Oba Hazo's Time Traveling

Tokyo

April 11

10: 30am

One of the benefits of becoming a conjurer is that you can meet more companions.

"It's the first time I've met you. I'm Yuo Huihara. I'm studying at Rikkyo Junior High School. Please give me your advice."

With his handsome appearance, sunny personality, and good manners, Hui Yuanxiong can be seen as a sports boy who is very popular with women in the middle school campus. If there is anything that prevents him from interacting with girls, it is probably only that Rikkyo is an all-boys school.

For those who are well-mannered, Qihai often responds with corresponding etiquette. He bows at sixty degrees, and the angle is as precise as it has been measured.

"Qihai Jianren, please give me more advice."

The supervisor introduced: "Mr. Huiyuan is also a talent discovered by the window. The two have performed missions for about the same number of years. In addition, they are both in Tokyo. This time, I will trouble you to investigate together."

Nanami Kento and Hui Yuanxiong nodded at the same time.

The supervisor continued to announce the task: "The two should have been arranged to go to Kanagawa to investigate, but there was a temporary change, and the task was taken by other magicians."

He continued: "Besides Kanagawa, cases of unreasonable disappearances have appeared in Tokyo one after another. Now it is basically confirmed that it is a curse. I hope that the two of you can find out the reason for the trigger of the curse."

The relevant information has been transmitted to the mobile phones of Hui Yuanxiong and Qihai, and Qihai scanned it at a glance.

Huihara and the others had a time lag with Gojo Satoru and the others, and it was already the day after Gojo Satoru and the others went to Kanagawa to investigate, and the staff at the window determined that the source of the curse was Sansui Village.

After the investigation, it was found that all the missing people had visited Sanyu Village.

"but."

The staff of the window said: "We have not found the curse in the village for the time being. As for how the victims were hidden by the gods, it is not clear where they are hiding."

"For this reason, further investigations with the assistance of conjurers are required."

He said: "The method of this curse is mysterious, please be careful."

Hui Yuanxiong and Nanami Jianren nodded in agreement, and then the supervisor showed them the list of victims.

One of them made Jianren Qihai frown.

"What's wrong?" Haibara asked.

Jianren Qihai stared at the woman wearing a school uniform in the photo without a hat and said: "This is a student of our school." He said, "A junior in the eighth grade."

……

Kanagawa Prefecture - Maternity Village

April 11

11: 00am

"Into the village." Gojo Satoru stepped on the broken remains of the shrine in a rather insolent posture.

He said: "What's the point of changing the name? It should just be called Maternity Village."

Xia Youjie wrote lightly: "That's too obvious, Wu, no tourist would be willing to come to such a village full of gods and gods."

While he was speaking, the fully controlled mantra squeezed behind Xia Youjie, murmuring something, Xia Youjie said to Wujou, "I didn't find it."

Gojo Satoru snorted and said, "Then he can really hide."

Xia Youjie asked, "Any ideas?"

They spent a night and a day visiting the victim's family. Unfortunately, except for the filth left in the "Hidden Land", there is no magic power in other places.

So they went to the maternity village.

Gojo Satoru dealt with a lot of special curse spirits. After listening to the supervisor explain the ins and outs of the development of the puerperium village, his first reaction was that the curse was born from the local people's aversion to the gods. If this is the case, then the curse The source should be the shrine in the puerperium village.

The result was beyond Wujo Wu's expectations. He and Xia Youjie walked all over the village looking for the ruins of the shrine, but after they finished walking, they found no trace of the curse.

This is somewhat strange.

There is some filth, and every ancestral hall that Wutiaowu kicked over has traces of curses, but he is not in the village.

Gojo Satoru said, "Could it be that the curse knew we were coming and ran away with long legs?"

Xia Youjie said: "If he is not in this village, how can he mark the tourists who come? We have confirmed that the victims have all been to this village."

"Even if he leaves, he will return to the village."

"The question is, why did he leave?"

Wujo Wujo rubbed his chin: "Maybe this curse has some wisdom."

"Could it be a special magic spirit? Hearing that we are coming, he will run away."

Xia Youjie raised his forehead: "How is it possible, Wu."

He said sternly: "But if it is a super-level curse spirit, you must capture it before it causes more unimaginable consequences."

Gojo Satoru mumbled casually: "Then we have to find him first."

"Compared to running like a headless chicken, it's more convenient to sit here and wait for a rabbit."

