It turns out that the inhumane rituals of the Himuro Residence and the Sleeping House are indeed quite good at creating pain. In the early morning, before the sun even rises from the horizon, the tortured witch ghost transfers all her pain and resentment to the woodcutter in the form of tattoos, and the latter's pain makes Frostmourne extremely satisfied.
When Fang Zheng returned to the center of the lake, he saw Frostmourne, who looked like he had had enough to eat and drink. If we use an animation to describe it, Frostmourne, with a round belly, sat on the ground, picking his teeth contentedly, with a bunch of comments like "How many months old is the child?" and "Sorry, everyone, the child is mine."
After that, Fang Zheng sent the vengeful spirits back to the underworld, and then closed the gate of the underworld. Soon, the night spring that was originally permeated by the vengeful spirits and looked like black water returned to its original clear and transparent appearance.
But this is not the end.
Afterwards, Shizuku specifically found the local mayor and told him that the problem of Mt. Higami had been solved and the tourism development project could be restarted. Although Shizuku had previously complained to Inudo that tourism development in a suicide sanctuary was simply a one-way ticket, now that the problem of Mt. Higami has been solved, she naturally hopes to solve this problem once and for all.
Although Shizuku has now sealed the Yellow Spring Gate here, if people continue to commit suicide as before, a second Yellow Spring Gate and Night Spring might appear. Therefore, the best way is to develop it into a tourist destination and remove its suicide sanctuary attributes. It must be said that the local government had a good idea, but they implemented the plan without thoroughly investigating the situation.
Shizuku was not worried that the local government would reject her proposal. After all, this was a big project in this place, and she had already invested so much in the early stage. If she didn't continue to persevere, then all the initial investment would be sunk costs. For the local government, this was obviously an unbearable loss.
As expected, after hearing that Shizuku had solved the problem of Higashyama and got confirmation from the Metropolitan Police Department, the mayor of Higashyama was also very excited. He had been overwhelmed by this tourism development incident, and now he heard that it could continue and that no supernatural incidents would occur again, so he was relieved.
And Shizuku still has a lot of things to do.
For example, in order to prevent Rishang Mountain from becoming a suicide site again, she simply invested in the local Rishang Mountain tourism development project in the name of her firm and became the largest shareholder. The local government was originally in a difficult situation because of this trouble, and now that someone is willing to take over, they are naturally happy to pass on the hot potato.
So next, Shizuku started contacting the construction team on Higami Mountain to clean and rebuild the previous foundation, and the corpses also had to be collected. As for the dolls from the Katashiro Shrine, they also had to be taken away, and the part in the center of the lake needed to be renovated to prevent anyone from breaking in... Considering that she couldn't stay here for long, Shizuku handed over the management of the site to Kurosawa Mika. After all, she understood the affairs of Higami Mountain better than anyone else, and knew how to deal with it.
Kurosawa Mika was a little uneasy about the heavy responsibility that Shizuku had given her, but in the end she nodded and agreed.
After that, Shizuku brought her group back to the office.
Compared to when she left, there were two more people by Shizuku's side... They were Kurosawa Aise and Shiragiku.
As mentioned before, when the Great Pillar and the Middle Pillar are immersed in the Night Spring, they are in a state of "permanent flower", which is a bit like artificial hibernation. As long as their spirits are not broken, their bodies will not die. Shiragiku has extremely strong spiritual power, and she is only the Middle Pillar, so there is no problem at all. As for Kurosawa Aise, as the Great Pillar, although she once endured the pain of the slaughter of the shrine maidens, which led to her reaching the edge of collapse, fortunately her mind remained clear, so Shizuku directly purified the Night Spring water that penetrated into the bodies of the two and woke them up.
After all, the Yellow Spring Gate has been destroyed, and they no longer need to serve as human pillars to guard the Night Spring. Naturally, as people who lived a hundred years ago, the two were also quite curious about the outside world along the way. Although many people have come to the mountains to commit suicide over the years, and as human pillars, they will accept the memories of those suicides, and will not be as ignorant of the outside world as the savages who walked out of the mountains, but the memories they absorb are after all someone else's, and it is the first time for them to see the outside world with their own eyes, so for the two, the scene outside is also quite fresh and interesting.
But for Hinasaki Shinku...she felt a little resistant.
“…Do we really want to keep these dolls in the office?”
Looking at Shizuku who was placing the dolls, Hinasaki Shinku couldn't help but ask, while Shizuku placed a kimono doll in the corner, posed for it, and then turned her head.
