One had to admit how incredibly wise Mori Ougai’s decision truly was.
If the Port Mafia had kept up the pursuit, there was no telling how much manpower they would have thrown into the void, and the final result was destined to be absolute failure. After all, the defector they spoke of had already been tossed into an entirely different world under conditions where he himself was completely unprepared. This was indeed “without a trace” in the truest sense of the phrase.
“Is this the area where that yokai loiters?” Dazai Osamu tilted his head back, watching the raindrops slowly descending from the sky. “Truly bleak.”
His voice was exceptionally light, blending with the sound of rain slamming against the leaves, sounding even more like a whisper right next to a person’s ear.
The valley before them looked exactly as if it had been sliced open by a sharp, long blade; rather than calling it a valley, a rift panel was far more appropriate.
“Be a bit careful,” Natori Shuuichi’s expression turned solemn. The profession of an exorcist had existed for those many years after all, giving them a fair amount of experience when evaluating a yokai’s capabilities.
Whenever a yokai was powerful, its choice of territory was bound to differ from minor yokai. Countless yokai nested within this forest both harmless and vicious varieties. Yet not a single yokai had established residency inside a location of this nature.
Claiming this small valley area was completely barren of life wasn’t an exaggeration either. Setting aside those water puddles across the ground that radiated a somewhat bizarre aura, merely the surging spiritual energy packed to the brim with malice flowing through the air forced a person to treat it with immense gravity.
Behind them lay a dense patch of woodland, yet a sudden chill wind drifted from an unknown direction right here.
Truly a hassle.
Natori Shuuichi fished a stack of paper charms from his backpack. “Don’t draw close yet. If we get detected before completing the array required for the seal, things will turn troublesome.”
He voiced these words toward Dazai Osamu. Over this duration, even if Natsume Takashi originally held zero desire to entangle with exorcists, he simply couldn’t hold out against Natori Shuuichi’s endless requests after all.
In Madara’s words: “Natsume, your character shares absolute zero connection with Reiko.”
Having performed several missions together with Natori Shuuichi, Natsume Takashi was somewhat familiar with the sealing process by now.
“Understood,” Dazai Osamu retreated a fraction, positioning himself right beside Natsume Takashi. Among those on the scene, he was the solitary one still maintaining that somewhat loose,散漫 demeanor.
“Hey, Natsume-chan, is that cat raised by you?” Likely out of fear that Dazai might discover his identity, Natsume Takashi had only used the surname Natsume when introducing himself along the way. Even while wanting to mask his identity, he still selected to conceal a portion rather than fabricate a lie.
Sure enough, he isn’t a child who loves to tell lies, Dazai sighed uncomfortably within his heart.
Unfortunately for him, he long knew his identity.
“Don’t you experience an anomalous reaction addressing a capture target to this image?” the system couldn’t resist noting. “How many years older than him are you even?” Natsume Takashi could be considered a high schooler right now after all; it truly held zero idea why this host whose brain was long verified to possess a dysfunction could address the counterpart as a “child” with such total fluidity. He himself was merely eighteen, right?
“But he is indeed still a child,” Dazai’s lips curled upward. “Possessing merely a half-baked comprehension of the world, yet constantly maintaining a gentle nature at his core.”
“…” The system held zero idea why its host voiced these incomprehensible phrases, but catching sight of the emotion masked beneath his smile detached to the point of resembling a sheet of glacial ice it unleashed a shiver without a single hint of warning.
According to the system’s evaluation, Dazai Osamu was absolutely zero good person before encountering it; even if he hadn’t stepped fully into the chaotic evil camp, it was close enough. Having nested inside the mafia for that long, his moral compass had long been precariously positioned, hadn’t it?
Witnessing him expose an expression of this nature, the system silently swallowed the words it wanted to voice right back down. It subtly felt its host was somewhat terrifying.
Hearing Dazai’s words, Natsume Takashi turned his head. The white silhouette of Nyanko-sensei was presently bolting toward their location. “Ah… yes.”
“This brat is also an exorcist?” Before even crowding to Natsume Takashi’s side, Madara detected Dazai Osamu standing near his frame, narrowing its eyes into a single slit line.
“Eh? Wondrously grand this cat actually knows how to speak,” Dazai crouched his frame down, wanting to extend a hand to touch this bizarre speaking creature, yet was dodged by the counterpart.
“Completed,” before anything further could be voiced over here, Natori Shuuichi summoned them all over.
A strange array had been traced across the ground using an unknown material. Bright white lines fused together, holding a paper charm right at the center.
Natori Shuuichi delivered a spherical object into Natsume Takashi’s hands. “This is utilized for the sealing process. Natsume, stand right at the center position; I’ll go draw the yokai out.”
“Alright,” Natsume took the object into his grip, lifting his feet to step inside.
“Hey! Brat of the Natori clan, you’re letting Natsume perform a hazardous task of this nature again!” The white feline shifted its strides to draw close to Natsume Takashi’s area. “If something goes wrong with Natsume, I’ll swallow you down whole.”
“It won’t,” Natori Shuuichi returned a gentle smile.
How to voice it as expected of a professional actor, the smile he unloosed shared absolute zero connection with its own garbage host, leaving a person feeling as if they were bathed in a spring breeze.
“Then I’ll simply look on from the side; when there’s an area requiring my assistance, I’ll step in again,” out of fear of obstructing them, Dazai Osamu stood a far distance away, displaying an absolute picture of a character who held zero intention of helping out.
“Is this performance of yours truly fine?” the system expressed doubt.
“It’s practically wrapped up anyway,” Dazai leaned his frame against a tree. “The capture of Natsume Takashi requires merely a single sentence; it can be completed with total casualness.”
“Furthermore, I scan the two of them and see they can cope perfectly fine; there’s zero need to worry about Matoba Seiji’s side either truly zero expenditure of effort.”
“…” Garbage.
Natori Shuuichi’s execution efficiency wasn’t ordinary high. The exact instant he entered, a wave of tremors manifested outside, looking identical to an earthquake.
“Natsume!” Natori Shuuichi bolted out, accompanied by a screeching howl as a yokai covered entirely in gray-black feathers erupted on his heels.
Its exterior contour resembled an avian variety, its frame encircled by a faint patch of mist.
“Are yokai all to this image?” Dazai Osamu stared deathly at that monster that looked on the verge of charging directly to his side. “This is truly…”
“Provoking a surge of excitement.”
The system could never decrypt its host’s brain tracks.
Natsume Takashi stood right at the array’s center. The exact split second Natori Shuuichi brought that yokai inside, the bizarre characters across the surrounding ground radiated a blinding light illumination.
An un-obstructable force rose from within the array, tightly shackling the yokai that was beating its wings, before slowly dragging it inside the sphere held within Natsume Takashi’s hands.
“…” The object inside his grip kept up a non-stop vibration, the yokai’s torso slowly being ripped inside. Blinding white light leaked from the interface junction; along with the gradual disappearance of the yokai’s torso, the illuminated tracks across the ground dulled into total darkness.
“Looks like a success,” Dazai Osamu walked over. “Hey, hadn’t expected Natsume-chan to be this grandly capable!”
Natsume Takashi still maintained the action of tightly gripping with both hands, only returning his consciousness after hearing his words. Staring at the sphere lined with the sealing charm inside his grip, a bizarre sensation rose within his heart… moments ago, did this yokai voice some words?
During the sealing process, Natsume Takashi had faintly captured that name escaping from the yokai’s mouth.
“Reiko.”