Said that he took a big horse and sat down on the ancestral hall.

Gojo Satoru smiled: "Hey, when that curse comes back, he will be very angry when he sees that his lair has been taken over by us."

Xia Youjie laughed dumbfounded.

Wujo Satoru's behavior seemed to him to be too childish, but...how should I put it?

Pretty cute.

……

Gojo Satoru and the others have quite high IQs, but Ye Zang came out of the world of "Bungo Stray Dogs" with an unscientific intellectual ceiling.

It's true that he doesn't have Edogawa Ranpo's ability to see the truth at a glance, but no one can surpass Ye Zang in seeing people's hearts.

Through some auxiliary materials, he deduced the operation mechanism of the childbirth god's curse first.

Women, men, children, old people...

The extension and expansion of the functions of the gods.

Goddesses of women, gods of children, gods of agriculture...

After reading countless materials, Ye Zang made a phone call with Xiaozhuang.

Xiao Zhuang: "Moshi Moxi, Teacher Ye Zang?"

Aye: "Mr. Xiaozhuang, it's like this. I have some inspiration for the new chapter. I want you to help me make appointments with some teachers and get materials from them."

Xiao Zhuang: "Which aspect is your teacher?"

"Folklore." Ye Zang looked at the signature of the discussion on the webpage and said, "Ms. Natsume Takashi, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba."

Surprisingly, Xiao Zhuang had heard of this name before, and he said, "So it's Mr. Natsume, Mr. Ye Zang, are you going to write about monsters?"

Aye said vaguely: "Not sure yet."

"Mr. Xiaozhuang, have you heard of this teacher?"

"Although Mr. Natsume is young, he is already a professor officially hired by the University of Tsukuba. He is good at research in the fields of folklore and monsters," Xiaozhuang said. "At the same time, he has a very good personality. It is very popular, and many teachers went to conduct fieldwork with Natsume-sensei to gain inspiration when painting, and I heard that he is a teacher with profound knowledge and gentle temperament."

Xiao Zhuang said in a low voice: "There are rumors that he can see monsters."

Aye said: "Huh?"

Xiao Zhuang immediately said: "But those are just rumors. Rumors. As you know, the public has always been in a state of 'credibility but not complete trust' in folklore. In the final analysis, no one knows whether monsters exist or not."

Aye nodded slowly: "That's right." He said, "I read a lot of Natsume-sensei's works in the process of looking for materials, and I have doubts about some of the concepts. In addition, I also hope that Borrow the first-hand information from Natsume-sensei.”

"Please help me make an appointment with the teacher."

Ibaraki Prefecture - University of Tsukuba

April 11

11: 00am

As Xiaozhuang said, Mr. Natsume is a very gentle teacher. In addition, he happened to be at the University of Tsukuba the next day and did not go to Yahara and other places to conduct field research, so Aye made an appointment with him and went directly .

University of Tsukuba is located in Ibaraki, very close to Tokyo, only 40 minutes away by express bus.

Teacher Natsume is younger than Ye Zang imagined, and he is a young professor who makes people feel like a spring breeze just by looking at him.

"Fallen God?"

Natsume brewed two cups of tea in a mug, one for Ye Zang and one for himself.

"Yes." Aye's smile was also very flattering.

"After all, I am a cartoonist. In addition to textual research, I also need to pay attention to the ups and downs of the plot during the creation process," he said, seemingly embarrassed. "In recent comics, blackened memes have become very popular."

Natsume is also a young man, and there is no young man in Japan who does not read manga. He nodded and said, "Of course."

"And the Fallen Angel is not simply a secondary creation." Natsume said softly, "Even if it is a god, it will become a demon."

Ye Zang said: "Are you talking about the story of Fengshen Yimulian? His example is rare even in unofficial history. Most folklorists believe that the end of the good god is to disappear, not to fall."

Natsume: "The reason for this conclusion is the God of Misfortune."

He said: "Most people think that the God of Misfortune is born on the opposite side of the good gods. Their definition is very similar to the fallen gods. They are also gods who fulfill wishes. Compared with the good gods who fulfill benign wishes, they are responsible for curses and assassinations." The God of Misfortune sounds very evil."

"However, even the gods of misfortune are not considered fallen angels. The essence of their behavior is to realize people's dreams and respond to the prayers of believers."

Ye Zang listened intently.

