Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

“Of course not, at least they shouldn’t bite you before you bite them—it’s a train station, with so many people coming and going, do you often hear about accidents happening at train stations?” Yuri also lowered his voice, though he didn’t know why.

“The station is a high-crime area, didn’t you know? Although it seems like there’s no place here that isn’t a high-crime area—” Hojo Reie raised her voice a few times before lowering it again, “It’s not like I haven’t been to this station before! I never felt this way before! And the old photos didn’t have those things everywhere.”

...Ah, that's because of the increased overall resonance. Judging from Yuri's previous trip, there are quite a few animal spirits in the station, and they will also be closer to manifesting due to the increased resonance.

"Actually, they are just blocking the rats. As long as you don't run into them, they shouldn't attack you, since there's bigger trouble outside."

Yuri replied, and just as she was about to ask whether she had actually gathered the information she had mentioned earlier, the reporter brought up the matter.

"I hope you're right. I've found what you asked me to find. It may not be perfect, but in my opinion, the most important thing is that it's something we're both familiar with, yet it's unexpected." This statement sounds a bit like he's deliberately being mysterious.

"You mean that cult meeting place?"

First, Yuri had long suspected that the cult was involved in this matter.

Secondly, Hojo Rei knew that Yuri was familiar with only three places: the cult meeting place, the coffee shop, and the train station.

"...Uh, you're right. The core area can't be said to be exactly centered on that residence, but it does happen to include it." The reporter's voice carried a sense of dejection after being rebuffed.

“Great, thank you very much—” Yuri was about to hang up.

"—Wait, I haven't finished yet!"

Yuri felt a little embarrassed and had to forcefully change his posture. "Okay, please continue."

"According to information from another source, the people sent to the hospital showed multiple signs such as fever, vomiting, and loss of consciousness. The hospital believes they are suffering from an infectious disease, but Japan's preparedness for infectious diseases... well, let's just say it's a complete mess." The reporter paused. "Of course I know they didn't become like this because of an infectious disease, but that also means the doctors can't properly treat them. Do you know what will happen in the end? — Will they eventually 'die'?"

Yuri didn't know the answer to that question.

Moreover, he doesn't mind being honest about this matter; it would be a big problem if he were wrongly taken as an authority.

"To be honest, I don't know. If I wanted to know, I would probably have to get close to them and observe them carefully to determine, but I really don't have that time or opportunity right now—are they that serious, so serious that you're worried they might die?"

Not only do I not have time, but I'm also stuck at home.

“I just have this feeling that, based on what I’ve learned, the victims’ condition is generally deteriorating. People who could speak at first are now often confused—it’s as if the rats have eaten away at something inside them.” The reporter lowered his voice. “So if you find the time and opportunity, please tell me what you’ve observed—I have a good friend who is now a victim.”

"No problem. Please let me know if there is any new information, as I might need it."

The reporter hung up the phone.

Akemi wasn't woken up by the noise, which suggests she might not be in the best condition and needs rest.

Perhaps setting up the array hastily after discovering the threat of the rats consumed a considerable amount of energy? Yuri could only speculate about the reason.

So, what should we do next?

Time continued to tick by, and Yuri felt that if he did nothing, he would definitely regret it, but if he did something, he might start to regret it immediately.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Another half hour passed.

Just as Yuri was considering whether he should restart his research on the shield (he had been thinking about it for five minutes), a strange feeling interrupted him.

No, it wasn't a strange feeling, but rather "sounds I shouldn't have heard"—howling and howling in downtown Tokyo?

Yuri struggled to figure out what was going on. It was indeed a howling sound, and it was a howling sound that was spreading through the Twilight Spirit Realm—then the extremely weak rat spirits attached to the doors and windows were all shattered by the sound—and the rest were also in a panic.

They were already quite messy, but they still generally covered the entrances and exits of the room. However, now, due to panic, they have scattered, creating gaps outside the windows.

Breaking out now would be easy, but firstly, Akemi isn't fully awake yet (there's noise on her side, so she probably can't sleep), and secondly, if the howling outside is coming from the enemy, leaving the house rashly would seem like a disaster.

Observing the mouse closely, Yuri suspected that if it was merely panic, the wolf howl lacked real power and was instead a well-known marker within the spirit community (which was also quite frightening).

However, he witnessed firsthand how the weakest part disintegrated on the spot under the influence of sound.

Is this some kind of power that applies to all spirits?

The swift rejection meant that, as a spirit, Yuri was not disintegrated. In fact, he was unaffected in any way, except for the usual instinctive analysis and inner shock that followed when encountering special circumstances.

This is most likely an ability that only works on spirits.

But he immediately became vigilant.

If someone can destroy a swarm of rats with a single shout, what would happen if that power were turned on Yuri? Even if it weren't so applicable, Yuri could still be severely injured if caught off guard.

Soon, in Yuri's perception, an energy source was rapidly approaching, its level... difficult to determine, but hard to imagine it being weaker than Yuri.

Yuri stood in the middle of the room, spreading out the protective barriers, ready to deal with any situation where the other party might rush in through the window or break down the door.

Then, a loud knocking sound came from the door.

