Mahouka Koukou no Re Volume 5 - Ch 3

This chapter is updated by Novels.pl

On a certain cloudless day in the last third of August, 2095 CE.

Standing at the gates to the amusent park awaiting the arrival of her friends was a young girl whose red hair was ruby-like in its brightness and wearing a military style jacket with its many pockets and a miniskirt.

The girls na was Akechi Eimi, also known as Alia Goldie, a student of the National Magic University Affiliated First High School.

With sumr vacation nearing an end, the plan was to co to this amusent park to play around with so fellow first years. As they were in different clubs, normally there were few chances for them to hang out.

(It seems Im a bit too early)

It was still half an hour before the appointed ti. That might be expected if it was a date with the opposite gender, but there was likely no one who would co this early when going out to play with friends of the sa gender. Eimi herself certainly would not normally co this early. (Incidentally, as Eimi herself had yet to experience such encounters with the opposite gender, there was little aning behind her supposition).

As for why she had ended up here so early, an international phone call she had received this morning was to bla.

It was the sound alerting her to an incoming call on her rooms video phone that drew her out from the world of dreams.

The digital clock read five oclock.

Thinking what a nuisance, Eimi looked at the ssage window and saw that the caller was her grandmother on her mothers side, the matron of the renowned Goldie mage family of England and effectively the number two in authority.

Eimi snapped wide awake.

Even if that were not the case, Eimi's parents were unbelievable people who never rose from bed until a predetermined ti, not even if a truck crashed into the house. Consequently, it was an unwritten rule in the Akechi household that Eimi, who did not use a Sound Sleeper device, would handle all early morning callers and visitors.

It has been a while, Grandmother. Eimi refrained from saying good morning.

Because I am not properly dressed, please excuse my using voice-only with the call.

Good morning, Alia.

It seed her grandmother was also aware of the ti difference, Eimi thought as she heard the greeting.

As it was daylight savings ti, the difference between here and England was eight hours. Over there, it was now nine oclock. If one thought about the ti here, to be honest, Eimi really wished her grandmother had waited another hour before calling.

It may be very hot over there, but are you keeping healthy? Your body has never been very strong after all.

If you know Im not very tough, then I wish you would let

sleep a bit more, Eimi sincerely thought. Of course, she did not give voice to that wish.

Im fine, Grandmother. The heat wave for the past couple days has been subsiding.

This was just so honeyed words so as to provide her elder with so peace of mind. In reality, last weeks heatwave had been absolutely horrible, though this week it was becoming more tolerable.

Sumr would soon be ending anyway.

Is that so? Dont push yourself too hard, Alia. Yes, thank you very much, Grandmother.

Even as she replied politely, Eimis head tilted to the side. Just as she was wondering why on earth Grandmother had called-

Actually, to avoid the heat, I will be staying at the Swiss mountain villa from next week until the fall. I would be very happy if you would also co, Alia.

, go to Switzerland?

The hesitation in Eimis response marked her awareness of the invitations undertones.

Yes. I have wanted to have a nice, long chat with you for quite so ti, Alia.

I as well, Grandmother. There are a great many things I would like for you to teach , but

But this was impossible. In a little over a week the second term would start. While Eimi was trying to politely decline the invitation with that explanation, her grandmother was not so easily deterred.

If you are worried about school, there is also an excellent magic school in Switzerland. It should be fine if you studied abroad for about half a year? I could handle the arrangents with the school.

Because youve known the head of the Magic University for a long ti is what youre saying, Eimi thought impatiently.

No one would be surprised that her grandmother was well acquainted with the highest levels of the magic community in Japan.

With the restrictive control of overseas magic education, the chances for a magic high school student to study abroad were for all practical purposes non- existent

at least Eimi had not heard of any such instance

but, with her grandmother, the impossible might well be achieved.

At this rate regardless of Eimis intent, it looked like she might well find herself studying abroad.

While sohow or another halting the discussion here with her emotional appeals was a victory of sorts, after the phone call ended, rather than relief, Eimi felt uneasy.

Though she was a grandchild of a daughter married into another family, until now her grandmother had never interfered with her life. While visits tended to require Eimi to be on her best behavior even as she was treated kindly, other than that she had been left to her own devices

until now.

Now however so reason had appeared to prompt her grandmother to want to keep her close by.

However, without having any knowledge of her grandmothers reasoning, the endless worrying afflicted upon her head made going back to sleep impossible. As such, Eimi ended up leaving the house well before the eting ti.