"The so-called fallen angels, in my understanding, are gods who cannot respond to believers and distort their wishes." He said, "To give an example, you know the evil of this world in the Xingyue world."

His example is very fashionable, Ye Zang nodded and said: "Of course."

"The wish to save people is realized by destroying everyone. After distorting the wish, they will only receive curses from believers. Using curses as food, the negative energy of the Fallen Angel will rise again."

"This is the fallen angel in my understanding."

"Of course, what I told you is just my understanding. The fragmentary unofficial history can't prove the credibility of my statement at all. I can only say it as supplementary material or material for telling stories."

Natsume's clear eyes stared at Ye Zang: "Can this solve your doubts?"

Ye Zang smiled and said, "Basically yes."

He said: "The last question, do you know the puerperal god? Assuming he becomes a cursed fallen angel, how big is his ability?"

This question is very strange. Ye Zang's statement is as if the gods really exist and have fallen.

Natsume said sternly, "Maternity god? The one in the childbirth village in Kanagawa Prefecture?"

Ah Ye just smiled and said nothing.

Natsume pondered for a moment and said, "I can't answer your question, but..."

"The terrifying thing about fallen gods is that there is no limit to their abilities."

"It is difficult to respond to a believer's request, but it is too easy to distort one's wishes."

"..."

Speaking of this, all of Ye Zang's doubts seemed to be answered.

He exchanged pleasantries with Natsume for a while, both of them had normal attitudes, and they had lunch together in the cafeteria of University of Tsukuba around 12 o'clock. Ye Zang said goodbye to Natsume because he had other arrangements in the afternoon.

When parting, he asked seemingly nonchalantly, "Does the god have any beloved believers?"

"They tend to like kids more than adults."

"Just like most of the objects hidden by the gods are children."

"A child's wish is the purest."

……

Ye Zang, Nanami Jianren, and Wujo Wu all conducted investigations on the same day.

Compared to Ye Zang, who collected information slowly, and Gojo Satoru and Natsuyu, who went around the childbirth village but failed to find the curse, Nanami and the others seemed to be the fastest. They spent most of the day investigating the victims in Tokyo.

Here I have to say that the progress of the window investigation is actually not very fast. Like this incident, they started to pay attention to it because a large number of people disappeared. Maternity village.

But the problem is that they are an independent department from the police, and their authority to spy on the privacy of citizens is far lower than that of the police. In addition, they are understaffed, which makes it take them longer to locate the source of the curse.

When exactly did the person go to the puerperium village and when did he disappear? This is another layer of investigation, which requires a door-to-door visit to get the final answer.

In the process, they also have to deal with citizens who are extremely concerned about privacy and want to conceal the disappearance of people, which is even more troublesome.

"Strange." Huiyuan looked at the time on the form and said, "I went to Maternity Village on October 10th and disappeared on October 9th."

"I went there on October 10th and disappeared on the 15th."

"The curses are not triggered in chronological order at all," he said.

Qihai: "The ratio of characters is also the same, women, men, old people, children, the conclusion is 2:1:3:10."

"The proportion of children is simply too high."

Huiyuan suddenly thought: "Is it because children believe in gods more, so the number is the highest. Adults think that gods are deceitful, and the older generation may still believe in them."

After he finished speaking, he immediately denied his thoughts and said, "I'm just joking."

Nanami: "No, the idea is valuable."

He thought: "God-related curses respond to people's wishes..."

He didn't know what he had figured out, and immediately said to the people at the window: "Is it possible that it is in the order of responding to the prayers of the believers to perform divine disappearances?"

The supervisor of the window froze for a moment: "The order of responses?"

Qi Kaidao: "You can investigate whether the missing person has encountered any strange things recently, or whether the people around them have encountered any strange things."

The search area was further expanded, and the people in the window sent more people to investigate.

The difficulty of investigation is different for each person. Housewives are easier to investigate because they have a small living circle and no one they know except the neighbors around them.

The staff of the window soon discovered that vicious incidents did occur in the social circle of the missing person, some committed suicide and some committed homicide.

Because the scene was close to an ordinary murder, the case was handed over to the police, not to the conjurer.

At this point, ordinary people can infer what happened, Qihai Jianren and the others found the cursed curse at the scene of the incident.

Hui Yuanxiong said: "This curse, the IQ is too high, right?"

"His mode of action is almost human."

