"...Kokuto... get me some... strawberry... from the fridge..."
The girl in a simple yukata lay on the floor, mumbling intermittently in a half-asleep state as if she thought she was still at home with her boyfriend.
"...Kokuto?"
Shiki suddenly opened her eyes and sat up from where she lay, first feeling a sharp pain in her head, then seeing Mikiya unconscious in the arms of a young woman.
"You! Even when you're asleep, you're still bossing Mikiya around!"
Azaka looked at the now-awake Shiki with a hint of disdain.
"If it weren't for you, Mikiya wouldn't have been in danger this time!"
"Oh, it's you, Azaka."
Shiki scratched her hair, struggled to stand up, and walked over to Azaka and Mikiya.
"How is he? Did he get hurt?"
"You dare ask?!" Azaka was a bit irritated by Shiki's attitude.
"Are you even aware of what you've done—wait, that rotten monk! Where did he go?!"
Shiki, suddenly alert, drew the small knife hidden in her belt and looked around, surveying her surroundings.
"What the hell is this place anyway?"
"Please calm down, Miss Ryougi," Touko approached and addressed Shiki.
"Araya Souren is dead. You are safe now. As for Kokuto Mikiya, he just fainted from hunger after not eating for a long time. He's fine otherwise."
"You...?"
Shiki looked at Touko. From the first moment she saw her, she felt that this human wasn't quite right. On instinct, she focused, using her ability to see death lines acquired earlier.
But as she observed, she was shocked. Since her accident, she could see death lines on everything, but this was the first time she'd seen someone as perfect as Touko.
No, is she even human?
Shiki fell into deep self-doubt. So far, no human under her gaze had ever shown no death lines at all.
"Why... why doesn't your body have lines?"
Shiki raised her knife, eyes glowing blue with a trace of red at the center.
"Who the hell are you?!"
"Hey, that's rude!"
Azaka carefully laid the still-unconscious Mikiya on the ground and stood up, dissatisfied with Shiki.
"If it weren't for my teacher, you'd be dead by now—and you would've dragged Mikiya down with you!"
"What? Teacher?"
Shiki was puzzled.
"This woman... is she a teacher at Reien? Teachers at Reien need to be this strong?"
"Hehe, nice to meet you, Miss Ryougi,"
Touko calmly replied.
"I am indeed Azaka's teacher, but specifically her magecraft teacher. This time, it was Azaka who noticed Mikiya's disappearance and asked for my help."
"Coincidentally, the monk who kidnapped you was an old acquaintance of mine. I've been hunting him for a while."
Touko added, "His plan almost succeeded, but he was unlucky and picked the wrong victims, which dragged me into it."
Touko spoke very confidently. Shiki, too, confirmed that Touko meant no harm to her or Mikiya, so she put her knife away.
"Well, you still haven't answered my question,"
Shiki frowned.
"Why don't you have lines?"
"'Lines?'"
Touko was surprised and then looked Shiki up and down.
"That's rare. You possess the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception!"
"What's that?"
Azaka asked curiously from the side.
"Everything that lives must die. Eyes that can see the death of all things are called the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception,"
Touko patiently explained.
"The lines Miss Ryougi sees on objects and living beings are the end of things. If touched, they will meet their death ahead of time."
"As for why Miss Ryougi can't see my death, it's because I simply cannot die."
Touko said proudly.
"Let me formally introduce myself: Aozaki Touko, current wielder of the Third Magic."
"Magic? What's that?"
Shiki was confused.
"Azaka and that weird monk—are they Magicians too?"
"Sorry, no!"
Azaka replied.
"That guy and I are only magi, and I'm just an apprentice. Each Magician is unique. In all of human history, there have only ever been five Magicians. Touko-sensei is one of them."
"That's quite something,"
Shiki muttered, "But let's leave this place already. Mikiya and I both need a hospital..."
"No rush,"
Touko walked over to Mikiya, crouched down, and checked him.
"We still have a lot to do here. Do you remember that boy, Tomoe Enjou?"
"Oh, is he alright?"
Shiki suddenly remembered, "I recall... I was knocked out by that damn monk. I thought Enjou got captured too."
"He's... well, not good, not bad,"
Touko mused, her palm glowing gold. Mikiya's complexion improved, and his breathing became stable.
"He's probably in that pile of jars. We promised to find him."
"He ran away in fear earlier,"
Touko explained.
"But then he met Azaka and me, who were investigating. Tomoe Enjou told us what happened, so we could find this place and take out Araya Souren."
"Jars...?"
Shiki looked back and saw the basement was full of jars of various sizes, filled with mysterious fluids and floating brains with tubes attached.
"!?"
"Explaining all this will take time,"
Touko said.
"In short, that monk took the brains of the apartment residents, including Tomoe Enjou, and put them here. Then he made new bodies for them to live in."
What kind of lunatic would do that?!
Shiki raged internally, but on the surface, she calmed down and examined the jars, noticing each had a name carved on top—probably the residents' names.
"As long as we find Tomoe Enjou's brain, I'll make him a new body soon,"
Touko said casually, as if reviving a brain was easy. This gave Shiki a new understanding of Magicians.
"Tomoe Enjou abandoned his old doll body so his soul could return to the brain here, allowing me to find his location."