21st Century Necromancer

Minami's sudden disappearance immediately alarmed Kusanagi Ritsuko, who had been monitoring the situation. She never imagined someone could make a person vanish right before her eyes.

"Team B, move out immediately! Take control of the scene and find the person!" Without time to ponder how it had happened, Kusanagi Ritsuko issued her command and also called out to the team that was monitoring Inomata Naoki: "Team A, report your status!"

The team responsible for surveilling Inomata Naoki naturally learned about the unexpected situation in Shibuya through the command channel and immediately replied: "Team A here, all is normal. The target has left the airport and is currently on an airport shuttle headed in the direction of the Tokyo Skytree!"

"Keep a close watch! Also, contact the transportation department and the police stations, use all of Tokyo's police forces to find her!" Kusanagi Ritsuko issued an order that could send Tokyo into a frenzy, but at that moment, she couldn't worry about the chaos it may cause—her only thought was to find Minami immediately.

However, just as she finished speaking, another voice came over the command channel, halting her order: "Don't spook the culprit! If we search the whole of Tokyo, we'll make the matter widely known! First, get a hold of the Magician and find out what really happened!"

"But what if Minami runs into Inomata Naoki in the meantime?" Kusanagi Ritsuko recognized the voice halting her order as Yamada Nobuyosuke and couldn't help but argue back, feeling disgruntled.

"Better to follow the clue we have rather than searching blindly. If the Magician can make someone disappear, he can surely make them reappear," said Yamada Nobuyosuke, whose rank was of course higher than Kusanagi Ritsuko's. In such a situation, he naturally took over the command from Kusanagi Ritsuko and instructed the team responsible for monitoring Minami: "Capture that Magician immediately, take him to the nearest place where he can be interrogated, and get him to talk."

"Uh... Yes, sir!" Inside the command channel, the team ultimately chose to follow the higher-ranking directive.

Facing this situation, Kusanagi Ritsuko felt a surge of frustration stuck in her throat, unable to spit it out or swallow it down, but she gave no further response, only looking through the binoculars at the Magician who had remained in place.

It was common in magic shows to make a person vanish, but those tricks were always mere illusions.

Of course, the Magician wasn't using such simple methods, and Minami wouldn't have cooperated with him on purpose, so the Magician must have truly made her disappear.

Facing this, Kohinata Kaori, who was still at the scene, was extremely surprised and inevitably felt a bit panicked and worried. Minami was her responsibility, and if Minami had truly gone missing, she would have no way to explain it to her uncle.

Frantically, Kohinata Kaori hurriedly pulled out her phone to confirm Minami's situation by calling her when her phone rang first—it was a call from Minami.

Kohinata Kaori quickly answered, asking worriedly, "Minami, where are you now?"

"Doctor Kohinata, don't worry, I'm in Akihabara," Minami's voice came through the phone, seemingly still a bit shaken, but more excited, "It's incredible, I just felt a moment of darkness, and the next thing I knew, I was inside a cardboard box here. I've already come out and am preparing to head to the subway station to find a way back."

"You've come out already? Then I'll wait for you at the subway station, hurry over!" Knowing that Minami was already making her way back, Kohinata Kaori felt much relieved. She talked with Minami a few more times to ensure she was alright, and only then did she hang up the phone.

However, the magician beside her couldn't help showing a tinge of regret as he shook his head and said, "Oh dear, how did she come out of that box over there! If she had stayed in the box, I could have changed her back easily, but now there's no way I can bring her back. It looks like she'll have to take the subway."

"Who would have thought that magic could actually make a person disappear! But Mr. Magician, how on earth did you do that?" Having confirmed that Minami was unharmed, Kohinata Kaori's curiosity was piqued about how the magician managed to make someone vanish, which was a trick wildly different from ordinary magic.

Of course, for the other spectators present, if the magician couldn't change the person back, there was nothing worth seeing in the magic show anymore, so the audience that had gathered began to disperse as the magician started packing up his things.

Watching the crowd disband, the magician, though not without remorse, still maintained the basic dignity of a magician and answered Kohinata Kaori's question with an enigmatic smile, "You should never ask a magician about the secrets of his magic, that's an ironclad rule!"

Having said that, the magician then picked up his neatly packed suitcase and prepared to leave.

On the other end, Kusanagi Ritsuko, who had been listening in on Minami's phone call, let out a sigh of relief and felt a bit strange and vigilant about how anxious she had been just a moment ago. When had she become so impulsive?

Thinking back to how she had barged into Chen Yu's office yesterday to confront him, Kusanagi Ritsuko felt even more uneasy.

But the time was not right to delve into such matters, and seeing the magician getting ready to leave, she hurriedly gave orders through the command channel, "Wait until the magician and that female doctor have parted ways before making an arrest, and don't let the female doctor notice anything's amiss."

Kohinata Kaori was Chen Yu's junior sister, a relationship Kusanagi Ritsuko was of course aware of. But since Kohinata Kaori was just an ordinary person, Kusanagi Ritsuko naturally wouldn't risk making the arrest and letting her notice something was wrong, especially regarding the magician who made Minami disappear.

The action team members carried out the order without question.

Watching the magician under control, Kusanagi Ritsuko then continued to issue orders, "Contact our colleagues in Akihabara immediately to confirm Minami's whereabouts; she should be heading to the subway station to take the Yamanote Line."

"Wouldn't it be quicker to go through Yoyogi to transfer at this time?" someone chimed in on the command channel.

Kusanagi Ritsuko's brows furrowed again as she felt a surge of anger rising from within, but realizing something was wrong, she quickly suppressed her emotions and continued giving orders, "No matter which line she takes, find her and take control first!"

"Yes!" This time her command was executed smoothly, without any further interruption.

But perhaps it just wasn't a good day, for no sooner had Kusanagi Ritsuko finished speaking than someone reported through the command channel, "The magician has disappeared!"