Chapter 108 About the Witch
Matsuda Jinpei, taking advantage of the fact that he was wearing sunglasses so that no one would notice where his gaze was falling, openly looked at the legendary mental patient who was setting off firecrackers and the two twin doctors.
Because of his previous intention to dissect the void, Adam is no longer wearing his classic skin.
He was wearing the same shirt, trousers, and white lab coat as X, and his long white hair was tied up in a big bun.
Matsuda's gaze, hidden behind his sunglasses, shifted back and forth between the three people. To be honest, he had a sense of déjà vu with these three.
If they weren't all clearly male, he would have suspected they were the woman in the manor who was on the same side as the monster...
Wait a minute, Officer Matsuda noticed something was wrong. Relying on his excellent eyesight, he took another close look at the two men's features.
Wow, one with black hair and the other with white hair, and they look exactly alike, plus the middle-aged man in the middle with a familiar smile on his face.
Inspector Megure breathed a sigh of relief after the scare and was about to call it a day when he discovered that one person was missing.
"Where's Matsuda?" he asked, glancing around as he noticed the curly-haired young man, who seemed a bit nervous today, striding towards the trio from the mental hospital.
"Hey! Matsuda, we're going back!"
The curly-haired officer waved his hand behind him to indicate that he understood.
Inspector Megure knew about the young man's past and his determination to pursue the truth, so he couldn't stop him.
He left with only the instruction to go back on his own before withdrawing his troops.
Matsuda Jinpei walked to a distance not far from X and the others. The closer he got, the more certain he became that the strange middle-aged man being held down on his left and right was definitely the monster.
It's just a different skin. The feeling is strange, like a monster that has been exposed and no longer bothers to disguise itself. It's a sense of unease that comes from deep within the genes.
X looked at Matsuda Jinpei who had reappeared and decided to treat him as a stranger. After all, you know Isabella and Catherine, what does it have to do with me, X and Adam?
"May I ask you a few questions?" the officer who had broken away from the group asked politely.
However, this polite policeman was questioning someone who was dressed but had nothing.
He, having nothing, looked over with a smile, offering no reply.
Matsuda Jinpei remained silent, simply waiting for the person being questioned to answer.
"Excuse me, is there any other problem, officer?"
X interrupted their "affectionate gaze," for he still had a dog to find and couldn't waste time here.
"I need to take him back for treatment."
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man, who had been smiling, suddenly changed his expression, looking like he wanted to run away, and muttered something under his breath.
Matsuda Jinpei focused all his attention on the syllables coming from his mouth, but could only hear intermittent words and phrases like "hello" and "goodbye," and even short sentences like "I love you."
To anyone else, this middle-aged man is either intellectually disabled or a mental patient in the midst of an episode.
"Is this his?" Matsuda took out something that looked like a mini remote control, which he had just picked up on the path between the Ferris wheel and the three of them.
Seeing that the middle-aged man was still uncommunicative, she turned to ask X, the only one who was relatively cooperative.
That was the remote control for the bomb, which the bomber had originally kept in his pocket. He just didn't expect to die before the real show even started.
X also recognized what the device in Matsuda's hand was, and considering the bomb he had just eaten when he had nothing left, it was hard not to make the connection.
It seems this "clothes" isn't just a victim of anomalies; this person doesn't seem like a good person!
But X can't say it outright: the man suspected of being a bomber is actually being held accountable, and the person holding the account is just a little dog who longs to become human.
“These are not my patient’s belongings,” X said, glancing at his wrist, which was hidden by his sleeve, and making a hurried gesture. “I’m so sorry, we’re running out of time. If you have any questions, please come here to find me.”
After saying that, X handed Matsuda Jinpei a business card, and while looking at the "Manager's New Watch," he ran away with nothing and Adam.
Adam was about to say something, but just as he was about to open his mouth, X pinched his lips. Not wanting to fight with himself in public, Adam chose to shut up.
He didn't care about the opinions of ignorant people, but he also didn't want his mouth to be grabbed and held shut; he wasn't a duck!
*
A typical Western-style castle is hidden in a dense forest, its silence tinged with a sinister atmosphere, much like the dwellings of witches in various legends.
In the castle's basement, a girl draped in a black cloak had dark circles under her eyes.
Koizumi Akako has been staying up all night for several nights in a row. In order to investigate this secret, she has even missed going to school for the past few days.
As she intently studied the slip of paper that emanated a mysterious light, the witch's intuition told her that it contained energy beyond her imagination.
However, no matter which method she used, she was unable to successfully analyze it, and she was unwilling to give up and asked her elders in the family for help.
As a result, she almost turned the castle's books upside down, but still couldn't unravel the secret of the branch.
