As usual, when Xu Fu's group arrived at their destination, Eiko Hozuki began searching on her phone for ghost stories about National Route 1, between OW Station and OT Station.
Rumor one: near the border between Shiga and Kyoto, there had been reports of things like spirits wandering around.
Rumor two: many people claimed they had felt something suddenly tug at them, and quite a few traffic accidents had happened there as well.
Rumor three: someone said that after they began working at a company along that stretch, they started hearing and seeing things, which troubled them greatly.
Rumor four: "This land is cursed." Apparently, after someone said that, they either ended up hospitalized or quit their job.
"Things like spirits wandering around?" Yayoi Hozuki walked along the path, expressionless as she looked left and right. "I don't see any ghosts that really stand out..."
Monsters and ghosts preferred appearing at night far more than during the day. The sky had already gone dark, yet the four of them had not seen a single ghost on this road.
Keitaro Gentoga likewise did not feel as if something were watching him.
Quiet... It was so quiet it felt uncanny.
Eiko Hozuki said, "Hmm... there's even a temple here?"
Keitaro Gentoga said, "Somehow... this place feels even less like a haunted spot now..."
If there was a temple here, then not being able to see any ghosts should not be that strange, right? Maybe the ghosts here had long since been purified by the eminent monks of the temple.
In fact, before Xu Fu had spoken up to warn them, Keitaro Gentoga and the other two had all thought National Route 1 should be the safest of the five nodes. After all, of the other four haunted spots, A Dam was already confirmed to be an A-Rank, high-danger area; the tunnels and F Park had once been ancient battlefields; and Kubizuka Daimyojin was widely acknowledged as Kyoto's most terrifying demon den.
But they could not pretend they had not heard Xu Fu's warning. Although Yayoi Hozuki was very capable in a fight, in the end, she was only an "amateur." Xu Fu was the expert in this field, and not the kind of "expert" who only knew how to spout nonsense—she had real skill.
It was not as if Xu Fu had only killed a few evil spirits.
Right now, Yayoi Hozuki was extremely, extremely excited. It did not show on her face, but her eyes were actually sparkling with anticipation and delight. She was very curious what kind of terrifying thing it had to be for Xu Fu to declare so firmly that this place was the most dangerous of the five nodes.
Xu Fu hopped one step ahead, turned around lightly, and glared at the three of them with her little mouth curled.
"What's this, what's this~? Are you doubting me? Have you forgotten who I am?"
At that moment, Yayoi Hozuki raised her hand high.
"Yes! I know this one. Xu Fu is the cutest beautiful girl in the whole world!"
"That's right, that's right~! Xu Fu-chan is the cutest beautiful girl in the whole world~!" Xu Fu nodded in satisfaction, her eyes curving like crescent moons. "It's very good that Yayoi remembers that, but at the same time, don't forget that Xu Fu-chan is also a ve~ry, ve~ry amazing Taoist! Make sure you carve both identities into your heart~!"
Having said that, Xu Fu began correcting Keitaro Gentoga's earlier misunderstanding.
"It doesn't feel like a haunted spot because there's a temple here? This is exactly why my workload is so heavy and why I keep having to work overtime—because everyone is this naive~!" Xu Fu complained once more about the overtime system, then said, "At times like this, you should think about it from another angle... Why would someone build a temple in a place like this?"
"Because... there was a need?"
"Why did this place need a temple? What role does the temple serve here?" Xu Fu immediately pressed.
Yayoi Hozuki's mind turned quickly, and she blurted out, "Because there's some malignant entity nearby that needs to be suppressed by the temple?"
Xu Fu snapped her fingers, while Keitaro Gentoga and Eiko Hozuki both looked as if they had suddenly understood.
When they connected that with the line many people had mentioned in the rumors—"this land is cursed"—Yayoi Hozuki's guess seemed quite possible.
This temple looked fairly old as well. There had been so many capable people and extraordinary figures in ancient times, yet instead of completely destroying the malignant entity here, they had built a temple to suppress it. Clearly, whatever ghost or monster was causing trouble here was absolutely a terrifying existence on the level of a god.
A hint of the urge to retreat rose unbidden in Keitaro Gentoga's heart.
"S-since the spiritualists here already succeeded in suppressing it, wouldn't it be fine even if we left it alone?"
