Chapter 321

"It's another new incident."

After Asaya Michiman left his base and followed Iwanaga Kotoko to track down clues, Abe Haruaki picked up several monster corpses when he went out late at night for a week in a row.

“Again!?!”

The next morning, when Fujimaru Ritsuka and Matthew went downstairs to prepare for breakfast, they heard Abe Haruaki complaining about this matter to Edmund.

"It's almost like they're just dangling it right in front of me." Abe Haruaki complained while sitting on a chair. "I've been picking up corpses of various monsters that died in different ways for a week straight - from fox monsters to kappas, to the now almost unseen tengu... I've seen basically every kind of monster that flies in the sky, swims in the water, and runs on the ground!!!"

"...I say, is it possible that the Asaya Doman from this world has set his sights on Lord Haruaki?" Mashu put jam on his toast and suggested a direction that was deliberately ignored. "Just like Athena and the others can be recognized as the existence of this world by the same pantheon in other worlds - could it be that someone mistook Lord Haruaki for Lord Haruaki from this world?"

"No, you all probably know that Doman and I are two sides of Grand Caster Abe Haruaki, the 'legendary great Onmyoji Abe Haruaki'." Abe Haruaki shook his head, denying Mash's guess, "But even if it's a side, it's Doman who is more likely to be identified as Abe Haruaki than me - although I don't want to admit it, this is because I am more inclined to the side of the son of the white fox, that is, the monster."

"Then let Mashu go ask the Monster Temple." Fujimaru Ritsuka finished his breakfast and wiped his mouth with a tissue. "Lord Harumi shouldn't have thrown away the bodies of those monsters casually, right? Then Mashu and I will go out separately today - I will go to school first, and Mashu will call Abe Harusai and ask him to take away the bodies of these monsters."

"We have always kept Monster Hermitage's phone number at the top of our address book, right?"

"I understand, senior." Mashu nodded with a smile, and waited until Fujimaru Ritsuka walked out of the house with a schoolbag containing a lunch box before calling Monster An. "Excuse me, is this Mr. Abe, the exorcist? I encountered something strange - no, I'm not playing a prank. I have picked up a lot of weird corpses recently, and I hope you can take the time to come and help identify them..."

——According to Fujimaru Ritsuka's previous arrangement, Abe Haruaki remained invisible in this incident, and Mashu, as a witness who picked up many monster corpses, negotiated with Abe Harusai.

"Because Lord Seimei's real name has basically been completely recognized by the other party." Before leaving, Fujimaru Ritsuka shrugged at the three people in the family, "In order to avoid the situation where the other party rushes up and wants Lord Seimei to attack, Lord Seimei can only be temporarily hidden for a while - or they can associate it with something strange, but they must not recognize Mr. Doman and Lord Seimei as two different existences."

"In their eyes, Lord Haruaki and Mr. Doman must both be the Great Onmyoji Abe Haruaki."

Abe Harusai's voice came from the other end of the line, carrying an electric current: "Where are you?"

"XX-cho-X-chome-XX-banchi."

"Then open the door."

Mashu looked back at the two servants at home. Edmund, who was cleaning the table, nodded to her. Abe Haruaki had already jumped off the chair and hid in another room. There was nothing in the house that could not be seen by outsiders...

"The Chaldean communication array is not shut down yet." Edmund coldly cut off the communication in the control room and used physical means to cover the magic array drawn on the ground with a carpet. "Open the door, Mashu - if you are any later, you will be late."

"Yes." Mashu turned his gaze back to the door in front of him, stretched out his hand to open the door, and at first glance he saw Asaya Hanae who was still hurriedly finishing her breakfast in the corner of the tea room, "Sorry to bother you..."

"Mashiro!?"

"How could it be Mashiro-san!? Cough cough cough!!!"

Ashiya Hanae was so surprised that she choked on her breakfast. She was now coughing madly in the corner with her back to Abe Harusai and Mashu.

"...No, please come in, Mashiro Kirie-san." Abe Harusai looked at Ashiya Hanae, and apparently swallowed what he wanted to say, then turned around and invited Mashu to enter the Monster Temple, "So, where are the bodies of those monsters?"

"I put it in the storage room of my house." Mashu, who knew the location of the body from Abe Haruaki in advance, answered this question with a smile.

As the door of the Monster An opened and closed, the storage room appeared in front of the three people. Ashiya Hanae, who had just recovered, volunteered to go to the storage room to move the monster's body, so Matthew and Abe Harusai both sat in the Monster An, dragging the atmosphere in the Monster An into a silence that ordinary people could not bear.

"...Where did you pick up the bodies of these monsters?" After a long silence, Abe Harusai took the lead in asking Mashu to confirm the situation. "I remember that you participated in club activities and were one of the two managers of the volleyball club. It should be almost dark when you go home every day - at this time of year, it should be dark already. How do you still have time to wander around?"

