With those three seeing them off, Tatsuya and Ayako took off from Miyakishima.

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  From Miyakishima, they first landed on the helipad atop the Yotsuba Family's Tokyo headquarters building in Chofu, Tokyo.

  From there, an employee of the Kuroba Family drove them to Nishi-Kawaguchi in a self-propelled car, which Tatsuya was discouraged from driving himself because he was supposed to be out of Japan at the moment. Same reason why they didn't use his Air-Car as usual.

  "Tatsuya, welcome back. Thanks for accompanying him, Nee-san."

  They arrived just before 6 P.M. being welcomed by Fumiya.

  From her welcoming Tatsuya's group from their descent from Takachiho, Ayako had been wearing a summer sweater and a long, light skirt, what you would normally see on a female university student. Fumiya, for some reason, was wearing an ao dai (or something resembling one).

  170

  171

  "Thanks for your work too. By the way Fumiya, is that supposed to be a disguise?"

  It should be noted that, though worn mostly by women, there are also men's ao dai. So it would be a blunder to ask him if he was "dressing as a woman" just by looking at this outfit. When he went and asked, "Is that a disguise?" outright, it was probably due to how long they have known each other.

  "Yes. It's very popular among the younger people living in the area."

  "I see."

  Fumiya omitted a detail in that is with the "young female population" specifically, but Tatsuya didn't question him, either because he didn't notice or because he pretended not to.

  As it turned out, his "disguise" proved unquestionably effective. Several young women dressed like Fumiya walked down the street. Some of them appeared to be Japanese, but unlike Chinatown, which is a tourist area, there seemed to be a larger number of immigrants, students, and migrant workers from continental China.

  "I'll show you where it is. This way, please."

  "Wait a minute. I'll disguise myself too."

  Tatsuya activated the magistore hidden inside his summer jacket containing the magic sequence of the recognition-inhibiting magic [Aidoneus].

  "Whoa! …This was surprising. Is that [Aidoneus]?"

  "Fumiya exclaims in surprise as it becomes harder to take in Tatsuya's impression"

  "First time seeing it? I thought I asked Yuuka-san to prioritize supplying it to the Kuroba family."

  Tatsuya tilted his head in reaction.

  "It still hasn't got to our end. It's still in testing at my father's place."

  It was Ayako who answered.

  "It's been over a month already… They're being awfully cautious."

  Tatsuya let slip an exasperated voice.

  Fumiya gave a bitter chuckle.

  "…It can't be helped. Otou-san is still trying hard not to be dependent on you, Tatsuya-san. It's a maybe, but I suspect that he is trying very hard to find a reason not to use Tatsuya-san's invention."

  172

  Having said that, Fumiya gripped Tatsuya's left hand with both of his.

  This was the kind of innocent behavior one might expect from a high school girl or, for that matter, a junior high school girl.

  Tatsuya was quite literally taken aback by this.

  "The feeling of touch is also normal. It doesn't feel like my perception is being twisted.

  And yet my perception is waning."

  Fumiya releases his hand, looking up at Tatsuya from the close proximity.

  "I can tell I'm looking at Tatsuya-san because I know you're there now. If I didn't know and we passed each other without knowing, I might not recognize you even if we bumped into each other… In fact, I'm afraid that I would not be able to recognize you anymore if we were to get separated for a moment."

  Fumiya clasped his hands on his back and walked backwards, one, two, he stepped lightly. ─He looks kind of feminine like now, doesn't he? Tatsuya thought.

  "I was wondering, why don't we hold hands so I can show you the way?"

  "Fumiya!"

  Annoyed, Ayako chastised Fumiya.

  Fumiya made an studied cowering gesture.

  "I was just making sure Tatsuya-san wouldn't lose sight of me, but I guess there's no need. Please follow me."

  Fumiya walks off with a lively gait.

  His figure was soon lost in the dimness of the twilight.

  "For crying out loud…"

  Ayako exclaimed in exasperation.

  "What on earth is Fumiya so excited about…? Tatsuya-san, do you want me to show you the way?"

