The inn was now surrounded by a fence. Fresh talismans were pasted all over it.
The cat stopped in front of the fence and meowed a few times, its anxiety turning to anger.
Its corpse was gone. Someone had taken it inside the inn.
It ran around the inn a few times, then suddenly sensed its corpse being moved.
Agonizing pain swept through its entire body and reached my consciousness. It was as if its body had been placed over a fire, scorched by the flames until it burned to ash, then restored—only to suffer the same torment all over again.
The cat let out a piercing scream that echoed through the mountains.
I heard Buddhist chants drifting out from the inn. But unlike the chanting I'd heard before, they brought no peace. Instead, they wormed into my mind like demonic music, filling me with unbearable pain.
This wasn't a ritual to send a soul on its way.
My soul passed through the fence, but I couldn't find Mrs. Shimada or the monk. They were somewhere else in the inn.
By the time it was all over, I had no idea how much time had passed.
The cat looked haggard, its head drooping, its energy flagging. It lay on the ground, feeling its life ebb away. But this was a different kind of passing. Its soul was withering.
The cat struggled to its feet and slowly walked into the woods.
It went around the deserted shrine and made its way to the pond.
There was still a yin presence in the pond.
Night had fallen, and a full moon hung overhead.
Its reflection lay whole in the pond.
The cat stood on a rock, staring at the water.
Before long, something rose from the bottom.
I froze for a moment.