The Sword Deity in Tokyo

Kimura Kazuki was feeling somewhat helpless, as it had happened twice. The last time he ran into someone here, it was Ryoto Amagasaki and Hayato, but this time, it was someone from the Kobayashi Village, which left him with no idea what to say. However, he was also curious, so he stopped there and waited to see what these people were going to do.

 The chief of the Kobayashi Village was named Takashi Kobayashi. The development of Kobayashi Village could be said as inseparable from him. However, Takashi Kobayashi was already in his sixties or seventies, yet he still had the strength to hike up to the top of Kanayama Mountain. This of course made Kimura Kazuki curious.

 Of course, it was also possible that one of the other villagers had carried Takashi Kobayashi on his back and brought him up here.

 Other than the chief, Takashi Kobayashi, there were four more men at the scene. But what disappointed Kimura Kazuki was that these four people were not talking, and were relatively quiet. Besides, two out of the four villagers were carrying something like lunch boxes in their hands.

 Then, Kimura Kazuki saw a relatively burly and honest-looking man approach a pillar on the outermost part of the gazebo. Then, he turned the pillar three times from the middle to the right, and then two times to the left.

 Creak—

 The next moment, the entire floor in the middle of the gazebo made a creaking sound, and then it completely cracked apart, exposing a staircase that led into darkness… It was similar to the secret room of Unto Shrine. Seeing this, Kimura Kazuki could not help feeling surprised. When he saw that Takashi Kobayashi and the others were about to go down, he immediately went out of hiding and called out, “Wait a minute!”

 At this moment, he was too lazy to hide anymore. He knew that these people, including Takashi Kobayashi, were just ordinary men, so they were not threatening to him at all. In fact, he had the greatest power among all of them. Therefore, he did not even need to be sneaking around, his act of hiding just now was just a subconscious behavior. Besides, he wanted to see what secrets these people have.

 As for now, naturally it was no longer necessary.

 After Takashi Kobayashi heard his voice, his face suddenly turned red. He held his hands across his chest as he was getting out of breath. Apparently, the sudden voice of Kimura Kazuki had frightened him. As an elderly person, his body was getting weaker every day due to various illnesses.

 “Who’s that?”

 “Father, are you okay?”

 When the burly man saw that Takashi Kobayashi was a little breathless, his eyes were filled with anxiety, but at the same time he was also furious. He wanted to comfort his father, but he was also afraid of being clumsy and causing more harm to his father.

 Although the others looked worried as well, they were more vigilant when they first saw Kimura Kazuki appear out of nowhere. However, after really looking at Kimura Kazuki, their expressions softened a little. He was just a teenager, and they, as young and strong adults, were not afraid of him at all.

 Other than the burly man, the other three men quickly surrounded Kimura Kazuki, and they all looked hostile.

 Takashi Kobayashi’s breathing had already eased over at this time. He frowned while looking at Kimura Kazuki, “Are you a tourist? Why are you up in the mountains in the middle of the night?”

 Kimura Kazuki felt surprised, as he could hear a trace of concern in Takashi Kobayashi’s tone, and it did not sound fake. Since that was the case, Kimura Kazuki deemed that there was no reason for him to put on an act. With a smile on his face, he explained with alacrity, “I heard that there are ghosts in Kanayama, so I came up here to investigate the ghosts.”

 After he spoke his last word, everyone’s expressions looked strange. “Ghosts? I’ve lived in Kobayashi Village for so long and there hasn’t been any ghosts at all. Where did you hear the rumors, little boy?”

 “There are no ghosts, but it has been strange in Kanayama recently. I could hear the howls of some wild animals from the mountain in the past, but I haven’t heard any lately.”

 “Chief, do you want us to capture him?”

 The three villagers surrounding Kimura Kazuki expressed their opinions respectively, but Kimura Kazuki did not care about them. Instead, he just looked at Takashi Kobayashi, the chief. The chief looked at him up and down, then slowly said, “Everything about the ghosts are all lies, am I right? Are you here for Daisuke Kojima?”

 Kimura Kazuki continued to stare at the chief. When the chief heard about the ghosts, his expression did not change much, so obviously he did not know anything. This threw him off a little, as according to his thoughts, if there were ghosts in Kanayama, the elders in Kobayashi Village should know something about it. However, since Takashi Kobayashi did not show anything unusual, it might be true that there were really no ghosts at all.

 It seemed that the beautiful girl that Tomoya Saito had met before should be the monster that fled.

 After probing the chief a few more times and reaching this conclusion, Kimura Kazuki nodded. “It seems like I can’t fool you, chief, but I’m not here for Daisuke Kojima. Instead, I’m here for the legendary treasure.” Saying that, he pointed at the secret passage with the staircase and smiled. “This should be the hidden place with the treasure, right?”

 Takashi Kobayashi was speechless. He really did not expect that someone would go up the mountain in the middle of the night. It was clear that the officers from the police station were not planning to continue with the search and rescue, but this young man had suddenly appeared instead.

 “To be honest, treasures or anything like that were just unfounded rumors that I’d spread out previously.” Takashi Kobayashi paused with a deep sigh, and said one last thing, “If you don’t believe me, you can go down with us to take a look.”

 Upon hearing this, the eyes of the others flickered.

 And just like a young man who knew nothing about this world, Kimura Kazuki nodded with a smile. “Okay! I came out to say hello to you all because I was curious about this too.”

 The burly man thought as he looked at Kimura Kazuki. He had assumed that his own intelligence was lacking enough, but now, it seemed that he had found someone who was even worse than him.

 However, Takashi Kobayashi started to hesitate. He looked at Kimura Kazuki with vigilance, but when he saw the five people at his side, he nodded slowly after remaining silent for a while. “Well… This secret passage is not really a secret after all. You are a tourist, and it should not be a problem that you want to take a look.”

 Soon after that, Kimura Kazuki went downstairs with the group, and he was sandwiched in the middle.

 This little trick could not fool him at all, but he smiled and did not care about it. As he went downstairs, he did not remain silent. Instead, he asked, “Chief, you mentioned Daisuke Kojima just now. Does his disappearance have something to do with you?”

 “Don’t ask nonsense, kid.” The thin and tall villager behind Kimura Kazuki threatened him in an aggressive tone after hearing what he said.

 “That’s enough, Taisei. Stop scaring him,” Takashi Kobayashi said helplessly. “Are you trying to learn how gangsters speak just by watching a few TV episodes? You’re being ridiculous.”

 The tall and thin villager teased, “Chief, are you going to lock him up too after bringing him in?”

 The burly man could not understand. “He did not blackmail me for money. Why should we lock him up?”

 Hearing that, the others just rolled their eyes instead of gracing him with a reply.

 Kimura Kazuki did not say anything, which made everyone think that he was scared speechless. However, Takashi Kobayashi felt that something was wrong, so he asked in a calm tone, “By the way, we don’t know your name yet.”

 “My surname is Kimura, a high school student.”

 “Kimura-san… When you go outside, will you spread this secret around?”

 “If I say that I won’t, would you believe me?”

 After saying this, the atmosphere froze.

  “I trust you.”