Chapter 84: Aftermath
After finishing their investigation in Yayo Town, Gin Tsumugi and Iwanaga Kotoko prepared to return by the same route.
Overall, the trip had been far more fruitful than expected. They had uncovered several important clues, clarified old doubts, and tied together threads that had been dangling since the Wedding Dress Tree incident.
Gin already had a rough estimate in mind.
If nothing unexpected happened, the grotesque tree spirit incident would soon be resolved.
As for the struggle between the two unknown powerful entities hiding behind it, Gin still intended to follow his original principle.
Do not get involved.
At least, not yet.
When his strength was sufficient, perhaps he would settle both old and new debts together. But for now, he had no intention of foolishly stepping onto a battlefield prepared by beings that had survived since the age of legends.
Before long, they arrived at Shinjuku Station.
By afternoon, the crowd had started to thicken. The station was not yet at full rush-hour intensity, but the signs were already there—more footsteps, more voices, more tired faces waiting for trains.
A moment later, headlights appeared inside the dark tunnel.
A subway train slowly pulled into the platform.
"Ding. Shinjuku Station. Please collect your belongings and exit in an orderly manner."
"Next stop—Shibuya."
After the passengers disembarked one after another, Gin and Kotoko boarded the train.
Then Gin paused.
"Eh?"
His gaze shifted toward the last row of the carriage.
"She's still here."
Not only was this the same train they had taken earlier, but the blonde girl who had been drawing before was still sitting by the window, completely absorbed in her drawing board.
Gin was genuinely surprised.
"Did she never get off? Has she been drawing on the subway this entire time?"
From the moment he first saw the blonde girl until now, after he and Kotoko had finished investigating Yayo Town and returned, at least five or six hours had passed.
Yet she was still there.
Still drawing.
Still immersed in her own world.
That level of focus was something even Gin had to admire.
"Our Director, who always pretends to be indifferent to women, was only pretending after all."
Kotoko, who had sat beside him, immediately spoke in a sour tone.
That being said, even she had to admit that the blonde girl sitting in the last row of the carriage was striking.
There was a kind of ethereal beauty to her. Her eyes were pure and quiet, almost untouched by the world. Even Kotoko, who was rarely shaken by appearances, found the girl somewhat astonishing.
"Don't make things up out of nowhere."
Gin raised a finger and flicked Kotoko's fair forehead without mercy.
"Ow... Director, that hurts."
Kotoko covered the red spot on her forehead and muttered with great dissatisfaction, "You were clearly staring at a beautiful girl like a pervert, but you won't let anyone say anything. Truly, the magistrate may burn down houses while the common people are forbidden to light lamps. Tyranny. Absolute tyranny."
"If you don't want to be Silenced again," Gin said calmly, "you can continue."
Kotoko shut her mouth.
Then she glared at him.
"Always threatening me..."
She grumbled under her breath but did not dare provoke him further.
Being unable to speak was not a pleasant experience. She had no intention of being silenced twice in the same day.
Gin ignored her small glare and explained, "I noticed her when we boarded at Shibuya."
Before he could finish, Kotoko looked at him as if he were scum.
So he had already been "plotting" on the way here.
At the time, she had just been Silenced by this so-called gentlemanly Director, so she had not noticed anything. Would he go up and ask the blonde girl for her phone number next?
With the Director's looks and temperament, there probably were not many girls who could refuse him.
Gin had no idea that in the span of a few seconds, Kotoko had already labeled him with words like "scum" and "gentleman" in her mind.
If he knew, she would almost certainly receive a double-strength Silence today.
But when Kotoko heard Gin explain that the blonde girl had briefly released spiritual power exceeding his own, her expression changed at once.
"Director, are you saying that blonde girl is stronger than you?"
Spiritual power far beyond the Director's?
One had to understand that Gin was now a genuine National-level onmyoji.
If someone's spiritual power surpassed his by a large margin, then what level was that?
Second-Class National?
First-Class National?
And judging from the blonde girl's appearance, she seemed roughly the same age as Kotoko herself.
At present, the youngest publicly recognized National-level onmyoji in the entire Onmyodo world were Gin and Dairenji Suzuka. That was exactly why they were called rare geniuses of Onmyodo.
So when had such a young National-level onmyoji appeared?
And why had no one heard of her?
"Strong spiritual power doesn't necessarily mean strong combat ability," Gin said.
He glanced toward the girl again.
"It should be a spiritual body."
