Could This Actually Be an Evil-Repelling Charm? / Torii Gates and Shimenawa ...

Looking at the trees that complemented the road, with a cool breeze gently brushing against her, Yurikawa Hana felt that the scenery was starting to look a little beautiful.

"It feels like such a pretty place."

"Yeah. This way—we'll be there soon."

Yuria led the way, heading toward a path ahead. Her earlier anxiety about bringing an ordinary person along had been replaced by excitement at the thought of witnessing Miko perform an exorcism.

Dreaming of becoming a powerful exorcist, she naturally couldn't pass up this opportunity. After seeing an entire building's worth of Ghosts disappear with her own eyes at the Cursed Building last time, she had stopped doubting Miko's strength. She had also begun to feel respect for someone like her. But... why was that?

She had the Amanita Muscaria Charm doll tucked in her pocket and gripped it tightly.

Hana had no idea what she was about to face. Completely free of nerves, she pulled out a box of Pocky and started eating, then offered some to the two beside her.

She also asked Yuria,

"Yuria-chan, are we almost there?"

"Yeah. This is all ordinary mountain road, but there's a tunnel up ahead. Once we go through it, we'll be there."

As she spoke, a dark, deep tunnel came into view before the three of them. It was also the true destination Miko and Yuria had in mind.

A place teeming with Ghosts.

Could this actually be for warding off evil?

A place where Ghosts gathered in large numbers was bad for the living. Even if ordinary people couldn't see Ghosts, the energy they gave off—something that could be understood as a kind of radiation—would continually affect humans, weakening their bodies and causing illness.

But just as some Ghosts were powerful, there were also people with strong Life Energy. The Life Energy in their bodies harmed Ghosts, sometimes even driving them away. Even in a place full of Ghosts, such people wouldn't be affected much.

But people like that were rare, and powerful Ghosts were more likely to set their sights on them. Though most powerful Ghosts didn't dare touch this kind of Life Energy, they were still drawn to it like moths to a flame, waiting until they found a chance to devour its owner.

Yurikawa Hana could be called either lucky or unlucky. She was just such a person.

At that moment, she gazed at the pitch-black tunnel, imagining Ghosts lurking within, and couldn't help feeling afraid.

"Do we really have to go through there?"

Hana's voice trembled slightly. Her good mood at the thought of taking photos of the scenery had suddenly been replaced by fear.

"Yeah. There's a pretty spot inside that's perfect for taking pictures."

Yotsuya Miko looked at Hana and gave her a mischievous smile.

Partly, she was concerned for Hana's safety. Partly, she had her own reasons.

Besides testing the protective measures on Hana, she also wanted to get a little revenge for Hana's actions last time. How could someone so timid walk straight into a whole building full of curses without worrying about her own safety?

If Miko hadn't arrived early enough, things would have gotten troublesome once the Kimono Ghost had eaten every Ghost in the entire building.

"It's really dark in there."

"Of course it's dark in a tunnel."

Yotsuya Miko replied matter-of-factly, then walked straight toward the tunnel.

She had already spotted the weak Ghosts. Her Spiritual Sense had also detected a powerful Ghost hiding inside the tunnel, which could serve as nourishment for the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record. But before that, she wanted to see how well her new Talisman Doll worked.

As she thought this, Miko glanced at Hana and Yuria behind her. Unlike the Talisman Doll she had given Hana, the one Yuria held leaned more toward offense, since Yuria could see some Ghosts. The energy system in this world seemed to be called Spiritual Power. Miko planned to visit the Godmother to find out how Spiritual Power was produced, then make Yuria a Talisman Doll that ran on Spiritual Power. For now, though, she had no information at all about the Godmother.

Hana followed closely behind Miko, trembling with fear. Even a drop of water falling from the tunnel ceiling and splashing onto her was enough to scare her badly.

But at that moment, neither of the other two was paying attention to her reaction. They were both looking ahead. The Talisman Doll had begun to work. The moment Hana entered the tunnel, the Ghosts that came within a certain range of her started feeling uncomfortable and retreated. At the same time, strange black energy appeared on their bodies, slowly eating away at them until they were killed in a very short time.

Having learned from her last experience, Miko quickly used Spiritual Power to pull the remaining Soul Bodies toward her and put them into the iron box in her backpack. She had made the box using the Soul Merging Artifact Casting Understanding, specifically to store Soul Bodies. It should originally have been a banner, and it had the ability to nurture Soul Bodies. But since she had none of the necessary Artifact Refining materials, she had simply made an iron box that could contain Soul Bodies, adding a few Talisman Patterns as a barrier to conceal their presence.

What Yuria saw was completely different. She couldn't see the Spiritual Power Miko had cast. All she saw was one Ghost after another vanishing completely before they could even reach Miko, as if there were a powerful barrier around her.

Miko... she really was so strong...

Seeing this, Yuria felt another massive wave of emotion rise within her. She had thought she'd already overestimated the psychic in front of her, but Miko's strength still far surpassed anything she could have imagined.

