Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume2 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 5===

Kyousuke had walked alongside the large truck that had been moving even slower than a bicycle and now he glanced over at the broken fence inside the woods next to the road.

“Let’s get started,” he whispered to Librarian-chan.

“Get started? …From here!? But that explosion was like poking at a hornet’s nest!!”

“But it will have torn down their highly organized guard shifts. Their focus is no longer evenly distributed, so we can walk around safely by slipping through the gaps.”

“Are you…really my classmate Shiroyama-kun?”

For some reason, Librarian-chan felt the need to ask that.

There were two general ways to get into a strictly guarded facility: sneak in the back way or boldly walk in through the front.

They could not directly walk in through the broken fence as there were too many eyes focused on it. But instead, the factory’s main gate (which was protected by a bar like at a train crossing and retractable spikes on the ground) was wide open. There was no one inside the “large phone booth” that normally held a guard.

Librarian-chan asked a question while crouching down as she walking nervously through.

“Did the person here go to the fire too? I’m glad since it makes this easier, but why?”

She looked toward the fire where black smoke completely covered the area where the truck had ended up. The fire was only growing more intense, but the number of people there was also growing.

All those solid metal doors were opening from the inside.

“Whether it’s an armory for anti-government guerrillas or a storehouse for drug dealers, any group stockpiling things they can’t have found will always have their own firefighting group. If they called a normal firetruck, the firefighters would discover their secret.”

Kyousuke leaned into the guard station and messed with something as he answered.

“And emergency fuel will be stored someplace that won’t blow up the factory itself if it explodes. That’s why they’ll use that same spot for other things that would cause a problem if they exploded. …Those metal containers next to the tanks are probably their armory. They would be in trouble in a number of ways if the fire spreads to them, so this is more than ‘just a fire’ to them and it gathers a lot of attention.”

“I see. So that’s why they…”

Librarian-chan trailed off as she remembered something.

The guards’ eyes were all gathered on one spot and the locked doors had been opened from within.

However, those were not the only problems.

“But what about all the security cameras? I’m sure they can monitor all of the passageways inside the factory, so how are we supposed to walk around without getting caught?”

“That’s why I cut the security line.”

“…”

Dumbfounded, Librarian-chan saw Kyousuke wave around a few torn cables.

“After what happened, they’ll assume the explosion and the heat of the fire knocked out the buried cables. So let’s get inside the factory already.”

Kyousuke stepped inside the factory grounds using the black smokescreen to hide. Librarian-chan followed after him.

They could hear a storm of yelling voices and footsteps running all over the place. Librarian-chan’s shoulders jumped each time, but Kyousuke did not react.

“Based on the size of the factory and grounds, they would need between fifty and a hundred people. To put out the fire, they’re ignoring their usual section assignments and gathering here, so no one will question it if someone is walking around where they wouldn’t normally be.”

Kyousuke then added something else under his breath.

“Government would have military-level Repliglass posted around and Freedom would have a bunch of individual summoners. …Despite what Lu-san said, this reeks of Illegal.”

“But we aren’t dressed anything like them. We’ll stand out if they see us here.”

“We just have to make sure they don’t see us. It’s night and there’s smoke everywhere. In the world of the summoning ceremony, even a paper-thin barrier is enough to keep you safe as long as your opponent can’t see you with the naked eye. If they just hear footsteps or see a silhouette, they’ll assume it’s one of their own.”

Kyousuke used his smartphone to gather the electromagnetic signals in the area and to convert them to audio.

Simply put, he was intercepting the soldiers’ voices.

Someone inside the factory seemed to be speaking with the fire station.

“Yes, yes. So it isn’t a problem. As I’m sure you can see if you check our records, our factory is breaking in a new production line at night. That was probably what people mistook for an explosion.”

“But we received reports of an explosion from the nearby residents…”

“Not to worry. There was some protective coating caked onto the inside of the smokestacks. To get it all off, we intentionally upped the power. Think of it as something like an extreme version of the after-fire in a car’s muffler. So from a distance, it might very well have sounded like an explosion. If you drive out here with your sirens blaring, you’re just going to feel stupid.”

Since they explained it away so smoothly, they likely had a thick manual prepared for how to act in all sorts of situations. Or maybe they had hired an expert at making excuses like a company’s corporate lawyer.

But the fact that they were making those excuses meant the factory was still working to deal with it all. The situation had yet to calm down, so there would be holes in their security.

Kyousuke decided they could get inside without issue like this.

