My Happy Marriage (LN) - Volume 5 - Chapter 4

  CHAPTER 4  

The Past Within Dreams

Gray clouds hung low in the skies, and the air had grown even colder, a biting wind picking up.

White snowflakes had still yet to start falling, but the weather was foreboding. Anyone could tell that the skies would open up before long.

Within the grounds of the Imperial Palace, the residence of the most august family in the capital, in an open area near the section housing the buildings of the Ministry of the Imperial Household and the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, there was a temporary base of operations for the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit, referred to as the advanced guard.

Ten days had already come and gone since it had been set up.

Beneath the tent erected over the camp were many simple chairs and long desks, occupied by unit members at all hours of the day.

At the moment, several of the soldiers, Kiyoka included, were paying attention to an additional person.

“Oh, I see you’ve already gotten started. Quite early, isn’t it?”

A carefree voice, without the slightest hint of urgency, rang out over them.

A young man wearing a casual kimono with a gaudy and vivid base color appeared before them as he fiddled with a garish folding fan.

The head of the Tatsuishi family, Kazushi Tatsuishi, was in his typically extravagant getup.

“You should have gotten here sooner.”

“I’m perfectly on time. Isn’t that enough?”

Despite Godou presenting his harsh criticism with a scowl, Kazushi simply replied with an exaggerated shrug of his shoulders.

Their back-and-forth was old news at this point, and Kiyoka simply let out a small sigh since he had long given up on reprimanding them.

“I’m thinking here I’ll have to explain everything from the beginning. Hee-hee.”

A doctor by the name of Jakuji Unan, who had previously treated Godou’s wounds, spoke up in a nagging tone of voice.

Both a medical professional and one of the few people conducting research on Gift-users, the man was a relative of Kiyoka’s on his mother’s side.

“Just give us your findings,” the commander brusquely replied.

Kiyoka had known Unan for a long time, but he didn’t want anything to do with him. As a result, he always ended up being slightly harsh when interacting with him.

But this didn’t seem to bother Unan in the slightest, and he continued speaking as though nothing had happened.

“Fine. I’ll stick to my findings, then. Those visible Grotesqueries? It seems that many of them were forced into corporeal bodies.”

Corporeal and spiritual forms—in other words, the body and soul.

Humans and other living organisms had souls, which resided in physical bodies.

Conversely, Grotesqueries could exist in their spiritual forms alone, as essentially just a soul. Because they lacked physical bodies, only Gift-users or those possessing Spirit-Sight could see them.

However, the Gifted Communion has found a way to turn invisible Grotesqueries into visible creatures.

The most potent method of making Grotesqueries, nothing more than souls, visible to the average person, was to force them to take physical form. To put it in Western terms, they were essentially “incarnating.”

Some high-level Grotesqueries were very powerful and possessed a human-like ego. These beings could freely manifest and dispel a corporeal form to slip into human society and live out their lives.

But the Grotesqueries of the Gifted Communion were different.

Somehow or another, they had found a way to give weak supernatural creatures physical forms, which normal people could see.

The workings of this process seemed to resemble what had happened with the fiend-possessed man Kiyoka had encountered near the Kudou villa.

Back then, the Gifted Communion had forced a fiend to inhabit the body of a man, giving the Grotesquerie corporeal form. Then they extracted the creature’s blood and injected it into some of their followers to transform them into artificial Gift-users.

In all likelihood, the latest Grotesqueries had been developed through a refined version of that same process.

“And as for what came out of them, well. Take a look.”

Unan placed an unassuming small white dish on the long table. As he did, he took out what appeared to be a foreign-made loupe from his pocket and placed them down together.

“Go ahead and take a gander at the middle of this plate.”

The loupe wasn’t necessary. They looked at where Unan was pointing and saw a tiny translucent sphere, about the size of the tip of an infant’s little finger.

“I tell you, it was so small, I had a devil of a time finding the thing. It’s a barrier.”

“This little thing?!”

Godou let out a surprised shout.

For some reason, Unan responded to his reaction with a creepy, satisfied smile.

“Quite incredible, isn’t it? I’d never seen such a tiny barrier before, but it’s still quite sturdy. It’s perverse, really. There must be someone who’s quite well-versed in the barrier arts in the Gifted Communion’s ranks.”

Kiyoka scowled at Unan’s almost enraptured tone of voice.

He didn’t know who this arts user was, but whoever they were, they probably wouldn’t have appreciated being called perverse.

One thing was clear, however—the person who’d made this barrier had great skill.

Kiyoka took pride in the strength of his barrier arts, but he wasn’t very confident he could make a shield as minute as this himself.

“I get it, incredible stuff. But how exactly does this give Grotesqueries corporeal bodies, then?”

At Kazushi’s question, Unan launched into a lengthy explanation, as if he had been waiting for the opportunity.

“Gifts and arts of any kind, not just barriers, have an effect on both corporeal and spiritual bodies. Because they can affect both types of forms, that means they can be used to bind the spiritual to the corporeal. Inside this spherical barrier, there’s a tiiiny fragment of a human nail. No clue who it belongs to, mind you.”

“A nail…”

Now that Unan had pointed it out, they noticed that there was indeed some foreign object fading in and out of view inside the translucent sphere.

“The Gifted Communion embeds a barrier containing a human nail inside the Grotesqueries. That means the inside of the barrier is acting upon the corporeal form, while the exterior is acting upon the spiritual form. When they do this, the Grotesqueries are coaxed by the organic physical form—the human nail buried together with the barrier inside them—into becoming a living creature with a physical body, albeit an imperfect one. That’s the gist of it.”

If even just a small portion of Grotesqueries were given corporeal bodies, then many people would be able to see and touch them, even if it didn’t work for necessarily everyone.

It was all slightly complicated, but Kiyoka understood the logic.

This will be trouble.

The Gifts and arts that Gift-users wielded against Grotesqueries with spiritual bodies were naturally less effective on those with physical forms.

To eradicate these corporeal Grotesqueries, they would need to attack them as if they were a physical opponent, not a spiritual one.

But that was easier said than done.

Past experience had subconsciously instilled Gift-users and arts-users with the notion that Grotesqueries were spiritual beings. It would be difficult for them to immediately shift how they thought of these new Grotesqueries the moment they encountered one, and that resistance would create an opening.

That being said, once they understood the trick behind the visible Grotesqueries, there was another angle they could take to address them.

“Does this mean…that dispelling the barrier inside the Grotesqueries would also undo their corporeal forms?”

Unan nodded at Godou’s confused question.

“Correct. That would be why I’ve had him join us today.”

Everyone turned their eyes to Kazushi.

“I get it. Barriers are arts, and I specialize in dispelling them, so this falls into my wheelhouse.”

While Kazushi possessed Spirit-Sight, his Gift was largely unusable. To compensate, he had studied the dispelling arts so that he could support Gift-users.

“Once the barrier inside a visible Grotesquerie is dispelled, it will be unable to maintain its corporeal form and go back to being invisible like normal. Powerful Gift-users like you, Kiyoka, could also try destroying the barriers inside the Grotesqueries with brute strength. They’re pretty sturdy, but that doesn’t mean they’re indestructible.”

It was difficult to destroy a strong barrier with sheer force, and the structure of the arts that went into constructing a barrier this elaborate would require an ample amount of skill to dispel.

Even then, it would be easier to get Gift-users and arts-users to internalize the fact that their opponents’ true form was a barrier rather than Grotesqueries that had taken corporeal form.

Regardless, they were still in for quite the headache, despite their better grasp of the situation.

Kiyoka quickly recalled the individual skills of his troops and thought about how to reorganize them into a group that could likely handle these Grotesqueries well.

During the lull in the conversation, Kazushi quietly stretched his hand out to the small plate.

“Oh, it really can be dispelled.”

Just then, the sphere faded away without a sound, leaving the minute particles of white nail fragments behind on the plate.

“Hey! What the hell did you do that for?!”

“Hold on, no need to get angry. Now we know that these barriers can be dispelled, right? Just do this from here on out and voilà, problem solved.”

Despite Godou scolding his unruly behavior, Kazushi deflected the comment effortlessly and remained composed.

Although Kazushi was under his command, Kiyoka gave up on cautioning him and turned to Godou.

“I need you to update everyone in the unit on this without delay, Godou. From now on, if anyone encounters a Grotesquerie that’s visible to the common people and resistant to Gifts, they should get someone capable of using dispelling arts to dispose of it. If that isn’t an option, they’re either to break the barrier inside the Grotesquerie with brute force or capture the creature with a barrier of their own.”

“Understood!”

Godou straightened to attention in agreement. Then Kiyoka gave a reminder to Kazushi.

“Don’t forget you’ll be working hard for us, too, Kazushi.”

“I know, I know. What else am I here for?”

Kazushi assented despite the flippant smile that came to his face, but that didn’t stop Godou from glaring at him.

