"Should we inform the leader about this?" Miyu asked shortly after they left Yoshida's house.
"Don't worry, Miyu. We're just going to take a look around. If we discover that an anomaly is really involved, we'll come back and report it immediately."
"Exactly! If anomalies are involved, it's my duty to act as quickly as possible. Follow me, novices, and I'll show you how a real agent works." Kotone proudly raised her chin and began walking toward the foot of the mountain.
"Brat..." Mochi muttered under her breath as she followed behind.
Thus, the three girls left the village behind and ventured into the mountains.
The trail was narrow and wound between enormous cedar trees that blocked much of the sunlight. The air was cool and damp, filled with the scent of wet earth and moss.
"We can search around here, but we need to head back before sunset," Miyu warned while checking the tourist brochure. "It says we should avoid the forest at night. It's very easy to get disoriented and get lost."
"I'm not going to get lost in such a tiny forest," Kotone declared confidently.
"That's exactly what people say before they get lost," Mochi replied.
The argument went no further than that.
They continued walking for nearly an hour.
However, the farther they went, the stranger the scenery became.
The same twisted tree trunks.
The same gray moss-covered rocks.
The same bushes.
It was as if the forest kept repeating itself over and over again.
Eventually, Mochi stopped.
"We're going in circles."
"What?" Miyu asked.
"Look at that rock."
She pointed at a large stone covered in lichen.
"I saw it fifteen minutes ago."
Kotone frowned.
"That's ridiculous."
"It's not."
Without warning, Mochi closed her eyes, focused, and released a massive pulse of ether.
A tremendous wave of ether exploded from her body.
BOOOOM!
The invisible energy expanded in every direction like a shockwave, passing through trees, rocks, and vegetation alike.
Thanks to the constant training of the past few weeks, Mochi had greatly increased the range of her sensory pulses.
"GYAAAAAH!!"
Kotone let out a sharp scream and clutched both sides of her head.
Her body staggered.
"What's your problem now?!" Mochi asked, startled.
"You animal! You uncivilized beast!" Kotone shouted, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. "Why would you release a pulse that powerful without warning anyone?!"
"I was just looking for clues."
"That doesn't justify anything!"
Kotone took several deep breaths as she tried to recover.
Although she hadn't mentioned it, ever since entering the forest she had been focusing on sharpening her senses to detect even the faintest trace of ether. Mochi's sudden outburst had given her a splitting headache.
Inside, however, she felt something far more unpleasant than pain.
Envy.
That pulse was absurd...
She could control ether with impeccable precision.
She could shape it, divide it, manipulate it, and perform complex sorcery.
But that...
That amount of energy released all at once was something entirely different.
My control is better.
Much better control.
But... could I produce an ether burst that powerful?
She didn't like the answer.
"I sense something over there," Mochi said suddenly, pointing toward a cluster of enormous cedar trees.
Kotone quickly regained her composure.
"Please... If there were something there, my senses would have detected it long before your crude burst of energy."
Even so, they followed the direction Mochi had indicated.
After walking for several more minutes, they found something strange.
Hidden behind a curtain of ivy stood an enormous tree.
Part of its bark had been stripped away.
Symbols had been carved into the exposed wood with extraordinary precision.
Runes.
Circles.
Interwoven lines.
Kotone immediately stepped closer.
Every trace of arrogance vanished from her face.
Her eyes turned serious.
She crouched in front of the tree and carefully examined the symbols.
Her fingers moved through the air a few centimeters from the surface without actually touching it.
"Interesting..."
"What is it?" Miyu asked.
Kotone studied the markings for several seconds before answering.
"It's a disorientation barrier."
The other two exchanged glances.
"A barrier?" Mochi asked.
"Yes."
Kotone pointed at the inscriptions.
"These symbols are modern. They were created using contemporary sorcery techniques."
Then she pointed to deeper markings hidden beneath the newer engravings.
"But underneath them, there's something older."
"Much older."
Her expression darkened.
"It looks like someone found a preexisting barrier and reinforced it using modern methods."
"What does that mean?" Miyu asked.
"It means this isn't a simple disappearance."
Kotone stood up.
"Someone wants to hide something."
"And they went to great lengths to do it."
The atmosphere grew heavier.
For the first time since they had begun their search, all three girls realized they were dealing with something serious.
Very serious.
Mochi crossed her arms and smiled smugly.
"Well, well..."
Kotone turned her head.
"What?"
"In the end, my 'crude burst' turned out to be useful."
Mochi's grin widened.
"I was right."
Kotone immediately turned red.
"It was pure luck!"
"Sure."
"It was!"
"Whatever you say."
"Even a broken clock is right twice a day."
Before the argument could escalate, Miyu quickly stepped in.
"How do we remove the barrier?"
Both girls fell silent.
"Mari could still be out there. We need to keep moving."
Kotone looked back at the symbols.
"Undoing something like this would take time. I'd have to analyze the entire structure and dismantle it layer by layer."
Mochi cracked her knuckles.
"Or we could do it the fast way."
"What are you thinking?"
A smile appeared on Mochi's face.
"Very simple."
She pointed at the tree.
"We destroy all the marked trees."
"..."
"If there are no symbols..."
Mochi raised her fist.
"Then there's no barrier."
Kotone stared at her in horror.
"You are the most brutish person I have ever met in my entire life. That idea is so absurd that only you could have come up with it."
