Tokyo Psychic

Anhe Mao shook his head. "I don't know. They've probably run off somewhere to talk about the Impression Space again, or maybe they've just started exploring it directly."

"I see......"

Jingqin Rencai nodded, looking quite bewildered. "What will Suizhi's impression space be like?"

She took out her phone and searched for the weather forecast.

The weather forecast says there will be two consecutive weeks of plum rains.

So she guessed.

Akira Kurusu must have already ventured deep into a very hot and humid place, right?

It might be very dark there, and it might take a lot of effort to complete the exploration.

If I see Akira Kurishi coming back looking exhausted, I must give him a good encouragement!

Jing Qinren secretly cheered herself up. No, as a good friend, shouldn't she give him a massage?

She remembered that the girls in the sports club would often help their tired friends relax their muscles after training.

252. Encounter with "Congyu" (Part 2)

Dusk has fallen.

Like a campfire without firewood.

Ashes, still glowing with the light of fire, were scattered like stars in the desolate night.

Plug in the induction cooker and boil water to make tea.

Akira Laiqi sat on the steps of the courtyard, holding a ceramic cup filled with hot tea.

Wisps of grayish-white steam rose from the cup, drifting and swaying, bringing a bittersweet aroma.

In the distance, the chirping of birds can be faintly heard from the mountains and forests, and beyond the mountains lies the brightly lit town of Suizhi.

After an afternoon of visits and probing, Lai Xixiao roughly deduced the truth behind the old people's aversion to her from the few words they uttered with apprehension and frustration.

Long ago, Suizhi was a small town shrouded in the deep mountains filled with "evil spirits," and the local residents did indeed worship at a shrine.

This is the present-day Suiori Shrine.

The shrine enshrines the divine sword named "Murasame," and it was once a place of great religious activity.

People worship "Congyu," believing that the deity residing within it can vanquish all evil spirits and filth.

The Asabu family, who live in the shrine, select successive "sword bearers" to protect the town's residents.

Until one day...

The shadowy evil spirits no longer haunted those deep mountains.

Century after century has passed.

Gradually, the younger residents stopped hearing the legends about Congyu.

As Suizhi has integrated into modern society, hot spring tourism has become the main source of profit for the local area.

The rapidly changing network environment in recent years has had a tremendous impact on Suizhi's beliefs.

The Asabu family, who once lived in the shrine, also encountered various social problems, eventually losing their ancestral heritage and leaving the shrine on the mountain.

As a result, Suiori Shrine fell into obscurity and decline at an extremely rapid pace, until it was completely abandoned.

During this time, there were always people who wanted to take over this idle land, such as demolishing the shrine and using the hot springs on the mountain to build a new hot spring hotel.

Without exception, these businessmen or companies from other places suffered what can only be described as cruel "karmic retribution".

I don't know who first uttered the words "demon sword".

The matter seemed to have been settled.

The residents of Suiori changed their attitude from pity to disgust towards the person who took over the shrine.

Ren Amamiya's parents had certainly heard about this.

Both of them had completed their university studies in other cities before returning to their hometowns, and they didn't care about such feudal superstitions at all.

He even considered buying the shrine cheaply, then deciphering the legend of the "demon sword" and making a fortune.

certainly......

Everything unfolded exactly as Akira Kurusu had learned after his time travel.

The legend of the "Demon Blade" continues.

The phantom thief put down his teacup.

Fortunately, the memories from beyond time had taught him how to properly gain Cong Yu's trust and how to defuse those terrible rumors.

Back in the bedroom, you can see Izare Nina playing Street Fighter with Anwa Subaru.

Kotone Shiomi was very curious about the "unruly power" of Mutsuka Wakaba, so she kept pestering her to ask about Metath.

Toyokawa Shoko only found their noise bothersome, so she sat alone in a corner, burying herself in writing music.

Akira Kurusu closed the paper door, sat opposite Shoko Toyokawa for a while in the air conditioning, then went to the refrigerator, grabbed a can of Dr Pepper, and headed toward the other paper door.

"Lian, where are we going?"

"Let's go see the main hall of the shrine."

"It's late, be careful of mosquitoes," Toyokawa Shoko said, taking a bottle of mosquito repellent from her bag that looked expensive just by looking at the packaging and handing it to Kurusu Akira.

The phantom thief accepted Toyokawa Shoko's offer and walked into the brightly lit corridor.

It might really rain.

Several fat moths huddled inside the lampshade overhead.

If celery pods saw them, they would probably be so frightened that their fur would stand on end.

Thinking this, Lai Qixiao took out her phone and took a picture of the lampshade.

[Master of Schemes: Nina, I have a surprise for you.]

[Celery Seeds: What?]

(The master of the stratagem uploaded a picture.)

[Master of the Strategist: Surprised enough?]

