Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

Soon, when Yuri noticed that the tentacles' attacks were coming more frequently from the side closer to the main road while the other side was relatively weak, Yuri realized the opponent's intention—to corner him, or at least block his escape route to the main road. Not very clever, Yuri understood, but it was a change.

Of course… this might disappoint him. Yuri had studied the map beforehand and knew that the way to the main road wasn't so easily blocked. The hunter might be unfamiliar with the area… or perhaps he disdained to become familiar with it? Both are possible.

For now, Yuri sees the female ghost from before trying to escape... Can she hide? Good luck to her.

"You escaped once, but there won't be a second chance." As Yuri dodged and retreated, the octopus monster continued its operations, trying to reduce Yuri's space to maneuver. Perhaps realizing that the shriek was not very useful, it did not repeat it this time. Although its words sent a chill down Yuri's spine, it was just a sound.

I heard—

Yuri, as usual, dodged to the other side, and then the hunter continued to release more tentacles in the same direction—finally, when Yuri was close to one of the walls, it did the same thing diagonally above Yuri, trying to block Yuri's transfer route in advance.

Yuri did indeed leap horizontally off the wall, just as the hunter had hoped. However, this time he used very little force, so he quickly landed back on the wall, dodging the tentacles that were lying in wait. He then retreated along the wall and returned to the ground, avoiding another tentacles thrusting, and risked maneuvering around the tentacles that were suspended in mid-air to find room to escape. Then, the hunter suddenly retracted all the tentacles.

It seems the Hunter believes that capturing an enemy like Yuri, who only keeps his distance and tries to dodge, requires covering a larger area in the air with tentacles to compress Yuri's escape space. This is likely correct, but the Hunter's own limits determine the upper limit of this move; the transformation of the body cannot be carried out indefinitely.

"—You may have once been a very great... being." Yuri used the vague term "being" to refer to the other person.

The octopus monster charged forward, dodging Yuri as he passed by. Its tentacles wrapped tightly around Yuri's left arm as it passed.

In an instant, Yuri transformed himself with his will, his left tentacle slipping free from the entanglement, preventing the octopus monster from dragging him against the wall.

Turning to face the octopus monster—actually, from a spirit's perspective, it doesn't matter which direction you face the enemy, but Yuri prefers to face them head-on.

"—And then you became like this, heartless and indiscriminately slaughtering." Try to slightly provoke the other party to see if they can't help but start arguing with Yuri—given the current lack of understanding and communication between the two sides, arguing would be a kind of progress.

"You've heard? You think you're worthy to hear me!" The octopus monster's voice was clearly filled with rage.

The sheer number of tentacles it unleashed conveyed the same sentiment. Although the attack was crude and lacked precise control, its sheer number struck Yuri, without entangling him, and forced him back several steps.

Inefficient, but it did hit. To dodge, one would either have to take a large step back or at least become smaller than the gap between the tentacles. Yuri couldn't do that, but he believed his opponent couldn't always unleash such bursts of power.

"—Does your name matter? That's all in the past. The you of today and the you of the past—" According to the high school girl mystic who wished to remain anonymous, angering a spirit doesn't directly increase its combat power, but it might stimulate the spirit to squander its spiritual essence more quickly in a short period. A hunter's accumulation is undoubtedly much deeper, and angering a hunter is a very unwise move to buy time.

But apart from this method, there's no other good way to get more information out of them.

"Humans—die!" With this shriek, Yuri's protective barrier almost went out.

"It's completely different now, isn't it?" Yuri finally managed to finish his sentence.

In reality, these few words are far less than the linguistic art that humans have developed for verbal sparring. However, the hunter in front of us certainly doesn't have a good enough understanding of the human world and isn't adapted to it.

"You humans—you deserve retribution!" After another chase, the hunter stopped and did nothing for a while except to slowly approach and be countered by Yuri's slow retreat.

To prevent the octopus monster from doing anything deliberately, Yuri kept a close watch on the opposite side.

Whatever he wants to do, it certainly doesn't mean he wants to shake hands and make peace.

The opponent's actions were rhythmic and regular, while Yuri was on edge about the opponent's possible attack at any moment. The opponent was so relaxed that even the exposed tentacles were swaying in the same pattern—wait a minute?

