Chapter 1145: Shooting straight, the reveal
High above Arubi Island, inside Fraxinus…
"Captain! Captain!"
Mana yelled at the intercom. This has been going on for about 10 minutes now.
Wu Yan never replied despite Mana's repeated shriek. She frowned and sighed at Yatsuki and Reine who stood near her. She shook her head.
"I can't do it. Captain's unreachable…"
"Our transmissions got jammed, we can't contact Arubi island at all."
Reine calmly assessed.
"A foreign entity is obstructing the signals."
"Someone's doing this?"
Yatsuki turned grim.
"Is it DEM?"
"DEM?"
Mana floated a baleful look upon hearing the name of her ex-employer.
"I don't think anyone other than DEM has the ability to intercept Ratatoskr's signal."
"Vice-commander Kannazuki."
Yatsuki hesitated after seeing that the vice-commander's still rubbing his face on Kotori's seat.
"What do we do now?"
"If it's commander's brother then I think he can still handle the situation without our support. I am sure he will be safe no matter what…"
Kannazuki said nonchalantly. The other Ratatoskr members felt frustrated.
Although Kannazuki sounded like he couldn't care about the situation, the trio can still tell that it is the most accurate description of their current status.
They exchanged a look before asking Kannazuki another question.
"Are we going to wait for orders?"
"Hmm…"
Kannazuki rubbed his chin.
"Although the commander's brother is very powerful, there is still the matter of her sister and Tohka. I don't think he can cover both personnel by himself…"
Mana, Reine, and Yatsuki finally understand that Kannazuki is handling this with his own style, they couldn't judge him by his weird antics.
"Vice-commander Kannazuki."
Yatsuki nodded.
"Please give us your order."
Kannazuki stood up, he waved his hand like a proper captain.
"Shift our transmission pattern, bypass the blocked channels and direct our resources to only one line, Itsuka Shidou's wireless earpiece."
"Okay!"
"Takamiya-san…"
Kannazuki shifted back into his unreliable mode.
"You're to descend upon Arubi island, it's your job to protect Tohka and Shiori from the shadows."
"Okay!"
Mana grinned. She dashed outside…
"Ah~~"
Kannazuki started moaning like a disgusting pervert. He continued rubbing his face against Kotori's seat.
"I wanted to get rid of our cloak and start a fight with DEM. That would result in severe punishment from commander-sama, what a shame, that would have been so nice~"
What little respect the other members had for Kannazuki disappeared on the spot. They sweated bullets while pretending like nothing happened…
At the same time, on the island…
Using the buildings and trees as cover, Ellen furtively tailed Shiori, Wu Yan, and Tohka.
The students of Raizen High are currently touring the island while heading for the tourist information center under their teachers' supervision. The students are not amused that they couldn't immediately go off and play on their own. Tohka is probably the only student still in high spirits. Meanwhile, Wu Yan and Shiori watched with radiant smiles.
Wu Yan stopped after slowing down, letting other students go past him. He told Shiori and Tohka something before laughing and heading off to a nearby forest on his own. The two girls apparently nodded to whatever he said.
Ellen gasped. She looked at Tohka & co and Wu Yan who separated from them. She tapped her earpiece.
"Arbatel, keep your eyes on Princess suspect, I will tail the youth suspected as the Red Devil!"
"Okay, boss!"
Ellen grabbed her camera while following Wu Yan from a distance.
In a secluded corner of Arubi island is a small-scaled forest that had a circular distribution of trees.
The forest on Arubi Island is one of the island's selling points. Although the forests here aren't particularly popular, due to the rare species of trees here, some tourists still visited this part of the island. The density of the forest isn't particularly high.
Compared to other forests, the forest had relatively fewer trees. Nonetheless, this forest can still be a good venue for hide and seek given the various hiding spots and covers here.
This is also why Ellen brazenly followed Wu Yan into the forest. She kept up with Wu Yan despite suspecting Wu Yan's motive to enter the forest when he's clearly not admiring the trees here. It looked like he just wandered into the forest for no reason.
It's the perfect place to reveal his Red Devil nature, it's also the perfect chance to confirm Wu Yan's nature as a spirit.
But, Wu Yan stopped while Ellen made her plans. The same voice that disrupted her thoughts rang in the forest.
"We can keep going or we can stop the games here, come on out…"
Wu Yan turned around, he looked at Ellen's direction with a smirk.
"Not coming out? Ellen-san…"
He found me!
Ellen who is hiding behind a tree flinched in surprise. Her palm started turning sweaty.
Inhaling deeply, Ellen got out of her cover and stared Wu Yan down.
"You noticed me so you lured me into the forest?"
"Well, if that's what you think…"
Wu Yan shrugged.
"We can go with that…"
"Oh?"
Ellen turned icy.
"How did you notice me?"
"Interesting question…"
Wu Yan laughed helplessly.
"Ellen-san, remember how I said you're clumsy? I just confirmed this point once more…"
Wu Yan crossed his arms.
"I pointed out your flaws and made it clear as day that you're no photographer. That was just a ruse to cover my other move. What if I told you I did something to you on the plane?"
Ellen lifted her head.
"What did you do to me?!"
"Maa maa, calm down…"
Wu Yan sneered.
"It's just a little tracking magic. It allows me to pinpoint your location for a limited time, it will be dispelled soon enough…"
"Ma-magic…"
Ellen raised an eyebrow.
"Yeap, magic."
Wu Yan stored his smile away. His calm look brought a sense of crisis upon Ellen.
"Unlike the fake magic you magicians use with the Realizer units, this is bona fide magic."
"You…"
Ellen's eyes widened in astonishment.