Dropout Exorcist Part 1 Chapter 7

 Chapter 7: Covert Machinations

"Rokudou-sama, I have returned."

The building stood alone deep in the forest, looking like an abandoned church. A man in his late twenties dressed in a white suit, with his silver hair cut into a neat bob, bowed his head to his master.

That man sat in a chair in the front row of the chapel. He wore a black suit and had white hair and mismatched eyes.

"Welcome back, Ginga. Let's hear your report."

The white-haired man called Rokudou spoke without changing his posture to Ginga, who stood diagonally behind him.

"Understood. But before that, there's something I must apologize for."

"An apology?"

"Yes. It's not that I neglected the surveillance but halfway through observing, a powerful barrier was deployed and I lost the ability to make out anything happening inside. All I was able to confirm was from the moment right after the fighting began to the point where the red-faced oni strengthened through two stages, and after the barrier came down, the oni was already gone."

Looking apologetic, he delivered his report to his master.

"...What did your nose pick up?"

"I could sense both the red-faced oni and the youma-spirit orb vanishing. What I can infer from the residual malevolent energy is that we succeeded in pushing a High Rank youma up two full tiers in a short span of time. Its body apparently couldn't keep pace with such rapid change and in the end, it seems it destroyed itself."

"I see. That's your theory, then."

"Yes. My apologies for bringing back nothing but uncertain information."

The man called Ginga bowed his head again but Rokudou didn't seem to mind at all.

"It's fine. This was nothing more than a single experiment after all. Not knowing the process in between is a bit of a problem but I did anticipate this result. Still, even a High Rank oni's body can't withstand such a rapid change, huh?"

"Likely not. But if we simply take the time, adapting to it shouldn't prove too difficult, I would think."

"I see. Then let's continue the experiments for a while longer and stay close to me for now."

"Understood."

"...By the way, Ginga. Was there anyone who survived facing that red-faced oni?"

Rokudou asked abruptly, as though something had just occurred to him.

"Yes. When I checked, the Mizunami practitioners were unconscious but all of them appeared to be unharmed. One was the son of the Mizunami head and the rest were fairly skilled themselves but none of them stood a chance against the red-faced oni. There were two other practitioners as well who seemed to have witnessed the oni's end. Judging by the quality of her spirit power and her possession of a fire spirit armament, I'd guess one of them was a daughter of the Hino main house."

"Oh? A daughter of the Hino main house. I see. That would explain her being able to hold her own against a strengthened red-faced oni well enough to buy some time. And the other one?"

"The other was a boy around the same age as the Hino daughter and the Mizunami heir. But the spirit power I sensed off him was far too low, below even an average exorcist's. There was something about the quality of his spirit power that felt slightly different from a normal exorcist's, which gave me a bit of pause but I couldn't imagine him being a practitioner who'd pose any threat to us."

At Ginga's words, Rokudou fell into thought for a moment.

"Is something the matter? If it's bothering you, I can see to it."

"...No. Leave it be for now. Our goal is to wipe out the Kyogoku bloodline down to the last drop. The other Six Houses and other exorcists, all of them can be left alone. Of course, if any of them get in our way, I won't hold back."

Rokudou had no intention of being picky about means to reach his goal but he also had no intention of committing the folly of deliberately turning all six of the Houses against him. Even he understood that fighting all Six Houses at once would make achieving his goal that much harder.

"That said, even if the Kyogoku call on the other Six Houses for reinforcements, it's not as though we couldn't bury them together either. But the one thing we absolutely have to prevent is the Hoshimori entering the fight."

"The strongest exorcist clan, you mean."

"That's right. Fight them and we won't come out unscathed either, especially against the current head, Hoshimori Asahi. Fight him and even I might lose."

"You, Rokudou-sama!? No way, that can't be!"

"Ginga. Don't underestimate the man. Hoshimori Asahi's guardian spirit beast is said to be Super Rank and rumor has it that in tandem with Asahi himself, it could even take on a Sovereign Rank opponent. Asahi's own combat strength is said to rival Super Rank as well. If that's true, underestimating him could leave our miserable corpses on display. No, he might not even leave corpses behind."

At Rokudou's words, Ginga swallowed hard. He could never have imagined that there existed a man capable of drawing words like that out of his master.

