Ten days had passed since she fled. For Touka, what ten days meant—she couldn't quite put it into words herself. But she had begun waking properly each morning. Just that alone felt like a significant change. The morning air of Mikagura Mountain was still cool. Sunlight filtered through the cedar leaves, turning the damp soil into white mist that drifted slowly across the ground. Coming to the vegetable garden behind the hermitage had become part of her daily routine. She was thinning out the turnips. Pressing the soil with her fingers, she selected each crowded seedling one by one and pulled it free. She kept the ones with sturdy roots and removed the weak ones. She'd learned nothing at grandfather's estate, yet the steps Yozora had taught her had somehow lodged firmly in her mind. A small sound—*pup*—came from the soil. *(Is this right?)* As she set the pulled seedling aside, the earth near the daikon radish row at the edge of the garden moved slightly. It moved? Touka stopped. Watching carefully, a single round eye peeked out from between the daikon leaves. Round and black, like a glass marble, it stared directly at her. The creature's body was no larger than the palm of her hand. From head to foot, its entire form was covered in fine, pale gray fur. A Hitsutsume. A Hitsutsume—a small one-eyed yokai. According to what Yozora had told her, about two hundred of them lived scattered throughout Mikagura Mountain. They were supposedly timid and harmless to humans and livestock, but... it appeared one had slipped into the garden and was nibbling on the turnip seedlings. "[surprised]Hey, don't eat that!" The moment she cried out, the Hitsutsume flinched. Its single eye widened to its limit. Then it scurried away at an incredible speed. Touka reflexively jumped up and chased after it. Her foot caught in a soil furrow. Her balance crumbled. She threw out her hands, but it wasn't in time. She tumbled forward and crashed onto her knees in the middle of the garden with a heavy *thud*. Mud splattered, spreading brown stains across the front of her white shirt. The Hitsutsume scrambled up the cedar tree beside the hermitage, clinging to a branch about three meters high, looking down at her with its perfectly round single eye. It looked like it had something to say. *(... Like it's saying I'm the clumsy one, not you.)* Still covered in mud, looking up, Touka found herself laughing. It wasn't loud—just a small, quiet laugh—but she was definitely laughing. On the hermitage's veranda, Yozora watched. Her black hair, long enough to reach her waist, was loosely gathered. She sat on the veranda edge, her silver eyes quietly observing both the mud-covered Touka and the Hitsutsume in the tree. The moment Yozora noticed Touka laughing, she gently looked away. She lifted her gaze as if watching the mountains, letting her eyes escape into the cedar treetops within the mist. For just that instant, Touka thought Yozora's profile looked a little different than usual. She couldn't say what was different. But it was softer. "[serious]I did tell you not to underestimate the vegetable garden, didn't I?" "[serious]You did," "[serious]The garden's more of a life-threatening crisis than training, isn't it?" "[serious]Don't underestimate the vegetable garden," The same words came back. Touka sighed and wiped the mud from her shirt with her hand. It didn't come off at all. ＊ It was early afternoon. Touka lay down in the guest room. The fatigue from the garden work had caught up with her, and she was dozing. With her eyes closed, the scent of the morning cedar treetops still lingered in her nose. Suddenly, her arm burned. "——!" A voiceless cry escaped her. Around her left wrist, a curse mark glowed pale blue. That wasn't all. The light pulsed like a heartbeat, and with each flash, a pain shot through her arm as if something inside was being torn away. Touka collapsed onto the floor. Her hand struck the tatami. Her breathing became shallow. *This is bad, this is bad*—even as that thought crossed her mind, the pain intensified, spreading from her arm to her shoulder, from her shoulder deep into her chest. Each breath felt like burning. The shoji door flew open. Yozora rushed in. "[serious]Touka——" The moment Yozora's eyes saw the pale blue glowing curse mark, they narrowed. Then, for just an instant, her gaze became distant. Her eyes turned toward the southern side of the mountain, toward the barrier. *(A shikigami touched the barrier...)* Yozora didn't speak it aloud, but Touka understood something was happening. Something had struck the barrier, the impact had resonated, and the curse carved into her body had received the transmission—she understood it somehow. The acute pain subsided slightly. The moment she thought it had subsided—— Her body moved. It wasn't Touka's will. Both her feet pushed against the floor on their own, standing her up. She stood up normally. As if she'd willed it herself, with natural movements. But Touka hadn't tried to stand. Her consciousness remained, she could see her body moving, but she couldn't stop it. Her feet advanced toward the hallway, one step, then another. *(What, why——)* She was terrified. The sensation of her own body being controlled by something other than herself was something she'd never experienced even in onmyoji training. She was putting on her shoes. Her body walked toward the dirt floor, toward the front door, continuing forward. "Wait!" She screamed. But her feet didn't stop. Touka grabbed her own thighs while crying. She pulled with both hands, trying to drag herself back. Her body was being dragged down the hallway, and she resisted desperately. Her nails dug into the fabric of her pants. "[crying]I don't want to go back——I don't want to, I don't want to, stop——!" Her voice was growing hoarse. Her hand touched the front door. In that instant, arms extended from behind her. It was Yozora. She wrapped her arms