Kazuha arrived at her destination. After sending the suspicious individual to the police for his inappropriate activity, she heads to her destination without stopping.
"Ah, Shiratori-san is here." One of the members says.
"Hello," she greeted them. There are around four people who are a part of the militia including a raven haired boy she knows; Kurosawa Masato.
"My name is Okuda. I am the leader of this team." the man said to her. "I heard you are the grandmaster Shiratori's daughter." then he paused. "You have his eyes." he commented.
"Can you explain the mission and my part in it?"
"Yes," he said. "There is a case where people keep disappearing at a bridge because they were always taken by a demon. We heard it is sound related but no matter how we try to approach it, it always gets the upper hand on us and we always get knocked out before we have a chance to fight. We believe you are able to help us."
"Does covering your ears not work?" Kurosawa asked.
A member shook his head. "No, we tried that but it still doesn't work." he said.
"Alright, but I insist on handling this alone."
"Are you sure?"
"I trust her." Kurosawa said. "She and I were classmates and I've seen her fight."
She and Kurosawa walk to the bridge when suddenly, a mist started appearing and Kazuha heard humming and stare to see a woman on the other side of the bridge. She has long brown hair that covers her face except her mouth and a pale, lithe figure.
"You killed me." she mouthed but there is no sound.
She made a scream but Kazuha, unfazed, turned to the three and snapped her fingers at them which sends a shockwave which grows stronger by every echo. Two of them members collapsed with only Okuda left standing but stunned. Kurosawa then pulled out a wand.
"Dispel," he says and the woman fell back and turn into a bake-tanuki.
Kazuha looked around to see the two members quickly turn into different demons who are left unconscious. There was a blonde fur kitsune and a young oni. Kurosawa left to deal with this while Kazuha deals with Okuda.
Unfazed, she stared at Okuda who is stunned by his own spell. "I see why I was specifically called here along with Kurosawa."
"What? How? I thought your potential is enhanced hearing."
"Enhanced hearing is one of my abilities but you overlooked something. You should have update on me before you made your move." Kazuha said smugly.
"I was told that there are three soldiers and two exorcists. And you didn't think to bring the exorcists first when you mention a demon? It could've been a spirit for all we know. You're not in a position to confirm that and move on with these circumstances that you described." Kurosawa said.
"Next, your state. Kitsune magic is extremely convincing. I was fooled as sound cannot easily detect what I can see. The oni has the ability to see into my memories. You try to have an advantage over me by showing me my past. You have no idea how many people attempted that trick. I'm practically immune to it now. Also, that bake-tanuki is better at shapeshifting and acting than the Kitsune. Even if I attack it, the illusion wouldn't disappear and you can attack me while I'm distracted." She directed her head at Kurosawa before staring back at him. "He is a western magic user who has a good eye for spotting illusions and given me a warning before I got on that bridge." she said tapping her hearing aids. "Also, you're missing a red tag on the lining of your sleeves. That tag is enchanted. If you are still yourself then it would be there to show that you are not Okuda. No amount of illusion can copy that and the same goes for the rest."
He looked at his uniform and notice she is right.
"The moment you spoke, I knew that you're a demon." Kazuha said. "It's too much of an explanation but I can always tell a difference." she says in a condescending tone as she kicked him to the ground.
"Where is the real team?"
"You're staring at them."
Kazuha looked at five corpses in the river. They are of no doubt the real team. Their eyes were gouged, completely skinned head to toe and their hearts are ripped from their chests in a gruesome fashion.
"How cruel." Kazuha grit her teeth with a pained expression. "What are you?" she said.
"Do you not want to know why I did this, child?"
"You've eaten their hearts, tore their skin off and taken their eyes. It obvious. You want their forms and abilities." she said. "Homicide on our kind who use magic and chi are no surprise when the motives are obvious." Kazuha and Kurosawa dragged the three unconscious creatures and restrain them in a barrier and the fake Okuda was put in a separate one.
