Volume 6 - CH 2

Location: Atlantis

Time: 1:00 pm

There were three seconds where my head went blank.

What is that? Why do I feel like I’ve seen the face being projected on the screen? Who is he?

“Ugh…” At one side, Chifuyu groaned, pulling my mind to reality. I saw blood flowing from his palm. The person in the small human projection suddenly enlarged his hand, grabbed on the image projection, and the entire screen turned black!

“Chifuyu!” Without thinking, I immediately grabbed onto Chifuyu’s hand; his expression made him look like he was in great pain.

“I’m fine.” Holding out his other hand, Chifuyu immediately made the round sphere vanish, “It’s a huge problem this time.” He tightly grabbed onto his palm, and blood continuously dripped down, looking rather frightening.

Problem? The guy earlier?

“The familiar got caught and is now being tracked. Hurry up and get out of here.” Leido slammed a charm on the ground, and instantly, a similar teleportation array appeared, “I’ll lead the pursuers away. It’s better to send the two of you to a safe place first.” Then, he pushed me and then pulled Chifuyu into the array.

“Leido!” Even if I didn’t know what happened, I could guess the entire situation was very tensed, and he wasn’t planning to enter the teleportation array, “You can also…”

Leido lips curved up into his usual delirious smile, “Don’t worry, no matter what, I’m three years older than you guys. I’m already an adult.”

Within the next second, Leido’s face disappeared in front of us.

Chifuyu’s hand was still bleeding, and I don’t know if it’s okay since it looked very serious.

The light of the teleportation array gradually disappeared, and we were sent to an unfamiliar room.

Whose room? I immediately tensed up.

It looked like some kind of dormitory, but it wasn’t the same as the Black Dorm. The room had a somewhat Japanese style to it; the tatami floor gave the room a comfortable aroma, and the lighting was bright.

There weren’t many things in the room. At one side of the wall was a bookcase filled with books, a television, and a Japanese style table and cushion seats. On the other side was a paper sliding door. It was very quiet inside, as if there was no one there.

Slightly relaxing my vigilance, I immediately turned around, “Do you want to go to the medical team first?” Pulling out a thin jacket I had previously prepared and put inside my bag, I wrapped it around Chifuyu’s still bleeding palm, and asked worriedly.

What if he bleeds to death if it continues bleeding? I saw the thin jacket quickly turning into the color of blood red. This shows how badly his hand was bleeding.

“Wait a minute.” Chifuyu held onto the jacket, and looked around the room, “Leido, that guy… actually sent us to the Purple dorm.” He furrowed his brow, his tone was very certain.

Purple Dorm? The place where Purple Robes live?

Wait a minute; one can casually enter the place where Purple Robes live!? Could it be that there would be something rushing out at us, holding a kitchen knife, and slicing the two of us into seven or eight pieces?

I suddenly remembered senior telling me that exiting from the window of the Black Dorm would cause one to be cut into two. So if we invaded the Purple Dorm, which part of our body would be cut?

While I was at a loss, the sliding door was gently pulled open, a little kid who was wearing a black kimono was holding onto a tea tray, and at that moment she opened her eyes wide, looking at us, “Ah!” She point at us, and shouted.

“We’re not thieves!” Being caught at this moment, this phrase should be the most appropriate one.

“I recognize you!” The little kid completely ignored what I said. A very short, fat finger, which was an eyesore, kept pointing at me, “The Black Robe’s attendant.”

I’m not!

Chifuyu narrowed his eyes, “Whose underling are you, to actually dare to invade the purple dorm!”

Underling?

I stared at the little kid wearing a black kimono. She had a pair of golden eyes; I don’t know why I felt this pair of eyes was very familiar. It seems like I’ve seen it somewhere before. The problem was do I know any little kid with golden eyes?

However, I have seen a few golden eyed adults before; for example a certain rooster.

Wait a minute! She shouldn’t be a related series of production of his family, right?

[T/N: One of his family members.]

“Familiar serving the Yukino Clan, allow the light to be your eyes, allow the shadow to be your form, allow the wind to be your blade, allow my incantation to be your life; return the ferocious curse back to its original form.” While I was thinking who among the people I know had golden eyes, Chifuyu was one step faster. A folded triangular charm incantation left the bottom of his uninjured palm, hitting the little kid’s face.

