CHARACTERS

Prologue

PROLOGUE

Someone is calling my name.

Shino Tatsumi attempted to wake from his shallow slumber and stopped just on the brink of consciousness.

It was silly.

There was no need for him to respond.

Since when have I started considering it “my name” anyway? I…am a specter. I don’t need a name. My presence and my power are more than enough to make me who I am.

“…No.”

While his eyes were still closed, the corners of Shino’s mouth curved up into a crooked smile.

“I’m not like that anymore.”

His faint murmur, barely audible, was terribly bitter and full of mockery toward himself.

A little over a thousand years ago, he had been a ruthless, man-eating demon that instilled fear in the citizens of the capital. But he’d been beaten by a spiritual medium.

It hadn’t been a fair fight.

In a normal battle, the demon would have ripped apart the spiritual medium’s scrawny frame in less than a minute and devoured the human’s flesh and blood, leaving not even a single bone.

But the beast was ensnared by the medium’s cleverly crafted plan.

He had been forced to submit to a human whom he had taunted and looked down upon as weak and helpless.

“We humans are indeed weak,” the spiritual medium had said and laughed. “That is why we use our wisdom as a weapon, which enables us to defeat even a formidable opponent like you. Wisdom is sometimes greater than physical strength.”

The medium’s smile wasn’t triumphant. It was gentle and somehow conveyed pity and compassion.

Shino could still vividly recall the confusion and unexplainable irritation he’d felt when he saw it.

The spiritual medium…Tokifuyu Tatsumi was the one who’d named him “Shino.”

Tokifuyu had not attempted to kill the specter.

By naming it, he bound it, stripped its power, and enclosed it in a “vessel” of human form that’d been molded with a spell, then made the specter his shikigami.

He then went about patiently persuading those who insisted the dangerous specter be killed to spare the creature’s life and decided to keep Shino on hand to work for him.

“To work for him”… Though I still can’t figure out if it’s accurate to say I worked for Tokifuyu, Shino mused.

As Shino sank deeper into the sea of sleep, his cynical smile relaxed.

Memories of days long gone suddenly started coming back to him.

“Shino! Wait a minute! Do not run away. You must stop instantly when your master commands you to wait!”

A man’s voice and the noisy footsteps of two people running echoed through a mansion. The building was quite spacious by today’s standards but hardly vast for the Heian period.

It was more or less an open structure, and as such, there wasn’t much soundproofing. Although it had a garden, the residents living in the neighborhood must have heard the commotion loud and clear.

Shino could never forget the residence of his late master, Tokifuyu Tatsumi, or the man’s voice.

The rooms were dimly lit, the wooden floors were cold and smooth to the touch, and the scent of incense and old paper wafted throughout the house.

Am I dreaming? Is it possible to experience such vivid sensations in a dream?

Mildly surprised, Shino realized something:

Tokifuyu would appear sooner or later if he continued to dream.

It would be unpleasant to see his face again, even in a dream, so I suppose I should awaken. Oh…wait.

“Who the hell would stick around for you?! Go ahead and bind me with a curse if you want me to stop!”

The loud voice that shouted back at Tokifuyu was Shino’s—from long ago, but not the least bit different from what he sounded like in the current day.

Such exchanges were commonplace back when he had been made Tokifuyu’s servant apparition. He didn’t know why Tokifuyu was chasing him in his dream, so curiosity welled up inside him.

He decided not to wake up yet and just looked at his bare feet as he ran down the hallway and listened to himself yell.

The inability to see himself objectively made it all strangely real, even though he knew he was dreaming.

It seemed that Shino was reliving memories from the distant past.

The ragged hunting robe he wore in the dream fluttered, and his long, disheveled hair clung to his face.

The tactile sensations and the urgency of his actions were awfully vivid.

In reality, he was lying down and sleeping, but it was as if he was really kicking down the folding screen with vigor, pulling out scrolls from a shelf, and flinging them around forcefully.

Even now, the sound of Tokifuyu tripping and falling behind him gave him immense satisfaction.

“This is meaningless— Ow… I slipped on a scroll you threw and hit my bottom pretty hard. Shino, this is getting us nowhere.”

The young man appeared in the hallway, clad in a hunting robe with a sash across his shoulder, rubbing his buttocks and wincing.

He was Tokifuyu Tatsumi, a midlevel master of yin and yang at the Bureau of Spiritual Mediums.

Tokifuyu turned toward Shino, who had just reached the end of the corridor and was about to flee into the garden. Then he held up the index finger and middle finger of his right hand and placed them over his mouth.

He muttered something, and Shino’s body jerked and stiffened.

Tokifuyu’s breathing was ragged, and he shook his head in resignation as Shino froze in place, unable to move a single finger, just as he’d been preparing to jump from the walkway onto the ground.

“You are impossible, Shino. I ask you to do things because I do not want to get rough with you like this.”

Tokifuyu ran a hand over his head, noting that his hat was missing. He must have dropped it somewhere while chasing after Shino. He casually combed his fingers through his long hair as Shino complained somewhat unintelligibly, desperately struggling to move his numb mouth and tongue.

“Hey, you’re playing dirty, binding me with a curse!”

Had Shino been in his original form as a specter, the air around him would have crackled with electricity. But Tokifuyu had sealed him in a human vessel, making him no more dangerous than a barking stray dog.

“You are the one who said to put a curse on you. Your memory seems a little lacking,” Tokifuyu retorted with a cool, if sweaty, face.

“You dare mock me?!”

“I am treating you with the utmost courtesy. It is extraordinary in the first place for a master to see to all the needs of a worker under him…”

“That is what I’m saying I don’t like! I can’t take it anymore. What’s with this robe that is so hard to move around in? And this hair. It’s much too long and useless! Talk about a hindrance. Never mind how I look—shave my head this minute! I don’t need anything to wear. A pair of underpants will suffice, if you insist!”

Shino went on and on with his complaints as he remained glued to the spot, his arm and leg still raised for takeoff.

Hey… My behavior is far too unsightly. Was I really that uncivilized back then?

Shino was a little flustered. He almost felt sorry for Tokifuyu, but then he focused on the scene in his dream.

“Just how long are you going to continue acting like a child? You must accept the ways of the world and get used to them, or you will never be able to live alongside others. Come now,” Tokifuyu said with a wry smile, sliding over to Shino and stroking his disheveled hair. Shino glared at his master and yelled in a coarse tone that he couldn’t imagine using in modern society.

“I never asked you to spare my life, Tokifuyu! On the contrary, I told you to hurry up and exorcise me. I would prefer that than to go through all this trouble.”

“I will not allow you to give up your life, Shino. The only way for you to make amends is to live alongside humans.”

Despite his gentle tone, Tokifuyu’s voice had a harsh, whiplike quality to it.

Startled, Shino flinched and shut his mouth.

“You should not annoy your master so much. Come with me, Shino.”

With that, Tokifuyu undid the binding.

Finally free, Shino stood in the hallway, looking like he was about to explode.

But all he did was glare hatefully at his master’s small back as the man went inside.

Bound by Tokifuyu’s power, Shino couldn’t harm humans. He couldn’t even leap and kick the man’s retreating figure.

He gritted his teeth and reluctantly followed Tokifuyu into a room.

“You should not throw tantrums. You must learn to unwind a little.”

Sounding like a parent, Tokifuyu deftly adjusted Shino’s hunting robe, then had him sit on a circular mat. After that, he picked up a comb, kneeled behind him, and began combing the specter’s long hair.

Shino sat with his arms folded as the man carefully smoothed out his tangles and said, “Your hair is magnificent, just as beautiful as any princess’s tresses. I was thinking of putting it in a bun, but it would be a shame to tuck it under a hat. I’ll tie a knot or two and leave the rest hanging down.”

“Whatever!”

“All right.” Tokifuyu nodded with a bright smile, unconcerned by the specter’s hateful tone. “It was my first time making a human-form vessel for an apparition, but it turned out better than I expected. You are worth polishing.”

Tokifuyu spoke happily as if he might start whistling at any moment. Meanwhile, Shino sniffed, looking terribly unhappy.

“I do not understand what you humans are thinking. So you wish to dress me up. Where are you going to take me today?”

Tokifuyu mentioned a man’s name. As far as Shino knew, he was the only person Tokifuyu considered a friend.

“You can go to his mansion on your own,” Shino said as he turned his head, but Tokifuyu was still tying the specter’s hair with a serious expression on his face.

“That won’t do. This visit today is related to you.”

“Me? I have no business with humans.”

Tokifuyu nudged Shino’s chin with the tip of his finger and said, “Keep looking straight ahead. I may not seem like it, but I’m fairly clumsy, and I cannot tie this right if you turn around. Today…we are visiting that man to ask for a scroll for you.”

“A scroll?”

“Yes, a scroll. He has picture scrolls in his mansion that he has collected for his children, so I decided to borrow some he no longer uses. They are perfect for teaching you to read and write.”

Tokifuyu said that so matter-of-factly that Shino’s eyes bulged as he spun around again to face him.

“That is absurd! What kind of specter learns to read and write? I do not need anything like that!”

Tokifuyu shrugged, still holding the comb in his hand.

“Oh? Are you such a cowardly specter that you would refuse to try the unknown?”

“Tokifuyu. You dare call me a coward?!”

“If you truly are brave, then accept, face, and overcome everything that comes your way,” Tokifuyu said quietly as he gently stroked back the frayed hair strands that had fallen on Shino’s forehead. Shino stiffened at his master’s casual touch, but Tokifuyu smiled gently and continued, “Whether it is reading, writing, or simply having fun, try it once. Give yourself a chance to learn. Then you can decide for yourself whether you need it. Unlike humans, you have all the time in the world. Nurture your mind and your heart and enrich yourself, though I know you will never admit you have those opportunities.”

Not giving Shino a chance to retort, Tokifuyu stood up and declared he was ready.

“Now it is your turn to help me prepare myself for the day. For starters, you can go and look for the hat I lost somewhere in this house.”

Shino.

Shino. Hey, Shino.

Shut up. Stop calling me.

“I found your hat for you, didn’t I?” Shino said curtly.

He opened his eyes with a start when he heard a voice nearby say, “That’s good, but, um…”

It wasn’t Tokifuyu’s voice. It was a more high-pitched, helpless-sounding, and soft voice…which belonged to the human who had become his servant.

Masamichi Adachi.

That was the name of the young man who lay on the same mattress that Shino was sleeping on, staring at his face in the darkness.

After Shino had saved Masamichi’s life one spring night—purely out of amusement following an incident where the younger man had been run over by a car—the specter decided to keep Masamichi just as his late master had kept him by his side.

One reason was that he liked the taste of Masamichi’s blood. The other…was that Masamichi was a human with rare golden chi—which Tokifuyu had also possessed.

To savor that exquisite chi, Shino occasionally invited Masamichi to sleep with him.

He actually wanted to devour it uninhibited, but he was bound by Tokifuyu’s curse, which prevented him from harming humans.

He was frustrated that he wasn’t allowed to do more than sleep alongside the young man, but Masamichi seemed to enjoy slipping under the covers with Shino and chatting about trivial matters. By absorbing the warm chi that Masamichi emitted, Shino was able to temporarily quench his thirst, which could never be fully quenched, no matter what he ate or drank.

“I had a dream,” Masamichi whispered, looking sleepy.

Shino’s brow furrowed.

Perhaps because Masamichi had the same chi as his late master, the dreams that Shino had were sometimes passed onto him when they slept side by side.

And it had happened again that night.

“I’m sorry I woke you up. But…I wanted to tell you this before I went back to sleep, figuring I might forget about my dream.”

“Tell me what?” Shino asked curtly, but Masamichi just smiled.

“You have a proper heart. Tokifuyu’s wish came true.”

“…Shut up and go back to sleep. Dawn isn’t for a while yet,” Shino said dismissively and covered Masamichi’s eyes abruptly with his hand.

“It feels good when you do that. You have cold hands, and it’s like putting on a cool eye mask.”

“Quiet.”

They stayed that way, and Masamichi eventually began snoring.

Shino removed his hand and sucked his teeth, looking at Masamichi’s puppylike, defenseless sleeping face.

Shino was annoyed.

Both his master, who continued to bind him with a curse even after his demise, and his servant, who trusted him completely, were humans who made illogical choices, and it was bizarre.

In addition, their words and actions filled Shino’s mind with not only anger, suspicion, and dismay but also a sort of pain that he couldn’t understand.

It was a pain that tingled yet was strangely warm, and he didn’t know what to do about it.

“That’s the problem with humans,” he said contemptuously, then turned his back to Masamichi and closed his eyes tight.

Chapter 1: Time Rewound

“Wow…!” Masamichi exclaimed as he exited his prep school, a place that had become quite familiar to him.

His breath came out in white puffs that dispersed into the air and disappeared.

In the summer, it had been bright outside at five PM, but now that it was December, the sun had set completely, making it as dark as night.

All the stores had their lights on, streetlights blazed, and the cold north wind chilled Masamichi’s cheeks.

But he was a native of Akita, a northern prefecture, and what Tokyo considered cold was nothing to him.

It was the snowflakes fluttering in the air that had made him cry out.

Since he’d arrived in Tokyo, people often commented on how challenging the heavy snowfall must have been back in Akita. However, it didn’t actually snow much in his hometown.

Of course, there were years when it was heavy enough to require shoveling, but he had never seen the first floor of his house buried in snow like in some other areas.

For that reason, the weather was a pleasant and nostalgic reminder of home.

A gentle smile appeared on his childlike face as he walked down the street, dazzled by the size of the snowflakes he caught in the palm of his gloved hand.

I wonder what the snow was like in the Heian period, when Shino livedwith Tokifuyu. They sometimes show Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto covered in snow on the news, but maybe it was even heavier back then.

Pondering days long past, Masamichi stopped at several stores, and once he finished shopping, he returned home to Bougyoudou. That was where his master and roommate—Shino Tatsumi, a specter—awaited him.

It was a small house in a corner of a residential area where time seemed to have stopped during the Showa era.

That was Bougyoudou, their home and the antique store that Shino operated.

Masamichi had become Shino’s servant that past spring and moved out of his apartment to live with him.

Masamichi had been run over by a car and nearly died on the road in the middle of the night when Shino, who happened to be passing by, saved his life on one condition—that the young man become his servant.

It was only after he agreed to the master-servant contract and Shino used magical power to repair Masamichi’s battered body that he learned his new master was a specter.

Life as a specter’s servant might sound miserable, but the reality of his situation was anything but.

Masamichi’s living conditions had actually improved dramatically.

“I will give you food and shelter,” Shino had said nonchalantly when he proposed a contract during their first meeting—when Masamichi was on the brink of death.

It had been neither a joke nor a lie.

Shino had bought all the clothes Masamichi now wore. The shirt, pants, and coat were casual, but they were from well-known brands and of good quality.

Masamichi had initially checked the prices online and felt overwhelmed. However, he ultimately decided to stop doing that to preserve his peace of mind. Instead, he made a point of taking care of his clothes and ensuring they didn’t get stains or tears in the fabric.

Because the house they lived in was old, there were certainly some inconveniences, but it was far more comfortable than the six-mat room that he had previously lived in, which had a shared toilet and no bath.

However…

“I’m home!”

He swung open the door as usual and saw a scene unfolding before him that reminded him of Moses’s Ten Commandments.

The path from the entrance had barely enough space for one person to pass through. Other than that, objects were piled up from the floor and almost to the ceiling.

They were all old items that Shino had purchased or obtained from customers who’d been wishing to part with them.

Some of them were valuable antiques, but most were old tools…all of which were something called artifact spirits.

Masamichi had learned about their existence after meeting Shino. It seemed some items that had been deeply involved with humans over the years became endowed with a soul at some point and had a will of their own.

Such artifact spirits brought good luck to their owners while they were treated with care. But if they were mistreated or fell into the hands of someone they weren’t compatible with, they brought bad luck to their owners.

Shino operated a curious business. While running his store as an antique dealer, he also picked up unwanted artifact spirits and rehomed them with suitable owners.

It meant that as Shino’s servant, Masamichi had to get along with the artifact spirits in the store, which was probably the most peculiar thing about living at Bougyoudou.

He’d been extremely puzzled at first and had another near-death experience when he attempted cleaning the place and angered one of the artifact spirits. Although he continued to be a little nervous about them, he had become used to their presence for the most part.

Despite Masamichi’s shy and reclusive nature, he was highly adaptable. That seemed to be a strength of his, which he’d realized after moving in with Shino.

So as usual, Masamichi hunched his narrow shoulders to avoid accidentally hitting the artifact spirits and upsetting them.

In the back of the store, there was a large desk and chair where Shino did paperwork, met with clients, and handled his accounting. It also had their antique cash register on it.

Farther inside, there was a stairway that led to a tea room that had tatami mats and was separated from a kitchen by a cupboard.

It was a classic and nostalgic setting where the work and living spaces were linked.

Bougyoudou didn’t get many walk-in customers to begin with.

Masamichi saw Shino in the kitchen and figured he had no more visitors scheduled for the day. The kitchen was Shino’s domain.

Once he became Tokifuyu’s shikigami, Shino had been forbidden from harming humans, and he apparently maintained his power as a specter by capturing and eating other ghouls or by eating and drinking as humans did.

Since becoming his servant, Masamichi’s responsibility was to provide the specter with sustenance…his chi, which Shino loved. And to maintain good chi, the young man needed to be healthy.

So Shino cooked Masamichi’s meals to make sure the young man was getting the right nutrition. Shino explained that it was for his own sake when Masamichi was humbled about his master going so far as to keep him fed.

Masamichi still felt bad about having his master cook breakfasts and dinners and even prepare a lunch box for him to take to his prep school. However, aside from the health reasons, the meals Shino made were incredibly delicious, and it was hard for the young man to decline such an offer.

The moment he opened the door, Masamichi smelled the fragrant aroma of onions frying in butter.

“Hi, Shino. I’m home,” he said again as he went up to the tea room.

Standing with his back to him, Shino didn’t turn around or welcome him.

Masamichi wasn’t bothered by that, because the specter never did, and he approached the specter with a smile on his face.

Shino always said that specters didn’t have a habit of greeting others.

Masamichi, however, had been taught by his parents and grandparents since childhood that “no greeting or thank-you would ever go amiss,” so he didn’t feel comfortable if he didn’t greet people properly.

Fortunately for him, Shino didn’t tell him to stop doing it, so he greeted him, albeit one-sidedly, on a daily basis.

“I bought mushrooms. I’ve gotten shiitake, shimeji, and enoki mushrooms before, but it was my first time buying these common white mushrooms. Oh, and carrots. Was that all you needed?” Masamichi said while pulling the items out of his reusable shopping bag and placing them on the counter.

Shino indicated his approval with the faintest movement of his eyes.

Then he gestured with his chin, which meant that Masamichi was to hurry up and take his things to his room.

Someone who didn’t know Shino might wonder why he was so grumpy, and perhaps they’d worry that he and Masamichi were fighting, but Masamichi was used to this behavior.

Whether it was the nature of a specter or if it was just the way Shino was, his words and actions were very economical.

He saw no need to be nice, act good-tempered, or waste another person’s time with redundant small talk.

Wherever he was and whomever he was with, Shino was true to himself at all times.

That was why Masamichi had been genuinely surprised when he first saw Shino speaking politely and using honorifics with customers.

It was only natural for a business operator, but Shino was so brutally honest that Masamichi hadn’t expected it from him.

Shino’s current attitude might be extremely brusque to the casual observer, but to him, he was being neutral and not acting particularly grumpy.

“I’ll be right back,” Masamichi said. Knowing Shino wouldn’t respond, he ran up the steep stairs that led from the tea room to the second floor.

Masamichi had been allocated the room that Yoriko—the wife of the store’s previous owner, Daizou—had used.

He liked the room very much. With her beloved furniture still there, it had a mysterious warmth to it, and it often reminded him of his own grandmother. They’d replaced the bed because the mattress springs sagged and might hurt his back, but he continued to use everything else as is.

After taking off his clothes and carefully spreading them on the bed, Masamichi changed into sweats, washed his hands in the bathroom, and returned to the kitchen.

Still focused on his frying pan, Shino said, “Wipe those mushrooms you bought.”

Masamichi pulled his sleeves up to his elbows, planning to help make dinner, but then he stopped and looked mildly surprised.

“Wipe them? Not wash them?”

“Yoriko said washing mushrooms ruins the flavor. She told me to wipe them with a wet paper towel.”

“Oh, is that a skill she taught you? Okay, got it!”

Chuckling, Masamichi wet a paper towel as instructed, wrung it, and began carefully wiping off each mushroom.

The mushrooms that he’d bought at the store he now regularly shopped at were white, with faint speckles of dirt and straw, so cleaning them wasn’t difficult.

“So Yoriko cleaned mushrooms carefully like this, huh? Or was it your job to help her like I’m doing?”

Shino shrugged without answering. It meant “Yeah.”

By the time Masamichi had moved to Bougyoudou, Daizou and Yoriko were no longer alive. There was only one photograph of them in the tea room for him to reference, but from what Shino sometimes said, he could tell they were good people.

Shino had learned many of Yoriko’s home recipes by helping her in her later years when she couldn’t move well enough to perform household chores to her satisfaction. Now Shino prepared those dishes for Masamichi.

Masamichi used those daily meals as a way to think about the lives of Daizou, Yoriko, and Shino in the past.

“Yoriko must have thought of you as a son. I bet she was happy to cook with you,” Masamichi said.

Shino cut the cleaned mushrooms into four pieces, tossed them into a pan, and replied, “She didn’t have anyone else to do the chores. That’s all.”

“I don’t think so. It’s fun to be in the kitchen together. At least, it is for me. I’m sure Yoriko enjoyed it, too.”

“I don’t care how humans feel. All I did was pay her back for what she did for me.”

Shino continued to work briskly, and Masamichi chuckled inwardly.

But Shino remembers everything Yoriko taught him, from the recipe to the methods. I can tell he worked hard trying to help her.

If Masamichi pointed that out, Shino’s mood would immediately sour. After nine months of living together, Masamichi had a pretty good idea of what triggered his mood switches, and he changed the subject without pushing further.

“By the way, what are you making today?”

“Chicken sandwiches, as Yoriko would have said.”

Masamichi widened his eyes.

“Chicken sandwiches? Sandwiches? For dinner?”

“Do you disapprove?”

A hint of grumpiness laced Shino’s voice. Panicked, Masamichi waved his hands, still holding a paper towel.

“Oh, no, not at all! But I was just a bit surprised since we’ve never had sandwiches for dinner before. Is that what you’re in the mood for?”

“I wanted to use the leftover bread we have. That’s all. That’s enough—stop cleaning the mushrooms. Wrap the leftovers in a paper towel and put them in the fridge.”

“Okay. Gee, I had no idea you could preserve mushrooms like that. Specters know a lot of things.”

“Not specters. I know a lot of things.”

“Right. Is there anything else I can do to help?”

Secretly amused by his master’s self-assertion, which struck him as cute, Masamichi did as he was told. After putting the mushrooms away in the refrigerator, he looked at the specter.

Shino combined the onions and mushrooms in the pan with shredded chicken pieces he had apparently sautéed earlier, then sprinkled everything with salt, pepper, and flour.

“Milk and cheese.”

“Yes, sir!”

After receiving those brief instructions, Masamichi pulled out a carton of milk and a cylindrical container of cheese powder from the refrigerator and returned to stand next to Shino.

Shino sprinkled more flour over the ingredients, heated them carefully so they wouldn’t burn, and then turned off the gas. Then he poured the cold milk into it at once.

“Whoa! Is it okay to pour all that in there? I’m surprised,” Masamichi blurted honestly. “My mom used to add a little bit of milk at a time, stirring desperately so lumps wouldn’t form.”

Without moving a brow, Shino said in a flat tone, “Turn off the heat, add the milk, mix well, then turn the heat back on again, and it will be fine…”

“Yoriko taught you that?”

“Yeah.”

Shino turned the heat on again and began scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spatula. The thin milk gradually became a smooth, creamy sauce.

“…Wow, you’re right! I’ll tell Mom the next time I call her.”

Ignoring Masamichi’s excitement, Shino went on to sprinkle cheese over the batter and made the sauce thick and creamy.

He remained cool and calm as he worked, but Masamichi wondered how he had been when he first made the dish.

Had he at least been a little confused as he worked the wooden spatula like Yoriko taught him? Maybe he hadn’t gotten excited, but perhaps he’d been a bit pleased or proud of his accomplishment.

Just imagining the scene made Masamichi relax.

“All right, um, next…I’ll get a dish… A big dish should do, huh? I’ll go grab one.”

If he kept smiling at this rate, Shino would start getting irritable from embarrassment. Masamichi quickly turned away and crouched in front of the cupboard to hide the goofy smile on his face.

“Mmm! Delicious!”

Those were the first words that came out of Masamichi’s mouth when he took a bite of his sandwich.

It was a kind of basic reaction, but people tended to forget vocabulary when they thought something was genuinely delicious.

When Shino said they were having sandwiches, Masamichi had imagined thick stewed chicken sandwiched between two slices of bread. But Shino had pulled a shelf out from under the sink and unearthed an old hot-sandwich maker.

The sandwich on the plate before Masamichi was golden brown on both sides and looked lovely.

“I had chicken pot pie at a fried-chicken place some time ago, but this tastes more extravagant. I never knew mushrooms could be so juicy. Yoriko knew how to make some pretty fancy dishes, didn’t she?”

Seated across from him, Shino held his sandwich in both hands, took a big bite, and gave him a slight nod.

“Daizou called this a classy sandwich.”

“I know what he meant. It really is classy.”

Masamichi opened his mouth wide as his master had done and chomped down on his sandwich.

It was a cream of stewed chicken in bread that’d been toasted to a golden brown.

The mustard that’d been spread generously on the inside of the bread was a refreshing complement to the rich flavor.

There were also some small glass bowls of grated carrot salad that served as a palate cleanser and went very well with the sandwich.

“It looks like something you’d find on a lunch menu at a trendy café.”

Shino finally lifted his right eyebrow by about five millimeters.

“This classy sandwich and carrot rapu? I don’t think you’re likely to see these names at a fancy café.”

“Never mind the names, but… Hmm? Carrot rapu?”

“That’s what Yoriko called it. Isn’t that the name of this dish?”

“Well.”

Masamichi thought about it for a moment.

It was carrot râpée. Perhaps Yoriko made it sound more Japanese than French and, with a bit of an accent, settled for carrot rapu.

It seemed a shame to overwrite that cute background with the correct pronunciation, so Masamichi just smiled.

“If that’s what Yoriko said, then I think that’s the name of the dish. Almonds and raisins are often added to chopped carrots that have been seasoned to be sweet and sour, but it was probably her original idea to sprinkle ground sesame seeds on top of the carrots.”

“Yeah? Well, this is the only recipe I know.”

“It tastes fabulous.”

As usual, Shino didn’t respond, and silence fell over the dinner table.

Although Masamichi was used to it, continuing to eat in silence still felt somewhat uncomfortable, so he reached for the remote control and turned on the TV.

The channel was set to a show they sometimes watched, which mixed news and information on daily living. He adjusted the volume and placed the remote control on the tatami mat.

On the screen, an announcer and commentators were engaging in a heated debate over the new tax system.

It was a bleak topic that didn’t match the festive studio, which radiated Christmas spirit, but he supposed all the shows aired at this hour would be similar.

“December has only just begun, but the mood already seems to be set for Christmas,” he said, intentionally avoiding touching on the topic being discussed.

Shino was eating his sandwich with gusto, distorting the muscles of his beautiful face in the process. He munched away and just responded with a slight arch of his brow.

So Christmas doesn’t interest him.

Unable to understand his reaction, Masamichi decided to pick at his carrot rapu and wait for Shino to speak.

After eating his sandwich, Shino remarked bluntly, “Christmas, huh? The time when people in Japan eat massive amounts of chicken and large cakes.”

His reaction was again unexpected, and Masamichi ended up spitting out the food he was eating in shock.

“Chicken and cake? So you, Daizou, and Yoriko celebrated Christmas and had feasts.”

Shino looked unusually puzzled.

“I don’t know if you’d call those meals a feast, but on the night before Christmas, we always had… What was it called, that chicken you mentioned earlier from the store?”

“Do you mean fried chicken?”

“Yes. We had a huge paper bucket stuffed with fried chicken placed at the center of the table. Beside it, there would be a whole cake that was clearly too big for the three of us…”

“Heh-heh-heh!”

Masamichi imagined the old couple and Shino sitting around the table having a Christmas feast where they were now eating, and it made him feel warm and fuzzy inside. It was sweet and funny with a touch of sadness, thinking of what had been.

