Chapter 22: Going Berserk. Yun Zhou: District Chief, please do something about this! …

The Izayoi Family shrine, Third District.

The sky had begun to turn a pale yellow, unveiling the curtain of dusk. A gentle breeze brushed past the jellyfish wind chimes hanging from the ancient wooden Torii, producing a crisp sound like ice cubes clinking in a summer drink.

Inside a room within the Nagare-zukuri¹ style main hall of the shrine, Izayoi Ame sat upon a zabuton² cushion, eyes closed in deep contemplation.

He polished the tachi in his hand incessantly. There was no blood on the blade, yet he continued to wipe it with stubborn persistence, as if the sword were stained with a filth invisible to the human eye.

As the sky gradually grew overcast, Hozuki leaned against the sliding wooden door. Clutching her wakizashi, she gazed into the distance at the woods, which were being dyed deep by the encroaching night, and the blood-red, somber Torii.

In legend, the former was the Guardian Forest where the gods resided, and the latter was the boundary separating reality from the divine realm. But at this moment, the Guardian Forest, a symbol of the shrine’s sanctity, appeared eerie and terrifying in the darkness. The combination of dark green foliage and the blood-red Torii made the scene outside the hall look like a frame from a horror movie.

Hozuki remained motionless, like a statue, until the night wind stirred the wind chimes once more and the trees outside the shrine began to rustle.

“Lord Head, shall I handle this?”

Hozuki’s deep purple eyes flashed in the dark, her presence as commanding as a thunder god. The scabbard of the wakizashi in her arms seeped with a faint purple glow—the color of her spiritual power.

“One word from you, and I will carve every insolent fool outside into pieces in the next second.”

Hozuki’s hand gripped the hilt of the wakizashi, the blade already a hair’s breadth from being drawn.

“…That won’t be necessary.”

Izayoi sighed. He stood up and slid the slender, beautiful longsword—which seemed to ripple with waves and ocean currents—into the scabbard at his waist. No obvious emotion could be read in his unique, triple-layered blue eyes. “I just finished my call with the Council Chairman. These fellows arrived far too quickly.”

He rose from the cushion, the statue of Umizuki no Mikoto enshrined behind him, and walked step by step toward the exit of the hall.

“Lord Head…”

Hozuki paused. Although Izayoi Ame remained as steady and calm as always, as his old classmate, she could still hear the fatigue and regret in the Head’s voice.

“We all share the same blood…”

Izayoi looked up at the sky. The night had grown deep, with clouds shimmering like fish scales.

The rustling in the woods grew louder, so loud that the silhouettes of people weaving through the dense foliage became almost visible.

They were the family’s ninjas.

For the family’s own ninjas to lie in ambush around their own shrine to strike at the Head of the family—it sounded like a headline fabricated by some gossip rag, yet it had now become a reality.

Izayoi gripped the hilt of his sword. “…If executions must be carried out, let the Head do it. At least then they will die with some dignity.”

Ninjas valued honor above all else, yet they were loyal only to their own lord. Now that the Izayoi Family was in turmoil, those viewed as mere tools—the ninjas—would be the first to charge and the first to die.

“Lord Head…” Hozuki felt a surge of emotion. Just as she was about to offer words of loyalty, a strange vortex suddenly swirled in the sky.

“Look out!”

Hozuki’s face paled with alarm, her words of loyalty instantly transforming into a sharp warning.

Izayoi snapped his head up, instantly alert.

“Waaaaaaah!”

A scream rang out, accompanied by a torrent of water that suddenly appeared in mid-air. The current began to rotate with rhythmic precision, as if controlled by someone, before violently exploding outward. Like a high-speed spin cycle of a washing machine, it flung whatever was at the center of the vortex away.

“Holy crap, holy crap! That centrifugal force is terrifying!”

“Yun Zhou! Don’t let go, aaaaah!”

Several screams echoed. Izayoi’s pupils contracted slightly as he took a wary step back. In the next second, a familiar silver-gray figure slammed heavily into the ground right in front of him.

“Ow, ow, ow… where did that little Dumbo throw us…? District Chief Izayoi?!”

The figure shook his uncontrollable wolf ears and rubbed the back of his head while struggling to look up, only to lock eyes with those unique triple pupils.

Izayoi’s mouth twitched. He felt this scene was somewhat familiar. He remembered that when this “Savior” junior from the Prophecy Core first appeared in the Third District, his entrance had been equally unforgettable.

“Yun Zhou! Are you okay, Yun Zhou!”

Ying Huo ran forward, his meticulously groomed shoulder-length hair now soaking wet and disheveled from the water. Du Shui followed, cradling the proud little Dumbo octopus in her arms. The two of them rushed over and pulled Yun Zhou up from the ground.

“You all… what is the meaning of this?”

Izayoi couldn’t help but ask.

“District Chief!”

Ying Huo and Du Shui finally noticed Izayoi standing there and hurriedly greeted him. As for the explanation… Du Shui stared at Yun Zhou, Yun Zhou clutched his head and started groaning in pain, and then he looked at Ying Huo.

Ying Huo gritted his teeth. “…Fine.”

