Chapter 132: No Train at the Platform

---

Attracted by the sound, Tazu came back to her senses and turned her head.

The members of Group Nine had already disappeared into the distant mist. She didn’t use her divine power to check.

“What’s wrong?” she asked strangely.

“Tourists. It’s early in the morning, and they thought no one was around. They probably got scared when they saw a bunch of people in the thick fog,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a laugh.

“Ordinary people don’t know that shrine maidens have to do morning prayers,” Tazu also laughed.

“Speaking of which, on my first day in Kyoto, before the sun was up, I heard a monk chanting on the ‘Philosopher’s Path’ and was startled. I later found out that monks who are not practitioners have to practice every morning to make their chanting more ‘Buddhist’, like singing.”

“No matter what line of work, diligence is indispensable.”

“Mhm, even a genius like me must be diligent. Or rather, my extraordinary diligence is also one of my talents,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

Tazu sized him up for a couple of moments, then covered her mouth and laughed, “Kiyomoto-kun can also joke.”

“Hmm?” Minamoto Kiyomoto was stunned for a moment, then laughed, “Let’s just say it’s a joke. By the way, when you see Sayaka, remember to say hello to her for me. Tell her that I still remember her in a black dress.”

After saying this, Minamoto Kiyomoto realized that he could indeed joke.

He had always thought of himself as a simple and honest man, who only wanted to marry two wives and didn’t care about anything else.

However, besides being a joke, this was also a code.

“Okay,” Tazu nodded.

Minamoto Kiyomoto thought that the people from Group Nine should have run far away by now, so he raised his hand and gestured to Kamibayashi Miko.

He pointed in the direction of the approach, indicating that he was leaving for a bit.

In the wisps of mist, Kamibayashi Miko, who was like an untainted fairy, frowned slightly in dissatisfaction, but in the end, she agreed with her eyes and warned him not to go far and to come back early.

Minamoto Kiyomoto returned a look of obedience, turned, and walked towards the approach.

◇

“What’s wrong with you two?” Horse Face asked, puzzled, as he ran.

“It’s… it’s Minamoto Kiyomoto. I saw him,” Rabbit’s voice was hoarse.

“What?!” everyone exclaimed, their hearts stopping.

“How could he be here?!” Koi said in a panic.

“It’s over, it’s over, it’s over!” Fatty muttered desperately, his eyes darting around, wishing he could hide in the trash can in front of the convenience store.

“Don’t panic, go to a crowded place!” The monk who said this had a heart that was pounding like thunder. He couldn’t even hear his own voice.

“No!” Rabbit swallowed hard. “It’s still early. There’s no one on the street!”

In the early morning when the thick fog had not yet dispersed, let alone Izumo, even the most prosperous Ginza in Tokyo would have few people at this time.

“The early morning train, escape into the early morning train!” The salaryman, Horse Face, had a flash of inspiration and roared.

“Good idea, let’s go!” Monkey made a decisive decision.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Yuka’s consciousness finally broke free from her body’s paralysis. “I’m sorry, I’ve brought this upon everyone.”

“It’s not your fault. Who knew that guy would be there!” Rabbit immediately comforted her.

“We’ll talk about apologies later. Let’s run for our lives now!” the monk said as he ran, looking back.

The half-dispersed thick fog, the shrouded Izumo-taisha, was like a crouching monster.

Amidst the surprised gazes of the people around them, the group rushed into the station and stood on the most crowded platform.

They were panting heavily.

Rabbit and Yuka supported each other; Monkey and the monk had their hands on their knees;
Horse Face leaned against the wall, almost sliding to the ground.

Koi’s heart was pounding wildly, her tightly clenched palms sweating.

Fatty, as if he hadn’t run at all, was neither out of breath nor tired. He just kept muttering, “It’s over, it’s over, it’s over. Let’s surrender, I want to surrender.”

“Shut up!” Horse Face slapped him hard. “Are you trying to get us killed?”

Fatty stopped making a sound, but his lips trembled, still murmuring silently. His face was pale, without a trace of any other color.