Oh, how the old couple had loved Shino. Masamichi got a sense of their deep affection from what the specter told him, and it made him happy.

He was aware that even as a specter, Shino understood the elderly couple’s affection for him. With that in mind, he continued to wonder why they had eaten fried chicken and a giant cake at Christmas.

Noticing Masamichi smiling, Shino scowled.

“Don’t laugh. Just because it was Christmas, they didn’t have to go out and buy such a large quantity of fried chicken. They only ate one or two pieces each, and then I had to finish the rest. It was the same with the cakes.”

“But that’s nothing for a specter, right?”

“Of course it was nothing. Still, it wasn’t fun having to stuff my stomach with food that wasn’t particularly intriguing while listening to them sing strange songs.”

“…Oh, geez, Shino. They must have been singing Christmas carols. They really did have serious Christmas parties for you, didn’t they?”

Shino glared at Masamichi as he continued to giggle.

“Hey, you have some nerve laughing at your master…”

But as Shino reached a hand over the table to chastise Masamichi and the younger man leaned back so he wouldn’t be grabbed—they heard someone on the television say a name neither of them could forget.

“…!”

They immediately froze, then simultaneously turned their faces toward the TV screen.

The irritation on Shino’s face remained, but Masamichi’s smile disappeared as if he had wiped it off.

It seemed the monotonous discussion on tax-related issues had ended.

With a rapid change of pace, a cheerful Christmas song started playing in the background, and a round of applause erupted in the TV studio as people welcomed the guest appearing in the entertainment segment.

“We have with us tonight the super-popular prince of gagaku court music, Mr. Kagiroi! Mr. Kagiroi, welcome to our show.”

Calling the guest’s name again, a female announcer walked up to Kagiroi with a radiant smile.

“This way, sir. Oh wow, I can’t believe I’m actually meeting you.”

Welcoming him with reverence as if she was greeting royalty, the announcer led Kagiroi to a plush chair set up in the corner of the studio.

“Kagiroi…”

Masamichi heard Shino gritting his teeth in reaction to the man smiling and waving to the cameras against a backdrop of unpleasant clamoring.

It’s Kagiroi…!

Just thinking of the name made Masamichi tremble all over. He didn’t realize he was hugging himself tightly.

The house was heated and should have been warm enough, but he felt cold to the core.

As he sat comfortably in a chair, the prince of gagaku court music’s movements were relaxed and elegant, and he looked young.

His facial features stood out clearly, reminding Masamichi of a Kabuki actor. The corners of his eyes curved slightly upward, and his lips were rosy as if tinted with lipstick, making him look sexy in a wild way.

Just as eye-catching as his beauty were his hair and fashion sense.

His straight hair came down to his chest and was flame red. He wore a pure-white suit that complemented it. Even the shirt he wore was as white as snow.

The contrast between his red hair and white clothes made him look more like a rock musician than a gagaku court musician, but even rock stars seldom wore all-white outfits. He was certainly thorough when it came to style.

Seated in a beautiful crimson satin chair, Kagiroi stood up slowly as if to show off his slender form, gracefully stretched out his arms, and took a bow.

“Hello, everyone, it’s been a while. My name is Kagiroi. Thank you for having me here today. I’m honored to join you,” he said, his last words directed at the people in the studio.

A few men snickered at Kagiroi’s theatrics, but everyone else was wide-eyed and entranced.

Their ecstatic expressions were a stark contrast to Shino’s and Masamichi’s.

“I trust that you are all aware that gagaku, the ancient court music of Japan, has been somewhat forgotten. However, Mr. Kagiroi here is the person who has turned the spotlight on it,” the television announcer said. “He’s famous for his concerts, where his performances are so divine that people in the audience faint one after the other…”

Kagiroi was back in his seat, tilting his head with a wry smile on his face at her words.

“I know it’s rude to interrupt, but making people faint isn’t exactly commendable.”

“Oh. I-I’m sorry. I’m so nervous; I guess that wasn’t nice… I still can’t believe that someone like you really exists and is now appearing on our show. After all, you don’t give away anything about yourself, from your real name to your background, no matter how hard those skilled reporters try to dig,” the announcer said, sounding more like a fan than a facilitator.

Kagiroi’s gentle smile didn’t falter as he tilted his head again.

“Thank you. I keep my identity a mystery because I want people to love the music I play and not me. I am only a type of conduit that delivers the tunes that the people of ancient times created.”

“How dare he speak that way,” Shino spat with a click of his tongue, but Masamichi didn’t respond. Instead, he focused on Kagiroi and the TV.

“And to my dismay, I have been on medical leave since autumn,” Kagiroi continued.

A male lawyer who was seated in the studio and serving as one of the commentators reacted in a somewhat chilly tone. “Oh yes, you canceled your tour after suddenly calling off a concert in Kyoto on the day of the event, didn’t you? I heard that one of the reasons for that was a free performance you gave the night before along the Kamo River, when a mass fainting spell ensued…”

“Hey, that’s rude,” a male comedian sitting next to the lawyer chided jokingly. “What if he gets angry and leaves?”

The announcer paled, but Kagiroi straightened his posture, widened his smile, and bowed.

“I’m very sorry about that. I was walking along the Kamo River on the night before the concert, and the beautiful scenery of the ancient city inspired me. I couldn’t help playing at least a piece of music with my hichiriki—my woodwind instrument—to pay tribute to the historical city, but that was arrogant. I’m ashamed to have inconvenienced all the people who gathered there and become very ill myself…”

“Oh, please, don’t be so hard on yourself…,” the announcer said, flustered. Masamichi finally looked away from the screen and glanced at Shino, who remained focused on the broadcast.

“Shino. The performance by the Kamo River that Kagiroi just mentioned—”

“There’s no doubt about it. He’s talking about the time he almost killed us,” Shino mumbled, his gaze still fixed on the TV.

Shino’s almond-shaped eyes met Masamichi’s round ones. Masamichi nodded, his face pale.

Three months ago, they’d nearly been killed by Kagiroi, who was now appearing on TV.

His current cover was the super-popular prince of gagaku court music. Like Shino, he was a specter who had been living in the human world since the Heian period.

Masamichi had been shocked when Shino told him that Kagiroi was the one who had murdered Shino’s late master, Tokifuyu Tatsumi.

When Kagiroi began playing his flute…his hichiriki, reddish-black weblike veins started covering the area, and branches appeared from them and pierced the audience—and me.

As the memory resurfaced in his mind, so did the peculiar sensations he had experienced that night. Masamichi involuntarily put his hand to his chest.

All the strength seemed to be drained out of me then…and if Shino hadn’t helped me, Kagiroi would have taken my chi from me, and I would have fainted like the others. Shino called that weblike cage a “barrier.” Kagiroi has been putting up that barrier at every live performance he’s been giving and stealing the chi from his audience. That’s why people collapse…

“You’re looking like you’re in much better health now,” one of the commentators said. “Does that mean you’ll be resuming your fainting concerts now?”

That startled Masamichi.

Kagiroi waved a hand gracefully, skillfully hiding the devilish nature of the specter that he was and instead giving an impression of elegance.

“Oh, not for a while yet, since I’m not quite back to my old self. I came here today so I could at least show my fans that I was on my way to recovery.”

“I see. I hope it wasn’t too much of a burden on you to visit our studio today…”

Suddenly, the screen went dark.

Shino had taken the remote control that Masamichi had placed on the table and turned off the TV.

“Oh!” Masamichi croaked reproachingly, and Shino looked at him grimly.

“There is no reason for us to keep watching that unpleasant face.”

“But—”

“…But it appears that the power Tokifuyu left behind has caused that creature considerable damage. We can consider it a small victory that we were able to witness that,” he said casually. Then he tossed the remote control somewhere and shoved the rest of his now-cold sandwich into his mouth.

Masamichi wasn’t in the mood to start eating again yet. Still feeling chills, he rubbed his arms through the sleeves of the thick sweatshirt he was wearing.

That night, Kagiroi hadn’t tried to hide his hostility toward his “old friend” Shino. He was a powerful specter whose strength far surpassed Shino’s, and he had tried to kill them.

It was a comb, which had been a gift from Tokifuyu Tatsumi, that saved them.

Shino had found it at the site where Tokifuyu’s house once stood, and the curse the medium had performed remained in effect. Shino unleashed it, and a dazzling thunderbolt had struck Kagiroi.

That was when Shino and Masamichi escaped. Ever since then, Shino had been stubbornly and blatantly avoiding the subject of Kagiroi.

There were a million things that Masamichi wanted to ask: why Kagiroi had killed Tokifuyu, why he was now living in the modern world and posing as a musician while stealing chi from his audiences, and what he was trying to accomplish by increasing his magical power.

But Shino said Kagiroi wouldn’t be able to make a move for a while after experiencing that much damage, adding there was nothing that a mere mortal like Masamichi could do anyway, making him fall silent.

Still, after seeing Kagiroi on television, even Shino—who was usually calm and collected—seemed upset.

Masamichi moistened his parched throat with tea, coughed, and said, “Shino, can I ask you a few questions about Kagiroi?”

Shino washed down the remainder of his sandwich with his now-lukewarm tea and tightened his thin lips.

“No,” he replied, the tension in every muscle on his handsome face conveying his displeasure, but Masamichi worked up the courage to keep pressing.

“I know there’s nothing I can do, even if I learn a little more about him, but…I still want to know.”

“Why? Do you wish to irritate your master out of curiosity?”

The bridge of Shino’s nose wrinkled in disapproval. The specter’s fierce expression gave Masamichi a reminder of his intrinsically fiery temperament, and the young man cringed.

“I’m sorry. But you’re my master.”

“So what?”

“I want to know everything there is to know. More than I want to know about Kagiroi, I want to know about your relationship with him. I understand he killed Tokifuyu a long time ago. I also want to know why he killed him, what he’s trying to do now, and what you plan to do about it.”

“Then what?”

Shino’s question was succinct and precise, quickly making Masamichi hesitate.

But Masamichi was tenacious at times like these, to the extent that he surprised himself. “I don’t know,” he said, sitting up properly and curling his hands into fists as he placed them on his thighs.

“As you say, I’m just a human being and a very weak one at that, and I don’t think I could help you in any way, even if I found out the whole story.”

Shino puffed out his chest arrogantly as if to say, “Exactly.” However, Masamichi didn’t back down.

“But there are always ifs and buts. At least, I’d like to think there are. There’s nothing I can do if I don’t know anything, but maybe even I can do something—just one thing, you know, like with a fight-or-flight response—if I know what’s what. And…”

He touched the area between his eyebrows ever so lightly.

He still didn’t have a real handle on it, but what Shino called a third eye existed there, and it allowed him to see entities that were out of this world and invisible to the average eye.

It was Masamichi’s sole peculiar ability that had come to light after meeting Shino, though he was far from being able to use it freely and effectively.

“…maybe this eye, which I still can’t open without your help, will be of some use one day, even in a small way. From what you, uh…told me when we were in Kyoto, there seems to be a deep connection between you and Kagiroi. You can’t keep your distance from him forever, can you?”

Shino didn’t answer, but the corners of his mouth were turned down, showing how disgusted he was.

“Please, Shino. Just tell me the bare essentials and what you wouldn’t mind sharing with me. Please,” Masamichi said in one breath and gave him a deep bow.

He waited for a while but didn’t hear a word from Shino.

He slowly and cautiously raised his head a few centimeters at a time. What he saw was Shino’s beautiful face, with a sullen yet somewhat amused look in his eyes.

“…Shino?”

“I would like to ask you again how a mere mortal like you could be of any help, but it’s true that if you hadn’t been with me that night in Kyoto, then Kagiroi would have killed me on the spot. I resent it, but it’s something I must admit.”

“Huh?!”

“I’m saying your fight-or-flight response is indeed effective. The chi that you desperately gave me unleashed the curse that Tokifuyu had cast on the comb and allowed it to exert its maximum force. I…hate to admit it, but those are the facts.”

“…Oh!”

As Masamichi listened to Shino, he covered his mouth with a hand. His face, pale since seeing Kagiroi on television, suddenly turned bright red.

That night, Shino had been attacked by Kagiroi and clearly said he couldn’t defeat him.

He had used his body as a shield and attempted to let Masamichi escape.

Sensing that Shino was genuinely serious as his master, Masamichi had been determined not to let him die.

He wasn’t going to save either Shino or himself alone. He had been determined for them to survive together. He had decided to do the one thing that he could do to make that happen. At that moment, his body began moving unconsciously, and he had kissed Shino on the mouth.

That was the one thing that he could devote to Shino…to give him every last bit of his chi.

That’s right! It was the first time I’d ever done something like that with someone, and I’d been making an effort not to remember it so I wouldn’t freak out. Yeah, that was the time I went ahead and kissed Shino.

Looking back objectively, Masamichi thought his face would burst into flame while he recalled his bold actions.

Watching in amusement, as Masamichi looked like he didn’t know how to get over his embarrassment, Shino said in a low tone, “The name of Kagiroi’s master is Gentetsu Izumo.”

“…Huh?!”

His hand still on his cheek, a blank look appeared on Masamichi’s face.

It took a good few seconds for him to realize Shino had given him the information about Kagiroi that he’d wanted.

“Oh, right! Gentetsu…Izumo? Are you saying Kagiroi was a human being’s shikigami like you were?”

Shino nodded and looked somewhere far away with distant eyes.

“Gentetsu Izumo was a spiritual medium… Not one who served the court, but one who served individual needs… He was a spiritual medium ‘working for the public,’ as you’d probably say in modern terms, around the Tajima area. That’s what Tokifuyu told me.”

“A spiritual medium working for the public… So he wasn’t attached to the court like Tokifuyu was? What was it called again?”

“The Bureau of Spiritual Mediums.”

“That’s it! Could it be that he didn’t have the official credentials or something?”

Shino returned his gaze to Masamichi, and a cynical smile tugged at his lips.

“To describe it with your meager vocabulary, yes.”

“Ngh, sorry. What was this Gentetsu Izumo like?”

“He was probably past forty at the time. In those days, that was considered old. He was a small, thin, and suspicious-looking man. He didn’t even tie up his unkempt hair. He wore a dirty, tattered hunting robe, went barefoot, and didn’t even wear a hat. And he always carried a huge crystal ball that’d been polished to a shine,” Shino said, describing Gentetsu Izumo’s appearance as if speaking to himself.

His monotone voice made the medium’s suspicious appearance all the more real to Masamichi. For some reason, he imagined a funny manga character in his mind and shook away the image.

“I know we shouldn’t judge people by their appearance, but he does sound suspicious. Did he do something bad? Is that how Tokifuyu got involved with him…?”

“Gentetsu tried to turn the capital into a city of magic,” Shino answered matter-of-factly.

“…A city of magic? Like a magical city…?”

“Idiot. A city of magic. One made of magic.”

“Oh…! Cool. It sounds like the title of a novel or a movie. Oops, sorry.” As Shino looked at him with exasperation, Masamichi shrank further and asked his next question. “Are you saying he tried to bring specters into the Heian-era capital?”

“Yes.”

Masamichi repeated the frightening words and tilted his head.

“But, Shino, didn’t you used to go to the capital and do bad things before you became Tokifuyu’s apparition?”

“That’s true, but even I had been outside the capital. The barriers around the city were set up cleverly using the flow of the rivers and the topography of the land, offering robust protection. While powerful specters could infiltrate the capital through gaps in the barriers and do what they wanted, it was unwise for them to stay there. The magical energy they had accumulated over time would be taken from them.”

“Oh, like the way Kagiroi used his barrier and sucked the chi out of the people who were there…?”

“Yes. The capital’s barrier drained the power of the specters that sneaked in and made them weak. It was pointless to stay there for long periods.”

“Then even if Gentetsu brought specters to the capital, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal, would it?”

Shino folded his arms and snorted as if he considered Masamichi a fool.

“That would be the extent of your shallow imagination, wouldn’t it? For your information, Gentetsu had grander plans. Even Tokifuyu, who always remained aloof no matter what happened, was stunned when he found out about them.”

“Wh-what were they?”

Naturally, Masamichi had never met Tokifuyu Tatsumi. But the man he sometimes saw when Shino accidentally shared his dreams with him always had a relaxed smile on his face, and he treated the old, rough and uncontrollable Shino with perfect calm.

What would stun a person like that?

Masamichi swallowed nervously, but Shino said matter-of-factly, “Gentetsu tried to open a gate to the other world in the middle of the city that was protected by the four Gods: Suzaku, Seiryou, Byakko, and Genbu.”

“What the heck is a gate to the other world?! I don’t know what it is, but it sounds scary,” Masamichi squealed in a high pitch, startled by what Shino was telling him. Meanwhile, Shino lifted the corner of his mouth a fraction in a sarcastic smirk.

“There are specters, like me, which are born in the human world and continue to live there, and there are others that live in other worlds. The latter is far more common.”

“Is it like a world of specters?”

“That’s right. Humans think theirs is the only world that exists, but there are an infinite number of worlds, and they’re all connected.”

Masamichi grunted and tilted his head.

“Is that like people in different countries coming and going on roads, ships, or planes?”

“For you, that was pretty quick,” Shino said, looking satisfied as he lifted the corner of his mouth and continued, “Although humans who don’t know how to use the third eye could never imagine it, the fact is that there are countless other worlds that exist. Most of them are very small, which considerably limits the number of specters that enter them. That’s why they don’t become much of a problem. However, what Gentetsu wanted to do was open a gate to a gigantic other world that was far more massive…”

Shino’s words continued to shock Masamichi.

“Did he try to build it right in the capital? Is it okay for a person to do something like that?”

“Not usually. To open a gate to another world is to bring together the walls of two different worlds and merge them as one. It isn’t something a mere mortal can do.”

“Not even Tokifuyu could do that?”

A somewhat evil look appeared on Shino’s face as he shook his head.

“I’m not sure. Come to think of it, I never asked.”

“O-oh, okay. Well, he was working for the court, and you wouldn’t think he’d do anything bad. But this Gentetsu Izumo? He must have been very capable if he had such big plans.”

“I don’t know. I do know that he was a human with more ambition than any individual could ever have. His father…”

“Don’t tell me his father tried to do the same thing?”

“He did. Gentetsu’s father, Gensou, attempted it in the past and failed miserably. Tokifuyu said the people at the Bureau of Spiritual Mediums captured and executed him in secret. Apparently, the son had inherited his father’s ambitions.”

Shino’s old tale was too simple to have any footnotes, but it also gave Masamichi a lot of room to let his imagination run wild.

Experiencing the same thrill that he’d felt when his kindergarten teacher read him fairy tales as a child, he continued to ask Shino more about the Izumos.

“Are you saying that two generations, the father and his son, had been working on opening this…gate to another world? That’s some obsession. But why? A flock of specters would flood the capital if they opened the gate, right? They’d attack humans, and the capital would be ruined.”

Shino sighed.

“How would I know what foolish thoughts go through human minds? Even Tokifuyu didn’t seem to know why the Izumos were plotting something so dangerous.”

“He didn’t? Really?!”

“But Tokifuyu guessed that perhaps they had their roots in some indigenous tribe that the people of the capital had once defeated. Indeed, Gentetsu’s external appearance was nothing like that of Tokifuyu and the others.”

“They belonged to an indigenous tribe? We learned a bit about them in high school, but…when you put it that way, suddenly they feel more real than a topic in a textbook.”

Shino mocked Masamichi’s sentiments with a snort.

“You humans certainly are easygoing. You’ve completely forgotten that you’re the descendants of the invaders who once exterminated the indigenous people and stole their land.”

“Ngh…I guess we just don’t think about it. I doubt that many people in today’s world go about their lives with an awareness of our position, but maybe I’m making an excuse for us.”

“It’s perfectly natural for you to defend yourselves. No one is eager to tell their children and grandchildren the bad deeds they committed. Humans have rewritten the facts about their aggression as mythical tales of exterminating specters, saying they didn’t attack fellow humans and only exterminated demons, which was the right thing to do…”

“Exterminated demons…? That’s terrible! They’re treating fellow humans like devils.”

Shino interrupted Masamichi’s angry outburst in an ice-cold tone.

“That’s the type of thing these stupid creatures called humans do. They don’t consider that their foes are the same as them, and they have no qualms about looking down at and harming them. Even today, you humans continue to do the same thing in different parts of the world. Isn’t that right?”

Masamichi closed his mouth, which had gaped open, and hung his head.

Indeed, the powerful continued to oppress and kill the weak, wielding self-serving justice and selfish causes. Masamichi’s heart ached to think that maybe humans hadn’t become any more advanced in the last thousand years.

“Humans are terrible when you put it that way,” he said, looking depressed. Shino grabbed the remainder of Masamichi’s sandwich and devoured it.

“I don’t know if humans are terrible or not, but I certainly don’t care for cunning humans who quibble in an attempt to justify themselves.”

“Cunning humans?”

“Specters slaughter and devour their opponents. Like me in the past, they sometimes take the lives of other beings for fun. But they do that simply because they want to. They don’t consider it bad, and because of that, they don’t even consider defending themselves for such acts. It’s much simpler than the situation with humans.”

Shino’s words were coarse, but Masamichi thought he made sense.

And the warm smile on Tokifuyu’s face when he watched Shino in his rambunctious days, which Masamichi had seen several times in his dreams, suddenly flashed through his mind.

“Putting aside the issue of whether it’s good or bad, maybe it was this honesty of yours that Tokifuyu liked,” Masamichi said without thinking. Shino looked annoyed and clammed up, then cleared his throat and returned to the topic they were discussing.

“…I don’t care what he thought of me. Anyway, one thing for sure is that Gensou and his son had a strong hatred of the Imperial Court. Gensou tried to open the gate to the other world at Suzaku, and the son, Gentetsu, boldly tried to open the gate at Shinsenen, the forbidden garden.”

Shino continued to speak with a straight face, but Masamichi just tilted his head like a small bird again.

“The forbidden garden?”

“The forbidden garden that the public could never set foot in… A garden built for the lord…or in your vernacular, the emperor.”

Masamichi finally understood and blinked in astonishment.

“In a place like that?! It sure sounds like a sign that they’d have a deep grudge against the Imperial Court, or rather, the emperor.”

“That’s correct. But Gentetsu probably couldn’t hide the enormous evil that seeped into his soul. The Bureau of Spiritual Mediums noticed the irregularity as soon as he entered the capital. No matter how cleverly an individual avoids attention and hides under a bridge, all you need to do is show someone a reward, and the poorer a person is, the more easily they will sell you information.”

“So someone ratted him out, and Gentetsu got caught?”

Shino gave a small shake of his head.

“No. He inherited his unusual appearance from his father. People immediately found out that he was Gensou Izumo’s son, and it was no stretch for them to see what he planned to do. It would be too much trouble if they failed at capturing him and he escaped. People living in the capital would be harmed if some large-scale effort was initiated.”

“That’s true. A major hunt in the city wouldn’t have been smart. So—”

“The court decided to let him be and watch him for a while. In terms you can understand, they meant to quietly eliminate him at an appropriate time.”

“Instead of catching him and putting him on trial…?”

“The outcome would have been the same. The court had to get rid of any potential threats to the capital with certainty,” Shino said casually and added, “Tokifuyu was given the task of finishing off Gentetsu.”

“Alone? Why didn’t the entire bureau handle it? It was a major crisis, wasn’t it?”

“For one thing, the chief priest had been ill at the time, and many spiritual mediums were busy praying for him to heal. Another is that Gentetsu was a very cautious man. He might have quickly turned tail and gone into hiding again if too many people pursued him, in which case the court would have had to wait until he made his next move.”

“Aha!”

“To finish Gentetsu off, they needed someone inconspicuous who didn’t flaunt his abilities and had no desire to move up in the world… Besides, Tokifuyu must have owed a lot of money and favors to many people in order to make me his apparition. He could never refuse if he was ordered to give it all back.”

Shino glanced at the empty teacup. Masamichi pulled the thermos and teapot toward himself to make a fresh cup and prompted Shino to continue.

“Oh…I see. So that’s why Tokifuyu had to take covert action. And?”

“Tokifuyu and I kept an eye on him and waited for him to put his plan into action. One night, he finally made his move. We followed him to Shinsenen. It was in front of the large pond that he built a simple but genuine fire altar and burned incense to the gods.”

“He burned incense… That’s what you do when you cast a spell, right?”

“Yeah. Humans also burn incense that way when they’re celebrating something. Tokifuyu and I appeared before him after confirming his intent to attack the Imperial Court. Naturally, he and Tokifuyu engaged in battle…and a heat haze suddenly manifested to protect Gentetsu. It was his shikigami…Kagiroi, that gagaku musician who you know. To our dismay, neither Tokifuyu nor I had been aware of that heat haze until then.”

“He was like a secret weapon?”

“Right.”

Shino was getting to the climax of his story, and Masamichi suddenly stopped after half opening the lid of his thermos.

“It would be pointless to tell you how Gentetsu and Tokifuyu fought. Naturally, I was ordered to assist my master. We absolutely had to finish off Gentetsu. It was the appearance of the heat haze that made my participation inevitable.”

Masamichi did not notice that he had shifted from sitting up straight to hugging his knees. It was an unconscious move, and Shino chuckled at the childish reaction.

“As Kagiroi said when we ran into him by the Kamo River, I was extremely powerful a thousand years ago—much more than I am now. Even after Tokifuyu took away my strength, it still far exceeded Kagiroi’s energy. Meanwhile…Tokifuyu’s skill with curses was definitely pushing Gentetsu into a corner.”

“You’re making it seem awfully simple when it sounds like a super climax. Anyway, did you and Tokifuyu defeat Gentetsu and Kagiroi?”

Shino lowered his gaze.

“We captured Gentetsu. However, the heat haze didn’t stay with his master to share his fate. At least, not then. He saw they were at a disadvantage and took off.”

“Huh?! He did? Alone?”

“I am leaving. I have done my duty to this master of mine. You are going to kill him, are you not? At least bury him. He may be unworthy, but he is still my master. It should be all right for me to ask that much.”

Shino probably hadn’t been intending to imitate Kagiroi’s words. But what he said was in a slightly different tone than how he usually spoke, and it sounded remarkably realistic to Masamichi.

“My name is Kagiroi. It is pointless for you to chase me, since who knows if I actually exist? Do not bother. Oh yes, I will ask you what your name is, though, in case we should run into each other again someday.”

A thousand years after the words had been spoken, Shino still recalled them precisely. It had to be because the exchange had been etched deeply in his mind.

Masamichi squeezed his knees tightly.

“I told him my name, and then he disappeared into the darkness. It was a spectacular escape, leaving not a trace of him behind.”

“Even you, a powerful specter, couldn’t go after him? He must have been super quick.”

“I tried to chase him immediately, but Tokifuyu stopped me. He said it was more important to get Gentetsu in custody.”

“That’s true. So did Tokifuyu kill Gentetsu, then?”

Shino answered without lifting a brow.

“He didn’t take his life on the spot. He bound Gentetsu with a curse and took him back to the Bureau of Spiritual Mediums. He must have felt sorry for Gensou and his son’s situation. Tokifuyu was quite complacent, and I believe he thought they would at least allow the man a chance to plead for his life. But as it turned out, Gentetsu was killed that night, which was to be expected.”

“…I see.”

Masamichi exhaled heavily. A thousand years may have passed since, but it was a ruthlessly bloody story.

Shino, on the other hand, looked irritated. “I’ve recalled a stupid event because of you,” he spat, then pointed to the half-open lid of the thermos.

“Go to the kitchen and make another cup of tea. That hot water is no longer good.”

“Oh!! S-sorry. I’ll get right on it!”

Gasping as he returned to the present, Masamichi jumped to his feet as though he had been flicked off the floor.

He still wanted to ask many questions about Gentetsu and Kagiroi, but he worried that pressing Shino too much might put him in a bad mood and cause him to clam up.

“I’ll make regular green tea. And…I was going to finish my sandwich.”

“Did you say something?”

“No, nothing!”

With a regretful glance at his plate, which had only crumbs left on it, Masamichi filled an iron kettle with water and put it on the stove…

Chapter 2: Tangled Threads

Something passed by his pillow.

Masamichi awakened to the sense of that presence and the creaking sound of footsteps going across the tatami mat. He buried himself nose-deep in his warm duvet and opened his mouth, his twitching eyelids still closed.

“I’d like miso soup with soft tofu, Mom,” he said.

The footsteps came to a sudden halt.

After a few moments of silence, a voice from above jolted Masamichi from his comfortable slumber.

“I was going to use soft tofu without having you request it, but since when have I been your mother?”

“…?!”

Masamichi kicked off his duvet and sat up. He glanced up fearfully, saw Shino in a nightgown, and screeched.

“D-did I call you M-Mom?!”

Shino looked down at him with a cool stare and replied without emotion, “You did.”

