บท 28: Chapter 35&36
Chapter 35: My Turn, Draw the Card!
Ogai Mori felt a headache coming on.
As Tokisaki Kurumi had said, the Port Mafia was aware of the location of the Supernatural Special Forces' Yokohama branch. This information was hard-earned by the intelligence team, who had used numerous resources to uncover it. Even the Supernatural Special Forces itself was unaware that their location had been compromised. The Port Mafia had kept this intel hidden, using it as a trump card for future negotiations with the government.
If the Supernatural Special Forces realized their base had been exposed, they would certainly relocate, rendering years of effort by the Port Mafia useless. Retrieving the location after that would be even harder.
Now that Tokisaki Kurumi was sure that the Port Mafia had the information, Ogai Mori couldn't pretend anymore. Facing this troublesome request, he weighed the pros and cons and asked, "What do you need the Supernatural Special Forces' address for?"
"To find someone," Tokisaki Kurumi replied.
"Who?"
"Sakaguchi Ango."
Tokisaki Kurumi wanted to infiltrate the Supernatural Special Forces, but conventional methods were obviously out of the question. As a government-run organization, joining the Supernatural Special Forces required being a registered ability user, passing various tests, and undergoing a strict background check.
However, Tokisaki Kurumi's identity was fabricated by the Port Mafia, so if scrutinized, her cover would be blown.
The only way to join the Supernatural Special Forces was to find Sakaguchi Ango, the head of the Yokohama branch. This was Tokisaki Kurumi's plan to infiltrate the organization.
Of course, Sakaguchi Ango wasn't an easy target. A series of actions would be required to reach him, but finding him was the first step.
"You want to find him? Why?" Ogai Mori asked seriously. "He's the government's representative in Yokohama. If you kill him, the government won't let it go."
"Kill him? Why would I kill him?" Tokisaki Kurumi asked, confused.
"If you don't kill him, then why find him?" Ogai Mori was stunned.
"Just want to have a friendly chat with him," Tokisaki Kurumi said with a chuckle. "Ogai Mori, what kind of person do you think I am?"
"What kind of person, don't you know yourself?" Ogai Mori's lips twitched, thinking to himself.
He cleared his throat to cover up his inner thoughts, then continued, "If you just want to talk to him, there's no need to go to the Supernatural Special Forces' base. I can lure him out."
Tokisaki Kurumi thought for a moment and agreed. Although she could use her Ten-pen ability to extract the location from the memories of the Port Mafia intelligence agents, she realized that doing so would likely break the fragile trust between her and Ogai Mori. For now, she would relent.
With the North American coalition's arrival still some time away, she couldn't afford to make any extreme moves. Though neither Tokisaki Kurumi nor Ogai Mori trusted each other, they needed to maintain appearances.
"Give me some time to prepare. Luring Sakaguchi out won't be easy," Ogai Mori said. "I can fulfill your request and won't inquire further about what you want to talk to him about, but you must complete your own task."
"Of course."
"Within a month."
Tokisaki Kurumi hesitated for a moment, then thought for a while before replying, "No problem."
A month, not too much, not too little. According to the original timeline, the coalition would arrive in Yokohama in about a month when they couldn't wait any longer. She just needed to drag things out for a bit longer.
After bidding farewell, Tokisaki Kurumi disappeared into the shadows and left the Port Mafia headquarters.
---
In the Shadow Space.
Tokisaki Kurumi and the other four clones were gathered, discussing their next steps.
"The plan is going smoothly," Clone 1 said.
"For the Supernatural Special Forces, we just need to wait for the Port Mafia to lure Sakaguchi Ango out, and then we can proceed with the first step," Clone 2 said.
"However, Ogai Mori said he needs some time to prepare. During this waiting period, we can use this time to work on other matters," Clone 3 said.
"Since we can't control when Sakaguchi Ango will appear, infiltrating the Supernatural Special Forces can wait. We'll focus on that once Ogai Mori notifies me. For now, I think we should shift our attention to the Armed Detective Agency," Tokisaki Kurumi said.
"Same here," Clone 4 added.
