The door to the well-lit room on the first floor was opened, allowing the remaining light from outside to shine into the yard.

In the Japanese-style room of this quaint house, two young men who had not seen each other for a long time had in front of them white porcelain teacups and steaming black tea that were out of tune with the style of the room.

The rising white mist quickly dissipated in the now warm weather.

Dazai looked through the thin mist at Oda Sakunosuke, who was exactly the same as in his memory.

In comparison, my own changes are greater.

(Yes, after all, the other person is already dead, and lost time will never come back.)

Dazai had only been to this old house a few times, but the surprises he received were more exaggerated each time.

"This is the tea that the owner said he would use to entertain guests." Odasaku looked at the clear liquid in the teacup and thought about what else he would need for the reception. He said, "As for snacks, it seems that there are only cookies."

"No thanks." Dazai's tone was strange, "I've already eaten a lot of cookies."

Compared to these——

Why are you here? What are your plans next? What kind of deal did you make with Jiuyuan?

It seemed like he wanted to ask these questions, but it wasn't so easy for him to ask them out loud.

Because, just looking at Odasaku, I felt that my language system was oppressed, and I only wanted to talk to him about unimportant things.

Just like now——

"Odasaku, listen to me... that bar doesn't even offer detergent drinks even now."

"Well, this is normal."

After all, customers don’t drink this.

“…I knew you would say that.”

(How strange.) Odasaku didn't think this in a derogatory way, but rather felt that all of this was too bizarre.

The time lost with Dazai seems to be made up with just a few words. Is this a kind of tacit understanding between good friends, or a spontaneous agreement based on the protection of friendship?

Oda Saku noticed that Dazai seemed to want to avoid some core issues now. He thought that fragile and cautious attitude would become the source of pain, so he took the initiative to bring up his own affairs.

"That happened a few days ago," he said. "I was kind of... picked up."

He told Dazai the brief and tortuous experiences that had happened in the past few days.

In fact, there is not much to say and nothing to hide.

After hearing this, Dazai fluttered his eyelashes and asked, "... In other words, Oda Saku will work for Kuen-kun in the future?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

Although Dazai's mind was filled with complicated twists and turns, what finally came out of his mouth was still a light and casual sentence.

"Then there's nothing we can do."

He lowered his head to look at the low table in front of the two of them and the dark red tea in the cup.

It is like a dark brown river of the underworld that separates the living from the dead. It is a chasm that cannot be crossed except by death.

"But... you can come over and play." Odasaku relayed, "Kyuon-kun said you're always welcome to come, Dazai."

Dazai pouted, "Ah, he probably wants me to work for him for free. I can come and play, but I won't do work."

"Yeah, that's true." It was a very Dazai-style statement.

"Dazai."

"Um?"

"How did you... live after that?"

"...There's so much to talk about. Even if we talk until the sun sets tomorrow, we won't be able to finish it, right?"

"It doesn't matter."

The thing he has the most now is time.

…

…

As for Jiuyuan, since they are going to perform a spirit summoning ceremony, it is definitely not appropriate to stay at the technical high school.

It's out in the middle of nowhere, and there isn't even a standard crossroads, not to mention that there are probably no ghosts here. If you want to summon ghosts, it's better to go to a place with a lot of people.

"How about trying somewhere else?" Xia Yujie suggested, "Since the purpose is to distribute flyers, it would be more effective to choose a place with a higher population density."

Jiuyuan sat on the bed with his legs crossed and said, "We were in Yokohama before... so let's go to the downtown area of ​​Tokyo this time? There should be enough people there."

Xia Youjie nodded: "I think it's good."

Jiu Yuan seemed to have thought of something funny, and laughed, saying, "Will it attract the gigolos from Kabukicho?"

Geto Summer Oil: "...Speaking seriously, I don't think so."

"Just kidding."

Jiuyuan took out the stack of flyers printed by the system and made some changes to the recruitment advertisements on them.

Xia Yujie took one and read it out: "…Food and lodging included, salary negotiable."

He didn't feel anything after seeing this, but he saw another one: "Recruiting a tutor?"

He looked up at Jiuyuan and asked, "Why do you want to hire a tutor?"

"Because we have a few new kids in our store now, and they are very young, it would be better to let them read more books..."

Then Hisaen remembered that he had not yet told Geto Suguru about Odasaku, so he explained it again.

"......Hmm." After listening, Xia Yujie tactfully reminded: "But, isn't it enough to have only one tutor? If it's a course before elementary school, it's okay, there are comprehensive kindergarten teachers, but for elementary school courses, wouldn't it be too much of a burden to find only one teacher?"

Jiuyuan said confidently, "That's why we need dead people to be our teachers."

Xia Yujie: “?”

Kuen: "Since everyone is dead, time is unlimited, so it doesn't matter if you learn slowly. If you find a Chinese teacher, then learn Chinese first, and then learn math after you find a math teacher..."

Xia Yujie: “…”

It made so much sense that he couldn't even refute it.

"Come to think of it..." Jiuyuan looked at the black-haired boy next to him, "I heard that you also have two children?"

"Did Wu tell you?" Xia Yujie rubbed his forehead helplessly, "To be precise, I adopted them... Those two children have the talent of sorcerers. They were treated as monsters by the villagers in a remote suburban village and locked up. I just took them away."

"Hey...where are the two kids?"

"…He should still be alive and well somewhere in the world." When Xia Yujie said this, he also felt a little unsure.

He knew how important he was to the two girls, and all along, he just asked them to "follow him."

For those two girls, their own will may be their life guide.

But now that I have left them, what path will their future life take?

He said, "I plan to go see them after I finish dealing with things here."