Like a cartoon character, Masamichi jumped out of bed in an instant and got down on his hands and knees on the mat.

“Sorry! I’m really sorry! Geez, calling my master Mom… Um, to make an excuse, I was having a dream just before I woke up. I was back home.”

Then Shino said curtly, “I know.” Stunned, Masamichi looked up at Shino’s face, which was beautiful even though he had just gotten out of bed.

“You know? Shino…you didn’t…”

The corners of his master’s mouth turned up slightly into a wicked smile.

“It wasn’t as if I wanted to see your dream, but it went ahead and flowed into my mind.”

“Huh?! Is that like when I sleep next to you, and I sometimes see your dreams?”

“I don’t know how it is for you, but probably. A young child was nestled on a mattress between his parents in a Japanese-style room. I knew right away that it was you.”

“That’s it! That’s really the dream I had! I was dreaming of when I was a little kid.” Masamichi got up and clapped once in excitement. “I was really weak until I was around primary-school age, often getting a fever or throwing up in the middle of the night, and my parents worried about me and always let me sleep with them.”

Shino prompted him silently with a nudge of his chin, as if saying “And?”

“I would crawl under the covers with my mom and dad and feel so warm and safe that I never wanted to get up. But I’d get hungry in the morning. I loved how my mom always asked me what I wanted in my miso soup for breakfast…and I was dreaming about that time. It’s rare for me to remember a dream I had so clearly. That’s why I was still half asleep and confused and called you Mom. Sorry for sharing a weird dream like that. But— Hey!”

Masamichi looked at his body and was stunned as he spoke.

Shino was wearing comfortable linen pajamas, while Masamichi was still in his sweatshirt.

“Why did I sleep in this? Huh? Come to think of it, I don’t even remember slipping under the covers with you. We’re in your room, right? Why am I here…?”

Appearing slightly irritated, Shino said, “Of course you don’t remember it. I tucked you in.”

“Huh?! You did? Why…? Oh. Ohh!!”

Masamichi held his head in his hands.

His brain finally caught up with his rapid awakening, and his memories from the previous night became clear.

“I was helping you sort out artifact spirits, then…”

After finishing dinner, Masamichi had returned to his room and been about to make a serious effort to study when Shino called him from downstairs.

Even discounting the fact that the house was old and poorly soundproofed, Shino’s voice carried well, like a stringed instrument. Perhaps he put a little magic into it. No matter how casually he called out, Masamichi always heard him, regardless of where he was in the house.

Nothing took precedence over his master’s call, and Masamichi had rushed downstairs and found Shino in his room at the far end of the house.

He had been sitting on a cushion, reading some ancient-looking books at his beloved writing desk, and turned around as Masamichi entered.

“Help me sort that out.”

“Sort what out?”

Still standing at the entrance, Masamichi had spotted what Shino indicated with his gaze.

A large cardboard box was in the center of the small room, filled with old items that were packed tightly inside and in such a messy way that it was impossible to close.

Prompted by Shino’s gaze, Masamichi sat on the tatami mat in front of the box and had looked uncertainly at his master.

“Aren’t all the things in here artifact spirits?”

“Some are, and some aren’t. They’re items I accepted the other day from a man who inherited an old house in Kobe.”

Ah, Masamichi had thought.

“The man you said was renovating an old storehouse and turning it into a nice café. So the things here…um…”

Paying no heed to Masamichi’s attempt to describe the items diplomatically, considering that some were artifact spirits, Shino had been blunt.

“He asked me to pick up his junk. Since he was introduced to me by a client of Daizou’s, I brought these back since I couldn’t turn him down, but he was an unpleasant character. I doubt I’ll ever see him again.”

“…I see.”

“He clearly picked out the things that might be worth money. But he did seem to know that old vessels could be possessed. I suppose he may be considered somewhat decent as the heir to an old family,” Shino had said bitterly, relaxing in a warm sweater and sweatpants, and gave Masamichi a simple order. “I intended to put it off since it’s quite frustrating, but since you consistently urge me to tidy things up in the store…”

“Wait, I don’t urge you to do anything! I’d never order you around like that. I’m sorry if I might sound a bit commanding sometimes. Shino, there’s hardly any space left in the store for any more things. Even a specter can’t do anything about space issues, right?”

The way Masamichi quickly excused his behavior seemed to convey the serious reality to Shino. He had folded his arms and clammed up, which was unusual for him.

“Hmm…”

“I’m sure you could have many things around at Tokifuyu’s house since it was huge, but this is a small house. You can’t just cram things in endlessly. There’s barely enough space to walk through the narrow aisle as things stand, and your clients seem to have a tough time when they try to walk into the store.”

“Hmm…”

“Even humans don’t like crowded trains. I don’t think artifact spirits could live comfortably in a place that’s too crowded, either. It’s hard to tidy up since there’s too little space. That’s why I had that accident before…,” he said, recalling the fear he’d experienced when he inadvertently dropped an artifact spirit doll that became angry and almost strangled him to death.

Shino seemed to remember that. Unfolding his arms, he’d said Masamichi was indeed likely to repeat the same mistake. “I’m aware of that. That’s why lately I’ve been making a bit of an effort to place artifact spirits with the right people.”

“Yeah? I kind of got that feeling. Thanks, Shino.”

Shino had arrogantly pointed to the cardboard box as Masamichi appreciated what he considered his thoughtfulness. “I was going to leave that in a corner somewhere, but I concede that you have a point and am allowing you to tidy up. Divide up the contents into artifact spirits and items that aren’t artifact spirits.”

Masamichi had held back his laughter at Shino’s pompous tone. The specter hadn’t been joking. He seriously thought he was making a concession.

“You’re allowing me to tidy up. Okay. But how can I divide the things up?”

“Use your third eye.”

“Oh, I see.”

That made sense, and Masamichi had nodded.

The third eye Shino had told him about saw things that weren’t of this world. Indeed, he should be able to tell right away if a vessel was an artifact spirit or not.

“But I’m not sure if I can do that by myself…”

“I know that.”

Shino had reached out carelessly with one hand and tapped Masamichi’s brow with the tip of his index finger.

“Oh!” Masamichi had cried out. The moment Shino touched him, a tingling pain ran through Masamichi’s body, and he reflexively squeezed his eyes shut.

He’d known what Shino was doing. The specter was pouring a very small amount of his magic power into him to awaken his third eye…but it was a stimulus that was tough to get used to.

“You seem to be able to open it a little with a bit of help now. Hurry up and get the hang of it so you can do it yourself.”

“…I’ll try, but it isn’t that easy,” he’d replied with his eyes still closed.

In the pitch-black darkness, he could see small lights flickering and then disappearing like fluttering stars.

They were the light emitted by the souls of the artifact spirits in the box.

“Thanks for your help, Shino,” Masamichi had said, slowly opening his regular eyes. “I can see now. So you want me to divide everything in the box into two groups, right?”

Shino had answered in the affirmative and then returned his attention to the book on his desk.

Masamichi had wondered if he should take the box to his room so he wouldn’t disturb Shino’s reading, but the fact that his master had summoned him must have meant that he should get to work under his watchful gaze.

“I’ll go get another box for the vessels I pick out.”

Without expecting a response, Masamichi had quietly crept out of Shino’s room.

“Oh, I’d been taking the items out one by one, wiping them clean, and determining whether they were an artifact spirit, and I had finally finished… Huh? Then what?”

Masamichi quirked his head as he tried to recall, and Shino answered with a look of dismay on his face.

“You told me you were done, and then you collapsed on the tatami mat and fell asleep.”

“I did?! You must be right. I don’t remember a thing after that…or rather, I had a crazy headache when I finished sorting and was super tired. I must have been relieved to be done, but that seems awfully abrupt.”

“You’ve never used both your normal eyes and your third eye together for an extended period. It’s only natural for the brain to be fatigued when you do something you aren’t accustomed to doing.”

“Oh, I get it. Yeah, you’re right. That’s why my battery ran out.”

Masamichi nodded several times in agreement, then gasped and looked up at his master’s face.

“Hey, did you give me this task so I could practice using my third eye in your room? That way you’d be nearby if anything happened?”

“…Don’t be presumptuous, servant,” Shino spat and left the room with heavy footsteps.

His reaction proved more than anything that Masamichi had guessed his intentions correctly.

Why does Shino try to hide the fact that he’s really nice? He put away all the things I sorted out so he could lay a mattress on the floor for me and then let me sleep there…

Masamichi blushed, remembering again that Shino had viewed his dream and that he had called him Mom in a half-asleep state.

“Oh, geez. Why did I have to do that?”

He hit himself several times in embarrassment, then got on his feet, his cheeks still hot, and began folding up the mattress.

They were sitting across from each other having breakfast when Shino said abruptly, “I’m leaving as soon as I finish eating. You do the cleanup.”

Masamichi had been savoring the miso soup with the silken tofu—really soft tofu—and he put down his soup bowl, a little surprised.

“You’re heading out for work this early in the morning?”

Shino loosened the meat on his miso-marinated grilled mackerel—a morning staple in the Tatsumi household, along with grilled salmon—and tossed it in his mouth.

“Yeah.”

Shino had agreed to Masamichi’s request that he inform his servant of his schedule and whereabouts and had begun letting him know when he was going out.

However, he only mentioned the bare essentials, so Masamichi had to press him for more information. It was fun, though, like talking to a child to check what he was doing.

“Where are you headed today?”

“I’m going to Kanazawa.”

“Kanazawa! That’s far… But wow, lucky you. You’re taking the Hokuriku bullet train,” he said, smiling again as he enjoyed the taste of the silken-tofu miso soup, which was his favorite.

Shino frowned and retorted, “What’s lucky about that?”

“I’m fond of bullet trains. They’re special. But it’s too bad you aren’t traveling there for fun. Are you going to see a client to pick up goods at their house again?”

“No. This time, I’m delivering an item. A client who runs a hotel in Kanazawa requested a painting to hang in his renovated lounge.”

“A painting? So there are also paintings that are artifact spirits. I wonder if the artifact spirit will bring in many guests if it likes the hotel,” Masamichi said. He wasn’t sure if Shino would consider him an idiot for his simple way of thinking, but his master nodded with a straight face.

“I suppose so. I just happened to find a Western-style painting that had an artifact spirit in the store. A still life. I sent the client the data, and they loved it. It should be a good match. The artifact spirit will like it if the innkeeper takes good care of it and many people come to see it, and it will allow the business to thrive.”

“A good match, huh? It sounds like an arranged marriage between a human being and an artifact spirit.”

“It’s quite similar to that. So anyway, I won’t be back until evening. I’ll pick up bento boxes or something for dinner on my way home.”

“Are you sure? Do you want me to fix dinner?”

“There’s no need for that. I’ll buy what I like.”

Masamichi was aware that his cooking was pathetic compared with Shino’s culinary skills, but it hurt a little that Shino didn’t even trust his judgment in choosing takeout food.

Still, he smiled and nodded. “Okay. I’m sorry you’ll end up carrying heavy boxes of food on your way home, but I’ll look forward to it.”

“You do that.”

“As for me, I’m going to finish up the chores around the house in the morning and then go to my prep school to study. Should I be at the store instead?”

Shino snickered and said, “It wouldn’t help if you opened the store by yourself.”

Masamichi agreed and laughed shyly.

“I wondered if it was okay for a servant to focus on personal stuff while his master was away at work. But you’re right. I’ll make a serious effort to study. Have a safe trip, Shino.”

“Who do you think you’re talking to?”

Slightly indignant, Shino quietly but quickly finished his breakfast.

Masamichi stopped eating and got up to put the kettle on, thinking he would at least offer Shino coffee before he left for work…

“No news from Shino, huh? Well, it isn’t likely that something would suddenly come up,” Masamichi muttered as he checked his phone while walking along the usual shopping street on his way home from his prep school.

It was pretty interesting for a specter to have a smartphone in the first place, and Masamichi was impressed by how proficient Shino was in using it.

Though its uses were mostly for business—communicating with clients and shopping online—according to Shino, many bargains could be found on the internet for old books and antiques.

He occasionally sent short messages to Masamichi, but they were mostly shopping instructions, and it was safe to say he couldn’t expect Shino to give him detailed information, like what time he’d be returning.

Even when he tells me to pick something up on my way home, he never explains anything. It’s just something like “two tomatoes, one bag of baby corn.”

Recalling such interactions with Shino, Masamichi giggled just as he reached a familiar pastry shop.

He could hear Christmas songs playing inside the automatic glass doors. Holiday music was also coming from the speakers attached to the streetlights outside, and they blended for a few seconds as he walked in front of the store. It sounded peculiar, with multiple festive songs mixing.

Everyone’s getting ready for Christmas. Shino said he already ordered a cake, so that’s one thing we don’t have to worry about.

He glanced back at the pastry shop and smiled.

Shino said that every Christmas, the previous Bougyoudou owners used to buy bucketfuls of fried chicken along with cakes that were too big.

He said he couldn’t understand humans when Masamichi showed interest in the part about the cakes but seemed to have decided to order one for him.

It was funny how he said to give up on the chicken. I wonder if he’s going to make something special. But, gee, he’s my master. I shouldn’t expect so much from him.

Despite chiding himself, he couldn’t help but feel lighthearted thinking about his first Christmas with Shino.

“…Oh.”

Masamichi walked as if on clouds, and eventually, he stopped in front of a specialty shop.

The show window was fascinating; it was full of select Christmas items from various manufacturers and a lovely Christmas tree.

We brought out a huge Christmas tree back home every year. It was the one my grandparents gave me as a present since I was sick and couldn’t play outside much.

Masamichi looked at the Christmas tree, which was decorated with beautiful lights and ornaments, and his heart was filled with nostalgia.

By the time he was in the third or fourth grade, he had already realized the truth from what his classmates said.

The presents placed at the base of the tree on Christmas morning were gifts from his parents and grandparents. Santa Claus didn’t really exist.

Christmas lost its sparkle after that, and Masamichi began treating the holiday with a frigid attitude. It became a day when the family had a bit of a feast, and after the holiday, the tree was put away in the storeroom, never to be brought out for display again.

I wonder if they’ve already thrown away that tree.

If only he could have been a child a little longer—one who honestly enjoyed Christmas and didn’t disappoint his parents and grandparents during the holidays.

With bitter regret, Masamichi felt a renewed desire to cherish Christmas with Shino. He wanted to feel innocent again, have fun, and enjoy the day with his master.

Cooking was Shino’s domain, so Masamichi figured he could at least buy a tree and decorate their little house.

He didn’t know if it would make Shino happy, but he could take it to his room if the specter didn’t like it.

It was probably quicker to show Shino the tree and ask him what he thought than to request permission to buy one, like a little kid.

I don’t want to use the allowance Shino gives me for something like this. How much do I have left from the part-time job I had before…? Hmm, yeah, it should be enough to buy a small tree.

Quickly checking the contents of his wallet, he put it back in his bag and then stepped inside the shop, his eyes sparkling like a child’s.

About ten minutes later—

—Masamichi came out of the store carrying a long and narrow cardboard box.

In it was the Christmas tree he had chosen after much consideration.

He hadn’t bought string lights, deciding it might be going overboard, but he had gotten several ornaments. It was far from a grand Christmas tree, but it should be suitable, even for a traditional, Showa-era Japanese house.

It’s gotten late. Shino said he wouldn’t be back until evening, so he probably hasn’t come home yet…but I should hurry. He said he’d pick up dinner, so the least I could do is draw a bath for him.

Masamichi hurried home, his cheeks already reddened by the cold north wind that had been blowing before night fell.

Shino said that neither hot nor cold weather affected a specter, but Masamichi thought it would be nice if his master could take a hot bath when he came home from a long trip on a chilly winter night.

After he passed through the small-scale downtown area by the train station and entered the residential area, the streets became sparsely populated.

It gradually became darker, and Masamichi noted how the atmosphere seemed to become drearier when the streetlights flickered on. As the smell of dinners wafted from the houses he passed, Masamichi’s stomach growled, and he continued walking at a brisk pace.

I’m hungry. I wonder what Shino’s going to pick up for dinner. He went to Kanazawa, so…maybe crab? No, that’s asking for too much. Oh, bento boxes will be cold, so perhaps he won’t get mad if I at least make some miso soup.

Because he was on the move, he no longer felt that cold. But he’d forgotten his gloves, so his hands were cold and numb as he carried the box that contained his tree.

Masamichi’s body bent forward slightly as he walked against the strong north wind. He suddenly came to a stop when he reached a small park near Bougyoudou.

Involuntarily.

It wasn’t a natural pause. It was like when someone was out walking their dog, and it suddenly took off, stretching the leash until they jerked to a stop.

By the laws of inertia, his precious box was thrown forward and clattered to the ground.

But Masamichi didn’t have the room to worry about it.

He realized then that he’d had to stop because someone had grabbed the hood of his coat.

Did it catch onto something…? That’s what must have happened…

It seemed unlikely that there were any structures nearby that could snag his clothes while he was simply walking down a paved residential street, but he wanted to believe that.

Without proceeding forward, Masamichi cautiously turned around, expecting to see his hood snagged on a tree branch. He jumped away as soon as he recognized what he saw.

It was an incredibly quick move for a guy who was usually slow and mild-mannered.

But that was no wonder.

He saw no tree branch.

A man stood before him, looking cool, with a hand raised slightly in an unnatural way… It was none other than that man he could never forget—Kagiroi.

“Wh-what…are you doing here…?!” Masamichi yelped.

He knew he had to run. But even if a human, especially a slow one like him, ran at full speed, the specter would easily catch up in no time.

I’m less than ten minutes from the house, but there’s no way I could ever manage to escape him. Besides, it would be like leading him home. That’s the last thing I want to do…

He considered running back to the train station, where there were people around.

No. I can’t do that. Considering what happened along the Kamo River, Kagiroi isn’t the type who would hesitate to harm innocent bystanders.

He desperately tried to think of a way to get out of the situation, but his options disappeared one after the other with blinding speed.

Masamichi began to tremble all over.

Kagiroi smiled and looked him up and down as if he were a cat playing with a mouse.

“Relax, servant of Shino Tatsumi. I apologize for not catching your attention more elegantly, but I’m not thinking of harming you right away,” he said, purring. His tone was soft, but it carried an underlying chill.

It was a different kind of chill from the frostiness that Shino spoke with to mask his kindness. This was icy, almost painful to the eardrums, and hinted at Kagiroi’s dark soul.

He was dressed completely differently from when he’d appeared on TV the previous day.

That pure-white suit must have been like a uniform for his front as the prince of gagaku music. In stark contrast, he was clad in black from head to toe, and his long hair was a surprising jet-black color.

Noticing that, Masamichi trembled with fear, but he couldn’t help staring at Kagiroi’s magnificent black hair, which was tied loosely at the nape of his neck.

“Oh, this? It isn’t particularly unusual for a man to change the color of his hair. My current appearance is but a disguise, so I can make it any color I want…,” Kagiroi started to say curiously, then snickered. “Oh, I see,” he said with an exaggerated shrug.

“Sorry. I forgot that your beloved master is confined to that ugly, cramped vessel that his master made ages ago. Of course you’d be surprised to see how flexible I am. You poor thing, getting stuck serving an incompetent master like him.”

“…!”

Masamichi swallowed.

Anger welled up in the pit of his stomach.

It was the first time in his life that he felt that way.

He’d been a docile child from an early age and could barely attend kindergarten because of his frail health. He’d grown up without learning how to form and nurture interpersonal relationships.

He often found it difficult to determine whether he should feel angry when someone frustrated him or treated him rudely. Situations like these usually left him feeling confused. By the time he decided to confront what had upset him, no one would remember their behavior.

Throughout his life, Masamichi had never fought, gotten angry at, or yelled at anyone.

The best way to avoid causing a stir was for him to swallow the unreasonable things that were said or done to him. He was the initial cause of the problem anyway.

Since moving to Tokyo and starting a part-time job at an izakaya pub, he had become acutely aware of his poor abilities as a waiter, and his failure at his college entrance exams was the nail in the coffin.

But now—

—Masamichi’s blood seemed to boil over dramatically once Kagiroi started ridiculing Shino.

He could feel the heat circulating through his entire body. After trembling in fear just a few moments ago, he was now filled with strength, and his fists were clenched tightly.

He wouldn’t forgive him.

He wasn’t going to tolerate anyone who spoke ill of Shino.

Bewildered by the fury he felt, which was as strong as a water heater about to explode, Masamichi knew he could never accept Kagiroi’s remarks about his master and opened his mouth to speak.

“Please don’t bad-mouth Shino like that!”

He believed he’d shouted harshly, but his voice trembled pathetically. Still, Masamichi was more than a little surprised that he could actually voice his anger.

“Ah. The quiet puppy’s gotten mad. Interesting.”

Whether or not Masamichi was furious, he wouldn’t make more impact on Kagiroi than a gentle breeze. But he seemed to have somewhat intrigued the specter, who pointed to a bench in the park.

“Why don’t we have a little chat? Not that you have the right to say no. I want to talk to you, so I’ll give you a few minutes of my time.”

Kagiroi then headed into the park.

Masamichi considered running away, but it would be pointless. Kagiroi acted totally at ease, since he knew he could always catch Masamichi in an instant.

…Damn!

Whether or not he was angry, Masamichi was upset at himself for his inability to fight back, but the only thing he could do was follow Kagiroi and look for a chance to escape.

I shouldn’t be frightened. As Shino’s servant, I have to stand tall.

If Masamichi behaved pathetically, Kagiroi would see it as a sign of Shino’s worthlessness and mock him more.

The young man felt the fear throughout his body, overwhelming his anger, but he knew he could never show Kagiroi that fear.

Soberly, Masamichi picked up the Christmas tree box he had dropped and tried to calm himself.

He then approached the bench and sat as far away as he could from Kagiroi, who was already seated comfortably. It was too close to the edge, and he might slide off with the slightest movement, but it couldn’t be helped.

Masamichi engaged his core and attempted a preemptive strike.

“…Why are you here?”

He didn’t look menacing, holding a box that’d been gift wrapped for Christmas, but having something to grasp gave him a little reassurance.

“That’s no way to greet a person. Even I was stunned when I was unexpectedly attacked at the Kamo River. It had to be Tokifuyu Tatsumi’s curse. He wasn’t a thorough man, but I have to admit his skills were indeed brilliant. No wonder he bested Gentetsu Izumo.”

Casually mentioning his master’s defeat, Kagiroi threw Masamichi a sideways glance.

It was getting dark by then. A light near the bench made it easy to see clearly, but the black-haired, black-robed Kagiroi looked as if he were melting into the darkness.

“Besides, the mass-fainting incident became something of a big deal. The media made a fuss over it, and the police called me in for questioning. The police. They called me in. What a laugh. Well, I’d been careless; I admit that. I was a little elated to think it was the spot where I’d brutally finished off Tokifuyu Tatsumi a thousand years ago.”

“…!”

Masamichi remembered Shino telling him, in that very spot, about the final moments of Tokifuyu’s life. And he bit his lip angrily as Kagiroi narrowed his eyes in amusement.

“I was thinking of having a light meal to cheer myself up that night before my concert, and then the two of you showed up and interrupted me. Because of you, I not only missed that meal but also got seriously burned. As they say, happy events tend to be accompanied by problems. That’s a good line, considering the fools that humans are.”

Masamichi didn’t respond. He remained stiff all over.

“But I did get something out of it. Shino was far weaker than he’d been a thousand years ago. I relaxed after seeing that, knowing I didn’t need to consider him a threat. I can go ahead and do what I want to do with peace of mind.”

Kagiroi’s words made Masamichi gasp.

“Do what you want to do? What do you mean? What are you planning?”

“Oops, I slipped up. Never mind, forget I said that. You’ll find out eventually. Besides, I’m quite thorough. If I see a poisonous insect on my path, it’s better to squash it beforehand, even if it isn’t a threat.”

“Are you thinking of”—Masamichi was startled, realizing that Kagiroi had come with the intention of fighting Shino again and crushing him—“going after Shino?”

“Well, I am injured at the moment. I thought I’d wait until the evening to take care of the matter, but since I have a lot of time on my hands while recovering, I decided to do a little research and quickly learned where he lived. He doesn’t look like he’s trying to hide, so out of boredom, I came to check the place out. Then that Shino—”

“…He what?”

“He’s a specter, yet he seems to have learned all kinds of weird magic from his master. He’s put up an annoyingly powerful barrier around his home.”

“A barrier? I didn’t know that.”

“It’s harmless to humans but a strong poison to us specters. It’s only about as annoying as a spiderweb getting in my face if I was in my usual condition, but it’s a bit much at the moment. It’s a brand-new barrier. He must have hastily put it up after fighting me in Kyoto. It appears he has thrown away his pride as a specter somewhere, using a sneaky human trick like that.”

It was annoying how Kagiroi kept belittling Shino. But Masamichi couldn’t help being interested in the things the talkative specter told him about his master, who wasn’t the type to speak much.

“Shino put up a barrier…?”

“To protect you and himself. Well, anyway, I’m only here for a preliminary inspection today. I’ve taken a few pokes at the barrier and let you know I’ve stopped by, so I’ve done what I came to do. This park is right outside the barrier, so it’s comfortable for me here.”

“…Is that so?”

Masamichi was touched that Shino had diligently taken steps to protect the two of them without saying anything.

It wasn’t because Shino was dismissive about Kagiroi that he seldom mentioned him. He was doing what he could so I could keep living like I usually do.

It was Kagiroi who broke Masamichi out of his heartwarming thoughts.

“You interest me a little.”

“Huh?!”

“That old comb that Tokifuyu Tatsumi cursed? It would take considerable power to release a curse like that. Shino Tatsumi wouldn’t have that kind of magic power. I thought back, considered that, and reached the conclusion…that it had to be you.”

“Me?”

Kagiroi looked at Masamichi, who sat there stunned, and smiled thinly.

“Yes, you. You embraced Shino and kissed him. By doing that, you gave him an enormous amount of chi, which turned into a frighteningly strong force inside Shino. That’s the only viable explanation.”

Masamichi blinked in disbelief.

“That can’t be.”

It was true that Shino had said Masamichi’s chi was the same color as that of his late master, Tokifuyu Tatsumi. But Masamichi had never imagined that his chi could have so much power.

“You don’t know anything, do you? But you don’t need to understand it.”

“Huh?! Ngh!”

Masamichi didn’t have time to wonder what Kagiroi meant.

The next moment, Kagiroi suddenly got right in Masamichi’s face and grabbed his chin with his icy hand. Masamichi was about to cry out in pain.

But the scream was sucked up by Kagiroi’s lips.

“…?!”

His lips were cold like Shino’s. But his thick lips felt completely different as they sealed Masamichi’s mouth shut.

Despite his desire to escape, his chin was fixed in place with a grip as strong as a vise, and Masamichi couldn’t even twist his neck.

“…! Ngh!”

Kagiroi’s long tongue was cold like a block of ice, yet he moved it deftly and sinuously as he shoved it in. Masamichi could feel it wriggling around in his mouth, scraping away at everything.

…No. No.

The shock of having his body violated was greater for him than the surprise of being kissed so deeply for the first time in his life. He felt a sickening sensation that made his stomach churn.

Shown the overwhelming difference in their power and forced to endure unwanted physical contact, Masamichi was scared to the core. At the same time, a sense of intense sadness and anger consumed him.

He hadn’t felt this much disgust when Shino forced him to the ground when they first met. Thinking back, Masamichi realized that perhaps his affection for Shino had already started to grow at that time.

But this was something he didn’t want.

He could never, ever accept it. Even if he ended up offending Kagiroi and suffered terrible consequences, so be it. He couldn’t take something like this, where Kagiroi so casually hurt his dignity as a human being.

He’d forgotten to breathe; his vision flickered, and his head hurt.

He could feel the strength draining from his body. Kagiroi was robbing him of his chi. If this went on, Masamichi would soon be unable to move at all.

Before that happened—

—Masamichi focused his attention on his hands, which had been hanging limply without him realizing it.

He had probably dropped the box containing his Christmas tree, but this wasn’t the time to worry about it.

With the awkwardness of a robot that had been activated for the first time and was trying to move, Masamichi raised his hands. He felt around, found the chest area of Kagiroi’s jacket as the monster continued to devour him, and tried to push him away with all the strength he could muster.

However…

…he was partly successful and partly unsuccessful.

Kagiroi’s lips were off his mouth, but he didn’t budge. Masamichi was the one who fell off the bench.

“…Ow…!”

He had slammed his right side on the ground and groaned, unable to get up right away.

Nevertheless, he wiped his soiled mouth with the cuff of his sweatshirt, which poked out from under his coat sleeve, and glared at Kagiroi, who remained on the bench.