"But the odds of him entering the fight are vanishingly low. If we touched a member of the Hoshimori bloodline, that would be another matter, but the Hoshimori clan doesn't actively involve itself with the Six Houses. Frankly, that's because of the Six Houses' own pointless pride. The Kyogoku in particular goes around proclaiming themselves the greatest exorcist clan of all. There's no way the current head would go begging the Hoshimori, famed as the strongest of all, for help. Which is to say, they likely won't be eager to ask the other Six Houses for help either."

If they were pushed right to the brink of annihilation, that might change. But it seemed unlikely they would readily ask for help and besides, there was bad blood between the Hoshimori and the Kyogoku.

In truth, it was really just the Kyogoku unilaterally treating the Hoshimori as rivals. And since they were known for taking a high-handed attitude toward the other Six Houses too, there was a good chance those clans wouldn't be eager to help them either.

That's exactly why, from here on out, any move that might draw the Hoshimori or the other Six Houses into the conflict had to be handled with care.

"The red-faced oni affair may have been a bit reckless on our part. Not only the Mizunami, but the Hino clan caught wind of it as well. Still, incidents like this alone shouldn't be enough to trace anything back to us."

They were operating behind the scenes. They weren't moving openly and they hadn't declared war on the Kyogoku yet either.

They had freed the oni the Mizunami had sealed away and used it for the experiment. But they'd also taken care to cover their tracks and the youma-spirit orb had vanished as well. However the fact that someone was involved remains but that was as far as it went.

"But the offensive against the Kyogoku is drawing near. Based on the results of this experiment, we'll move forward with improving the youma-spirit orb. Yashiro's side is capturing sacrifices smoothly as well."

"Can that man be trusted?"

"That man has a clear goal of his own. As long as we don't betray him, he won't betray us until he has achieved it. I've had him watched, of course, so there's nothing for you to worry about."

"Understood. I overstepped by prying unnecessarily. My apologies."

"It's fine. Your concern is only natural. No need to apologize. That said, anything worth using is worth using. That's a principle of mine. Now then, let's move on to the next stage. Once it's done, we'll declare war on the Kyogoku and watch them get destroyed while they tremble in terror."

As Rokudou murmured that, the two of them vanished without a trace.

* * *

"Ugh, seriously! What is with those guys! Taking off without even a proper apology or a thank-you! There's a limit to how rude you can be!"

After that, once Ryuki and the others regained consciousness and were told the red-faced oni had destroyed itself, they hurried off, as if their business here was already done.

Ryuki had checked the spot where the youma had vanished, and once he'd heard it sounded like the thing had died when its body collapsed under the strain, he'd headed straight down the mountain, barely saying a word to Shinya or Akane, as if he had no more use for either of them. That was exactly what had set Akane off.

"He did look pretty frustrated though. And he did say thanks, for what it's worth."

"'Hmph, it galls me, but I suppose I'll thank you for the treatment.' That's what he said! Who does he think he is!? Doesn't it make you mad, Shinya!?"

At the sight of Akane imitating Ryuki while raging furiously, all Shinya could do was let out a wry smile.

"Not really. You're mad enough for the both of us. More importantly, you didn't have to tell them I was the one who healed them, you know."

"It's fine! If I can't tell them you were the one who fought, then at least I can tell them this much. But you should've seen his face, he was so frustrated. If I told him you were the one who nearly took that oni down, I wonder what kind of face he'd make."

"I don't think he'd believe it even if you told him."

"Then just show him! He'd absolutely hate it!"

It felt like that would just earn him needless resentment and pile on more trouble, so he'd rather be spared that for now, thank you very much.

To begin with, this was his first time home in four years, and already on the very next day, he'd been dragged into an incident like this. Honestly, all he could think was, give me a break already.

After all that, they'd somehow managed to find and take down the youma that had been their target in the first place, so the job was finally done. The trip back had taken nearly two hours too, so by the time they made it back, he was fairly worn out.

All he wanted now was to go home, eat, take a bath, and sleep. With everything that had happened, he was exhausted and genuinely just wanted to get to bed as soon as possible. That was all Shinya could think about.

"That's why I'm saying, forget about that for now. I just want to relax and take it easy for a while."

"Ugh, why are you so listless about it? I mean, you were never exactly proactive to begin with, but still."

"There's a lot going on. Honestly, I just want to go home and relax in my room. No, I want to sleep in my bed."