"Hm?"

Sensing Yuria's intense gaze, Miko quickly figured out what she had misunderstood. She walked up to Yuria, lifted a strand of her hair, and whispered in her ear,

"Take out the doll I gave you, then point it at those Ghosts."

After saying that, she went over to Hana, who was trying to retreat, and grabbed her hand.

"Hana, don't worry. There aren't any Ghosts or anything like that here. Look, I'm fine."

"But..."

"Relax. I'm here."

What did she mean by that?

Miko's warm breath brushed against her ear, making her feel a little uncomfortable. She quietly took the doll out of her pocket and, just as Miko had said, pointed it at a Ghost in the distance.

The instant she aimed at it, the Ghost vanished before her eyes.

Unwilling to believe it, Yuria shifted her aim to another Ghost. The result was the same. The "Ghosts" that had been haunting the place were gone. Only then did Yuria understand how precious the doll in her hands was. How could this be just for warding off evil, as Miko had claimed? It was clearly a weapon that could destroy Ghosts!

Yotsuya Miko watched as Yuria picked off several Ghosts and nodded in satisfaction. As she had expected, she had found a combination of Talisman Patterns that could completely destroy Ghosts. It would erase their Soul Bodies entirely, but Yuria didn't need those. In fact, this would keep other Ghosts from devouring them. Still, Miko wasn't sure whether the Talisman Doll in Yuria's hands could destroy a powerful Ghost.

Then... she would draw that Ghost out first.

As she thought this, she led the tearful Hana into the tunnel, temporarily switched off the Talisman Doll on her, and used Spiritual Power to drag the powerful Ghost out of the tunnel wall. It was a Ghost whose whole body was fused into a metal bucket. It wasn't all that powerful.

The moment it was forcibly dragged out, the Ghost quickly realized that Miko could see it. It let out a roar and sped toward her. Miko glanced at Yuria to make sure she couldn't see a Ghost of this level, then switched the Talisman Doll on Hana back on.

To prevent anything unexpected, Miko had set two modes for the Talisman Doll on Hana: one to ward off ordinary Ghosts, and another to attack powerful ones, like the offensive mode of the Talisman Doll in Yuria's hands—

Only stronger.

A black beam characteristic of the Dao Demon shot out of the Ram Rabbit doll on Hana and struck the metal-bucket Ghost.

Then... it exploded.

An astonishing number of beams burst out from inside the metal-bucket Ghost, piercing it until it was riddled with holes. Every Ghost struck by the beams shrieked and died. As the metal-bucket Ghost swelled, the beams of white light filled the entire tunnel, thoroughly purifying it.

Miko swept her Spiritual Sense across the tunnel again. After confirming there wasn't a single Ghost left, she nodded in satisfaction and was met with a look from Yuria as though she had seen a Ghost.

Unlike Hana, Yuria couldn't see nothing. While she had been fiddling with the Talisman Doll in her hands, an intense white light had forced her to close her eyes. When the light finally faded, she couldn't see a single Ghost anymore. But clearly, that didn't mean she had simply lost the ability to see them.

She looked silently at the doll in her hands again. Maybe... it really was for warding off evil?

The Torii Gate and the Shimenawa

After clearing the Ghosts out of the tunnel, Yotsuya Miko dragged a very reluctant Yurikawa Hana through it.

When the light shone on the three of them again, Hana finally recovered from her earlier fright and looked at the scenery before her.

"So pretty..."

Perhaps because no one had passed through the tunnel for a long time, the plants on the other side had grown wildly, radiating a rugged charm.

They continued along the mountain road and soon reached its end—a shrine. A small stone path led up to it. The shrine was hidden behind lush green leaves, and all they could see was part of its Torii Gate. The rest was completely obscured.

Vines had climbed over the vermilion Torii Gate, tinting it green. It looked as if no one had visited in a long time.

A Torii Gate was the entrance to a sacred domain, representing the division between the world of humans and the world of the gods—if gods really existed in this world.

Yotsuya Miko sent out her Spiritual Sense. If there were gods, this act would surely have angered them. But she waited a long time and saw no sign of divine anger. She couldn't sense the presence of any Ghosts in the shrine either. In the end, she could only conclude that there were no gods here.

Well, if there were gods, would they really tolerate the world being ravaged by Ghosts?

Miko shook her head, thinking she might have been making assumptions, and followed Hana up the steps.

The situation was different from what it had been in the tunnel. Hana, whom Miko had been dragging along before, was now gripping her hand excitedly and urging her to hurry into the shrine.

The moment Yotsuya Miko stepped through the Torii Gate, a strange feeling suddenly welled up inside her. It vanished almost as soon as it appeared, leaving her momentarily dazed.

Was that... a warning?

Cultivators always took their instincts seriously, since those reactions were usually right and could mean the difference between life and death. Even though the strange feeling had come and gone in an instant, Yotsuya Miko still realized one thing: the shrine before her probably wasn't as simple as it looked.

