The power used by Yōkai is called Yōki; the power used by Onmyōji [Masters of Yin and Yang] is called Reiryoku; and the power used by those never-before-seen specialists of the supernatural is called Knowledge. The depth and breadth of a real world are sufficient to birth a colorful array of power systems.
Thus, Sū ěr agreed with Think hypothesis: this tree and this well contained a different kind of power—perhaps the grudges or emotions of Yōkai before they died. That would explain why there were so many Yōkai remains at the bottom of the well.
Sū ěr only confusion was who, in the distant past, had discovered this place, built the well and the shrine here, and buried so many Yōkai beneath it. Surely these Yōkai didn't just line up to commit suicide in a well one by one?
Unless the well itself had gained a spirit and possessed the ability to lure Yōkai into suicide—but it clearly hadn't.
Someone—or some Yōkai, or some god—had killed many Yōkai in the distant past and filled the well with them to produce a hypothetical energy. That was the most likely answer.
The massive Goshimboku was like a bottomless pit. No matter how much spiritual energy vanished into its trunk, there was no further reaction; not even the slightest glow appeared on the bark. Normally, such a concentration of spiritual energy would cause even an opaque object to emit a faint shimmer, which only further proved the Goshimboku's extraordinary nature.
Besides, it wasn't a total loss. Sū ěr mind stirred; he suddenly felt a hazy impulse... like a silken thread wrapped around his fingertip. It was faint—the slightest bit of force would snap it.
"AAAHHH!!!"
A young girl's scream. Her voice, still in that pre-pubescent stage, was so piercing that Sū ěr head throbbed. The connection in his hazy perception wavered, threatening to break at any second.
Turning at the same time as Think toward the source of the sound, Sū ěr realized that while they were both eyes-closed, sensing that metaphysical feeling, they had left themselves completely unguarded. An ordinary human had managed to sneak into the back hill without a sound. Well... maybe not a "normal" human?
At the very least, with Sū ěr perception now fully flared, the orb of light radiating spiritual energy from the girl's chest was blindingly brilliant in his eyes.
And the girl... for the first time in her life, she felt something wrong with her body. She couldn't help but press her hands against her chest in pain. It felt as though something was about to erupt from within; her skin was so hot it felt untouchable, yet there was no sensation of a burn.
She saw the man—the Yōkai—reach out his hand toward her.
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Higurashi Kagome.
Because the shrine was named the Higurashi Shrine, her surname had been fixed as such. It wasn't rustic; in fact, it sounded quite nice. The family had originally lived in a city apartment, but after her father passed away in a traffic accident, they moved together into the ancestral shrine.
Though she could technically be called a Miko, she was, in reality, anything but professional.
Well, that was normal. After all, the Higurashi Shrine was considered "long-declined" even by those living nearby. Otherwise, rumors wouldn't have spread about it being abandoned, scaring away would-be explorers.
Furthermore, little Kagome's dream was to do well in school and find a high-paying job, not to inherit the family business and revitalize the shrine. However, none of that was the point.
The point was that while she was jokingly called "Miko" by her school friends because of her home, Kagome didn't actually believe Yōkai existed. After all, who would believe in things that only appeared in picture books and stories but never in the real world?
However, that naive worldview was utterly shattered that afternoon.
Yōkai were real.
After being forcibly dragged to the back hill by Taro [the family dog], who had sensed something was wrong, she had seen him. He had beautiful platinum-blonde hair and, despite a long scar on his right forehead, was so handsome he'd make the girls in her class scream. He was a Yōkai.
Truly a Yōkai, definitely not human.
The ancient well, which family legend said must never be opened lest it bring misfortune, had been opened. In the time it took her to stumble and look up again, the handsome man had vanished—how could a human do that?
Not to mention what she and her grandfather had seen as the sun was setting. The clearing, which had been empty before they went to eat, was now piled high with mounds of earth—clearly freshly dug, as the soil was still dark and damp.
And then there were the heaps of bones her grandfather saw after climbing down a ladder... bones so strange and massive they couldn't possibly belong to ordinary humans or animals. They weren't even fossils.
The most miraculous part was that when she and her grandfather woke up early the next day and went to the back hill, they found the soil had been filled back in. The terrifying bones were reburied at the bottom of the well, and the problem of how to dispose of all that dirt—which had given the old man and the girl a headache all night—had simply vanished.
He's a good Yōkai, isn't he? Instinctively, this judgment formed in little Kagome's heart.
At least this Yōkai knew how to clean up after himself.
Though her father's passing had made her slightly mature for her age and his loss had made her strong, it didn't stop Kagome from having the typical fantasies of a young girl.
Well... idle fantasies.
After pestering her grandfather all night, she heard many stories of his encounters with Yōkai from when he was young. Her curiosity about those beings who had never appeared in her life before grew deeper.
However, nothing unusual happened after that day. The well was covered again, and the charms pasted on after a ritual showed no signs of disturbance. No Yōkai visited, and no Yōkai sneaked into the house to freeload as her grandfather had described.
Unwilling to give up, Kagome even led Taro on several patrols around the back hill, but she never saw that blonde Yōkai near the Goshimboku or the well again.
Life returned to its previous state and remained unchanged for several months.
Until tonight.