In the end, the car made it all the way to Tokyo.
Now that they had actually run into a ghost and nearly died, there was no way the trip they had planned could continue. Yoshida Saori and the others had no choice but to head home and call it quits.
"Xu-chan, you really won't come stay at my house with me?"
Even as they were parting, Saori was still making one last effort. A girl as cute and dependable as Xu Fu was someone she truly wanted to bring home with her.
If Xu Fu had somewhere else to go, Saori wouldn't have pressed the matter. But Xu Fu didn't have anywhere to stay right now and was planning to find a hotel, so Saori wanted to at least try.
"No, thank you. I appreciate it, Saori, but I don't want to be too much trouble for you. I'd rather stay on my own," Xu Fu said, declining her politely.
"I see..." Seeing that Xu Fu had already made up her mind, Saori held back in the end, no matter how unwillingly.
After parting from the group of four, Xu Fu found a decent hotel nearby on Saori's recommendation and checked in.
She had only just arrived in this world—ah, no, slip of the tongue, only just descended into this world—when she had immediately run into a dangerous evil spirit, so Xu Fu had been worried there might be ghosts all over the place. But even here in the hotel, she only saw a scant few Wandering Ghosts.
"Then again, that makes sense. If there really were that many evil spirits in the world, society would've fallen into chaos ages ago. There wouldn't be nearly so many ordinary people who don't believe in ghosts."
Xu Fu muttered to herself, then suddenly hugged the Yu Mei-ren doll in her arms with a blissful look on her face, rubbing her cheek over and over against the doll's cool hair.
"You think so too, don't you, Lady Yu~!"
"[Lady Yu Doll]: That's right! Xu Fu-chan really is so smart."
"Hehe~! Lady Yu praised me, I'm so happy... ah, no! I'm not the real Xu Fu, how can I be this much of a creep?!"
Xu Fu abruptly broke out of her lovestruck trance and regained her composure—then promptly went right back to wearing a blissful expression as she squeezed the Yu Mei-ren doll again.
"Oh well. This doll feels really nice to hug anyway. Ghehehehe... slurp." sound of swallowing
The hotel in front of her was only meant to be a temporary foothold. There were too many people coming and going here, and too many eyes around, making it inconvenient to set anything up. Xu Fu might not be a Caster, but she did possess the skill [Territory Evolution (Settlement) B++] which had been improved from [Territory Creation]. Letting it go unused would just be a waste.
Besides, in a world overrun with evil spirits and curses, Xu Fu couldn't be sure she wouldn't end up provoking some particularly troublesome enemy sooner or later. If she stayed in a hotel the whole time, she worried she might drag innocent bystanders nearby into it.
That was the last thing she wanted.
"So in the end, I really do need to find a house somewhere out in the countryside with no one around, huh?"
Xu Fu, having already taken a hot shower in her hotel room and changed into pajamas, sprawled lazily across the bed, planning out her next moves in her head.
The settings of Mieruko-chan and Dark Gathering had a few things in common, but in Mieruko-chan, evil spirits usually couldn't affect the living world directly. A human in the living world had to notice them first before those spirits could harm them. That was why they so often asked, "Can you see me?"
Compared to Mieruko-chan, the evil spirits in Dark Gathering were far craftier, far more dangerous, and far more reckless. They could kill living people and possess their bodies much more easily, reaching into the world of the living from the world of the dead.
The evil spirit that had stolen Yayoi Hozuki's mother's soul—Kuubou—was an "Oigami" cultivated by a group of evil spirits that had possessed spiritualists. Those spirits also spread curses everywhere and buried dangerous cursed objects all over the place. They were an exceptionally dangerous and cunning bunch.
"But! None of that has anything to do with me right now! Xu Fu-chan lying in bed and Xu Fu-chan not lying in bed are two completely different Xu Fu-chans. The secret to living happily and freely is never bringing your worries into bed with you~! Therefore... the cutest beautiful girl in the world, Xu Fu-chan, is going to sleep now~!"
The bedding was so soft and fluffy, and since this was a high-end hotel, both the sheets and the blanket had been washed until they were spotless. It felt like she could sink straight into a pink-colored dream~!