Eimi!

When she turned her head toward the call of her na, Eimi saw the girl who was todays sponsor waving.

Sakura!

As Eimi waved back, the girl trotted over.

The girl wearing the (thoroughly) goth loli-esque one-piece dress was Sakurakouji Akaha.

This girls na was read as Akaha, not Momiji. On the day these two t as classmates,

Eimi: Akaha, how do you write that?

Akaha: Red leaf, the sa as autumn colors but pronounced Akaha, you see.

Eimi: Hee? So sakura and akaha, that's cherry blossoms and autumn colors put together. Thats a rather gorgeous na.

Akaha: But you know, its a sha both are rather epheral.

Eimi: Aha, the beauty of elegant simplicity, no?

Akaha: But you hardly seem the type to have much relation with elegant simplicity. Youre a rather colorful brilliance.

The chance to beco friends ca with the exchange of false laughter after their conversation, making fate rather mysterious.

Sakura, you ca with Subaru? Ehehe

Though Eimis questioning had no deep aning, Akaha began laughing nonsensically.

Eh, is it possible you actually have that kind of preference? Unbeknownst to Akaha, Eimi made a ntal note regarding her.

However, as Eimi focused once more on the companion standing next to Akaha, she revised her opinion and felt that she could understand it a little, probably.

At a glance, there was a handso young man wearing a sumr suit. That image was only further emphasized with the sophisticated under-rim glasses.

However, in reality this youth was a androgynous female classmate.

Satomi Subaru was by way of a teammate at the Nine Schools Competition

a relatively new friend, but now, their relationship was amiable enough to allow for exchanges such as, Subaru, you ca as a deterrent against skirt-chasers? or Milady, it would be a pleasure to escort you.

Moreover when in the middle of such conversations, the two would smile, no, grin without reserve.

Is sothing wrong, Eimi?

As Eimi allowed her mind to be filled with fantasies of Akahas inclinations, Subaru peered at her face suspiciously. Confronted with the prim and proper facial features of the handso young man (only in appearance) staring at her up close, Eimi felt her heart racing a little but resolutely refused to let any of her thoughts surface in her behavior, replying "nothing's wrong" with a curt shake of the head.

Is that so?

Subaru's wide grin was galling and Eimi really felt like giving her a good stomp on the foot, but doing so might end up dragging herself into an even more embarrassing situation, so with all her will she pretended not to notice.

Thats a relief. In that case, lets go in.

Objectively speaking, Eimis poker face was rather lacking, but having said her piece Subaru turned away. Knowing when to stop was also one of her charms. However, to be considered charming by other girls might well be sothing Subaru herself would only accept reluctantly.

Without further thought on what a relief and that case was, so as no to waste any more ti Eimi made no objections.

Oh yeah, its been a while since Ive been to an amusent park. When Eimi said this with a lively voice,

The park.

For so reason, Akaha interrupted her with a displeased tone. Eh?

The park. Wonderland isnt an amusent park, its a the park.

As expected from the repeat custor with the most visits on hand, it seed Akaha could not help but be more than a little finicky about this amusent, no the park.

Sorry, sorry, yeah, Wonderland is a the park.

While Eimi felt there was little difference in either label, that very sa feeling ant there was no need to stir things up. Eimi was soon correcting herself to use the park instead of amusent park. Nevertheless, the irreverent tone and manner of the two did not go unnoticed and with half-lidded eyes Akaha regarded the them with displeasure, but with Subaru and Eimi proceeding through the gate she hurriedly chased after their backs.

With that amusing mood, the two went through the gates without having to queue and lost themselves in Wonderland.

Wonderland was an amusent park with magic as its the.

Possibly because of that, all the interior fencing and attractions in the premises were arranged like a labyrinth. Furthermore, every attraction also served as so kind of trick house. It was very difficult to leave after entering, even if one did not try out all the attractions. Due to this kind of park layout, rather than

"entering" the park, it would be better to say that visitors were "lost" in it. And right now, a certain girl was really lost inside.

"Seriously! Forget about Local Positioning System navigation, but what's with GPS not working either!?"

After visiting three attractions, Eimi had sohow lost her two friends and was now grumbling at a portable terminal.

"Can't be helped, right? Isn't that one of the park's selling points?" Subaru was the one receiving her vented frustrations.

"Even if that's the case, blocking GPS signals is going way too far!"

