The cold wind and rain were at their peak, making the doors and windows of the old house rattle.
In the silent corridor, noises came from all directions, and the sounds were heard. The two people standing side by side looked to one side, holding hands together, with the amulet hidden in their palms.
Floors, walls, sliding doors...
Kirino Akane's eyes turned left and right, and finally landed on the face of Soya next to her.
"Leaved?"
Looking at the empty corridor in front of him, he could only shake his head.
"I have no idea."
"awesome……"
He understood what she was talking about and nodded in agreement.
"Thanks for this amulet."
The moment he stretched out his hand to hold her, the girl from the underworld in front of him disappeared and nothing could be seen.
"but……"
The fear subsided, Kirino Akane immediately became concerned about the reason, "Why?"
"This is just my guess."
Zong Gu looked down at the hands held together, "Although it's not very appropriate, you can temporarily understand spiritual awareness as an aura that envelopes the body.
If the spiritual sense is strong, the range of the aura is large; if the spiritual sense is weak, the aura cannot even cover one's own body. To perceive the existence of others through spiritual sense is actually that each other's auras are touching each other."
"And this amulet seems to suppress this aura."
He shook his head, "No, it's just to suppress all the abilities related to spiritual awareness."
Even the aura on his body was completely hidden.
"The daughter of Huangquan is a spirit body, so why I suddenly lost sight of her?" Akane Kirino asked.
"That's right."
"But she can still see us? After all, Sotani-kun and I are both physical."
"Yeah, but I can only see it."
Soya looked at her and said, "Since Ms. Kirino has read "Kojiki", she should know something about the Girl of Underworld. She has no interest in ordinary people."
"I only know that she is a servant sent by Lord Izanami to chase the 'heartless man'..."
I don't know what interesting point came to mind, Kirino Akane suddenly laughed, "But Mr. Sotani just said that he is not Izanagi-sama, so why did he become the target of the daughter of Huangquan?"
"This is where myth and reality diverge."
The invisible daughter of the underworld might still be lingering around, so Soya didn't dare to let go of the amulet to confirm, so he simply used this time to explain to her.
"The Girl of the Underworld is a high-level spirit body unique to the Underworld Kingdom in the other world. She was born from the will of the gods earlier than Izanami became the ruler of the underworld.
The meaning of their existence, apart from obeying the orders of the Lord of Underworld and working with the Underworld Army to maintain the order of the Underworld, is to act according to instinct."
"instinct?"
"Monitor all kinds of spirits in the Underworld and capture those who are lucky enough to escape. In short, we cannot let them return to the human world to cause trouble."
"..."
Kirino Akane was stunned for a moment. After understanding the meaning of the words, her eyes looking at him also changed somewhat.
"No...I am still alive, not a spirit body."
Zong Gu quickly read her thoughts and just looked at her calmly.
"Two years ago, I fell into the gap between the other world and the human world, and accidentally ate the food of the underworld. From then on, I was infected with the aura of the underworld. Even though I am still alive, I am regarded by the daughter of the underworld as a member of the underworld.
People, always watch."
"It wasn't until more than a month ago that evil spirits caused chaos in Huangquan Kingdom and opened a rift leading to the human world. I took the opportunity to escape."
"Maybe the powerful evil spirit has been captured back to the other world, or maybe more servants have left Huangquan. A few days after escaping, they started to hunt me. I didn't have time to return to my hometown..."
"Hometown?" Kirino Akane suddenly interrupted and asked.
"Well, it's over there in Miyagi."
This is the shore of Lake Biwa in the Kinki region, only about half an hour's drive from Kyoto, and Miyagi Prefecture is far away in the center of the Tohoku region.
"So far!"
"So I just ran away and had no chance to go back there."
"Sotani-kun has been missing for two years. His family must be worried too, right?" She thought further, "Didn't you contact them after leaving Huangquan?"
"No."
"Why?"
Zong Gu glanced at her and said, "I have no family."
"Eh?" Kirino Akane was stunned.
"When I was seven years old, my parents died and there were no relatives who could adopt me. I grew up in a child welfare center in Miyagi."
He had ten years to accept the reality, and at this time he was left with only peace.
"Rather than saying that I want to return to my hometown, it's better to say that there's only one place I can go. Maybe before I'm taken back to hell, I can take another look at the teacher at the orphanage who takes great care of me and..."
Kirino Akane's hand suddenly tightened, and the warm mahogany charm pressed against their palms.
"But with this amulet, it will be no problem, right?"
The two looked at each other, and she smiled at him.
"Although until now, I still have some doubts about the existence of gods and underworld in the world... But since Mr. Soya needs it more than me, I will give it to you."