After all, their main objective was to set up the Calamitous Pentagram Formation. Eliminating the local evil spirit, as they had done at A Dam, had only been something they did along the way.
"But that would become a massive hidden risk in our plan."
Yayoi Hozuki looked directly into Keitaro Gentoga's eyes and said in a low voice, "What we're about to do next is lay down a super-large-scale curse covering all of Kyoto. What if our Regicidal Bellflower grand formation happens to shake the temple's suppression of the malignant entity here?"
"..."
Keitaro Gentoga froze slightly, because he had not considered that. He had only thought that since other capable people were holding the line, he could take things a little easier.
Yayoi Hozuki continued, "The malignant entity would break free of its suppression. If the rumors online are all true, that means even while suppressed, this entity can still cast curses on the people of this land. So what will it be capable of once the seal is completely broken?"
"And after it breaks the seal, it might also destroy our formation. If that happens right when we're facing that god, our chances of victory without the formation will drop drastically."
Yayoi Hozuki said so much that Keitaro Gentoga began to feel a little guilty.
Yayoi-chan has thought this far ahead to make sure the plan succeeds, and she's this worried about the innocent people here, but all I cared about was making things easier for myself... I'm supposed to be Yayoi-chan's tutor, but I can't even serve as a proper example... This is too pathetic...
"Most importantly, I really want to see with my own eyes just how dangerous the malignant entity here is!" Yayoi Hozuki suddenly changed tack and spoke from the heart.
Keitaro Gentoga: "..."
He suddenly felt as if all his guilt just now had been fed to the dogs.
"Xu Fu-chan, what do you think?" Eiko Hozuki turned to Xu Fu.
The three of them discussing it blindly would not lead to any answers, so it would be better to ask the expert.
"Hmm... Personally, I'm also leaning toward settling this thing completely right here," Xu Fu said after some careful thought. "The seal here can't last forever. Sooner or later, whatever is inside will break free and escape. When that happens, there may not be someone as incredible as me conveniently on-site. Better to root out all the hidden risks now."
Since Xu Fu had spoken, Keitaro Gentoga could no longer voice any objections.
After that, Keitaro Gentoga suggested that they pay a visit to the temple, which was called Nissho Temple. After all, the eminent monks of this temple had been suppressing the malignant entity here for generations, so they surely knew a great deal about it. And since they intended to break the seal and eliminate the malignant entity completely, both emotionally and logically, they should inform the people responsible for sealing it.
The one who came to open the door after hearing the knock was a very young monk. When he saw Xu Fu's group, surprise appeared in his eyes, as if he could not understand why four children would come here so late at night.
"I'm very sorry, but we don't allow visitors here. Please go back."
"No, that's not it. We're not here to sightsee..."
Keitaro Gentoga waved his hands repeatedly, unable to figure out how to begin. Should he state their objective outright? Would they really not be treated as troublemakers or lunatics?
He was genuinely worried. If a few children told a monk they had come to help exorcise evil, would anyone actually believe them?
Yayoi Hozuki said bluntly, "Is there something terrifying being suppressed beneath this temple?"
The instant she said that, the young monk blocking the doorway changed expression.
"Who are you people?"
"We want to help," Yayoi Hozuki said. "If there really is something terrifying here, we should be able to help you destroy it."
"...No. We don't have anything like that here. I don't understand what you're talking about. Please leave."
With that, the young monk did not even give Xu Fu's group another chance to speak before closing the door outright.
"Huh? Wait! Wait! Don't close the door yet! We don't mean any harm! We really just want to help!"
Keitaro Gentoga knocked on the temple gate, but there was no response.
Yayoi Hozuki had noted the series of changes in the young monk's expression just now, and from that, she reached a conclusion. "It looks like this temple really is hiding some secret. That young monk definitely knows something, or he wouldn't have reacted that way... But it seems he doesn't trust us."
Keitaro Gentoga sighed helplessly. "After all, the four of us don't exactly look like powerful spiritualists capable of dealing with evil spirits."
Xu Fu did not like hearing that.
"What's that supposed to mean~? Forget you three, but how do I not look like a spiritualist capable of dealing with evil spirits?" Xu Fu protested indignantly. "When it comes to ghost hunting, if Xu Fu-chan says she's second, no one dares call themselves first, okay~!"