An unfamiliar female voice came from outside the door, "Akami! Are you alright!?"

Regardless of who was outside the door, her men certainly didn't stop banging on the door as she shouted. The banging was getting louder and louder, and Yuri felt that the not-so-new door was deteriorating rapidly and probably wouldn't be long before it was sent to the recycling center.

On the other side, Akemi Kakizaki had already jumped out of bed—Yuri's memory replay showed that she also got up the moment she heard the howling—but only a dozen seconds had passed between the start of the howling and someone banging on the door. Could she figure out what was going on?

Yuri observed Akemi's expression, which seemed to be filled with mixed feelings.

"Stop smashing!" Mingmei shouted and rushed towards the door.

The knocking stopped.

At least not an enemy? A more detailed analysis couldn't be completed in a short time, so Yuri decided to do it later. For now, Yuri followed behind Minmei and floated towards the door.

Akemi yanked the door open, revealing a young woman who looked subtly similar to Akemi and was wearing clothes from the same collection.

In her early twenties? It's clear she's put some effort into dressing up (Mingmei rarely does this), but she looks disheveled and far from neat.

Just like the first time I met Akemi.

Another noteworthy point is that the large number of rat spirits that had previously piled up at the entrance have now been completely swept away, making the area much cleaner than the window area. Yuri didn't see exactly how this happened, but the imagination was far more terrifying than reality.

Before making any further observations, Yuri's attention was completely drawn to the ears on the other person's head—judging from the angle and shape, they seemed, probably, definitely, to be canine ears.

"Akimeki—good, come with me now! You can't hold out for long." The beast-eared woman tried to reach out and pull Akimeki, but bumped into the light membrane that was still diligently working.

The light film showed obvious cracks, and Yuri didn't know if he could do it, but it was unlikely he could do it better.

The other party abruptly withdrew their hand, preventing further damage to the light membrane and allowing it to regenerate.

It's also very strong—Yuri hadn't had such good results when he rammed into similar things before.

Fortunately, the rats are now mostly dead or scattered; otherwise, given the intensity of the light membrane just now, some rats might have actually slipped in.

She has a physical form, but she'll be hindered by this light membrane? Why? This light membrane didn't hinder Yuri when he passed through, but it'll stop her... Is she a materialized spirit?

If so, this was the first time Yuri had ever seen a spirit that looked so human.

Chapter 86 Murakami Akisa

"Why are you coming to see me at a time like this?" Mingmei's voice was filled with unspoken emotions that Yuri couldn't decipher... or perhaps he was hallucinating? "Don't you have other things to do?"

"Don't throw a tantrum at a time like this!" The beast-eared woman was very impatient. "Akami, no matter what the reason, you should leave here immediately and go to Okumura. It's safe there."

"I'm safe here too. If you don't keep sabotaging the defense system I designed, I can hold out here for a long time. Also, thank you very much for your help. Without those rats, I have more room to maneuver."

“I can’t stay here forever, Akemi.” The other person took a deep breath and began to try to persuade her calmly. “And they will always come back. This incident has had a huge impact, and we need time to deal with it. Until then, I think you should go to a safe place.”

“I know that. You’re short-handed right now and need any help you can, so I’m trying to help you—but I guess you haven’t given me a chance to do so.” Akemi’s words seemed to imply something. “I don’t know how you plan to ensure my safety at Okumura-ya, but I guess you’ll find a way to exclude me from this situation in any way—”

"You will achieve great things in the future, my child; you are the hope for the future, but not now—"

"I'm not a child anymore! I can do many things!"

"Who taught you such fallacies and heresies? Was it Okumura? How dare he shift these responsibilities onto someone who hasn't fully matured yet—"

"I made this decision myself, you don't understand what I'm saying—"

"You just think you understand—"

"And you think I didn't understand—"

The argument between the two was escalating, and Yuri might be able to gain more information by listening further, but he felt that the situation was heading in a worse direction.

They must be interrupted.

"Nice to meet you. If I'm not mistaken, you are one of the Soul Hunters, right?"

Yuri walked between the two and began to ask for introductions.

"—I heard from Okumura that Akemi has a spirit friend, which is you, right? I don't know what your purpose is, but if you want to make things better for Akemi, you should persuade her to go to a safe place!"

"Well, now even I'm being bitten," Yuri thought.

“If you want the situation to be better for me, you should immediately try to resolve the current situation—this reminds me, what are the Spirit Hunters doing right now?” Mingmei immediately picked up the conversation, “I remember you guys were researching this issue a while ago, but what exactly happened?”

"I'll tell you what happened, and you promise to go to a safe place next—"

It looked like the two were about to start arguing again.

Yuri quickly joined the conversation, "Ahem—I think Akemi is intelligent enough to make the right judgment after understanding everything; she just doesn't know what's going on yet. If you think the situation is dangerous enough that she should go to a safe place, you should say so, and I believe she will make a wise choice."

The animal-eared woman looked at her with a very obvious "who do you think you are?" look, but Akemi was nodding vigorously.

"Alright then, I'll tell you exactly what's happening inside this city."

