Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

"Let's discuss the more detailed aspects when you get back, Akemi. I think we can prepare for our final pre-battle meeting. — Call me when you get back."

Mingmei gave an affirmative answer.

Yuri then returned the phone to Lehweh.

In just over a minute, the reporter in front of me looked like he was about to fall asleep... no, he was about to fall asleep.

"Um... Ah, okay, give it to me." Yuri even waved the phone in front of her before she reacted.

"Are you alright? I feel like you need to rest."

"I do need to rest, but it's not the right time yet. I feel I have to see this through to the end, or I won't be satisfied."

"You weren't like this a few minutes ago."

"A few minutes ago I was trying to perk myself up by looking at all sorts of useful and useless information, but... phew... it's not working now."

Because Yuri has emerged, and she doesn't intend to work under the observation of others, that's roughly the idea. The reporter's speech was somewhat slow, and some of the wording was a little off, but it didn't affect understanding.

Yuri focused his mind and recalled what he had seen on the screen; he had failed.

It wasn't that he couldn't remember, but rather that he realized he didn't recognize any of the things in the images he could recall—in fact, he had never even touched a computer.

With a sigh, I looked back at the scene before me and realized that in just a few seconds, the reporter had started to sway again.

"I think you need to rest for a bit. I happen to be waiting for someone here, so I can help keep an eye on things."

Hojo Rei looked Yuri up and down, seemingly assessing his credibility, then nodded, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes.

He lost consciousness in just over ten seconds, which shows he was really exhausted.

Or perhaps he's pretending to be asleep.

If they were truly asleep, then they would be considered to have lacked vigilance.

Yuri also shifted to a more natural posture—a posture that would appear more natural to others—and continued to contemplate the future in his mind.

About half an hour passed, and nothing particularly noteworthy happened. Yuri devised dozens of plans in his mind, each with a huge flaw that could be discovered in just ten seconds of careful thought.

The reporter's phone rang, startling her awake. She instinctively answered the phone.

Then, after exchanging a few words with someone on the other end of the phone (whose identity he didn't know), he handed the phone to Yuri.

It was clearly a call from Mingmei.

"It's me." I'll greet her first to let Akemi speak.

"I'm back in the square in front of the station. When can you come?"

I arranged a meeting place with Mingmei immediately, returned the phone, and thanked her.

Yuri got up to leave and noticed that the reporter behind her had also stood up and stuffed her laptop into his backpack, albeit with some difficulty.

Hmm... she clearly wants to attend.

Well, things have come to this point, so let her stay. Anyway, we've already revealed most of what we could, so what difference does a little more make?

The two walked one after the other towards Mingmei's direction.

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.

Mingmei chose the parking lot as the meeting place.

At this moment, there was no one nearby, no intelligent creatures... at least none longer than twenty centimeters, and of course, no spirits. Although it was unknown how long this state could be maintained, Mingmei had indeed chosen a good place.

She was slightly surprised to see that there were two people there, but her expression quickly returned to normal.

"You've arrived. Although I thought there would only be one person... Anyway, let me tell you what I've discovered."

She then very quickly described what she had seen and heard.

On her way to the target location, she passed through the rat swarm's movement route several times. Based on her deduction, about half of the rats were released directly from the target location.

Yuri interrupted Akemi here—he argued that with such a large rat population scattered across a wide area of ​​the two cities, how could half of them have come from the target location? Had Akemi made a mistake, perhaps mistaking the other rats for those from the target location?

“You’re in too much of a hurry, Yuri. I’m about to get to the next part—these rats are different from the ones we found before, but they’re similar to the ones that were confronting us in the square outside—some of them are large, upright rat spirits. It might sound strange, but I think they might be officers, leading the rat swarm. —And not just one swarm, but almost half of them are like that.”

...That must have come from the core of the target location. Whether the resonance in other places reached the strength to make these rat spirits appear is another matter. This hierarchical relationship is obviously assigned.

It's impossible that at least half of them are naturally occurring.

"Sorry, I can't see what you're talking about. Even with a camera, all I can see is a white blur—is this giant rat spirit you're talking about powerful?" Hojo Reie seemed to have regained her senses after walking all that way and was actively asking questions.

Yuri also looked at Akemi—he was also eager to know the answer to this question.

"To be honest, he's not that strong. According to my estimate, he's probably at level two... Oh, you might not know about this level division. Level two level... well, like Yuri."

Yuri's eyes widened. "You said you wanted to explain halfway through, but why did you have to step on my foot in the process?"

"You mean, add them all up? Do you include the rats on the side?" Lehhui asked, seeking more specific details.

"—Of course not, I was talking about one." Akemi said matter-of-factly.

