Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

“I don’t recognize it, but my spirit-binding ability tells me that it’s a spirit, and a powerful one at that—such a powerful spirit couldn’t have appeared suddenly, and influencing a spirit isn’t the work of the mastermind.” Yamanaka Yuka furtively looked around, as if worried that there were enemies lurking nearby. “In other words, she’s a spirit that has lived in this area for a long time, and she must know what the mastermind did. We should go find her and ask her.”

So it was a spirit—then Yuri knew who she was. "Hmm, if she's a spirit, she should indeed know, but why do you think she would tell you? I've heard that spirits are very hard to find; even professionals can't find them easily."

Those who eat sins are specialists in dealing with ghosts, but when it comes to spirits... I'm afraid their skills aren't quite the same.

"I don't know, but we have to give it a try." Yuka Yamanaka's answer was very straightforward. "How will we know if it's easy to find if we don't try?"

Yuri thought to himself that he had already said it was hard to find... Never mind, let's change the questions. "Then why didn't you tell them to come together? And why did you come to me?"

“They don’t want to stay at all—and it’s true, it’s not the most convenient option for ordinary people to participate in this kind of activity, and it’s equally true that they might need someone to escort them back.” Yuka Yamanaka used a series of “truths” in her words, as if she were trying to convince herself. “As for finding you, it’s because, as you’ve seen, I don’t need to explain this to you again.”

"Do you have any special plans?" Yuri didn't need to be persuaded on this point, so the conversation naturally shifted to the next topic.

"...?" Yuka Yamanaka looked at Yuri with confused eyes, as if wondering why Yuri would ask such a question.

"...Your plan isn't to just rush in, search every room, and keep looking until she appears in front of us, is it?" Yuri had a bad feeling.

“Well, there are differences,” the sin-eating girl waved her hand. “In this process, we don’t need to open every room. If we get close to the door, the spirit-binding should be able to sense whether there is a high-level spirit in the room.”

So, is the rest of your original plan? A crazy running event around the hospital? Have you even considered how to be more efficient?

"What's wrong? I don't have a better way either. If you do, could you teach me?" Yamanaka Yuka, the clueless one, was a little embarrassed and indignant. "If you don't have one, then this is the only thing we can do, isn't it?"

The Sin Eater girl, whose action-oriented abilities far surpass her thinking abilities, is waiting for Yuri's reply; he needs to make a decision as soon as possible.

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.

"So, did your method work this time?" Yuka Yamanaka asked, sounding a little impatient.

No wonder she was impatient; Yuri had just led her to two consecutive defeats.

For the first time, Yuri arrived at the outside of the corridor where he had previously seen the female spirit (almost certainly the healing spirit from the hospital), activated his magical eye, and focused his mind, trying to find traces left by the other party.

He rarely used this method for tracking, but according to a description in a mage's notebook, it was entirely feasible, and if successful, it could save a lot of time.

So he asked the sin-eating girl and the bound spirit to help protect the surroundings, while he devoted himself entirely to finding the other party's spiritual aura and its movement path—

—As expected, it failed. When he came to his senses, Yuka Yamanaka was dragging him away at breakneck speed... and behind them was a group of raging, repeating machines chasing after them.

He found the spiritual aura left behind by the spirit, but he couldn't locate the target through it because it was too scattered and discontinuous. If his skill level were several times higher, he might actually succeed, but for now he could only comfort himself with the thought that "this way he can recognize it at a glance next time he sees it."

The second time, he tried to find his target by going to the places in the hospital that had the most "healing" effects.

Even if a spirit has a very large territory, it must have a favorite place within that territory. Based on the experience of the train spirit, this place must be closely related to the spirit's essence.

So, where in the hospital is the place most closely related to recovery?

Yuri believed it was the operating room, as it was the place that most directly demonstrated the hospital's healing function, which is how it was portrayed on television.

After a ten-minute race, leaving all the other runners behind temporarily behind, the group arrived at the operating room door.

The spirit binding indicated that the spirit wasn't inside, but Yuri, skeptical, went inside, and indeed, it wasn't there.

Then Yuri pulled Yamanaka Yuka towards the medicine storage room—according to his theory, if it wasn't a place like the operating room where things could be done immediately, then the pharmacy, which was needed at any time, was more important.

After failing again, Yuri saw a large amount of healing spirit energy in the pharmacy, but her own spirit was not there.

"I think this is a failure," Yuri said dejectedly. "How about we start running all over the field again?"

“I thought so too, but at least we’ve already confirmed quite a few places by running back and forth.” Yuka Yamanaka comforted Yuri. “Next, let’s follow my method and search layer by layer… Hmm?”