“I’m sorry,” Yuka’s heart was full of guilt. She wished she could jump onto the tracks and be hit by a speeding train, turning into a bloody pulp.

If Minamoto Kiyomoto hadn’t recognized her, they wouldn’t have been in danger.

“It was everyone’s idea to go out and play. It has nothing to do with you,” Monkey said, panting, as he straightened up and wiped his sweat.

“It’s all those group leaders’ fault!” Horse Face cursed in a low voice. “They had to make us come to Izumo. With so many people gathered together, it would be a problem if nothing happened!”

“What now?” Fatty looked at everyone blankly. “Why don’t we surrender? What if we can survive? What if we only have to go to jail for a few years?”

“What if? How what if?” Horse Face said irritably.

“That’s right!” Koi said as if she had just remembered. “Contact the group leader! And Michiko! As long as they’re here, we—”

“No!” Rabbit bit her lip, drawing blood. “Minamoto Kiyomoto is not an ordinary practitioner. If he’s here, the Divine Medium and the Ise Miko must be here too, and the Izumo Miko. Contacting the group leader and Michiko will only implicate them.”

She looked at her companions, with whom she had gone through life and death many times.

“We… can only rely on ourselves,” her eyes were firm.

“Damn it! If I die, I die!” Horse Face gritted his teeth. “I knew it when I went to Todai last time. I’ll die sooner or later with you guys!”

“What do you mean by that? What do you mean you’ll definitely die with us?” Rabbit said irritably.

“I’m dying with you. Can’t you let me complain a little?” Horse Face was even more irritated.

“Alright, alright,” Monkey persuaded the two of them. “No matter what, we are all comrades who will live and die together now.”

“I know,” Rabbit said. “Horse Face is just annoying with his mouth. He protected us last time too.”

Horse Face snorted, “I had no choice. If I had a chance, as long as I could survive, I would definitely leave you and run.”

He looked at the crowd and continued in a calm tone:

“You too. Run if you can. Don’t mind me.”

The crowd fell silent. On this peaceful, crowded station platform, they were waiting for the train of death.

“I say, let’s just surrender,” Fatty looked at everyone with an expression that was about to break down.

“Look,” he said desperately, “he dated the group leader. Maybe he still…”

“Fatty!” Horse Face grabbed Fatty’s shoulders, his eyes looking straight at him.

Their faces, one unusually long, the other incredibly round, would definitely make Rabbit and the others burst out laughing if they were so close at any other time.

However, at this moment, everyone’s nerves were numb, and they couldn’t feel any emotion.

“If you think surrendering will let you live, then go and surrender. As long as you think you can live, whatever it is, just do it,” Horse Face said to Fatty with a serious face, without a trace of sarcasm or joking.

Fatty’s fear and panic melted away like mud in water.

He nodded fearfully, no longer speaking, his eyes timidly looking around.

“How long until the next train?” the monk asked.

Horse Face let go of Fatty, looked at his watch, and then remembered that he didn’t know the train schedule for Izumo at all.

“Three more minutes,” Rabbit said, looking at the electronic screen in the station.

In order to suppress their uncontrollable eagerness, they all took a deep breath in perfect unison.

At this moment, they were like snails under a hydraulic press. The hydraulic press had already started, and they didn’t know when it would fall, yet they couldn’t walk any faster.

“The train bound for Shimane University Hospital is now arriving at Platform 1!”

As soon as the female announcer’s voice sounded, Yuka immediately said, “It’s here!”

“Where are we going?”

“Anywhere—”

A huge terror that almost made her scream out loud shot through Yuka’s spine.

Her armpits, scalp, and back were covered in sticky sweat in almost a second.

They slowly turned around and saw Minamoto Kiyomoto sitting on a platform bench, holding a morning paper he had bought at the station.

He was flipping through the paper in his hand, not looking at them.

The number of people on the platform was decreasing. The train rumbled away.

The train conductor, while adjusting his hat, gave them a strange look as they stood there foolishly, then turned and walked away.