That… is it really alright to start fighting even before asking…?

The little kid was hit, gas started appearing in front of her face, and she started screaming.

“Hate you all! Hate you all!” Covering her face with both her hands, she screamed, and turned around, crying while running inside the Japanese-styled room, “Hateful! Master!” Very loud and clear “thud, thud” sounds could be heard.

“Stop right there!”

Chifuyu chased after her. He actually chased after her. He actually so openly chased after her in this place where we didn’t even know who the owner was.

What else could I do, except chase after them?

* * *

I only ran two steps before stopping, a lot faster than I had expected, because the room was not too large. In just a moment I had already reached another Japanese-styled room.

This Japanese-styled room was obviously a bedroom, because inside the half-opened closet was a folded blanket, and beside it, there’s a person holding on to a box and was about to put it inside the closet.

As soon as the golden eye little kid ran inside, she immediately held onto the person’s waist, crying.

The person was so familiar that he couldn’t be any more familiar.

“So it was actually the two of you.” Holding onto the box, was one of the representatives of our school for the competition, Gasai.

According to his tone, it looked like he already knew someone broke into his room.

So this was actually Gasai’s room.

I suddenly became more relaxed. Instead of being sent to an unknown Purple Robe’s room only to be interrogated plus punished, being sent to Gasai’s room allowed me feel more at ease.

Gasai didn’t seem to be disturbed by the commotion. He calmly put the box inside the closet, and closed the door to the closet, “Little Ting, let go.” He patted the little kid’s head, and the little kid immediately loosens her hands, “I’m sorry, I am sorting out some stuff, so it’s a mess here. This is embarrassing, please have a seat outside.” He then walked out of the Japanese-styled room, and after we followed him out the room, he pulled the door close.

“Master, just now they hit me.” The golden eye little kid complained while holding onto her face. The place hit by the charm was completely charred, and it didn’t show the slightest look of how it was originally; it looked rather strange.

“I’ll give you another body, alright? Come on out first.” When Gasai said this, at the same time, a black long thing came out from the little kid’s body, and it very quickly curled around Gasai’s hand. The small kid’s body used less than a second to quickly shrink in size, and finally turning into a small wood-carving doll, which then turned into powder and disappeared.

And after I got a good look at the long thing, I immediately remembered where I saw it before, “The black bowknot snake!” I pointed at the golden eye black snake on Gasai’s body and cried out. The black snake senior tied into a bowknot, tossed inside my bad, and was forgotten by me for a few days, was finally sent to Gasai. I didn’t know what happened to the unlucky ferocious curse in the end.

Smiling at me, Gasai took out a new small doll from a closet, and the black snake immediately rushed in. The black kimono golden eye little kid from earlier reappeared again, and she made a face at Chifuyu.

“Nn, I tried reconstructing the arrangement of the incantation and it turned into this. Now, it’s not dangerous anymore, so you don’t have to worry.” Gasai said to me, and then he patted the small kid, “Go and bring the tea set and the medical kit over here.”

The golden eye little kid replied yes and with “thud, thud” sounds, she ran off with small steps.

“Please have a seat.” He turned around, and said to us while smiling.

Without saying anything, Chifuyu sat down beside the Japanese-styled table, sitting upright without a change in his expression even with his injury. This action was similar to senior Gasai. The both of them were probably trained to sit upright or what-not, since their actions mirrored each other.

I also took a seat at the side, “I’m sorry, senior Gasai, we didn’t know this was your room…” We were randomly sent here by Leido.

“I understand. If the teleportation array is activated and there’s blood on it, in the situation where the location wasn’t specified, one would most likely be teleported to the location nearby the person who has the same blood relationship and is the nearest to him.” Taking the tea set the little kid brought over, Gasai very skilfully started brewing tea. The whole small living room was immediately filled with a fresh aroma, and the previous tense atmosphere immediately became relaxed.

After he explained, it was only then when I remembered Chifuyu and Gasai have a… cough cough… relationship. And since it seemed like a complicated one, one can’t casually ask about it.

