After Transmigrating to Become Lady Skylark - Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Before heading out, Jin Chaoyan summoned 001 as her substitute, instructing it to immediately activate [Suntun Rikka] for defense the moment it detected danger.

As long as it blocked the initial strike and gave her time to react, it was impossible for an enemy to deal a second blow to her; otherwise, all these powerful skills Jin Chaoyan had purchased would be a waste of money.

However, 001 asked a question, “What if there is no danger?”

Wouldn’t it be working for nothing?

Jin Chaoyan: “Then I guess you’re just unlucky?”

001: “…Your spirit of exploiting people for free labor has already taken the preliminary shape of a true capitalist.”

“You can’t put it that way,” Jin Chaoyan said as she followed the navigation on her phone, leading Kina forward while typing to chat with the customer service. “Is it only allowed for you guys to release skills and harvest me like a leek, but not allowed for me to find a way to get some free auxiliary functions? In business, one must always be able to bear a bit of risk.”

001, who usually replied in seconds with extreme service spirit, fell silent for a long time this time—as if the signal was bad or it was pretending to be offline. Jin Chaoyan stopped at a traffic light to check her surroundings before continuing to urge it in the chat box.

By the time it reluctantly agreed, Jin Chaoyan had already arrived near Take Sushi and saw her pink-blue Ferrari parked nearby.

Perhaps because a violent incident had occurred on this street recently, no pedestrians approached Take Sushi even in broad daylight. Fortunately, Jin Chaoyan and Kina hadn’t seen a single black-clad Millefiore member on their way. Seeing that the block was empty and the navigation led them directly forward, the two of them quickly and quietly slid open the wooden door of Take Sushi and slipped inside.

The shop, which looked normal from the outside, presented a scene inside that resembled purgatory. Blood splatters were everywhere on the walls, tables and chairs were overturned, and the cooking counter was sliced clean in half as if cut by a razor-sharp blade.

But there wasn’t a single corpse.

“!”

Kina, who had just closed the door, turned around and was startled by this scene. Her first reaction was to cover her mouth, then she quickly looked at Jin Chaoyan, only to find that her mistress had already closed her eyes and extended her left hand forward—

Her left hand, which had been bare of jewelry when they arrived, was now wrapped in a mysterious circle of chains. Each finger bore a ring engraved with complex runes. As she spread her fingers toward the front, the chains moved without wind, clinking with a chilling, solitary sound.

Then, the chain on her ring finger seemed guided by a mysterious force in the air. The small metal ball at its tip began to snake toward the cooking counter like a flexible, swimming silver serpent.

At that moment, Jin Chaoyan abruptly opened her eyes.

She was currently using the cheapest version of the [Judgment Chain], which only possessed the Dowsing Chain ability of the ring finger. However, for exploring traces of Nen, it was the most effective tool, as the card [S8-The Hole That Disappears] was also related to Nen; both belonged to the same power system of that world.

Sure enough, the Dowsing Chain showed that the traces of Nen vanished at the cooking counter.

The woman, who had tied her long hair behind her head to reveal a clear forehead and slender neck and wore a simple tracksuit, rolled up the sleeves of her thin athletic jacket. Her eyes could naturally see a vortex guided by the chain in the air—one that no one but her could see.

That must be the opened entrance to the hole.

Unfortunately, she could see it but could not enter.

The good news was that Jin Kazumiko was likely behind this entrance, and the fact that this manifested cave still existed meant the user of the card was likely still alive.

The bad news was that Jin Chaoyan could only wait at the entrance like a hunter waiting for a rabbit.

She looked around the room once more. Since she wasn’t a detective and hadn’t studied any suspense-solving skills, she couldn’t even tell if the struggle here was a one-sided massacre by Millefiore or if there had been a violent confrontation between two parties.

After getting the answer she wanted, she turned her head and gave Kina a slight nod, indicating she had found a lead. The housekeeper tiptoed to the door, opened a crack, saw the street outside was still as silent as when they arrived, and slowly pulled the door open to step out ahead of her.

Jin Chaoyan did not let down her guard. She followed closely behind, walking with her to the street corner, when she suddenly saw Kina take a flashing phone from her pocket and cast a questioning glance her way.

“?”

Kina saw there were no black-clad men around, and after receiving a nod, she picked up the phone. “Mr. Kusakabe… yes.”

She heard something that made her expression fill with surprise, and then she smilingly handed the phone to Jin Chaoyan.

Uncertain if they had escaped the crisis and still considering whether to drive her car away, the woman took it in confusion, thinking Kusakabe had something important to report. She spoke absentmindedly:

“Hello?”

“Where are you.”

The short question carried a quality that made her ears tingle. It rooted her steps in place. Jin Chaoyan’s breathing hitched for a beat, and she couldn’t help but pull the phone away, shrugging one shoulder to rub her ear, trying to shake off the itchy sensation caused by the sudden sound of his voice.

—Was this man’s voice always this good? It was unbearable even through a phone.

Jin Chaoyan had already forgotten what he just said and instinctively asked: “Huh?”

“No one is at home,” Kyoya Hibari stated calmly, and then, uncharacteristically, repeated himself, “Where are you?”

