Internet Shrine Maiden Tsugumi-chan:Volume1 Chapter5

Chapter 5: Hasshaku-sama @ Waterfront TV

Part 1

According to the phone propped up in the hermit crab acrylic charger stand, it was 10 at night.

Inside the detective agency’s nap room.

The online shrine maiden was seated on the bed in her underwear with her arms around her raised knees.

Her long black hair spilled down past her cheeks to her shoulders.

The girl was staring at the memos attached to the back of the electric curtain.

“Hibashi-sama”

“Spotted on New Sea City” “Confirmed!”

“Defeat the source to revive religious corporation status” “And receive industry acceptance” “First step toward shrine’s restoration!!”

It was no longer a matter of “surely”, “probably”, or “most likely”.

She was clearly making progress.

After all, she had actually encountered her.

Hibashi-sama.

The only known Quintuple Dread Star. That ultimate Malign Spirit was rumored to be behind every fire-involved disaster, from the Honnouji Incident to the Great Kantou Earthquake. Looking just at the officially confirmed numbers, she had taken over ten thousand lives.

She was the cause of the fire that burned down Kagebarai Tanebi Shrine, where Yahirodono Tsumugi had worked.

It was her.

Now that she had been found, all that remained was to defeat that woman in burial clothes.

That was why Tsumugi had come to New Sea City in the first place.

But…

“How?”

In the office on the other side of the wall.

The space smelled of cheap coffee. Maybe it still needed to be broken in or maybe this was just what you got with a cheap one, but the air conditioner bought at the bargain price of 19,800 yen wasn’t very effective.

Hisame Kouga faced his laptop on the table.

He was using a free talk app to speak with a current police detective who worked for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department over 500 kilometers away.

Ganou Gouwan. The man was Kouga’s former colleague.

“I’ve uploaded the progress report to the usual server. You decrypt it yourself. It will automatically delete after you download it once, so be careful.”

“Thanks again.”

“Stop. Do you have any idea how many times you saved my ass? Whenever the bullets started flying, you would take the lead while I stayed in the back providing covering fire.”

“I was just showing off. What you mean is I was always making a mess of things and causing you trouble, right?”

“Maybe so, but without you we never would have solved that kidnapping case or that robbery case. You’ll save anyone as long as they’re still alive, right? The chief was always yelling at us both, saying your excessive support of the victims would only get us killed, but there were hostages who wouldn’t have survived if you hadn’t been so bold. …Besides, you even played matchmaker and introduced me to the prettiest woman in the world. I’m thankful. If my wife hears I didn’t repay my debt to you, she’d never speak to me again!!”

He was a useful partner in a number of ways because he drew a very simple line dividing enemy from ally.

As the private detective downloaded the file on autopilot, he used his spare mental resources on something else.

He found himself thinking.

Hibashi-sama was ultimately a ritual that followed a set process.

That meant the Malign Spirit would not act on her own.

During the Vanishing Canal case, the entire yakuza group had been burned to death because their estate’s nameplate had been removed.

And since the Quintuple Dread Star had made an appearance…some human villain must have carried out the ritual.

“So…it eventually comes down to revenge, huh?”

“It’s understandable.”

“…Will this really act as a shortcut to restoring the burned-down shrine, though?”

“Don’t ask me. But if the shrine was destroyed by the Malign Spirit, it’s reputation can never be restored unless the survivor slays the Malign Spirit herself. That’s what the girl’s job is, right? So if she wants to truly regain people’s trust and restore the shrine, she’s just gotta do it. Even if she’s up against Hibashi-sama.”

The detective sighed.

He had once dreamed of a future where she would calm down after restoring the shrine…

He looked up at the ceiling from his chair.

“This isn’t going the way I’d hoped.”

“She’s not a pet robot. Being unpredictable is a lot more human and cute, don’t you think?”

Ganou Gouwan was a muscular gorilla of a man, but he was powerless with his wife who was two heads shorter than him. Fortunately he seemed as madly in love with her as ever and it sounded like he was still enjoying his married life.

“Also, you need her since you have no spiritual sensitivity at all. You haven’t just been introducing her to the Malign Spirit cases you think she’ll like. You told her what she needed to restore the shrine’s religious corporation status and you taught her everything she needed to know to blend into ordinary society after spending too much time living at the shrine. That was all payment up front so she would help you with that one case eventually, right?”

“Even so. If she could peacefully restore the shrine, I had planned to just watch on and not interfere. There are other ways of making up for my lack of a spiritual sensitivity.”

“Liar. It’s not that easy. There might be one or two in a classroom who can vaguely ‘see’, ‘feel’, or ‘know’ things, but that’s nowhere near the level needed for a shrine maiden who physically battles them and exorcises them. The oil lighter you got in that case isn’t all powerful. The other girls who’ve been helping out are only still alive because she’s been looking after them, right? Including using herself as a shield. Her talent is on another level.”

The detective worked his laptop to extract the downloaded compressed file.

The National Diet Building, the Prime Minister’s Residence, the Cabinet Office… When a cabinet meeting was too high risk to be held in even those important buildings, a government facility with far greater security than any of those publicly-recognized buildings had been created in secret. The Cabinet Dark Room. The flames and death that had erupted within there had caused too much chaos for anyone to stop and had ultimately brought all ordinary Diet activities to a complete halt for more than 40 days.