“Tatsuishi! You better not give the commander any trouble. Absolutely none, you hear me?!”

It appeared that Godou’s usual casualness went out the window when Kazaushi was around.

Fiery hostility aside, Kiyoka thought Godou was the more capable of the two men, but perhaps that wasn’t really the issue.

“Okay, okay. Honestly, Godou, you sure do love the commander. Maybe that’s why you haven’t had a single lover to your name.”

“What?! Knock it off with that nonsense!”

“Stop bickering and get to it. You’re giving me a headache.”

Kiyoka dispelled the tension and glared at his two subordinates.

“…Sure, sure.”

They left the tent, Godou looking reluctant while Kazushi grinned.

Outside, a damp wind had already begun to blow.

Miyo lazily lifted her eyelids.

The light breeze, bringing a verdant scent that grazed the skin, faintly rocked Miyo’s long black hair as it blew by.

She was greeted by the now familiar sight of a traditional wooden house, whose garden lay beneath the shade of a tree. She already knew where she was.

The Usuba house of the past…

Truths of the past shown to her through the power of Dream Sight. The place where her mother Sumi, before Miyo’s birth, and Usui, had met and their memories together.

To when in the past had she come this time?

She felt like time was gradually progressing forward with each of her visits, though she couldn’t say this for sure.

Miyo’s eyes fell on Sumi in her youth, sitting in the shade beneath the eaves of the house.

Her mother wore a tsumugi silk kimono with a vibrant morning glories pattern, and her lustrous black hair was tied up with a charming flower-decorated hairpin, except for a few strands left loose hanging behind her.

She looked the picture of a young maiden as she stood on the porch of the house, staring far off into the distance.

Usui, who would usually be close at Sumi’s side in these visions, was nowhere to be found. And yet…

She couldn’t ignore the feeling in her gut.

Right—this was the same uncanny sensation she’d experienced the last time she went into this dream.

This isn’t good. I need to wake up fast.

When she put her hand on the trunk of a tree, its firmness and roughness were vivid beneath her fingers.

She couldn’t stay here like this. Deep in her consciousness, her instincts were telling her to be on guard.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Miyo.”

She gasped in shock, as though she had been doused with icy water.

The voice calling to her from the side was dispassionate enough to send a shiver down her spine, yet she could also hear what sounded like unrivaled delight in its tone.

“You’re…”

His pupils gleamed with terrifying insanity from behind his round lenses. Though he was dressed as a student and his features were quite a bit more youthful than they were now, the impression he left on her was the same.

Naoshi Usui had clearly recognized Miyo and called out to her.

The blood instantly drained from her face.

“There’s no need to be so guarded. I’m not going to do anything. Besides, no one can hope to best you in the world of dreams, so I’d be unable to anyway.”

True as that may have been, it didn’t put her at ease.

The man who had hurt her and the people in her life was right in front of her—it would be outright lunacy to let her guard down.

However, there was a fundamental problem that made the present situation strange.

“Why?”

Why was she able to hold a conversation with this version of Usui, who should have been a resident of the dream world?

The most striking characteristic of Dream Sight was that it allowed one to enter dreams. This attribute was wholly unique, even among the other Gift-users in the Usuba family, and only Miyo could wield it. So why was Usui able to use it, too?

Usui curled his lips at Miyo’s dumbfounded murmur.

“You thought you were seeing the actual past in your dreams up until now, didn’t you? It is true that you can read into the past, the present, and the future with the power of Dream Sight. But the truth is that these glimpses of bygone days are all playing out in my dreams.”

“What…?”

Miyo widened her eyes at the unexpected revelation.

Up until now, she had thought she was experiencing actual events from the past in these dreams, as though she were simply viewing memories.

That was how it had been when she had looked into the Saimoris’ past in her sleep before. Those dreams hadn’t belonged to anyone else. She’d simply been viewing the past in a dream of her own.

That was why she had assumed her visions of the Usuba house were the same.

Usui, the spitting image of his younger self, gazed with affection at his old home.

“Ever since being separated from Sumi, I haven’t gone a single day without dreaming of these peaceful times. These are my memories, reminiscences of a time that genuinely existed, playing out in my dreams.”

“So all of it…”

“You were using the power of Dream Sight to enter into my dreams.”

That was the truth behind the uncanny sensation she’d felt last time.

I thought I had been looking at pictures or illustrations of the past, but I was mistaken.

Miyo had considered this glimpse of the past as nothing more than superficial puppet theater, when in fact, it was actually the product of Usui’s consciousness. It was the vision of the man who had lost Sumi and was leading the Gifted Communion to plunge the Empire into chaos.

Miyo had been wrong to assume that it was impossible for a character in dream to notice the presence of an onlooker.

These glimpses of the Usuba family’s past, which she had started to see following her encounter with Usui, were in fact the man’s memories become dream.

“I kept getting this strange feeling, like someone was watching me. I’d thought it might be you, and it seems I was right.”

Miyo took one, then two steps back, putting distance between herself and Usui.

If this really was a dream, he couldn’t have harmed her if he tried. Nevertheless, her aversion had won out; she didn’t want to be anywhere near him.

I want to wake up as fast as possible, so why can’t I?

Time continued to elapse, yet the feeling of her rising up from the dream world back to reality wasn’t coming to her. Miyo grew frustrated, annoyed at her own immature skills as a Gift-user.

If running away was off the table, there was only one thing she could do.

Miyo steeled herself and fixed her eyes on Usui.

She was going to pull as much information out of him as she could. At the very least, she ought to use this golden opportunity to help assist Kiyoka and the others in their work.

Especially since she could talk to Usui here without any fear of his Gift.

“…Why do you things that hurt people?”

“What do you mean by that?”

It seemed that Usui also intended on entertaining Miyo’s questions.

Before she knew it, the younger version of Sumi had vanished, and she and Usui were the only ones in the dream world.

Usui stepped into the shade of the eaves where Sumi had been moments prior and took a seat.

“Turning people into Gift-users; deceiving them like you did with Kaoruko. There are many people who’ve been hurt by what you’ve done.”

“They brought all that upon themselves. It was their choice to make. If they were ultimately harmed, I’m not responsible for it. Would you denounce a rock on the side of the road for making people trip?”

“…I wouldn’t.”

Hard pressed for an answer, Miyo lowered her eyes. She had no hopes of winning a battle of the tongue.

After all, Usui was as eloquent as he was competent. He was adept at deceiving people and was ultimately trying to get his claws into the hearts of the Empire’s citizenry, too.

She needed to get her mind in order before it shattered.

“Making more Gift-users and abducting the emperor in order to take over the country… That’s wrong. If you want to change something, then there must be some other wa—”

“Ah, I get it now. This is a perfect opportunity. Let’s talk a bit.”

Usui interrupted Miyo’s impassioned argument.

The wind blew, causing trees to sway and leaves to rustle. The Usuba house was beautiful in early summertime.

Too beautiful for Miyo and Usui alone.

“I wish to create a new world, you see. Make a country ruled by remarkable people, by Gift-users, and eventually spread that idea across the globe.”

Miyo repeated the words a new world inwardly.

Destroy everything he didn’t agree with and build it all back anew—it was the same thing Usui himself had said in her previous visit to his dreams.

Did that mean he took issue with the parts of the current Empire, and the world as a whole, that weren’t exactly as he wanted?

“Is it power you’re after?”

He wanted to replace the emperor and shape the country to his whims.

Usui’s assertions sounded like unrealistic boasting, like a young boy’s view of the future.

A country wasn’t a single man’s plaything.

“That’s not quite it. Power should be held by those suited to wield it. And we possess the appropriate strength to do so.”

Usui shook his head, clawing at the gravel on the ground with his nails.

“The status quo is wrong. There’s absolutely no reason at all why the Usubas—why remarkable Gift-users in general—should be disregarded by society. Yet, look at the reality we live in. Everyone lives in ignorance of who wields true strength, and the common folk mistake themselves for exceptional, taking power for themselves as though it’s their right.”

“…………”

“The structure of the country, where the reigning emperor sits on top, is also wrong. The Gift of Divine Revelation barely holds a candle to your Dream Sight or the Usubas’ Gifts, and all of them slight any other Gift-users outside of their family. Yet the government chases them away to the shadows.

“This should be a nation where Gift-users are at the helm, and the members of the Usuba stand above them all.”

Usui’s ideals were nothing more than a world that suited his own desires.

He was blaming his own powerlessness on the world and the country, while trying to overthrow the rule of law. Miyo could only feel like he was erring in where he focused all his efforts.

“…It seems like you’re venting your anger about being unable to save my mother.”

Usui blinked, his expression suggesting he was surprised at what Miyo had pointed out in her pained and desperate murmur.

He then gave a throaty chortle.

“You’re quite sharp. Truly Sumi’s daughter. The way you don’t mince words, despite your mild-mannered nature, is just like her.”