"I'm guessing you looked into their memories and found out about me thus lying to your superiors. You probably think that I have a potential and lure me here to steal it probably thinking it will be easy to steal their heiress's ability, right?"
Okuda looks quite flustered as he could finally move and his disguise begins to shed showing his true form; a Kappa.
"The question is why? I thought that kitsune looked weird enough but it's from a foreign land. Why would it be here?" Kurosawa said.
"Why my abilities specifically?" Kazuha said and kneeled in front of him to go eye to eye with him. "There are tons of those with potentials who are weaker than me and those that are left to be undiscovered. You probably only know of me through memories of those people but it seems you don't know everything."
The kappa is still silent. "You are a child. You wouldn't understand anything."
"The fact that you are awake from that earlier attack is quite shocking. You did get powerful from eating the flesh of five people after all. The kappa I am familiar with are usually friendly with humans. In fact, all of your kind are. But a few bad apples can't ruin the bunch. Killing you will probably make things worse for our mutual relationship." she said then pull out a butterfly knife and put it at his throat. "As for me not understanding, I think we have that in common than you'd expect." Her voice sounding deadly.
He flinched seeing her bloodlust.
"You must have eaten more humans for your bunch to be able to kill two exorcists and three soldiers from the Tokyo militia like that. I may not have permission to kill you but I have permission to take you down if you try anything funny. As much as I would like to know more, I will leave the rest to the interrogation team."
______________________________________________________________
"I have a question?" Kurai asked her. "Why are there so many people from the Inverse living here? I mean, don't they find this place boring?"
Cai Kang looked at Kurai with a plain expression. "Hm, well it is but it is culturally different and it has some interesting things we don't have in Shenmi. But that doesn't make this place any less dangerous." she replied.
"Like what?" Kurai says out of curiosity, "Luminescent is strong enough to take the whole world down if it wants to. They have people infiltrating as normal people and they have the power to stop anything that wants to harm them."
"There are plenty of reasons. Exorcising spirits who are unable to pass on are one of them. If they continue to roam around then they would be problematic. Then there is World War II." Cai Kang says, mildly surprising Kurai.
"The war didn't just affect this world. It affected all of Shenmi too. The veil between our two worlds are thin hence we are able to travel through these two worlds easily but there are cases where it could be damaged thus completely exposing the Inverse to this world's dangers. There are different divisions. Intelligence to watch over the activities of the modern world and exorcists to exorcise spirits; all just to keep the entire Inverse and our existence safe." She finishes.
Kurai waved it off dismissively. "It's been a long time now. It would be interesting if our two worlds interact. It would be fun."
Cai Kang sighed. A long time ago, she would think the same but history is cruel and shows that even if it is with pure intentions, it would be catastrophic.
"This is-" Kurai stop to look around, noticing that the place is familiar.
"Akihabara," Cai Kang says excitedly. "The place where anime enthusiasts come together." Cai Kang read the travel guide books and saw Akihabara in one of the pages. It is both colorful and unique.
"I never pegged you to be the type to be into anime." Kurai said with a slight tone of surprise.
"I never actually watch anime but I read about the place and I love it. It was my only window to this world's Japan." she said.
Both of them had searched for Kazuha the entire day. The search seems fruitless but they enjoyed their time at arcades, maid cafes and other sorts of places. After finding her scent to a bridge, which is blocked entry, they decide to follow the trail from there.
Thanks to Kurai's nose, they managed to find the building Kazuha is in. Both head to an unknown building which looks like an underground concert where they walk in to see a crowd of people cheering on to the band. Cai Kang looked up to see a few familiar faces and saw Kazuha on stage, playing the drums, wearing a mask. Even though she is wearing a mask, he could tell how much she is enjoying it. Kazuha then looked down noticing the guys, staring at them for more than a couple seconds. Even though she is wearing a mask, Cai Kang could definitely tell she is surprised and displeased to see them as she kept playing the instrument.
