Chapter 36

Spirit Board?

Kondo Tomoya frowned: "Nanjo Shao Shu, I haven't heard of any related matter."

"Because this is a Half-Star Level event." Nanjo Rituna crossed her arms, yawned, "The only yokai in the entire event was a Half-Star Resentment Fox-Dog-Raccoon, and by the time we arrived it had already been exorcised."

She pointed at Uesugi Toru: "That Spirit Board, even it was this Uesugi-kun who said something was off, and proposed we bring it back."

Kondo Tomoya was at a loss for words; normally he hardly bothered with events below Two-Star, let alone a mere Half-Star Monster Story Event.

"——Perhaps this Spirit Board is extremely important to Aibetsuri, and she doesn't know this thing is now in our hands, so she sought out the two survivors of that event."

Nanjo Rituna: "Such an explanation is quite reasonable, right?"

No one objected.

Because besides that, there wasn't another explanation that could explain Aibetsuri's bizarre behavior.

"So after all this fuss." Shizuku tapped the desk with her finger and asked, "Has anyone told us two victims what Aibetsuri actually is? A yokai? A Mononoke? Or something else?"

Kondo Tomoya was just about to speak, wanting to refuse on the grounds that knowing less is safer, when Nanjo Rituna had already spoken: "Have you heard of the Eight Sufferings?"

"——Birth, Aging, Sickness, Death, Meeting with Those One Dislikes, Not Getting What One Wants, Blazing of the Five Skandhas."

He slammed the table and stood up abruptly: "Nanjo Shao Shu!"

Nanjo Rituna was expressionless, confronting her Superior Officer head-on: "If we don't say it now, do we have to say it in front of their graves!?"

"They have already had zero-distance contact with Aibetsuri, Kondo Taikou." Nanjo Rituna said word by word, "You have no right to deprive entrants of their right to know."

Kondo Tomoya's face flushed red with anger: "You——!"

But he could not refute Nanjo Rituna's words, because this is one of the Special Affairs Division's basic regulations.

——【Contactees May Know】.

Shizuku, watching this scene, fell silent; she recalled herself back then asking Nanjo Rituna what the Friendship Club was.

But Nanjo Rituna's approach right now could be said to be completely opposite to that night.

So, even Shizuku had to admit——Nanjo Rituna is truly very responsible, whether to herself or to others.

Nanjo Rituna stared at her superior, tone utterly merciless: "Don't treat them like clueless brats, and don't think you alone can protect everyone."

"——Kondo Taikou, has excessive power given you excessive arrogance?"

Kondo Tomoya clenched his rough fists, unable to respond.

He slowly sat down, admitting his mistake: "My deepest apologies."

Nanjo Rituna continued explaining to Uesugi Toru and the other: "The so-called Eight Sufferings, though a concept proposed by Buddhism, in the Human Realm——or rather the Genjitsu——people's negative emotions objectively exist and accumulate."

"And when these negative emotions accumulate to a certain degree, prompted by some opportunity, a large portion of them will detach and form one of the Eight Sufferings."

Speaking here, Nanjo Rituna also sighed: "This is also why the Eight Sufferings can never be killed."

Uesugi Toru, having heard it to the point of numbness, guessed: "Because even if you kill it, at some future time point, prompted by some opportunity, a new Eight Sufferings will be born again."

"Yes."

Nanjo Rituna nodded.

Uesugi Toru didn't know what to say; this name sounds like a Super Boss, how did he run into it before even leaving the Newbie Village?

Kondo Tomoya closed his eyes: "This generation's Aibetsuri doesn't look newly born. May I ask how you two survived from her hands?"

Uesugi Toru glanced at Nanjo Rituna who was smacking her lips nearby, reaching into her pocket for a cigarette pack every so often to satisfy her craving.

If Nanjo Sister weren't standing here right now, he believes Kondo Tomoya would absolutely not use such a polite tone to inquire.

So regarding the wording on this aspect, Uesugi Toru had already thought it through on the road.