Then, sitting cross-legged flat on the ground and resting his cheek on his hand, Usui continued, his smile growing wider and wider.

“When you show me that side of you, it makes me want to offer the new world I’ve created to you in Sumi’s stead.”

Miyo shivered at Usui, who’d “offered her the world” as if it was a totally natural sentiment, and instinctively rubbed her upper arms.

“You have that right. It should be the Usubas, not the emperor, who oversees the Gift-users. And Dream Sight is the most powerful of the Usuba gifts. It’s only logical to make you queen of the new world.”

The young version of Usui spoke with what almost felt like pride.

As delayed though this realization was, Miyo now felt like she could finally understand why the Usuba family had avoided the limelight and continued to regulate themselves up until now.

It was to contain people gripped by ambition, like the man before her, from within.

“You should be able to understand what I’m saying, Miyo. Don’t tell me that you never felt it was unfair, being unjustly oppressed and abused all those years.”

Suddenly, she came to her senses.

Back when she was living in her old home, she had wondered why things were so unfair more times than she could count.

Miyo had also felt angry when she learned that she had the power of Dream Sight; she lamented that she hadn’t awakened to her powers sooner and questioned why she had lived that torturous existence all those years.

But Usui’s still wrong.

The Saimoris may have been foolish, but she didn’t think that meant she should have control over them or want anything of the sort. Not once had she wished for that.

Could Miyo really say that she was that much better than the Saimoris?

How could Usui be so confident that he wouldn’t end up doing just the same and not harm anyone, while not creating the slightest bit of unfairness himself?

Convincing himself that he was superior and capable of leading the country, and forcing this down the throats of the citizenry—impudent didn’t even begin to describe it.

“I don’t understand. I don’t need that sort of power at all.”

“Really?”

“Huh?”

Usui’s tone suddenly grew sharp. He sounded almost like a savage predator zeroing in on its prey.

“Do you really think that will be enough to protect what you hold dear?”

“…………”

“You still think that you’ll be fine as long as you’re the only one getting hurt because your world is so small. But you’ll learn eventually. The people you hold dear will get hurt and suffer, and you won’t be able to stop yourself from looking back, thinking all the while that things could have been different if you were stronger.”

If someone Miyo loved got hurt, would she still be able to say that power was unappealing to her?

Usui’s eyes, which trembled with the pain of losing the woman he’d loved most, spoke volumes.

A single dark blotch spread in her heart. She felt like there was another version of her, whispering in her ear—“Really?”

But she couldn’t waver. There was no way Usui’s path was the correct one.

“…I don’t need a world where everything is exactly the way I want it to be.”

She managed to respond in a pathetically quivering voice.

From this, it was all too clear that she would be unable to deny what Usui was saying.

“I’m going to attain what I’m after. I’m sure I’ll be able to make you the queen of the world, but I assume you’ll deny the honor yet again.”

Yet surprisingly, Usui quieted his hawkish tone, conceding the point with shocking ease.

Naturally, Miyo couldn’t feel any peace of mind, but she still gave a sigh of relief and replied with a firm nod.

“That’s right. I refuse.”

“Fine. But that’s still not enough to make me give up.”

When Usui rose to his feet, the beautiful scenery of vivid greenery surrounding them seemed to blur ever so slightly.

“I’ve continued down this path since before you were born, for over twenty years, and no one can get in my way. Not you, or anyone else.”

His expression was a mix of delight and terrible conviction.

Miyo’s heart beat even faster, neither her unease nor terror dissipating.

“I will not help you.”

Each word putting her nerves on edge, she once again made her stance clear to both Usui and herself.

If she showed him any opening, he would immediately take advantage of it.

…Calm down, Miyo. It’s okay.

Unable to blink for even a moment, she persuaded herself.

She just needed to continue rejecting him and hold out until she woke up from the dream.

But for some reason, she couldn’t shake the ominous feeling she had. Like dirt caked on top of a window, there was something that hadn’t been cleanly cleared away.

“No. You will come to my side, no matter what. There’s a number of ways to go about it, you see. Especially now that power and authority are in my grasp.”

Usui’s voice was mocking as Miyo tried to withstand the cold shiver that ran down her back.

“What are you planning?”

The pounding in her heart was quickly getting louder and faster. She felt as though she was staring down a wild beast that threatened to pounce the moment she turned her back on it.

A cold sweat beaded on her forehead, and she took another step back.

“Come now. There’s much better ways I can get my hands on you than going after you while you’re so heavily protected.”

Usui stepped out from the shade into the sunlight, his expression ecstatic, as though he was savoring his joy and others’ sorrow. He made no effort to hide his abnormal demeanor as he addressed her calmly.

“Like taking care of Kiyoka Kudou myself.”

Despair and understanding rose in her chest all at once.

Kiyoka is my everything…

She felt the strength drain from her whole body and was on the verge of collapsing to the ground.

Miyo was able to be confident because Kiyoka was there. His presence enabled her to hope for a life of warmth and tranquility.

Without Kiyoka, there was no happiness for Miyo. If he disappeared, then…at that point, it was all too difficult to even imagine what laid beyond for her.

“B-but Kiyoka…”

Usui sneered at Miyo, who could just barely choke out a reply between labored breaths.

“You think he’ll be fine because he’s strong? Hah-hah-hah. Oh, it won’t be fine for him at all.”

At some point, Usui had closed in on Miyo as she stood paralyzed.

“He’s a soldier and a public servant. There are things that he can’t fight against. Even in order to protect you or others, mind you.”

“What are you going to do?”

She wanted to believe there was no way Kiyoka could lose.

Yet, despite it all, she felt a hopeless uneasiness inside her. Usui’s brash confidence and lack of agitation heightened her anxiety.

“…What would be the fun in telling you that? It’s about time to wake up from this dream.”

Usui turned around. Forgetting her fear entirely, Miyo reached out a hand to stop him.

“Wait! What are you going to do to Kiyoka?!”

She pleaded in her chest to the dream—please, don’t let him wake.

If she could keep him locked up in this vision forever, he wouldn’t be able to harm anyone.

This one moment was enough. If Gifts did become stronger, like Arata had said, with the strength of one’s thoughts, then now was the time.

Miyo didn’t care what happened to her, she just wanted to trap Usui in this dream and make absolutely sure he didn’t leave.

However, she was too slow.

The scenery around them was already shimmering like a heat haze, blurring and beginning to lose color.

“Go ahead and think it over for yourself. Though you won’t be able to stop me either way. Once I take down Kiyoka Kudou, you’ll absolutely be coming over to our side.”

The final words Usui left with Miyo were filled with foreboding.

She unconsciously pressed down on her chest and bit her lip.

Kiyoka won’t lose. I won’t be going with you, either.

If she knew that Kiyoka was Usui’s target, then they could find a method of stopping him. There had to be at least some way to get through this all without yielding to the Gifted Communion and Usui.

“…I need to let Kiyoka know.”

She encouraged herself. She couldn’t let herself lose and be stricken with despair right now.

Usui disappeared completely from sight, and the once tranquil Usuba house of the past crumbled along with him, vanishing without leaving a single trace behind.

She awoke to pain in her throat.

The expensive, polished wooden writing desk in the room she had been assigned in Takaihito’s imperial residence still had a number of books spread all over its surface.

Miyo had drifted off to sleep while leafing through the textbooks she’d borrowed from Hazuki and reviewing their contents.

How long had she been out for?

Her throat, chilled by the winter air, ached with pain.

“My dream… Oh no. I have to let Kiyoka know about Usui right away.”

Her sleep-addled mind awakened in an instant, and Miyo immediately rose to her feet.

Usui’s target wasn’t Miyo, but Kiyoka. Or rather, it was more accurate to say that he was trying to dispose of Kiyoka in order to go after her.

She opened up the sliding screen. Although it was far too early for sunset, the sky was covered in gray clouds, and everything was starting to get gloomy.

According to Takaihito’s prediction, the moment of truth would happen when snow had fallen and piled up. Even if there was still spare time until the snowfall began accumulating, she needed to hurry.

Usui had told her of his intentions in his dream, and the sky was growing ominous—danger was closing in.

“Miyo?”

She turned around at hearing her name to find Hazuki and Yurie standing there, confused looks on their faces.

“Perfect timing. We were just about to come and wake you, Miss Miyo.”

“…What’s wrong? You seem like you’re at your wit’s end.”

“Well, just look at the sky,” Miyo replied instantly.

Hazuki nodded with understanding.

“I know. But, it’s okay. Prince Takaihito’s already begun working on it.”

She wanted to explain to Hazuki that, no, that wasn’t what she meant, but every second was precious right now.

On top of that, Miyo couldn’t go outside without protection.

She turned her heard every which way, searching for her bodyguard, but she couldn’t find Arata anywhere.

“Where’s Arata, Sis?”

“Huh? Oh, he said he needed to excuse himself for a moment and left… Hmm, that was probably five minutes ago? It looks like he hasn’t gotten back yet. Quite careless of him during a crisis.”

