Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

"Should I pretend I can't hold on to save some energy?" Yuri quickly materialized and began pushing the trembling ordinary person toward the windowsill. "I'll catch you. Actually, I already have you. No need to tremble like that!"

“You make it sound so simple, but this is jumping off a building—” Mr. Zhongdao hesitated.

Yuri almost wanted to push him out directly. The energy on the protective barrier was almost exhausted, and time was running out—although he could activate it again at any time, why waste spiritual essence like this?

So he actually gave it a little push—Mr. Nakamichi screamed and then hovered in mid-air—Yuri used his strength to squeeze out of the window and stand on the wall.

Actually, to be on the safe side, he should have turned his hands into tentacles and wrapped them around the other person a few times, but if he had, the screams would probably have been heard a mile away. In any case, Mr. Nakamichi looked like he was in a lot of pain. His entire weight was on Yuri's shoulder, and he dared not move for fear of causing even more pain.

Although I really wanted to send him to the ground immediately, the sin-eaters behind him hadn't come out yet.

Yuri held on for a few more seconds until the spirit suddenly smashed through the protective barrier and lifted Yuga from the mountain to move outwards, only then did he begin to descend.

The repeaters chasing after them were left to the spirit binder to deal with, since their attacks seemed to be completely ineffective against the spirit binder and could be ignored. Moreover, the spirit binder was so large that it could block all the pursuers. Yuri passed by the second-floor window, forcefully stomped another repeater that was trying to squeeze out back, and then continued downwards.

On the first floor, the moment Mr. Nakamichi landed, two more tape recorders emerged from the window, attempting to grab Yuri.

Yuri pushed them back down, one in each hand, but two more appeared behind them—four in total.

It seems that there is more left on the first floor than on the second floor.

"What are you waiting for? Run!" While shaking off the tape recorder attached to him, he shooed away Mr. Nakamichi, who was cautiously watching them. "I didn't bring you down here to stand here like an idiot. Hurry up and run towards the exit!"

These repeating ghosts that were bothering Yuri weren't particularly powerful, but they were still a bit of a nuisance if they didn't try to kill him. Fortunately, almost at the same time that Nakamichi started to accelerate, the spirit above landed, casually sweeping away the few ghosts that were trying to continue bothering Yuri. When they missed their chance because of their hesitation, the spirit didn't pursue them, but continued to carry Yamanaka Yuka towards the exit.

Yuri immediately followed, but after running a few steps, he suddenly felt a sense of being observed coming from the corridor.

He suddenly turned his attention to the interior of the corridor, where a strange spirit appeared in his field of vision.

Among a group of motionless repeaters (and a crazy repeater chasing Yuri and his group down the corridor), a woman who seemed special was watching them.

Although she was also a spirit, her presence far surpassed that of the lower-level ghosts around her, and she even appeared quite dazzling.

Perhaps noticing Yuri's gaze, the woman turned slowly but quickly—Yuri felt he saw every moment of her turning, but less than a second had passed—before disappearing into the darkness.

Yuri memorized everything he could, then resumed running alongside the visibly slowing spirit.

159. A promising start but a disappointing finish?

Yuri and his group quickly returned to the vicinity of the hospital gate.

The repeaters quickly stopped their pursuit—either they couldn't get more than two meters away from the hospital building, or their field of vision was only about five meters; in any case, by the time they were halfway there, the repeaters were no longer chasing them.

Even so, they still ran all the way to the building entrance before stopping.

Here, the view is expansive, and the actions of ghosts and other sin-eaters can be clearly seen.

Of course, there's no sign of the other sin eaters right now. Yuri and his group escaped by jumping out of the window. You could say they started running almost as soon as the call ended, but they're still waiting to regroup and break through.

The windows in the hospital toilets are similar in design to those in the corridors, so they could jump out if they wanted and get there soon... It was a mistake not to ask them where they were hiding when I called them earlier, but Yuka Yamanaka didn't show any sign of worry.

That's true. So far, the ghosts we've encountered have all been quite weak—the fact that they can move is an anomaly, but they're even considered weak among level one ghosts.

As long as there are no ordinary people around, Yuri can go all out. Although it's impossible for him to win against hundreds of ghosts by himself, running in and out shouldn't be too difficult—if his opponents are just these lowest-level parrots.

Yuri had just seen the female-looking spirit, and he was certain he remembered everything he saw—the grayish-white clothes she wore when she was facing him, the lantern she revealed when she turned away, the other hand holding what looked like a book, her shoulder-length hair, and the hat she wore with the hospital logo…

But what about the face? Yuri couldn't remember the other person's face no matter how hard he tried. In his memory, the other person's face was covered by a hazy white light.