The station, which had been crowded just now, was now empty except for them and, finally, the executioner.

Rabbit took the initiative and charged forward unexpectedly.

“Rabbit, come back!” Yuka shouted.

Before she could finish, with a boom, Rabbit crashed onto the train tracks. Blood flowed from her hair, sleeves, and pant legs.

“Rabbit! Rabbit!” Yuka and Koi quickly jumped down from the platform.

“Damn it!” Horse Face and the others gritted their teeth, staring at Minamoto Kiyomoto with anger and fear.

“‘Cancer-stricken, impoverished elderly person driven out, dies at hospital entrance. What’s wrong with doctors these days?!'” Minamoto Kiyomoto read the headline of the newspaper.

“Absurd!” he said.

“Hospitalization and discharge have nothing to do with whether you have money or not. There is only one standard: from a medical point of view, is the patient in a state that requires hospitalization or a state that requires discharge? That’s the only standard.”

“But, unfortunately,” Minamoto Kiyomoto put down the newspaper, slowly stood up, and said to the members of Group Nine in a leisurely tone, “this world is cruel.”

“Minamoto Kiyomoto, I don’t know them! If you have a problem, come at me!” Yuka, who was supporting Rabbit, shouted.

“Oh?” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s gaze swept over Horse Face, Monkey, the monk, and Fatty one by one. “You don’t know Miss Yuka?”

“…”

They didn’t want to say they didn’t know, but they couldn’t bring themselves to say they did.

They knew that whether they knew her or not was meaningless. Minamoto Kiyomoto would not let them go. But why didn’t they even have the courage to speak!
A helpless tremor, burning their bodies, almost made them break down.

On this cool morning, sweat flowed down their sideburns and into their necks.

Monkey, panting, exchanged a glance with the monk.

“Myo-o Spell!”

“Teppo-zan!”

Their divine power burned.

A demon-faced Asura, holding a giant axe, charged out from the monk;
Monkey clasped his hands together and slashed diagonally, a bursting slash of wind;
The demon-faced Asura and the slash of wind came down on Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Minamoto Kiyomoto stood motionless, his clothes billowing and fluttering in the divine power.

“What are you doing?” he asked with a smile, and slapped out with his palm.

Boom! A wave of light exploded, dazzlingly beautiful.

The demon-faced Asura and the slash of wind couldn’t even hold on for half a second. The tyrannical black divine power swept over them like a giant wave.

The monk and Monkey only felt a blackness before their eyes, their bodies wracked with immense pain. When they came to, they were already lying on the tracks, like a pile of rags, casually discarded on the ground.

“Monkey! Monk!” Horse Face looked back for a moment, then immediately turned his head back and glared at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

His gums were already bleeding from gritting his teeth, and his nails were deeply embedded in his palms, but he didn’t dare, didn’t dare to make any move.

“Ah, ah,” Fatty let out an unconscious groan.

“That was close,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said nonchalantly, patting his shoulder and dusting off his clothes. “Almost got my clothes dirty.”

“You bastard!” Horse Face said, his eyes bloodshot.

Anger, but more fear.

His hands trembled so much he didn’t even have the strength to make a fist.

The most resourceful Rabbit, the strongest monk, and the most stable Monkey in Group Nine were all taken out in one move.

And he hadn’t even turned into his demon form!

He hadn’t even used a proper spell!

This guy… just how strong is he! Hasn’t he only been training for half a year!
Horse Face roared in his heart.

“Stop!” Yuka jumped onto the platform, her slender body standing in front of everyone, facing Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“I don’t know them. Let them go!” she stared at Minamoto Kiyomoto, her chest heaving with fear.

“Miss Yuka, you haven’t answered my question yet, have you?” Minamoto Kiyomoto tilted his head slightly and asked with a smile, “Where are you going?”

The sky, which had become clear after the fog dissipated, the sunlight shining on Minamoto Kiyomoto’s side profile, in Yuka’s eyes, was like a cold-blooded beast that ate people.

