Chapter 30: Visitation
“Have you finished crying?”
“Yes, Sir. I’m sorry for losing my composure.”
In the end, Teacher stayed by my side until I had stopped crying. My impression of Teacher had always been one of a stern and strict figure, but now I realized that it was probably due to his caution towards the entity possessing me. Perhaps, underneath it all, he was actually a kind person.
“You seem to be worrying alone, but you are not alone. There are people who care about you. Myself, Leaf… and when you return to the dormitory, be sure to thank your maid as well.”
“My maid… you mean Emma?”
I was a bit surprised since the topic of Emma came up suddenly.
“Yes. It seems your maid resisted the military police until the very end when they tried to seize Leaf’s sapling without a warrant. She protected the sapling for your sake.”
“Emma did that for me…”
I remember the moment when the military police barged in, Teacher had said something about a warrant. So that was about Emma. It must have taken tremendous courage for little Emma to stand firm against grown men.
“Well, today’s inquiry is over, but before you go, could you check on Martina-jou?”
“Martina-jou?”
“Yes. According to your story, even if the guardian spirit disappears and part of the soul is lost, a new spirit descends, and recovery is possible, correct? But in Martina-jou’s case, there are no signs of that happening. I’m at a loss as to what to do next.”
In that incident from my Reiko days, I hadn’t actually witnessed the recovery of the two people involved, nor did I have more knowledge than Tomoko. Still, I couldn’t ignore the fact that I was personally involved in this incident and that I had brought her to this chapel.
“I understand. Let’s go.”
I nodded in agreement, and we headed toward Martina-jou. Leaf was released from his cage and perched on my shoulder as we made our way to her room. The room we were led to was nearby, and Martina-jou was lying on a clean bed. Unlike the terrifying, wide-eyed expression she had when I brought her here, now she looked peaceful, her eyes closed. She simply seemed to be sleeping.
“She really just looks like she’s sleeping peacefully…”
“Yes, when she was first brought in, her face was much worse, but now that she’s calm, she looks like this. However, she still hasn’t woken up.”
I recalled that incident once again. Back then, after they were attacked, they were taken to the shrine around 7 PM. The two were found the following morning after quite a commotion. It must have been around 5 or 6 AM when they were discovered. That leaves about 10 hours in between.
Afterward, the two seemed to have completely changed into better people. It is likely that during those 10 hours, a benevolent spirit entered the shrine. They didn’t return to school until about a week later, so it must have taken that long to fully restore their souls.
“In my memory, it took about 10 hours for the new guardian spirit to enter, and about a week for full recovery… Is there any way to confirm whether a new spirit has entered?”
“That’s the issue. In Theosophy, the world is thought to be structured in layers, and correspondingly, humans are divided into body, soul, and spirit. However, it’s unclear which of these the guardian spirit you refer to falls under.”
This conversation suddenly became quite complex.
“But if humans are divided into body, soul, and spirit, wouldn’t it be the spirit that you’re talking about?”
“No, it’s not that simple. Humans are said to possess both a physical body and a spiritual body. The spiritual body encompasses both the soul and the spirit. The soul is said to represent personality and character, while the spirit refers to divinity or life itself. According to another theory, humans consist of the physical body, etheric body, astral body, mental body, and causal body. Among these, the etheric body represents life force, the astral body represents magic, the mental body represents mental strength, and the causal body is thought to be the soul.”
I see… The part about the etheric body and such seems somewhat understandable. However, since he keeps saying ‘it’s thought to be’, it must mean these things are still uncertain.
“Currently, magic techniques allow us to observe up to the causal body, but if the entity you call a guardian spirit exists on a higher level, our current technology can’t detect it. Moreover, since you mentioned that some guardian spirits are malevolent, it’s hard to imagine them as high-ranking beings.”
‘Even in this world of magic, they haven’t figured out everything yet…’ I thought as I considered his words and glanced at Leaf.
“Leaf, can’t you see it? You were able to directly see my soul, right?”
“Ehh, no, I can’t see it~ I could only see yours because we’re connected, but I can’t see this lady’s high-level entity since we’re not connected.”
“I see… It’s not that easy, huh? By the way, what about the one possessing me?”
I wondered if ‘that one’ could be classified similarly to the other guardian spirits.
“When I look through my monocle, I can see it reflected in your causal body.”
Diva-sensei answered,
“To my eyes, it looks like something is coming out from Rachel’s soul, stretching out like this.”
Leaf’s explanation, using her body to illustrate, was too abstract for me to fully grasp.
“For now, we’ll just have to wait and observe for about a week.”
“Yes, I’ll make sure to check on her and observe closely when I report to you on my situation, Sir.”
“We’ll keep Lady Martina here under protection until she regains consciousness. You can inform her acquaintances now. If you need to explain anything, just say she collapsed, and you brought her here for safety.”
And so, what could have led to my arrest and imprisonment turned into a reconciliation with Diva-sensei. Thankfully, I was released without further trouble.
