サンセットゴースト
Sunset Ghost
第12章
壊れた障壁
The Investigative Bureau of Psychic Anomalies was a small group, but they were, by far, the most uptight people Kageyama had ever met in his entire life. Aside from Agent Kyōtani, whom he'd met already, the team was comprised of four others: Agents Yahaba, Watari, Hanamaki, and Iwaizumi. Iwaizumi seemed to be the unofficial leader, ordering his colleagues around with an aura of authority.
Kyōtani didn't bother them much after Madoka's interference, but Kageyama caught him shooting them dirty looks whenever he thought they weren't looking. Hinata, unnerved by the extra attention he was getting, stuck close to Kageyama's side. He was probably freaked out that so many people could see him, and these people weren't exactly what Kageyama would call friendly.
Nevertheless, he couldn't let petty feelings get in the way of work. Madoka and Yachi looked somber, so the situation must've been serious. Based on the psychic reading he was picking up, Kageyama could confirm that theory. It felt like the air itself was charged with electricity, and every single person present was on edge. Hinata kept glancing around, clearly terrified, and Kageyama stuck very close to him, still wary of the feeling of being watched.
"We need to get down to business." One of the IBPA agents turned to them with his hands on his hips and a scowl on his lips. "I have two agents currently walking the perimeter, so if the culprit still lurks nearby, we'll find them."
Kageyama's eyes widened. So it really was an attack on the wayline... But who would do something like that? He couldn't help but think back to that man's visit to Madoka's shop the previous day, and what Hinata had said about him. What if he was somehow the one behind this? Hinata had been genuinely terrified, so clearly, the man was dangerous. But would he be dumb enough to attack such a powerful place—and powerful group of people?
He'd have to tell Madoka about this later, but for now, his mind needed to be focused on the issue directly ahead: Repairing the wayline. Madoka was off talking with the man who Kageyama had guessed as the leader, Iwaizumi, and was clearly upset about something, gesturing back at him and Hinata before directing her harsh glare towards the man once again. If Kageyama were to make a guess, he would wager she was bartering for their rights to stand on equal ground with the other psychics.
Yachi watched from beside him, mouth pursed into a thin line. It was easy to tell she didn't like these people at all from the way her shoulders tensed and her eyes bored into each of them with an odd intensity. If he hadn't seen her like this before, Kageyama probably would've been super freaked out, but now, it just made him chuckle and pat her on the shoulder.
"Don't worry. We can hold our own against these stiffs, Yachi." He dropped the honorific on purpose, knowing it would make her feel better. Right now, she needed a friend, not a colleague.
Offering him a grateful half-smile, Yachi reached out and squeezed his shoulder in return. "Thanks, Kageyama." She let out a deep breath and seemed to pull herself together, letting her typical smile relax her tense features. "As long as Mom's here, those guys will have to treat us as equals." She winked Kageyama and Hinata's way. "She's kinda a celebrity in the supernatural world."
Hinata blinked in surprise. "Wahh, really, Yacchan?! I didn't know that!"
The blonde chuckled, covering her mouth slightly with the back of her hand. "Yeah, not many people do. Mom used to be a part of this really important psychic agency, but when it disbanded, she started laying low. Even though it isn't around anymore, it still has a pretty extensive reputation."
"Hmm." Kageyama turned back to Madoka, studying her with a new air of interest. The woman just kept getting more and more mysterious. "So these guys will listen to her, then?"
"Hopefully..." Yachi's eyes flicked downwards and she bit her lip. "These guys are kind of hard to deal with..." She puffed out her cheeks in sudden annoyance. "At least their stupid president isn't here. I hate his stinking guts." She kicked the ground and grumbled angrily. "If I ever see his stupid pretty-boy face again, I swear..."
Hinata and Kageyama glanced at her questioningly, but neither of them wanted to risk getting slapped by asking her about it. Luckily, they didn't have to, because Madoka came jogging over a few seconds later, wearing a self-satisfied smile. "Alright, kids, I beat those hopeless idiots into submission!" She smiled cheerfully, contrasting her harsh words. "Let's get started!"
The reparation of a wayline was about as complicated as one would expect for something so volatile. Each member of the team was busy with a different aspect of the process, some making talismans while others took residual readings or set up odd contraptions Kageyama had never seen before.
He and Yachi were helping Madoka unload their kits while Hinata fluttered around them like a nervous sparrow, eyes wide as he took in everything that was going on. Kageyama kept a wary gaze on him out of the corner of his eye, feeling an inexplicable urge to protect him. Something was definitely wrong. The feeling of eyes on him still lingered in the back of his senses, and Kageyama could feel his nerves tingling with an odd anticipation.
