Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

In short, given these factors, the likelihood of Ms. Murakami Akisa meeting Akemi and Gekko in Tokyo is greatly reduced.

“It was about six or seven years ago. At that time, I wanted to take over Mingmei’s custody, and that’s when I saw it.”

...Unfortunately, the timing was the same as Yuri had predicted.

"What's wrong?" Seemingly sensing the unusual silence behind her, the confused elder in the car asked—as if she didn't realize anything was amiss.

"If Mingmei was 'not far from becoming a real werewolf' six or seven years ago, then if she's still in that state six or seven years later, don't you think... don't you think the direction of this story is a bit strange?" Yuri went to great lengths to keep his true feelings from being revealed—if he said, "Are you sure you're not mistaken?" he might get beaten up.

“I know you’ll have this question, and it’s all her grandfather’s fault…” Murakami Akisa paused for a moment, “or rather, it’s my own fault for not being persistent enough. Her grandfather was just doing what any grandfather would do.”

With her exclamation every three sentences, it's no wonder she hesitated before speaking, but thankfully she continued after a short while.

“Akemi herself resists becoming a werewolf, which is why she has maintained this state—involuntary.”

“I think… there might be a slight tendency, but it shouldn’t be considered serious.” Yuri felt he should defend Akemi.

“Her grandfather tried to strengthen her human self-awareness, but he overdid it—it’s not his fault, it’s normal for him to do that…and Akemi, who is firmly resisting in her heart and unwilling to become a werewolf…her abilities are too outstanding, outstanding enough to resist the Moon Mother’s call with her willpower.” A heavy sigh came from ahead for the umpteenth time. “And she is indeed not outstanding enough for the Moon Mother to turn her into a werewolf no matter what—I don’t intend to comment on the Moon Mother’s decision, but…I actually really wish the Moon Mother would just tell her what to do cleanly and directly.”

That is, just make her a werewolf directly, regardless of her hesitation.

"Is this really necessary?" Yuri asked sincerely. "I know werewolves are very powerful, but isn't Minmei's ability sufficient? If she truly resists from the bottom of her heart, even if she becomes a werewolf, how far can she go?"

“That’s what I thought in the past—if Akemi planned to stay in Hokkaido for the rest of her life, that would be the case—” His tone turned cold. “It was because of that thought that I didn’t forcibly take her away—and now, today, she’s come to Tokyo, at this terrible time.”

"You think it's too dangerous for her here right now?" It seems like the same thing was said last time.

“That’s right, Mingmei will become an excellent werewolf, but before she truly becomes a werewolf, she is still just a mortal. She can’t face real challenges. Facing these things now would exhaust her too early, which would be a pity for me, for you, and for the world.” She paused, then added, “At least that’s what I think. If you don’t think so… I’m sorry.”

Yuri couldn't deceive himself into thinking that this situation wouldn't hurt him.

“Does becoming a werewolf mean you’re no longer a mortal? As I said before, regarding Akemi’s mother, werewolves aren’t invincible.” Yuri reiterated Akemi’s stance. “Besides, should she really become a werewolf? In my opinion, her current strength already far surpasses that of ordinary people.”

“She’s already embarked on this path, and aside from being a werewolf, everything else she does is just a waste of time and effort.” Murakami Akisa’s tone was very certain. “As for strength… werewolves are certainly not invincible. But how do you think my strength compares to Akemi’s? I mean, sheer brute force.”

"You're probably a little stronger, but there's not much difference, not much difference at all." That's based on the last time I was dragged along.

"The werewolf has five forms, including the human form, and each form has different strengths. Overall, the human form is the weakest. When I last saw you, I was a werewolf, which is above average. If I were in human form, I could probably hold my own against Akemi now."

"That sounds impressive... but doesn't it require cultivation to master—"

"Ah, no, not that stage, Yuri. Every werewolf can perform such transformations, but these changes in form do not necessarily mean greater practicality, so a pure increase in strength may not be more convenient."

"I understand." He still only partially understood, but he could ask Akemi for the rest. "What does this mean?"

“Mingmei isn’t even a werewolf yet, but she’s already strong enough to rival me in my werewolf form—if she becomes a werewolf, she’ll have even more power. Yuri, don’t you think she’ll be much safer in that situation?”

No, well, I just recovered from a psychological attack last week, and I'm still a bit confused about things like power...

“Furthermore, werewolves have a much stronger regenerative ability than humans. For example, bullets, as long as they are not silver bullets, werewolves can always regenerate quickly, which provides a lot of room for error.” Murakami Akisa sighed. “There are many other advantages, but those are not easy to describe.”

That's true. If we hadn't been so concerned about getting injured, many things could have been resolved much more easily.