"Relax. Is there a map display sowhere?"

Well-versed in dealing with girls, Subaru (despite being a girl herself) took an approach of gentle appeasent. As a result, Eimi seed to put aside her annoyed emotions sowhat.

"I've been searching since a while ago... But let alone a map display, I can't even find a guide anywhere."

"Really...? Anyway, if worse cos to worst, just light so fireworks and I'll use my magic to co pick you up."

Subaru's specialty was Leap magic along with inborn talent for Cognitive Inhibition (her usual flamboyant behavior was apparently a reaction to the skill of "imperceptibility").

Despite possessing skills in Cognitive Inhibition, she was nowhere near the level of First High's counselor, Ono Haruka, whose true identity was a Public Safety investigator. Nevertheless, it would be an effortless task for her to stroll casually in the air without attracting attention while other park visitors were focused on having fun.

On the other hand, Eimi's personal talent what was known as Artillery Magic under the Movent System, capable of accelerating massive objects to high speed using only a short amount of ti. During the Nine School Competition's Pillars Break event, she had used her own ice pillars as bowling balls to launch into enemy territory, knocking down the opponent's pillars all at once, thereby displaying her strong-arm tactics. For Eimi, it would not be a difficult task to replace heavy projectiles with compressed masses of air then firing them into the sky to produce explosion noises on the level of fireworks.

"Subaru, that's not allowed. Using magic for such reasons will get us into trouble."

However, Akaha entered the conversation on her own terminal and rejected Subaru's suggestion.

Laws had very strict conditions regulating the use of magic. Indeed, using magic for sothing as trivial as kids getting lost would definitely entail dealing with the police.

"...Can't be helped, Amy. Can you see the Sage's Tower?"

The Sage's Tower was Wonderland's signature attraction and the tallest structure there.

"Yes... Just barely."

Eimi turned her head and looked around, finding behind a hedge the pinnacle of the building, constructed from faux white stone.

"Then we'll et up there."

"Okay, got it."

Ending the conversation, Eimi glared at the Sage's Tower viciously, as though it had killed her father--well, that might be an exaggeration, but at least the killer of a beloved puppy.

Staring at the voice communcations unit on the portable terminal whose call-in- progress light had switched off, Subaru pondered a certain matter.

"What's the matter, Subaru?'

Naturally, this behavior made her companion suspicious. In response to Akaha's question whose tone was split evenly between curiosity and worry, Subaru smiled slightly demurely and said:

"Hmm, nothing much... I was just wondering why Amy would end up getting separated from us."

"Because she's too hyperactive?"

"Hold on, that's..."

Akaha had given a blunt answer without thinking, putting Subaru at a loss for words.

"It'd be understandable if it happened montarily, but she didn't realize until neither of us could get a bead on each other's location. I think the situation isn't very normal."

"Hmm~ ...Does Amy have no sense of direction?"

"...Umm, Sakura, you're making

very curious how the two of you perceive each other..."

Subaru shook her head, trying to dispel the urge to sigh, then made her tone of voice serious.

"Putting that aside, Amy doesn't have a terrible sense of direction. She's in the hunting club and already acknowledged as a promising first year. Sure, that'd irrelevant if all she did was compete in indoor shooting competitions, but soone with no sense of direction can't possibly hunt birds and animals in the mountains."

Subaru's diatribe made Akaha finally realize the possibility that "Eimi was perhaps simply lost."

"Besides, Wonderland is a recreational facility that even children can visit to play. No matter how much it's made like a maze, it'd be too weird if there were no clues at all for finding friends who got separated or if people who are lost cannot even find a map or a guide."

"You have a point. Since it's one of the park's selling points, it wouldn't hurt to provide so assistance in this area."

Exchanging solemn glances, the two girls made their way to the Sage's Tower as Subaru suggested "Anyway, let's go."

Unlike her friends who were weighted down by burdenso doubts while gradually making their way to the eting point, Eimi was getting more and more frustrated by her lack of progress in approaching her destination, making her too occupied to think about anything else.

Currently, the tower's pinnacle was still visible so the direction was still clear. But whenever she tried to walk towards it, she would always encounter dead ends that forced her to find detours.

Subaru had determined that Eimi "did not have a terrible sense of direction" but that description was far too conservative.

To be more precise, her sense of direction was extrely sharp.

Eimi's sense of direction and ability to grasp the landscape made her aware that she was simply going in circles in the sa area.