The sin-eater girl suddenly froze on the spot.

"What happened?" Yuri immediately became alert. Could this be a sudden psychic blast? "Are you alright?"

“No, it’s nothing. The spirit just told me that, according to your logic, there’s still one place we haven’t been to.” Yamanaka Yuka quickly recovered. “It’s a bit far from here, but the route is quite obvious.”

This wasn't the first time they'd communicated remotely, and Yuri was well aware of it—as she herself had said, the spirit and the body were one and inseparable, and it was perfectly normal for them to communicate telepathically. However, this time, Yamanaka Yuka unusually showed surprise… it seemed she was quite certain of Yuri's previous failure.

You can't blame her; Yuri himself was quite certain of it.

"So, where is it?" The broken record player was catching up, and the group started running again. Yuri bumped into the broken record player that was lingering ahead and asked his companion, "In the hospital, besides the operating room and the pharmacy, where else can you find a place that represents recovery? The intensive care unit? We've already passed by there."

“The Dean’s Office.” Yuka Yamanaka’s answer was concise. “Bound Spirits believe that the leader is the core of the organization, no matter when or where. Therefore, the place where the leader is located in the healing place can naturally be used as a metaphor for healing.”

Yuri didn't even need to look; he knew that this was a complete repetition of the Bound Spirit's original words, which were vastly different from Yuka Yamanaka's own way of speaking.

The wording is a bit archaic, but that's not new to me; Yuri already knew that this spirit-binding person was an ancient figure.

It seems that his modern life has not completely changed his lifestyle.

"The Dean's office," Yuri repeated, then turned to face him. "I think it's this way."

“Wait, I remember there was a group of ghosts wandering over there—” Yamanaka Yuka slowed her pace, “and the journey on this side should be the same, but there aren’t as many ghosts.”

“No, we’ve already changed the ghosts’ positions by running around, so my ghost group should be over there, not over here—” Yuri rushed over confidently, and sure enough, only the stunned, ordinary repeating ghosts remained in place.

Then these "ordinary" ghosts rushed towards him.

“I think we should go the way you chose; the overall density of ghosts is lower there.” Yuri quickly turned around. “These guys weren’t awake before, but they’re awake now.”

Yuka Yamanaka looked like she hadn't caught her breath. She wanted to say something, but in the end, she silently followed Yuri and changed direction.

As he ran, Yuri pondered the reason why these ghosts had woken up before but were now awake.

If we can figure out why they woke up, we might know what the mastermind behind it all did here.

...Or what are they doing? Is it possible that the mastermind has been in the hospital all along, playing hide-and-seek with them?

While Yuri was pondering, Bound Spirit was taking the lead in breaking through the ghosts he encountered along the way. After struggling for so long, Bound Spirit was too lazy to maintain his composure—since he couldn't kill the ghosts anyway, he chose another weapon.

Whether they were moving or still, standing still or charging forward, the bound spirits simply slammed them aside with their relatively large bodies. The difference between these ghosts and the bound spirits was too great; even such a collision, if not handled with deliberate restraint, could inflict serious damage on them...

Yuri might be able to do it, but he certainly wouldn't do it so casually. Whether in terms of physique, strength, or presence, Yuri is not this type of person. He prefers to plan carefully before acting.

The dean's office is very close.

161 Healing the Spirit

As the group approached, the door to the dean's office creaked slightly and opened a crack.

Without needing to specifically ask the spirit binding, Yuri already sensed the presence of the spiritual aura he remembered from before. Combined with the act of opening the door a crack... it seemed that the other party intended to hold this meeting and was trying to show some friendliness, although two of the three present could enter without opening the door.

Without hesitating for long, Yuri was the first to push through the door and enter.

There was no human in the dean's office. The healing spirit was sitting behind the desk. The lantern and books she had been holding were now on the table. She did not show any special reaction to Yuri's entry... Her face was still covered with a faint white light, so Yuri could not see her expression. He could only infer her attitude from her movements, and there was no hostility.

Fu Ling and Yamanaka Yuka entered the Dean's office one after the other, and the door closed automatically behind them.

Neither of them spoke for a while, until Yuri couldn't stand it anymore and broke the silence.

"Excuse me, are you the master of this place, the one who heals spirits?" Yuri asked knowingly, needing a topic to start the conversation.

“I do heal spirits, but this hospital is not my property. I live here and sometimes participate in the treatment activities.” A very standard, gentle female voice entered Yuri’s mind. “It’s a symbiotic relationship.”

Moreover, it was surround sound—Yuri felt that the sound wasn't coming from the direction of his desk, but from all directions.