Yuka took a deep breath, “You let them go, and I’ll tell you everything.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto stared at Yuka for a second or two.

“Okay,” he said with a nonchalant smile, and without looking, he waved at the others, “Scram.”

“…”

That attitude towards a stray dog… Horse Face’s face was ferocious, but his body couldn’t move.

“Go!” Yuka roared at them. “Take Rabbit and the others and go!”

Horse Face turned his head to look at her, finally relaxed his posture, turned around, and prepared to jump off the platform.

“I… cough, cough… I’m not going!” Rabbit stood up with Koi’s support.

Her face was covered in blood, and her beautiful clothes were covered in blood and mud.

“Rabbit, you still have a child! Go!” Yuka said angrily.

“But… cough, cough… my friends are here, Yuka,” Rabbit showed a helpless, weak smile.

Yuka stared at her blankly, tears streaming from her eyes.

“We said we were family,” Monkey grabbed the platform and struggled to get up.

“Amitabha…” The monk adjusted his legs with his hand and sat cross-legged in the middle of the tracks. His flickering divine power was like self-immolation.

“I’m not going either!” Koi looked up at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Horse Face clenched his fists, looking at them.

“I’m not going to care about you!” he squeezed a sound from his throat as if tearing it.

Rabbit gave him a brilliant smile, blood flowing into her mouth.

“Ah!” Horse Face let out a roar like a wounded beast, turned, and grabbed Fatty’s shoulder. “Fatty, let’s go!”

“…Ugh, okay,” Fatty replied, trembling.

The two of them didn’t dare to use their divine power and ran with all their might towards the outside of the platform.

“Miss Yuka, can you tell me now?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked leisurely.

“Tell your mother!” Yuka cursed, her divine power suddenly surging.

Minamoto Kiyomoto was stunned for a moment, then laughed and clapped, “Interesting.”

The next moment, black light burst forth.

It was like a neon light sucking up the sea, or the Milky Way tilting.

Yuka, Rabbit, Koi, the monk, and Monkey had no room to resist.

They crashed heavily onto the tracks, their bodies wracked with immense pain, unable to even move a finger.

In their shocked and terrified eyes, Minamoto Kiyomoto slowly walked to the edge of the platform and looked down at them.

They looked at each other for a while.

Minamoto Kiyomoto seemed to be considering what to say. Finally, he said, “Don’t use profanity.”

“Ugh—” Yuka let out a groan of pain, anger, and fear.

“I was just asking you where you were going. Why bother? By the way, do you think a person who has no money should still be treated? If you don’t save them, you’re disrupting public order and morals; if you do, it’s unfair to the people who honestly pay.”

After waiting quietly for a while, Minamoto Kiyomoto suddenly seemed to realize something.

“I forgot,” he said, “you can’t speak right now.”

“Then let’s end it here.”

In the terrified eyes of the crowd, his eyes glowed red. The scorching light was about to turn them into dust in the next moment.

“Minamoto Kiyomoto!” Horse Face charged over like a madman.

His divine power was powerful, like a high-speed train.

Boom! He crashed hard into Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“Wh-what?!”

Yuka and the others looked at the scene before them in disbelief.

Horse Face’s long-distance charge, that impact was enough to pierce through three ten-meter-tall small buildings. Minamoto Kiyomoto had actually blocked it with just the pad of one finger!

There was no glow of divine power on him.

What kind of spell is this! Why doesn’t it need divine power!
Impossible!

“Do you need something from me?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked Horse Face as if nothing had happened.

Horse Face’s eyes widened, and he looked at him as if he had lost his soul.

“Next time, you can just call me Kiyomoto-kun,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a smile, his five fingers like an eagle’s claws, grabbing Horse Face’s head.

“Ah!” Horse Face let out a shrill scream.

“Horse Face…” Rabbit and the others struggled, trying to get up, but with all their strength, they could only crawl on the ground.

Minamoto Kiyomoto casually tossed Horse Face onto the tracks.

Horse Face’s body, like a piece of rotten meat, fell to the ground, motionless.

