Nagano City

Every time I opened my eyes, I was blessed with the beautiful sight of Yukimura. Her hair danced as the car moved, blowing in the breeze from her rolled-down window. It was a beautiful sight. Not as breathtaking as when I looked up from her lap, but still beautiful nonetheless. However, my spectacular view of Yukimura was periodically interrupted by someone’s inconsiderate snoring.

It was Rentarou. Every thirty minutes or so, he snored as if his life depended on it, and it wasn’t short either. Every time his mouth opened to release that voluminous snore, I debated shoving my fist down his throat. But if I did that, I’d be disturbing Hinako, who was sleeping next to her brother, seemingly not bothered by the snores in the slightest. So, to distract myself from Rentarou’s loud mouth, I began to look out the window like Yukimura was.

When I did, the first thing I noticed was that we weren’t on the highway anymore. Even at this hour, countless people lined the streets, treating themselves to the shops and eateries surrounding them. They varied in age, shape, and size; however, most of them wore smiles as they wandered the city with the others around them.

Must be nice… I wish I could take Yukimura on a date like this someday. I fantasized for a few seconds until I heard his dreadful snoring once more.

“Can you be quiet?” I couldn’t help but bark at Rentarou, but my words didn’t faze the pair. The only one who responded to them was Takeda.

“Oh, Shin, you’re still awake?”

“Yeah, of course I am. I don’t know how anyone can sleep through that snoring. But I have a better question: why are we here? I thought we were going to Shiga Kogen.”

“We are. I just wanted to take a detour to look at a familiar sight.”

I was going to ask what that sight was, but before the words could exit my mouth, I saw a gate, and it was as grand as it was ancient. Two fierce statues stood on either side of it, like they were protecting the gate from intruders. I knew where this gate led, too: Zenkoji Temple.

I used to go there a lot.

“We used to go there a lot.” Takeda’s words caught me off guard, as they replicated my thoughts. “Yukimura and I came here to pray every morning before she went to school. She was so adorable back then.”

“Really? I prayed at Zenkoji with my grandmother every Sunday, too.”

“Oh, you did? Maybe we crossed paths.”

“At the temple? I think I would’ve remembered that.”

“But it wouldn’t have been impossible, considering we all lived in Nagano a few years ago.”

“How’d you know that I lived there?”

Takeda chuckled at my reaction. “I had to do my research before the trial, Shin.”

My eyes drifted over to Yukimura to see her reaction to the information. However, as we were seeing and talking about Zenkoji and Nagano, Yukimura was facing the opposite direction.

She’s probably tired. It was a long car ride.

“So if you, me, and Yukimura all lived in Nagano, where did you meet the other two?”

“Oh, that sleeping pair? An Onmyoji entrusted them to me… after their family was killed.”