“It may be a bit rude, but the situation is urgent—” Yuri cut to the chase, “I’ll be frank, someone in the hospital is constantly activating ghosts and putting patients and staff to sleep, trying to ambush the Sin Eaters… What do you know about them? Can you tell us?”

Yuka Yamanaka immediately chimed in, "Yes, we absolutely have no intention of harming the people here or fighting you—and activating ghosts and affecting patients is clearly detrimental to treatment, isn't it?"

"..." After a few seconds of pause, the spirit woman responded, "Putting the patients into a deep sleep was my action, to prevent them from being disturbed by intruders walking around in the corridor, or from getting involved in something worse. I did not force them to stay asleep, but I helped them sleep more soundly."

This was a bit awkward. Yuka Yamanaka seemed to want to say something to change the subject, but couldn't find a suitable way to do so.

“Even so, the large-scale activation of ghosts is a problem, isn’t it?” Yuri continued. “Moreover, we suspect that the hospital is being used as a node in a conspiracy by those who activated the ghosts, which is also detrimental to the hospital’s treatment, isn’t it?”

The repeated insistence on the treatment being ineffective, bordering on threatening, was not the only thing that could clearly capture the attention of the healing spirit.

“I don’t know anything about this. It’s true that someone infiltrated this place, but he or they used some method to avoid being directly sensed by me… I was quite suspicious at first and started patrolling the hospital, but nothing happened in the end.” The spirit woman turned her head slightly, as if scanning the strange trio in front of her. “Until you arrived and started causing trouble. — I thought you were gone, but I didn’t expect you to come back.”

“Wait a minute…” Yuri wanted to say, “This is not our fault. They caused this. We were just reacting passively,” but he suddenly realized that there was a key point that had not yet been clarified.

If the mastermind truly intended this place as a pivotal point in their plan, then it's where they would act, and the Sin Eaters would come to their aid. However, if the mastermind didn't actually intend this place as a pivotal point, but rather a trap to lure the Sin Eaters here... then assuming the Sin Eaters never came, nothing would happen here. In this case, it's understandable that the Healing Spirit would find both sides suddenly appearing and engaging in combat problematic.

Therefore, we should determine which situation it is.

"Are you really sure you know everything the mastermind is doing here?" Yuri carefully chose his words. "This is undoubtedly a trap set for the Sin Eaters, but is there really no other conspiracy?"

“If their conspiracy isn’t limited to ‘scurrying around like rats’ and ‘constantly pulling ghosts out of the cracks in the morgue,’ then I really don’t know all of their schemes,” the healing spirit shifted slightly. “I’ve tried looking, but haven’t found any other clues.”

Is there a gate to the underworld in the morgue? Yuri quickly recalled the search routes of the three groups. The morgue was located in a relatively inconvenient place, so it was assigned to a later location. Two groups might pass through there... Yuri's group didn't see it before retreating, while the other group was beaten up in the toilet around the same time.

In other words, I haven't been there yet.

Could the Healing Spirit be lying? During their conversation, Yuri didn't use his magical vision to examine the Healing Spirit more closely, so he only had a basic understanding of its strength: it should be stronger than himself, but clearly lacked the imposing presence of Line Two and the Rat King. In other words, it was probably around level three, and even with the advantage of terrain, it was unlikely to be able to handle an attack from multiple bound spirits.

The mastermind believes they can handle multiple bound spirits if the situation is right, and they may also attack the healing spirit, threatening it not to reveal any information about themselves.

If we could observe the other party's state more closely and see if their spirit is affected by some kind of binding force, we would have a clearer understanding. But if not, we might end up fighting directly.

Moreover, even if it doesn't, we cannot rule out the possibility that the threat it faces comes from circumstances rather than magic, or even that it has joined forces with the mastermind behind the scenes...

Thinking about it carefully, it's not that bad. If it had already joined the mastermind, it should have launched a full-scale encirclement and fought a major battle with Yuri's group by now.

"I think I should tell my companions the news and wait a moment." While Yuri was thinking it over, Yamanaka Yuka had already taken out her phone and started composing a text message.

This guy believed it quickly, but even if it were sent at 2 a.m., no one would receive it immediately.

"Have you really never encountered the mastermind behind this?" Yuri continued to ask the other party questions. It seemed that the healing spirit had a pretty good temper, and at least it shouldn't suddenly turn hostile if he was just asking questions.

“Once I felt like I encountered them, but when I got there, they were nowhere to be found.” The healing spirit slowed its pace. “Near the morgue, I suspect they hid in that rift. I don’t like that place. If there’s any place in the hospital that has the least to do with treatment, it’s that place. I don’t often search there.”

