Predicament

Parasite Arc 5

After the battle had concluded, Nakura immediately rushed to report to Koichi, giving a detailed account of everything he had seen.

"So, you caught everything except the most important part of the fight?"

"Forgive my incompetence."

"What about the Artificial Mental Calculation Area I asked you to look into?"

"It is unheard of, even in ancient magic."

"Keep watching that boy and call Mayumi into my Study once she returns, you are dismissed for today," Koichi commanded in an irritated tone.

Nakura bowed before dismissing himself from the Study.

Koichi felt closer to figuring Tatsuya out, even if he did not exactly know in what ways he did. His instincts told him that he was not stuck at square one and he was capable of solving this mystery. It was the first time he was forced to rely so heavily on his intuition. His intuition was screaming since he saw Tatsuya at the 9SC, even more so now when he had started to investigate him. He felt that he had collected one more piece of the puzzle, now not too far off from completing it. He felt that solving mysteries like this from time to time can help to refine his intuition, but he reminded himself restrain himself this time since it might not be worth the risk to dive in waist deep.

*Knock Knock* Koichi was abruptly snapped out of his thoughts as Mayumi announced her presence.

"Come in, take a seat. I believe that you had just come back from hunting the Parasites."

"Yes father, did you summon me to inquire more about it?"

"That's my daughter, sharp as always. I shall not beat around the bush then since you are tired as well. Tell me how it went today."

Mayumi paid no heed to the compliments and recounted the fight, deliberately excluding the part Tatsuya had told her to keep to herself.

"That is vague but I get the gist of the fight, but can you elaborate more on the last part of the fight?"

"After we recovered from the Parasite's surprise counter-attack, Tatsuya distracted him, creating an opening for me to deliver the final blow." Mayumi delivered the lie she had formulated on her way back home without a hitch.

"I see, good job, you should get some rest now. Do you need professional assistance?"

"That would be appreciated, father," Mayumi said as she bowed and exited the study.

'Since when was Tatsuya-kun such a good fortune teller? Speak of the devil'. Mayumi said in her head when she saw a message. Tatsuya had told Mayumi to meet him and Katsuto in school tomorrow in an empty clubroom again. 'Seriously, do I not deserve a break?' Mayumi grumbled to herself as she made her way back to her room.

(Scene Change)

"Our comrade has fallen."

"Yes, he is the first. His opponent must be strong, he was completely obliterated. I am sure all of you felt it, the pain of him departing that is."

"Let us put our strength together and avenge our fallen brother. We shall put a brief hiatus to our mission and hunt down the one responsible."

"It has been decided then, I will inform Mr Zhou then."

(Scene Change)

"Sorry for the wait, Mayumi-senpai, Juumonji-senpai," Tatsuya said as he entered the clubroom.

"Shiba, I think we should start by explaining what happened after we... died and revived." Katsuto started the conversation.

Tatsuya gave a brief account of what happened but excluded important details that showed his phenomenal battle prowess to avoid suspicion.