“…Please don’t do something like that,” Masamichi said in a hoarse voice, unable to catch his breath just yet.

Kagiroi looked a little disappointed and stroked his red lips with a fingertip.

“Oh? I imagined you would be as sweet as the nectar enjoyed by the gods, and it was certainly of very high quality, but in the end, it’s just human chi. A disappointment. Or…does your energy become sweeter if we form a master-servant relationship? Perhaps that’s it. Although the chi of my audiences who go wild over me is of inferior quality, it is indeed sweet. All right, I’ve made up my mind.”

After talking to himself, Kagiroi extended his hand toward Masamichi.

“We’ll give it a try. Stop serving Shino and come to me.”

“Huh?!”

Masamichi was stunned by the sudden offer and backed away, his bottom scraping against the ground.

“Yeah, that’s it. I’ll give you all the luxuries you want. I am a popular musician in this era. I promise you conditions that a miserly specter like Shino could never match. In return, you can worship me with the same devotion you have for Shino.”

“……”

Masamichi stiffened like a stone as he listened to the selfish specter. Unconcerned, Kagiroi remained in a good mood and waved his index finger like a conductor as he continued to speak.

“I’ll let you be my assistant. You will always be with me so I can get the finest chi whenever I want it. Of course, you’ll be responsible for all kinds of chores. Yeah, that’s a good idea, having a treat that follows me around. I can take massive amounts of chi from my audiences when I need it, but it goes without saying that tasty chi is better for light snacking on a daily basis.”

Masamichi shuddered at the terror that consumed his body.

Thinking back, Shino seemed to have said something similar when they first met, but there was something that was decisively different. Masamichi’s instincts were telling him not to dare listen to Kagiroi, and of course, his heart was saying no way.

“I refuse,” Masamichi replied, trying to keep his voice from trembling and doing his best to keep his reply short.

However, his fear must have been obvious to Kagiroi. The specter tilted his head curiously and asked teasingly, “Why?”

After bruising his elbow hard from the fall off the bench, Masamichi finally began to regain feeling in his numb right hand.

He pushed off the ground with his right hand to prop himself up, and although he was still sitting on his bottom, he managed to regain his balance.

His answer to Kagiroi’s question was clear. Despite the fact that he was overcome with anger and fear, his words showed no signs of hesitation.

“I’m Shino’s servant.”

“Are you saying you prefer Shino to me? I’m far superior to him in power and status as a specter, not to mention fame and wealth. Surely, you must have ambitions. Be honest with yourself. Oh, are you worried about your contract with Shino? There’s no need for concern. I’ll end that for you, nice and clean.”

The fingers of Masamichi’s right hand dug into the cold soil.

“I don’t want you to end my contract with Shino at all! I don’t want anyone to end it.”

“No? Geez, you really are devoted to him, aren’t you? I thought you were cute like a puppy, but when you’re that single-minded…”

Kagiroi’s sneer deepened.

His usually noble-looking face was twisted into a fierce and cruel expression that revealed the demon’s true nature.

“…it’s annoying. Really annoying. You’re exactly the way he was a thousand years ago.”

Kagiroi spat out the words with a look of disgust, the corner of his mouth high up to the middle of his cheek.

“‘He’?”

“Shino. He used to wag his tail and follow his master, Tokifuyu Tatsumi, around…and in the end, Tokifuyu betrayed him and sealed him in a jar, isn’t that right? That’s what masters are like. Maybe you shouldn’t trust Shino too much, either.”

Masamichi’s heart was still seething with anger, but he felt a slight sense of discomfort at how Kagiroi spoke and furrowed his brow.

“…Mr. Kagiroi…”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“You had a master, too, didn’t you? I heard that Tokifuyu defeated him, and he was arrested, then killed by the Imperial Court.”

“Hmm, so you know about that. Who told you…? Of course, Shino did. He’s more talkative than I thought.”

Looking a little irritated, Kagiroi carelessly crossed his long legs, then rested his chin on his knees and stared at Masamichi.

“So what?”

Masamichi worked up his courage and asked, “Mr. Kagiroi… You killed Tokifuyu to avenge your master, didn’t you? Then in the same way that Shino liked Tokifuyu and I like Shino, you… Whoa!”

Masamichi yelped and was unable to finish asking his question.

Kagiroi had suddenly lifted his head, seized Masamichi by the collar, and drawn him closer.

After having his chi sucked out, Masamichi still didn’t have much strength in his legs. Kagiroi effortlessly lifted his body with one hand as if he was holding a pair of chopsticks, hoisting him up until their noses almost touched.

“M-Mr. K-Kagiroi—”

Masamichi’s collar dug into his neck, and he struggled to breathe as he tried to push Kagiroi’s hand away.

But there was no way he could compete with a specter’s strength, and his face quickly turned red.

“You aren’t going to say something silly, like I must have liked Gentetsu Izumo…are you? If you had, your head would have been cut off your body and rolling around someplace by now. Be glad that I was kind enough to stop at the last minute.”

“But…”

“That was not revenge, servant. Don’t get the wrong idea. Humans have a bad habit of wanting to create a beautiful story out of everything, but I did not kill that detestable spiritual medium for revenge.”

“…Then… Oh.”

“You’re wondering why I killed him? Because if Tokifuyu Tatsumi remained alive, he’d do things that were none of his business. So to remove future concerns, I… Oh, never mind, it doesn’t matter. Look, I never even thought of Gentetsu as my master. Remember that much if you value your life.”

With that, Kagiroi suddenly let go of Masamichi.

The specter released Masamichi’s collar as if flicking his hand to brush off some dust. Kagiroi looked down at him as the young man sprawled at his feet, coughing. Then Kagiroi spoke in a voice that no longer hid his contempt.

“What should I do? I never thought you would turn down my invitation. Perhaps I should kill this foolish puppy and eat you here and now.”

Masamichi was still wheezing, and he trembled when he heard those terrible words.

“No, that would be boring. The pain of losing a human servant would only last for a moment, no matter how much the master may like him. That wouldn’t be punishment enough. I must pay him back for the shame he caused me, overwhelming me with his power and making a fool out of me a thousand years ago.”

“What…are you saying?”

“Let me see. I am recovering, and this is only a preliminary inspection, so I wouldn’t want to do anything too rough,” Kagiroi said, though he had already tormented Masamichi very roughly.

“But…although it’s my fault for underestimating the two of you and letting my guard down, I won’t be able to rest if I don’t punish you and Shino. Perhaps I’ll get back at him for setting up this annoyingly humanlike barrier with a little something I’ve learned from the human world.”

“Get back at him by doing what?”

Masamichi was starting to feel dizzy from the lack of oxygen he’d experienced and the incessant coughing. Any attempt at escaping would have been pointless, but he hated that he could barely move.

He gritted his teeth, looked up at Kagiroi, and saw that the man’s eyes were changing from dark to a flaming red—the crimson of a specter.

His pupils, which had been wide, narrowed, and his red eyes were fixed on Masamichi.

“Heh-heh. It’s almost Christmas and New Year’s, the time when humans become excited about their meager holidays. I’ll join the festivities and get back at him with a cute style of harassment. And, servant, as your present, I will give you time.”

“T-time?”

“Time to reconsider. If you switch to my side, Shino will be furious. That fury is what I would like to see on his face. So…think carefully and make a wise decision. A foolish puppy should really choose a smart owner.”

With that, Kagiroi reached toward Masamichi’s face again.

Masamichi squeezed his eyes shut and tensed his body, expecting to be hurt again.

But he felt neither pain nor suffering.

After a short period of silence, Masamichi heard a low-pitched melody.

He thought it was the playing of a musical instrument, opened his eyes, and realized it was Kagiroi’s voice.

Kagiroi was stretching out his right index and middle fingers in front of Masamichi’s face and quietly murmuring.

It was a strange chant with an odd pitch, and he couldn’t even tell if it was in Japanese.

What on earth is Kagiroi doing…? Is he…casting a spell? What kind of spell? What’s he going to do to me?

He couldn’t get away, and Kagiroi wasn’t willing to take no for an answer, so the only thing Masamichi could do was accept the consequences. But it was too bizarre. He didn’t even have room to be scared.

He wanted to break eye contact at least, but Kagiroi’s eyes were like burning flames, holding on to Masamichi’s gaze, unwilling to let go.

What should I do…?

As Kagiroi continued his chant, he suddenly extended his left hand and grabbed the top of Masamichi’s head. It was lightning-quick, like a snake pouncing on a frog.

“…!!”

A dazzling light burst inside Masamichi’s head.

It pierced his third eye, which should have been asleep beneath his skin, and a tremendous pain ran from his forehead through his entire body.

Unable to scream, Masamichi convulsed violently before he lost consciousness…

Chapter 3: With Small Hands

“…Masamichi! Masamichi!!”

Someone called his name from very close by, grabbed his arms, and shook him mercilessly—so violently that his whole body shook—and a sound of anguish escaped Masamichi’s lips as he exhaled.

Exhale, inhale.

He had a feeling he’d forgotten to do something that simple for a while.

The air he drew in was as cold as ice, and he couldn’t hold back the cough that immediately welled up in his throat.

“Ugh.”

He coughed and coughed, but the sounds his ears heard were pitifully frail and empty.

But this was no time to worry about it.

I remember now. Kagiroi did something to me, and—

The third eye buried between his eyebrows throbbed as soon as he recalled that.

The pain felt like the root of a terrible headache that squeezed his entire head, making it excruciating to open his eyes.

But he realized that it was Shino’s voice calling out to him, “Masamichi!” over and over, and he somehow managed to open his eyes.

Even with the pale light of the streetlight behind Shino, Masamichi clearly saw his gorgeous face.

The specter was usually detached, but now he was clearly panicked, which made Masamichi feel oddly happy.

“Hey! What’s going on here?!” Shino grabbed Masamichi’s arms painfully and questioned him in a rough tone.

Shino had come for him. He was worried about him.

That alone gave the young man much relief, but then he remembered Kagiroi and asked with a gasp, “Where…is Kagiroi?”

At the same time, Masamichi felt an uncontrollable sense of discomfort because of his voice.

It sounded awfully high-pitched.

Huh? Is this…what my voice sounds like?

For a moment, he wondered if it was the result of Kagiroi strangling him so tightly that he’d thought his throat would be crushed. While his voice might have become hoarse, it certainly wouldn’t have ended up sounding this high and clear.

As soon as Shino heard Masamichi mention Kagiroi’s name, his face turned sour, as if he had just eaten the worst dish imaginable.

“He was gone when I arrived, intentionally leaving a trace of his chi so I’d know he was here. What a disgusting guy. It isn’t as if he’s a dog out on a walk.”

The analogy sounded funny to Masamichi, and combined with the relief of knowing that Kagiroi had left without harming Shino, Masamichi tried to chuckle.

But…his laughter sounded unnatural.

It sounded as if he’d swallowed helium gas…

“Huh?!”

He noticed something else and screeched in an even higher pitch.

He was now sitting on the ground, and Shino was facing him. The specter supported his weight with a knee resting on the sidewalk, paying no heed to his fine trousers getting soiled.

But for some reason, Shino’s beautiful face seemed to be far away.

Even my perception of distance feels strange. What the heck is going on?

“Shino? I feel weird,” Masamichi said—in that strange voice. He tried to prop himself up, at least, and placed the palm of his hands on the ground…then finally realized that his sleeves were way too big.

And when he glanced down, he saw that his arms were swimming around loosely inside his sleeves. He looked around and noticed that his cargo pants and shoes were lying on the ground as if his body had disappeared.

He tried to move, but the duffle coat felt terribly heavy, and it was tough to maneuver his arms and legs around. And most of all—

—Masamichi was horrified by the small size of his toes, which peeked out from the hem of his coat.

“What is this?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Shino said sternly and then, as Kagiroi had done earlier, gripped Masamichi’s chin with one hand…no, two fingers.

Compared with Kagiroi, he considerately used much less force. Still, it was enough to make Masamichi let out a pitiful yelp.

“Shino. Is it possible that I—?”

“Didn’t you notice? You look like a child now. Indeed, just like the child I saw in my dream—you in the past—this morning.”

“…You’re kidding.”

Although he was slowly becoming aware of the situation, it was shocking when Shino pointed it out mercilessly.

Masamichi wanted to try touching his face, but he couldn’t manage to get his hands out of his sleeves.

“Shino, Kagiroi was here, and—”

“You can explain the details later,” Shino said curtly, appearing satisfied for the time being that other than shrinking in size, Masamichi hadn’t sustained any major injuries and was able to respond to his questions.

He let go of Masamichi’s hand, picked up the shoes and cargo pants that had fallen, and stuffed them into his servant’s shoulder bag, which was also on the ground.

Then he slung it over his shoulder, lifted little Masamichi, who was wrapped in his shirt and coat, and got on his feet.

Shino was providing Masamichi firm support with his elbow, but having shrunken to the size of a child, Masamichi found it frightening to be held by his tall master.

Perhaps sensing Masamichi’s fear, Shino said curtly, “I won’t drop you,” and began walking. “We’re going home. If someone saw us, I would surely be reported as a kidnapper.”

“A k-kidnapper…?”

He wanted to tell Shino not to be ridiculous. But imagining how they objectively looked, he could see that Shino would seem suspicious.

Of course Shino’s right. There’s no way that people would think I’m his child.

It wasn’t as if Kagiroi had killed him, but it was still a grave situation. It wouldn’t have been surprising if he panicked, but the strange thing about Masamichi was that he actually calmed down in situations like this.

“U-um, Shino? I’m sorry to ask you this after having you carry my bag, but—”

His tongue must have become less flexible, like a young child’s. He wanted to speak as he usually did, but he could only manage a slow, drawn-out tone.

Irritated, Shino clucked his tongue.

“What is it? Hurry up and say it!”

“Sorry. Um, over there?”

He moved his hands around frantically inside his coat sleeve and pointed to the paper box that had tumbled a short distance away.

“What is it?”

“I bought a Christmas tree. I thought I’d put it up to decorate the house.”

A crease appeared between Shino’s eyebrows. Masamichi expected Shino to scold him, like “Shut up. I don’t need anything like that,” but he said nothing.

Holding Masamichi in his arms, Shino approached the box, bent his knees as far as they would go without dropping him, and picked it up with his other hand.

With Masamichi in one arm and the box in the other, it looked as if Shino was carrying twins.

“I’m really sorry, Shino.”

“You can apologize when we get home. It’s because of the unnecessary detours you make that Kagiroi had a chance to spot and tail you.”

That sounded like a bit of a stretch, but Masamichi felt the tension that had been building up inside him after running into Kagiroi slowly loosen. He felt safe in Shino’s arms. He leaned against his master’s broad chest and smiled.

Sensing that, Shino asked with a stern expression, “What is it?”

“Nothing. I was thinking about how my mom used to scold me with similar words when I was little, like ‘It’s because you took a silly detour instead of coming straight home and it got dark that you fell into a ditch!’ you know?”

Shino looked even more irritated when he heard Masamichi’s confession.

“This is the second time today that I have to tell you that I have not become your mother.”

“I know that, but it brings back memories.”

“Shut up,” Shino said sharply, then started walking faster.

It was only for a short time, but Masamichi felt as secure in Shino’s arms as he was worried. He savored a peculiar warmth in the specter’s body, which should have been cold since it didn’t have a body temperature.

“Stand up straight… Hmm. You’re about one meter and three centimeters tall.”

With a tape measure that he usually used for work, Shino measured Masamichi’s height as he had him stand in the tea room.

Then in a fluid motion, he operated his smartphone and said in a low voice, “Hmm. That’s a little shorter than the average five-year-old boy.”

He had apparently looked up growth data for human children. Shrugging, Masamichi was impressed by Shino’s practicality.

“That makes sense. I was told I’d always been small since I was a baby.”

“Then you’re sure your current body is equivalent to what you were like at the age of five?”

Still standing, Masamichi looked apologetic and said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know. You don’t think about whether your body’s average when you’re five. But seeing myself in the mirror, I’m certainly the kid—myself—who I saw in my dream this morning… I slept with my parents from kindergarten through my early years in elementary school, so I don’t think we’re too far off.”

“Hmph. Well, it doesn’t matter. All that’s happened is that my incompetent servant has been turned into an even more useless infant.”

Masamichi hung his head. He looked pitiful, especially with his small body.

The first thing that Shino had done when they’d returned safely to Bougyoudou was to prepare the bath…which Masamichi had been planning to do for his master.

Masamichi’s whole body was covered in dirt after Kagiroi’s rough treatment. He wasn’t seriously injured, but he had scrapes all over from falling to the ground.

Furthermore, Shino was very unhappy that Kagiroi’s scent was on Masamichi’s body, which led him to conclude that he should first take a bath.

However, because he had shrunk, Masamichi’s movements were precarious as he tried to bathe. In the end, Shino took off his suit and ended up bathing with him.

It’s my first time…seeing Shino naked. I always thought he had a beautiful face like a sculpture’s, but his body’s like that, too. Tokifuyu didn’t compromise anything as he created his vessel…

He wasn’t about to say that in the situation he was in, and Masamichi looked down at his own body in silence.

The house and the store may be stocked with mountains of vessels, but it had nothing in the way of children’s clothing.

He had to put on the smallest sweatshirt he owned. He’d folded back the sleeves, secured them with safety pins, and wore it like a girl’s dress, but there was nothing he could do about pants and underwear.

His legs weren’t unbearably cold since the bottom of the sweatshirt came down to around his knees, but his lower body was chilly, and he couldn’t relax without wearing underpants.

Masamichi had been forced to see himself—particularly his young face—in the mirror when he was in the changing area and during his bath, so he was well aware and had accepted the fact that Kagiroi had made him a young boy again.

Even so, it was inevitable that it seemed unreal.

Still unable to believe what had happened, Masamichi raised his small hand and touched his cheek.

It was soft and plump.

Even in his usual form, people were always surprised when he told them his age, saying he looked like a child, so maybe he had rounder cheeks than the average male around his age. But in his current form, those cheeks were clearly squishy, and he found them pleasant to touch.

The most noticeable scrape he’d gotten was on his right cheek, but Shino had taken care of it, along with the other scratches, while they bathed, clucking his tongue the whole time.

Masamichi recalled how they had both been stark naked as Shino had made him sit on a small chair in the bathroom and kneeled in front of him. It had been a while since they’d gotten out of the bath, but the vivid images made his cheeks flush.

“The skin on your young cheeks is so elastic and stretchy that it’s like a joke,” Shino had said, pulling on Masamichi’s cheeks and making him cry out, “Ow!” as a small way to relieve his pent-up anger. As he did, he washed away the dust that was stuck to Masamichi’s cuts with hot water and carefully licked the wounds that were still fresh.

After savoring Masamichi’s blood to his heart’s content, he’d used a little of his magical power and, looking like it was a big hassle, quickly healed the wounds.

“Was this how you made my wounds disappear when we first met?” Masamichi had asked.

Shino had held his hand over the last remaining wound on his knee and said bluntly, “It was much more complicated then. I had to regenerate everything, starting with the bones that had been broken and shattered.”

“Oh, that’s right…! I remember now. Sorry.”

“You’d better be. The other small cuts are a pain. You heal them yourself.”

With that, Shino had licked the blood off his finger and poured a generous amount of body soap on a towel. “Let’s get rid of Kagiroi’s stink from your body,” he’d declared…

“You rubbed so hard with that towel that my skin stings all over,” Masamichi couldn’t help saying honestly as he plopped down on a cushion.

He had always thought the cushion that Yoriko had made by hand was too small, but now it seemed awfully big. The tabletop was also high when he sat down.

I really have become tiny.

“It’s because you so carelessly got Kagiroi’s smell all over you. I even applied moisturizer to your skin, didn’t I?”

“I really do appreciate that.”

It was depressing that as soon as he tried to say something complicated, his pronunciation suddenly became unclear. Masamichi slumped down in defeat. Shino was clad in casual sweats; his hair was still damp, and he had put away the tape measure and headed downstairs to the shop area.

He soon returned carrying a paper bag.

“Whatever. We’re having dinner now.”

With that, he placed the bento boxes he had gotten in Kanazawa on the table.

One large, flat paper box had a picture of a fish and the words TROUT SUSHI on the top.

The other box was packed full of something square wrapped in bamboo leaves.

“Trout fish… Yum. And what’s this other one?”

“Bamboo leaf–wrapped sushi,” Shino replied. “I kept seeing sushi at the train station and bought it, figuring it must be good.”

“I see. Oh, we need tea! I’ll go, and… I guess I can’t make tea in the state I’m in.”

Masamichi had started to get up as usual and sat back down, dejected. Shino snorted.

“Maybe you can manage with a step stool, but you’ll only make my job more difficult if you get scalded with boiling water or something. Never mind. Just stay seated.”

“Ngh… Sorry.”

“Here. You can get this ready.”

Before going to the kitchen, Shino placed a small, lightweight paper bag in front of Masamichi.

“What is it?”

Masamichi opened it and found what looked like monaka—bean jam–filled wafers—labeled TAKARA-NO-FU, which meant “Treasure Wheat Gluten.” It was much lighter than popular sweets and made a dry, rustling sound when he picked it up.

Although Masamichi’s body was now that of a child, he fortunately still had an adult brain.

He was thinking clearly and felt that he hadn’t lost his knowledge and judgment at all.

I recall stories about characters like that in anime or manga, but now that I think about it, it’s certainly better than the alternative, where a child becomes an adult.

Strangely convinced that things could have been worse, Masamichi used his small hands to clumsily open the paper card attached to the wheat-gluten package.

He read the instructions. It seemed this was a fancy product that had the ingredients for a clear soup tucked inside the wheat-gluten wafer balls.

“Ah! It’s an instant soup! That, I should be able to manage.”

Feeling a little better, Masamichi jumped up. He was surprised by how tiny his steps were, but it was a small tea room, and he quickly reached the cupboard.

The low cupboard was easy to approach even with a child’s body, and the soup bowls that he and Shino always used were lightweight lacquer—light enough to handle with a child’s hands.

“…Oh.”

He noticed something as he stood there holding two stacked bowls firmly in his hands. He looked up at Shino’s back on the other side of the cupboard—which seemed much higher than usual—as the specter was in the process of putting a kettle of water on the stove.

Shino has to be taken aback by what has suddenly happened to me, but is he being considerate, giving me something to do so I won’t feel totally useless…?

Not that Shino would ever admit it. But even with a much smaller body and so very few tasks that he could perform, Masamichi felt much more at ease, knowing there was something that he could still do.

Even if it’s something as simple as bowls of instant soup.

He felt so miserable and pathetic that he wanted to cry, but that wasn’t going to help.

After being Shino’s servant for nine months, Masamichi had gone through a variety of experiences that were both unreasonable and mysterious. Even with his timid nature, perhaps his heart had become a little stronger.

I’m glad I could at least prepare this soup. Though, of course, I have to depend on Shino to boil the water for it.

Masamichi returned to the table with the soup bowls after casting a grateful glance at Shino.

He stacked three cushions and sat on them like a chair so he could be more comfortable, then went about preparing the instant soup.

First, he broke the seals on the small packets and poured the powdered stock into the soup bowls. Then he pressed the center of the crispy, fried wheat gluten to make large holes, although it was a challenging task for his tiny fingertips.

The first one didn’t go well. He ended up making a very ugly hole in the center, so that would be his soup. His second try wasn’t bad. He managed to make a clean, gourd-shaped hole in the gluten.

He could see the freeze-dried green onions and tiny, colorful pieces of wheat gluten packed inside the hole. It was adorable, like a miniature playhouse.

Shino soon brought a whistling kettle to the table and poured boiling water into the holes that Masamichi had made.

The green onions, seaweed, and cute little morsels of wheat gluten came flying out the holes, and the wheat-gluten exterior that had served as a container for the ingredients slowly softened.

“It’s beautiful,” Masamichi remarked, but Shino returned to the kitchen without reacting and returned with a tray carrying the tea utensils.

“Drink the tea after it’s cooled down. Hot tea would be too much for a child,” Shino said as he placed a teacup in front of himself and a small mug before Masamichi, whose eyes widened in surprise at his master’s consideration. He’d brought him a mug with a handle so he wouldn’t burn himself.

“…Thanks.”

Again, Shino didn’t respond, since specters weren’t in the habit of greeting or reacting to people’s expressions of gratitude.

Shino opened the paper wrapping and deftly sliced the circular sushi with the knife that came with the package. He placed a slice shaped like a pizza on his and Masamichi’s plates, then added a piece of the bamboo leaf–wrapped sushi alongside them.

“Eat. Kagiroi stole your chi, didn’t he? You’re very weak.”

Seated on a stack of cushions, Masamichi immediately stiffened when Shino pointed that out. His young face froze with regret.

“I’m sorry.”

It was a blunder for which he could make no excuses, having a specter other than his master steal his chi. He clenched his tiny fists around his petite knees, prepared to have Shino scold him.

But although Shino was curt, he responded without particularly seeming angry.

“As a human, there is nothing you could have done against Kagiroi. It’s good enough that you remained alive.”

Masamichi was surprised that Shino wasn’t lecturing him. Shino pointed to his plate and said, “Never mind—just eat. The only way for a human to regain the chi taken from them is to eat and sleep. Don’t neglect to make the efforts that you’re able to make now.”

“…Okay.” Truth be told, Masamichi had no appetite at all, but he reached for his chopsticks since it was his master’s order. “Oops.”

The long chopsticks for adults were difficult to use with the hands of a child.

“Ngh, I can’t do this. I’ll eat with my hands.” Masamichi reluctantly picked up the trout sushi and took a bite. “Even my mouth is small…!”

The bite he thought he took and the amount of food that entered his mouth were completely unmatched. Although he had shrunk, the experiences he had accumulated over many years resulted in muscle memory, and the imbalance made him extremely uncomfortable.

But fortunately, his taste buds had apparently remained unchanged.

The rice, seasoned to achieve a strong, sweet vinegary taste, was pressed tightly together with the thinly sliced trout, and it was easy to eat, even with his tiny hands.

“This is great,” Masamichi said in earnest, and Shino nodded as he also grabbed his trout sushi and gobbled it up.

“When Tokifuyu first made me his apparition, I couldn’t use chopsticks, either, so I threw tantrums and broke dozens of them. I still don’t mind eating food with my hands like this.”

As he munched on the trout sushi like a squirrel, Masamichi widened his eyes when Shino suddenly started telling him about the past.

“They had chopsticks back during the Heian period?”

“They used willow chopsticks at the time. Tokifuyu got busy burying the chopsticks I broke at the base of the willow trees in the garden.”

“Like a funeral?”

Shino grinned and nodded.

“Yeah. He’d exaggerate, saying he would at least allow the poor chopsticks that couldn’t fulfill their roles to serve as nourishment for their counterparts.”

“You thought he was exaggerating…? I can understand how he felt. Tokifuyu was a kind person, wasn’t he?”

Shino’s smile immediately disappeared, and he muttered, “Being kind isn’t the same thing as being naive. He wasn’t very thorough. That’s all.”

When Shino talked about his late master, he always showed a complicated mix of emotions—a mix of nostalgia and disgust.

Masamichi only knew about Tokifuyu in fragments, but the man’s relationship with Shino was certainly strange.

Tokifuyu defeated Shino, who had been a man-eating specter, then spared his life and made him his servant. He had Shino move in with him, taught him about human life, and took great care of him…but in the end, he locked Shino in a jar and buried him in the ground. I wonder why something like that could have happened.

Whenever Shino told him about Tokifuyu, Masamichi couldn’t help but wonder why the two had parted, although he hesitated to ask him about it.

Even more than a thousand years after his master’s death, Masamichi could sense that Shino had yet to come to terms with his feelings for Tokifuyu. It was clear from the way he spoke and the way he looked when he mentioned him.

Masamichi stopped talking, as did Shino, who wasn’t talkative in the first place, and a heavy silence fell over the dinner table.

It was Shino who soon broke the silence.

“I had just gotten off the bullet train when an apparition told me that someone had broken into my barrier.”

Stunned, Masamichi looked at Shino, still holding his half-eaten trout sushi.

“An apparition…?”

Shino took something from the breast pocket of his loungewear and placed it on the edge of the table.

It was a small crane made from white paper.

“That’s cute! Did you fold it?”

“I set up a weak spirit with no more power than a tiny bug within this origami crane. It’s enough to use as a messenger or a lookout.”

“…Wow. It’s like a drone!”

“Actually, it would be more accurate to say a drone is like an apparition. It’s another technique that Tokifuyu taught me.”

“So you catch small spirits and use them like that in the same way that you made me your servant.”

“That’s right. In return, I let them feed on my magical power and keep them as pets. I used this apparition to check that you were safe, just in case, but it appears that Kagiroi noticed it right away and neutralized it. Its presence disappeared as soon as I sensed Kagiroi’s presence.”

