radicalducati 33. They stole away their former "daughter".
33. They stole away their former "daughter".
Natsume Fanyu stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, his posture still casual, as if he were waiting for a train that was long overdue.
But his eyes weren't.
Those double-returning, deep brown pupils were now locked onto the crack in the sky above Tokyo Bay with a focus that was not "casual."
Few people in all of Tokyo could see the crack.
Radar can't detect it, satellites can't photograph it, and even the deities enshrined in shrines for hundreds of years might not be able to sense it.
It wasn't an evil spirit, a ghost story, or a fetal deity—a being stuck in the gap between the present and the afterlife.
It is something much older.
It is something that even the "Da Luo Dong Guan" can only see as a vague outline and cannot penetrate to its core.
It's the kind of thing that, if He were to actually cross that rift and appear in the world, the balance of Yin and Yang in the entire Tokyo would be shattered in an instant.
"Okusan".
Natsume Fanyu called out in his heart.
The eight-foot-tall lady was behind him, watching him the whole time.
From the few seconds he stood silently by the window, my gaze never left him.
Because his aura when he's silent is completely different from his usual demeanor.
Normally he is nonchalant, composed, and has a nonchalant air that makes you want to bite him.
But when he actually starts thinking about something, that nonchalance will recede from him like the tide going out.
What was revealed was a focus that made her spirit instinctively tremble.
At this moment, that focus was spreading outward from the depths of his pupils.
[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: 10 ...
"You felt that crack too, didn't you?"
Lady Hachi's gaze passed over his shoulder and landed on the empty spot above Tokyo Bay.
She couldn't see the crack.
That was the unique perspective that "Dairaku-kan" gave to Natsume Bonyu.
But as his "shikigami," she has been nourished by his power to this day.
Therefore, one can vaguely sense the existence of that crack.
The eight-foot-tall lady nodded and slowly said:
"I can only vaguely sense it..."
"Like an ancient well that hasn't been opened for a long time, someone is at the bottom and starting to climb up."
"It's not just about climbing up," Natsume Fanyu said calmly.
"They're looking for a door."
The spirit of the eight-foot-tall lady trembled slightly.
"Is He very strong?"
"What if I told you that Miori was simply the complete being He exhaled with His first breath? What would you think?"
The eight-foot-tall lady paused for a moment.
The weave was born from this crack.
Not only can she survive and travel through any gap, but she can also establish one-way channels through her name, and even embed her existence into the concept of "gap" itself.
Such an inconceivable ability, if it were merely the complete being exhaled from the first breath of that crack...
What exactly is that being within the crack? Just how powerful is it?
Natsume Fanyu continued:
"That crack existed before the shrine, before the ritual, and before the name of the ghost story, 'Gap Woman'."
"The weave comes out of Him as a baby comes out of the birth canal."
"That's why she can exist in any crevice—not because she chose the crevice, but because the crevice chose her."
"She is the direct descendant of that primordial rift in the present world."
The eight-foot-tall lady remained silent for a long time.
"So you took her into the Spirit Realm not just because she's suitable for mending those cracks."
"Yes." Natsume Fanyu did not deny it.
"Also because whatever's in that crack will come looking for her sooner or later."
"He has waited for her for too long. A 'mother' who has waited for too long will not be satisfied with just taking the child back."
"He will pull every person, every ray of light, and every name she encounters along the way into the crack."
"As the interest of breathing alone during the years she was gone."
When Madam Bachi heard the word "interest," she suddenly understood.
Natsume Fanyu's act of taking Maori as a shikigami is ostensibly a recruitment, but in reality, it is a declaration of war.
He took the daughter of the crack into his spiritual covenant.
It's like drawing a new boundary between that crack and the real world.
The border reads:
Want to take her back? You'll have to get past me first!
"Are you confident you can win?" Madam Bachi asked.
Natsume Fanyu finally turned away from the window and looked at Madam Hachisho.
He stood with his back to the gray-blue sea and the crack that was still breathing slowly, a casual smile still playing on his lips.
The words spoken are always so reassuring, yet they also make one's legs go weak:
"Don't worry, Okusan."
"A mere remnant of the past can't stir up any trouble."
"His appearance in the world is the beginning of his complete demise!"
"We don't need to think about Him too much; we have other things to do now."
Morning Light has completely taken over this penthouse apartment located in Minami-Azabu 4-chome, Minato-ku.
The Tokyo Tower outside the floor-to-ceiling windows glowed with a pale red light in the sunlight.
The crack on the sea surface was still slowly spreading, but He couldn't cross it yet.
But no one in Tokyo knew that on such an ordinary weekend morning...
A man who is gradually getting deeper into a battleground has just snatched away the "daughter" from a being powerful enough to shake the balance of Yin and Yang.
He also gave his "daughter" a name.
Now, he is getting ready to go home.
Back to that small office, less than twenty stories high.
Natsume Fanyu glanced at Ogata Mayuko.
She was still standing in front of the dressing table, holding his business card in her hand, her bathrobe belt tied meticulously.
But her bare feet and the bed behind her that hadn't been made yet.
This adds a touch of alluring softness to the sharp edge of this legal queen.
"Ms. Ogata..." Natsume Fanyu began.
"Regarding the investigation of that shrine, if you find any clues related to the 'name being erased,' do not delve any further; contact me directly."
Mayuko Ogata's finger paused for a moment on the edge of the business card.
"You suspect the other person is still around."
"It's not a doubt," Natsume Fanyu said.
"It's confirmed."
He did not elaborate further.
Mayuko Ogata did not press the matter further.
The two looked at each other for a moment in the morning light, then simultaneously looked away, without needing any further explanation or assurance.
"I'll be careful," Mayuko Ogata said.
Natsume Fanyu nodded, then turned his head and looked at Jianzhi.
She had withdrawn from Ogata Mayuko's consciousness and returned to her most familiar place—the crevice.
"Interweaving".
He called out to himself in his heart.
The slender, jade-white figure silently slipped out from the crack in the mirror and landed on the bedroom carpet.
The morning light shone on her, giving her skin a porcelain-like sheen as if dyed by the morning glow.
At the same moment, Lady Hachi's gaze shifted and landed on Maori.
Two spirits.
She was three meters tall, so voluptuous as to be almost sinful, every curve of her body a silent invitation.
A delicate, jade-like figure, so exquisitely crafted it's almost unreal, like a meticulously sculpted, breathing doll.
They gazed at each other silently for a second in the morning light, then simultaneously turned their gazes to Natsume Fanyu.