The title of the file displayed on the screen read as follows:

Progress Report Concerning National Top Priority Case #015: The Nagatacho Leaders Case

Part 2

Yahirodono Tsumugi tilted her head.

It was lunchtime and she had her lunch of a sweet bread and milk laid out on her desk while using her trifold phone to test and debug the online shrine’s latest feature – yes, she was finally implementing a digital Hundred Times Prayer! While she did this, the gyaru sister spoke to her.

“The TV station?”

“Right. Waterfront TV. My sister goes there a lot and they’ve asked for some help.”

…Come to think of it, hadn’t the gyaru sister brought up the TV station a fair amount in conversation? Tsumugi had never asked further about it, though.

“I-is Yuhi-san actually an entertainer? Like a child actor or an idol?”

“That straitlaced sister? As if! She’s only interested in the backstage stuff, like props and lighting.”

Rainy laughed bitterly.

“Yuhi’s a bookworm who works in her school library. Her friends in the pop music and drama clubs will ask her to write for them, so she often meets with someone at the TV station. Oh, you know how there’s a TV camera at school cultural festivals around here, right?”

“Hm? I’m not sure I follow.”

“Just listen. It’ll make sense. If the eager band or drama group actually met with the TV station, they’d refuse to compromise on anything and the talks would get nowhere. So the TV station prefers someone who’s involved in it, but is still a bit of an outsider to the group. That makes a good go-between. In other words, it’s to make the grownups happy.”

“Huh, so that’s how it works.”

“Anyway, TV stations are full of high-tech equipment, but for some reason there’s no end to ghost stories there.”

But these weren’t horror-based rumors like a ghost appearing appearing in the studio at the same time every night, or people dying shortly after using a green room with an unlucky number like 4 or 9. Instead…

“Yes… A single camera can cost tens of millions in that industry, so they must have equipment worth more than a hundred million. It would be a big deal if a Malign Spirit appeared and smashed up all their delicate equipment. And it would be even worse if it happened during a live broadcast.”

And if something did happen, no one would believe them if they wrote in their report that the live broadcast went down because of a haunting. So if a Malign Spirit caused trouble, it would be staff members who were blamed and punished for it. The grownups would want to be cautious.

“Ugh. Well anyway, some producer or director or something Yuhi knows wanted some help. Doesn’t this sound like the kind of thing you’d like, Mugikko?”

“It’s not that I like Malign Spirits.”

Quite the opposite.

Hibashi-sama.

She strongly believed she existed so she could exorcise and eliminate that woman.

(I’m more curious why this producer or whoever thought going to Yuhi-san would get them in touch with a pro like me. The mass media really is terrifying.)

“Interested?”

“I suppose.”

That detective was usually her contact for jobs like these…but she was curious how her information had reached the TV station. Accepting the job wasn’t a bad way of doing some poking around in that regard.

(And the detective seems busy with that Nagatacho Leaders Case, or whatever.)

Once school was out, the two of them left their high school and met up with middle schooler Betsuzaki Yuhi. The straitlaced sister led them to a “station” they didn’t normally use. It was an open space resembling a small (and of course artificial) viewing platform.

Sitting on it was a flying vehicle resembling a two or three meter multirotor drone with the seats and safety bars of a thrill ride forcibly attached. Two seats each were attached to the left and right sides of the boxy body facing outwards, so it must have been meant for four passengers.

“A-a shuttle drone?” The online shrine maiden looked a bit nervous. “Wow. Aren’t these so popular they’re nearly impossible to hire even with the apps?”

“The TV station is on good terms with the transportation company for busses and taxis. When it’s related to a job, they get priority for toys like this.”

Yuhi made it all sound normal for her. Apparently she really did frequently visit the TV station.

The seats seemed even less reliable than a cafe stool. There were areas to rest your butt and back, but your legs dangled down just like on a roller coaster.

The nervous online shrine maiden sat in one of the artificial leather seats and a U-shape safety bar lowered in front of her. It fastened itself at her shoulders and belly to hold her in place.

“Phew. …N-no warning. They must not have a height requirement like at an amusement park.”

“(Hey, Onee-chan. Yahirodono-san is so relieved she’s completely let her guard down.)”

“(Leave her be, sister. But wow. Look at those huge and glorious boobs resting on top of the safety bar.)”

The gyaru sister took the seat next to her and the straitlaced sister took one on the opposite side of the drone. Tsumugi tried to look to the sisters as they said something on a video call with their phones, but the safety bar was in the way.

Yes, it was holding her in place, so she couldn’t move. What was going to happen now!?

“H-h-h-how do we input our destination?”

“It syncs with the map app on your phone after you stick it in the holder. So you don’t have to do anything else.”

Her feet left the ground.

As she broke free of gravity, she felt the same strange floating feeling as when using an elevator in a skyscraper.

No one was facing forward. All the seats were pointing to one side or the other.

“Oh, oh, ohhhhh, ohhh…”

She wasn’t used to facing a different direction from the direction of movement. She gripped the U-shaped safety bar’s side cars in her hands to try and stay balanced. She knew it didn’t actually accomplish anything, but the instinct was hard to shake.

The gyaru sister said something in the neighboring seat.

