Editing Internet Shrine Maiden Tsugumi-chan:Volume1 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 2===

Once night fell, Yahirodono Tsumugi, Betsuzaki Rainy, and Betsuzaki Yuhi got started.

“?”

One of them, Tsumugi, changed into her shrine maiden outfit in the detective agency’s nap room and stepped out into the building hallway to find a group of small children gathered by the wall. The boy from the Forbidden Hands incident was among them. Also, the gyaru sister was there, but she probably didn’t count as a “small child”.

“Hmm. I still have one barrier left over, so I’ll be careful and build up a combo.”

“That’ll take forever. Anyway, I pay a cost of 2 to activate my special which breaks through all your barriers with the fire element!!”

“Gyahh! Why did you have my exact weakness ready to go, Miss Gyaru!?”

“What are you doing?” nervously asked the shrine maiden from a distance and Rainy turned a pleased look her way after hitting the landlord’s (elementary school) daughter with a powerful attack.

“Having a trading card weak rare tournament. Everything but bottom-tier commons are banned☆”

…That sounded challenging in its own way. It had to take a lot of brainpower to do well.

They said goodbye to the landlord’s daughter and the other children, who had apparently been at cram school and were now waiting for their parents to get home from work. Then they regrouped with straitlaced Yuhi and left the building. The detective was with them this time.

“When did you make friends with those kids?”

“I don’t remember. I’ve just got this big sister aura that makes kids like me☆”

“…What is that look for? You’re not counting ''me'' there, are you?”

The short (but busty) shrine maiden glared at Rainy.

The detective would be driving them to the haunted Rending Pool.

“Come to think of it, is it okay to get your shrine maiden outfit wet? What about that thing tying your hair back that looks like a relay baton…um, whatever that traditional paper tube is called.”

“It’s called hosho paper. This is a city of sea and squalls, remember? It’s waterproofed, so there is nothing to worry about.”

They chatted in the cramped vehicle while Tsumugi pondered the still-unseen Malign Spirit.

But…

“The car’s only going to take you this far.”

Maybe it was classified as a kei truck or as a station wagon, but the detective stopped the small boxy vehicle at the curb. The small vehicle may have been easier to get around with the complex intertwining of land and water routes in New Sea City, but it felt like he had chosen this one intentionally. But just like with coffee, the girls didn’t know enough to say for certain.

The straitlaced sister frowned.

“Wait, aren’t we going to the leisure pool? It’s still pretty far from here.”

“We have the Malign Spirit’s Groan to worry about. I chose a manual vehicle instead of a self-driving one, but it’s still full of electronics. The GPS system is glitching already, so getting much closer would brick the entire thing.”

“Oh… Then we couldn’t use an electric scooter or aquamobile to reach the haunted pool either. We’ll just have to hoof it then.”

The online shrine maiden seemed accustomed to it. She silently exited the vehicle and the sisters hurried after her.

It was humid, but not all that hot. The city’s heat was likely being absorbed by the night breeze and the ocean waterways spread out like leaf veins.

The detective rolled down the driver’s side window and called out to them.

“Don’t die, okay?”

“You can count on it.”

In no time, the city was transforming into ''that sort of place''.

They didn’t want a police officer questioning them, so the three girls stayed in the shadows as they moved. As if some invisible force were luring them into the depths of the darkness.

The gyaru sister spoke up while chomping on a fish sausage as a late-night snack.

“Tch. And after I went to the trouble of getting a swimsuit when I heard we’d be fighting in a pool. I’d been interested in that leisure pool for a while. Too bad this weird stuff is happening there.”

It was hard to tell if she was clueless or trying to distract herself from her fear. Tsumugi felt no desire to respond in earnest. Instead, she looked at her trifold phone and…

“Why do you want to swim so badly? Doesn’t your family run in a seaside restaurant?”

“Sure does. On a super cheap coastal area full of small inns, BnBs, and souvenir shops. A stunning view completely manufactured by human hands! And since it’s home, it doesn’t work like a part-time job. If I’m just hanging out at home, I have to work for free with no time off. I hate the beach. Swim there and it damages your hair and skin! So what I want is to swim with everyone at a luxurious and fancy freshwater leisure pool!!”

Yuhi would of course live in the same home, but she only shrugged. Of course the responsible one didn’t have any real complaints. Stating your personal opinions was not guaranteed to get a response out of everyone.

“Lady Nine Tails> …Destroying a human body with water, hm?”

While the online shrine maiden messed with her phone, she saw a comment from a busty nine-tailed fox woman wearing an oiran-style kimono. Of course, that was only a 3D avatar.

