My Happy Marriage (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter 1

  CHAPTER 1  

Scars and Precaution

At first morning’s light one winter day, Miyo Saimori stood before the mirror in her room with a serious look on her face.

She put her arms through the sleeves of her winter kimono, which bore a charming light green camellia pattern. Tying her obi sash tight, she brushed her long black hair and tidied it up, before applying a light amount of makeup to her face and double-checking that there weren’t any parts of her outfit that seemed out of order.

…Okay.

She couldn’t let herself look undignified as the fiancée of Kiyoka Kudou, the head of the Kudou family and commander of his own military unit.

“Miyo, we need to go soon.”

“O-okay!”

A voice called to her from outside her room.

Hastily grabbing her haori coat and handbag, she left her room to find Kiyoka waiting for her in his military uniform.

Both his lustrous light-brown hair and strikingly handsome features were the same as always, yet his face looked somewhat stiff and clouded. It had been this way ever since they had returned to the capital following their visit to Kiyoka’s parents’ villa.

“Kiyoka.”

Miyo quietly called his name, and he let out a small sigh before looking down at her.

“Are you nervous?”

“Yes, but just a little… It’s my first time going to the station for something like this.”

The two were about to depart for Kiyoka’s workplace, the building that housed the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit.

As for why Miyo was accompanying him, the reason laid in an encounter they’d had a few days prior at the train station.

“My dear daughter.”

Merely recalling his voice filled her with inexplicable dread.

Feeling the blood quickly drain from her face, Miyo pushed herself to smile.

“But I’m okay. I’ll do my best.”

“Don’t get so worked up. It’s just a simple briefing.”

She found the sight of Kiyoka bringing his lips into a smile oddly comforting.

Kiyoka was taking what had happened to Godou—essentially his right-hand man—the hardest of anyone.

That was why Miyo needed to give everything she could to support him. She couldn’t afford to be scared herself.

They both moved to the entryway, where Yurie was standing ready to see them off.

Today was a rare day when Miyo was going out and wouldn’t have the time to handle the daily chores, so she’d had the Kudou family’s servant, Yurie, come to take care of the house for them.

“Have a good day, Young Master, Miss Miyo.”

Although she must certainly have felt the stiff atmosphere, the pair’s nerves and anxieties…their anger and sadness coalescing together, Yurie beamed gently at them like always.

Her warm grin, like one a mother would give their child, set them at ease.

In fact, both Miyo’s and Kiyoka’s faces naturally gave way to smiles of their own.

“We’re off.”

Outside the house, the sun still hadn’t fully risen. There was a chill in the air that prickled the skin, and their breath turned white as it escaped their lips.

They both got into the automobile, and Kiyoka immediately started up the engine and gripped the wheel.

As the car slowly departed the house, he quietly murmured.

“Sorry for dragging you along with me.”

“Not at all.”

“Allow me to apologize. I don’t know anything concrete about how things will play out from here on. But you’ve definitely been put in harm’s way.”

Miyo’s heart ached seeing her fiancée’s strained, upset countenance.

If something dangerous happened, the responsibility wouldn’t lie with Kiyoka. Who could possibly condemn him for anything?

“…Still. I couldn’t stay uninvolved from the start. So please.”

Don’t blame yourself.

She would have added that if she could, but Miyo knew very well that no matter how much she shouted or how much she appealed to him, it would be all be meaningless right now. Kiyoka was so kindhearted that it would have been impossible to convince him not to worry about it.

Gripped with pent-up sadness and frustration, Miyo thought back to what had happened that day.

When Miyo, Kiyoka, and Arata Usuba returned from the Kudou villa, they were greeted by an unfamiliar middle-aged man at the station.

“My dear daughter… Ah, that sounds too theatrical, doesn’t it?”

The man gave a brazen chuckle. He appeared exceedingly normal on the surface.

His dark brown hair, mixed with grays and whites in places, was rather short, and though his face was long, his features were finely chiseled, to which were affixed a pair of round, black-rimmed glasses. He was dressed in hakama pants and a richly colored kimono, with an Inverness coat thrown on top. While his outfit was of decent quality, he still had an altogether average appearance.

Nevertheless, even Miyo could tell he was no ordinary man.

From behind his glasses, his eyes glimmered with an uncanny and hawkish twinkle.

Kiyoka and Arata had already dropped their luggage and were standing on guard with menacing looks. The air around them grew tense, and Miyo’s breath caught in her throat.

“I take it you’re Naoshi Usui?” Kiyoka asked calmly, to which the man responded to by putting a hand on the back of his head and bowing forward slightly, never breaking his smile.

“Yes, that’s right. I’m Usui.”

“In that case, how about you drop that hollow act of yours?” Arata, his expression grim, cut in before Usui could respond.