However, the spinning rotors were so loud Tsumugi could only hear her through the wireless earphones linked to her phone.

“Mugikko, Mugikko? I know how you feel, but you should really place your hands in your lap.”

“Wh-why?”

“Your skirt.”

“!?”

The online shrine maiden’s face went red and she quickly adjusted the position of her hands.

They should have told her sooner the classic mistake at an amusement park’s free fall ride was an issue here!!

The drone weaved rapidly between skyscrapers, but the flight itself was stable. Just like a delivery drone, the program control carried them to the designated destination.

“I’m glad, Yahirodono-san,” said the straitlaced sister as they flew through the sky.

“?”

“That you didn’t let what happened before keep you down.”

“…Yes.”

Rainy appeared to be frantically sending a comment to Yuhi’s phone, but Tsumugi chose not to read it.

She had been utterly defeated.

Worse, her friends had seen it happen.

She was overcome by burning fury and humiliation…she thought. She normally would be. But her usual shyness kept her from showing it.

Hibashi-sama was the only known Quintuple Dread Star.

She was literally on another level.

What would Tsumugi do next time they met?

Instead of the unnecessary elements of shame or ferocity, she only felt a sweat born from a place much closer to the level of instinct.

Fear.

An emotion so pure it could overcome even the drive for vengeance. An uncontrollable factor.

She was here in New Sea City.

If Tsumugi encountered her and screwed it up, she wouldn’t be the only one to die.

She couldn’t go into this without a plan.

(I need to find something – some kind of trump card. I can’t let these people die.)

“…”

They arrived at their destination.

The Waterfront TV office building. Tsumugi had expected something high-tech, but she actually recognized it. It was the same building as the shopping mall the gyaru sister had taken her to for apron shopping.

However, the entrance and exit were located in an entirely different place from the commercial area.

For the offices, you entered through two layers of large automatic doors with guards posted to reach a spacious lobby containing a reception counter and a long row of machines much like train station ticket gates. There were more then ten of them lined up. However, there didn’t seem to be any x-ray bag scanners or metal detectors. Beyond, Tsumugi could see an elevator hall and a meeting space that resembled a fashionable cafe.

Rainy was delighted.

“Huh, so this is Waterfront TV. I’ve never been in this entrance.”

“I’m surprised. I expected you to be checking under the sofas for celebrities.”

“What? Mugikko, is TV really that great when streaming video exists?” Rainy looked puzzled. “I mean, TV and online videos both have their issues. Come to think of it, Rie was mad about being approached on the street for a TV interview and the camera’s red recording LED was already on before they got her permission.”

Apparently the gyaru sister didn’t distinguish much between TV and online video.

So maybe she would chase after an amateur if they had enough views or followers.

(Wait, is that what she’s doing with me?)

“But if you really want me to, internet shrine maiden, I guess I can scan for wireless LANs and note down the names of the mobile routers. I can look into it more carefully later, but just knowing the name of a celebrity’s mobile router could help tail them since it only shows up if you’re near them.”

“Stop that. It sounds super criminal. And definitely don’t make it sound like it was my idea.”

The gyaru sister wasn’t listening.

She stretched her arm out away from her with her folding smartphone in hand.

She was starting something. Looking troubled, Tsumugi asked her about it.

“Wh-what’s this? A new kind of oracle???”

“I always take a selfie when I visit a new place. C’mere, Mugikko, Yuhi. Scooch in next to me. Hm, it’s hard to fit all three of us in the frame. We’ll have to get our faces in right next to each other!”

“There’s a mall in the building, Onee-chan. Why not buy a selfie stick?”

“Get in the habit of buying phone accessories like that and you end up with a ton of them just like plastic umbrellas. Okay, get ready! Time to smooch the shrine maiden!”

Was this gyaru going straight for her cheek!? The online shrine maiden jumped straight up and somehow managed to avoid it just as Rainy pressed the take picture icon on her camera app.

Rainy grinned down at the small screen.

“Just as planned: I got a great action shot. Hwa ha ha. Check this out, Mugikko. You can almost see these huge boobs jiggling in the photo!”

“H-how humiliating… I thought this was about visiting a new place.”

Also, weren’t they here for a job related to Malign Spirits? With a sigh of exasperation, the online shrine maiden followed the flow of the crowd past the reception desk. One of the device’s resembling a train station ticket gate swiftly reacted.

Ding ding!!

“Nyuwah!?”

“What are you doing, Yahirodono-san!? You can’t get in without a pass!!”

The straitlaced sister ran over to the girl panicking after the plastic panels closed in front of her. The receptionist must have recognized her because she had been given some guest passes you wore around the neck.

Even past the ticket gate(?), they still weren’t truly “inside”.

The TV station’s actual work all happened after taking an elevator. And there appeared to be checkpoints here and there. The online shrine maiden and Rainy were instead shown to the meeting space that resembled a fashionable cafe. As if to say outside guests were allowed no further.

(W-well, they aren’t going to trust us right away.)

As much as the place resembled a fashionable cafe, it was decorated with posters and life-size cardboard cutouts for the station’s programs. They appeared to be pushing a psychic known as Divine Mother Glitter at the moment. She looked like the stereotypical gaudy spiritualist witch. The 80-inch LCD monitor on the wall showed a woman of indeterminate age in a gaudy dress shouting about how she could manipulate your fortune and that you would be unlucky if you combined this color and that color in your outfit.