Unlike the future where humanoid curses are everywhere, the current curse is far from evolving to that point.

Even if it is the super-level curse spirit of Wutiao Enlightenment Extinction, it is the kind that is powerful, full of bad water, but has no language ability, or it will occupy the land and become king, and is unwilling to move around.

but……

Respond to the wishes of human beings, fulfill the "wishes" with less magic power remaining, hide from the gods, and have no movement restrictions...

The overseer of the window shuddered.

"He is a curse with human intelligence."

"A super curse without a doubt," said the supervisor.

He said decisively: "The task level needs to be corrected, this is no longer a curse that you can deal with." He said, "I will also inform Mr. Wujo and them..."

"Anyway, thank you very much for your help." He judged, "Let's stop here, Nanami-san, Huiyuan-san."

Hui Yuanxiong asked: "Will it be handed over to a more advanced conjurer?"

The supervisor nodded and said, "It just so happens that Mr. Gojo and Mr. Xia You have arrived at the puerperium village to conduct an in-depth investigation on the curse."

"If they can't solve it, no one can solve the super magic spirit."

"After all, he is a super magician."

Haibara: "Wow——"

The supervisor said with a pale face, "After you enter school, you will also be able to see Mr. Wutiao and the others."

"If you do the math, they're only a year older than you."

Qihai looked sideways.

He asked: "Is there no more experienced conjurer to deal with it?"

The supervisor smiled and said: "That's impossible, Qihai-kun." He said, "The growth of a magician is not linear. The natural magic formula and magic power account for the most, and experience is not so much in comparison. important."

"Children are better than adults, and teenagers are better than adults. It's normal in the world of magic. Just like Mr. Qihai, your rating has already surpassed most magicians."

"Now there are only three super magicians in the magic world, so the combination of those two is the strongest."

The supervisor said: "It can only be said that those who are capable should work harder."

……

"A super magic spirit with human intelligence that can run around?"

Rao Gojo Satoru, when he heard such a fresh configuration, he would stick out his little finger and dig his ears.

Xia Youjie commented: "It sounds quite tricky."

He asked, "What are you going to do, Wu?"

Gojo Satoru said: "What else can I do, just wait for the rabbit."

"Since it is a curse from the gods, I will definitely not give up my lair."

Xia Youjie said, "That's not necessarily true. If he sensed your magic power, he might just run away with oil on the soles of his feet."

Wujo Wu cut a mouthful and said: "That's really troublesome." Having said that, he still restrained his spell power that was floating around in action.

Xia Youjie said again: "Anyway, let's find a place to live first."

He said: "Even if you just sit on the sidelines, it takes time, doesn't it? This is a resort, so there should be many places to live."

Gojo Satoru curled his lips and said, "That's right."

He finally leaned against the tree trunk without laziness, his long legs changed from slightly bent to upright, and his body jumped a long way up.

Jibaomao whispered in Xia Youjie's ear, "Let's go, let's rent a villa and play."

Xia Youjie shrugged.

Fine.

……

In fact, Gojo Satoru's idea is very good. There is no other way to deal with this kind of curse spirit running all over the map, except to squat and guard.

But I can't help but someone cuts off halfway.

The autumn outing was scheduled on Friday, and the next two days were weekends. Hui and Tsumiki got a full rest.

During the period, Fuhei Aihua hurried home and saw that Tsumiji and Ye Zang had a good life, so she left again.

When visiting Tsushima's house, Fukuro Aika met Kei. She looked at Kei's appearance carefully for the first time, and she was very surprised.

"This child..." Fuhei Aihua said softly.

"Huh?" Ye Zang made herbal tea for Aihua, and he said to Hui who was about to go out, "Be careful on the road."

Hui nodded, and politely said "Goodbye, Aunt Fuhei" before going out.

Tsumiki still has a lot of affection for Aika. She was sticking behind Aika like a little tail, but the latter wanted to push her away.

Tsumiki listened to Aika very much, so she went out with Megumin

"What's wrong?" Ye Zang asked.

"That child, I mean Hui..." After hesitating for a long time, Aihua still said, "He looks very similar to a friend of mine."

Aye slandered: "It's really amazing, Shi Er." '

'Is this the charm of meat-eating men?Not even her escaped. '

He complained a little: "The degree of repetition between Shi Er and me is too high." '

'It's nerve-wracking. '

Ye Zangming pretended not to know anything and said, "Hey, is it?"