  Ayako asks Tatsuya with an expression of guilt on her face.

  "No, thanks. Ayako, take charge of the overall encirclement in place of Fumiya."

  With these words, Tatsuya went after Fumiya at a brisk pace.

  His figure soon blended into the twilight as did Fumiya.

  173

  They reached the destination about five minutes on foot after meeting at the rendezvous point.

  "An apartment complex…"

  "There is no automatic lock, so the entry will be easy, but it may be unavoidable that there will be some damage to the surrounding area."

  As he said this, Fumiya looked at Tatsuya with a "what do you plan to do?".

  "I don't want to delay too long. I'm going in as it is."

  "That's very like you to make such a manly decision, Tatsuya-san. I respect it."

  Tatsuya couldn't help but to stare blankly at Fumiya.

  He doesn't have much beyond the general notions of "masculinity" and "femininity," but he was suspecting that maybe Fumiya was getting more and more feminine as time went on.

  "Is there something wrong?"

  Seeing Tatsuya's apprehension, Fumiya tilted his head innocently.

  "─I'll leave any follow-up to you."

  Tatsuya quickly glosses over the situation.

  "Leave it to me."

  Fortunately for Tatsuya, there were no signs of suspicion on Fumiya's part.

  Tatsuya turned off [Aidoneus] and entered the apartment alone.

  Fumiya watched the building from the outside with his subordinates. They were in place in case Lü Dongbin was somehow able to escape from Tatsuya's grasp.

  Lü Dongbin was hiding on the far end of the third floor of the four-story apartment building. An emergency staircase is located next to the room. While the entrance to the staircase is locked, a lattice door like this is hardly an obstacle for Tatsuya. Perhaps for Lü Dongbin as well.

  The first and second floors were inhabited as they should be.

  But once on the third floor, there was no sign of anyone.

  174

  He couldn't say that for certain, as he was taking into account the possibility of being traced and wasn't using [Elemental Sight]. But there was for sure no ordinary resident living there, at least.

  Tatsuya grew more alert. It may be thanks to this that he was able to respond to what happened next.

  It was just when Tatsuya reached, with cautious steps along the outer corridor, near the room where Lü Dongbin was hiding.

  An explosion occurred in the apartment just ahead.

  The iron door, blown out its hinges by the blast, flew at Tatsuya.

  He jumped forward at once, instead of retreating. His judgment proved to be correct.

  Because afterwards, a similar explosion occurred in the room two rooms away from him, sending their steel doors flying open as well.

  The whole building made of reinforced concrete shook; sounds of its structure creaking could be heard all around.

  Enter or exit the building? The decision took only an instant.

  Tatsuya reaches for the door in front of him.

  He turned the knob. It was unlocked.

  (An ambush?)

  With the certainty of a trap waiting for him, Tatsuya yanked open the door.

  A knife came at him from inside the room.

  Not a knife remotely controlled by magic. He would have detected the magic and avoided it in advance.

  It was a surprise strike by throwing it.

  Tatsuya didn't attempt to evade. He left it to the magic shield he deployed around his body prior to the earlier explosion to deal with. Being a shield maintained by the artificial relic he carries for self-defense, it is stronger than what he could have built on his own.

  Tatsuya brings his right hand behind his back and pulls a handgun from a backside holster.

  175

  Not a handgun-shaped CAD, a 9mm automatic handgun. Attached under the barrel is not a light or a laser pointer, but a specialized CAD with silencing magic.

  In other words, this was an equivalent to a suppressor that uses magic for the job.

  But Tatsuya pulled the trigger without bothering with the silencing magic.

  After those two explosions there was no point in hiding the gunshot now. Better to just avoid the slight time lag required for activating the magic altogether.

  The man who threw the knife was unable to hide and the bullet digged into his chest The man falls backwards. Another man came at him with a knife from behind.

  Caught by surprise, Tatsuya's reaction was momentarily delayed. He didn't sense the man's presence.

  Tatsuya pulled the trigger.

