18 Red Flowers Blooming in the Night

Sun faded into the horizon and replaced by the moon.

The night is calm and quiet except for the rustling sound coming from Leon's bedroom.

It's the flutter of the turning pages, but it was so fast as if they were rifled by the wind.

Leon's red eyes wander around the page furiously. He only needs one second before he flips the next page.

Two minutes later, he throws the book behind him.

-Plop-

The book plopped right atop the second tower of books. He only needs a few more books to create the third tower.

After Leon asked Tatsuya about the result of the terminal hacking, he finds himself in a race against time.

It turns out Tatsuya only reported Blanche's intelligence to the authority and didn't do anything else.

The siscon bastard, Leon cursed as he flips the pages faster and faster until the three tomoe on his eyes changed their pattern into a pinwheel.

The more he thinks about it, the angrier he becomes. This made the pages flutter faster than the wind could flip them, yet the words are still clearly captured by his eyes.

He should have known that Tatsuya won't do anything to the terrorist as long as Miyuki's safety is not at risk.

-Beep!-

Leon closed the book with a loud bang and opened the front door.

Without giving the person a chance to say anything, Leon snatched the fancy box from the man in uniform and immediately slammed the door right in his face, then walked back toward the study room, ignoring the curses coming from the door.

The box is quite big and it's filled with books, but all of them have something in common, it's magic. As long as it has something to do with magic, he bought them all.

In this world, it's rare for someone to read a book as they can access any information by using the terminal.

But it only took a few minutes before he got annoyed and had the urge to smash his terminal. So, that's why Leon prefers to read books, the smell and sound of pages can calm his mind and made him relax.

Not to mention he can use Sharingan to speed up the process and save a lot of time.

Now, reading has become a new hobby of him. He finds this activity very fun to do, something unthinkable in his previous life.

Even so, he didn't forget his current priority right now.

The smile on Leon's face faded and his expression became serious as he continues to flip the pages.

The hours went by quickly for him.

The moment he finishes reading all of the books, it was already midnight. There are nine empty boxes and a mountain of books in the study room, which signify that he needs more bookshelf to store the homeless books.

Or he could burn them all.

The thought crossed his mind for a moment due to his incredible memory.

He can still remember every content of the books in this room. The titles, sentences, words, and every single punctuation.

Leon gives a silent thanks to the system for these new eyes.

His theory is proven to be correct today. If he didn't activate Sharingan, it would only take a few minutes for him to forget what he read earlier. So it's necessary to activate his Sharingan or Mangekyou if he wants to memorize something important.

Leon blinked his eyes.

There is no aftereffect of using Mangekyou to memorize the books, he just feels a little tired. This is a piece of good news for him.

Still, these things won't be able to reduce his anxiety and worry. He doesn't feel like getting any closer to find out his sister whereabout.

He had taken a huge risk by disclosing his unknown identity to Kokone and Tatsuya just to find his sister whereabout.

In the worst-case scenario, he was expecting them to attack him with other clan houses, police, or even special forces if his identity turned out to be a bad guy.

He even bought a travel book which contains many photos of tourist spots in various countries to be his teleportation target.

Leon is confident that no one would be able to catch him If he wants to escape, that's why he did something very risky.

But the problem with Tatsuya in the school made his patience running thin, Tatsuya handed out his only clue that may lead to his sister to the authority without a single word.

He was sure that siscon won't tell him anything if he didn't ask about it even though it's only possible due to his contribution by giving him Blanche's mobile terminal.

Feeling restless, Leon can only pace around the room after he runs out of books to read, trying to come up with another plan to find his sister.

He can't let anything happen to her, she is the only family he has left.

Not to mention this world is very dangerous for someone like her who can't bring herself to hurt even a single ant, she is too kind.

Leon didn't dare to imagine what will happen if she encounters another user.

Suddenly, he stopped pacing around and turned to face the bedroom. The moment his sight stopped at the long coat in the wardrobe, he slowly unclenched his hand.

=================================

"Ciri... where are you..." he let out an absentminded whisper as he walking around the street with no particular destination in mind.

At least it's still better than doing nothing at home, but he still can't think of another idea, this made him feeling down.

It's already past midnight, but the place is still bustling with people walking towards various stores and establishment. Sometimes, curses escaped from their lips when Leon bumped into them, but he ignored their protest and continue to walk aimlessly amidst the glittering light of the buildings.

He walked about more than one hour before his step is coming to a halt.

The way in front of him is crowded with people, blocking the street. There are also four police officer among the crowd, asking the witnesses various questions about the attacker.

It looks like a murder scene straight from the movie.

But it has nothing to do with Leon. The authority will be able to handle it by themselves, just like what they always did.

So, he turned back in the other direction, trying to leave the murder scene. But before could take a single step, the conversation between the police officer and one of the witnesses caught his attention.

"She's so pitiful... such a pretty girl... how could anyone bear to do something like this to her..."

"We will try our best to catch the culprit. So, it will be a great help if you're able to tell me something important. You saw what's the man looked like, right ma'am. Can you describe it for me?"

"Oh yes, I saw him, oh dear, what a scary man that was, officer."

"Ma'am..."

"...The man...he had a demon mask on his face, sir. So... I don't know what his face looks like."

"Do you saw anything else?"

The older woman hesitated for a moment as if afraid of something, but in the end, she tells the officer what she saw.

"... I saw a snake around his neck... I'm pretty sure it was a tattoo... But, suddenly the snake became alive and stood straight in the man's arm. He then... used it like a sword and... stab the girl multiple times... oh dear, what a pitiful girl..."

"Thank you, that was very helpful, ma'am."

"No problem, sir. That uniform she had... she just reminds me of my granddaughter."

"That is the uniform of the first high school... so I think she may go to the same school as your granddaughter."

"My dear, this is so scary, officer."

"Don't worry, ma'am. We will catch the culprit sooner or later."

The conversation between those two people made Leon curious as to who is the girl from the first high they're talking about.

There are hundreds of students in his school, so it's impossible for her to be someone he knew, the chance is very low and yet his heartbeat is starting to get louder by the second he gets closer to the scene.

It was crowded, so he pushed the people out of his way one by one.

The street is dyed red with the woman's blood.

The moment he saw a cracked glasses tainted with blood, his breath caught in his throat.

Without hesitation, Leon pushed the crowd making them stumble. He ignored their curses and protest and continue to get closer until there is no one around him to push.

When he saw the beautiful woman bathed in her own blood, the color drained out of his face.

"...Impossible... how could this happen..." Leon whispered, unable to keep the disbelief out of his voice.