It's obvious that it's because of Akemi, and has nothing to do with Yuri.

“A powerful Shadow Spirit is launching an attack. It chose a good time. I don’t know if it was a coincidence or premeditated, but it chose to strike when our main force of Spirit Hunters was away.” The woman’s voice was somewhat indignant. “In any case, after it launched its attack, a large part of the city—two and a half districts—was under attack by the Spirit Rat swarm, and they were also targeting several other Spirit Vein nodes.”

Yuri realized that Minmi was looking in his direction, but turning around to look at her now didn't seem like a good idea.

The high school student occultist quickly looked away. "They're attacking multiple targets simultaneously? Have they multiplied to this extent?"

Yuri nodded in agreement. The beast-eared woman had just demonstrated to him how to wipe out a large swarm of rats with a single shout. Of course, it wasn't without its costs, but judging from her appearance, she shouldn't be seriously injured—in this situation, she could easily take down a large area of ​​rats by herself…

Oh, wait a minute.

"Is it to avoid being wiped out by a ranged attack if they all gather together, so they attack multiple areas?" Yuri wondered.

“First of all, Akemi, your question is no, their numbers aren’t that high. In order to launch an attack on those key nodes, the rat population in other areas has become sparse. They emerged from the Shadow Realm, wreaked havoc in the vicinity, and then, under some kind of call, launched an attack on the nearby ley line gathering points.”

She paused for a moment, then turned to Yuri. “Your guess is one of our guesses as well. Another guess is that the mastermind is testing our defenses to see which point is the easiest to breach—the easiest for it to absorb a large amount of spiritual essence.”

"Don't those ley lines have their own guardians?" Yuri immediately thought of the train spirits. "Could it be that they are unable to fight off the rat swarm?"

“Most of them are not enough to withstand the rats’ sustained attacks, no matter how much they claim they can defend themselves—it’s not that we don’t trust the spirits. For example, we didn’t bother with the station; the guards there were more than capable of handling the rats…” She paused, then the beast-eared woman continued, “But even they might need help at any time. After all, it would be too monotonous if the enemy only used rats as their means of attack.”

"Then what are you doing? If you could immediately take down the mastermind and the entire gang that might be behind it, wouldn't the problem be solved?" Mingmei asked a more important question.

But she should have refined her tone a little; Yuri noticed the other person's face was turning pale.

"Of course we're defending every point while calling for reinforcements—once those people at sea swim back, the problem will be solved, and then we'll have enough strength to launch a counterattack. But right now, not only do we not have enough strength, we don't even know where the mastermind is—"

“We know,” Yuri interrupted, “We know roughly where the mastermind is.”

"Wh...you...what is your name?" The beast-eared woman took a step back, looking somewhat hesitant.

"Yuri, just call me Yuri," Yuri replied as calmly as possible.

"You should give your own name before asking someone else's!" Akemi seemed to be speaking up for Yuri...

Or perhaps, Yuri glanced at the woman's face and realized that Akemi was adding fuel to the fire.

"Didn't you tell your companion who I am?" The woman's attention subtly shifted.

"You didn't care who I'm friends with either!?" Mingmei retorted in an even louder voice.

Is this the priority right now?! Don't turn the great cause of saving Tokyo into a family soap opera! Yuri roared silently in his heart, but he dared not say it aloud.

"Murakami Akisa, Murakami, Akisa, alright, you can ask Akemi about the rest—you just said you know where the mastermind is? Where? How do you know?"

"You wait."

Yuri turned and went inside, leaving the two men facing off at the door. He then returned with the map in his hand.

After he pointed out the corresponding location on the map, Akemi's expression changed.

Of course, after all, the two of them had just been there a few days ago.

“A fairly reliable source tells me that the coma in the crowd started in this area. Obviously, this is where the resonance was strongest and where it first occurred. This is certainly the mastermind's lair, or at least a key point in his plan—do you two have any objections?”

Yuri felt he had to take over the discussion and personally control its direction to prevent it from veering off course. And given his limited strength, he should compensate with his speaking speed.

“As long as your source of information is correct, there’s no problem.” While Akemi was still deep in thought, Murakami Akisa responded, “Although I believe we can find the same conclusion after some research, you are indeed one step ahead of us. I will go and investigate first, and if it is indeed true, we will launch a counterattack as soon as the others return and drive this mad spirit out of the material world.”

That sounds reasonable, Yuri thought.

"So, how long after that will this counterattack begin?" Yuri pressed.

“At the fastest, two days, but I estimate it will take three to five days.” Murakami Akisa shook her head. “Of course, I also hope that the counterattack can be launched as quickly as possible, but the time to get back and make preparations cannot be skipped.”

“Can’t we concentrate our existing forces to launch an attack? If we solve the problem, we won’t need to guard each node anymore, right?” Akemi said.

“If we can hit the bullseye in one strike, that’s fine, but what if the other side is just creating a diversion? If we leave our resistance forces empty in this rash attack, then no one will be able to protect the spiritual veins. If the mastermind seizes any of the spiritual vein nodes, then who knows what will happen!” Murakami Akisa refuted without hesitation, but what she said did make sense.