CHAPTER 20
"Was that a sign? Was she asking me to meet her?" He thought, keeping his gaze intently on her as she slowly walked away. "Back then, what the hell was it she was even saying?"
After contemplating for a long while, he walked back inside at had a bath prepared. After a quick shower and breakfast, he finally decided to have a word who had fortunately come to visit him that morning.
She was the one who had sent the maids to him and had come to see how he was doing. Anyone could tell it was just an excuse for her to come see him since he had been well for quite a while now.
It was something about her that he never quite understood and she seemed very inclined to listen to what he had to say. He made sure to limit what he had to say in relation to Enma, but no matter how hard he tried, Enma remained a core part of the story.
Naturally, the constant mention of his name, and most of all the fact that he came about a way to bring the existence of all other gods to an end. The existence of gods remained known throughout the people, and according to them their prayers never ceased to be heard.
"This story, could it be that our being here may have affected it somehow? The people, even if they're Suffering so much, I highly doubt it's something that they can't endure." She remarked.
"Are you saying?"
"What I'm saying is that there's still too much unknown to me to draw a clear conclusion, and perhaps, just maybe, you might be hiding something from me."
In that instant, he furrowed his brows as he threw a stern steady gaze at her with his heart almost skipping a beat. It was one thing that she even gave him a reply, and it turned out that she was actually suspicious of him.
She left even before he could finish pondering on her words and in the end he was left completely confused as to what to do next. They were only in the central area of the city with the totality of Raijin Cho stretching as far as forty-six kilometers.
Alone, he probably wouldn't be able to find him as months went by and given the current state of things the other Megumi would probably be one of the hardest things he'll have to deal with.
One thing he did know though from the vision he saw was that they didn't seem like people who had very prominent livelihoods before. It was most likely that's were living around the outskirts of the city and would have probably begun moving by now.
Did he know how to use his abilities of death manipulation, perhaps he could use soul trace or even summon a group of undead to help him search. And it made him remember something, something that had been out of his mind for a while now.
While still seated on the edge of his bed she shifted inward a bit more and slowly proceeded to cross his legs against each other while closing his eyes. Slowly, as his hands came together he began to feel the presence of celestial energy within him.
His body had already adapted to both the energies present in his body and he could now easily differentiate the both, allowing him to quickly conjure the celestial energy outward.
He had no either how it worked, but based on what he had seen with his system and past skills he believed the skills would work automatically as long as he possessed them and had enough energy to use them.
At that moment, the best ways for him to find Megumi still continued to linger in his mind and the only thing he could think of was his ability; ghostly conjuring: It allowed him to summon every form of spirits around him and command them to do his bidding.
And just after a moment of his thought, he felt a sudden burst of energy surge out of his body as countless voices began whispering strange words into his ears. It was excruciating and made him feel like his ears were starting to bleed.
As he opened his eyes, he finally discovered the reason as to why it hurt so much. Those whispers were the cries of the souls of all the people he had just summoned within the area. They wanted peace, and they begged him to let them rest.
"How bad could this actually get." He thought looking down at his palm which had now begun turning pale, "I'm sorry, but this something I really have to do."
With that he gave his command; they were to find Megumi and only then would they be able to take their final rest. The cries and whispers finally ended after that, but the mental anguish still lingered.
The spell also drained him greatly of celestial energy which left a very great physical toll on him- he was now pale with his skin now almost turning wrinkled.
He fell straight on his bed, looking up at the ceiling and then the moment he closed his eyes, he was able to see every single thing the spirits he summoned were seeing.
There were thirty-seven of them in total, all searching for the boy together. He was quite surprised at the distance they could cover in such a short while though.
It had only been a few minutes but every inch of the inner city (central area of the city) had been thoroughly searched and they were continuing forward toward the outer parts of the city.
Their search continued all the way until the evening, and finally, after long hours of waiting they found Megumi meditating inside a shrine just a bit outside his family's compound.
He was able to catch wind of the spirits around him due to him also having the ability of soul perception, but there was nothing he could do about it other than remain cautious. If he could, he would have spoken to his doppelganger through one of the ghosts, but all he could do at that moment was watch.
He quickly dispersed them as soon as the boy prepared to leave and let out a huge sigh of relief. Finding him had been quite easier than he had imagined, and now all that was left was actually meeting him.
"I'll set out tomorrow, and perhaps have Rikiyo go see Karin as well. But still, though, I think I should at least let her know about this, so she at least knows where I'm going." He thought, slowly resting his head against the wall.
He was a bit exhausted but not yet sleepy so he decided to take a little walk outside, perhaps he could stop by the pond and gaze at the stars from there. He left the room open so the maids could drop off whatever they wanted without worries.
Every single night in this world was one no one would want to miss. The fine gaze of the moonlight shone brighter than ever and the stars glimmered with such blissful light.
His blissful gaze at the sky was quickly cut short by the sound of a flute coming from the distance. Just a bit over the fence, it was coming from one of the houses.
But the sound only continued to grow closer and even from where he was standing, he could see the shadow of someone approaching him. The sound of their footsteps became louder.
"Well, that was quick." He thought, stepping back slightly. "I have a feeling whatever that thing is could kill me and I wouldn't even be able to blink at it."
The best thing he could do was reinforce his body with the dark energy he had left while backing away slowly. He wanted to reach somewhere with more space like his front yard whilst avoiding a confrontation with whatever it was in front of him as much as possible.
But there was a clear difference in their speed of movement. He could only take four steps back before the figure closed the gap between the both of them.
His jaw immediately dropped at the sight of who it was with her smile still present as she slowly lowered the flute she had blowing.
"Well hello there." She said, bowing her head slightly.