“That goody-goody attitude isn’t fooling anyone. Looking into your eyes…I recall something that I was once told—that the Usuis’ eldest son had always been a terribly cold-hearted, cruel, and out-of-control child,” Arata continued. “Though it looks like you’ve settled down over the years.” The tone of his voice was quiet, but strained, and even standing behind him, Miyo keenly felt the edge in the air.

“The thing is, people don’t lose touch with their roots that easily.”

A silence enveloped the group, only for Usui to shatter it a moment later.

“Hah, ah-hah-hah-hah! That’s fair. Leave it to the heir of the Usuba main family to see everything clearly.”

Usui guffawed and gripped his stomach, his voice occasionally growing tight as tears formed in the corners of his eyes. Wheezing as he continued to convulse with laughter for a few moments, he lifted his face up to show his easy smile had transformed into a ferocious grin, his teeth bared.

He fixed his sharp eyes on Miyo, who both Kiyoka and Arata were shielding.

“A personality is a trivial thing. I can fabricate as many as I please. Especially if it’s in pursuit of my goals.”

A nasty sweat welled up on Miyo’s palms and on her back. She felt as though she were a frog being stared down by a snake.

This Usui was an enigma. The short time she’d spent with him was all she needed to be convinced of this.

Just as he’d said himself, Usui’s mannerisms were totally inconsistent. It was impossible to tell just what he was thinking or predict what he would do next.

He was chaos and contradiction given human form.

A click sounded from the gun Arata had hidden on his person. Miyo couldn’t be sure, but she assumed that Kiyoka was also prepared to draw the sword that never left his side.

Yet Usui just shrugged and twisted his mouth into a smile, totally unconcerned by the pair’s threatening posture.

“Oh, come now, what’s the ominous attitude for? I just came here to introduce myself today. I have absolutely no intention of starting a fight.”

“That I don’t believe. Besides, you’re already a wanted man.”

“Don’t be like that. You did rebuff my men, Commander Kudou. Isn’t it my responsibility as their superior to come and introduce myself? As it happens, I also have a gift for you. I’m sure it’ll make you amenable to cooperating with us.”

“A gift?” Miyo murmured to herself. He definitely hadn’t come to bring them a box of confections.

She felt a twinge of fear deep inside her mind; she couldn’t think straight.

“A present?”

“That’s right. That village you recently discovered was nothing but an expendable test site. Our bases are scattered all over the country, yet the military identified them in one fell swoop. Did the possibility of this being a trap not occur to you? I do hope those men of yours are safe and sound, Commander Kudou.”

“Expendable test site,” “identified them in one fell swoop,”…“trap.” As one ominous word begot another, Miyo couldn’t quite grasp what Usui was implying.

Conversely, Kiyoka’s brows arched, and his lips quivered when he heard the statement.

“Are you trying to threaten me?”

“Exchanging gifts is just good business. See, here it comes.”

Usui pointed with his chin toward a small silhouette flying through the air. Upon closer inspection, it was a familiar made of white paper someone had sent their way.

Keeping his eyes locked on Usui, Kiyoka snatched the familiar and quickly scanned the short message written on its surface.

“What do you say? I thought it was pretty good news myself. I think it will make you inclined to cooperate with us.”

Kiyoka crushed the familiar in his grip and quietly clicked his tongue in response to Usui’s calm yet contentious conduct.

“None of that matters if I capture you here.”

“I’ll back you up, Major,” replied Arata to Kiyoka’s declaration.

When Miyo came back to her senses, her fiancé had already dashed forward at Usui. On top of that, Arata was openly aiming his pistol at his target, even though the station was filled with ordinary civilians.

…Something isn’t right.

Just then, she at last realized what was so bizarre about the scene.

Kiyoka and Arata must have already noticed it themselves. Not a single person passing through the station was looking at them

Despite the fact they were standing smack dab in the middle of a surging crowd…and despite the fact Arata had even drawn his gun, every other person here was walking past them without so much as a glance, as though they couldn’t see Miyo and the three men at all. Normally, a standoff like this would have caused a huge commotion.

Is this Usui’s Gift?

Either that, or a barrier that warded people’s attention. She couldn’t say herself.

At that moment, Usui’s body seemed to turn transparent.

When Kiyoka attempted to grab hold of the man, his hand cut through the air and—

“Miyo, my dear daughter. I swear I’ll come back for you later.”

—a voice whispered eerily in her ear.

Somehow, Usui had gotten right next to her, even though both Kiyoka and Arata had been shielding her.

“……!”

“Miyo, don’t move!”

The bullet leapt from Arata’s gun with a dry bang, skimmed past Miyo’s side, hit the ground behind her, and bounced away.

The man was nowhere to be found.

Miyo squeezed her cold fingertips and glanced out the window of the automobile at the scenery flowing by.

I’m not really the Saimoris’ daughter…?

