The Time Traveler of Kyoto: A Century-Old Bond Sleeping in the Ancient Capital - Tears of a Best Friend and a Dark Shadow

The tips of her fingers were transparent again. Yui gazed at her right hand in secret from the window seat of the lecture hall. The autumn light of 10 a.m. streamed in, and honestly, she couldn't tell clearly whether they were transparent or not, but she could feel it. A faint sensation, as if she could see something beyond her fingertips. She wanted to think it was her imagination. But she already knew it wasn't. What should she do about Chiyo... "Tachibana!" A voice flew from the hallway. Before Yui, who had remained in her seat without noticing the lecture had ended, a pale purple bob of hair came flying in with momentum. Natsume Moeka. Her best friend, whose buck teeth stood out when she smiled. She wasn't smiling today. "Why are you sitting there? You're not planning to go home?" "Oh, sorry. I was thinking about something." "Thinking about something?" Moeka furrowed her brow. She stood directly in front of Yui, gesturing with her hands. Both hands on her hips, staring intently. Yui knew this expression. It wasn't anger—it was the face she made when she was worried. "Hey Yui, you've been skipping class like crazy lately. Last week and the day before yesterday too." "My health is just a bit..." "Your complexion is bad too. It's bad today as well." Yui vaguely looked away. Beyond the window, she could see the ridge line of Higashiyama. Clear autumn weather. The same mountain that Chiyo in the Taisho era had seen. Moeka didn't back down. " Something happened, didn't it? Tell me." "It's really just poor health—" " You're terrible at lying." She cut her off with a single phrase. Yui fell silent. Moeka sighed once, then pulled up a chair and sat beside Yui. For a while, she said nothing. Wind came through the window, and Moeka's purple bob swayed gently. " Yui, listen." Her voice had become quiet. A different voice from before. " No matter what happens, I'll always be on your side. Even when you can't say anything, remember that." She said it completely. There was no unnecessary decoration. Just those words. Something slowly pierced deep in Yui's chest. (I'm sorry, Moeka.) Her throat tightened slightly. She couldn't talk about time-crossing. Going back to the Taisho era, Chiyo, Shinonome-do—if she told her everything, she'd drag Moeka into it. That terrified her. But she also felt pathetic for receiving these words and having nothing to give back. All she could do was nod. "...Thank you." " Don't say thank you, just tell me properly." Moeka scratched her cheek. Then she stood up and pulled Yui's arm. " Anyway, let's go to the cafeteria! Today's daily special is 480 yen, fried fish! You can't talk on an empty stomach, right?" Yui was dragged out into the hallway. The atmosphere from moments before changed in an instant, and Yui couldn't help but smile wryly. That was so like Moeka. Her good point was that she couldn't leave a serious atmosphere as it was. ＊ The cafeteria "Kamome Shokudo" was crowded at lunch time. The smell of fried food, the sound of dishes clinking, and the voices of students all mixed together. Moeka unhesitatingly took a tray with fried fish set meal and got one for Yui too. They sat by the window, and the moment Yui broke apart her chopsticks, her phone rang. A LINE notification. When she saw who it was from, Yui stopped her chopsticks. Shinonome Sousuke—the antique dealer at Shinonome-do, the only collaborator who knew about the Musubi mirror and time-crossing—had messaged her. The message was short. "Come to the shop. Right now." That was all. Sousuke rarely used LINE. Even when he was marked as read, it sometimes took half a day for him to reply. For him to send "right now"— (Something happened.) It was instinct. " Moeka, I'm sorry. Something urgent came up." Moeka had just popped a piece of fried fish into her mouth. She looked over while chewing. "Mm... huh? Again?" "I'm really sorry. I'll contact you properly later." " You're leaving a 480 yen set meal? What a waste." "Please eat it." "Huh, no, that's your portion, not mine?" Moeka waved her hand with a wry smile. Yui understood it meant "go ahead." She placed her tray at the return counter and hurried out of the cafeteria. ＊ The moment she entered the alley on Shinmonzen Street, the air seemed to change. Shinonome-do—an antique shop in a 90-year-old machiya converted from a side street off Shinmonzen Street—the sliding door was unlocked when she pulled it. The interior was dim. The hanging scrolls, bowls, and old wooden boxes that usually stood in neat rows— The shelves had fallen over. Yui stopped. Two shelves lay on the floor. Several paulownia wood boxes were broken, their contents scattered. Ancient objects imbued with spiritual power—items called "spirit-bearing artifacts" that Sousuke managed strictly—lay carelessly strewn across the floor. There were marks where ceramic fragments had been stepped on. "Sousuke-san?" Footsteps came from the back. Sousuke appeared. His jet-black hair was disheveled. His usually neat bangs were slightly tousled, and beneath his deep green eyes was the color of exhaustion. Only the silver piercing in his left ear shone as usual, but his expression was different from normal. Not calmly still, but as if desperately suppressing something. Sousuke silently pointed to the back of the shop. Yui slowly moved toward the back. The bookshelf in the innermost part—it alone had been ransacked differently from the others. While the other shelves had been knocked over or their contents turned upside down, this bookshelf bore the marks of deliberate destruction. All the drawers were open. Their contents had been thrown onto the floor. One section of the shelf was completely empty. " My grandfather's notebook has disappeared." Sousuke's voice was quiet. Too quiet, which made it clear: this was very bad. Yui looked at the floor. Among the scattered items, there was no notebook. That light brown notebook Sousuke had taken from this shelf and shown