"How many are there in total?" the reporter, who had captured Yuri's interest, pressed on.

"I haven't counted, but I estimate the total is at least several dozen or even a hundred. It's hard to say how many are in the target location." The high school girl mystic, who didn't understand human nature, continued to spout nonsense.

"Wait, wait! Dozens or even hundreds of me? That's a huge problem!?" Yuri gestured to Akemi with his eyes, urging her to share any good news quickly—for example, that these rat spirits actually fell apart as they walked, or were chased and wiped out by stray cats on the roadside—

“That explains their problem,” Akemi said slowly, ignoring Yuri’s overflowing resentment. “First of all, their basic skills… are even worse than Yuri’s. By the standards of punching and kicking, I think I could take on three or four of them.”

That's really weak. Yuri's physical condition is already not good, and these rat spirits are even worse than Yuri. They might even be able to compete for the title of the weakest level two spirit.

But what about next?

"Secondly, they seem to have absolutely no strange effects of psychic energy or spiritual power—of course, it's also possible that I'm ignoring the weaker ones; they don't even talk much."

...This doesn't seem quite right. Although different spirits vary in strength, it's generally not the case that one spirit's physical body and special abilities are both exceptionally weak at the same time, let alone all of them being like that.

"Wait, Akemi, how did you determine that? The body is an external thing, so it's one thing if you can see it, but how do you know she doesn't have special abilities?" Yuri found a problem. "Maybe she just hasn't shown them yet, or maybe they're not particularly suitable for the environment so she hasn't used them."

"Just like the reason I know I can take on three or four opponents." The high school girl's eyes darted around.

What does that mean? Yuri stared at Akemi, waiting for further explanation.

The high school girl, whose attempt to deceive them failed, sighed, "So, when I drove straight through them, a rat spirit blocked my way and almost pulled me off the motorcycle. I had to drive and personally smash it to pieces to get away."

Good grief, who said they were just going to scout and wouldn't take any action?!

Chapter Ninety-Two: Irrelevant Persons and Volunteers

"In short, since I killed it and it didn't show any special abilities, then it probably didn't have any, right?" Mingmei declared.

Yuri and the reporter tacitly agreed... otherwise, what? Were they bound by some extremely powerful force, absolutely unable to reveal their trump cards even at the cost of their lives? They certainly lacked common sense about the occult, but this was something that probably didn't require occultism to make a judgment.

"You only saw the larger rat spirits that went to other places, but didn't see the ones that came back?"

"It's not that there aren't any, but the number is less than those who went—I saw about six or seven go, but only one came back, and when it came back, it didn't have any little mice with it."

"...Do you know those people guarding the nodes? Are they stronger or weaker than you?" Yuri avoided using words like werewolves.

"If they were in their normal state, no one would be stronger than me. However, they couldn't possibly maintain their normal mode under these circumstances, otherwise they would be stronger than me—at the very least, they would be about the same as me, in terms of physical strength only," said the person in charge of the Soul Hunter. "In terms of special abilities, I am still a more ordinary type, and I can't be as convenient as they are."

Simply put, they are basically superior to Mingmei in every way.

"So, are they forced to stand still and defend the node to the death, or...?"

"Of course they would take the initiative to kill these rat spirit captains. Their problem is arrogance, but it never includes inferiority or cowardice."

...In other words, most of those who didn't return were dead. Only the rat spirits who happened to have their underlings wiped out but survived would return alone, and such a proportion was extremely small.

"Excuse me, who exactly are these people you're talking about?" Hojo Reie asked.

Akemi glanced at Yuri, giving him a look that said, "See, you brought her here and caused trouble."

Yuri shrugged, indicating, "Well, there's nothing I can do. What can I do but not let her come?"

Yuri wasn't entirely sure if he and Minmei understood things correctly, but he figured there wasn't much of a difference.

“They are spirit hunters, a group of guys who have been at odds with these spirits for years, but sometimes they also mess with humans… I know some people in them, so I’m cooperating with them in this incident.” Akemi finally decided to reveal some information, “They have bad tempers, so if you want to interview them, remember to go to their place in person and get permission. Don’t do it without permission, and definitely don’t sneak around following them.”

"Well, I see."

Yuri had no idea whether the reporter actually knew or not, but Minmei seemed unwilling to dwell on the matter.

"In short, are these rat spirit captains really that...cheap?" Yuri brought the question back, "There seem to be quite a few level two spirits, but can they really be wasted like this?"

Several hours have passed since the start of the battle. At a rate of killing one every half hour, six or seven points should have killed more than ten or even dozens by now.

