Chapter 181: The Unprecedentedly Powerful Evil Spirit, The Red Thread Connecting Everyone
After this stroll, when Yoru and Kawasaki Saki returned to the hotel room and gathered with the other members, it was already almost noon.
Surprisingly, upon entering, Kazusa had actually already woken up and was waiting in Yoru's room together with Rio and others.
Seeing everyone examining the necklace on her neck, Kawasaki Saki's face turned completely red. Just as she was about to say something, she scanned the room and asked puzzledly.
"Where is Yui?"
"She went out shopping with Marin and Yukinoshita-san. They'll find time to gather with us in the afternoon."
"Eh? Why not let..."
Kawasaki Saki originally wanted to say, Why not let Marin and Yukino, the only two unknowing members, go out together? Why must Yui be taken along?
But on second thought, she understood the reason behind it.
Although Marin's personality was very cheerful...
Relying on her alone, she couldn't withstand Yukino.
It was foreseeable that if Yukino and Marin went out alone, along the way, Yukino would probably only say two words.
"Mmhmm."
"Boring."
Who could withstand this?
Only someone like Yui, who naturally familiarized herself with people, could withstand Yukino's cold aura.
Didn't you see that in the whole club, Yukino only calls Yui by her first name directly?
Natural airheads counter tsunderes, the ancients truly didn't deceive me.
"What intelligence did you gather?"
Noticing the frivolous smile on Yoru's face, Rio secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing his relaxed appearance, the situation shouldn't be very serious...
"The situation is much more serious than we expected."
Hearing this sentence, the hearts of Rio, Mai, Miko, and Amano Hina all sank.
Kazusa still had that plain look, just asking in a calm tone.
"Then... will you be in danger?"
Yoru smiled, saying noncommittally.
"Who knows. Things like exorcism inherently have risks. Even for me, it should be the same, right?"
Kazusa's eyes flickered, and under the surprised gazes of other members, she uttered an astonishing sentence.
"Then don't go. Anyway, people die every moment in this world."
Kazusa's personality wasn't really the kind that disregarded human life. After all, due to her family environment, she just didn't know how to express her feelings; it wasn't that she didn't have feelings.
It was just that compared to people she didn't know, she valued Yoru's safety alone more.
Even if the lives of hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of people were piled on the other end of the scale...
Kazusa would unhesitatingly choose the end holding Yoru's life.
"I'm afraid that won't do."
Yoru bent down slightly, leaned close to Kazusa's face, stared straight into her eyes, and said with a smile.
"Just like you like playing the piano, I also really like eliminating evil spirits. So, I still have to do it."
"Then... okay."
A few traces of worry appeared between Kazusa's eyebrows, but she still nodded.
"Alright, let's get down to business."
After pacifying Kazusa, Yoru looked at Mai and others, speaking slowly.
"In the center of the Shibuya commercial pedestrian street, the existence of a 'Door' is confirmed."
"Judging from the fact that the 'Door' increased its opening degree to nearly ninety percent in just a few days, it indeed is as we speculated: this is not a naturally occurring 'Door', but an evil spirit secretly supplying power to this 'Door'."
Rio took off her glasses, rubbed the center of her eyebrows, and said worriedly.
"But... there have been no large-scale casualty incidents in the area around the commercial street..."
"Mmhmm, I'm about to explain this point."
Yoru took out his phone, clicking open the email Light Yagami sent over.
"According to the message from Light Yagami, if searching for large-scale casualty incidents around the Shibuya pedestrian street, there is indeed not a single one."
"But through the internal network statistics of the Police Department, for the past twenty days, the rates of accidental deaths and suicides around the Shibuya pedestrian street have both been rising at an unnatural, extremely rapid magnitude."
"The arc of this incident growth has far exceeded the normal curve fluctuation range."
"It can be determined with high probability that this is a strangeness event."
After saying these words, looking at Rio and others who looked surprised and wanted to say something, Yoru shook his phone and chuckled.
"It is the information age now, after all. We are modern exorcists; we must use big data rationally."
Rio sighed slightly, feeling somewhat complicated in her heart.
As the number one staff officer of the Super-Quant Club, these were things she should have considered in advance.
Having already heard Light Yagami's surname Yagami, this very rare surname, she vaguely guessed the relationship between that brown-haired boy and Kyoto Police Department's Chief of Criminal Investigation Bureau, Yagami Soichiro.
Why didn't I consider utilizing the Police Department's intelligence in advance?
Still too limited in thinking, always feeling that something like exorcism couldn't be connected with the Police Department's internal network.
This evil spirit was extremely cunning, even using the method of breaking the whole into parts to avoid arousing human vigilance as much as possible.
Unfortunately.
Times have changed, it's not traditional exorcism anymore.
We have technology now.
Immediately after, Yoru brought up the map on his phone, marking an area within a three-kilometer radius of that commercial pedestrian street.
