"The undead that cannot be sealed by the Imperial Mirror?"

Hearing Hinasaki's crimson report, Shizuku raised her eyebrows.

"Leave it to the courtyard, and I will deal with it."

"Okay, how do we get to the courtyard..."

"Wouldn't it be better to just open the window and climb out?"

"……I see!"

After a while, everyone saw Hinasaki Shinku pushed open the window of the atrium, and then climbed out with unskilled movements - although the window of the corridor leading to the atrium on the first floor was only half a person's height, for Hinasaki Shinku, this was probably the first time she had climbed out of a window since she was born.

After clumsily climbing over the window, Hinasaki Shinku also pulled Tsukimori Sonaka out, and then the two of them ran to Shizuku, panting.

"Sister Shizuku, we, we are back."

"You can't do this, Crimson. It's just a climb through a window, but you made yourself so embarrassed. I guess I need to train you more in the future."

"What do you want to exercise?"

"Of course, it's climbing through windows and breaking down doors. How about this, next time you go out, I'll prepare a hammer for you. If you encounter windows and doors that can't be opened, just break them open. Although a universal tool is also a good choice, it may be a bit troublesome for you to learn this, and it will be a headache if you are discovered by the police..."

"Well……"

Hearing Shizuku's words, Hinasaki's deep red expression looked a little complicated, but before she could answer, the scene around her suddenly turned snow-white, and then accompanied by strange music, the long-haired woman appeared again - she passed through the wall, through the corridor, and pounced towards everyone.

“Don’t look… don’t look…!!”

"What is that?"

Looking at the long-haired woman's distorted face that was completely unreadable, Kurosawa Rei immediately stepped back, and Amakura Mio hurriedly covered Amakura Kan's eyes.

"That's Sakihana, don't look at her, onee-chan! You'll be infected!!"

"Don't worry, this level won't affect us."

As she spoke, Shizuku looked at the long-haired woman opposite her and snapped her fingers. With a light "snap" sound, the next moment, the long-haired woman's originally blurred face was instantly shattered, and countless wronged souls flew out screaming. Then they were completely absorbed by the Frostmourne that appeared out of thin air. After a moment, the long-haired woman also disappeared into the dark sword body and disappeared without a trace.

"As expected of Ms. Kasugano, you are really amazing..."

Seeing this scene, Kurosawa Rei couldn't help but sigh. Unlike Hinasaki Shinku and Amakura Mio, Kurosawa Rei had not witnessed Shizuku's exorcism methods with her own eyes. After being pulled into the dream that day, she had been acting together with Hinasaki Shinku and Amakura Mio. Although she had heard a lot about Shizuku from the two of them, only by seeing it with her own eyes could she feel how powerful Shizuku was.

"Thank you for your hard work. Are you okay? Crimson?"

"It's okay. I believe Sister Shizuku will be fine."

Hearing Shizuku's question, Hinasaki nodded deeply, then she took out a film for the projector and several diaries from her pocket.

"This is what Miss Tsukimori Sonaka and I found when we were exploring the third floor. It seems to have a recording of the Oborozuki Kagura ceremony from that year."

“That’s really great.”

After taking the film, Shizuku also breathed a sigh of relief.

"Then let's take a look."

After that, everyone came to the screening room of the Oborozuki Pavilion, and then Kurosawa Rei started the old film projector, and then black and white images immediately flashed on the screen in front of them.

Sure enough, what was recorded above was the Oborozuki Kagura ceremony held that year. In a circle, five shrine maidens wearing red and white costumes and masks were standing at five angles, holding up their instruments and playing them, and in the middle of them, a woman also wearing a mask was dancing wildly.

but……

"It's not quite what I thought."

Looking at the dancing shrine maiden with a strange expression, Kurosawa Rei didn't know how to explain, and Hinasaki Shinku beside her also nodded.

The reason why they showed such strange expressions was that the dance performed by the witch was too wild.

Generally speaking, ritual dances should be dignified and solemn, but the dance of the shrine maiden made people feel like dancing in a disco, and after drinking too much. Especially since she was wearing a shrine maiden's costume and a mask, it felt even more like a shrine maiden.

"Ah, that's Misaki!!"

At this moment, Tsukimori Yuanxiang, who was staring at the screen, suddenly shouted and pointed to the side. Everyone looked in the direction of her finger and saw that in the crowd, a little girl was taken away from the crowd by a young man in a suit. The little girl seemed a little uneasy, but was still pulled away.