"Huh?"
"If you destroy the barrier by force, you'll immediately alert whoever created it. It would be like ringing someone's doorbell while shouting, 'Hello! We're here!'"
Mochi rolled her eyes.
"And what do you propose, genius?"
A confident smile appeared on Kotone's face.
"Modify it."
"Modify it?"
"We're not going to break the barrier. We're going to alter its structure so that it loses effectiveness without its creator noticing right away."
Mochi's expression turned skeptical.
"And that's possible?"
"Of course it's possible."
Kotone pulled a slender brush from one of her sleeves.
Its handle was made of polished dark wood, and the bristles seemed to emit a faint glow.
Without wasting any time, she approached the marked tree and began to work.
Her movements were swift and precise.
Every stroke seemed calculated down to the millimeter.
The new lines she drew intertwined with the original symbols, subtly altering the flow of ether running through them.
Miyu watched in fascination.
Mochi, on the other hand, understood absolutely nothing.
"It looks like she's scribbling over other scribbles."
"Because you're ignorant."
"I heard that!"
"That was the idea."
A few seconds later, the air in front of them trembled.
The leaves of the trees began to rustle despite the absence of wind.
Then something strange happened.
The mountain that had seemed hundreds of meters away suddenly moved closer.
Or rather, the space between them and the mountain vanished.
As if an invisible curtain had been pulled aside.
Kotone took a step back and put away the brush.
"Done."
"That's it?" Miyu asked.
"That's it."
"That was incredible..."
Kotone smiled with obvious satisfaction.
"I know."
"..."
"Let's move," she finally said as she started walking forward.
The other two followed.
As they walked along the newly revealed path, Miyu could no longer contain her curiosity.
"Kotone, that brush... is it your weapon?"
The girl's smile immediately widened.
It was obvious that she loved that question.
"Of course it is!"
With an elegant motion, she pulled out the brush again.
She spun it between her fingers.
Then, to Miyu's surprise, the brush began to grow.
In a matter of seconds, it expanded from only a few centimeters in length into a massive war brush nearly as tall as Kotone herself.
Then it shrank back down to its original size.
"W-What?!"
Miyu's eyes sparkled.
"That was amazing! Can it change size freely? Can all weapons do that? Or is it something exclusive to yours? Does it have any limits? Does it consume a lot of ether?"
Kotone seemed to be enjoying every second of it.
She puffed out her chest proudly.
"Of course. That's the bare minimum a Shinkane-grade weapon should be capable of."
Miyu blinked.
"Shinkane... grade?"
"Weapons have categories too?" Mochi asked.
Kotone stared at them in disbelief.
Then she pressed a hand to her forehead.
"I can't believe what I'm hearing..."
She let out a deep sigh.
"I'd heard that agents trained outside the Sorcery Academy were uncultured brutes, but it seems the situation is even worse than I imagined."
"Who are you calling a brute, brat?" Mochi immediately snapped.
Miyu, however, reacted completely differently.
Her eyes shone like a child entering a toy store for the first time.
"A Sorcery Academy?"
Kotone nodded.
"Yes."
"There's actually a Sorcery Academy?"
"Of course there is."
"Where is it?"
"In Kyoto."
"Can I enroll?"
"That depends."
"Do they accept outside students?"
"Some."
"Do they teach advanced spells?"
"Yes."
"Do they have a library?"
"Yes."
"And practical workshops?"
"Those too."
"And dormitories?!"
"Of course."
Miyu instantly closed the distance between them.
She grabbed both of Kotone's hands in her own.
"Please, tell me everything!"
Kotone looked surprised for a moment.
Then she broke into a grin from ear to ear.
At last, someone appreciated her knowledge.
"The Sorcery Academy has its main campus in Kyoto. It was founded more than a hundred years ago by the founding families of OHRA."
Her tone became proud.
"Naturally, I belong to the main branch of one of those families."
"There she goes again..." Mochi muttered.
Kotone ignored her.
"The Academy trains agents in every possible field: theory, history, combat, ether control, investigation, strategy, and advanced sorcery."
"That sounds amazing!" Miyu exclaimed.
"It is."
Kotone lifted her chin slightly.
"And thanks to my excellent grades, I rank among the top students in the entire institution."
Mochi let out a laugh.
"Among the top?"
Kotone narrowed her eyes.
"Yes."
"That means you're not number one."
Silence.
Miyu closed her eyes.
She already knew what was coming.
The vein on Kotone's forehead seemed to bulge.
"You're hardly in a position to talk."
"Oh, really?"
"With how brutish you are, you probably wouldn't even pass the entrance exam."
"What did you say?"
"You heard me."
"I'm not letting that one slide!"
Mochi took a step forward.
Kotone stepped forward as well.
The two ended up face to face.
"Mochi-senpai, please," Miyu quickly intervened, stepping between them. "Don't interrupt."
"She started it!"
"And Kotone, stop provoking her."
"I'm only telling the truth."
"Kotone!"
The girl huffed and crossed her arms.
Miyu took the opportunity to return to the topic that actually interested her.
"Could you continue explaining about the weapons?"
Instantly, pride returned to Kotone's face.
"Of course."
After all, educating those ignorant novice agents was practically an act of charity on her part.
"As I was saying, there are several weapon grades..." she began explaining as they continued along the mountain's hidden path.