"No way. You promised you'd give me a proper explanation, didn't you? I'm not letting you go home until I hear it."

"Are you seriously going to come barging into my room again?"

"Heh heh heh. If you want me to leave, then hurry up and spill it. Chop-chop!"

At Shinya's look of weary resignation, Akane wore a confident, teasing smile.

"But, you know, you were really cool today, Shinya. It felt more reassuring than usual somehow, kind of like being around my father, or something."

"So I'm getting the 'old man' treatment now, huh."

"That's not it. It's just that you were amazing, that's all... And..."

"And?"

Shinya pressed her when she cut herself off, but she immediately flustered and stumbled over her words.

"No, never mind! More importantly, you worked really hard today, Shinya, so I've got to reward you. You barely got to eat lunch, so I'll treat you to dinner. Anything you want, my treat. So, what'll it be?"

"Guess I'll take you up on some non-conveyor-belt sushi, then."

"Sorry. Conveyor belt it is, please."

Apparently she wasn't all that flush with cash. Running an exorcist business as part of an exorcist clan brought in a fair amount of money, but in Akane's case, she was on an allowance, and apparently didn't get anywhere near that kind of extreme sum.

The reasoning was that carrying too much money while still a student would warp her sense of money and lead to overspending, so her parents only gave her ten percent of what she earned from exorcist work and kept the rest saved under her name.

"If it's conveyor belt sushi, you can eat as much as you want. Yeah, Souko Sushi or Sushi-Row, either's fine."

"Guess I'll settle for that, then."

It had been four years since he'd had sushi too. There'd been no such thing as sushi over there, so just thinking about it made him desperately want some.

They passed through the station ticket gate and headed toward their destination. Since it was Saturday night, the app reservations already looked booked solid, so they'd probably have to just show up and wait in person.

"Eh?"

"Hm?"

Just then, Shinya caught a small murmur. He turned toward the sound and saw a girl standing there, her face full of surprise.

"You're..."

"What's wrong, Shinya?"

Noticing where Shinya's gaze had landed, Akane turned to look that way too.

"...It's only been a day, hasn't it? And, um, thank you. Truly. For last night."

The girl he was seeing again after only a day was Kyogoku Nagisa.

* * *

"There! ...That makes a hundred."

"Ugh... Aahh..."

In the basement bar of some building, several men lay collapsed, covered in blood. None of them looked like honest citizens.

Standing among those men was a purple-haired boy — Yashiro Rihito.

"Hahah! Yashiro-chan, you're the best! Yeah, yeah! Just a bit more till you hit quota!"

A golden-haired young man, older than Yashiro and around college age, sat on what looked like an expensive sofa, clapping his hands. He wore an earring and had a frivolous smile on his face.

"Shut it. So you're not gonna do a damn thing, huh."

"Eh? I'm supposed to be your support, sure, but you can go and do everything yourself, Yashiro-chan. I'm just watching."

With his easy smile and manner, he came across as nothing more than the kind of glib guy you could find anywhere.

(This guy really pisses me off. But if I let him run loose, it'll cause trouble.)

Rihito knew this man was dangerous. On the surface he looked like some easygoing, glib type, but Yashiro knew that was just an act.

"But hey, if we're gonna take people, let's skip guys like this and go with cuter girls instead. I think that'd have more flair, personally."

"Shut up. Where we're taking them's basically hell, ain't it. You think I'm sendin' a woman somewhere like that?"

"Yashiro-chan, you're such a gentleman~. But you know, it's a fair, equal world these days. Even sacrifices deserve equal opportunity. And besides, don't you think a girl's face when she's terrified or sinking into despair looks amazing? Her voice too. The way they beg and cry desperately honestly gives me chills."

"Shut up. Open your mouth one more time and I'll knock you flat right here."

"Come on, don't get so mad, Yashiro-chan. Well then, let's play with some girls together sometime. I bet you'd have fun too..."

THUD!

The floor shattered apart with a violent crash. Yashiro had driven his fist straight into it.

"Told you already. Shut. Up."

"Hmm? Well, I'll cut it out with teasing you for now, Yashiro-chan. But hey, Yashiro-chan, you do realize you're being kind of contradictory, or rather, that you're basically no different from me, right? Making sacrifices out of the guys lying here is fine, but girls are off-limits? That's a little weird, don't you think? Even if these guys are illegal immigrant criminals from the mainland, hurting or killing them is still hurting or killing someone, isn't it?"