“Horse Face!” The monk struggled to turn him over.

Horse Face’s eyes stared blankly at the sky. Under the constant shouts of the others, his eyeballs finally looked at them.

“It… it hurts…” his lips trembled, and blood flowed uncontrollably from his eyes, nostrils, ears, and mouth.

“Horse Face, Horse Face!” Yuka, lying on the ground, cried, grabbing a handful of self-reproachful stones from the ground.

“I think we should still save him,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said eloquently as he washed his hands with a water spell. “Although this world is cruel, there should still be a little hope.”

“Shut up!” Yuka threw the blood-stained stones at him.

Let alone hitting Minamoto Kiyomoto, they couldn’t even reach the platform. The stones fell a few centimeters away from her.

The stones clattered against each other with a crisp sound.

Minamoto Kiyomoto sighed.

“It’s because you never listen to people, don’t understand the beauty of the world, and don’t know the importance of hope that you’ve come to this point. But forget it. If you don’t understand, you don’t understand. Actually, none of it matters. You’re all going to die.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto’s body ignited with divine power.

In the shroud of black light, the group was lifted into the air.

“I’m a medical student at Todai. I’ve dissected many corpses, read many books, and even read Balzac and Romain Rolland. I know how to end a patient’s suffering so that they can accept death without pain. You don’t have to be afraid.”

“Well then, everyone, goodbye.”

“Minamoto Kiyomoto!”

Minamoto Kiyomoto turned around. At the entrance and exit of the platform, Fatty, his legs trembling uncontrollably, stood there.

“Foolish,” Minamoto Kiyomoto sneered. “I’ll give you one last chance. Scram!”

“Fat-Fatty,” Yuka, suspended in the air, struggled to reach out to Fatty. “Go… go!”

“I—”

“Fatty… go…” Rabbit cried out in pain.

“No, I—”

“Hurry up and go! What’s the use of you staying here! Go!” Koi scolded angrily.

“I-I, I’m not going.”

“Your parents are still waiting for you at home. Have you forgotten!” Yuka said, crying.

“I’m not going!” Fatty, as if giving himself courage, roared, “Didn’t we agree? We’ll die together!”

“Then go and die,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said coldly.

“So what if I’m chuunibyou? So what if I’m fat? So what if no one likes me? I’m not good at anything, but I have a fiery heart!”

“Ah!” Fatty gathered all his divine power and roared, “Minamoto Kiyomoto! I’m not afraid of you at all!”

“Ha!”

Like a falling star, or a boat rushing towards a waterfall, in the midst of the roar, Fatty’s divine power rushed towards Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Minamoto Kiyomoto casually waved his hand, dispersing the playful ball of divine power.

“Minamoto Kiyomoto!” Fatty glared. “Turdidae will avenge us!”

“Turdidae?”

“He’s the real genius! He’ll turn you into a clownfish, from a man to a female fish, and you’ll spend the rest of your life mating with male fish and laying eggs! Just you wait!”

“Oh? A genius? It seems next time won’t be so boring,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a laugh.

“There won’t be a next time.”

The sudden voice made everyone look in the direction of the sound.

On a utility pole parallel to the tracks stood two figures. One was standing, the other was sitting cross-legged.

The one standing was Hanyu Chika. The one sitting was wearing a tracksuit and a fox mask.

“Turdidae?!”

“Sister Chika!”

“Chika, you go save them. I’ll play with him for a bit,” “Turdidae” said in a cheerful, boyish voice.

“Mhm, you be careful,” Hanyu Chika rescued the members of Group Nine. Minamoto Kiyomoto, as if he didn’t care at all, didn’t stop her.

“Sister Chika,” Rabbit said, “Turdidae is no match for him. Go help him. You don’t need to save us.”

“Don’t worry. Turdidae will run if he can’t win,” Hanyu Chika led the group away from the station along the tracks.

Not far away, a strong neon shockwave erupted from the direction of the station.

A golden giant dragon, wrapped in a huge aura of power, soared into the sky.