Miyuki's voice was finely measured as she returned the greeting. She also seemed surprised by Lena's appearance. For her part, she is impressed by Lena's youthful appearance rather than by her good looks.

  The relevant details about Lena are already in Miyuki's mind from the reports about FEHR that she has read countless times. From these, she knows that Lena is actually 30

  years old, and that she physically appears to be in her teens. It's the same with any photos she has seen of her, she has memorized them all.

  However, the impression she gives off while live on video is different from the one that is perceived from photos of her. The impression Miyuki was getting from seeing Lena on the screen, is that she appears to be three to four years younger than herself.

  Tatsuya could understand the hesitation from the two of them. But he did not see it as a situation for him to intervene in.

  "Miss Fehr, I am now in Berkeley, California."

  178

  [You've come to the States!?]

  Lena's face glowed with delight. It was such a radiant smile that Miyuki couldn't help but be jealous.

  [But why Berkeley?]

  Before long, Lena's face turned quizzical. Her fickle, abrupt change of expressions made her look even younger than she already was.

  "We've been assisting in the investigation of an incident caused by FAIR's abuse of magic over here."

  […Has it been settled?]

  "Yes, we caught the culprit. FAIR themselves will soon be under investigation."

  [I'm glad to hear that.]

  Lena expressed a look of relief on the screen. The thought of, "finally, they're going to make a move" was also tangible in that.

  [About this case you mentioned, does it have something to do with the black stone tablet?]

  "Precisely. Alas, regrettably, Miss Fehr's premonition has come true."

  [I see… It would have been best if nothing had happened.]

  Lena now turned her head down with a sour look on her face.

  Miyuki, who was looking at the screen next to Tatsuya, mused, "She is surprisingly expressive despite her enigmatic looks."

  [But it's a blessing that you came, Mister. Thanks to your assistance, I think that the worst-case scenario was avoided. You have my utmost gratitude, Mr. Shiba.]

  Lena looked up, a smile shining on her face anew.

  "She's a person to watch out for," Miyuki noted in red ink on her mental notebook.

  "We avoided the worst-case scenario this time, but I can't say it's all been resolved."

  […Because the stone tablet is still in FAIR's hands?]

  "There is also that."

  Tatsuya did not bother to mention that he had already requested countermeasures on that end.

  179

  [What else is there?]

  "The cave on Mt. Shasta where the stone tablet was unearthed."

  [Oh, I see. Indeed, there is always the possibility that there could be other dangerous items buried there as well.]

  She did not fail to consider this possibility. Lena had just pushed it to the back of her mind after she handed over the white stone tablet to the police with the video evidence of the illegal digging, as well the questioning of her colleague by the police whom she accompanied.

  "So, I would like to investigate that cave at least once myself."

  [I understand. In that case, would you like me to send one of my people to show you where it is?]

  "Thank you for the offer, but all I would like is the location."

  [I see…]

  Lena muttered ruefully. She didn't, however, push the offer further.

  Each magician has unique trade secrets of their own. Tatsuya is probably planning to use a secret technique during his investigation that he would like to have revealed to strangers — this was Lena's take on his refusal.

  [In that case, I can introduce you to the private detective who knows the location of the cave. If you can get to their office in Seattle, I'll ask them to meet with you.]

  "A private detective, you say?"

  [Yes. She's Japanese like you, Mister, so I think it will be easier for you to get the details from her.]

  Tatsuya had a good idea about the "Japanese private detective," who Lena just mentioned.

  It is very likely to be the same person whom Mayumi mentioned to him about.

  Tatsuya was almost entirely positive as to who that private detective is.

  "I would be very grateful. Then, if possible, could you please tell the detective to contact me in the morning?"

  It would take less time and effort for him to get there with directions than it would to look at a map. Tatsuya thought to himself, "I'm going to work you to the bone," as he asked her in an apologetic tone.

  180

  [I understand. If there is anything else I can do, please do not hesitate to ask.]