“So, he’s gone.”

Her impatience and panic only continued to worsen.

What am I supposed to do?

No matter how urgent the situation was, it would be far too imprudent for her to go charging out of the residence on her own.

Arata should have given her another bodyguard she was familiar with when he wasn’t at her side, but it seemed he hadn’t done that before leaving. And because time was of the essence, she couldn’t wait and see how things played out, either.

Why was this all happening when she needed to go to the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit’s camp as fast as possible to see Kiyoka?

“Seriously, Miyo, what’s wrong?”

“There’s something I absolutely need to let Kiyoka know.”

Hazuki’s expression hardened at Miyo’s panicked desperation.

“You want to go see Kiyoka, then. But we can’t do anything about that without someone to guard you.”

Was Arata still elsewhere?

He had sworn to protect Miyo. So why wasn’t he here now, of all times?

“I’m sure that Kiyoka will be coming this way to shore up the defenses, but… Wait a minute, I’ll send out a messenger familiar and tell him to hurry.”

Hazuki continued down the corridor, entered her room, and returned with a small handbag in her hands.

From the bag, she took out a small piece of white paper, and released it into the air.

“I just hope it’ll get to him fast. Yurie?”

“Yes?”

“Contact one of the couriers and have them call a guard for Miyo. Anyone will do, they don’t need to be a Gift-user.”

“Right away.”

At Hazuki’s instructions, Yurie immediately turned on her heels and left.

Then Hazuki faced Miyo again, her expression grim.

“There’s not much time, is there?”

“That’s right.”

Just how long would it take for Hazuki’s familiar to reach Kiyoka and his men, and for them to get here?

If by some chance Usui put his plan into action during that time—or worse, before they managed to reach their residences—then Miyo couldn’t just simply wait and do nothing.

She nodded somewhat hesitantly at Hazuki’s question.

“Got it. Even if we can’t go over to where Kiyoka is on our own, why don’t we grab one of the guards stationed here for now and wait in the entryway for Kiyoka’s arrival?”

“Yes. Let’s do that.”

Miyo alone went to turn around, but Hazuki grabbed her hand.

“Wait, Miyo. I’ll go, too.”

“No, Sis. Please stay in your room.”

While they wouldn’t be leaving the barrier, there was no way of knowing what would happen, and she couldn’t get Hazuki wrapped up in everything, too.

Though she wouldn’t exactly be a burden, there was a chance that Hazuki could be taken hostage, which would be no better than Miyo getting kidnapped.

But it seemed like Hazuki’s mind was made up.

“It’s fine. I’m sure even I’ll be able to buy you some time if anything happens. More importantly, though, we don’t have a moment to waste arguing here.”

“…That’s true.”

Miyo nodded, managing to reign in her impatience.

She wanted to rush to Kiyoka’s side, even if meant leaving the barrier. But Miyo was powerless outside a dream, and if that caused a problem, then all the hard work up until now would come to nothing.

Hazuki had sent for Kiyoka with a familiar, so waiting was the best course of action.

As the two hurried to the entrance, they called to any guard they saw. While they had also entrusted Yurie with the task, they needed as many as they could get their hands on.

However, they were met with an unexpected state of affairs.

“Huh? Why?”

“As I said, I am unable to guard you unless I receive orders from His Highness Prince Takaihito himself, or get permission from the Grand Chamberlain or the Minister of the Imperial Household.”

The guards all blankly answered them in the same way, none of them paying any mind to Hazuki’s or Miyo’s pleas.

“I refuse.”

“You will need to bring a summons to solicit my service.”

“First you’ll need to run this by the Grand Chamberlain…”

While some of the guards gave them frowns of pity, they all refused the women’s request for protection.

This isn’t right.

Even Miyo couldn’t help finding it suspicious.

She and the other guests were staying here on Takaihito’s orders, so it naturally followed that the guards stationed here should protect them as well. While leaving their post may not have been ideal, it was strange that not a single one of them was cooperative with Miyo.

“What’s the meaning of this? Does the Imperial Household Ministry make it a rule to only hire insensitive boors?”

Hazuki was furious, staring daggers at the men.

Although they didn’t know the whereabouts of the Minister of the Imperial Household or the Grand Chamberlain, Takaihito was in the main building. They could use the connecting corridor to request a direct audience with him, but he was busy himself, and it was very hard to imagine they’d be able to meet with him immediately, especially with crisis looming.

“If we’re getting turned down, they’re probably declining Yurie’s requests, too.”

Since the guards wouldn’t help, they tried asking passing courtiers to call for someone able to protect Miyo, but their reaction wasn’t any different.

For the past ten days since they had begun residing in the palace, the courtiers had readily responded to any of their daily needs, so Miyo hadn’t noticed.

Outside of Arata and the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit, no one would move to protect Miyo, Hazuki, and Yurie.

“What should we do…?”

“We don’t have a choice. We’ll have to just head over to the entrance by ourselves. As long as we don’t leave the barrier, there shouldn’t be a problem, and I’m sure it won’t take long until Kiyoka arrives, too.”

“You’re right.”

In the end, Arata was nowhere to be found, and they were currently without any dedicated protection, but there was nothing they could do about it.

Putting on their sandals, they went out past the entryway while straddling the doorsill.

The effects of the barrier put to counter the Gifted Communion extended to the main building where Takaihito resided, the two separated buildings where Miyo and the others resided, and the surrounding gardens. They couldn’t go out any farther than that.

“Looks like they haven’t gotten here yet.”

She couldn’t make out Kiyoka or the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit on the small gravel road that extended out from the entryway.

Nevertheless, between her bodyguard and the looming crisis, so many things seemed to be going wrong that her fear amplified even further.

“I can’t help feeling like this is all deliberate.”

Miyo agreed with Hazuki’s opinion.

If this was all just some form of harassment, she wouldn’t have cared, but she grew scared when it occurred to her that it could be a Gifted Communion set-up.

“That stupid brother of mine. The same goes for Masashi, too. This ‘protection’ of theirs is full of holes. You can be sure I’ll chew them out about all this later!”

Miyo glanced at Hazuki as she groused in frustration, then went back to eagerly waiting for Kiyoka to appear.

But it was neither Kiyoka, Arata, or anyone in the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit who finally showed after the excruciating wait.

“What…?”

“Who is that, I wonder?”

A single man appeared from the far side of the road and leisurely approached them.

He was dressed in a well-made suit, and his average-looking face lacked remarkable characteristics to speak of. Miyo was familiar with him.

“…I believe that’s the Minister of Education’s secretary.”

“Him? But why is the secretary coming to a place like this by himself?”

Hazuki’s question was understandable, but Miyo could only tilt her head in confusion.

Before long, the secretary reached the edge of the barrier and passed right through it.

“If he’s able to cross the barrier, then he’s not Naoshi Usui in disguise, but…what could he possibly be here for during an emergency like this?”

Hazuki furrowed her well-kept brows and glared at the secretary dubiously.

While the barrier was able to repel Usui, it didn’t have any effect on the government officials. It was unavoidable, lest it hindered governmental procedures.

To prevent this from becoming an issue, guards from the Ministry of the Imperial Household were stationed here around the clock, and Miyo’s group had Arata charged as their personal bodyguard, but now both of those mechanisms had stopped functioning.

The secretary stood right in front of the two guarded women, barring their way with a look of slight disgust on his face.

“Miyo Saimori. We meet again.”

“Q-quite.”

Miyo was perplexed to hear him greet her so casually.

She had only ever met him once, had no memories of getting along with him, and didn’t have the sort of relationship that would prompt him to speak so familiarly with her.

The man’s cordial greeting left her unsure how to respond; she didn’t know the underlying reason behind his demeanor, so it felt unnatural and creepy.

Completely unperturbed, the secretary continued speaking, as though totally unaware of Miyo and Hazuki’s suspicious looks.

“Were you perhaps about to head out somewhere?”

“No… Um, that’s not it.”

Miyo shrunk back, and Hazuki took a step in front of her, a commanding look on her face.

“Pardon me, but what exactly is your business here?”

The secretary scoffed and shrugged.

“Would saying I’m here for work be enough for you? I’m the secretary of the Minister of Education, you know. I don’t believe a common citizen like yourself has any right to stop me.”

“Yes, I suppose not. However, this area is currently on high alert, under the orders of Prince Takaihito. Work or no, we can’t have people coming and going as they please. Furthermore, this building is Prince Takaihito’s private residence. I could understand you entering if you were an official with the Ministry of the Imperial Household, or working for the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, but I find it hard to believe someone from the Ministry of Education has any business here.”

Miyo nervously flicked her eyes back and forth between the pair’s faces as she watched Hazuki assert herself without giving an inch to the man, despite his high status.

“Ugh. Enough of your yapping…”

The secretary let out a low mumble from his still smiling face.

