Web of light. Part 1. part 32

The hawk-nosed man sighed. Begins...

"Okay, I'll explain it to you now, if that's what you want. Do you see the inscription on the armband? Our "Mutual Aid Squad" is designed to control the situation in the city so that both spirits, magicians and ordinary people can live here peacefully... as long as they follow the rules common to all. OUR rules. It is allowed on the territory..."

Hinoyonma listened and got more and more fucked up, although, it would seem, there was nowhere else. What kind of nonsense is this? Although the nonsense is, of course, slender and complete, and the Hawk-Nosed one seems to believe in it — that is, he knows something that made this cynic decide that a rather complicated process of segregation of sane personalities among spirits is not only possible, but will also be brought under control. The question is how? Oh, damn it! An amulet or a seal-whatever they have there hides the power. Such an effect doesn't seem very possible either? But the fact that they, apparently, somehow came to an agreement with the local henchmen of Jinguji, (otherwise why would they care so much about the "trophy") tears the template to shreds! How, how did they get the exorcists to at least listen to themselves? I wanted to talk to their boss, and at the same time, the main ideologist, more and more. He must be an extremely interesting comrade! But before playing by other rules, you need to protect your own. Moreover, she felt Sasu approaching and the aura of another, unknown yokai, also curled up. However, she's the only one who shines half the city here, so you should also be more modest.

"Okay, okay, I get it. But why on earth should I give you my loot?" The spirit was shaken by the restrained body. "I got him, I want blood. And you can't take it away from me. You can't, can you? So your rules don't mean anything to me yet." And, seeing how the squad members tensed up badly, as if before jumping, she shook her head: "But you can try to persuade me... for an exchange."

"Do you want us to take your word for it like that?" The big-nosed patrolman chuckled.

"Not for me. Sasa, stop hiding! You will act as an intermediary. Would you believe the blacksmith?"

"To my siste-e-e-er..." Cyclops drawled sadly. "You're in some kind of weird mess again..."

"Don't whine! Moreover, the promised boss of the "city holders" has arrived. Heh, which one of you is?"

From the darkness of the alley behind the men and...A tortoiseshell?.. Another colorful threesome appeared: a girl with sharp predator ears and two children. A girl with a long braid and a short-haired guy of the most ordinary appearance.

"Heh, bloodsucker!" The wolf grinned. "You guessed it! And now..."

"Ginko, I'll do it myself," the boy held the girl's hand and stepped forward. "Beret, fashionable blouse... Ageha, as I understand it?"

"You guessed it, kid!" She smiled fangily. "Are you the "boss"? Heh, you're interesting... colleagues... and the abilities are interesting. It's just, I'm sorry, but I can't read your power level with these secrets of yours. You don't look like Kashi, so at least you were able to bend him under you. Yes, and "nakama" dragged him to his service. Who are you? I can't guess your appearance like that, maybe you can introduce yourself too, because I'm just beside myself with curiosity.

"It's easy," the guy replied with a grin, adjusting his glasses, which made the glasses flash in the light of the nearest street lamp. "Only you'll probably be disappointed. I am a human being, or rather, an exorcist. My name is Yuto, and my last name is Amakawa. Oh yes, I'm also the head of the clan of the same name, and these cute people around me are my vassals. I hope we can talk seriously now, Hinoyonma?"

144

I was prepared for any reaction she might have to my words, from disbelief and disdain to aggression, but reality surprised me again— Ageha jerked as if she'd been slapped.

"Am-m? Problems?"

"Are you sure you're Amakawa?" Hinoyonma asked warily.

"Exactly. They'll confirm everything. And why such a reaction?"

"Because the Amakawa are actually all extinct."

"Well, sorry, not all of them." I spread my hands.

"Tell me, why do they serve you, little chief?"

"They wanted to because, big and scary aunt vampire!" I mimicked Ageha. What kind of farce is this?! I found the place and time to find out the details.

"I'm not a vampire!.." the girl was offended, very "logically" castrating elongated canines.

"It's true, you know." Mizuchi interrupted her, overloading her amulet protection, and her beautiful "water" aura momentarily eclipsed the light of the lanterns. For those who can see it, of course.

"Yes, that's an argument," the "not vampire" snake appreciated the power and immediately became much more polite, "But I didn't find your rules convincing. It's like some kind of utopia, in the oriental manner."

"You don't have to share our beliefs to be in Takamiya territory, just don't break the minimum set of rules, and that's it."

