(Why do I have to be with Ibekusa now of all times )
He was worried she had noticed him jumping every time he heard a noise from the branches or bushes
He had honestly wanted to be paired with one of the other girls
Ange would just sigh and forget it if he acted a little pathetic and Saya would have talked so much it distracted him from the fear
But he had been paired with the last person in the world he wanted seeing him acting pathetic
I-it’s kind of scary isn’t it
He tried talking to her but she did not respond
She walked calmly next to him as usual She probably only saw this as a game to go grab the items Sakae had forgotten
(Sigh Just calm down Ghosts aren’t real)
They descended the curving road and started down the side road that led to the mansion
He had honestly had a bad feeling when he had heard about the mansion
He could not be certain but he felt like the people vanishing from the mansion had to be related to how much demons liked this place And if wild Succubi had attacked it would explain the holes in the walls and ceiling that a mere animal could not have made But he did not like what that suggested happened to the people living there
His feet grew heavy at the thought of visiting the site of a dozen people losing their lives in a demon attack
(What if a ghost shows up Could Ange exorcise it She is an angel)
Micha had told him that angels and demons were based on the souls and bodies of dead humans but he did not know which side ghosts would fall on
Something brushed against his ankle His heart nearly leapt out of his chest
But he looked down to find it was only his other shoe’s shoelace coming undone He breathed a sigh of relief and crouched down
Sorry Ibekusa Wait just a moment
He started to tie the mischievous lace that had brushed against his ankle
Ah wait Ibekusa I said wait
He stopped but Machina did not notice and kept going He tried to retie the shoelace as quickly as possible but
Hm Fujita-ku-
She must have noticed Mutsuki’s flashlight was not following her because she turned around
And then she noticed he was about 10 meters behind her
Hwah
She ran back in a flash Mutsuki was so shocked he nearly fell onto his butt
We should not get separated I recommend we remain together
She sounded 100% serious
R-right Sorry
She fell silent again when he stood up
( Could this be )
An unbelievable thought occurred to him as she resumed walking with a tense expression
Ibekusa are you afraid of ghosts
She turned toward him
That is a poor way of phrasing it But as all human actions are based on past experience it is perfectly reasonable to remain cautious of the unknown
He had never heard her speak so quickly
And while most spiritual phenomena are illusions the human mind can be extremely unstable so
it cannot be trusted to-
There’s a legless old lady behind us
Extracting all combat tools Triggering a deuterium fusion reaction at the current coordinates to exterminate the-
Stop stop I was just kidding
Mutsuki smiled bitterly and patted Machina on the shoulder as wings a backpack an anti-tank rifle a rocket launcher etc appeared on her back and arms
When the girl realized he had been teasing her she put away the weapons
There are some things you should not joke about
Sorry But I’m surprised given how readily you fight angels and demons
Anything that is confirmed to exist poses no problem But if it is not well understood
She gave a lopsided frown like Ange always did
He laughed at seeing such an unusually childish expression on her face but that only made her look more upset
Again sorry Here
He held out his hand to distract her
She looked puzzled so he grabbed her hand and pulled on it as he descended the road
For better or for worse a scared girl was the best possible thing to distract a guy from his fear
Mutsuki’s fear only lasted half the test of courage It was gone by the time they reached the mansion
So this is the place
The creepy Western-style mansion was covered in ivy They found Sakae’s fishing line in front of the front gate but Machina’s behavior changed the instant she saw the mansion
Before he could even ask why she touched the gate’s metal door A golden magic circle glowed on it the padlocked chains came undone and the door opened on its own
Eh You’re going inside Wah wah
She was still holding his hand so she dragged him in too
The building was terribly creepy It had looked unpleasant enough from above during the day but it was even worse from head on
The windows were broken and there were a few holes in the walls Weeds had grown unchecked in the large yard but there were also a few claw marks that had gouged into the dirt
There were several signs of an inhuman power going on a rampage here
Whether it was a ghost or a wild Succubus made little difference it was creepy either way Now it was Mutsuki’s turn to be afraid
But despite her fear of ghosts Machina did not seem remotely bothered as she looked around
the creepy mansion And
Intruder detectedpositive Capture requiredpositive
Mutsuki heard a familiar and unnatural mechanical voice
He looked over to the nude woman statue watching over the pond in the yard Its eyes were glowing and it was moving on its own When it saw them retractable Vulcan cannons appeared on its arms just like Machina’s weapons earlier A-a Springloaded
Mutsuki was shocked but Machina raised her index finger in front of her nose as if telling the statue to be quiet
External enemy detectionnegative Returning to standby
When the obedient Springloaded saw that it retracted the weapons and returned to being a nude statue watching over the pond
There’s a Springloaded standing guard Is this a FeTUS villa
Negative My data shows no FeTUS-related facility at these coordinates
But she looked to the nude statue once more
It was definitely a Springloaded and it had obeyed Machina It was certainly connected to FeTUS
Opening enemy-detection tool Depth Phase 4
A golden magic circle spread out on the ground just like on the door earlier After expanding to cover the entire grounds of the mansion it vanished into the ground
Machina seemed to be investigating something She ignored Mutsuki’s confusion and an empty look came over her eyes like she was reading something at great speed And finally
999999% match This facility is part of the Kurosaki Laboratory
Kurosaki
The girl had supposedly confirmed something yet she looked like she had seen a ghost The boy tilted his head
Machina was clearly disturbed and Mutsuki listened to what she had to say
They could not relax while looking at the creepy mansion so they had left the grounds Instead of returning to the others they walked down the slope a little and stopped below a suitably large tree The girl leaned against the large trunk and seemed unsure where to start but eventually
The Kurosaki Laboratory is a group that FeTUS hired to hone our techniques
So they’re on your side
They were but they are currently rebelling and have broken away
She sighed
FeTUS is an organization of witches who have received the knowledge of the past but we must also constantly work to create new knowledge That is why we have investors and research facilities around the world In some cases a nation’s entire defense industry cooperates with FeTUS
So were they something like a subcontractor The angels and demons might be an exception but it would indeed take that much funding for humans to build a largescale facility 2000 meters underground It made sense The Kurosaki family was the largest investor and research organization in Japan
Kurosaki seemed to be the name of whoever owned the mansion
Their results were remarkable Quite a few of my combat tools are Kurosaki products They have research institutions in Germany and all over the world so they might be the organization that has given the most to FeTUS However there have been many problems as well they have performed serious human experiments for their research and they take part in human trafficking and fraud to raise funding The mention of Germany reminded Mutsuki of his homeroom teacher