The internet shrine’s chat page was constructed a lot like an online meeting room where a large number of people could enjoy pleasant conversation, but when speaking one-on-one, all the instruction windows left little room on the screen. But Tsumugi didn’t feel like unfolding the trifold phone into tablet mode right now.

The woman’s screen name was Lady Nine Tails.

She was one of the especially nasty occult freaks who hung out on the underground internet shrine.

“Lady Nine Tails> That is possible.”

“Other than using a metalworking machine that cuts it with ultra-high pressure water?”

“Lady Nine Tails> With ordinary free fall. It can easily happen from a large bridge or cliff. I won’t give any actual numbers because it isn’t a pleasant topic, but the medical world has a formula for calculating the odds of death based on body weight and fall distance. Quite precisely, I might add. Unlike in action movies when the hero jumps into a waterfall basin, a human will die if they hit the water after falling from a sufficient height. Generally, the impact knocks them out and they drown, but it is ultimately a matter of degree. Under the right conditions, you can even break bone.”

Was she operating a shortcut key, or was she fidgeting in front of her monitor? In the small square frame, Lady Nine Tails squished a paper lantern balance ball with her kimono butt.

“Lady Nine Tails> However, this is a water slide built to national safety standards. I can’t say I have ever heard of pieces being torn from a human body after hitting the water at that speed and angle. It almost sounds like a scientific explanation, but it isn’t really one. Be careful. True hauntings do not noticeably oppose science. These vague gaps are where the real thing lurks. Secretly and unnoticed.”

A fist-sized object emerged from a trash dump in the darkness and scurried between the gyaru sister’s legs. Rapidly. And furrily.

“Pweeeee!?”

Scared and shrieking, Rainy froze helplessly in place before realizing the creature that had vanished into a sidewalk flower bed was a hamster.

The online shrine maiden didn’t even look up from her phone. She was busy speaking with Lady Nine Tails.

“A-a hamster? Stray hams are a thing!?”

“Have you never paid any attention while walking around, Onee-chan? There are no natural wild animals on a collection of megafloats out in the ocean. Cats, rabbits, hamsters – we only have former pets and their offspring here.”

“That’s so adorable! Just one more reason to love New Sea City.”

“Lady Nine Tails> (By that logic, you can’t deny the possibility of giant crocodiles in the sewers.)”

“Onee-chan, it might not be so cute in the future. Without the ordinary food chain in place, they could end up rapidly multiplying.”

“Lady Nine Tails> You could say the same thing about the occult.”

“…”

While the friendly sisters chatted, the online shrine maiden remained silent.

With a population of a million and ten times that counting tourists, this was a large city, but it was only three years old. As a completely artificial structure with no history to it, it was a special environment that completely lacked any holy grounds such as Shinto shrines or Buddhist temples.

How would Malign Spirits grow and evolve in a twisted city with such thin spiritual defenses? There was no way to predict it because, even on a global scale, a place like this was unprecedented.

Mutations were possible.

Then the straitlaced sister made an exasperated comment.

“Yahirodono-san, you shouldn’t walk around with your eyes on your phone.”

“Nh.”

“Lady Nine Tails> She’s right, you know? Don’t die a stupid death before even reaching the actual haunted pool, Miss Manager.”

Nothing any of them said stopped Tsumugi from staring at her phone’s screen. She grabbed the gyaru sister’s short-sleeve sailor shirt with her other hand and tugged it a few times.

“What, you want me to guide you? Th-that’s so cute! You act like you don’t care about me, but you trust me this completely!?”

“(Huh? Is this cute creature threatening my position as the little sister?)”

Meanwhile, they arrived at the leisure pool in question.

This was the haunted Rending Pool.

The online shrine maiden finally looked up from her phone.

“I’m hanging up.”

“Lady Nine Tails> Fine. Phones aren’t well suited for legit haunted locations anyway. Come back alive. I want to hear about this real haunting from my position of safety. I want to hear all about it.”

The back employee entrance was unlocked. Probably courtesy of the client. The chief guard. Shy Tsumugi greatly appreciated this kind of support that didn’t require direct contact.

The gyaru sister, who tried to get as much direct contact as she could get, moved right up against the online shrine maiden.

Apparently she was afraid.

“Ughhh. The atmosphere here is totally different. Maybe cause I already know someone died here.”

Tsumugi had just one warning for the girl who insisted on holding hands with her.

“I need to use my hands, so if you’re afraid, stay behind me.”

“D-d-d-d-don’t be absurd! You’re so little, so I need to protect you! I’m not afraid and I have a courageous heart, so my job is to stay up front as the tank!!”