“The vending machines use paper cups. Wow, the coffee looks really fancy.”

The gyaru sister turned her rear on the monitor and ignored the shrill voice altogether. Apparently she wasn’t interested. She look all around the meeting space and finally focused on the magazine rack.

“Paper magazines? They still make TV magazines? I thought these had gone extinct ages ago.”

“C’mon, Onee-chan…”

“Ooh, now this is good. Check it out: it’s this week’s Java Sparrow☆”

“Wait, keeping that kind of tabloid in a TV station feels like a bad idea to me!!”

The straitlaced sister bristled as she ignored the fancy baked goods for guests and instead pulled out one of her own fish sausages.

“Is the station sent a copy of every issue that covers one of their shows?” asked Tsumugi just to have something to add to the conversation.

But the gyaru sister said something else with the tabloid in hand.

“Well, I don’t like the idea of having fun at someone else’s expense in the middle of the day like this. Besides, we have three girls at this table. We can find a healthier and more hopeful topic of discussion! So it’s time for a girl’s party!”

“A girl’s party?”

It wasn’t that Tsumugi didn’t know what that meant.

She just didn’t know why Rainy would bring it up now, but that didn’t seem to get through to the gyaru sister and her beaming smile. Not even a little bit.

“What do you do at a girl’s party? Talk about love of course! Okay, Mugikko, what kind of person do you want to target with your love in the distant future? Tell us everything, you secretive shrine maiden!! C’mon!”

The straitlaced sister frowned too.

The online shrine maiden was silently relieved at having the majority on her side. Extremely relieved.

“Onee-chan, do you really need to ask that quivering little creature a question like that?”

“Good point. She is always with Big Brother Detective Kouga-san, so he’s gotta be at the top of her list.”

“W-w-w-wait, why, why would you bring him up here!?”

Tsumugi flailed her hands around as if trying to erase something.

…Yuhi had meant that romance would be forbidden for a shrine’s pure shrine maiden, but that super simple escape route went right over her head. Instead she only tried to shut down the conversation so forcefully it only made Rainy more suspicious.

“That’s enough about me! I’m passing the baton to you!”

“Ehh, you’re dragging me into this?”

The straitlaced sister recoiled a bit while seated in her chair, but she eventually began talking. As casually as if she were discussing what was left in the fridge.

“Well, I’d like someone who can make up for what I don’t have. Someone who’s cheerful, keeps up on all the latest trends, sociable, active, and you could talk with them for hours without getting bored.”

“Hm?” The online shrine maiden tilted her head. Weren’t they talking about love? But those traits seemed to perfectly fit the gyaru inconsiderately cackling as she read through the tabloid in the other seat. Was this something subconscious at work?

Tsumugi turned her gaze to the last person at the table.

“Look up from the magazine. You’re not getting out of this when you brought it up to begin with. You finish it off for us.”

“Do I really have to?”

“What, you can’t do it yourself!? But this was your idea to begin with, you irresponsible nervous gyaru!!”

“Onee-chan is just like this…” said Yuhi with a hand on her forehead. Her sister was a troublemaker through and through.

Having taken an arbitrary seat at the round table, the online shrine maiden began her usual habit of scratching the underside of the table, but then she noticed something odd. Something was pasted there. About the size of a yen note.

It was an exorcism sticker connected to that Divine Mother Glitter.

The straitlaced sister also took a look under the table with a complicated expression on her face.

“Is this from the special insert in that magazine?”

“…Looks like they were grasping at straws.”

That suggested this job wasn’t just a joke. They were seriously suffering.

While the girls killed time like that, a pair of men approached them.

The tall one with a sharp look in his eyes gave off the air of someone highly ranked. Was he a producer?

The plump man who appeared to be his subordinate pulled a folded handkerchief from his pocket as he spoke.

“Sorry about the wait. You are the one Betsuzaki Yuhi-san said she was bringing, yes? Who are you exactly?”

“A specialist.”

That was all the online shrine maiden said. The type of shrine, her rank in training, and any other precise terminology would only go over the men’s heads. Besides, the idea of them questioning her more carefully scared her. Terrified her. Tremble, tremble.

The three of them were in their school uniforms.

The men knew the other two had to be Yuhi’s friends, but they couldn’t have known which one was the ghost specialist.

“I am Director Kobayashi. He is Producer Hanryou.”

The producer didn’t say a word and only prompted the director to continue with a look. He seemed accustomed to people doing what he said. The timid director didn’t complain and got started while wiping the sweat from his face using his handkerchief.

“We are from Production Department 3 and…how should I put this? Well, to put it simply, our department makes documentaries in remote areas.”

“Oh? Like here in New Sea City?” asked the gyaru sister, prompting him to continue.

…Apparently she wasn’t much different from the producer. At the very last, she wasn’t too shy to speak with strangers.

“Well, yes. But our department has little to do with Department 1 that does the news, so what we do is more like a variety show than anything.”

The plump man, who was more like Tsumugi, wiped his sweat away as he continued.

“Anyway, there is a single building that has has an unusual number of accidents. It has become known as the Apartment of Many Deaths. Have experts like you heard of it perhaps?”

“…”

Oh, there. The online shrine maiden’s gaze sharpened a bit.