"Judging from the Police Department's incident summary report, this area is exactly the one where the accidental death and suicide rates are abnormally high."
Speaking of this, Yoru paused slightly, uttering a sentence that made the faces of Miko and others change.
"Within this area, there are at least two 'Doors', perhaps even more."
"Two!?"
Rio looked at Miko and Mai. As spirit mediums, the three girls all realized the seriousness of the problem.
In Kyoto, there had never been such a situation.
Usually, within a five-kilometer radius, there would only be one "Door".
After all, most evil spirits were simple-minded existences.
Not only holding malice towards humans, but overly powerful evil spirits would even devour other congenerics to enhance their own power.
This is the same principle as two tigers cannot share one mountain.
Just as powerful evil spirits would attack each other.
"Doors" that can enhance power and have great attraction for evil spirits would also produce a repulsive effect between each other.
Either they fuse into one.
Or, they directly explode.
This was the exact intelligence Rio obtained by asking the Great Yokai Tamamo-no-Mae in the Otherworld.
In such a close area, there exist two, or even more "Doors"...
Either this area gathered a massive amount of people's negative impressions, causing "Doors" to be constantly born at an unimaginable speed.
But the surroundings of the Shibuya commercial pedestrian street were a very prosperous, lively, and popular area, not some gloomy, terrifying place that made people pale at the mention of it.
So this possibility was excluded.
Then the remaining possibility...
Rio frowned tightly, took a deep breath, calming the surging emotions in her chest caused by the too-terrifying conclusion she reached, quickly restored her calm and rational appearance, and spoke slowly.
"First possibility: there might be multiple powerful evil spirits fused with 'Doors' within the area."
"Second possibility: the evil spirit hiding in the dark creating this incident hasn't just fused with one, but at least two or more 'Doors'."
"Whichever it is..."
Rio spoke with a heavy face.
"This is the most difficult and most dangerous operation our club has faced since its establishment."
Hearing this sentence, worry appeared in Miko's golden eyes, murmuring to herself.
"Pull one hair and the whole body moves... Whichever it is, if we eliminate one 'Door', it might alert the snake in the grass... attract the attention of the evil spirit hiding in the dark. At that time...."
After this period of exorcism activities, Mai obviously also had a clear understanding of the difficulty of eradicating a "Door".
This thing was like a dungeon instance.
In the area where a "Door" exists, there must be an extremely powerful evil spirit, like a gatekeeper boss.
Only by defeating the boss can one approach the final secret treasure.
"So you mean, we have to eradicate two 'Doors' simultaneously..."
Just as Mai was halfway through, Rio waved her hand to interrupt.
"No, three."
"Eh? But didn't Yoru say that in that area, he could only confirm the existence of two?"
Rio sighed slightly, her face heavy.
"Judging from the cunningness of this evil spirit, it will definitely keep a trump card."
"Moreover, to simultaneously manipulate two 'Doors', or command evil spirits fused with 'Doors', proves that it itself must also be an existence fused with a 'Door'."
"A deduction I am most unwilling to see, but has a high probability..."
"In this incident, there might be only one evil spirit fused with a 'Door'."
"But... it has fused with more than three."
Hearing Rio's words, this time Mai and the others all fell silent.
They no longer knew what to think.
Isn't this jump in magnitude a bit too huge?
With the strength of the Super-Quant Club members, dealing with one or two evil spirits fused with a "Door" now, even if there were some ordinary evil spirits in the area, posed completely no danger at all.
After all, besides Yui, everyone had become stronger.
But three evil spirits fused with one "Door", and one evil spirit fused with at least three "Doors"...
These completely cannot be equated!
Quantitative changes will cause qualitative changes.
Moreover, this time, an important part-timer was missing.
Kyoto's famous empty-nest evil spirit, Hachishaku-sama.
"Can we... win?"
Facing the worries of Mai and others, Yoru just replied with a smile.
"As usual, we will win. Of course, your definition of winning is not quite the same as mine."
Rio frowned slightly.
"What kind of win is your win?"
"Very simple."
Yoru stood up, walked to the window, looked at the heavily overcast sky outside, excitement and madness showing in his eyes.
"As long as you let me catch it, the rest goes without saying."
"In this process, hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands dying is also just a process."
"Ultimately, it's still my victory."
Speaking of this, Yoru turned around and looked at the Super-Quant Club members in front of him.
"However, your definition of victory should be minimizing the casualties of innocent people on the premise of ensuring the evil spirit is eliminated, right."
Mai and others remained silent, just nodded, expressing their agreement.
"Since that's the case, the first thing to ensure is that when we act, the ordinary people around the Shibuya commercial pedestrian street must be evacuated to the greatest extent."
Rio nodded slightly, thoughtful.
"Should we issue an advance notice in the identity of 'Mask'?"
"That wouldn't work, right."
Mai pursed her lips, seeming to recall something, smiling helplessly and bitterly.