"Because I brought the treasured blade passed down in my family."

He placed the Kaga Kiyomitsu leaning by the chair leg onto the table, laid flat and slowly drew it.

Kondo Tomoya's pupils shrank, he blurted out: "Kaga Kiyomitsu?!"

Nanjo Rituna, hearing this historically famous Uchigatana, also couldn't help but look over: "The one Okita Soji used? But wasn't it said to have broken?"

Uesugi Toru answered fluently: "So it's a replica, but even so, it can still inflict considerable damage on yokai; recently I've been carrying it on me at all times."

His explanation was very reasonable, successfully shifting Kondo Tomoya's attention onto this Uchigatana; he touched and examined it repeatedly, praising it again and again as a fine blade.

However Kaga Kiyomitsu didn't move at all, seemingly not taking a liking to Kondo Tomoya.

After returning Kaga Kiyomitsu to Uesugi Toru, Kondo Tomoya reluctantly withdrew his gaze.

Sword Saints are like sea kings; even if they already have a beloved blade, no Sword Saint would complain about having too many good blades in hand.

Thus, the next pressure fell on Shizuku.

Uesugi Toru also looked over.

Actually he was also quite curious how Shizuku took down Aibetsuri's clone unscathed——judging from the Soul Ash the clone burst into, it was practically approaching One-Star Demon level.

And even though Shizuku's sword art level and realm both crush him, her physical qualities are still within the Ordinary Person range.

Shizuku: "It wasn't me who killed that clone; rather, she consciously realized she could not affect me, and actively dispersed."

"Impossible." Kondo Tomoya interrupted, "Even if Aibetsuri only uses a clone, it is enough to simultaneously control dozens or even hundreds of ordinary people; only those who have reached the Sword Heart Penetration that common people find hard to attain can be exempt from control."

"So I am not an ordinary person."

Shizuku raised pupils calm as an abyss, facing Kondo Tomoya eye to eye: "Sword Heart Penetration? I am that too."

The Conference Room fell instantly quiet.

Uesugi Toru held back a laugh, thinking Shizuku this flex was both high-level and satisfying——you think Sword Heart Penetration is hard? But sorry, I am too.

Kondo Tomoya had no need to discern whether Shizuku's words were true or false.

Because in the instant of eye contact, he had already glimpsed that girl's brilliant Sword Heart that ceaselessly polishes itself, slowly swelling.

Simply put, just like a vibrant newborn star!

Different from his "Insight" that can perceive all things in the world, this Miss Tokugawa Shizuku's direction of cultivating Sword Heart seems more self-oriented, and more pure.

"Become Stronger".

That's all.

Such purity drove her spirit and awareness to become ever more refined and ever more powerful with each passing moment.

But if left uncontrolled, allowed to swell—

By then, an overly powerful spirit would not only destroy herself, but also destroy everyone drawn to her by that dazzling brilliance.

The worried Kondo Tomoya moved his gaze away from Shizuku's pupils, and after seeing the young girl's youthful face, he was stunned.

He suddenly reacted—Tokugawa Ririko was apparently just a high school student?

"May I ask, Miss Tokugawa, how old are you this year?"

"Eighteen."

"Who is your teacher?"

"If I must say, my school's fencing club instructor Kondo Eiji could be considered one."

Hearing his brother's name in an unexpected place, Kondo Tomoya's thoughts stagnated.

He remembered his brother had gone to be a PE teacher because he had little talent in the supernatural path, and to this day was still stuck at the level of Jinken Gōitsu...

—That is to say, Tokugawa Ririko had, without any contact with supernatural arts, all by herself forcefully shattered this chasm that had slain countless prodigies?!

And she was only eighteen years old.

Realizing this, Kondo Tomoya swallowed hard, and his voice subconsciously softened,

"Miss Tokugawa, would you like to join the Special Affairs Division? I can be your half-teacher."

Tokugawa Ririko heard this and frowned.

End of Chapter