With the Supernatural Special Forces situation temporarily at a standstill, waiting for Ogai Mori's signal, it seemed best to focus on the Armed Detective Agency.
The other clones agreed, noting that the earlier they made contact with the Armed Detective Agency, the better. After all, it was full of difficult characters, and gaining their trust would take a lot of time and effort.
With this thought, Tokisaki Kurumi decided not to hesitate further.
She summoned her Clockwork Emperor short flintlock pistol, and the large Roman clock appeared behind her.
"Eight Bullet."
A black spiritual force appeared from the Roman numeral VIII, drilling into the short flintlock pistol and transforming into a powerful bullet. Tokisaki Kurumi pulled the trigger, and an Eight Bullet shot into her body, bringing forth a new clone.
Seeing the identical clone before her, Tokisaki Kurumi felt slightly disappointed.
The new clone looked at her and seemed pleased.
"No luck," Tokisaki Kurumi said regretfully.
"It's normal not to hit the target with just one shot," the new clone comforted her.
With a smile that couldn't be hidden, the new clone added, "Keep drawing, you still have many chances."
"What are you drawing? I don't understand," Clone 1 asked in confusion. "Aren't we all clones?"
"Idiot. What the main body wants is the special clones, not just any ordinary ones like us," Clone 2 explained.
"We all look exactly the same as the main body and have the same temperament. If the Armed Detective Agency or the Supernatural Special Forces sees us, how could they let us join?"
"Oh, I see now!" Clone 3 suddenly understood, "The main body wants to summon them!"
"Exactly." Tokisaki Kurumi confirmed. "I'm preparing to summon those special clones to infiltrate the Armed Detective Agency and the Supernatural Special Forces."
Although Tokisaki Kurumi's appearance was still unknown to most, given the world's technology, it was only a matter of time before someone recognized her.
Her current clones were all from a closer time, looking identical to her, and would never pass as undercover agents in other organizations. She needed special clones from more distant timelines ones that had different appearances and temperaments.
After harvesting a few neighborhoods last night, Tokisaki Kurumi had enough time and resources to use the Eight Bullet over a hundred times.
She was confident she could summon those special clones.
More Eight Bullets loaded into the flintlock pistol, and Tokisaki Kurumi shouted:
"Come forth, Tokisaki Kurumi from the distant past!"
Their name was
"The Four Kings of Clones!"
Chapter 36: Special Summon
"Eight Bullets, Ten Consecutive Shots!"
Ten "Eight Bullets" entered Tokisaki Kurumi's head, making her head buzz with a dull throb. The golden left eye's clock immediately spun counterclockwise a large circle, consuming a significant amount of the time she had collected the previous night.
Tokisaki Kurumi eagerly watched the new clone forming in front of her, hoping to pull the Four Heavenly Kings, but as the clone fully materialized, she sighed in disappointment.
Once again, it was ten clones that looked exactly like her.
However, unlike the body itself, the newly summoned clones, upon seeing their appearance and clothing, displayed a delighted expression similar to the previous clone number five.
"Great! I'm not one of the Four Heavenly Kings!"
"Yay!"
"Ban it! Yay!"
...
The clones happily conversed, seemingly relieved that they weren't chosen to be one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
It was understandable. Unlike the real Tokisaki Kurumi, when the original Tokisaki Kurumi summons clones, the clones' consciousnesses come from her past selves. But in this world, Tokisaki Kurumi is merely playing the role of herself, without much of the original consciousness left, so all the clones share the body's current consciousness.
All clones share a single consciousness, which means they all like the same things and dislike the same things. The downside is obvious: none of them want to do the "bad things."
And becoming one of the Four Heavenly Kings is certainly a "bad thing."
After all, the Four Heavenly Kings were black history incarnate. Even the real Tokisaki Kurumi doesn't want to meet them. Every time she does, it creates an awkward situation.
That's why these four clones earned the title of the Four Heavenly Kings—they are legendary figures among the clones.
They are:
Loli Kurumi: Awakened to her Chuunibyou (middle schooler syndrome) after obtaining a spiritual crystal. She had the pure white Lolita outfit, which made her known as Loli Kurumi.