Jiu Yuan did not ignore Xia Yujie's pause. He said with a smile: "...Is it a summer surprise for the children?"

"... Stop teasing me."

He had discovered that Jiuyuan would occasionally have some unserious thoughts.

Only at this moment did he look like a teenager of his age.

Coming back here, Jiuyuan suddenly realized that all the people he picked up had rich parenting experience.

Both Kagome Suguru and Odasaku have raised children...not to mention Kagome Suguru, whose children have already grown up.

"Suyu-kun."

"Um?"

Jiuyuan asked humbly, as if he wanted to learn from his predecessors:

"How did you solve the educational problems of those two children?"

Xia Yujie pondered for a moment. He understood what Jiuyuan expected, but his parenting experience was obviously not what Jiuyuan wanted.

...Although he hasn't recovered his memory of what happened after that, he can probably guess what he will do.

(You can’t tell this to Kuen.)

He modified his words and said, "...the two children are sorcerers. Their living environment and what they need to learn are different from those of children without magical powers."

Kuen: ...Okay, so you are also completely clueless when it comes to academic education.

Seeing Kuen's expression of "I see", Geto Suguru still clarified.

"…Common sense and basic subjects are taught well to them." Although they are taught by knowledgeable cursers.

Kuen: ...I suddenly felt that the burden of the family was on me, even though I was just an ordinary boy preparing for college entrance exams!

If that doesn't work... just hire ordinary, brave people to be teachers. At worst, just ask them to sign a confidentiality agreement.

…

…

Midnight Tokyo

On the top floor of a twenty-story building, a young man was wearing a white kimono with winding vine patterns embroidered on the corners with navy blue and dark gold threads. He was also wearing a dark blue feather hat on the outside and a fox mask with a white background and red patterns on his head.

Next to him was a young man with a black fox mask - it was Kagome Geto.

"...You look like the fox messengers of the shrine."

Gojo Satoru stood at the entrance of the stairs on the rooftop, and saw two people in front of him, one in black and one in white, wearing fox masks. He touched his chin and said, "So, this is also one of the rituals required for summoning spirits?"

Kagome Takeshi took off his mask and looked at the fully armed Kuen.

Before going out, Hisaen changed into such an intimidating outfit, but did not explain. Now, the question that Gojo Satoru was interested in was exactly what Geto Kagome was curious about.

"…Is there any special meaning in doing this?"

The young man smiled faintly. He stood on the edge of the rooftop, letting the wind blow the corners of his clothes sideways. His slender fingers grasped the string of the wind chime, looking relaxed and at ease.

He doesn't look like a "container" that is controlled by others in every way, but more like the heir of some ancient Yin-Yang family.

“It’s meaningful.”

Before coming here, he had thought about one thing.

Tokyo has a huge flow of people, and there is basically no street without people at midnight. However, the wind chimes themselves do not require that they be used in an environment where no one is around. However, if they are used on the street, they will definitely attract the attention of passers-by. It is better to change into mysterious and strange clothes. Even if they are seen by passers-by, they will only think that they are shooting a video or playing cosplay.

But, for the deceased, it is different.

Since a large amount of demonic power must be injected to attract the dead, it cannot be dealt with casually.

This outfit was also redeemed by him in the reputation store. It has certain defensive functions and can make his magic power flow more smoothly.

Plus the fox mask he bought on his head to confuse people, it's quite intimidating.

To put it bluntly, it is used to add style.

He needs to increase his fame, so he has to use these simple and crude methods to make people remember him.

Otherwise... with his current human form, if he wants to control hundreds of ghosts, the ghosts will not be convinced.

Letting them have the idea in advance that "this person is not easy to deal with" will save them a lot of unnecessary trouble.

If there are still guys with bad intentions in the future, just let Hachiya handle it.

"One minute left." Gojo Satoru looked at his watch, then took out his phone and said excitedly, "How about I record the video?"

Jiuyuan: “…”

That's not necessary.

"Mr. Gojo."

"Um?"

"You sound a lot like a new parent who wants to videotape his or her child's first sports day."

"...Tsk, let me confirm, you are not making fun of my age, right?"

"How do you think that..."

After hearing their conversation, Xia Yujie smiled.

Afterwards, the boy put on the mask, let the new cursed spirit he had tamed recently sit on it, and then flew into the air.

Under the bright moonlight, he rode the wind and moved forward a few meters.

Staying in the air between the two buildings, overlooking the scenery on the ground, between the two buildings, the passers-by and the colorful billboards below all turned into small dots.

The night wind blew up the boy's hair a little - then, he saw Jiuyuan walk to the edge of the tall building first and raised one arm in a position where he could fall at any time.

Gojo Satoru took out his cell phone, pointed it at him, and pressed the record button.

"Okay~ start~"

The night wind made Jiuyuan's mind particularly clear.

Although he couldn't use magic, it wasn't difficult for him to just use this enormous power to release it.

The young man raised his hands, urged his magic power to inject into the wind bell, and then shook it gently -

"bite--"

"bite--"

The sound of the bell was clear and melodious, and in the ears of ordinary people it was just a fleeting short sound. However, in this land, the bell sound, which was transmitted thousands of miles away by the power of magic, had already reached the ears of thousands of undead spirits.

——They felt the call.

Along with it came the pressure of demonic power that was transmitted layer by layer.

Not only them, but also some monsters lurking among humans or hiding in the shadows heard this pleasant bell sound.

And the gods living in the shrine also opened their eyes and looked up into the sky at the sound.

Only the young man kept his hands slightly raised after the ringing ended.

Under the mask, the boy slowly opened his eyes.

Just like a newly born god embracing the world for the first time—

Holy and merciful.