On this day, Itogami Island once again fell into chaos.
Across every corner of the island, televisions were repeatedly broadcasting the latest news, showing live footage of the explosion at the grain storage depot in the East District warehouse street. The citizens of Itogami Island all saw the scene unfold.
Accompanying the footage was the constant voice of a news reporter.
"The large-scale explosion that occurred on the East District warehouse street has caused a fire that, as you can see, is still ongoing."
"Due to the sea breeze, the flames have intensified. Even though the fire department has incorporated Attack Mage units who can use magic and jujutsu to contain the blaze, calculations indicate it will take at least four more hours to completely extinguish the fire."
"As for the estimated loss in this explosion, it's said that the destroyed grain reserve would have provided enough food for every resident of Itogami City for sixty days. The monetary loss is no less than 20 billion yen."
"This poses a significant threat to Itogami Island, which has already been suffering from logistical paralysis due to a string of unexplained maritime and aerial accidents. The Management Cooperative is currently holding an emergency meeting to find countermeasures."
"As for the origin of the explosion, investigations are still underway."
"What lies ahead for Itogami Island?"
"All we can do is hope the Management Cooperative gives us an answer soon."
As the report played on, the image of the East District warehouse street engulfed in flames flashed across the screen, and the residents of Itogami Island undoubtedly grew more uneasy.
"Is this really that serious?"
"Definitely."
"We're almost out of food!"
"And the logistics are down."
"Even though I heard regular ships are starting to arrive again, can the food they bring really support us?"
"W-What's going to happen to us?"
"I don't know…"
Such conversations could be heard all across Itogami Island.
Due to the Eight Trigram Formation, Itogami Island had been isolated for some time, leading to suspended logistics. Now that the grain depot has been bombed, it's only natural that food shortages will follow.
When that happens, the residents of Itogami Island could end up starving — some possibly even to death.
"The Management Cooperative should be able to do something, right?"
"Let's hope the directors find a solution soon."
"If worst comes to worst, we'll have to book flights and apply to leave for the mainland."
"Yeah."
People had already started making such plans. Clearly, the current situation was deeply affecting the populace.
Perhaps this was the aim of Tartarus Lapse's scheme — to corner Itogami Island step by step.
And they had succeeded.
Even if the Management Cooperative tried everything it could, there was no way they could resolve this crisis in the short term.
Because they could barely protect themselves anymore.
What the people didn't know was that, in addition to the grain depots being bombed, two high-ranking directors of the Management Cooperative had been assassinated by snipers.
These two directors were responsible for public security and the registration of Demons on Itogami Island.
In other words, without them, the Management Cooperative's strongest forces — the Special Zone Guard and the Demon command system — were now in disarray and could no longer function properly.
This was a critical blow to the Management Cooperative.
It meant that the island's security was plummeting, that they couldn't effectively search for or apprehend the perpetrators, nor protect the remaining directors or citizens. Criminals would now act freely, exploiting the chaos and bringing grave danger to all.
The Management Cooperative was now overwhelmed. Forget solving the crisis — they couldn't even guarantee their own safety. No one knew who the next assassination target would be.
In addition to dealing with the aftermath of the earlier ship and aircraft accidents, economic damage from suspended logistics, and the systemic breakdown of various departments, the Management Cooperative had descended into total disorder. How could they possibly address the people's concerns?
Thus, the situation continued to deteriorate, and the disasters across the city began to chain-react and intensify, destabilizing the city further.
Thanks to all this, Natsuki could no longer take care of Rozen and the others. She left with Astarte and headed directly to the Management Cooperative.
Before she left, Natsuki solemnly warned Rozen:
"The order on Itogami Island has begun to collapse. Senga Takehito will definitely take advantage of this. Especially since there's someone connected to both you and that trembling, disgraceful vampire girl. He might target you. While I'm gone, protect that little girl at home and don't do anything reckless."
Leaving these words behind, Natsuki left in a hurry. Rozen's group stayed at home, watching the continuous news reports on TV, growing more anxious by the second.
Eventually, Yukina was the first to lose composure.
She stood up, took her phone, and stepped aside to make a call — likely to the Itogami Island branch, checking whether the Lion King Agency had any countermeasures.
Even Nagisa, unable to sit still, called Kojou.
Kojou and Tokoyogi Yuuma were seemingly on their way over.
Kanase Kanon consulted the knights secretly protecting her, but since they weren't citizens of this country, direct involvement would be problematic, so they remained on standby.
As for Rozen — he didn't call anyone.
But someone called him.
It was Aiba Asagi.
She had a message for Rozen.
"You're saying the Special Zone Guard's network has been infected by a virus?"
The unexpected news made Rozen momentarily freeze.
But Asagi clearly wasn't joking.
"It's a military-grade virus. The Special Zone Guard's command system is a complete mess. All surveillance cameras on the island are down, and the main server is malfunctioning. It's total chaos here. Even I can't fix it quickly!"
The background noise on Asagi's end was chaotic, and her temper was clearly flaring.
"The firewall here has always been full of holes. I've been warning them for ages. If they'd just let me manage it, none of this would've happened! Ugh, so annoying!"
From her tone, it was obvious Asagi was on the verge of blowing up.
She was never the patient type, and to her, working for the Management Cooperative was just a side gig to earn pocket money. Now she was being forced to deal with a massive headache — she probably felt extremely unlucky.
"So what are you going to do now?"
Rozen asked, at least for formality.
Asagi replied immediately.
"I need to head to 'C'."