The pair felt a hand on their shoulder. They turned around to see Maiko and she was unhappy to see them. She dragged the two by the arm and out of the crowd to talk.
"What are you two doing here?" She hissed.
He is surprised to see her, "To find Kazuha. We needed to ask her something." Cai Kang said.
"Ask what? You could've waited. She will be coming back the day after tomorrow anyway." she said.
"None of your business, now what are you doing here?" Kurai asked her.
"To hang out. Kazuha, I and a few others came from missions and now we're hanging out together." she said.
"You?" Kurai said in disbelief.
"I'm a miko. I am a part of the exorcist group in this world." She said. "Many supernatural things bleed from the Inverse into this world leaving us quite short staffed. It may seem like a minor issue but in here, everyone else is helpless against it. There is a school in Tokyo which teaches subjects from the Inverse to people like us. Most of the graduates from that school usually take care of those problems as long as we get paid and prevent any interference from the Inverse."
Kurai is confused.
Cai Kang turned to Kurai. "Whenever there are problems, they usually post it on a forum for freelancers with monetary rewards. It's like a video game with quests. And they pay a lot for it."
"People in this world are unable to fix any supernatural issues or abnormalities by themselves so we always come in the picture. We get paid and sponsored for our activities." Maiko said. "Don't worry. There are plenty of adults who take care of the really dangerous jobs. We just do the minor ones but we still risk our lives out there so we get paid really well."
"How much?!" Kurai says in disbelief.
Maiko grabbed her bank book and showed it to Kurai and Cai Kang. She was recently paid 250,000 yen. Both gaped at the amount.
"I had to purify a haunted item that's been terrorizing a family for years. They gave me this much." she said nonchalantly.
"Kazuha never told you?" Maiko said and Cai Kang sheepishly scratched her head.
"Not really."
"What is your school called?"
"Sorano Academy but it is separate from the main campus as to not have them interfere with each other. Luminescent is all about secrecy so any student from Luminescent who goes to the modern world go to this school in the Class D system."
"That school?" Kurai said in disgust. "I heard all kinds of rumors about it. It's a school for a bunch of rich kids whose parents have money to spare."
"Sorano is a real school. It's just separated into classes. Class A-C are the normal students. Class D are the ones with the different building where we train and learn the Luminescent's curriculum."
"I heard of D-class too. It's something about them being a class of failures at least until they became the underdogs." He said.
Cai Kang didn't know a system like this exists so when Kazuha said that she and her middle school classmates were close, it is because of the Class D system.
"The performance won't be done for another two hours." She said looking at her watch.
"Two hours?" Cai Kang said in disbelief.
Maiko pinched her nose in frustration. "Why are you here?"
"We need to ask her something."
"I also heard you took something from her room." She glared at them. "Perverts"
"We are not!" They yelled.
"Anyway, how do you know that?" Cai Kang asked her.
"Saeko-san called Kazuha, telling her that Cai Kang took something from her room and left with it. She told me to stay behind to find you."
The guys started heavily denying the accusation, leaving her to be even more annoyed.
"Okay! Shut up! Once she is done, you can ask her but go home tomorrow. We are to meet with the others."
"Mai-Mai, what's wrong?" There are two girls approaching her. One of them is Uesaka, one of the girls that Cai Kang met from Shenmi, She has twin braids and a beret this time. Another is an unknown tan skinned girl with bleached hair and a leather jacket.
"Are these guys bothering you? Want me to deal with them?" The gyaru girl cracked her knuckles.
"No, Ishigo. They were just leaving." Maiko faced them and flicked her head in their direction to leave which prompted both of them to leave but Maiko left them a slip of paper which had the address of the hotel.
"So that's where they were." Cai Kang said as he noticed that there was barely any daylight left. "But those girls. They seem different. I don't know what though."
"Don't tell me you are attracted to them. Although I've got to say they're a sight for sore eyes." Kurai teased.
