Truth is everywhere within range

?

Sasaki Haruka looked at the people around him.

No, to be precise, these are not people.

Yes.

No matter it's the fierce scarred man.

Still a down-and-out man in an old suit.

Or a poet who speaks haiku with unclear meaning.

All are spirits.

However, what was a bit beyond Sasaki Haruka's expectation was that these were not vengeful spirits.

It is the spirit of a simple person after death.

No pollution at all.

This phenomenon was so weird that Sasaki Haruka even forgot to be afraid.

"Qiao Sang?"

Curious, Sasaki Haruka looked at Qiao Qiao, trying to find the answer.

"hold on."

Qiao Qiao picked up the cup and took a sip of juice.

"Miura-san, did you go to fight somewhere again?"

"Tch, I taught a few guys a lesson who don't know the heights of the world."

"Fistes were waving randomly, blood and tears were raining down, Mogami River."

As if they didn't notice Qiao Qiao, they chatted and made jokes. They chatted with Grandma Sakurai from time to time, and they seemed to be very familiar with her.

Qiao Qiao was holding his mobile phone and seemed to be browsing something.

Ariko Asano enjoyed grilled skewers and didn't care about the undead around her.

Looking at this group of undead with a sense of life, and the two leisurely exorcist companions beside them.

Sasaki Haruka suddenly had a feeling that transcended reality.

Am I really performing an exorcism?

According to Qiao Sang's character, shouldn't he have already started to explode things at this time?

In confusion, the wind chime at the door rang again.

A man walked into the store.

He looked quite kind, with gentle facial lines, and was wearing clothes that resembled the style of the 1960s and 1970s. As soon as he entered the store, the discussions among the other people stopped.

"What do you want to eat today?"

When Grandma Sakurai saw that person, the lines in her eyes softened a lot.

"No, we won't need it today."

The man sat next to Haruka Sasaki.

This is naturally also spirit.

"All right."

Grandma Sakurai still had a faint smile on her face, as if just looking at him would make her happy.

Sasaki Haruka couldn't help but glance at the man.

"Is it a child I don't know?"

The man actually asked with a smile.

"Uh, I'm Haruka Sasaki from Shimogamo Shrine."

Sasaki Haruka didn't know why, so he subconsciously reported his name.

Obviously, this is not the right thing to do when faced with weird-related events.

But in this tavern, there was an incredible power that made Haruka Sasaki relax.

It's like returning to your own home.

"Shimogamo Shrine, it's really nostalgic."

The man smiled and did not continue talking to Sasaki Haruka, but started talking to those spirits.

The topics are nothing more than daily trivial matters.

It's as if everyone hasn't passed away yet and everything is as it was before life.

"Qiao Sang, it doesn't matter if we just sit here like this?"

Sasaki Haruka asked in a low voice.

"You can look at the flow of spiritual energy in the air."

Qiao Qiao did not answer Haruka Sasaki's question, but asked her to observe her surroundings carefully.

Sasaki turned on his spiritual vision and looked at it carefully.

Soon, she discovered the problem.

Grandma Sakurai is surrounded by Yin Qi, and the Yin Qi in her body is flowing to the spirits in the store little by little.

Ordinary spirits will turn into resentful spirits due to being contaminated with too much yin energy, so those spirits did not absorb excessively and just slowly peeled off the yin energy from Grandma Sakurai's body.

Trying to weaken the influence of Yin Qi on Grandma Sakurai.

But even so.

The Yin Qi lingering around Grandma Sakurai was still too heavy.

Relying on these spirits alone is simply not enough.

The worst outcome is that Grandma Sakurai dies of illness due to the Yin Qi. These spirits also become resentful spirits due to being contaminated with Yin Qi for a long time.

"why is that?"

Sasaki Haruka asked curiously.

At this moment.

Attention to this strange sight has surpassed the fear of the weirdness and has taken over her heart.

"Look at this."

Qiao Qiao pushed the phone to Sasaki Haruka. On it were some photos that looked familiar to her.

Here is some information from the police.

"Tarou Miura, although he looks like a gangster, is actually a boatman at Kamogawa Pier. He often helps his juniors. The injury on his face was caused by trying to save a colleague who made an operation error at work. Later, he tried to help a man who was injured. The woman who robbed was stabbed to death by the robber. She was forty years old.”

"Sugiyama Yohei, a police officer in Ponto Town, has been in charge of this area for twenty years. Sugiyama is known as everyone's good gentleman. He was accidentally injured and died in a fight to prevent the underworld. That was already thirty years ago. Something happened."

"Muragi Renji was a bard with no fixed abode. There is not much information about him. We only know that he died saving a child who fell into the water when he was thirty years old. He was buried in the cemetery after his death."

These deceased people were all sitting in the store at the moment.

Sasaki Haruka was silent for a long time after reading it.

"That"

The man beside her.

The man still had a soft smile.

Over the man's shoulder.

Sasaki Haruka saw the incense being offered.

