Chapter 349: Kidnapped

"Xianhua has liked unusual things since childhood; when living at her hometown, she would always rummage through old goods in the warehouse."

"Some old goods carried strange stories that would frighten children."

"But Xianhua never felt afraid; if you want to pursue that girl, you can start from that aspect."

Kanata gave the suggestion, Broly noted it down, then bade farewell and went to the Ryougi Family."

When Broly arrived, Ryougi Shiki had already bathed and changed into a pink kimono, flipping through the Lotus Sutra at the desk in the room."

Since Broly flew slowly in through the window without making a sound, Ryougi Shiki did not notice an extra person in the room."

Broly did not disturb her, standing behind her side, quietly watching the kimono-clad girl reading scriptures under the table lamp, looking serene and focused."

Although Broly could not read Buddhist scriptures, he could sense others' Qi; the Qi on Ryougi Shiki while reading scriptures was like clouds drifting leisurely in the air, giving him a feeling of ethereal lightness."

Broly did not read Buddhist scriptures but read the girl, and could also feel his spirit go blank; before watching her read scriptures for even twenty minutes, Broly yawned, and sleepiness arose."

"Hmm?"

The yawn was not loud, but in the quiet room at night, the focused girl could still hear it."

"Broly, why are you here?"

Ryougi Shiki turned back, saw the boy, and curiously asked."

"I went to find Kanata and already learned the reason he distanced himself from us; I came to tell you."

Broly answered while yawning."

"Just for that, you ran to find Kanata late at night, and then came to find me?"

Ryougi Shiki found it somewhat funny, reached out and pulled the yawning boy into her embrace, and a warmth arose in her heart as she held the boy."

The things said during the day were remembered by the boy, and at night he ran to help inquire about the situation; the boy could not be said to not care about her."

Humans have many stray thoughts, and everything they do is accompanied by various desires, but only this child was pure; although she could sense he wanted to get something from her, his kindness and care for her were also real."

"So, why did Kanata distance himself from us?"

Ryougi Shiki curiously asked."

"He is..."

Broly did not hide it, and recounted the reply he received from Kanata Kanata when he went to find him tonight."

"..."

And upon learning that Kanata Kanata originally also had intentions of pursuing her, the girl's expression became somewhat subtle."

"Hey, I thought of him as a friend, but he unexpectedly had dirty thoughts about me, wanting to pursue me?"

This tone was clearly Shiki Ryougi (Weaving Personality) speaking; she said somewhat indignantly."

"Shiki, do you hate being pursued?"

Broly asked."

"Of course I hate it; associating with people is troublesome, and rejecting someone's pursuit might produce a lunatic like Bai Chun Li Xu."

Ryougi Shiki paused at this point, sensing the boy's body stiffen in her embrace, and then explained: "Of course, that is for people I have no good feelings toward; as for Kanata Kanata, I'm just angry that he actually wanted to betray my friendship."

Broly relaxed, and the Happiness Value belonging to the girl on the Crystal Palace Panel did not show any decrease."

"Then what about me? I shouldn't have betrayed your friendship, right?"

Broly pursued the question."

"Of course not, but that's because I don't have friendship for you."

Ryougi Shiki said very decisively."

"Eh?!"

When Broly widened his eyes and looked up at her from her embrace, she continued."

"Because between us, it has long been... love."

Toward the end, the girl's voice softened from its earlier tone, and a gentle smile appeared on her face."

But Shiki was too embarrassed to say the words afterward, so she directly dove in to finish the sentence."

Shiki rubbed the boy's head and did not feel shy because of these words."

"Is love better than friendship?"

Broly did not quite understand the difference between the two and asked while in the kimono girl's embrace."

"If it's a relationship like ours, then love is definitely a better feeling than friendship."

Ryougi Shiki answered, taking Broly's small hand, threading it between her fingers, and clasping their fingers together."

"If it were friendship, I definitely wouldn't do this, but we are in love; doing this makes me feel very comfortable."

At this moment, Ryougi Shiki's 243-point Happiness Value rose by another 1 point."

"Then what about this hand?"

Broly raised his still-empty left hand and gestured to Ryougi Shiki."

"Come, let me hold it."

Ryougi Shiki opened her left hand and let Broly act on his own."

Broly looked at the tender, delicate palm before him and, imitating the way Ryougi Shiki held his hand, threaded his fingers through hers and clasped her other hand."

