, Saionji. Knowing the power of the Senate, rejection from the Four Great Elders was akin to a death sentence for Inukai.

  [Insulting, is it? Sensei said that 'you don't need to worry about it,' can't you understand?]

  But the representative's stance was more blunt than one might expect.

  [Sensei is understanding of the position you are in. No matter what the details may be, it is always a wise move to obey the decisions of the minister who is at the head of your organization.]

  Inukai didn’t take these words at face value.

  Inukai understood Kashiwa’s question by reading between the lines of, "Will you follow the minister’s words over your own?"

  After the call with the lawyer, Inukai canceled all his work and went to meet the former Esoteric Buddhist monk whom he had requested to do the hex using Kashiwa's letter of introduction.

  Originally, the sorcerer had long since been excommunicated. Any respectable religious organization might allow its members to learn sorcery as a craft or for the sake of countering it, but it would never tolerate the practice of sorcery for the sake of harming others, let alone when it was for profit. The same was true for the temples and shrines, which throughout their long history have traditionally maintained an under-the-table presence. Excommunication was a natural step to be taken.

  104

  But on the other hand, there was also the fact that there was a need for hexes. It's not a historical fact, it's a reality. And, in order to meet this need, a sorcerer has to remain concealed, that is, hidden from view and remain secluded. Concealed by magic that twists perception and cognition.

  This was why real ── truly powerful sorcerers were difficult to reach, even with the investigative capabilities of the Army Intelligence Department. This was why Kashiwa's letter of introduction was necessary.

  And, having used a letter of introduction to make the request, he had to be careful in how he proceeded with things so as not to compromise the referrer's reputation now that he had to cancel the job. He couldn't just make a call and say, "I'm canceling the job." If he were to poorly handle this situation, he would risk incurring the displeasure of the person who wrote the letter of introduction. There was always a cost and a risk involved in working with a powerful person.

  Inukai was unsure. If he followed the decision of his organization, he would have to cancel the request.

  However, if he canceled the request, would he not be putting himself in the crosshairs of an influential person from the Senate?

  His representative said that there was no problem with cancellation. And Kashiwa said that he didn’t mind.

  Inukai couldn't believe those words.

  I'm being tested. ──This thought didn’t leave his mind.

  Between those two, he wondered, who did he fear more, the mere Minister of Defense or the Four Great Elders of the Senate?

  He couldn’t help but feel that he was being asked that question.

  It was only right after he knocked on the door of the hermitage where the sorcerer was hiding that Inukai finally made up his mind.

  Inukai didn’t know the sorcerer's name. The letter of introduction only specified the location of the hermitage, and the person in question only referred to himself as "just a Hoshi8." Although he was no longer a "monk" because he was excommunicated, the word 8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoshi

  105

  "Hoshi" also meant "a layman dressed as a monk." Thinking about it, it was an appropriate self-designation, so Inukai addressed him as "Hoshi-dono," as he called himself.

  "What business brings you here today, Inukai-san?"

  The sorcerer asked Inukai as they sat opposite each other in the tatami room. Both of them are sitting directly on the tatami. There were no cushions or low tables. No tea had been served.

  "Hoshi-dono. It's about the request I made, could you tell me your current progress?"

  "Did you come to urge me? I believe I told you it would take some time to prepare."

  "And for that reason I'm asking about the progress."

  "When all you have to go off is a photograph and a name for a medium, how do you think…"

  Sorcery required an intermediary between the practitioner and the recipient. The closer the link to the subject, the more effective the medium. This was especially relevant if the aim of the sorcery was to interfere with the physical body of the subject, in which case the medium should preferably be a part of the subject's body. Among the most popular were hair and nails. As well as fresh blood, which was extremely effective, where even dried blood could fulfill the purpose of a medium.

  Although a photograph and a name might suffice as a medium for sorcery, the aim being to disrupt the target's body, hair or nails would be much more preferable for the practitioner.

  "…But don't worry. I'm finally done with the preparations. I can start tonight."

  "Is that so?"

  Inukai’s tone showed that he was far from enthusiastic with the progress.

  "…Then, I assume it's fine if I proceed as planned?"

  Keenly perceiving the subtle lack of clarity from him, the sorcerer reminded Inukai.

  "Absolutely. Please start as soon as possible."

  There was a pathetic feeling that flashed across Inukai’s face, that of a person whose path of retreat had been cut off.

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  106

  It was 2 A.M. on the morning of the 24th when Mikihiko sensed that something was wrong.

  (When even the trees and plants are asleep… Very traditional, just as promised.) Naturally, Mikihiko, who at this hour was sitting in full attire in front of a gomadan cast on fire, probably could hardly blame others. Because it was at this hour that he anticipated the sorcery attack would take place.

  Mikihiko's family ── the Yoshida Family, was often seen as adept in Shintoism from the perspective of magicians from outside. From their point of view, the image of Mikihiko sitting in front of a gomadan may seem a little far-fetched. Despite the Japanese tradition of Shinto-Buddhism syncretism, the gomaike was still a strictly Buddhist practice. The gomadan Mikihiko was sitting in front of clearly followed Esoteric Buddhist principles.

  However, any discomfort derivative of such was mainly due to a mistaken notion of the Yoshida Family's magic. The Yoshida Family with a complete disregard for which religion, what sect, or, well, even if what religious basis, had voraciously amalgamated a wide variety of magic into a single consolidated magic system. Shintoism was nothing more than the one with the most relative density among them.

  The same goes for this gomaike being used as the countermeasure against hex’s, it wasn’t something borrowed, it was part of the Yoshida Family magic.

  (And sure enough, the targets are Shibata-san and Erika…) Mizuki and Erika had been staying at Mikihiko's house for the past few days. Ever since Tatsuya's warning, they have been staying in the female dormitory reserved for pupils for protection. This was why he was able to detect the hex so readily.

  (I'll not stand for this. I'll never forgive you for even trying to target Shibata-san.)

  "Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ agnaye svāhā"

  The words chanted by Mikihiko were the mantra9 of Agni of the Celestial Fire10.

  "oṃ śrimali mamali mali śuśri svāhā"

  Next, he chanted the mantra of Ucchusma, one of The Five Wisdom Kings in Tendai Esoteric Buddhism, which purges the impurity by means of purifying fire. He had chosen this anti-hex magic upon learning that the sorcerer was an Ancient Magician that follows the principles of the Tendai sect of Esoteric Buddhism.

  9 Mantra - Wikipedia

  10 Agni - Wikipedia

  107

  No doubt a formally qualified Esoteric Buddhist monk would either scowl or scoff at the patchwork of an Art that it was. But Mikihiko and the Yoshida Family didn't care about that. They only cared about how effective it was, and respected the style.

  The fire on the Gomadan flared with particular ferocity.