When he opened the door, Cid saw Kojou Akatsuki sitting on the bed, one hand pressed to his head.
Heh. Putting on quite a performance. With all the noise in the living room earlier, there's no way he didn't wake up long ago.
"Yo, Kojou, you're finally awake. Here are your clothes. I'm heading out."
As Cid turned to pick up Kojou Akatsuki's clothes, he felt a gaze land squarely on his neck.
Ah, here it is again. That look like he wants to rip open my throat and drink my blood. As expected of a natural Eminence in Shadow—his aggression is practically overflowing, yet he hasn't revealed even a trace of killing intent.
Kojou, you should be grateful. After my sister's special training, I've learned to control my instinctive counterattacks. Otherwise, one day I might react without thinking and accidentally kill you. That would be troublesome.
"Cid, um… huff… huff… what are you doing in my room?"
When Cid turned around and tossed the clothes over, two thin lines of blood had appeared under Kojou Akatsuki's nose. Cid knew exactly what that meant—Kojou Akatsuki was suppressing his killing urge.
After all, if he started slaughtering people on Itogami Island, he'd probably be discovered within minutes. The identity he worked so hard to hide would be exposed. Unlike Cid, who could go out, rob the rich and help the poor, and return the same day if he felt like it.
"What else could it be? Didn't you ask me to go out together on Sunday?"
"When did I— …Oh. Right. I did invite you to the water park. I'll get up now."
Ignoring Kojou Akatsuki's expression, which shifted from confusion to sudden realization, and also ignoring the newly gained sister lying on the living room sofa staring at him with a strange look, Cid walked straight out of the Akatsuki residence.
...
"Kojou, I suddenly remembered something. Sorry, I need to leave for a bit."
Standing in front of the water park, Cid abruptly stopped and spoke to Kojou Akatsuki and Nagisa Akatsuki beside him.
"Huh? But we're almost there."
"Yeah, Cid. Can't you go after we're done here? I even prepared my swimsuit. My swimsuit, you know."
"Sorry, Kojou, Nagisa. It's really urgent."
"Cid, what happened? Is there anything we can help with?"
"Yeah, yeah! Maybe if Kojou and I help, we can finish quickly and still have time to come back here."
"It's a personal matter. I can handle it myself."
Without explaining further, Cid pushed past the two of them and ran off.
After he left, Kojou Akatsuki and Nagisa Akatsuki looked at each other. Nagisa Akatsuki's face was filled with disappointment, completely different from the cheerful girl who had been chattering excitedly around Cid on the way here.
"So… what do we do now, Nagisa?"
"Let's go back, Kojou. Without Cid-nii-san here, I'm not in the mood to wear a swimsuit anymore. We'll wait until he comes back and ask what happened. Sigh…"
Nagisa Akatsuki replied in a very dejected voice.
"Alright."
On Cid's side, after leaving the Akatsuki siblings behind, he shook off the surveillance he had sensed ever since leaving the Akatsuki house. Then he sprinted at the fastest speed he could openly display, running down a side street with no surveillance cameras before turning into an empty alley.
The moment he stepped into the alley, a large amount of black liquid suddenly appeared around his body, spiraling upward and wrapping him completely inside.
In the next second, the spiral vanished.
Standing there now was a man wearing a pitch-black long coat.
His hood was pulled low, and a black mask resembling a magician's concealed his face.
Without pausing for even a moment, the man flew into the sky, using the Natural Secret Technique to avoid attracting attention, and headed straight in a certain direction.
Only a few seconds later, he appeared on the rooftop of the harbor on the opposite side of Itogami Island.
The man scanned the area below. The people beneath him showed no sign of noticing anything.
"Strange… why is no one here?"
Cid frowned slightly.
Just moments ago, he had clearly sensed someone here using his Magical Power to send out a distress signal. Yet after arriving, he didn't see a single employee of the Mitsugoshi Company.
