Web of light. Part 1-7. part 27

Part 27 Yu's entry into the Yuto group.

Chapter 123.

"...I came running like I was scalded to heal the "terrible wounds", but I found a couple of scratches, you know," Shizuka glanced ironically at the Hawk-nosed man. "And just for ten minutes of business. "However, we had to bring Yu to us — her parents would not like that their daughter returns in one stocking, I think. Well, we stayed waiting for you, we still have to decide something."

"Is there something to decide?" Shimomura asked again. "Decide about me?"

"The exorcists have banned Yokai from cities, you know. And you accidentally got into our secret," the snake explained.

"I can keep secrets," Yu promised seriously. "Besides, I want to go to "you"!"

"Just fine..." I said. No, I approve of all the actions of both Shizuka and the newly-minted "Shinji". However, it is symptomatic: the "problem" was left to me to solve. That's right, I'm in charge of this whole movement, after all. But all the same, the fact that I was given the opportunity to make a decision already says that I have become a leader for my spirits, and not just a convenient standard and tool. It warms up.

But what to do with Yu? The problem is that in the manga, Yu somehow did not get into situations that reveal her character from the side I needed. Smart? Yes. Compassionate, consistent, inquisitive, careful? Yes, as many as you want. But the question of faithfulness to the word simply did not arise...

On the other hand, why am I doing this? Our Helmet Wearer would have had enough strength to clean up the child's memory, and he would not have waited for Shizuka, knowing about her dislike of mental manipulation. Did you like the girl? I mean, not as a woman, but as a person? And so much so that he came to our house with her, where, unnecessarily, as we agreed, the yokai from the "group" do not enter or even approach. Yeah, that's what the Goddess of Rivers is secretly making fun of. The banal "we are responsible for those we saved," right? Well, it fits. By the way, Mizuchi will also not be pleased with any place to clean the head of his almost, and maybe not even almost, girlfriend— the only one in the whole class. Of course, a week and a half is not a long time, but at our age it is almost the norm. And Rinko certainly won't be thrilled with anyone's memory correction if it's "unnecessary."

"...that you want to join "us" without even knowing who "we" are or what you're joining." To which Shimomuro just shook her bangs independently and stated with unshakeable confidence:

"Chido... Shizuka is good, and you and Rinko are normal. Why not? After all, I got into all this myself, and now I have "no way back", like in a Yakuza showdown. Right?"

Mizuchi turned away, hiding a smile, the Hawk-nosed man unsuccessfully tried to portray embarrassment and regret, but Rinko... SHE NODDED! Well, now someone's going to watch gangland action movies on evening cable, under the auspices of "learning from the experience of street kendo style"! And how are the older Cousins capable of such a thing?!

"Overall, you're right," I said diplomatically, "The existence of the yokai is hidden from the majority of the population by the government, and there are a number of reasons for this. Because we are law-abiding citizens..."

[10 minutes of explanation]

"...so we decided to follow our goal."

Shimomuro, who was listening intently, nodded, calculated something, rolled her eyes, and smiled:

"Well, now everything has become clear to me!.."

Well, thank Kami!

"...I couldn't figure out why there were so many girls hanging around a guy like you..."

KSO! Shimomuro, is that your ONLY conclusion from my words?!

"...Anyway, I thought you had Hiroe in charge, but it turns out that's what it is. "The mysterious prince, the last of his kind." Like in a love RPG game about the "Create a harem" type!" At this point, the girl's glasses flashed with bright highlights.

Again, that word again! It just seemed to me that I wouldn't hear any stupid jokes from the "Yuto's harem" section in the foreseeable future (until the age of 14)!

"Y-you do play "such" games?!" Kuzaki was amazed. "And your parents let you?!"

"My parents have too much trouble with my sick little brother to watch my every move. Besides, there's nothing like that. Well, a kiss at most! The first one!"

The future "eternal elder" said with a sigh. Oh, and their cheeks are red! OOPS! And Rinko is like a tomato!

"A-a kiss?!" she whispered. "The first one?"

"Well, yes, if you kiss the "prince" first, he will "become yours." This is the meaning of the game. Well, that's if you don't play for a boy. The prince needs to have a bigger harem... hmm."