"That was indeed me... How could I be there?"

Although she had seen a lot of information, after seeing the scene in front of her, Aso Misaki still felt a little unbelievable. She had no impression of it, but she was there...

Aso Misaki was taken away for only a moment, and the photographer himself did not pay much attention to this, but continued to record the ceremony. However, after a while, suddenly, without any warning, the five shrine maidens who were responsible for playing and dancing fell to the ground at the same time, like puppets without control.

At first, it seemed that no one knew what was going on, but soon someone came forward to check on the witch, then started shouting, and then the crowd became chaotic - the video ended here.

“…”

After reading the records, everyone showed a thoughtful expression, but Tsukimori Sonaka looked a little strange.

"Wow...why is it different?"

"Not quite the same? What do you mean, Miss Yuanxiang?"

Looking at Tsukimori Sonaka curiously, Hinasaki Shinku asked, perhaps because she was saved by Hinasaki Shinku before, Tsukimori Sonaka spoke with a stutter.

"Why... it's not the same as what I remember. The witch in my memory is not that person... and it seemed that she was the only one who fell down at that time... We... didn't fall down?"

"Didn't fall? What do you mean?"

"I don't know, but as far as I can remember, I didn't seem to be watching the ceremony in the audience, but closer..."

Hearing this, Shizuku raised her eyebrows.

"For example, where are the five performing Miko standing?"

"Yes, that's right, that's it...eh?"

"Well, now it seems that our questions have been answered."

Shizuku stood up and clapped her hands.

"You all saw that the Oborozuki Kagura ritual requires five priestesses to perform, and you happen to be five people..."

“How could it be…”

Upon hearing this, Mizunotsuki Ryuka's expression changed drastically.

"You mean, me, Misaki, Madoka, Jumoe, and Kikue... the five of us are the Miko of the Oborozuki Kagura ritual?"

"We were just kids at the time, right? I have no memory of ever playing it, and I don't have the skill to do it, right?"

"Whether it is or not, we will know once we find the location of the ceremony."

After figuring out the situation, Shizuku made a quick decision.

"Okay, let's go now."

Although it was a little different, with Hinasaki Shinkuro's "Backtrack" skill, everyone quickly found a secret passage leading to the underground. This secret passage was located behind the bookshelf in the dean's office on the first floor - well, this was also a normal thing.

Then they followed the secret passage down to a cave under an island. Unfortunately, there was no gate to the underworld, only something that looked like an altar used for ceremonies.

But at this point, the memories of the three girls seemed to be stimulated in some way, especially Aso Misaki, who immediately ran over and hugged the doll as if it was her treasure after seeing a dirty doll dropped on the ground. At this point, the memories of the three girls were completely restored.

Just as Shizuku said, they were indeed the Miracoda of Kanade. When the five of them were visiting the Oborozuki Kagura ceremony, they were taken away by the hospital director's son, Haibara Yo, and came to this secret ceremony site below. According to what they remembered at the time, Director Haibara and his son planned to restore the original return ceremony to cure the Tsukiyomizu disease.

Therefore, they chose Ryuka and other five-month-old children with severe symptoms of the phantom disease as the Symphonia shrine maidens, and the Instrument shrine maiden who was responsible for dancing was Dean Haibara's daughter, the long-haired woman with Sakihata's face, and also Aso Misaki's good friend, Haibara Sakuya.

Logically speaking, five girls who had never received training before would not be able to perform this ritual. But after Dean Huihara put on a magical mask for them, the five girls began to play the instruments automatically as if they were possessed by something. And Huihara Sakuya also put on a mask and began to dance in the middle.

Then, something unexpected happened.

There were no signs, and no idea what went wrong. In short, Haibara Sakuya, who was dancing, suddenly stopped, and the mask on her face exploded instantly. Then she fell directly to the ground and was motionless.

At the same time, the five girls who had been playing desperately just now stopped like robots that had run out of power.

Finally, Dean Haibara took Sakuya away, and his son took the five Miko to another place and hid them. They were finally found by a policeman, who took them back to their families. Their families were obviously very dissatisfied with Dean Haibara for hiding their daughters from them and letting them do such a dangerous thing, so they left Oborozuki Island together after that.

Now everything is clear, but...

"How do we perform the ceremony?"

Kurosawa Rei expressed her opinion uneasily.

"Didn't the previous ritual fail? And we don't know where it failed."

"yes."

Aso Misaki also nodded.

