The story begins with an eight-foot-tall lady surrounded by ghost story ladies.

"Let Ms. Ogata be free from the fear you've instilled in her."

Natsume Fanyu's voice was calm and unhurried, without any reproach or command in his tone.

But there was a clear expectation in his gaze as he looked at Jianzhi.

"Do you know what to do?"

Jianzhi fell silent.

She turned her head and looked at Mayuko Ogata, who was still frozen in the morning light.

For the first time, an expression that could be described as "guilt" appeared on that exquisitely beautiful face.

"I see."

The words fell.

The jade-white body transformed into a pale golden streak and disappeared into Mayuko Ogata's eyes.

The room fell silent again.

Natsume Fanyu stood by the bed, his expression still calm.

The eight-foot-tall lady stood beside him, the collar of her white shirt still open, the deep cleavage below her collarbone rising and falling gently with her steady breathing.

Her gaze fell on Mayuko Ogata's eyes, where a thoughtful expression was reflected in her clear, cool pupils.

"Can she do it well?"

"able."

He had great confidence in this mysterious woman.

......

Mayuko Ogata's consciousness awakens in a world without boundaries.

She looked up.

She saw a woman she had never seen before standing in front of her.

The woman was about the same height as her, slender, and had an unreal, jade-white skin, like porcelain fired with moonlight.

Pale golden pupils were set in that exquisitely beautiful face, like two pieces of amber forgotten in the corner of a display case.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Maori," the woman said.

Then she lowered her head, like a litigant finally ready to confess everything in court, and said in a tone so sincere it was almost clumsy:

"sorry."

Mayuko Ogata was stunned.

"I did all the things that scared you over the past month."

The sound of the woven fabric was not as smooth as before.

"The coldness is because I got too close. I wanted to get closer to you, to touch you, but I carried the yin energy from the cracks in my body, so whenever I got close to you, you felt cold. I'm sorry."

"That gaze... it was me looking at you. I've been watching you for a month. I didn't dare let you see me, yet I couldn't bear to take my eyes off you. I'm sorry."

"And the call of that name." Maori's voice lowered slightly.

"It's because I finally know your name."

Maori raised her head.

For the first time, those pale golden eyes met Ogata Mayuko's gaze without any concealment.

There was no explanation, no grievance, only a pure apology.

"I have never called anyone by name." Maori's voice trembled.

"But after I learned your name, I really wanted to call out to you and hear what it would feel like to say that name out of my mouth."

"I want to know what kind of connection exists between calling someone's name and the person being called."

"I want to know if you can...see me if I call out your name."

Mayuko Ogata looked at her and fell silent.

Those fears that kept her awake for a month, those chilling shadows that made her cover her room with tape.

Those moments that made her afraid to turn her head or close her eyes in the middle of the night, and that she played back the recordings on her phone over and over again.

All the fear, all the chill, all those things she once thought were malicious...

At this moment, everything was redefined.

Mayuko Ogata took a deep breath.

"So, you are that evil spirit?"

"Yes." Maori nodded.

"But why did you do this? And why did you choose me?"

Mayuko Ogata continued to ask.

After a long silence, Maori finally found a way to express herself.

"I've read everything about you this past month."

"You are a person who has turned your name into a weapon, never backing down, never compromising, and never bowing your head in front of anyone."

"I've never seen anyone like this before."

"So I think, if I could truly reach someone, I hope it would be you."

Mayuko Ogata was stunned.

She looked at Jianzhi's face, at that exquisitely beautiful face that seemed unreal, and saw in it a sincerity more genuine than many others.

What she never expected was that the very thing she had identified as the "source of terror" over the past month...

Standing before her at this very moment, he told her in such a frank, almost clumsy way:

I did all this because I admire you.

"And now?"

Mayuko Ogata took a deep breath.

"What do you want to do now?"

Jianzhi remained silent for a moment.

"Lord Fanyu is taking me away."

"Fanyu?"

The name touched upon Mayuko Ogata's memories.

Matsushita Ayano's voice on the phone, trembling with tears yet trying to remain calm, suddenly echoed in her mind again.

"Mayuko, I know an exorcist, a really powerful one. If you're really scared, I can help you find him to take a look."

Natsume Fanyu.

The "very powerful" exorcist that Ayano mentioned.

The man that Ayano could speak of with such pride and evasiveness.

"He's here? He's at my house now?"

Maori nodded slightly.

"you..."

Mayuko Ogata looked at Maori again and found that she was looking at her.

In those pale golden eyes, besides apology and sincerity, there was another emotion she had just recognized.

It's because I'm reluctant to part with it.

It's that kind of reluctance to leave, even though you know you should go, but you still want to stay for just one more second.

"Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

Mayuko Ogata's voice was very soft.

Jianzhi looked at her, her lips moved slightly, then she pursed them tightly again.

"I..."

Jianzhi's voice was very soft, as if she were asking a newly acquainted friend for a trivial gift.

"Lord Fanyu gave me a name, Jianzhi."

"I...want to hear you call my name, I want to hear those two words from your lips."

Mayuko Ogata could hear the sincerity and longing in her words.

At that moment, she suddenly felt something inside her loosen up.

So much so that they couldn't refuse this trivial request.

So she called out softly, saying:

"Interweaving".

Two words.

For a fleeting moment, Jianzhi's pale golden pupils brightened.

That face, so exquisitely beautiful it seemed unreal, suddenly became incredibly real at that moment.

It was so real that Ogata Mayuko could almost feel something warm and soft slowly awakening beneath the cool, porcelain-like sheen on her face.

"Thank you," said Maori.

"I will always remember this day, remember the sound of you calling my name, and remember what you look like."

The words fell.

The space of consciousness began to fade.

The gray-blue border is melting, retreating inch by inch from the edge.

Instead, there is the warm, bright, and real morning light.

Mayuko Ogata felt her body returning to reality.

Just before her consciousness fully returned, she heard the last words that Maori spoke.

Will you remember me?