The trail led us into the old woods.
Sayo walked ahead, feet silent on the frost-covered leaves. She never hesitated, even when the path twisted or vanished entirely. She said nothing for hours—just pointed once, toward the narrow bend in the trees.
That's when we saw it.
A mansion. Or what remained of one.
Its gates had long since collapsed. Ivy strangled the wooden beams. The roof sagged like it had given up long ago. Wind whistled through open spaces where the walls had once been.
And yet something inside still breathed.
***
Inside, everything was frozen in time.
A tea set lay shattered on a low table, the cups still dusted with ash. A scroll hung crooked on the far wall. Footprints trailed through the dust, too large for Sayo, too fresh for ruin.
Rin moved ahead of us.
She froze in the doorway to the main hall.
"Tatsuya," she whispered.
He sat in the center of the room, legs folded beneath him, eyes open—but not seeing. His katana lay across his knees, untouched. His face was thinner. His skin pale.
"Tatsuya," Rin said again, voice trembling.
He didn't respond.
"Is he—" I started.
"I don't know," Rin said. "But he's still breathing."
I stepped forward—
And the thread snapped.
It didn't just pull—it screamed. A soundless shiver through my spine, through the air, through the bone of the ruined manor.Then the room trembled.
Shadows peeled off the walls.
Shikigami.
They crawled from the cracks, slipped from the ceiling beams, rose from the floorboards like smoke.
Masks of bone and ink, faces carved in expression too human to be real.
***
The first dropped from the ceiling like a spider, hissing.
Rin raised her charm and shouted a word I'd only ever heard whispered. A pale light burst from her hand and split the shikigami midair. It's mask cracked—not shattered, but weakened.
More came.
Six.
Then then.
Then too many to count.
Sayo moved before I could.
She stepped in front of Rin, raised her bare hand, and sliced it through the air like she was tearing silk, the nearest shikigami froze mid-leap—its limbs caught an invisible strand. Its mask bent inward.
Collapsed.
The others screamed in unison.
I drew my blade. The air was thick with power, it hurt to breathe.
One rushed me—I dodged, barely, and cut upward, catching its shoulder. It stumbled, and I saw the thread again. Dozens of golden lines stretching from me, from Rin, from Sayo, pulsing like veins.
Each one flickered as we moved.
Each one led into the shikigami.
They were feeding on us.
No—worse.
They were mirroring us.
A masked one lunged at Rin and threw its arm wide—too wide—and from its hand bloomed a charm identical to hers.
Her spell hit it, and it absorbed the impact—reflected it back, distorted.She gasped and dropped to one knee.
"RIN!" I shouted.
Sayo stepped forward and grabbed Rin's shoulder, her fingers glowing faintly.
"I'll anchor her," Sayo said. "You move."
Another shikigami charged, its mask black with ink. I spun, slashed low—it dodged, unnaturally fast.
But I remembered Genzo's voice.
"What part of you remembers how to fight?"
So I stopped thinking.
I let my body move.
Time hitched.
I saw it strike before it landed—just a flicker—and I was already sidestepping, already cutting deep into its ribs.
It burst apart in smoke.
Across the room, Rin stood again.
Her charm blazed—not white, but crimson, pulsing with anger.
She raised it like a blade and cut the air, and a wall of energy shot forward, blasting two masks off their hosts in a single burst. Her breath caught, her knees buckled—but she didn't fall.
She was remembering, too.
I turned to see the last few shikigami circling Tatsuya. Still unmoving. Still kneeling. And then one charged.
Too fast.
Too close.
I shouted, ran—but it reached him first—
And he moved.Not like before. Not like panic.
He stood like a blade unsheathing itself.
His hand gripped the katana. His eyes snapped open—black with something older.
The mask lunged.
Tatsuya struck.
The blade didn't just slice—it split the moment. The air rippled. Time cracked like a mirror. The shikigami didn't die—it unmade. Vanished like it had never existed.
The remaining spirits screamed.
And fled.
***
Silence returned all at once.
Tatsuya stood breathing hard. Sword lowered, eyes blinking slowly as if surfacing from deep water.
"I was somewhere," he whispered. "But it wasn't now."
Rin stepped forward. "You're here. You're back."
He looked at her, confused. Then at Sayo. Then at me.
"Who…?"
I caught him before he collapsed.