What Shino was telling him sounded like something out of a fantasy or sci-fi novel, and all Masamichi could do was sit there, dazed.

“And you started searching for me when you came back?”

Masamichi belatedly realized that after regaining consciousness in the park, he saw Shino still wearing the suit he had on when he left.

“I didn’t need to look for you. Since you first became my servant, I’ve been able to find you wherever you are. That’s what a contract means.”

“Oh yeah, it was the same in London… Thank you for coming for me, Shino, then and again today. I felt a huge sense of relief when I saw your face. I was shocked to notice the state I was in after that.”

“It’s a hassle,” Shino said as he reached for the sushi on his plate. He unwrapped the fresh green bamboo leaves, and their aroma drifted over to where Masamichi sat.

“So this is also trout…? No, it’s salmon,” he muttered and took a bite. Despite his wild ways, there was a type of gracefulness in his mannerisms, which he must have inherited from his late master, Tokifuyu, and the previous owner of Bougyoudou and his wife.

Shino is the complete opposite of Kagiroi. Kagiroi really looks like a nobleman, but his true nature isn’t like that. I sensed something dark, hot, and sordid.

Thinking about Kagiroi’s touch made Masamichi shiver.

He couldn’t say that people’s malevolence had never affected him. In fact, he was aware that he belonged to the category of children who were bullied by others.

Even so, the evil that Kagiroi exuded was of a density incomparable to the darkness of such human beings.

“Eat more. You haven’t been using your hands or your mouth.”

“Ngh… Right.”

At Shino’s urging, Masamichi finally finished a piece of trout sushi and went on to awkwardly unwrap the bamboo leaf–wrapped sushi.

“Oh, mine is soy-simmered beef. Um…Shino?”

“What?”

“I’ve taken a bath, put some food in my stomach, and am starting to feel a little calmer now. Can I tell you what happened with Kagiroi?”

“Make it brief.”

Given his master’s go-ahead, Masamichi struggled with his child’s tongue and began describing his exchange with Kagiroi in the park and what the specter had done to him.

Shino listened in silence while munching on his sushi and said, “I thought it would be something like that,” without appearing particularly surprised.

“How did you know that Kagiroi would come to me? Is it because of some old grudge or something?”

“How should I know? Do you want to hear about the past? That night, after Tokifuyu faced off against Gentetsu Izumo, Kagiroi and I fought for the first time. That’s all,” Shino said curtly. After a few moments of silence, he continued softly, “But from what you’ve told me, I now know he definitely has a plan. That’s something. I also know he wasn’t just taking chi from humans to sustain himself or for fun. He’s been storing up his magical power by pretending to be a musician because he has a goal in mind.”

Masamichi nodded again, taking the bamboo leaf–wrapped sushi he’d half eaten from his plate when Shino gestured to him to eat it.

“He made it sound like it was a slip of the tongue, but I wonder if he did that on purpose,” Masamichi said.

“Of course he did. He was probably trying to show you how relaxed he is, that even if we found out what he’s planning, we’re nothing more than a nuisance and could never get in his way.”

“That…makes me a little angry. I don’t mind him ridiculing me, but when it comes to you, Shino—”

Fury built up inside him again as he recalled how the man had humiliated Shino. However, his master was surprisingly calm despite his usual fiery temper.

“That’s just a fact. There’s no need for you to get angry.”

“But—”

“There’s a huge difference between me, a specter that was sealed away and barely managed to survive for over a thousand years, and Kagiroi, who has probably been doing whatever he wanted during that time. It isn’t something that can be made up easily in a day or two.”

“That may be so, but…”

“It’s strange, though. He said he never thought of Gentetsu Izumo as his master. Is that right?”

Masamichi nodded.

“I’m sure of it. It surprised me, too, so I remember it well. He also said he wasn’t avenging Gentetsu Izumo by killing Tokifuyu,” Masamichi added.

“Hmm. That’s a surprise to me as well.”

Shino frowned as he put a second piece of trout sushi onto his plate.

Nodding, Masamichi grasped his chopsticks clumsily and stirred the contents of his soup bowl.

“He said something about killing Tokifuyu because he would have done things that were none of his business…if he remained alive. So he claimed he removed…” Masamichi stumbled over the words, and Shino accurately guessed what he wanted to say.

“He removed future obstacles.”

“That’s it! Does that mean Kagiroi already had his plan in place when he thought about killing Tokifuyu? He’s been at it for an awfully long time.”

“It would seem that way. I was sealed in that vessel, watching Kagiroi kill Tokifuyu and take off for who knows where. I thought he fulfilled his duty to avenge his late master and was finally free…”

“But Gentetsu Izumo wasn’t really his master?”

“He may have been his master as a formality, but it seems there’s a possibility that wasn’t truly the case,” Shino said as he chewed on his trout sushi. Seeing Shino’s voracious appetite, Masamichi felt he needed to eat more, too.

He finally sipped his cooled soup and found the mild-tasting broth and the soft, chewy wheat gluten delicious.

“What do you mean? Are you saying Kagiroi had another master?”

“That’s one possibility.”

“I see. Like when Tokifuyu and Gentetsu Izumo fought, Kagiroi came to help out not because Gentetsu was his master, but because his true master had ordered him to do so?”

“That might explain why Kagiroi abandoned Gentetsu so easily and took off… No, that’s not right. He said at the time that even if Gentetsu was worthless, he was still his master.”

Masamichi carefully placed his soup bowl on the table and tilted his head, looking puzzled.

“Then Gentetsu was definitely Kagiroi’s master, but Kagiroi didn’t accept it…? Had he been forced to serve Gentetsu?”

“No specter wants to be a servant for a human being. I never once wanted to serve Tokifuyu, either. Even now, I resent being bound by his curse. But…”

“But?”

“…that’s why there’s no reason for a specter to declare that a human being is his master when they actually aren’t. It would be humiliating.”

“That’s true. I’m getting lost here.”

“I can’t figure it out, myself. But there’s one thing that’s bothering me.”

“Huh?! What? Whoa!”

Masamichi leaned forward in his usual way and suddenly fell on the tatami mat with a surprised yelp. His movement had thrown him off balance from the cushions he’d piled up under him.

“S-sorry about that. So what is it that’s bothering you?”

Masamichi apologized for interrupting, eager to hear what Shino had to say. But the specter shook his head.

“Never mind. It’s no use speculating. The first order of business now is to do something about that shrunken body of yours.”

“Well… That’s true.”

Masamichi carefully rearranged the cushions and sat down again, then put his hand on his stomach through the thick fabric of his sweatshirt.

“Naturally, I have a smaller stomach, so I’m already full. I wonder if my body will be back to normal…if I eat a lot, sleep, and get my chi back.”

It was wishful thinking, but Shino coldly crushed it.

“There’s no way that’s going to happen.”

“Ugh.”

“Your body is like that because Kagiroi put a spell on you. He was kind enough to tell you that, wasn’t he?”

Masamichi thought back and nodded.

“Yeah. He said since you made him uncomfortable by creating a barrier that Tokifuyu taught you to make, he’d get back at you using a human technique, too…”

“And that’s exactly what he did. He’s so off base, leaving his mark on my barrier and harassing us like this.”

Shino seemed to get angry about the most peculiar points.

“That’s what irks you? Um…is there something we can do about my situation?” he asked, concerned.

“Something we can do?”

“Of course, I mean whether I can get my adult body back. It’s probably something that I should do, but I have no choice but to ask you to help since I have no idea what to do.”

Shino looked clearly unhappy and even clucked his tongue.

“Don’t make it sound so simple.”

“I’m not! But—”

“There’s nothing I can do, at least as of now.”

“What?!”

Masamichi was taken aback by Shino’s unusual declaration of defeat, which was rare for him.

“As a general rule, a spell can only be undone by the person who cast it,” he said very calmly.

“…So you’re saying Kagiroi has to undo it?”

“That’s right. Otherwise, many spells disappear or weaken if the person who cast them dies. That would be one way, but…”

“It’d be a challenge to defeat him now. Even if he’s weaker than usual.”

“He’s currently injured, but it would be difficult to kill him. Unlike me, his soul isn’t sealed away in some vessel. He can take on any form he wants or disappear and make himself hard to find. It would be tough to chase and corner him.”

That’s what he told me!

Masamichi recalled the look on Kagiroi’s face and his voice when he mocked Shino, who continued to be bound by his late master’s curse, and a small flame of anger ignited again in his mind.

But telling Shino about that would only make him more unhappy. Thinking that, Masamichi pushed Kagiroi’s mocking words back down into the depths of his mind.

“So there’s nothing we can do? Am I going to stay like this forever?”

“Calm down. I said, ‘as of now.’”

Unable to understand what Shino was getting at, Masamichi was at a loss.

“Are you saying there’s a way to fix this with time…?”

“I can’t confirm at this point. But at the least, rebuilding the chi he stole from you won’t be a waste of effort. For a while, your job will be to eat and sleep. Don’t worry about anything else and leave the rest to me.”

Adding that it sounded like an easy job, Shino gave Masamichi a wicked smile.

“…Sorry.”

There was nothing else that Masamichi could say. All he could do was hang his head in dejection.

That night, Shino called Masamichi to his room, and they ended up sleeping together.

“I can’t imagine that Kagiroi would go to the trouble of entering the barrier and doing something at this point, but to be on the safe side, you should stay with me tonight.”

There was no way that Masamichi was about to object.

He was grateful as he slipped under the covers. He was likely to think endlessly about bad things if he went to bed alone.

Shino turned off the light and joined Masamichi.

Unlike when they shared the mattress as adults, there was plenty of room due to Masamichi’s small size.

I can even move my arms and legs.

But it was uncomfortable to do so; and his lower body felt cold, since he was sleeping in a thin T-shirt.

I hear some people sleep naked, but I don’t think I could ever do that.

Silly thoughts went through Masamichi’s mind as he decided to come right out and ask Shino something that he had thought of during dinner.

“Shino? Can I ask you something?”

“Go to sleep.”

“I can’t sleep since I keep wondering. It will only take a minute.”

“…Do what you want.”

Shino seemed to be aware that although Masamichi was shy, he was oddly stubborn and persistent at times. Masamichi thanked him for his half-hearted but affirmative response.

“You said earlier that many spells either disappear or weaken when the person who cast them dies,” he said, his eyes gradually getting used to the darkness, and he glimpsed Shino’s profile as the specter looked up at the ceiling.

“So what?”

“Then why is it that you’re still bound by Tokifuyu’s curse more than a thousand years after his death?”

“That’s because Tokifuyu took steps to make sure it continued…”

It was a simple question. But for Shino, it appeared to be a case of not seeing the forest for the trees.

After speaking as if it was obvious, he gasped and mumbled to himself, “I thought it was a punishment.”

“A punishment?”

“Tokifuyu always said that I should live, learn what was good, and do good; that it was the only form of punishment and atonement for the lives I’d cruelly taken for my enjoyment; and that, as a result, it would save me.”

Masamichi chewed on the words that Shino whispered. He could feel Tokifuyu’s quiet passion and deep affection for Shino from those words.

But Shino said in an emotionless tone, “Regardless, no matter how hard he may have tried, I had no idea what this human goodness was. That had to be why he gave up on me, sealed me in a jar, and used me to protect the capital. I believed that was my punishment…until I perished in the jar.”

“So that’s why you’re angry with Tokifuyu and hold a grudge against him.”

“It’s not that simple. Don’t try to simplify things.”

Masamichi’s small body trembled at Shino’s harsh words.

“Sorry. I—”

“But…perhaps that wasn’t all that Tokifuyu had intended. From the way Kagiroi spoke and what you just asked, I’ve arrived at one possibility.”

“What’s that?”

Shino finally turned his head toward his servant.

“Tokifuyu said nothing about Gentetsu Izumo after he was done away with. I believed it was because the matter had been settled, but perhaps Tokifuyu hadn’t thought that Gentetsu’s death was the end of the plans the Izumos had crafted.”

“Are you saying he thought something or someone was still around?”

“That was probably the case. The only thing was that he didn’t have enough evidence to persuade the Bureau of Spiritual Mediums to continue their investigation and remain on alert. And…perhaps Tokifuyu also sensed that his death wasn’t far off.”

Masamichi was stunned by Shino’s reasoning, and his already higher-than-usual voice rose to another level.

“What?! You mean he knew Kagiroi was going to kill him?”

“Shut up. Stop barking like a noisy puppy. I have no idea…if he knew that Kagiroi would be the one to kill him, but naturally, he must have assumed the Izumos had another accomplice,” Shino said, narrowing his almond eyes as if remembering those distant days. Masamichi tilted his head slightly on his pillow.

“Isn’t it strange that he would seal you when you were supposed to protect him?”

Shino widened his eyes with a look of amusement.

“Hey, Masamichi. You’ve become awfully sharp since you took on that tiny body. Why don’t you stay that way forever?”

“…Don’t make fun of me. I know I’m not very useful, even as an adult, but it’s worse in this form. I want to hurry up and get my old body back. But more importantly…”

Shino turned serious again and said, “He deliberately pushed me away from him.”

“Huh?”

“If I stayed with Tokifuyu, I would have put myself on the line to protect him no matter what happened and who I was up against. Regardless of what I think of him, that’s what a contract means. But if I was attacked, and if I was to be defeated, Tokifuyu would have lost both his life and his physical power—me.”

“…Because even if Tokifuyu was in charge of the magic, you were his physical strength.”

“Right. That may be why he sealed me away and hid me deep underground. That way, everyone would think I had been turned into a cursed tool.”

“I…see! No one would have noticed you or been wary of you if you didn’t count as his physical power.”

“Precisely. I knew you were sharp tonight. I’ve heard it’s hard for blood to get all the way up to the brain of a tall man, and it’s starting to sound more plausible.”

“Oh, geez! I wasn’t a big man to begin with! But never mind that. What Tokifuyu did to you…”

“He could have simply turned me into a magical tool if he only wanted to use me to protect the capital. He could have taken away this human vessel and turned my soul into a stone, and I would have become one of the devices that protect the capital forever. That would have been much safer, leaving him with no worries about the future.”

“Th-that’s true…”

“But he didn’t do that. I thought he’d been so disappointed and angry with me that he wanted to torment me for as long as possible… That’s what I’ve always thought.”

“Did he do what he did on purpose? To leave you as you were so you could keep on living long after he died?”

“To allow me to live on so I could foil Izumo and his son’s plan, which he had predicted would be carried out after he died.”

Shino suddenly fell silent, his lips twisted in displeasure. “No,” he said and shook his head.

“Shino?”

“If that was the case, he should have told me everything. Then as my master, all he had to do was order me to hide somewhere and stop the Izumos’ plan from being put into effect after he died. To stop the mastermind and Kagiroi once and for all.”

“Yeah… Yeah, that makes sense.”

“He could have simply left our master-servant contract in place, restored some of my power, and lived out his natural lifespan. Oh god, I’ve been interpreting his intentions in a much too positive light. Forget what I just said.”

“Huh?!”

“I’ve answered your question. Go to sleep.”

With that, Shino glared at Masamichi.

There was clearly irritation in Shino’s expression. It was evident, even in the dark, but Masamichi thought it was directed more at Shino himself than at him.

“I know I’m just an outsider who doesn’t know anything,” he said, working up the courage to speak again.

“That’s right. Now, that’s enough.”

“But geez! I don’t think everything you’ve just said could be wrong. Tokifuyu— Ngh.”

Shino’s hand shot out from under the covers at an incredible speed and mercilessly covered Masamichi’s small mouth.

Shino glared at him with a furious look.

“I said that’s enough. It’s a shame that Tokifuyu’s curse prevents me from ripping off that mouth of yours. But there won’t be a third time. Shut up and go to sleep if you don’t want to be kicked out of my mattress.”

Masamichi quickly nodded to show his agreement, and Shino let go of his mouth, rolled over, and turned his back to him.

Regretting and fearful of having stepped on the tiger’s tail, Masamichi felt his heart beating like a drum. There was no way that he could go to sleep.

Still, further conversation would only irritate Shino.

He had no choice but to sleep. He had to restore whatever amount of his chi he could so he was ready to use it when they found a way to get his old body back. That was the only thing that Masamichi could do.

“Good night,” he whispered, then after a brief pause, he gently placed his forehead against Shino’s broad back. Shino twitched slightly but didn’t push him away.

Feeling a little comforted, Masamichi closed his eyes as if sensing that Shino had forgiven him.

Chapter 4: Useless Stubbornness

Masamichi wondered if he’d wake up and find himself back to normal.

A fleeting wish like that could never come true, and when he awakened the next day, he found that he was still the (presumably) same five-year-old boy.

It was almost one in the afternoon, and Masamichi was sitting alone in the tea room of his home, Bougyoudou.

Shino had left at a little past ten, saying he had a business meeting.

“I don’t imagine Kagiroi would come and hassle you that often when he should be trying to recover his strength, but I’ve strengthened the barrier around the house just in case. Now, don’t you dare leave the house by yourself,” he had said, and Masamichi had no choice but to nod obediently and say he understood.

Fortunately, there was a wooden step stool that Yoriko, the wife of the previous owner, had used to sit on and watch over Shino as he cooked in her later years. Masamichi had been able to use it to do the dishes after breakfast and run the washing machine. It’d taken a while to wipe and put away the dishes, but thanks to the low kitchen, he managed to get the job done.

The vacuum cleaner was a different story. It’d been too big for him to handle properly, and the same went for the broom and dustpan he usually used to clean the shop’s brick floor.

He wanted to sweep the floor at least, but he needed a break after getting completely exhausted from the work he’d been doing.

I get tired so easily. I wonder if it’s because Kagiroi stole my chi. I ate welland slept soundly next to Shino until this morning, but I suppose I can’t get it back that easily.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, Masamichi used a cushion as a pillow and stretched down on the tatami mat.

He consciously relaxed all his muscles and let out a long sigh that was more like that of an old man than a child.

Come to think of it, I used to do this type of thing when I was five.

He closed his eyes and recalled his past.

Normally, five-year-olds would be at an age where they were full of energy and mischief, running around innocently and making adults chase them.

But in Masamichi’s case, he had been prone to illness as a youngster and was often in bed, suffering from asthma attacks or tonsilitis and high temperatures.

Masamichi sighed again, recalling how he would lie in bed listening with a sense of envy and longing to the voices of children playing outside.

“Just because I’ve been turned into a child, it isn’t as if I’ve gone back to being that sick boy,” he mused, suddenly feeling uneasy and putting his hand to his forehead.

It felt cool. He didn’t seem to have a fever.

This is an old, familiar feeling.

When Masamichi was five, his parents and grandparents had all been busy with their work, and he was usually left alone in the Japanese-style room with the tatami mat, where he slept with his parents.

He looked forward to having his mother or grandmother come and check on him now and then. He would pretend to be asleep, loving how they touched his head or his cheeks with tender care.

Not that Shino would ever do something like that if I pretended to be asleep now.

Masamichi missed Shino’s grumpy voice telling him to get up and wanted to hear it in that moment. He gently pressed his hand against his chest through the sweatshirt he’d been wearing since the previous night.

The day before, he had been an adult. But when he thought about Kagiroi kissing him and stealing his chi, his whole body shivered with goose bumps.

That wasn’t very good. Really…awful. I was so scared and disgusted that I wanted to run away, but I couldn’t get any strength into my body. That’s never happened to me before.

Is that what it is like to be controlled by fear? Masamichi wondered about that as he opened his eyes and gently rubbed his arm.

His heart calmed down a bit, and he felt like he could reflect on his interaction with Kagiroi a little more calmly than he had the day before.

I couldn’t speak, and even if I had, I doubt if anyone would have come to help… It was good that I managed to push him away in the end, but I really wanted to make him stop sooner, before his lips touched mine. I mean, after all…I’m Shino’s servant.

Shino was the one to whom he should devote his chi. Yet he had allowed Kagiroi to touch him and even steal his chi. Masamichi felt a strange sense of guilt that surprised him.

The day before, Shino had scrubbed Masamichi’s body clean with a towel during a bath, and the youth had apologized repeatedly, almost in tears.

Although he couldn’t distinguish it himself, Kagiroi’s scent seemed to cling to his body, and Shino could detect it since he was a specter, which Masamichi felt terrible about.

Shino had said he didn’t need to apologize, but his sour face clearly showed he wasn’t happy about it.

Of course he isn’t happy about it. Maybe there was no way for me to stop it from happening, but I ended up giving energy to my master’s enemy.

The next morning, Masamichi continued to think about Shino’s displeasure and felt even sorrier.

It was a bad thing to do. My being Shino’s servant might actually be causing him more trouble than without me. He’s certainly spending more money keeping me with him. He pays for my food, clothing, housing—everything—and even sends me to prep school…

Masamichi buried his smooth cheeks against his duvet. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that Shino was losing out by having him as a servant.

The one thing I have is my chi. And even that has been stolen by Kagiroi. Now I have nothing to offer Shino.

“Oh god…”

A sigh of despair escaped from his small lips.

That was when he heard the sound of the shop door being unlocked.

He’s back!

Despite all his woes, the thought that Shino had come home filled Masamichi with energy, and he jumped up in his little body.

“Shino! Welcome home!”

He’d been so looking forward to having his master return home that he called out as the door started to open—without confirming that it was Shino.

In place of a response, the iron tongs attached to the door rang out with a tinkling sound.

He wanted to run out to the shop entrance and welcome him home, but the gap between the tea room and the shop floor, which was usually easy to handle, was too steep for him in his present state.

A child with good reflexes would have probably jumped down. But Masamichi was aware of how clumsy he was and avoided such an adventure. Instead, he tried to go around the lower steps near the cash register.

Then he came to a halt with a small yelp.

It was indeed Shino who had walked in, but he wasn’t alone.

A man in a plain-looking suit appeared behind him.

He looked to be in his late forties or early fifties.

Does he work for some company? He looks like the type of person you’d expect to see at a bank or some old establishment.

That was Masamichi’s first impression of the man.

Although Masamichi was a mere human, he could immediately sense that the man wasn’t a bad person.

After working part-time at that izakaya bar, he had developed an ability to tell if a customer was a good person or someone to watch out for.

And the man who had just walked in with Shino was clearly the former.

He wore a well-made suit—one that was of good quality but not so over-the-top that it would overwhelm the other person. He had on a white shirt that gave you a sense of cleanliness, a tie with strips in nice and fashionable colors, and shoes that were well polished but looked like they’d been worn a lot.

His appearance spoke of someone honest and steady.

He was of medium build, with short, neatly parted hair that was a little on the thick side, and about half of it had turned gray.

The most striking feature was his general appearance. He was so ordinary that his plainness in itself made an impression on you, but at the same time, the extent of how average he looked failed to make an impression on others.

He was just ordinary.

He was the kind of person you’d find at a straitlaced workplace. He was simple-looking and seemed easy to get along with.

That might be the best way to describe the man.

Behind his casual, half-rim glasses, his eyes were probably always friendly.

The wrinkles around his eyes and mouth softened his smile, but the lack of obvious characteristics in his facial features made that smile something that didn’t leave a lasting impression on the beholder.

He was someone who gave you so little sense of how unique he might be that it was surprising.

He does look like a nice guy, but…

Still, he was walking into Bougyoudou, an unusual shop, with Shino.

Maybe he was a good person, but that didn’t mean he was completely normal.

A little wary and with a somewhat unsteady gait, Masamichi walked down the three-step staircase, which he didn’t usually use, and proceeded down the aisle toward them.

The only good thing about becoming small was that there was a little more room in the narrow aisle, which was barely wide enough for one adult to pass through, and that he could move at a quick pace.

“A spectacular sight as always,” the man remarked as he looked at the piles of vessels that filled the store. “Mr. Tatsumi, I can only say you’re amazing for grouping these artifact spirits with their various traits so they are all comfortable.”

He then fixed his gaze on Masamichi. “I’m humbled to have you receive me, Mr. Masamichi Adachi. How do you do?”

It was a polite greeting that Masamichi wouldn’t have expected as a small child, and he quickly bowed to the man.

“Welcome, sir.”

Was it right to welcome him? Shino said he was having a business meeting, so this person must be a customer, right? But he knows who I am.

He raised his head to see Shino’s reaction, but that didn’t help since he was still frowning as usual. Masamichi then noticed that Shino and the man were both carrying large paper bags.

A business meeting…or maybe they went shopping together.

Shino then lifted his paper bag like it weighed nothing and said, “Hurry up and get back to the tea room. And get changed.”

“Get changed? But I don’t have anything to change into.”

“I’ve bought you clothes.”

“There were some cute findings,” the man added with a smile.

It appeared they really had gone shopping together—to buy children’s clothes for Masamichi.

“O-oh, sorry! Um, I’ll take that bag.”

Masamichi was flustered to hear that Shino and this person he was meeting for the first time had gone out to get him clothes. He tried to take the bag from the man’s hand, but he politely stopped him.

“No, no, I can carry it; it isn’t heavy. Now, watch your step so you don’t trip.”

“…?!”

The man’s tone of speech and his mannerisms were gentle and sophisticated—elegant, even. One minute, he was tapping Masamichi lightly on the shoulder with a fingertip, and the next minute, Masamichi realized he had turned all the way around.

As I thought, this is no average person…!

Even if Masamichi was in the form of a five-year-old, it was no ordinary technique for the man to change the direction Masamichi was headed without him realizing it. And with a finger or two.

Oblivious to Masamichi’s surprise, he smiled and encouraged him to move on.

“Hurry up and get going.”

With a scary face, Shino also urged him on. In a state of mild panic, Masamichi turned back down the corridor he had just come and returned to the tea room.

Shino and the man followed behind.

Masamichi dusted the cushion he had been using as a pillow and offered it to the man.

“Here you go! I’ll get you some tea… Oops. I can’t do that now.”

He slumped his shoulders and looked at the man. Unlike Shino, who was still wearing his short coat, the man had a trench coat slung over his arm. It was a cold December day, but he must have taken it off before entering Bougyoudou.

He has impeccable manners. I wonder what kind of person he is. He isn’t a favored customer of Shino’s…is he? Shino usually speaks with his customers using polite language. They went shopping together, and he even had him carry a bag. Could they possibly be friends? No, they don’t strike me as being friends, either.

Could he be a worker at a store where Shino had bought something expensive? Masamichi wondered as Shino threw off his coat, put it on the floor near his cushion, and said to the man, “I’ll make tea. You get him changed.”

“Huh?!”

In contrast to Masamichi, who was wide-eyed at Shino’s attitude, the man smiled even more deeply, lifted his cushion to kneel on the tatami mat, and said, “Certainly.”

“Huh?! What?!”

“It must be difficult to change in your current condition. I’ll assist you if you don’t mind. May I borrow a pair of scissors? Any type will do.”

“Huh? I couldn’t ask you to— Oh, I mean, y-yes, sir.”

Masamichi tried to say he couldn’t have a client go out of his way to help him, but the words and the concept were too complicated for his young mouth, and he got tongue-tied again. He ended up doing as the stranger said, going to a cabinet, pulling out a pair of embroidery scissors, and handing it to the man.

“Will this do?”

“Yes, of course. Now, let’s have you stand over here and… Oh, excuse me. Mr. Tatsumi told me your name, but I haven’t introduced myself to you yet. My name is Chitaru Hayakawa. Will you please raise your arms?”

The man had Masamichi stand in front of him and introduce himself as he pulled up the hem of his oversized sweatshirt with practiced hands.

Once the sweatshirt came off, Masamichi had nothing on, not even underwear. Even if his master had ordered this, he couldn’t bear to have a stranger see him naked…and he began resisting, but the man was no longer a stranger since he’d introduced himself.

“Oh, um, right. Uh, Mr. Chitaru Hayakawa?”

More focused on the man’s unusual name than anything else, Masamichi automatically raised his arms as prompted, and his sweatshirt, the only layer of armor he had on, was gently yet mercilessly taken from him.

“Eep!”

It wasn’t cold since Shino had turned on the heater, but he still felt chilly here and there since he was naked. The man smiled as he took underwear out of his paper bag and tore off the price tag.

“Ah, it looks perfect for you. Mr. Tatsumi was very accurate in describing your size. Now, please put your hands on my shoulders and lift one leg at a time.”

“U-um, I can manage on my own.”

“I heard that you suddenly became smaller. You can easily lose your balance when something like that happens. Please allow me to help you since this is your first time getting changed.”

Hayakawa spoke gently, but his words were logical, methodical, and smooth, leaving no room for Masamichi to argue.

With no other choice, Masamichi placed his hands on his shoulders as he stood on his knees in front of him.

“All right, let’s start with your right foot. Slowly, now… Yes, that’s good.”

“M-my feet…feel wobbly.”