  To his surprise, the man managed to deflect the bullet with the short blade of the knife in his right hand.

  The knife breaks and the bullet ricochets, making a hole in the wall.

  The man throws a thin dagger at Tatsuya with his left hand.

  Following his intuition, Tatsuya dodges the dagger.

  The blade passed inches to the side of his face, slicing tentatively through the shield.

  There is no feeling that the magical shield was neutralized.

  (Was it some sort of magic field anchored to the edge of the blade that disturbed the shield?)

  Tatsuya instantly analyzed the enemy's attack.

  He couldn't tell the exact nature of the force field, but he could make out what had happened.

  The man slashed at Tatsuya with his newly drawn knife.

  Tatsuya paired the left hand coming at him with his right with the gun.

  Not missing a beat, there is a thrust with his right hand, which Tatsuya intercepts by catching the wrist.

  The man threw a knee kick, which was met in turn by Tatsuya's own knee.

  And so Tatsuya and the man glared at each other from up close.

  176

  The man promptly retreated a few steps, and in that instant Tatsuya figured out why he hadn't noticed this man's presence at first.

  The presence of the first man who he shot and the second man were identical.

  (Presence projection ─ [Kodama], huh…)

  In his high school days, Yakumo once showed Tatsuya a ninjutsu for distracting the enemy by projecting one's presence onto a grove of trees or a rock. He was not taught how to use it, but rather it was used largely to his detriment in one of their practice sessions. This has probably the same underlying principle, whereby the first man was the projection of the second man's presence.

  Tatsuya's hand pulled the trigger with this thought in the back of his mind.

  Each of the successive bullets were deflected by the man's dagger dancing in mid-air.

  The dagger was controlled by an unsubstantial string.

  It matched Ryosuke's description of the magic used by Lü Dongbin.

  Another knife lunges at Tatsuya from behind.

  This tentative trap as well.

  Tatsuya half-heartedly evaded the knife.

  He went a step further and grabbed the handle of the knife that was passing right past him with his left hand.

  At the same time, he decomposed the magic sequence of remote control.

  Tatsuya made a mental note that Gram Dispersion works without any problem.

  While addressing the enemy's attack, Tatsuya kept on pulling the trigger with his right hand.

  A bullet broke the blade of his knife.

  With almost no delay, there was a new blade in sight to shield him.

  This process repeated itself once more.

  The slide of the handgun locked back. In other words, he emptied the magazine.

  The man who appeared to be Lü Dongbin ─ no, this was unquestionably the real Lü Dongbin ─ saw the opportunity, turned his back on Tatsuya, and lunged toward the balcony.

  177

  Tatsuya fired [Decomposition].

  However, the moment after the [Decomposition] magic sequence landed on Lü Dongbin's information body it was engulfed and dissolved by a psionic wave that rebounded from the point of impact.

  (Up to the reflection, everything seems to be as we guessed. But, to think it wasn't so much neutralizing, but dissolving.) As Tatsuya calmly analyzes the situation of his magic being nullified, on the other end of the line, Lü Dongbin leaps out from the open balcony.

  Knowing that the outside perimeter was surrounded by Kuroba combatants led by Fumiya, Tatsuya was not preoccupied.

  But, after those two loud explosions, the police were bound to arrive soon, and Tatsuya was not supposed to be here. He couldn't afford much leisure time.

  He approached the balcony while swapping magazines. Making sure Lü Dongbin wasn't hiding as if he'd jumped out, he opened a line of comms with Fumiya.

  "Where did he run off to?"

  Tatsuya asked outright. Fumiya went to the balcony side of the apartment when they parted. Unless he changed positions at some point, he should have seen Lü Dongbin escape.

  [He went up to the roof of the apartment and ran away to the other side. We are in pursuit.]

  "Send me the location."

  [I'll take you to him.]

  "Got it, lead the way."

  Cutting off the transmission, Tatsuya holstered his pistol.

  He then jumped down from the third floor balcony to the ground.

  With Fumiya's guidance, Tatsuya caught up to Lü Dongbin on a deserted riverbed.

