Chapter 40: A World Dominated by Evil Spirits
After this bit of banter, both Yui and Miko felt much more relaxed.
Yoru shared the intelligence about this world that he had tortured out of Hachishaku with the two girls.
During the explanation, Sablé squatted obediently on the ground, wagging his tail enthusiastically at Yoru.
Hachishaku, on the other hand, was curled up in the corner, her eyes filled with terror like an injured lamb. Looking at her, one might even feel a twinge of pity.
Just as Yoru had guessed.
This place was the "Other Side" connected by the "Door" in Kyoto.
Even Hachishaku didn't know exactly how long this world had existed.
But one thing was certain.
Terms from legends like the Underworld, Hell, the Netherworld, and the Afterlife all referred to this world.
It was essentially a 1:1 replica of Kyoto, with the difference being that the inhabitants of this city were not humans, but evil spirits and ghosts.
"But..."
Hearing this, Miko frowned deeply.
"When we encountered 'Doors' before, we never experienced crossing over to another world. Moreover, this time, there wasn't a 'Door' near Yui and me. How did we end up in the Kyoto of the other side?"
Yoru shook his head and pointed at Hachishaku curled up in the corner.
"Actually, you, Yui, and even Sablé have already come into contact with a 'Door'. You just didn't know it."
Miko was stunned, then looked at Hachishaku in the corner, disbelief appearing in her eyes. She murmured:
"You... you mean... there is a 'Door' inside her body!?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. The reason the three of us came to this world this time is actually because Hachishaku couldn't control the power of the 'Door', resulting in this coincidence."
Yoru nodded.
"Logically speaking, an evil spirit of Hachishaku's level is roughly on par with your Hyakume. The reason she could instantly defeat your Hyakume was actually due to the power brought by the 'Door' inside her body."
"I see."
Hearing this, Miko visibly relaxed.
She had thought that the Hyakume she awakened was just too useless to beat Hachishaku.
Despite Hachishaku-sama's great fame...
That was mainly because of certain inconvenient-to-mention reasons and the constant release of new "works" featuring her.
In reality.
A Yokai like Hachishaku could only deceive children by mimicking voices. She was still far from the truly powerful great demons.
So it wasn't that her soul manifestation was useless.
It was that the enemy had mutated.
Thinking of it this way, Miko felt much lighter.
"Wait a minute."
Listening to their conversation, Yui, who looked half-confused, suddenly spoke up.
"If that's the case, why was Yoru-kun pulled in too?"
Before Yoru could explain, Yui muttered to herself.
"Hmm... and how did you know Miko summoned Hyakume? Didn't you arrive later?"
"Could it be..."
Yui looked at Yoru innocently and realized something.
"I get it! You must have been worried about Miko's safety, so you were waiting nearby all along. You only hid and didn't come out to ensure she could successfully awaken her ability, right?"
"Just a coincidence."
Yoru maintained his calm expression.
"I just happened to take a commission. Yuigahama-san, did you know that in the apartment building you live in, a little girl's grandmother passed away recently?"
"Really? I haven't heard about it."
"Makes sense. After all, it's an apartment building, not a traditional compound. It's normal not to know your neighbors."
Yoru responded noncommittally and continued.
"After the little girl's grandmother passed away, she said she often heard her grandmother's voice calling her name in the middle of the night. She even showed symptoms similar to sleepwalking. Fortunately, her parents have a habit of double-locking the security door before bed, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable."
"Anyway, after checking with the hospital yielded no results, the little girl's parents found the Old Geezer, and the Old Geezer found me. Coupled with the intelligence you provided, I could confirm that there was an evil spirit in this area, and not an ordinary one at that."
"Coincidence. It's all just a coincidence."
Yui covered her mouth and giggled, then leaned close to Miko's ear and teased in a whisper.
"Miko-chan, although Yoru-kun says that, he really cares about you."
"Ahem."
Miko's face turned slightly red, and she coughed twice to ease the awkwardness.
"Don't talk nonsense."
Then, before Yui could speak again, Miko asked, partly out of genuine curiosity and partly to change the subject.
"So now, how do we leave this place?"
"Simple."
Yoru shrugged.
"Aside from relying on luck and betting on probability like before, there is a stable way to travel between worlds: wait here until 5 AM."
Yui asked puzzledly: "Why 5 AM?"
"Have you heard of the Ouma-ga-toki (The Witching Hour/Time of Calamity)?"
"Ouma what?"
"Ouma-ga-toki."
"Ouma what time?"
Yoru rolled his eyes.
"Don't start playing memes here."
Miko had studied many ancient texts on the supernatural, so she had naturally heard of the term Ouma-ga-toki. She asked in confusion:
"I remember Ouma-ga-toki refers to twilight, right?"
"That's right."
Yoru nodded slightly and explained.
"But that is the time when evil spirits can appear in the physical world. For ordinary humans like Yuigahama-san to cross the 'Door' and return to the physical world, the time is the opposite of twilight. It's roughly the period between 5 AM and 7 AM. I call it the Oujin-no-toki (Time of Meeting Humans)."
"As for spirit mediums like you and me, we can travel freely between the two worlds through the 'Door' regardless of whether it's Ouma-ga-toki or Oujin-no-toki."
Miko pursed her lips and said thoughtfully.
"In other words, we just need to find the location of the 'Door' in this world, and we can return to Kyoto in the physical world through it? That seems..."
At this point, Miko looked at Yui worriedly.
According to the intelligence provided by Hachishaku, although this place looked like Kyoto, it was a veritable ghost city filled with countless evil spirits.
Her current condition wasn't great. She definitely couldn't summon Hyakume again in a short time.
Moreover, there was Yui, an ordinary person.
Miko believed that with Yoru's strength, if he acted alone, he could definitely reach the location of the 'Door' safely.
But dragging two deadweights along... that wasn't very realistic.
Yoru seemed to see through Miko's thoughts and smiled.
"Don't worry. I kept Hachishaku alive to prepare for this moment."
"When the time comes, she can send us directly back to the physical world. After all, she has the power of the 'Door' inside her."
Hearing this, Miko finally relaxed.
So that's why. No wonder Yoru, who is usually ruthless towards evil spirits, actually spared Hachishaku's life.
Turns out he intends to use Hachishaku as a return teleportation point.