Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

This was also an area he had never studied in detail: what would happen if one spirit were merged with another? The answer was no.

However, Yuka Yamanaka is a sin-eater, and she was already connected to another spirit. In other words, there is at least a possibility that a connection exists.

A dead horse is treated as a living horse doctor.

A sharp pain shot through him; Yuri had experienced this before, when a sea urchin had swallowed his hat—this time, the pain indicated that Yuka Yamanaka had begun absorbing his hat.

If it's used to fill the gaps in his own spiritual body, then this time it can be considered a success—if it's used simply to convert into energy, then Yuri becomes a fool who couldn't even save someone by cutting off his own hand.

Since there is no other evidence, the probability is probably fifty-fifty, and the rest can probably only be determined by her own efforts.

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.

The blue light had completely disappeared, leaving only a single blue dot in sight.

My body had no strength left, and I was unable to think effectively.

Although there has never been any effective thinking.

Death has arrived.

What is the world like after death?

Then a hand grabbed Yamanaka Yuka—"Do you want to die? Or do you want to live?"

"Of course I want to live! But I'm already dead—"

"By making a pact with me, you can escape this predicament, but from then on, you will no longer be human. Besides, there is something else—"

"I don't understand, help me!"

"--pay close attention."

Yuka Yamanaka gripped the hand tightly and lost consciousness.

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.

"Cough...I..." Yuka Yamanaka struggled to say a few words, then released Yuri and collapsed to the ground again. She gasped for breath, as if trying to make up for all the damage she had done, but the previous injuries remained, and each breath was accompanied by obvious pain.

Just now, as Yuri was nervously watching Yuka Yamanaka, she suddenly began to convulse. Just when Yuri almost thought the treatment had completely failed, the Sin Eater girl suddenly sprang up halfway, bursting out with all her strength, tightly gripping Yuri's upper body, pressing her head against Yuri's neck, and desperately pushing it inward.

It would be troublesome if he didn't need to breathe. If it were Akemi, this force might cause her to have difficulty breathing if she was caught off guard. ...Of course, Akemi has the strength to pry Yamanaka Yuka off her.

Yuri didn't need to actively break it up. The unconscious outburst of the Sin Eater girl lasted only three seconds before she collapsed to the ground again, and then she regained consciousness and spoke.

In Yuri's view, her power loss had almost completely stopped.

It was still a bit strange to see a part of himself appear on other spirits. The hat had become embedded in Yuka Yamanaka's body and was no longer the same as before, but Yuri could still feel the connection between himself and it.

Through this, Yuri understood that Yamanaka Yuka's condition could not be considered fully healed. Yuri had simply temporarily raised the dam at the moment of energy leakage, shifting the balance point to a relatively safe position—Yamamanaka Yuka's spirit was still broken, but her remaining power was no longer enough to flow out through the much smaller gap.

He even felt that if he wanted, he could remove this part at any time and let Yuka Yamanaka return to the process of death, but of course, that would be very wrong.

“…Note…” Yamanaka Yuka’s eyes widened, as if she wanted to say something, but she seemed a little far from being able to speak.

However, half of the message had already been conveyed. She seemed to want Yuri to be careful about something, which was 90% likely to be the thing that had led her to this state.

Yuri looked around. In his still-activated magical vision, the other seven life forms in the house emitted light of varying intensity, with the one sitting on the hospital bed being the strongest.

Moreover, it just so happens to be the same feeling that Yuka Yamanaka had given Yuri before.

Almost simultaneously, faint footsteps echoed down the corridor.

167 One after another

Footsteps—Yuri didn't waste too much time trying to figure out whose footsteps were, nor did he consider how far away they were.

Spirits don't make footsteps, so they're human—and almost certainly won't help the situation—if they will only make it worse.

Yuka Yamanaka's energy began to dissipate. A similar aura to Yuka Yamanaka appeared around Nakamichi. Nakamichi was an ordinary person; he shouldn't have reacted to magical vision. Yuka Yamanaka collapsed suddenly after touching him. While Yuri hurriedly checked on Yuka Yamanaka, Nakamichi didn't offer any help—he didn't even mention that his condition was abnormal. Nakamichi could contact ghosts; he possessed considerable intuition. He should have been able to sense his own condition—at least he should have sensed that something was wrong—but aside from the initial conversation, he remained silent.

The conclusion points to one thing: the person responsible for all of this is Nakamichi himself. — He may not be the mastermind behind it all, but he was at least a key executor.

The problem mostly occurred during that handshake. This guy hid it so well that Yuri didn't notice anything unusual at all—or rather, Yuri wasn't familiar with him from the start, and Yuka Yamanaka didn't notice anything unusual either.