  Lena did not seem to notice Tatsuya's malice at all.

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  Tatsuya received a phone call at the hotel at 11:59 P.M. It was just a minute before the appointed time. The fact that it was a voice call, and not a video call, showed enough of the other person's thoughts.

  [Hello, I'm Luca Fields, the private detective that Miss Fehr referred you to.]

  She was trying to keep up the pretense that the both of them are strangers when she introduced herself.

  "Hello, Ono-sensei, how have you been?"

  Unfortunately for her, Tatsuya had no intention of following along.

  […Nice to meet you. You're Mr. Shiba, right?]

  Luca Fields, that is Ono Haruka, stubbornly tried to keep up the act.

  "Let's stop wasting time, shall we? Can I expect you to guide us to where we need to go as soon as possible?"

  Tatsuya's response was blunt.

  An audible sigh could be heard through the speakers.

  181

  182

  […If you would just give the routine, "Hello," we could skip the unnecessary back-and-forth.]

  "I would like to meet near Mt.Shasta. When can you be there?"

  Undeterred by Haruka's protests, Tatsuya carried on with his business.

  This time, it was a sigh of resignation that was heard.

  [As a matter of fact, I happen to be near Mt. Shasta. So, I think Shiba-san is the one who will take the longest to get there.]

  As if to make her case, Haruka referred to him as "Shiba-san" instead of "Shiba-kun."

  "Then how about 3:00 P.M.?"

  […If you're coming by car, it'll be about a five hour drive from Berkeley.]

  "It'll be fine."

  […If you say so.]

  Haruka didn't press the issue. She has never heard of the Air Car, but she was sure that Tatsuya might have some means of getting there that she is unaware of, so she shrugged off the doubt.

  "Please choose a location for us to meet, Ono-sensei."

  With that Haruka then mentioned the name of a certain public park.

  [Will you be staying at a hotel? I can make a reservation for you on my end.]

  "No, that will not be necessary."

  […Aren't you worried about how late it will be?]

  "It's all right."

  Haruka didn't have any more ordinary concerns to bring up.

  At 3:00 P.M., by the time she had arrived at the park that they had agreed to meet at, Tatsuya was already waiting for her in the parking lot. He got out of his car and was leaning against the driver's side of his station wagon-type self-propelled car, watching the entrance to the parking lot. However, Haruka did not notice Tatsuya there.

  As he walked up to her, she became wary due to not recognizing him. Haruka didn't recognize the man's face, which isn't the kind to leave a lasting impression.

  183

  "Ono-sensei."

  Upon being called by her name, Haruka blurted out, "Uh?"

  "…Wait, could it be, are you Shiba-san?"

  "That's right."

  It was only with that answer that Haruka finally recognized him to be Tatsuya.

  One should be able to surmise by now that this is due to the effect of the recognition-inhibiting magic [Aidoneus]. The effect of this magic doesn't create a disguise like that of [Parade], so his face has remained the same. If the caster consciously wishes to, they can make themselves recognizable and the other person will be able to identify their unaltered appearance.

  "Let's get going. Can I ask you to lead the way?"

  "O-Okay, sure."

  Haruka, who had not fully recovered her composure, nodded her head slightly.

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  Haruka led Tatsuya to the nearest open space near the cave where FAIR had been illegally digging.

  Haruka got out of her self-propelled car. Tatsuya and Miyuki got out of their Air Car that had been following behind.

  "Excuse me… is that, by any chance, Miyuki-san?"

  Tatsuya shrugged lightly at Haruka's question.

  Haruka couldn't believe what she was seeing.

  Miyuki had also become unrecognizable, as if she were some "face in the crowd." Haruka had an idea that this was due to the effect of some kind of magic.

  Nevertheless, she has never thought that there is anything that could extinguish the radiance of that Miyuki. It was beyond unbelievable, but rather unthinkable. She even thought like exclaiming, "No way!"