Seeing that Yuri had stopped interrupting, Murakami Akisa began to give her summary.

“Furthermore, there are indeed some fundamental differences between werewolves of different lunar phases. My sister and I are not much different in our human form, at least that’s what everyone else says—but I can’t do what she could do back then, at least not so easily.” Murakami Akisa paused for a moment. “I think she and my sister are both warrior types… but even if she wasn’t, she would definitely be stronger than she is now.”

"...Yes, I understand and agree that becoming a werewolf will make Akemi stronger..." Because it's a fact, no matter how you look at it, unless werewolves have a curse that makes them die instantly upon contact with air—which is definitely not the case right now.

But the problem is, what's the point of persuading Yuri? Shouldn't we be trying to persuade Minmei instead?

“If you agree, that makes things easier—Yuri, I hope you can help persuade Minmei to accept this—she really doesn’t need to be so resistant to becoming a werewolf.” He sounded relieved.

"..." Yuri first exclaimed in shock in his mind, then repeated it to emphasize his point, "What?"

"what? What?"

“You’re her family and elder, I’m just her friend. You can’t persuade her, so you expect me to do it?” Yuri hurriedly began to deflect, even trying to create distance. “That’s what I meant by ‘what’—I think you’ve chosen the wrong person—”

“I think our family relationship has had a negative impact on this… She might be going through a rebellious phase. After all, as far as I know, her grandfather was against her coming to Tokyo, but she still came.” Akemi’s aunt flatly rejected Yuri’s refusal. “Using my status as an elder to pressure her will only make her resentful, and even if I don’t act like an elder and just go up to her normally—it will only make me look like an annoying elder who hasn’t seen me for years and is now bossing me around. —I don’t actually like being an elder myself, but it’s probably too late to change my style now.”

...This elder does sound quite annoying.

“I originally thought that after receiving my help, I would realize the necessity of becoming a werewolf, but I have been trying for a week and have not made any progress.”

Yes, you've been calling Mingmei for a week now, and she's almost having a psychological breakdown from hearing the phone ring.

"Then I certainly don't have that kind of authority—"

"Who told you to use your authority!" Murakami Akisa finally couldn't help but turn around.

The two heads collided violently. To avoid falling, Yuri grabbed Murakami Akisa tightly, one hand on her shoulder and the other on her waist. If the other's body hadn't been so taut, the motorcycle might have crashed.

Even amidst this chaos, Murakami Akisa still managed to finish her sentence, “Using authority will only backfire, but you are her friend, the friend she chose, so can’t you try to subtly encourage her? I’m not asking you to succeed immediately, or even to succeed on your own, but please, for Akemi’s sake, give her some encouragement!”

"..." Now that things have come to this point, regardless of whether it's actually carried out or not, it seems impossible to directly contradict them. "I understand, I understand, look ahead! It's a fork in the road!"

“Sigh, that’s why I didn’t want to speak up at first—it’s asking you to change her mind and interfere with her future… I don’t want anyone to do that to my sister’s child, even in a reasonable way.” After a heavy sigh, Murakami Akisa turned her head back.

It's really not a pleasant thing to talk about.

“I will consider it regarding Akemi’s cognitive issues, but… to be frank, I don’t think that just offering empty words of encouragement will be enough to reverse the situation. Don’t blame me if it doesn’t work.”

"Sigh...yeah, that's probably all we can hope for."

120 Investigators

After that, Murakami Akisa dropped Yuri off at a place that wasn't exactly close to Akemi's residence, and then left alone.

The general area of ​​the location was Yuri's own request; he planned to organize his thoughts on the way back, so he declined the suggestion of being taken directly back. Of course, the exact location was rather random.

In any case, this distance should be enough for Yuri to make some judgments.

Murakami Akisa's reason for seeking out herself was very straightforward: she hoped to persuade Akemi to "accept reality" through Yuri's "influence"—she believed that as long as Akemi was willing to accept it, she could instantly become a werewolf.

According to information that Yuri later gleaned indirectly, Murakami Akisa didn't actually know why Akemi hadn't become a werewolf yet. Her reasoning was that Akemi's human self-awareness was too strong... In Yuri's observation, this didn't seem to be the case, but Akemi's aunt thought it was clearly just stubbornness.

Is this really the problem? If so, should Yuri help solve it?

Yuri felt completely unable to resolve these two questions, nor could he ask anyone else. Or rather, he had already created a mental template of the answers the people he would give—answers he didn't believe would be helpful.

What a headache.

This is difficult to say and difficult to do, Yuri shook his head, then realized a detail.

Although it's not important, he may have just witnessed what a wolf's gaze is like.