If they were both young people, the next scene would be full of deep affection, perhaps kissing and caressing each other, then proceeding to the next step."

But...

Broly's petite frame leaned against the girl's embrace, and at this moment he was like sitting on a human sofa."

The two pairs of clasped hands had no room for further imagination, more like an older sister playing with a younger brother."

Ryougi Shiki gently swayed her body, rocking the boy in her embrace like a rocking chair for a while; feeling somewhat tired, she then let the boy get up."

"I'm preparing to pursue Xianhua, striving to make her my wife too; Kanata said she likes unusual things, Ryougi, does your home have anything unusual?"

Broly stood up and asked again.

"Something out of the ordinary — do I count?"

"But you're not a thing."

"But Azaka likes me well enough, and she likes Rin and Sakura and the others too. Broly, you don't actually need to rely on anything external to pursue her, because I and everyone else will help you pursue her. You could even say Rin's already doing it, and Azaka hasn't refused."

Every time Rin Tohsaka came out for a gathering, she would proactively invite Kokutou Azaka to come along, wanting to help the boy win over another wife's heart. That intention had been seen through long ago; it was just that Broly still remembered the girl's reason for refusal and hadn't done any entangling.

It was that sports festival day, when Kokutou Azaka spoke of giving her body, that the thought stirred again.

"Right, Broly, do you want to stay here tonight and sleep with me?"

Ryougi Shiki invited him, knowing Broly often slept together with Rin and the others.

"I'll go ask, but I can actually take you back to Fuyuki City. Rin and Sakura and the others certainly won't mind you joining in, all of us sleeping together."

Broly invited her back in turn.

"Only, right now there are six of us sleeping, and Sakura's room is a bit small. We'd need to switch to a tuba-sized room."

"Then let's not trouble ourselves. You go back and sleep tonight. When there's time, bring Rin and the others over to sleep at my place. My room's plenty big — six or seven people is no problem at all."

"Okay, I'll go ask Rin and them, see when everyone can gather to sleep together. At that time, we'll have to call Fujimura-sensei over to sleep together too."

Broly no longer rejects sleeping with his wives; on the contrary, he's come to like the livelier pre-sleep atmosphere. Everyone in sleepwear lying in the quilts chatting, sometimes playing word-chain games and such interactive games.

Nothing inappropriate for children, but just the normal interaction is plenty interesting. Very much that dormitory late-night chat vibe of a close relationship with shared topics. He figured when the time came, Ryougi Shiki would get to experience a lively night too.

"Broly, sleep early. See you tomorrow."

Ryougi Shiki said it and leaned in, kissing the Saiyan boy on the cheek.

And after Broly left, she read Buddhist scriptures for another half hour.

Feeling some drowsiness, she then prepared to rest.

"Qiu Long..."

She called the butler's name, but there was no sound of response to her shout from outside the room.

"Hm?"

Ryougi Shiki felt something strange. Qiu Long was the butler who had cared for her since childhood.

Matters of daily life, he always arranged in perfect order.

Normally if she hadn't slept, he wouldn't sleep first either.

Even when he occasionally had business, Qiu Long would greet her, but today, for some reason...

Ryougi Shiki rose and walked to the sliding door. She had just pulled it open when a rough large hand appeared before her.

"Still!"

The low voice sounded somewhat familiar. As her body was gradually forced still by an external power, Ryougi Shiki glimpsed the hand's owner through her fingers.

"Master Araya, why?"

Ryougi Shiki didn't understand why he would appear in her home, let alone why the Origin master before her would make a move on her.

"Everything is to reach the Root, to answer the confusion in my heart. Ryougi Shiki, I need to use your body to open the path to the Root."

Araya Souren answered the girl's question. He noticed Ryougi Shiki's gaze glance toward the butler collapsed on the floor beside her, and continued.

"Rest assured, this man isn't dead. I merely used stillness to put him in an unconscious state."

Ryougi Shiki breathed a sigh of relief, said nothing.

The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception had already deployed, yet she couldn't see death lines on the palm before her.

Though, even if she saw them it would be useless. She had been sneak-attacked first-strike by Araya Souren; now only her fingers could move.

And with the ability of the Stillness Origin acting completely on her, the girl ceased thinking of ways to deal with the situation before her.

