RECORD #3: THE TRAVELING NOVELIST
Somewhere in Yokohama...
It was nighttime. A teenage girl was standing in the middle of a small library in that mansion. She was looking at the bookshelves with a melancholic look on her face. The same melancholic feeling that the full moon was giving off on that particular night.
"Professor, I'll be leaving tomorrow. I guess it's about time, huh? I'll put my travels on hold for now. Just until I finally finish my mission," the girl said to no one in particular. But she made it seem as if the old man she was referring to was just in front of her.
A heavy sigh came out of her mouth soon after, as she looked at the cylindrical item in her hand. That item looked similar to the Seitengers' Hyakureider, only smaller and with only two slots and three buttons. One more feature unique to this cylinder was the figure of six wings near one end of it, three wings placed on each side. The girl gripped the cylinder hard as she began thinking of things that she knew were about to come now that she decided to do this.
She had to leave the mansion she could ever call home for a long time.
Once again, she sighed and eyed the portrait of an old man hanging in one part of that library.
"Professor... Guide me, okay? I know you trained me all this time for this moment. But to be honest, I'm not sure if I can do this," she muttered, her voice quivering a little. Soon after, she noticed that her hand holding the cylindrical item started to quiver, as well.
Was she this scared?
For now, she didn't have much of a choice but to fight that fear. She has a mission to finish whatever happens. She promised that to their graves.
'It'll be fine...'
XXXXXX
Mizuhashi mansion...
Around the same time, Hideoki stepped out of his room and eyed the full moon from the veranda. Though looking at it only reminded him of his wife Mariko, that wasn't the reason why he felt quite melancholic. He looked at the envelope in his hand, still unopened. He couldn't find himself opening it even though the sender requested him to open it on the night of the full moon.
He looked at the letter one more time for a few more moments before finally deciding to open it. Nothing would come if he remained indecisive about things like this. But soon after, he frowned at the words he read in that letter.
'Atsuko's daughter... is coming here?'
And that wasn't all he read there. There was one particular passage in that letter that surprised him to some extent.
"That means the soul has finally chosen its next incarnation," Hideoki muttered as he continued to read the letter. Not many details were placed there with regards to the identity of the next incarnation that the sender was talking about.
But one more passage only brought him confusion and to some extent, fear.
'Her role is to stop the tragedy from repeating. You must protect her and the current incarnation at all cost.'
Hideoki just received that letter yesterday. But the sender had been dead for two months now. And no, it wasn't because of the Tareans. It was already the sender's time, but not without leaving Hideoki with a task that might determine the fate of the children under his care.
But there was one question that lingered in the historian's mind even after reading the rest of the letter.
Who was the current incarnation?
xxxxxx
"She's here. The chosen one is finally here..."
Itsuki kept on hearing the same words over and over as he roamed the place he was currently at. To his confusion, though, he was roaming the forest near the hotel where his parents died because of the fire 10 years ago. What frustrated him more was the fact that he couldn't leave that place at all no matter how hard he tried to leave.
"Where in the world am I?" Itsuki could only mutter as eyed the surroundings once more.
"Don't let them die, child... I beg you... Don't let them die or it will end with her... The world will end with her..."
That voice again...
It was a different voice from what he would usually hear in Itsuki's other dreams. But he was sure about one thing. That voice belonged to an older woman, probably in her late 20s or maybe even in her early 30s. But that voice was surely mysterious in more ways than one.
"Who are you?!" Itsuki shouted as he continued to search the surroundings. He couldn't use his powers to detect the whereabouts of the speaker.
It seemed that his powers inclined to earth even had their limits.
"Please... Don't let them die..."
Itsuki could only scratch his head frustratingly and breathed out a heavy sigh as soon as he bolted up. His dreams were surely getting weirder by the minute.
What in the world was going on? What kind of dream was that, anyway? It was the first weird dream he had ever had since becoming a Seitenger. Thinking of that, he soon faced the bedside table where his Celestial Shifter was placed.
As surreal and unbelievable as it might seem, it was the truth that he accepted weeks ago. He was one of the chosen Vessels tasked to defend the world from the Tareans. In his case, he was the chosen Vessel for the power of the Heavenly Earth Spirit Guardian. He still had little knowledge about the Heavenly Spirit Guardians or even the realm called the Hundred Heavens where these Guardians resided. But for some reason, despite his desire to discover more about these mystical beings, something still tried to hold him back.
But what could that be?
A knock on the door disrupted the flow of his thoughts.
"Yes?" he responded.
"Onii-chan, it's time to get up. We're going to have breakfast early so we could start our training today," Erika said on the other side of the door.
He sighed inaudibly and got up from his bed. "I'll follow. You go on ahead." And with that, he proceeded to do his morning routine.
But not without giving a last meaningful look at his Celestial Shifter placed on the bedside table. Moments later, he shifted his gaze towards the music sheets beside his Shifter with unfinished written composition.
A thought had entered his mind that made him frown.
'Could it be that... the voice was talking about the girl that has always appeared in my dreams since before?'
Wait... It was possible. But the voice kept on saying the word "them".
Just how many people that the voice was trying to imply with that word?
Shaking his head to remove any more possible questions to enter his mind, Itsuki went on. He didn't have any plans of getting scolded today or any other day just because he was distracted.