They had to bring TV cameras in there like it was all a big joke, did they?

“After we got enough material there and were beginning to film the reproduction drama, the extras started asking to quit one after another. Dozens of them all at once. That’s not normal. We aren’t going to make our deadline like this. And when we asked them why…”

“They started telling you terrifying ghost stories?”

“Um, well.”

Several sets of rough footsteps thundered by.

“Dammit, where’s the AED!?”

“Mother Glitter’s green room is on the 5th floor!! The stairs will be faster!!”

“Do whatever it takes, just don’t let her die before the ambulance gets here. We’ll be liable if she dies here!!”

Grownups were terrifying. What was that angry shouting really worried about?

Mother Glitter was the name on the exorcism sticker on the bottom of the table, wasn’t it?

If she was in her green room, she may have been scheduled to appear on TV.

“That’s what happens when you provoke them. But she truly is unlucky to get hit by a real Malign Spirit’s counterattack after someone pasted her stickers around. All that talk of being a divine mother of fortune must be a lie.”

The online shrine maiden held a hand to her forehead.

The director spoke as if whispering to the speechless gyaru sister.

“All the extras said they were targeted by Hasshaku-sama.”

Part 3

“Detective> Hasshaku-sama is a Malign Spirit whose existence was discovered through the internet.”

“Online Shrine Maiden> Hold on. So netlore is the only source here?”

“Detective> Since she has been confirmed as a Malign Spirit, she must be involved in an actual death.”

“Online Shrine Maiden> Do you mean there is some truth to the story, or did the panic caused by the rumors lead to someone dying?”

“Detective> There are a number of variations, but the story generally goes as follows:

“The story’s narrator returns to his rural hometown during spring break. Most versions have the narrator as a student. While in the yard, he sees an exceptionally tall woman over the hedge. He hears the woman say something meaningless like ‘po po po’.

“He only thinks of her as creepy person at the time, but when he tells his relatives about it, the local adults seem really disturbed.

“They let him know she is a local threat known as Hasshaku-sama and they begin taking countermeasures.

“They tell him Hasshaku-sama takes people’s lives and she charms her targets.

The narrator is isolated in one room of the large house while holding a protective talisman and closed in all night with the room sealed with charms and piles of salt. His relatives visit the locked entrance, but he was told Hasshaku-sama can mimic familiar voices, so he just barely avoids disaster by not unlocking the door.

“However, this isn’t enough to eliminate the threat of Hasshaku-sama, so the next day the narrator’s family drives him back to his home in the city, allowing him to escape. Supposedly Hasshaku-sama’s ability to sense her target is dulled when his close relatives are nearby, so his relatives gather around him in the car until they manage to leave the rural village.

“Also, the stories often associate Hasshaku-sama with a broken jizo statue.

“The jizo statue used to keep her from entering the village, but now she can appear wherever she wants.

“The two main points as a ghost story are that Hasshaku-sama spreads death without any way of defeating her and that the familiar relatives are all steeped in old traditions. The way she charms her targets gives her an alluring aspect despite how much of a threat she is, and the return to the countryside and the destroyed jizo statue open up the possibility that anyone could encounter her. That loose end may work to draw people’s interest.”

“Online Shrine Maiden> Now that was a wall of text.”

“Detective> That this one story has spread so wide for so long shows just how many people find this kind of horror attractive. And the countless variations mean the two main points I mentioned have likely been embellished and exaggerated as the story has spread. That Hasshaku-sama remains unbeatable while the Kuchisake-Onna has gained more and more baseless weakness over time says the story is more attractive when she has no weaknesses. Remember, this is all information you can consider, but don’t accept any of it at face value.”

“Online Shrine Maiden> Thank you for all this.”

“Detective> Let’s sum up: The Malign Spirit named Hasshaku-sama is eight shaku tall. A shaku is more than 30 centimeters, so she is quite tall. She’s known for wearing a white dress and a large hat, but there are other versions. Originally, some rural village acted as her territory, but the end of the story tends to release her into the world beyond the village.”

“Online Shrine Maiden> It’s all so vague. The amulet, the charms, the salt, and the proximity of close relatives can all protect you? But it’s usually only your family at home with you, so wouldn’t you generally be safe there? I won’t ask about the star rating, but what does the Malign Spirit do?”

“Detective> Deadly attacks. No, it would be more accurate to say she catches and kills her targets. Sometimes she visits their room, but since there isn’t much reference to direct contact, she can probably ignore distance to an extent. And she targets small children.”

A big X stamp.

“Detective> There is no pattern to her appearances. There is no set time or place and no ritual for summoning her. When she finds a child she likes, she lures them out, captures them, and kills them. Unlike bathroom ghost stories and fortunetelling, she comes to you, so there’s no way for the human to initiate contact.”

“Online Shrine Maiden> She sounds like an awfully capricious predator…”

“Detective> Also, while it isn’t deadly, you mustn’t forget her ability to mimic familiar voices because that can get the victim to break the barrier and leave the room themselves. So instead of using brute strength, she has enough intelligence to confuse a living human. Although the stories say she normally only says ‘po po po’ or ‘bo bo bo’.”

“Okay. Where to begin”? Whispered the online shrine maiden, folding up her trifold phone.

It was 6:30 PM.

