Twilight.

Crows, clad in the glow of the dusk sunset, landed on the wall of the street, tilting their heads and staring at passers-by.

This is a corner convenience store not too far from Hanabell High School.

It is also the place where Kamiya River worked before he was still in a down-and-out period.

Thinking that after graduating from high school, it is unlikely that I will have the opportunity to come back to this neighborhood in the future. Taking advantage of the time to attend the graduation ceremony today, and ending all the things in the school, Kamiya came here.

At this time, it just so happens that store manager Ikumi Kawai and his former colleague Okamura are there.

The two of them were very happy to see Kamiya walk into the store.

The manager of Kawai invited Kamiya to eat oden, and the three of them began to chat casually about the current situation.

From the store manager and Okamura, Kamiyagawa heard a little about Masao Nagatomo Koheta.

From the end of the last incident at Ruzuki Station, Nagatomo got the opportunity to join the countermeasure room.

Later, during the transition period of my life, I lived in the low-rent apartment where Kamiyagawa used to live, and when I had time, I would work part-time at the convenience store where the manager of Kawai lived.

The store manager and the long-time employee Okamura have a good evaluation of Nagatomo, who is very serious about his work.

And I heard from them that Nagatomo has now ended his part-time job.

Well, it's normal.

Kamiya knows that Nagatomo has already gone through the training with Uncle Yuuki, and he has received a fixed salary from the countermeasure room, so he really doesn't need to work at a convenience store anymore.

Moreover, because there is a special "spirit behind the back" brought out of the inner world, Xiao Pingtou performed quite well under Yuuki.

Okamura is not on the night shift today, and at this point in time, he has changed his uniform and put on his regular clothes.

The staff in charge of the rest of the day has also arrived at the store.

Because Kamiyagawa came, Okamura didn't leave, and stood and chatted: "Speaking of Nagatomo, that guy's girlfriend is so cute." Damn, so envious. When will I get a girlfriend like that? ”

"I advise you not to think about it, working hard is more real than anything else."

Kamiya chewed the radish in the oden and poured cold water on him without mercy.

The manager of Kawai on the side also nodded in cooperation.

"Hey, you don't have to be so ruthless, do you? Shouldn't you be cooperating with me and saying, 'Come on, you'll find it too' or something. Okamura muttered dissatisfied.

He had barely finished speaking when the cell phone in his pocket rang.

Since it was no longer part-time job, Okamura naturally picked up the phone: "Ahhh......h I'm already off work, I'll come back later, let's go first. ”

"Another call from your weird friends?" The manager of Kawai crossed his waist with one hand and glanced at Okamura helplessly.

"What a strange friend, it's obviously a fellow friend of the spirit." Okamura replied.

"Detective...... Spirit? ”

When Kamiyagawa heard this, he put down the string of fish balls he had just picked up again.

"Yes, yes, this circle has been quite popular recently. Kamiya-kun, let me tell you, among my friends, there's also a very beautiful girl, hehe. ”

Speaking of this, Okamura seems to have come to the ground all of a sudden.

"Is it hot? Why? ”

Okamura shook his head with a mysterious expression: "Because of the previous dream man's incident." There is such a strange thing happening, don't you think that the 'spirit' should be real? ”

"Didn't an expert refute the rumors before? Saying that Dream Man is a rare group psychological suggestion event. Manager Kawai interjected.

"You can't believe the words of those experts."

Manager Kawai: "It's better that you don't get involved in this kind of thing, Okamura." This kind of thing, gods and ghosts, ethereal. ”

Okamura was unimpressed: "Ah, the store manager, if you really think that 'spirits' don't exist, why would you swallow and vomit about such a thing." ”

"Alas, I can't persuade you. Wouldn't it be nice to put all your interests and energy elsewhere? The manager of Kawai was even more helpless and didn't say more.

And Kamiya has not said anything about this, only frowning.

Okamura glanced at him, and suddenly thought of something: "By the way, Kamiya-kun, didn't you say that you were going to study monster studies in college?" Surely you're interested in this kind of thing, right? You see, you look at this. ”

As he spoke, Okamura clicked on his phone and showed it to Kamiya.

"I'm a folklore researcher, folklore."

Kamiyagawa shrugged, but still looked at Okamura's phone screen.

On the phone, it's a photo that looks mushy and a little out of focus.

The location of the shooting appears to be a somewhat deserted indoor corridor.

At first glance there is nothing special.

