A Salvation (Part Two) / Before the Calligraphy Contest ...

"Is that so? I have no problem with it. Oh, right—let's invite Yuria too."

Hana agreed readily, then turned her puzzled gaze toward Miko.

"But Miko, I don't think I've ever seen you practice calligraphy. Are you really all right?"

"Probably."

"Probably?"

Hana's gaze filled with pity.

"Ah, now that I think about it, I do have something going on this weekend..."

"Do you have absolutely no faith in me?"

Miko complained, then waved her hand, "disappointed" in her fair-weather best friend.

"I'll go find Yuria, then."

"All right, all right, I'll come with you. But don't blame me if you embarrass yourself."

"That's more like it."

After they settled on a day to meet that weekend, it was finally almost time to leave school. Miko also invited Yuria, who knew nothing about Miko's calligraphy skills and agreed without hesitation.

After that, Miko turned her gaze toward Tono Zen, who remained calm and expressionless. She watched him coolly evade the reporters blocking the way before leaving the school gates, then silently followed behind him.

For some reason, she suddenly did not want to speak to Tono Zen directly. She simply tailed him along the streets until he entered a dim alley. Then she heard a cat meow.

Miko walked closer and saw what was happening. Tono Zen was holding a kitten in his arms and stroking its fur, a faint smile on his face. The cat lay docilely against him.

"Hm? Yotsuya, are you still worried?"

Zen naturally noticed her. Since Miko had not tried to hide herself, she stood right in front of him, surprise still lingering on her face.

"No. I just feel like you've changed a lot today, Mr. Tono."

"Do I seem that different?"

At her astonishment, Zen's smile faded. He simply looked at her and spoke with complete sincerity.

"Actually, I should thank you, Yotsuya Miko. Because of what you did, I finally understand."

As he spoke, his thoughts returned to the previous afternoon. Not long after Miko had left, that small, inconspicuous pellet appeared before him once again. Along with it, Miko's words echoed in his mind.

"Mr. Tono, that silver pellet has driven away the suffering surrounding you. The burden you carried on your shoulders—that was the gods' answer to your salvation!"

Chapter 65: A Salvation (Part Two)

Tono Zen was not someone who believed in gods. His life had always been terrible, beginning with his parents' divorce. No—it probably could not be called a divorce. He had simply been abandoned. His mother had collapsed under the blow and made him her emotional support, controlling his entire life in an extremely unhealthy way.

That kind of family had created him—Tono Zen, a man with a thoroughly awful personality.

Tono Zen had once thought that one day, on some peaceful night, he would calmly end his life without the slightest regret. Fortunately, that scene had never come to pass. The salvation he had never expected had been brought to him by a girl in her own way.

"Perhaps it really is a gift from some god. But you were the one who made me understand that gift, Yotsuya Miko."

Zen looked at the girl before him and took the silver pellet from his pocket.

The Talisman Iron Pellet shimmered faintly, having lost all its spiritual energy. Yet the mortal who knew nothing of that had entrusted his hopes to it, giving the creation a new meaning.

"Although Cong has already told you about me, would you listen once more? It's a new story."

"...I understand, Mr. Tono."

Yotsuya Miko looked at the man before her. His face had indeed changed long ago—not in its outward appearance, but in something deeper, hidden beneath it. In the past, all she had seen was dead silence. Now, life had appeared within that silence.

"Please, tell me."

And so, the story began.

It was the childhood of a boy named Tono Zen. His father and mother had not yet begun quarreling. They loved each other and jointly cherished their young son.

Tono Zen was very clever. He learned many things from a young age and always achieved excellent grades at school. Once, he promised his parents that if he got a perfect score, he could attend his friend's birthday party. He failed the exam. Yet his parents did not blame him. They comforted him, took him and the gift he had bought with his allowance to his friend's house, offered their birthday wishes, and gave him a happy memory.

Tono Zen was a gentle child. Once, he found a stray kitten by the roadside and secretly brought it home to raise. Not long afterward, his parents discovered it. His kind-hearted parents took the cat to a veterinarian and formally adopted it, making the kitten a member of the family. Tono Zen gave it a lovely name: Mocha.

Mocha became a member of their family and accompanied Tono Zen throughout his childhood, like one of his friends. Later, thanks to his excellent grades, he entered a prestigious university. After graduating, he became a teacher beloved by his students, while his friend became a veterinarian. The two remained close and kept in touch. Their parents were also happy to see their children communicating and proud of their respective careers.

Mocha gradually grew old, but her offspring continued to accompany the Tono family. Tono Zen also met a girl he loved, entered marriage, and soon had a child of his own. His married life was as harmonious and beautiful as that of their parents. Though they inevitably encountered setbacks, their optimistic attitude carried them through life together. Like their parents before them, they watched their children grow and felt proud of their careers—until they finally grew old, just like Mocha.

"This was a good dream."