"Normally, people will only gather in one place because of the appearance of celebrities. Even if an advance notice is issued, no matter how sincere the tone and content are, it will only attract more onlookers, which is counterproductive."
Just when everyone was at their wits' end, Yoru smiled and spoke.
"Regarding the plan for this aspect, I've already thought it out."
Hearing this sentence, recalling that before departure, Yoru once said the main goal this time was to return the famous sword Mikazuki Munechika in the Tokyo National Museum to its original owner, Rio seemed to guess something.
"Could it be you want to..."
"Right, that's exactly what you're thinking. As expected of the Super-Quant Club's most important staff officer, beloved concubine and I truly have tacit understanding."
Rio rolled her eyes and complained speechlessly.
"Beloved concubine this, beloved concubine that every day. If you really think I work hard, at least raise my status verbally, right?"
"Sure, Noble Consort (Gui Fei)."
"Hey? Shouldn't it be Empress?"
"Hoh, you are opening your lion's mouth (asking for an exorbitant price); you can't ask like that."
"Tch, I don't want to be it anyway."
....
After some bantering, the initially nervous mood of the members relaxed somewhat.
Yoru looked at the heavily overcast sky outside the window, murmuring.
"By the way, it looks like it's going to rain. Aiya, what should we do? We still have a club group activity scheduled for the afternoon. It won't do if it rains."
Amano Hina looked speechless, actively standing up and walking to the window.
"I know, I know, stop pointing at me."
Yoru smiled and patted Amano Hina's shoulder.
"Having such an admiral truly makes one feel safe and secure."
"What strange words are you saying, I don't understand."
Amano Hina looked at the heavily overcast sky outside the window that seemed about to drop rain, silently closed her eyes, clasped her hands together, and murmured softly.
"Please."
Accompanied by a strange tremor, as if a response came from the sky, the dark clouds instantly dispersed, turning into a clear sky.
"As expected of Hina~"
Mai said with a smile, taking the lead to stand up and walk out of the room.
"Then let's eat first, and start the activity in the afternoon."
"OK~"
...
After everyone walked out of the room, Amano Hina turned her head to glance, and after confirming no one was looking at her, she rolled up her sleeve.
Her wrist area had already shown a strange semi-transparent appearance, like a lake reflecting seven-colored light.
"This power..."
Amano Hina stared at her wrist, a few traces of a complicated look revealing in her eyes, murmuring to herself.
"How much longer can I use it..."
....
That afternoon, Sunny.
Tokyo city, outside a certain shrine.
Looking at the vermilion gates connected in a row in front of her, exuding an ancient atmosphere, Marin's eyes flickered, murmuring to herself.
"So this is the so-called Torii... it's my first time seeing it with my own eyes."
"This place is very efficacious."
Miko checked the news on the internet and said surprisedly.
"The internet says that as long as a couple holds hands and walks through the Torii into the shrine together, they will never separate for a lifetime."
"Nonsense, right?"
Hearing this sentence, Yoru looked up and complained.
"This BYD, isn't it an Earth God? It also moonlights to manage things like romance?"
Miko blushed slightly.
"Anyway, anyway... it's just very efficacious!"
When she said this sentence, except for Yukino, Marin, and Amano Hina, the gazes of all members, even Menma, fell on Yoru.
Yoru felt it.
The long-lost Shuraba has begun.
Holding hands and walking through the Torii means never separating for a lifetime?
Of course he didn't believe it.
However.
Whether he believed it or not wasn't important.
Looking at Kazusa, Mai, Rio, Miko, Yui, Kawasaki Saki, and Menma, it was obvious they believed it.
Wait a minute.
Isn't there a strange option mixed in here?
Forget it, not important.
What's important is, what to do now?
Plan 1: Don't hold anyone's hand.
As the saying goes.
I'd rather do nothing than make a mistake.
Holding no one's hand, fair and just.
But looking at the situation, Rio and the others probably won't agree.
Plan 2: Hold them one by one, only need to go back and forth... 1, 2, 3... go back and forth seven times, and can hold them all.
The problem is...
The order, what to do?
The first one to go, and the last one to go, both have some special meaning.
Wouldn't they directly start fighting?
The King of the Harem, the strongest exorcist in history, faced a severe test at this moment.
Yoru narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at the looming shrine in front of the Torii, thinking secretly in his heart.
"How dare you put me in such a difficult situation, the god here already has a way to die..."
God: ? It became my problem?
Thinking of this, Yoru suddenly revealed a meaningful smile, murmuring to himself.
"Fortunately, I came prepared."
Immediately after, under the incredulous and shocked gazes of the girls, he took out something from his bosom.
Soft, bright red, matching perfectly with the vermilion gates of the Torii.
"Come, come, come..."
Yoru held the red threads in his hand, and one by one, tied them onto the wrists of Kazusa, Rio, Miko, Kawasaki Saki, Yui, and Mai.
Then, he tied the other ends of these six red threads onto his own wrist, smiling.
"OK, mission accomplished."