"..."
Zonggu was silent for a while.
From the conversation just now, he already knew the meaning of this amulet to her.
"Thank you. When I get my wish, I will come back and return it to Kirino-san."
"Really?" She laughed, "If you give it back to me, Mr. Sotani will be taken back to hell."
"I promise."
Zong Gu nodded, solemnly responding to her kindness.
"The daughter of Huangquan will not linger around for no reason. If she never feels my breath, she will leave - as long as she lends me a period of time occasionally to avoid the limelight, it is enough."
"That's it...Mr. Soya will have to stay in Kinki."
"As long as you're not in the underworld, it doesn't make much difference where you are."
"Then we'll talk about it later."
Akane Kirino thought for a while, "If you go to the relief center or the police station, they should send you back to Miyagi, right?"
"I'm not sure. That's how it should be."
"It's raining too much now. Let's go to the city center tomorrow afternoon."
"good."
"Before that..."
Her eyes moved to the corridor in front of her, "Is that daughter of the underworld still here?"
"I have no idea."
Zonggu still said the same thing, but he held her hand and moved it slightly, reminding her that she could bear witness for herself.
"..."
The girl glanced at him and slowly let go of her hand.
"Ahhhh, still here!"
...
"excuse me."
Kirino Akane was changing her shoes, "I don't have anyone at home, please feel free."
Zonggu walked in, closed his umbrella and leaned aside.
"Don't close the door yet."
Putting on her slippers, she stood on tiptoes and looked outside the rainy door for a while.
"I really didn't follow you."
"Without the order from the Lord of Underworld, the daughter of Underworld would only act instinctively and would not be able to cope with such a situation of appearing and disappearing." Soya explained.
The daughter of Huangquan, who followed the aura to the Kirino family's old house, still stayed away for a long time after Soya's aura was hidden by the amulet, so Akane Kirino simply took him back to her home.
"Isn't this just like a robot... close the door, it's freezing."
Although bringing Soya home was a sign of trust in him, it was still a bit inappropriate to let him enter his room. Akane Kirino asked him to stay in the living room first and went upstairs;
Back downstairs, in addition to a piece of string, she also had a pair of silver scissors.
Zong Gu held the amulet. She pulled the red thread and pulled it twice before stringing it on. "Although this thread is very strong, you should pay more attention to it."
"If the amulet falls, my spiritual sense will be released, and I will notice it immediately."
"Really? I don't feel anything."
"Miss Kirino's spiritual sense has been suppressed, just like an arm that was numbed while sleeping and has not yet returned to its normal sensitivity."
"I see...Okay."
Zongya hung the amulet around his neck, stuffed it into the collar of his rather large sweater, and patted it through his clothes.
"These are my uncle's clothes. They don't seem to fit well."
"It doesn't matter."
He picked up the gray sweater and said, "I can't thank you enough for having clothes to keep you warm."
"Yeah."
Akane Kirino looked at him, "By the way, Mr. Sotani's clothes are too worn to be washed, so I threw them away, right?"
Zong Gu was startled, then nodded quickly, his eyes falling on the scissors beside him again.
"Is it right here?"
"No, let's go to the sink. It's easier to clean there, and if there's a mirror, Mr. Sotani can feel more at ease, right?"
"I don't really care."
Sogu followed her to the washroom. The girl asked him to stand in front and brought a stool for him to sit on.
"Let me explain in advance..."
She took out the scarf from the cabinet under the sink and tied it carefully around his neck. "I just learned it not long ago. I only cut my father's hair. But he said he was quite satisfied."
"Do you cut it often?"
"No, dad only let me cut it once."
"..."
Looking at the shoulder-length hair on both sides and the smiling face behind him in the mirror, Zonggu didn't say anything more.
"Then it's up to you."
"Okay~"
Click, click—
After he started pruning, Kirino Akane stopped talking and moved the scissors around his head. Every time the open blade closed, a bunch of hair fell out;
The girl in the mirror had her eyes wide open, her brows slightly furrowed, her expression serious and focused. Zonggu stared at it for a while before his eyes moved to his own face.
There are many skin care products on the washbasin, and after staying in the underworld for more than two years, his skin color is even whiter than hers.
Until two hours ago, he was still running away in the wind and rain.
The present and the past are both like a dream, and I can't tell which is more real.
"Ah, wait... don't move."
After touching his chest through his clothes and scarf, he put down his hand.
"Sorry, please continue."
Click, click, the scissors continued to swim, and stubbles of black hair slid down the cloth under the gaze;
Zonggu raised his eyes and looked at himself in the mirror.
Can this amulet really allow him to return to a peaceful life?