It was Yu who choked on her breath under the snake's interested gaze. And she hastened to disown:

"I have never played such a walkthrough. Well, I hardly played, it's interesting!"

"Is there any practical benefit?" Mizuchi became even more interested.

"I don't know, I haven't met any princes... earlier," Yu finished in a strange voice, and she and Shizuka exchanged glances and stared at me in unison.

WHAT?!

"Well, you know!" I ran out of my own words, especially the censored ones, and I used the vocabulary of the Goddess of Rivers. And with emphasis he said:

"Yu, you have to understand that this is really serious. Of course, I haven't told you everything just now, and I don't know much myself yet. But one word from you, said in the wrong place and by the wrong person, and this yokai, who pulled you out from under the wheels, will be killed. And it's also good if they just shoot you, and not roast you or cut you with a blade. You don't want that, do you?"

"N-no," Yu choked out, "no way!"

Great. I could have tried to steamroll Yu by making him swear an Amakawa oath, but in my heart I didn't know how it would work, not on the formed consciousness of a yokai, but on the mind of a child who was still growing and developing. I really didn't want to see Shimomuro slowly losing his will to act and his mind from year to year because of the crooked Ferry. The question "how to ensure a high degree of reliability of protection against betrayal of like-minded people" was worth thinking about. If I was even more confident about the sly Hiroe than I was about myself — the one with the haircut would not miss her luck and benefits, and Rinko's character, which I had known and observed for several years, did not even give a shadow of a thought about the possibility of deliberately or stupidly breaking promises, then Yu was a dark forest for me. However, while the problem is a single one, you can solve it in the "classic" way: communicate more, help with the study of the "practical side of the magical world" and just observe. Damn, it would be easier to erase the memory! But then it turns out that all my calculations about "peaceful coexistence in a new world" are empty words. Oh! Exactly! Why am I doing this? I've got a pretty good and even loyal object for social experimental research, so to speak, and I'm turning my nose around! It's possible that today's worries have dulled his wits. So you need to rest!

After looking at the clock, I suggested that Taki Yu go home. She might have called her mother, but she was probably worried that her daughter was hanging out with her new school friends instead of doing her homework at home. We went on foot, and Mizuchi followed me. Of course, it was almost impossible to meet anything dangerous in our quiet residential area, but I decided to make sure: since we managed to save a girl who got into trouble on her own stupidity. At the same time, let the parents get to know us... and they'll start getting used to seeing me with girls and Yu together.

When Shimomuro's house had already appeared at the far end of the street, I asked:

"Yu, your fascination with magic... Is it just curiosity or would you like to achieve something more?"

Shimomuro thought about it. In general, I noticed that the girl, in all the questions that she considered serious, tended to think before answering. A trait worthy of an adult.

"You know... I probably just wanted a miracle at first. You know, like a little kid, he wants something unusual to happen that doesn't normally happen... But now that I'm convinced that magic can be "touched". Yes, I just want to understand what it is. How do I feel about it, how does it work, after all."

"Human still don't know how electrons "work", let alone magic. But you know, if you set yourself a goal, you may well become the first. We can do everything with your help. Because, funnily enough, the yokai themselves have a hard time imagining what "magic" is, and they have absolutely no idea "how it works."

The frowning Goddess of Rivers confirmed my words with a nod. And there's nothing to frown at, people over two hundred years ago also didn't really understand what a "planet", "climate" and even "energy" were, but they figured it out, even if not completely..."

...Two days later, in the evening, after knocking on the door, I went to Mizuchi with new printouts... and I became convinced that I should have knocked MUCH louder. To the exclamation of "Kyaaaaaaaaaa!!!" (this is Rinko), Shizuka and Kuzaki literally jumped up on the chair in front of the computer, which they managed to sit on together. And then the girls jumped up at the same time, so as to block the monitor screen from me. Trying to keep my face straight, I handed the stack of sheets to the snake and left, closing the door behind me. And immediately I slid down the wall, shaking with silent laughter: in the upper right corner of the display I managed to see the inscription "Lord of the Harem_v3.1.14".

