Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

Yuri didn't know much about this, but did that mean that everyone at every local shrine was an official graduate?

As far as Mingmei knew, that wasn't the case. Another method was a combination of years of professional experience and an exam—which was actually easier. However, Mingmei's age meant she couldn't accumulate the required years of professional experience.

Then her connections led her to this school.

He was soon drawn into various incidents, met Yuri... and then Yuri knew everything.

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.

"Werewolf... What level is Murakami Akisa among werewolves?"

This was the only werewolf Yuri had ever seen.

"She's still quite a distance from being 'old' in age; she's probably still growing. But right now, among all the werewolves I know... she's probably at an average level in direct combat, and as for special skills... she's probably at an above-average level."

Mingmei thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I haven't inquired about all her abilities in detail, but I've heard that her Moon Sign is classified as an assassin. As the name suggests, assassins are very dependent on their condition and opportunities."

Yuri had heard of this before. Lunar omens are divided into five types: full moon, waxing moon, gibbous moon, crescent moon, and new moon. The full moon specifically refers to the day when the moon is at its fullest during the waxing moon, and the corresponding omens are Rahu, Ithaeur, Cahalith, Elodoth, and Irraka, respectively. In layman's terms, they are warrior, shaman, poet, judge, and assassin.

This is just an innate tendency. There's no truth to the claim that a shaman werewolf can never beat a warrior werewolf in a fight, but there are still some differences.

"Do you have any particular thoughts? For example... do you want to become a werewolf?" Yuri chose to ask the question that would have the greatest impact on the future. It was true that Akemi had kept the werewolf thing from him all along, but at the same time, what she said about humans was also genuinely heartfelt.

She didn't seem very interested in becoming a werewolf.

“That’s a good question, and I haven’t decided on my answer yet. Or rather, I don’t know much about it.” Akemi spread her hands. “It’s obvious that my aunt, Akisa Murakami, thinks I should become a werewolf, and to her it’s a matter of course—to my grandfather, the answer to this question is obviously the opposite.”

Yuri listened quietly, and without much empathy, he could tell that Akemi wasn't making excuses; she genuinely hadn't thought about the future.

“My aunt believes that I will eventually respond to the Moon Mother’s call—but I’ve never actually heard the Moon Mother’s voice clearly.” Mingmei spread her hands. “If even the Moon Mother thinks I shouldn’t be called—”

"What if one day she makes a clear request? Would you immediately agree?" Yuri pressed on, sensing that this was a crucial question.

"...I've never heard of a werewolf resisting the Moon Mother's call, and I don't think I'll be an exception." Akemi rubbed her forehead, continuing to evade the question.

Yuri believes that what Minmei really meant was, "I don't really want to be a werewolf, but if the Moon Mother insists on making me one, I'll go along with it." If the Moon Mother thinks the same way as Yuri, it's unlikely that she would insist on making her a werewolf even after going this far... However, Yuri doesn't think he can figure out what the great spirit Luna is really thinking.

"Let's look at it from a different angle. If you became a werewolf, would you be stronger than you are now?"

“Of course it will, but isn’t there something wrong with becoming a werewolf in search of power…” Akemi suddenly leaned back on the sofa. “Isn’t enough power enough?”

Yuri knew how to refute it, but did he really want to persuade Minmei to become a werewolf?

It's a truly extravagant question. If those victims of the rat swarms had such a choice when faced with them, they certainly wouldn't have hesitated at all...

But never mind. Looking at Akemi's tired appearance with her eyes closed, Yuri gave up... There's still room for luxury now, isn't there?

The moment of choice will always come, but it can be postponed for now.

113 Epilogue - Hojo Reie

"What a thrilling night!" The reporter, looking like she hadn't touched up her makeup after two sleepless nights, waved to Yuri with red eyes.

No, it seems she really did stay up for two nights, and her physical condition is much worse than Mingmei's. Now her dark circles are completely unhidden, and her hair is quite messy.

