Chapter 48

While we are running through the halls of the tower, looking the same no matter where we are, searching for the last of the six students who entered the tower.

Suddenly, a door opens. None other than Grand Magician Sherlock, wearing his purple top hat and a purple cape steps out. His cape is tainted in blood and his face does not look nearly as gleeful and happy as it normally does. When he sees us, he smiles at least a little bit.

“There you are!” Hanebana runs to him and hugs him dearly, all while still carrying Okubo around.

“We have to find the others!” Sherlock is determined. I have not once before seen him nearly as serious as he is right now.

“...” I stay silent. I do not find the words to tell him of what happened with the others… Thus, I silently pray for Hanebana to explain it. And she does.

“They are dead… I am sorry! They are dead! Let us leave, now!”

Sherlock himself is shocked. But he does not cry. He only hesitates, slightly. Then the four of us slowly search for the stairs down to the ground floor. After all, we three students can’t just jump down without getting hurt even further… And we are hurt pretty badly already.

“What… the hell is going on here?” Sherlock finally bring the thoughts I could not name previously to the surface. The question he just proposed summed up everything pretty good.

“Why did the Headmaster give us a task which involved S-Rank Yokai?!” He is desperate for answers. So am I.

Hanebana begins to explain:

“The task you were given was not supposed to be yours… The military was supposed to have it. And even then, only the higher ranking military ranks should have done it.”

“But didn’t the Headmaster give it to us?!”

“That… must have been a fake, then.” I slowly realize. “The Headmaster who gave us the task… Gave it to us, knowing it wasn’t supposed for us… That’s why she wanted us to quickly take care of it…”

Hanebana nods. “Probably… When I noticed you missing, I asked if anyone of the staff had seen you… They did not, however the task went missing. What makes it even more strange: The task itself is only available for higher ranking military ranks to even access…”

She sighs.

“So the Headmaster you saw, whether or not that was the actual Headmaster, wanted you to come here and probably die altogether.”

“But why would she do this?!” Sherlock is angry. “She… She could have just given it to us normally, right? She is the Headmaster, she could have even put it up at the task board itself!”

Hanebana nods.

“Yes, that is… indeed weird.”

“That means… That the Headmaster had to act quickly. And that means that…” He becomes quiet. It seems as all of the pieces of this puzzle slowly but surely connect and he finally understands what is happening.

“What if… she was mind-controlled?”

I look at him. “What do you mean?”

“Well… if the culprit behind this can control the minds of people… Could they not give her the command to give us the task?”

Hanebana looks at him, however she shakes her head. “Stop.”

Grand Magician Sherlock does not stop.

“She knew us… I believe the person who controlled her must also know of us and the academy's properties, including us students.”

“I said stop it!”

“The culprit is a student of our academy! They knew of the tension between Iwata and Itoh and used it to trick us! And this person also mind-controlled one of the higher ranking military to bring them this very task! Thus, the only person who can be the culprit is-”

Hanebana slapped him.

Her eyes had small tears.

“Shut up! The last thing we need right now is you going around and accusing other students.

I understand both of them. As a ‘mother’ Hanebana does not want one of her very own children to be responsible for such an event… And yet, I do understand Sherlock just as well. His reasoning does make sense and is logical. If we fully follow the reasoning then it becomes obvious: There is only one student who can actually control the minds of other people:
Uyeno and her arrows of love.

Was that the answer to the question of whoever is responsible for this?

We finally arrive back at the entrance. Hanebana opens the door. We can finally see the outside and rush outside. However, as soon as all of us are actually outside, the doors close behind us.

The world around us changes. We are not outside. We are just in yet another room of the tower: This time, we are actually in a pretty big room. 10 meters from us stands a giant throne. On top of that throne is a demon like no other. A giant Oni, red skin and dark horns which are themselves at least one meter tall. He is wearing some sort of samurai armour, next to his throne lies a giant club.

In between said Yokai and us stands the Yokai we saw when we entered the tower for the first time: Kohada Koheiji, the floating skeleton.

“Aye, have you finally arrived? Now, let us start the very climax of tonight! Let our Kabuki Theater finally raise its curtain for the final act!”