Chapter 2 : Red and White
Part 1
At this time of the afternoon, Tokyo's streets bustled with life. Students were either heading back to their home or to places of recreation such as arcades and shopping malls. Workers that had just finished their shifts walked to restaurants or food stalls, and even, some of them probably had plans to go to various discos and pubs, delving in advance unto Tokyo's nocturnal life.
Walking in the middle of such an atmosphere, Harutora didn't feel much resonance with it, instead, he was quite thoughtful and confused. The young man was trying to sort out whatever had happened during the bizarre conversation that both he and Natsume had held with the new transfer student, Hakurei Reimu. Harutora glanced at Natsume furtively from the side to check on her - she didn't seem to be in a state different from his, lost in thoughts that is.
“Are you two being depressed over having to feed a poor girl with some food? Man, the worries of people in this world sometimes...”
Touji's tongue-in-cheek humour brought the Tsuchimikado duo back to their senses, but not in a way that they especially appreciated.
“T-Touji! You're not the one that'll be paying for her meals!” Harutora replied with frustration. He should've known that this act of his equated to adding more fuel to Touji's fire, but then, this was Tsuchimikado Harutora that we were speaking of, a person unfortunately helpless at noticing what circumstantially mattered. His 'master' though, Natsume, reacted in a relatively wiser way, merely shooting a quick and annoyed huff at Touji rather than answering back verbally.
“You're sounding more and more like a husband supplementing a shopaholic wife,” Touji teased.
“What the-- where do you get these dodgy comparisons from?!”
“Now who's the one that's in a dodgy situation here?”
Harutora covered his forehead with his right hand, tired and not in the mood to pursue this argument with Touji, or well, was it really an argument?
“Right... I give up,” the youth sighed, his shoulders dropping as if signalling his defeat. The day had drained him so much that he didn't want any more problems - immediately jumping onto his bed as they returned to the Onyou Academy Dormitory and resting was something that Harutora eagerly awaited for.
Some naturally harassed their friends for the sake of being annoying, but Ato Touji wasn't such a kind of person. Under his teasing behavior, hid an important will to make sure that his companions were healthy. This was just his characteristic way of expressing himself to those that he truly regarded as his best companions, and also, a way to probe how much Harutora was exhausted.
Touji a small pat on Harutora's shoulder while saying:
“It's not that bad though, you two getting some sort of relationship with that Reimu that is.”
“If you're about to talk on how we'd get together, I'd rather have you stop dreaming, Touji.”
Touji let out a laugh at Harutora's bitter reply.
“I did say 'you two', unless...”
His gaze drifted onto the silent Natsume, who was awkwardly listening at the clowning between her two friends.
“... could it be that there's something I didn't know about you, Natsume-kun?”
“H-huh?!”
Natsume suddenly jumped as her name was mentioned. She had tuned off from the talk between Touji and Harutora for quite a while, but nonetheless was still paying enough attention to hear her name when it was called. Since this was Touji speaking, she figured that something either important or shady would be associated with her.
“What do you mean? I don't get it at all...” Natsume continued with a mixed tone of annoyance and confusion. Her eyes turned to Harutora, seeking for some clarification on whatever Touji was trying to imply... but Harutora didn't want to delve into this subject at all; he knew that doing so would result in anything but a good outcome.
“D-don't bother about what that idiot is saying... really, hahaha.... you're not into-”
“-aren't you taking things for granted, Stupid-Tora? Or is it that you want Natsume-kun for youself?” Touji interjected, continuing with a smile not so far from being describable as 'vicious'.
“Eeeehhh?!” Natsume shrilled as she heard Touji's analysis, her fair skin turning to a pinkish hue. “S-stop being ridiculous! Your observations are even more baseless than that transfer student's!”
Touji snickered. Wherever his poor friend was trying to go, Harutora was always messing up and playing cards right into his hands all the time, and as well, Natsume's reactions and her general behaviour weren't helping Harutora much. The cluelessness she had when it came to the banter between the two boys... it was priceless for Touji, as it was obvious that she had yet to grasp the subtext and implications.
