Shirou, who returned from the Fairy Kingdom

"Why... I don't understand..."

Aruba glared at Shirou with hatred and asked weakly.

"Why are you interfering with my revenge...? Why would someone as capable as you work under Aozaki?"

"Because I'm short of money to help support my family, and Orange Sister is a super rich woman," Shirou thought to himself.

"That guy was just a defective product!"

Aruba gritted his teeth and said with extreme resentment, "Do you know that?"

In our association, the highest-ranking magicians are awarded titles based on color—

Among them, the three primary colors were the highest honor of that era.

Since joining the association, the woman had been determined to obtain the title "Qing," which matched her surname.

But the association didn't award her the "blue" color; ironically, she received a red color—the opposite of her surname, a tacky color like her name—the color that matches the orange magician!

The young man grinned maliciously, his appearance turning into that of a demon.

"That's the 'Crimson of Pain,' a woman who tried to obtain the original color but failed... Hahahaha, isn't that a fitting title for this woman?"

"——————"

Shirou felt a chill run down his spine; it was an unmistakable killing intent emanating from behind him.

Although it wasn't directed at me personally, it still sent chills down my spine.

"Shirou, thank you for your hard work. Leave the rest to me."

Aozaki Touko had somehow appeared behind Shirou and gently placed her hand on his shoulder.

-----------

Volume 3, Chapter 160: Aoko & Yuzu: Oh no, our house has been raided again!

"Wait, Sister Orange, don't kill him... I still have some questions for this guy."

Shirou realized what was about to happen, and although he knew he couldn't stop it, he still instinctively spoke up.

"Oh, Shirou, were you worried about me? I'm so happy~"

Aozaki Touko smiled happily: "Thank you for your hard work just now. I'll give you a reward later. Now, be quiet."

"I'm not worried about you," Shirou sighed helplessly.

With the crisp sound of her high heels on the concrete, Aozaki Touko walked past Shirou to the intruder Cornelius Aruba.

"I didn't lose to you, Aozaki."

The blond youth glared at her and said loudly.

"If it weren't for that brat helping you, you would never have been able to defeat me. I am the most outstanding puppeteer in the Clock Tower!"

Aozaki Touko shrugged dismissively.

"Think what you want, Aruba. It's already 6:30 in the afternoon, and because of your misbehavior, I've had to work overtime until this late."

"...6:30 PM?"

Aruba clearly remembers leaving Ogawa's apartment at four o'clock in the afternoon and arriving at the building before five o'clock.

I actually stayed in this apartment for an hour and a half?

Speaking of which, how did the red-haired brat manage to get back here so quickly?

Before I arrived at the apartment... at five o'clock, he should still be at the apartment with Ryougi Shiki! It's impossible for him to have gotten here in just a few minutes!

Orange looked at her former classmate, who was full of confusion, and kindly explained.

"This is my workshop, you know. You don't think that just because you've removed all the traps, I'm completely without any means of countermeasures, do you?"

Shortly after you stepped into this building, I used a mechanism to subtly intervene in your consciousness…

"!"

Aruba's eyes widened: "It happened while I was climbing the stairs..."

Orange nodded: "It's all thanks to the fact that I chose the half-finished building as my base."

The building's interior is all exposed concrete, without any markings, and poorly lit, enough to confuse intruders about the time...

In conclusion, I kept you occupied on the stairs for a full hour, leaving you spacing out.

Aruba's expression twisted slightly: "Such a thing actually happened..."

Although I don't want to admit it, the truth is right in front of me—I'm being played by Aozaki Touko.

Even when she was so sick that she could barely stand, her magician skills far surpassed mine.

"By the way, I actually saved you."

The silent boy, Shirou, suddenly interjected, "You think you've dismantled all the traps in the 'Gran Hall,' yet you didn't even notice the biggest one."

"The biggest...trap?"

Aruba looked at him with suspicion.

Shirou calmly said, "I'm referring to Touko herself. She has a trump card that she can activate by using her own death."

If that thing were to activate here, you and this entire building would vanish from the face of the earth.

"........."

Orange glanced at the dumbfounded Aruba and pouted unhappily.

"Shirou, don't reveal the secrets of a magician to outsiders."

Anyway, you're not planning to leave any survivors, are you...? Shirou muttered to himself.

Aruba said, "It's a lie... It's impossible... How could such a thing happen... Could it be that I was just a clown from the very beginning?"

"That's not quite it. After all, I didn't expect to lose to you in the Magic Battle just because of a cold..."

This was definitely unexpected. While you were spacing out, I spent an hour preparing.

