The way things had unfolded left me stunned. I still couldn't see any yin energy, nor had I seen a ghost, but Honda's vital signs were gone. I was certain he was dead. Dead, yet eerily submerged in the water, not moving at all.
I waited for quite a while before approaching Honda.
My hand touched Honda's body, and I could still remember how violently he had struggled just moments ago. His pain, fear, and desperate will to survive had flooded into my consciousness, so intensely. But now, all those thoughts and feelings had vanished. Honda hadn't even become a ghost. When he died, all he'd felt was pain and helplessness.
Suddenly, I sensed a change in the atmosphere underwater.
The yin energy I'd been searching for appeared just then.
It materialized out of thin air and spread through the water. I couldn't see the shape of a ghost, but I felt the water temperature plummet before rising again and returning to normal.
I drifted up out of the water. The cat had already run off and disappeared. The area around me was deserted, and the cold air made me want to shiver.
I looked up at the black sky.
Heavy clouds hung over the mountain, creating an oppressive feeling, as if a storm were about to break.
Before long, I felt something falling from the sky.
Snow.
Or perhaps yin energy.
The wind howled, like a ghost's weeping and wailing.
Gray snowflakes drifted down in a fine flurry onto the hot spring. They fell only onto the hot spring. As soon as they touched the water, they melted and vanished without a trace.
The snow drifted down for a while, then turned into a cold wind that swept into the inn. The snow stopped.
It seemed as though the