燃える磐座

In the end, despite her seeming reluctance, Sakuya-san brought Uzuki-san back as promised.

That Uzuki-san now sleeps in a futon laid out next to mine.

Fast asleep... dead to the world...

It is a quiet, deep sleep befitting that expression. So quiet, I can't help but worry.

That, maybe, what lies here is nothing more than Uzuki-san's body...

When my consciousness - probably, my soul - was intruding on Kei-kun, could my empty body have looked like this?

If so, of course it would work on humans... thinking thus, I am sick with worry.

I shake my head forcefully, trying to chase away the piling worry.

Sakuya-san knows much more than I do, and she's saying she'll probably be alright. She has to be alright.

But, even so...

If only a person's spirit was cut, they wouldn't go on sleeping like this, would they?

As if resonating with the quivering of my heart, a high-pitched metallic sound shakes the night air.

And a voice, as if the bell had spoken, sounds through the still air, now bereft of the sounds of insects.

Sakuya-san quickly slides the door open.

Under the illumination of the full moon, the pale darkness thins yet further.

Mixed in that light are unseen particles, and like grains of rust, they roughly pierce my skin.

The rusty air is emanating from three shadows, bearing the fully circular image of the moon at their backs.

Two among them are Nozomi-chan and Mikage-chan, and bearing them at his right and left is...

Why in the world would Kei-kun...

Could someone like Kei-kun have been made into a kugutsu by Nozomi-chan's suggestion?

No...

That's...

Just like I was thrown out, that thing must have...

Sakuya-san crosses the veranda and heads outside. Following behind her, Yumei-san turns to me...

If I place a kekkai, both Nozomi-chan and Mikage-chan can't enter this room.

They can with that method they used before, but other than Kei-kun, I don't see any opponent with a corporeal body.

Seeing off the backs of Sakuya-san and Yumei-san, I bend over the sleeping Uzuki-san's neighboring futon.

I struggle over her kariginu, without a clue where my hands should go, looking for the charms that she has to have somewhere.

If only I'd asked her for another set, I'd be prepared for a time like this.

I wonder what's going on? The flickers of blue and red at the edge of my vision are worrisome, but I can't deal with that right now.

Hurry, hurry, hurry...

Having hit the sheaf of paper, I pull it out and stand.

One sheet...

Two...

Three...

At the moment where I would place the last, Yumei-san's scream-tinged voice reaches my ears, and I can't help but look to the veranda.

Tracing a trail with her crimson eyes as she cuts across the garden, Nozomi-chan jumps this way.

With the ring of a bell, she lands on the wooden walkway.

With charm in hand, I arrive at the fourth corner.

Nozomi-chan's attempt to enter the room and my placing of the charm occur at nearly the same time.

And, the one who acts just a bit faster...

...is me.

Nozomi-chan is barred by the kekkai field.

With a sigh of relief, I fall to a sitting position.

But, something's...

...strange.

The sound of the barrier burning the spirit body haven't stopped.

In the stifled laughter of her voice, I can feel a clear sense of composure.

A red light pouring from Nozomi-chan's palm strikes with the pale light of the kekkai, spouting a shower of purple sparks.

At the moment of her whisper, the four charms burn to a crisp, and ashes fall from the four corners of the room.

When I was cut by Uzuki-san, Yumei-san broke through the barrier, too, but...

Even so, she didn't maintain a composure like this.

With a ringing sound, the bell enters the room.

With a ringing sound, the bell stops inside the room.

Nozomi-chan doesn't answer.

Without answering, she peers at Uzuki-san's face, still fast asleep.

Dazzling wetly with the clear, bloody red color of the setting sun, her eyes are narrowed with the cruelty of a child plucking the legs of an insect.