Something crashed to the floor on the other end of the line. Clearly startled by Jiu Ming's sudden words, Shibata Tsugumi's voice did not come through again until a brief bout of flustered noise had settled down.
"What did you say?" Her tone brimmed with confusion. She clearly thought Jiu Ming was playing some malicious joke—hadn't they agreed before that he would not make nuisance calls?
"I said! Beautiful lady, would you be interested in adopting a daughter? An adorable, soft little girl!"
"...Is this what you wanted to ask me about before?" Even Shibata Tsugumi's calm expression thawed, taking on a trace of complicated emotion. Why had he suddenly brought up something like this—asking her to adopt a daughter?
She glanced around her home. There was only one free-breathing person here: herself. Having one more person around did not seem so bad.
But who was the little girl he mentioned? Could she be his illegitimate daughter!?
"Hello? Hello?"
"...Sorry, I got lost in thought." Hearing the questioning voice over the phone, Shibata Tsugumi snapped back and hurriedly said, "Let me think about this. How about we arrange somewhere to meet and talk tomorrow?"
"Mm, all right. I'll bring her over then," Jiu Ming agreed.
"..." Shibata Tsugumi fell silent again for a moment. What was with that tone, as if he had already decided she would agree?
"It actually succeeded. This is simply... simply a challenge to the boundary between life and death." Pulling her gaze away from Ai Enma, who sat beside little Youji, Bone Woman spoke in disbelief. If word of tonight's events got out, there was no telling how chaotic this world might become... though it was more likely to be dismissed as a joke and ignored.
Yet the population of this world was so vast