“Of course they do. At a time like this, you shouldn’t hesitate to seek help from others. Consider your situation rationally.”

“Rationally,” Masamichi repeated, admiring Hayakawa’s fluid movements.

He had helped his dad get dressed for a while when he’d injured his hand while working on his farm. So Masamichi knew it was surprisingly difficult to help someone put on and take off clothes.

But the man in front of him—Hayakawa—didn’t show the least bit of hesitation in his movements.

“My name, Chitaru, is unusual, isn’t it? The kanji characters mean knowing contentment,” he said as he helped Masamichi slip into a pair of pants, which would be followed by a pair of socks.

“‘Knowing contentment’?”

“Yes, it comes from a quote from Lao Tzu. ‘Those who know contentment are rich.’ It means that being content with what one has without wanting more than what one needs will allow one to live happily.”

“I see. That’s a wonderful name.”

Hayakawa smiled when he saw Masamichi’s face as he praised him haltingly.

“Thank you. I like it, too. Your name, Masamichi, is also lovely. Taking the correct path. I can see what your parents wished when they named you. You are, indeed, like that.”

“Huh?! Oh, no, I’m not,” Masamichi said, perplexed, as Hayakawa helped him put on a pair of socks with cute cat embroidery on them.

I haven’t been taking the right path at all. I’ve lived as a loner, failed my college entrance exams twice, messed up at my part-time job, then got hit by a car and run over…

Hayakawa responded as if he had read Masamichi’s mind.

“You met Mr. Tatsumi and are currently by his side. Whatever may have happened before, I think you’re on the right path now.”

“Oh…”

His comment warmed Masamichi’s heart.

Indeed, he enjoyed living with Shino and getting to know him little by little every day. He didn’t know if it was the right path, but his life had changed greatly, and it was undoubtedly a positive change.

As Masamichi wondered how to say that to Hayakawa, Shino, who had been preparing tea in the kitchen, interrupted in a cool tone.

“Hayakawa. There’s no need for flattery.”

“It isn’t flattery, sir. I am very happy and grateful to have made your acquaintance.”

“I’m sure you are.”

It was a brief exchange but enough to tell Masamichi about their power balance.

So Shino’s the one in a higher position. Mr. Hayakawa looks much older, but he’s very polite to him. Maybe Shino is a really important client. Or perhaps he knows Shino’s true identity… When he stepped into Bougyoudou, he said something about the sight here being as spectacular as always. He must have been here before. Is he from a related industry? Like the antique business, or something to do with artifact spirits?

While Masamichi racked his brain, Hayakawa continued to dress him…starting with underwear, a tank top, shorts, then a long-sleeved shirt that felt nice against the skin.

It appeared that Hayakawa was initiating a casual conversation to lessen Masamichi’s embarrassment.

By the time Masamichi realized that, he was fully clothed. He now looked like an average five-year-old anyone might see out and about.

“This outfit suits you well. It’s the first time I’ve dressed a boy, since I only have a daughter. Still, it turned out well if I do say so myself,” Hayakawa said as he nodded with satisfaction, staying on his knees and bending back slightly to check Masamichi’s overall appearance.

“You have a daughter… Are you the one who picked out these clothes for me?”

Hayakawa waved in the negative.

“Oh, no, Mr. Tatsumi chose everything. As expected, he has good taste. The colors suit you very well, Mr. Adachi.”

It was nice to receive praise even about something like that. Then Shino came out of the kitchen carrying tea utensils, not looking particularly moved.

“It’s only natural for a master to know what clothes are appropriate for his servant. But more importantly, Hayakawa, what do you think?”

“Shino? What are you talking about?”

“Please, Mr. Adachi, have a seat,” Hayakawa prompted, indicating the cushion Masamichi had offered him earlier. Masamichi hesitated, but he did as suggested, noting that Hayakawa’s eyes seemed to be telling him that it was wiser to hurry up and settled in.

That seemed to be the best way for him to get down to business with Shino without irritating him. Not that Masamichi had any idea what they were about to discuss.

Sitting up straight on the tatami mat, Hayakawa watched Shino pour tea into teacups and said, “From the sense I got while touching Mr. Adachi’s body as I dressed him, you seemed to be correct in assuming that a human being has cast a spell on him.”

This time, Masamichi couldn’t help shouting, “What?!”

Hayakawa spoke casually as if he was having a business meeting.

“D-did you get me dressed to—? I mean, Mr. Hayakawa! Could it be that you’re—?”

“That’s right,” Hayakawa said, calmly affirming Masamichi’s question, which had come out as a broken sentence.

“Um—”

Shino was the one who explained.

“Hayakawa is an agent for a certain organization that deals with cases involving spiritual disturbances.”

Masamichi blinked. As usual, Shino simplified things too much.

“S-spiritual disturbances…?”

“It’s an organization that deals with various types of trouble caused by the spiritual, though we don’t make it known publicly.”

Hayakawa’s additional information only confused Masamichi more.

“W-well… I imagine that it would be hard to discuss spiritual things openly.”

“That’s right. We agents engage in these matters as a side job. I have a career that you might call my cover. To put it simply, it’s like a secret organization.”

“A secret organization. Agents. A cover… This sounds like something out of a novel or a movie.”

“Heh-heh, I agree. But, Mr. Adachi, if you don’t mind my saying so, this shop and Mr. Tatsumi themselves are like something out of a novel or a drama themselves…”

“You’ve got a point there!”

Masamichi rubbed his chest, trying to calm himself down, and looked between Hayakawa’s gentle smile and Shino’s sullen but beautiful face.

“And what is your relationship with each other?”

After sipping his green tea and savoring it, Hayakawa said, “Because we engage in a specialized field, our organization is short-staffed, and we’re always looking for talented individuals who can become practitioners for us.”

“Practitioners…”

“That’s what we call those who work to resolve the spiritual disturbances that trouble our customers. I have some experience in the area myself. Just as there are various types of spiritual disturbances, each practitioner has their area of expertise. For example, in Mr. Tatsumi’s case—”

“He deals with artifact spirits?”

“Correct. When it comes to artifact spirits, no one is nearly as good as Mr. Tatsumi.”

“Does that mean you’re part of Mr. Hayakawa’s organization?” Masamichi asked Shino.

“Not yet,” Shino replied briefly, placing a glass of water in front of Masamichi.

“Not yet?”

“We’ve continued to approach Mr. Tatsumi for some time now, but he has yet to give me a positive response. But in view of your situation, he called me.”

“Huh?!”

“Never mind the details. Just give me your assessment, Hayakawa.”

Without allowing his stunned servant to probe any further, Shino urged Hayakawa to tell him what he thought.

Hayakawa took another sip of his tea, straightened his posture, and turned serious.

“It’s a spell that’s been formulated with considerable care. I can’t help being surprised that a specter has mastered its creation. Needless to say, the initial practitioner was skilled, but I’ve never heard of a highly secretive technique like that being taught to their apparition… Of course, you’re an exception, Mr. Tatsumi.”

“Never mind me,” Shino said in his usual sharp way. “All Tokifuyu taught me were protective spells. He didn’t teach me anything about spells that could harm humans.”

“I understand, sir. The barrier that covers this area is truly magnificent. It leaves no doubt as to Mr. Tokifuyu’s skills as a spiritual medium.”

Hayakawa stopped there and looked at Masamichi, who was unable to join the conversation and was glancing nervously back and forth between him and Shino. His expression was gentle, but Masamichi didn’t miss the cold, detached light that shone behind his glasses.

“As far as I can see, the spell that turned Mr. Adachi’s body into that of an innocent child covers his entire body like a net, leaving no room for a third party to intervene to undo it.”

“What if I tried to break that net with brute force? I don’t think it would be impossible.”

Hayakawa shook his head at Shino’s violent suggestion, which was completely out of character with his elegant appearance.

“The net of the spell extends deeply into the body of the cursed. It will probably endanger Mr. Adachi’s life if it isn’t lifted or removed properly.”

Masamichi swallowed.

He had no idea how much time had passed between him losing consciousness in the park and Shino’s arrival.

But it seemed that during that time, Kagiroi had cast a spell on his entire body. And judging by the expressions on Hayakawa and Shino’s faces, it must be an immensely powerful curse.

Shino folded his arms, looking unhappy, and Hayakawa said in a tone that would calm an agitated brat, “Mr. Tatsumi, a spell is basically something that can only be undone by the individual who cast it. Or perhaps, by that person’s death…”

“I’m well aware of that and have already told Masamichi about it. But—”

He glanced at Masamichi’s young face, which held a mix of confusion and fear.

“—this is basically a technique that a human being created. Thus, there must be a possibility that another human practitioner could deal with it, which is why I called you. How is the situation from that perspective?”

Hayakawa thought for a moment and shook his head.

“Well, sir, to be honest, practitioners today often have manuals. It’s generally the case that if we can find this manual, then it should be fairly easy to cope…”

“Manuals?! Are you saying manuals exist for cursing people?”

It was natural for an ordinary person like Masamichi to be surprised, but Hayakawa nodded as if it was common sense.

“That’s right. Surprisingly, they’re not actually hard to find, like on flea market sites…”

“Are you serious?!”

“Of course, there are both good and bad points; most are bad, and reading a manual doesn’t necessarily mean that one can easily decipher and use the curses written there.”

“Good. Well, not good, but that’s good for now.”

However, Masamichi’s relief was short-lived as Hayakawa continued to explain, his expression becoming darker and darker.

“This…Kagiroi, was it…? The spell that specter cast on you was indeed one from the Heian period. It’s far more precise and complex than modern curses, and above all, there’s no manual.”

“Isn’t there a secret scroll or something?”

Shino answered in a brusque tone, “Even if there was such a thing, it would be written in a complicated and mysterious code. Spiritual mediums at the time wouldn’t have wanted others to easily master techniques they’d spent their whole life, sometimes over generations, refining.”

“Oh! I guess not.”

“These kinds of spells and techniques are top secret. Most are passed down orally.”

“Are you saying no one will ever know the structure of the spell that Kagiroi cast on me?”

This time, Hayakawa took over.

“That would be the case. Even if we were to ask a practitioner in our organization to analyze it, it would likely take many years. And in the meantime, your body would remain as it is.”

Masamichi swallowed.

“So…are you saying I’d grow up again from this five-year-old state?”

“No, sir. The spell cast on you isn’t something that rewinds time. It fixes the body in the state you were in at a certain point in your life. You’re like an image in a photograph from long ago.”

Masamichi snapped his fingers in understanding.

“I get it! So for example, if it takes ten years to analyze this spell, I’ll be stuck like this—”

“As a five-year-old during that entire period.”

“That…would be a problem.”

It was more than just a problem. But people tended to lose their vocabulary when they got seriously upset.

Hayakawa heard Masamichi’s croak and said with sympathy, “I understand.”

“There’s no point in feeling sorry for him,” Shino said, interrupting the exchange, clearly irritated. “Hayakawa. Isn’t there any way to resolve this? If there isn’t, there’s no reason for me to cooperate with you.”

Hayakawa tilted his head to the side and thought it over.

“We’ll need a little time, but I’d like to have our staff go through our archives.”

“Your archives?”

“Yes, sir. Our organization has collected and preserved a vast amount of data on ancient arts and spells from throughout the world. Gentetsu Izumo, Kagiroi’s master; and his father, Gensou Izumo—if we can trace our information back to them, we’ll look into their ancestors as well. We’ll search through everything we have and gather information on the Izumo clan’s spell methods.”

“I see. Perhaps that will have some meaning.” Shino nodded, finally appearing to be satisfied.

Hayakawa continued in a matter-of-fact tone, “From what you’ve told me, the Izumos were spiritual mediums from the Tajima region. We’ll focus our investigation on their hometown area…and if we can find some organization that produces spiritual mediums there, we may be able to find techniques that had been common to them. Speaking from experience, that may be our quickest option.”

“I’ll leave you to it. Get on it right away.”

“Yes, sir.”

Hayakawa glanced at Masamichi and then fixed his gaze on Shino. “Unlike with practitioners, it isn’t all that difficult to increase the number of people we can mobilize for administrative tasks. However…,” Hayakawa said somewhat awkwardly, “what we will need…is…a track record…like a history of your accomplishments, in order to obtain permission from my superiors to do this.”

“I understand,” Shino said simply. “I’ll do what I have to do right away. In exchange, I need you to produce results in the shortest time possible.”

“Yes, sir! I’ll be delighted to. I promise I’ll do my very best.”

“Naturally.”

After giving the arrogant specter a light bow, Hayakawa pulled his attaché case toward him.

“I will report back to you as soon as we find the documents and discover how to deal with the situation. I’ll also arrange for a practitioner if I can find one who might be useful. But for now…”

Speaking without pausing, Hayakawa pulled out an unexpected item.

It was a cute cat brooch. About the size of Masamichi’s palm, it depicted the face of a black cat and looked like it had been cut out from a wooden board. The cat’s face was lacquered, and its huge gold eyes shone at the center.

The button nose and the smiling mouth were painted yellow, and the design was indisputably cute and funny.

“This is for you, Mr. Adachi.”

“For me? I-it’s certainly cute, but I’m not really a child…”

Masamichi openly showed his confusion, but Shino was calm and said, “Just accept it without comment.”

“Huh?!”

“Ah, Mr. Tatsumi, of course you can tell. This is no ordinary brooch. It’s cursed.”

“What?! Something cute like this is cursed?”

“Yes, sir. I thought something cute would be good since Mr. Tatsumi told me that you’d been transformed into a child. May I proceed?”

“Go ahead.”

Now that he had Shino’s permission, Hayakawa didn’t give Masamichi the brooch right away. Instead, he kept hold of the brooch and asked him, “Have you found yourself…prone to extreme fatigue since last night?”

Startled, Masamichi answered in the affirmative.

“Yes, I have. But that’s because Kagiroi stole my chi.”

“There is that, but how are you feeling now?”

Masamichi thought about how he’d been doing a while ago and glanced at Shino, who moved his chin slightly as if telling him to answer honestly.

“I get tired really easily after doing something. I was pooped after a little housework a while ago and was lying down until the two of you walked in…”

“So you do have symptoms. I’m glad I came prepared,” Hayakawa said and looked at him with pity. “Mr. Tatsumi told me about you, but I’m sure of it now that I’ve met you in person. Mr. Adachi, another spell has been cast on your body.”

“What?!”

Masamichi was so surprised that he practically jumped up from his cushion.

“Your chi is continuously being taken from your body. To put it simply, it’s like Kagiroi is sucking your chi dry with a very long straw.”

“That’s too disgusting! Oh, but you’ve made it easy for me to understand. Ugh… I hate this.”

As he shuddered, Hayakawa looked sincerely sorry for him but said in a slightly brighter tone, “However, it’s possible to deal with that curse.”

“You mean you can yank the straw away?”

“No, that’s a little difficult, like the spell I mentioned earlier.”

“Huh…? So he’s going to keep sucking me forever?”

“That’s where this comes in.”

Hayakawa smiled and held up the cute brooch with the black cat on it. Using the safety pin on the back, he pinned it to the chest area of Masamichi’s checked shirt.

“What about this kitty?”

“I can’t pull the straw out, but I can tie its end so your precious chi won’t be extracted. I’ve asked a practitioner who specializes in exorcism-type spiritual disturbances to handle it.”

“You’re going to…tie its end?!”

“That’s right. Even if we can’t undo the curse itself, it’s possible to counter it with our own curse as a symptomatic treatment. That’s one way for us to fight.”

“I see.”

“I asked for a curse to be put on something a child could easily wear. The practitioner has a roommate who is a very good artist, and they prepared this work for us.”

“…Then it’s a one-of-a-kind item.”

“That’s right. It’s a cute brooch, and it should be very effective. It should prevent Kagiroi from stealing your chi.”

“So this kitty is going to protect me?”

“Yes, sir. Always keep it on your person and wear it when you sleep in your pajamas.”

“Okay. I’ll do that,” Masamichi said with a serious expression and bowed. “Thank you. I was shocked to hear…that Kagiroi was continuing to steal my chi, and my head was spinning, but I’m a bit relieved now.”

“I’m glad to hear that. So…Mr. Adachi?”

“Yes?”

“I know you must be worried and uncomfortable, but I will do everything I can to help you. Take things easy and relax, so when we find a way to undo the spell, you’ll be in good health to deal with it.”

Although Masamichi had only just met him, this man named Hayakawa seemed to have a mysterious aura about him that put people at ease.

He’s right. I have to get myself back in shape.

He knew the man could be trusted to a certain extent because Shino had brought him to Bougyoudou, but Masamichi had already sensed his sincerity.

“Got it. Thank you.”

“No problem. That brooch suits you. I’ll tell the person who made it.”

With those words and an affable smile, Hayakawa left the shop.

Shino went out with him, while Masamichi, now comfortably dressed, opened the paper bag that his master had instructed him to put away.

He’d had a hunch that it might contain kids’ clothing. He was right.

Hayakawa had said that Shino had chosen all the items.

There were spare shirts, shorts, a duffle coat in a color and design that looked exactly like the one that Masamichi wore in his adult body, socks, shoes, and a knit hat.

Everything was adorable, and they all came from brands that even Masamichi, who wasn’t into fashion, recognized.

Oh, gee. Here I am, dying to break this spell and get back to being an adult again, but everything he got is so wonderful that I want to try them on.

He unfolded each item, spread it out, and examined it, then folded it up again and smiled.

In no way did he want to remain a child.

He wanted the curse undone as soon as possible and to get back into his old body. Then he’d make an even greater effort than he had before to look for things that he could do so he could be useful to Shino.

But that aside, his smile deepened as he recalled the morning and the day before when he was washing his face and brushing his teeth. The washbasin was too high for him, and he hadn’t been able to find anything to use as a step, so Shino had reluctantly lifted him.

Shino had held his thin waist securely in his large hands and said, looking exasperated, that he was too light, like some snack food. A mix of amusement and affection welled up inside him.

That kind of interaction wouldn’t have happened if Masamichi hadn’t turned into a child. He was aware that he was happy that Shino had given him a lift.

I really have become attached to Shino. I don’t know if it’s what people call love, but he’s very important to me, we’re very close, and…I really love him.

Clatter!

It was Shino returning home. Masamichi quickly put his new clothes back in the paper bag and stood up.

“Welcome back, Shino.”

“Is the cat working?” As usual, there was no hello, and he got right to the point. Masamichi was more envious than ever of Shino’s long legs, which let him jump over the gaps in the steps with ease.

“I never realized that Kagiroi was continuing to steal my chi, but my body does feel a little lighter since Mr. Hayakawa put this black cat brooch on me. It’s easier to move around.”

“Yeah?” Shino responded, removed his jacket, and carelessly tossed it on the tatami mat. Normally, Masamichi would have taken it from Shino, put it on a hanger, and hung it on the doorframe. But in his current state, he couldn’t even grab a hanger off the doorframe and had no choice but to spread the jacket out neatly on the mat.

“Um, Shino?”

“What?”

Masamichi bowed his head apologetically to his master, who was drinking his now-cold tea.

“I’m sorry. I had no idea about the organization Mr. Hayakawa belongs to.”

“Of course not. I never told you about it.”

“But, Shino, you’d been turning down their offer to join their organization, and yet you accepted for me… You, um, agreed to do work you don’t want to do, didn’t you?”

“Don’t get full of yourself, human,” he spat, then added, “There can’t be that many jobs that one actually wants to do. Since becoming Tokifuyu’s apparition, I’d been forced to do an array of things I didn’t feel like doing. There aren’t many tasks here in this shop that I find amusing, either.”

“…That’s the truth of being a working adult. It touches me in a different way when a specter like you says it.”

Ignoring the complex look that appeared on Masamichi’s face, Shino drank the water his servant hadn’t touched in one gulp.

“However, I’ll do whatever task is at hand if I feel that it would be to my advantage. I’ve done that in the past and accepted a number of jobs as an outsourcer for Hayakawa. He’s an honest and diligent agent. Of course, he’s also very capable. I don’t have a full picture of the organization he belongs to, but it seems to have accumulated a huge amount of historical data. If I can use that, it would help with my work at this shop. I’d been considering agreeing to a full-fledged collaboration anyway. You’re nothing more than a catalyst.”

“But—”

“It’s true that I’ll have to promptly take care of whatever Hayakawa requests me to do and make his organization indebted to me. That way, we may be able to have them arrange for another…human practitioner, and that may lead us to find a way to undo the spell. But that’s all there is to it. They’ll get their work done efficiently, I’ll be paid, and you’ll return to your own body. It’s a deal that will benefit everyone. It’s ideal.”

“Well…yeah, but it will be a burden on you… Ngh!”

Masamichi widened his eyes as his upper and lower lips were suddenly squeezed together.

Naturally, Shino was the one doing the squeezing.

“Don’t underestimate me, Masamichi,” he warned in a stern tone, his sharp eyes glaring at Masamichi. “I’m not a specter who will back off when someone toys with my servant. I will definitely restore you to your original state. I considered taking the wait-and-see approach and watching Kagiroi quietly if he backed off after the incident in Kyoto, but now that he’s made a move like this, I’m not going to sit back and do nothing.”

Masamichi’s dark, round eyes flickered with anxiety as he stared at Shino from up close.

“Do you mean…you’re going to fight Kagiroi? Are you going to avenge Tokifuyu?”

“I’m not obliged to do that.”

“But, Shino—”

Masamichi was about to say “—you love Tokifuyu,” but he swallowed the words.

If he’d said it, Shino would have probably gotten angry and insisted it wasn’t true.

Masamichi was beginning to feel that every time Shino argued that he had no feelings for Tokifuyu, he seemed to be hurting himself with a sharp blade.

“But what?” Shino asked sharply, and Masamichi shook his head.

“Nothing. So what are you going to do?”

Shino’s thin lips curved into a frown at the direct question, and he was silent for several seconds, then said briefly, “Skirmishes are bound to continue until he regains his strength. I’ll investigate in the meantime. I’ll also use the data I obtain through Hayakawa on Kagiroi; the Izumo father and son, Gensou and Gentetsu…and my master, Tokifuyu Tatsumi.”

“…All right.”

“I’ll review the things I thought didn’t matter. The sparks have already fallen, and everything matters now. Other than that, I’ll do what I can, what I think I ought to do, and what I feel I should do. That’s all.”

“…Okay!”

Masamichi nodded with enthusiasm. Although his feelings were endlessly mixed, he sensed that Shino was starting to confront the events from his past, which he’d had been dragging along for over a thousand years.

“I’ll work hard to help you once I return to my adult form,” he said with gusto.

But Shino raised an eyebrow and asked with a straight face, “Help me with what?”

“What…? Um…”

“Well, once you return to your adult form, you can do your best to supply me with your chi. That’s the best thing that you can do for me.”

“I know, but isn’t there something else I can do?”

“I don’t know. Find your tasks on your own. But for now, don’t you dare do anything. Don’t get into any more trouble. I’ll be leaving the house a lot, but you aren’t to take a single step out. Is that clear?”

“That’s voluntary confinement. At least let me go grocery shopping for our daily means…,” Masamichi was about to say but closed his mouth again.

Because Shino looked so serious.

Shino knew better than anyone else the threat that Kagiroi and his magical powers posed. If he was being this cautious, then as his servant, Masamichi had no choice but to obey.

What’s more, he was in a child’s body.

Maybe he finally had decent clothes and looked presentable enough that no one seeing him would be suspicious. Still, even if he went shopping alone, he could barely carry the things he bought, and people would wonder about his relationship with Shino.

If someone started talking about stuff like child abuse, things wouldn’t just be complicated; they’d go to a new level.

“Okay, I understand. I’ll stay home and do whatever chores I can manage.”

“You don’t have to overdo it. Dust doesn’t kill… Not that I would die, but I suppose it can hurt human health. Do whatever you want, but you should also study. Now, get changed, and we’ll have lunch.”

With that, Shino grabbed the jacket that Masamichi neatly had laid out and went to his room behind the living room.

Left alone in the tea room, Masamichi touched the brooch that Hayakawa had attached to his chest area.

Masamichi wasn’t a medium, so it was hard for him to feel the power that had been put into it.

Still, the cat’s cute face seemed to be telling him to cheer up.

“There are people who are doing things to help me. I…I have to hustle at whatever I can, too,” he mumbled with determination as he gently laid a finger against the cat’s nose…

Chapter 5: Hearts Connecting

Shino put up a closed sign outside Bougyoudou the next day and began going out a lot.

Hayakawa seemed to have crammed a lot of work into his schedule. It had to mean that efforts were needed from the organization’s side to investigate the spell cast on Masamichi.

For the past ten days or so, Shino had been quick to leave the house after breakfast.

“I’m off.”

He always said the same words on his way out, and all Masamichi could do was send him off with the words “Be careful.”

Shino usually came home late at night or, on occasion, at the crack of dawn the next day.

Shino scolded Masamichi if he waited up for him, telling him not to waste his time doing something pointless like that. “Get your sleep and restore your chi,” he would say, and Masamichi decided to go to bed at ten.

However, he kept thinking about Shino, and it wasn’t easy to fall asleep.

By the time he began dozing off, he would be startled awake by the sound of the shop door opening. Then after hearing Shino’s footsteps, he would finally relax and get his shut-eye.

Those were the tense days that continued day in and day out.

What was toughest for Masamichi was knowing that everyone was working hard for his sake, yet he could do nothing but sit back and wait in a safe place.

Even with the body of a five-year-old, he could manage to wash the dishes, sweep the floor using a minibroom and dustpan, do the laundry using the dry function instead of hanging up the wash, and scrub the bathtub. But that was about all he could accomplish, and Shino strictly forbade him from cooking since it required the use of flames.

“What if a fire broke out? You couldn’t toss everything aside and run, could you? You would probably stay at home trying to put out the fire and end up burning to death. Even I can’t bring a dead person back to life. So no cooking.”

What Shino said was so logical that Masamichi couldn’t utter back a single word. He’d actually been so impressed by his master’s grasp of his personality that it moved him.

So for lunch, he ate the rice balls that Shino had made while preparing breakfast, and for dinner—

“Good evening, Mr. Adachi. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. You must be hungry.”

To his surprise, Hayakawa was picking up dinner and bringing it to him every day.

“Hi. I really appreciate the daily meals. I’m sorry for troubling you,” he said apologetically when Hayakawa came to the door again just after six PM.

“Oh, please don’t be sorry. It’s the least I can do after all the hard work Mr. Tatsumi is doing for us.”

Hayakawa came wearing his plain suit, carrying his attaché case as always, as he smiled and encouraged Masamichi to step up to the tea room.

He folded his coat and jacket neatly, placed them in the corner, rolled up his shirt sleeves, and began warming the food he had brought.

His relaxed yet efficient movements were typical of someone who did housework on a regular basis.

As Masamichi pointed that out while taking plates to the table, Hayakawa replied nonchalantly, “I lived alone for a long time when I was single. I hope you’ll forgive me for bringing you premade food since I can’t cook well enough for people other than myself.”

With that, Hayakawa quickly set up a meal for the two of them in the tea room.

Hayakawa had brought food for one on the first day. He must have realized Masamichi was uncomfortable eating alone and having the man just watch over him as he ate. He started bringing enough food for two the next day, saying he was on his way home from work and was hungry.

Tonight’s dinner consisted of fried chicken with a sweet-and-sour sauce; a salad of broccoli, hard-boiled eggs, and almond slices; a Chinese-style corn soup; and steamed white rice in microwavable packs.

“Please, dig in.”

“Thank you,” he replied politely. Masamichi hesitated over whether to use the fork or the chopsticks and settled on the former. No matter how hard he practiced, his hands weren’t becoming any bigger, and he was still clumsy using chopsticks.

“This is delicious. Very,” he said, stabbing a huge piece of fried chicken with the fork and chewing it with his tiny mouth.

All the dishes Hayakawa had brought were very tasty. He was probably picking them up at well-known delicatessens.

It was nice that Hayakawa ate with him, and it lessened his feelings of loneliness. However, Masamichi found he couldn’t help comparing the food to the meals that Shino usually cooked.

I didn’t realize store-bought food was so flavorful. Everything is really good, but for some reason… I don’t know… Is it because I miss Shino?

Masamichi proceeded to eat the chicken, salad, and soup as he wondered.

His taste buds were telling him that they were delicious, and of course, his hunger was being sated. But for some reason, his heart felt empty.

Nevertheless, Masamichi continued to focus on his meal, knowing that eating and sleeping were the quickest ways to restore his stolen chi to its original state.

Hayakawa nibbled on the food as he watched Masamichi with kind eyes.

“You must be feeling lonely.”

Masamichi looked up in surprise.

“Oh, um, no, I—”

“I’m very sorry for having Mr. Tatsumi work for us for such long periods. I know that delivering food isn’t nearly enough to make up for it.”

