"Huh? I think I just heard something calling out. Did you hear it?"
At Sobu High School, Nino, who was chatting with her friends, suddenly looked up toward the window and muttered.
"A whale? No, Nino, you must have misheard, right?"
"But with this kind of weather outside, maybe a whale really could appear out of the thick mist!"
"How is that possible? How could a whale fly?"
"Maybe it really exists!"
"Eh?! No, don't say that, it sounds scary."
The joking voices of her friends reached Nino, but at this moment, Nino had no mood to listen to them.
She definitely heard the cry of a whale just now. With her current physical constitution, it was absolutely impossible for her to be mistaken!
Looking at the mist outside the window, Nino felt that something was wrong. She felt that this dense mist today was definitely not as simple as unusual weather.
In fact, just as Nino's intuition said, if Nakano Yu were to use Eyes of Peeking Fate now to look at countless worlds, he would see a creature resembling a giant whale, covered in white fur, with a pink halo and a horn on its head, shrouded in mist, swimming around the world bubble outside their world bubble.
That giant whale would occasionally raise its head and let out a long, ethereal, yet incredibly terrifying roar.
That roar even appeared in the real world. Of course, the cry of the giant whale did not have the ability to pass through the world wall, but if one looked carefully, it could be noticed that a crack the thickness of a finger had appeared on that world wall at some unknown moment.
That crack had a terrifying suction force, constantly pulling in the white mist that was coming out of the giant whale.
"Uuu uuu~~"
The giant whale roared, wanting to leave this place, but a thin line extended from the world bubble, tightly wrapping around it. As the mist was continuously drawn in, the crack on the world barrier became more and more severe.
Once the crack became large enough to pull in the giant whale, the giant whale would appear in the real world together with the white mist.
Nakano Yu was not aware of the abnormal situation in the world bubble. At this moment, Nakano Yu, riding Gusting Wind and Raging Waves, had left the Shinjuku district. Turning back, he saw the mist covering the entire Shinjuku district like a lid.
"What exactly is going on with this white mist?"
Looking at the white mist, Nakano Yu frowned deeply. When he heard the cry of the whale from the sky just now, Nakano Yu had been continuously flying upward.
But even after Nakano Yu broke through the mist, he still could not see the creature producing the whale's cry.
With no other choice, Nakano Yu first tried to control this white mist using Gale Fury.
It was indeed possible. This white mist was just like ordinary white mist, easily controlled by the wind of Gale Fury.
In fact, dispersing this white mist would not have much impact. Aside from reducing visibility, it had no effect on the human body. He had just used Cut Break to remotely observe the physical condition of several passersby in the white mist, and there was nothing abnormal.
Moreover, there were no monsters or anything similar inside the white mist. Instead, this white mist would absorb the spirits wandering the streets. Overall, it was quite strange.
The reason why Nakano Yu controlled this white mist was to see where it came from. If, after using the wind to control the spread of the white mist, white mist still appeared in other parts of Tokyo, it would mean that the source of the white mist was not in the Shinjuku district.
But if other places remained unchanged, Nakano Yu would only need to search for the source of the white mist within the Shinjuku district.
At present, Nakano Yu had already placed several Moon God Envoys within the white mist to search for abnormal situations.
People in Neon had long been accustomed to the open appearance of the Moon God Envoy. Tsuchimikado Arima had publicly stated that the Moon God Envoy was his Shikigami, a kind but expressionless guardian.
The public would naturally not reject an existence that protected them; on the contrary, they would warmly welcome it, because who knows, maybe they would need the help of the Moon God Envoy if they encountered a yokai one day.
While Nakano Yu was waiting for the situation, suddenly, the white mist drifted behind the young man.
"So, the source isn't in the Shinjuku district? Or are there multiple sources?"
Nakano Yu said, waving his hand to disperse the wind that was controlling the white mist in the Shinjuku district.
Without the restriction of the wind, the white mist immediately spread in all directions.
In just one breath, Nakano Yu's figure was hidden within the white mist.
This white mist could not obstruct Nakano Yu's vision. After all, he was a Campione, with a body strong to an unimaginable level, so naturally he was not affected by this white mist.
Although this white mist did not affect him, Nakano Maruo and Nakano Reina were still ordinary people. If something were to happen later due to a mutation of this white mist, Nakano Yu would have nowhere to regret.
Therefore, it was best to resolve the problem as soon as possible.
"Yo! Lord Nakano, Sobu High School is in session now, right?"
At that moment, a voice came from a distant tall building.
Hearing the sound, Nakano Yu turned his head and saw Nurarihyon sitting on the rooftop of the building, looking at him.
Seeing that Nurarihyon had appeared here, Nakano Yu was speechless for a moment.
Nurarihyon is Nurarihyon, and the Nurarihyon in the Neon yokai community are like street loafers. Although their combat power is stronger than average yokai, and their bloodline is among the top ten yokai.
But Nurarihyon simply do not do serious things. They often use their abilities to swagger into banquets of wealthy families and eat and drink for free. Although they will be noticed, they will never be driven out.
That is also the origin of the word "Nurari" in the name Nurarihyon.
Clearly, this Nurarihyon had fully implemented the lifestyle of a Nurarihyon. He did nothing serious every day, relying on his abilities to eat and drink for free all over Tokyo, wandering around.
However, Nurarihyon's appearance here now was definitely not just because of wandering.
"You're looking for me?"