Miyo thought she had misheard, given how vastly different his tone was from his expression. But then she remembered.

When she had first encountered this man, she thought he scowled at her, albeit for the briefest of moments.

“Sis.”

A sinister foreboding flickered in the back of her mind. Miyo called out to Hazuki and tried putting a hand on her to get her to back down, but she was too late.

“You came and caused a big fuss just the other day, didn’t you? Right now we’re even more guarded than we were then. Do you understand?”

“Oh yes, of course I understand.”

The secretary was completely unapologetic and answered as if there was no problem at all. It seemed like he couldn’t have cared less.

His answer and actions were so incongruous that Hazuki didn’t immediately grasp what was happening.

“Huh?”

“As I said, I am perfectly aware of how things are right now. I don’t need you to tell me.”

She was too late. The secretary stamped his leather shoes into the ground as if to threaten her and approached with long strides. Then he shoved Hazuki aside and closed in on Miyo.

Next, he grabbed her thin wrist and pulled her away.

“N-no…!”

Though she tried to shake free, the secretary was too strong, so she couldn’t move an inch. His grip hurt her down to her bones.

“What in the world do you think you’re doing?! Let go of her—Eaugh!”

Hazuki paled and tried to get in between the secretary and Miyo, but he shoved her away hard.

Appearing to have held nothing back, the man slammed Hazuki against the gravel.

“Sis!”

“Don’t get in my way. That’s enough roundabout theatrics. I’m here for Miyo Saimori.”

The man dropped all pleasantries, and the air about him transformed into something much more boorish than someone purporting to be a minister’s secretary.

Miyo stared at him from up close and froze.

“Y-your eyes.”

Red. Pupils gleaming deep crimson, like fresh blood.

She had heard something from Kiyoka.

The eyes of the Gift-users created by the Gifted Communion turned red when they received their artificial abilities.

Some people were born with eyes that had a naturally reddish hue. But this man’s had been a totally ordinary shade of dark brown until moments ago. Their color had changed abruptly.

“Well, this is certainly useful. This Gift, I mean. Though I was getting a bit tired of working under a minister who doesn’t even believe they exist. Ah well, the Founder asked me to do it, so there was nothing I could do.”

The secretary was in excessively good cheer.

Founder?

That was what the members of the Gifted Communion called Naoshi Usui. At that point, it was undeniable.

Miyo broke into goosebumps.

She lowered her eyes from his face and saw that something unbelievable was flying at them.

What in the…? Is that a Grotesquerie?

She covered her mouth with her empty hand and gasped.

The ground, which should have been covered in white gravel, was black as far as the eye could see. But it hadn’t changed color—no, it was covered with enough squirming black Grotesqueries to block out the earth.

Their forms were that of bugs, rats, and birds, as well as creatures composed of several animal traits, like the one they encountered on New Year’s Day, all of various shapes and sizes.

Miyo and Hazuki had been surrounded before they even knew it.

“Quite a magnificent sight, isn’t it? The impact’s much different once you have these sorts of numbers. I wonder what would happen if I had them attack the prince’s residence?”

The man spoke with an air of excitement. Even as her face was ghostly pale, Hazuki still courageously scowled at the man.

“You’re with the Gifted Communion…! Do you realize what’s going to happen now that you’ve done this? And let go of Miyo’s hand!”

Hazuki rose to her feet and tried once again to free Miyo’s hand from the man’s grasp.

However, her delicate frame was no match for him at all, and he swatted her back as though shooing away a fly.

“Shut up. I don’t care about you, okay?”

“Stop! Don’t hurt Sis!”

Hazuki said that she could help to buy time herself, but Miyo couldn’t actually let her do that.

If Miyo being saved meant letting Hazuki get hurt, if it meant having Takaihito’s residence attacked by this Grotesquerie horde… Then at that point, she’d rather just comply with what the Gifted Communion wanted.

Suddenly, Miyo remembered the three familiars that Kiyoka had handed to her during their New Year’s shrine visit.

At this point, they’re all that’s left.

With her free hand, she activated the familiars inside her kimono, already engraved with arts, and released them.

The tiny pieces of paper sprang to life without a hitch, folded into the shape of a bird and flew at the man.

“Tch! Annoying nonsense!”

The man waved his hand around, trying to fend off the familiars, but they relentlessly attacked his face, repeatedly ramming their bodies into him.

“You stupid scraps! Get out of my way!”

As he shouted in irritation, one of the Grotesqueries jumped up to where Miyo and Hazuki were and clawed at the familiars, shredding them to pieces.

“N-no…”

The remains of the paper constructs fluttered down to the ground.

Kiyoka had crafted the familiars to be effective against humans, but they were powerless in the face of Grotesqueries, which had a unique resistance to both Gifts and arts.

With this, Miyo and Hazuki had exhausted all means of fighting back.

“Too bad.”

The man swung his fist at Hazuki, who landed hard on her backside.

“Stop!”

Miyo couldn’t let her get hurt.

She used all of her bodyweight to fall to the ground, pulling the secretary with her. His grip on Miyo’s wrist was so tight that he completely lost his balance and stumbled forward.

“You little—!”

The enraged secretary raised his hand up into the air, and the countless Grotesqueries all turned their eyes on him.

It was abundantly clear that he was inciting the Grotesqueries, while trying to unleash his own Gift himself. Miyo used the momentum from her fall to cover Hazuki’s body with her own.

“Miyo!”

She ignored Hazuki’s desperate protests.

The familiars meant to be her last-ditch resort were all gone.

It didn’t seem like Hazuki would be able to dodge the attack or put up a barrier in time. Neither Miyo nor Hazuki had any means of offense between them, so all they could do was hold out like this.

Miyo grit her teeth and shut her eyes with all her might.

However, the impact never came.

In an instant, a heat that melted the chill swept through the air.

She heard the Grotesqueries wail as they expired while the man gave a short, agonized moan.

Miyo timidly opened her eyes and saw that the number of Grotesqueries surrounding them had decreased slightly. The secretary was splayed out miserably along the ground.

The lightning-fast work left her speechless.

“Miyo. Are you all right?”

“Kiyo…ka?”

Before her eyes, long light brown hair smoothly slid off the top of a shoulder. When she gradually started to grasp the situation, she felt a sharp pain rising in the back of her nose.

He’d come for her. Kiyoka had shown up and protected her.

And that meant Miyo, too, had made it in time.

“Kiyoka…!”

She had thought that this would be the end. She had convinced herself that she might just die here without being able to warn Kiyoka about the danger he faced.

But they were safe. The both of them. Still safe.

“Y-you’re late!”

Hazuki lifted herself up and berated Kiyoka in a tearful voice.

Both she and Miyo were unharmed. Kiyoka was also unscathed; he looked down at the groveling secretary.

Miyo scanned the area again and saw that the members of the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit, along with Kazushi Tatsuishi, were fervently fighting off the myriad Grotesqueries…or at least she thought they were. Miyo didn’t really understand what was going on.

The Grotesqueries are vanishing left and right.

The trick behind it seemed to lie with Kazushi Tatsuishi.

He was fluttering his dazzling haori coat as if it were the dancing wings of a butterfly. Then once he trained the fan in his hand on a Grotesquerie, it vanished before Miyo’s eyes.

“Hey, Kazushi! Can’t you dispel these barriers faster?”

“Could you not ask me to do the impossible? I’m working as frantically as I can here!”

Godou shouted angrily, to which Kazushi responded with a shout of his own. The soldier’s usually composed and relaxed demeanor was nowhere to be found.

He and the other members of the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit were launching fire, water, wind, and other telekinetic Gifts wherever Kazushi had made the Grotesqueries disappear.

A moment later, she heard the faint cry of dying Grotesqueries.

I don’t really know the mechanics behind this, but…

The fight appeared to be completely one-sided. Naturally, the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit were the superior force, cleanly overwhelming and stamping out the innumerable Grotesqueries.

Miyo returned her eyes to her side.

“Ow! Damn you. Sending me flying at full force like that.”

The secretary got up and grumbled. His swift movements clearly weren’t those of a pencil-pushing bureaucrat.

But Kiyoka reacted just as quick.

The instant the secretary stood up, Kiyoka slashed at the man with his sheathed saber. The secretary dodged it with light and easy steps as he shot off masses of ice from the palm of his hand.

Kiyoka casually dodged the ice missiles and deflected them while closing in on the secretary.

The entire exchange was barely three seconds long.

What was that…?

It happened in the blink of an eye.

Still, she could tell that the dauntless grin the Gifted Communion follower had been wearing was instantly wiped off his face.

Kiyoka glared daggers at the man and closed in. He jabbed his saber pommel hard into the secretary’s chin and used the opening to trip him.

Then Kiyoka pressed his knee into the grounded man’s spine, bending his arm back to hold him down.

“Damn you, Kiyoka Kudou…!”

