Miracle Summoner

As the direct descendants of the God of Sin, Cain, each of the Four Forbidden Houses had their own mission.

Itogami sought to reconstruct the altar necessary to revive Cleansing in the modern age.

Aiba had been quietly cultivating suitable shrine maidens capable of wielding Cleansing.

Yaze took root in the secular world, operating a vast conglomerate and becoming one of the great houses even before the founding of Itogami Island, in order to provide financial and material support when necessary.

Hiina integrated into government institutions and became a powerful figure in national agencies.

Thus, while Itogami Senra ultimately constructed the Demon Sanctuary of Itogami Island, the other three families contributed significantly to that effort.

In particular, Yaze and Hiina—without their influence and coordination—Japan would not have approved Itogami Island's status as an affiliated territory, nor would there have been enough resources to build the Demon Sanctuary.

As a result, it was Aiba who, in quiet solitude, raised a single shrine maiden over the generations—finally producing one worthy heir in the current generation: Aiba Asagi.

That made Asagi the first and only suitable candidate discovered from past to present—a god-tier hacker capable of manipulating the five supercomputers within Itogami Island—the Priestess of Cain.

Because of this, Asagi had actually been completely unaware of the truth about the Aiba family until recently. She didn't know she was a direct descendant of the God of Sin, Cain, and had no idea she was the only one capable of successfully activating Cleansing.

She had entered the 'C' chamber once before, but only to authenticate her usage rights. She had never accessed the stored memories of the God of Sin within 'C' or awakened as the true Priestess. Saying she was kept in the dark would not be an exaggeration.

It wasn't until now that Asagi finally awakened as the Priestess of Cain, gaining the ability to wield Cleansing—only to be forced into participating in the war between Itogami Island and the Sanctuary Treaty military forces.

"I didn't even know you guys kept so many secrets from me! Do you know how shocked I was after finding out the truth!? You idiots!"

As she spoke, the emotions she'd bottled up over these past days seemed to erupt all at once. Her eyes moistened.

Seeing this, both Rozen and Yaze Motoki were left speechless.

They had, indeed, kept a lot from her.

Rozen was somewhat excusable. After all, it involved his own past and the terrifying existence of beings like the God of Sin, Cain, and the Fourth Primogenitor. For someone like Asagi, a mere high school girl, it would've been too unrealistic and overwhelming. Not involving her or revealing everything was understandable.

But Yaze Motoki was different.

He had known everything from the start and still chose to keep Asagi in the dark. He didn't tell her the truth, allowing her to unknowingly bear a heavy destiny not meant for mere mortals.

As someone who had grown up with her, that was not something easily forgiven.

This time, if Itogami Island hadn't truly faced a crisis, Yaze wouldn't have stepped forward as a representative of the Yaze family and the Management Cooperative. And Asagi wouldn't have accepted the truth and taken up the role of Priestess, cooperating with Vatler and Itogami Meiga to awaken the power of Cleansing.

Thus—

"I have nothing to say in my defense. Do with me as you will," Motoki said as if surrendering.

"Who the hell wants to punish you? Who do you think you are!?" Asagi yelled, venting her emotions.

Oddly enough, it seemed to make her feel better.

She had always been a tough girl—not the type to cry even during terror attacks.

Rozen had only seen her cry once—on the day they first met.

That day, her mother passed away. She sat alone on a bench in the hospital hallway, crying quietly.

That was the only time.

Now, though her eyes were wet, she didn't cry.

Then, Asagi rather roughly shut her laptop and walked toward the door.

"W-Where are you going, Aiba-senpai!?" Yukina quickly called out.

Without turning around, Asagi shouted, "I'm going home! The war's over anyway, isn't it!?"

Shouting like that, Asagi stormed out of the room.

Seeing this, Rozen and Motoki exchanged glances—and both let out dry laughs.

"Well, that's that." Rozen finally dropped the pretense of calm. "She probably won't cool down for at least a week."

"You're wrong," Motoki sighed. "If we don't buy her an entire week's worth of that deluxe chocolate parfait she liked from the café near the Keystone Gate, she won't calm down."

"That has nothing to do with me," Rozen replied bluntly. "I'm not the one who kept all this from her."

"What are you saying?" Motoki retorted. "You kept plenty of secrets too!"

"But none of mine had anything to do with her," Rozen replied frankly. "So even if she's mad, she's not mad at me."

"You really believe that?" Motoki gave him a look. "Anyone else, maybe—but this is you we're talking about, Nichiyo. You kept so much from her—she's definitely mad at you."

"Don't care," Rozen said flatly. "I've already blown through this month's allowance. No way I can afford a week of deluxe chocolate parfaits."

"I'm broke too!" Motoki shot back. "My family barely gives me anything—to avoid raising suspicion!"

"You..."

"I..."

Just like that, Rozen and Motoki suddenly broke into a pointless argument without any warning.

"U-Um... Senpais...?"

Yukina watched, stunned and confused.

What was even happening?

Weren't they supposed to be confronting each other just a moment ago?

Did they just... make up like that?

Yukina was utterly baffled.

But maybe this was for the best.

After all, neither Asagi nor Motoki had harmed Rozen—nor anyone around him. One had been completely unaware of the truth. The other had merely acted as a bystander and observer. They had stepped forward only to protect Itogami Island—not to fight Rozen.

In other words, both Asagi and Motoki still deeply valued their relationship with Rozen.

And Rozen knew neither of them meant him any harm.

In that case, why not just let it go?

In the end, both the argument between Rozen and Motoki and Asagi's emotional outburst were simply ways of expressing their desire to move forward and leave the past behind.

From now on, things would go back to how they used to be.

Even if their identities had changed—they were still the same close friends.

That was the final outcome.

Afterward, the group left the luxury cruise ship and returned to Itogami Island.

And with that, the incident was finally over.