This is a very important characteristic, but Yuri didn't memorize it immediately. Instead, he accepted it as something very ordinary and only realized something was wrong when he recalled it.

Time was too short for Yuri to use his magical vision to observe, but he was certain that the other party was not simple... That goes without saying.

Amidst a group of simple, berserk repeaters, the appearance of an extraordinary spirit suggests either a mastermind or a crucial clue. Given their completely different styles, how could they possibly be unrelated to the events?

Although the specific relationship is still uncertain.

“I just spoke with the spirit-binding girl, and he said… these ghosts seem very much like the type that has experienced the underworld.” The sin-eating girl suddenly spoke up. “But he also said that there is no way to detect specific traces of the underworld from such weak ghosts—on another note, a large underworld gate should be easy to sense—that is to say, I think someone is continuously opening small underworld gates in the hospital and constantly drawing out ghosts, accumulating them little by little.”

That seems to make sense; if Yuri hadn't come to the hospital a few days ago, there wouldn't be any problem at all.

"Since no concrete traces of the underworld were detected, why is it described as a type that has experienced the underworld?" Let's start from the beginning. "If they had been to the underworld, what characteristics would they have?"

“It’s because of the hunger and madness they displayed,” Yuka Yamanaka gave an affirmative answer.

According to Yuka Yamanaka, the things in the underworld do not contain spiritual essence and cannot provide nutrition to the living who enter the underworld, but they can indeed provide ghosts with a temporary feeling of fullness.

If these things originate from a substrate containing spiritual essence that has fallen from the material world (Yuri automatically introduces things with human beliefs and visions), they are capable of bringing spiritual essence to ghosts.

However, if these things are purely native to the underworld, then after the temporary feeling of satiation, the ghosts will only become hungrier. Experienced and powerful ghosts will try to compete for those substances containing spiritual essence, while other ghosts may literally eat dirt.

Many ghosts are driven mad by this hunger, jumping into the River Styx and melting into it, or starting to swarm and eat anything in sight... Of course, there are also those who take the path of devouring other ghosts.

According to Yuka Bakure's explanation, these repeaters look as if they've been starving in the underworld for a long time.

“Ghosts who have never been to the underworld rarely experience the real feeling of hunger. They usually fall into the underworld after starving to death once without replenishing their spiritual essence—and only then do they begin to fear this fate. The ghosts I’ve seen are usually more worried about their meaning and value in life, their goals in life and such…” Yamanaka Yuka sighed. “While ghosts who have been to the underworld once will remember that feeling of hunger.”

In other words, most ghosts have never actually experienced hunger. Those who have truly experienced hunger were simply starved to the underworld. To escape, one needs to pass through the gates of the underworld—that's the logical line.

"Even if they are low-level ghosts who are unable to escape from their own fragmented memories?" The repeating ghosts would almost completely ignore the pain in their bodies.

“The mastermind behind this has a way to temporarily activate them, hasn’t he? We’ve seen it many times before.” Yuka Yamanaka’s tone was a mixture of disgust and admiration. “If only he would use this for good.”

"Stop daydreaming, look, they're coming out!" Mr. Zhongdao, who had been listening in, pointed towards the hospital lobby.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

After regrouping, Yuri quickly assessed the condition of the others.

Everything looks fine; aside from being a little frightened, there shouldn't be any other damage.

Four sin eaters, three spirit binders (Mr. Minagawa's spirit binder still hasn't shown up, only providing spirit armor), one Yuri, and eight capable fighters protecting three ordinary people is quite an easy task—however, continuing to advance while protecting three ordinary people might be a bit troublesome.

Therefore, the best option now is to send the three of them home immediately, while the rest go in to scout ahead. This suggestion cannot be made by Yuri, an outsider; they must come up with it themselves—they should have thought of it anyway.

While Yuri was secretly observing them, they also completed their mutual concern and simple information exchange, and began to discuss.

"First of all, I want to express my apologies. I hastily gathered everyone together to launch this operation, and we suffered losses because we were not prepared in advance. I am very sorry!" Minagawa Dojin bowed halfway. "I have some deductions, please listen to them."

The opening was good, Yuri thought. All he had to do was steer the conversation to them and get rid of them under the pretext of "not putting these people at new risk."

"Hey, we didn't expect that you wouldn't have to take the blame," Hirosaki Katsuya chimed in. "What kind of reasoning is it?"

"I've been thinking about this but haven't said it yet. I'm really embarrassed to tell you all," Yuri thought to himself.

