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“Damn, damn, damn…!”

Ryosuke cursed repeatedly at the message that appeared on his smartphone from someone labeled ‘Shamaness’. The curses flowed from his mouth with strong pronunciation, and his face drained of color, becoming ghostly pale.

His palms were clammy, as if dipped in water, while cold sweat trickled down his back, soaking him. Finally brought back to his senses by the chill of the sweat, he picked up his smartphone and began typing a message.

It was a sort of probing text intended for Rise.

However, even after writing it all out, something nagged at him, causing him to hesitate for a long time. Ultimately, instead of sending it, he opted to delete everything and sighed in resignation.

“I shouldn’t have tried to probe unnecessarily.”

Ryosuke felt proud of himself for making a calm judgment even in this situation.

“Damn it, where did it all go wrong?”

Was it when he got in touch with Elder Murata Ryuunosuke?

When he happily grabbed the rope he extended?

“No, that time it was definitely a golden lifeline. A thread that could pull me up from the depths to those high places.”

Then what was the problem?

Was it joining and enjoying the Swingers Club led by Elder Murata Ryuunosuke?

No.

In fact, he thought positively about that club. It was a place where he could pick rare beauties as he pleased and truly feel the pleasure that came with his position and status. Furthermore, through the intimate interactions of being nude with others from the club, he had formed incredibly strong connections, making his activities there nothing but profitable.

So what was the problem?

Was it when he guided the next Shinto Priest to Elder Murata Ryuunosuke?

No.

No…

Guiding the next Shinto Priest wasn’t the issue.

Had he not guided him, things would have turned grim.

He didn’t realize it then, but now, he understood.

Had Ryosuke not guided him, he would have been forced to do so.

Whether being guided voluntarily or involuntarily.

Regardless, he would have found himself being directed by Ryosuke.

Ryosuke recalled.

The moment when things began to go wrong in his life.

“I made the wrong choice….”

The next Shinto Priest.

That wonderfully strange man who asked to be called ‘Saigo.’

Before meeting the Elder, he presented him with two choices.

The options thrown at him as a gift and privilege for providing a good guide.

“Pleasure and superiority.”

At that time, Ryosuke chose superiority.

Standing above others was the most enjoyable thing for him.

More delightful than using meth and having sex, more enjoyable than surrounding himself with women he saw on TV, more joyous than indulging in all sorts of pleasures for a fortune.

That was why he chose superiority.

And in exchange for that choice, he gained Spirit Vision and could walk a different path from others who were entranced by Water Ghosts.

Yeah…

Up until recently, that was the best feeling.

The fact that he was different from others, that he was special above all was exhilarating.

But as time passed and his Spirit Vision grew stronger, he realized something was wrong.

The Spirit Vision, which allowed him to see souls that could not become evil ghosts or spirits, initially showed him hazy forms of smoke. A translucent vapor or black smoke rising from firewood.

When he could see souls like the remnants of fog that clung to his glasses, he was filled with superiority and even reached out to those shapes without fear.

Whenever he reached out, the power of the Spirit Vision would repel them, making them vanish, allowing Ryosuke to playfully engage in destroying those hazy forms, enjoying the childish thrill.

However, gradually, as the power of the Spirit Vision strengthened, the shapes became clearer.

The smoke, which seemed like vapor, became distinctly white rising smoke.

The smoke from the firewood slowly took shape, mimicking human forms.

The longer time went on, the clearer the appearance became.

The white smoke appeared like a hologram of a translucent person.

The black smoke was like a terrifyingly twisted nightmare.

Only then did Ryosuke realize.

That something was very wrong.

That his Spirit Vision wasn’t just ‘special’.

But it was too late.

His Spirit Vision had already turned into a mirror reflecting the forms of souls as recognizable as people, becoming a projector of nightmares showing images of those who had died, not how they looked in life.

He came to realize the hazy spirit was a ghost with no legs.

The black smoke was a ghost whose body had rotted and burned away.

The smoke tinged with red was a ghost drenched in blood from head to toe.