Just as she was about to give up, a piece of paper fell out of the book she had just opened. It was obvious that someone had slipped it in from behind, as the book was not missing any pages.
The girl, who had been hiding it under her robe, curiously picked it up from the ground.
This is a piece of paper that has endured many years. The passage of time has made it thinner and more brittle, and Koizumi Akako almost crushed it.
She breathed a sigh of relief after carefully transferring the papers from the floor to the tray, and then began to read their contents.
This is a summoning circle that can summon unknown beings. As long as the offerings are of sufficient quantity, you can even summon beings who know everything in the world.
Koizumi Akako hesitated. She wanted to know the truth about the golden branch, but she had been taught since childhood not to offer sacrifices to unknown beings.
But the temptation to know everything was too great, so Koizumi Akako steeled her heart and gave it a try!
She drew the exact same magic circle as on the paper. Strangely enough, it was the first time she had ever drawn such a complex magic circle. Koizumi Akako thought she would fail several times, but she succeeded on the first try.
Various offerings with specific directions were placed in order as required. There was also a corner where the summoner had to decide what to place, which was also an offering indicating the direction of the summoning.
Koizumi Akako simply included a little of everything: books, flesh and blood, a magic staff, and even some homemade candies and snacks, aiming to have everything.
Then, she began to infuse magic into the circle while chanting a summoning incantation. The summoning circle lit up with a red light, which grew brighter and brighter.
A strong wind picked up indoors, nearly blowing Koizumi Akako's cloak off her head and the hood that had been covering her head off. She had to close her eyes in the glaring light.
When the wind died down, the summoning circle had dimmed. The young witch opened her eyes and looked into the circle with some anticipation.
There was only one little girl eating candy there, who looked about my age.
Koizumi Akako looked at the little girl holding a large bunch of candy and slowly typed a question mark: Whose child is this?
She shouldn't have put those sugars in!
So the problem really is with the sugar?!
"May I ask who you are?" Koizumi Akako asked, somewhat recklessly.
The strong wind had just blown the magic circle, which had been reduced to ashes, beyond recognition, and even shredded the already fragile piece of paper.
In other words, regardless of whether the little girl is useful or not, the only thing that can be summoned is herself; the magic circle can no longer be drawn.
As she spoke, she picked up the only unaffected golden branch that remained in place amidst the chaos.
The summoned little girl, with a small bump on one cheek from a hard candy, looked at the little girl holding the golden branch and said:
"Charon likes sweets."
Even though she hadn't reached her peak yet, Koizumi Akako was already very familiar with the basics of mysticism. So, when she heard the gray-skinned humanoid being claim to be a god, she immediately thought of him.
In Greek mythology, Charon is the ferryman of the underworld, not to mention, this girl also has a weapon that looks like a paddle.
Just as Koizumi Akako was pondering whether this Charon was the same Charon as before, she suddenly felt a lightness in her hand.
A strange-looking creature, more like one she had summoned from her summoning circle than Charon, bit off the branch from her hand.
That huge mouth swallowed the entire branch whole.
“Dog,” the gray-skinned girl said, looking at the monster expressionlessly.
You call this a dog?!
But whatever it is, she is determined to take back what is rightfully hers!
But the dog Charon was still not satisfied after eating the branch. Its four eyes rolled around and finally focused on the candy that Charon was holding in his arms.
With nothing, he aimed, jumped, and landed at Charon, but the girl immediately saw through his intentions.
The next moment, the roar of an engine grew louder as a bus burst out of the summoning circle ruins, knocking away the dog that was trying to snatch the child's candy.
"Charon, you jerk, you dog."
...
Faust and Don Quixote arrived at the witch's castle following the "needle that points to nothing" provided by X.
As soon as I arrived, I heard a loud bang, and then a very familiar bus crashed through the basement wall with a piece of trash stuck to its front.
“Faust, I see Mephistopheles.” Faust’s tone was as calm as ever, but if you listened closely, her pace was a little slower than usual.
The main reason is that it has grown quite a bit for some reason, successfully blocking the front of the car. It looks like Mephisto should be renamed "Nothing to My Name".
The bus drifted to a stop. Koizumi Akako stared blankly at her empty hands, then at Charon, who had uttered the words "I hate dogs," and then at the basement with its open skylight.
Is that correct?
Thinking of something, she looked down at the spot where the bus had come from. Good, there was no hole there, only one spot that needed repair. Thank goodness…
Wait a minute! Why is she suddenly thinking about fixing the house?!
Don Quixote was shouting and yelling around the nothing that had turned into a pancake, and occasionally poking it.
Faust, as if struck by a sudden thought, walked to the gap and looked down. Sure enough, he met the driver's gaze as he had anticipated.
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Author's note: The Universiade (crossed out) is here!
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