Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  "A spiritual artifact master craftsman from Huaxia came to Sakura Island for various reasons of his own, and while he was living here, he became friends with a teenager from Sakura Island, that is to say, Mr. Uehara in his younger days.

  "And then, for various reasons, or maybe because he was simply bored, this master craftsman tried crafting some spiritual artifacts in the Sakura Island style and gave them to Mr. Uehara as a commemoration of their friendship… something like that.

  "Mr. Uehara wasn't a Spiritual Ability user. He was just a normal person who coincidentally made friends with a powerful Spiritual Ability user from another country. It was a pure coincidence that he obtained those spiritual artifacts."

  A pure coincidence, without any special family background, no illustrious bloodline, no seals on any secret monsters… this was the simplest possible hypothetical scenario.

  "And if their relationship wasn't so simple, and there was a hidden secret…" Seiji paused for a moment. "Then, there's probably no way of finding the truth except finding and asking Mr. Zhao about it."

  A moment of silence fell between them.

  "I agree with Seiji," Natsuya said as she looked towards Mika. "Uehara-san, I think you have two choices here. One is to accept what Seiji said just now—treat these spiritual artifacts as things that your father obtained from a good friend of his in the past because of their friendship and tell your mother about it so that she can decide what to do with these things, which would end this matter here. Second is to try contacting Mr. Zhao from Huaxia and talk to him about it… this might be wasting your time, but it also might dig up some buried secrets."

  Mika remained silent as she stared at the investigative report in her hands.

  "I… want to make a phone call," she said softly. "I've already decided to face the truth directly—whatever the truth is… Whether it's a pure coincidence or whatever else. Without calling, and just ending things like this… I don't think that's an ending. It's more like running away from the truth. And if the truth is just as Seiji said, a pure coincidence, I'd like to thank Mr. Zhao. I should thank him for becoming my father's friend and giving my father such precious gifts."

  The twintailed girl began to smile.

  Huaxia, the city of Tiandu.

  An elderly man sitting in a wheelchair was currently looking at the night scenery outside the French windows of his luxurious home.

  The elderly were prone to nostalgic moments.

  What they experienced, what they did, what they were happy with, what they were sad about, what they felt helpless about, what they regretted…


  This night, this elderly man was recalling the time he had spent on Sakura Island.

  That had been a vacation for him, as well as his way of avoiding society.

  But no matter if it was a vacation or to avoid society, there were better places than Sakura Island. In the end, the real reason that he chose that place was…


  The elderly man felt complex emotions within himself as he recalled a certain teenager's appearance in his mind.

  No matter how much he thought about it, he still came to the conclusion that he hadn't made a mistake.

  However, even if he did what he viewed to be correct and never regretted it, in the end… he still personally abandoned his own child.

  However, that child knew nothing about it.

  When he abandoned him, that child was still a baby.

  When he saw that child again, that child had grown up into a teenager… a rather clumsy but kind and open boy.

  Although that teenager was a bit confused to meet a strange old man from a different country, he didn't treat the old man by keeping him at a distance. Instead, he sincerely interacted with him.

  In the teenager's eyes, their friendship was him coincidentally becoming friends irrespective of age with a strange old lonely man. However, the elderly man in question saw it in a different way.

  He kept impulsively wanting to tell the teenager the truth, but never said anything in the end.

  That was an incredibly calm period of life for him… calm to the point where there was nothing memorable about it. But for some unknown reason, that child's appearance, voice, and smile, despite the passing of time, was far clearer than many other memories of his life for him.

  "Master, there's another call from Sakura Island for you. The caller claims to be named Mika Uehara, saying that she's Akiya Uehara's daughter," his maid spoke up behind him.

  'Mika Uehara…'

  The elderly man blinked as he recalled one of his memories.

  "Uncle Zhao, my child was born! She's a cute girl. My wife and I are going to name her Mika, Mika Uehara.

  "One day, I'm going to take her and my wife to take a tour of Huaxia. I'd like to visit you at that time… if you don't mind my family coming over to visit, that is.

  "Please take good care of your body, Uncle Zhao. I hope to meet you again at that time."

  '…That idiot youngster who said those things but didn't take good care of himself, leaving behind his wife and daughter and going first before even an old man like me, honestly…'

  The elderly man sighed.

  He manipulated the buttons on his wheelchair to turn himself around, facing his maid.

  "I'll go ahead and take the call."

  This was Mika's first time ever to make an international phone call.

  When someone picked up and replied in the Huaxia language, Mika strongly realized that she was attempting to communicate with a stranger from a foreign country.

  After she decided to make this call, Natsuya told her that she knew how to somewhat speak the Huaxia language and could help out. Right now was also a good time to make the call as the time zone difference wasn't significant.

  Mika hadn't actually thought about making the phone call immediately, but with what she just said, she couldn't back down, so she could only work up her courage.

  They called the phone number written in the investigative report.

  When the call connected, just as the report said, a young-sounding woman answered the call.

  Natsuya communicated to this woman in the Huaxia language, and requested to speak to Zhao Guanlou, using Mika Uehara's name.

  After the woman heard this, she replied using the Huaxia language as well.

  "She asked us to wait for a moment," Natsuya told them.

  A few moments later.

  "I am Zhao Guanlou." An elderly sounding voice spoke on the phone, speaking in Sakura Island's language.

  It would seem that no translator was necessary anymore.

  Natsuya looked in Mika's direction as the phone was on speakerphone so that everyone could hear the conversation.

  "G… good evening, Zhao-san. I'm Mika Uehara," Mika hurriedly responded. "My apologies to suddenly call you like this."

  "Akiya's daughter… What business do you have with me?"

  "I… I would like to ask Zhao-san about some collection items that my father left behind… some spiritual artifacts. Were they from Zhao-san?"

  Zhao Guanlou fell silent for a moment.

  "How did you know that they were spiritual artifacts?" He countered with his own question.

  "Er… I… coincidentally used a board game from the collection… me and my friends were playing that board game, and saw some fantastical illusions…"

  "Are you a Spiritual Ability user?"

  "I… yes, I'm a Spirit Controller," Mika answered.

  Zhao Guanlou fell silent for the second time before speaking again.

  "It's not convenient to talk over the phone, so let's talk over the internet instead… Do you have a computer you can use?"

  Natsuya indicated to Mika that she could borrow a computer here, so Mika immediately answered with a "yes."

  "Give me your email address," the elderly man asked.

  Mika give him her email address.

  "I'm going to email you a program in a bit, download that software to your computer, then install and run it."

  "Okay…" Mika agreed.

  They ended their conversation there.

  Natsuya left them for a minute and returned with a laptop computer. She loaned it to Mika.

  Mika logged on to her own email.

  A few minutes later, a new email indeed arrived with a program attached.

  As the elderly man instructed, Mika downloaded, installed, and ran the software.

  The computer monitor instantly turned pitch-black.