"We have investigated once more, but again there is no Taiki's fruit in Mt. Hou (Houzan 蓬山). Taiki is not dead. As long as Hou hasn't cried, there is no way Tai-ou is dead either. From the various theories we have heard from Tai refugees, the most probable situation is that there is a military coup."
" That matches Risai's explanation. Tai-ou was lured out to suppress rebellions, and then disappeared without a trace. The details are not known though."

" There must have been something going on just before the battle. He is not dead, but is not safe either. Maybe he is confined somewhere. Maybe he is under hot pursuit by the assassins, and is forced to hide himself. Whichever the case, Tai has fallen into the usurpers' hands, and even though Tai-ou would like to defeat the usurpers and take back the throne, he couldn't -- How about Taiki?"

" Again nothing is sure, except that he has also disappeared... Above all, there was a shoku (蝕). A meishoku (鳴蝕) occurred in the palace, causing great disasters in Hakkei Palace (白圭宮)."
" Meishoku?"
Rokuta showed a deep expression on his face as he raised his doubts.

" Exactly. Afterwards, Taiki was nowhere to be found, and even after combing the rumble, nobody could find him, Risai said."
" That is not good."
" Not good?"
Rokuta nodded.
" There was a meishoku, so Taiki must have met something unusual. Unless something big happens, a meishoku will definitely not occur."

"Really?"
Yes, Rokuta nodded.
" Instead of saying there was a meishoku and he was gone, it is more appropriate to say something unusual happened, and Taiki, being driven to a corner, could not but invoke a meishoku. If the worst comes to the worst, Taiki is not at this world…"

" Then, he is at the other world?"
" We cannot say for sure. The logical deduction is that something unusual happened, and Taiki invoked a shoku to escape from that to the other world, isn't it? However -- if that is the whole story, he should have come back. The fact he didn't come back even after six years showed that there is still something going on."

Youko nodded, and looked at Syouryuu.
" In this case, En-ou, what will happen?"
" What do you mean?"

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