What implications?
Lilies, of course.
'But well, maybe that I should stop playing around,' he thought to himself. 'I'd never board the main topic otherwise, would I?'
“When I said having 'some sort of relationship with Hakurei Reimu', I was mostly suggesting that you befriend her. As far as I know, you're the only one that's interacted with her so much ever since she's arrived. She also seems to be interested in you and Natsume so... why not make the best of your circumstances? She does have an incredible power...”
Harutora listened to Touji's words, and while he did agree that making a friend out of Reimu was something they should strive for, he didn't agree on the way Touji was approaching the topic. The light yet forced smile that he had on his lips said it all.
“That sounds kinda a bit cynical there Touji... I don't think that we'd be friends with her simply because of her powers.”
If there was one interesting thing that simply fascinated Touji when it came to Harutora, it was the boy's ability to get himself into the worse of situations no matter what he did. Harutora often said himself that it was a 'curse' of some sort, and as time went by, Touji sometimes pondered wherever this was really more a reality than a joke. Harutora basically was serving him on a silver platter another method of approach for him to prod the poor Tsuchimikado boy about his feelings towards that 'girl from the countryside'.
“Now, aren't we getting ideologically romantic there?”
“Sigh... why am I even bothering...”
“M-my liege... I think that it'd be unwise to trust such a mystery without knowing more about her!”
Kon, Harutora's fox-spirit shikigami suddenly spoke up with her frail, high-pitched voice, joining into the conversation. Her suddenly taking part into chats wasn't something that startled the group anymore since they had become used to her – after all, she was around Harutora twenty-four hours and seven days a week. It was less that she made her presence known, and more that she simply reminded Harutora's friend that she was always there.
It was true though that for Kon to barge into a discussion that wasn't centred around her, the circumstances had to be quite special, as she was quite the shy girl.
“She uses sorcery of unknown origins... her onmyoudou reeks from a system of the ancient times... everything about that Hakurei Reimu is s-suspicious! It would be unwise to trust her!”
“K-kon...”
Harutora didn't really know how to react to Kon's stance about Reimu. On one hand, she was quite right that everything surrounding Reimu was very suspicious. The background, her power, and even, her personality... but then, that personality was what exactly made Harutora think that there was nothing 'wrong' about her. He thought that it greatly resembled the one of someone he knew, at least, the personality that she had before she lightened up...
As if reading his mind, 'she' spoke up too. Harutora wondered how she felt about the entire ordeal since Natsume hadn't said much from the moment they parted ways with Reimu at the school's canteen.
“Hakurei-san is... someone we can trust, I think.”
Natsume spoke softly, but there was a certain form of certitude that her friends could pick up in her speech.
“B-but, with all of my due respect, how sane is it to trust a girl that has demonstrated the ability to use magic that precedes the Imperial Style?! No 'normal' person should be able to use such techniques!”
“Preceding... the Imperial Style you say?” Harutora and Natsume let out in sync, while Touji doubled his attention to Kon's exposition.
Harutora was quite dumbfounded at these news, and surprisingly, so were his comrades. While the three had understood that what Reimu had done exceeded the realm of possibilities, they never knew that the girl's feats amounted to using onmyoudou older than Yakou's. It was something truly unheard of... could it be that she came from the past? That'd make no sense, but then, Reimu herself was an entity that lacked 'sense', so such a conclusion wouldn't be surprising in the end.
It went through Harutora's thoughts for a second – the idea that Reimu possibly wasn't something human. Before even thinking that though, Harutora should maybe ascertain what exactly made Kon so sure that Reimu wasn't just using really high-grade modern Onmyoudou.
“How do you know that it was a school of onmyoudou even older than the Imperial-Style?”