Looking at Nurarihyon, Nakano Yu asked.
"Yes, Lord Nakano should know about Hagoromo-Gitsune, the great demon who ruled Kyoto a hundred years ago, right? She has appeared. According to our information from Kyoto, that figure has secretly entered Kyoto."
Nurarihyon did not beat around the bush, directly nodding and speaking.
"Hmm?"
Hearing this, Nakano Yu felt that something was wrong. Yosuzume had previously told him that Hagoromo-Gitsune was already preparing to give birth to Abe no Seimei, which meant that Abe no Seimei would soon be revived, and only now did Nurarihyon know that Hagoromo-Gitsune had entered Kyoto.
It seemed that the intelligence network of the Nura Group had problems, or Yosuzume… No, Yosuzume would not dare to lie to him, and besides, the Moon God Envoy was still secretly monitoring her, so there should be no problem.
Then the problem could only be with the Nura Group.
"Looking at this, they want to keep information from the Nura Group until Abe no Seimei is born."
"But that's fine too. If the yokai of the Nura Group go to Kyoto, they will probably be destroyed by the Kyoto yokai. After all, the current Nura Rikuo has not yet undergone special training. If he really encounters Hagoromo-Gitsune and Abe no Seimei, he will only throw away his life."
"For a while, I would like to ask Nakano not to interfere in this matter involving Hagoromo-Gitsune."
Just as Nakano Yu was thinking, Nurarihyon suddenly spoke, making a request.
This request was exactly the same as when the Parade of 88 Demons attacked Ukiyoe last time.
"Alright."
Nakano Yu nodded without hesitation. Nurarihyon had only mentioned Hagoromo-Gitsune, and he knew very well that Abe no Seimei was only using Hagoromo-Gitsune as a tool.
He remembered that Abe no Seimei directly killed Hagoromo-Gitsune after his successful revival.
In the end, the Keikain, the Kyoto yokai, and the Ukiyoe yokai were all played by the madman who wanted to become a god.
"Thank you, Nakano. Did you come here this time to deal with this white mist?"
Seeing that Nakano Yu agreed so easily, Nurarihyon smiled and changed the topic, asking about what Nakano Yu was currently doing.
"This white mist is not right."
Nakano Yu did not hide anything. The white mist was here, and he was not a loafer like Nurarihyon. The only reason he would appear here was this white mist.
"...This white mist appeared thousands of years ago."
Nurarihyon murmured, a trace of memory flashing in his old but still sharp eyes. The last time he saw this white mist, he had not yet established the huge Nura Group.
"What?"
Hearing this, Nakano Yu's figure flickered, appearing beside Nurarihyon, and asked.
"This white mist appeared thousands of years ago. I saw the source of that white mist."
Nurarihyon's expression was serious, not looking like he was lying at all.
"What was the source?"
Nakano Yu frowned slightly. He had guessed that the appearance of this white mist was related to a world anomaly, but Nurarihyon said that this white mist had appeared thousands of years ago. Did that mean that this world had experienced an anomaly thousands of years ago?
But that was not right… World anomalies always cause some changes, but when he had reviewed the myths and historical stories of this world, he had not found anything, not even a single record.
"Hmm, if I remember correctly, it was a white whale, a huge white whale flying high in the sky, covering the sun and the heavens!"
Nurarihyon made a thoughtful expression, and after a moment, gave his answer.
"A white whale?"
Recalling the missing Re:Zero world, Nakano Yu turned his head to look at the omnipresent white mist, and a bold speculation appeared in his heart.
Could this white mist be caused by the Mist Whale, one of the three great magical creatures in the Re:Zero world?
Thinking about it, Nakano Yu felt it was extremely absurd. Although the movement of the Mist Whale was strange, no matter what, it could not come from the Re:Zero world into this world, right?
Although Serafall had also come from another world, the problem was that the "Ore Zombie" world and the current world had merged, which allowed her to appear in this world. It couldn't be that the missing "Re:Zero" world had also merged with the current world, right?
Impossible! The Re:Zero world is very large, even comparable to the current world, and the Re:Zero world is different from the Ore Zombie world. Both the Ore Zombie world and the current world have modern high-rise buildings, and from certain perspectives are extremely similar, but the Re:Zero world is a true other world, without high-rise buildings, only city-states, kingdoms, and continents!
If they merged, those kingdoms and continents could not just quietly appear, right?
However, there was another possibility: someone had extracted the Mist Whale from the Re:Zero world. But Nakano Yu could not think of an existence that could do such a thing, nor could he understand the purpose of it.
While he was thinking, suddenly, the cry of the whale sounded again, but this time it echoed throughout the entire Tokyo:
"Uuu~"
"Boom!!!!"
The cry of the whale faded, followed by an explosion that shook the earth and sky, accompanied by the trembling of the ground and mountains, and a huge crack opened in the sky.
"What is that? A rift!"
Looking at the huge crack, Nakano Yu was stunned, but in the next moment, the enormous creature that came out of the crack left him speechless.
He saw a huge white whale, covered in white fur, with a single horn and a pink halo on its head, continuously releasing white mist around its body, and its eyes were crimson, emitting a blood-red light, twisting its body as it passed through the crack and arrived in this world!
------------
Every 20/50/100 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter.
Enjoying the story? Read 140+ advanced chapters on Patreon.
If you'd like to support me, check it out:
patreon.com/IAmBoringGuy