"Hmm-"

Nagaoka slowly opened his eyes from the sofa and stretched.

The psychiatrist's office was quiet, and Miss Saotome was still sitting across from him.

"You're awake."

"Hmm...... How long have I slept, Miss Saotome? ”

"Don't worry, there will be no charge for the time that exceeds this time."

"Thank you."

After Nagaoka recounted the experience of leaving a psychological shadow on himself in high school, he fell asleep on the sofa unconsciously.

Probably because the sofas here are fluffy.

It may also be because of the process of talking to Miss Saotome, which really feels relaxed.

Nagaoka, who is completely immersed in anxiety and restlessness these days, rarely sleeps well.

Saotome put away her notebook and stood up from her position: "Mr. Nagaoka, let's go home and sleep well, you look like you need to rest, I hope today's conversation can help you." ”

"I will."

Nagaoka also got up.

Counseling is all charged by the hour, and now that it has overtime, it is not easy for him to stay any longer.

As for the matter of "Egawa and Aoyagi".

Nagaoka just needs to tell others about those things.

After saying it, it seems that I feel a lot better.

When Kazuhiko Nagaoka leaves, only Ai Saotome is left alone.

She sat down on the couch again, flipping through the notebook that didn't actually contain anything related to psychotherapy. After a long while, suddenly without warning, he spoke into the office where no one was present:

"Taki, did you hear what you just said? Is that what the man said you were looking for? ”

No one answered.

But under the couch across from her, something slowly crept out.

It was a small man woven from dry straw, about the size of two palms.

The straw man stumbled up the couch until he climbed up the soft cushion and sat down upright like a lady.

Its face is inlaid with two buttons of various sizes that act as eyes, and its mouth is sewn with several thin threads.

The straw figure is on his back, and his buttoned eyes, one large and one small, seem to be looking at Saotome.

But it still didn't reply.

The scarecrow couldn't speak.

However, the villain's mouth sewn by thin threads slowly "opens" the gap.

From the dry straw below, a pitch-black spike was slowly pushed out......

The black nail landed on the couch and rolled down to the ground.

With a crisp sound, it shattered into several pieces like a fragile object.

Saotome glanced at the broken nails on the ground, first silent, and then sighed heavily, "Then what are we going to do, Taki?" You said that I want you to die when you are ...... demon."

……

The next day.

After receiving psychotherapy and getting a good night's sleep, Nagaoka went back to work at the club early in the morning.

He walked into the office and sat down at his desk.

Before going to see a psychiatrist yesterday afternoon, he had a few documents piled up on his desk, thinking that he would come back today and hurry up to complete the few tasks at hand.

"Huh?"

But as soon as he sat down, Nagaoka felt confused.

The few documents on the table were all gone, and they were clearly sorted out and placed in the corner of the table yesterday.

Coincidentally, at this time, the head of the department walked over from Nagaoka's position, and Nagaoka, who was a little untouchable, asked, "Chief Masui, ...... the report you handed me the day before yesterday?"

"That." Masui stopped, "It's done." ”

"Done? Then the contract ......"

"The contract has already been amended." Masui further explained, "Didn't you take a vacation yesterday afternoon? Then you have other colleagues to help you do the work. ”

"Other colleagues?"

Nagaoka still couldn't understand.

The colleagues in the department are all busy, who will have the spare time to do what he is doing?

Moreover, let's not talk about filling out the form. That contract, but Nagaoka has always been in charge.

"Oh, I forgot to say it. It's a new colleague.,I just came down yesterday to report.,Nagaoka, you can say hello to people too.。 Masui waved behind Nagaoka, "Hey, Aoyagi-san." This is Nagaoka, you didn't see each other yesterday afternoon......"

Nagaoka stared at Masui's lips in astonishment, and he was completely stunned when he heard the surname "Aoyagi". As for what the section chief said next, I couldn't hear it at all.

He only felt dizzy, accompanied by intense tinnitus.

No, no.

It's just a coincidence that they have the same surname, right?