"What should we do now?" Eiko Hozuki looked at the locked temple gate, troubled. "They don't want to believe us. It's not like we can force our way in, right?"
As Eiko Hozuki was speaking, Yayoi Hozuki had already taken out her crowbar and baseball bat.
"W-wait! Yayoi-chan!"
Keitaro Gentoga hurriedly blocked Yayoi Hozuki, who was raring to go, and shouted, "Forcing our way in is illegal, isn't it?"
Who would have thought Yayoi Hozuki would throw Keitaro Gentoga a wink and say confidently, "Don't be scared. Minors can't be convicted."
"You cannot think like that—!"
Yayoi Hozuki's thinking was far too dangerous. As her tutor, Keitaro Gentoga felt he had to correct her and make her understand how many terrible children had relied on that "minors can't be convicted" get-out-of-jail-free card to do whatever they wanted, only to commit irreversible crimes in the end.
As a result, Yayoi Hozuki was not listening to him at all. Instead, she silently tilted her head and looked behind Keitaro Gentoga.
At some point, Xu Fu had already arrived in front of the temple gate. She lifted one foot—kicking the cripple's good leg... no, wait, that was wrong. She kicked violently at the closed wooden door.
With a loud bang, the locked wooden door was kicked open by Xu Fu. Keitaro Gentoga and Eiko Hozuki watched from behind, dumbfounded.
They never would have expected that Xu Fu, who usually seemed the steadiest of them, would actually do something so irrational. They had not even had time to rush forward and stop her.
As a rule, shouldn't such a violent, impulsive act as breaking down a door always be something Yayoi Hozuki did?
Seeing Xu Fu walk farther and farther away, the three of them hurriedly chased after her.
Keitaro Gentoga still felt this was inappropriate. Once he reached Xu Fu's side, he said, "Xu Fu-chan, wasn't that a little too impulsive?"
"Impulsive? This old lady... ah, bleh! This old man came here to solve a problem for these stinking monks. Forget kicking down the door—if I blew up this whole temple, they ought to praise me for setting off such a nice, loud firecracker~!"
Xu Fu spoke willfully. "Xu Fu-chan is the cutest beautiful girl in the whole world, you know~! It's their honor that I came here to see them. Forget not sending an eight-man palanquin to welcome me—they actually wanted to shut Xu Fu-chan out? Dream on~! Being selfish is the privilege of beautiful girls~!"
"Woohoo~! Being selfish is the privilege of beautiful girls~!" Yayoi Hozuki excitedly repeated Xu Fu's words.
Xu Fu's words did not reassure Keitaro Gentoga and Eiko Hozuki. Instead, they deepened the worry in their hearts.
They had clearly wanted to ask Nissho Temple about the malignant entity, but judging by how things were developing now, forget getting the other side to obediently cooperate—if the temple did not call the police on them, that would already count as having a good temper.
"What are you doing?!"
With a loud shout, five monks walked toward them.
All five monks looked rather dark-faced. The young monk Xu Fu's group had met earlier was clearly among them, and the one angrily rebuking Xu Fu and the others was an old monk standing in the center.
Seeing that the ones who had forced their way into the temple were only four children, the old monk also froze slightly, but he quickly regained his angry expression.
"This is Nissho Temple! A sacred Buddhist site! No matter who you are, I—"
"Are you the abbot here?"
Xu Fu suddenly spoke up, cutting off the old monk's words with arrogant force.
"Hey! Xu Fu-chan..."
Keitaro Gentoga and Eiko Hozuki beside her were both startled. The man was furious right now, and she had actually interrupted him? Wasn't that obviously adding fuel to the fire?
They could not understand why Xu Fu was doing this.
Just as the two of them thought, being interrupted by a girl made the old monk so angry that veins bulged on his forehead. Combined with Xu Fu's group's extremely deceptive appearance, the old monk let down his guard and answered without thinking.
"That's right! This old man is the abbot here."
"Well, that's strange..."
Xu Fu deliberately drew out the last syllable, and her gaze turned meaningful.
"If you're the abbot of Nissho Temple, then cute little Xu Fu-chan is very curious..."
The old monk's face was dark with anger. However, Xu Fu's next words made him forget his fury—even his breathing. His entire body plunged into immense panic.
"Why aren't you dead yet?"