He learned things he never wanted to know and saw things he never wanted to see.

But once the Spirit Vision was opened, there was no way to shut it.

Ryosuke was left with no choice but to live alongside the vividly lifelike dead souls.

And a certain event cemented Ryosuke’s despair.

It occurred right after his Spirit Vision fully awakened and while attending a club gathering.

At that time, Ryosuke immediately felt nauseous.

Viewing the grotesque Water Ghosts in a thoroughly bloated condition engaging with others made it impossible for him to hold back vomit.

In that moment, Ryosuke dashed out, wandering the streets.

But throughout his wandering, he saw ghosts, and whether it was from shock or something else, the power of the Spirit Vision was thrown off balance, pulling ghosts towards him in droves.

Screaming, he moved to what he believed to be the safest place—the police headquarters.

Using his powerful status as a politician, he barged in, trying to calm himself, when by chance he spotted items in the evidence storage.

The books on yin-yang practices and spirit talismans that prevented the ghosts lurking in the police headquarters even from approaching.

In that moment, Ryosuke felt an awakening.

That was the light that came down on his horrifically transformed life and the instinct that it would liberate him from witnessing the disgusting forms of ghosts tormenting him.

He concluded that if he used yin-yang arts, he could distance himself from the catastrophic disaster that his Spirit Vision brought upon him.

That was why, filled with fear and awe, he had started to entertain thoughts of betraying the next Shinto Priest, having measured the powers of the Onmyoji and next Shinto Priest.

More accurately, he sought to test if breaking free from Elder Murata Ryuunosuke’s shadow, which had fallen drastically in regard, by reporting the next Shinto Priest to the Onmyoji and having him imprisoned would liberate him from his influence.

However, he wanted to keep the ‘blessing’ that invigorated him intact, so he could not let his thoughts be caught until the very end.

That was how he could profit.

If he wouldn’t betray him, he could ask the next Shinto Priest for something else—how to reduce the horrifying power of Spirit Vision.

If he betrayed him, the next Shinto Priest might realize, and as retribution, withdraw the ‘blessing’ he had granted him, so he wanted to conduct his betrayal without being noticed, or if he was discovered, to create a situation where the ‘blessing’ could not be withdrawn.

Because of that, he secretly stole the yin-yang practice books and spirit talismans to establish connections with the Onmyoji, even while knowing he might get caught, sending them when Rise requested the divine object.

To manipulate events into a narrowly plausible level where he could claim he had secretly brought in ingredients for using yin-yang arts from the enemies’ base, so he could say that he was on their side.

To Rise he could excuse it as, “I just wanted a divine object and sacrificed the one that looked the most precious, not realizing it shouldn’t have been sacrificed. I absolutely had no intention to betray, but I’m truly sorry that it looked that way.”

Yeah.

His goal was to navigate without crossing the line too boldly while observing the balance of power between them.

But…

The next Shinto Priest’s reaction was faster than he expected.

『The next Shinto Priest has expressed interest in the divine object you provided, Uchikawa Ryosuke. We would like to discuss this urgently, so please come to the shrine tonight.』

Ryosuke read the message multiple times.

And he pondered again and again.

“Should I contact the Onmyoji for help? No, that would definitely signal betrayal. So should I just go without knowing anything? But I feel like they caught onto me, though it could just be curiosity. Should I call the Shamaness to ask what’s going on? Or directly confront the next Shinto Priest… No.”

Numerous scenarios bloomed and vanished in his mind.

Thoughts overwhelmed him like shapeless smoke, making his head feel as if it would burst at any moment. He even felt a phantom heat rising on his forehead from thinking too much.

After a long while of anguish, Ryosuke clenched his mouth shut and left home, getting into his car.

“I’m going. Let’s go check it out.”

He decided to go to the shrine, gripping the steering wheel. Cutting through the dark night road, he stepped on the pedal, quickly reaching the front of the shrine.

And as he climbed the stairs one by one, just before passing through the torii gate—

Ryosuke found himself unable to move forward.

 

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