Chapter 5 – The World’s Most Wide-Open “Secret Meeting”

◇《POV: Renma》

For Yuuri, a curse spirit, things like passing through walls are child’s play.

While going back and forth between the police and my place to investigate the cursed tool, one day she brought me news I couldn’t ask for more.

“One girl has escaped from the underground facility of Minegi Workshop, a likely distribution source. The number of pursuers is quite large.”

“Got it. I’m heading there now.”

I step out of the bathroom, change out of my loungewear and into black gear, and sprint through the city at full speed.

With legs reinforced by cursed energy, even walking all the way around Japan wouldn’t be a dream.

Expecting to make contact the moment I arrive, I start up the streaming drone early and toss it into my bag.

“Spotted the fleeing girl. Following for now. Heavy mosaic.”

-can’t see anything

-mosaic (literal)

–From here on, please enjoy audio only

-would be a pain if we got seen as the ones chasing her

-hyahha!!

-at least it’s not not mosaic

I leap across the highway, tear through the forest, then slip back into the city again.

If I filmed this as parkour content, it could probably go viral, but at this speed the footage shakes like crazy—and people started calling it AI-generated, so I stopped doing it for now.

“Right side. Straight ahead—if you turn left at the point 300 meters ahead, that’s the destination.”

Looks like the girl in question is hiding in a hotel room.

Tough-looking men in black wander around the city, constantly relaying updates to each other with what look like radios.

Considering the chance my stream has been noticed, I quietly change into normal clothes and take a seat at a café near the hotel.

“Just to be safe, I’m cutting the audio for a while too.”

-so it’s not instant meet-then-battle

-then what’s the point of streaming?

-how we killing time?

-{YOU} chatting

-hyahha!!

-streamer, respect. anyway I’ll tell a story about making coffee using kopi luwak cat poop from a neighborhood cat

Maybe it’s just inertia, but even so—having regulars who keep watching like this, their very existence fills my heart.

“Yuuri, the target is probably a sorcerer, which means she can see you. Go up to the room and get an appointment.”

“Understood. For the full set of compensation, I request a Vienna coffee and a caramel cinnamon butter sand.”

“Roger. Will one butter sand be enough?”

“……Four.”

A few minutes later, after Yuuri successfully got us an appointment, I incarnated her and decided to enjoy a brief coffee break until the other side was ready.

───By the way, I ended up ordering seven butter sands total.

I am Yuuri’s master, right?

“…So, uh, why is our secret meetup spot a karaoke room!? I’m getting my life hunted here!!”

In front of me were Yuuri and one other girl.

The runaway from Minegi Workshop was now here with us—inside a karaoke box.

“It’s the result of thinking one step past the pursuers’ thinking, and one step past that. Plus, we don’t have to show ID.”

Honestly, if you’re going to get found out, you’ll get found out no matter where you are.

In that case, it’s mentally cheaper to wait somewhere as comfortably as possible.

“But normal people can’t see Yuuri-san right now, right!? Ugh—people are totally gonna think we’re a couple!”

She puts distance between herself and me and scoots closer to Yuuri’s side.

That level of obvious disgust just… hurts, straightforwardly.

“It really is unpleasant. For someone like you—whose bones don’t even tell me what kind of idiot you came from—to be seen as My Master’s girlfriend.”

“The ‘idiot’ part was unnecessary! Also, I introduced myself properly, didn’t I!?”

“What was it again… Birdbrain Wrinkle-wrinkle…?”

“Torikoji Shinano!”

Shinano reaches toward Yuuri, but her hand cuts through empty air without touching anything.

Her eyes turn to me like she’s begging me to incarnate Yuuri for her, but that’s a waste of resources, so I’ll ignore it.

“Whatever. Let’s get to the point.”

After getting properly angry and taking a breath, Shinano began talking about what she’d seen and heard in the underground facility.

“So Minegi Workshop is the original supplier providing illegal cursed tools to groups like the Shogan-gumi, and those are the guys chasing Shinano—right.”

“The one directing the pursuit is a man named Sero. The same person that pink-brained reporter over there fell for at first sight.”

“Watch how you say it!!”

Once again, Shinano’s slap whiffs, and the air pressure ripples across my skin.

Since there’s a decent distance between me and Shinano, that tells you how much power she put into it.

“Also—didn’t you get close enough to tail them right up to their personal space? No matter how you slice it, you were obviously going to get caught.”

From what I’m hearing, there are way too many details—about his smell, his face—that you can’t know unless you were really close.

“No, yeah, I got close, but that’s not it! With my Unique Curse Technique, there’s no way I should’ve been found out!! In fact, until Minegi Shirou pointed it out, even Sero didn’t notice me!!”

“At that point, it starts feeling weird that they were able to track Pink-Brain all the way to this city in the first place.”

Minegi Workshop specializes in producing cursed tools that interfere with the mind.

Is this the work of a cursed tool… or is it the work of a Unique Curse Technique user on their side…?

The more I think, the deeper my doubts get.