The Bernese Mountain Dog walked with its head held high and chest out, moving with a light step. The circular, brassy-yellow pendant on its collar had been carefully polished to a shine, swaying back and forth with its movements.
The black cat with white paws maintained its aloof demeanor, looking down upon all humans with indifference, its teal eyes casually scanning its surroundings.
The young man who had used his connections to interfere with public duties maintained a cold expression, his face unreadable, his temperament gloomy and taciturn.
When those misty gray eyes, which were not obscured by hair, looked over, the person who had intended to say something sarcastic to him instinctively shuddered, could only quietly distance himself by a few steps.
"This is enough." Kisaragi Chiyo stopped in her tracks, refusing the other person's follow, instead expressed her intention to wander around alone.
"Are you sure?" the police officer responsible for bringing him to the scene asked, his expression looking quite grim.
“I'm sure.”
Whatever, anyway..
The other person kept a stiff expression and wanted to say a few more words, but then remembered his superior's instructions, so he could only shut his mouth like he had just swallowed a fly. After dropping a warning not to disturb the scene, he left in a hurry, his figure appearing as eager as if he were shaking off a burden, he quickly disappeared around the corner of the building's corridor and wall.
"You've been rejected." Matsuda Jinpei crouched on his shoulder, his tail wagging behind him.
"They probably just think I'm someone here to cause trouble." Kisaragi Chiyo didn't care about the other's attitude; rather, she was more concerned with the faint, flickering demonic energy she had been sensing since just a moment ago.
"Can you feel it?" Kisaragi Chiyo turned around, looking toward the long corridor behind him that seemed to lead nowhere. His gaze swept slowly across the space, finally, his misty gray eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze coming to a rest on a certain spot.
"A very fresh scent." The Bernese Mountain Dog bared its teeth, an expression of excitement appearing in its round, purple eyes.
It should be nearby." Matsuda Jinpei replied, narrowing his eyes, his whiskers twitching as he made a sniffing motion. "But.. it doesn't seem to smell like there's any malice.
"Anyway, we'll know once we go take a look." Kisaragi Chiyo gave a smile, he patted the head of the Bernese Mountain Dog beside him, who was already spinning in circles, unable to wait any longer.
"Go on." As Kisaragi Chiyo spoke, he unfastened the leash from the Bernese Mountain Dog.
As the words fell, the leash was unfastened, the Bernese Mountain Dog shot out like a bolt of lightning, moving so fast that a furry blur was all the naked eye could see.
"Is it really okay to leave it to him?" Matsuda Jinpei looked quite lazy, curled up on Kisaragi Chiyo's shoulder and unwilling to move. Compared to Hara Kenji, he didn't seem to have much interest in hunting.
"Don't worry." After standing in place for a while, Kisaragi Chiyo chose to walk in another direction.
The residual demonic energy isn't strong; it's unlikely to be any formidable Great Demon.
"With Hara's ability, it's probably as simple as a cat catching a mouse," Kisaragi Chiyo said, her tone carrying a clear hint of amusement.
Matsuda Jinpei did not speak; he simply gave the human a light, dismissive glance, with a flick of his long tail, swept it across the other's face in retaliation.
*
"This is the place." Kisaragi Chiyo stood at the doorway of a room cordoned off with yellow caution tape; looking in from the outside, the messy interior was clearly visible.
It was as if it had been swept by a great wind; the books on the bookshelf had all fallen to the floor, shattered teacups could be seen under the table, even the cushions on the sofa had been damaged, exposing their down filling.
Obvious signs of human interference?" Matsuda Jinpei let out a sneer after seeing it. "The report was quite euphemistic, wasn't it?
"Coming to the scene to investigate was indeed the right choice." Kisaragi Chiyo lowered her eyes, her gaze slowly sweeping over the black feathers mixed within the down of the cushion.
Then, he looked at Matsuda Jinpei and pointed out calmly, "Matsuda, your fur is standing on end."
Its fur was slightly bristling from head to tail, clearly on guard against something; this was the reaction a cat makes when it senses a threat.
"Kisaragi, there's the scent of a monster here too." Matsuda Jinpei wagged his tail irritably.
"I know." Kisaragi Chiyo looked into the room; although the demonic aura inside had begun to fade, one could still sense that turbid, distorted aura that carried a scent of decay.
"It's different from what we saw in the hallway." Kisaragi Chiyo pulled up the caution tape and ducked inside. Once inside the room, the aura became even more intense. Matsuda Jinpei had already jumped down from her shoulder and was pacing around the area unhappily.