She arrived earlier than Yuri, and the lower half of her body was hidden in the shadows under the table, but judging from her top... those holes that were hastily fastened with paperclips weren't there before... It must be very cold wearing clothes like that in the dead of winter.

"A new fashion trend? Is this kind of paperclip decoration popular lately?" Yuri thought it was unlikely.

“Oh, of course not, it was… an accident,” the reporter said, taking a big gulp of coffee. “I think I should be grateful that only the clothes were damaged and no one was injured.”

What kind of accident looked like being scratched by the claws of a wild beast? But judging from her expression, she didn't seem to want to answer.

“It was truly breathtaking, Ms. Hojo—” Yuri was trying to figure out how to point out how badly the other woman was doing, as he steered the conversation back to their earlier greeting.

“Just call me Miss Hojo, I’m not married yet.” Hojo Reie waved her hand weakly. “I thought you would have a lot of trouble to deal with afterward, but I didn’t expect you to come out as soon as we made an appointment—the problem was resolved cleanly and efficiently, without any aftereffects?”

"No, the main reason is that this way I can use the excuse of being called away to escape whoever is chasing me." Yuri shook his head honestly.

“Who is that? Ah, you mean Ms. Murakami… She is indeed a terrifying person…” The reporter nodded in agreement, and Yuri noticed that she glanced at the paperclip on her shoulder.

It's likely that the creator of the claw marks has been identified.

Previously, while Yuri was at home worrying about when Murakami Akisa would come to visit and how he should express his sincere apology, Hojo Rei called Akemi's cell phone to inquire about Yuri's situation.

After Akemi told her that Yuri was still alive, Hojo Reie asked her to tell Yuri, "Let's meet when you have time, and ask Yuri for help if you need anything."

Yuri immediately realized that this was a good opportunity to not stay in his residence for the time being, so he agreed on the spot and then hurriedly ran out.

So now the two of them meet at their usual spot in the coffee shop at four in the afternoon.

Although the timing wasn't quite right, the café was still quite busy because it was Sunday.

Of course, this made little difference to the two people plotting in the corner.

"It's so peaceful..." Ever since returning from the Shadow Realm, Yuri has been marveling at the peace in almost everything he sees.

If he didn't do this, he might not be able to maintain his mental balance—if the whole world acted as if nothing had happened, Yuri would feel that he might be the one in the wrong.

“It is indeed peaceful. This is the first time I have ever seen something so big.” Hojo Reie echoed, “Although we can’t see the specific scenes, it is even more frightening that we can’t see them—being chased by something invisible is almost one of the deepest fears of mankind.”

She emphasized "first time," as if to entice Yuri to ask a question.

"First time? Was Tokyo safe before?" Yuri asked, playing along. "I haven't been here long, I'm not very familiar with Tokyo, maybe it really was just recently—"

"If you're talking about homicides caused by natural events, it does seem to be on the rise year by year. But if you look closely, there were actually deaths everywhere a decade or two ago... It's hard to say whether the recent increase in the death rate is due to higher frequency of occurrences or higher frequency of reporting." The reporter waved her hand, indicating that she was ready to move on to the next topic. "But if you're talking about supernatural events, I have absolutely no way of judging them, because my level of supernatural observation is very limited... It's very possible that other things are happening in places I'm unaware of."

"I see, then it really is... a lack of data." That makes sense, but unfortunately, some information is still missing.

“However, I think if something similar happens again in the future, I should be able to record it—because of my observation of this incident, I became a formal member of the United Federation.” The reporter sighed, “Although I don’t know exactly what the United Federation is, the information there is quite useful.”

"I don't know what you are, how did you become a member? I don't know what you are, how dare you become a member?" Yuri stared at the person opposite him.

"Don't look at me like that—the Union is a website that connects people via the internet. Although you can reveal your identity, I haven't. The key point is that this website shares some supernatural content, and in my judgment, about 30% of it is true."

Thirty percent, that's a really subtle number.