"No, it's not that I'm just wandering around or have a hobby of going out late at night." Mashu picked up the matcha that Abe Harusai pushed in front of her and made up her own story based on what Abe Haruaki had said before. "These all appeared directly in front of me on my way home - it looks like they were deliberately placed there waiting for me to pick them up."

"......!" Abe Harusai's eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly regained his usual calm expression and turned his gaze to Ashiya Hanae who was carrying the bodies of the monsters to the gate of the Monster Temple. "You should learn to move them in batches, Ashiya! You can't get them through the gate if you move them all at once!"

"It's almost time for class, Abe." Ashiya Hanae placed the corpses of the monsters neatly on the ground of the Monster Temple and turned to look at Abe Harusai. "Even if you want to investigate these things, you can't be late, right?"

"...Then let's talk about it after school." Abe Harusai asked Mashu, "Are you free after school today?"

"My senior said that we can leave all the volleyball club matters to her during this period, so I don't have to participate in club activities for the time being." Mashu smiled, and followed Abe Harusai's words to put the arrangements they had made a week ago in front of them, "I have free time after school. If you have any questions, you can come to me after school."

"Then let's go to the classroom, Monster An." After Ashiya Hanae closed the door, Abe Harusai gave the Monster An an order to move, "Mashiro goes out first, Ashiya goes out second, and I go last - go back to your seat after entering the classroom, and don't talk about this during class breaks. Even if you want to talk about it, you have to go into Monster An first."

——That being said, Ashiya Hanae, one of the servants of Monster An, still chose to skip class and send a message to Abe Harusai to confirm the situation.

"Ashiya Hanae: Didn't the legislators say that abnormal situations would be concentrated around Ms. Hakuyama?"

『Abe Harusai: How should I know? 』

"Abe Harusai: But Shinbai is undoubtedly an ordinary person - I confirmed this when she first transferred here, and I also checked her again in the monster temple just now. She should be an ordinary person who can't even see the corpse of a monster... I just don't know what kind of adventure she had..."

"Ashiya Hanae: Is it like when Zenko was bitten by Yahiko?"

"Abe Harusai: Probably. I have already synchronized the new information with Ms. Iwanaga, and it depends on what possibility she will give us in return."

The homeroom teacher on the podium once again let his thoughts wander and madly praised his daughter in front of the whole class, so the students below began to slack off one after another - even Mashu put his hand under the table to send a message to Fujimaru Ritsuka who was in another classroom to report on the progress of this morning's operation.

"Mashu: To be honest, I think they think they will meet Haruaki-sama, not just Mashiro Kirie, who is just an ordinary classmate."

"Fujimaru Ritsuka: Of course I know they would think so - this is why Lord Seimei cannot come forward."

"Fujimaru Ritsuka: Didn't I tell you this? No matter what they think, we must create the impression that both of them are "Seimei-sama" in front of them - the only thing that is absolutely not allowed is to regard them as completely different people. Other than that, it's fine even if they regard you as Seimei-sama's miko, dependent body, or some incarnation. "

"Fujimaru Ritsuka: Although it is certain that the difficulty of the problem is not that high, Grand Caster should be a necessity this time... No, maybe just an ordinary Caster will be enough."

"Mashu: After that..."

"Fujimaru Ritsuka: Try to cooperate with them, and do whatever you want except the corpses. Unless there is a threat to your personal safety, it is best to keep Mashiro Kirie as an ordinary person. After all, the three people who appear in their field of vision are all on the side of the monsters."

"Fujimaru Ritsuka: I don't really want them to think that we are not human beings - that's all."

So, after school today, when Fujimaru Ritsuka arrived at the gymnasium to ask the coach for leave for Mashu, Abe Harusai and Ashiya Hanae had already taken Mashu to the rooftop of the teaching building and opened the door to the hidden world.

"I didn't expect the situation over there to be so urgent." Mashu looked at the hidden world door that suddenly opened in front of him, and used the consciousness communication channel to synchronize the situation on the scene with others, "They are going to take me directly to the hidden world."

"That's great." At this time, Asaya Michiman came out and asked everyone dryly, "Then should I accept Iwanaga Kotoko's invitation to go into seclusion with her, or should I just reject her outright?"

"Isn't this a bit too bad, Master?" Abe Haruaki asked Fujimaru Ritsuka.

"It would be better if Mr. Doman went with him." Fujimaru Ritsuka made the final decision, "You must prove your identity as "Abe Haruaki" in front of them. If you are found out, we must also know how that Asaya Doman targeted Mr. Haruaki! Because normally, the probability of you being mistaken for Abe Haruaki is higher!"