Aika made up her mind and said, "Does Mr. Tsushima know Shier?"

Zenyuan Shier, like all the little faces, kept silent about his surname, only said that his name was Shier, and Aihua thought about it for a long time, but he didn't know whether Shier was his real name or stage name.

Ye Zang became excited when he heard Aihua's words, he lowered his brows and said with a melancholy expression: "I know."

He said, "Shier is Hui's father."

He said softly: "You have seen Shier, right, they look alike."

"..."

To be honest, at this moment, Fu Hei Aihua had filled up tens of thousands of words of drama in her mind, and she felt extremely ashamed.

Even after she knew that Shi'er was married, she never had such emotion.

The national character of Japan is very strange.

For marriage, they seem to lack universal moral values. Take Junichi Watanabe's "Paradise Lost" as an example. This novel has caused great repercussions in Japanese society.

Watanabe believes that with the ties of marriage and family, if middle-aged people who are concerned by the world can ignore the accusations of family and morality and pursue love together, this emotion is far more sincere than the love of youth.

The same is true for the content of his book. In Paradise Lost, Rinko and Hisaki died in love because of an extramarital affair. This is a perfect love story in the hearts of a large number of Japanese represented by Watanabe Junichi.

Under this cultural background, Fu Hei's behavior of Aihua can be accepted by many people, and the extramarital affair between the little boy and the divorced woman is not a big deal.

But when Aihua found out that Yezang was raising Shi'er's child, she felt ashamed.

"He helped me take care of Tsumi Jiben out of morality. He has already troubled Mr. Tsushima so much, and even got involved in his relationship with Mr. Shier..."

'It's so shameless, how could I do such a thing. '

A great sense of shame dominated Aika, she had no way to face Ye Zang, said "excuse me" and left in a hurry, Aye stared at her back.

——It can be called fleeing.

Aye quickly retracted his gaze. He didn't have any particular love or dislike for Aihua, but he didn't like to reject people very much, and Tsumiji was a good boy.

Therefore, Aye accepted all of Aihua's "disturbance" to him.

'Next, it's time to deal with Hui's matter. '

'It's about time. '

……

Megumi Tsushima's friendship structure is not so healthy.

This is related to the xenophobia of the Japanese. On the junior high school campus, transfer students are at the bottom of the food chain. Unless the students themselves are strong enough, they will become the targets of bullying.

In addition, children with "family problems" are collectively ostracized.

From the above two perspectives, Tsushima Megumi and Fukurotsu Miki belong to the lonely group.

In fact, Jin Meiji's popularity is still good, it is true that there are always people who love black flowers, but Jin Meiji can't stand it. She has excellent grades, looks good, and has no faults in her personality.

Such a person can always win the love of others.

As for Hui, the situation is different. He is a good boy, yes, but he doesn't talk much. In a word, he is a cool guy.

Although he is a transfer student, the housewives in the neighborhood know that the Tsushima family is very rich, and the snobbish ones simply let the children in the family be friends with him, but, well, Megumin is not the kind of character who would hang out with others, Plus he was so good-looking and so popular with girls in kindergarten that many boys hated him.

Hui had no male friends in kindergarten, only a few girls who persevered and came up to talk to him.

He goes to and from school normally in kindergarten, and when other children walk together to play on weekends, he will follow Tsumiji and go to the library with elementary school students.

Tsumiji has good grades and is the study committee member of the class.

There are two study committee members in their class, and the other is also a girl. Her personality can only be described as serious. She studies, cleans, and carries out practical activities seriously.

Tsumiji asked her why, and she said, "Grandma said, the gods will watch us."

Tsumiji asked, "What kind of god?"

"Grandma enshrines the god of culture in Tianmangong."

That is Michizane Sugawara.

"She was a shrine maiden in Kitano Tenmangu Shrine when she was young."

Kitano Tenmangu Shrine is a famous shrine.

Tsumiji nodded solemnly, "I see."

Hui declined to comment on this. He was not very curious about other people's affairs. Afterwards, Tsumiji told him that Shiyin was not very popular in class. Only kids who haven't grown up do that.

Shion is the name of the study committee member.

Hui said: "Only children would want to pretend to be mature."

Tsumiji nodded like an adult and said, "So they are all children."

The destination of Megumi and Tsumiki today is also the library. Megumi brought a book of natural geography to read, and Tsumiki brought a textbook.