Yuri felt a chill run down his spine. This tentacle monster was too predictable, unlike the ones before. If this wasn't the original hunter—without time to think, Yuri instinctively dodged to the left. The menacing hunter appeared to his right, and just one step away, Yuri would be grabbed by its tentacles. For the first time, Yuri saw the tentacle monster's almost gelatinous face, its tattered and indistinctly marked clothes, and the tentacles emerging from every tear in its garments.

Even though Yuri dodged with all his might and the opponent didn't react immediately when Yuri noticed something was wrong, the distance between them was already too close. He suffered multiple injuries, and his hat was knocked to the ground. Before he could retrieve it, the hat had been snatched away by tentacles and stuffed into the hunter's body.

The pain stimulated Yuri's senses in ways he had never experienced before, and even the energy in his body was draining away with the pain, but it was not enough to stop Yuri from continuing to distance himself from the hunter.

Sometime later, the hallucinations had faded, and the area where the hunters were located was now empty.

But there is no way to guarantee that the hallucinations will not recur.

"This is only a part of you... a beginning... I will devour every part of you, savoring every detail—" The voice seemed to come from beside her ear. "I won't let you be completely digested quickly; you will watch your components disintegrate bit by bit—you will not be reborn, for I will devour every drop of spiritual essence within your body. This is your final lesson, and your glory... to contribute to me—"

Yuri forcefully injected spiritual essence to strengthen the protective barrier. The seductive and intimidating power in his words diminished considerably.

"A new trick? I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. I'm not planning to die here." Although he had already suffered a great loss and was preparing to run away, he said, "You did succeed once, but this trick won't work on me again."

He moved slowly during the conversation. It was entirely possible it could work again, Yuri thought. Distinguishing hallucinations required shifting attention to discerning reality, and such distraction couldn't be beneficial in combat. The energy drain stopped, but the pain didn't.

"No—you're finished!" The tentacles shot out rapidly, stretching out in all directions around Yuri, until they reached behind him. Yuri could see that they didn't actually extend very far, touching the wall directly.

It was like a cage, confining Yuri to this area.

"You have nowhere to escape." The hunter slowly approached, and the cage shrank accordingly. "You are nothing but a wisp of seaweed. If you willingly accept being swallowed, I might leave you a trace of spiritual essence, allowing you to be reborn one day. If you went into hiding after provoking me the first time, you will have a brief period before I find you. Once I find you, I will give you a quick death—you dared to challenge me—I will digest you bit by bit, just as I promised—"

"Still lying in this situation?" Yuri retreated step by step, ensuring his back was against a certain part of the wall, while simultaneously focusing his attention on the details of the other person. "None of the ghosts you've eaten have been reborn, not even the most famous ones—you don't leave a single trace of your soul for any of your victims."

"Knowing this won't make your death any easier... The law of the jungle is the rule of the world." The hunter remained unmoved by being exposed. "I'm tired of playing around. If you want to die tough, then die tough."

As the hunter pounced, Yuri suddenly retreated and jumped into the shop. The door leading to the shop behind him was very close to the tentacles, but if the tentacle monster moved its tentacles to grab Yuri, Yuri could find more space. If not, then he would just go straight into the shop at full speed, like he was now.

"Living on in vain! You have nowhere to escape!" The hunter followed without hesitation into the shop, eager to see the fear on his opponent's face as he hid in the dead end.

Then the hunter saw a clump of seaweed escaping through the door opposite the Chinese-style restaurant.

"Because these two streets are so close together, all the shops here have two main entrances, one in the front and one in the back—human architecture, very artistic!" With that, Yuri left, keeping his gratitude to the mapmaker in his heart, and hurried off.

The loudest scream I'd ever heard came from behind me.

Yuri sprinted down the street, searching for a vehicle, and jumped onto a bus—just in time to see the hunter rushing out of the store—pain distorted his movements, but his strong will to survive allowed him to successfully hang on the back of the bus, and climb onto the roof as the passengers spotted him and began to be shocked.

Once again, they left the tentacle monster that was trying to catch up behind them.

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 for a while, Yuri returned to his spirit form and detached himself from the car.

He tried to heal his injuries with spiritual marrow, but there was always a flaw that prevented him from healing.

He was accompanied by pain, as if a part of his body had been cut off.

So, the ghost's clothing is indeed part of the body, and Yuri has figured out another piece of knowledge that may not be of any use.