Tono Zen spoke very calmly, without tears or anything else. If it had been tears, his pillow would have been soaked long ago. If it had been laughter, his throat would have gone hoarse from laughing, perhaps to the point where he could not speak. He quietly savored that unreal dream. Nothing had changed after it ended. Yet he finally felt that his shoulders had grown much lighter, and he was finally willing to say some things he had been unable to voice.

"Thank you. And thank that god, too."

He held the cat in his arms and gently stroked its fur. A faint smile appeared on his face once more.

"I feel much better."

Yotsuya Miko felt as if her feet had sunk into mud, her throat had been blocked by a blade, and her hands had become heavy with lead. That silver pellet had given Tono Zen nothing. Nothing at all. The life he had imagined—the life completely opposite to reality—had never come true. Tono Zen had merely let go of everything himself.

She wanted to explain something, but what came out was only this:

"Will you keep a cat from now on, Mr. Tono?"

Zen answered her calmly.

"Yes. I suddenly feel like raising a cat. I liked the one from yesterday, so I'll probably adopt it."

"What will you name it?"

"Mocha."

After those words, the two finally fell into an awkward silence.

Yotsuya Miko looked at Tono Zen before her. In the end, she could say nothing and simply lowered her head before choosing to leave.

She patted her cheeks, feeling strangely abnormal. She had worked so hard to help someone regain their confidence and hope in life, so why did she feel conflicted and depressed now that it had actually happened?

"No, no. I should be happy, shouldn't I?"

She tried to convince herself and forced a trace of a smile onto her face. It was stiff and unfamiliar, nothing like a real smile.

On the way home, she ultimately surrendered to her feelings and understood what she was thinking: she was probably jealous. Jealous that Tono Zen had escaped his shadow so quickly, with nothing more than a deceptive silver pellet and a few words from her.

"What...?"

She gripped her shoulder bag tightly, ashamed of such an ugly thought.

"I should be happy for my teacher...but I can't do it."

The setting sunlight scattered across the ground, casting its shadows solely behind Miko. Beneath the afterglow, Tono Zen walked toward the street with the stray cat.

Tono Zen thought of many things. He could first move out of the apartment that prohibited cats, then celebrate his housewarming with his friend and express his gratitude for all the years of care. After that, he could raise many cats and build better relationships with his students.

He touched the silver pellet in his arms, filled with hope for the future before him.

This was what Yotsuya Miko wished for, too, wasn't it? The thought came to him for no reason.

Chapter 66: Before the Calligraphy Contest

The moon's pure light shone through the window, bathing the room in a cold, pale glow.

Illuminated by that icy white light was a girl in a beige coat, kneeling before a desk. She held her breath and focused on the xuan paper before her. Her raised brush descended lightly, and within a few breaths, she had written several Chinese characters.

The characters were identical in form to those on the phone beside her—so identical that they were pleasing to the eye. Yet Yotsuya Miko only frowned and silently tossed the finished work into the pile of discarded paper, where it joined the stack that had already grown half a centimeter high.

Looking at the pile, Yotsuya Miko realized that practicing calligraphy was just as time-consuming as drawing talismanic patterns. Although her extraordinary memory and physical coordination allowed her to imitate the works and styles of calligraphy masters to the greatest extent possible, deviations inexplicably appeared whenever she actually wrote the copied characters on white paper. In her view, her writing was completely inferior to the originals—far inferior.

Was it the speed of her strokes, the path of the brush tip...or some other factor? Miko could not figure it out at all. She simply continued writing, again and again, until she finally became irritated. When she put down the brush, she felt almost liberated. She rose and looked out the window.

The nighttime air carried the wind. A cool breeze blew through the window and across Miko's face, carrying her thoughts aimlessly away as she gradually recalled what had happened.

That sincere thanks, that person who seemed to have been reborn, and the intense discomfort in her own heart. Even after some time had passed, she still could not forget the scene. She remained confused and at a loss.

Tono Zen had changed. Yet after experiencing all those events, Yotsuya Miko seemed not to have changed at all. She was still afraid of the Ghosts, though the weaker ones could not make her show it. She still feared death, though she had never truly come close to it. She remained uneasy—the box of Talisman Iron Pellets had been bought with countless days and nights of dread.

Part of her felt that such a mindset was only natural, while another part began to feel ashamed and inferior. It was natural because she had been an ordinary person for the first sixteen years of her life. She felt ashamed and inferior because she had now become a cultivator.

The cultivators described in the cultivation techniques should have transcended the mundane world, feared neither life nor death, and devoted themselves solely to pursuing the Great Dao. She, however, had become an anomaly—a coward who possessed power but dared not move forward. She felt intensely ashamed and inferior toward such a self.

If only I couldn't see them.

Miko thought that way. Then she would not have so many troubles and worries. She could live peacefully as an ordinary person, going to school and returning home like every other high school student, chatting with her friends about things they found interesting. She would not fear danger because of powerful Ghosts, and there would be no rumors like "Guardian of Silver Pellets." Wouldn't everything in such a world be wonderful?