“I believe this is undoubtedly a trap.” Minagawa Tojin took a deep breath. “And we are in danger.”

There was a soft murmur around him, but Yuri couldn't hear the details. It was probably mostly low murmurs of agreement.

Opponent Yuka Yamanaka appeared, saying, "This does look like a trap, but we are not in much danger. In fact, they underestimated our capabilities. The trap is too weak. We can move freely here using our strength."

“That’s true only for the ghosts that have been stirred up on the surface,” the organizer of the Sin Eaters said, holding up a finger. “But what about the rest?”

What about the other parts? What were those parts? Yuri's attention was also drawn to them.

"Doctors, nurses, security guards, patients—I know it's late at night, but there should still be people around. Has any of your teams encountered anyone awake?" Minagawa Dojin scanned the room. "I guess not?"

"We don't." "Neither do we."

After receiving the answer he expected, Minagawa Dojin continued, "If you're just saying they were fast asleep, we made quite a bit of noise when we retreated... And, I don't think everyone remembered to control their volume when they were on the phone, did they?"

Yeah yeah.

“Even so, no one was woken up. Doesn’t that seem strange?” Minagawa Dojin emphasized. “I once examined a patient—just to determine if they were being affected by the large number of ghosts lurking around them—”

Yuri only glanced at them and didn't think they showed any signs of pain or weakness. "I didn't expect you to examine them so thoroughly!"

"I didn't expect you to check so carefully—" Ms. Imatake, who was on the same team as Minagawa, exclaimed in the same way.

“Yes, although they did not become weaker, some kind of psychic energy did affect them, putting them into a sleep,” Minagawa Dojin continued, “or making them unconscious. In short, it prevented them from discovering us and interrupting our advance.”

“How thoughtful of them. Why would they do that? If they really wanted us to go further, why would they suddenly interrupt us?” Yuri interjected.

“I think they probably didn’t expect us to retreat so quickly. In their expectations, we would probably continue to advance despite the ghosts’ attack, and then be exhausted by our predetermined target before they would take care of us themselves.” This time, Mr. Minagawa’s words were less certain. “And then they miscalculated.”

...Who would expect their opponent to act exactly as they expect? But indeed, it makes sense if you think that way, Yuri waited for what was to come.

“Another key point proving this is a trap is that it’s obvious this kind of behavior can’t be done every night. It would be very exhausting and very strange, easily leading to all sorts of rumors,” Minagawa Dojin speculated. “If everyone in the hospital were to fall asleep every night, wouldn’t things easily go wrong?”

...If it's not every night, then it's "just tonight".

"That's right, it just so happens tonight, the very night we're preparing to launch our operation, that the other side set a trap—the mastermind knew we were coming, and knew in advance, not after we entered the door."

Yuri instantly felt a thorn in his side, as if several people were already looking at him.

"I'm not the mole!" He wanted to say, but before anyone pointed the finger at him, jumping out like that would be like giving himself away.

“We are very likely under surveillance, or some of us are very likely under surveillance—” Fortunately, Mr. Minagawa did not steer the conversation in that direction. “The reason they did this is probably because they saw us fighting ghosts everywhere, so they leaked the news about this place, lured us here, and are preparing to severely damage us.”

“They don’t know our specific abilities… No, you’re right, they might know.” Yuka Yamanaka wanted to argue, but gave up. “So, you think this is an important part of their plan, and that’s also a way they’re trying to lure us in?”

Minagawa-do fell silent.

Yuri glanced around; it was clear these people were splitting into several groups, whispering amongst themselves. No one paid any attention to Yuri's actions, but one of the spirits was observing him… no, two spirits were doing the same.

“I don’t think that’s the case. This should indeed be an important part of their plan—” Hirosaki Katsuya continued, “They may have just deliberately leaked the information instead of hiding it.”

Although Hirozaki's words seemed to be turning this meeting from a failure summary into a battle results report, what he said was quite reasonable. If the other side could grasp the actions of the Sin Eaters and effectively input information into them, it was indeed possible for them to be so arrogant.

"The question is, where did the information come from?" Yuri found a suspicious point. "According to this reasoning, the person who told you that there was a problem with the hospital may be related to the mastermind behind it all."

Yuri's words caused a stir, and the members of the Sin Eaters Society seemed inclined to accept the opinion—perhaps because it meant that the enemy was still outside and not particularly close to them.

“…I don’t want to think that way, but you’re right—but I really can’t think of any particular source that’s suspicious. I made this analysis based on several sources; it can’t all be controlled by a mastermind, can it?” The organizer of the society, Mr. Minagawa Dojin, forced a smile. “However, I will analyze it carefully when I get back; it’s an important clue.”