Right about the time it started to get dark.

A collection of online information wasn’t necessarily enough to get an accurate profile of a Malign Spirit. When they didn’t even know the star ranking, it was best to take this advance information with a grain of salt.

It was raining outside. This kind of powerful squall was common on New Sea City. It had started raining around five, while they were still speaking in the TV station. The shuttle drones had been grounded due to the possibility of thunder. The straitlaced sister was the capable sort of person who always carried a collapsible umbrella with her, so she was unbothered by the weather.

The less capable gyaru sister pushed her way on under Tsumugi’s rental umbrella.

“You’ll take the job, right? So where are we starting?”

“From where we actually have some solid information.”

Tsumugi wanted to get some reliable information to corroborate the uncertain online ghost story. That meant visiting the drama extras who claimed to have been attacked by Hasshaku-sama and visiting the haunted Apartment of Many Deaths.

“Online Shrine Maiden> I plan to start with the extras.”

“Detective> That makes sense to me. We can’t demand people answer our questions the way the police can. The extras went as far as quitting their jobs. If they’re already scared, it should be easier to get answers out of them.”

“Online Shrine Maiden> I see.”

“Detective> Now, I’d love to help you with the investigation, but I can’t.”

“Online Shrine Maiden> Don’t worry about it. You work on your own case. There’s been progress in the Nagatacho Leaders Case, right?”

A stamp of a bowing puppy saying “sorry”.

“Online Shrine Maiden> Mh. Not bad, detective. That’s pretty cute.”

“Detective> Want me to tell you what I searched on the shop to find it?”

“Online Shrine Maiden> Anyway. You left the police to pursue that case, so don’t give up on it now.”

“He agrees.”

“Well, if we have a pro’s stamp of approval, it can’t be a bad plan, can it?”

Director Kobayashi had given them a list of the extras. Tsumugi doubted they would all be willing to talk right away, but there were a few dozen. It wasn’t a big deal even if the first few didn’t work out.

But if filming couldn’t continue, was it so bad that no one else was willing to take a job as an extra? The story must have spread already.

The sharp hum of a motor passed by overhead.

All sorts of drones, from hobbyist ones to professional ones, were constantly flying above New Sea City, but the white and black painted body indicated this one was an unmanned police patrol drone.

The shuttle drones had been grounded, but apparently the fully unmanned ones could still fly.

“I hate those patrol drones. I can’t relax with the way they fly by buildings and peek in through the windows. And unlike security cameras, I’ve heard they also record the voices of people on the ground.”

The gyaru sister said this from beneath Tsumugi’s umbrella. She had heard. From Chatty maybe?

The smart buildings of New Sea City all reflected sunlight like mirrors, but was that meant to avoid spying like that, or was it just an architectural trend.

“If you’re at the outdoor tables for a chain cafe or something, they say to watch out if a group of well-dressed men suddenly stop talking. That means they’re worried about having their conversation spied on by a drone passing by overhead.”

Watch out for what? For the drone equipped with a shotgun mic, or for the sweet-toothed men?

The gyaru sister pushed her shoulder up against Tsumugi’s to stay under her umbrella and peeked at the paper list of names.

“Anyway, who are we trying first?”

“With the first on the list: Anzai Ima.”

But they got lucky on the first try.

They set out in the rain for the apartment provided on the list, but something was odd. A windowless work van was parked near the entrance with several antennae pointed toward a single window on a higher floor.

The license plate matched the one on the list.

Still under Tsumugi’s umbrella, the gyaru sister peeked inside the driver’s side window.

“What are you doing? Researching UFOs or something?”

“Wahh!?”

A woman of around college age panicked.

Based on the photo on the list, this was Anzai Ima.

She was one of the extras.

“Dbafbhadhfa- it’s really happening!? Hasshaku-sama is here to- huh? Isn’t she supposed to be tall?”

“Yuhi, pull out your phone and hover your finger over the emergency button. If she’s spying, you know what to do.”

“Wait, no!! That’s my room!!”

The woman rolled down the window and leaned out.

“I know Hasshaku-sama has been attacking us extras one after another. She’s suppose to appear by your bed, so going home is suicide. But, but if I watch on from outside like this, I might be able to get a great shot of her appearing, right? Then everyone will believe me and actually try to help me. I might even find her weakness or something…”

The online shrine maiden sighed in exasperation.

Was the work van crammed full of film equipment? It had to be some specialized stuff to fill an entire van.

Just to be sure, she sent a photo to the people who spent all their time on the internet shrine.

Lady Nine Tails happened to be on.

That eccentric took a scientific approach to the paranormal.

“Lady Nine Tails> I see. Radio, infrared, ultrasound, and this must be magnetic. No part-time extra can afford all of this. Did she borrow it from a college club maybe?”

“Do film clubs and drama clubs have equipment this nice these days?”’

No matter how much you tried to deny it, something paranormal was happening. And there were a variety of countermeasures you could take when you were actually attacked. You could cover your room with strange charms printed out on copy paper, or you could try to put your mind at ease by explaining it all scientifically using terms like electromagnetic waves or psychology.

“Lady Nine Tails> But Hasshaku-sama, huh? She captures you and kills you or she possesses you. Either way, there isn’t much room for science there.”

“That happens sometimes. Besides, this case involves a Malign Spirit.”