“Move. Are you trying to get us all killed? Staying in front of me just gets in my way.”

They entered the facility through the back, but they didn’t see the pool itself.

The gyaru sister lamented (while trembling).

“One half of the facility is a huge commercial complex: a restaurant, a sauna, a sporting goods store full of swimsuits – they have tons of stuff there. Oh, I’m so jealous. I wish our restaurant could have anything even half that nice.”

“?”

“Wouldn’t passing through there be the quickest way to the pool? See, look. It’s unlocked.”

No, that wasn’t why the online shrine maiden had frowned.

But Rainy was right, so the trio followed that path.

The interior was filled with sweltering heat. The air conditioning inside may have been off because it was actually cooler outside. The air felt like being in a packed train or a bath.

Which created the illusion of human body heat.

Like they were being slowly crushed by some giant invisible bodily organ.

As they navigated the dark passageway with some help from their phones’ LED lights, a sudden light flashed from the wall.

“Dwabh!!? O-oh, it’s just a vending machine? My poor heart…”

“Onee-chan. It saves energy by only lighting up when someone is nearby.”

“Can’t breathe,” mumbled Tsumugi.

Because the terrified gyaru sister was holding her tight and pulling her head into her chest.

This place was supposed to already be haunted, but the vending machine was still running. The effects of the Groan must have been uneven, maybe due to he great size of the facility when the outdoor pool was included.

Also, a lot of paranormal phenomena could actually be reproduced using technology. Like strange noises coming from an empty room in the dead of night, a piano playing on its own, or a portrait’s eyes lighting up.

“A-anything catch your attention, Mugikko?”

“This,” said the online shrine maiden, pointing to the floor.

At a round mark about 8cm across. Like the stain left after a clear liquid dried.

Yuhi tilted her head.

“There’s a vending machine right here, so someone probably just dropped their drink and picked it up.”

“The size doesn’t match commercial drink cans and bottles. I can’t be certain, but I think it was a flower vase. Maybe they spilled some water when taking it away, but I detect a faint chrysanthemum scent.”

A vase on the floor or ground. Had a guard or someone taken it away before the online shrine maiden arrived because it would look bad? That sounded plausible, but hadn’t the young woman been torn apart and killed in the pool? So why had the vase been left here?

Marks left by a dried liquid had left several lines on the floor. It must have dripped from somewhere. The online shrine maiden followed the dried stains with her eyes and found they led to a small shared office next to the vending machine. Most likely, something had oozed out from the gap below the frosted glass doo-



:::'''Kabam!!!



“Eek!?”

It wasn’t the gyaru sister this time. The straitlaced sister suppressed a shriek.

A human hand print appeared on the shared office door’s frosted glass. Did it come from the other side, inside the office? None of them dared move for a bit. They watched as they heard a sound like a finger scraping at the surface of some breath-fogged glass. Lines slowly formed in the glass. No, those were words being written out.

“Let………………me…………………out…………”

And then nothing.

One second. Two. Three.

“…”

“Hweh? Wait, you’re actually opening the door!?”

Ignoring Rainy’s attempts to physically stop her, Tsumugi grabbed the knob and threw the door open.

The room was empty.

The two meter space was completely deserted. The enclosed space must have made the air as damp as human breath, which slowly wafted out toward them. The straitlaced sister’s cheeks tensed.

“No way. Why isn’t there anyone in there? Then how do you explain the writing we just saw?”

“Th-there’s some color on the floor. Like it was peeled away.”

The gyaru sister, who was fearfully clinging to Tsumugi from the side, was right.

:''Ou……ends……ea

It was nearly illegible, but there was some writing in a blocky bluish typeface meant for children.

There was more of interest too. The online shrine maiden looked at her palm and then approached the frosted glass.

(It’s really low down? And this hand is so small. Which would mean…)

“Y-Yahi-Yahirodono-san, that’s enough in here. I mean, we’re here for the pool! There’s no need to make any detours. Right?”

The straitlaced sister was rushing her more than the gyaru sister.

But these things tended to catch the eye when you least wanted to find them.

“Salt,” muttered the online shrine maiden with a soft sigh.

It was below a bench by the wall, where it was meant to go unnoticed.

A small plate had two or three tablespoons of salt piled up on it.

Tsumugi had borrowed the oil lighter which could actually defeat a spirit, so she doubted this would accomplish much of anything. For one thing, salt only worked as a celebratory talisman when it had been purified first. There were many different ways of using it, so it wouldn’t necessarily be effective if you ''only'' set it out without the necessary knowledge.

But…

“Th-there’s salt over here too.”