Eventually, it got so bad, he couldn't focus on his work anymore. "Oi, Shōyō, sit here and keep quiet." He gritted his teeth and patted the dirt directly beside him, glancing around with his jaw clenched tightly. Hinata blinked at him, stopping in his rapid movements to hesitantly sink down beside him, hands sandwiched between his legs.
Kageyama let out a tiny breath and turned his attention back to his work while the redhead continued to look on, surprisingly obedient, for once.
Meanwhile, he could feel Yachi's eyes on him as he removed a silver knife from the pack and set it down next to another, identical specimen. He glanced up at her, raising an eyebrow in slight irritation when her gaze didn't drop away. "What? Is there something you want to say to me?"
Yachi snickered, covering her mouth with her hand. "Oh, nothing." She peered at him and Hinata with an amused sort of suspicion. "You two just seem to be getting along awfully well lately." She wiggled her eyebrows. "I just didn't realize you were first name getting along well."
Kageyama and Hinata both glanced at each other and quickly looked away again, faces flushed. Kageyama coughed awkwardly and tried to speak without his voice cracking. "Sh-shut up. We're just trying to get along. I thought that's what you wanted."
He had said Hinata's first name without even thinking about it. How embarrassing...
"Let's just get to work. I want to go home sooner rather than later."
"Suit yourself," Yachi hummed, giggling to herself as she turned to her own pack.
Kageyama shot her one last glare before shaking his head and picking up his work again, trying to ignore the feeling of anticipation lingering in his gut and Hinata's chilly presence close beside him. It was rather hard to do with all the ruckus the IBPA was making, though. Clangs and loud beeping noises filled the air, and the clattering of metal as they set up even more weird machines.
"What exactly are they doing?" he asked eventually, too annoyed to continue unloading as another loud rattle resonated through the air.
"Setting up equipment that will be able to sense how deep the leak goes," Yachi answered, dropping a bag of lavender salt on the ground with a small grunt. "It can tell us the amount of energy seeping into the air from the wayline's rupture. We can't repair it until we know how much damage was done."
"Ah, I see." Kageyama frowned. "But why do they need so many?"
"Each one is in charge of a different component." Yachi paused, tapping a finger against her cheek wonderingly. "I guess you could say a wayline is like a quilt: it has several different patches of spiritual energy, and so we need multiple needles to patch it up." She smiled. "Get it?"
"Uwah, that's so cool!" Hinata answered for him, hands clasped to his chest in excitement, finally breaking his fast of speaking. "So will you get to help repair it, too, Yacchan?"
"Well..." She laughed nervously, sitting back on her heels with a sheepish smile. "I'm not exactly qualified for that yet... But my mom will be helping out. Kagayama, you and I will likely be assisting her. We'll need to act as a sort of sieve and catch any energy that she misses."
"Awww, I wanna help, too," Hinata whined, shoulders slumping dejectedly. "I can't do anything fun as a ghost..."
Yachi covered her mouth as a giggle slipped through. "Don't worry, Hinata: You can keep a lookout for us." Her expression hardened and her eyes flicked around warily, causing Kageyama to stiffen nervously in response. "Someone definitely attacked this place, so if they come back, we need to know about it."
"You can count on me, Yacchan!" Hinata chirped with a happy salute, not seeming to sense the full gravity or danger of the situation. "If anyone shows up, I'll sense them right away!"
"Kids, hurry up and finish unpacking," Madoka scolded, reappearing to interrupt their conversation. "They'll be starting the reparation soon, and we all need to be prepared for anything."
"Sorry, Mom."
The two of them got back to work and before long, the packs' contents were spread across the grass in neat piles: Bags of salt, silver weapons, a stack of talismans with paper and ink to make more, a set of prayer beads, a special wooden symbol made to ward off evil, and countless other things. It was a little extensive, but then again, Kageyama didn't know all that much about wayline damage: It was clearly more serious than he'd thought.
Nevertheless, he was up for the challenge. It was exciting to be doing something as important as saving the natural world. All Kageyama had ever done was expel yokai or purify spirits, but now... This was on a whole other level. He wished those stuck up guys from the IBPA weren't there, but oh well—more help couldn't be a bad thing in this scenario.