“Looks like you guys got into a rather huge trouble, the tracking atmosphere has yet to dissipate, let me have a look at your hand, Chifuyu.” Opening the medical kit the little kid brought over, inside were filled with numerous medicine bottles I’ve never seen before. Gasai took a few of them out, as well as some gauze and etcetera.

Chifuyu obediently removed my jacket from his hand and held it out across the table. His palm was still bleeding, looking rather frightening.

Taking a huge piece of gauze, he put it on top of Chifuyu’s hand, allowing it to seep the blood. Gasai opened one of the medicine bottles, and then he poured the red powder inside Chifuyu’s palm. In less than half a second, the bleeding immediately stopped.

A very miraculous medicine.

I realized that after I came to this school, I would always see medicines with miraculous effects, but I would always forget to bring some back home.

Gasai took a clean gauze, dripped it into some unknown liquid, and slowly cleaned off the blood on Chifuyu’s hand. Then, he applied some medicine before he carefully wrapped it, and said, “But the healing may be rather slow. In the next two days, don’t use this hand to activate spells, in order to avoid the wound from reopening.”

Chifuyu, who didn’t utter a single word from the start to the end, pulled back his hand and looked at it, before he slowly said, “Thank you.”

“It’s only a small matter, you’re welcome.” Gasai smiled, and passed the medical kit to the small kid, “But there’s something tracking your breathing, it should currently be circling around outside the Purple Dorm. You guys would have to stay here for a while, and the magical tracking would be removed by the administrator very soon.”

‘You know what was chasing after us?’ I wanted to ask, but because it was very chilly inside the room, so I didn’t dare to casually ask.

These two brothers have a problem, they definitely have a problem.

Although I kind of wanted to know… alright, it’s ‘I really wanted to know,’ but I couldn’t casually ask in front of the two of them. If I accidentally offended either one of them, and then be killed and treated as fertilizer, it would do more harm than good.

Just when the air pressure was lowered until a certain extent, the whole room had a sudden earthquake. It felt like something fell on top of the dorm, causing it to fiercely vibrate up and down.

One of the cups on the table toppled sideway.

The golden eye little kid immediately picked up a rag, rubbed the table clean, and changed it to a new clean cup.

“Looks like the thing chasing after you guys has arrived.” Re-filling the cup in front of me, Gasai very, very leisurely lifted his own cup as though he was saying the weather is so sunny without the slightest tension, “Would you guys like to eat desserts? Recently the Winged Clan of the Wind Valley sent some desserts, it’s very delicious.” He glanced at the golden eye kid, and the little kid immediately ran to the back of the room to prepare.

Looks like the bowknot black snake has been upgraded to an odd-job black snake.

After a while, a huge dessert plate appeared on the table, filled with colorful small desserts.

To be honest, I wanted to drool because it smells very nice, but Chifuyu had a sullen face, so I didn’t dare to start to openly eat and drink.

The surrounding atmosphere was rather tensed.

“Brother…” After a few minutes, Chifuyu suddenly spoke, and as soon as he spoke, it kind of surprised me. Knowing about it was one matter, but hearing him saying on the spot was another matter, “When do you plan on returning to the Yukino Clan?” The content was even more shocking.

I suspected I was supposed to roll out of the room to give some space to the two brothers to have a good talk… This is how it’s normally played out in the movies.

“Ah, Chu, you don’t have to leave, this is not something others aren’t allowed to know.” I only stood up less than ten centimeters when Gasai said this to me, causing me to very awkwardly sit down again. Stiffly holding my cup, I pretended I wasn’t very attentive in listening, “I’m sorry, I’m not someone of the Yukino Clan, so I have no reason to go back.” He was still smiling. His expression didn’t even change a little, as if he wasn’t talking about himself but someone else.

The words he said made me feel something was strange, but I couldn’t pinpoint it. Chifuyu’s words sounded very appropriate, but Gasai’s words sounded even more appropriate, listening to this for the first time, I was confused about the situation.

“You’re someone of the Yukino Clan, you know this better than me.” Staring intently at his older brother, Chifuyu very persistently continued to say, “I’ve already asked father to acknowledge it and hold the inheritance ceremony to allow you to receive the Yukino Clan’s surname, so you should come home.”

