"Why is the secret passage beneath the shrine so long? I've been walking forever, and there's still no end."
On the steep stone stairs that seemed to have been carved straight out of the bedrock, Sakaki Namiru stopped and shone her phone's flashlight deeper into the secret passage.
The bottomless passage swallowed all light and kept descending endlessly, as though it led to the Underworld.
"These creepy murals are pretty unnerving, too."
Sakaki Namiru could not help feeling frightened, and began to think of turning back.
But her brother-in-law had been out of contact for two hours since entering the shrine.
Although Sakaki Namiru disliked that narrow-eyed assistant, she had to admit he had a point.
Her brother-in-law might have run into danger.
Fortunately, she could see the footprints he had left along the way, with no sign of blood or traces of combat.
It was just that walking alone through this deep, dark passage was truly hair-raising.
But having come this far, she could not give up halfway.
Sakaki Namiru bolstered her courage, raised her phone, and cautiously ventured deeper into the darkness.
Less than two minutes after Sakaki Namiru disappeared from sight, another figure appeared there, moving furtively.
"Miss Sakaki runs the foundation so well that she at least qualifies as a shrewd woman. But women in love usually aren't too bright."
Assistant Ichimaru, harboring his own agenda, glanced down and snickered.
In fact, he was the one who had encouraged Sakaki Namiru to sneak out of the four-pillared house to find Uchiha Senmon.
From the moment Uchiha Senmon became director of the Supernatural Konoha Military Police Force, his assistant had been assigned by the higher-ups as a set of eyes planted at his side.
Although Ichimaru served tirelessly as Uchiha Senmon's assistant, attending to his every need,