Having a visible target that could not be approached, knowing the current situation yet unable to find a way out, this further magnified her frustrations several fold.

And now, a thorny hedge of wild roses was blocking Eimi's path. Exasperated by the nurous dead ends she had lost count already, Eimi reached the limit of her tolerance.

Even a boy would have trouble crossing a hedge ford from thorned roses, so a girl would have no way of breaking through. But Eimi was no ordinary girl.

(Watch

blow up this hedge...!)

Totally vexed, Eimi reached into the pocket of her miniskirt--more precisely, it was a hole in the skirt that looked like a pocket. Reaching for the leather holster strapped to her thigh, she drew out the long and slim terminal-style CAD.

Her main CAD was a shotgun model but that was not sothing to be carrying openly in the streets after all. Still, this backup CAD was more than enough for eliminating this obstruction. Usually operating gun-model CADs with one hand, Eimi used both hands to invoke the activation sequence on this CAD.

"Hold on! Akechi-san, are you for real?"

However, a voice was heard from behind as though perfectly tid. Eimi was startled as though soone had splashed a bucket of ice water on her head. The magic sequence was dispelled in the middle of its construction.

Caught in the act of using magic arbitrarily.

More precisely, it was an abortive attempt, but by this stage, Eimi's intentions were obvious to any magician. Her actions were very unlikely to be overlooked. Also, the other person knew her identity, which made things even worse. Pondering these matters in a ntal state of despair, Eimi felt cornered without any way out, even failing to realize that since it was soone who knew her, it might be possible to plead to him to turn a blind eye.

Eimi turned around in trepidation but the sight of the completely unexpected figure stunned her, rooting her to the spot.

The person who spoke to her was a short clown (short was relative to male norms, he was still taller than Eimi).

In circus performances, magic tricks were usually perford by clowns. Hence, using magic as the park the, it was not surprising that Wonderland had staff dressed as clowns.

However, this clown was not wearing a typical baggy clown outfit. The right torso was black while the left torso was white. The right sleeve consisted of irregular horizontal stripes of black and white while the left sleeve had vertical narrow stripes of black and white. The pants were black on the right and white on the left. The vest was white on the right and black on the left in front while the colors were reverse on the back. A very peculiar outfit.

He was wearing a white glove on his left and a black glove on the right. Instead of a brimless clown's hat, he had a wide-brimd top hat with vertical stripes (black and white as always).

Beneath the top hat was a face with a fake expression drawn in black and white. No, it was actually a fake face--A mask.

The right side was a crying face with black on a white background while the left side was a smiling face with white on a black background.

This eerie atmosphere, rather than a clown, was more like-- "--The Phantom?"

Eimi was reminded of a certain well-known opera character. "Huh? Akechi-san, what are you talking about?"

The familiar voice, speaking friendly words, quickly brought Eimi back to reality.

"...Tomitsuka-kun?"

"Yes, I'm Tomitsuka-kun."

The clown took off the mask to reveal a familiar face.

Tomitsuka Hagane, Year 1 Class B of National Magic University Affiliated First High School.

Eimi's classmate.

"Why are you dressed like that?"

"This is my part-ti job."

Eiri asked in surprise whereas Hagane answered while slowly putting his mask back on.

"Job? Why?"

First High did not forbid students from working part-ti.

What Eimi ant by her question was: "Why are you working as Wonderland staff, a job that only ordinary students would pick?"

Not only was Tomitsuka Hagane a student at a magic high school, he was also a Course 1 student at First High.

He was ranked fifth in the year group for both practical skills and theory respectively. His overall grade made him an honors student ranking fourth in the entire year.

Due to his specialty in magic being unsuited to the type of events offered, he was not chosen to compete at the Nine Schools Competition. But in the realm of Martial Magic Arts where magic fighting was combined with unard combat, he was rumored to be the school's number one despite his short height and being a first-year student. Eimi had no idea what being number one at First High actually ant in the real world, but undoubtedly, he was an excellent magician (to be).

Even as a "seed" or a "sapling," those who possessed excellent magic skills would not have any trouble at all in finding short-term employnt. For magicians, job openings for people with magic skills were ever present and offered better conditions than normal jobs for the most part.

Eimi could not imagine the hourly wage for a host staff in this park, but it could not possibly be higher than renuration for magicians.

"It's family-related."

"...Oh I see."

She was satisfied with this answer. Hundred Families--Tomitsuka.