“Lady Nine Tails> Oh? Like I’ve said before, true spirits do not clash with science at all. The real ones hang out just fine in the gaps between different sciences.”

“?”

“Lady Nine Tails> But there is no science here. …Doesn’t that seem unnatural to you?”

The way she hinted at something more only made it sound more specious. Needless to say, the smug face in the square frame resembling an online meeting program belonged to an eccentric, so maybe it was best not to take her too seriously.

The witness right in front of Tsumugi mattered more at the moment.

The woman was afraid to go home, so she had spent all night curled up in her van to feel safe.

Anzai Ima.

There was no point in asking her if the Malign Spirit existed or not.

She was truly afraid and really believed. So they should be able to get some details out of her.

“I-I knew it was a bad idea. I just knew it would get us in trouble from the moment they gave me the script… I was just one extra among many, but I couldn’t believe the stars had agreed to do such a dangerous job.”

“Yeah, I guess doing a story based on the Apartment of Many Deaths would seem pretty creepy,” said Rainy.

“No.”

The extra shook her head.

The college girl pulled out something like a balled-up vacation guidebook.

Apparently it was the drama’s script.

“That was only the beginning. The real trouble started here, with the Threat Scapegoat.”

Part 4

To keep out of the rain, they gathered around a table on the second floor of a nearby hamburger shop.

The three girls each ordered a small soda plus some fries and nuggets which were normally considered sides. None of them ordered a burger despite how good they were, so did this not feel like their main dinner?

Or were they simply not hungry?

“That’s awful,” spat the online shrine maiden.

When she used her phone to search the date given as dialogue in the flimsy script, she found the records of an incident that had been buried by everything else going on in the world.

The reality spread out before her was far removed from the cheap and cheerful pop music playing inside the restaurant.

“What would happen if they aired this on TV as a documentary?”

It was about a girl of around ten.

With unnatural bruises on her sides and upper arms, injuries from being thrown down the stairs, a fractured right cheekbone, and a large burn across her back…

When the victim said nothing, the abuse tended to escalate.

She was the perfect example of that.

Abuse at the hands of the hundreds of residents of the entire high-rise apartment building…

“Do you know what stigmatized property is?”

“…Yes. Isn’t it an apartment or whatever where someone was known to have died in some terrible way?”

“Right.” Tsumugi confirmed Rainy’s reluctant answer. “The Apartment of Many Deaths is a haunted location where several of the rooms in the same building have become stigmatized property. Suicide, crime, murder suicide, fire – the cause of death varies. And it’s a bit of a chicken or the egg situation. Does living there make you unlucky, or do unlucky, troubled people end up living there because they can’t afford anything else?”

The online shrine maiden sighed softly.

“Here we go. The Threat Scapegoat was apparently born inside the Apartment of Many Deaths. Her mother went into labor before her due date and there wasn’t time to get to the hospital.”

The child born inside the strange Apartment of Many Deaths had become the Threat Scapegoat.

It was vaguely creepy.

A shared understanding of the occult led people to attack her to put their own minds at ease.

“This is crazy!” shouted the gyaru sister. “She’s just a normal person!!”

“Of course. Someone dies every day in a large hospital, so by this logic, everyone born in that hospital would be a Threat Scapegoat.”

But some had neglected to inspect the idea so carefully.

The devilish people who prioritized their own frustrations.

Tsumugi made a conscious effort to suppress her emotions.

“Bad things keep happening in the Apartment of Many Deaths, so ordinary cause and effect no longer apply for the people who live there. Even when they try to stay safe in the ordinary ways like making absolutely sure they lock their doors, people keep dying. But the apartment has large rooms for families, right? I know finding a home here is a challenge what with the online lotteries and waiting lists for anywhere halfway decent. Buying a lot means taking out a decades-long loan, so it can’t be easy to sell this stigmatized property and make enough money to move. They would end up in the red. So they can’t escape.”

“…”

“That oil lighter can defeat Malign Spirits. We know how it’s done, so it doesn’t seem like much. But for the people who don’t, the fear keeps growing and growing and they can never stop searching for an answer. Listen. The invisible threat of death lurks all around them, but there is one concrete rumor spreading around. You fight a ghost with a ghost: the cries and screams of the Threat Scapegoat can keep the unseen threat at bay.”

It pissed her off to even say it out loud.

Even a baseless good luck ritual like this could get someone killed.

The documentary reproduction drama greatly embellished the creepy rumors without touching on any of this. No thought was given to the girl’s psychological trauma, or to the danger of the confusion spreading beyond the apartment if this was aired on TV.

Yuhi frowned.

“What about her parents…?”

“At the very least, they’re turning a blind eye. I don’t know if they’re actively beating their own child, though. It seems like they’re afraid of being made into a target themselves.”

…It seemed obvious enough why the residents of the Apartment of Many Deaths were so unhappy. In the end, most happiness in life came down to your interpersonal relationships. Simply put, they’d brought it on themselves.

The kind of person who could indulge in a dark pleasure over doing these things would never be accepted by others and find happiness.

That said, Tsumugi had another question.

“While this is a major problem, does it have anything to do with Hasshaku-sama? If the extras were attacked one after another until work on the reproduction drama ended, it feels like there should be some kind of connection.”