Sounds like some kind of some clan member breaking the clan’s rule, being thrown out of the clan and what-not. It was very similar to some kind of staged popular drama series; something about the concubine’s child not being allowed to return to the clan and the like.

Gasai laughed. “I’m not someone of the Yukino Clan.”

Putting down the cup in his hand, the table surface issued a tiny sound. Gasai very calmly said, “From the start, I’m proud of having Yakushiji as my surname and as my clan. The day of the succession of the Yukino Clan, Yakushiji Clan will also be holding the ceremony of inheriting the patriarch… This has nothing to do with that, and you don’t have to mention these things again.”

“But…”

“Although Yakushiji Clan is not as huge as Yukino Clan, our clan’s status is not lower than the Yukino Clan in terms of our expertise, so you don’t have to worry about me… with mother, after that time, we lived a very happy life. It’s not like I have nowhere to go after leaving the Yukino Clan.” Compared to Chifuyu, who was anxious, Gasai talked about this matter as if it had nothing to do with him.

Because the topics they were talking about were randomly jumping about too quickly, I didn’t really understand what they were talking about. Anyway, it seems like senior Gasai used to be part of the Yukino Clan. However, due to certain reason, he was expelled from the clan and Chifuyu wanted him to go back. Something like that?

Deducing according to the general plot, this is most likely some kind of family dispute others didn’t know about.

“I’ve heard that after you left the Yukino Clan, on the seventh day, your mother…” Chifuyu paused for a moment, furrowed his brow and didn’t continue what he was about to say, “I don’t agree with Yakushiji Clan’s work, please carefully consider coming back to Yukino Clan. I will wait for you.”

That’s… if I’m not wrong, the two words “passed away” should be added.

When Chifuyu was about to say something else, the sound of continuous knocking on the door could be heard from outside the room.

“I’m sorry, please excuse me.” Standing up, Gasai opened the room door, and standing outside was a Purple Robe I didn’t recognize, carrying something black in his hands. He then started talking softly with Gasai.

A hand suddenly appeared beside me, and very quickly caught one of the desserts on the table and immediately ran away.

It was the odd-job black snake little kid!

The very beautiful dessert plate had an ugly hole in it. It was asking for a beating! I actually wanted to be the first one to dig a hole in the dessert!

“They’ve already destroyed the tracker. They are now tracking the person, so you guys can go back.” Coming back from the entrance, Gasai returned to his seat, with a gentle smile, he said, “We’ve already reported the matter to the higher ups, the results should be clear soon.”

Chifuyu stood up. Although the thing he wanted to say earlier was interrupted, he didn’t continue. It looks like he wanted to leave. I quickly followed suit and stood up, because if he left and I was here alone, it would be extremely weird.

“Chu, wait a minute.” Calling after me, Gasai took the dessert plate from the table and went into the attached small kitchen behind. After a while, he came out holding onto a rectangular box wrapped up with a cloth, “Bring this back with you to eat, I normally don’t eat desserts.”

I saw the knotted black snake glaring at me with resentful eyes.

This is bad. I wouldn’t be cursed because of a box of dessert, right?

“I..” I also wanted to eat them, but I also cherish my little life. I don’t want to lose my life because of a box of dessert.

“Just take it; I still have a lot more left, if it’s not enough, you can always come here again and take some more. The Winged Clan sent me a lot and until now, I still couldn’t finish eating them.” I noticed the knotted black snake’s resentment lowered down from the highest level to the lowest level.

“Then, I won’t be polite.” I took the rectangular box, and went out of the door, only to realize Chifuyu was waiting for me outside for a period of time, “I’m sorry.”

Inside the Purple Dorm were almost all Japanese architectures, corridors, landscaping with courtyards scattered with cherry blossoms, completely giving a very elegant and classical feel. Compared to the Black Dorm, it was an extreme contrast of heaven and hell. Because it used ancient building materials, the rooms weren’t very tall. The tallest was two or three stories high, and each courtyard was separated. Inside one courtyard, there were a few houses with a few people living there; this part was similar to the Black Dorm.

Probably because we were welcomed by Gasai, we smoothly walked out of the Purple Dorm without being impeded at all!