“Don’t struggle. If you are not recorded with the state as a Gift-user, then you will be suspected of being with the Gifted Communion,” Kiyoka dispassionately informed the secretary before the man gave a click of his tongue and went silent as he was handcuffed, completely stripped of his freedom.

But then he looked up at Kiyoka with his venomous red eyes and twisted his mouth into a smile.

“Pfft, suspected? You don’t need to tell me that. I am absolutely part of the Gifted Communion. I’m just an ordinary man who was ordered by the Founder to set myself up as one of the minister’s secretaries.”

“Are you saying that the Minister of Education is in league with you?” Kiyoka asked, prompting the man to snort.

“Obviously. The Minister of Education is a collaborator linked to the Founder, and several other Gifted Communion followers and collaborators have infiltrated the government as well.”

“Now that I think about it, the Minister of Education has a relative working in the Ministry of Communications and Transportation.”

“The Founder ordered them to loosen government control on the flow of information. Simple story.”

Had the secretary resigned himself to his fate now that he was captured? The man tamely confessed the secrets he knew, one after another.

Perhaps he was trying to get a lighter punishment in exchange for giving them information. Whatever the case, it wasn’t a bad thing to know the truth.

Finished interrogating the man, Kiyoka called over one of his subordinates and gave them two, then three, orders.

Godou, Kazushi, and the other members were still continuing their fight.

Nevertheless, with the immediate threat passed for the time being, Miyo breathed a sigh of relief together with Hazuki, and they each got back up to their feet.

“Are you two all right?”

They nodded together at Kiyoka, who turned back to them after casting a glance at the secretary.

“Yes, I managed somehow.”

“I’m fine, too.”

“…We weren’t too late this time.”

Kiyoka must have been bothered about not arriving in time just the other day when Miyo had a similar brush with the secretary.

However, her relief was short-lived.

Just then, Miyo remembered why she had summoned Kiyoka and ventured out of Takaihito’s residences without a bodyguard to wait for him.

If she didn’t tell him what she needed to, putting herself in danger to come out here and see him would all be meaningless.

“Kiyoka.”

“What? Actually, you had something urgent to tell me, but what was it about? You couldn’t have possibly foreseen this attack by the Minister of Education’s secretary and got in touch about that.”

According to Kiyoka, he had just finished up a meeting at the advanced guard when he received Hazuki’s notification. Right after, they had sensed the horde of Grotesqueries the secretary had brought with him, so he came rushing over with his men in tow.

Miyo couldn’t tell if the timing of everything had ultimately been good or bad.

She summoned up her courage as her heart threatened to falter in the face of her suspicious fiancé.

“Um, I have something that I have to talk to you about. “

Miyo relayed to Kiyoka the conversation she had inside her dream with Usui in detail.

Normally, she would have been dismissed with a laugh for talking about what she saw in a dream, but Kiyoka understood that the visions Miyo had with Dream Sight were significant.

“I see. So Usui is going after me.”

Usui was targeting Kiyoka to get ahold of Miyo.

The only one surprised by her report was Hazuki; Kiyoka himself didn’t look shaken in the slightest.

“I had predicted that it would come to this eventually. Especially since it’d be convenient for them if I wasn’t around. But what happened just now…is far too crude to have been Usui’s plan for getting rid of me.”

When Kiyoka said the words “what happened just now,” he sharply glanced over at the secretary tied up and lying on his side.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t able to get Usui to tell me how the Gifted Communion is going to go after you.”

Miyo also found it very hard to believe that this was the full extent of the schemes Usui had hinted to her with such confidence.

If only she had conversational skills like Arata’s—then she surely would’ve been able to coax better information out of him.

She lamented her own inadequacy.

“It’s fine. If this is the end of it, then that’s all right with me. Even if it’s not, I’m sure the other side is concocting some elaborate scheme that they think I’ll be unable to answer.”

“Hey, mind if I jump in here?”

Hazuki interrupted them right as there was a lull in the conversation.

“Now that I think about it, where exactly did Arata go? I don’t see him anywhere at all.”

At Hazuki’s casual question, Miyo flinched, and Kiyoka furrowed his brows.

Ultimately, Arata had never shown.

Yurie had gone to call for a guard, and Miyo and Hazuki had requested protection from so many guards and courtiers that Arata would have suspected there was some sort of disturbance if he was indeed in the Imperial Palace grounds. If that had been the case, it was hard to think he wouldn’t immediately come running over.

On top of that, there was also the recent disturbance, where Kazushi and Godou had struggled to fight off the horde of Grotesqueries. Arata certainly wouldn’t have failed to notice that and come running over to help.

Plus, they were right in the middle of shoring up the security, under Takaihito’s direct orders, to begin with.

It was undeniably strange that Arata hadn’t shown up.

Kiyoka rubbed his chin, his expression growing stern.

“That’s odd. We haven’t asked Usuba to do anything on our end, and I don’t think he has any business right now that’s more important than his bodyguard duties.”

The three of them all glanced at one another with dubious looks on their faces.

If that was the case, then where exactly had Arata gone?

No one could answer that question. Amid the silence, small flakes of snow began falling to the ground, one after the other.

“At long last, our time has come. How exciting.”

Naoshi Usui glanced at the Minister of Education, holding a whiskey glass as he puffed smoke from a cigar, with deeply felt disgust and contempt.

The military headquarters had secretly fallen into the Gifted Communion’s hands.

The lowest ranking soldiers had no idea, of course, but the top level of the General Staff Office had been jailed one by one for not supporting Usui.

Consequently, the officers who had agreed to cooperate with Usui had been working like dogs to fill the holes left behind by incarcerated staff to make it appear like the military was functioning like normal.

Wicked deeds—all carried out by the Gifted Communion at Usui’s direction.

However, it wouldn’t be long before their actions would be seen as righteous.

It would be a true example of history always being written by the victors. No matter what sort of transgressions he continued to commit, as long as Usui came out victorious, they would magically become virtuous. That was how the world worked—the victor’s ideals were always just.

Usui had obtained military power. He was slowly bending the will of the people to his side, and he held the authority of the emperor as well.

All that was left for him was to then steal this vessel of a country, and Usui’s goals would be 70 percent complete.

“Just a little more.”

In his hands were documents signed and sealed by the reigning emperor.

These imperial decrees, which handed down the emperor’s will, possessed an unquestionable validity. The preparations had all been made.

Now was his chance.

“Please, feel free to take your time relaxing her, Minister. We’ll be beginning things on our end,” Usui said.

“Sure. Make sure you pull it off. My future’s resting on your shoulders, too, and all.”

Mysteriously finding amusement in the situation, the minister gave a loud guffaw. It sickened Usui.

This man was nothing but an inferior breed, born without a Gift to his name.

The Minister of Education had jumped at the offer to cooperate with the Gifted Communion once Usui suggested that he would be given an important role in the new government, despite the fact he was Giftless, after they conquered the country.

The minister didn’t think that someone should become the ruler of the nation simply because they had inherited the enigmatic supernatural power of Divine Revelation. Put plainly, he wasn’t satisfied if he didn’t sit on top.

He was overflowing with ambition, so it had been all too easy for Usui to appeal to him.

“Well then, if you’ll excuse me.”

When Usui exited the room reserved for hosting distinguished guests in the military headquarters, Houjou, who had been standing in attendance, followed after him.

“As planned, Founder, the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit has discovered the mechanism behind the Grotesqueries we created. They’re currently arresting the minister’s secretary and the Ministry of Communications and Transportation official who caused the latest disturbance.”

“Good work.”

Usui strutted around the halls of the central building of the military headquarters like he owned the place. No one that passed tried to stop him.

The authority of the abducted reigning emperor, the governmental influence via his collaborators, and the fighting force he had been able to amass from artificial Gift-users—with these factors all lined up together, he could force most of the people and organizations in the country to submit to him.

The path to reach this point had been long.

After the Usuba family had declined, and it was decided Sumi would be wedded into the Saimori family, he had invited her to run away together, but she had turned him down.

If she ran away, then what would happen to her family? He assumed she had asked him that question out of a grim resolve to help her house and her family.

As he’d lamented his own powerlessness, Usui felt loathing for his home, loathing for his people, and loathing for his country.

But when he’d gone on the run after escaping his family, his resentment changed to determination.

Both he and Sumi had a wonderful power in their Gifts, yet they were driven into the shadows. The emperor and his entourage ruined their lives as they saw fit, as if he and Sumi were totally insignificant. That sort of world couldn’t have been right. And if it was wrong, then it just needed to be remade.

What did he care about the Usuba code and rules?

He would change things, make Gift-users run the country. If he did, then Gift-users of the Usuba family who were superior to all other Gift-users, like he and Sumi, would be able to live freely, however they saw fit.

Usui had begun to act as soon as these ideals took hold in him.

Moving around the country, gathering people, information, and funds, and secretly establishing a base of operations, he’d put together the facilities to move forward with forbidden research on Gifts and Grotesqueries.