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 giving up on figuring things out, Yuri hadn't taken two steps when he was stopped by a very familiar ghost in a very familiar slot machine.

It seems that among several options, Yuri, without making a specific choice, instinctively chose the one he was most familiar with.

As he approached the ghost, he tried to recall that their leader was named Hei Shi, and was quite fat, not the guy at the door...

Once they got closer, the other party started to panic and seemed a bit at a loss... This was a bit strange, so Yuri raised his level of vigilance.

Yuri recognized the face. Although he had never asked the man's name, he had seen the face among the underlings of the Black World... What were they doing?

Yuri stood back a bit, beginning to wonder if these people were planning to lure him in and ambush him... That shouldn't be the case; right now, even if they all joined forces, they probably couldn't beat him.

Did they suddenly receive reinforcements and prepare to ambush us? Why?

"You, uh, this—you're Yuri, right?" The other person seemed even more flustered after Yuri stopped.

“That’s right. What do you want?” Yuri carefully observed the other party’s condition again. The ghost in front of him was dressed... just like before, completely like a thug. According to his memory, they could move within a certain range, but not beyond a street. Their level was about average among intelligent ghosts, mainly relying on numbers. “Why were you so sure when you called me before?”

"Yes, it's me. You came to the store before the rats were running rampant and asked us for information—" The other person seemed encouraged and started to get closer, "You remember me, right?"

Yuri nodded, then shook his head. "Of course I remember you, but I still don't know why you're looking for me."

His inner thoughts were: Your behavior is as if someone held a gun to your back to force you out and trick me into an ambush; it's just too suspicious.

“Oh dear, this time—” His words trailed off.

A fat ghost appeared behind them, looking rather pathetic, as if he had been punched hard in the eye.

"Kuroyo, you didn't look like this the last time I saw you," Yuri greeted him. "What happened? Did you get beaten up?"

"Actually, I'm almost fully recovered, Yuri. After about a week of treatment, I've healed all the other injuries—only this one is really hard to heal in the short term."

One week?

"You were badly beaten by the rats back then?" Yuri immediately thought of what happened a week ago. Something didn't seem right. Yuri had come here once after the rat incident and hadn't seen Kuroshi injured like this.

"I was indeed badly beaten by the rat, but the one who hit me wasn't a rat."

He then gave a brief account of what happened: In short, he had just barely managed to fight off the rat when he met Yuri—and then another person came and beat him up.

When Kuroshi asked the other party two questions but received no answer, he felt slighted and became very angry. He rushed forward. However, when the other party knocked Kuroshi to the ground with just one punch and he couldn't get up for a long time, he immediately backed down and did not continue to resist, thus avoiding further harm.

But he was still more seriously injured than his underlings who didn't even have time to rush forward.

“I’m sorry, but what does that have to do with you stopping me?” Yuri was a little puzzled—he didn’t seem to have ever demonstrated his ability to heal ghosts’ injuries in front of the Dark World; he had always used spiritual essence directly back then.

“We did cooperate before when dealing with that octopus monster. The one who knocked me down with one punch came to us asking about your whereabouts. In other words, she's looking for information about the guy who contacts ghosts, sets up a surveillance network to try and locate the flying octopus, and who was recently involved with the rat swarm—we told her that.” Kuroshi’s ghost face was slightly red. “Although we told her about our meeting with you because we were no match for her, we don’t know any more details. Even so, I’m telling you this in case you’re caught off guard.”

Although I didn't really expect these guys to keep it a secret, I didn't expect them to confess everything after just one beating... no, they confessed everything after just one beating.

It's good that you at least told yourself afterward, but...

Yuri thought for a moment and then began to ask questions.

"What does the other person look like?" Let's find out about this investigator first. That way, Yuri might recognize him beforehand when they meet again, and won't be caught off guard.

"Let me think, there are two. One of them is a woman, not very old, probably in junior high or high school. She doesn't look strong at all, but she's a living person... I guess, this one is a bit strange, but she should be a living person."

Yuri inquired carefully about what was strange, but couldn't get any answers. Kuroshi could only say, "It's a little strange."

"What about the other one?" They said there were two before.

“The other one was probably very tall—I don’t know exactly how tall, but he was wearing a black cloth and hunching over, and even in that situation he was still half a head taller than me. That’s the one who hit me.” Hei Shi said, rubbing his eyes. The fact that it could affect a ghost’s appearance must have been a rather heavy blow.

Yuri glanced at Kuroshi's height. If Kuroshi was half a head taller than Yuri, then Yuri must be much taller than Yuri himself... probably around 1.8 meters tall? If Yuri was that tall even with a hunched back, he would indeed be considered a giant.