"I must admit, Aruba... you're even better than you were ten years ago."

Orange said thoughtfully, "And, just like Shirou said..."

If the entire building were to disappear in order to eliminate you, the association wouldn't stand idly by; then I'd be the one wanted by the association.

"I've gone to great lengths to conceal my whereabouts; I'm not going to do anything that would let the association find out about me."

"Yeah……"

The blond youth finally understood that "the strongest puppeteer" and "Grand Master" were not overstatements, and that Aozaki Touko's magnanimity and talent far surpassed his own.

With a desperate expression, he muttered to himself, "Aozaki, are you planning to kill me?"

"Yes."

"Why……"

Aruba couldn't understand it; if it was for revenge, she could have done it anytime before, given her strength.

They had clashed several times in the past, and now, looking back, he realized that the only reason he was still alive was because Aozaki Touko had shown him mercy.

But why... why has she changed her mind now?

"It's nothing. Since you're alive, you're already aware of being hated or hating others. To be honest, your hatred, which started back in the academy days, is quite good, because it's proof of my excellence, Aozaki Touko."

"So, why?"

"It's simple. Because you call me by that name."

Aozaki Touko's upright face was unbelievably cold.

"This is a rule I set back in my academy days: anyone who calls me 'Crimson of Pain' must die."

"I see."

Aruba nodded thoughtfully.

Now he only had one question: how was Orange going to kill him?

She is currently very weak and has no chance of using magic powerful enough to break through her defenses.

Letting the red-haired boy kill her is one thing, but given Orange's proud personality, she definitely wouldn't do that.

Although Aruba was staring intently, Aozaki Touko didn't even lift a finger.

There wasn't even a chant—

"Because the office was filled with the monsters you brought, there was nowhere to step, so I couldn't use this move."

The orange magician's high heels made a clicking sound on the ground.

"...They actually carved words with their feet!?"

The mysterious magical runes that appeared out of thin air—the runes—shine brightly, their trajectory mirroring the path Orange had taken.

What amazing skill and talent!

As he watched the runes around him suddenly expand to thousands or even tens of thousands, Aruba instantly understood.

Araya Sōren's reason for admonishing himself not to provoke Tōko.

The second abbot of the Schubernheim Monastery thus disappeared without a trace in the countryside of the Far East.

……

……

After the light, as bright as day, dissipated, Cornelius Aruba vanished without a trace, as if he had never existed.

"Ah... He's dead... I was hoping to get some information out of him."

Orange smiled gracefully: "Don't worry about the details, Shirou! I already have the general situation in mind."

I've even figured out who our real enemy is, and what his/her motives are.

"Oh, as expected of Sister Orange!"

Aozaki Touko walked toward the office, but halfway there she suddenly stumbled, and Shirou instinctively caught her.

Looking down, I saw that Orange's face was pale and her forehead was covered in sweat.

"Oh dear...it seems I pushed myself a little too hard just now."

"Alright, we can talk about it later. Go back to bed first."

Shirou picked up Touko's body.

"Shirou, you become especially gentle when you're dealing with patients."

"It's as if I'm usually very strict with Sister Orange."

Shirou placed Orange on the bed and immediately returned to the kitchen to pour Orange a glass of water.

Instead of taking the medicine Shirou brought, Orange directed Shirou to take a photograph out of the drawer.

The backdrop is the world-famous London clock tower, with three people standing side by side under a gloomy sky where snow could fall at any moment.

One of them was Aruba, who had just been killed by Touko, and the other two were a young Touko Aozaki and a man who looked like he had a lot of bitterness and hatred.

The orange magician began his explanation.

The true creator of Ogawa Apartments is probably a magician named Araya Sōren.

Like most magicians, Araya Sōren pursues the Vortex of Root.

He was not born into a family of magicians, but into a family that practiced the Tendai sect during the war-torn period in Japan.

He was known as a child prodigy from a young age and had already shown talent in "barriers".

After becoming a monk, he went to the main mountain of the Tiantai sect to study, during which time he began to embrace a strong ideal of "saving all living beings".

Therefore, he began to travel to various places to help people, and traveled all over the country to save lives.

However, after witnessing the massacres and destruction brought about by war, Araya Sōren realized that it was impossible to save everyone, and began to question whether humanity had any value in being saved because of the various atrocities he saw.

Feeling his own insignificance and powerlessness, he abandoned his original Tethys faith and became a magician.

He began his studies with the aim of pursuing the "archetype of the soul." He collected deaths, deciphered the origins of humanity, and traced the vortex of roots, hoping to clarify the value of humanity or end the ugly and suffering human race.