Uesugi Tetsu took out the foolish-looking doll.
Immediately afterward, following the extremely faint sound of threads snapping, a familiar scent of white musk mixed with tobacco and mint wafted around Uesugi Tetsu's nose.
—Sister Nanjō?!
Uesugi Tetsu's heart shook violently. Before he could understand what had happened to the doll, that viscous, warm darkness had already merged into his shadow.
Then, they became indistinguishable.
In an instant, Uesugi Tetsu felt someone tightly embrace him from behind. A gentle voice, almost like an auditory hallucination, sounded beside his ear:
"I'm so lonely and sad, you know... You hung me by the door every day to guard against that monster, yet you still didn't remember me after all this time."
When he looked at the doll in his hand again, he found a finger-thick crack split open across its forehead.
Uesugi Tetsu remembered the effect description of the Nanjō doll—
[After use, "Nanjō Emi" will immediately appear behind you.]
That voice, nearly identical to Nanjō Emi's yet more seductive and graceful, once again slipped into Uesugi Tetsu's ears:
"Rest easy. I'm behind you."
—In the gap between the buildings, the Nue, which had been watching the three people beneath the streetlamp the entire time, let out a puzzled hum.
"Why do I suddenly feel uneasy?"
It kept moving through various treacherous positions, relying on its powerful regenerative ability to force bullets out of its muscles, then stopping the bleeding and restoring the slashed wounds.
"Tsk. Whatever."
The Nue thought emotionlessly, Living beings can die, but the Conversion Box must be recovered. These people and that one-star Shikigami will conveniently make up tonight's shortage of soul ash.
Otherwise...
The Nue's body suddenly shuddered.
If it failed to hand over a sufficient quota of soul ash when the deadline arrived, then no matter where