"According to the founders—or the ones who claim to be the founders on the website—this website was created to help everyone unite and help each other. I don't really believe that... I have a perfectly reasonable suspicion that they have ulterior motives, but since it doesn't seem like I'm the target, then there's no problem."

The internet is truly a mysterious thing.

“Do you want to participate? I can give you the website and invitation code—” Hojo Reie shook her finger, “Without an invitation code, you can only access the outer layer of the website, which is basically just a collection of ghost stories. It’s not entirely useless, but there’s no need to stay at that level, right?”

"Hmm...maybe another day? I'm a little interested, but I'll pass for now." Yuri ultimately didn't accept the offer immediately.

Besides, he doesn't know how to use the internet now.

The internet, judging from its name, seemed to contain high-tech content, and Yuri doubted whether he could learn how to use it.

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.

“Alright, that’s enough chit-chat—” Hojo Reie tapped the table lightly. “Let’s get down to business, the thing I asked you to do earlier.”

Yuri was somewhat stunned; it seemed like he had just witnessed that tapping motion on the table a few hours ago.

"Huh? What's wrong? Is there something wrong with my hand?" The reporter held his fingers up to his eyes.

“No problem, it’s just—” Yuri changed the subject, “it’s just that you look so exhausted. Is it really appropriate for you to handle the things you asked me to do now? I think you need to rest.”

"Well... although I do think I need to rest, now is the perfect time, and besides—" the reporter gave a subtle smile, "besides, this time I'm only in charge of giving instructions."

"what?"

"In other words, I'll give you the goal and the information, and the actual execution is all up to you, Yuri! Because even if I'm in top condition, it's almost impossible for me to provide physical assistance in this operation, so I've simply given up and won't hold you back." The reporter leaned back, looking like he was ready to faint at any moment.

"Are you sure I won't suddenly die while doing this? I just came back from the brink of death less than a few hours ago."

If it's subjective time, then... no, subjective time without growth isn't time. Yuri has already made up his mind to throw that pile of garbage time into the hellish garbage bin that he'll never think of again.

“Well, I’m not entirely sure, but you can actually avoid the main obstacles. They’re nothing more than cameras, walls, and locks, which are all things you can ignore if you can… become a spirit…” Hojo Reie explained.

I really want to tell you that cameras no longer belong to this category, but that's basically true.

"Cameras, walls, locks—you're not asking me to help you steal from a vault, are you?"

"How did you suddenly think in that direction—of course not." Hojo Reie suddenly jolted awake, then quickly began to shake her head.

He looked like he was about to get dizzy before he finally stopped.

"The target is the newspaper owner's office. More than half of the staff have gone to work, and the editor-in-chief is not here either. This is the perfect time for you to show your skills."

"Corporate espionage?"

"No, I'd better tell you the whole story so you don't have to guess..."

The matter is actually quite simple. During this period, Hojo Reie and several of her friends (not all from the same newspaper) sent a large number of reports on mysterious events to their superiors.

But they were all confiscated.

If only one newspaper is doing this, it might be because the editor-in-chief is having a mental breakdown... no, I just don't like this kind of reporting because I'm in a bad mood, but it's not right if every newspaper is doing this.

"After that, I specifically checked other newspapers—none of them mentioned these things in their mystery news sections."

"Are you sure it's not because these contents are completely unsubstantiated..." Yuri speculated.

"The other news stories are also unsubstantiated! This whole section is just for making things up, but we still can't find any information about this series of news at all."

Yuri ran through the story in his mind. In short, the reporter felt she was being targeted—she felt that the entire news coverage of this incident was being deliberately targeted.

"You want me to search the editor-in-chief's office and find out who exactly ordered the ban on the dissemination of this information?" Yuri quickly came to a conclusion.

“Yes, and first of all, we can rule out the government... If it's a policy issued by the Japanese government... or the Tokyo government, they can just tell us directly.” The reporter, with bloodshot eyes, glanced around. “It might be the personal action of a high-ranking official, but it wouldn't be the government as a whole.”

"Do you have a list of suspects?" Yuri asked.