Yuri suddenly realized that the topic of conversation was not going in the direction he had expected.

"Go back?" Yuri Yamanaka asked.

“Yes, we’re being monitored right now, and the enemy situation is unclear. We can’t just go all out under these circumstances, can we?” Minagawa Dojin looked around. “I think we should all go home and rest first, and come back here after we’ve finished our investigation. What do you all think? For safety on the road, I think those who live nearby should go back in groups to avoid being attacked before they’ve gone too far.”

This guy is going to retreat with everyone.

160 Lightly equipped

It's clear that within the Sin Eaters' Society, there's a lack of consensus on this idea.

They may have their own opinions, but they don't want to voice them—so in these situations, the rhythm is dictated by the loudest voice.

This is normal; it's not that Mr. Minagawa has any ill intentions. If he weren't the one who usually speaks out, it probably wouldn't have come to the point where he's organizing the association's activities.

As for the others... putting aside everything else, didn't Yuri also refrain from speaking loudly for various reasons?

Thus, the scene became a contest between Yuka Yamanaka and Toru Minagawa. While there was no difference in numbers, Yuka was clearly far less experienced. The girl who ate sins quickly ran out of words and uttered, "Okay, let's leave it at that, but I still feel like we'll miss our chance."

“You make a good point, Yamanaka, but let’s play it safe this time…” Hirosaki Katsuya stepped in to smooth things over. “Well, if we’re going to divide up by distance… we’re going in different directions. We can walk together for a while at first, but soon we’ll have to split into pairs…”

Yuri noticed that Yuka Yamanaka was giving him a wink, but what was she trying to say?

“Well then, let me explain the assignments—I’ll be with Mr. Hirota, Mr. Anzai with Ms. Imaitake, Mr. Nakamichi with Ms. Yamanaka…” Hirosaki Katsuya looked at the remaining people, “Um… Mr. Minagawa, you’re with Yuri?”

“I’m fine with that. I’m pretty free to go anywhere.” Minagawa Dojin paused for a moment, then gave an approving response.

This allocation was clearly based on safety considerations, with one sin-eater leading one ordinary person—but in the end, they actually assigned a sin-eater to lead them? Just because you have one more sin-eater doesn't mean you can use them like this.

Before Yuri could respond, Yuka Yamanaka interrupted the conversation, "No, then let's switch—Mr. Minagawa, you and Mr. Nakamichi go together—I'll go with Yuri. I know where Yuri lives; he's not far from me."

"What do you know? How would you know where we live? We've never given each other our addresses. Even if you tried to find out by phone, it's only possible for me to find you, not the other way around." Yuri was a little confused, but remembering the look he'd exchanged earlier, he didn't immediately call out the Sin Eater girl's words.

“This…this doesn’t seem good…” Hirosaki Katsu hadn’t expected this outcome either. “Minagawa and Nakamichi are in slightly different positions…”

“Oh, no problem, I have plenty of time anyway. But, Yamanaka, you don’t still want to go to the hospital, do you?” Minagawa Dojin asked, staring at her. “There are traps set up there.”

"How could that be?" Yuka Yamanaka denied it. She tried to control her facial expression, but she couldn't stop her wandering eyes. Even Yuri noticed it, so it was impossible for the others not to notice.

"Well, be careful on your way home, and don't get into any trouble." Minagawa Dojin sighed, pretending he hadn't noticed.

Yuri, at least, believed it was highly unlikely that he genuinely didn't notice.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

After traveling a short distance, a few hundred meters, Yuka Yamanaka led Yuri around two corners, completely disappearing from everyone else's sight.

"Alright, Yuri, you saw that, right?" The sin-eater girl's tone was quite confident. "That."

Yuri sensed something was off about the question; it sounded like, "Now that you've witnessed me as a mole, I'm going to kill you."

"Which one?" the bewildered spirit retorted. "What are you talking about?"

"Stop pretending, it's that spirit woman in the corridor, you saw her, right?" The sin-eater girl named her target.

Yes, I definitely saw it.

In the previous debate, Yuri hesitated to reveal this information as evidence that "we did not come away empty-handed; in fact, we found traces of someone who seemed to be the mastermind, or at least someone who should know about the situation here."

But in the end, he didn't speak, because while he hesitated, the sin-eaters became eager to return home. Moreover, if such things aren't brought up from the beginning, the longer it's delayed, the harder it becomes to bring them up.

“Yes, I saw her. You too? Or is she your bound spirit?” Yuri gave an affirmative answer. “You know her?”