"By the way, why did you come to the Mystic Eye Collection Train, Touko?"
After continuing their chat, Naoki suddenly asked.
"If I'm not mistaken, you and Beowulf caused quite a stir on this train before. Weren't you blacklisted here after that? How did you manage to board this train?"
"Yeah, that's how it was supposed to be." Touko said with a slightly nostalgic expression. "I remember back then, the owner of this train was still around. Not like now, where there's only a representative, which feels boring to me."
The owner of the Mystic Eye Collection Train, Naoki recalled, was a Dead Apostle named Rita Rozay-en. Like the Forest of Einnashe, she was one of the Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors, ranked below the Forest.
Before Touko boarded the Mystic Eye Collection Train the last time, Rita would frequently appear at the auctions in person. Not every time, but since Touko disrupted the last auction, this Dead Apostle had never shown up on the train again. She left only a representative to handle things and didn't bother with the rest.
Naoki asked with a hint of curiosity, "What exactly did you do here back then, Touko?"
"Disrupted the auction, destroyed a bunch of Mystic Eyes, and caused that Dead Apostle to lose big because of Beowulf." Touko laughed. "Even a Dead Apostle, in front of a Phantasmal Species like Beowulf, wouldn't come out on top. She got beaten so badly her face was covered in dirt."
No wonder things turned out like they did.
Among the Dead Apostles, Rita Rozay-en was the quintessential aristocratic type. She called herself an artist and hedonist, living a life of luxury. For her, that encounter with Touko was surely not a pleasant memory.
As a result, she promptly abandoned the train. If she stayed, she'd probably keep dwelling on her conflict with Touko, unable to sleep soundly.
"So, how did you get on the train this time, Touko?"
"Of course, I got an invitation." Touko said, pulling a black invitation letter from her pocket. "You can't board this train without one—though it's not absolute, with my blacklisted status, if I showed up in some improper way, I'd definitely be kicked out immediately. Besides, I didn't really want to come to this place."
"The reason I came this time is because Rita Rozay-en wanted me to. So I came specifically. After all, in some ways, she and I have a cooperative relationship."
Touko said this while pushing up her glasses—anti-Mystic Eye glasses identical to Naoki's. The pair Naoki wore now was a graduation gift from Touko two years ago.
Just as Touko finished speaking, the space in the room suddenly trembled. A figure appeared silently beside Naoki and Touko.
It was a blonde woman with red eyes, dressed in white, reminiscent of a rose.
Seeing the sudden intruder, Touko sneered. "I'm having a nostalgic moment with my dear disciple. Couldn't you pick a better time, Rita Rozay-en?"
"Disciple? Your disciple?"
The woman in white turned her head, examining Naoki as if inspecting him. But when her gaze met his, she suddenly froze.
"This might be a bit rude, young man, but could you take off your glasses for a moment?" The voice of the woman in white—Rita Rozay-en—sounded slightly unsteady.
(Excited? Is it because of my Mystic Eyes?)
Naoki hesitated briefly before raising his hand to remove his anti-Mystic Eye glasses. Since Manaka was no longer within him, he could now freely control his pair of Mystic Eyes.
Seeing the sky-blue Mystic Eyes in his eyes, Rita stared for a moment. Then, the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl upward. "What a beautiful pair of Mystic Eyes, young man. Compared to your Mystic Eyes, every Mystic Eye I've seen until now can only be called dull trash."
Jewel—at least that was their rank. Rita could tell. Since the Mystic Eye Collection Train's inception, fewer than ten Jewel-ranked Mystic Eyes had ever appeared. But Naoki's Mystic Eyes, even compared to those, could still be called exceptionally beautiful.
Just looking into his eyes could make someone feel like their soul no longer belonged to them.
"Are you interested in selling your Mystic Eyes, young man? Let me think… how about one and a half billion dollars? If that's not enough, the price can keep going up."
One and a half billion—the price for a noble color-ranked Mystic Eye was typically around forty million. Offering one and a half billion for Naoki's Mystic Eyes was proof enough of how much Rita valued his Soul Eater Mystic Eyes.
Putting his anti-Mystic Eye glasses back on, Naoki shook his head. "Sorry, Miss Rozay-en. I have no intention of selling my Mystic Eyes. For now, I still need them. If they become useless to me in the future, I'd be happy to sell them."
Though that would likely be at least a hundred years from now.
Hearing Naoki's response, Rita nodded slightly. "As long as you're willing to sell them eventually, that's enough. For me, time is limitless. I look forward to the day I can add your Mystic Eyes to my collection. After this, I'll put you on the train's permanent guest list."
"Thank you very much."
After gazing longingly at Naoki's Mystic Eyes for a few moments, Rita finally turned her attention to Touko. "You have a fine disciple, Puppet Master."
"Don't try anything funny with him. You won't be able to handle the consequences." Touko warned. "So, now you can tell me, right? The reason you invited me here with that letter. It's not just for nostalgia, is it?"
Just as Naoki had thought, as someone blacklisted on this train, Touko assumed receiving the invitation was pure coincidence. After all, some invitations didn't specify names, so it wasn't strange for them to be sent to anyone. But in reality, it was an invitation specifically addressed to Touko by name.
The train's managers didn't have that kind of authority. If Rita knew they'd invited Touko, she'd probably drain them dry like blood bags. So the only possibility was that Rita herself wanted to invite her.
"Nothing too major. Recently, I've taken a liking to puppets, so I want to collect some high-quality ones. While I could go directly to the Demon Castle and probably get some, compared to yours, their puppets are inferior."
"I want the best. As the world's greatest Puppet Master right now, can you make me a top-quality puppet? A Grand?"
"Of course, payment isn't an issue. Besides money, I also know you've been chasing strange things for inspiration over the past two years, right? As it happens, I recently came across some rather odd news."
Odd news?
Touko's eyebrow twitched. "What news?"
"Hmm… no harm in telling you. Consider it a way to earn your trust—there's some news, from who knows where, that in the island nation of the Far East, in your hometown, a rather special Dead Apostle has appeared."