Regarding Aoko Aozaki.
Shiomi neither trusted nor distrusts her, remaining in a delicate middle ground.
After all, she was a Magician who had inherited the Fifth Law, capable of leaping through time from the future and arriving at this Singularity entirely on her own.
By comparison, Chaldea required an extremely complex system just to accomplish the same thing.
There were simpler approaches, of course. If Morgan were to use the "Mirror" and the "Coffin" to perform an equivalent level of spacetime transfer, it could be done. But that was Morgan's personal ultimate Magecraft.
It could not be passed down.
Even if she were to lay bare the underlying principles, Magecraft that Morgan could grasp at a glance and reproduce with ease would remain as incomprehensible as celestial script to other Magi.
It was nothing like the Fifth Law, which could be handed over in its entirety once a successor was chosen. Even if that successor could not fully understand it during actual use, it did not matter.
There was a saying—
The fruits of a Magus's study of history are the consequences wrought by humanity itself, and the fate born of planetary motion.
But magic is a divine truth from beyond the heavens, something that does not belong to human karma or the cycles of the planet.
That alone is proof of guilt.
Magic is the enemy of humanity.
—And so, Shiomi's reason for doubting Aoko Aozaki was simple.
Even if Aoko relied on so-called "rocket-pencil-style" time travel, replenishing herself again and again as she came to this Singularity to correct distortions in history, she would inevitably have grasped facts that no one else here knew. And she would have acted on them, in secret.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain the death of the "first Aoko."
It had not been carried out by Shiomi, and yet it unmistakably bore the hallmarks of his methods.
What exactly did Aoko Aozaki know?
What had she discovered?
And what, precisely, had she encountered?
Shiomi leaned against the shadowed corner where the corridor connecting the new wing and the old wing bent, suppressing his presence like an Assassin.
Unless someone possessed Presence Detection on the level of Enkidu, he was confident he would not be noticed.
And in reality, he wasn't.
It was the dead of night, still some time before dawn.
Yet Aoko Aozaki had left her room, heading alone toward the hot spring baths in the old wing during hours when they were not open.
After his raven caught sight of her movement, it delivered the report to Shiomi at the appointed time.
Now, Shiomi found himself doing something that even he recognized as borderline stalker behavior.
Aoko Aozaki's footsteps were exceptionally light, clearly taken with care to avoid being noticed.
With his back to the wall, Shiomi concealed his body, his presence, and even his magical energy, merging seamlessly with the environment.
He listened as her footsteps echoed through the old wing's slightly labyrinthine architecture.
Sounds that no ordinary person could possibly hear reached Shiomi's ears.
There was no need to draw closer. In the absolute stillness before dawn, his five senses stretched outward without limit, taking in every movement within the hot spring inn.
The footsteps stopped.
Shiomi opened his eyes just a fraction, silently wondering whether Aoko Aozaki had sensed someone watching her from the shadows.
If that was the case...
Just as Shiomi was considering what to do next, a hand wrapped in a silk glove extended from his blind spot. It was only when it appeared directly in front of him that he realized, too late, that he had failed to notice someone approaching.
His eyes widened, his entire body tightening as he prepared to counterattack.
But the hand did not go for his throat or heart. Instead, it came down firmly, covering his mouth and nose, sealing them just enough to suppress his breathing without cutting it off completely.
Like an orchid blooming deep within an empty valley, a familiar feminine fragrance slowly enveloped him.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, the tension in Shiomi's muscles eased. The hand that had instinctively begun to exert force relaxed again, and he finally saw who had come so close.
Scáthach.
One hand covered his mouth and nose to keep his breathing from growing heavier. With the other, she raised a finger, signaling him to stay quiet.
She was not wearing the inn's provided yukata, but her close-fitting combat attire.
"Master, how—" Shiomi whispered.
"Came to see you in the middle of the night for a little secret rendezvous, only to find your room empty," Scáthach replied in a teasing, flirtatious tone. Her voice and gaze, however, remained calm and sharp. "So I followed the trail and ended up here."
"Morgan must be utterly speechless," Shiomi murmured, his voice low. "I step out, and you immediately come after me for a midnight ambush."
He did not laugh, but his eyes were filled with amusement.
The banter ended there. Master and disciple focused their attention once more on tracking Aoko Aozaki's movements. Yet those few seconds of conversation were enough for Shiomi to lose her trail.
"She's gone?" Shiomi's eyes widened. "No, this Mana reaction is—"
Sensing something was wrong, he moved soundlessly. With Scáthach following close behind, they crossed the connecting corridor and hurried in the direction where Aoko Aozaki had vanished.
Their destination was another hot spring in the old building, known as the Secret Spring of Love's Fulfillment.
They drew aside the curtain, passed through the changing room, and pushed open the unlocked wooden door. What greeted them was the hot spring beneath the night sky.
"She disappeared here, didn't she?" Scáthach said as she inspected the changing room.
This was the women's changing area, making it more appropriate for her to check. After all, she had come downstairs with her focus on her beloved disciple and had not been able to keep track of Aoko Aozaki from the start.
"This is the last place I could trace her to," Shiomi said from the doorway. "After that, the trail was completely severed."
"If she noticed you watching her from the shadows and used Magecraft… no, used magic to leave," Scáthach said, "it's not impossible."
"You're right, Master." Shiomi stared calmly at the hot spring. "The residual Mana here is far too dense. It exceeds what a Magus would normally leave behind in daily activity."
Aoko Aozaki was no exception. As a Magician, she could not completely control the natural leakage of Mana in her everyday movements, just as humans cannot control their own metabolism.
Even if one used special methods to store the Mana generated by Magic Circuits, this natural phenomenon could not be avoided.
"So that means—"
"The Mana reaction we detected just now is almost identical to what we sensed in the mountain forest before we encountered Aoko Aozaki during the climb with Touko two days ago," Shiomi said. "She activated the Fifth Law here and jumped to another point in time."
"Why would she deliberately come here before dawn to use magic?" Scáthach leaned against one of the lockers in the changing room, voicing the question Shiomi had been turning over in his mind.
"That's something only Aoko Aozaki herself can answer." Shiomi stepped slightly aside, allowing Scáthach to see into the hot spring. "Assuming she's still able to speak."
"That is—"
Scáthach felt her breath catch.
On the side facing the forested mountains, an eerie tree stood by the edge of the pool.
It was strange not only because its roots were embedded directly into solid rock, but because at its center, Aoko Aozaki was enveloped within the tree itself.