But then static ran through the voices coming from his smartphone.

Then he heard the sound of wet rubber scraping along the ground.

It was just like a child’s rain boots stepping on the wet asphalt.

“………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………”

Librarian-chan silently turned toward the sound.

It was a few meters behind them.

Visibility was poor thanks to the smokescreen Kyousuke had created, but they could still see a silhouette two sizes smaller than the adults running around.

The silhouette wore a raincoat and held a broken umbrella.

They could not tell if it was facing them or facing away from them and they could not even tell if it really had a head.

It was the Rainy Girl.

The ghost simply appeared and did not speak a word.

“Let’s go,” said Kyousuke. “Just chasing after her won’t get us any closer to the truth. That’s why you decided to come to this factory, right?”

A small door for the night hours was installed on the wall next to an automatic glass door that was covered with metal bars. They stepped inside through that. Surprisingly, they first found themselves in a reception area just like an office building. Even the factory must have cared about its appearance.

They used the building map on the wall to walk down a dark hallway lit only by emergency lighting and to the new production line that was currently running. Unlike a semiconductor plant, there was no clean room on the way. They just had to open a door to reach a production line larger than a school’s gym.

It contained extremely long conveyer belts with various sizes of robot arms on either side. Several of them were lined up side by side like a bowling alley. Almost all the work was automated, so it really did remind them of an automobile factory.

However…

“It isn’t running. And I don’t see anyone around.”

“But the motors and cylinders are still warm and newly-made products are left on the conveyer belts. I bet they only temporarily stopped it when everyone left to deal with the fire.”

“There’s a pamphlet here. It’s apparently a mascot doll that links with your smartphone and moves around. Do they really need all this equipment for that…?”

“Toy Dream is involved in this, so they’re probably being paid quite a bit for it.”

He could not use the flash, but Kyousuke used his smartphone to snap a few pictures of the production line.

Librarian-chan did not know what to do and simply looked around.

“But what does this factory have to do with my sister?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”

“This production line doesn’t have any windows and isn’t connected to the outside, so I don’t see how it could be related to the rain.”

Were they making some kind of secret modification to the products?

Or…

“Related to the rain, huh?”

Kyousuke said that as he lightly touched a piece of machinery located at one end of a conveyer belt. It was larger than the car washes found at gas stations. The mass of metal completely surrounded the conveyer belt and it seemed to drip melted plastic down to create shapes like a pastry chef with whipped cream. This production line did not place it in a metal mold like normal.

“A steam pipe to melt the plastic. That’s probably directly connected to a large industrial boiler. …Come to think of it, the factory’s roof had several smokestacks.”

“Eh? Wait, Shiroyama-kun!?”

Librarian-chan frantically called out to him, but Kyousuke lay face-up on the stopped conveyer belt and shoved his upper body inside the giant machinery.

She knew it had been deactivated, but watching him still brought a crawling sensation to her fingertips.

However, Kyousuke was too focused on his work to think anything of it.

“This smell. Could it be…?”

“What is it?”

“Librarian-chan, can you open the pouch I handed you? There’s a glass tube the size of a pen inside. Hand that to me.”

She did so and he continued with whatever work he was doing inside the machine.

Finally, he pulled his body out, attached a thin cable to the glass tube, and connected that to the bottom of his smartphone.

Then he called someone.

“Lu-san, I’m about to send you the results of some spectral analysis. It’s most likely remnants of the materials used to make Incense Grenades. Those are made to order for each and every summoner, so a close examination of these parameters might turn up some useful information.”

“Okay,” replied Lu Niang Lan. “But don’t forget this means you owe Illegal one. This might lead us to the unknown’s identity.”

“What is all this about?” asked Librarian-chan.

“This machine is connected to the smokestacks via the steam pipe and boiler. And the Rainy Girl is closely linked to the rain. Now, what determines the composition of rain?”

“Do you mean the smoke coming from the smokestacks…?”

“I found something similar to the materials used in the summoning ceremony’s Incense Grenades. And it’s all but confirmed that the Rainy Girl appears when this production line is being tested. The wind carries the smoke over a wide area. That gives us another way of looking at the fact that the rumors have spread throughout Japan…no, throughout the world. I don’t know what role this plays in it, but this is the first step.”

The production line was larger than a school gym, so they could not thoroughly search the entire thing in a short time.

After generally checking over it, they left the production line.

“Where do we go next?”