"Matsuda, did you find something?" Kisaragi Chiyo crouched down. He had found a long strand of red hair on the sofa; according to the information provided by the Kobe family, Kamiko Tomomi had beautiful red hair.
“This aura feels somewhat familiar.” Matsuda Jinpei's tone was somewhat biting. “Just like mine, no.. actually, it's different. The other one smells like it was buried in the dirt for a week and then dug up.. That's not a living spirit at all; it's a corpse of a spirit being manipulated!”
“What did you say..” Kisaragi Chiyo was shocked by Matsuda Jinpei's words. He stood up and blinked, filled with uncertainty, "Are you sure?"
I'm sure." Matsuda Jinpei replied, enduring a wave of nausea. "That twisted power and the one used on the body I'm currently possessing come from the same source.
".." Kisaragi Chiyo said nothing, staring blankly at Matsuda Jinpei, as if processing the contents of his words.
I see." Kisaragi Chiyo's expression looked somewhat dazed for some reason. "I see. That guy.. that strange man who sews yokai together, he left Tokyo and went to Gunma.
Because the previous experiment failed, he chose a different method this time.
"It should be like this." A human-like expression of disgust appeared on the cat's cute face. He turned his head to look at Kisaragi Chiyo and quickly noticed that something was wrong with her expression.
“Kisaragi?” Matsuda Jinpei called out several times before finally waking Kisaragi Chiyo from her thoughts.
"What's wrong with you?" As Kisaragi Chiyo lightly touched her face with her cool fingertips, she looked up and met a pair of worried teal eyes; the other person had transformed into human form at some unknown point.
“No..” Kisaragi Chiyo averted his gaze and slowly shook his head, "It's nothing."
Kisaragi Chiyo brushed aside her recent abnormal behavior. She brushed aside Matsuda Jinpei's hand, reached past him, used two fingers to pick up that strand of red hair, winding it around the small Paper Shikigami.
Although the owner's aura is a bit faint, it should be enough.
Matsuda Jinpei stared at her back, pursing his lips. His intuition told him that Kisaragi Chiyo was likely hiding something, or rather, that there must be another, even more important reason for her coming to Gunma under the pretext of searching for Kamiko Tomomi.
"What are you doing?" Matsuda Jinpei watched Kisaragi Chiyo's movements with some curiosity.
A little method for searching for lost items." Kisaragi Chiyo used her two fingers to guide the Paper Shikigami through the incantation. "Logically speaking, it should also be somewhat effective for finding people.
As the Paper Shikigami was activated, it soon floated in the air after Kisaragi Chiyo released her hand. It first spun aimlessly for a few turns, finally, with a loud bang, it crashed into the glass window and automatically burned into ashes.
"Failed?" Matsuda Jinpei frowned as he looked at Kisaragi Chiyo, carefully observing the expression on her face, only felt relieved after confirming she was experiencing no discomfort.
As expected, taking shortcuts still doesn't work, does it?" Kisaragi Chiyo opened her eyes and sighed. "Kamiko Tomomi has been [hidden], which is why the Paper Shikigami couldn't find any trace of her.
So now, do we have no other options?
"No." Kisaragi Chiyo looked toward the doorway, where the sound of approaching footsteps was becoming increasingly clear.
"Hara is back," he said.
The Bernese Mountain Dog came back wagging its tail, carrying something in its mouth, placed it in Kisaragi Chiyo's hands as if to claim credit.
Kisaragi Chiyo lowered her eyes and looked at the spirit that Hara Kenji had caught and brought back.
Its fluffy, round body was about the size of a fist, a pair of small, pure white wings grew from its back, held in place by a paper talisman. Its eyes were pure black, as round as two black pebbles.
However, it was currently lying closed, refusing to move as if playing dead in Kisaragi Chiyo's palm. If one ignored its constantly trembling body, it might be mistaken for a snowball at first glance.
Snow Spirit." Kisaragi Chiyo gently squeezed it, then raised her hand to peel away the talisman. "A type of yokai born along with the winter snow, believed to be the incarnation of snow; wherever there is a Snow Spirit, it snows.
“The heavy snow at the mountain villa on the night Kamiko Tomomi went missing.. you brought it?”
The Snow Spirit did not speak, the wings behind it fluttered, as if it were still hesitating.
If you don't speak, I'll just throw you out like a ball," Kisaragi Chiyo threatened with a smile. "And then you'll be picked up and thrown again, until you are willing to open your mouth.
This human is simply a devil! Even more of a devil than that third-rate Exorcist who used paper talismans to stick it down that day.
The Snow Spirit's eyes widened in disbelief, it rolled over cautiously, letting out a faint chirp.
