August 15th.

Kyoto.

Just like the plot in "Weather Child", Kyoto has been sunny in recent days, as if it were welcoming the Obon Festival, and the streets are as lively as the Gion Festival.

Night.

The scene of the martial arts exercise of Mt. Hiei.

The two commentators are introducing the shrine that will appear today.,Limu Shrine.,But because the score of the previous lower duck shrine was too unsuspenseful.,So there are very few people present today.,Except for the shrine's own one.,Basically, there's this kind of hard-working person like Taka Arai.。

After all, compared to the martial arts of the spirit, tonight's fireworks show is more attractive.

"Qiao San, how do you think tonight's handicap should be set up?"

Arai Takashi promised and handed hot tea to Qiao Qiao.

"I don't understand these things."

Qiao Qiao didn't drink tea, just looked at the screen behind the commentary desk and said.

"However, judging from the strength of the personnel at the Riki Shrine and the situation of this year, I think it is more likely that they will not be able to complete all the work of clearing the source of resentment, as for the number of sources of resentment removed...... It must be between thirteen and fifteen. ”

Hearing Qiao Qiao's words, Arai Takashi hurriedly took notes.

Subsequently, the specific value of the handicap was determined through divination, and combined with Qiao Qiao's inference, he began to collect money.

Beside Qiao Qiao, the five witches of the Lower Duck Shrine were sitting precariously, holding a notebook of the same style in their hands, carefully recording their experience from watching the Lingling Martial Arts.

Ariko Asano sat on the other side of Joe Bridge, playing with her phone.

Today is the last day to remove the spirit.,According to the current situation.,Shimogamo Shrine should indeed be the first place in this year's spirit removal exercise.。

Tomorrow during the day, the summary and award ceremony will be held at the headquarters of the Kyoto Soul Killer Association, and Qiao Qiao is also preparing to return to Tokyo tomorrow afternoon.

It's been too long since I've been out this time.

The most famous place at Riki Shrine is the Somei, one of the three major sources of water in Kyoto, which was once used by the royal family to dye clothes.

Therefore, the spirit-removing technique of Riki Shrine also has a bit of a dyed well.

In the spiritual vision, it can be seen that with the shaking of the imperial coin, the spiritual power with colorful colors ripples from every corner of the village, through the windows, doors, and infiltrates the house.

The simulated wraith was suppressed and gradually fell apart.

As for the source of resentment, it is shot by the shrine maidens armed with bows.

The whole process of removing spirits is orderly.

However, in terms of speed, it is not comparable to a shrine like Yasaka Shrine that specializes in removing spirits.

It looks elegant, mysterious, and watertight.

But in fact, after thirty minutes, the shrine maidens of Riki Shrine had only cleared out ten sources of resentment, and the further back they went, the slower the speed of removing spirits.

"Qiao San is amazing."

Arai Takashi was counting the money with a mobile phone calculator on the side, and said to Qiao Qiao.

"Hmm...... It's kind of weird. ”

Qiao Qiao didn't care about Arai Takashi's praise, but scanned the place where the spirit was removed in the state of spiritual vision.

Originally, the source of resentment and simulated resentment that exuded yin qi were clearly visible to Qiao Qiao, like torches lit in the dark night.

But now, the source of those resentments has become obscure.

In Qiao Qiao's vision, something was superimposed.

"Teacher, are these predictions really extrapolated from various sources?"

Asako Asano asked curiously.

Isn't it really channeling or divination or something?

"Of course, this level of logical reasoning can be easily made even by junior high school students."

Qiao Qiao replied as a matter of course.

“？”

Does the teacher have any misunderstanding of junior high school students?

Asano Riko tilted her head.

"It's easy to get the right answer by listing the possibilities through the phenomena and then eliminating them one by one."

Qiao Qiao said while looking at the screen.

"For example, for example, well, when I was in the cat ramen before, the tanuki said that the youkai of Mt. Hiei were all driven out."

He thought for a moment before continuing.

"This was on July 13th, and at the time it didn't seem like a problem, but now that I think about it, it seems like there are a lot of problems."

"On the thirteenth day of July, I thought about it, ah, in the afternoon, Sister Maki and I went to the Gion Festival to discuss and determine some matters related to the spirit of the martial arts."

Asano Riko suddenly thought of something again.

"Moreover, in the afternoon, the teacher secretly took Suzuka to Ren O Hall!"

This hatred, Asano Ariko remembers clearly.

"Ahem, that's not the point."

Qiao Qiao looked at him left and right.

"I heard this sentence on the night of July 13, and at the time it seemed that the Soul Exterminator Association had begun to expel the monsters in the mountains due to the Gion Sacrifice to Eliminate Spirits, but when I think about it, it is actually not true."

"First of all, the discussion of the Gion Festival is in the afternoon, and even if you want to expel the youkai, it should be held after the negotiation has determined the specific scope of the spirit removal exercise."

"Secondly, after all, does it really necessary to expel the monsters in the spirit removal and martial arts?"

"In the past month, after my observation, there are basically no monsters around the venue of the Removal Spirit Martial Arts, and moreover, when I talked about this at the time, it was a topic of strange things that have happened recently, and I have checked the information of the Removal Spirit Martial Arts in recent years, and I have not mentioned anything related to monsters."

"In other words, the departure of the monster of Mt. Hiei is not directly related to the spirit removal exercise."

"Oh, in that case, why did the youkai of Mt. Hiei leave?"

Asako Asano asked puzzled.

"I don't know."

Qiao Qiao replied dryly.

"However, through this incident, we can take a look at what has happened in Kyoto recently."

"Well, if I want to talk about it, it's those strange statues that I encountered when I was removing the spirits."

Asako Asano replied.

"Well, judging from the shape of the statue and the feeling it gives people, it can be assumed for the time being that these are related events, so what of them could have something to do with the youkai of Mt. Hiei?"

Qiao Qiao also began to think, and soon had an idea.

"When it comes to weird things, the first thing to consider should be the existence of spiritual power."

Most of the weird things are essentially to get more spiritual power or yin energy.

Otherwise, it's okay for anyone to come out and commit a crime against the wind.

"At present, there are more than 20 cases of similar traces of the commissions handled by the Kyoto Soul Removal Association, which involve spiritual power...... Sure enough, there was only that one. ”

Qiao Qiao thought about it.

In the Mori of the Ridge, the two 700-year-old trees and the trees that have been uprooted and disappeared.

The reason why the Bonding Wood cannot be recovered is because other trees that have spiritual power for hundreds of years have disappeared, and from another point of view, those trees have a lot of spiritual power.

If we assume that the incident at Mt. Hiei is related to the trees of Mt. Tsunomori, it is easy to draw a conclusion.

"Oops."

Qiao Qiao stood up.

At the same time, at the scene of the Limu Shrine's martial arts performance, more than a dozen towering trees appeared.