A few minutes later, Itsuki was done with his morning routine and went out of his room to proceed to the dining area. His lips curved upward upon seeing the usual scenario whenever breakfast was being served. Eichirou eyed all the food with delight and anticipation. Misae tried to calm the photographer down just until everything was ready. Akira and Erika were still serving the other foods from the kitchen. Shuichi, and surprisingly, Shuichi's biker friend/rival Raisaki Amuro was helping the former set up the dining table. The two elders Nanami and Hideoki were nowhere in sight, though.
He frowned at that.
"Good morning, Onii-chan," Erika greeted with a sweet smile.
Itsuki just acknowledged it with a nod and a ruffle on Erika's hair, which annoyed his sister.
"Onii-chan, stop that! You're ruining my hair again."
It didn't take long before Shuichi and Amuro finished setting up the table. When Itsuki thought that the two bikers were going to announce that it was time for breakfast, he spoke.
"Where's Nanami-san and Hideoki-san, by the way?" he asked as he looked around the dining area.
"Dad's in his room. He hasn't come out yet," Eichirou asked. "As for Aunt Nanami, she just went outside to get the mail. Come to think of it, we've been getting a lot of mail lately."
"Well, blame yourselves for that." It was Amuro who said that which made them focus their attention on the said biker.
"What do you mean?" Misae asked.
"If my guess is right, those letters were all invitations for you guys. Shuichi's been invited to participate in the race two weeks from now. Eichirou-san's photo exhibit showcasing most of his mother's previous works in fashion designing. Misae in an archery competition to be held next month. And the concours that they want the siblings to perform as guests."
"But that's not what happened last week."
"Huh?"
"The ten letters sent here last week were all for Dad," Eichirou continued. "Until now, I kept on wondering what those letters were for."
It wasn't just Eichirou. Even Itsuki and the others had the same thought. They wouldn't have those thoughts if it wasn't for the grave look they saw on Hideoki's face the day those letters came. It was the same grave expression he showed when he and Nanami told them the truth about the hotel fire and the Seitengers.
Did something happen that Hideoki didn't want them to know?
xxxxxx
Tareus Dimension...
Though the rumblings and clashes of thunder and lightning dissipated in the realm, it doesn't mean that the one who was causing it was calm. Emperor Darshao, sitting on his large throne with his eyes closed, was just quiet. And to be honest, to the Dark Shadow Defenders who were in the Throne Room, it was a scary type of silence from the Tarean leader.
"Who would've thought those newbies could already summon SeitenOh? How did it all come to this?" Karkino could only grumble in frustration.
"We just didn't anticipate their growth," Orcus calmly answered. "They might be newbies but I can tell that they possess the most powerful Hasureiki among all of their predecessors. There must be some secret behind this that we need to know."
"What we need to focus on is the destruction of the other seals. We'll have an upper hand once we do that," Nemia suggested and tried to approach the emperor but Alvre stopped her. "What's the meaning of this?"
"None of us should approach the Emperor unless we could give him an actual result of defeating those pesky Seitengers!" Alvre growled. "You know that we need those negative emotions to help us break the other Tarean Seals."
"Two of my Triske Monsters have been destroyed by those brats! I need to save face for my humiliation," Siriso entered the conversation.
"I think I have a way to torture those pesky newbies," Nemia said that making the other Defenders' attention focus switch to her.
Nemia only looked to one side of the Throne Room. Soon after, a serpent-like Triske Monster looked like a hybrid of a water serpent and a manta ray to view. And it was cackling.
xxxxxx
"Helen!"
As soon as she stepped out of the bus, it was that voice that greeted Helen. With a travel bag in her left hand and a duffel bag slung to her right shoulder, she looked around to find the source of that voice. Her expression brightened as soon as she saw a familiar face.
It was a woman in her late 20s with bob-cut hair and wearing a business outfit. The woman was waving at Helen as she approached her.
"Minako-san, it's been a while since we saw each other," Helen greeted with a wide smile.
"You're right. It's been a while. A long while, if you ask me. Where have you been for the past two months? I haven't heard from you since then," Asakura Minako ranted as soon as the woman finally stopped in front of her.
The last sentence only made Helen's smile disappear which Minako soon noticed.
"Wait. Did something happen?" Minako continued, a little wary that perhaps, she might have said something that crossed the line.
Helen sighed before speaking. "Professor died two months ago. Makoto-san and I had to take care of a few things aside from the funeral services and the burial, as well."
Minako was speechless. She didn't see that answer coming. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. Makoto didn't tell me anything."
"It's okay. Professor told us not to mention anything to others, anyway." Helen smiled once again when she remembered something. "By the way, how did you know I'd be coming here?"
"I received a message from Makoto two days ago. He said that I should help you locate Mizuhashi Hideoki since it's important. He sounded really firm when he sent that message to me."
The younger girl could only sigh at that. "It's not like I'm going to get lost while trying to find him."
"I know you won't get lost. But I'm only making things easier for you. I happen to eat almost every day at the family restaurant that Mizuhashi Hideoki owned. I see him there most of the time since he's one of the cooks and he manages the place."
"He's a restaurant owner now? But the Professor said that he's a historian," Helen stated with a frown.
"He was. But ever since his wife died, he decided to retire and start over by opening up a restaurant."
Helen didn't say anything anymore. She just coaxed Minako to accompany her in finding the Mizuhashi mansion. She did this despite so many thoughts running into her mind at the time. But thinking this over and over again won't get her anywhere. Right now, she had to focus on her mission to that place.
All of a sudden, she felt the cylindrical item in her pocket vibrate. It immediately stopped her in her tracks and looked around.
'They're here, as well?' That distressing thought was in her mind before she noticed people frantically running.
"It can't be..."
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