In the end, Shizuku suggested that Rei Kurosawa stay the night so they could carefully observe what exactly was going on with this dream. Rei hesitated briefly before nodding in agreement. The Amakura twins, Mayu and Mio, stayed to keep Rei company. As for Hotaru Amakura... well, with so many girls here, it was inconvenient for him to remain.
He could go wherever was nice and cool, or, if nothing else, spend the night outside in an alley with old newspapers for a blanket. Men were highly adaptable, after all.
For Shizuku, having a few extra guests was no problem at all. After all, her beds... ahem, her guest rooms were quite spacious. Before long, Rei and the twins were settled into a guest room, and everyone had dinner together.
During the meal, they exchanged stories of what they had experienced since then. Mio, in particular, seemed to relax considerably. After entering Minakami Village, her sister Mayu had spent most of the time possessed by Sashige Kurosawa, and her memories of what had happened were far from clear. Mio, meanwhile, had traveled through Minakami Village from beginning to end alongside Shizuku and Mayu Hinase, so she naturally knew quite a lot.
She could not tell her family about it, nor did she want to discuss the matter in detail with her sister. Now that she had met Mayu Hinase and Shizuku again, Mio finally relaxed and happily chatted with them.
After dinner, everyone went off to rest. Rei lay down in bed with an uneasy heart and soon drifted into sleep.
When she opened her eyes again, a massive mansion stood before her. Snow fell all around it, yet there was unexpectedly no trace of cold. The entire world seemed to have lost its colors, covered only in black and