"Shut up, you know that's not what I meant." Cai Kang clamored.
"Let's get out of here." Kurai said, noticing and pulling out the piece of paper Maiko snuck in his pocket.
"She gave us a lead."
After the performance was over with so many songs, Kazuha wiped her sweat and quickly left, bumping into her friends.
"I'm so jealous." The gyaru girl said. "You got a cool guy after you."
"Both of them should be waiting for us at the hotel." Maiko said.
"Why are they here?" Kazuha said.
"No clue. But they are definitely up to no good." She said with a huff. "They took the box as Saeko-san said."
Kazuha is mildly surprised. "Of all the things they took from my room, they took that?" She says and groans. "If they are here then they must know what it is."
"Should we take it back?" Maiko suggested.
"I don't think it's that simple. They are invested now so we just need to figure out what's going on."
Kazuha got her things and after saying goodbye with the rest of the band, she went to the hotel where she is to meet everyone else.
______________________________________________________________
Cai Kang and Kurai got themselves a hotel room and decided to look around the city before they get back to kill some time. After they are done with their tour, it was already dark out and they head back to their hotel room. In the meantime, Chiemi decides to visit them after hearing the story from them.
"Ah! This is so frustrating." Cai Kang said while lying on her bed.
"All because of this?" Chiemi opened the box to reveal the pearl. "Oh how beautiful." She grabbed the pearl.
"Wait, don't touch that!" They yelled.
"What's wrong?" She said while holding it.
That left them flabbergasted. "Nothing?" Cai Kang said. "It doesn't hurt?"
"No. I feel fine." Chiemi said while examining it. "Why?" Then she stopped. "It's not cursed or radioactive, is it?" She panicked.
Kurai then touched the pearl in Chiemi's hand and held back in pain. "That still hurt." he hissed.
"So I was right. Our curses are connected." Cai Kang silently said and the duo stared at the box.
"Wait, did you say that this pearl came from this box?" Both of them looked at Chiemi as she examined it then paused as she noticed the box. Despite her expression, Cai Kang knew that she knows something.
"You saw this thing before?" asked Cai Kang.
"No, it's very beautiful." She said while examining it and looked inside. "Is it yours?"
She's trying to change the subject. thought Cai Kang.
Then there is a knock on the door which opens up to reveal Maiko. "It's me! Kazuha is back and taking a shower right now."
Maiko saw the box in her sister's hand and looked up with a frown on her face.
"So that's what you took." Maiko said and took the box away.
"You know this box?" Kurai asked.
She observed it. "Yeah, This was the box that Kazuha keeps in her room so why the hell did you bring this here?" she said to the guys.
"We needed to ask Kazuha some questions about the pearl." Cai Kang said.
Maiko's eyes met Cai Kangs' "Pearl? So you stole the box from her room."
"See for yourself" Cai Kang opened it and Maiko saw the pearl in the box and examined it.
"Is this real?" she said, observed the pearl then frowned at them. "I see how this is. You want to sell it and get the money with her permission." Maiko said.
"What is with you and getting straight to the point without hearing us out first?" Kurai vexed.
"Whatever the case, you went into her room while she was out and took something from there while she is gone. Any explanation of what you were doing in there in the first place?" Maiko interrogated.
"We can't touch it." Cai Kang said.
"What do you mean, can't touch it?" Maiko said in confusion.
"Exactly what Kame meant. Everytime we touch it, it burns. Gin has this and we hope for an explanation."
"Hm, maybe this hurts only people who are cursed?" Maiko said.
"Could be." Cai Kang said.
Maiko looked at the box after closing it with the pearl inside. "Well, I don't know much about curses but I do know this. This does not belong to you. You could have just waited if it is important." She said.
That left them confused. "It also doesn't belong to Kazuha either, isn't that right?" Cai Kang said.
Maiko didn't respond to that. "Don't pin this on her." She threatened.
"We just want to know where she got this box. Why are you making this so difficult?" Kurai said sensing tension.
