Chapter 458: Yuka Arrives

"There are also traces of holy power around the area where the explosion happened," Hina added. "So there is a good chance that the incident was connected to a fallen angel, or at least someone associated with one."

Kouhei nodded slowly as he considered everything they had learned.

"Right," Kouhei said. "For now, I think it would be best if we meet up with Sano-san. They should be arriving at any moment."

Hina nodded in agreement.

Sano Yuka was going to help them as well.

Ironically enough, her assistance was going to involve helping them find a fallen angel.

Kouhei looked toward Hina after hearing her report and began mentally sorting through everything they had learned. They still did not have enough information to say that the person they were looking for had definitely been involved, but they finally had something resembling a trail.

That was better than having nothing.

"We should avoid jumping to conclusions for now," Kouhei said. "The information is useful, but it still doesn’t prove that the person we’re looking for was actually involved."

"That’s true," Hina replied. "Still, I think it’s worth investigating further, especially since the traces of holy power seem to support what we’ve heard."

"Then we’ll start there," Kouhei said.

***

Yuka finally managed to arrive in Italy after making the trip all the way there, and she was not alone when she arrived. Three people had accompanied her, namely Asami, Eriko, and Chiemi, who had apparently decided to come along and assist her with whatever she needed during their stay.

Asami was standing beside Yuka, while Chiemi was on the other side of her, both of them looking relatively calm after the long journey. Eriko, meanwhile, had somehow ended up being the one responsible for carrying all of their luggage, which meant she was currently dealing with considerably more bags than anyone else. Kouhei could not help wondering how much stuff they had brought with them, because judging from the number of bags Eriko was carrying, they had apparently packed as if they were planning to stay in Italy for several months rather than simply help with an investigation.

"You are finally here, Sano-san," Kouhei said as he approached them.

Kouhei had been waiting for Yuka to arrive because she had previously said that she would assist them with their investigation. He still did not completely understand why she had decided to involve herself in the matter, since she had not exactly explained all of her reasons in detail, but considering the situation they were currently dealing with, having another person willing to help was hardly something he could complain about.

"You came all the way here," Yuuna said as she looked at Yuka. "You could have used a teleportation circle, you know?"

"I have my own plane, so I do not generally use teleportation circles that much," Yuka replied casually. "Besides, it is such a hectic thing to draw, and I would rather just use my plane when I have one available."

She sounded completely reasonable about it.

"By the way, have you gained any new information yet?" Yuka asked, shifting the conversation back toward the reason she had come.

Kouhei shook his head.

"Not yet. The Church has also been investigating the site where the incident happened, so we are laying low for the moment while taking whatever opportunities we can to investigate as well."

The situation had become a matter of patience as much as anything else. They could not simply charge into the area and investigate openly while the Church was already looking into the same incident, because doing so would only draw unnecessary attention toward themselves. At the same time, they could not afford to sit around doing absolutely nothing, especially when finding Yui remained their priority.

"That sounds like it is going to be a bit of work, huh?" Yuka said, her expression becoming slightly more thoughtful. "Well, I suppose finding someone who generally does not want to be found is always going to be difficult. The bigger problem is that the information you have does not really tell you whether the person you are looking for and the person who caused the incident are actually the same person."

"Well, at least we would be able to know that much and write this incident off for now if that turns out to be the case," Kouhei replied.

It was not exactly the conclusion they wanted, but having a definite answer would still be better than continuing to chase a connection that did not actually exist. If the person responsible for the incident turned out to have nothing to do with Yui, then they could stop wasting resources trying to force the two things together and focus their attention somewhere else.

Kouhei still believed there might be something hidden within the incident that could lead them toward Yui, or at the very least provide them with some information about where she had gone. They simply needed to find the right clue, and unfortunately, clues had a bad habit of refusing to appear whenever someone actually needed them.

"Anyway, I should probably get inside my room," Yuka said after thinking about it for a moment. "I will be there for a while, but I can lend some of my members to you so that they can help with the search."

Yuka then turned around and began heading toward her room.

Eriko immediately followed her because she was still carrying all of Yuka’s luggage. She would come back after putting the luggage down in Yuka’s room, but for the moment, Kouhei was left standing there with Asami and Chiemi.

Kouhei looked at the two of them for a moment.

He honestly had no idea what to do with either of them.

It was not that he doubted their abilities, because Yuka obviously would not have brought people along if they were completely useless, but Kouhei did not know what either of them could actually do. He had no idea what their individual abilities were, what kind of investigation they were good at, or whether they had any particular skills that would make them more useful in one area than another.

Giving someone an assignment without knowing what they were capable of was hardly an ideal way to organize a search.

"Well, for now, why don’t you two accompany Hina-san and Sakurako-chan while they investigate around the site?" Kouhei suggested.

Asami looked at him.

There was a brief pause before she answered.

"Since it is the wish of Yuka-sama, I shall conductly do so with passion."

Kouhei had to take a moment to process the strange wording.

It was fairly obvious what Asami actually meant, though. She was willing to cooperate because Yuka had ordered her to do so, rather than because she particularly wanted to follow Kouhei’s instructions. The slight irritation in her expression made that part fairly obvious, even without her needing to say it directly.

It was almost funny in a way.

Asami’s attitude made her loyalty extremely clear. She was loyal to Yuka, and that loyalty apparently had very firm boundaries when it came to other people giving her orders. Kouhei was not exactly offended by it, since he could understand that some people were simply more devoted to their master than others, but he still found himself wondering what exactly he had done to make her dislike him this much.

As far as he knew, he had never actually done anything to her.

At least, he could not remember anything significant.

Perhaps there was some reason that he had simply forgotten, although Kouhei honestly hoped it was not something embarrassing. Having someone dislike him for a reason he did not even remember would be irritating enough, but having that reason turn out to be something stupid would make the whole thing even worse.

Still, figuring out why Asami disliked him was hardly the priority right now.

As long as she was willing to help with the investigation, Kouhei could tolerate the little bit of hostility she was showing toward him. He did not need everyone around him to like him, and he certainly was not going to waste time trying to win Asami’s approval while they were supposed to be searching for Yui.

"Everyone, let’s start with the search for today," Kouhei said as he looked around at the others. "I think it would be better if we split up the areas we are going to search, since we might have a better chance of finding her if we cover more ground that way."

The group began organizing themselves according to the areas they were going to investigate.

There was still no guarantee that they would discover anything useful, but spreading themselves out gave them a better chance of finding something instead of having everyone search the exact same place. They needed information, even if that information turned out to be something small, because sometimes one seemingly insignificant detail could eventually become the clue that connected everything together.

With that in mind, they began their search for the day.