Araya Souren lowered his hand, the stillness ability stopped. He stepped forward and scooped up the girl, who had fallen unconscious and was about to collapse, in a princess carry.

The next moment, he vanished with Ryougi Shiki's figure at the front door position. The Ryougi Family's inside and outside had been laid with some barriers by him many years ago.

And his Stillness Origin ability let him, within the barriers, move with the concept of a still object, achieving an effect similar to teleportation.

Just as he had secretly infiltrated the Ryougi Family without anyone discovering, when he left the Ryougi Family with Ryougi Shiki, no one discovered it either.

Xiaochuan Apartments lobby. Ripples suddenly appeared in the air, and Araya Souren walked out from the ripples with Ryougi Shiki.

Seeing Araya Souren appear, the blond youth originally sitting on the lobby chair stroking the poodle at his leg stood up to welcome them.

"Araya, so this is the body you prepared for yourself? Doesn't look particularly special."

The youth in a red suit sized up the unconscious Ryougi Shiki and said to Araya Souren.

"This body hasn't fully awakened yet, but it can already serve as material to open the path to the Root. Waiting longer would only increase the difficulty of me obtaining a body."

Araya Souren explained a sentence, then asked: "Aru Ba, your arrival here is much earlier than I anticipated."

"Ah, that's only natural. I've long been impatient to kill Aozaki."

Cornelius Aru Ba was Aozaki Touko's old acquaintance from the London Magic Association, but this man had always been jealous of Aozaki Touko, who was younger than him yet more exceptional.

"You're no match for her."

Araya Souren warned. He didn't want his recruited helper to lose his head and go attack Aozaki Touko.

"I know that, but isn't there still you?"

The Red Magus shrugged, collecting the somewhat morbid expression on his face.

"Aozaki is only a probability of becoming a Counter Force obstacle to my path to the Root. I'll only act to eliminate her when she comes seeking to obstruct me. But if Aozaki doesn't come interfere, the matter of killing her is void. Aru Ba, can you accept that?"

Araya Souren restated his condition.

"Acceptable."

The Red Magus nodded.

"Though, can you handle Aozaki alone? Although I don't want to admit it, her dollcraft surpasses me by a margin."

【Not a margin — a whole realm...】

Araya Souren thought, but he didn't speak his thought aloud.

"Within this barrier, Aozaki won't be my opponent."

He merely said it like that.

"Then with me added in, she's as good as dead."

Aru Ba was quite pleased.

"No, I don't need you to act against her; I only need you to guard against any other potential obstructors who might appear."

"Who?"

"A magus of the Tohsaka Family, a girl of the Asagami Family, and several martial artists with not bad body technique capabilities."

"Tohsaka Family, you mean Tohsaka Tokiomi?"

The Red Magus frowned; Tohsaka Tokiomi also counts as a veteran magus, his reputation in the Magic Association is not small either, and that family's magecraft inheritance comes from the Jewel Master.

"Not the Tohsaka Family's Current Head, but the other party's daughter."

"Hm?"

Aru Ba let out a questioning sound from his nasal cavity.

"You mean to have me, the next Abbot of the Mombheim Monastery, guard against a junior raised by a magecraft family?"

He felt he had been somewhat insulted.

"Don't underestimate young people; given Aozaki's attitude toward the other party, that girl is clearly a capable magus, and that girl of the Asagami Family has even awakened the Twisted Mystic Eyes, and was even taken under the Tohsaka Family Head's wing to be guided in the usage of the Mystic Eyes..."

During this period, Araya Souren was conducting investigation work; he discovered that around Ryougi Shiki, there were people who might become obstacles to himself.

"Forget it, whatever works; as long as you help me deal with Aozaki, letting me act to assist you is fine too."

"If Aozaki doesn't come, and only others come, I can handle it myself."

Aru Ba and Araya Souren conducted a dialogue, then Araya Souren asked: "Do you need me to open a room for you to rest in the apartment?"

"Heh, I don't have the habit of living together with a pile of corpses."

The Red Magus gave a light laugh, brought his Poodle along, and left the Xiaochuan Apartments.

Once outside, one could see figures moving about in some lit rooms of the Xiaochuan Apartments.

But that was merely a facade; in this apartment, aside from Araya Souren and the girl who had just been brought inside, there were no other living people.

"Will Aozaki come? Heh, I'll make her come."

(Chapter End)