"Mash, can you observe this phenomenon from your side?"
After confirming that even Hoshiguma Yuna and her son could not make out what kind of animal the statue was supposed to depict, Fujimaru Ritsuka grew serious.
She first went to ask Sakumura and Hijikata again. Sakumura and Hijikata did say it aloud, but just as Fujimaru Ritsuka could not see the statue's form, she could not hear its name either.
After weighing her options, she raised the question into the communicator.
"No. We can't observe it."
Lawrence's tone was somewhat grave as well.
"Once you entered this shrine, Chaldea's observation system encountered an extremely forceful obstruction. If I had to compare it to something, it would be like what I experienced during Spiritron Transfer. The Singularity itself is likely rejecting this kind of observation."
"Ritsuka, don't keep trying to learn about that statue. If anything goes wrong, you might be expelled directly from this Singularity!"
Lawrence issued a warning.
".All right, I understand."
Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded.
Sakumura and Hijikata had already met the two shrine maidens—those Chacha and Sakamoto Ryoma had asked them to greet.
They were Himiko and Iyo.
"Lord Sakumura Anno, Lord Hijikata Toshizo."
Himiko stood at the front while Iyo stood behind her. The two shrine maidens slightly bowed to their visitors.
Himiko appeared to have been doing some routine cleaning around the shrine.
"And these people are...?"
The look she gave Fujimaru Ritsuka and Hoshiguma Yuna and her son was somewhat strange.
"These three are visitors to the village. They came with us to investigate the anomaly."
Sakumura gave a simple introduction and slightly bowed to Himiko as well.
"Lady Himiko, Miss Chacha and Ryoma asked me to pass along their greetings."
"We came this time to go up the mountain. I heard that the village