But if you look closely, it looks like something strange has been photographed at the end of the hallway.

Zoom in on the photograph to see two pale and twisted human hands hanging from the ceiling at the end of the hallway.

But because it's too mushy, I can't really see it.

It's hard to say if it's really two hands, or something else.

"You're all slurry, aren't you? I can take pictures of the landline more clearly than you. Kamiya said this, but his brows tightened a little, and then he chased after him, "Where did you shoot it?" ”

"I didn't shoot it, it was sent by my friends, and the shooting location was a remote and deserted hut on the Takenozuka side of Adachi Ward, and they asked me to explore that side tonight."

"Do you have to go at night?"

"Don't all soul seekers choose the night? During the day, everyone has their own things to do. And the point is not this.,It's the girl in my friend.,Super cute.。 Okamura looked yearning.

Kamiyagawa was powerless to complain.

The heart said that these soul lovers are really the first iron.

What's the difference between this and organizing a group to deliver food to possible weird talks?

If you really want to hit the spirit so much, you might as well come to me directly.

There are all kinds of strange things around me, and I guarantee that you will never have unnecessary curiosity about this kind of thing again for the rest of your life.

Kamiya put down the oden in his hand and patted Okamura's thick shoulder: "Come with me." ”

Although Okamura was confused, he followed Kamiyagawa out of the door of the convenience store and came to the trash can near the alley behind the door.

There is no one in this place.

Employees at the convenience store used to come here occasionally to smoke.

"What's the matter, mysterious? Do you want to smoke too? Okamura was still suspicious.

"It's not." Kamiya shook his head, "Show me the exact address of the place you're going to explore tonight." ”

"Hah, I'll just say you're interested." Okamura clicked on a discussion group on Line with great interest and showed Kamiyagawa a position:

"How about it, do you want to join us later? But let's talk about it first, Kamiya-kun, you are so good-looking, there will definitely be no shortage of girls who like it, that cute girl in the same fan, you can't ......"

"Okamura."

Kamiyagawa didn't let Okamura continue, and interrupted the other party with a cold look in his eyes.

"Yo."

On Kamiya's side, a red deer with a long horse face but a pair of huge antlers appeared.

"Yo-yo."

The red deer shook its big horns, and immediately there was an aura of stupidity and ignorance that enveloped Okamura.

And the latter couldn't see the existence of the red deer at all, and his expression was slightly dull: "Huh? ”

"Listen." Kamiya opened his mouth with the [One Thousand Silver Needles, Change] in his hand, and in the palm of the hand he was holding, the silver threads slid down, and the fallen pupils of the fallen eyes appeared, "You are not interested in the matter of soul exploration at all, and you will not participate in such a boring activity in the future." ”

"Oh, oh, yes. Who would go for such a boring thing......"

Okamura's expression was stupid, and his eyes unconsciously met the red deer's swirling pupils.

"Good, keep it up."

After doing all this, Kamiyagawa patted Okamura on the shoulder again: "Let's go, the store manager is still waiting for us." ”

The latter came back to his senses from his dizzy state at this time, and he was a little confused for a while.

"Huh? I just ...... Huh? ”

But sobriety is soberness, and the words of Kamiyagawa just now have been "planted" into the depths of his mind.

In the state of Red Deer [Foolish], the effect of [One Thousand Silver Needles: Change] is outstanding, and Kamiya's use of the small silver stick is extremely skillful, and even the originally strong or intelligent strange talk can't resist this set of brutal combination punches.

Not to mention ordinary people.

In this case, it is not an exaggeration to directly change the name of [One Thousand Silver Needles] to "Hypnotic Silver Needles".

Okamura probably couldn't wake up from the "psychological suggestion" that Kamiyagawa planted for him for a long time.

Or, perhaps, permanently, he will always be influenced by the implication that it does not harm his personal interests, and thus avoid the supernatural and bizarre things.

Kamiyagawa also thought just now that this kid Okamura seems to have a bit of an inexplicable spirit physique, or maybe he is simply not very lucky.

I still remember that a long time ago, when Okamura was working part-time, I told myself the story of "Mary's Urban Legend".

And on the way home that day, he bumped into Mary head-on.

There is also the matter of Kabuki and Fat Powder Fairy, and I got the news from Okamura at the beginning.

It's definitely a good thing for this guy not to get in touch with weird things in the future.