Once, he had separated a trace of his Magical Power and given it to Gamma so she could convert it. Gamma then divided that small portion into more than eight hundred fragments.
All eight hundred fragments were distributed among the core employees of the Mitsugoshi Company—people like Gamma and the others, the so-called "Possessed."
They had turned his Magical Power into a whole range of functions: borrowing strength, communicating with him, sending distress signals, and more.
After all, they were childhood friends who had grown up together.
The small amount of Magical Power they borrowed would regenerate within seconds. Saving someone was just a casual favor, and it cost him nothing.
So Cid had never bothered to care about it.
But just moments ago, he had clearly sensed a Magical Power distress signal here. Yet after rushing over, he didn't see a single core employee of the Mitsugoshi Company. There were only a few ordinary staff members around.
"Did they already get taken out? No, that's not right. The Magical Power fluctuation didn't feel like someone was injured. Wait… did that signal just now include any information about the owner's physical condition?"
Cid closed his eyes.
After a while, he opened them again, his face slightly pale.
Thinking back carefully, it seemed that when the distress signal reached him earlier, there had been no accompanying information about the sender's condition.
In fact, he had already checked the surroundings for anyone carrying his Magical Power. The closest one was in Gamma's building. After that, he expanded his perception across the entire world.
The results matched his memory perfectly. Not a single Magical Power owner more or less.
…Was it just a mistake?
The figure on the rooftop swayed slightly, then suddenly dropped to his knees in an orz position.
Damn it.
He had skipped this week's Eminence in Shadow trial, which had already raised Kojou Akatsuki's suspicion toward him. And now he finds out the distress signal he sensed was just his imagination.
The anger burning inside him now was ten times stronger, maybe nine times stronger, than when he had been dragged out of bed this morning and several parts of his body were crushed into pulp by Magical Power.
But who could he blame?
Himself?
Jumping down from the rooftop, Cid started thinking about where to go next. Going back to Kojou Akatsuki was definitely not an option. In fact, he needed to avoid him.
He had just left saying he had something urgent to deal with. If Kojou Akatsuki ran into him casually wandering around the streets right afterward, who knows what he would think.
Well, Cid knew what he would think if it were the other way around. His opinion of that person would immediately drop.
So…
He'd go pet some cats.
Cute cats were perfect for soothing a miserable day like this. While he was at it, he could also see whether Kanon Kanase had shown up today.
Clapping his hands together once, Cid immediately set off.
The figure standing there vanished instantly.
He didn't notice the blonde nun running toward him from behind.
When the blonde nun reached the spot where Cid had just been standing, she looked around in confusion before grabbing an elderly man nearby.
"Excuse me, sir. Did you happen to see a man wearing a black coat just now?"
The old man was initially annoyed at being stopped, but after realizing it was just a young girl, his expression softened.
"No, young lady."
Cid had been standing right next to him moments ago, yet he claimed he hadn't seen anything.
Of course, that wasn't his fault.
Cid's Natural Secret Technique made others perceive him like a speck of dust. Even though he usually made no effort to hide himself, no one could clearly see his true appearance because of this technique.
"Sorry for bothering you, sir."
Just as the girl was about to ask someone else, the old man called out to stop her.
"Young lady, there's no need to keep looking. I've been standing here all day. The person you're talking about never came here."
"But… but he was just here a moment ago."
"Then you must've seen wrong. In this weather, if someone wore a black overcoat, I'd definitely remember. Even if you ask other people, you'll probably get the same answer."
Watching the old man leave, the blonde nun fell into confusion.
"Am I… seeing things? But the Lord told me that was him just now."
Of course she wasn't hallucinating.
Everyone else was.
If Cid had seen this ridiculous scene, he probably would have crossed off another line from his list titled "Things One Must Say to Become an Eminence in Shadow."
"One who sees through illusions yet lives within illusion itself. In the end, will they drift with the current and willingly sink… or stand proud and remain true to themselves?"
"That… is something worth looking forward to."
Yes.
Cid would definitely say something like that.