She was terrified by Usui’s insistence that he would “come back for her.” Above all else, she couldn’t help but wonder what the man’s motives for claiming her as his daughter were.

She didn’t want to believe it.

After all, if that was indeed the truth, it would’ve perfectly explained why she’d never been treated like a daughter in that household. That the agonizing period she’d spent unrecognized as part of the family, the physical and mental anguish she’d endured, had all been justified.

And that wasn’t the only thing that frightened her about the prospect of Naoshi Usui being her father…

Because the “present” from the man who claimed to be the founder of the Gifted Communion had turned out to be anything but.

A number of locations that the military identified as base camps for the Gifted Communion to be targeted in their simultaneous raid on the organization had exploded right as the troops broke in, going up in flames.

The casualties had been enormous. The men serving in Kiyoka’s unit were no exception, of course.

So many were wounded, even Mr. Godou…

There was also the incident with the villagers at the Kudous’ villa. The Gifted Communion had made them lose their minds and plunged them into terror.

She didn’t want to even consider the possibility that the man responsible for harming so many people could be her own father. That was far harder for Miyo to accept than her past with the Saimoris.

Just imagining it soured her mood; she unconsciously clenched her fists tighter.

Their automobile proceeded smoothly through the almost deserted morning streets and passed through the gate to the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit’s base.

“Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

After parking the car, Miyo and Kiyoka stood side by side before stepping into the station.

Despite the early morning hour, the interior was packed with soldiers rushing here and there.

“Good morning.”

Miyo bowed to the soldiers as they greeted her.

She’d imagined they would have met her with curious stares, but whether it was because they knew about her relationship with Kiyoka or simply because they were too busy to care, she didn’t sense they were uncomfortable in the slightest.

“Miyo, you’re going to join in on this meeting we’re about to have.”

“Okay.”

“But before that…”

Kiyoka passed in front of the meeting room and casually opened a door with a more elaborate design than its counterparts.

“There’s someone I’d like to introduce to you first.”

“Introduce to me first…? Wait…”

She recalled hearing the shocking news that she would be assigned a personal guard, hand-picked from the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit, to protect her from Usui.

Miyo wanted to say that Kiyoka was overreacting, but when she thought back to Usui’s visit the other day, she couldn’t refuse.

On the other side of the door was a spacious room.

A large office desk sat in the back, and there was a table and sofa, too. Although the furnishings were as stunning as the ones in the reception area—a departure from the dreary décor found in the rest of the station—the place was a mess, with mountains of documents piled everywhere.

There was still no sign of the person Kiyoka had mentioned inside.

“Sorry about the clutter. This is my office, where I do most of my work.”

“What…? Erm, should I be in here?”

Surprised, Miyo looked up at her fiancé’s face.

The military held a great deal of confidential information. There were definitely things here that Miyo wouldn’t be allowed to lay eyes on.

“Not a problem. You’re going to be sheltering here in this station from today onward…or at least that’s probably what we’ll decide during the meeting. If that’s the case, then I wouldn’t be able to hide anything.”

“Oh…really…”

“Yes. Sorry. I’m going to have to inconvenience you a bit until this Gifted Communion incident settles down.”

“It’s okay. I know that you’re doing this because you’re worried about me, Kiyoka.”

Naturally, she assumed that he wasn’t assigning her a guard attaché because of his personal feelings toward Miyo. His superior, Ookaito, was said to be participating in the meeting as well, and it was likely military policy to keep Miyo safe.

Nevertheless, when she looked at Kiyoka’s face, it was clear to her just how terribly worried he was for her.

“Take a seat for now. They should be here soon.”

Going along with his suggestion, she sat down on the sofa and took a deep breath. Enveloped in the softness of the sofa, the tension she was carrying in her body from the stress of the situation lessened ever so slightly.

“Tired?”

“No, I just got here.”

She shook her head. At this, Kiyoka suddenly drew his beautiful face close to hers.

“You’re looking a little pale.”

“P-please, you’re exaggerating.”

Her cheeks instantly heated up, and she abruptly shrank back, nearly jumping out of her seat.

Miyo was physically fine. While her complexion could have been better, that was the fault of nerves and anxiety.

But no matter how much she wanted to tell Kiyoka this, she couldn’t get the words out of her mouth.

How embarrassing.

Positioned like this, her thoughts drifted to what had transpired at the villa the other day, and composure became impossible.

Unsure where to look, Miyo darted her eyes to and fro until Kiyoka furrowed his brows and laughed, putting some space between them.

“You’re being too self-conscious. Of course I’m not going to do anything funny while we’re at my workplace.”

“D-does that mean you will when we’re not here…?”

“Or at home, either.”

“Y-you’re being mean.”

Kiyoka was teasing her. Miyo brought both her hands up to hide her flushed cheeks and expressed her indignation.

Just as there was a lull in the conversation, someone rapped on the office door. The person they’d been waiting for had finally arrived.

