"Miss Shizuku, what did you just do?"

Walking into the door of Himuro's residence, Hinasaki Shinku asked in a low voice, while Shizuku smiled slightly.

"To lure the snake out of its hole... or to startle it."

"Why?"

“Just like the forest.”

Shizuku stretched out her hand and drew a circle towards the huge Himuro residence in front of her.

"You should know that there are all kinds of animals in the forest, such as harmless little white rabbits, insidious and cunning poisonous snakes, hawks soaring in the sky, deer wandering in the forest, and the king of beasts, tigers... In fact, these haunted houses are the same. Just like the forest, there are harmless earthbound spirits and quite dangerous evil spirits. But just like the animals in the forest, ghosts have a strong sense of territory."

Having said that, Shizuku turned and looked at Hinasaki Shinku.

"You should have seen it on TV. In the animal world, if other predators invade their territory, the tigers or lions that were originally here will fight with them to drive them away. And what I am doing now is the same. The evil spirits in the Himuro residence have been entrenched for a long time, and this place has long become their nest. And I sent a group of foreign undead spirits to invade, they will definitely not sit idly by."

"I see."

After hearing Shizuku's explanation, Hinasaki nodded deeply, then asked again.

"So now the evil spirit inside..."

"The stubborn ones are basically all dead. The remaining ones are either harmless little white rabbits, or venomous snakes hiding in the bushes without moving, and the rest are..."

Having said that, Shizuku pondered for a moment, then looked at Hinasaki Shinku.

"According to the report I just received from the Banshees, they didn't seem to detect any signs of living people in this mansion."

"……Yeah……"

After hearing Shizuku's answer, Hinasaki's crimson face turned much paler. She certainly understood the hidden meaning behind Shizuku's words. It was obvious that her brother might be in danger. Thinking about it carefully, it was true. It had been at least two weeks since Hinasaki Mafuyu disappeared. Assuming that he had not been attacked by an evil spirit, how long could he last trapped in this house without water or food?

"Anyway, let's go in first."

Shizuku did not comfort Hinasaki Shinku no longer. She thought that she knew it very well, otherwise she would not have insisted on coming together. Perhaps Hinasaki Shinku also felt that even if she became an evil spirit, it would be nice to see her brother for the last time.

However, her brother was not among the evil spirits absorbed by Frostmourne just now.

It was late at night, and the Himuro residence was pitch black. The two walked into the entrance, and then Hinasaki Shinku raised the flashlight and shone it around. At this moment, suddenly, she felt a chill coming from behind, and at the same time, a voice sounded in her ears.

"Please, save me..."

“——!!”

Hearing the voice, Hinasaki Shinku hurriedly turned around and looked behind her, but there was no one there, only a tightly closed door.

"Ms. Shizuku, just now..."

"don’t worry."

Shizuku reached out her hand, gently patted Hinasaki's crimson shoulder, and looked at the gate in front of her.

"It's just a lost little white rabbit... We won't hurt you, can you come out?"

“…”

After a while, a figure slowly appeared in the empty void. She looked like a little child, wearing a gorgeous and expensive kimono and having long straight black hair - well, the standard outfit of a female ghost in a horror movie.

"My name is Kasugano Shizuku, and she is Hinasaki Shinku. What's your name?"

Shizuku squatted down, looked at the girl in front of her, smiled at her and asked softly, and the girl looked at Frostmourne floating beside Shizuku, and was obviously a little scared, but she still answered the question obediently.

"...Himero...Himero...Kirie..."

"So Kirie, can you tell me what happened here? And what happened to the people who came here before?"

“Woo… woo…”

In response to Shizuku's question, this time the girl named Himuro Kirie began to cover her face and cry bitterly.

"The ritual... the ritual failed... everyone died... it's so scary, I don't want to... save me..."

After saying these words, Himuro Kirie's figure disappeared into the void again.

Hinasaki Shinku looked at the scene in surprise. After the little girl disappeared, she hurriedly looked at Shizuku.

"Ms. Shizuku, what just happened is..."

"Hmm... She said her name was Himuro Kirie... Then she must be the victim of the Himuro residence tragedy. It seems that there is something strange here..."

Shizuku muttered to herself, then shook her head.

"Anyway, let's find your brother first."

Matters concerning the dead can be dealt with at any time, but matters concerning the living should be dealt with as soon as possible.

Next, the two began searching the mansion, but Hinasaki Shinku was obviously lucky. Not long after, she found an old camera in the corridor on the second floor.

"Ms. Shizuku, look, this belongs to my brother!"

As she spoke, Hinasaki Shinku hurriedly picked up the camera, and the next moment, she suddenly froze in place.

"Crimson? What's wrong with you? Miss Crimson?"

From Shizuku's point of view, Crimson's eyes were dull and she looked as if her soul had left her body. After a while, she shuddered and regained consciousness.

"Ms. Shizuku, I saw it, I saw my brother!"

"Did you see that?"

"Yes, through this camera, I saw it. At that time... my brother was running away from the corridor with the camera. Something was chasing him from behind. There were many arms, many arms trying to catch him. Then my brother seemed to be caught, and he..."

"Don't worry, leave it to me."

