Mochi walked through the inn's corridors with light steps. Only a few minutes had passed since she had switched places with Miyu to cover the night watch. The darkness did not bother her at all; she could see clearly. Even so, she remained alert. Everyone's safety depended on her.
However, every time she let her guard down even a little, her mind inevitably wandered… and a smile appeared on her face.
Just wait, Haruka… she thought, feeling the heat rise to her face. I'll make you fall hopelessly in love with me.
The blush came a second later, accompanied by embarrassment at her own thoughts. Ever since Miyu had helped her recognize what she felt, something had changed inside her. She felt lighter, as if she had taken an enormous weight off her shoulders. Now she knew what she wanted… and she was convinced she could achieve it.
Silence reigned in the inn. Only the roar of the wind could be heard crashing against the outside.
Mochi was on the first floor. She had just checked the entrances and everything seemed to be in order. She stopped in front of a vending machine, crossing her arms.
"Tch…" she muttered.
There was no electricity. If there had been, she would have bought a can of hot coffee to fight the cold. She stared at the machine for a few seconds, thoughtful, trying to imagine some way to get a can out… though she did not even consider that, without power, the coffee would be ice-cold anyway.
Then—
BOOM.
A thunderous blast shook the air.
Mochi jumped in surprise. Her ears shot upright instantly and her tail tensed to the limit. Her heart lurched as she turned her head, analyzing her surroundings in a fraction of a second.
"That came from the second floor…"
She wasted no time. She put on her brass knuckles, feeling the cold metal tighten around her fingers. She ran toward the stairs and took them two at a time.
When she reached the second floor, she paused for just a moment. She looked to the left.
The sound had come from there.
She thought about warning Haruka and Miyu, but their room was in the opposite direction. She hesitated for only a second before making a decision.
They must have heard it… and if someone is hurt… she thought.
She clenched her fists and headed toward the source of the crash, moving down the dark hallway with her body tense and her senses at their peak.
Mochi had barely taken a few steps when she stopped dead in her tracks.
In front of her stood Genzou, the owner of the inn.
His face and clothes were splattered with blood.
"Genzou-san! Are you hurt…?"
The concern lasted only a second.
Just long enough for Genzou to raise a shotgun and aim it directly at her chest.
In that instant, everything fell into place.
The blast… it was a gunshot.
Mochi's instincts reacted before her mind did.
She threw herself to the ground—
BOOM.
The shot thundered through the hallway. The blast shattered the window behind her, sending fragments exploding through the air. Mochi clenched her teeth in a grimace of pain. The noise pierced her skull like a needle.
Her sensitive ears burned.
A sharp ringing filled her head, drowning out any other sound.
Still dazed, she looked up and saw Genzou reloading with quick, practiced movements, ejecting the empty shells and inserting new ones without hesitation.
I won't reach him before he finishes…
The hallway was narrow. She wouldn't have room to dodge another shot.
Mochi made a decision instantly.
She sprang to her feet and ran toward the stairs. Without slowing down, she leapt over the railing.
BOOM.
Another shot exploded through the air.
The wooden railing burst apart exactly where her body had just passed.
Mochi landed on the first floor with a clean, agile drop. She had no time to relax.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash.
An axe was descending straight toward her.
Her reflexes pushed to their limit. Mochi threw a punch, striking the side of the weapon and deflecting its trajectory by mere inches.
The attacker was Ume.
Without giving her a chance to react, Mochi stepped forward and delivered a precise blow to her stomach, holding back so as not to overdo it. The air left Ume's lungs in a strangled gasp. The axe fell to the floor and she collapsed, unconscious.
"UME!" Genzou roared from the top of the stairs.
He aimed the shotgun at Mochi in fury, his finger tightening on the trigger.
But he didn't get to fire.
A gust of freezing wind struck him head-on, lifting him off the ground and slamming him against the wall with a dull impact. His body bounced and rolled down the stairs until it came to a stop on the floor, completely unconscious.
Miyu appeared immediately and hurried to grab the shotgun, moving it away in case Genzou woke up.
The employees began arriving one after another, awakened by the gunshots and the chaos.
"Bring something to tie them up," Haruka ordered firmly.
The inn's chef approached, staring at the scene with a pale face.
"What happened here…?"
"I don't know," Haruka replied. "But as you can see, the couple was armed and attacked us."
The chef scanned the area anxiously, as if searching for something… or someone.
Then, without another word, he turned around and hurried away.
Once one of the employees brought ropes, the couple was carefully tied up. Genzou and Ume lay unconscious on the floor, motionless.
Haruka knelt beside them and closed her eyes for a moment.