She had descended directly into the mountains, then run into an evil spirit right away. Poor Xu Fu-chan was only finally getting the chance to sleep now. She absolutely had to sleep her heart out with a big fuaa fuaa until she lost all sense of day and night~.
And of course, the Lady Yu doll was essential too. Sleep was always better when you had something to hold.
"Lady Yu, Lady Yu, Lady Yu~!"
"[Lady Yu Doll]: What is it, Xu Fu-chan?"
"Hehe, I just wanted to say your name... Lady Yu, come sleep with Xu Fu-chan, okay? We're sharing a bed and pillow now~!"
"[Lady Yu Doll]: Then good night, Xu Fu-chan."
"Good night to you too, Lady Yu~ Ghehehehe~~!"
...
Yoshida Saori had also returned home by then. Her father, Yoshida Kotaro, still hadn't come back because of work, so only her mother, Yoshida Haruna, was home.
Haruna was quite surprised to see her daughter back. As far as she knew, Saori was still supposed to be traveling with her friends and wasn't meant to return for several more days.
"What's wrong? Did you have a fight with your friends? Or did that boy Takaya bully you?"
"No, nothing like that. Takaya-kun was very good to me. He was reliable the whole trip and really looked out for me." As she said that, the image of Nagata Takaya holding her in his arms inside the temple suddenly rose in Saori's mind, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously lifted into a faint smile. "It's just... there was an accident on the way, so we had to cancel the trip and come back early..."
Haruna stared at her daughter for a long while, and Saori couldn't tell whether she believed her or not.
"...What matters is that you came back safe."
Those were the only words Haruna left her with, and Saori froze for a moment.
A while later, a calm smile slowly spread across Saori's face.
Yeah...
Coming back safe was enough.
"Dad still isn't home?"
"No. Your father called earlier and said they're having a meeting at the hospital tonight that'll run very late. He'll take care of dinner himself, so we shouldn't wait for him."
Saori's father, Yoshida Kotaro, was a doctor, and he was always busy. Staying late at the hospital to work overtime was normal for him. But both Saori and Haruna were understanding enough to appreciate how hard he worked, so they didn't resent him for it.
Whenever she met neighbors in the area, Haruna always praised her husband with a proud look on her face.
"Kotaro is at his most handsome when he's serious about his work."
And besides, Kotaro had always worked hard to support this family. As his wife, Haruna naturally supported him without reservation. At most, she would complain that he was always telling his patients to take care of their health while seeming to care very little about his own, which made her worry for him terribly.
By the time Yoshida Kotaro got home, it was already very late. But he found that his wife still hadn't gone to bed and had been waiting for him.
And there, he also saw his adorable daughter.
"Dad, you worked hard today too! Come here, gimme a hug!"
"Haha! You're already this old and you still cling to your dad. I was wondering why your mother was still up so late—so my little princess is home, is she? Hahahaha!"
Kotaro was exhausted—truly exhausted. For the past several days, he had been sleeping terribly. He had nightmares at night and no energy during the day. He had originally planned to go straight to bed the moment he got home and catch up on sleep, but Saori's presence instantly brightened him, and the happy smile on his face wouldn't leave.
Saori hugged her father tightly.
This brush with death had made her see many things clearly all at once. She had realized what truly mattered to her and had started cherishing the time she spent with her family more than before.
But beyond that... she actually had another purpose.
She secretly raised her eyes to look at her father's face and found that his complexion was alarmingly bad. The dark circles under his eyes were almost on par with a panda's, and the exhaustion in his gaze was impossible to hide.
After coming home, Saori had talked with her mother about many things. Haruna was curious about what had happened during Saori's trip, and Saori in turn wanted to know what her parents had been dealing with over the past few days.
That was when she heard about something strange that had only started happening recently.
A few days ago, for reasons no one understood, her father had started feeling listless during the day and having nightmares at night. Medical examinations found nothing wrong with him, so they could only speculate that it was caused by stress.
If that had been all, it wouldn't really have qualified as "strange."