Miyo fixed her posture, trying to cool the heat in her cheeks.

“Commander, it’s Jinnouchi. May I come in?”

“Go ahead.”

“Pardon me.”

Opening the door and entering the office was someone dressed in a shapely military uniform.

A dashing…woman?

Perhaps because she was so used to Kiyoka’s appearance, Miyo had thought Jinnouchi was a dainty, androgynous man at first glance. But this wasn’t the case. Gallantly striding farther into the room, her ponytail fluttering behind her, was a woman around Miyo’s age, with handsomely dignified features.

I thought there were only men in the military.

When Miyo cocked her head, she accidentally met eyes with Jinnouchi, who promptly replied with a smile.

Even as a woman herself, Miyo couldn’t help being enchanted by the gorgeous woman. She wore the boorishly masculine military uniform without losing any of her feminine beauty, as if she was an actor in a theater troupe.

She’d gone to all that effort to cool her cheeks, but now they were burning for a different reason.

“Thanks for coming, Jinnouchi. Take a seat.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kiyoka motioned the woman he called Jinnouchi to the chair across from Miyo before he coolly sat himself down beside his fiancée.

“Sorry for calling you here from the old capital so suddenly.”

“Think nothing of it. It’s good to see you, Mr. Kudou.”

Now that she was face-to-face, the cheerfully smiling woman seemed surprisingly friendly, with a warm and gentle disposition.

“Miyo, this is Kaoruko Jinnouchi. Normally, she’s stationed with the Second Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit in the old capital. I’ve asked her to come to fill the hole Godou’s left behind. She’ll be serving as your bodyguard going forward… Jinnouchi, this is my fiancée, Miyo Saimori.”

The woman straightened her posture and bowed.

“Kaoruko Jinnouchi. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Miyo Saimori. Likewise, the pleasure’s all mine.”

Though overpowered by her courtesy on top of her beauty, Miyo greeted her back.

Kaoruko smiled and extended out her hand.

“Um, would it be all right if I called you just Miyo?”

“Y-yes, go right ahead.”

“A wonderful name, for sure. I was wondering what Mr. Kudou’s fiancée would be like. It sort of makes sense to find out it’s someone gentle like yourself, Miyo.”

Kaoruko’s speech was unexpectedly much more eloquent and casual than her appearance suggested.

Miyo grabbed her outstretched hand and shook it. Though femininely small, it was also hard and calloused from gripping a sword. Nevertheless, it was warm.

…Thank goodness. She seems like a good person.

Miyo would have noticed if Kaoruko was trying to hide feelings of bitterness or animosity towards her.

But fortunately, she didn’t pick up any unpleasantness in the other woman’s tone. Kaoruko clearly wasn’t a bad person. Miyo hoped she would be able to get along with her.

“Jinnouchi, I want you to guard Miyo.”

At Kiyoka’s words, Kaoruko’s face tightened, and she nodded.

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m sure you’re aware, but should you accept, know that any emergency will involve going up against the Gift-users of the Gifted Communion or Usui himself. Your life will be at risk.”

“Not a problem. I understand the danger.”

“Sorry. I had you come here to stand in for Godou, but…”

“I don’t mind at all. It’s more prudent to have her bodyguard be another woman anyway. Besides, that’s just the sort of relationship we have—right, Commander?”

Miyo felt somewhat discomforted by her suggestive phrasing.

Kaoruko and Kiyoka’s relationship.

Were they more than subordinate and superior, more than fellow members of the military? Kaoruko was from the old capital, which gave Miyo the impression that she wouldn’t have chosen her words like that if they didn’t have some kind of special connotation.

What did she mean? Miyo was torn between inquiring about Kaoruko’s statement or letting it go.

I—I don’t want to have this cloud hanging over me!

Miyo made up her mind and decided to ask.

“Um, and just what……sort of relationship do you two have?”

“Huh? Oh. The truth is, I was one of Mr. Kudou’s marriage candidates way back when.”

“What?”

Miyo fixed her eyes on Kaoruko’s attractive, smiling face. She was too shocked for words.

She obviously knew that many previous marriage candidates had tried to win over Kiyoka before her. And she was well aware that not a single one of them had ultimately remained at his side.

It was simply that she had never met one of these women in real life before and so had mostly forgotten all about them.

“Hey, don’t dig up the past,” Kiyouka snapped.

“Oh, sorry. It must not feel great to hear that, but don’t let it worry you.”

“Honestly, what were you thinking?” he chided.

“I’m sorry, really! I won’t bring it up again.”

“………”

Unsure of how to respond, Miyo could only sink into silence.

Kaoruko had said not to worry about it, but now that the truth was out there, she couldn’t do anything but worry. If Kaoruko and Kiyoka had actually gotten engaged, then Miyo’s opportunity would have never come.