“The basis of her spellcasting, my liege. The medium of the spell that she used was the world itself; she became one with the environment, perhaps, one with the gods. It wasn't just her conspiring to change the world, the world itself was shifting in full accord to her acts. Even as the spell faded, there was no lag. It was 'natural', not 'artificial'. The Imperial-Style has traits of that, but... you could feel it, couldn't you? The Transcendence that surrounded Hakurei Reimu.”
The three students remained silent as they heard Kon. All of her observations were fairly accurate, and even, she had seen things that none of them could have noticed. In a strange form of coincidence, as if reinforcing the needed 'pause', the group had reached a crossing and had to stop their walk for a moment, so to wait for the pedestrian lights to turn green again.
And at that time, another coincidence struck as Harutora heard his cellphone ring briefly, informing him that he had received a message.
“Huh? I wonder who that could be--.”
'Grandma isn't telling me anything about Hakurei Reimu, which is kinda strange... even stranger, she seems to support the girl, having said that 'Reimu-san could use a good friend or two'. I'm going to look a bit deeper into this matter since I'm a bit suspicious as to why Grandma won't tell me anything... --Kyouko'
As Natsume and Touji were told of the message's contents, everyone could only come to one common conclusion: the mystery was thickening.
Harutora looked skywards, taking in a deep breath. He noticed that Tokyo's sky had turned overcast, and not long after this realisation, rain began to fall...
For a reason or another, he began to think again about all the feelings which had burgeoned in his heart when he caught a first glimpse of Hakurei Reimu. He remembered that vision of a butterfly fluttering towards a flame, a requiem that had never fully been concluded. He thought of her beautiful, lonely figure as she sat on the window sill, bathed in the sunlight – as she spoke and moved, seeming to be a transcendent existence.
Then, he recalled that childish side of hers, which he had seen at the canteen.
And that he had seen somewhere else too before... although where, he couldn't remember.
~~~
“Hey, will you save me if I ever get in trouble? Like how you save her all the time.”
"Sure! But you're so strong, even stronger than I am... it's more likely that I'll have to be saved by you someday.”
“I don't mind doing that, but you never know, do you? Auntie Murasaki always tells me 'the bigger they are, the harder they fall'.”
“Huh? I don't really get it, but you're not even big. You're smaller and thinner than I am!”
“Does it stop me from beating you at everything?”
“Meh.”
“Teehee...”
“Anyways! I'll definitely be there to save you someday! I'll beat you at saving yourself!”
“Why, thank you~”
The sun was setting on the Tsuchimikado estate. The time to play was other. Soon, they'd have to part. 'Auntie' cried out for them to return inside, telling the kids that dinner was ready.
The cry of a distant past.
~~~
| - |
A bewildering wave of water droplets smashed into the warehouse's roof. The weather had a sudden mood swing, and the transition into night-time for Tokyo was a bit of a strange one. Rather than setting below the horizon as it normally did, the sun was blotted out by heavy clouds which were gathering over the capital.
Whatever the weather was though, it didn't stop a certain group of people from gathering in here. The air was damp, the not so pleasant smell of rust permeated the entire building, and every single bit of the floor was covered in dust. Truly a place in ruins – truly perfect as a refuge from the attention of society and the Onmyou Agency, as during the day, it was part of a greater construction field. But perfection would eventually be what would betray the place's secrecy.
Rin had figured out that searching the same places as the Onmyou Agency would amount to nothing, instead, she chose to be bold and pick up more 'exotic areas' where no solid traces of the Twin Horn Syndicate could be seen. It was a vague and luck-based plan, but the best thing the Crimson Magus could come up with – and gambling a bit seemed to have granted her the bullseye, judging from what her shikigami had found out.
Perched on a steel beam, silently eavesdropping onto the conversations below, Rin's familiar remained undetected. Not only could it pass through these bounded fields set up to detect intruders with ease, but it could be invisible as long as it wished.
“High Priest D has given us his blessings, chief Mutobe. He will proved us with assistance in our goal to serve the King of the Northern Star.”