So, how does a body that has been devoured regenerate?

Regardless, although he infuriated his opponent, Yuri also suffered a great loss.

Yuri moved cautiously toward his dwelling. Although the chances were slim, he needed to escape if he encountered the hunters again on the road.

After a harrowing journey, filled with suspicion and fear, Yuri managed to slip back to his lodgings unharmed. There, he encountered something unusual—Akimi, who had been home that afternoon, watching TV. Oh, right, today was a school day off.

Upon seeing Yuri, Akemi was somewhat surprised. "Why do you look like you were chased by a wild beast for kilometers, finally losing your armor and jumping off a cliff to escape, and are still paranoid about being caught by the beast, so you dared not take the main road and could only stumble and crawl back?"

"…………Are you stalking me?"

Once Yuri calmed down, he explained what had happened that day, from checking on the Ghost Informant's situation after training in the morning, to successfully finding the Hunter, to being successfully beaten by the Hunter and fleeing in disarray, to finally scrambling back home.

“It seems this hunter is indeed becoming more and more dangerous, and it will be more and more careful when dealing with you.” Mingmei did not hide her worries. “And as you said, it is obviously very vengeful towards you. In short, you are in big trouble, and we have to deal with it.”

"Us?" Yuri definitely needed support, but... "This trouble is targeting me, why us?"

"Yes, we—this 'hunter'—have clearly shown deep hostility towards humans. Although it is unlikely to live in the city, given its current state, there is a high probability that it will cause a great disturbance before leaving. —You see, I certainly know which to choose between a ghost that is friendly to humans and a spirit that is hostile to humans."

"You're right." That's certainly true.

"You said you were injured before, what exactly did you feel?"

"Specifically, it feels like a piece of flesh has been ripped out of my body, causing pain and emptiness, and I can feel the loss of energy."

“Hmm… Generally speaking, this is the result of damage to the physical body. Certain techniques and situations can cause severe trauma to the spirit's physical body, tearing apart its spiritual energy, and then the spiritual essence will leak out from the ruptured structure.” Mingmei thought for a moment. “Besides recovering the lost parts, time can also be used for slow regeneration. Your wound this time should be considered minor, so the leakage of spiritual essence has naturally stopped. Some spirits suffer such severe trauma that the leakage of their spiritual essence cannot be stopped, forcing them to fall into a long period of slumber to heal themselves.”

"Is there a way to speed up the treatment?"

"..." Akemi gave an awkward smile. "Yes, I don't know how."

We can't ask for too much; at least we know that this damage is not permanent and will not have a lasting impact.

"Hmm... Then I'll think about whether there's anything special about what I observed in today's battle... If so, perhaps I can find some clues from it."

"come on!"

Yuri realized something almost immediately.

There really is a clue.

Chapter Twelve: Clue Investigation

Yuri recalled the insignia on the hunter's clothes, and the blurry but still faintly discernible words containing the name Takemura.

Although he didn't remember the specific meaning, Yuri had seen related content in the newspaper a couple of days ago.

Find the specific news article.

In summary, the gist of the matter is... one of the managers of a relatively small food company, Kawakami Fisheries, has disappeared with one of the company's speedboats. The boat has been found at the dock, but no one knows where the more important person is. This person is one of the company's most important employees and possesses a great deal of information, causing the company's operations to fall into crisis. Therefore, a missing person notice has been placed in the newspaper.

The newspapers even had some bored reporters following up, writing about it. For example, at first the company suspected that he had absconded with the company's money in a private boat, but after checking the accounts, they found that such a thing had never happened, and that Nobuyuki Takemura was indeed a top employee.

The logos are exactly the same. The names are basically related.

It's very likely related to this person.

Yuri did not know the man's address, but the report gave the general direction of his company—near the sea.

...The area is still too large; the city has a very long coastline.

“I’ll find the location. You can research other things first, like what to do once you get to the company.” The reliable young mystic volunteered to take on the task.

Yuri devised a plan.

First, upon arriving at the company, I transformed into my spirit form and headed straight for the target's workplace. Since the company wasn't large, it should be easy to find.

Then, search the workplace for suspicious evidence, records, or at least how this person disappeared. Yuri was almost certain that Takemura had been fed to the octopus monster, but the fact that he could leave such deep marks on the octopus monster meant that he had some knowledge of it, or the key to the octopus monster's appearance.