But later, Haruna heard from Kotaro that quite a few people at his hospital were in a similar state—nightmares at night, no energy during the day—and that all of them had developed those symptoms within the past few days.
The hospital director had even given Kotaro and the others time off, telling them to rest at home for several days. After all, if their lack of energy led to a major mistake in treatment, it would ruin the hospital's reputation. But in the end, the doctors who took leave and went home didn't recover at all, and more and more people in the hospital started showing the same symptoms too. It was bizarre in a deeply unsettling way.
After what she herself had just been through with an evil spirit, hearing all this immediately gave Saori an idea.
Could this... be another evil spirit at work?
Knowing how dangerous evil spirits were, she was far too anxious to even think about sleep. That was why she had stayed in the living room waiting until her father came home.
Of course, she hadn't just been waiting around idly. Since this strange phenomenon had only begun within the past few days, then something had to have changed not long before it started. Saori wanted to find that change. She wanted to know what had triggered it.
If an evil spirit really was involved, then there was a good chance that whatever that "change" was had something to do with the dead...
The problem was that the place where the disturbance was happening was a hospital. In a place like that, a few deaths were far too ordinary. And on top of that, Kotaro would never tell his wife every single thing that happened at the hospital. So just as expected, Saori's investigation hadn't gotten very far.
Now that she had seen her father in person, she could tell how awful he looked, but she still had no way of confirming whether this really was the work of an evil spirit. She didn't have eyes like Yayoi Hozuki that could directly see the world of the dead, nor could she sense an evil spirit's presence from thousands of meters away like Keitaro Gentoga could.
In the end, did this mean she really would have to ask Xu Fu for help...?
Watching the two of them interact, Haruna smiled slightly.
"So it really is true what people say online—daughters really do end up closer to their fathers."
"Hehe! Don't be jealous, Mom. I love you a lot too." Hiding all her little schemes away, Saori trotted over to Haruna and lightly kissed her on the cheek.
"Hmph! Trying to butter your mother up at a time like this won't work!" Even so, the smile on Haruna's face gave away what she really felt.
"Really, it won't work? Then I'll just keep kissing you more! I'll stop when you're not mad anymore, hehe."
"You really are..."
In order to get more useful information out of her father, Saori decided she needed to reveal some information first.
So she sought out Yoshida Kotaro while Haruna was elsewhere.
"Hm? You need something from me, my cute little padded jacket? Do you want to tell your dad some fun stories from your trip?" Kotaro gave her a smile full of weariness. "Dad really does want to hear them, but... Dad is honestly exhausted right now. Save the stories for next time."
"Dad..." Saori looked carefully at his haggard face, her eyes full of concern. After a brief hesitation, she said in a low voice, "Do you... believe evil spirits exist?"
...
When Xu Fu woke up again, it was already noon the next day. She had slept amazingly well!
This kind of degenerate lifestyle where you didn't need to go to school or work, could sleep whenever you wanted, wake up whenever you wanted, and never had to worry about running out of money was just the best!
Which was to say, the ultimate goal in life was lying flat and slacking off—and doing it with financial freedom.
After enjoying breakfast and lunch together in one meal, Xu Fu lay on her stomach on the bed, looking for a suitable house online through her phone.
To avoid causing trouble for ordinary people if anything went wrong, the place needed to be remote enough.
And to make building a workshop more convenient, the house would ideally sit atop a leyline.
Xu Fu still hadn't found anything suitable when a call suddenly came in.
The phone Xu Fu had could access the internet, but it couldn't actually make normal calls. It had no phone number. Before parting with Saori and the others, Xu Fu had given each of them a talisman. As long as they stuck the talisman onto a phone or mobile, it would let them connect directly to Xu Fu's phone.
Because didn't horror movies always have that kind of scene? Someone runs into an emergency and wants to call their companions, only to discover they're out of service range or have no signal. Xu Fu's talismans existed specifically to prevent that kind of thing from happening.
And because the only way to reach this phone was through those talismans, Xu Fu never had to worry about scam calls or annoying sales pitches either.
"Helloo~? You've reached Xu Fu Arts Studio~, what can I do for you?"