The Tomitsuka was one of the top clans in the Hundred Families. Furthermore, among magicians in the country, they were also top-class in wealth. This probably ant that the Tomitsuka family had invested in either the company managing this park or its parent company, a large construction firm.

Asking him to work as park staff probably included handling magic-related situations.

If that was the case, Eimi had sothing to tell Hagane. "Tomitsuka-kun, say, isn't this going way too far?"

"...What's going way too far?"

Eimi suddenly pointed at the hedge and grumbled angrily, causing Hagane to lean back in surprise. Although covered by a mask, his face was probably twitching slightly.

"This hedge chanism! I don't know anything about 'recreating a wondrous space,' but isn't blocking people's way with mobile obstacles going too far? Thanks to this design, I've been stuck going in circles in the sa area for a while now!"

However, Hagane's ntal state was reset to a blank piece of paper after hearing Eimi's accusations.

Hagane could not understand her.

"Hold on, Akechi-san. There's no such chanism in Wonderland."

"Huh?"

Expecting to hear so kind of excuse, Eimi's mouth gaped open in surprise after hearing Hagane's answer.

"Doesn't that go without saying? The design concept here is ultimately

'recreating sothing like a maze' but not actually a maze. If visitors felt frustrated, then it's a negative effect on the performance. In the end, if visitors are unable to advance, that would lower the usage rates of park facilities, reducing revenue."

"Eh... But..."

"Besides, this area is a construction zone under expansion. Park visitors are not supposed to enter in the first place. Even involved personnel almost never co in here during the dayti. How exactly did you get yourself lost into here?"

Eimi almost panicked from hearing the unexpected, but forced her hands and lips to move.

"If you ask

where... Basically there."

Eimi pointed at the hedge she had just tried to blow up. "Huh?"

"I said, I entered from there! There wasn't a hedge there until just now!"

"...Are you serious?"

"I am very serious. Despite how I may look, I'm quite confident in my ability to grasp local geography."

Seeing Eimi's serious look, Hagane's gaze suddenly turned sharp behind his mask. Staring straight at the hedge, he made a "hmm..." sound from his throat.

A mobile hedge made of thorned wild roses. From what Hagane knew, there were no such mobile obstacle chanisms in this kind of place. Even if he had missed the detail in briefings, this area was not supplied with electricity, hence it was impossible for chanical objects to be moving. Just to be on the safe side, Hagane took out an information terminal to confirm testing conditions in the new facility under construction--Indeed, this area did not have any operational facilities.

"...Akechi-san, I allow you to continue what you were doing just now."

"What?"

This sudden instruction... Or rather, commanding tone, caused Eimi to react predictably.

"It's okay, blow it up... The type of hedge Wonderland uses is an improved thornless variant so that visitors won't get hurt even if they accidentally bump into them. As far as I know, there shouldn't be any hedges here."

"I see~"

Understanding what Hagane ant, Eimi restarted the magic sequence she had failed to unleash earlier.

"Then I won't hold back... Tomitsuka-kun, you're taking responsibility for this!" Eimi's magic activated simultaneously with this bla-shifting declaration. Movent-type magic Exploder.

This was magic that caused all objects within the effective range of the "point of impact" to diverge spherically at high speed in an equidistant manner. This magic was capable of blowing obstacles that were collections of mulitple objects, like debris or barricades, but would have no effect on a single entity like a wall or a rock.

But in this case, Eimi was treating every rose leaf as a different target and had set the effective range relatively wide, allowing Exploder to detonate in the very center of the hedge. Torn apart, the leaves dragged the vines with them, producing a large hole in the center of the hedge.

Eimi nodded with satisfaction and was just about to pass through the hole she had made when...

"Hold on."

Her classmate's voice stopped her. "What now?"

Feeling as though he was blocking her joy in finally freeing herself from this dead end of a maze, Eimi replied in a displeased voice.

"I knew it..."

But judging from Hagane's expression, he was not aware of Eimi's ruined mood (that being said, his actual face was hidden by the mask) while he kept staring at the hedge wall with the hole in it.

"What? WHAT IS GOING ON?"

Eimi deliberately lowered her pitch slightly and raised her voice at the sa ti. Hagane finally seed to notice her brewing thunderstorm of a temper tantrum and reacted by speaking relatively quickly.

"Akechi-san, take a look. This hedge is not rooted. Neither is there a fra for supporting the vines."