How did Zhongdao manage to do that? Seize someone else's power with just a handshake? Yuri had never heard of such an ability, but he could ask him all that after he was captured.

He turned and lunged at Nakamichi on the bed.

Yuri made a mistake; he shouldn't have turned around—that's a human action, because the human body is structured to move forward faster than backward. And even for humans, at this distance, retreating directly and turning around halfway isn't necessarily faster than turning around and then moving forward again. For him, this step wasn't necessary, and it was precisely this action that provided the middle path.

On the bed, Nakamichi, who had been "difficult to move" all along, suddenly jumped off the bed as Yuri turned around, facing Yuri across the bed. His movements were quite clumsy, but he landed very steadily.

There was no time for regrets; Yuri leaped over the bed and charged at the other man.

The panic on Zhongdao's face had vanished, replaced by a blank expression. He immediately assumed a fighting stance, attempting to block Yuri's attack.

He didn't even try to confuse Yuri's judgment with his explanations; this attitude was essentially an admission of what he had done.

After exchanging a couple of blows, Yuri realized that his opponent's fighting style was quite disciplined—in terms of technique alone, he was roughly on par with Akemi—but his strength was inferior to his own.

In a regulated fighting match, the two sides might go back and forth, but in this unrestricted fighting mode, Yuri has gained the advantage with his boar-style assault fighting style.

After all, he has no vital organs, and if he were to directly exchange with mortals, he would definitely win in the end—it just might take a while.

Nakado quickly retreated before Yuri could turn the fight into wrestling.

Yuri had considered this possibility before; after all, it's common practice to retreat when at a disadvantage in a fight, using space to buy time and regroup. However, his opponent wasn't showing any obvious weakness, and the room wasn't very large. If he retreated like this, he would be back in a corner, which would actually hinder his ability to dodge further.

Because it was such a strange move, Yuri hadn't prepared for the opponent to retreat. However, despite not knowing what Nakamichi was up to, Yuri decided to keep charging forward.

Yuri's physical abilities were superior to his opponent's. The opponent was a human retreating, while Yuri was a spirit lunging forward. There was no reason why he couldn't catch up, but just at that moment, several ghosts that Yuri had previously ignored rushed towards him, not to cause harm, but purely to try to block his advance.

In less than half a second, Yuri directly opened his shield and repelled them—these ghosts were the four who had entered the room and pinned down Zhongdao. Since Zhongdao himself was a traitor, their actions at that time should have been acting—or rather, they were being directly controlled.

Unexpectedly, even the final stop was remotely controlled. The situation seemed quite urgent at the time, and both Yuri and Yuka Yamanaka chose to use "Stop or not" to determine whether the ghosts had returned to normal, giving the other party this opportunity.

However, their strength did not increase. Half a second was the time they had to delay—it was less about delaying Yuri's actions on their own and more about delaying him by startling him and making him instinctively slow down.

In any case, Nakado did not waste this extra time. As he escaped Yuri's attack range, he pulled something out of his pocket and pointed it at Yuri.

Overall, it looks like a number 7. Nakamichi is holding the shorter side and pointing the longer side towards Yuri. From this distance, Yuri can clearly see that the end of the longer side has a cylindrical object that can be separated. Nakamichi's right index finger is hooked on a ring near a bend in the number 7, as if there is something that can be pressed down.

"Don't move. Even with a silencer, I don't want to fire a shot in a hospital... and this room is a bit small." The traitor's voice came from the corner.

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.

Firearms. Even Yuri knew about them, but this was the first time he had seen them in person.

The combustion of ammunition instantly generates a large amount of gas, propelling the metal bullet through the barrel at extremely high speed before it enters the target and causes damage.

“I heard that firearms are prohibited in Japan, and this is clearly a physical entity.” Yuri transformed into a spirit almost instantly. “Even if you can make things you touch come into contact with spirits—bullets, which are launched from the ground, probably still won’t work, right?”

In truth, Yuri didn't know whether it would work or not.

A silencer, which probably refers to that cylindrical object, is something that eliminates sound—Yuri understood that. Yuri didn't understand why Nakamichi said the room was small—but it seemed to be an explanation for not firing immediately.

But the bullet passing through Yuri without hindrance might not be a good thing, as Yuka Yamanaka was positioned right behind him. Previously, the damage she had sustained was entirely focused on her spirit, with no physical harm—but who knows what would happen if she were suddenly shot?

Although a straight line from Nakamichi's hand to Yamanaka Yuka would pass that bed—but the bed didn't look very sturdy, and Yuri didn't think that thing could stop a bullet.

“The law can’t stop us, can it? Back off!” Zhongdao pointed his weapon at Yuri. “I have no reason to kill you unless you’re asking for it.”