To be honest, I felt living in the Purple Dorm would be much more comfortable compared to the hyper haunted Black Dorm; really is so much more comfortable.

There was a fountain in front of the Purple Dorm entrance, and inside was a statue of a snake woman wearing a kimono. A large part of the snake’s body was submerged in the water, and above was a beautiful kimono woman, with half of her breast exposed. The hair style and what-not were very particular, so fine that even the hair could be identified.

Just as I finished looking at the statue and was about to turn around, I once again saw a scenery I shouldn’t have seen–

The woman’s silverish purple snake body under the water was shining brightly, vaguely coiling and holding down some unknown… bones, together with some flesh and blood vessels. It was obviously was ripped off from who knows where. Within a second, I saw the water in the pool starting to turn blood-red.

“Wait for me!”

Experience, it was all because of experience. In about half a second, I immediately did a hundred meter race and chased after Chifuyu.

I want to correct my earlier assessment. The Purple Dorm was also a haunted house.

It was just a sunny version of a haunted house.

* * *

“Gasai and I are children with the same father but different mothers.” Just as I caught up to Chifuyu, he suddenly began to seriously tell a story.

Based on what happened earlier, I concluded that the two of them were half-brothers with different mothers (or different fathers).

“Older brother Gasai’s mother is the legal wife from a similarly influential family, Yakushiji, whereas my mother is a concubine, a concubine whom the Yukino Clan found somewhere as a backup.” Immersing himself in his own memories, Chifuyu automatically reported the matter regarding his clan, regardless of whether or not I’m listening, “There’s only one person who can become the master of the Yukino Clan. Depending on the time of birth, from generation to generation, one will be given the oracle of the Yukino Clan, but older brother Gasai wasn’t born with it. But one year later, my mother gave birth to me, the oracle power had been proven to be inherited by me, and older brother and his mother immediately lost their place in my father’s heart.”

“They only stayed in the Yukino Clan for five years, and on a certain day they suddenly left. After leaving, on the seventh day, a message regarding older brother Gasai mother’s death was received. Finally, he cut off all contact with the Yukino Clan. When I enroled in this school, it was only then that I found out older brother Gasai is actually attending school here. I’ve tried to persuade him several times, but he just refused to come home to accept his position.”

He very sorrowfully talked about this, but my mind was only filled with one thing.

Your mother is really very good. It was actually the concubine killing the legal wife. Here I thought it was the legal wife killing the concubine and kicking them both out of the house.

“What does senior Gasai’s Clan do?” I knew Chifuyu’s Clan does something similar to spiritual language, but to be truthful, I couldn’t see through senior Gasai. He was the same type of person as senior, he studies everything, and knows a little of everything. Thus, it makes it harder to guess what he actually specializes in.

Chifuyu looked at me.

“It’s alright to not say it if it would be an inconvenience.” I don’t insist on knowing, really.

“Being a substitute, Yakushiji Clan is good at helping people get rid of misfortune and dispel disasters, specializing in substitution magic.” Chifuyu directly and clearly explained, “I heard the elders saying, the person senior Gasai’s mother substituted was my father. After she left the clan on the seventh day, my father was immediately murdered by a curse, and in the end, it was passed onto his mother. That very night, she immediately passed away while in being the Yakushiji Clan.”

What the hell, disguised as an enemy who killed his mother? No wonder senior Gasai refused to go back even if he was beaten to death. If it was me, I probably also wouldn’t want to go home.

“I know the danger of being a substitute, so I wanted senior Gasai to hurry home. Is that wrong!?” Chifuyu started, being in a drunken hysterical state.

“Uh… maybe he really likes the job of the Yakushiji Clan?” Sounds pretty dangerous, but since it’s his mother’s clan, he probably had a higher degree of acceptance compared to the general people.

Look at me with a strange expression, Chifuyu suddenly ended the topic, “Yang Yang, I’ll stop here, but remember not to tell others about what happened today. Not even to senior, and if you spread this out, I will…”

What’s with that cut-off phrase? And also, if you don’t want others to know about it, why the hell did you tell me!?

Following Chifuyu’s action of running his finger past his neck, something called cold sweat and goose bumps started to appear in great amount all over my body.

I guess I found Chifuyu’s evil personality.