"Under normal circumstances, of course not. Although Level Two sounds weak, and it is indeed weak, most of them are just strong enough to protect themselves. If they stay in a corner, they won't easily get into trouble. If you are that kind of person, would you happily head towards a path that is doomed to death?"

Let alone Level 2, anyone who can do arithmetic wouldn't think that way.

"In addition to their low ability and intelligence, and their uniformity, I have a conjecture—they may have been promoted in the heat of battle. The mastermind behind the scenes temporarily elevated some lower-level rat spirits to this level and then threw them into missions with a high chance of survival. Those who survived were considered to have passed the test. I think many spirits would do this, because people die for wealth, and rats die for food."

Yuri hadn't considered this direction, but if it could be done, it certainly made sense.

"Is it really possible? I mean, have you ever really heard of anyone or anything that can do it? What exactly has this ability to directly elevate the level of a spirit?"

If they had that ability, countless spirits would flock to them, but right now all we see are rats.

"Yes, if you ask whether this ability exists in the world, then it definitely does. My grandfather said that when he was young, he saw a magician in a foreign country who could instantly strengthen the spirit—for about an hour."

"This has gone on for much longer than an hour now—"

"That only means the mastermind behind it is stronger. In short, the ability to temporarily enhance a spirit body exists, but I don't know what the specific limitations are."

It seems the conclusion is clear: Mingmei's statement makes perfect sense.

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.

"This is the first piece of information."

Yuri, who was about to get to his own topic, was choked up.

The first message? This is the first message? Are there more bad news coming up?

"The second piece of information is this—based on my observation, the mastermind's location is not in the residential house we previously expected, but in a nearby location—the garbage dump in the same area. Yuri, we've passed by there many times before."

The reporter pulled up a map on his phone and pointed out the location of the nearby landfill.

Mingmei glanced at it and nodded in confirmation, "Yes, that's it."

Yuri did indeed pass by that place many times, so many times that he eventually became oblivious to it.

"I'm sorry I didn't see the layout of the junkyard this time, but the surrounding spiritual energy seemed almost materialized to me—and there was also a particularly large portal to the Shadow Realm there."

The high school student mystic then explained in detail what she had seen.

No, she didn't rush into the garbage dump, or even get within fifty meters of it, because a large number of rat spirits were pouring out of the garbage dump in droves.

The walls of the landfill blocked her view, but they did not block the overflowing spiritual energy.

Although it cannot be seen directly, cracks can be vaguely perceived from the edge—meaning that the gate to the Shadow Realm is here.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry for my ignorance, but what exactly is this 'Gateway to the Shadow Realm' we're talking about?" the reporter raised his hand again. "Does it allow the mastermind to come to this world? What are its specific characteristics?"

Yuri wanted to answer when he heard the first part, but he backed down when faced with the second part of the question.

In fact, he was somewhat surprised by his synchronization with the reporter, as Hojo Reie often seemed to be able to ask the same questions that he wanted to ask.

Akemi glanced at Yuri's expression and then sighed.

"That's right, the Gate to the Shadow Realm is the gateway that allows spirits to enter the material world. As for its characteristics, to those who can see spirits, it's a distinct sense of separation; the air is filled with fragments and cracks. If you jump in and don't break apart, you'll reach the Shadow Realm. Of course, this refers to a relatively natural Gate to the Shadow Realm. Artificially constructed ones are often simply circular entrances, accessible only from a specific angle, but this greatly reduces the risk of cutting the entrant into a sashimi-like state. If you get close enough, you can also sense something there, a great danger, even if you can't see it."

Then, Akemi briefly described the usual opening conditions of the Shadow Gate, a part that Yuri had already heard.

"Finally, didn't I tell you I had a plan, Yuri?"

Yes, I did say that.

"So, what is the plan?"

"I discovered that when I was fighting with that officer rat, the rats didn't target me as their primary attack target—they all went for the motorcycle that had slid to the ground, or more precisely, for the shrine inside."

“The total energy in the shrine isn’t too low, but it’s not exceptionally high either. However, it’s very easy to absorb, making it a better target than you, who are currently putting up a fierce resistance,” Yuri tried to analyze. “But wait a minute, isn’t this tantamount to selling out their leader?”

"That's true. This only shows that they have very little control over their subordinates. If they act properly, the people driving the motorcycles could lure away a large number of the rats."

A large part, not all, but it seems like a good idea.

"So, Yuri, you've been hanging on the back of the car for so long, you should have learned to drive by now, right?" Akemi said meaningfully.

"Don't be crazy, I never imagined I'd need to drive one day." Yuri deflected the question without hesitation.

If Akemi is planning to have Yuri drive while she confronts the mastermind herself... well, maybe she should forget about it.

"Anyway, this plan is good. Are you finished? If you are, it's my turn."