Track 8

It’s being purified…?

(It’s not just the weaker spirits… The impure energy is disappearing too…!)

W-WHAT!? What just happened!? It just flashed all bright right now! Was that a strobe or something!? Is it a new model!?

My vision suddenly went completely white… A mysterious experience in a winter bamboo grove…. Yeah, this will be my next Netagoe segment¹.

You’re both okay. Just right now…

'――――――――’

I see… So that’s what it was. I understand.

'――――――――’

! …Yes. We’ll take responsibility and return it to the way it was properly.

Oh, the black mist’s disappearing into the Iwakura!?

It’s okay. Can you put the Shimenawa back on it, Akuta-kun?

O-Oh, yeah…

Um, so…. I’m really sorry for cutting the Shimenawa!

―May your peace continue for all of eternity.

(Please continue to watch over this land of HAMA from now on.)

Phew… That was like something straight out of Amen’s² JPN horror movie…

So we got the ‘everyone survives’ ending. Lucky us.

But maybe because of that, the bike engine won’t even start anymore… Sorry for making you two walk with me.

No, it’s totally fine!

Maybe I should’ve had the people from my shop stay behind. I sent them back early because I thought they might get dragged into this…

Nah, it’s all good! Taking a stroll down a quiet country road at night has its own charm, y’know? Let’s just take it easy on the way back!

Yeah…

…Hey, Akuta-kun, Nagi-kun.

Hm?

Um… I’m sorry for getting angry earlier.

I just couldn’t hold back from how worried I was about you two…

No, no, no! Why are you apologizing, Toi-san!? Right, Nagi-san!?

Yeah. Honestly, I’m glad you told us how you felt.

Exactlyyy! Your feelings came through loud and clear! Nobody gets mad at someone for worrying about them, right?

Akuta-kun…..Nagi-kun….

And well…yeah. I kinda got stuck in the “I have to do what I can” mindset–

My feelings boiled over, and I dragged Nagi-san along when I ran off like that.

Even though I was the one who said we’d do this together ‘til the end… Sorry.

…Then promise me you won’t do anything reckless on your own again, okay?

You too, Toi-san!

And so, a happy ending for all of us?

…Nooope. There’s still one mystery left.

What was that huge black mist anyway?

The huge black mist… I kinda just chanted prayers on impulse back there, but…

Um, the black mist you both saw was originally a spirit that protected that area. Or rather, something like a guardian deity.

Once the Shimenawa came off, it was set free. It went traveling around, and then came back.

It went traveling!?

Yep. It made a full round through HAMA, and then traveled all around JPN too.

Woah… A super high-speed JPN tour.

Even Inou Tadataka, the one who mapped Japan, would be impressed.

Th-Then… It wasn’t mad about the Shimenawa or anything…?

Not at all. It was actually happy you snapped it, Akuta-kun. It said it was able to travel around this far, all thanks to you.

And it wants to thank you for rescuing the cat. Apparently, that one’s a troublemaker, so it’s been worried about something like that happening someday.

Th-Thank god~...

But it didn’t become a wandering spirit?

Riiight. Wait, does that mean it got sealed again!?

No, that’s not it. It chose to return on its own.

Now that it had travelled pretty far, it realized something. For that spirit—

…Meow.

Meow…meow!

‘――――――――’

That's where it belongs.