Monday morning, Eiji woke up in his own ho.
Unlike the morning before last, he felt quite refreshed today.
After finishing breakfast, Eiji and Souji headed to school as usual.
"Things have been really unsettled lately!"
"Yeah, I wonder how long this will last..."
At the entrance to the shopping district.
As the two passed by, they noticed barricade tape had been set up, blocking many pedestrians, with quite a few onlookers gathered around.
"What happened?"
Souji stopped and craned her neck to see past the tape.
"Looks like police. Could it be another murder case?"
Thinking about the many violent cri reports circulating recently, Souji couldn't help but shiver.
"Officer XX?"
Eiji imdiately spotted XX busy working inside the cordoned-off area and called out to her.
"Oh, Eiji! Heading to school?"
XX ca over to the edge of the tape, completely ignoring her superior's darkening expression nearby.
"Yes. What happened here?"
Eiji asked seriously.
"A fast food restaurant caught fire,"
XX shrugged with a headache expression.
"Of course, that's just the initial assessnt. The scene is really strange for a fire - the fire hydrant was open, there were signs of firefighting efforts throughout the store, but we can't find any possible cause for the fire. Yet the shop was completely burned down. And the three family mbers' deaths are strange too - they were charred, but their bodies remained intact..."
She seed to have no filter, pouring out all the details at once.
A shop burned down with no possible cause of fire found?
And intact bodies recovered from the completely burned-out store?
Although Eiji didn't know much about criminal investigation, he instinctively felt sothing was suspicious.
After all, just a few days ago, bodies burned by Dead Apostles had been discovered and made the news.
Could this fire be the work of Dead Apostles too?
But generally, Dead Apostles operated in the shadows.
What Dead Apostle would make things so obvious? That would attract organizations particularly hostile to Dead Apostles - completely counterproductive for them.
If Dead Apostles wanted to create subordinates, they would typically turn the fast food shop's family into Dead Apostles unnoticed. Sothing as attention-grabbing as a fire would be almost unheard of.
Besides, just the night before last, he and Aoko had cleared out the Dead Apostles in the city.
"Let's investigate tonight,"
Eiji glanced at the crowd around them.
In the current situation, it would be hard to act without drawing attention.
After watching the commotion for a while, Souji suddenly exclaid they'd be late, so the two left the shopping district and hurried toward school.
After arriving at school, Souji went to the middle school section while Eiji headed straight for Scáthach's office.
What?
You ask if I wasn't supposed to get howork from Mysterious Heroine X?
That was just to ss with her - I never intended to actually go from the start.
Call a pervert, will she?
Holding a grudge.JPG
And Jeanne d'Arc Alter too.
I'll report her to Jeanne d'Arc eventually!
..... The barricade tape in the shopping district wasn't removed until noon.
Minamoto no Raikou also rested at ho for half the day and arrived at the shopping district in the afternoon to help out at Boudica's shop.
Before Eiji caught Nero's eye, this had been one of the few sources of inco for their family of three. Boudica knew how hard it was for Raikou to raise two children alone, so she offered her very generous wages, which Raikou deeply appreciated.
Even after their family no longer struggled financially, Raikou never stopped working part-ti at the sweets shop. Besides, she felt awkward relying too much on her son's girlfriend's money—even though the latter clearly didn't mind the expense.
"You've worked hard today. There probably won't be any more custors, so why don't you all take a break?"
Seeing that it was already late, Boudica called for the staff to rest.
"The boss is the best!"
"Manager is a goddess!"
If this were under a capitalist, the shop would probably stay open 24/7. The staff cheered lazily as they relaxed.
Boudica smiled warmly.
The exorbitant compensation from the Roman conglorate—after they had destroyed her family—was more than enough for her to live luxuriously for the rest of her life. So, she didn't really care about the shop's profits.
After experiencing such a trendous upheaval, she had long since learned to let go.
Life—what could possibly be more important than living happily?
"Boudica, there's sothing I wanted to ask you…"
During the break, Raikou sidled up to her furtively.
"What is it, Raikou? Is your family short on money again?"
Sipping her tea, Boudica glanced at Raikou with a serene expression.
"Oh no, nothing like that! Eiji's been doing well—he even found a very wealthy girlfriend!"
Raikou declared proudly.
"Hmm, I'm not sure if that counts as 'doing well' or not..."
Boudica's expression turned subtly complicated.
So Eiji has a girlfriend now? He never ntioned it to .
Does he think of as an outsider?
"What I wanted to ask was… do won really need to carry a baby for ten months?"
Raikou fidgeted nervously, her face full of unease.
"Isn't that common knowledge?"
Boudica stared at her in confusion, unable to understand why she was so unsettled.
"So… it really is who's strange?"
Raikou grew even more anxious.
"What's strange about it?"
"Ah, no, it's nothing! Just talking to myself!"
Raikou waved her hands hurriedly, not wanting her good friend to press further.
Boudica gave her a strange look, but since Raikou didn't want to elaborate, she didn't push. After all, there were boundaries in any relationship.
A short while later, seeing that it was about ti, Boudica announced the shop's closing.
Raikou left the shopping district with so leftover sweets Boudica had given her, heading toward the residential area.
The distance between the shopping district and the residential area was short—only about two kiloters, a thirty-minute walk at most.
Along the way, she passed by a park, though it had long been abandoned, with hardly any passersby in sight.
The streetlights flickered on at so point, dotting the darkness with their glow.
"A person?"
As she neared the park, under the dim glow of the streetlights, Raikou spotted a figure approaching from a distance.
The light was too faint to make out their features, but their silhouette swayed unsteadily like a drunkard, their gait unnatural.
The two drew closer.
Only when they were within a hundred ters did Raikou finally see the other's face clearly.
And then—her heart stopped.
That thing could hardly be considered human!
Its entire body was charred black as if burned to a crisp, with fat congealed into lumpy magma-like formations. All facial features had completely vanished, leaving the figure resembling volcanic rock - pitch black with terrifying crimson streaks seeping through.
Combined with its swaying, unsteady movents, it looked like a zombie straight out of a horror movie, sending waves of panic through anyone who saw it!
"Monster!"
My mind couldn't process what I was seeing, only feeling the chill running down my spine as my entire body trembled uncontrollably.
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