Keiki turned silent for a moment, and answered, "I don't think so."

"Why? If you cannot imagine why Taiki could not return if he wanted to, wouldn't it be natural to think that Taiki would not want to return? Maybe he is hiding together with Tai-ou."

"If Taiki were with him, Tai-ou does not have a reason to hide. Tai-ou was not forced out the palace because he lost trust from his people. If Tai-ou has his kirin beside him, I cannot think of any soldiers that keep the palace doors shut."
"You got a point..."

"Probably... it is not such an easy situation."
Keiki quietly commented as Youko was sinking into deep thoughts.
"Why?"
"There seemed to be a Meisyoku (鳴蝕)... A Meisyoku is a Syoku (蝕) triggered by a kirin's moarn."
"Moarn..."

To travel back and forth between this world and that world, one needs to use Gogou's Gate (呉剛の門) in the first place. With the moon's power, a gate can be opened at the moon's shadow, but the gate cannot be opened by everyone. The spell-cast objects or the intrinsic ability to open the gate can only be attained and used by top-ranked Sen (仙, lit. sages) or Youma (妖魔, lit. mystic creatures) like kirin. Moreover, with reasons aforesaid, Gogou's Gate cannot be opened in the daytime when the moon is absent. It is also said the gate cannot be opened within Koukai (黄海, lit. Yellow Sea) or above the Sea of Clouds (雲海, Unkai).

"Meisyoku does not require the moon's power. It is a puncture created with solely the kirin's power. This alone means big trouble. This Syoku, though tiny, is unmistakably a Syoku. If it happens in a city, it would create catatrosphe to the vicinity. We know there is a probability that even the kirin himself may not go unscathed. Therefore we normally never invoke a Meisyoku. I have never invoked one myself."
"I see..."

"However, I am afraid Taiki himself didn't understand how to invoke a Meisyoku."
"Is it possible to not understand that?"
"...In Taiki's situation, yes. Taiki is a Taika (胎果, lit. foetus fruit). He is born in Hourai (蓬莱), and is raised in Hourai until he is ten years old. Because of this, he does not understand what it means to be a kirin."

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