If even her Spiritual Sense couldn't detect anything, then that could only mean one other thing.

She glanced again at the Shimenawa hanging on the Torii Gate and noticed the marks carved into it. After years of weathering, the Shimenawa had become worn and tattered, and some sections were nearly broken.

After entering the Torii Gate, she saw cracks on the Divine Messenger statues on either side. Their faces had been destroyed, making her even more wary of the shrine.

There was something strange about this place.

It wasn't just the Divine Messengers. Just as Miko had thought, this was a small shrine with only a main hall. But above the main hall, which was still more or less intact, hung a massive Shimenawa. On either side stood a thick tree, each with a Shimenawa wrapped around its trunk. It looked as if they were—sealing something.

"Wow, what a strange shrine!"

Hana reacted completely differently. Looking at the two tall trees beside the shrine, she felt their majestic presence. Yuria, who had come along with them, felt the same way. She gazed at the little-known shrine hidden in the mountains, her eyes shining.

"I've never seen a shrine like this before..."

If shrines like this were common, I probably wouldn't have to worry.

Miko looked at the main hall and silently took a few iron pellets from her backpack, resting them in her palm. If the shrine showed any sign of something being wrong, she was ready to activate the Talisman Patterns in the pellets and attack it.

"Miko, Yuria-chan, let's take a picture together!"

Hana stood excitedly in front of the main hall, pointed her camera at herself and the shrine behind her, then waved to the other two, who were looking around.

"This picture is going to turn out great."

"Eh?"

Yuria had just started to react when Hana put an arm around her and pulled her in front of the camera.

Of course. This person really was her natural enemy.

She struggled out of Hana's embrace, looking reluctant, but her body was obediently standing beside Hana as she struck a pose. After spending several days with Hana, she knew what kind of person she was. Refusing Hana's request would be a real hassle. It wasn't as if she wanted to take a picture with someone else.

"Okay."

Miko walked over to Hana and stood beside her. Though she still had plenty of concerns about the shrine, she didn't want them to spoil things for her friend. After all, Hana had gone to the trouble of coming all this way.

In any case, they could leave as soon as the picture was taken.

Standing in front of the camera, Yotsuya Miko smiled. As she listened to the camera's click, she thought about how to persuade Hana to leave.

But before she could think it through, a large section of the Shimenawa above the main hall suddenly broke off and fell, landing with a dull thud. The Shimenawa might not have been replaced in a long time, and had finally rotted through.

The dull thud startled Yuria and Hana, who were taking the picture. They looked behind them and realized the Shimenawa had simply snapped.

"That scared me! It was just that..."

"Hana, are you done taking the picture?"

Miko asked abruptly. The broken Shimenawa gave her a reason to persuade the other two to leave.

"It looks like no one has been here in a long time. Maybe the other Shimenawa will break like this one soon. We should leave."

"Eh? Let me see..."

Yurikawa Hana looked at her camera, then at the Shimenawa on the ground. She couldn't help feeling lucky to have escaped a close call. That section had been hanging right behind them, only a short distance away. In the photo, the Shimenawa still looked perfectly secure. No one could have expected it to suddenly fall to the ground.

"It really is a little dangerous... But I've already taken the picture. It's a shame about this shrine, though... It looks like no one's taken care of it in a long time."

"Perhaps."

Miko didn't disagree. She looked at the Shimenawa on the ground and swept the area with her Spiritual Sense again, but unfortunately, still found nothing.

Though her instincts told her there might be something remarkable here, she still hadn't noticed anything unusual. This place was... clean. There wasn't a trace of anything strange, whether Ghost or human. It was as if her Spiritual Sense lost its power here.

As they headed back the way they had come, Miko seemed to understand the meaning of the Torii Gate the moment she stepped out through it.

Perhaps this really was a boundary between humans and other things. They had just been lucky enough not to truly step inside.

The three of them left the tunnel and gradually moved farther from the shrine. As a result, they never learned what had happened inside. The Shimenawa hanging from the trees, the main hall, and the Torii Gate all fell to the ground, making dull thuds.

The Shimenawa marked a sacred boundary.

The Beginning of a Knot in Her Heart

After visiting the shrine, Miko was unusually quiet for a while. She diligently practiced the techniques and spells she knew, making constant adjustments. Though she continued hunting Ghosts, she stopped desperately seeking them out and focused on the streets, where they were easier to find. Little by little, she had still gathered quite a lot. She had also condensed new Profound Nether Qi from several particularly powerful Ghosts.

The materials she had were so limited that the Talisman Patterns and artifacts she made were still very poor in quality. But after making adjustments, she had ensured their power. If she encountered the Kimono Ghost again, she might not even need to act herself. The defensive Talisman Doll on Yurikawa Hana alone might be enough to destroy the Kimono Ghost completely.

Even so, a sense of urgency was still pressing in on her.