Editing Leviathan:Volume 2 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 3===

"That Research Club turns out to be a gathering of many people even stranger than imagined..."

"Yeah, it's quite surprising..."

Hal and Asya exchanged opinions with heartfelt emotion.

Their visit to the UFO Research Club had taken place a few days earlier. April was finally reaching an end while Golden Week had started. Today was also a holiday, which was why the two of them had been walking in a residential neighborhood within the Kōtō ward since morning.

"Right. In the end, Asya, you still joined the Literature Club, but is that really okay?"

"I have thought over that a lot too. Just watch, I will take this chance to reinvent myself."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Fufufu. Haruomi, you'll understand sooner or later..."

The two of them arrived in front of a certain Shinto shrine then passed through a torii gate to enter its premises. The place was quite vast but they did not see the person they were supposed to meet.

Just as Hal and Asya were looking around next to the worship hall and offering box, someone called out to them:

"Haruga-kun, over here!"

Hal looked in the voice's direction. Some distance away from the worship hall was a wooden building.

It looked like a dojo. Orihime was leaning out a window and waving to them. Instantly, Hal's eyes widened in surprise. This was...!

Today, Orihime was dressed in neither school uniform nor casual clothing.

Instead, it was what one would call a shrine maiden outfit. Traditional Japanese attire with a white top paired with a scarlet hakama. The fabric was flimsy while her voluptuous figure was highly attractive. Furthermore, Orihime was leaning forward greatly through the window, fully emphasizing her body's uncontrolled curves. Hal suddenly smiled.

If Hal were to look into a mirror this moment, perhaps he might find the reflection of a nihilistic smile belonging to a perfect villain.

"Haruomi...? It's rare for you to make such an intense expression, what's the matter?"

"No, it's nothing. Juujouji is waiting for us, let's hurry."

Asya questioned with a puzzled look but Hal swept the issue under the rug nonchalantly and swiftly made his way to the dojo.

It was a wooden building with a venerable air of majesty. Its ancient atmosphere nurtured a sense of staid stability. As they entered, the one who came to greet them was not Orihime but another shrine maiden.

"Nice to see you again. Sorry for causing trouble for you last time..."

Orihime's younger cousin, the leviathan Minadzuki's covenantee, as well as Hal's underclassman in the middle school division.

This petite girl, dressed as a shrine maiden, was named Shirasaka Hazumi.

She hastily lowered her head and bowed. Hazumi had been taken hostage by Soth. After the battle, she had to be hospitalized briefly to be examined. During her stay at the hospital, Hal and Asya had visited her only once, under Orihime's lead. This was their first time meeting again after that.

"Is your health fine now?"

"Yes, I am fine... But Minadzuki is still&mdash;"

In a coma after Soth ''drank her blood'', Minadzuki still showed no signs of recovery as yet.

Hazumi bowed her head sadly after answering Asya's question.
[[image:Leviathan 02 047.jpg|thumb]]

A single glance was enough to tell that Hazumi had a very gentle personality. Hal found himself somehow unable to gaze at her directly, so he turned to face Orihime as though to hide his embarrassment.

"By the way, why are you dressed as shrine maidens today?"

"Because I am working here for the morning. Both Hazumi's and my family are parishioners of this shrine, so we are occasionally asked to take on shrine maiden jobs."

Hal nodded after listening to her explanation. Orihime and Hazumi's shrine maiden look definitely did not look like cosplay. He got the feeling that they were very used to wearing such outfits.

"In fact, the mirror we used in the ritual last time was found thanks to the goodwill of people on the shrine side."

"Oh I see, you mean what was used for Akuro-Ou's heartmetal."

"Since we're going to discuss witch matters, it's not like we could sit down and talk over tea in a nearby shop, right? That is why I borrowed this dojo."

"It feels quite weird for a shrine to have a dojo."

Hanging on a wall in the dojo was a scroll reading "Katori Daimyojin," very heavy looking wooden swords, staves of various lengths, paginates made of wood, etc, contributing to a very solemn atmosphere.

"Is this where they hold something like sword training?"

"Yes. During the late Shogunate period, the shrine's chief priest was a master of Ono-ha Ittō-ryū, the Ono school's one-sword style. It was said that he built this dojo after he had attained full mastery of the art.<!-- 免許皆伝: initiated into the secrets--> I also learn kendo here."

"Eh, you too?"

"Orihime-neesama has been widely praised for her ability since a long time ago."

Hazumi smiled demurely.

Her smiles were still so strikingly memorable.

Perhaps one could say her smiles were extremely dazzlingly. In particular, the sense of transparency was shocking. Even Hal forgot his earlier embarrassment and could not help but gaze intently.

Still, he felt a bit uncomfortable. To disguise these feelings, Hal asked a question:

"Uh... By widely praised, do you mean she entered a competition or something?"