She persuaded herself like that, sinking into a false delusion. Then the long, spectral shadows outside the window let out a cacophony of cries, turning into mockery of her fantasy and driving her back to reality.

Miko checked the time on her phone, closed the window, and drew the curtains. She changed into her pajamas beside the bed and rustled beneath the covers, but when she closed her eyes, she was not sleepy at all. She did not know when she finally fell asleep. When she woke again, a little sunlight had seeped through the window, announcing that the day would be fine.

Had she slept for several hours—or perhaps only several dozen minutes?

Miko was completely unaffected. She dressed as usual, washed up, and ate breakfast.

"Big Sis, are you getting nervous?"

Yotsuya Kyosuke remained as perceptive as ever that morning. Seeing the distracted expression on Miko's face, he quickly connected her mood to today's calligraphy contest.

"Hmm, maybe?"

Miko answered uncertainly while eating breakfast. Her condition was not merely poor today. Without her noticing, Yotsuya Kyosuke and Yotsuya Touko exchanged a glance, equally puzzled by Miko's state.

For the past several months, Yotsuya Miko had been in an unusually terrible state every morning. Yet even though they wanted to ask her about it, neither could do so for their own reasons. Kyosuke would most likely be brushed off by Miko, while their mother Touko worried that her child, having reached adolescence, no longer wished to communicate with her parents—or was deliberately avoiding them while handling her own affairs.

Thus, no matter how many questions they had, they could only keep them buried in their hearts and investigate what had happened to Miko by other means.

Touko glanced at Kyosuke, and he quickly understood what his mother meant. He casually opened another topic.

"Are you going to the contest alone, Big Sis?"

"I arranged to go with some friends. They're happy to watch the contest, too."

"I see...then I'll go as well. I don't think you'll win anything, but I can at least watch."

"You're going too?"

Miko looked at Kyosuke in surprise.

"I thought you had no interest in going."

"Even so, it's good to watch. Miko, take Kyosuke out with you. I'd be a little worried leaving him home alone."

Touko spoke at the right moment, settling the matter. She moved beside Kyosuke and quietly patted him on the back. No matter how inattentive she was, such an obvious action could not escape Miko's Spiritual Sense. She paused slightly, more or less understanding what the mother and son were thinking, and sighed.

"All right. Kyosuke, just stick with my friends when we get there."

"Then it's settled. By the way, is it that big sister with orange hair? The one who eats a lot?"

"Yeah, that's Hana. There's another big sister, too, but I'll introduce you later."

Although Miko did not intend to tell her family about the Ghosts, she knew that if she continued like this, Kyosuke and her mother would worry. She was troubled by the matter, but it was genuinely difficult to hide her emotions. She was not the sort of person who could encounter something terrible and still act cheerful.

All she could do was try her best not to make them worry. At least if Kyosuke returned and told their mother about her situation at school, Touko should feel somewhat reassured.

Chapter 67: Kyosuke Meets Yuria

The contest venue was not very far from home. It was a famous local hall originally used as an indoor sports arena, but the organizers had simply converted it into a venue for the calligraphy contest. The place Miko, Yurikawa Hana, and Yuria had agreed to meet was in front of the hall.

With her shoulder bag hanging from her shoulder, Miko glanced at the message Hana had sent and waited quietly in front of the hall. Beside her stood Yotsuya Kyosuke, with nothing to do. The sharp-eyed, fierce-looking brat was much more active than his sister. He kept surveying the surroundings, trying to see what the other friend his sister had mentioned was like.

To be honest, he felt that his sister was hiding quite a few things from the family. If he directly asked that foolish orange-haired big sister, he probably would not get anything useful out of her. It would be better to focus on the other friend he had never met.

"Miko!"

After waiting for a while, the two finally spotted Hana waving at them through the crowd, with Yuria beside her, her presence rather inconspicuous.

"Hana, and—Yuria."

Miko called their names in turn, then introduced Yuria to Kyosuke.

Kyosuke naturally looked toward the petite girl beside Hana and instinctively compared their heights. She was probably only a little taller than him. If he had not known she was his sister's friend, he might have mistaken her for a grade-schooler his age.

"Sorry we're a little late. Is Kyosuke watching the contest today, too?"

Hana jogged over to the siblings and apologized lightly, directing the topic toward Kyosuke. She had seen him several times, but Miko and Kyosuke rarely appeared together. When Miko accepted Hana's invitations, she usually did not bring Kyosuke along, and when Miko invited Hana, Kyosuke did not come and bother them. So seeing the siblings go out together today—especially to meet her and Yuria—naturally surprised Hana.

"Yeah. Mom told me to take Kyosuke out to watch."

Miko spoke as she pushed Kyosuke forward. Understanding what she meant, Kyosuke reluctantly called out the appropriate greeting.

"Hello, Big Sis Hana, and...Big Sis Yuria."

He was not particularly willing to call a girl who was barely taller than him "Big Sis." However, Yuria looked somewhat startled upon hearing his respectful address, then gave him a faint smile.