Maiko looked confused. "You told me that you found this pearl in the box." She then shook her head. "I don't believe you. It was empty. It was always empty."
"No, it's not. The pearl was inside the box when I found it."
Maiko is finding it hard to believe. It is written all over her face. "I'll show you what I mean." she said and pulled out a crumbled out gum wrapper out of her pocket and put it in the box and took the pearl out. After closing the box, she placed her hand on it so that the others won't try to forcibly open it themselves. After a couple seconds, she opened the box and the wrapper is gone, startling both Kurai and Cai Kang.
"What else does it do?" Cai Kang asked.
"That's it." she said with a wearly expression.
"That's it?!" They yelled.
"Yeah. Other than making things disappear after leaving things in the box for a few seconds, it doesn't do anything. Anything that disappears inside the box doesn't come back. No one knows where it goes to. That's why I have much trouble believing what you guys said." She explained.
"Looks like we won't get any actual answers unless we hear it from Shiratori-san." Chiemi said.
Maiko got a text. "She's done. She'll meet you guys in her hotel room."
They all walked to the hotel room and noticed how nice and big it looks inside compared to theirs. "Jeez, how much did they pay for?" Cai Kang exclaimed.
"In case you do not know, I am also a high schooler whose talents are always on demand whenever an event happens so I earn more than you'd expect from each show." She said. "But that isn't important right now. What did you steal from my room and why are you here?" she asked coldly.
"They found something in the box." Maiko asked who showed the pearl inside the box.
"Really?" Kazuha expressed her shock, finding it hard to believe. Kurai gave her the box and she opened it to see the pearl. "How did you manage to open the lock?" she said.
Cai Kang hesitantly gave box. "I heard the sound of something breaking and saw this pearl."
"We touched the pearl and it hurts us when we try to touch it. But for some reason, it happens only if Cai Kang and I touch it. Where did you get the box?" Kurai said.
Kazuha was confused and touched it. Nothing. "Weird." She said while examining it.
"Now tell us where you got this from. When did you get it? Who gave it to you?" Kurai was impatient.
"Attitude," Maiko muttered behind his back but he ignored it.
Kazuha seemed confused before she revert back to her blank self. "I got this box two years ago. It was a present from an old friend who passed away." She said while stroking the edges of the box.
"Oh, a memento?" Cai Kang said.
"Yeah, it is." She said softly before putting the box away and standing up from her chair. "Now, I would appreciate it that you'd go back."
Kurai and Cai Kang stood up. "Nuh-uh, Silver eyes. We're taking the pearl. We need answers."
"I know nothing of the pearl and your connection to it and I honestly do not care. Take the pearl and go. I only want the box." Kazuha calmly says.
Kurai grabbed a towel from the bathroom and grabbed the pearl with it and walked away from the room but not before seeing the look on her face. Exhilarating.
Cai Kang closed the door and turned to Kurai. "Why the hell do you need to confront her like that? You know she would be sensitive about her memento from a dead friend." Cai Kang says abruptly.
"Is it just me or does her eyes glow?" Kurai said.
Cai Kang sighed. "You really made her mad. Her eyes glow when she's pissed enough."
"They're cute." Kurai bashfully commented before looking at the door.
Cai Kang is stunned to hear that. "Oh, c'mon! Don't tell me that you have a crush on her?" Cai Kang facepalmed.
"Nope, just curious." he said and looked at the pearl before heading back to the hotel room.
"Ugh! He's gonna be the death of me." Cai Kang groaned before following him to the room.
______________________________________________________________
"Something finally came out of the box." Maiko says with certainty. "It looks like we might have to make preparations."
Kazuha was silent.
"Should we get the pearl?" Chiemi asked.
Kazuha thought for a moment. "No. We should wait for his orders."
"You sure he knows what he's doing?" Chiemi questioned.
"Call it a hunch. He will tell us tonight once he gets the news."