Human Souls
Sunday morning. After finishing my morning workout with Aoba at the Manatsu Dojo and showering at home, I jogged lightly to Shinamori Shrine. On the way, I stopped by that cafe for a quick look at the scene. I showed my student ID to the police, confirmed I was a person of interest, and heard a brief rundown. Thanks to Hanasaki's guarantee, they treated me without a hint of suspicion. Not that there was much new info beyond a few obvious questions.
The first big puzzle was straightforward: for a corpse with its lower half brutally torn off, there were no signs of dragging or toying with the body. It looked like a genuine hunt driven by hunger. But no beast tracks anywhere. Then there was the autopsy—death occurred much later than expected, in the early hours of dawn. The manager usually clocked out between 9 and 10 p.m., confirmed by coworkers and family. Meaning she'd stayed in the cafe for over three hours... and only then was killed.
"Heave-ho. This is off the record, but..."
If this was indeed a Gloomy Beast's doing, it lined up. Canon had described the wolf as huge—big enough to snap a neck in one bite if it wanted. But pinning her in place without killing her right away fit with the idea of her being trapped in the cafe for hours. It doesn't kill humans outright, doesn't play with them like toys... but it does eat human flesh. Just not a whole adult woman—half fills it up. Yeah, that tracks.
I'd reached the midpoint of the mountain path. Just the shrine stairs left. As I lifted my foot to the first step, a voice called from behind.
"This way."
"Pardon?"
Hanasaki wasn't doing her usual shrine cleaning. She emerged from a hidden passage beside the stairs, dressed in something like a white mourning robe. That passage... it had some purpose, right?
"I asked you to come today because I wanted to conduct a certain test in a somewhat secretive spot—not the main hall or worship area."
"A... test?"
The main hall houses the deity's symbols and kami; the worship hall is for prayers. So not those meant this had nothing to do with the kami enshrined at Shinamori. Torii gates usually mark the boundary between human and divine realms. With the torii at the base of the stairs, this was still squarely in the "human realm"—a human problem.
"You know quite a bit about shrines."
"Was it on my face?"
"Yes. You glanced at the shrine and torii, then looked away from the inner passage."
Sharp as ever. Still, heading into a dim underground tunnel for a test—unrelated to any benevolent kami—had me a little on edge. But no point dragging it out. No veto power here anyway. I clapped my cheeks with both hands to snap myself alert and told Hanasaki I was ready.
"Then, this way. If you please."
"Yep."
Maybe thanks to Hanasaki's meticulous care, the old underground passage was surprisingly clean. No, that's death flag material. I shook off the thought and followed the dim light and her back. A slight downward slope confirmed we were descending deeper. The shrine's fresh spiritual energy faded, replaced by the musty underground air that made my body tense uncomfortably.
"...We're here."
"Whew."
"It's a bit grim, but unavoidable. Please bear with it."
"A seal, huh."
"Yes. I thought you'd see more clearly once inside."
Hanasaki walked to the center of a room plastered with blood-written talismans and sat on a stone chair. That's when it hit me: this was where the yokai sealed inside her, Menrei-ki, had broken free in the underground shrine. A place never explicitly shown in the story—Menrei-ki's true altar.
"Tsukino. With those eyes, just like that."
"Got it."
I resolved not to touch anything recklessly, no matter what I saw. If the seal broke now, no one could stop it. Even Sendo, the protagonist, didn't defeat the fully revived body after proper prep—he just overwhelmed a fragment that leaked out by feeding on his overflowing emotions.
Deep breath. Channeling power into my eyes as routine now—vision spun, stabbing pain like optic nerves being gouged.
"Ngh."
"Are you—"
"...No. I'm fine. Probably just because it's something I've never seen before."
Something trickled from my eye. Wiping it, I sniffed—blood. But the price was worth it. A soul form unlike any I'd witnessed flooded my sight. And I understood what my mentor meant as a child: "Gaze upon it, and someday it'll drag you in."
It was immense, too complex for a single glance, yet approaching just a bit more would reveal its essence.
"...Yokai can become kami depending on the era, their essence tied to nature or humanity."
Menrei-ki ()—born from a puppet mask used in performances by Hatano Kawakatsu, sorcerer and retainer to Prince Shotoku, crown prince of Japan since 593. Masks embody roles. Identity. Symbols of emotion. In mask dances, don a hahoe nobleman's mask, and in that play, you are nobility. Spawned from human personas and feelings, it symbolized them at a scale and power beyond anything I'd seen. Like peeking at collective human consciousness—felt like someone plugged a USB into my brain. Otherworldly knowledge trickling in, or not.
"Are you really alright?"
"Might need to monitor it, but no major issues now."
"Please don't push yourself."
"Might as well do what we can while I'm here."
The dried blood crusted uncomfortably on my face. Hanasaki stood, wiped it gently with a handkerchief. She hesitated to sit back down after, but I assured her and guided her back. Alright. Focus again. Closed my eyes, infused power, opened them.
What had been a swirling, nauseating rainbow now had clear form, observing me. A human figure with a blank white face, dozens of masks orbiting it.
"Tsukino?"
"Tsukino. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. No big deal. Just... I can see the yokai's spirit core."
"Could you describe its shape?"
"It's nested inside your soul like it's trapped in a jar. The connection between your soul and the seal is crystal clear too."
One furious mask from the swarm lunged to my nose, threatening. Sealed as it was, it only unnerved me—no real harm.
"As expected."
"Uh, what you wanted me for."
"Menrei-ki can't vanish completely while human emotions exist. The only way is a perfect, clean seal."
"Got it."
"So, help me sever my connection to it and seal it fully."
Menrei-ki cackled madly behind her. No faith a frail high schooler could complete a great yokai's seal. Fair enough. Even I knew it was impossible now. But if this brain-hack nausea was my ticket to touching kami and yokai... maybe someday.
"Tsukino."
"Yes?"
She swallowed words repeatedly, eyes dropping below mine, voice the smallest I'd heard.
"Someday. When you're ready."
Her soul encasing Menrei-ki's core trembled anxiously; it absorbed the rising power. That's what feeding on emotions looks like—why she always stays composed.
"Please. Save me from this place."
I'd never imagined those words from Hanasaki of all people. Speechless. Meanwhile, Menrei-ki laughed, devouring her anxiety, hope, faint guilt. I'm probably the only human who knows how she laughs, how she cries.
So. No matter how reckless, dangerous, impossible... I couldn't refuse.
"Wait for me."
Not much of a hero—just a reincarnator who knew the plot a bit.
Maybe sealing Menrei-ki was true salvation. Maybe not.
"I'll smash this damn thing myself."
Her soul shook hard at my words; a laugh escaped her lips. Even if it fed on that too... I'd make it puke everything up later.