Avez-vous besoin d'acheter un cercueil

Chapitre 71

※

"His hand was embedded in the stone wall of a house in Musashi Province."

Aoki explained to us, his face pale.

"It's all because of my incompetence. I clearly possessed as much, no, more, information as everyone else—yet I understood nothing. Yesterday, Master Chuzenji gave me such an important hint, but I just listened and let it go. It's all my fault. I've seen the register of the Mikoto gods and heard the explanation of the register—even the next potential victim was hinted at by you common folk. I left everything to you to think about, and I just foolishly waited for today to arrive. It was during this time that Kusumoto Yoriko was murdered."

He seemed to be greatly affected. Aoki was dejected, but he also looked angry.

Kyogoku-do reacted in the same way. He was the one who advocated protecting Yoriko, and was probably more resentful than the others. This was clearly evident in his expression. He often looked unhappy, and his face would become even more ferocious when angry.

But I was probably the one who wavered more than anyone else.

If Aoki had been more astute in making arrangements, or if Kyogoku-do had discovered the truth sooner and applied for protection for Raiko—I could indeed understand their feelings. But even if they hadn't done that, the police had already been dispatched the day before yesterday, so the situation wouldn't have changed.

But my situation was different. I happened to meet the prime suspect and the victim who was on his way to the suspect's location just before the incident.

Doesn't Natsukizu care?

Kyogoku-do said:

"This development is far more foolish than I predicted, it's happened too fast. Aoki, in that case, please arrest Kubo as soon as possible. We don't have time to waste here now. Although there's still a possibility that he's not the culprit, we don't have time to consider that now! We can't continue to tolerate his crimes. He has no sense of guilt, and if we let it go, a new victim might appear tomorrow. In short, arrest him first, and search his house. And although the chances are slim, Raiko might still be alive!"

Then he said:

"Alright, we can't just sit idly by any longer. Some things will happen even if we don't interfere, but since we're already involved—"

"What are you planning to do, Kyogoku? Are you going to take action?"

Natsume asked.

"Do we have to exorcise the monster? Exorcise that evil spirit?"

Kyogoku-do replied:

“That’s right, we have to exorcise it. Although I’m not very willing, there’s no other way. We have to strike at Mikoto. If we strike at him first, it will be easier for Aoki to act. Anyway, arresting Kubo alone is not enough, and mediums are not something the police can handle.”

"What...what should we do?"

Bird Mouth was very excited.

"Make that old man in the box house confess everything."

"what to do?"

"Well—I'm afraid we'll have to ask the God of Tortoises to step in."

"What did you say!"

Kyogoku-do looked at me.

Aoki then quickly left.

Kyogoku-do rarely takes matters into his own hands, and I was dragged into this mess without even understanding the situation, leaving only a growing sense of regret clinging to my heart.

Torikokuchi said that the shrine maiden assembles between Friday night and Saturday morning.

I rest for half a day on Saturday and spend the whole day on Sunday counseling for believers.

"Then let's decide on tomorrow morning, which is Sunday. Bird Mouth, approximately what time will the believers arrive?"

Kyogoku-do said, his expression completely unchanged.

"Well, the old ladies get up very early; they went out while I was still asleep. Around six o'clock at the door..."

Then long queues formed. That's what the elderly lady at the convenience store, who gets up especially early, said.

"Then let's go for five o'clock."

"It's like going to challenge a dojo before dawn."

Natsuki said happily, adding that he was afraid of oversleeping and would stay the night. Toriguchi also said that he would be late if he went home to sleep, so he also said he would stay. The lady, seeing the guests who had suddenly decided to stay, remained calm and began preparing dinner quickly. It was already past nine o'clock.

I bid farewell to Kyogoku-do.

The dizzying slope was still just as dark, and my feet were still just as unsteady. Behind the long, paved walls on both sides of the slope was a graveyard.

I'm imagining it.

Imagine the demons digging up corpses from the graveyard and feasting on them.

The demon has certain distinctive features, such as long ears, bushy hair, and round eyes. However, these features don't quite fit the demon's appearance; each one seems borrowed, making the overall image blurry and ambiguous. I really can't tell what shape it actually is.

in the end,

What exactly is it?

That night, I still couldn't fall asleep.

And today, in the early morning of September 28th, I have finally arrived near the Mitaka Mikoto.

It's been almost a month since the beginning—or rather, the beginning for me—when I went to Lake Sagami, and I really don't know why I'm still here.

The car was parked on the shoulder of the road behind the "Five Colors Soup" restaurant.

The bird's beak is located in the driver's seat.

Xia Mujin and I huddled together, burying ourselves in the back seat.