Even if the surname "Aoyagi" is not very common, there will always be people with this surname.

Don't scare yourself, Aoyagi is already dead.

With such a thought, Nagaoka turned his head abruptly.

Behind him, I don't know when a figure was standing, only two or three meters away from him.

"You...... You ......"

The moment he saw the man's appearance clearly, Nagaoka's pupils dilated, and his chest rose and fell violently.

Fear mixed with dizziness and intense vomiting welled up in my throat.

That face......

Although it is slightly different from high school, it is a little more mature.

But that gentle, harmless to humans and animals, polite smiling face.

Nagaoka is all too familiar with this, and he will never forget it for the rest of his life.

He's Aoyagi, that's right!

"What's wrong, Nagaoka-kun?"

Aoyagi looked at Nagaoka with a smile, his expression was natural, whether it was his tone or demeanor, it completely overlapped with the deceased in his memory.

"Don't, don't come here!"

Nagaoka stepped back in panic, his back slamming into his desk.

The file box, the stapler, and a pair of scissors for opening envelopes all fell to the ground with a thud.

The scissors fluttered on the cold floor, the edges reflecting the cold light of the incandescent light falling from the ceiling.

"Monster!"

Nagaoka screamed.

……

Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Countermeasures Office Building.

Kamiyagawa walked into the office of the real Kenyu with a light car, and did not treat himself as an outsider, but sat down on a chair at random, and said, "Did something happen?" Call me over in such a hurry. ”

Uncle Cheng has been taking Nagatomo Masao on a business trip not long ago, and he has just returned in the last week.

And Kamiya came to the strategy room today, and he also took the initiative to contact him.

Generally speaking, only when something big happens, or if you feel that something might be of interest to Kamiya, will you personally call this ghost god disciple over.

This time was no exception.

"Hmm...... Look at this. ”

Yucheng handed over a stack of materials.

Kamiyagawa opened it and found that it was a case file of homicides that had occurred in recent years.

The locations of the cases are scattered, and the motives for the murders are varied: vendetta, love, murder for money, or simply murder of passion under certain conditions.

Moreover, the cases have been characterized by various places as having nothing to do with supernatural events.

One of them is specifically noted.

The nature of the murder was horrific and the details of the case were appalling.

It happened ten years ago in a junior high school near Nagoya.

The perpetrator and the victim were students at the same school.

In front of the whole class, the murderer slit the neck of the deceased and dissected the abdominal cavity of the deceased.

After a brief review, it can be quickly noticed that the various cases in this information have one thing in common. That is, the last name of the deceased victim is the same -

"Aoyagi?"

Kamiya was a little surprised.

He was very impressed by the surname.

He also knows a "Aoyagi".

That Aoyagi once suffered from the village eight points, and in desperation, he turned to the god of dark silt and beauty, and finally completed the ugly time worship, made a complete set of sub-boxes, and cursed all the living creatures of Xiao Binze.

As a result, the Xiaobinze area is still a wasteland, and it has since been erased from the administrative map.

Rushing.

Kamiya continued to flip through the dossier, comparing the information of the deceased who had been recorded in the case.

Aoyagi, who was murdered in the murder, has the same surname, but the first name is not the same.

And the ages are also different, there are students of age, young adults, and even the elderly.

There are also male and female genders.

As for the appearance of the deceased......

Judging from the photos of some of the victims attached to the materials, these deceased have a strange sense of appearance.

They are all people who look gentle and weak on the outside, and have a polite temperament.

It is worth mentioning their eyebrows, which are delicate and soft, and their eyes are clear and deep. It doesn't matter if it's old or young, whether it's a man or a woman...... Even if it's just a simple photo, there is a strange feeling that they are the same person.

"These are all materials from police stations around the world, right? The first case here happened more than a decade ago, with the most recent being this year. The location of the incident appears to be irregular and very scattered. How did you suddenly come up with the idea to bring these events together? Kamiyagawa put down the information in his hand.