“Oh, no! I’m super grateful that you bring me these delicious meals every day when I’m sure you really want to head on straight home after work,” he said, thanking Hayakawa and apologizing at the same time, and Hayakawa put down his chopsticks.

“Please don’t worry about it. This is something I’ve asked Mr. Tatsumi to allow me to do.”

“It is?”

Holding his fork in his hand, Masamichi blinked in surprise. He had assumed that Shino had requested it. Hayakawa nodded.

“As an agent, I commission work to practitioners and provide support for the smooth execution of that work. It’s my duty to ensure that you’re safe and eating properly and to assist you if you need help so Mr. Tatsumi can proceed with peace of mind. Please think of it as me doing my job.”

“Your job… Well, thank you. I can barely do anything decently now, so it really helps. I could go to the nearby convenience store to get something to eat, but if I did that and something happened, I’d end up causing even more trouble for Shino.”

“That’s right. We’re doing our best to figure out how to undo the spell cast on you as quickly as possible. Please be patient for a little while longer.”

“Um, is there anything I can do to help?” Masamichi asked with a desperate look on his face, but Hayakawa shook his head sympathetically.

“I’m sorry.”

“…I guess not. I’m sorry I can’t be of any help.”

Masamichi hung his head, then stabbed the remaining piece of broccoli and boiled egg with his fork and took them to his mouth.

Hayakawa glanced around the room and said quietly, “This does bring back memories. There was a time in the past when I brought meals here for a few days before.”

“Huh?!”

Masamichi looked up in surprise. Hayakawa laughed mischievously and held up a forefinger in front of his lips.

“The previous owner of this shop was still alive then, and Mr. Tatsumi accepted a number of jobs for me. Please don’t tell Mr. Tatsumi I told you this, since I haven’t obtained his permission to mention it to you.”

Masamichi nodded vigorously, covering his mouth with his hand while making an effort to chew on the broccoli, which had a firm texture.

“Is that the time Shino said he took on work from you as an outsourcer?”

“It is indeed. The previous owner became ill, and Mr. Tatsumi said he wanted him to receive the best treatment without worrying about the cost…”

“Did Shino work for you to earn money to cover Daizou’s medical expenses?”

Masamichi stumbled over the words and almost bit his tongue, but Hayakawa nodded quietly. “He said he wanted to earn money quickly so Daizou and his wife could choose the treatment they wanted without any regrets. I took advantage of that.”

“I see. How did you find out about Shino in the first place?”

“That’s where the organization’s connections come in. The most sensitive information is what humans obtain and whisper to others. Of course, it’s necessary to choose who you include in your information network carefully since information isn’t any good if it’s only quick to obtain. It must be accurate.”

Hayakawa’s tone was relaxed, but he was making a strong point clear, and Masamichi didn’t know how to respond. He sensed that it was better not to press the matter further and decided to ask about something else.

“So you came here every day? Why?”

“Mr. Tatsumi became busy with his work, just as he is now, and began to worry about Daizou’s wife, Yoriko. So I visited her every day around the time she returned from visiting her husband at the hospital, and I brought dinner with me.”

“Ah.”

“Yoriko was a very kind person who always talked about her husband and Mr. Tatsumi. She said the gods and Buddha gave her a wonderful son. Yes, that’s what she always said.”

He didn’t mention any more details about what she’d said, but Masamichi could tell that Hayakawa’s time spent with Yoriko had been very warm and friendly.

“Daizou and Yoriko really loved Shino, didn’t they?”

“Yes, very much. And Mr. Tatsumi took great care of the couple, though he said he was only repaying his debt of gratitude to them for giving him a foothold to live in the human world.”

Hayakawa did a half-hearted impersonation of how Shino spoke and looked at Masamichi, making him laugh.

“You just reminded me of something I’ve always wondered. Why is it that he’s always like that? Do specters think they’re under a curse or something that would kill them if they admitted they loved someone?”

“That can’t be!”

Hayakawa also laughed, then suddenly his expression became serious.

“As a specter that became an apparition for a human being and began living and mingling with mortals, I think he must have experienced many conflicts. Perhaps it’s Mr. Tatsumi’s pride as a specter not to become too comfortable with humans and to deny love.”

Masamichi nodded seriously.

“Maybe you’re right.”

“However, although Mr. Tatsumi may speak with a cold air, he’s very concerned about you, Mr. Adachi. It’s—,” he started to say, but Masamichi shook his head.

“I’m not worthy of Shino’s love like Daizou and Yoriko were.”

“Mr. Adachi…”

“There’s nothing I can do for Shino—especially now. There isn’t a thing that I can do. All I am…is a burden to him. He probably thinks he lost out by making me his servant.”

Masamichi tried to incorporate a little whining into their small talk, but combined with the halting tone of his five-year-old mouth, it sounded awfully pathetic.

Hayakawa noticed Masamichi’s eyes starting to moisten and smoothly changed the subject.

“By the way, that cat brooch seems to be working well,” he pointed out, touching the accessory on Masamichi’s chest and smiling. “I can see that your complexion is improving day by day.”

“Yes! I was shocked when I heard that Kagiroi was continuing to steal my chi, but it’s reassuring to know that a cute brooch like this is preventing that. Please give my best to the practitioners who prepared this for me.”

“Will do. They’ll be happy to hear it. They put their hearts into it, praying that you would be in better health.”

“I really appreciate it. Gee… A lot of people are supporting me.”

“Human support goes around in cycles. You have to make sure to build up your energy so that one day, you’ll also be able to support someone. Now, please, eat more. I brought a sweet-potato dessert today.”

“Wow, dessert, even…?! Thank you.”

“I took one look at it and wanted to sample it myself. I also bought some to take home to my wife and daughter.”

Hayakawa smiled. He must have noticed Masamichi’s depression and bought the sweet to try to cheer him up.

This isn’t good. I can’t do anything now, so the least I can do is be strong and not keep Shino and Mr. Hayakawa worried about me.

Admonishing himself, Masamichi tried to sound cheerful. “I’m going to eat a lot of this!”

It was three days later when Shino came home after nine PM, earlier than usual.

Masamichi had been studying in his room. He heard the noise downstairs and hurried down the steep stairs to find Shino taking off his coat in the tea room.

“Welcome home!”

Shino glanced over at him, hung his coat over his arm, and went to his room, his strides long.

Masamichi had only been seeing Shino at breakfast lately, so if the specter was willing, he wanted to talk with him for a few minutes.

With that in mind, he tentatively went to Shino’s room.

Fortunately, the sliding door remained open, but the light was off.

“Shino? Can I come in for a minute…? Whoa!” he cried out when he peered inside and ran into the dark room.

Shino was still in the outfit he had come home in—a dark-gray turtleneck sweater and chinos—as he sprawled out on the tatami mat.

“Shino? Are you okay?!”

“Shut up. Don’t chirp like a bird in such a high pitch. It makes my headache worse,” he said in a moan, covering his eyes with one hand.

Masamichi sat down next to him and whispered, “I’m sorry. You don’t look well.”

“I’m exhausted.”

That gave Masamichi a jolt.

It was the first time that Shino had ever complained directly like that.

He must really be pooped—and it’s my fault.

“Sorry.”

Shino removed his hand from his face in reaction, and his bloodshot eyes looked up at Masamichi.

“There’s no need for you to apologize. I’m just doing what I decided to do. My exhaustion is nothing more than a fact.”

“That may be so, but…it’s the first time you’ve said you’re tired, and I thought it had to be serious. What should I do? Do you want some water? Or something to eat? We’ve got some baked sweets that Hayakawa brought us.”

“I don’t want any. Human food won’t help me recover from this fatigue.”

With his suggestions flatly rejected, Shino glanced at Masamichi, who was resting his small hands on the tatami mat, looking at him nervously. He grabbed the back of Masamichi’s shirt and put him on his lap like he might with a stuffed toy.

“Wh-whoa! Shino—”

Lying on his stomach across Shino’s lap, Masamichi was stunned yet obedient, and he placed his hands on Shino’s chest to support his body.

Shino then put his arms loosely around Masamichi’s back and said, “You’ve gotten quite a bit of your chi back. Good. Give me a little.”

Masamichi’s face lit up.

“Sure! You can take as much as you want…though I might not be able to give you much with the state of my body.”

“In this case, quality is more important than quantity. Your golden chi is like nectar to me in my current state. Just one drop will quench my thirst.”

“Really?”

Shino responded, “Yeah,” in a hoarse voice and closed his eyes.

Masamichi was delighted, and at that moment, a soft golden light appeared.

Unlike in his adult form, the weak light didn’t coat his entire body but still flowed like a small stream, reaching Shino’s chest and slowly soaking in.

“Even as a child, the flavor of your chi hasn’t changed. If anything, it’s clearer,” Shino said like a sommelier tasting wine as he closed his eyes.

“Good. I’m sorry I can’t give you a lot, but I guess…it’s better than nothing.”

“Precisely.”

Masamichi relaxed his muscles and pressed his upper body tightly against Shino’s chest.

It might not make much difference whether they were in close contact, but it was an unconscious act on his part, as he hoped to give Shino as much of his chi as he could.

“Mr. Hayakawa is really good to me. What kind of work are you doing for him? Is it related to artifact spirits?” Masamichi asked, pressing his soft cheeks against Shino’s chest.

He could feel the same tension in Shino’s muscles as those of a human, but no matter how closely he listened, he couldn’t hear a heartbeat.

It hammered into him the fact that Shino’s body wasn’t a real human body, and he fought his disbelief that something like that was possible.

Shino’s eyes remained closed as he savored Masamichi’s chi and answered in a low, hoarse voice, “All sorts of things. That Hayakawa has been pushing troublesome cases at me left and right. I went to a site today where they were having trouble with a series of mysterious accidents among the construction workers who were trying to demolish a long-neglected ruin as part of a redevelopment project.”

“It sounds typical. Was it because of a ghostly disturbance—a specter?”

“Yeah. Ruins are the favorite places for weak specters to be. I went there and found a horde of low-level specters settled there. I would have exorcised them had I been a human, but I’m a specter, so I ate them all, and my stomach still feels heavy.”

“…Wow. That sounds tough. Do you want to take some medicine for your stomach?”

“No. Human medicine wouldn’t work on a specter. But…anyway, the work took a lot of effort, and eating them didn’t add much to my strength. And they also tasted bad.”

“So spirits and specters vary that much in taste?”

“Oh yeah. Generally speaking, the stronger the specter, the better it tastes. But the low-level specters I found today… Well, if I was to compare them to human food and drinks, they were like poor-quality water. Not only did they taste bad, but they also offered no nutrition at all.”

“I—I see.”

Despite being taken aback, Masamichi nodded in response to the specter’s unexpected food review.

“But it’s interesting how open-minded that organization is about wanting to sign a contract with me, a specter, and their knowledge and network of practitioners is intriguing as well. They might be of some use when we face Kagiroi.”

Masamichi’s gentle-looking brow furrowed.

“When we face Kagiroi…”

“It would be easier for me if that could be avoided, but that isn’t likely. It’s more constructive to take the steps we can rather than be optimistic. Besides—”

“Yeah?”

“—as long as I’m meeting his organization’s expectations, Hayakawa will supply us with a suitable reward. That’s the type of person he is. He’s found a way to break Kagiroi’s spell.”

“Huh?! He has?!”

Stunned, Masamichi leaned his upper body back as he remained on top of Shino, and the specter opened his eyes halfway and nodded.

“I received a report from him this evening. He said they found several references to a spiritual medium that sounded like Gensou, Gentetsu Izumo’s father, in the local records of the Harima region. He thinks that’s where their real roots are as public mediums.”

“Are you saying they found records from the Heian period?”

“It’s a case of someone writing down folktales that had been passed on from generation to generation orally by locals. Most of the stories aren’t very credible, but some sound useful. Whoever Kagiroi’s true master may have been, he couldn’t have been totally unrelated to the Izumos. Furthermore, the story about Gensou sounds incredibly similar to your case. It’s highly possible the spell that Kagiroi cast was something the Izumos devised.”

“What kind of story is that? Do you know the method and the type of—? Ngh.”

Shino pinched Masamichi’s plump, childish nose and scolded him. “Don’t rush your master.” Then he began explaining.

“To summarize, a certain nobleman in the capital called in a suspicious but skilled spiritual medium by the name of Gensou. He had him cast a secret spell on his political rival.”

“He tried to bring down his rival.”

“Right. And the man was turned into an innocent-looking child overnight.”

“…!”

Masamichi tightened his fingertips as they rested on Shino’s chest.

“That sounds exactly like what happened to me! What became of him? Did he go back to being an adult again?”

“I said don’t rush me. I was about to get to that.”

Frowning, Shino continued to speak calmly, with one hand still placed on Masamichi’s back.

“The political rival also had a superior Taoist from the continent working for him. When the Taoist discovered that Gensou had been behind the spell, he turned himself into a mosquito, sucked Gensou’s blood, then returned to his master. And he used Gensou’s blood and undid his spell.”

“A mosquito?!”

“That’s right. The man was instantly transformed back to his original form, and Gensou was driven out of the capital for displeasing his employer… That’s the gist of the story, though it appears to have been significantly embellished by parents wanting to entertain their children with the tale.”

Masamichi’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.

“Then since Kagiroi had a connection with Gentetsu, Gensou’s son, maybe we can undo his spell if we have his blood… Oh.”

Masamichi began speaking with enthusiasm and suddenly started hesitating after realizing something.

“Sorry, this is a very basic and rude question, but…do specters…have blood?”

Shino said bitterly, “Not like human blood. But in this case, you can consider some part of the body of the one who cast the spell as sufficient.”

“Some part of the body? Like a strand of hair or nails?”

“Yeah. By obtaining a piece of the person you wish to harm and putting a spell on it, that curse will affect the entire body…”

“I’ve heard of that before! Probably in a movie about that ancient spiritual medium, Abe no Seimei or something.”

“…Your knowledge is hopelessly shallow. But anyway, that’s how it is, and the reverse is also true. With spells, an invisible thread always connects the one who cast it to the one who it was cast on.”

“Like a tin can telephone?”

The way that Masamichi mentioned a tin can telephone with his innocent appearance was cute, but it didn’t seem to resonate with the specter, and Shino’s face became even more sour.

“That isn’t even worth considering, but it’s annoying that it isn’t a bad analogy.”

“S-sorry. And?”

“In this case, it’s fine to interpret the biological tissue of the initiator of the spell as that individual. Breaking the spell using their biological tissue would be the same as the individual breaking it. The curse that Kagiroi put on you probably falls under the same category.”

“I see!”

“You would be in danger if we broke the curse by force, but it wouldn’t be a problem if Kagiroi himself undid it.”

“So if we can get some tissue from Kagiroi’s body… Oh, but he doesn’t have blood, does he? What else is there that we could use?”

“There are other options, though not what you would imagine.”

Masamichi tilted his head inquisitively. He was lying on top of Shino’s torso like a sea otter cub, which made his words seem that much stranger.

He’d been told that the body on which he lay was the vessel that Tokifuyu Tatsumi had created long ago. Although he knew it was true since he couldn’t hear Shino’s heart beating, his own heart couldn’t keep up with the facts.

“Like what?”

Shino thought for a moment without answering.

“If we consider humans as bags filled with liquid, then we specters are bags filled with magical power. Magical power is invisible to the human eye, but you should be able to see it when you open your third eye.”

Masamichi nodded.

“You’re right. It shines like a light.”

“Exactly. It definitely exists, and it will flow if a specter’s body is hurt. In the same way that humans give blood to one another, a specter can also give its magical power to another if they want, as I did when I mended you that time you were on the verge of dying.”

“That’s easy for me to understand! So it’s really like our blood, huh? Will you be able to break Kagiroi’s curse if you can get a sample of his magical power?”

“You may think we can, but neither Hayakawa nor I think that’s a realistic option, and we’re continuing to look into other methods.”

“Why? Oh, I get it. In the legend, the Taoist could turn himself into a mosquito to suck Gensou’s blood…but you can’t turn yourself into a mosquito, right? I certainly can’t.”

“That’s not the point. Since specters don’t have blood, a mosquito wouldn’t go near him in the first place. Besides, we aren’t so slow that we wouldn’t notice a bug on our body.”

Masamichi held his head when he heard Shino’s practical point.

“I see! Then we won’t be able to use the bug method. What else is there…?”

Shino laughed frostily as he watched Masamichi try to think.

“We don’t know where Kagiroi is to begin with. Unlike me, he can change his appearance at will. He can fly or dive in a matter of seconds.”

“Oh…!”

Masamichi was rendered speechless for a moment.

“That’s why you’re saying it isn’t realistic.”

Shino gave him a slight nod and closed his eyes again.

“So you finally understand, do you? Well, you don’t need to try to think about this. Leave it to Hayakawa.”

Masamichi was well aware that Shino was in need of some rest, but he couldn’t stop himself from voicing the concern that continued to smolder inside him.

“But this is about me. You’re totally exhausted, Mr. Hayakawa spends a lot of time and effort for my sake, and yet there isn’t a thing that I can do—when it’s my problem.”

Shino sighed briefly.

“Don’t waste your time. What good would it do for you to sit around feeling sorry for yourself? Will you be able to do something if you keep it up? I don’t think so.”

“I know, but—”

“You behave and sit back. If there’s nothing you can do, then at least refrain from causing any more trouble.”

Shino didn’t mean to hurt him deliberately. After living under the same roof for nine months, Masamichi knew that.

Shino is just stating the facts. But—

Still, he felt a stinging pain in the back of his eyes—like his heart was being cut out with a blade that was too sharp.

I’m the only one who’s supposed to sit back comfortably and wait, hoping other people will help me. I can’t believe how pathetic I am.

Masamichi knew this was a time to endure, but he couldn’t stop growing more and more frustrated each day.

Especially now, the frustration had peaked upon seeing how exhausted Shino was from taking on so much work.

Shino saw Masamichi wiping his eyes with his sleeves and took it a different way.

“Go to sleep if you’re tired. I’m going to catch a little shut-eye myself.”

Masamichi quickly tried to climb off his chest, saying, “You should at least have plenty of room to sleep…”

“That isn’t necessary,” he said curtly, then tapped Masamichi’s back with the palm of his hand.

It meant to stop talking and stop moving.

Truly enough, further complaints about how powerless he was would only irritate Shino and deprive him of his precious time for rest.

The least that Masamichi could do was to quench Shino’s thirst with his chi.

He got on top of Shino again, trying to drive away the feelings of self-loathing that smoldered in his heart since he imagined that his chi might not taste good if he kept worrying.

He would brighten up and give Shino as much good chi as he could.

With that in mind, he closed his eyes but felt a strange sensation in his chest.

Oh.

Because he was lying facedown, the black cat brooch that he always wore on his chest was caught between him and Shino, quietly asserting itself.

Well, not so much that it bothers me, and it probably won’t break from this amount of pressure. I’ll stay still for now so I don’t annoy Shino. Sorry, kitty.

A thought crossed his mind as he silently apologized to the handmade brooch.

Or rather, it could be more accurate to say the thought ran through him like an electric current.

Maybe—

Suppressing the urge to jump out of bed, he left his cheeks pressed against Shino’s broad chest and opened his eyes wide in the dark.

Maybe…there is something I can do now, after all—not that I can brag about it, since it’s for my sake.

Even so, the possibility that he could break out of his uselessness was a great hope for him.

Yeah. I’d forgotten about it since I didn’t think it would ever happen.

Masamichi hadn’t told Shino every detail about his exchange with Kagiroi when the specter attacked him at the park.

It wasn’t as if he’d tried to keep a secret from his master, but he had been convinced that Shino would be extremely displeased, and for that reason, he hadn’t been able to mention it. It was something that Masamichi could never accept, which was why he had quickly pushed it out of his mind.

But the memory had remained firmly in his brain and suddenly resurfaced.

It was strange that something that disgusted him with all his heart had now become a thin thread of hope for Masamichi.

Maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t tell Shino about it. If I had, he would have stopped me from taking action, and he might not have told me about how tired he is tonight.

But now that he had remembered it, he felt he had to act. That was the only way for him to make amends for himself…and—

I’m sorry, Shino. I think I’ll probably cause trouble for you again, but I’d like to give this a try. You told me before that I should open up my path with my own will.

There was no point in apologizing in advance, but Masamichi did so anyway. Silently, in his mind.

His heart was beating faster now that he knew there was one thing that he could do that seemed worth doing.

But Shino might notice that he was up to something if he kept thinking about it.

Calm down. Be quiet, my heart. For now, I’ll focus on sending good chi to Shino.

Telling himself that, Masamichi raised his body a bit and gazed at Shino’s face.

It was beautiful, as always. Here, in the dark, it looked like a marble sculpture, though it bothered him to see the deep crease between his eyebrows, which showed he was in pain.

“…Good night,” Masamichi whispered, then gathered up his courage and stretched out his short arms. Then with the tip of his index finger, he gently stroked the crease in his master’s brow.

Without moving a single strand of hair, Shino asked, “What are you doing?”

“I’m willing you to sleep tight.”

He expected Shino to scold him for being silly. But to his surprise, Shino opened his eyes halfway and said with a wry smile, “How presumptuous of you. You’re just a servant, and you dare cast a spell on your master?”

“It’s not a spell. I’m only willing you to sleep peacefully.”

“That’s the same thing. Humans interpret and classify such acts in any way they like; that’s all. But…it isn’t bad. Sweet chi is flowing into me through your fingertips.”

With that, Shino closed his eyes again. When Masamichi lifted his fingertips, the creases in his brow looked a little shallower.

He didn’t push my fingers off him, so I guess that means it’s okay to keep touching him. In fact, it’s probably better to keep touching him.

But it was tough to keep touching Shino in his current position, so Masamichi moved his head up a little and slid his hand down to Shino’s neck.

Masamichi could leave his hand there without straining. However, it was an area that he wouldn’t usually touch, and when he thought about it, he started feeling a little nervous.

It feels special to touch someone’s neck. Even family members don’t touch one another’s necks like this, and it’s as if we’re…we’re…l-lovers…though, of course, my imagination is carrying me away.

Masamichi recalled Shino’s naked body and blushed.

He had now become well enough to bathe by himself within a safe range, but that first night, Shino had bathed with him.

Although they both had male bodies, which should have been the same structurally, Shino’s porcelain skin didn’t have a single mole and his beautifully well-proportioned body came to mind. Masamichi felt his heart flutter for reasons he couldn’t understand.

“What is it?” Shino asked suspiciously. “The moment your hand touched there, your chi suddenly became sweeter. What are you thinking?”

Masamichi shook his head in a panic and banished the sight of Shino’s naked body from his mind.

“Nothing! Um, I’m glad my chi tastes better now. Good night!”

“…? Well, whatever,” Shino said dismissively and fell silent.

Shino had been breathing so quietly in the first place that Masamichi couldn’t tell if he was asleep or not.

Still, he was sure Shino needed rest and did not attempt to continue talking to him.

His current position certainly wasn’t what he would say was comfortable, but if Shino was going to sleep this way, then there was no way that he wouldn’t go along with it.

However, the room wasn’t heated, and Shino had no body heat, so Masamichi’s tiny body would surely freeze over in no time.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

He grabbed Shino’s long coat, which was fortunately lying on the floor nearby, and wrapped it around his body. It also covered Shino’s torso as a result.

The high-quality cashmere was soft, lightweight, and very warm. He could now sleep without catching a cold.

This might turn out to be the last time that I can give Shino my chi. But ifI don’t do the one thing that I can do and keep waiting for Shino or Mr. Hayakawa to help me, then I’ll be no different from the failure I’ve always been. I’m scared, but I want to be brave and take a step forward. Shino… I’m sorry.

Masamichi wouldn’t have been surprised if he was trembling with fear, but for some reason, what felt like a fighting spirit that he’d never before experienced seemed to be burning slowly inside his heart.

It was a first for him, so he didn’t know if it was good or bad.

But he was definitely taking a step forward. With firm resolve, Masamichi lay quietly as he continued to feel the cool touch of Shino’s neck against his hand.

It was just past six PM the next day.

“Well then, I shall be on my way,” Hayakawa said after eating dinner with Masamichi at Bougyoudou and tidying up with him. “This evening, Mr. Tatsumi should be returning soon. He notified me a little while ago that he had finished taking care of the case I’d requested.”

Masamichi went down the stairs and saw him off at the door.

“I’ll be back again tomorrow. Please text me if you think of anything you would like to eat.”

Masamichi nodded with a smile and a hint of sadness.

It was because this could very well be the last time that he would see Hayakawa.

Of course, my main premise is to come back alive, but I’m clumsy. I’ll tell him how I feel, just in case, so I don’t end up having any regrets.

With that in mind, Masamichi looked up at Hayakawa’s face and spoke.

“Um, thank you for doing so much for me. I’m really grateful.”

Hayakawa seemed a little surprised, but he responded with his usual gentle smile and said, “No problem. This is a pleasant detour for me, too. Please don’t worry about it. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Masamichi nodded with a smile, opened the door for the briefest time possible as he’d been told to do, and saw Hayakawa off as he waved and disappeared down the dark street.

Masamichi walked back inside and down the aisle, careful not to touch the piles of objects that had become artifact spirits, and said to himself, “Okay, this is it.”

There was no one inside to respond, but he could sense the faint buzz among the artifact spirits asking him what he was about to do.

Perhaps with his repeated use of his third eye, he had gradually gotten used to the presence of the otherworldly beings.

“Thank you for letting me stay here. I haven’t been able to take very good care of you all, but… I mean, I’m planning to come back, but since it’s only proper, I want to say this to you, just in case.”

After that, he bowed to his left and then to his right, returned to the tea room, and began getting ready.

It involved putting on his brand-new children’s duffle coat for the first time, and he was ready to go.

There was one more thing that he had to do.

“I know you were made for me…and I’m sorry. I promise to take good care of you if I can manage to come back here. Thank you for protecting me until now.”

He expressed gratitude to the black cat brooch and then removed it with his small, clumsy hands for the first time since Hayakawa had given it to him.

He removed the important tool, which stopped the outflow of his chi to prevent Kagiroi from stealing it, and placed it gently on the table.

He then bowed to the photos of Daizou and Yoriko displayed on the chest of drawers.

“Thank you for letting me live in your home. If I’m unable to come back, then please…look after Shino for me. Please watch over him from the sky.”

Masamichi left the light on and made his way through the dimly lit shop. This time, he opened the door wide and stepped outside.

Struggling to get the key into the lock, which was too high for his height, he finally locked the door and took a deep breath.

His legs were already starting to tremble.

He was the one who had decided to do this, but it was still frightening when it came to taking action.

Despite wearing a warm coat, he also felt a chill running through his entire body.

It was probably because the route that Kagiroi had set up to continuously steal his chi had already been reactivated, and it was gradually being seeped away.

He had to get moving before he was unable to move decently.

“I don’t have time. I can’t afford to be scared,” he told himself and slapped his cheeks with his gloved hands.

There was also another reason why he had to hurry.

He had chosen to do this when it was completely dark so he could avoid being seen. After all, it was also the time of day when a five-year-old shouldn’t be walking around outside by himself.

He would be in big trouble if some concerned adult was to spot him and report him to the police.

And there was more on top of that.

Shino was bound to find out that he had stepped outside his barrier.

It was unavoidable, but Masamichi had to do something before Shino became aware of his getaway and took action.

“I have to hurry. It should work…if I go back there…!”

Masamichi ran off with all the strength that a five-year-old could muster.

He sensed the adults walking by looking at him with surprise in their eyes, but he didn’t think he would be stopped if he kept running.

Praying that people would assume he was hurrying home, he ran as fast as he could, urging his fatigued body to go on.

Before long, he saw the place where his fate awaited.

It was the site where he’d come across Kagiroi and had been transformed into a child.

It was also a place that was just outside Shino’s barrier. His protective spell wouldn’t save Masamichi now.

I’m on my own. I’ve never even thought about it before, but I guess this is the kind of situation…where I have to fend for myself.

With such thoughts running through his mind, Masamichi clenched his hands tightly, trying to stop himself from trembling, and strode into the park.

Fortunately, the small park was empty.

The pale glow of the streetlights shone on the playground equipment, which children must have enjoyed during the day, and on the benches, where parents would sit and watch over them, making the place look terribly lonely.

A child who had come to play at the wrong time—

—Masamichi figured that was how silly he looked as he walked near a bench, took a deep breath, and said in a small voice, “Mr. Kagiroi? I’m here.”

That was the reason why Masamichi had come to this park, which he hadn’t told Shino about.

“Come to me,” Kagiroi had said several times that day. Masamichi felt that he hadn’t been joking.