  But knowing that Tatsuya would not answer her questions, she knew asking was useless.

  So Haruka chanted over and over in her mind, "Stop thinking about unnecessary things,"

  and began to lead the way.

  184

  "It's here."

  Haruka pointed out to Tatsuya the waterfall where the cave is located. There were no traces of anyone from FAIR in the area.

  "It's behind there, right? I understand."

  Immediately after Tatsuya spoke, Haruka felt as if a veil had been lifted from in front of her eyes.

  Concurrently, she received a violent impact that nearly blew away her consciousness.

  An otherworldly "beauty" had suddenly appeared beside Tatsuya. She didn't recognize her as a "beautiful woman" at that moment. It was just the impression of "beauty" that struck Haruka with overwhelming violence.

  She wobbled and fell to her knees. Lucky for her it was not a rocky terrain below.

  Otherwise, had it been rocky or a stony riverbed, she might have injured her knees or, worse, broken a bone.

  She would not have been as shocked if she had suddenly crossed paths, or if she had just seen her.

  This woman, whose face she does not recognize, is not only unimpressive, she also hasn't left a lasting impression, so she can only be considered ordinary, however, after her appearance changed, she became a beautiful woman who embodies the beauty of the heavens. This was such a drastic change that it was hard to believe that she had not "changed" into a different person, but rather "switched" with someone else. The gap between then and now inflicted unbearable damage on Haruka's psyche.

  "Are you all right?"

  Miyuki briskly walked up to her with a worried look on her face. Her good looks were even more refined than before, yet this was certainly the Shiba Miyuki that Haruka had known. After staring intently for a few seconds and then blinking several times, Haruka finally regained her composure.

  "Y-Yeah. I'm fine. Thank you."

  She still stuttered, but managed to thank her properly before standing up with Miyuki's help.

  Tatsuya, who had been watching Haruka's shameful behavior without showing any particular disapproval or sympathy, waited until Haruka stood up and said to Miyuki, "Miyuki, let's go."

  "Ono-sensei, please wait here until you calm down."

  185

  Miyuki said this to Haruka with a soft smile.

  Haruka just nodded her head, looking at Miyuki without realizing that she had been ordered to "Sit tight!"

  Tatsuya illuminated the inside of the cave with the flashlight he had brought. The walls of the narrow cave showed signs of extensive digging.

  This was no surprise to either Tatsuya or Miyuki. They had heard already that FAIR had been illegally digging for days.

  Tatsuya's eyes fell on a spot on the wall. After staring at it for nearly ten seconds, he placed his right hand on the bare surface where a large gouge had been carved out.

  Under Miyuki's watchful eye, Tatsuya's hand slowly moved into the wall. As indicated by the sand cascading down along the wall, he is not actually permeating the cave wall. He was specifying the coordinates for his magic, where then he began decomposing any soil that came in contact with his right hand.

  Tatsuya proceeded like this until his right hand had reached just past his elbow into the wall, before slowly pulling it out. What he is holding in his hand is not a stone tablet. It's a small box. Laura and those from FAIR, who had focused their magical detection on the stone tablets, would not have noticed the presence of this small box.

  The excavated hole is wider than the size of the box. With that in mind, the diameter of the hole was kept to a minimum so as to avoid the risk of a collapse.

  The small box was a peculiar object made of stone. There were no visible joints other than just the lid. It's a rectangular shaped object that had been carved out of a large rock and bored out inside to form a box.

  "What is this…?"

  Inside the box was an equilateral octagonal stone slab. The slab is about a quarter of its maximum width in thickness. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to describe it as a "flat octagonal stone."

  "A kind of Relic… I guess."

  Tatsuya, who had been staring intently at the stone, took it out of the box and placed it in his palm.

  And then he poured Psions into it from his palm.

  186

  It was a bold move, reckless even, to do so without even knowing the characteristics of the Relic, but it did not faze Miyuki, let alone Tatsuya. For her part, she blindly trusted Tatsuya.

