When the Hakurei maiden arrived at the scene of where she felt the disturbance, she was met with an unsettling presence, immediately she threw her ofudas towards the direction of such a source.

In retaliation, a volley of projectiles travelling at high speeds was coming her way, seemingly composed of chaotic energy as her body reacted negatively to it.

Managing to dodge it with her natural instincts.

In just a moment, her steady flight had changed its flow, one that is of fight.

Her arms tensed as she flexed them, then reached within her kosode a stick with a white paper tip.

Waving it slightly, a pair of black and white orbs was by her side.

"You must not know who I am. So why don't you-"

She stopped on her tracks as the perpetrator of those ranged attacks were nowhere to be seen, it's as if the calm yet gloomy clouds were being mimicked by the surroundings.

The Hakurei brought her guard up as she took her ofudas out, being vigilant to the area filled with shrubs and tall trees.

A sense of danger trickled down her spine.

Woosh!

Projectiles that took form as large beads of chaotic energy were coming her way again.

With great dexterity, she avoids the attack without breaking a sweat while simultaneously conducting her own retaliation towards the source of it.

One black and white orbs fired a barrage of relentless divine energy compressed in the form of a ofudas, while the other burst forwards in a blitz as if homing to the perpetrator.

This was her natural talent.

A man in a suit came forward and stopped the orb with his bare hand, scorching his palm in the process yet not an ounce of pain was shown in his face.

Deflecting the deadly assault of the black and white orb, the hand that he used to block it quickly mended the scorched skin back to what it used to be.

Then his eyes glowed in a menacing crimson glow, a magic circle formed on his eyes and a crimson spear with fleshy construction materialized on his left hand.

She wasted no time in giving him the chance to attack her again, she brought her stick brimming with divine and qi energy and conjured a barrier that surrounded the man on all four sides.

~[Spirit Sign "Fantasy Barrier"]~

The four sided obstruction closed in as if to squeeze him to death, yet the man was calm and didn't show much reaction.

Hakurei Reimu felt a bit indignant at the lack of response, she lowered her stick even more as if to control distance closing in.

Seeing as the man was trapped under her grasp, she was preparing her black and white orbs again to attack him but before that could even happen, someone tried to tackle her from behind.

In the midst of her confrontation with the man, she failed to discern that he didn't come alone since her focus was only aimed at him.

Only by her gifted nature was she able to react although not cleanly, she was able to dodge the surprise attack but this time, sweat had trickled down her cheeks.

Two against one, it was against her odds.

She couldn't maintain the barrier containing the man since it requires focus and energy, so she reluctantly lowered the amount of control of it then her black and white orb danced around her as she ascended a bit.

Battling near the Great Hakurei Barrier was a bad idea, it could cause collateral damage to it- Fractures and cracks would appear to it, continuous stress of it would cause holes to appear.

That's why she picked herself up and flew back to her shrine but then she noticed that they weren't pursuing her.

'Were they trying to get inside that hell hole?' The Hakurei maiden couldn't help but shudder at that thought.

If they ignored her and proceeded to that place, it would only mean that they were planning something involving the residents of said place.

Although she is not that sharp, she could deduce the general motive behind the ones who caused the disturbances.

So if that is what they want then all she has to do to deter them and get their attention is to reinforce the Great Hakurei Barrier but that in turn would require an exchange of energy.

Prodding her stick forward, the black and white orbs sat still mid air, then an incantation was uttered.

~[Dream Sign "Great Duplex Barrier"]~

Life force and divine energy were being used to reinforce the Great barrier, it made the invisible wall repel the attempts of breaking in from the ones who harmed her and the barrier.

Seeing this, the man and the one who tackled the Hakurei maiden began to chase her back to the shrine.

Since she was now in range of the shrine, she activated the artifact within the altar room through a link threaded by her presence.

Another set of barricades confided the three of them, Hakurei couldn't help but think that she had the upper hand by now.

But she underestimated her opponents yet again.

Boom!

Nagano is more than 200 kilometers away from Chiba and a road trip between these two prefectures would last more than 3 hours at best depending on the traffic of course, the quickest route to get there would've been through portals but there is a problem.