“That is good. So the plan is coming up as expected... we can only wait on your answer now, 'R'. What will you be doing?'”
“My Master sees no objection in me helping, but I will not directly act against the Onmyou Agency.”
The people that were talking below were obscured by more bounded fields. The familiar couldn't get a good look at them, and approaching the group to break these bounded fields could prove dangerous. The first two speakers were without doubt male. The one that had just spoken though was clearly a woman, and her tone was quite different from theirs. The two first spoke with an air of conviction and some emotion, contrary to this woman that while clear, sounded so factual and blank that one might've confused her for a robot – albeit, a robot with a finely articulated speech and a beautiful voice:
“Chief Mutobe... what is this woman even doing here if all that she does is just stand around and pretend to help!?”
The participants began to get quite agitated after the one called 'R' stated the stance she'd adopt on the coming 'plan'. Other people were whispering in-between themselves and questioning wherever this 'R' person was truly trustworthy or not.
“Everyone, calm down. 'R' and her master 'M' have supported us for a long time now. While it is true that I wish that she would involve herself more, we cannot deny that 'M' and this lady here have been of a great help. Please refrain from being so unpleasant.”
Mutobe's talk was sufficient to prevent the anger of the other members of this meeting from turning too volatile. The chatter that seemed like it'd explode into a riot calmed down, but the whisper of complaints never really died out.
“If you say so, chief...”
The familiar had heard it all about a plan, it had also heard names, even if some of them were single letters that didn't offer much in terms of information... but there still was no talk on what that 'plan' of these people was. Perhaps that it could just drop in there and try taking on everyone in this meeting – it had incredible battle skills indeed. However, Rin didn't want it to do anything other than observe. There were obviously bigger players pulling the strings behind the scene, and Rin thought that she could learn some more if the familiar prolonged its wait.
As it was busy receiving Rin's renewed orders of holding its position... the familiar felt a weird disturbance.
A strange ringing sound.
A weak lull.
And suddenly, a flare of energy.
“What the...”
The familiar wasn't the only one surprised, below her the members of the meeting could be heard crying out in shock.
“What's happening-- R, what are you doing??!!!”
“Sending you people back home. I'm afraid that we've been discovered out, all thanks to a couple of careless fools.”
The familiar felt a whirl of prana envelope the entire surroundings. It couldn't see anything of what was going on below, since there was this blinding light filling its sight, but there could be no mistake about the presence of a vortex-like tornado, summoning winds so strong that the building itself was being ripped to pieces, and massive debris were being flung around at incredible speeds.
Then, it 'saw' it, a powerful attack headed towards it head, with such power that it would be crushed like glass if the blow landed. The familiar ducked, still blinded by the light, but 'seeing' the attack somehow. The machinery allowing its small yet heavy frame to move spurred to life, and pistons alongside rocket boosters powered by onmyou magic fired into action.
It was an inhumanely fast flexing of the lower limbs to dodge an equally inhumanely fast lunge that broke the sound of barrier.
The lunge barely grazed right past the familiar's head, but the shock from the sonic boom would've been more than enough to knock out any human being. The mechanical armour of the familiar's head gained a dent, but fortunately, it did not shatter.
'Seeing' the occasion to retaliate, the familiar counter-attacked with its eyes still blinded. A sixth sensory sense was here to ensure that even though there was no possible way for it to aim at its attacker's heart, the familiar's dagger that it held in its mechanical hand right would thrust straight towards the improbable target. Its trajectory was flawless, its speed, like lightning.
As the familiar's attack occurred, the 'invisibility' that had shrouded its figure disappeared, and a knight clad in futuristic heavy armor was what stood there instead of the invisible air... or was it a mechanical, man-made shikigami?
The dagger pierced the 'heart' of its target, and the blinding light left the familiar's eyesight.
