It's True Love 57 (Patreon)
Content
Souya was fairly calm. So far no vampires had attacked any executors, and no executors had attacked vampires.
"Are you okay, Yuta?" But a certain executor was worried for her boyfriend.
And wasn't that a strange thing for Ciel of all people. She still couldn't truly believe that she had a boyfriend. And more than that, that he was some uber pervert who had a harem. The worst part is that she loved him too much to care.
Yuta smiled. "I'm fine, don't worry. Let's go back to hunting Roa." It was about time he fulfilled his promises.
No more sidequests. He was healed, he wouldn't go on another adventure involving a pair of sisters, and he wouldn't go on another adventure involving a beach. It was time to put the money where his mouth is.
And he definitely wasn't worried sick about the situation with Arach and the diary. Yep, that was none of his business... or more accurately he had to wait for it to be his business.
Arcueid appeared besides him. "But Yuta... you're all pale and stuff!" And her sudden appearance made him even more pale! When would she realize that suddenly moving faster than sound weirded out people!?
Ciel glared at her. "Why are you even here?" She knew the vampire was constantly stalking her boyfriend, but still...! She should remain far away.
Arcueid glared right back at her. "Why are you here...? Shouldn't you be hunting with that Noel girl? Yuta and I can be each other's partners."
Ciel scoffed. "I don't trust you to act professionally during a time like this." She looked away. "Besides, Noel went drinking with the Aozakis, and now she isn't answering my calls." Yuta was surprised the world was still standing.
He was also glad the conversation had shifted away from his current health. He didn't need more people butting in on the Akiha situation. He wasn't supposed to have butted in on the Akiha situation.
But... what would have happened if he never intervened and helped the maids...?
No, that was that, and this is this. Right?
And then Rika left his shadow. "Are you two seriously gonna fight right now?" She was the wildcard here. Rika was in Yuta's shadow as he spoke with Arach after all.
A blush appeared on Ciel's face. "Sorry!" Arcueid was her weak point as always, but that wasn't a good enough excuse to ignore her boyfriend after she had asked him something in the first place.
Arcueid meanwhile, pouted but didn't say anything. Since Ciel stopped arguing, she stopped arguing too.
Both of the girl sent Rika looks full of expectation. They weren't stupid, they knew that even if Yuta wouldn't want to share something, Rika would probably know it anyways.
Rika didn't know if she wanted to tell them however, and once she looked at her boyfriend, his face clearly told her it was supposed to remain a secret.
But should she really listen to him when it was making him look sick?
Rika pouted, she didn't like making tough decisions like these. "Yuta, just tell them already. You're being stupid." Those were her true feelings.
She didn't know why Yuta was being so passive about this. She thought it was unlike him, normally he would just throw himself headfirst at whatever problem he found. He was acting more like four eyes.
Now it was Yuta's turn to pout. "It's not that easy, Rika."
If this was about some stranger, he wouldn't hesitate to commit good ol' theft. But this was about some of his closest friends, and he didn't want to break the trust he had put on them.
Having a friend snooping around on your secrets was the worst. And while apparently this secret was dangerous to Akiha, Yuta hoped she would tell him eventually.
He wouldn't say he preferred if Arach had never told him anything, because ignorance was bad and all, but this was a pain. He had no idea what he should do.
However, now that Yuta had confessed that something was indeed bothering him, the floodgates had opened.
Ciel's face immediately twisted into worry. "I don't know what's going on, and I won't say its easy, but please rely on me, Yuta." To be honest, he felt he already relied on her too much.
Ciel however, felt like he didn't rely on her enough...!
The truth is that Ciel was a dangerous woman to date, she was far too competent, but had little self esteem. One could completely rely on her, and become a slob who didn't know how to do anything.
Yuta scratched his check. "Well... um... I'm relying on you to hunt vampires...?" The truth is that his shields had immediately taken a massive hit. There was no way he could deny his girlfriend.
Arcueid put her hand on his shoulder. "C'mon Yuta, even I am with Ciel in this one!" She had failed to help Yuta in the past, she didn't want to fail him again.
But she couldn't help him if he didn't talk with her. She didn't know if his problem was an enemy, or stress, or Ciel being secretly a creep... There were so many options! She needed confirmation!
Yuta was a strong man. "It's not a big deal, it will solve itself eventually." Yeah. Definitely.
Yuta was a weak man. "Actually, I don't know if it will. I'm telling you all something important, so please don't spread it around." He doubted they would of course, even Arcueid wasn't the type to share secrets around.
Rika smiled. "About that you broke." What's that supposed to mean!? "I'll help you explain too, I was there after all." Thankfully if he had forgotten something, she could remind him.
The two explained the situation as best as they could. Arcueid and Ciel stayed silent throughout, paying as much attention as they could.
Once it was all over, Arcueid nodded to herself. "I see, I see... Why don't you invade her house and read the diary? That would probably solve all the mystery, right?" The vampire was a simple woman.
