Yajō.
That name was not new to Alice and Aoko.
But the last time they had heard it had been from Lucan's own mouth — in a conversation he'd had with Lydell. It was the same organization whose influence had reached into the Far East, the group tied to that gorgeous young-looking monk-woman whom Sesshōin Kiara had once tangled with — a woman who had once attacked Alice and later "joined" Lucan's side. In Lucan's telling, Yajō's scale was enormous: it reached across the entire Far East, controlling almost every underworld syndicate.
To Aoko's limited knowledge of modern Mysteries, "calling it a magus faction" didn't quite fit neatly — but that label helped her understand the shape of things.
Now, sitting in the carriage as it rolled toward Fuyuki, she turned to Lucan and said earnestly, "I'm beginning to believe what you said before."
"Your ancestor — he really was someone like Sugawara Utaaki in old Yamato?" she asked.
Why else, she wondered, could he show up anywhere and be taken for granted, receive deference and ease?
Alice's dark eyes carried the same small trace of puzzlement.
"This is the shadow of an ancient lineage," Lucan said with a crooked laugh from the rear of the carriage, the sound a little too pleased and almost boyish. "Actually, I have another name — Sugawara Lucan."
"Yeah, right," Aoko scoffed, not buying it for a second.
Alice, however, nodded in a way that betrayed thoughtfulness. "It makes sense," she said simply.
"You believe him now?" Aoko glowered at her companion — the witch she lived with who had lately seemed to fall on Lucan's side more than hers.
Alice considered, then spoke with the air of a quiet analyst: "Whether it's the Ruvist or Victor line, those names don't stretch back as far as the Sugawara legacy. They cannot explain the scene we encountered earlier."
Aoko huffed inwardly. Logic wasn't what she wanted right then; she wanted the fairy-tale, the grand origin. Still, the confirmation eased the knot of doubt in her chest.
From the front seats came a voice: calm, polite, unmistakably formal. "In fact, Young Lord Lucan's claim is not untrue."
They all turned. The woman at the wheel — the same one who had met them at the station and escorted them — answered now with composed politeness. "Although some of us were perplexed as well, he is indeed a descendant of Lord Utaaki."
Aoko blinked. For a moment she felt almost dizzy at the idea that the descendant of the legendary Sugawara could be sitting casually beside them, looking like any ordinary foreign youth. She felt a small disillusionment brush past. Alice, however, simply accepted it and nodded faintly, satisfied that her inference had been confirmed.
Lucan's gaze tracked the woman driving the car; she was the same "Yajō Yukinobu" who had greeted them at the platform. Clad in a neat suit, she looked like a poised butler — professional, quietly capable. Lucan's curiosity surfaced. "Are you the heir to Yajō?" he asked.
"Not an heir," she replied without glancing back, respectful but concise. "I merely assist Lady Akane with administrative duties."
Lady Akane — Yajō Akane — was the genuine head of Yajō, the true leader of the syndicate.
Lucan tilted his head. "You carry a decent level of Mystery."
"It's simply that Lady Akane has shown me favor," Yukinobu answered. "Such talents are nothing before someone of your stature." As she spoke she flicked a sideways glance through the rearview mirror and permitted herself a small, inward admiration for the handsome, composed youth occupying the back seat — a figure who, like his reputed ancestor, bore fortune and influence as if it were an inherited right.
"Bloodline, huh?" Lucan acknowledged, accepting the nod. He noticed the gazes that kept shifting to him, the little deferences he received — yet he was unbothered, almost relaxed in the girls' company. The Holy Grail War in Fuyuki had not yet begun; even if it had, he thought, few Servants conjured by the Grail could threaten him. Most mundane threats or physical attacks he could shrug off with the barrier made from his divine-aether; many conceptual threats he could see through with his Divine Thought in an instant. So he was not rattled.
He asked another question, casual in tone: "What precisely does the title 'Co-Ruler' mean?"