It was obvious that Hinoyonma was hesitating with a choice: whether to send everyone and escape, or try to bargain for something for himself. In the end, she apparently made up her mind.

"An amulet of concealment, I think... If it's an Amakawa, it means an amulet... I won't get anything for this little thing..." The girl outlined her position aloud, squinting at me from head to toe.

"Amulet — only for cooperation, or only in Takamiya territory" I confirmed it.

"And in that case, I choose blood for blood. It's going to be fair. Yuto Amakawa, are you ready to pay with your blood for..." She weighed the committee member, who had begun to snore, in one hand.

"Is fifty milliliters enough?" I asked busily, pulling out a flask I'd brought with me, the same one I'd used in Noihara. No, well, we went to catch an unknown, but most likely, an intelligent spirit. Now I have to carry a flask until I'm sixteen, if I suddenly need to prove that I am me. By the way, it's convenient, and the measured risks are painted on the glass.

"One hundred milliliters, and it's yours." I didn't miss the opportunity to reserve the last word for Ageha. I shrugged my shoulders, cut a vein in my wrist, waited for the blood to fill the tank for the second time, and while the snake habitually tightened the cut, I steamed the liquid for better mana retention and poured in half of the reserve.

"Sasa, take it from him and bring it to me," Ageha commanded sharply. Sasa? The boy in the skirt? Oh, wow, there are the same addictions here as in the manga.

Sasa approached me fearlessly and picked up the container. As soon as I let go of the bottom, the red liquid glowed with mana, and Ageha leaned forward!

"Hehe, it seems like the deal is good anyway, now-really-for-sure-Amakawa-san," She winked at me, sniffing at the container, "Oh, what a fragrance! I recognize your clan, boy. And the taste..Gulp, gulp! Ahh! Angelic nectar!!!"

The brightness of the non-vampire's aura began to increase rapidly, and a flame of Power began to flare up in the middle of her stomach, right inside her body.

"Ageha, you promised to give the uncle back," the blacksmith reminded of himself.

"Yes, take it," the blood lover, without opening her eyes, literally threw the exorcist into the bushes. The committee member snored, but did not deign to wake up. I wonder if it was Hinoyonma who hit him, or was he just fainting from fear? They say that fainting easily turns into sleep...

Meanwhile, Sasa stared incredulously at the girl, who began to sway without opening her eyes.

"Hey, little sister! Are you all right?"

"Ah ha ha, it couldn't be better, nasty!" Ageha burst out laughing and... the mana in her body, accelerating and accelerating the movement, blinked dazzlingly, abruptly dimmed, and hinoyonma fell flat on the asphalt, as if cut down.

Damn, what was that just now?!

145.

"Does she do this a lot?" I asked, looking doubtfully at hinoyonma lying on the road surface.

"In my memory, for the first time" Sasa said worriedly, squatting down next to the girl. I also came over and bent over the victim. It seems to be alive: breathing is visually determined, the pose, despite a somewhat harsh acquaintance with the road, is quite comfortable, the eyes are closed.

"It's called greed," Shizuka chuckled as she joined us, "She would have limited myself to half, as suggested... You know."

Damn it! The blacksmith has already moved away from me, and his eyes are big and round. Yeah. Hiroe's typical trick, and how naturally Mizuchi pulled it off! With one phrase, turn the outcome of negotiations on the release of a hostage into almost a handout for poverty from the royal shoulder. After all, we have a strong influence on each other.

"Chief, where should I put the committeeman?" While we were examining Ageha, the patrol fished an unlucky half-magician out of the bushes. Yeah, and not a single scratch or bruise, sleeping like a baby.

"Find his phone number with his wife's number in it. Tell me that a colleague at work (and let at least one bastard say that the Hawk-nosed one said it wrong!). Specify the address, drag the "comrade" from the Patch to the nearest busy street and unload it in a taxi. Let them figure it out for themselves. And come back."

And something interesting continued to happen to Ageha. Her mana... Leaking out? And it seemed even uncontrollable. As if the body's conductivity had increased many times... But only the total volume did not seem to decrease. I bent down even lower, examining the channels in my body, the real streams of energy, then I just knelt down to take a closer look.

"I wonder if hinoyonma feeds on blood, why..."

"Little sister doesn't feed on blood!" The Cyclops Blacksmith abruptly interrupted me.

"Then why is she drinking it?" The Goddess of Rivers reasonably objected.