“This scent… I’ve smelled it before. Yes, I think it was over there…”

Kyousuke turned back the way they had come.

Librarian-chan had not noticed any kind of scent, so she simply followed in confusion.

Kyousuke returned to the main entrance and looked around.

“(This is the place.)”

He started whispering, so Librarian-chan naturally held her breath.

He pressed his ear against one of several metal doors, placed his fingertips on the door’s surface, and waited. He looked a lot like someone from a drama opening a safe with a stethoscope.

“(I can hear two people breathing. They’re discussing something. Even if they’re summoners, I just have to settle this before they can throw an Incense Grenade.)”

“(W-will it actually work out that well?)”

“(The door seems to be locked, but we just have to get them to open it for us.)”

Librarian-chan just about shrieked out loud at that suggestion, but Kyousuke actually knocked violently on the door so the sound echoed all around them.

Then he raised his voice while pressing against the wall next to the door. He mixed in the bits of information they had gathered so far.

“On Hayato-san’s instructions, I’m here to check the security wiring! I need to check each and every room to figure out where the wiring has been cut, so please cooperate. I have the tester with me, so it won’t take long!”

As soon as the doorknob defenselessly turned, the wind whipped up.

Kyousuke pulled his Blood-Sign from his back, swiftly neutralized the two people inside, and bound their hands behind their backs with their belts.

“The security shifts will be back to normal soon, so let’s go over everything we can get our hands on in that time.”

Kyousuke beckoned Librarian-chan inside, shut the door, and locked it from within.

“What is this place?”

The braid and glasses girl looked around the room.

Unlike the production line, all of the machinery had apparently been removed. Instead, a few large tables were lined up and covered with lab equipment like gas burners and flasks. An entire wall had been converted into a whiteboard and it was covered in the straight lines, hexagons, letters, and numbers of chemical formulas.

Overall, it looked like a school’s chemistry room.

Librarian-chan had never been in a “normal” toy factory and thus had nothing to compare this to, but she could still tell this was not a “normal” toy factory.

“That’s a mixture list. Looks like it really is the incense that goes into an Incense Grenade.”

“What is this stuff that looks like weird grass, white powder, or crushed and transparent rock candy? These aren’t the same as some weird herbs, are they?”

“We can ask these two for details.”

Shiroyama Kyousuke used the tip of his Blood-Sign to tap the forehead of one of the men in lab coats.

The lab coat man groaned and came to.

“Nn, what…? Dammit, my arms… Who are you peop-…gh!?”

Before his question could change to a shout, Kyousuke pressed the Blood-Sign against his throat to keep him from breathing properly.

Kyousuke looked down on the man and asked a question.

“What were you doing here?”

“Hgh, cough! D-do you really think I’ll talk? I don’t know where you’re from, but you can’t escape now. A turnaround victory will come to me if just wait here.”

“So how many of those wonderful soldiers of yours are there? Ten? Fifty?”

“Heh.”

“If it’s more than a hundred…do you really think I’ll care if I lose one or two of you?”

The lab coat man fell silent.

An unpleasant sweat poured from his face and his eyeballs rolled around to look up at Kyousuke.

“I-I wouldn’t recommend that.”

“Why not?”

“T-t-torture isn’t as easy as people think. Hitting someone doesn’t guarantee you’ll get accurate information. Ha…ha ha. If you kill me here, you won’t get the information you want.”

“Sh-Shiroyama-kun…!? You can’t do that!!”

Librarian-chan had been listening from his side, but she had gone pale and she cut in with a shout.

The lab coat man grinned.

He had predicted this, so Kyousuke’s expression remained entirely composed as she spoke.

“Librarian-chan.”

“Wh-what? I…I won’t help you with any kind of violence. Maybe it’s a little late to say that, but torture or whatever is differe-…”

“Sorry.”

With a quiet sound, the Blood-Sign’s flat tip cleanly buried itself in the girl’s solar plexus.

There was no scream.

Her body collapsed to the floor and stopped moving.

Then Kyousuke turned back.

“Now, then. The last bit of conscience holding me back is gone.”

“…!!!???”

The human mind could grow accustomed to even the strongest of stimuli if the same situation continued long enough, but it would raise the white flag in no time if there was more variation. Haunted houses did not have ghosts appearing nonstop from the entrance to the exit. They would also occasionally have needlessly long hallways and corners with no trap set up. This was the same.

“I-I won’t tell you anything. Either way, you aren’t skilled enough to get me to talk!”

“Oh, I won’t be the one doing it.”