Next, adapt to changing circumstances.

The biggest risk is that the octopus monster might go there too—we can only be careful, as the octopus monster might suddenly appear downstairs at Mingmei's place.

Soon, Akemi found the approximate location—though she didn't know how she found it, Akemi confidently assured that it was that spot.

Without further ado, let's set off immediately.

Yuri had considered a plan to hitch a ride on the bus: he would become a spirit and enter the bus, then materialize and sit in a corner to avoid the ticket seller. However, after thinking about it carefully, he realized that he would still be seen by others, which was quite risky.

Mingmei solved the problem; she had a license to drive a small motorcycle.

In fact, Yuri strongly resisted the plan to "find a rope, inject spiritual essence into it, tie it around your waist, and drag your ethereal form behind you," but in the end, he gave in.

Nothing unusual happened along the way. Yuri noted down a few places that might be special or unusual, but now was not the time to visit them.

The company is indeed there.

Kawakami Fisheries' main business is fishing boat rental, catch analysis, and sales—the actual fishing is outsourced to others, so while there is some connection, they cannot be considered subordinates.

Its headquarters is just one floor of the building; the other floors belong to other companies.

The ethereal Yuri floated up the stairs and arrived inside the company. The moment he stepped into the office entrance, he felt as if he had passed through something, somewhat like a thin membrane that offered no resistance.

Yuri immediately stopped. But the trap he was about to face remained motionless.

Seeing that the people in the office had not been disturbed, Yuri went in and out of the entrance again.

Indeed, upon noticing its presence, one could see a square-shaped light shield enveloping the entire office, even the floor. However, it posed no obstacle to Yuri, likely serving as an alarm bell, a way to indicate whether anyone or anything had entered or left the premises. The light emitted by the shield was dim, unlike typical spiritual objects, possibly intentionally suppressed to prevent it from being immediately visible.

In other words, we need to act quickly and decisively; we cannot afford to delay.

There was someone working in a separate spot marked with Takemura's name. Unlike the photos of Takemura published in the newspaper, this person was probably filling in for him in the last couple of days, since the boss couldn't just leave the work there unattended.

Yuri didn't think it was possible to search for things under his nose without being discovered; the location was too small.

We can only look at the surface for now.

Some things were neatly organized—but then you see the substitute frantically searching through documents—the neat things must have been organized by Takemura.

There was a nameplate for Takemura nearby, including his name, job title, and contact information. Unfortunately, it didn't have the address Yuri wanted most… and obviously, the phone number wouldn't work.

On the table was Takemura's seal, which exuded a distinct spiritual energy. Yuri reached out and touched it, confirming that he could touch the physical seal even in his spirit form. However, it seemed to have no other use besides stamping.

Did Takemura create a seal that even spirits could access? After comparing it with other seals and official stamps, Yuri discovered that this was the only special seal in the office. Yuri's suspicions deepened; this meant that Takemura knew about spirits and was someone who would make preparations, making it increasingly likely that he had information about the hunter.

After wandering around the office for a while, the opportunity came; the substitute was called away. Yuri crouched down, using the desk to conceal his body, and quietly materialized.

The surface items weren't particularly noteworthy, but the contents of the cabinet were a different story. After a quick search, I found the work uniform almost identical to the one the octopus monster was wearing—this one, of course, was intact. The uniform emitted a faint, fading glow.

In the pocket of the garment, Yuri found some business cards with addresses written on them—unfortunately, still company addresses. However, along with the business cards were some bills, some pointing to locations near the company, and others to a more distant shopping street.

Hopefully, this means that Bamboo Village's home is there.

Yuri pulled out a business card and tried to restore the rest of the items to their original state. He wasn't very successful, but he hoped no one would notice—or if they did, they would assume that they or the police had rummaged through the place.

He then infused the business card with spiritual essence, and the ethereal Yuri left the office holding the business card.

If someone finds out, it will definitely look like a ghost story... no, it is a ghost story.

Fortunately, no one noticed this.

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 his second disastrous motorcycle journey, Yuri vowed to drift back.

Mingmei volunteered to take the business card and her wallet and ask around for directions to Bamboo Village, using the excuse that "I found this wallet and discovered this business card and some local bills inside. Does anyone know exactly where this person lives?"