4. The First Encounter
It was over in an instant.
The vengeful spirit multiplied many times over lashed out at
the young man walking by, but it was immediately banished. Reduced to
splinters, it vanished without a trace.
Even a seasoned exorcist or onmyoji wouldn’t be able to
exorcise so cleanly and quickly like that.
The man in the black suit, who had been chasing after the
vengeful spirit to banish it, froze with his hands forming seals.
What just happened? Was what occurred right in front of him
a real event?
He couldn’t understand immediately.
He just widened his eyes behind his glasses and stared
intently at the approaching young man, muttering to himself while clutching a
notebook.
◇
A corner of an old-fashioned shopping street that had lost
its former liveliness.
Despite it being broad daylight under the clear blue sky,
the back alleys are dark and the air is stagnant. Dust and rubble are scattered
along the street, and there are no people around.
On the second floor of a cracked wall facing the narrow
alley, fumes of miasma burst out from shattered glass windows.
"Uh oh, it escaped outside!"
At the same time, a loud crash of breaking glass sounded.
Fragments of glass and the window frame flew apart.
From there, a dark, tar-like mass flowed out.
A vengeful spirit, resembling a giant snake, slithered down
the wall and onto the ground.
It shivered once, then crawled along the debris-strewn path.
"I’ll go!"
A sharp voice echoed from inside, but the black mass
sinuously moved toward the main street, as if playing.
The onmyoji also in a black suit who had been just about to
catch the vengeful spirit nesting on the second floor of an abandoned store,
burst out of the building.
Clattering, he ran down the narrow, worn linoleum stairs
with debris scattered everywhere. Jumping down the last four steps, he landed
and spun around, flicking the hem of his coat.
He dashed through the narrow corridor and kicked open the
back door.
One hinge came off, and the dilapidated door crashed to the
ground with a loud sound.
When he stepped out into the alley, he saw the vengeful
spirit crawling far ahead.
The area was mostly vacant stores, with no one around. It
would be no problem to exorcise it quickly.
But as he was thinking this, he noticed someone.
A young man in his early twenties was turning a corner on
the main street, walking toward him.
He cast his gaze downward, holding shopping bags in one arm,
strolling casually.
While the onmyoji was anxious, somehow, the vengeful spirit
targeted the young man.
In an instant, the black mass swelled massively and covered
the young man from above.
The onmyoji, who immediately stopped in his tracks, formed
seals with both hands.
At that moment, the vengeful spirit suddenly exploded into
pieces.
The polluted air around was blown away all at once, and the
spirit was instantly exorcised.
The onmyoji about to chant the incantation
"Rin" saw his glasses slip down.
A refreshing, clear atmosphere filled the surroundings.
No trace of evil energy remained.
Even though the vengeful spirit he had been chasing one that
was difficult enough for three skilled onmyoji to handle had just been easily
exorcised.
What was that? Was it a dream, a hallucination?
"Whoa, it’s gone again!"
The young man, flipping through his notebook, snapped back
to reality. It seemed he had approached so close while he was lost in thought.
He was slightly slender, with a somewhat casual
appearance like someone who had just come to do some shopping nearby. A plastic
bag with bottles clinked as he moved.
“What... what was that?” he unintentionally asked aloud.
It seemed the young man was completely unaware of the
vengeful spirit.
He looked unconcerned.
If it had been a malicious spirit like the vengeful spirit,
even someone dull would feel a chill at the strange abnormality, but...
Was he numb, or somehow protected?
He looked up and saw that the young man, who appeared
unharmed, was simply annoyed.
“It’s words/letter, you know, words! I just wrote them!”
the young man exclaimed.
“Words...?”
He muttered this meaninglessly.
He looked extremely annoyed, and even though it was a first
meeting, he openly grumbled.
“I just used a pen I bought recently, but ugh, why does it
disappear? Anyway, gel ink pens are easy to write with, but they run out
quickly kind of a flaw, I guess. But I like it. Ever since I tried writing with
this, I can't use others anymore.”
“Huh.”
“Ah, I accidentally forgot to buy something. What was it?
You know, that thing.”
“Even if you say ‘that thing,’ I have no idea.”
“It’s something essential to daily life. A crucial item I
need every week”
“Trash bag?”
“Exactly!”
A big smile spread across his face.
But he immediately turned serious and looked around,
lowering his voice.
“Hey,” he said quietly.
“I just moved in recently, and this is my first time here.
It’s so deserted. Only shuttered shops, and I’m too lazy to go back to the
place I bought stuff. Do you know if there’s a shop around here that sells
trash bags?”
“...On the opposite side of where you came from, beyond the
main street, there’s a new shopping district, but…”
“Thank you. You’re a helpful older brother! See ya!”
He waved happily with one hand, then jogged away, turning a
corner.
He was full of energy.
Watching him absentmindedly, I thought, he’s probably a few
years younger than me.
“Hey, Harima. Are you okay? The vengeful spirit, I mean?”
From behind, finally catching up, my fellow onmyoji called
out.
When I turned around, one was breathless and slumped against
the wall, barely able to speak, while the other was on his knees, exhausted.
They probably spent a lot of time cornering the vengeful
spirit. That’s understandable.
Even if they were about the same age, I was told I had
endless stamina. I don’t know if that’s praise or criticism.
I exhaled shallowly.
Now then, how should I explain this?
After a moment’s hesitation, Harima pushed his glasses up
and spoke.
After the onmyoji group left.
From the traces of the exorcised spirit, a small white thing
wriggled.
Little by little, it began to move.
Toward where Minato had gone, inching closer.
No one saw this scene.
◇
Eventually, as the sun sank, birds flew back to their roosts
beneath the darkening sky. Below, Minato returned to his reddish house.
Unaware of being attacked by his vengeful spirit in the
shopping district, or that he had unconsciously exorcised it, his mood was no
longer clouded.
He was just excited, hoping that the person he bought sake
and sweets for would be pleased.
He wondered whether to offer them on the kamidana or in the
garden.
"Let’s do it in the garden. Because I was urged
to," he decided with a slight smile, opening the curtains.
Suddenly....
“Eh?”
He saw it.
There, near the edge of the veranda, a white beast was
sitting and facing him.
He was stunned, clutching the partially opened fabric
curtain.
He had never imagined such a creature would appear so
boldly.
It was the first time he saw something non-human
face-to-face.
Was it a dog? A wolf?
Its noble face was roughly at Minato’s stomach level.
Its long, thick fur fluttered in the breeze, and it was
gazing quietly at Minato through the glass window.
Clearly, it was not an ordinary beast.
Its body was faintly translucent.
Through the creature, he could see the stark garden, dyed in
a reddish hue.
Even though it was semi-transparent, it simply existed
there, and its presence was striking.
He didn’t feel any fear from its divine appearance.
Deciding to act, Minato quietly opened the window and
stepped onto the veranda, maintaining about a meter of distance.
A pure breeze blew through the space between the human and
the creature.
The beautiful, pure white beast sat calmly, showing no
intention of fleeing. Its golden eyes, reflecting the tension in Minato,
half-closed slowly.
“I’m sorry to intrude” it said in a deep, resonant voice.
It was a voice that sank deep into his core.
Minato, with his whole body tense, trembled slightly.
Hearing a voice from something beyond human was, of course, a first for him.
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