Speaking of the IBPA, their agents were now lining up in a rough oval in the center of the field along with Madoka, and Yachi and Kageyama behind her. Hinata stood farther back, taking his job of lookout very seriously as his eyes constantly combed the landscape around them. Kageyama felt himself smile fondly and tried to force it down as Iwaizumi took the last space in the oval, holding a long staff with a huge clear golden crystal on its end.
As everyone watched, he walked to the center of their congregation and stabbed the staff deep into the dirt. When it made contact, a shiver traveled down Kageyama's spine, like someone had dropped an ice cube down his shirt. Iwaizumi took his place in the oval again and glanced around at each person. "Is everyone ready?"
Choruses of assent filled the air, and Agent Iwaizumi nodded gruffly. "Good. Let's begin."
Kageyama shifted, watching with great interest—he'd never seen this done before. Beside him, Yachi reached forward and placed a hand on her mother's shoulder. Figuring he should probably do the same, Kageyama set his palm against Madoka's back with some hesitation. What was going to happen?
"Brace yourself," Yachi whispered to him out of the corner of her mouth, taking a position like she was about to start sprinting. "As soon as the crystal starts glowing, they'll start. If you sense any escaping energy, just pretend to shove against it with your mind and it will be sucked back in."
Kageyama nodded, doing as she'd instructed and directing his attention towards the crystal. For a few seconds it just sat there, not doing anything, but after a while, a gentle golden glow began emanating from the center, like a candle being lit from within. Kageyama gritted his teeth and braced himself further, over-preparing for what was about to come.
As the glow progressively grew stronger, each psychic present raised their hands, including Madoka, and the light sent a beam to each of their palms like a laser pointer. As this happened, a barrier surrounded the whole group, and Kageyama could hear Hinata jump backward with a yelp, caught outside of it. Through the very center of their oval, a glowing multicolored line split from the ground: the wayline.
From this line, energy spurted out like an exploding firework, caught by the beams and sucked into the psychic's hands, then back into the crystal. That was when Kageyama realized his job: A small ribbon of colored light escaped from Madoka's right palm, floating out towards him—and the edge of the barrier. Remembering what Yachi had said, he stuck out his free hand and acted like he was shoving against a wall. A small pressure felt like it extended from his palm, and the energy was slammed against it, ricocheting back out and being caught by a beam of light.
Kageyama breathed a sigh of relief. This wasn't so hard, after all. From the corner of his eye, he could see Yachi doing the same, catching the stray energy and sending it back to her mother. Even farther back, Hinata was standing right outside the barrier, mouth forming an O as he watched the process with awe.
Continuing to catch strings of light and throw them back out, Kageyama began to feel a strain, but not physically. It was like the effort of pushing back so many times was putting stress on his mental energy rather than his body. It was just like that time he had been forced to fight all those spirits during the overflow by the train tracks.
Yachi, too, appeared to be feeling the strain, chest rapidly rising and falling, arms shaking slightly. Kageyama was worried how long he'd last. She had much more experience than him, and if she was already getting tired, then...
Suddenly, a scream tore through the air, ripping Kageyama's attention from the energy—and his hand from Madoka's back. With the break of connection, his muscles felt much more painful and strained, and Yachi was shouting for him to come back, but Kageyama didn't care. He whipped around to peer through the semi-transparent golden surface of the barrier.
On the other side, Hinata was sprawled across the ground, blood-like ectoplasm leaking from a huge gash through his left shoulder.
Kageyama slammed his hands against the barrier, but it didn't budge at all. "HINATA! Why are you hurt? What the hell happened?!"
"S-someone shot at me." Hinata struggled to rise to his feet, clutching his left arm as his sweatshirt soaked up red, wound letting off a hissing steam. His eyes shot every which way. For some reason, they were wide with terror. "Keep w-working! I'm fine."
Kageyama ignored him, slamming his fists against the barrier again and again as Yachi continued screeching at him from behind to come back. "You're not fine, you idiot! I have eyes!" He let out a frustrated growl and tore his hands through his hair harshly. "Dammit, this stupid thing won't let me through!" His hands bounced harmlessly off it like it was bulletproof glass.
"Stay inside!" Hinata ordered. "D-don't come out here or you'll—"
Without warning, a streak of white flashed through the air like a shooting star, striking Hinata's stomach this time and sending him to his knees. It bounced against the barrier and dispersed like a puff of smoke while Hinata collapsed on his side beyond, unresponsive.
"NO!" Kageyama threw his leg back and thrust it with all the force he could muster directly into the barrier, and this time, its surface shattered like glass, raining down to the ground in millions of shards of blinding light.