They meet Shion at their old place on the first floor of the library.

There are not many people in the county library, except for the librarian, there are almost no adults, at most, they are junior high school students who come to review books.

Out of the corner of Hui's eyes, he caught sight of the man in the monk's robe, but he was not wearing the bright yellow cassock.

Fortunately, Hui was not very curious about others, he just glanced over in a hurry, and was entangled in reading his own book. He didn't notice that his eyes just passed over the man's head, and the other party looked straight at him.

As if aware of something.

"Shiyin sauce." Tsumiji asked in a low voice, "Is grandma feeling better? Have those people come to trouble you again?"

Shiyin hadn't been to the library last week. She told Tsumiji at school that she wanted to go home to be with her grandma because her grandma was sick.

In addition, there are other problems that plague Shiyin. As I said earlier, she is a marginal figure in school. In other people's words, she is as serious as a nerd.

Shion is quite dull, and she doesn't know anything about popular games, shiny accessories and cosmetics.

The hobbies that are out of track with the times prevent her from integrating into the student group, and the mantra of "the gods are watching me" has labeled her a weirdo.

Therefore, Shiyin became the target of malicious concentration, and she encountered endless school violence.

Tsumiji is trying to protect her, but when Tsumiji is not around, those students can always find an opportunity to take advantage of it. On the table that Shiyin finally wiped clean, there are new calligraphy written in insoluble pen every day. Traces are very difficult to remove.

Shiyin said in a low voice: "Grandma's voice is better, as for them..."

"I make a wish to the gods, and hope that they can be themselves, maintain a pure heart, and not disturb others at will." She said with a serious look, "the gods answered my prayer, and they will get better."

Tsumiji couldn't agree, she just said: "Let's have lunch together next week, Shiyin-chan." They happened to be at the front and back tables during the break, sticking together.

Her behavior can act as a deterrent to other students.

Hui listened to their conversation while reading, he was a little puzzled, how did the gods respond to Shiyin?

Because of doubts, he asked when they left the library together at five o'clock.

Shiyin said: "I will pray to the gods in the small ancestral hall every morning." Shiyin's house is a typical Japanese-style mansion, and the courtyard did not spend money to maintain the dry landscape. Her grandmother sprinkled a handful of grass seeds in the yard , After the summer, there is a layer of cyan crispy skin attached to the naked loess land.

"Master Shenming never responded to me."

When she was talking, the dull hair on her head drooped in response to gravity, and Shiyin's words were quite philosophical: "I told myself that the gods are watching me, so I have to be strict with myself, but in fact, it is grandma who is watching. looking at me, myself looking at me."

"I asked Grandma if I wasn't pious enough, and Grandma said that God lives in my heart."

For Hui, these two sentences were too difficult to understand. He looked up at Tsumiji, and found that the eyes of the other party had turned into mosquito-repellent eyes, which were obviously surrounded by Shiyin's words.

This made Hui breathe a sigh of relief.

It's not just that I don't understand.

The three of them walked side by side, the child's footsteps were very brisk, without making any sound when walking, and the setting sun dragged their shadows very long, long enough to be printed on the wall surrounding the alleyway.

"Papa, papa—"

The sound of clogs touching the floor followed them all the way.

Speaking of clogs, aren't they also worn by monks in the library?What, is he also going the same way?

The sound of the clogs was too close, and Hui's facial features, which had been blessed by the spell, were too sensitive. He only acted as a monk and was very close to them.

but……

A discovery made Hui open her mouth.

As far as he could see, the shadows on the wall were only the three of them.

Hearing the sound of footsteps that followed like a shadow, the distance between the other party and them would not be more than three meters.

Shiyin was still saying: "However, when I made a wish with 'him', I could clearly feel that Lord Shenming heard my wish."

"This feeling is very mysterious, and I have no way to describe it, but I suddenly knew that God exists. He may live in the sky, or he may live in our hearts."

Hui interrupted, "I see." He asked again, "Did you hear any noise?"

The topic was so off topic that both Shiyin and Tsumiji shook their heads obediently.

It was clearly autumn, but Hui could feel a layer of cold sweat emerging from her back.

'I have to call Shire. '

It was his only thought.

Hui didn't look back, he fumbled with both hands on the back of his schoolbag, trying to take out his phone.

"...can you...see...me?"

Unfamiliar and intermittent tones rang in his ears.