Wait a minute!? A young girl in middle or high school, and a hunched giant draped in black cloth...

"Is this tall guy you're talking about carrying a long-handled weapon?" Yuri asked cautiously to confirm.

"I don't know, I didn't even last until they pulled out a knife," Hei Shi answered very frankly. "I didn't even take a single punch, how could I dare to keep pestering them and force them to take out a weapon?"

This is true.

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 some questioning, Yuri managed to extract as much information as possible.

Actually, it wasn't much more. The other party might be stronger than Yuri, and both of them could come into contact with spirits.

Strictly speaking, the only certainty is that the taller man's physical abilities are stronger than Yuri's, while the girl's physical abilities are probably no match for his—in fact, there is no record of him having direct contact with the girl throughout the entire process.

It seemed to be a team, with a simple modus operandi: the taller guy handled the physical aspects (ghostly physical attacks), while the girl provided support with enigmatic talismans—that's how it was—Kuroyo testified, as he saw the girl pull out an enigmatic talisman when he was knocked to the ground. For the same reason as before, because he surrendered so quickly, he didn't observe the talisman's effect.

The other party did ask what obsessions Heishi still had that hadn't disappeared. After Heishi replied that she would eventually disappear as a ghost, but not now, she let out a noticeable sigh.

Hei Shi almost thought he was about to be exorcised, but thankfully he wasn't.

That's about it. Then the other party left, and Hei Shi and his underlings breathed a sigh of relief.

Although Kuroshi wasn't exactly very strong, and there was an element of carelessness involved, if he could be knocked down with just one punch... Yuri might have been able to do it by charging up his power beforehand, but the opponent didn't seem to have prepared in advance for the surprise attack.

After careful consideration, Yuri concluded that if the opponent possessed the power of the Fire Spirit, it would certainly be no problem for them to accomplish such a feat... or even if they were slightly weaker, it would be acceptable.

In terms of physical strength alone, a level three or level two expert, or even a higher level expert, would not simply be knocked to the ground—if Line Two were to wipe out the Black World, he would be shattered on the spot.

If a woman isn't as strong as Kuroshi... then she's clearly inferior to Yuri, and probably no match for Akemi either—but if no one restricts her movements, using the thrown talismans for support might have a synergistic effect. Last time they realized some talismans were ineffective against Yuri, so they should be able to improve this time.

This assessment is questionable, as it's merely Kuroshi's personal feeling. Perhaps the woman is actually quite capable in combat, but simply too lazy to fight herself. Further judgment cannot be made until actual contact is made.

In summary, if Yuri were to go out now and be ambushed by these two... he would basically be doomed. His only chance of survival would be to outrun them. And unlike in the past, when his opponents, other spirits, were mostly unable to utilize the power of transportation, these two, if Yuri understood correctly, could definitely travel by vehicle.

So maybe I should actually thank Kuroshi for remembering to tell me this...

Yuri looked Black World up and down.

"What? I admit I wasn't tough enough and didn't hold out until the end, but didn't I tell you right away? If I hadn't told you, you wouldn't have known, right?" Kuroshi seemed a little intimidated by Yuri's gaze.

“No, it’s like this. Recently, a big shot told me that I would have a bright future if I chose to become a doctor—” Yuri focused his attention on the eyes of the fat gang member in front of him, “So I thought, maybe I could try to treat your injuries.”

"Thank you so much—wait, maybe? Why 'maybe'?" Kuroshi's reaction speed is a bit slow.

“Because I’ve only performed similar medical procedures on a conscious target once, and I almost disintegrated the person—but their symptoms were much more severe than yours, so I believe you can definitely pull through,” Yuri tried to put on a kind smile. “I’ve also experimented on those repeaters during this time, but you know, repeaters don’t give any response at all, so how could I know what they were feeling in the process? —But don’t worry, at least the wounds are definitely healed!”

Yuri did indeed test with the repeaters (although the number of repeaters needs to be replenished, but only a few were needed for the test) – in general, the wounds Yuri caused healed quickly when treated – the exchange efficiency was about three to one, but the energy was not replenished – specifically, for every unit of energy Yuri extracted, the wounds he caused required about one unit of energy to heal, and this treatment did not recharge the repeaters.

Yuri originally planned to use himself for further experiments, but he postponed the experiment to ensure he was in good condition... Now he has found another test subject who is not seriously injured, has the ability to respond, and is unlikely to put up enough resistance, making him a perfect candidate.

It seems that it's not very convenient to put on a smile when you don't want to. It's not that you can't smile, but forcing a smile when you don't want to would probably look very distorted. The fat man opposite you even changed his expression. His color actually changed and turned a bit bluish. For a ghost, this kind of change is not insignificant.