Behind the incense burner is a black and white photo.

In the photo, there is a young man.

The young man looked exactly like the man next to Sasaki Haruka.

"Sakurai Kuro."

Sasaki Haruka couldn't help blurting out.

Yes, this man is none other than Sakurai Kuro, the father of the client, Mr. Makoto Sakurai, who died in an accident decades ago.

The real owner of this izakaya "Sanrenaba".

"Has it been discovered?"

Sakurai Kuro smiled.

"Obviously Xiaochun can't even recognize that kid, haha. Is my dressing up wrong?"

The Koharu he was talking about should be Mr. Sakurai Makoto's daughter and his granddaughter.

"I've all said that your dress is too old-fashioned."

Grandma Sakurai laughed and complained.

"But there's nothing I can do about it. These are the clothes we wore when we first met."

Sakurai Kuro still wore that seemingly heartless smile.

Sasaki Haruka was stunned for a moment.

"Don't you think you have been dead for a long time?"

It is impossible for a normal spirit to remain for such a long time.

This goes against the common sense Sasaki Haruka learned about how to remove spirits.

"Well, we don't know either."

Former police officer Sugiyama Yohei said while rubbing his chin.

"Maybe we all ran back from hell because we heard that Junko was in trouble."

Miura Taro took a sip of wine and said with a smile.

"My old friend called me, and even though I was in hell, I also returned to Mogami River."

Poet Muraki Renji chanted softly.

"After all, everyone likes Junko."

Sakurai Kuro smiled.

Sasaki Haruka has not learned psychic skills.

But at this moment, in this izakaya where spirit and spirit are intertwined.

She seemed to see something.

It was that stunning glimpse from afar when the oiran was on parade.

I met you at the age of sixteen under the slowly falling cherry blossom trees.

It was Shiro Muzan and Haori, shyly drinking sake cups in the front hall of Shimogamo Shrine.

In the izakaya, there are all kinds of laughter and tears, encounters and partings.

The last meeting on a rainy day.

When I was struggling alone, everyone gave me a helping hand.

Friends are leaving one by one, and in the pouring rain, there is always a light shining for someone.

Sasaki Haruka understood.

To these people, to these spirits.

This is not an izakaya at all.

But a destination.

is home.

It is a place where you can stay at any time, where your loved ones are waiting.

There is no such thing as coming back from hell.

These spirits have always been here from beginning to end.

Protect this izakaya, protect Grandma Sakurai and her children.

This is a miracle that is only possible in theory.

But it is the reality that is indeed presented in front of Sasaki Haruka.

"excuse me."

While Sasaki Haruka was still in a daze, Qiao Qiao stood up, passed Grandma Sakurai, and picked up a sculpture placed on the side of the kitchen counter.

In the eyes of Haruka Sasaki, who had turned on his spiritual vision, that sculpture was filled with indescribable evil and filthy, entwined with a heavy yin energy.

Bang——

Qiao Qiao didn't say much, took out his pistol and hit the sculpture with one shot.

Fragile sculpture, falling apart.

At the same time, along with the unfathomable wails, the negative energy surrounding Grandma Sakurai dissipated.

"thanks, thanks."

Kuro Sakurai lowered his head and said, because as a spirit, he seemed unable to notice the existence of this sculpture, so he could only share the burden for his wife in the most primitive way.

Although Grandma Sakurai was shocked by Qiao Qiao's actions, she quickly understood.

I wonder what kind of memory that destroyed statue is in her eyes?

"That's the end of it."

Qiao Qiao did not accept the money, but carefully collected the remains of the statue with a handkerchief, put it into an evidence bag, and then walked out of the izakaya.

It won't be long before the spirits accompanying Grandma Sakurai will gradually disappear.

Originally, it was a guardian spirit-like existence that appeared due to the sudden change of Yin Qi.

Before leaving the izakaya, Sasaki Haruka took a look inside.

Grandma Sakurai and Kuro Sakurai, one is old and the other is young, but the two of them cling to each other without the slightest thought of separation.

On the wall behind them hung an old, yellowed, faded photo.

Above are brand new "mountain lotus leaves" and everyone smiling.

"Hold your hand and grow old together with me."

Beside her, Ariko Asano suddenly said.

"Is that what you meant?"

It dawned on her. For her who was fifteen years old, this poem from a thousand years ago was still too heavy.

Sasaki Haruka doesn't know either.

The rain is still falling.

The potted plant at the entrance of the izakaya suddenly bloomed.

It was a flower with transparent petals after being soaked by rain.

Even if there is no color, it still blooms at night, dyed with color by the neon lights of the city, and is extremely beautiful.

Sasaki Haruka felt something in her heart and suddenly remembered this flower.

As the name of the Izakaya suggests, mountain lotus leaves.

The snow-white petals lose color and become transparent when exposed to water.

Wild flowers bloom in the mountains in late spring and early summer.

The language of flowers is family love.

At this moment, it blooms awe-inspiring.