"Yes, she has ''also'' entered those types of competitions. Nee-sama has been training in kendo until she graduated middle school, even emerging victorious in a national competition once."

Probably happy to discuss Orihime's excellence, Hazumi was showing a gentle smile.

It was not a fake smile put on intentionally.

In terms of purity, it was 100% sincere. Just by reading her expression, one could tell that she truly loved her older cousin.

Confronted with her dazzling smiling face, Hal scratched his head and was overwhelmed with the urge to look away.

That being said, there were questionable points to what she had just said.

"Excuse me, Hazumi-san? There's something I don't quite understand," Asya asked, apparently noticing the same issue.

"Apart from 'those types' of official competitions, what other matches can determine ability? Sorry, I'm not too familiar with sports in Japan."

"Ah yes. Actually, I'm not too sure either."

While Hazumi was answering, Hal turned his gaze to the person in question.

Orihime took down a wooden sword that was hanging on the wall and said "wow, this sure brings back memories" as though she had not heard their conversation. It was definitely too unnatural.

Hal's suspicions turned to certainty. Hazumi's next words reinforced his notion.

"But as a child, Nee-sama has always been 'a girl stronger than any boy.' This was well-known in the neighborhood. I heard that there were even skilled boys who deliberately came from neighboring areas to challenge her."

"Coming to challenge her... So picking fights, basically?"

As soon as Hal muttered, Hazumi hastily shook her head.

"F-Fights!? Nothing of that sort. Nee-sama always called them 'an honest match' or 'a fair and square contest,' you know?"

"Those can all be interpreted as 'fights.'"

"Ehhh?"

Nodding at Hazumi, who had jumped in surprise, Hal then looked at Orihime.

The former kendo girl, who had deliberately altered her image, smiled as though she had been caught red-handed.

"Oh dear, everyone was so mischievous back in elementary school. Even then, someone like me already graduated from all such affairs by sixth grade, before advancing to middle school."

"That seems a bit late in terms of graduating."

"I only took on boys who bullied the weak and I never used a bamboo sword just because I was learning kendo. At most, I only employed judo techniques that Grandfather had taught me personally."

"In your own way, you were also bullying the weak."

"In any case, the title of the chivalrous 'Kotengu of Fukakawa' that circulated around was referring to me. As a hero of justice, I guess I could be called Anba-Tengu too."

"You picked that nickname yourself, right? Making references to tengu in this day and age, that's really in your style."

Speaking of which, Orihime had claimed before that contrary to appearances, she was actually quite good at fighting.

Her grounds for making such a claim was apparently based on this childhood phase of hers as well as her victory in a national kendo competition.

"Fine, fine, it's all in the past anyway. I don't practice kendo anymore due to working as a witch," Orihime finished lightheartedly then gazed at everyone's face in turn.

"By the way, I have something to report to all of you. I met Yukari-san yesterday... and she casually asked about how Akuro-Ou was born."

" "Ugh." "

Hiiragi Yukari held an executive position in the research organization SAURU and at the same time, she was also the technical consultant in charge of all witches in the Kantou region.

There was no way to evade her discerning eye after all? Hal and Asya groaned together.

"After all, the way Akuro-Ou suddenly joined the battle last time was too unnatural..."

"In any case, I managed to pull through using the explanation we agreed on: 'By the time I realized, Akuro-Ou's spirit had come to me. We tried to conduct the ritual and it succeeded.'"

"Will Hiiragi-san believe it?"

"Even if we reported the truth, it's hard to say whether she'll trust me."

Hinokagutsuchi, the Rune of the Bow, the special ritual of Akuro-Ou's birth&mdash;

Too many mysteries. The power of the rune was too great. There was no way to predict how things would unfold if they were to report everything recklessly. All Hal could see in front of him were tricky matters of this sort.

Before more information was gathered, they should adhere to strict confidentiality for now.

"However, Hiiragi-san should be busy at the moment, trying to find a new location to move the Mansion, so she probably won't pursue the matter seriously for now... I hope," Asya said.

The reclaimed land at Shin-Kiba had turned into a battlefield last time. During the battle, flames discharged by Raak Al Soth had fallen upon the Witch Mansion there.

In the end, the fire had gone on to incinerate the building completely because it was not extinguished in time.

Fortunately, the vault was underground so the large number of grimoires and magical apparatus had remained safe.

Headed by Hiiragi-san, involved personnel were currently busy running all over the place to secure a place to serve as a temporary Mansion and move these items over.

"Speaking of which, that Hinokagutsuchi hasn't shown up lately."

Hal recalled the self-styled devil who had a habit of hiding.

Despite her ways, she was also a valuable source of information. Hal wanted to talk to her occasionally.

"First, let's start by going through Pops' materials to investigate about that stone."

The magical stone hidden in his father's effects. The stone that Hinokagutsuchi had called the flint.

Through what kind of channels had Hal's father, Haruga Takafumi, obtained it? Hal decided to begin his investigation from this point.