He gave the District Chief a brief summary of their ordeal. In short: they had encountered the wrong people and had been played.

“District Chief! You have to do something for us! Some middle-aged guy wearing the Izayoi family crest suddenly jumped out and ordered your family’s ninjas to kill us! You’ve got to handle this!”

Yun Zhou had never known the meaning of shame. He grabbed Izayoi’s arm and began shaking it, leaving Hozuki and Ying Huo watching in terror. Du Shui looked as if she wanted to slam the little Dumbo directly onto Yun Zhou’s head.

Do you think the District Chief of the Third District is your buddy?

Surprisingly, Izayoi didn’t seem to mind. He even let Yun Zhou pull at him without pushing him away.

The young District Chief simply looked at the surrounding Guardian Forest and sighed. “If you had come to deliver your report a day earlier, I might have been able to help you. But now, I am powerless.”

Yun Zhou looked up blankly, his wolf ears and tail twitching in equal confusion. “Huh? Why?”

Izayoi Ame glanced up and gestured for Yun Zhou to look around. The rustling of the night wind through the dense foliage of the Guardian Forest was growing louder, and the familiar dark shadows lurking among the branches were now clearly visible.

Izayoi Ame smiled. “Because right now, my family’s ninjas want to kill even me.”

“What?!”

Yun Zhou, Ying Huo, and Du Shui reacted with striking synchronicity. They all looked up blankly and let out a collective cry of bewilderment, startling the birds hiding in the Guardian Forest and flushing out the shadows in the dark.

Realizing they had been exposed, the black shadows stopped lurking. They transformed into streaks of black wind, suddenly swirling toward the front of the small shrine and surrounding the five of them.

“No! What is this!”

Yun Zhou rubbed his hair in despair.

“Great. We just left one ninja nest only to walk right into a bigger one.”

Ying Huo scanned the perimeter. The ninjas surrounding them now radiated a stronger aura than the ones before, and there were far more of them.

“My apologies. I don’t know who sent you here, but your timing is quite poor.”

Though Izayoi Ame spoke words of apology, Du Shui keenly noticed that he seemed to be stifling a laugh.

The curve of his lips was hard to suppress.

She frowned and looked down at the little flying elephant octopus in her arms. To her surprise, the little Anomaly actually put its tentacles on its hips proudly, its entire posture screaming, “You should be thanking me for sending you to the safest place possible!”

Du Shui’s lip twitched. She looked at Izayoi Ame and Hozuki, who were standing at the front, and sighed. With the District Chief of the Third District present, how could this not be the safest place? Besides, why bother arguing with a brainless Anomaly?

It certainly wasn’t because the little flying elephant octopus looked too cute with its tentacles on its hips!

“It’s fine, District Chief. We can use these ninjas to vent some frustration. This is a crisis, so we’ll weather the storm together. Weather the storm together, right?”

Ying Huo had clearly realized the situation as well. Since the Izayoi Family was in turmoil and Izayoi Ame was one of the targets, there was nowhere in the Third District safer than by Izayoi Ame’s side—unless the Black Swan descended from the sky.

Thus, while comfortably offering flattering words, he stepped backward. He pulled the bravely advancing Yun Zhou in front of him and shrank back toward the District Chief of the Third District.

After all, he was just a fragile, useless healer. Even if he was a Sentinel, he was still a healer!

“Mr. Ying Huo.”

Du Shui looked at Ying Huo with a beaming smile, her movements possessing the elegant grace of a shrine maiden, but her voice was practically spitting fire.

“Haha.”

Ying Huo gave a dry laugh and walked back to stand shoulder to shoulder with Yun Zhou.

Ahem, after all, he was just a fragile, useless healer… but although he was a healer, he was still a Sentinel!

He quickly convinced himself.

Du Shui nodded with satisfaction, not forgetting to give a shrine maiden’s bow³ to Izayoi Ame, who had been watching them. “Please excuse the commotion.”

With that, she walked slowly to Yun Zhou and Ying Huo’s side. The three of them stood back-to-back, forming a perfect triangle capable of defending against attacks from all directions.

Seeing that Izayoi Ame hadn’t even drawn his blade despite being surrounded, Hozuki hurried over and poked him. “What’s wrong? Jealous? It’s okay, you still have your old classmate here standing shoulder to shoulder with you, right?”

Izayoi Ame paused for a moment, then shook his head. “Thank you, but it’s not because of that…” His gaze lingered on Du Shui, and he remarked with a complex emotion of nostalgia, “She… really hasn’t changed a bit.”

Du Shui hadn’t changed, but Hozuki’s expression changed drastically. Her face turned a kaleidoscope of blue, green, and purple, making it impossible to tell which color dominated. “You recognized her? She… she’s the…?”

But Izayoi Ame didn’t answer, because the surrounding ninjas moved.

“Focus on the fight.”

Leaving only those words, he acted out of character. Instead of using his mental power, he gripped the blade that symbolized his position as head of the house and charged into the crowd of ninjas.

Hozuki: …Hey! Didn’t we agree to fight shoulder to shoulder? Lord Head of the House, why did you charge to the very front!

Translator’s Notes