her before—Shinonome Genjiro's research record, which contained the secrets of the Musubi mirror and the year Taisho 13—was gone. And then. Her eyes went to the wall. "..." She couldn't speak. On the wall, there was a pattern drawn in ink. A spiral about 30 centimeters in diameter. Distorted, but drawn with unwavering lines. Yui knew this pattern. It was the same design as the back of the Musubi mirror. "This—" " Yes." Sousuke stood beside Sousuke. Looking at the pattern on the wall, his voice wavered slightly. " ...The Kurogane Society." He spoke the name in a low voice, quietly. The Kurogane Society—a secret society of businessmen and politicians based in Taisho-era Kyoto, officially calling itself the "Kyoto Industrial Promotion Association," showing abnormal obsession with the land and sacred object of Kaguramorishi Shrine. Yui had heard that name from Chiyo. But for Sousuke to say it meant— "Do they still exist?" " ...I thought it impossible. But if not, there's no way to explain this." Sousuke's hand trembled slightly. Yui noticed. She started to reach out. Sousuke-san, are you alright—she was about to say that and touch his arm, but her hand stopped just before. She didn't understand why she stopped. But she did. A brief silence fell between them. Sousuke glanced toward Yui. He said nothing. But she knew he had noticed. " We have to get the notebook back." Sousuke turned his gaze back to the wall. Yui withdrew her outstretched hand. " I understand. I'll go back to the shrine." "...Today is the day of misogi." Yui nodded. ＊ The main hall of Kaguramorishi Shrine was quiet in the afternoon light. Climbing 87 stone steps and entering the grounds. Cedar trees over 300 years old surrounded both sides, and the air changed. The sound of birds. Wind rustling leaves. The bustle of modern Kyoto didn't reach here. Yui opened the door to the main hall. Inside, the Musubi mirror was there. An ancient bronze mirror about 60 centimeters in diameter. The spiral pattern carved on its back—the same as what had been drawn in ink on the wall of Shinonome-do. The misogi purification was a ritual performed on the 1st and 15th of every month. A purification ceremony at the main hall offering clean water to the mirror, passed down through generations at Kaguramorishi Shrine. Today was the 15th. Yui drew clean water in a bucket and sat before the mirror. She closed her eyes. She began chanting the ritual prayer quietly. Offering the water, bowing her head toward the mirror. The usual ritual. The usual rhythm. But today she faced the mirror with a different feeling. (Chiyo-san, I'll go see you again.) The moment she thought that. Light came. ＊ The air of the main hall in the Taisho era was different from the present. The scent of wood was stronger. The dim orange of gas lamps. "Yui-san." Chiyo was there. Tachibana Chiyo—a shrine maiden at Kaguramorishi Shrine in the Taisho era, Yui's great-grandmother. Calm eyes, refined kimono, amber-colored eyes like Yui's. But today, Chiyo's face held something different from her usual serenity. The color of worry. " You came again. But...your complexion..." " Chiyo-san, I need to tell you something." Yui explained the situation. That Shinonome-do had been ransacked. That the notebook had been stolen. The spiral pattern drawn on the wall. And the name that came from Sousuke's mouth: the Kurogane Society. Chiyo's face went white. Slowly, but certainly. As if color was draining away. " ...The Kurogane Society still..." "Chiyo-san, you know about them?" Chiyo said nothing for a moment. Her gaze fell to the floor. Then slowly she raised her face. " Last year—in Taisho 12, a businessman named Washio Tatsunosuke tried to buy the land of this shrine." Washio Tatsunosuke—the chairman of the Kurogane Society, owner of an 800-tsubo mansion near Nanzen-ji, a man of power in Taisho Kyoto. " Everyone in the local community opposed it together, and in the end the shrine was protected. But during the commotion, some important documents of the shrine were taken by someone." Yui held her breath. " Those documents contained the true power of the Musubi mirror. I believe Washio's real goal was that from the start. Not the shrine's land, but the mirror's power." "So even now—" " Yes. That man's ambition should not have changed. If it has continued to your era across time..." Chiyo's voice wavered slightly. The two of them began spreading out the old record books remaining in the corner of the main hall. Records of the commotion in Taisho 12. The grounds' layout from that time. Names of those involved written in hasty script. With each page turned, the paper made a dry sound. "Here." Yui stopped her finger on one name. A list of members of the Kurogane Society written in the records. One of those surnames seemed to connect to whoever had ransacked Shinonome-do. A clue that had to be confirmed next was there. " ...This document..." Chiyo whispered in a small voice. " It may have contained things I should not have known." With those words, the shadow of Mikazuki-ro flickered across Chiyo's eyes. The high-class restaurant on the west bank of the Kamogawa, the place that burned down completely in autumn of Taisho 13—a place Chiyo never spoke of willingly. Yui was about to say something. At that moment. A sound came. Outside the main hall. Multiple footsteps. Slow, but approaching steadily. The sound of feet on stone pavement. More than one person. Chiyo's face changed. " They've come." She quickly stood and grabbed Yui's arm, pushing her into the darkness at the back of the main hall. Behind a pillar, behind the thick cloth draped over the sacred wand. " You must not come out under any circumstances." She appealed with her eyes. Yui could only nod. Chiyo opened the main hall door alone. Yui held her breath and watched from behind the pillar. There were men

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Episode 4

Name: The Time Traveler of Kyoto: A Century-Old Bond Sleeping in the Ancient Capital
Author: Novelia

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