"We don't have masks, musical instruments, or know how to make them. Besides, Sister Sakuya has also been sealed away by Miss Kasugano. Do we have to find another Maiden of the Vessel and ask her to dance?"

Hearing this, the girls all lowered their heads and said nothing. Without giving it too much thought, one could guess that this was simply an impossible task.

But Shizuku seemed full of confidence.

"Don't be so nervous. The ceremony is just a formality. As long as it is fully functional, nothing else matters. It's like a car. It doesn't matter what it looks like, as long as it has four wheels and the engine can drive it."

Having said this, Shizuku suddenly waved her hand, not allowing others to make any judgment.

"Alright, listen to me now, Ms. Tsukimori Sonaka, Ms. Mizunotsuki Ryuka, Ms. Aso Misaki, all of you stand on the altar and stand in the positions you remember."

“…”

Although they were a little confused, the three girls still stood on the altar as Shizuku said, and Shizuku tilted her head.

"Well... we're still short of two people."

"I'll do it."

Hearing this, Amakura Mayu raised her hand, and when Amakura Mio saw her sister raising her hand, she also hurriedly raised her hand.

"I can also join in... although I'm not very confident in playing."

"It doesn't matter. We only need five people. You stand here and here..."

She gestured to Amakura Mayu and Amakura Mio to stand still, then Shizuku drew out Frostmourne and flicked the sword lightly. Then a ray of light emerged from it, and then the long-haired woman with Sakihana's face appeared between the altars. She looked around in confusion, as if she had no idea what was happening, and Shizuku just stared at her.

"Dance, Vessel Maiden, and do what you are supposed to do."

“…”

Hearing what Shizuku said, the long-haired girl hesitated for a moment, then she moved her body and began to dance. Seeing this, Shizuku nodded in satisfaction, then looked at the five girls around her.

"Okay, it's your turn."

"I, what are we going to do?"

Looking at the dancing witch ghost in the middle, the five girls were also quite nervous. After all, they had also watched the recording of the ceremony, and as the witches of the ceremony, they should have started playing at this time. But now the five of them were completely at a loss, not knowing what to do.

"Sing."

"Sing...a song?"

"Yes, any song is fine. Can you sing the Internationale?"

“…”

The girls looked at each other and shook their heads.

Tsk, so the seedlings of capitalist countries...

"Practice more often in the future. This song can drive away evil spirits."

Shizuku complained helplessly and then changed direction.

“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star can sing.”

"……that……"

"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, don't tell me you all can't sing?"

"That... is true."

"Sing it."

“…”

After hearing Shizuku's unmotivated instructions, the five girls looked at each other in confusion, but they still gritted their teeth and started singing while clapping their hands.

"Twinkle, twinkle little star, the sky is full of little stars, hanging in the sky shining, like many little eyes..."

Looking at the five girls clapping and singing nursery rhymes, with the witch ghost in the middle dancing wildly, Kurosawa Rei and Hinasaki beside them were covered in cold sweats.

"Shizuku-sister, is this really okay?"

"No problem, just watch."

As Shizuku spoke, she raised her hand, and soon, with her movement, Frostmourne appeared again above the head of the Miko's ghost. Then, a ray of moonlight shone on Frostmourne, and then turned into a column of light that fell from the sky and enveloped the Miko's ghost.

"ah--!!!"

At the moment of being enveloped by the beam of light, the dancing witch ghost suddenly stopped, opened her eyes wide, stared upwards, and then a strong wind blew up, countless ghosts were absorbed into her body, and the witch's expression began to become extremely painful. But at this moment, Frostmourne suddenly flashed.

In an instant, the storm subsided.

The crazy vengeful spirits that were wreaking havoc in the cave calmed down quietly, just like the crowd that was rushing towards the convenience store selling "Half Price Potato Chips Ahead" and fell to the ground after being shot by a robber with a gun, and order was restored.

Then, shining points of light gradually emerged like fireflies, they flew into the dark night sky, and then slid down like meteors, entering the black hole of the lunar eclipse reflected on the sea in the distance.

I see. This time the Gate to the Underworld is in this kind of place.

After locking the location of the Yellow Spring Gate, Shizuku was somewhat surprised. After all, she originally thought that the Yellow Spring Gate was a big hole like other places. Unexpectedly, the Yellow Spring Gate located on Longyue Island was hidden in the reflection of the lunar eclipse. No wonder it could not be discovered.

but……

Now that the location of the Gate to the Underworld has been found, the next step for Shizuku is to return to her daily work.