Besides, they both seemed to be on fairly good terms even now. Maybe that meant…

Why am I getting carried away over this nonsense?

Kiyoka was engaged to Miyo. He cared for her and was faithful to her. That’s why it was impossible to think that just having Kaoruko around would change anything. She believed in him, didn’t she?

“I might not be as good as Mr. Kudou here, but I’ll try my hardest to protect you, Miyo.”

“R-right… Thank you.”

Though Miyo replied to Kaoruko with a smile, gray clouds still lingered in her heart.

The briefing time drew near, and the three of them moved to the meeting room.

Miyo was still so fixated on how Kaoruko had been one of Kiyoka’s marriage candidates that she didn’t really remember much of the conversation before that point.

Stop it, Miyo. You need to get your thoughts in order.

The top brass had specifically requested that she attend the meeting, so it was possible they would want her opinion or testimony on certain topics. She’d leave a horrible impression if they asked for her input on something when she had her head in the clouds.

They entered the meeting room, which was still mostly empty.

“Miyo, your seat’s here.”

She was shown to a chair in the back of the room, right next to Kiyoka’s own.

Today would be the Anti-Grotesquerie Unit’s first true meeting since Miyo, Kiyoka, and Arata’s chance encounter with Usui. They’d asked Miyo to be part of the proceedings since she was a concerned party. She’d also had direct contact with Usui, so they wanted to make sure she understood how they would be handling him going forward.

Normally, even if the situation at hand did concern outsiders, someone like her wouldn’t be so deeply involved in military proceedings.

In this case, however, Usui had sworn to Miyo that they would meet again, which led the unit to conclude that leaving her in the dark be more dangerous than not.

“Thank you.”

Miyo quietly took her seat.

Though she had been gung ho when they left the house, she felt unbearably out of place now that she was actually in the meeting room.

On top of that, the shock from earlier still lingered in her mind. If she didn’t focus, she’d find herself staring at Kaoruko, sitting a bit farther away from her, and the terrible visions that threatened to unfold in her mind.

I need to get myself together.

Kaoruko and Kiyoka’s past made her uneasy, but Miyo was the unit commander’s fiancée, so she couldn’t look disgraceful at his workplace in front of all his subordinates.

While she sat there waiting uncomfortably, the meeting attendees filed in one after the other.

Only those who held the position of squad leader or above within the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit were allowed to participate in the day’s meeting. In other words, the toughest fighters in the meritocratic unit. The people gathered included both young men with normal physiques and men who were visibly brawny.

Nevertheless, no one stood out among the participants in the meeting as much as Kaoruko, the only woman here dressed in a military uniform.

“Thanks for coming, everyone.”

Last to enter the meeting room was the man who oversaw the entire unit, Ookaito. Everyone rose to their feet and bowed.

“At ease. Take your seats.”

Following his word, the participants returned to their chairs, and the meeting solemnly began.

There was still one empty seat. Miyo had heard Arata was summoned as a representative of the Usuba family, but there was no sign of him even though the meeting had already begun.

I’m a little worried, but I’m not in any position to bring it up.

Things would be fine as long as he hadn’t been involved in an accident on the way there or injured himself somehow. As these thoughts ran through her head, someone passed her the handout for the meeting.

Th-this is tough.

Miyo passed her eyes briefly over the documents, which were filled with so much specialized jargon that she could barely understand half of it. She would probably need Kiyoka to help get her up to speed later if the briefing didn’t clarify anything.

Once the materials were distributed, and everyone had skimmed the topics and agenda, Kiyoka began to speak.

“I’ve borrowed an individual from the Second Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit in the old capital for the time being to help confront the Gifted Communion and replace missing personnel. Allow me to introduce her—Jinnouchi.”

“Yes, sir!”

Kaoruko’s cheerful, clear voice resounded throughout the room. Everyone turned their eyes to her as she stood up.

“This is Kaoruko Jinnouchi. As many of you know, she was stationed here until a few years ago.”

She stood at attention and bowed.

“Kaoruko Jinnouchi, reporting in. My unit commander decided it would be best for someone familiar with the imperial capital to lend their aid and singled me out to serve here. I’ll do my utmost to make up for Godou’s absence. I look forward to working with you all!”

Kaoruko’s introduction convinced Miyo.

If she had served in the capital, then she and Kiyoka must have worked together, so it was little wonder that she and Kiyoka would be friendly with each other.

Though Miyo could understand this intellectually, it was still hard to accept the answer. She found herself wanting to believe that the particularly close relationship they shared was because they had worked together, and not because she was once a marriage candidate.

No, no, no. Kiyoka is free to be friendly with whoever he wants in the first place.

It wouldn’t do to let herself be pointlessly suspicious of Kaoruko’s presence in Kiyoka’s life. She heaved a sigh in an attempt to prevent her thoughts from spiraling.