It was because he remembered the vague sound of Kagiroi’s voice just before losing consciousness under his spell.

“Call out to me here if you decide to come to me.”

That was what he’d said.

Shino said there was no way to find out where Kagiroi was, so the method he told me about wasn’t realistic. But…maybe I could call him here!

As if in answer to Masamichi’s hopes, Kagiroi appeared before him without a sound.

Despite having brought him there himself, Masamichi let out a yelp of surprise and staggered back, and the specter, dressed in black as usual, laughed.

“Good evening, servant boy. You haven’t been giving me your chi for a while, but you’ve delighted me with your sudden summons.”

“I—I—”

“Well, your chi is only equivalent to a small pastry I’d nibble at now and then. Don’t worry about it. So you’ve decided to abandon Shino and become my toy, have you?” Kagiroi smiled elegantly, brushing back his long hair with a hand.

Masamichi swallowed and casually stuck his right hand into his coat pocket.

“I have.”

“Ah. That’s the right attitude. Then the next time I see Shino, I’ll be sure to have you by my side. I can just imagine his face when he sees you. It’s bound to be amusing.”

Kagiroi spoke of a plan that was unbearable for Masamichi to listen to. Then he approached the boy and suddenly put a hand into the collar of his coat. The coldness and the overwhelming sense of disgust made Masamichi’s whole body tremble.

“You have a beautiful neck. Perhaps because you’re now a child, I can see that Shino has likely never held you. It appears that despite being a specter, he has a silly sense of morality. It’s because he’s been siding with humans too much.”

Masamichi stopped himself from blurting out that Shino was a fine master. It was something he would never say as a servant who had left Shino, trying to go to Kagiroi.

“I think it would be fun to take you, my little one. You were quite skinny as an adult, and I think you might whet my appetite more as a cute child,” Kagiroi said as he groped Masamichi’s chest through his shirt, then slid his hand along his neck and stopped at the base of his chin.

“Why are you looking at me like that? It’s fine to be in awe of your new master, but it isn’t cute to be scared. It appears I’ll need to teach you the custom of worshipping your lord.”

As if I would ever look up to a guy like you!

Anger burned deep inside Masamichi as Kagiroi mocked Shino and toyed with his own body, but he couldn’t let it show.

Maintaining the stiffness in his face, Masamichi looked up at Kagiroi and intentionally misled someone for the first time in his life.

“Will you take good care of me?”

He wanted to cry but felt he had to say that.

His nervous, frightened, and wary expression must have satisfied Kagiroi’s sadistic heart. With a genuinely pleased look on his face, he said, “Sure. Worship me, be infatuated with me. Do that, and I’ll take care of you until I get tired of you. I’ll show you.”

Kagiroi placed his hand against Masamichi’s chin, got down on one knee, and pulled Masamichi toward him by the waist.

The specter’s face was suddenly in front of his.

Kagiroi was going to kiss him.

Masamichi shivered when he realized that.

Perhaps he was being tested. This time, Kagiroi didn’t grab his chin as he had before.

Ah. He’s trying to see if I’m really serious, that I’ve truly chosen him…

There was no choice but to go along with it. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Come on, brace yourself! I’ve got to do this. It’s for my own good!

Masamichi kept his eyes open but raised his face, showing he was ready to receive Kagiroi’s lips as they drew closer.

“Oh my, aren’t you going to close your eyes? Didn’t Shino Tatsumi teach you that you’re supposed to close your eyes in a situation like this?”

“…I…want to watch,” Masamichi replied in a quivering voice, which caused Kagiroi to laugh with delight.

“Do you like my face that much? Well, it is beautiful, so I don’t blame you. I’ll reward you with a very deep kiss.”

“…Ngh!”

Masamichi was a child now, and his mouth was small, but that didn’t bother Kagiroi in the least bit. He went ahead and covered the boy’s lips with his own.

He twisted his tongue into Masamichi’s narrow oral cavity as the boy let out a moan of agony.

It felt as though dry ice was being forced into his mouth. It was more than just cold; he experienced a sharp jolt of pain in all the muscles and mucous membranes in his face.

Kagiroi was likely sucking all the chi he could out of him.

“…Ngh. Ngh!”

Amid the agony, Masamichi took his right hand out of his coat pocket.

Kagiroi didn’t seem to mind the move. He must have thought that Masamichi was struggling to breathe.

It’s now or never!

Masamichi wrapped his left arm around Kagiroi. Then he struck the nape of his neck with his right.

He didn’t exactly hit the specter. He put all his strength into jabbing the utility knife he’d been hiding as deep as he could.

But Kagiroi didn’t make a single sound of surprise.

He slowly pulled his lips away, grabbed Masamichi by the collar of his coat he had earlier loosened, and slammed his small body onto the ground.

“Agh!”

With no time to even assume a defensive position, Masamichi was knocked down, unable to move.

“I don’t approve of mischief,” Kagiroi said with exaggeration as he stood up, put his hand to the nape of his neck, pulled out the utility knife, and casually tossed it away.

It rolled close to Masamichi.

“You foolish child. Did you think you could kill a specter with something like that? Well, maybe could kill Shino with it, but you shouldn’t compare me to him.”

“…Shino…is a great specter. He’s my beloved master. He… He’s nothing like you!”

Several toggles had come off Masamichi’s duffle coat, and the bright-yellow fabric was covered in dirt. Masamichi’s cheeks were scratched all over and dripping with blood from the impact of his face-first fall.

But it was no longer necessary to lie. He had obtained what he wanted with his own hands.

Still unable to get up, Masamichi picked up the utility knife that Kagiroi had thrown to the ground.

But that was as far as he could manage.

From here on in…all he could do was to have faith in his master.

“Is that what you really think? So did you come here today to kill me for Shino’s sake? Oh, please. You really need to learn some humility. Who do you think you are, calling me here, you little worm?”

Kagiroi had to be angry that his pride had been hurt. Without holding back, he kicked Masamichi in the stomach with his shiny leather shoes.

“Ugh…! Ngh. Ngh.”

Masamichi didn’t have room to defend himself since he was focusing all his energy on protecting the utility knife. Like a special effects scene from a kung fu movie, his small body was blown away and crashed into the metal pole of the playground equipment.

“Fool. You could have lived a life of luxury if you came to me. I thought you would be an excellent toy for tormenting Shino, but forget it. You can die like a rag, regretting the choice you made.”

Kagiroi slowly approached Masamichi, who was bruised all over and curled up like a pill bug.

Maybe I came a little too early. But…but—

Death loomed before him, yet Masamichi hadn’t given up hope. But if he was going to be killed by Kagiroi, there was a name he wanted to be his last word.

“…Shino!” he managed to call out in a childish voice amid his labored breathing.

“Masamichi!”

The voice he wanted to hear struck Masamichi’s eardrums.

He came…!

He also heard Hayakawa’s voice.

“I’ve temporarily set up a barrier around you! But it’s the work of an old man, so don’t put too much faith into it.”

He can make a barrier, too?!

Masamichi screamed the moment he lifted his head to see around him. Shino grabbed his shoulders, pulled him up, and forced him on his feet.

“Masamichi!! Why are you being so reckless?”

“It was something that even I could do. Here.”

He handed Shino the utility knife he had kept securely in his hands.

A glance was all it took for Shino to understand. He nodded and said simply, “Well done.”

Shino praised me…!

Unable to believe it, Masamichi stared into Shino’s handsome face.

Shino looked at Masamichi and asked rapidly, “Do you trust me? No matter what I do, without a shred of doubt?”

Masamichi nodded.

“I repeat. No matter what I do?”

Confident, Masamichi nodded again.

“I do trust you. I trust you, Shino…because I really love you, and everything about me belongs to you.”

Shino nodded, had Masamichi sit on the ground, stood before him, and held the utility knife with both hands.

“Don’t doubt me. Don’t run. Accept everything. If you don’t, the spell won’t be broken, and you will die at my hand.”

Despite the terrifying declaration, Masamichi’s heart was filled with joy.

Masamichi wasn’t afraid, and he didn’t hesitate.

It was because those were feelings that were going through Shino’s mind.

The usual calm, collected look on his face was slightly crooked.

The utility knife was coated with Kagiroi’s magical power, which could be used to undo the spell cast on Masamichi. It was a key element that Masamichi had obtained by hurting Kagiroi himself.

But Shino, who had to do the deed, feared that something might go wrong…or that Hayakawa’s information may not be accurate—in which case, he would end up killing Masamichi with his own hands.

He would never admit it, but Masamichi was acutely aware of the struggle going through his mind.

“It’s okay, Shino. I believe in you. Go ahead… Do it,” Masamichi said, feeling the smile appear on his aching face.

“…Here goes!”

The moment he saw his servant’s smile, the hesitation disappeared from Shino’s face. Masamichi nodded and stared straight ahead at the sharp tip of the knife.

The next moment, the utility knife that Shino had raised over his head was thrust at the top of Masamichi’s head at a speed so fast, it was invisible to the naked eye…but it did not stab him.

For some reason, Masamichi’s body seemed to have melted into the air. The sharp blade slid smoothly through his body and was thrust into the ground.

“…It broke,” Shino murmured.

“Oh… Oh. Oh!”

Masamichi suddenly became dizzy. The ground seemed to move away from him, and the world began to shrink. He heard strange crackling and popping sounds.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he braced himself and somehow managed not to fall over, then slowly opened his eyes…and yelped.

Indeed, Kagiroi’s spell had been broken.

He was back in his adult body…and it only made sense when he thought about it, but the clothes he’d been wearing had been torn to shreds and were scattered at his feet. He was now completely naked.

“Whoa!”

“Put this on,” Shino said as Masamichi turned every shade of red with embarrassment and tossed him his long coat.

After Masamichi put it on and had settled down somewhat, Kagiroi, who had apparently broken the barrier that Hayakawa had set up, walked toward them.

Having played his role, Hayakawa slid away from the three of them. It was a wise move since he had no means of fighting against Kagiroi.

Shino stepped in front of Masamichi, protecting him, as Kagiroi shrugged in his smug way.

It appeared that he didn’t intend to fight them that night.

“I’ve had enough of this farce. That said, it’s a bit of a letdown, Shino Tatsumi. You now have a peculiar human being on your side. Where’s your pride as a specter?”

He may not want to fight, but he didn’t forget to provoke Shino.

Shino retorted coldly with anger in his voice, “Shut up. I don’t know what you’re planning to do, but I’ll make you pay for what you did to my servant. I won’t be choosy about the method.” His tone was determined, and Kagiroi’s beautiful face contorted with disgust.

“Ha! What could a failure of a specter do when he has to rely on help from a human? You can cross your fingers and watch what happens. When I finish everything I have in mind, I will tear apart and eat your precious servant in front of you as a celebratory meal. See you later, Shino.”

“Kagiroi…!!”

Before Shino could take a step forward, Kagiroi disappeared.

“I said you did well, but how dare you! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

Masamichi winced as Shino scolded him.

“I’m sorry. I thought you’d stop me if I told you.”

“Of course I would have stopped you! You not only outwitted your master but also tested me! You would have died if I hadn’t arrived in time. I noticed you’d gotten outside the barrier when Hayakawa came and said you were acting a little strange.”

Surprised, Masamichi looked at Hayakawa, who was finally walking toward them.

“When I said I’d see you tomorrow, you didn’t return the farewell as you usually do. I thought I was putting too much meaning to that, but to be on the safe side—”

“…Wow. And you came here with Shino.”

“Uh-huh. An agent must support his practitioners,” he said with a smile, bowed, and then slowly turned his back to Masamichi and Shino.

Appreciating his consideration, Masamichi faced Shino.

“Thanks. I knew you would come.”

Shino’s face scrunched up again…with obvious embarrassment this time.

But rather than replying as Masamichi expected, he called out to the agent, who was standing a discreet distance away.

“Hayakawa! Set up the barrier again. It doesn’t matter if it’s weak.”

Hayakawa turned around and tilted his head questioningly. “Well, certainly, sir, but are you expecting something more to come…?”

“I will be administering a punishment.”

Shino then grabbed Masamichi’s coat by the collar and pushed him to the ground.

“Whoa!!”

The specter kneeled down, pulled up the hem of the coat so Masamichi’s bare bottom was showing, and slapped it.

Unlike Kagiroi, he was surely holding back to some extent, but a specter’s strength against bare skin was not to be underestimated.

It hurt, and Masamichi screamed.

“Ow! Shino, that hurts! I’m sorry I tested you without telling you about it, but you don’t have to punish me like this.”

“Shut up. Tokifuyu said this was what you did when you scolded a child. It’s plenty good enough for you, since you were a five-year-old until a minute ago!”

“D-don’t tell me…Tokifuyu spanked you, too?”

“Shut up!”

As Shino spanked his bottom, Masamichi looked up at his master’s face, saw his embarrassment, and almost burst out laughing.

“He did spank you. Just like you’re doing to me.”

“Quiet. Don’t laugh while you’re being punished!”

“But it’s hilarious.”

Shino’s and Masamichi’s voices were all that echoed in the barrier, which no one could come near, where no sound could escape.

Hayakawa thought twice about maintaining his barrier for something like this…but didn’t say it. He just stood there with a smile on his face and watched the master and his servant continue their rather playful punishment.

Epilogue

“Keep the bag stable during your walk home,” the baker said, indicating the paper bag on top of the glass countertop.

“Okay,” Masamichi answered as he gently pulled it toward him.

In the bag, there was a paper box containing a cake.

He couldn’t help but bring his face close to the mouth of the bag and get a whiff of the sweet scent of whipped cream.

Today was Christmas Eve.

Of course, Masamichi was a student preparing for his college entrance exams, so it was no time for him to get carried away with the holiday spirit.

Since that morning, he had attended a special winter lecture at his prep school and studied hard until past five in the afternoon.

I’m really glad I could get my adult body back. I wouldn’t have been able to take my entrance exams if I hadn’t, and all the decisions I’ve made that were important to me would have been meaningless.

He left the bakery shop, carrying the bag with the utmost care.

It was already dark outside, which made the shop lights along the street seem even brighter, and the Christmas decorations put up in the showcases made his heart flutter with excitement.

When he thought about it, he’d had plenty of time to mull over things while he’d been a child with nothing to do each day but wait for Shino to come home.

He’d been all alone, trying to cheer himself out of depression by imagining what he would do when he returned to his adult body.

One of those things had been to decide what to do about continuing his education.

After graduating from high school, he’d tried to get into a college with a good agriculture department, hoping to be useful to his parents and grandparents in their farming business.

Masamichi had been physically weak ever since he was young and was still far from being in good health. As an only child who would have been expected to inherit the family business in the olden days, he had always felt guilty about being unable to help with the work.

He thought the least he could do was to study agriculture academically to contribute in some way.

But this year, a big change had occurred at Masamichi’s family home. His father and his grandfather had decided to give up most of their farmland and quit farming.

His father found a job at a company he knew, while his grandfather continued to grow vegetables and rice in small plots as a hobby for personal consumption.

That meant there was no more reason for Masamichi to study agriculture.

During the two years he’d spent studying to get into college, he’d gradually realized that the sciences weren’t for him, but the change back home had shaken him to the core.

In addition, his current situation was peculiar, with Shino paying his tuition.

Shouldn’t he give up on going to college if it wasn’t necessary? Wouldn’t it be more constructive to help Shino at Bougyoudou while looking for something that he wanted to do?

Masamichi had thought about these things when he heard his family was closing down their business, but Shino hadn’t agreed.

He’d said studying was never a waste of time since Masamichi never knew what would become useful in the future, and there was no need to quit prep school or stop studying for his college entrance exams.

Shino had stressed that he should choose and decide his future not for the sake of others, but for himself.

He said he shouldn’t blame others for the things he chose or didn’t choose to do.

He had encouraged Masamichi, pointing out that he hadn’t been honest with himself to date.

It was moving to recall Shino’s words to be responsible for his own life.

Masamichi had been thinking about it ever since and resolved to find some closure after all.

He had decided that his next challenge to get accepted by a college agriculture department would be his last.

He had told his teacher at his prep school about it that day and was finally feeling good.

“Well, okay. That might be a good idea. So, well, good luck,” the teacher had said. It hurt him a little, but Masamichi could understand the man’s position when he considered his own stagnating grades.

It’ll be my last try, so I’ll give it everything I’ve got. I mean, I’ve been doing my best until now, but I’ll work even harder, so the time I’ve spent going to prep school wouldn’t have been wasted.

Masamichi hurried home, determined like never before.

“I’m home!”

Bougyoudou had already closed for the day by the time he returned, and Shino was in the kitchen.

As usual, he didn’t reply, and his back remained turned toward Masamichi, but that no longer bothered him.

The young man put the cake box in the refrigerator, hurried up the steep stairs to his room, changed into comfortable clothes, washed up, and ran back down to the kitchen.

“I’m sorry I was a bit late getting home. I was talking to my teacher. What can I do to help?”

Busy frying something, Shino glanced at Masamichi’s face and said without a smile, “Put the cooked food on plates… Oh, before that, take the wine to the table.”

Just for a moment, Masamichi didn’t understand what Shino had said, but he immediately broke into a grin and replied, “Got it!” before stopping in his tracks. “I’ve never removed the cork from a bottle of wine before.”

Holding a pair of long chopsticks for cooking in his hand, Shino said casually, “There is no cork. Just pour the wine into glasses.”

“Yeah? Okay.”

Nodding, Masamichi checked a cupboard that they didn’t usually open. Inside was a set of old-fashioned, high-quality tableware that Daizou and his wife had probably used for guests.

Masamichi took one of the small wineglasses next to it and placed it on the table, where a bottle of red wine was perched.

Masamichi’s face lit up when he saw the label.

It said AKADAMA SWEET WINE, a favorite of his grandmother’s.

It was an alcoholic beverage with a bright-red color and a strong, sweet taste that was completely different from today’s red wines.

His grandmother used to say it made her blood flow better and helped her sleep well. At dinnertime, she would pour herself a tiny shot glass of the Akadama wine and slowly sip it.

As a child, Masamichi thought it looked really good and had longed to try it.

He’d seen the simple label, featuring a yellow background and a red circle, every night and grown very fond of it.

“Did Daizou and Yoriko drink this, too?” Masamichi asked, and Shino replied quietly without turning around.

“Yoriko went out and bought it at Christmas, looking very happy.”

“Ah. So it was special, huh? My grandmother used to drink a bit of it every day, and I had a tiny taste of it when I was older. It was sweet, like juice. Do you like this, Shino?”

“I have no particular feelings for it. I only drank it as she suggested, figuring it was what humans did.”

“I see,” Masamichi responded simply with a smile on his face.

Shino remembered what the previous Bougyoudou owners customarily did at Christmas, then had gone out, bought a bottle of the wine, and was now dedicating the first glass to them.

Nothing could show Shino’s true feelings for the couple better than that.

Thank you for sharing your precious memories with me.

Masamichi quietly expressed his gratitude to Shino in his mind and poured the beautiful ruby-colored liquid into a delicate glass. Then he brought the photo of Daizou and Yoriko, which was usually displayed on the chest of drawers in the tea room, and placed it on the table.

He put the glass in front of it and closed his eyes, joining his hands together in prayer.

After offering a short prayer of thanks, Masamichi returned to the kitchen to help Shino.

“So… Okay…”

Everything was laid out on the table as Masamichi sat facing Shino as usual and was about to propose a toast. But as he lifted his glass, the words wouldn’t come out.

Shino wasn’t in the habit of making toasts or greeting people. Although Masamichi had decided to give it a try, figuring Shino wouldn’t do the honors, he’d never done it, either.

What’s more, he had never actually said the words Merry Christmas to anyone, even as a child when his family celebrated the occasion together.

Everyone would be rather vague, saying things like “Okay, then” and clinking their glasses together.

Shino looked at Masamichi suspiciously as his servant hesitated, his glass frozen in midair. The specter then raised his glass without a word, touched it lightly to Masamichi’s glass, and took a sip in a sweeping motion.

“…Oh.”

So that’s all you need to do when you make a toast.

It was a bit of a letdown, but Masamichi felt relieved.

For Shino, a toast was nothing more than a ritual for drinking something, so maybe the words you said didn’t matter.

But to Masamichi, drinking without a word…seemed rather unsettling. He said in a low voice, “…I’m going to join you,” and brought his glass to his lips.

While their offering for Daizou and Yoriko was in a wineglass, Shino and Masamichi drank from long, thin glasses of higher quality.

The port wine was very sweet, as the name suggested, so Masamichi decided to dilute it with soda water from the fridge and add a little lemon juice to make it better match their meal.

Then Shino said the same would be fine with him, and they ended up drinking something that tasted like a cocktail.

“Mmm, this is nice and refreshing. How’s yours, Shino? Is the strength okay?”

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” he answered bluntly, took another sip, then put down his glass. He appeared to like it.

“But hey, this is an extravagant feast. You prepared everything, didn’t you? Thank you!”

Before digging in, Masamichi straightened his posture and bowed in gratitude, although Shino didn’t bat an eye.

“Yoriko made this much food on her own until the year before she died. For a specter like me, it’s a piece of cake.”

While the mysterious rivalry amused Masamichi, he tilted his head.

“But, Shino, you helped Yoriko with the cooking in her later years or did all the cooking yourself, right? Didn’t you help her at Christmas?”

“No. Yoriko cooked alone on the night she and Daizou decided would be my birthday, saying it would be a shame for a child to find out what the party food would be before his party. It was silly.”

“No, it wasn’t!” Masamichi said out loud.

Even the ever-composed Shino was surprised, and his sharp, almond eyes widened ever so slightly.

“What did you say?”

“It wasn’t silly at all! It proves that Yoriko considered you her son. She wanted to prepare feasts that would make you happy, which is wonderful. I think I’m going to cry for you.”

“I didn’t ask you to cry.”

“You don’t have to. People cry when they want!” That came out awfully strong, and Masamichi smiled with tears in his eyes as he looked at Shino, who appeared bored.

“You were busy frying something when I came home, and I suspected it—,” the young man began saying. The main part of the feast before them was a huge platter of fried chicken, far too much for two.

Then Shino replied, looking serious, “We always had store-bought fried chicken, fried potatoes to go with it, bread that was strangely soft and fluffy, and vegetables sliced into thin shreds.”

Fried chicken, french fries, biscuits, cole slaw…, Masamichi mentally translated, stifling his laughter. The menu lineup sounded typical.

“So the accompanying items wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have fried chicken.”

“I—I see.”

“Other than that, the only other home cooking I know is for birthdays. I had no choice but to re-create it.”

“Then this is party food for a birthday?”

“Is something here inappropriate?”

“Oh, no. No, there isn’t! It’s great! So this is the birthday feast that Yoriko always prepared for you.”

Now that Masamichi knew that, the mountain of fried chicken, which had been interesting a minute ago, stirred a different emotion inside him.

“Fried chicken, potato salad, macaroni casserole, bite-size steak…”

“It was probably what she made for their son, who died young.”

“…I see. That’s why these are dishes that a child would like.”

Touched, Masamichi glanced around at the food on the table as Shino said curtly, “Never mind that. Hurry up and eat.”

“It seems a shame, but okay, gladly. Oh, first, we’ll set a plate for Yoriko and Daizou as an offering.”

“I’ll do that.”

Shino took a plate and put a small amount of food on it.

“I made this feast this year so you wouldn’t keep nagging me,” he said to Masamichi. Meanwhile, he placed the plate next to the wineglass in front of the photo of Daizou and Yoriko smiling together.

“Did I ever nag you?” Masamichi asked, pouting a little. “Didn’t you do Christmas meals while you were living alone?”

“Christmas never even entered my mind. This year, I couldn’t forget it since you kept bugging me about it for more than a month,” Shino replied sullenly.

“Okay. Well, come to think of it, maybe I did mention it. I’m glad I did. Yoriko, Daizou, Shino, let’s dig in.”

Masamichi smiled and put his hands together briefly, then he immediately reached for the crispy, golden-brown fried chicken.

A few hours later, as the date was about to change, Masamichi was in Shino’s room, wearing his pajamas.

He had decided to talk with Shino—not just to have a casual conversation over dinner, but to tell him what he planned to do with his life.

Shino sat at his desk, reading an old book as usual. As Masamichi sat on the floor beside him and spoke, he listened without a word and then said, “Do what you want.”

“Thank you.”

Masamichi bowed in gratitude.

“If things work out, I’ll take it as my path opening up and give it everything I’ve got. If not, I’ll put an end to that chapter in my life and look for something else.”

“I have nothing to say if it’s a path that you choose.”

Shino’s blunt but unvarnished words resonated straight to Masamichi’s heart, and they were the best encouragement for him at this time.

“Yeah. I’ll decide for myself without blaming anyone else as an excuse. Um… Sorry to interrupt your reading. I’m going back to my room now.”

“Stay.”

“Huh?!”

That was unexpected, stunning Masamichi as he froze in place with one knee lifted partway.

Still looking down at his ancient document, Shino said quietly, “Perhaps because you’ve sorted things through in your mind, your chi is fresh and pure tonight. I want to bathe in it.”

“…Okay, got it! I’ll go brush my teeth!”

The unexpected invitation—or rather, Shino’s order—caused Masamichi’s cheeks to flush, and he quickly got ready for bed before he changed his mind.

And—

—they laid out Shino’s mattress as usual and lay down side by side with their pillows next to each other.

It had been a while since Masamichi last snuggled up to Shino in his adult body.

“It is a bit tight compared with when I was a five-year-old,” Masamichi said, laughing, as he lay as far at the edge as he could.

Since Shino was a specter, his body was strictly a vessel that had been created for him. No matter how finely it was made, it had no body temperature.

Masamichi’s body heat alone slowly warmed the bedding. Still, it felt good to gradually become comfortable in what had initially been as cold as ice.

He was acutely aware that their arms were touching.

He still couldn’t be sure if the feelings he had were romantic, since he had too little experience with relationships. But the thought that crossed his mind, along with the sense of security he got as he snuggled up to Shino, was that he was happy.

The fact that this feeling was special became clear as the warm chi that flowed out of his body shone in the darkness like the sun.

That chi enveloped his whole body and eventually flowed into Shino. It was as if he was covering Shino with a special, one-of-a-kind blanket.

Masamichi then worked up his courage and asked, “Hey, by the way, Shino, when is this birthday that Yoriko decided on for you?” He hadn’t wanted to ask at dinner and spoil Shino’s mood, but he couldn’t help being curious.

But Shino didn’t say anything. He rolled over and turned his back on Masamichi, which was within Masamichi’s expectations, and the young man went on without being particularly hurt. “I’m honestly curious, but that isn’t the only reason I’m asking.”

There was still no response, but Masamichi felt it was okay to interpret that he could keep talking as long as Shino didn’t stop him.

“You said before that there was no reason to give gifts to people close to you at Christmas and that Christ was the only person who could accept something to celebrate the occasion. I thought you had a point. That’s why I didn’t get you a present this year, but it means it’s okay to give you a present on your birthday, right? I want to get you something then.”

“…Why? Daizou and Yoriko said something similar, and I refused,” Shino responded briefly without moving a muscle. Because his words were without any unneeded embellishments, it was clear that he really didn’t understand these types of feelings that people had.

“I can’t speak for Daizou and Yoriko, but… Well, what I think is that you want to give gifts to someone because you like them and consider them important.”

“Are you saying that considering someone important makes you want to give them gifts?”

“You’re being brutally blunt, but… Yeah.”

Masamichi looked up at the ceiling, searching for the right words to express himself.

“I have a feeling that choosing a gift for someone—wondering if they’d like it, whether it would suit them, and if they’d use it—leaves your thoughts with that particular item. It’s not as substantial as an artifact spirit, but I think a special kind of something goes with a heartfelt gift. And it’s nice to imagine that particular something might give the person a type of energy… I never thought about things like that before, but that’s how I feel now. Of course, you shouldn’t give a person a gift if it might be a burden on them or a nuisance.”

Rather than asking what Shino thought about that, Masamichi fell silent.

He would back off if Shino rejected his words, and if he didn’t answer, he would let the subject drop.

But after a long silence, just when Masamichi was about to give up and go to sleep, Shino suddenly spoke.

“May fifth. The day I met that couple.”

It was Children’s Day, a national holiday in Japan. Masamichi widened his eyes in the dark room.

Maybe Daizou and Yoriko felt that the gods and Buddha had given them a son because they met him on that day. Thinking that warmed Masamichi’s heart.

“Thank you for telling me. I won’t ever forget it,” he whispered to his broad shoulders. Then he pressed his cheeks against the specter’s back, which had warmed up a bit from his own body heat, and closed his eyes, feeling content.

This book is a completely revised and retitled paperback edition of Him, a Specter, and Me, a Servant, originally published by Az Novels, East Press, in May 2005.