Chapter 26: Spirit Domain
As the sun slowly sank toward the west, dusk arrived.
The number of pedestrians on the streets dropped bit by bit. Before long, night would fall completely, and once that happened, no one could say what unclean thing might emerge from the dark. In an age like this, getting home before nightfall was not a matter of convenience. It was a matter of survival.
No one dared take it lightly.
And yet, in the abandoned park area of Houjou University Attached High School, the place Gin Tsumugi had visited the night before, someone had come again.
It was Touma Kazusa.
Barefoot, she stepped through the weeds that choked the park paths. Her feet, pale enough to resemble carved snow, were slashed open again and again by the wild grass, yet she seemed unable to feel any pain at all. Her face was covered in exquisitely delicate makeup, but it was not modern makeup. Its style was old, strange, and unsettling to the eye. Her gaze was empty, devoid of light, as though her soul had already been hollowed out, leaving behind nothing but a shell of flesh.
Most horrifying of all, she wore a bridal robe.
A proper Heian period junihitoe.
She looked exactly like the girls from Houjou University Attached High School who had previously hanged themselves.
Like a corpse that had risen and begun to walk, Touma Kazusa moved forward one step at a time until she reached the northernmost edge of the park, where the Lake lay silent and foul under the gathering dark.
Bing Lake had not originally been an artificial feature of the park.
It had existed since ancient times.
Only because of changes in the land over the years had the once broad lake gradually shrunk into the small body of water now seen today. Back when the park area had first been planned, Bing Lake had been known for its beauty. Its water had once been clear, its surroundings serene, and there had even been painters who came here specifically to sketch its scenery.
That was how beautiful it had been.
But in recent years, for reasons no one had ever managed to determine, everything had changed.
The aquatic life in the lake had started dying off one after another. The water itself had turned stagnant, foul, and black. That decline was the real reason this part of the academy had gradually been abandoned. The school had hired experts more than once to investigate, but none of them had managed to restore it.
Now, as Kazusa stepped onto the reeking black surface of Bing Lake, the entire lake suddenly rippled like a living mirror.
An image surfaced on it.
Reflected at the center of the water was the true source of the supernatural incident at Houjou University Attached High School.
The Wedding Dress Tree.
It looked, at first glance, little different from an ordinary wishing tree. Yet from its trunk and dense branches hung dozens of brides dressed in the same kind of wedding robe Kazusa wore now. Every one of them stared at her with hollow black eyes, their expressions terrible and dead.
Kazusa kept walking.
Step by step, she moved deeper into the black water.
As the lake reached her knees, then her waist, the brides on the Wedding Dress Tree all began to sway. At the same time, their lips slowly curled upward into eerie smiles, as though they were welcoming Touma Kazusa into their number, inviting her to become another hanging bride who would remain there forever in pain and despair.
After only a few breaths, Kazusa's body disappeared completely beneath the surface of the lake.
Only faint ripples remained behind.
Then, in the next instant
Swish. Swish. Swish.
More than a dozen talismans hidden in the shadows revealed themselves at once, transforming into golden chains that shot straight into the exact place where Kazusa had vanished. They punched through the lake surface, plunged deep into the lakebed, and in the blink of an eye the entire foul black lake began to churn violently. Golden light spread beneath the water like a net tightening around something hidden.
A moment later, a vortex appeared.
It had been forced open by those golden chains, and it led somewhere beyond the surface of the lake, somewhere unknown.
A familiar voice broke the silence.
"So there really was a Spirit Domain hidden here."
Gin Tsumugi stepped out from the shadows, Ogiso Setsuna beside him.
The two of them had watched everything, from Touma Kazusa's arrival to her complete disappearance beneath the lake. More than once, Setsuna had wanted to rush forward and stop it, but Gin had held her back the entire time.
Without Touma Kazusa serving as a precise coordinate, forcing entry into the Spirit Domain would never have been this easy. The talismans Gin had distributed to the marked students had not simply been meant for protection. They had also been a hook.
And now, they had caught something.
"Spirit Domain?"
Setsuna repeated the unfamiliar term, confusion on her face.
Gin walked to the edge of Bing Lake and pulled out several more talismans, using them to reinforce and stabilize the vortex on the lake surface.
"When a yokai reaches a certain level, it can develop a special ability known as a Ghost Domain. You can think of it as a separate space created by the monster's will, both real and unreal at the same time."
He glanced at the black vortex as it twisted and trembled.
"A Yokai capable of forming a Spirit Domain is already among the very strongest below the level of a Great Yokai."
He gave a low breath.
"We really did hook a big fish this time."
Setsuna looked at the vortex, then at Gin. Her fingers tightened unconsciously.
Gin continued working while speaking.
"Besides Touma Kazusa, who is a confirmed coordinate, I also need to use the mark on your body as a guide. That way nothing goes wrong once we enter."
This was the real reason he had brought Ogiso Setsuna here.
In truth, they could have attempted to follow directly behind Touma Kazusa the moment she entered. But Kazusa was currently being controlled by the Wedding Dress Tree. If they shadowed her too closely, the chances of being noticed would rise sharply. Sneaking into the enemy's Spirit Domain required a more careful method.
Setsuna took a breath and steadied herself.
"Okay. I'm ready."
Gin nodded.
Once the passage to the Domain had been completely stabilized, he took out a talisman and pressed it gently to Setsuna's forehead. In less than two breaths, the talisman peeled away on its own, carrying with it a trace of the mark embedded in her body. It flew toward the vortex and vanished into its depths.
Gin then placed two more talismans on himself and Setsuna. Their auras immediately dimmed, their presence concealed as though they had become part of the surrounding dark.
At last, he reached out and caught Setsuna's hand.
"Let's go."
The two of them dove straight into the vortex leading to the Spirit Domain.
.....
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