Kyogoku-do, who was sitting in the front seat, got off first to investigate the condition of the shrine maiden.

We waited for him to return in the car.

Although the fake Datsun sports car was designed for four passengers, the back seat was too cramped and uncomfortable.

It seemed quite cold outside; a chill seeped in through the roof. Leaning forward to look at the city in the morning light, I saw a layer of morning mist shrouding the area.

A figure flickered in the hazy light.

I've heard that the thin shadow around a shadow is called a "wangliang".

A shadowy figure, trailing behind it, approached us.

This town is like a deep sea.

The surrounding area was so bright, yet the town remained shrouded in darkness; the sun shone brilliantly, but its light could not penetrate. Light, reflected and scattered by countless particles along its path, absorbed by countless floating objects, repeatedly and meaninglessly diffused and converged, utterly losing its power. All existence became a blur. If only ambiguous forms could be observed, existence itself became no different from that hazy ambiguity. The boundary between the outer and inner sides appeared blurred and unstable in this world.

The blurred line—that is the demon.

The God of the Basket is wrong. Demons cannot be born within sturdy walls. The walls themselves, the unclear walls themselves, are the demons.

The thin shadow gradually revealed its outline.

That wasn't a shadow; it was a man dressed in black.

Wearing a simple black kimono, gauntlets, black socks, and black clogs (only the clog straps are red), and carrying a pure white kimono jacket stained with the image of the demon-slaying Kikyo Seimei, he was the man in black.

Kyogoku-do is back.

"Tadashi is not the son of Heibei."

"Huh? But the nameplate says..."

"Loyalty refers to Ah Zhong."

"Huh? Is that Hyoue's father?"

"Although the order of the names is strange, it is obvious that the character 'Hyōe' was written later. The husband is written on the right below the surname, the wife on the left, and the child is written on the bottom left after birth. Although it is a bit strange, it should be correct. Tadashi and Masae are a couple, and their child is Hyōe. Tadashi is neither Tadakichi nor Tadatsugu, but has the single character 'Tadashi'."

"this means?"

"This means that Hyōe's child has a different name."

After saying this perfectly natural thing, Kyogoku-do instructed Natsuki and me to get off the train. Since Toriguchi's identity had already been exposed, he stayed in the train to wait. Without any further preparation or discussion, we silently headed towards Mihako-no-Kami.

Then, I finally saw the dojo of the God of the Bamboo Box with my own eyes.

But there was no time to dwell on those feelings.

Kyogoku-do opened the door without hesitation.

"Excuse my boldness, but is this the place of the Sealed Evil God?"

A woman ran out of there in a panic. It was Nikaido Toshimi.

"Yes, what can I do for you? Are you here for a consultation or to offer advice?"

"No, I've come to ask you for a favor."

"In that case—"

"Ah, that's great. It seems—no believers have arrived yet. I was worried on the way here what would happen if we were late."

"Um, excuse me—"

"Yes, I've heard this place is very effective and highly regarded, with a constant stream of people coming to seek help. So I came here now because I was worried that the presence of believers might disturb you all. If it's convenient, I'd like to meet with the leader."

Well—

Toshimi Nikaido found it very strange. She was wearing a white shirt and a dark blue skirt, a very common outfit, but it seemed extremely inappropriate for this occasion.

"Or is the cult leader still having a meal? I think he should have finished eating before he arrived. Was he slower than usual this morning?"

"No, may I ask who you are?"

"Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Chuzenji, and I am an exorcist from Nakano. I suppose I am one of your companions. Ah, please don't treat me as a business rival. My status is far below that of the Master. I am incapable of saving the suffering believers. At most, I can only help people exorcise possessing demons. I am an exorcist with no real skills."

"Um, may I ask—"

Kotobuki was completely led by Kyogoku-do's pace. Since there weren't any believers present, they couldn't use the large number of believers as an excuse to ask us to wait, as Toriguchi had done when he came. Of course, Kyogoku-do also knew that Hyōe had finished his meal. He must have already checked the kitchen when he came to investigate.

Furthermore, the clerk/shrine maiden, whose demeanor resembled that of a bar hostess, was already dressed and made up, indicating that she was well-prepared to welcome the believers at any time.

"Actually, my purpose is very simple: this man is possessed by a demon."

Kyogoku-do pointed at me and said, "Then I pointed to Natsukizu and introduced her to her."

"This is my apprentice."

Kyogoku-do spoke loudly on purpose, perhaps so that Hyōe inside could hear him.

"Hello, I am your apprentice."

Xia Mujin gave a cheerful and lively greeting that was completely out of place with the atmosphere.

"What's wrong? Who's here?"

A man walked out from inside.