As for Takenozuka in Adachi Ward, Kamiyagawa plans to say goodbye to Kawai store manager now and go over.

The photo on display by Okamura was too blurry to be sure if it was a real supernatural photo.

But what if it's true......

"If there really are human hands hanging from the ceiling for no reason, then it should be regarded as a strange talk of 'abnormal hands', right?"

Kamiyagawa thought so in his heart.

A long time ago, his ghost hand nurse Foot Seller's mother-in-law told him that he wanted to use his hand specialties or unusual strange talk materials to make specific oils and fats to further awaken the [Ghost Stump Arm].

If Takenozuka really has such a strange story, he just went over to brush the material.

I just don't know if any soul slayers are eyeing there before tonight.

However, although the Tokyo metropolitan area is one of the strongholds where the spirit-eradicating master is active, the strange stories that lurk are not immediately discovered.

According to the process, it is usually a strange disappearance or murder that attracts an official soul killer. Or if someone gives a commission, there will be a folk soul killer to dispatch.

"Anyway, let's go check it out first."

……

Tokyo, Adachi-ku.

Among the 23 wards of Tokyo, it is recognized as the district with the worst public safety situation and the largest number of poor people.

The impression is that the area has a quirky vibe, which is not impressive. The crime rate is also relatively high, and many Japanese people don't like it here.

Takenozuka is the Adachi Ward and the northernmost business district in Tokyo, and is known as the "Kabukicho of Adachi Ward".

Because it was already night, the lights were already on in the Takenotsuka business district.

But the streets are still deserted and depressed.

A group of three people, two men and one woman, were walking down the block, two of them carrying cameras.

The streets of the business district are crowded with pachinko shops, as well as red-lit special sex toy shops.

Other than that, there are some Filipino bars.

Inside, the lights were dim, and exotic songs were played, sounding whining in the streets.

The bar here is different from Kita-Senju on the other side of Adachi Ward, and it doesn't feel bright and lively, but eerie.

Occasionally, one or two drunks can be seen sitting at the door of the bar, looking at passers-by with drunken eyes.

The young men and women walked past the door of one of the bars, and were confronted by a strange-speaking shopkeeper who came up and pulled them in, trying to force them into the shop.

That is, the two boys in the line tried desperately to stop it, and the three of them finally broke free and walked away in a panic.

The girl among the three, who looks to be in her early 20s, is named Sahashi and Ye, and her appearance is biased towards the petite sister next door.

"Really." Sahashi tugged at his crooked sleeve with a resentful face, "That's why I don't like this side of Adachi...... Everyone says that even if you live farther away in Saitama Prefecture, it is better than living in Takenozuka. ”

"Hurry up, walk through this block, there will be no one on the road in front of you."

One of the three, a boy named Ryota Narita, replied.

"No one is actually more terrifying, right?"

The remaining boy was named Yasuji Uchimura, and at this time he pretended to interject easily: "Isn't this what we are after?" ”

"That's right."

When you leave the business district, the surrounding scene is even more depressed, with low shacks and only sporadic lights.

"How far is that dwelling?"

"On the map, about a kilometer, right?"

"What about Kasawara and Okamura? Where have they been? ”

"Kasahara originally lived on Adachi's side, and he arrived first." Ryota Narita replied to the message on his mobile phone and said, "Okamura, he didn't reply to me...... Ah, Okamura called. ”

Narita answered the phone, and hung up after only two minutes of speaking, while rolling his eyes with disdain.

Sahashi: "What's wrong?" ”

Narita: "That guy from Okamura said he wasn't coming. "It's not interesting to visit the soul at all, I should watch Mary-chan's live broadcast at this point, you should be like me, prepare snacks, stay at home and watch the cute VTuber comfortably, this is life", the guy said on the phone. ”

"Huh? Haha, he's actually scared, right? ”

"Definitely. It's so big, it's unexpectedly useless. ”

"Forget it, leave him alone, and don't call him in the future. That guy was so boring! I have lived well with paper people all my life. ”

The three of them talked as they walked.

Not far in front is a low, two-story one-family building, standing alone in a secluded place at the end of the street.

The whole house looks completely gloomy, deserted and dilapidated, and it should have not been inhabited for a long time.

This is the destination to explore tonight.

The trio stopped on the side of the road.

The only street lamp around them is in disrepair or something, flickering on and off.

A few unknown spring insects, buzzing and flying, hit the lampshade from time to time, making a dull thumping sound.

(End of chapter)