The girl on the other side of the screen seemed to have passed away, and did not respond for a long time.

It wasn't until Akira Kurusu put her phone back in her pocket and passed by the restroom that she finally understood.

The phone screen then lit up again.

[Jingqinrencai: What did you just post?]

[Celery and Vegetable Soup: I have amnesia.]

[Jingqinrencai: ...If you dare post this again, I'll break off all ties with you!]

It's clear that this girl is on the verge of going berserk.

Akira Kurusu then gave up on the idea of ​​continuing to tease her.

Tap your finger on the screen to find the latest weather forecast.

The sign clearly read "Cloudy," but when I touched the railing with my left hand, I felt a slightly cool, damp sensation.

My thoughts drifted to that encounter outside of time.

.....

The world was completely enveloped in the pitch-black night. There were no stars or moon in the sky, and sometimes some random raindrops would fall. There were shadowy figures, whether they were thick clouds, mountain shadows, or tree shadows. The darkness quietly parted in front of Akira, and then quickly closed in behind him. Only the puddles in the gravel were bright.

The palace was in ruins.

The crumbling walls and overgrown weeds, with vines and spiderwebs intricately weaving the marks of time.

A young man, filled with doubt and confusion, stumbled into this world that had been silent for a hundred years.

Although it is described as a "world", it is very small, so small that it can only contain the past and present lives of a girl.

But it can also become very vast, vast enough to bear the faith and worship of the residents of Suizhi Town for hundreds of years.

"Boss, something's a bit scary up ahead!" Morgana shouted from behind the phantom thief.

Akira Kurusu turned around. This guy was clearly an apostle of the Velvet Room, but he was even more timid than Ann Takamaki.

Speaking of which... what about Ann Takamaki?

The phantom thief looked back and saw that Ann Takamaki and Futaba Sakura were about to escape back to the side hall.

"Looks like my courage still needs some work," the phantom thief pushed up his glasses, then looked at Yusuke Kitagawa and Ryuji Sakamoto beside him. "As expected, it's still you two..."

"Hi—ho~!"

Suddenly, a voice, deliberately feigning strangeness, came from beside me.

Kitagawa Yusuke's shoulder jerked suddenly, and he took a step back, trembling, to shield Sakamoto Ryuji in front of him.

Ryuji Sakamoto turned pale and turned around to shield Yusuke Kitagawa in front of him.

As the two of them went back and forth, they found themselves getting further and further away from Akira Kurashiki.

Akira Kurusu swallowed her words, looking at Haru Okumura, who was playing a prank, and Makoto Niijima, who was pretending to be calm.

"It seems we'll have to go in together."

Upon hearing this, even Makoto Niijima couldn't help but ask Akira Kurusu, "There might really be ghosts in there..."

"What's there to be afraid of? We are Personas." The phantom thief muttered to himself. "Even if it really is the legendary 'Demon Sword,' can it be more terrifying than the hunters at the bottom of the Impression Space?"

"Then I'd rather go and hunt down ten hunters."

After a commotion, only Akira Kurusu was left walking into the ruins.

In fact, Haru Okumura and Makoto Niijima had already decided to stay with him to the end.

But the phantom thief still considerately told them to go back and rest as well.

After all, leaving two girls dressed lightly in the summer to be bitten by mosquitoes in the ruins is still too cruel...

Let me tell you the truth.

Actually, Akira Kurusu didn't want to suddenly touch a few mosquito bites while touching someone at night, and then get up to find anti-itch cream amidst the other person's complaints.

As we ventured deeper into the abandoned and dilapidated main hall, the night grew increasingly dark.

The phantom thief squeezed the mosquito repellent around him, but the effect was minimal. He wished he could immediately use the "Personality Summoner" to shoot Arsène Lupin at his own forehead and summon the power of the curse to kill all the mosquitoes within a fifty-meter radius.

But then again...

I forgot my umbrella when I went out, and this rain came so suddenly.

In the darkness, fine strands of water lashed haphazardly against my body, creating an indescribable dampness and stuffiness.

Akira Kurusu looked down at her phone.

I just saw the "gymnastics practice video" sent by Fang Zexia.

I finally managed to download it despite the terrible internet connection in the deep mountains, but now when I open it, all I see is a black and white mess of noise.

It's a ghost...

The phrase "I saw a ghost" here is, of course, interpreted literally.

With the keen senses of a mind thief, he naturally caught the fleeting phantom on the noisy phone screen.

Akira Kurusu doesn't believe in illusions.

He was certain he had seen a shadow.

But his intuition as a phantom thief told him, "There are no enemies around you. There are no living beings either."

Therefore, it can be confirmed.

The legend of the "Demon Blade" is true.

Akira Kurusu reached into his pocket with his right hand and grasped the Persona Summoner.

Ghosts... this is truly the first time he's encountered an enemy like this in reality.