There are no active gateways in Nagano right now and I can't really ask Mizayawa since he's off duty probably taking a break, so the second quickest route is via air travel, we would've called in for an airlift if not for the fact that Yukinoshita-san has a convertible sports car and not those things that can close and open its roof but one that is capable of flight.

Truly, money wasted on this kind of thing is worth it.

As we entered the confines of Nagano Prefecture, the radio started to make some static noise until a clear voice came out its speakers.

"Uhm…t-This is Nagano Branch speaking, you are now entering its er- Special use airspace? Please turn around immediately as it is prohibited for any aircraft to pass by right now." The voice told us in a very nervous manner, it sounded like she was even questioning herself.

She must be a junior of sorts and as expected- Nothing goes unnoticed from the eyes of the association.

"Didn't you tell them beforehand?" I whisper to the one at the driver seat.

Her eyes flutter towards me. "Of course I did, the one dealing with the coms might have not gotten the memo yet." She then turns around to look at the radio again as it speaks up.

The coils of the radio unwind as she picks it up.

"This is Yukinoshita Haruno from Tokyo Branch, we have been cleared to proceed by your superior due to a possible emerging breach." She says.

"If that is so then please wait, I need to check something… Oh! It seems that we were expecting you four? Sorry for being so lousy, it's my first time dealing with this kind of situation. Anyways, I only need to verify your identity Yukinoshita-san- For you all to proceed I mean." Of course she's only needed for that, it'd be counterproductive if it was all of us besides it's all recorded in the logs.

Under the radio, there is a screen panel which is on the center, it lights up and displays a scanner of sorts as she presses a button with an icon that resembles a key card.

She held out her badge against the screen and it scans,

Ding!

There was a confirming sound after it was done, then she proceeded to place her thumb against it and then another confirmation.

Ding!

"Uh-huh, verification is completed. You guys can proceed, and uh...safe travels?" After that was done, she turns off the screen and returns the radio.

As the screen goes black, so does my vision.

With my eyes closed, I thought about what was going to happen but it went all around the place as there were a lot of things that were put into consideration, so instead I meditated and cleared out the thoughts currently occupying my mind.

I breathe in heavily through my nostrils.

Then slowly like a sozu, I exhale.

Huff...

Repeating that action a couple of times, the thoughts clouding my head were cleared...

I stopped when I opened my eyes, three minutes passed by and I could see in the distance the district of Minamisaku after we passed some mountains.

It was only a few kilometers away from the village which is in the center of the district.

She switched off autopilot and regained control, gripping on the steering wheel.

"Unfortunately autopilot isn't able to land by itself so I'll have to do it, expect a bumpy experience when landing." She says to us.

I didn't really have anything to say, so I just held on tight preparing for the inevitable landing.

I would've asked her where we would land but she seems to have already figured that out with the navigation system in front of her.

The Minamimaki village is only a kilometer away now, and we were slowly descending altitude.

When we arrived at the scene, there was a lot to take in.

The first notable thing that I could see would be the destroyed shrine, it seemed like a demolition job took place judging by how it plummeted to the ground though the tori seems to be unharmed, at the very least there weren't any civilians involved.

The Nagano unit already took control of the situation, setting up sensors and wards basically securing the entire perimeter including the entrance of this 'Gensokyo' place.

Yoshikage and Yukinoshita already went ahead to talk with them while me and Matsuda carefully surveyed the area, though after a while we decided to split away.

Matsuda tread opposite of me as he wanted to examine the trails that he sensed on our way here, I on the other hand walked towards the shrine that is near the barrier, even though the shrine itself is destroyed what's important is the one taking in charge of it- Meaning, the one responsible for it is still alive since it's still holding up.

According to what Yoshikage said, the shrine has only one occupant- A shrine maiden whose sole responsibility is to maintain the barrier but there's a problem.

There's no information about the maintenance or records of this shrine maiden ever reporting in the Nagano branch.

This is a major red flag which is why I have to keep this in mind but this has to wait...

Currently, I'm looking for the shrine maiden that resides in it, fortunately it didn't take me that long to spot her.

Her purple hair that flowed to her red hakama were messy and it seems the ends of it were a bit burnt, there were some tears not only to her hakama but to her kosode also.