"More than a month ago, someone anonymously delivered some information to the countermeasure office branches in different places. Well, it's about several cases of Aoyagi murders in different places. ”

"These incidents, scattered in various places, do not attract high local attention, but they are deliberately grouped together, which seems a bit strange."

"Therefore, the following situation will be transferred to the headquarters, along with the anonymous delivery of information. And then our people started investigating that...... Judging by the statistics, things seem even more wrong. ”

Kamiyagawa: "What kind of data?" ”

"That is, I counted the homicide cases in the past three years. Over the past three years, homicides have occurred throughout Japan...... Not including attempts, there were more than 3,400 in total. Among them, there are 52 victims with the surname Aoyagi. And that's just the case that's clearly documented. ”

In the past three years or so, 52 "Aoyagi" people have been recorded by the police as a result of homicide.

Compared with the base of 3,400, the proportion is about 1.5%.

At first glance, it may sound like nothing, but in fact, this data is very abnormal and can be called weird.

"If the surname of these 52 victims is 'Sato'...... That's probably not surprising. But 'Aoyagi' is not a big surname with a large population. Uncle Yucheng continued.

The Sato he is talking about is currently the surname with the highest proportion of surnames in the Japanese population.

It seems that some experts have said that if the custom of Japanese women changing their husband's surname after marriage is not changed, then through the formula, everyone in Japan will have the surname "Sato" in about 500 years.

And even a big surname like "Sato" accounts for only about 1.6% in Japan.

In such a comparison, the frequency of killings of "Aoyagi", whose surnames are not too popular, is a bit too high.

Either the person with this surname carries its own ridicule.

Either that...... Behind these homicides, there is some kind of strange force pushing it.

"And you can also see it, by sorting out some of the information, you can see that these photos of the killed dead have a ...... An indescribable similarity. ”

Yes.

Even if the numbers aside.

The look-alike feeling of these murdered "Aoyagi" photos before their deaths is also very revealing.

"Boy, what do you think? Do you think this is some kind of curse? Uncle Yucheng rubbed his temples.

"Cursed? You mean, you doubt that there is a connection between these things and the Aoyagi who used to be Kobinze? ”

"Perhaps."

Xiao Binze's Aoyagi, because he lived for a long time, so there is no photo information about him.

No one knows what he looks like.

Even, Kamiyagawa learned about Aoyagi through the diary found in the Kazuki family before. Until now, he only knew the surname of Aoyagi, and he didn't even know the other party's name.

However, this person is very important.

It's not just because he's made spells that can wipe out an entire area.

What's more, this Aoyagi is the second person known to have successfully performed the "Ugly Time Worship" ceremony in addition to the historical Takiyasha Hime.

That is to say, there is a high probability that Aoyagi's back is related to the god of dark silt and beauty.

And the cursed dragon god has an endless relationship with Kamiyagawa to this day.

"Oh, yes, and this." Yuseru Kenyu picked up an A4 piece of paper from the table and handed it to Kamiyagawa, "This paper is attached to the anonymous package received by the countermeasure room branch below. ”

Kamiyagawa looked at the blank paper.

There are only black fonts printed out of it -

[The Aoyagi are cursed creatures who multiply themselves by being killed by the hands of others, and they will only grow more and more......]

"Who delivered this information, and did you find any clues?" Kamiyagawa's gaze fell on the paper.

"I don't know yet, the branch below hasn't found that person."

Regardless of who the person who delivered the information to the countermeasures room, the other party seemed to know a little too much about the "Aoyagi" matter.

Kamiyagawa quickly thought of something: "When the Heishomon incident happened before, there was also a mysterious person who secretly assisted the countermeasure room. ”

"Yes." "That time and this time, it's probably the same, or the same people." ”

The matter of the Ping Shomen is also directly related to the dark silt and the god of beauty.

Even the dragon god almost revived on the body of the flat shomon.

Therefore, behind these two incidents, it is really possible that the same person is hiding to provide information to the countermeasure room.

(End of chapter)