Yuk inobu's expression remained composed as she told them the history. "It's an old Yamato concept. A thousand years ago, after Lord Utaaki's passing, the organizations of esoteric governance that he briefly unified — what were then the major shrines and cloistered orders — fragmented." She gestured as if reciting a formal chronicle. "But the legendary Onmyōji of the age, Abe Yasuchika, predicted that a thousand years hence, the 'Sugawara' would return. The prophecy said: once again, the Sugawara line will bring the disparate forces under a single banner — becoming the kyōshu, the Co-Ruler of the Mysteries."
Lucan folded that in with a small smile. No wonder he had never learned the whole tale — the Sugawara consolidation had been ephemeral, a short-lived peace. Yet Lucan recognized how easily history could yield to charisma and occult authority when the right name held sway. Especially after he had laid the groundwork and created several exorcist houses of his own, peaceful periods had come to pass.
Yukinobu continued, "By the way, the title was declared again this morning. Someone used the Sugawara talisman and opened the shrine." She spoke with the formal decorum of a herald. "A proclamation was sent to all of Yamato, demanding the eight other houses submit."
Lucan's eyes narrowed in thought. Was this an attempt to revive a factional war of unification within the Far East? Was Kiara — that meddlesome Burial Agency monster — truly so fond of stirring events? Even if Kiara had brought the talisman on Lucan's instigation, he did not want another full-scale unification struggle on his hands. He'd no desire to reforge Yamato's native power networks for its own sake.
Silence sat for a moment, then Yukinobu added quietly: "And while the people who acted were Yajō agents, the real mover behind them is the one they call the 'Co-Ruler.'"
The words rode the carriage's slight sway as if they were a prelude. Lucan's chest tightened. "The descendant of Sugawara—!?" he breathed.
—
Meanwhile, in another part of Fuyuki City — the older quarter near the mountains where the town still held onto its ancient courtyards — a man stood looking out from a second-floor window. The man was impeccably dressed in a deep red Western-style uniform; his posture was precisely upright, his expression measured and cool. He was the same man revered as a church official and trusted with local leyline oversight. Behind him, a tall figure clad in priestly garb stood ready.
"Kirei," the man said in a low tone, "what did the leyline monitors report?"
Kotomine Kirei answered respectfully, "Sir. According to the sensors, an outside occult organization has entered Fuyuki's jurisdiction." He frowned. "And they did not file notification."
By local agreement — a fragile détente arranged in these quiet years — any non-local magus traveling into a domain that housed leylines was required to register with the Church. It was a ritual of supervision, a way to preserve outward peace. Kirei had been given responsibilities beyond his church duties; Tōsaka Tokiomi — the true local leyline manager, a man of both church and family standing — had appointed him as a supervisor. The convergence of ecclesiastical and magus authority was unusual; the Tōsaka family had once worked with the Church and later aligned with magecraft, building a bridge between two spheres. This placed them in a special if delicate position.
Tokiomi's countenance stiffened. "No notification? At a time like this — we're at the brink of the Grail War." His voice was tight with concern. "Can you verify who they are?"
Kirei replied, "Preliminary data suggests they are Yajō operatives."
"Tokiomi's eyes sharpened at the name Yajō. "When did they take any interest in the Grail?" he asked, incredulous.
To the Tōsaka family, keepers of the Fuyuki leyline and one of the three original clans that helped form the modern Grail system, Western magecraft and seals were their inheritance. Rumors even spoke of distant ancestors who had learned under a certain Magic Marshal. They were Yamato through and through — but that did not mean they were ignorant of the old native occult orders. Those orders, linked to divine fragments, operated at a level similar to Age-of-Gods arts; they did not need the Grail to exercise power close to divinity. Though in modern times their scale had dwindled and they could not rival Western institutions outright, they remained formidable.
Kirei's voice grew firmer. "It's true Yajō acted, but they were acting on behalf of the one they call 'Co-Ruler.'"
When Tokiomi heard "Co-Ruler" and "Sugawara descendant" together, his pupils constricted. A weight settled on his face as if he'd been handed a page of history that returned with claws. This was no small intrusion — it meant Yamato's ancient networks were shifting, and the Grail's stage might grow crowded with forces who had their own claims and dreams.