Hasshaku-sama appeared regardless of time or place. There was no ritual for someone to summon her.

That should mean the Threat Scapegoat couldn’t actively summon Hasshaku-sama.

And then…

“I think I kind of get it.”

This came from the gyaru sister.

The online shrine maiden tilted her head, so Rainy smiled bitterly.

Maybe this was hard to imagine for someone who had decided all Malign Spirits needed to be exorcised.

But Rainy was different. After being bound by one once, she could see it differently.

“We know Hasshaku-sama doesn’t appear at any set time or place. And there’s no ritual for summoning her. That Malign Spirit simply finds a child she likes, lures them out, captures them, and takes their life.”

“And…?”

“You don’t get it, Mugikko? Doesn’t that mean she prefers certain kinds of people?” said the gyaru sister.

But wait.

“Let’s say Hasshaku-sama was wandering around New Sea City when she decided on a new target. And what if the child that perfectly met her preferences happened to be known as the Threat Scapegoat? People are hurling verbal abuse at the girl, beating her with their fists, and not even her parents are helping. What would happen then? It’s starting to come into view, isn’t it?”

“Hasshaku-sama can mimic familiar voices…”

That meant she could speak with people. Rainy nodded at Yuhi’s comment.

“Right. So I bet I know what she said when she saw the girl.”

Part 5

“How did you get that burn on your back?”

Part 6

Silence fell for a bit.

None of the girls said a word.

The online shrine maiden wasn’t about to say every last single living human was a good person. That was obviously false after what they discovered at the Vanishing Canal the other day.

Maybe it wasn’t every single resident of the Apartment of Many Deaths, but most of them were attacking the Threat Scapegoat as a group. Like that was a ritual meant to ward off evil. Even though she hadn’t done anything wrong. Malign Spirit Hasshaku-sama had learned what was happening to the young child she had taken a liking to and gotten mad about it.

Who was truly the evil one here?

The gyaru sister spoke to get the conversation going again.

“So is the next step to take turns keeping an eye on the Threat Scapegoat’s surroundings? It sounds like that’s where Hasshaku-sama will show up.”

“But, Onee-chan, aren’t we focusing on the wrong opponent here? If we want to save that girl, we have to do something about the grownups in the apartment, not the mysterious ghost.”

“Hasshaku-sama hunts down the child she takes a liking to, so won’t it be a bad idea to ignore her either way?”

Happiness from Hasshaku-sama’s point of view wouldn’t necessarily allow the human to stay alive. She would likely take the Threat Scapegoat away and kill her in the name of removing her from the dangerous world of the living.

But…

“…”

The online shrine maiden unfolded her trifold phone as she listened.

She started up a map app.

The gyaru sister tilted her head.

“Hey, what’re you-”

“Wait.” Tsumugi’s fingertip stopped on the screen. “I was right. Hasshaku-sama’s activity pattern doesn’t make sense. Tracking her based on the witness accounts gives us data at a fairly high frequency. There’s a two hour lag here between 5 and 7 PM.”

“?”

“There was a traffic jam at the same time. Don’t you remember? When we left the TV station, they had grounded the shuttle drones because they could be struck by lightning. That meant more people were taking the surface route.”

She had of course never heard of a Malign Spirit driving a car.

Why would the traffic conditions influence this one’s actions?

“It’s also weird she would only target the extras if she wanted to end the reproduction drama.”

“Hm? But, Yahirodono-san, weren’t more of them affected than anyone else because there’s so many of them?”

“Or the stars, the director, and the producer were all avoided because their security is too tight, while the extras were a lot easier to go after.”

The three girls exchanged a look.

That was the correct choice when the goal was to prevent filming from continuing, but it seemed a little too human.

Was this Hasshaku-sama really a Malign Spirit?

Weren’t they forgetting a fundamental fact here? Tsumugi considered it for a bit and then grimaced.

There was one person without an alibi.

“It can’t be…”

She had no actual evidence.

But something did appear in the back of her mind.

She had been the sole survivor when a large shrine was burned down.

The worst of the Malign Spirits, Hibashi-sama, was responsible, but she had been told someone else had summoned her.

At the time, she had been nothing more than a burden.

But in that moment when she couldn’t trust anything in the world, who was it who hadn’t hesitated to reach out a helping hand?

“No, it can’t be!!”

Part 7

“You’re strong, so maybe you can bear it.”

The detective had quit the police to pursue National Top Priority Case #015: The Nagatacho Leaders Case.

But he had also reached out a helping hand to the online shrine maiden who had been the sole survivor when her shrine burned down. That meant he did not just work toward his goal. When he felt it necessary, he would take any number of detours.

“But I just can’t.”

Because he was such an excellent detective, he could tell what people truly held dear just by observing them. He could see their secrets, the things they couldn’t tell anyone…everything.

He focused on one condition first and foremost.

He would never allow any pain or death if he could help it.

“So please find the courage and tell me what to do. So I can do the right thing.”

Hisame Kouga had run across this by happenstance.

He had found something he needed to prioritize over the case he was pursuing.

He had discovered a small life who had to be saved here and now. It couldn’t be put off.

“How did you get that burn on your back?”

So there was no doubting it this time.

That righteous hero was well and truly pissed.

Back to Chapter 4

Return to Main Page

Forward to Chapter 6