At any rate, she had heard that Godou’s absence would be keenly felt in the unit. Miyo didn’t necessarily have an accurate grasp of his capabilities, but given that he served as Kiyoka’s aide, he clearly had the strength to match.

Kaoruko must have been similarly outstanding as the woman who would be filling his shoes.

Miyo would be lying if she said she wasn’t a bit jealous.

“As for the duties Jinnouchi will be handling, we will be going over those later on. Next…”

Kaoruko returned to her seat, and the meeting moved to the next orders of business.

The explosions at the Gifted Communion’s bases and the condition of the wounded. Military policy and the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit’s strategy going forward. There was plenty of ground to cover.

After a short while, the topic finally shifted to the matter of Usui and his underlings. The man giving the report on the incident at the village was a squad leader of around thirty years old named Mukadeyama.

“We’ve investigated the individual that the commander fought with, the results of which can be found in the documents before you.”

“…Someone from the Houjou family? But we should know the whereabouts of all the Gift-users in the country by now.”

Miyo’s eyes fell to the materials in front of her.

Gift-users were enormously powerful, so the government strictly surveilled their whereabouts. If any of them got involved in criminal activity, the country would swoop in to deal with them before it became a major incident.

Despite this, the Gift-user Kiyoka had squared off against during their time at his parents’ villa, this Houjou fellow, had evaded the watchful eyes of the government. To make matters worse, he was a member of the Gifted Communion and had participated in their schemes. This should have been impossible.

Squad Leader Mukadeyama answered Kiyoka’s question and continued his report.

“That element is particularly……bizarre, yes. We found no signs of negligence in the state’s observational body. But for some reason, all records of the Hojous stopped a while ago. No one seemed to have found this suspicious, either.”

Everyone in the room could only cock their heads in confusion at this revelation.

How exactly had the state lost track of a Gift-user they were supposedly keeping watch over, and how had no one found this situation suspicious?

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have any real way to answer that. This is everything I know.”

“Hrmm…”

Ookaito furrowed his brow and let out a heavy sigh.

Kiyoka, too, frowned at the incomprehensible report, and the other participants wore much the same expression themselves.

“It’s pertinent to consider Usui’s Gift as similar in nature to the Usubas’ Gifts… He is clearly meddling with people’s brains and psyches.”

Miyo abruptly lifted her head to look at her fiancé as he said this.

They still didn’t have a grasp on what sort of Gift Usui possessed. More importantly, the person she imagined who was called there to verify the information on the subject had yet to arrive.

“If Arata Tsuruki—er, Arata Usuba—was here, this would go a lot faster. Where is he?”

Ookaito knitted his brows as he asked this, causing a murmur to ripple through the meeting room.

The whispers exchanged between the participants reached Miyo’s ears: “I get it’s an order from Prince Takaihito, but to work together with an Usuba?” “The Usubas don’t deserve our trust.”

At that point, it was an open secret that the Usubas publicly used the name Tsuruki. That summer, when the emperor had stepped down from the political stage in accordance with Prince Takaihito’s wishes, the family’s existence stopped being treated as a state secret.

There were still only a few people in the entire country who knew the truth, but among Gift-users, there were more who knew than those who didn’t. The problem lay in the fact that the Usubas were unlike any other family who inherited supernatural abilities.

They had been tasked with watching over and controlling the nation’s Gift-users. As such, other supernaturally inclined families were predisposed to distrust them.

While it was progress that the Usubas had come out in the open, other Gift-users still kept them at arm’s length. That was simply the reality of the current situation.

“If he’s not coming, then we’ll just have to reach out to him on our end.”

Right as those words left Kiyoka’s mouth, the door to the meeting room opened, and in walked Arata, as if on cue.

“My apologies for being late.”

“Took you long enough.”

“Sorry. Things are a mess on our end as well. Not enough hands to go around.”

“I understand you’re busy, but it’s still important to be on time. Please have a seat.”

Getting his slightly ragged breathing under control, Arata took the only empty chair in the room, next to Kiyoka.

Arata must have heard people whispering slander about him as he approached his place, yet his composed expression never faltered.

Miyo peeked a glance at him, and her cousin responded with a subtle smile.

“Well then, since you took your time getting here, I’m assuming you have some results to share?”

“Yes, to some extent. I was able to confirm the nature of Usui’s supernatural ability.”

That comment shut everyone up.

Despite the murmurs of suspicion they had been directing at the Usubas moments ago, everyone listened carefully, making sure not to miss a single word of Arata’s report.

He glanced around the room and shrugged.

“That being said, I don’t think just knowing about his Gift will make anything easier. It’s an unbelievably dangerous ability, one that a man like him definitely shouldn’t be allowed to have at his disposal.”

An invisible tension ran through the hushed meeting room.

“Naoshi Usui… His Gift distorts the senses. Sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch… Any and all information that we pick up from our five senses and process in our minds is fair game for him to manipulate.”