Yuri immediately felt annoyed—this healing spirit knew that the other party would pull ghosts out of the rift, but just because it didn't like it, it didn't bother to patrol?

The healing spirit before them remained composed (though its face was obscured), showing no sign of apprehension about its words. If Yuri were to launch into condemnation… the spirit might retort, “Isn’t this your enemy?”

Ok.

"So, when did they start their activities, and at what times each day?" Yuka Yamanaka interrupted Yuri. "How many people are there?"

"The number of ghosts started increasing about three days ago, without a specific timeframe, and we don't know how many there are." Only one of the three questions received a relatively definite answer... and so on.

"Without a specific time, how did you determine it?" Yuri noticed that his question was somewhat abrupt. "If you've never met them, how do you know when they'll act?"

"I can generally judge the behavior of ghosts in the hospital. For example, the number of ghosts is increasing and gathering now. The person you are looking for is not here, but outside."

Are you here now?

"Where are you?" Yamanaka Yuka instinctively took a step forward. Judging from her movements, if she hadn't stopped in time, she would have rushed to the table, pressed down on it, and questioned the other person.

"I don't know, you can find out yourselves." The healing spirit gently waved its hand, and the lantern and notebook flew into its hand. "I'm going to start my patrol again, you can do as you please."

"Wait a minute, I have another question—" Yamanaka Yuka wanted to very rudely stop the other party, but the healing spirit disappeared on the spot.

The dean's office was once again empty except for three people.

"You actually went to stop them?" Yuri broke the silence and began pacing around the dean's room. "The situation is obvious. This is just information they deliberately gave us, nothing more."

“I know that too. If the healing spirits could know the movements of the ghosts in the hospital, they would know we were heading towards the director’s office. If they didn’t want to see us, they would have left long ago,” Yuka Yamanaka sighed. “But since they’ve already told us so much, why don’t they just tell us where the mastermind is?”

"..." Yuri didn't have time to say the explanation he had prepared, so he changed it to, "So you understand?"

"What? Do you think I'm stupid?" The sin-eater girl, whose intelligence had been questioned, almost jumped up. "Now we can only try our luck at the morgue."

That's right, and this is very likely the direction that the healing spirit wants to point them in.

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.

Morgue.

Although there are some differences in strict terms, it is basically the final destination of life.

Upon entering, Yuri felt a somber pressure, and the aura of death lingered around him.

He was not unaware of the mysteries of death, but the mysteries of death and the aura of death are not entirely similar; in this case, they are particularly different.

If the mysteries of death he learned and mastered are like a detailed book, then the atmosphere of death here is like a fresh corpse, describing the same thing in different ways.

Although Yuri usually believes in seeing is believing, this time it should just be a different direction... well, at least it shows that this is not the work of a mage who doesn't exist at all.

Yuka Yamanaka was chanting incantations and checking her surroundings. Her complexion was worsening, but she wasn't showing any signs of pain. Perhaps this was a magical effect? ​​Yuri decided to ignore his companion and begin his own observation.

In the magical vision, symbols of death were emerging, fluttering and swirling, pointing towards a node in the center of the room—a gate not visible to ordinary people, which could be activated through special means. Yuri, with only his vision, didn't know where this gate led, but since it was a gate to the underworld, its destination was undoubtedly the netherworld.

Yuri's power and the Gates of Tartaros aren't entirely compatible, but with some effort, he should be able to influence them... but for now, never mind. On the other hand, it resonated with the Devourer of Sins, and Yuri felt that if Yamanaka Yuka wished, she could open the gates at any time.

The aura of death was far stronger in the surrounding area than outside the room. Not only would healing spirits dislike it, but even ordinary people with slightly stronger intuition wouldn't want to stay here for long. Yuri tried hard to discern the source of the aura; about half of it came from the Gates of the Underworld—which was currently locked, so it was likely a remnant from before.

How many ghosts have passed through here? This question is unanswerable. However, if we calculate based on the fact that 90% of the ghosts outside come from here... Yuri mentally counted the number of ghosts he had seen, and roughly considered the ratio of areas in the hospital that they had explored to those that they hadn't. He finally concluded that there were probably between 700 and 900 ghosts wandering around the hospital.

Even if the hospital beds are full and all the medical staff are present, the number of living people in the hospital is probably not much larger than this number. If they were not scattered in different parts of the hospital, the scene would be quite spectacular if they all rushed in at once.

Finally, the part I noticed as soon as I entered... there were no ghosts in the morgue.

It's not that there should be ghosts here, but it's obviously not normal for the morgue to be devoid of ghosts when the entire hospital is filled with them.

Unable to discern from the air how they were taken away, Yuri turned his magical vision toward Yuka Yamanaka.