Chapter 402: The Same World |
Inside the steam-filled bathroom, Hoshino Gen lay in the bathtub, answering his phone.
It was Asaba Shinichi calling again. They had not finished their conversation earlier at the Fanxing Entertainment office, so they were picking up where they left off.
"In just this short amount of time, another huge piece of news has come out of London!"
"An Earl's family, I think it was Hausman or Holman. Thirty minutes ago, it was revealed that their entire household, including nearly a hundred servants, was slaughtered completely. The whole manor looks like it was drenched in a rain of blood. Tsk, tsk, photos are all over the Dark Web right now!"
"Some say it was done by desperate underground Transcendents, while others say the Holy See did it to drag the Royal Family into the mud..." Asaba Shinichi's voice brimmed with excitement. "Right now, all of London is just one giant playground for a game of tag with ghosts! If they had not locked down customs right away, I definitely would have rushed over there by now."
"But speaking of which, if it were you, they would probably let you through, right? After all, you practically count as a member of the Isabelle Family! With things over there in such chaos, are you not planning to go over and take charge?"
Hoshino Gen stared calmly at the bathroom ceiling. After a moment of thought, he replied, "No one called for me to go."
"Before you contacted me, I had not received any information from over there."
"I suppose they do not need me."
"Who knows," Hoshino Gen responded in a carefree tone.
"Hah, forget it, it is fine if you do not go." Asaba Shinichi chuckled. "After all, things are not exactly peaceful on our end either, especially with the recent establishment of the Countermeasures Department. When they really start carrying out purges and crackdowns against supernatural criminals, Tokyo might just become exactly what London is right now."
"Ah, speaking of which, I originally wanted you to bring me along when you went to London. But now that I think about it, I probably cannot afford to step away either!"
"..."
Feeling that he had soaked long enough, Hoshino Gen gave a casual response, hung up the phone, and tossed it into the laundry basket.
...
After finishing his bath, Hoshino Gen changed into a refreshing short-sleeved shirt and shorts. When he went downstairs, Shimizu Yu was in the living room, gathered around the coffee table with the two little ones playing Aeroplane Chess.
As soon as she saw him come down, Tamamo-no-Mae immediately waved her small hands, calling him over to join them.
Hoshino Gen did walk over, but he turned a blind eye to the board game on the coffee table. Instead, he picked up a controller, turned on the game console, and sat on the sofa, immersing himself in his own world.
Under the clear night sky of early autumn, the large white dog lay sleeping beneath the swing in the courtyard, while the little white wolf squatted on the ground, gazing up at the bright full moon.
Inside, the lights were bright, and the sound effects of the game blended seamlessly into the girls' laughter like fitting background audio.
...
...
A ringing sound suddenly filled all his auditory senses, and his vision was abruptly plunged into a vast expanse of white.
Feelings of dizziness and restraint fed back to his mind one by one through his body.
When the blinding white light faded and his vision cleared, Hoshino Gen found himself seemingly sitting in the audience seating of an auditorium.
Singing drifted over from the stage, moving from far to near, shifting from blurry to clear.
He could not see the singer; perhaps it was just music playing over the speakers.
Hoshino Gen looked down and saw "his" slender, petite hands and the beautiful black hair falling by his ears. Most notably, a jet-black ring rested on the index finger of the left hand.
Hoshino Gen remembered that just a moment ago, he had been flipping through reports in the Fanxing Entertainment office...
The situation was very obvious.
When his younger sister, Hoshino Rin, had left home, Hoshino Gen had given her one of the Soul-Swapping Rings, which allowed the two wearers to exchange souls. It was meant to serve as a lifeline in case she encountered danger.
So, was she currently facing a security threat?
Hoshino Gen looked around and found that there were people sitting on both sides of "him". To be precise, the seats were filled with members and staff of TKY02.
In particular, the TKY02 members were all wearing their performance outfits. Judging by the scene and the time, they were likely preparing for a rehearsal—
But right now, everyone other than "himself" was staring blankly and hollowly at the stage where the singing was coming from.
The answer became even more obvious.
There were ghosts and monsters in this venue...
It was not a particularly surprising situation. Hoshino Rin had lived under the same roof as him for so long that she had been tainted by a bit of the aura of corruption. It made perfect sense that she would become unlucky and prone to attracting ghosts and monsters. This was exactly why Hoshino Gen had given her the Soul-Swapping Ring when she went on a long trip.
Something expected early on was naturally much easier to accept.
Besides, this was not the first time.
It was just that...
Hoshino Gen tried to stand up, but failed.
An invisible force bound him to the audience seat, making him almost completely unable to move. As for why it was "almost," it was naturally because he could still blink. And if he wanted to, it seemed he could also speak?
That made sense. If she could not even open her mouth, then Hoshino Rin probably would not have been able to recite the command to "unlock" in the Latin language, lifting the restriction on the Soul-Swapping Ring to summon Hoshino Gen to take over for her.
If it were Hoshino Gen's own body, he could naturally ignore this level of restraint, but unfortunately, he was currently using his sister's body.
It was delicate and powerless, to the point that as soon as he came "online," he was in a state of "paralysis."
There was absolutely no room for regular maneuvers.
The current Hoshino Gen was like a scientist whose head was full of blueprints and whose practical skills were maxed out, yet who was locked in a completely empty cell.
Even the cleverest housewife cannot cook a meal without rice.
However, Hoshino Gen knew that his sister's body possessed the ability to create "rice," and it could also provide him with the materials needed to forge a "suit of iron armor" right there in the cell.
As twins, Hoshino Rin carried the Supernatural Gene in her body, just like her older brother.
The only difference was that unlike her brother, Hoshino Gen, whose gene had been activated since childhood, Hoshino Rin had barely encountered even the slightest bit of danger before coming into contact with him. There was nothing in her life that could act as a catalyst to stimulate and awaken her Supernatural Gene.
As a result, even though she harbored top-tier potential that even a Cardinal of the Holy See would drool over, she remained an ordinary person up to this point.
In truth, Hoshino Gen did not want Hoshino Rin's Supernatural Gene to be activated.
A winding, thorny, pitch-black... and even fog-filled, bizarre little path—or a spacious, bright, straight, and smooth avenue bathed in sunlight...
This could not even be considered a multiple-choice question.
Hoshino Rin essentially had everything: the most profound family background, unparalleled beauty and talent, and a powerful older brother capable of protecting her.
She had no need to put herself in danger.
But this world seemed to always be this way. It seemed to resent flawless existences; the moment it found one, it would inevitably force some indelible flaws upon it.
Just like right now.
Hoshino Gen had been dealing with these eerie entities for two lifetimes. He fully understood the powerlessness of an ordinary person when facing the supernatural, and the longer time passed, the more profound that powerlessness became.
He had also never been an indecisive person.
Even if it was not his preferred method, when he had no choice but to use it, he would not hesitate for a single second.
With his eyelids half-lowered, it looked as though he let out a sigh, but at the same time, it seemed like he had not.
Yet in this exact instant, the incredibly sturdy shackles that would bind a pure novice were effortlessly shattered by him.
The feeling of confinement receded like flowing water. He stood up, and those beautiful, different-colored eyes, which bore a seventy percent resemblance to his true body, ignited with a faint, crimson glow.
Through Hoshino Rin's eyes, Hoshino Gen saw the exact same world he saw through his own.