I’M Really Helpless In Tokyo

"His, coldly..."

On the stairs, Fujiwara Takumi, who was still panting, jumped from the ground because of the cold snow that suddenly got into the back of his neck.

"I always feel weird when I get out of the station..."

He stretched out his gloved hand and caught a piece of falling snow, with an inquiring look in his eyes: "Do you think that the snow in Hakodate is too cold?"

Although he doesn't like to go out, he is no stranger to snow when he grew up in Tokyo.

In front of him, the hexagonal diamond-shaped snowflake he received in his palm showed no signs of melting, and it seemed unexpectedly "firm".

"Zongsuke, look at..."

He turned his head to look at Araki Sosuke, who was standing next to him, as if he had discovered something, he stretched out his hand and fumbled back and forth on the opponent.

"Hey, what are you touching, I don't have such a hobby..."

"Something's wrong, why are your clothes so clean?!"

"Isn't this new clothes? Isn't it normal to be clean?"

"Snow, I mean snow!"

Obviously they purchased the same cold-proof clothes together. At this time, Fujiwara Takumi had a lot of ice crystals hanging on his body, and it felt a little moist to the touch.

But not only did Araki Sosuke not see a trace of whiteness, it was as dry as new.

"This snow has been'purified' by you?!"

When the distance got closer, Fujiwara Takumi noticed that the heavy snow in the sky, as soon as it approached a centimeter in front of Araki Sosuke's body, it instantly melted into water droplets and fell to the ground...

It was as if there was a circle of invisible flames on him, evaporating the snowflakes.

"No, this snow..."

And at the moment when the snowflakes melted, strands of slender, imperceptible black air, like fluffy hair, quietly penetrated into Sousuke Araki's body.

"...There is grievance!"

Seeing the anomaly, even Fujiwara Takumi, who believes in "doing more is worse than doing less", couldn't help frowning.

"As expected of the god son of Meiji Jingu, he discovered the hint of resentment in the snow so quickly."

A middle-aged man wearing a robes of a priest and wearing a black hat pushed out the door of the temple on his own initiative and gave a salute to Fujiwara Takumi Haruka: "Hakodate Hachiman Shrine priest Kono Ichiro, I met the priest Fujiwara... according to the contact yesterday. Time, I guess your Excellency is about to arrive at this time."

Although claiming to be a "prince", the burly physique that can't be covered by the priest's uniform and the stubble on his rugged chin give people a vigorous samurai atmosphere.

"I have to ask the priest Kono to take care of me this time."

Slightly embarrassed, he withdrew his indescribable hands from Araki Sosuke, patted the snowflakes on his clothes, and Fujiwara Takumi gave a gift.

"This one is?"

The priest Kono narrowed his eyes, looked at Sosuke Araki beside Fujiwara Takumi, and asked softly.

"Ahem, this one is the Onodera of the Disaster Prevention Mobile Team who is in charge of assisting me this time."

"The newly established Disaster Prevention Mobility Team? Anyone who has this kind of aura is worthy of being an elite transferred back from the Middle East..."

Priest Kono nodded politely.

"Hey, don't be in a daze, and say hello to the priest Kono."

Seeing that his friend was still admiring the scenery below the stairs, Fujiwara Takumi quietly tugged at the corner of his clothes.

"Over there...what's the place..."

At some point, Araki Sosuke had already taken off his sunglasses and looked straight over the clouded downtown area of ​​Hakodate.

In his left eye, a group of black gas is hiding in the dark clouds, faintly converging into a huge vortex with a certain place as the center...

"From here, you can see the entire downtown area of ​​Hakodate... I don't know, which location are you asking?"

Kono Ichiro glanced bewilderedly at Hakodate City, which was covered in thick snow in the distance.

"Zong... Onodera-kun, now is not the time to discuss the scenery."

Following the gaze of Sosuke Araki, Fujiwara Takumi didn't notice any abnormalities, and walked to the priest Kono: "Chen Kono, that bus has been missing for almost 24 hours. Let's hurry up and communicate the situation of the search and rescue. ..."

"It's freezing cold outside, please tell me inside the house."

Looking away from Sosuke Araki, the priest Kono led the two toward the side hall.

"Yes, no matter how much he is, I will find Xiaoniao Youshi first."

Hearing keywords such as "bus" and "search and rescue", Sosuke Araki finally glanced at the strangely shaped "dark cloud" in the distance, and followed them into the side hall.

...

"Yesterday, after receiving the news that the bus was missing in a snowstorm, the Metropolitan Police Department immediately organized a search and rescue operation..."

In the old side hall, hot charcoal is burning in a square stove made from the hollowed-out tatami floor.

"However, this snow disaster is too big, not to mention the wheel marks of the bus, any traces left by creatures on the snow will be erased in a moment."

The two of Araki Sosuke were sitting on their knees around the stove, listening to the briefing of the priest Kono with a serious face.

"Not only that, communication equipment, compasses, direction indicators, and even the vehicle's electronic control system all suffered intermittent failures during the snowstorm..."

From the hook hung from the roof, the old iron kettle was rustling with charcoal fire.

"...Even the well-trained search and rescue dogs have become restless for some reason, unable to concentrate on tracking their breath."

This original tatami charcoal stove is extremely common in old Japanese-style buildings.

Although it is necessary to pay attention to the problems of dense smoke and ventilation, it can achieve a heating effect comparable to that of air conditioning and floor heating. By the way, it solves the problems of drinking tea and cooking.

"This harsh environment makes it impossible to effectively advance search and rescue operations that have no clue."

The priest Kono took off the iron pot with a rag and poured a cup of hot tea for the two.

"So, all of this is the effect of resentment in the snowflakes?"

Not in the mood to see the fragrant hot tea in front of him, Fujiwara Takumi hurriedly asked.

The existence of many "spiritual places" has long proved that even if it is a faint grievance, gathering to a certain extent, it can indeed interfere with electronic equipment, magnetic fields, and biological minds.

"Perhaps it is. Since the beginning of the'first snow' which was more than a month earlier, the spiritual activities in Hokkaido have become frequent, and many of the existences that have been dormant for many years have begun to slowly wake up..."

"There are not many spirit-eliminators in Hokkaido, but Wannian Temple has recently been said to be troublesome and difficult to protect itself. It is not even staffed to send spirit-eliminators to help search and rescue."

Unlike Honshu, which has a relatively balanced distribution of spirits, Hokkaido, which began to emigrate and develop more than 150 years ago in 1869, has only been minimally effective, and only Hakodate Hachimangu Shrine, Sapporo Hokkaido Shrine, and Mikasa Mannenji are the only ones. The place, preserves the inheritance of the spirit remover.

The Hakodate Hachimangu Shrine, which is located at the gateway to Hokkaido, naturally assumes the responsibility of acting as a point of contact for the dementers.

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