"This... blood is like strong sake to her: it intoxicates and adds strength. She gets stronger for a while and gets a little bit stronger forever. I don't know why, she calls it "rocking." Today, for the first time, she really swayed while standing on her feet..." Sasa explained, offended and confused.

Hmm, it turns out Mizuchi doesn't know everything about spirits either...

"Don't be a whiner, you one-eyed pervert," the girl suddenly muttered softly but clearly, as they say, "without regaining consciousness." And I barely had time to "catch my tongue" so as not to exclaim joyfully idiotically something like "the patient is alive soon!"and, 'Oh, isn't she going to die of energy exhaustion now?'

"Little sister! Ageha!" The Blacksmith tried to shake the bloodsucker awake, but all he got was an inarticulate grunt. Involuntarily bending over after the One-Eyed Man to try to make out the words, I heard "nasty" and "cold", after which Sasa grabbed a natural bream (all without opening my eyes), and I suddenly found myself not sitting, but lying on top of Ageha, and she was pressing me to her luxurious... hey!

Trying to free myself by pushing off the girl with my hands led to the fact that I was in this very one... luxurious... They naturally poked my nose! And they pinned him down.

"Good...." I heard hinoyonma whisper.

"Well, you know!" Shizuka opened her arms with one hand, and with the other she literally yanked me off the "non-vampire" by the scruff of the neck. "Yuto, you know!.."

"It's cold!" and I was pressed into Ageha again with lightning speed. Am I a rolling prize?!

"Ginko likes hugs too!" the wolf, who, it turns out, did not follow the patrol unit, but was hovering nearby, jumped on top of me, completing the "Yuto-yokai burger." Now the One-eyed Blacksmith took part in the pulling apart: however, Ginko, whose elbow he grabbed, quickly reminded him of the rules of behavior with unfamiliar girls by showing off her wonderful fangs. And claws. And the snake stood between hinoyonma and me to make sure, looking at me... That's promising. Some of the idiocy of the fuss, which took only twenty seconds, gradually reached everyone... not counting the individuals who prefer asphalt to a normal bed. Well, yes. I thought this only happened in manga! And now...

"It's cold!" the bloodsucker declared clearly and loudly, and in one movement she was on her feet. Without opening my eyes. And she started falling again. Damn social reflexes! And I know that a beautiful girl's only appearance is here, and I still grab first, and then I think! Well, yes. And it's good that the other three unexpectedly picked up the heavy Ageha with me — I wouldn't have held her alone.

"I suggest we wait for Shinji and let the guys take her to the hangar", I suggested the obvious. Of course, we almost caused a battle here, but leaving a yokai (ESPECIALLY a yokai) lying in the street in this state... And you won't be able to bury it on the spot either — the mana flow was clearly slowing down, after a while Ageha will most likely come to her senses. Although a hangar is also not the best idea. There's a lot of people always hanging around, not at night, but in the morning for sure... But I'm not going to take her home, am I? I couldn't help but remember that pre-trial detention cells are specially made in police stations for such cases. There was no sadness! I somehow didn't think that yokai could be in the same state of inadequacy as humans... But here, nothing human is alien, so to speak...

"Ageha took a room over there," Sasa pointed to the illuminated hotel building, the upper part of which towered over the trees of the park.

"Accepted," I nodded curtly, "Let's go."

And we led the way: slowly and sadly. It was good that the bloodsucker was somehow walking on her own... and that the Japanese, including the spirits, are usually short. Hinoyonma was only a head taller than me now. Oh, where are my sixteen years... and one hundred and eighty centimeters tall. The same place as the PhD... eh. Okay. And the girl is clearly returning to our world. So she goes almost by herself, and...

"Amakawa-san... your rules are not like that... Mm-hmm... stupid, I thought... I will even observe them while on your territory... Mm-hmm..." The girl, whom I had carefully and correctly supported by the waist, was now leaning on my shoulder... By the way, only on mine. Oh, and she's leaning on her chest! Hey, that's pressure in the negotiations!.. But I think I'll be patient...

"Mm-hmm..." Ageha sounds melodious... almost purring, yes. "And tell me, Yuto, I was told that you can get the same wonderful amulet..."

"Distributed to all vassals." But her vassalage definitely won't suit her, I thought melancholically.

"I am a free wind!" The girl giggled. "But we can switch... for a while... I'll give Sasa to you, and you'll give me a hiding amulet..."