  178

  He would like to say that they have "cornered him," but unless they had snipers in place, the encirclement was not quite complete. With only a few Kuroba's magicians able to ward off people from the area, Lü Dongbin still has some room to escape.

  Both Tatsuya, the pursuer, and Lü Dongbin, the pursued, may have the same intention to settle the matter as soon as possible. ─Perhaps that was the impression conveyed by the situation.

  "Are you Lü Dongbin?"

  There might not seem to be any reason to ask at this point, but he has yet to confirm it definitively. It was a reasonable opening statement.

  "Yes, I am. And you are Shiba Tatsuya of the Yotsuba, are you not?"

  Tatsuya felt a slight sense of strangeness at having "Yotsuba" added to his name.

  But he wasn't wrong, so Tatsuya nodded with an affirmative "That's right."

  If asked about the point of this conversation, Tatsuya would probably have answered

  "None." Finishing his nod he immediately pulled out his gun.

  "W-wait, wait! I-!"

  Lü Dongbin attempted to say something.

  Tatsuya paid no heed and pointed the muzzle at him.

  About the same time, Lü Dongbin dropped down onto the overgrown weeds on the riverbank.

  Knives sprang from the hems of his loose-fitting trousers, one from each side.

  Tatsuya pulled the trigger.

  One intercepts the bullet in mid-air. It deflects the bullet, just as it had before he escaped.

  But the bullets from this new magazine were of an entirely different kind.

  The bullets engraved with inertial enhancement magic smashed through the dagger in mid-air and grazed Lü Dongbin's left shoulder, leaving a shallow wound.

  The other knife, which was moving toward Tatsuya, hurried to get back to Lü Dongbin, as if the thing itself had a will of its own.

  Magic that remotely controls knives is not that unusual; a well-known example to Tatsuya is Stars' [Dancing Blades].

  179

  Compared to this one, it has a longer range and is probably more powerful, too.

  That said, Lü Dongbin's magic seemed to have a greater degree of flexibility in control.

  With these thoughts in mind, Tatsuya pulled the trigger again.

  The knife back on Lü Dongbin's side deflected the bullet.

  The inertia-enhancement magic on the bullet had been nullified.

  Even another blade comes at Tatsuya, who wonders just how many knives he has hidden there.

  Tatsuya pointed the muzzle at the flying knife.

  He pulls the trigger, destroying the knife.

  The next knife came flying at him, to which he fired just the same.

  Meanwhile, he casts [Gram Dispersion] on the knife acting as a shield. The remote control magic was erased, and the knife fell into the weeds.

  But the knife was soon back up from the weeds. The instantaneous speed with which the magic was re-activated may suggest an unknown technique of stocking magic sequences, or perhaps a tool with that purpose, or maybe even a system that brings the same effects as a loop-casting.

  No further action was taken. No further attacks on Tatsuya.

  Tatsuya, too, did not pull the trigger.

  "We have no intention of challenging the Yotsuba!"

  Lü Dongbin, not wanting to miss the opportunity, shouted quickly.

  "You say so after you attack FLT?"

  Saying this, Tatsuya lowered his gun.

  Lü Dongbin stood up with both hands raised. His left hand is slightly lower, probably due to the pain from the wound the bullet left.

  That was the only visible sign of wounds. No apparent effect of ribs Ryousuke had broken on him.

  "That was what FAIR wanted. I had no intention in that matter."

  Lü Dongbin appeals in a strong tone.

  "Do you really think you can make such a claim?"

  180

  By contrast, Tatsuya's voice was indifferent.

  "If I was serious, I would have taken an Artificial Relic!"

  "Are you suggesting that you failed on purpose?"

  "That's right, because I never intended to seriously antagonize the Yotsuba."

  "Then what is the goal of the [Bāxiān] of the GAU in this matter?"

  Tatsuya returned the handgun to its holster.

  "If you are so familiar with the [Bāxiān] then I'm sure you can at least guess that we do not work with only one objective in mind. Our work is hardly that straightforward."