  Of course, Tatsuya decided to conduct the experiment after deeming that there was no significant risk. Having ascertained the structural information with his Elemental Sight and confirming that there are no radioactive elements or other hazardous elements present, he judged that if the need arose, he could simply break the material down to the elemental level.

  The octagonal stone did not exhibit any particularly significant reaction. It merely moved just an inch or so in Tatsuya's palm.

  "…It just moved, didn't it?"

  "Yeah."

  Noticing something, Tatsuya rotated in place about ninety degrees and repeated the same thing.

  The octagonal stone moved in the exact same direction.

  It moved objectively in the same direction, irrespective of the orientation of Tatsuya's body.

  Tatsuya left the cave and repeated the experiment several times, always turning in a different direction.

  And each time he repeated the experiment, the octagonal stone moved in the same direction as in the cave.

  He returned the octagonal stone to its original location in the small stone box.

  Haruka, who had been watching Tatsuya's experiment with curiosity, said nothing.

  Neither about the experiment nor about the object he excavated from the cave.

  "Thank you for your guidance, Ono-sensei."

  After having returned to the vacant lot, Tatsuya bowed to Haruka under the dusk sky.

  "It's trifling, but here is a fee for guiding us."

  It was only when he said this, that it dawned on Haruka that they had never discussed compensation.

  What he is handing over to her is an envelope containing a money card for high-value transactions.

  187

  Haruka's eyes bulged when she saw the amount.

  "I don't think I need to mention this, but it includes hush-money as well."

  Speechless, Haruka nodded at Tatsuya's words.

  "Then, if you'll excuse us."

  At the same time Tatsuya got into the driver's seat, Miyuki also got into the passenger seat.

  The Air Car with the two on board drove off just like a regular self-propelled car.

  Haruka was left watching in a daze.

  She chose to think that it was just her imagination that the car disappeared in the darkness on the way.

  Tatsuya drove the Air Car in the opposite direction from the town, and when there was no longer any signs of people or devices in sight, he had the Air Car lift into the sky.

  "—Is this stone a kind of compass?"

  Miyuki, who had been keeping silent, opened her mouth. She was holding the small box while Tatsuya was driving.

  "It's a fair assumption, I suppose."

  Tatsuya nodded while keeping his eyes forward.

  "I'm fairly confident it points to a specific location. The question is, where to?"

  The stone didn't move in any of the four directions: east, west, north, south, or northwest. It was moving in the north-northwest. Somewhere in Alaska, or beyond that to Siberia, maybe even further beyond that to Central Asia. Any of these possibilities seemed reasonable.

  "If it's a compass, then there should be a map that goes with it…"

  Tatsuya muttered to himself.

  His own remark brought him back to Lena's words.

  Lena had said that the "white stone tablet" could be a map…

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  188

  July 19th, local time, it was early dawn on the West Coast of the USNA.

  Minoru descended to San Francisco where darkness still covered part of the city. He didn't appear on the shore of the lake like last time, or in some unpopulated suburb. He appeared in the metropolitan area, albeit far from the city center.

  He had disguised himself into a shadow-like figure with [Parade]. His body was not entirely black. In fact, only a few areas were pitch black, and the rest of his body was stained in shades of black and dark gray. However, with only vague shades of light and dark, his features were indiscernible. Even the outlines of the body were only vaguely distinguishable.

  It was possible to make out the position of his arms and legs. The position of the head as well.

  But it was difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish his eyes, nose, mouth, or ears. Even more so when it comes to the fingers of his hand besides his thumb.

  As such, Minoru entered FAIR's headquarters looking like an ominous ghost.

  The three-story, rustic concrete building was securely locked. But no cylinder locks or electronic locks were an obstacle to Minoru. While unlocking them as easily as the key would — without even breaking them — he walked deeper and deeper into the building.