"It says it surrenders." Because they were both supernatural beings, Matsuda Jinpei and the Snow Spirit could communicate without any obstacles.
"Very good." Kisaragi Chiyo nodded in satisfaction, reaching out to point at the black feathers mixed in with the down.
What is your relationship with that monster?
After hearing this question, the Snow Spirit began playing dead again, but under the watchful eyes of the other similar creature and the Evil Spirit nearby, the Snow Spirit reluctantly answered Kisaragi Chiyo's question.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp.." The Snow Spirit's cries were like those of a noisy bird; even though Kisaragi Chiyo had only asked one question, it started spilling everything at once like a stream of beans.
Among them were some meaningless words, so Matsuda Jinpei picked through them and summarized the content for Kisaragi Chiyo.
The Snow Spirit said it is friends with [Zhen], the one who left another trace of demonic energy in the room. For some reason, it has awakened early.
Following the promise to spend every winter together, the Snow Spirit followed the scent of [Zhen] and eventually arrived near this mountain villa. However, because it wasn't invited, it couldn't get in and could only call out to its companion from the outside, attempting to get its attention with snow.
鸩?" Hara Kenji naturally leaned his head over and reached out to poke the white fluff in Kisaragi Chiyo's palm. "Is it a bird yokai?
"It's a poisonous bird. Legend has it that if you soak its feathers in wine, it creates a deadly poison," Kisaragi Chiyo explained.
However, after hearing what he said, the Snow Spirit appeared somewhat dissatisfied; its plump body bounced as it let out crisp chirping sounds.
It says the [Zhen] it knows isn't some kind of poisonous bird." Matsuda Jinpei glanced at the Snow Spirit, whose wings were flapping incessantly in anger, continued translating, "The feathers of the [Zhen] aren't poisonous at all; even if someone touches them, they'll just fall into a slumber, they can be woken up as long as someone calls to them.
That's a good thing, isn't it?" Hearing this, the expression on Kisaragi Chiyo's face relaxed. "Perhaps we can hold out hope that those missing persons the opponent has hidden away are still alive.
“What about now?” Hara Kenji pinched the Snow Spirit's wings, lifting it into his hands. “Since this little guy was able to find [Zhen] back then, he should be able to lead the way for us now, right?”
As they spoke, the three of them simultaneously fixed their gazes upon the chirping white ball of fur.
You've realized your friend isn't doing very well either, haven't you?" Kisaragi Chiyo lowered her voice, a smile playing on her lips. "Snow Spirit, don't you want to save your friend?
Chirp!
"It says it is willing," Matsuda Jinpei translated.
"Very well." Kisaragi Chiyo nodded, removed the glove from her left hand, raised her hand, lightly touched the Snow Spirit with her fingertips.
Red, distorted characters swam across Kisaragi Chiyo's skin like fish, moving from her cheek down into her neck, finally swimming out from her sleeve and disappearing into the Snow Spirit's body.
"What is this.." Matsuda Jinpei instinctively reached out and grabbed Kisaragi Chiyo's arm. He held her wrist, his gaze falling on her right eye, which was partially obscured by her hair.
"May I take a look?" Matsuda Jinpei asked, lowering his head.
"If you're curious," before Kisaragi Chiyo could finish her sentence, a cool hand brushed against her cheek.
Then, the hand moved further up, the pads of the fingers gently brushing against her eyelashes, sweeping the hair away from her eyes to reveal a pair of heterochromatic pupils.
Dark red eyes..
Matsuda Jinpei's fingertips brushed against the corner of the other's eye, an untimely urge to kiss those eyes welled up within him.
"What was that red character you just wrote for?" As if burned, Matsuda Jinpei jerked his hand back, Yuki Ayaki averted his gaze.
"I mentioned before that a Snow Spirit is the incarnation of snow; generally, they only awaken when snow is falling." Kisaragi Chiyo put her gloves back on.
For a Snow Spirit, snow is like fish to water." Kisaragi Chiyo looked at the Snow Spirit, which had expanded significantly after he had infused it with spiritual power. "If this continues, it will dissipate.
What I just did was only to slow down the speed of its dissipation; it can't truly change anything.
"After that," Matsuda Jinpei looked at Kisaragi Chiyo.
I don't know." The young man shook his head. "Matsuda, that is not something we should be considering right now.
The monsters born of the snow will be born again when the next snowfall arrives, I suppose.
The snow that falls prematurely will, after all, melt too soon.
But if that were the case, wouldn't it be another brand-new Snow Spirit?
Matsuda Jinpei did not ask the question, for he already knew the answer. Following Kisaragi Chiyo's side and guided by the Snow Spirit, he chased into the woods outside the mountain villa.