But I lost Sumi during that time.

He’d been so wholly consumed with preparing to overthrow the state that he ended up learning of Sumi’s death a few years after it happened.

His subsequent despair had made it all seem worthless to him for a period of time, but when he learned Sumi had a daughter, he roused himself to action once again.

Around the same time, he learned that Miyo was being abused and oppressed within the Saimori household; but this wouldn’t matter once he changed the country. In fact, he reckoned that if Miyo was dissatisfied, then she would agree with his way of thinking. The situation was convenient for him.

But then she met Kiyoka Kudou.

Consequently, she became satisfied with her trite, meaningless peace at his side before she could come to resent the family and house that had made her miserable.

That won’t do.

Though Miyo might have been temporarily happy, the plight of Gift-users, of the Usubas, remained the same. Miyo didn’t realize that the status quo needed to be changed.

But now, she too would understand that her own thinking was incorrect, and that Usui was truly in the right.

He was finally beginning to make his move to overthrow everything and enact his revenge.

“How is the emperor?”

“He is still very ill, so we’re taking care to make sure he doesn’t die. Though it’s truly the bare minimum.”

Houjou’s report brought a smile to Usui’s face.

Usui would no longer need the former reigning emperor’s authority once he took over the country. He had decided to torment the emperor and make him suffer more than he ever had before killing him.

“Do your best to ensure he doesn’t die before I take his life.”

“As you wish.”

Since Miyo had become Kiyoka’s fiancée, Usui had been forced to accelerate his preparations. Although he couldn’t claim they were good enough when he compared them with his original plans, in the end he would be able push through with a Gift-based feat of strength.

He would create a world for Gift-users, for himself, for the Usubas. This time for sure, he would offer up peace of mind to Sumi and to Miyo.

“Now then. Let’s go free our captured brethren.”

Usui, with Houjou in tow, left the military command building behind.

Their destination was a special holding facility on the grounds of the headquarters.

The facility had been installed recently and had been made with a mechanism that interfered with Gifts. It was used mainly to hold artificial Gift-users, such as the Gifted Communion’s peacekeeping squads.

Passing right by the soldier stationed to guard the entrance, the pair stepped inside the facility, lined with cells processed to block Gift usage.

“Ooh, it’s the Founder!”

“The Founder came for us!”

“We can finally get out of here!”

The imprisoned artificial Gift-users shouted with joy as they saw Usui walk down the cell-lined corridor.

He had told them ahead of time that he would be releasing them soon and ordered them to do their best not to resist arrest.

Nevertheless, they must have been lonely being locked up in a cell.

The crowd’s cheers of joy and praise to Usui were almost painful to the ear as they incessantly echoed through the narrow hallway.

Continuing straight down the corridor, Usui and Houjou arrived at an altar deep within the prison.

The altar resembled a plainly made wooden household shrine, fitted with a straw shimenawa rope and decorated with holly. This was the object interfering with the Gifts of the people inside.

He couldn’t help think it a rather crude mechanism, but it must have been all the military was capable of, given the hurried construction.

Usui took a dagger out from his breast pocket and unsheathed it.

Then he made a single slash at the altar.

The overly simplistic wooden altar collapsed with disappointing ease, losing its anti-arts effect.

“Houjou, the locks.”

“Yessir.”

With that brief reply, Houjou used the keys he held to quickly unlock each of the cells one by one.

The member of the Gifted Communion peacekeeping squads who had been locked up after the military crackdown exited their cells one after another, voicing their gratitude to Usui along the way.

By supplementing the freed peacekeepers with an innumerable amount of Gift-resistant Grotesqueries, the Gifted Communion would be able to overwhelm the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit with sheer numbers, even if their artificial Gifts were of inferior quality.

Now, even Kiyoka Kudou would no longer be a threat.

“I hope things are going smoothly on their end.”

Usui turned his thoughts to the men he had dispatched in a separate squad.

The sun was setting, the temperature was plummeting, and the snowfall was gradually getting heavier.

Fingers lost more feeling inside pairs of gloves, and white breath continued to faintly appear in the dark sky before disappearing.

Miyo and the others were busy cleaning up after the afternoon’s disturbance in the area surrounding Takaihito’s residence.

Given how many Grotesqueries had appeared, it was possible that some could be hiding in the shadows or blending in somewhere, so they were confirming that all of the creatures were gone as they did some light cleaning of the messy gravel road and garden.

Godou, Kazushi, Hazuki, and everyone in the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit were wrapped up in warm coats, working hard.

Yurie had tired herself out running around to try to find a bodyguard for Miyo, so she was currently tending to things inside.

Takaihito was also safe, and Miyo heard he was on standby inside the palace.

Arata never came back, though.

Arata’s whereabouts remained unknown. He had completely disappeared without a trace.

Although they had confirmed that he wasn’t within the Imperial Palace grounds, they hadn’t been able to discover more than that.

Miyo was worried, but being unable to leave the Imperial Palace, she had no means of searching for him.

Just where did he go…?

He wasn’t the type to abandon his duty midway through.

That meant he could have gotten attacked by Usui or gotten wrapped up in some other type of trouble.

With this in mind, Miyo had asked Kiyoka to search for Arata. Unfortunately, she wasn’t sure how many people could be spared for the search in this moment of crisis.

I do think Arata should be able to handle most situations just fine, but…

Her worries still remained. But because of that, Miyo had promised to stay by Kiyoka’s side and help however she could.

“It’s cold out here. You’re free to wait inside, you know.”

Kiyoka had been urging her indoors every few minutes, but Miyo shook her head.

“I’m fine. I don’t want to be the only one holed up in her room all nice and warm.”

“I see. Be sure to tell me right away if it gets too hard for you.”

“I will,” she replied, picking up shrubbery branches in the garden.

Though she knew she wasn’t providing much help, and it was all for her own self-satisfaction, she didn’t want to do nothing.

The uneasiness in her chest still hadn’t abated.

Arata had disappeared. Miyo feared that Kiyoka would disappear if she took her eyes off of him for even a few seconds.

There was no way Usui would do anything to Kiyoka.

She wanted to believe that, yet an ill foreboding relentlessly pounded in her chest.

After a brief while, right around when the snow had turned the ground at their feet pure white, Miyo’s fears became reality.

It began with a report that one of the unit members brought to Kiyoka.

“What?”

“I’ve double-checked it over and over again, but it does seem to be the truth…”

The Minister of Education’s secretary they had caught that afternoon, as well as the Minister of Education’s relative within the Ministry of Communications and Transport that they had placed into custody under suspicion of treason via said secretary’s testimony, and all the Gifted Communion followers and collaborators they had worked to catch were being discharged one by one.

By using the validity of an imperial decree to release them, under the reigning emperor’s name.

“Naoshi Usui.”

Kiyoka’s low snarl seemed to rumble the earth.

“Commander, what are we supposed to do?”

“All we can do is follow Major General Ookaito’s orders. Should the major general be in danger, then—”

Their conversation was interrupted.

The sound of countless military boots stomping on gravel reverberated through the area.

A large group of men clad in army uniforms were rushing toward them, completely covering the narrow, tree-lined path that led from the main road through the Imperial Palace to the front door of Takaihito’s residence.

There was no moon in the sky, the only illumination coming from the palace lamps and the light bleeding out from within Takaihito’s residence.

It seemed as though a mysterious mass of shadow was blanketing the area.

In the blink of an eye, the black crowd coalesced around Miyo and the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit members, beginning to surround them.

Kiyoka immediately took Miyo away from the center of the garden and moved her toward Takaihito’s residence, stepping out in front of her in protection.

No one had a second to breathe or raise an objection.

Quickly and precisely, the approaching soldiers pointed their unsheathed sabers at everyone surrounded in the garden.

“Wh-what—?”

“Shh. Stay calm and do what they say.”

Miyo nodded after being silenced by Kiyoka’s whisper.

There were imperial soldiers from outside the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit here, along with people shrouded in black coats who seemed to be members of the Gifted Communion.

Why were these two groups acting together?

With no one able to voice their questions, the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit members, including Godou and Kazushi, all raised their hands above their heads to show they wouldn’t resist.

It was then—

The person leading the group appeared from the shadows.

Polished leather shoes, a well-tailored suit and overcoat. He had smiled at Miyo countless times before with those fine, sculpted features.

Arata…?

Her missing cousin’s—Arata Usuba’s—typical agreeable, gentlemanly demeanor was nowhere to be found.

Why?

Nothing about the scene, Arata commanding the military to point their blades at Miyo and company, made sense. Something was happening, something out of the ordinary.

It was strange, wasn’t it? Arata shouldn’t have been over there with them.

More importantly, what were these soldiers doing?

Not understanding what was going on, Miyo could only stand there, not in fear but in sheer bewilderment.

“Commander Kudou. How very unfortunate,” Arata said.

