Chapter 8: Full
As the sun sank toward the west, the noise of the city gradually softened.
By the time Gin Tsumugi and Kurazaki Fuko stepped out of Kasugano Sora's small Western-style house, dusk had already settled over the streets. Under the fading glow of the evening sky, the roads were filled with people hurrying home from work and school, their figures flowing past one another in a familiar rhythm that seemed worlds apart from the horror hidden inside that house.
Fuko stopped at the gate and turned back.
Her gaze lingered on the house for a long moment.
There was grief in her eyes, but also hesitation, remembrance, and a kind of helpless tenderness that refused to fade. In that instant, she could not help but remember her aunt's gentle smile, her uncle's stiff and serious manner that always hid a kind heart, and Kasugano Haruka, that precocious younger cousin who had acted older than his years.
That home had once been full of warmth.
Now it was only a shell, a place left behind by the dead.
"Auntie... don't worry," Fuko murmured in her heart. "I'll take good care of Sora from now on."
That was the only promise she could still make.
The only family she had left to protect was Sora.
But the thought made her feel a little bitter.
Right now, the person truly protecting Sora was not her.
It was someone else.
Almost unconsciously, Fuko glanced at Gin beside her. He was young, absurdly so, yet there was a steadiness about him that made people trust him without thinking. He carried himself with quiet responsibility, the sort that did not need to be announced. Just walking beside him made one feel safer.
Leaving Sora with him, at least for now, eased something in her chest.
"What is it?"
Gin noticed her lingering gaze and turned his head slightly.
Caught looking at him, Fuko stiffened.
A trace of embarrassment and shyness flashed across her face. She quickly looked away and searched for something—anything—to change the subject.
"By the way, Mr. Gin..." she said, trying to sound natural. "There's something I still don't understand."
Gin waited.
"Since Sora was bound and imprisoned by that Weird Wood Spirit the whole time, how did she post a commission online? And how did she send me those messages asking for help?"
Now that they were out of immediate danger, the more Fuko thought about it, the stranger the entire situation became. There had been too many contradictions, too many things that did not make sense. Judging from Sora's condition in the basement, she had barely retained even a basic sense of herself. In that state, it should have been impossible for her to use a phone, go online, or send coherent distress messages.
Gin answered as they walked.
"In nature, plenty of predators use bait."
His tone was calm, almost detached.
"What happened to your cousin was the same."
Fuko's face tightened.
"That Weird Wood Spirit has only a shallow will," Gin continued. "It has instinct, but not intelligence. Which means the thing behind it gave it instructions."
"To lure in more humans?"
"Yes."
Gin's eyes reflected the dimming city lights.
"It twisted and contaminated your cousin's spirit, trapping her in a mental state of fear, confusion, and instability. If you want the simplest explanation, think of it as a dream. A false world made from terror."
He paused briefly before going on.
"From time to time, it would release a portion of her awareness just enough for her to seek help from outside. Truth mixed with lies. Memory mixed with illusion. Panic mixed with suggestion. That way, she could send out a cry for help without ever fully understanding what was happening to her."
He glanced at Fuko.
"And just like that, it drew in prey. You. Me. Anyone else who responded."
Fuko's fingers curled slightly.
"So that's how..."
"Otherwise," Gin said, "where do you think all those dried corpses in the basement came from?"
His voice did not change.
"Of course, not every victim was necessarily lured there by your cousin. But some of them certainly were."
A chill ran down Fuko's spine.
If she had not met Gin, if he had not appeared when he did, then she would likely have become one more corpse in that basement, drained dry and turned into fertilizer for those grotesque fruits.
The more clearly she understood the details, the more she felt the true horror of the monsters hidden within human society.
They understood people.
They knew how to use fear, affection, guilt, and blood ties.
They preyed on human beings by turning human hearts against themselves.
And this... was probably only the visible edge of a much greater disaster still gathering in the dark.
Fuko raised her eyes and looked at the passing crowd on the evening streets.
Workers rushing home.
Students laughing in small groups.
Couples, parents, lonely commuters, ordinary lives woven together beneath a sky that looked no different from before.
But behind that peaceful surface, who knew how many similar supernatural incidents were hidden in silence?
For ordinary people, such things were no different from natural disasters.
No warning.
No defense.
No way to reason with them.
By the time they reached the subway entrance, the air between them had gone quiet again.
Gin stopped first.
"As for your cousin Kasugano Sora," he said, "I'll turn her into a Shikigami soon."
Fuko straightened at once and bowed deeply again.
"I'll have to trouble you, Mr. Gin."
Her gratitude this time was even more sincere than before.
After that, Gin handed her a business card from the White Fox Office, and the two exchanged contact information. With the matter settled for now, Gin stepped toward the platform alone and boarded the subway back to Shibuya Ward.
Fuko remained where she was.
She watched him until his figure vanished completely into the flow of the station.
Only then did she lower her gaze to the business card in her hand.
White Fox Office.
She stared at the printed letters for several seconds, lost in thought.
"It's best to tell Kou and the others about what happened today first," she murmured to herself.
The possible yokai behind the Weird Wood Spirit.
Gin Tsumugi himself.
And beyond that...
Should she start seriously studying Onmyodo?
Today's brush with death had shaken her far more deeply than she wanted to admit. It had also made one thing painfully clear.
Relying only on the talismans Kou and the others gave her would never be enough.
Maybe those charms could save her once.
Maybe twice.
But sooner or later, she would run into something they could not stop.
Only strength that belonged to her could truly protect her.
That was the real path forward.
By the time Gin returned to Shibuya Ward, night had fully fallen.
Even Shibuya, one of the so-called sleepless districts alongside Shinjuku, had grown markedly quieter after the resurgence of supernatural incidents. The city still glowed, but the pulse of the streets had weakened. Traffic was lighter than it used to be. Fewer people wandered aimlessly after dark. No one wanted to gamble with their life for the sake of late night convenience.
When Gin entered the White Fox Office, the place was silent.
"Kotoko already went home, huh?"
The office was empty.
He crossed the room and sat down on the sofa, finally allowing himself a moment to take stock of the day's gains.
The bounty itself was not a problem.
To avoid cases exactly like Sora's—where the commissioner might die, disappear, or otherwise become unable to pay—the Non-Scientific Supernatural Forum would cover part of the commission cost in advance. That safeguard existed precisely so onmyoji would not hesitate to respond to dangerous requests.
So even if he had ended up making the trip for nothing, it would not have been a total loss.
But the real reward had never been the money.
There were also the three blood red fruits he had sealed away, their effects still unknown.
Yet even those were secondary.
The greatest gain, without question, was the one thing that had driven Gin to accept the mission so readily in the first place.
Role Playing Progress.
With that thought, he called up the system interface.
[Abe no Seimei: Progenitor of Onmyodo]
[Role Playing Progress: Childhood (Upgradeable)]
[Character Abilities:
Basic Talisman Compendium: Advanced
Five Pointed Star Incantation: Advanced
Shikigami Contract: Intermediate
Word Spirit Technique: Beginner
Uho: Beginner]
Gin's eyes rested on the screen.
Just as he had expected, this mission had completely filled the progress bar.
Now the next upgrade was finally within reach.
And that meant transformation.
For the first time since returning, a faint anticipation stirred in his expression.
He was genuinely curious to see just how much stronger he would become once he stepped into the next stage.