Having finally given up on driving away that conspicuous vehicle, Jin Chaoyan walked into a crowded block with Kina. Her defensiveness eased slightly as she devoted energy to answering him. “Kazumiko is missing. I came out to look for her… mmm, the sister who was kidnapped with me last time. She came to Namimori to find me a while ago.”

“Send the photos and information to Tetsuya. Let him help you find her,” Hibari replied.

“That works…” Jin Chaoyan thought of the Millefiore surveillance at Take Sushi and knew that relying solely on her and Kina to watch the situation was inevitably insufficient. She agreed readily, “If Mr. Kusakabe is free, then please trouble him to bring more people.”

“Tell him the specifics. After it’s done, have him bring you over.”

“Go over?”

“We won’t be staying at that mansion for a while. Moving to a different place.”

“Okay.”

The two of them communicated with high efficiency. At the end, Jin Chaoyan finally remembered something and added hesitantly, “By the way, should I say to you… welcome home?”

Namimori Shrine.

Sawada Tsuna, wearing an orange and white hoodie, watched Kyoya Hibari. After putting away his box, Hibari had walked over to say a few words to Kusakabe-senpai, then suddenly asked for the other’s phone to make a call. Because the other was far away, walking alone under a tree, Tsuna could only vaguely see the dazzling spots of light cast by the swaying shadows on that face across the distance. However, he did not miss the obvious curve at the corner of the man’s lips before he hung up.

When Kyoya Hibari walked back, Sawada Tsuna felt, for some reason, that this Hibari-senpai from ten years in the future seemed to be in a good mood.

A bright yellow bird flew onto Hibari’s shoulder. It had a conspicuous black miniature bag slung across its body, instantly making the bird’s aura feel wealthy and prestigious.

“Hibari~ Hibari~”

Looking at this clearly dressed-up bird happily pairing with the cold-faced Hibari, Sawada Tsuna hesitated for a long time before finally saying to Kusakabe, who was busy picking up the injured Yamamoto: “Was Hibird… a girl all along?”

“No.”

Tetsuya Kusakabe bit the blade of grass in his mouth and said calmly, “But Madam likes to dress it up like this.”

“Mmm… Eh?!”

Sawada Tsuna felt as if he had just heard a word more terrifying and horrifying than anything else!

Even Lal Mirch, who was thoughtfully watching Kyoya Hibari open the hidden door to the base, looked over in surprise. She then said, “I did hear about a month ago that he seemed to have gotten married. But because no one had ever seen his spouse, many people thought it was a rumor… So it’s true?”

If that’s true, then the other rumor about him—could it be true as well?

“HUH???”

Sawada Tsuna’s pupils suffered an earthquake. He instinctively raised the hand that had been injured by the Black Spell members when he first traveled to this world ten years in the future and pointed toward the now-empty entrance of the base: “You mean th-that Hibari-senpai… is married?!”

“Ow, that hurts!” He lowered his hand, his mind instinctively generating countless guesses. One moment he imagined a muscular woman fighting Hibari until the heavens collapsed, the next he thought of a quiet, delicate type—a gentle woman who would intimately link arms with Hibari while walking.

But no matter which one it was, it felt incredibly eerie!

Lal Mirch didn’t know why he was making such a fuss and looked at him with her red eyes. “In your Japan, being married at twenty-five is quite normal, isn’t it?”

“While that may be true…”

Sawada Tsuna’s worldview was still being shattered by this sudden news. His head was filled with the image of that Disciplinary Committee Chairman from school who hated crowding and spent most of his time alone except for collecting protection fees. Because the man was too willful and self-centered, unrestrained by rules, the fact that he entered a marriage at a normal age for normal people was the greatest abnormality of all!

“Anyway…” He helped carry Gokudera and kept up with Tetsuya Kusakabe’s pace, having no time to look at the classical Japanese decorations inside Hibari’s base. He asked hesitantly, “Kusakabe-senpai, will that Madam… also appear here?”

“Kyo-san planned it that way, though I don’t know if Madam is coming yet.”

“Ah?”

Sawada Tsuna was dazed for a moment.

Tetsuya Kusakabe looked at him. “Because the Foundation has protected the information very well, Madam’s specific details have not been leaked to the Millefiore side yet. In other words, it is safe for her to walk outside, so she doesn’t necessarily have to come to the base for refuge.”

…Still completely impossible to imagine.

Sawada Tsuna’s eyes went blank. He felt that his meager brain cells simply couldn’t conceive of who exactly the marriage partner protected so thoroughly by Kyoya Hibari could be.

He unknowingly muttered his thoughts aloud, and Tetsuya Kusakabe heard them.

Just as they reached the door connecting to the Vongola base, Kusakabe stopped and gave a hint—one that he hadn’t had time to say when he was questioned by the various Vongola members ten years in the future:

“You should know her.”

“Madam also studied at Namimori Middle School before, and she was in the same class as you.”

Sawada Tsuna, suffering yet another massive blow of gossip: “…EH?!?”

An acquaintance?

Hibari-senpai’s marriage partner… is actually an acquaintance of his?!

Who could it possibly be? Among the people he knew, was there actually a woman that brave?!

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