Chapter 124.

A week! No negotiations, risky experiments, deadly dangers — even I did all my homework on time. Tsuchimikado has not yet set a date for the departure of the police "mystical special forces". The Yokai from the Amakawa Group received their first salary on time and in full (and immediately got drunk in a relatively good restaurant from the rank of "for all walks of life." And they got drunk in the sense that they ate various exotic and not so good dishes). The physics club is experiencing a "construction boom" — from the series "draw three-dimensional, incomprehensible, but very necessary stuff and print it out", and suddenly modeling turned out to be necessary for everyone: in school classes in physics (details for simple devices for laboratory experiments), and geography (models of the relief of the islands of the Japanese archipelago), and even at the ISO, whose teacher timidly scratched at the door and, shyly, asked if she could try to draw something in 3D (there were 3Ds MAXa courses at the academy), so that she could transfer it to a hard copy. Since Mia-sensei was a twenty-two-year-old "yesterday's" graduate, slender, with regular features and green eyes, half of the male members of the club were lost for three days — they were setting up the only graphic station of the Art club, figuring out how to convert files into a format understandable to printer software and all that.

And I... for the first four days, I was just moving away from the whirlwind of change and action, and then I started thinking about the results of the last two crazy weeks. And I finally realized what I should have realized from the very beginning: there were only eleven spirits under my command. Eleven yokai for a million-plus city. It's not even funny! In my preliminary calculations, I took into account that I would be able to use the entire "mighty bunch" of the Corpse Eater— and there were thirty of them. That would be enough to cover the city with patrols, even at close range, even in pairs, in two shifts. But the number 11 is not even funny. Not zero, far from zero, but also not the necessary minimum. The trick Himari did in the manga could only be done here and now by Kashi, Hawk-Nose, and Shizuka. That is, to cross a rather large city in a reasonable 10-15 minutes, with big jumps over the roofs, a la Spiderman or Wolverine from the Marvel comics. Cross over and not get tired, I mean. And something had to be done about it. That is not a very pleasant "something", namely the opening of the "Mystical House" technique in Noihara. Himari was strong, fast, and most importantly, she had something unique that none of my vassals owned. And it's not what you think!!! Reputation. The Red Blade (or was the translation not accurate in the manga again, and was the Blade Purple or even Bloody?) Noihars are a brand! Both hunters and yokai. The mere presence of a cat on my side will strengthen the position of the "group" at times. Don't forget that Himari is also extremely loyal to me — Grandpa did his best to bring little Yuto and the albino spirit together. And the rest of the girls are not useless there, the spirit of a dog (or a wolf?) — first of all, it is the ability to find on the trail, which can be very useful, and the "envelope" with its "duty-free" movement of cargo or messages over long distances will very quickly come in handy in courier work, and it is much safer to send important messages with it.

So, the opening of the "House" is transferred from the category of "possible" to the category of "necessary". Shizuka and I read the tutorial on creating (and destroying) this technique together: after all, this is the first time I've encountered magic in an applied way, so to speak. No, I understand everything, but I have a lot of questions for the ancient developers of technology.: how did they, for example, come up with a technique for replicating the projection of an area, including the structure of house walls, indoor interiors, etc., to the mind of the operator? After all, this is a full-fledged scan! And almost down to the molecular level. However, after a little thought, I decided that after all, the collapsed space is tied to the real terrain, therefore the operator cannot be moved. But you still need to scan it. True, the average human magician will not be able to create a "house" more than a couple dozen meters across, but this is already such a "cheat"! It seems that people did not create the "Mystical House": the conditions of the "hollow hills" of the Sidhe, the "underground tunnels" of the Ural "white-eyed wonder", the sudden appearance of all sorts of new rooms in the complex of the Egyptian Pyramids and other numerous stories about the appearance or disappearance of "something" are very similar.

The same Mizuchi is able to create a "Hidden" in a couple of blocks in size, however, it requires a "resonator" in the form of a container with water, such as a memorable lake, like ours, but still the coverage is impressive. Of course, I won't find oil this way, but I wrote down the idea of looking for sunken ships with valuable cargo.