around Touka from behind, holding her firmly in place. Yozora's arms were crossed in front of Touka's chest, pulling backward with force. Touka's body tried to move toward the door. Yozora received that force while planting her feet firmly on the floor, not moving. The curse resisted. Touka felt a faint numbness run through Yozora's arms, transmitted through her back. "[serious]——Brace yourself, Touka. Plant your feet," Her voice was low. Calm, but with a weight that pressed down. Touka desperately put strength into her legs. She trembled. Her knees shook violently. But because Yozora was supporting her from behind, she didn't collapse. Gradually, her body's movement slowed to a stop. She could sense the curse's power receding. It hadn't completely disappeared. But now it was quiet. Touka's strength drained away, and she leaned back against Yozora. Yozora, maintaining her position, slowly lowered Touka to the floor. Both of them ended up sitting on the floor. Yozora's arm remained around Touka's shoulders, their bodies close. Yozora's hand pressed against Touka's back. "[gentle]I'm going to channel my ki through you now. It might be uncomfortable, but stay still," There was a sense of hand seals being formed. The sensation of ki—unique to Kagari, flowing from deep within the mountains—entered Touka's body. It was different from an onmyoji's ki technique——larger, older, a power that carried the scent of earth and wood. The curse quieted. Touka closed her eyes, leaning her back against Yozora. She was frightened, wanted to cry, yet somehow... felt safe. Each time Yozora's warm ki spread through her body, something that had been taut slowly began to unravel. Touka didn't yet have a name for this sensation. But she didn't feel afraid anymore. *(Why does it feel safe...)* That question remained unanswered, simply drifting in her chest. ＊ While maintaining the ki suppression, Yozora read into the curse. She had touched this curse several times before. But today, for the first time, she could clearly read the full scope of the curse that had forcibly activated. First: a thread binding emotions. Whenever a specific emotion tried to move, the thread would tighten, generating acute pain. Each time she thought of her parents, something inside her body felt like it was being torn apart—a technique designed to sever her emotional connection to her parents entirely, preventing her from remembering them. Second: a memory-distorting technique. When approaching certain past memories, her thoughts would fog as if covered in mist. The reason she couldn't remember certain parts of what happened at grandfather's estate was because of this. Third: homing instinct. Each time a shikigami touched the barrier, a command to "return" would activate through the curse carved into her body. A forceful technique that moved her body regardless of her will. Emotion, memory, body——a composite technique controlling all three simultaneously. *(To carve something like this into a child...)* Yozora thought this internally, but didn't let it show on her face. Touka didn't need to know everything right now. "[serious]The curse was pulling your body. You're not weak," Touka said nothing. She only trembled slightly. The vibration of her shoulders transmitted to Yozora. Yozora kept her hand on Touka's trembling shoulders, continuing the ki suppression. That was all. That was enough, Yozora judged. ＊ At the same time, thirty-five kilometers south of Mikagura Mountain, in the Hibari settlement—— Two adults walked along a path between fields at the settlement's edge. One was a woman with chestnut-colored hair swaying in the wind. She had gently waved hair reaching her shoulders and soft brown eyes. On her arm was an armband embroidered with a family crest. She was Sakura, a shrine maiden. Standing beside her was a man with short hair mixed black and white, Taishi. A thin scar marked the space between his eyebrows, and his expression was stern now. They had been searching for fifteen years. Since the day their daughter Touka had been taken away by her grandparents shortly after birth. Searching had become so routine that the fact of "still not finding her" had become as much a part of daily life as breathing. Sakura closed her eyes. Using a shrine maiden's sensory abilities, she searched for spiritual presences. Something faint seemed to reach her from the direction of the mountains. She couldn't definitively say it was Touka's presence. But something familiar——it was definitely there. When she opened her eyes, tears had gathered in them. "[gentle]...I feel it around here. Toward the mountains," Her voice was thin. Taishi turned quietly toward her. "[serious]The mountains..." He looked up at the ridgeline of the Mikagura Mountain range. Mist clung to the middle slopes, obscuring the peak. Beyond that mist——thinking this, Taishi's hand trembled slightly. At that moment, Taishi's gaze turned to the ground. Traces of ki remained in the soil of the path. Faint, barely perceptible. But visible to an onmyoji's eyes. Taishi knelt down, bringing his face closer to the earth. "What're you doing there, brother?" An old man's voice. Turning around, a solidly-built elderly man stood there. Maruse Genji, the proprietor of Maruse Shop, the only store in Hibari settlement. Unusually for an old man known for not speaking, he had called out to them. "[serious]Oh, I was just... looking for something I dropped," When Taishi answered, the old man said "Hmph" curtly and walked on without asking further. Taishi, still kneeling, felt his strength drain away. Sakura let out a small, stifled laugh. "[gentle]An onmyoji on his knees looking for a lost item," "[serious]...There's no helping it," For just a moment, the air lightened. But the next instant—— The air changed from the direction of the settlement entrance. It became heavy. A spiritual presence with pressure approached. Sakura quickly stood