It was a warning that they were nothing more than two peas in the same rotten pod.

"...I know that already. But at least these guys are criminals, rotten like us. What's coming back to them is just what they did to other people."

"So that's why your conscience doesn't hurt? Ahahah! Yashiro-chan, you're the best! You're exactly like me! I don't feel a twinge of conscience about hurting girls either, you know! I pick my girls carefully too. Girls who look like they do compensated dating, runaway girls, girls who look dumb, girls who look like criminals, girls who look like illegal residents! Sometimes I'll play with a normal girl too, though!"

He wanted to shout at him not to lump the two of them together, but he understood that what he himself was doing lined up exactly with what this man was saying, so he couldn't say a word.

Even so, Rihito couldn't afford to stop. Furious at himself, he clenched his fists tight and bit down on his lip hard enough to draw blood.

(Sorry, Shino. I'm the worst kind of man. But no matter what it takes, I'm gonna save you for sure, so just hang on a little longer.)

Even if, in the end, whatever became of himself...

"Well, setting aside Yashiro-chan's inner conflict, guess it's about time I got to my own work too."

"...Gonna off someone again? That the boss's orders too?"

"Guess you could say yes and you could say no. There's a kid I gotta punish a little. See, the tsuchigumo-chans I raised so carefully got killed. Mercilessly. I finally got them grown up, finally got them paired off, they'd even laid eggs, and I thought I could grow their numbers even more from here!"

"So frustrating," he said, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and pretending to bite down on it.

"And then, and then, it turns out the one who did it was apparently a daughter of the Kyogoku clan. When I told the boss that, he gave me permission to do as I liked, as long as I moved carefully enough not to get caught."

"Ah, is that so."

Rihito's face twisted as if he'd bitten into something bitter. He knew their boss hated the Kyogoku clan. Yashiro too harbored something close to resentment toward the Kyogoku. Even so, he'd never gone so far as to want them destroyed, but for the sake of his own goal, he was cooperating with their boss, Rokudou Genna.

Still, he couldn't help thinking that whoever fell into the hands of the man in front of him, Miroku Kyouji, deserved sympathy.

This man was especially cruel and brutal toward women. That was exactly why Rihito felt sick with himself. Kyogoku or not, he knew a woman was about to suffer something horrific and yet he wasn't even trying to do anything about it.

"Ah, wanna come along too, Yashiro-chan? I bet it'll be fun."

"...I'll pass. But is that really okay? I mean, with regards to my surveillance. And you said messing with the Kyogoku clan was supposed to come a bit later, right? You sure it's fine to go doing something extra now and put them on guard?"

"Ahahah, you say funny things too, Yashiro-chan. You know the saying, 'it's not a crime if you don't get caught'? You think I'd mess up something that basic? As long as nobody finds out it was us, I can fake it like I always do. Students go missing all the time, right?"

"Not that damn often, idiot."

"Then she ran away! Sick of exorcist work, sick of the Kyogoku house, so she ran away! Yeah, that happens all the time too! And of course I'll keep up your surveillance, so don't worry. My pet youma will stick right by your side and support you."

"Pass... And take back what I said earlier. I'll tag along this time."

Being watched over by some youma the whole time? No thanks. Besides, he needed to keep an eye on whether this man might spiral out of control. This man had a habit of not being picky about his methods when it came to his goals.

It wasn't just the one Kyogoku daughter. He might drag in unrelated people nearby too, without a second thought.

"Ehh!? Really!? Yashiro-chan, you're so sweeeet! Ah, don't tell me you suddenly want to play with the girl with me? From what I've gathered, she's cute. I bet you'll enjoy it too, Yashiro-chan!"

Ignoring Kyouji's giddy chattering, Rihito gave him a cold, flat stare.

(...Worst case, I'll just have to save her.)

If it turned into something too brutal, he'd step in and stop it, and depending on the situation...

(...Well, whatever. I'll deal with it when it comes to that.)

"Alright, let's go then, Yashiro-chan! Time to reel in a girl!"

"Idiot. Dealing with these guys comes first."

"Ah, right! Then I guess I'll leave it to my pet!"

And so, a few more victims were made.

Their demonic reach was now turning toward Nagisa, the girl from the Kyogoku clan.