Bandaged Kurumi: After a small injury during battle, she thought it unnecessary to use the "Four Bullets" to heal and started wrapping herself in bandages. Eventually, she became obsessed with them, even wrapping parts of her body that weren't injured.
Kimono Kurumi: Tired of the Lolita style, she started wearing traditional Japanese kimonos, thinking of herself as a traditional woman and becoming proud of it.
Eye Patch Kurumi: After removing the bandages, she became obsessed with eye patches and discarded the kimono, returning to the dark-themed Lolita outfits.
No one wants to become one of these four, and so, the clones were relieved when they realized they hadn't been selected.
But the body was not pleased.
"Keep drawing. I don't believe I can't get the special clone!"
Another round of ten consecutive shots, loading "Eight Bullets" into the short-barrel revolver, Tokisaki Kurumi's expression darkened as she aimed the gun at her head. However, after a brief hesitation, she aimed it at her chest instead.
Though she didn't understand why the original Tokisaki Kurumi always liked shooting herself in the head, her own head still felt light and dizzy from the earlier shots. She thought it was better not to risk a concussion, so she switched to aiming at her chest.
After aiming at her chest, she pulled the trigger.
"Why is it another regular clone?"
A new batch of clones emerged, and Tokisaki Kurumi's face darkened. She continued firing another round of ten.
One round after another, one after another.
The clones were produced quickly, but so was the time consumption. A hundred clones appeared within minutes.
But they were all regular clones.
"This probability is rigged!" Tokisaki Kurumi glared at the short-barrel revolver in her hand, massaging her sore chest. "I've drawn 140 clones, and still no special clones?!"
The hundreds of clones were eagerly watching, adding to the noise.
"That just means you didn't spend enough."
"Keep going! Keep drawing!"
"This is what happens when you're unlucky."
The clamoring voices only made Tokisaki Kurumi's face darken further. She gritted her teeth and snapped, "Shut up! My face is not unlucky!"
She could feel the remaining time slipping away. Even though she'd gathered so much time last night, it was quickly depleting in these few minutes.
But if she didn't summon the special clone, her plan of having three clones doing triple duty would fall apart.
Tokisaki Kurumi bit her lip, making a firm decision to use the time she'd gathered to draw one final shot.
"Just one more shot, I'll draw this last one."
Her trembling hand loaded the final shot, using her own time to create the "Eight Bullet," taking a deep breath.
This was truly spending her life force.
At this moment, even the chattering clones went silent, holding their breath as they watched, waiting to see if the "one-shot miracle" would happen.
Just as Tokisaki Kurumi was about to pull the trigger, one of the clones shouted, "Wait!"
"What now?!"
"This is the last 'Eight Bullet.' I think it's too important for the unlucky body to handle."
"Agreed. We've summoned over a hundred clones and still no special ones. The luck here is terrible."
"Then who should do it? We have 138 clones here."
"Let's decide with Rock, Paper, Scissors. The winner will get the best luck."
"Nice."
"Good idea."
"Add one."
"Same here."
Quickly, ignoring the body's opinion, the clones reached a consensus.
The 138 clones paired up and played Rock, Paper, Scissors to determine who would be the winner.
After several rounds, clone 66 won the final victory.
"Hmph," Clone 66 smiled crookedly. "Let the unlucky ones see the luck of the European King."
66 rubbed her hands together, took the short-barrel revolver loaded with bullets, and took a deep breath.
Under the gaze of countless clones, she aimed the gun at the body: "Get ready. I'm going to fire."
"Stop talking."
"Bang!"
The last "Eight Bullet" entered Tokisaki Kurumi's body, and a new clone appeared in front of them, slowly opening its eyes.
The first thing it saw was the body's delighted expression and the clones' faces—some filled with pity, others with schadenfreude.
The new clone quickly realized something was wrong and looked at her own outfit.
Unlike the other Tokisaki Kurumis, her outfit wasn't the usual black and red long skirt, but a red leather miniskirt that perfectly outlined her waist.
Around her neck was a strange cross, and although her arms weren't injured, they were wrapped in bandages. She also touched her left eye, now covered by bandages, discovering that even her golden left eye was concealed.
"No——!"
The despairing clone threw her head back and howled.
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