“Onee-chan. It’s everywhere, isn’t it? I’m seeing another pile each time we turn a corner.”

…If the salt didn’t accomplish much of anything, then was the excessive amount of it a sign of just how anxious the person placing it out had been?

“Looks like it’s been here a while.”

“Wait, you can tell, shrine maiden?”

“It comes with the job.” The online shrine maiden pointed here and there. “Do you see how some of the salt looks brand new and some of it has begun to dissolve after its surface absorbed moisture from the air? From the look of it, the oldest ones were set out more than a month ago.”

The straitlaced sister frowned.

“Huh? But that would mean they were putting out salt before the deadly pool accident even happened.”

“…”

Then what had they been so afraid of that they began putting out all this salt?

The gyaru sister considered it for a bit.

“Wh-why did a Malign Spirit appear in the leisure pool to begin with? Do you think the managers would know?”

And it would have to be something traumatic.

They continued through the commercial complex, using the emergency exit lights to guide them. And Tsumugi grabbed the doorknob leading back outside.

The door clanked and resisted her attempt, so she frowned.

“It won’t open?”

Next to the door was a keypad with the numbers 0-9. One of the silver latch types seen on the doors leading to a train station office. Was this door locked on the inside meant to protect the routes leading to the courtyard-like outdoor pool after hours?

The buttons were gray and not lit up, but there were enter and cancel buttons in addition to the numbers. That suggested it was an electrical device, but they had already seen the earlier vending machine working.

Maybe it was wrong to rely on the Malign Spirit’s Groan here.

The chief guard may have left a different door unlocked, but it was a large facility. Finding the right door with no hints or signs would be difficult.

So what now?

A sudden click rang through the darkness. The straitlaced sister had unlocked the door.

“Wh-wh-what are you doing, my sister? How did you know the code!?”

“The commonly used numbers are more worn and the spring feels looser when pressing the button.”

“So what?”

“Onee-chan, is it really that confusing? The giant integrated resort to the west apparently has gamblers who can accurately determine the rotation speed and biases of the slots and roulettes just by listening to them turn.” Yuhi opened the stainless steel door. “Honestly, didn’t you know I visit the TV station a lot?”

“Th-that doesn’t explain anything…I think?”

“It does.”

The middle schooler’s firm reply forced the high school online shrine maiden to back down. She used the gyaru sister as a shield. In wharf roach mode. Now, did Yuhi’s skill come from practice with props and such, or was it based on knowledge found in screenplays?

They exited the building once more.

They climbed a gentle slope meant for wheelchairs to reach the large open pool reflecting the stars in the sky above.

The temperature seemed to have dropped by a few degrees. Was that…due to the pool’s water?

Or was this chill a more spiritual thing?

Rainy looked puzzled.

“They have something laid out here too… The poolside looks all cluttered.”

“Look, Onee-chan. That looks like a giant sign.”

“It says the leisure pool itself is closed. They probably plan to use this chance to complete all the maintenance they can.”

The online shrine maiden quietly added that making the best of a bad situation like that wasn’t uncommon.

Blue tarps, paint cans, large reels of power cables. It got in the way and threatened to trip them in the dark, but there were at least some bonbori-shaped construction lights set up here and there. The lights being on may have been more of the chief guard’s remote assistance.

A leisure pool seemed like it would have large lamps or gaudy decorative lights, but those things were commonly switched off during emergency closures.

(With this and the vase, I really wish our supposed helper would stop partially hiding the evidence.)

Overall, the pool formed a large weaving loop, like a race circuit. Some parts were quite wide, but the bends were only a few meters across. There were also diving boards and water slides on either side of the distorted loop.

Was that the deadly slide?

New Sea City must have had some kind of safety standards because there were tall lifeguard stands and warning speakers set up at a set interval along the winding leisure pool. …But those standards hadn’t been enough to prevent a paranormal death.

The night breeze was blowing the pool water, producing quiet splashing sounds in the dark.

Rainy frowned.

“Hm?”

“What is it?”

“Well…maybe I’m being influenced by the salt we saw before. Because it can’t be real.”

“Stop dragging it out and say what you mean.”

“It’s just…does the air smell kind of salty to anyone else? ''Like rotting seawater''?”

It wasn’t much compared to a bloody fallen warrior or countless hands emerging from a tunnel wall, but it was still an impossible phenomenon. Needless to say, the hundreds of tons of water filling the pool was freshwater disinfected with chlorine.

Tsumugi pulled her phone from her shrine maiden sleeve.

Not even the initial lock screen would appear. Only a dead black screen stared back at her.

She detected a quiet but unstable high-pitched ringing in her ear.

The Groan.

“It’s here.”