"THIS IS seriously starting to get worse than I thought," komento ni Kenji nang matapos sabihin sa kanya ang summary ng mga pangyayari na naging dahilan para madukot si Seiichi.
"But it surely proves one thing. That boy held something which would make it the more reason for him to be abducted," dagdag naman ni Shouda as she was tapping her fingers on the table. "And by the Dark Rose, at that." Mayamaya pa ay hinarap niya si Aya Yukimura na nagkataong kasama nina Theron at Alexis. Of course, those three entered the mansion without the other's knowledge. "Do you have any idea as to why they would do that to Seiichi? Because honestly, I have no idea what kind of issue we're dealing with right now when it comes to that boy."
Nanatiling tahimik si Aya subalit hindi nakaligtas sa paningin ng dalawang clan leader ang tinging iginawad ng babae kay Theron. Marahil ay humihingi ito ng permiso sa Miyamoto clan prince. In the end, Theron decided to answer.
"Right now, we don't have any solid proof but we do have a reason why we're monitoring Seiichi. Other than the fact that he was Hitoshi Shinomiya's best friend, we think that he's the one we're actually looking for."
"Ano'ng ibig mong sabihin?" kunot-noong usisa ni Kenji dahil napansin niya sa tono ni Theron na may kailangan silang malamang napakaimportante mula rito.
"I think Lord Theron wants to say that Seiichi's past turned out to be a bit sketchy even to us right now." This time, si Alexis naman ang sumagot sa tanong. "Nawalan siya ng alaala when he was 15 before his grandfather decided to take care of him. His parents disappeared for some reason that even the elder Yasuhara couldn't tell. But not without leaving some notes and a journal with so many weird passages. At ang lalong nakakapagtaka, those passages were actually clues leading to various locations around the world. The most important ones lie at the Blue Rose Castle hidden perfectly from the public's view at the recesses of Mt. Kurama in Kyoto, the Shinomiya mansion in the same prefecture, the hidden Shinto shrine where the Shinomiya princess was recently attacked... and two different households here in this country."
"Two households?" Nagkatinginan sina Shouda at Kenji. Almost immediately, the answer hit them. "You're not saying...?"
But a solemn nod from Aya before they could even finish their sentence only heightened their fear that their suspicion was true.
"The Wilford household and the Yasuhara household both held more than just talented children," ani Aya. "Right now, I think the Yumemiya clan leader and Daryll's protégé are about to find out the truth about one of the two household's secrets. If not, at least a reason as to why the Dark Rose would also target them. As for the Yasuhara household, we haven't found anything which could be considered as its greatest secret."
Katahimikan ang bumalot sa loob ng meeting room na iyon pagkatapos ng mga salitang iyon. But truly speaking, it gave each of them the more reason why they had to seek out Seiichi and rescue him from his captors before it would be too late.
Ang problema lang, hindi sila sigurado kung saan mag-uumpisang maghanap. They don't have any concrete clue that would somehow help them locate Seiichi. And to be honest, lalo lang iyong magbibigay ng matinding alalahanin kay Kourin at iyon ang ayaw na ayaw nilang mangyari. The princess already had enough worries for one day.
The sound of the door opening startled the five of them. Pero agad na napalitan ng pagtataka ang saglit na pagkagulat nila nang makita kung sino ang pumasok doon.
"Amiko? I thought I told you--"
"I know, but you should also know that I can't merely sit still about this," ani Amiko sa kanyang adopted father na si Kenji. "Besides, I think I have an idea as to where they could have taken Seiichi."
"Amiko, we can't rely on guesses with this one. We need an exact location."
"Have you started to doubt my ability, my dear cousin?" Hindi nawawala ang pagiging seryoso ng expression ni Amiko nang harapin niya si Theron. "According to Dr. Shingo, they've discovered several abandoned places within the recesses of various mountain areas in this country that they knew had been the Dark Rose's temporary bases. Daryll was able to narrow it down to two separate locations based on Shigeru and Takumi's investigations. Pero alam nilang hindi nila puwedeng sugurin ang dalawang lugar na iyon ng basta-basta. And then I remembered one of the Dark Rose who became a part of the organization because of his astuteness in mechanics."
"What does mechanics have something to do with Seiichi's kidnapping?" tanong ni Aya.
"That person encountered Lord Hitoshi on more than one occasion even before the attack. During the last encounter, that particular Dark Rose member stated that even though his true target is the Miyuzakis, he would first aim for the people close to the clan prince. Since he couldn't target Lord Hitoshi's sister, that just leaves one more who also happened to be an easy target."
"Are you saying that the one who did this was Oceanus?"
"Oceanus is a genius when it comes to anything related to mechanics, and his pride is his tough-as-nails skill in underground fighting. But judging from the damage left at the Yasuhara household before the abduction, I think he would have done the job in just a minute even without those damages. My guess is that Oceanus gave the order to the Dark Rose minions to capture Seiichi and take him to his base. That's it. There's no need to create further distractions by attacking the princess and Raiden."
"Unless one of the higher-ups gave the command to attack the others with the order of abducting Seiichi for more than one reason."
Tumango si Amiko sa konklusyong nabuo ni Shouda.
"They needed something from each of the locations that Alexis mentioned a while back and it so happened that Seiichi could be the one holding the key to reveal the secret of each location. They needed the journal from him."
"You said you've narrowed down the location to two. But how come you're still unsure about it?"
"Those locations are actually placed at the heart of two completely different cities. Hanggang sa makita ko ang kakaiba sa dalawang lokasyon na iyon nang pagdugtungin ko sila ng isang linya. According to Daryll, they've visited the center of those connected points at may nakita nga silang kakaiba. Though at first, they've dismissed it as just a small gang's hideout. Of course, that perception was changed now that this situation came up."
"Where is it then?"
Napatingin si Amiko kay Shouda na nagtanong niyon. Bumuntong-hininga muna siya bago nagsimulang magsalita uli. "Sa dulo ng bayan ng Casimera... kung saan pinasabog ang isa pang hidden Shinto shrine doon six months ago. And that Shinto shrine was said to hold a 200-year-old secret from a certain Japanese noble family that had migrated there."
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