Kiyoka responded to Arata’s cold words with furrowed brows.

“What is this? What the hell are you doing, Usuba?”

“You are under suspicion of causing bodily harm to several individuals as well as planning to abduct the emperor and subvert the state.”

“What did you say?”

It was as though they had been hit with a bolt of lightning.

Everyone doubted their ears, unable to hide their surprise.

“On top of that, you unjustly restrained the Minister of Education’s secretary earlier this afternoon, didn’t you? That’ll be included in your list of crimes.”

“Unjustly? We were simply carrying out our mission. The secretary attacked a civilian under governmental protection and smuggled a Grotesquerie horde into the Imperial Palace grounds on top of that. Of course we captured him.”

Kiyoka replied just as calmly to Arata’s dispassionate declaration of his false crimes. However, Miyo and the others could clearly see that neither of them was giving an ear to anything the other said.

Sighing loudly and taking out his favorite pistol from his coat pocket, Arata slowly aimed its barrel at Kiyoka.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Please cooperate and let us tie you up, Commander Kudou. You’re a prime suspect in this case.”

Miyo couldn’t comprehend anything Arata was saying.

First of all, she couldn’t understand why Arata was denouncing Kiyoka and coming to arrest him as if he was an officer of the law. He was an ordinary citizen, not even a government official, so he was acting more unjustifiable at the moment.

Yet here he was, commanding the military to point their blades at Miyo and the others.

Why… We—we didn’t…

Having blades thrust in their direction meant that Kiyoka, that Miyo and the others, had committed some sort of crime. It also meant that to the army, they had become an enemy to take precautions against.

“Th-that’s, that can’t be…!”

Miyo couldn’t help leaning forward to try arguing back.

This was all a mistake. Kiyoka hadn’t caused any violent incidents, nor had he abducted the emperor. He hadn’t even taken part in anything like it. It was the Gifted Communion who had made off with the emperor in the first place, and certainly not Kiyoka.

It was all nonsense. False charges.

“Miyo.”

Yet who but Kiyoka himself quietly bade Miyo to stop.

“The emperor is cooperating with the Gifted Communion and has already been placed in the protective custody of the military. His Majesty himself has accused you of being involved and had ordered you be detained immediately. Furthermore, the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit’s temporary camp and station have already been brought under control. Make any wrong moves, and they will all be shot on the spot.”

Arata kept his arm up, gun trained on Kiyoka as he walked toward him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t worry. Evidence has been brought forward, so if you try to escape, you’ll be publicly wanted for the serious crime of rebellion. There won’t be anywhere left in the Empire for you to run. Though I suppose you’ll be executed eventually even if you do cooperate.”

Arata’s eyes were cold as ice, devoid of the slightest hint of emotion.

The soldiers in the area didn’t budge an inch, making no move to sheathe their swords, while one person, looking like part of the peacekeeping squads, walked forward and raised the warrant containing the imperial decree up high.

“Kiyoka Kudou is a heinous criminal who has harmed the emperor himself. Arrest him immediately!”

At the same moment Arata raised his voice and gave the order, several of the soldiers approached Kiyoka and slipped handcuffs over his wrists.

Though Kiyoka could have easily resisted, he refrained from fighting back, going along with everything from start to finish.

“So you’re on their side, are you, Usuba?”

His tone was strained, loaded with tension—yet it held a sense of understanding and resignation, as well.

Arata neither confirmed nor denied the accusation.

Kiyoka must not have resisted so that Miyo and the others would be spared. She understood that, painfully so.

If he planned to escape from here, then that would ensure that as relatives of such a criminal, Miyo, Hazuki, and anyone else with connections to the Kudou family could no longer guarantee their safety.

“Arata!”

Betting on the slightest sliver of hope, Miyo called to her cousin.

However, pierced by the coldhearted glimmer in his eyes, she trembled, daunted.

“Please be quiet, Miyo.”

“I—I can’t do that!”

The cousin who had been so kind to her, who she loved as family, was terrifying.

It was almost as if he had become someone else entirely, wholly intimidating, and she hesitated to even honestly meet him face-to-face, as she had up until now.

“Don’t make me angry, Miyo. You know just as well yourself. About what the Founder is thinking.”

Why was the word Founder coming out of Arata’s lips? Why, why, why?

Hadn’t he been so resentful of Usui’s deeds before? Lamenting that he was trying so hard to revive the Usuba family and Usui’s actions were holding him back? After all of that, then…

“Wh-why?”

Her parched mouth made her voice hoarse.

Suddenly, Arata averted his eyes, and his features sunk into a dark, muddied gloom.

“It will benefit the Usuba family. Even I know it’s quite the simple-minded reason, but that is why I decided to help Usui.”

“Y-you betrayed us…?”

“There’s nothing more to be discussed here. Kiyoka Kudou, we’re bringing you in.”

Arata ruthlessly shut down Miyo’s timid questioning.

Was this really the same cousin she knew?

She was left speechless by his fierce rejection.

Miyo wasn’t convinced at all by such a nonsensical pretense that this would benefit the Usubas. Usui was a person who had continued to live his life by breaking every code the Usubas stood by. Could Arata, having suffered all this time, and who was still bound and struggling under his familial heritage even now, accept such a man?

Was the responsibility that he had been burdened with his whole life really so insignificant to him?

“Arata!”

Despite Miyo’s shriek, Arata didn’t stop. The soldiers didn’t even look at her.

“…Usuba, do you mind?”

Right before Kiyoka was to be taken away by the soldiers, his hands bound, he signaled to Arata with a look.

“Well, why not?”

Arata seemed to pick up on this and stopped the soldiers.

Then Kiyoka escaped from the circle of troops and came over to Miyo.

A cold wind blew. The icy chill, howling through the area, kicked up the snow that beat against her cheek.

“Miyo.”

He called her name with more warmth and softness than ever before, such that it seemed to melt the snow around her.

The handsome face she looked up at wore such a gentle and peaceful smile, he looked nothing like a man just charged with a crime and essentially being led off to his death.

“Allow me to tell you something. So I won’t have any regrets.”

She didn’t want to hear it.

If she did, she was sure it would all come to an end.

She’d no longer be able to return to those days she spent filled with kindness.

Miyo didn’t want to be separated. She didn’t want to lose him. Yet she was utterly helpless, only able to stand there and watch.

Her eyes filled with tears. She could barely see the face of the person she adored through her wet, blurred vision.

“No. I don’t want to hear it. So please, don’t go.”

She jumped into Kiyoka’s chest, desperately clinging fast to him. Her tears welled over one after the other, ceaselessly.

Kiyoka lightly wriggled his fingers about in annoyance at his hands being bound, before he crouched down.

Then, in her ear, he left a single whisper.

“I love you.”

“…A-ah.”

The words of love fell gently and disappeared like stardust.

He patted a tuft of Miyo’s hair with his hand, conveying his warmth to her, and then separated.

“I should have told you sooner. And whatever your feelings for me may be, my heart won’t change.”

Kiyoka turned around, not allowing himself to feel any lingering reluctance to part from her.

His hair, tied together with a purple cord, swayed in the dim darkness of night, beneath heavy clouds that blocked the moonlight.

The strength in her legs giving out, she sunk down to the freezing white carpet below her.

“But, Miyo. Please, let me be a bit selfish… I want you to keep waiting. Until I return. Wait in that house for me.”

She was unable to see Kiyoka’s expression as he gave his parting words.

His familiar form gradually grew farther and farther away.

Oh, why?

She had known, hadn’t she? Known what Usui was scheming. That he would be coming after Kiyoka.

Yet she had been satisfied just warning him about the danger, pleased that it seemed like things had been resolved for the time being.

She had had the time. Several hours, more than enough. And despite it all, what exactly had Miyo done?

She had basked in self-satisfaction, merely pretending as though she had done her part, as if she was trying to accomplish something, despite not actually doing anything at all.

Meanwhile, in these few hours, Usui had made his move and captured Kiyoka just like that.

I’ve been such a fool.

She had convinced herself that she couldn’t have done anything to save him because she was being protected. She could use neither arts nor her Gift, and she had been slow to start learning about them. There was nothing to be done, and she didn’t have any other options.

Miyo had only herself to blame for coming up with those excuses, for neglecting to act.

She had tried to convince herself that Kiyoka was strong and that he would be all right. Even though Usui had told her otherwise.

She should have known.

In this world, you couldn’t take anything for granted. Unfairness and irrationality were everywhere, and if she didn’t resist, nothing would change.

I might not ever be able to see Kiyoka again. And it’s all my fault.

She no longer had any way to answer the love he had given her.

In truth, she had long realized her own feelings, and yet she hadn’t conveyed them to him when she could’ve. Instead, she had simply run away from them.

That, too, was entirely Miyo’s fault.

The inside of her head felt like it was filling with snow, losing its heat and going stark white.

“Sniff… Waaugh…”

Miyo covered her face with both hands and wailed.