It could see once again. It could see a vague, ghastly white form through which that it had pierced – it knew by then that this was nothing more than trickery, nothing more than an illusion. The 'attacker' had manoeuvred to put some distance between itself and Rin's familiar.
It was a mature women with golden eyes and neck-length golden hair, clad in a white dress with long puffy sleeves, a blue tabard with mystical oriental engravings worn on top of said dress. Flaring out behind her were nine majestic fox tails, moving with such fluidity that they could mesmerize living beings that simply beheld them.
When this kitsune she spoke, there was no mistake that it was the same voice as R's.
“Splendid reflexes, but even then, this masquerade is slowing you down far too much.”
Without a single trace of emotion, she spoke to Rin's familiar. The compliment seemed hollow, but then, there was this faint smile on the woman's lips.
“I have no time to play around with you though... although a little piece of advice, you might want to watch over your back door.”
No sooner had she finished speaking, that R dashed again at Rin's Familiar. To the human eye, it would seem more like she teleported, but that is simply because of the amazing speed at which R was moving. A Phantasmal Species that defied all the rules of Alaya, she was a monstrosity that didn't belong to this era.
The familiar though, was able to react to R's attack, as impossible as that seemed. It too, moved with supernatural force, far above the abilities of normal man-made shikigami. It unsheathed something out of a container on its right leg, and the raking of of steel against steel could be heard for a microsecond as the familiar performed the motion of a perfect horizontal slash – even though there was nothing in its hand, an incredible cutting force bisected R's torso at her waist, cutting it into two clean halves --
-- or was it, cutting the decoy into two clean halves?
The familiar had merely cut through an illusion once again, and that the real R was nowhere to be found. The only thing accompanying the lone familiar now was the rain pouring overhead onto the roof, and the piece of paper lying on the steel beam – the leftover of R's illusion.
The warehouse was empty, without a single trace of those that had been meeting in it moments ago. All the damage from the area-spell that R had cast, summoning winds that could shatter steel and concrete had vanished.
'Sorcery'.
……
“Well, our date was ruined.”
“... you never give up, do you?”
Tohsaka Rin stood in the middle of the warehouse where key members of the Twin Horn Syndicate had been meeting just minutes ago, yet presently, not a single trace could be found of their presence, not even the slightest hint that a living being had stepped into this run-down building before Ohtomo Jin and her had arrived.
Rin sighed with a frown as she faced the reality that there had been little gained from this lead; she had been too insistent of her familiar waiting rather than jumping in and 'convincing' some people to co-operate.
There was not much use in moping on her failure though, that Rin knew. She couldn't help but be frustrated at her own overly careful methods... somehow, if she had acted like her younger, brasher self of the past, things might've ended up better – but then, even if Rin's familiar was an extraordinary force, she acknowledged that this R was way beyond what she'd have expected to fight here. The Kitsune was not only a being of the Phantasmal Species, but she belonged to the Millennial Rank. The power that she emanated and how she was able to easily put up with the familiar's attacks... there was no uncertainty left about it.
“Do you have a vague idea of what they were talking about, Ohtomo-san?”
“The Twin Horn Syndicate always has plans, so it's not news to me that they're planning something but... for them to mention 'D'...”
Ohtomo's expression changed as he spoke of 'D', his eyes narrowing as he adjusted his glasses. Rin could tell that this at least was business important, important enough for Ohtomo Jin to feel more engaged into the conversation rather than keeping his ditzy persona.
“Who is that? Some codename for their leader?” Rin asked.
“That remains a big question. The Agency thinks that this isn't the case, and he's mostly someone that's in for trouble. However, since he's a mystery that's been along for hundreds of years...”
“... hundreds of years?”
“'D' is simply the letter we use to refer to Ashiya Douman, Abe No Seimei's greatest rival. He's that much of a mystery that we don't even know if this is really Douman we're dealing with. Depressing, isn't it?”
