257 The Arrival Of The Department of Mysteries

Hearing the noise, Takeshi Yuta who was holding the Soul Summoning Pencil in his hand, looked at the three-inch small sword floating in mid-air beside him. His face was deathly pale, and his sweat poured down like rain. At this very moment, his heart began to fill with a fear for his life, and deep within him, he could not help but feel intense fear.

His inner self was growling in despair… Why, why is he so powerful?!

Yet he did not dare to oppose, and while gritting his teeth, he said, "It was from a year ago."

The span of one year. Kimura Kazuki smiled. "In that case, you really have no hope at all, but you are quite lucky."

Chiba Shiori had been watching all this unfold from the side and had not said a word. Now with Takeshi Yuta submitting in defeat, Kimura Kazuki was suddenly reactionless, and seeing this made her a little confused. However, in no time, her confusion cleared.

A black shadow suddenly entered through the window, but was unseen by Chiba Shiori and Takeshi Yuta. The next second, once the black shadow saw the scene before it, it was stunned. Soon after, in less than a minute, more than 10 people entered the Takeshi home, and the person leading them was Director Mitani.

The self-invited Director Mitani, as soon as he caught sight of Kimura Kazuki, involuntarily drew in a breath, and with great respect said, "Kimura-sama." Right now he was internally complaining, Why did they happen across him here?

With the previous issue of Arisu Yuusuke, even if the Arisu family had not revealed any news, but because for some time Arisu Yuusuke never checked in with the Department of Mysteries, he had noticed that something was not right. That was why Director Mitani used his own discretionary power to discreetly investigate a little. Even though what was found was not the whole picture, it was enough for them to know that the person named Kimura Kazuki had frighteningly immense power and was not someone that the Department of Mysteries could offend without any consequences.

That was the last time the two of them had spoken. Due to the standing of the Arisu family, he helped clear Arisu Yuusuke's name. After he got to know the matters surrounding the Arisu family, his inner self had been in a perpetual state of instability. He did not know how the other would deal with him.

Also, after learning that that person had gone to take part in the Jade Dragon Flag Competition, his inner self had sighed in relief. Thinking about how frighteningly powerful and skilled the other was, he figured that that person was probably too lazy to chase after the Department of Mysteries for them to take responsibility anyways.

This Takeshi Yuta guy was someone they had been observing for about a month now. The reason why they had stumbled across Takeshi Yuta was because a member of the Department of Mysteries Team One had seen a fragile-looking lady on the street, and following beside her was a ghost face samurai. This had given him a shock.

This had happened during the middle of the day while the sun was still out, and it was able to move about freely on the street to follow others. How strong was this specter?

After some investigation, they were able to find out that this fragile-looking lady was called Tachibana Kitada. She was in her early 20s, and had just graduated from university.

In order to avoid unintentionally alerting their targets, the Department of Mysteries had gone undercover to follow and observe them, and they had come to know that there was more than one ghost face samurai. Every three days, a different ghost face samurai would take over a new shift from the old one. This was something they had seen with their own eyes, if they had not, with the ghost face samurai looking so similar, they would have been unable to differentiate them. And as the investigation progressed, they also found out that these ghost face samurai were not as powerful as they had first thought.

After all, even with people from the Department of Mysteries following them, their targets had not realised this.

They had also made use of the time interval between the shift changes of the ghost face samurai. The Department of Mysteries had sent people to follow those ghost face samurais who had changed shifts. They followed them all the way to the Takeshi family home. The only issue was that they were unsure of the real situation of the Takeshi family, so they did not dare to enter with authorization. Also, for fear of alerting Takeshi Yuta, they even went so far as to not station anybody from the Department of Mysteries to continue surveilling from outside. This was because someone noticed that within the house, there were many beings like the ghost face samurai. This discovery was like a hot potato in the hands of the Department of Mysteries.

However, Director Mitani was quite direct in his decision-making. He immediately sent out a small team to ambush the ghost face samurai. His plan was to try and find out just how strong their opponents were. In the end, the result of this battle was quite unexpected. Although this ghost face samurai looked mysterious and powerful, he was a little too weak.

Once this news had been received, Director Mitani made his decision. He picked a time and decided to go straight to their doorstep. His plan was to use manners as the first step in approaching them, and assess the behaviour of Takeshi Yuta. If the other was a man of violence, then he would compensate him for the wrong of killing his ghost face samurai, and if possible, he might even be able to absorb him into the Department of Mysteries. 

However, it was highly unlikely that Takeshi Yuta was some random nice guy. This was because during their surveillance, the ghost face samurai had killed two people. Both of these people were men, and had intentions of approaching Tachibana Kitada, but quietly passed in the dead of the night.

With the investigation having taken so long, the staff of the Department of Mysteries all knew that these ghost face samurais were probably bodyguards. So they investigated the two dead victims, but surprisingly their findings were that these two men were just normal people. Yet these ghost face samurai had simply killed these two men in the middle of the night. This was something that many found hard to accept. 

To be able to join the Department of Mysteries, even though they were mostly the younger generations of big families, many still had a strong sense of justice within their hearts. And with the ghost face samurai's actions of merciless killing innocents, this had angered many.

This was also why Director Mitani had brought along so many people, there were even 10 or so people outside. Tonight, nearly all of the Department of Mysteries was here. However, with the appearance of Kimura Kazuki, this had sent Director Mitani's plan into complete disarray.

For those members who were by Director Mitani's side, most stared at the Director in shock, then began to discreetly assess Kimura Kazuki. They wanted to see who this person was that could cause the Director to react in such a manner till he did not care for his own reputation.

Chiba Shiori was also looking at these newcomers with curiosity. From the looks of their similar uniforms, these people were obviously from the same organisation. But standing on the sidelines, she had not said a word. Nor did she disturb Kimura Kazuki. She just looked at them.

"Director Mitani?"

"Yes, it is I." Although internally Director Mitani was very perturbed, he still tried to answer calmly, his mouth opening into a smile. "Kimura-sama, I did not expect to meet you here. It seems that you and the Department of Mysteries are quite connected to each other by fate. If you ever want to come and have a look round the Department of Mysteries, I will definitely be there to receive you."

The other members of the Department of Mysteries were tongue-tied. They were all the brightest and best of the younger generations of big families, yet they had never seen Director Mitani smile so cordially before.

Kimura Kazuki was noncommittal about this invitation. Instead, he looked at Takeshi Yuta who was quite confused and fearful after seeing the arrival of so many people. The minute his own capability became useless, Takeshi Yuta was like a weak beast, ripe for the picking from any person.

"All of you must be here for him," said an expressionless Kimura Kazuki. "This fellow has committed many wrongdoings, so we'll leave him in your hands."

"That is no problem at all." Hearing these words, Director Mitani was aware that there was no need to speak with Takeshi Yuta. Kimura Kazuki had already concluded this line of investigation, and he did not wish to not give the other some face. Plus, after previous investigations, he also knew that Takeshi Yuta was probably not that innocent a person.

While the two were speaking, none noticed that Takeshi Yuta's eyes which were originally filled with fear, slowly began to reflect hopelessness, especially because while the two were in a conversation, neither spared him a glance, and this display of disdain made him feel as though his dignity was being trampled upon. His eyes were filled with despair that slowly changed to resentment. He knew that once he is caught, then the Soul Summoning Pencil which was now in his hand would probably be forcefully taken away from him, and will no longer belong to him.

And if he were to be without the Soul Summoning Pencil, seeing as he had killed so many people, would he be able to receive forgiveness? Thinking about this, the next moment, the look in his eyes became one hardened with resolve.

"What I cannot have, is not something you all can dream of having as well!"