“That’s absurd!”

One of the squad leaders slammed his fist on the table and shouted. Then others followed suit one after the other.

“I don’t believe it.”

“Impossible.”

“He’s beyond human.”

Arata looked out over the clamor with cold eyes. Meanwhile, Kiyoka was scowling, and Ookaito wore a pensive look on his face.

He distorts the senses…?

It was difficult to imagine just from the description, but having actually experienced it firsthand, Miyo heaved a defeated sigh.

Despite how bustling and noisy the interior of the train station had been, none of the passersby had even registered her and the others’ presence. This explained why Usui had seemed to disappear and reappear again without the three of them noticing at the time, and also why the Houjou Gift-user had been able to evade the watchful eyes of the government.

In the end, the phenomenon she’d witnessed that day wasn’t the product of a barrier, but a result of a supernatural ability.

What an absolutely terrifying power.

Arata continued to speak, maintaining his composure.

“Shouting about it won’t change anything. Usui would have no trouble slipping into this very meeting undetected if he wanted. He could pass himself off as a completely different person, too.”

A gasp echoed through the room.

Miyo shivered just imagining it. Fighting Usui meant that ultimately, one would be completely unable to trust any information gleaned from their own senses.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean he can use such a tremendous power without restriction. In all likelihood, there’s a limit to how many times he can use it a day, along with a limit to its range of effect.”

“Still, how much of a weakness could those constraints really be? I’m not Gifted, so this isn’t really something I can weigh in on, but it sounds like there’s no way to avoid this battle with Usui—with the Gifted Communion—from proving difficult.”

The room fell silent at Ookaito’s comment, before Kiyoka offered a reply.

“That’s a valid point, Major General. We need to uncover his weakness and prepare to work around it. But to accomplish that, we first need to consider what the Gifted Communion and Naoshi Usui’s objectives are.”

“Hm, that’s right. Kiyoka, did Houjou tell you anything about these goals of theirs when you faced off against him?”

“Yes.”

Kiyoka then proceeded to summarize the events that had transpired during their visit to his parents’ villa.

All of this was information had already been shared within the unit, but the participants listened with solemn faces at his fresh account, now with additional emphasis placed on the Gifted Communion’s end goal.

“Forcing Grotesqueries to possess people and awaken supernatural abilities in them… We haven’t been able to confirm if this aim of theirs is actually possible.”

Kiyoka continued his straightforward explanation.

To begin with, Grotesqueries were beings that both did and did not take physical form. While Gift-users could generally see them and touch them, the same wasn’t true for the average citizen.

In which case, how was the Gifted Communion capturing them?

They would need to force the Grotesqueries to possess some living creature, human or otherwise, thereby giving them physical form.

However, there were a number of factors preventing the government from verifying efficacy of the Gifted Communion’s methods. Not only were the existence of Gifts a state secret, for instance, but the tests they would need to perform to awaken someone’s latent Gifts were also legally dubious.

Therefore, ascertaining if the Gifted Communion’s claims were true or not and getting one step ahead of them would present a major challenge going forward.

“Permission to speak, Commander.”

“Go ahead.”

Kiyoka nodded at Squad Leader Mukadeyama’s raised hand.

“Even if it’s possible to turn regular citizens into Gift-users, what will that accomplish? According to your report, sir, it sounds like the founder—like Naoshi Usui wants to create a new world and rule it as its king. If that’s the case, I think it’d be faster if he simply used his Gift to achieve his ends without giving supernatural powers to the common citizenry.”

Mukadeyama’s opinion was reasonable. Gift-users were human, and while they could never become gods, they far outstripped the average person in every respect.

Needless to say, supernatural abilities generally enhanced one’s body, making it resistant to injuries and disease. Gift-users’ superior physical abilities put them on a completely different level than ordinary individuals. Going one step further, the Usubas’ Gift managed to surpass these very same Gift-users.

Miyo had gained this knowledge under the tutelage of Arata and Kiyoka’s older sister Hazuki.

“Usui’s plan suggests how much confidence he has in his own power, in the Usubas’ Gift. Or maybe it’s less confidence, and more so the pride of having an ability that dominates normal Gift-users. Therefore…”

Kiyoka turned to Miyo. Following his lead, all eyes in the meeting room coalesced together on her, and she went stiff with anxiety.

“If this is indeed the principle behind Usui’s actions, then there’s no doubt he wants to get his hands on the power of Dream Sight.”

“It’s fair to say that Dream Sight is everything to the Usubas. There are even some among our relatives who revere its wielder like a god. I imagine that’s no different for a branch family like the Usuis.”

Arata expanded on Kiyoka’s statement before the commander continued.

“There’s no question he’ll be after the current wielder of Dream Sight, Miyo Saimori here. We won’t even have to try setting Usui up. Our job will be to keep her safe and to engage the enemy when they make their move. That’s why our unit will focus both on protecting her and confronting the Gifted Communion going forward.”