“Ashiya Douman...” Rin repeated after Ohtomo, narrowing her eyes and thinking of whatever information information she could recall about Abe No Seimei's nemesis. To be fair, other than knowing the basic fairy tales of what happened between him and Seimei during their rivalry, there wasn't much info on what he had been up to in the recent years – let alone the fact that he was alive came as a surprise to her. The Clock Tower never poked its nose into Japan's affairs, seeing that it was on horrible terms with the Onmyou Agencies. Tohsaka had a much stronger and up to date link with the latter though, seeing that Japan was her homeland after all... but even then, all this was pretty much news to her.
“Tohsaka-san, don't dwell to long on his existence; just know that he's around. The Agency has been trying to uncover the shroud of questions that surrounds him for so long, and to no avail – it's only found more questions.”
Ohtomo extended his open right hand, and a flock of 'birds' that he had released to inspect the surroundings returned and morphed back into ofuda talismans, having completed their work. As meticulously as he had searched for clues or traces left by the Twin Horned Syndicate, his method of trailing them had been as successful as Rin's – in other words, it bore no fruits.
“We should move on, there's not much left for us here. Maybe resume our little outing? The night is still young~” Jin continued cheerfully.
“I don't recall going out with anyone here. I'm only doing my duty,” Rin replied coldly as she turned away from Jin and began to walk away, then continuing with: “I wasn't thinking about him only. There were two other people with one-letter pseudonyms. 'R' and 'M'.”
Rin raised the piece of paper that 'R' had left behind after her decoy was cut in two. It was adorned with multiple patterns and blue-colored decorations, yet there wasn't a single word written on it. The Crimson Magus could try to make sense out of it as much as she could, there existed no single magical school that used overly long combinations in ones and zeroes... or was there?
Before Rin could reflect further though on the matter, Jin caught up to her and asked:
“Actually, could you hand me that piece of paper for a second?”
“Certainly. What are you up to?” Rin asked as she handed the paper over.
“Following a hunch,” Ohtomo replied nonchalantly with a light grin. He had a good look at the paper, then took out his cellphone from his shirt's pocket, keying in a few words. To Rin, a woman that had quite a horrible relationship with technology, it wasn't that much different from observing someone practice an unknown spell. Also, since she mostly frequented magus that lived as if they were still in the 18th century or earlier, the sight of an Onmyou Practitioner like Ohtomo handling technology with such ease was quite alien for the Crimson Magus, to the point that she felt a bit embarrassed that she had no idea about what he was doing.
Before realizing that she was doing such a thing, Rin had already hunched over lightly and was taking a peek at what Ohtomo Jin was rummaging for on his phone, twisting a strand of her hair nervously. Her eyes darted across the small screen of Jin's cellphone - there was information everywhere.
“You're not very good with these, are you?”
'Ah, he just had to ask that.'
“Ahem. L-Let's just say that I'm not so up to date with these devices. Not as if they're very useful...” Rin said as she tried to dismiss her lack of affinity with technology as unimportant and trivial. She was doing quite the horrible job at hiding her embarrassment too, since her blushed cheeks and her averted gaze were more than enough to elicit a little bit of laughter from Jin.
“Oh, but they are Tohsaka-san, they are~” Jin replied with a snicker, “for example... does the word 'Enforcer' ring any bell to you? That's what is written on this piece of paper in Binary Code.”
'Enforcer?'
Enforcer.
Of course, it rang a bell. A very alerting one, on top of that.
'…you might want to watch over your back door,' the kitsune had said.
Now, it all made sense.
Rin's visage, which Jin saw as quite cute when filled with such embarrassment, suddenly transformed into the embodiment of gloom.
“Tohsaka-san?--”
She exploded, grabbing Jin by the shoulders and giving him a powerful shake, shouting:
“Damn it! We have to get back to Natsume-kun as fast as we can!”
Time was of the essence, and they had none to lose. Apparently, some people back at the Clock Tower couldn't be trusted in doing their job properly.
Originally Posted by Bridgeburner90
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