Rika interjected... to agree with the vampire. "I know right? Sometimes Yuta overcomplicates the most simple of things." Sometimes Yuta felt his girlfriend oversimplified the most complicated of things.
Ciel shook her head. "No, I understand why Yuta has been burdened by this knowledge." She would be worrying too. In fact she was worrying now.
Rika tilts her head. "Welp, I guess you would be the type, Rabbit." At this point Rika was guessing that Yuta had been worried about Akiha's privacy. Since Ciel is a pure little rabbit, she was probably the same.
Ciel raised a finger. "You would be the type...? Anyone would worry about invading the Tohno mansion, since their defense is top notch!" Eh? "I tried once and failed completely..." Something powerful had stopped her.
She wasn't surprised by it, the Tohno were an old and powerful family, but it was annoying. She had once believed the eldest of the Tohno's was the host of Roa after all.
Clearly she had been wrong, but still...!
Everyone stared weirdly at Ciel.
After sometime, Rika was the one to break the ice. "Y-you tried invading the Tohno mansion...? Why!?" And she didn't even seem ashamed of it.
Strangely enough that made Yuta feel better about what he was probably about to do. It wasn't healthy of him, but Ciel had become more or less his moral compass. If she said something was okay, it was probably okay.
Ciel shrugged. "When I first appeared on the town, I had to collect information. The Tohno are a powerful supernatural family, so they were the most obvious first target."
"But they also aren't allies of the Holy Church. So I had to obtain information through... more subtle methods. It didn't work much in the end, something sent me flying before I even realized what happened." She supposed it was Akiha.
It was strange the girl had never commented on it however, not even during the beach. Maybe she put the pieces together of what Ciel had been trying to do?
"Scary..." Yuta couldn't help but mutter those words out.
Someone that could drive off Ciel-Senpai in one go... Well, if he didn't get caught, he wouldn't need to worry about that. It was as simple as that.
Was he even going however?
His ghost girlfriend looked at him. "So Yuta... Will you be infiltrating the Tohno?" She wouldn't judge him either way, and neither would Arcueid and Ciel.
He sharpened his resolve. "Yeah, I will. Please help me come up with a plan of how though."
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Yuta jumped over the garden walls. "I'm already regretting this..." He had to come from the back, reach Kohaku's room, find the secret passage, read the diary, and then leave before he was found.
This was such a stupid idea.
He didn't know a goddamn thing about the mansion's layout... well, he knew where Kohaku's room was at least. But the fact that he had to go through such extra steps was already stupid.
He should have waited for a few more days, gathered some info through Shiki and then made this little heist. Instead of jumping in like some nutjob...! He had literally never even been on the mansion's garden.
According to Ciel the mansion was big enough to match his school...
And he didn't even bring Rika with him, she stayed home for two big reasons. Which meant getting caught was probably a death sentence. Specially if the person who caught him was Akiha!
Those two big reasons was to make it harder to detect him, and so that some part of him stayed away from the mansion, confusion whatever sensors they had. Though if Arcueid and Senpai did what they said they would, their fight would be freaking out any mana detection anyways.
And also other methods of detection. It was hard to ignore a member of the Burial Agency fighting a True Ancestor.
As those thought ran through Yuta's mind, he eventually made to one of the mansion's windows.
And then took of his glasses and drew a knife.
He may have left Rika back home, but he hadn't come unprepared. His eyes shined with the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
Lines covered the window, though Yuta wasn't planning on completing tearing the thing apart, that would leave a big clue left behind. At that point he might as well enter with Rika and start tearing down walls.
He carefully cut through the lock, and only the lock, and then opened the window and entered. Yuta could only hope it would take Akiha sometime to notice what had just happened.
Yuta closes the window behind him, and got ready for destiny.
Kohaku's room was in the first floor, so he had a big advantage there. It was also on a very visible place though, so he could have problems if he wasn't careful with his surroundings.
Which every step he took, Yuta could feel himself losing years of his life due to stress. He might leave this mansion with white hair at this rate.
Nonetheless, he eventually made his way into Kohaku's room, of what used to be Kohaku's room, which was thankfully already unlocked. Now all he had to do was actually find that secret passage.
He had an idea of how he could find it. It was admittedly stupid, probably the stupided idea of this half-baked plan crafted with too much anxiety, and too little time, but... but strangely enough, Yuta was confident he wouldn't fail.
He walked to the center of the room and simply closed his eyes.
Yuta would let instinct guide him.
Throughout history, invading someone's privacy was a classic hero maneuver! And since his instinct most likely came from those heroes, he might as well abuse it. In a way he was using it for it's intended purpose.
Yuta's body began moving more or less without his imput, he felt freaked out about it, but this is what he was trying to accomplish, so he could complain.
And before long, he found a passage hidden in the tatami mat.
He opened his eyes again. "Man... Maybe I could become a detective or something?" One that isn't putting the pieces together because he knows what's going on, but simply because he sort of guessed it.