A typical shrine maiden outfit is what she wore, though the temple I used to live in didn't have any female occupants, I at least know that women who work in shinto shrines are given the roles of a shrine maiden.

"Does the association give out any financial aid?" The miko says to the one tending her wounds though the poor guy can't even seem to properly answer her as she begins to hurl at him a barrage of questions relating to it.

"Uh, miko-san? I don't really handle that kind of matters so if you could please- Another follow up question interrupted him.

"What! You're telling me that they don't provide those things called insurance?!" she exclaims at him.

"No, listen- She cuts him off again.

"Come on! This is outrageous! How am I gonna live without a place to stay! Are they just going to let the one who maintains the Great Hakurei Barrier go homeless?!" At that point, the guy had already finished healing her but her words were still unrelenting.

It seems that he is having a hard time dealing with her, fortunately for him I am here to interrogate her.

As she continued her tirade, I tapped the shoulders of the guy who healed her.

"I'll be dealing with her, so go on ahead..."

He bowed at a full right angle after it then walked away leaving me with the purple haired miko.

The one who keeps the barrier in check has her eyes set on him the moment the healer left her alone, her gaze were that of minor confusion at who he is.

Though Hakurei Reimu knew about the existence of the eastern association and what not, she is still oblivious of what their roles are supposed to be, so she could only assume that he is something like those people that came before him.

Special units are what they are generally called according to what she had heard from her mother, and every time the miko who came before her discussed this kind of thing to her, the subject of her father always came up as he used to work at the Nagano branch before he died.

She never knew her father personally only from her mother and some folks from the village, she only saw him from the pictures that her mother kept.

Her mother told her that he isn't a very likeable person, oftentimes he would be stressed out from work and would rant for hours about his colleagues in a vulgar manner, though her mother says that it's a form of venting out.

She figured that she inherited that grumpy trait from him.

The villagers on the other hand thought of him as a rude but kind man, one who is always eager to help out those in need despite his shortcomings.

The man before her had a very calculated and unnerving gaze, and with those eyes that looked like a dead fish, she couldn't tell if he was some sort of youkai but that immediately changed when she noticed some sort of divine presence.

At first she thought that he was something similar to a miko's counterpart, a shinshoku but the more she looked into it, the more she couldn't help but be wary of what she had concluded.

She could tell that he wasn't normal, not that the people who came before him were normal anyways but it was different, it is as if his presence demanded the feeling of reverence towards him.

She thought she was meeting the emperor, it was only after she looked briefly at his narrowing eyes that he noticed what she was doing.

She looked away in embarrassment but now Hakurei Reimu was sure that the man before her is a deity of sorts.

He reminded her of that green haired bitch, whom she also knew that bitch's existence was related to a kami- Arahitogami, that is what they are called now that she recalls it.

"I'll keep it short. I'm the one who issued this case and currently I am working on it, now I'm gonna ask you a question." He was blunt, this was the first time she had talked with someone as rude as him but Reimu couldn't help but feel relieved that she isn't listening to another annoying save for the one who healed her, she could only mentally sigh at the thought.

Most of the men who came to her would either flirt with her or proclaim that they came from an important family as if to impress her but all of what they did just annoyed the hell out of them.

She was thankful that he spared her the headache of going through that again.

The dead fish eyed Hikigaya brought out his phone and showed her the image on the screen.

"Do you recognize this face?" The Hakurei shrine maiden immediately recognized it as the person who she fought with.

She realized that he is unlike those who interrogated her before.

Those people who previously questioned her looked at her as if she's a beggar, and of course she was angry for the way they treated her though at least they had the common courtesy to heal her injuries but it doesn't excuse their attitude towards her.

She would've given them a piece of her mind but she knows it's not worth it.

Hakurei Reimu seemed to faze out but quickly collected herself and gave him a nod accompanied with her answer.

"Y-yeah, he's the one whom I fought with." His suspicion about Tsurumi-sensei was confirmed, and he narrowed his eyes at that.

Hikigaya looked at her for a bit before pocketing his phone.

"He's still alive..." Hikigaya mumbles to himself but she hears it.

'What did he mean by that?' Hakurei Reimu thought.

It's as if he already encountered the one she fought...

Hakurei Reimu could tell by now that he is the real deal.