He then told Kotoko his conjecture.
The blonde girl herself showed no signs of having trained Onmyodo. It was more likely that some spiritual body, shikigami, or similar existence was attached to her, which explained the enormous spiritual power that had appeared for an instant.
"So that's how it is."
Kotoko observed the blonde girl more carefully.
Indeed, she saw no trace of Onmyodo training on her.
A piece of flawless jade.
If polished properly, she might be able to display considerable combat strength.
"Director," Kotoko said, "should we try recruiting her into the White Fox Office?"
She felt a sudden urge to bring the girl in.
As for whether the blonde girl would "threaten" her position if she joined the office, Kotoko was not worried about that.
If this girl really entered the White Fox Office, she probably would not even have as much "combat power" as Kasugano Sora in certain areas.
"...Forget it."
Gin was, in truth, slightly tempted.
But only slightly.
"If she truly wanted to join a supernatural investigation office or train Onmyodo, she wouldn't be in the state we see now."
"That's true."
Kotoko nodded while looking at the blonde girl, who remained focused on her drawing board.
"It seems only drawing interests her. She doesn't care about anything else in the outside world."
Although this was their first meeting, the girl gave Kotoko the impression of an artist born purely for art.
Pure.
Singular.
A person whose world, aside from drawing, had no room for anything else.
After that, Gin and Kotoko withdrew their gazes and stopped discussing her.
What they did not know was that on the blonde girl's drawing board, the third portrait of Gin had already taken shape.
She was now refining it carefully.
Every corner.
Every detail.
Every trace of spirit and temperament.
Normally, the blonde girl rarely polished her paintings to such an extent. Yet today, because of dissatisfaction, she had drawn the same person three times in a row.
All to capture the figure engraved in her mind.
The subway continued moving.
Gin closed his eyes to rest, quietly organizing the clues and details surrounding the grotesque tree spirit incident.
Behind him, not far away, the blonde girl lowered her head and carefully carved his portrait with her brush.
Their thoughts did not intersect.
Yet something between them seemed to have formed an invisible, subtle connection.
After a long while—
"Ding. Shibuya Station. Please collect your belongings and exit in an orderly manner."
The station announcement sounded.
Gin and Kotoko stepped out of the subway with the crowd.
As they left, Gin's peripheral vision briefly caught the blonde girl in the last row.
She still showed no intention of getting off.
She did not even seem to notice the station.
Her entire attention remained on the drawing board in front of her.
After leaving the train, Kotoko looked toward Gin.
"Director, are we going back to the White Fox Office now, or...?"
Gin stood in Shibuya Station and looked at the sky outside.
Although it was already afternoon, there was still some time before dusk. Since Sora was watching the office, there was no need to rush back immediately.
"Since it's still early," Gin said, "let's try finding Kuda Mai."
He took out the talisman that sealed the curse from the Goddess Temple.
Then he folded it diagonally, the way a child might fold a paper crane.
And indeed, that was exactly what he intended to make.
Kotoko understood immediately.
"You're going to use the curse intercepted from the Goddess Temple to track her?"
Gin did not answer verbally.
A moment later, an exquisite paper crane folded from the talisman rested in his palm.
Then he took out another talisman and chanted.
"Paper crane, soar—swiftly, as the laws and decrees command."
"Tracking Talisman."
Gin affixed the Tracking Talisman to the paper crane.
The next instant, the lifeless paper crane seemed to awaken.
Its wings spread gracefully in his palm.
Then it turned toward the south.
"Only one similar aura found?"
The paper crane did not turn again.
That meant it had found only one aura in Shibuya Ward that resembled the curse.
Whether it belonged to Kuda Mai herself or one of her parents was still unknown. After all, both of her parents had also been afflicted by the curse.
"Let's find the person first."
Gin formed a hand seal with one hand.
The paper crane in his palm received the command and flew south.
"Let's go," he said. "It would be best if we found Kuda Mai in one attempt. Even if we don't, we'll definitely discover something."
Kotoko nodded.
Together, they followed the paper crane.
The tracking crane moved extremely fast after being empowered by the talisman.
In only twenty minutes, it had already flown ten kilometers, nearly matching the speed of a private car. An ordinary person would never have been able to keep up.
"It's getting closer."
After another ten minutes, Gin could clearly sense that they were about to reach the paper crane's destination.
But as they drew nearer, both Gin and Kotoko's expressions became strange.
.....
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