"Now that you ntion it..."

Having been stuck in Britain a number of tis (for the short term), Eimi was very familiar with this type of hedge. As a semi-climbing plant, roses could not grow tall without support and were unable to form this kind of wall over two ters tall.

"Right, Akechi-san. This wall is supported by magic!"

Hagane swiftly inserted his right arm into the hole resulting from Eimi's explosion.

Instantly, the scattered vines converged to devour Hagane' right arm.

In terms of speed, it really was better described as "devoured" rather than "covered" by the vines. The vines, all covered with thorns acting as sharp teeth, were just about to pierce the black and white sleeve, stabbing into Hagane's right arm--That was what was supposed to happen.

"How naive!"

However, what ended up torn apart was the magic driving the vines. Releasing a shockwave radially, Hagane's right arm blew apart the rose barrier. "...What was that?"

From Eimi's view, Hagane had simply released a psion wave. But psions would not affect matter directly.

A wave of psions should not be capable of blowing material objects with an impact.

"Nothing much, it's purely acceleration magic. Making the psion wave perate through contact, I blew away the immobilizing magic that's supporting the wall, then I activated Explosion."

Explosion was a spell that accelerated all objects within the point of impact's effective range to uniform speed. It was the twin of Exploder except substituting speed-type magic for movent-type magic.

In other words, during the instant when the thorned vines made contact with his arm, Hagane had used non-systematic magic to destroy the immobilizing magic supporting the wall, apparently freeing his arm by reversing the vines' montum before their thorns pierced his clothing.

"Gram Demolition...?"

Eimi whispered in surprise and fear. Forcibly diabling spells using the pressure of a psion wave was non-systematic magic, a type of top-level anti-magic known as Gram Demolition which hardly any magicians used.

However, Hagane shook his head with an awkward expression (that said, his face covered by his mask as before).

"Well, it's regrettable... I'm unable to inject enough of a psion wave unless through bodily contact."

This prompted Eimi to recall Hagane's moniker.

His moniker was "Range Zero." Eimi had heard of this nickna before which made reference to his nonexistent range of fire. Although it teased him for not being proficient in long-distance magic, the nickna also respected his peerless reputation at point blank range. Back when Eimi first heard about this, she had been wondering why he held this other title in addition to his family's codena without any outstanding accomplishnts. After witnessing the scene just now, she finally acknowledged his prowess.

A single touch from him would dispel any antimagic protecting the body, exposing it to offensive magic in an unguarded state. Besides, simply injecting a high-density psion wave into the human body was enough to disrupt biological rhythms, rendering the victim unable to stand properly.

"...Anyway, enough about my magic..."

Hagane had probably misunderstood the aning of Eimi's reticence, turning away with an embarrassed look (but because of the mask, his expression... hold on, there's no need to repeat that anymore), whispering in a voice that was rendered even more unclear by the mask.

"We've got company. Is their target you, Akechi-san?"

It was anyone's guess whether this just happened to be pure coincidence or if they decided that the fake hedge's destruction served as the best timing, a group of n, dressed in black clothing, black hats and shades, erged to surround the two of them.

"MIB?"

"All I know is that the park doesn't use these outfits."

Whether Eimi's exasperated remark or Hagane's casual comnt, neither reflected the gradually tense atmosphere at the scene.

Or perhaps they were trying to unsettle the MIB's intimidating aura. But if that was the case, their attempt ended in failure.

The n in black closed in, surrounding them even tighter. Hagane's airs of playful bantering were gone.

For so reason, Eimi returned the CAD in her hand to inside her skirt.

Getting a strange feeling, Hagane placed his hand on his face. Instead of taking it off, he was pressing the mask against his face.

Eimi instantly understood why he did that. Under pressure, the mask would fit tigher with the shape of the face, improving visibility by presenting larger eyeholes to the eyes.

"May I ask what business do you have here?"

Hagane asked politely, presumably in consideration of his status as park staff and the possibility tha he had mistaken their relationship. However, he had no expectations for a response.

The iron-clad rule in horror movies to incite fear was to refrain from speaking. It applied to real life as well.

Arriving all at once, hiding their true identities, sealing off escape routes, applying silent pressure, then negotiating when the target had been worn down ntally and physically. The n in black had faithfully followed this set of procedures up to sealing off escape routes.

"Miss Goldie."

But contrary to Hagane's prediction, one of the n in black spoke up politely. Instead of using "Ms.