“You’re talking about ‘protecting her,’ Commander, but what are we specifically supposed to be doing?” Mukadeyama asked.

“Hrm. Kiyoka, I get that the defenses around your house might be flawless, but…”

Taking up the squad leader’s question, Ookaito visibly pondered the answer as he rubbed his chin.

“We’re facing off against a powerful opponent. Even a skilled bodyguard will just buy time for Miyo at best. If anything happens, you’ll have to go rushing over to her side no matter what, right?”

“I’d like Miyo to come here every day starting tomorrow.”

Kiyoka had anticipated that this would be Ookaito’s opinion. He’d laid out the exact flow of the conversation for Miyo ahead of time.

Arata shrugged and chimed in.

“I can’t think of anything that’d bring more peace of mind than having Miyo at the major’s side all day. I intend on acting as her guard as well, but with my family’s duties on my plate, I doubt I’ll be able to be consistent about it.”

“And you’re all right with this?”

Miyo looked up at Ookaito when he asked her this.

She had been mulling the arrangement over ever since Kiyoka had laid things out for her in his office earlier.

If, given the circumstances, the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit didn’t mind having a civilian like Miyo in a military facility, what she was truly worried about was getting in the way of Kiyoka’s work.

“Just be honest about what you want to do. And you being here won’t distract me from my duties. Besides, with how the situation’s played out, there isn’t any other job more important than keeping you safe,” Kiyoka reassured her, as if reading her mind.

Miyo nodded.

“Yes, if I am allowed to stay here then that……will put me at ease, too.”

“That settles it, then,” Ookaito said, standing up from his chair. “From today onward, Miyo Saimori, the assumed target of Naoshi Usui, will be under the protection of the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit. I’ll get approval on this from above. Are there any objections?”

No one replied to their superior’s question. After a few moments, Miyo could hear murmurs of “no objections” from around the room.

“Then do what you need to do to prepare yourselves for the fight against the Gifted Communion. Meeting adjourned.”

Arata left the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit station, striding through the streets of the imperial capital.

At this rate, beating Usui will be absolutely impossible.

His expression clouded into a stern grimace.

Researching Usui’s power at the Usuba estate had convinced him. Naoshi Usui was powerful. Far, far more powerful than Arata.

The Usuis may have been a branch family, but Usui’s generation, between himself and Sumi Usuba, had produced many more Usuba Gift-users than there were now—and brilliant ones at that.

Only an Usuba Gift-user would be able to stop another Usuba Gift-user. But there wasn’t anyone capable of going toe-to-toe with Usui at the moment. Even Arata was no match for him.

On the other hand, even a non-Usuba with a Gift on par with Kiyoka’s could face off against Usui with the right strategy, but the people who fulfilled this criterion were few and far between. On top of that, the Gifted Communion also had the Houjous on their side, and Arata wasn’t sure how many other people with supernatural abilities were at Usui’s command.

As things stood now, Arata and the company would be doomed if they fought against the Gifted Communion.

…He’s the shame of the Usuba family.

The thought had been on his mind ever since he’d heard the name Naoshi Usui—that the Usubas were responsible for all of this.

They were guilty of the crime of failing to cull a dangerous element in their ranks. The crime of giving up on tailing someone who had broken away from the family.

There was no excuse. While pretentiously bragging about being disciplined under the rules that once governed the family, the Usubas had pretended like Usui had never existed, doing their hardest to forget about him. This present situation was the end result.

In the worst-case scenario, the Usuba family will be protected as long as Miyo remains unharmed.

Just as Usui had his sights on Miyo, Arata needed to protect Miyo through everything, no matter what. Even if that meant leaving her side.

Buffeted by the cold wind, Arata stopped and closed his eyes.

He was sure that his grandfather, Yoshirou, would tell him he bore no responsibility for letting Usui run loose. Arata may have been shouldering the weight of the Usubas going forward, but he didn’t have the power to change the past.

Despite that, as the person protecting this generation’s Dream Sight Medium…there were things Arata had to do, even if it meant giving something up in exchange.

Usui would die by his hands, even if he had to lay down his life in the process.

Arata opened up his eyes and stared down at his palm.

Come what may, he would find a chink in the Gifted Communion’s armor, a weakness of Naoshi Usui, and defeat them. He could leave behind a brand-new Usuba family, free from any lingering danger.

Perhaps his life as an Usuba Gift-user had all been leading up to this.

“Though it’s still a bit irritating.”

There was no danger in leaving Miyo in Kiyoka’s hands. She would be fine without him nearby for a little while.

During that time, he needed to search for a way to bring Usui down then crush him as fast as possible.

Letting out a white cloud of breath, Arata looked straight out in front of him and continued on through the wintery city streets.