"I sense faint traces of ether in both of them," she finally said. "It's not enough to control them directly… but they could have been manipulated or persuaded."
"Then… is there an anomaly inside the inn?" Miyu asked.
"That's the most likely possibility," Haruka replied seriously. "We need to conduct a search, but without being able to properly perceive the ether it will be complicated. It would be best to wake them up and interrogate them to obtain more information."
The three of them quickly began thinking up a plan.
At that moment, one of the employees came running down the hallway. He was pale, trembling. He pointed toward the far end with a stiff arm.
"T-there's… there's a body…"
Haruka was the first to move. She followed the employee and, after a few minutes, returned with a serious expression.
"She's dead. The wounds match an axe."
The atmosphere grew heavy.
Mochi and Miyu were still trying to wake the couple by shaking them, without success.
"Don't move around alone. Check for injuries and stay in groups," Haruka ordered.
The employees nodded nervously and began to disperse cautiously.
That was when the chef reappeared.
There was something strange about him. His breathing was irregular, the muscles in his face tense. But none of the three paid him any attention at that moment.
Until it happened.
"AAAAHHH!"
The chef's scream of rage tore through the air.
CRACK!
A wet, heavy sound followed the shout.
Then, screams of panic.
The three of them turned at the same time.
The chef was standing there, the axe buried deep in Genzou's skull. Blood splattered the floor and his hands trembled as they clutched the handle.
For a second, no one moved.
Then, the nearest employees reacted and threw themselves at him. Even though the chef was a large, burly man, they managed to subdue him and pin him to the ground.
He kept screaming, out of his mind, his voice broken by rage.
"You damned bastard!" he roared. "You killed Kaori! I hope you burn in hell!"
Several minutes passed after that.
The situation had become completely chaotic.
Mochi couldn't help but feel grateful, once again, that Haruka was there. Despite the panic and the screams, she managed to impose herself with an almost superhuman calm. Her firm voice cut through the disorder and, little by little, restored something resembling control.
With speed and precision, she organized the employees. She had the chef taken to a separate room and ordered the bodies to be moved to another, away from everyone's sight. Every instruction was clear, leaving no room for doubt.
Then they brought Ume aside.
When she woke up, she was disoriented, her gaze unfocused and her face soaked in tears. Fortunately, no one mentioned Genzou's death.
It didn't take long for her to confess everything.
Between sobs, she explained how something had manifested before them and introduced itself as Mizuchi-sama, the guardian deity of the lake. It spoke to them in a soothing voice… and offered them a deal.
It would bring their daughter back.
In exchange for three lives.
The silence that followed her confession was heavy.
Leaving Ume under watch, the three of them headed to where Rin's body was supposed to be.
What they found left them stunned.
Rin was there.
Alive.
Her chest rose and fell slowly, her skin was warm, her breathing steady. She seemed submerged in such a deep sleep that no matter how much they tried to wake her, she did not react.
"Weren't they supposed to offer three lives for her to be revived…?" Mochi murmured, confused. "But they only managed to kill two people. So… why did it bring her back?"
Haruka lifted her gaze, serious.
"You're wrong," she replied. "In the end, three lives were offered."
She paused.
"Genzou was the third."
Now they had a much bigger problem.
Haruka carefully examined Rin. She found nothing unusual. No alteration, no residue, no trace that would betray the intervention of an anomaly.
And yet…
They couldn't leave her alone.
They also couldn't allow the employees to find her. Explaining why someone who was supposed to be dead was still alive would only bring fear, chaos, and dangerous questions. Alerting ordinary people to anomalies had to be the last option. It never ended well.
The decision was swift.
They carried Rin to their room.
Careful not to be seen, Haruka and Miyu bore her between them and gently laid her down on a futon near the heater to keep her warm. There they could watch over her closely, away from prying eyes.
Meanwhile, Mochi moved through the inn.
She was searching for the anomaly.
The reason she was the one searching instead of Haruka was simple: at the moment, perceiving ether beyond a few steps' distance was nearly impossible. But Mochi had her keen senses—her sharp sight, hearing, and sense of smell—giving her a much better chance of finding the anomaly.
"Haruka-san…" Miyu asked quietly as they watched over Rin. "Is something like this possible? Are there anomalies capable of bringing the dead back to life?"
Haruka slowly shook her head.
"I don't know. The abilities of anomalies are extremely varied. I've read ancient texts that speak of anomalies with healing powers… but nothing like this."
She thought for a few more seconds.
"Perhaps…" she added, "Rin wasn't dead to begin with. It was a mistake to trust that without verifying it myself."
She sighed.
"She may have been in a coma, or in a state close to death. And this anomaly brought her back… or worse, it may have been the one keeping her that way all this time."