Zhongdao's words didn't mention anything about spirits. Was he bluffing? Judging from his expression, it didn't seem so. Just based on the resolute look on the other's face, Yuri would almost believe that he meant what he said—but he had already been fooled once, and now this was clearly a bluff, not trustworthy.

Thinking only takes a moment. Yuri continued to slowly approach the other party—the other party might not dare to fire, but if the other party did fire, it might make the situation Yuri was facing even more unfavorable—if everything developed as Yuri wished, the best outcome would be that "the other party would give up firing because it would be useless, and at that moment Yuri would get close enough to take the gun and pin him down."

This is of course just wishful thinking, but if we retreat, it will be much more difficult to rush forward again. Are we going to put our hopes on the other party keeping their word? What if the opponent has already betrayed our trust once?

--boom.

Yuri saw the other person press the button, and then, in an environment where everything seemed to slow down, a metal bullet crawled out of the gun barrel. He even felt that he could see the bullet spinning.

Yuri knew he should dodge, but his body couldn't keep up with his thoughts. With a muffled thud, the bullet slowly advanced, piercing Yuri's protective barrier and penetrating his spiritual structure before stopping.

Yuri was thrown back a step by the impact, and then the bullet was instinctively squeezed out of his body and fell to the ground.

Without carefully checking his wound, based on his physical sensations, the injury wasn't catastrophic, but it was certainly a solid blow. The attack was effective; a few more hits would have caused serious problems.

Moreover, the opponent's confidence was not entirely unfounded. Not only did the spiritualization not create any resistance, but even the shield was penetrated—the fact that the bullet could even make contact with the shield indicates that the bullet itself was truly extraordinary.

A look of joy appeared on Zhongdao's face. He had already reset the mechanism at some point and was about to press it again.

We can't let this go on! — Yuri instinctively channeled his spiritual essence, causing the mechanism to "get stuck in place," the same method as turning on the light from a distance in the past, only now it was "stopping the mechanism from moving" instead of "making the mechanism move."

"Taste the power of the ether bullet, you idiot—huh?" Zhongdao's expression turned astonished.

Yuri lunged forward. He had never tried to prolong the spell's duration before, always only moving once. Now, he himself didn't know how long he could hold the trigger—maybe three seconds? —In any case, he couldn't afford to delay.

Before his opponent could react, Yuri quickly closed in and tried to take the gun away. But Nakamichi held on tightly and refused to let go. For a moment, Yuri couldn't pry his fingers off, so he could only manage to push Nakamichi's arm up so that the gun was pointing at the roof.

After being shot, Yuri materialized again to avoid failing to seize the gun—in any case, apart from that, there was no difference between the physical and the spiritual forms.

The opponent, realizing what was happening, suddenly delivered a knee strike to Yuri's abdomen. The attack hit, but had no effect. Instead, it reminded Yuri that he didn't need to focus all his attention on the opponent's hand.

Or rather, there's no need to focus all your attention on individual battles.

Yuri suddenly moved sideways to the wall and kicked it repeatedly with both legs. For an ordinary human, this method would cause the force to be dispersed due to the reaction force, and it would be difficult to maintain one's posture. But for Yuri, who was glued to the wall and treated it as the ground, it was a different story.

As the opponent tried to block Yuri's chaotic attacks, Yuri pulled out his left hand and pressed it directly against the traitor's throat.

A wave of weakness washed over him; perhaps the bullet had indeed caused considerable damage. But now was not the time to check his condition. Nakado didn't seem to be good at dealing with this kind of forceful scuffle. He was a step too slow when he pulled his hand back to protect his throat and failed to stop it in time.

"Let go!" Yuri forcefully pried open the other man's fingers holding the gun with one hand, but the other man refused to give up.

"Monster—damn it!" Nakado squeezed out a curse from his throat, and at the same time released his right hand, which had failed to stop Yuri from choking him, and began to rummage through his body for something.

No matter what he was pulling out, Yuri slightly hunched his back and ground his knee into it.

Suffocation, pain, and the fact that he was already weaker than Yuri—under the multiple blows, Nakamichi managed to hold on for a few more seconds before his left hand, which was gripping the gun, gave way and the gun fell into Yuri's hands.

But his opponent hadn't given up. Nakado unleashed his last bit of strength, trying to remove the left hand pressing on his throat. With all his might, he almost succeeded—until Yuri, gripping the barrel of the pistol he had just seized, violently struck his opponent's head with a right angled 7.

Yuri swung the weapon five times in a row. On the fourth swing, the opponent's hand lost its strength, but just to be safe, Yuri struck one more time.