Seeing Hinasaki becoming more and more excited, Shizuku hurriedly held her shoulders and whispered something to comfort her. Then she raised her hand and whistled.

“——!!”

Along with the sound of a whistle, the next moment, a ghost wolf with a blue glow all over its body emerged from Frostmourne, came to Shizuku and lowered its head.

"Find the owner of this camera."

Following Shizuku's order, the ghost wolf turned its head and sniffed the camera in Hinasaki Shinku's hand. Then it turned its head again and sniffed around. Then it growled and ran to the other side of the corridor.

“Let’s go!!”

Soon, Hinasaki Shinku stood up, holding the camera and running forward with Shizuku following the ghost wolf. The ghost wolf was seen running back and forth in the corridor for a long time, and finally stopped in a room that looked very empty.

"What's going on?"

Looking at the ghost wolf standing still, Hinasaki Shinku suddenly became nervous.

Could it be that my brother has turned into a vengeful spirit?

"Your brother may not be in this world."

"Why?"

Hearing this, Hinasaki's face turned pale, her body swayed, and she almost collapsed to the ground, but Shizuku quickly added another sentence.

"Maybe he's not dead yet."

“What the hell is going on? Miss Shizuku, didn’t you just say that my brother is no longer in this world…?”

Faced with Shizuku's answer, Hinasaki Shinku was completely confused and had no idea what it meant.

"It's probably a space fragment, a time-space rupture. He's not in Himuro's residence in this timeline... Well, some evil spirits do play this kind of trick. I've seen it before."

What Shizuku was talking about was everything that Fang Zheng had experienced at Tenjin Elementary School in the love world. At that time, Sachiko used this trick to make everyone who entered Tenjin Elementary School suffer a fate that made it impossible for them to live or die. Even though the two parties were close to each other, they could not even meet in the end because they were not on the same timeline.

"So what do we do now?"

"Um……"

Shizuku thought for a moment, and then her eyes lit up.

"Ms. Crimson, you said you could learn about the past by touching objects, right?"

"Well, that's it..."

"Well, could you please..."

As she spoke, Shizuku pointed at the wall in front of her.

"By touching the Himuro residence itself, can you see everything that happened here in the past?"

"Why?"

"Your brother is obviously not on this timeline now. He is probably trapped in a fragment of space in Himuro's residence. The first thing we need to do is to track his trajectory and find the last place he disappeared. Then break the space barrier and go to another space - this will be very troublesome, because there are countless space fragments. If you can't determine the target, you won't be able to find his location. Since you are siblings, I think the blood relationship should allow you to sense where your brother is."

"But, but I've never done it before... and I'm not sure if I can do it..."

Hinasaki Shinku was shocked when she heard Shizuku's suggestion. She did have this ability, but she was not able to master it. Sometimes it was activated and sometimes it was not. Although theoretically, she could trace back to the past of Himuro Mansion by feeling everything in it, Hinasaki Shinku did not think she had such power.

"I'll help you."

Shizuku obviously had a plan.

"I will inject my power into your body. This way, you will have enough power to go back in time, and I will observe with you... Is that ok?"

"I...I'll try."

Although she was a little hesitant in her heart, Hinasaki Shinkuen's desire to find her brother ultimately made her make up her mind.

"What should I do?"

"First, one hand on the wall, then one hand grabbing me."

As she spoke, Shizuku stretched out her right hand and interlocked the slender fingers of Hinasaki Shinku's left hand. Then she moved closer to her, smelling the faint fragrance coming from the girl in front of her. Hinasaki Shinku suddenly felt her heart beating violently, she even felt her face getting hot, and a tingling sensation came from her body...

"Close your eyes."

Shizuku's voice appeared in Hinasaki Shinku's ears. The voice, like a clear spring in a deep valley, made Hinasaki Shinku relax for a moment, but she still closed her eyes as Shizuku said. Then, she could feel the other person's forehead pressed against hers.

This immediately made Hinasaki Shinku instinctively nervous. Because of her spiritual power, Hinasaki Shinku had almost no friends since she was a child. Now her only relative was her brother, but she and her brother had never done such intimate things.

Of course, for Shizuku, this is nothing at all. It's not normal for girls to rub against each other, and she just put her forehead against the other's forehead, not her head on the chest, and not close to the breasts. How can this be considered intimacy? It's just ordinary contact, right?

It's just a very ordinary contact.

But it was different for Hinasaki Shinku, because she closed her eyes, so her other senses were more acute. She could feel the warm body temperature of the girl on her forehead, and the close contact of her hands clasped together, which made Hinasaki Shinku uneasy.

"I will now inject my power into you."

As Shizuku spoke, Hinasaki Shinku felt a warm force flowing from top to bottom into her body. It was like standing under a shower, with warm and comfortable hot water splashing on her head, making her almost unable to hold back her comfortable moan. Fortunately, at this time, Shizuku's voice appeared in Hinasaki Shinku's ears again, drawing her attention back.

"Now, focus your attention on the hand that is pressing the wall, and try to recall the feeling that usually triggers your flashback... Yes, that's it..."

Under Shizuku's sweet and gentle voice, Hinasaki's deep red consciousness gradually began to become blurred.

But the next moment, suddenly, the scene in front of her turned abruptly.

The originally dark scene suddenly turned white.