Kyousuke lifted the man’s chin with the tip of the Blood-Sign.

“This is Phosphorus, a Repliglass Blood-Sign. It isn’t just a stick. It can move around like a snake, so if I shove it in your mouth, how do you think it’s going to move around inside your body before coming out again?”

“…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………That’s not possible.”

“This is second-hand information from Illegal, but apparently people can survive that. Then again, it is only second-hand information, so it might not be true. And maybe I just won’t be able to do it properly.”

“Bgrfgh!? Vah, wait, I’ll talk, I’ll talk, I’ll hyalk!?”

Kyousuke merely traced the tip of the Blood-Sign along the lab coat man’s far-from-clean lips and he started crying like a baby.

Kyousuke asked a question without any change of expression.

“Tell me what you know and keep it concise.”

“Th-this factory was bought. It was hijacked. The owner was supposed to be persuaded with a payment of 300 million yen, but he still wouldn’t agree. We started spreading money around his surroundings and more than a hundred of his friends and acquaintances gave us his personal information. It wasn’t hard to take him out after that.”

“…”

“It was a job! In Illegal, the rules of the team or family are more important than the country’s laws. If we mess up, those rules mean we’ll be executed or become nothing more than a number doing hard labor. The normal news calls it confinement or murder. Once a decision is made, we can’t disobey!”

“What was all this for?”

“The smokestacks. This factory is a frontline base for spreading a thin amount of incense over a wide area using the smokestacks. If it gets into the westerlies, it will cross national borders and cover most of the Northern Hemisphere.”

Was that connected to the Rainy Girl who appeared on rainy nights?

The incense diluted into the atmosphere would be concentrated in the raindrops that poured down onto the earth. That may have created an effect similar to the detonation of an Incense Grenade. And that may have invited in a number of bizarre phenomena across Japan or even the world.

Normally, an Artificial Sacred Ground would remove the “clog” that allowed the ghost to appear, so just setting one up would eliminate the ghost.

But these irregular raindrops may not have been pure or effective enough.

And an Artificial Sacred Ground always had the effect of allowing “otherworldly beings” to appear. It was just that a ghost would be eliminated before that effect could be seen. In a “partial” Artificial Sacred Ground that did not eliminate the ghost, the ghost would indeed be able to demonstrate its full power.

(But setting up an Artificial Sacred Ground requires seeing the target with the naked eye. Whose “eye” is at work here?)

Kyousuke thought for a moment and then pointed at the whiteboard with his thumb.

“Those chemical formulas have the telltale signs of an incense expert named Ellie Slide. I see the designer medicines she likes to use. Is she part of this?”

“The external staff handled that. They were only hired to complete the chemical formulas and we already paid them at the wharf. Paid them with metal drums and asphalt, that is.”

That was a very Illegal way of doing things.

Kyousuke suppressed the urge to forget the rules and smash the man’s head in.

“What are the incense’s traits? Who was it mixed for?”

“For no one.”

The lab coat man’s lips twisted into a smile as he sat on the floor.

“It’s a universal incense that matches anyone. But that detracts from the overall scent, so it can’t be used to summon a normal Material.”

“Then what is it for?”

“…”

“I want to hear about the Rainy Girl too. Even if this is accidentally creating an Artificial Sacred Ground, someone would still need to see the target with the naked eye. Who is it? Whose eye are you using?”

“Just so you know…''this is in everyone’s best interest.''”

The lab coat man suddenly said something strange.

“You might not understand now, but the time will come when you’ll thank us. That’s the sort of proposition we’re dealing with. There’s no room for personal feelings here.”

“Do you really think I can accept that answer?”

“If you don’t, I guess you’ll have to think of some other way. Oh, dammit.”

A moment later, a loud sound came from the lab coat man’s mouth.

He had stuck his tongue out and used his full jaw strength to bite off his own tongue.

And he would have succeeded had Kyousuke not noticed and stick the tip of his Blood-Sign inside the man’s mouth.

“!?”

Before the lab coat man could do anything more, Kyousuke slammed his knee against the man’s forehead. With a dull sound, the man somersaulted backwards and passed out.

“I guess that’s all I’m getting…”

Kyousuke thought about this new information as he woke up Librarian-chan who was still collapsed on the floor and stuck his knee into her back until she got up.

This was a universal incense that could not summon a Material.

They were using the large factory’s smokestacks and the westerlies to spread it over the entire Northern Hemisphere.

But what for?