The Sword Deity in Tokyo

Kimura Kazuki laughed when he heard the question. He said, “I happened to be nearby and there’s a ruckus here so I came over.”

 This answer caused Makoto Honda to take a suspicious glance at him. Only firefighters were around here, so how blind did one have to be to not see anyone coming over? There were plenty of trees here on Kanayama, well-trimmed and neatly ordered. It would make noises whenever someone passed by so there was nowhere to hide.

 The thought made Makoto Honda shudder. The arrival of this young man was not notified to him by those firefighters. He was wearing a headset after all… Moreover, he only noticed the young man’s presence when the boy entered his sight. He heard nothing at all of his arrival.

 Makoto Honda inhaled lightly, creepiness crawling through his skin all of a sudden. He thought of all the lore he heard about Kanayama. Goosebumps sprang through his arms.

 Furthermore, these three young ladies in front of him were so beautiful. There was no way for people to simply go out and have such good luck to run into such beautiful young ladies as this is not a fantasy world!

 Most of the time, in folklore, beautiful young ladies were usually the avatar of the demon. They would appear in human form to seduce people and eat them up afterward.

 Makoto Honda’s thought caused his body to stiffen. He was not an atheist and he actually believed in ghosts and tales. Although he never encountered one, he had always believed in their existence.

 Luckily, there were people accompanying him which made him feel safer, plus, Kimura Kazuki looked familiar to him. He finally remembered that Kimura Kazuki had entered the village only in the afternoon and they had already met back then.

 

Even so, Makoto Honda took a few steps back, pretending everything was normal but fixating his gaze on Kimura Kazuki. He gave out a smile and said, “What are you doing up here on Kanayama? Don’t tell me that you are here for your venture. Who would venture at night instead of during the daytime? You should know that it is way more dangerous here at night than it is during the day. You’re done if you run into beasts.”

 Kimura Kazuki watched his movement strangely. After hearing Makoto Honda’s questions, he paused and said, “Indeed, we are not here for venturing.” He looked at Harunaka who was speechless as he spoke. It was such a clumsy excuse, but he continued when he saw that Harunaka was only looking downward. “We are treasure hunting.”

 He just learned about the rumor of the treasure from Ryoto Amagasaki and decided to use this excuse right away.

 “Treasure?” Makoto Honda was surprised.

 The fireman who stood beside Makoto Honda was stunned too. He was also a villager from Kobayashi Village. After a slight hesitation, he whispered into Makoto Honda’s ears.

 “I see.” Makoto Honda was not from Kobayashi Village, therefore, he had not heard about the rumor of Kanayama, plus the rumor about the treasure had already been around for 20 years and nobody had ever found anything on Kanayama. Therefore, the netizens speculated that the rumor was created by the chief of the village with the purpose of developing Kobayashi Village. It was merely to attract more people to go to the village. Not only the netizens, but most of the villagers had the same thought too.

 “But why don’t you guys come over during the day for treasure hunting?”

 “Rumors are that with the help of the moonlight, there will be strange phenomena appearing on Kanayama, that’s why we’re here at night,” Kimura Kazuki said with ease. Soon after, his expression changed into disappointment and he said, “But we didn’t find anything special.”

 Just when Makoto Honda was about to say something, somebody among the firefighters talked to him in the headset. He then looked strangely at the four standing in front of him. “Do you still have any other partners?”

 Kimura Kazuki was a little embarrassed, he coughed and nodded “There are three more of us and we all know each other. We came to Kobayashi Village during this summer break not just for traveling but also here to look for the so-called treasure. We then split into smaller groups in Kanayama with all the girls staying together while the guys walk around alone.”

 “You’re all really brave.” Makoto Honda would not dare to be alone out in the woods, let alone wandering alone on the mountain which was infamous for its lore. It was then when Makoto Honda heard the one talking through his headset, he looked surprised while grabbing his phone and did a quick search online. He was shocked. “You are all participants of the Jade Dragon Flag Competition?”

 

He heard Kimura Kazuki’s partner’s name from his headset. There were also amateur Kendo enthusiasts within the fire department. This year’s Jade Dragon Flag Competition had created a buzz, so whoever paid close attention to the competition would remember the names of some popular participants. Some had recognized them when they saw Ikioi Ito and his friends on Kanayama.

 No wonder they were here on Kanayama in the middle of the night. Perhaps they were confident enough to take down the beasts they encounter? After all, they were still high schoolers! It was the age of passionate hearts but also recklessness about their life.

 Once Makoto Honda knew that these people were once on TV, the terrifying feeling he had earlier disappeared. His facial expression turned serious. “It’s okay if you are only here for traveling, but don’t venture around here with too much confidence of your sword style. Two days ago, there were people who went missing on Kanayama and it has been two days since.”

 Even though the chief of Kobayashi Village asked Makoto Honda not to tell any tourists about the missing case in Kobayashi Village, Makoto Honda did not really care. If the police cannot find Daisuke Kojima at last, they would have to tell the media about the entire situation too. This was also to warn the other tourists not to go onto Kanayama for treasure hunting or venturing.

 These four people… No, these seven people were here for those. If they knew about the missing case on Kanayama, would they still come up here for venturing?

 “We knew about this.” Kimura Kazuki smiled. “Besides treasure hunting, we’re also here to help the police to find the missing people.”

 Makoto Honda frowned. “How do you all know about the missing case? I can’t recall us publicizing this matter.” He dressed like a commoner without his uniform as requested by the chief of the village. Of course, part of the reason was due to the presence of uncertainty factors in this case. Although it was unlikely to be a murder case, the possibility must not be overlooked.

 “When I entered the village in the afternoon, I saw you holding a notebook and questioning the related person. I have sensitive ears, so I heard about it.”

 Makoto Honda was speechless…

 “Oh right… Mr. Honda, when I was wandering around Kanayama, I saw an arbor and none of your men were there.” Kimura Kazuki had no intention to cover up for Ryoto Amagasaki. Despite the authenticity of the existence of the treasure, if Daisuke Kojima really went missing inside the cave, it was necessary to report to the police so that they could investigate that place.

 As to whether Ryoto Amagasaki would hate him or not afterward, he did not care.

 “Oh, the arbor…” Makoto Honda finally believed Kimura Kazuki in overhearing his conversation in the afternoon when Kimura Kazuki even knew about his surname. He spoke directly, “During the first day of our search, we focused on the area around the arbor, because that is indeed a good place to sketch. I, too, would have chosen the arbor if I were Daisuke Kojima, but there was no sign of him there.”