You know what? Maybe he shouldn't become a detective, he had a feeling that would cause tons of problems.
He looked at the secret passage, it was pretty small. "I'm gonna have to crawl huh..." And there was no way to hide once he got in. That is to say, he would have to return from this way to close it.
Welp, you couldn't always be lucky.
Crawling through the "tunnel" was a uncomfortable and... long process. Specially since sometimes he felt he was actually going up of all things. How the hell did Arach built such a thing!? Why did she built such a thing!?
Yuta had a feeling a child would have a easier time going through it.
And then he immediately erased the images that came to his mind. Makihisa was a sick man.
Eventually he came to the other side, there was something hindering his way however, so he had to push himself against it. It was some type of cabinet.
Once he left the hole, Yuta thought that was a pain in the ass.
The fact he left trails through both sides meant he wouldn't be able to hide by just going through the secret passage again. So he had to chose whether to bring this place to normal, or Kohaku's room.
Well, in that case he should probably try to fix this place up. He doubted Akiha frequently went to Kohaku's abandoned room.
She might go there eventually however, and in that case the jig would be up. But that was sort of fine, she would naturally discover everything eventually, specially if Yuta had to confront her over the contents of the diary.
He covered the hole with the cabinet and started looking around the room.
Which is when he noticed where he was. "Holy shit, this is in the second floor?" So he was actually going up... Arach might genuinely be way too great of an architect.
At least if you consider making supervillain bases good for an architect.
But he didn't have time to think about that, he had to make his move and find that damn diary already. Much like before in Kohaku's room, Yuta figured he might as well let instinct be his guide.
The room was filled with shelves, and those shelves were filled with books. Funnily enough however, the place he was guided towards was a single drawer from a simple desk.
Yuta tried opening, it was locked.
That was... troublesome. Breaking the lock was easy of course, but he had already left a trail in Kohaku's room, and the window he used to enter this place. He was leaving more and more evidence behind...
Well, it couldn't be helped, Yuta pulled out his knife once more.
Cutting through the lock was as easy as tracing its lines of death. And so Yuta was able to open the drawer, and what he found inside was a simple black notebook.
He put his glasses back on, because reading with the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception sounded like a nightmare. He could also have sent the eyes back to Rika of course, like he had once done, but he would rather have such power available when invading a house.
With a shaky hand he picked up the book.
Hundreds of theories about what Akiha could possibly be hiding flashed through his mind. Maybe all half-demons had super cancer? Or maybe they were actually aliens from the moon? Or maybe...
As one could easily tell his theories started insane and only went worse with time. That was just Yuta's worries consuming his mind however.
And now that the book was in his hands, there was no more need for theorizing.
He opened and... "Hah?" Didn't exactly found what he was expecting.
■■■■■ Tohno, 18, suicide.
■■■■■ Tohno, 25, heart attack.
■■■■■ Tohno, 22, suicide.
The first pages were nothing but a list of deaths.
And to Yuta's concern, he found that most of them... more than half even, were always suicide. "What the hell is this...?" It had to be related to the mental health issues Arach had talked about.
Even so... wasn't this list way too creepy? He would have understood such a grim thing happening here and there, but this was too much. Furthermore, all members died really young too, finding someone who lived to their thirties was hard, finding someone who lived to their sixties almost impossible.
And then it came the weirdest entry so far.
A child who died a few years ago. An adopted child.
Yuta tilted his head in confused. "Is that supposed to be Shiki...?" As far as Yuta knew, the Tohno's hadn't adopted anyone else. Perhaps Kohaku and Hisui could count? But they were clearly not dead.
Shiki had never mentioned a dead adopted sibling to him, not in all their years of being friends. It goes without saying that he had never mentioned a biological sibling either.
Yuta shrugged and kept reading. He didn't have enough information to even speculate what that was about, but he knew it would most likely be important, so he kept it in mind.
And then eventually the list stopped, and actual real diary entries started.
Yuta smiled. "Ugh, finally." He would have been pissed off if he went through all this trouble for a list of dead Tohno members.
But it seems Arach had not lied to him, there would most likely be important information here. Even if Yuta didn't exactly feel comfortable peering into the head of Makihisa of all people.
Before he could continue however, the mansion trembled. "Right... if they're already this close I should probably leave." It was a shame, but his little stunt as a detective was over.
He wasn't fast enough, and so he didn't get to find out everything.
Unless... unless he took the diary with him that is.
Yuta clicked his tongue. "Screw it, I might as well go all in." If this permanently fractured his relationship with Shiki and Akiha, he would definitely regret his decisions.
In the end however, he had to walk the path he picked for himself. So Yuta walked over to the window and opened. He could definitely be fine after such a drop, at this point Ciel had drilled enough training in his head to pull it off.
Now all he had to do was get some distance from the mansion and call Arcueid.
"Wow, I have now committed burglary. Amazing resume Yuta Okkotsu."
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AN: Ahhhh! I have Aoko! Ahhh!