It wasn't aimed at the temple, but at the forehead. Akemi had once said that striking the temple was more likely to kill—Yuri didn't intend to kill; he wanted to capture the victim, find out the details, and then make a decision. Besides, according to the experience of a certain haunted house ghost, a few more hits anywhere would knock someone unconscious.

Regardless, Nakamichi was sitting on the ground, still breathing, but seemed to have temporarily lost consciousness, possibly stunned by the impact.

"I told you to put down your weapon."

After confirming that the other party posed no immediate threat, Yuri breathed a sigh of relief, turned his pistol around, gripped it like Nakamichi, and slowly backed away to create some distance, standing next to Yamanaka Yuka.

The surrounding ghosts also ceased their movements—they had been struggling to dismantle the protective barrier Yuri had erected while he was beating Nakado—but they were completely unable to do so. They had accomplished nothing by the end of the battle.

Subsequently, as Zhongdao lost consciousness, the ghosts' movements also stopped—was it because they lost the manipulator's instructions?

The intelligence was insufficient, but that didn't seem to be the case. At the time, Zhongdao was frantically trying to stop himself because he didn't have a reasonable expectation of his own offensive. The orders he gave couldn't have been particularly precise, let alone set a termination condition... Could it be that his control over the ghost was real-time? That would make him too easily distracted.

On the other hand, Nakamichi had fainted, but Yamanaka Yuka hadn't recovered. Yuri didn't dare to focus his magical vision rashly, but the spiritual aura around Nakamichi didn't show any signs of weakening quickly. He hadn't returned the power yet—if nothing unexpected happened, Yuri could wait until he woke up and force him to do so at gunpoint.

"Put down your weapons immediately, Yuri, don't be too nervous." A voice came from the doorway.

168 One-sided account

“…I should have thought of that sooner.” Yuri looked at Hirosaki Katsuya who appeared at the door.

The weapon this person is holding is quite similar to the one Yuri seized, but it is longer. If it were an ordinary person, they might not be able to hold it level with one hand, and would end up like Hirosaki Katsuya, holding it with both hands and using the other hand to stabilize the gun.

"What should you have thought of earlier?" Hirosaki Katsu asked calmly. "It's not too late to think about it now, is it?"

“I should have known he wasn’t alone,” Yuri said, bracing himself to pull the trigger at any moment. “You suddenly came over and saw your companion lying on the ground, and you didn’t seem surprised at all?”

Then, in this situation where both sides were pointing guns at each other, Hirosaki Katsuya actually showed no fear... He did not see Yuri take the bullet head-on, but he should have thought that they would both die when they were shot at the same time—now he acted as if Yuri could not threaten him at all.

“I’m surprised, this isn’t what I expected… but it’s not entirely unthinkable.” Hirosaki Katsuya sighed heavily, feigning seriousness. “Yuri, do you know you shouldn’t even be here?”

He's saying his target is only Yuka Yamanaka... or perhaps... all the other sin eaters?

Without waiting for Yuri's response, Hirosaki Katsuya continued, "You shouldn't be here. You shouldn't have gotten involved in this. We had no hatred towards you before, and we can have no hatred towards you in the future. Yuri, do you understand what I mean?"

It wasn't entirely clear, Yuri thought, but one very obvious possibility came to mind.

"You mean, in your plan, I shouldn't even exist at all?" Yuri saw the other person nodding slightly, "and then you advised me to leave after all this happened?"

The room was quiet, and Yuri felt that the loudest sound in his ears was the sudden heavy breathing of Yuka Yamanaka.

“That’s right, that’s basically what I mean, Yuri. You were dragged into this innocently.” As if to show his sincerity, Hirosaki Katsuya released his left hand from the gun and supported the weapon with only his right hand, keeping it at a slightly downward angle.

However, he didn't lower his gun much, and Yuri turned his gun at the same angle, feeling that he could still hit the opponent's thigh. In other words, the opponent's gun was also aimed at his leg.

Hirosaki Katsuya spread out his left hand. "You have nothing to do with the Sin Eaters, and if you do, it's not for a good reason—you don't need to fight for them."

“What you said seems to make a lot of sense, so what? Your suggestion is that I take the mountain and leave now?” Yuri stared into the other’s eyes.

Hirosaki Katsuya gave a trusting smile. "No, my suggestion is that you leave now and leave her with us—and also return the weapon to us—but to put your mind at ease, you don't need to return it immediately. You can throw it in any trash can after you leave, and we'll find it ourselves."

"What you're saying sounds like a victory announcement. What do I get out of this?" Yuri hadn't believed his expression to begin with—no matter how sincere and trustworthy he seemed, he was still the guy who had betrayed his comrades' trust without hesitation—not to mention he was talking as if he were the victor. "Why do you think I would accept this one-sided ultimatum?"