Before he could come up with a suitable reason to ask for a list of suspects, the other side replied, "Yes, it's a bit long. After all, we're a small newspaper, and there are too many things that can influence us—but to influence an entire row of small newspapers would require a considerable breadth."

"Can I be sure of something? If I knew the answer and told you, what would you do?" Yuri sensed the reporter wasn't trying to avoid him, and as a friend, he should ask, "Are you planning something big?"

“Of course I won’t do anything reckless, Yuri.” The reporter sighed heavily, it was hard to say whether exhaustion or helplessness was the greater factor. “If they can ban our ghost stories from being reported, then naturally more influential things will be filtered out in advance—but I want to know what exactly is going on.”

It sounds reasonable, but Yuri couldn't bring himself to say things like "curiosity killed the cat" because he had just been burned by his own curiosity.

"Okay, tell me the location of the target, and what I need to look for when I get there."

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.

After telling Yuri what he should know, the reporter got up to leave, then suddenly sat back down.

Yuri looked at the reporter with suspicion, wondering if she had fainted while standing.

"There's something you might not know, and I think I should tell you."

"what's up?"

“A colleague of mine found some unconscious cult members under some bags in the landfill… and some cult members who have gone to another world forever.” Hojo Reie closed her eyes as she said this. “Do you know what happened to them?”

"Is the cult leader among them?"

“One of them was an elderly woman, belonging to the latter category. We don’t yet know what the hospital report says, but her expression before death was extremely horrified.” Hojo Reie crossed her arms, seemingly trembling slightly. “I saw the photos, and I almost didn’t recognize her… Tell me, do you know what happened to them?”

They thought the Rat King was their savior, but he wasn't. The Rat King didn't even actively use them; he just didn't stop them from going out to attract attention for himself.

Then they actually met the Rat King, and at that moment, their usefulness vanished completely.

Then the Rat King killed... no, the Rat King let the rats devour them all. This part is Yuri's own guess, but that's probably how it is—if he had just killed them, none of them would have been able to breathe.

The Rat King commanded the swarm of rats to pounce on them, most likely those that were able to get closer to humans due to the powerful resonance, and to completely devour them, leaving them empty shells. Those with stronger intuition died at this moment, while the weaker ones were only partially damaged and lost consciousness.

"The junkyard is the mastermind's stronghold, Ms. Hojo. These cultists made a misjudgment, chose the wrong target for their help, and rushed there, and then..."

Yuri didn't hate them. In terms of hatred, he hated the cultists more than he hated the reporter in front of him.

And after all, this is a human life.

“Well, I think it’s true that mortals are more likely to get into trouble when it comes to the supernatural world.” The reporter took out a card, wrote something on it, and handed it to Yuri.

"What is this?" Yuri didn't take it immediately.

"My business card has my contact information on it and my address on the back. I know you can come in whenever you want, but I'm asking you, please remember to knock before you come in. If there's no response, I'll allow you to walk in—after all, who knows, I might end up unconscious in bed waiting for rescue one day."

Honestly, you look like you could lose consciousness at any moment and need to be rescued, but you're just exhausted.

Yuri checked the location one last time and set off.

114 Epilogue - Newspaper Office

In the beginning, Yuri's expectations of the newspaper's boss's office... were, to put it bluntly, largely wrong.

At the time, he told himself, "I really hope there's nothing supernatural going on in this office, but that's impossible. This isn't an emergency; if I feel threatened, I'll just run!"

In short, with the possibility that a second Rat King might be hiding inside, Yuri slowly approached, ready to flee at any moment.

With the support of this plan, Yuri the paranoid kept his pace at the lowest setting, taking a full half hour to walk from the first floor of the newspaper building to the door of the boss's office...

This is all under the premise that the newspaper office is not very big. The newspaper office only occupies one floor of this twenty-plus-story building... and not even the whole floor. A small part belongs to other unknown companies.

As Lehmann said, there weren't many people inside at that time; at least all the field workers had probably gone out, while the editors were still working.