"Why? Haven't you always felt that the office was empty? Isn't this just right?"
"But... so many puppets, it's too scary."
Looking at the office in front of her, Hinasaki Shinku protested. The original office was indeed very monotonous. There was nothing else except a TV, a desk and a sofa. But now, after Shizuku brought back the dolls from the Katashiro Shrine, the entire office was filled with dolls of all sizes.
Especially those life-size dolls wearing kimonos, which Shizuku placed in the corners of the walls and even at the end of the corridor. Not only in the office, but also on the third floor, there were many of these dolls.
Hinasaki Shinkuen imagined herself opening the door early in the morning and seeing a doll standing in front of her with its head lowered - that would definitely not be good for her mental health.
"This is how we can prove the uniqueness of our firm. Didn't you complain before that this firm doesn't look like a place to solve paranormal cases, so many clients are confused? Now that you see the decorations that are full of paranormal flavor, you won't make a mistake again, right?"
"...Sister Shizumi Hisahisa, what do you think?"
Since she couldn't convince Shizuku, Hinasaki Shinku had no choice but to recruit allies, but...
"I think this is great. The original office was empty, and this is more beautiful..."
"...Ms. Setsuna?"
"Why??"
Hearing Hinasaki's shinning voice, Setsuna, who was staring at the doll in fascination, turned around immediately and smiled sheepishly.
“I think these dolls are cute…”
"Ms. Wuzhi?"
"What does it matter?"
Bonzhi Wuzhi sat lazily on the sofa, drinking black tea and watching TV.
"Anyway, these are just simple puppets, and there are no evil spirits living in them. There's nothing special to worry about."
“…”
No, it seems that there is still a gap in the aesthetic views of humans and monsters.
In the end, Hinasaki Shinku had no choice but to give up.
“Huh…”
After a busy day, Shizuku dragged her tired body back to her room. This trouble is not over yet. Next, she has to go to the Metropolitan Police Department to report to Inudo Ranko about the results of the Higashiyama incident, as well as the identities of Kurosawa Aise and Shiragiku... They were people from a hundred years ago, and they need some information to start their lives again in this world.
Kurosawa Aise is easy to deal with, as she can be asked to help Hinasaki Shinku. However, Shiragiku is more troublesome. Girls of this age really need to be sent to school...
While thinking, Shizuku fell into a deep sleep.
When she opened her eyes again, what she saw was not her own room, but an old-looking Japanese-style bedroom.
“Is this… a dream?”
Shizuku stood up, walked to the door, and pushed open the paper door. Outside the door, she saw a hunchbacked old woman standing there. When she saw Shizuku coming out, she bowed respectfully to Shizuku.
"I've been waiting for you for a long time, Master Kasugano."
“You seem to be… Yume, right? What are you going to do?”
Shizuku stared at the old woman in front of her and asked in confusion. If she remembered correctly, the old woman in front of her should be one of the shrine maidens of Mount Higashin, but now she appeared here and appeared in her dream, what did she want to do?
"plz follow me."
As she spoke, Granny Yume turned and walked forward, and Shizuku followed her out of the room and walked along the corridor - then, the two stopped in front of a door, and Granny Yume opened the paper door and motioned Shizuku to go in.
"???"
Shizuku tilted her head in confusion, then walked into the room, and then the paper door closed gently. At the same time, the originally dim room suddenly became bright.
And then, the scene in front of her also made Shizuku startled.
Under the light of the lanterns, I saw several girls in white wedding gowns, dressed like brides, sitting quietly on the tatami in the room in front of me. Moreover, all of them were familiar faces.
Hinasaki Shinku, Kurosawa Rei, Kurosawa Aise, Shiragiku, Amakura Mayu, Amakura Mio... six girls dressed in bridal attire, kneeling on the tatami, as if waiting for something. Hinasaki Shinku and Kurosawa Rei were talking in low voices, Amakura Mayu and Amakura Mio were also whispering to themselves, only Shiragiku and Kurosawa Aise were kneeling there motionless.
As if they noticed Shizuku's gaze, the girls suddenly raised their heads and looked at her.
“…”
What the hell is this? A ghost marriage? Are they asking me to choose the bride?
Looking at the scene in front of her, Shizuku was completely confused and had no idea what the priestesses on Mt. Higashino were up to.
But although she didn't know what was going on, she had only one answer.
Only children make choices, of course adults want them all!