Honestly, I was caught off guard.
I hadn’t expected to find a link to the original story at this time.
But now that I knew the ghost in front of me was related to Sakamoto, the protagonist of this world, I couldn’t just leave things as they were.
Based on the information given so far, there was a high probability that she played a very important role in the story.
After assessing the situation, I asked the ghost, still struggling beneath me,
“Do you know the name Sakamoto Ryuji?”
At those words, the girl ghost’s movements stopped.
Then, with a trembling voice, she asked,
“…Who are you? How do you know that name?”
“I’ll just say I know him well.”“Answer me now!”
“Ugh!”
It was that power again.
No matter how hard I tried to move, my body wouldn’t budge, as if trapped in solid ice.
In the meantime, she slipped out from under me, grabbed the photo in my hand, and swung her right hand.
Ice sprouted from all around the room, trying to bind my limbs.
But each time, maybe because of the yang energy surrounding me, the ice evaporated instantly, emitting white steam.
“Argh! This!”
Frustrated, the girl ghost gritted her teeth.
A white blizzard swept through the room.
The overwhelming yin energy began to freeze my hands and feet for the first time since I had taken the red pill.
About five seconds later, as I regained movement and reached out to subdue her, she retreated, exhaling a white breath.
Instantly, my right arm was enveloped in white frost.
It felt as if even my bones were freezing.
With a cold expression, she advanced her icy fingernails towards me, who was immobilized by the ice, and asked,
“Answer me! How do you know Ryuji’s name?!”
“Kim Yu-seong!”
“I’m okay. Just give me a moment, Senior.”
I calmed Senior Fuma, who looked ready to rush in to save me, and then focused on the girl ghost in front of me.
White hair and blue eyes.
An uncommon combination of colors—why hadn’t I noticed it before?
Maybe it was because of my preconceived notion of her being a demon.
I took a moment to catch my breath before answering her question.
“To tell you the truth, Sakamoto Ryuji is a classmate of mine.”
“……”
“I had no idea you were related to him until I saw the photo just now. The guy with the spiky orange hair is the only one I know.”
“Then why did you come here?”
“Your power is so strong that people mistook you for a demon. We’re not the first to come to this mansion, are we?”
Then, the girl ghost hesitated before nodding her head.
“I’ve chased a few people away before.”
“That’s exactly why we came here.”
“……”
Realizing the sequence of events, the girl ghost fell silent.
Then she muttered resignedly,
“How foolish.”
The blizzard inside the room stopped.
The ice covering my arms and legs quickly melted away.
I rotated my still-cold wrists and asked,
“Why the sudden change of heart?”
The girl ghost answered,
“It all just felt trivial, that’s all.”
She said that and sat on the bed.
“Leave the house now. Then I’ll forgive you for this.”
I realized that the ghost in front of me was quite insincere.
Perhaps a tsundere vibe?
“Are you okay? Kim Yu-seong?”
“Yes. I guess because of the medicine, I don’t have serious injuries. And you, Senior?”
“I’m fine too, except for the ribs I hurt earlier.”
“…Isn’t that already a serious injury?”
This person had a strange definition of a serious injury.
Anyway, since the mood for fighting was gone, we decided to return to the village.
Although we didn’t accomplish our initial goal of subduing the Snow Woman, there was no longer any reason to fight since she turned out to be a normal ghost, not a demon.
Feeling like uninvited guests who suddenly intruded on someone living well alone, I was about to leave the room with a bitter taste when a thought struck me.
“Do you want to come with us?”
“What?”
The girl’s eyes widened in surprise.
Senior Fumanext to me was equally startled.
But I continued, undeterred.
“Since you’re bound here as a spirit, if you’re lingering due to some attachment, wouldn’t it be better to go to Tokyo rather than stay in such a place where no one comes?”
If you’re waiting for someone, it would be faster to seek them out first.
“…Okay.”
The girl ghost agreed after a moment of silence.
“I’ll follow you. What should I do?”
Hearing her words, I looked at Senior Fuma next to me.
“How do we proceed, Senior?”
Senior Fuma pressed her forehead as if troubled.
“How am I supposed to explain this situation once we get back to the village…?”
I definitely feel sorry about that part.
The conclusion was simple.
Either make the girl ghost my familiar, or possess her.
However, since making a soul that eventually needed to achieve enlightenment a familiar posed various risks, I chose the latter option.
“This is all possible because of you, Kim Yu-seong. Normally, it would be out of the question.”
“Yes. I understand.”
Senior Fuma said that she possessed an amount of yin energy that a normal person’s body couldn’t handle.
She speculated that in her lifetime, she probably had a unique constitution called the Nine Yin Terminal Meridian.
Unlike having extreme yang energy, which wouldn’t cause major issues to the owner’s body, the Nine Yin Terminal Meridian was like an incurable disease that pressed down the yang energy inside the body, leading to an early death as one ages.
Ordinary people couldn’t withstand such yin energy that leads to death, but luckily, having an extreme yang body constitution, it seemed I was unaffected.
Ultimately, great yin energy would be subdued by greater yang energy.
“It feels like my body has become lighter.”
As the girl ghost murmured this and examined her body, Senior Fuma, wiping the sweat beading on her forehead, said,
“Of course. Originally, as a bound spirit to this mansion, you would have had a strong aversion to leaving it. But since we forcibly severed that connection and linked you to Kim Yu-seong, you now have freedom of movement.”
“Hmmm~”
The girl ghost hummed and nodded her head in agreement.
“Let’s head back to the village then. If we don’t hurry, we might miss dinner.”
“Shall we?”
At my suggestion, Senior Fuma nodded and started to lead the way down the stairs.
Following Senior Fuma down the stairs, I asked,
“By the way, what’s your name?”
“Me? Why do you ask?”
“I can’t keep calling you ‘hey’ or ‘you’ all the time.”
The girl ghost floating behind me then said with an easygoing expression,
“I’ve forgotten my name.”
“What?”
As I asked if that made any sense, the girl ghost replied as if a bit wronged.
“It’s true. When I first opened my eyes, the only things I remembered were the faces and names of my loved ones.”
It seemed I’d have to give her a nickname.
I glanced at her white hair.
“How about Shiro (White)?”
“That sounds too much like a dog’s name.”
“Then how about Shirogane (Platinum)?”
“…I’ll just pick one myself.”
Apparently, my naming sense wasn’t too good.
After pondering for a moment with her arms crossed behind me, she said,
“Call me Saya from now on.”
She said so and gave a slight smile.
After returning to the village, we reported the results to Senior Fuma’s grandfather.
“So, the entity in that mansion wasn’t a Snow Woman, after all?”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
As Senior Fuma bowed and said this, her grandfather, who had been silent, looked at Saya floating behind me.
“I’m sorry for the misunderstanding that led us to send people there. I apologize on behalf of the entire village.”
“It doesn’t really matter to me. They were all weak anyway.”
“Hmm.”
Possibly stung by the remark, Senior Fuma’s grandfather, with a somber expression, closed his eyes, then lifted his head and spoke.
“This mission was entirely our village’s mistake. However, you completed it admirably despite that, so it is only right to reward you for your efforts.”
Senior Fuma’s grandfather said this and suddenly lifted a tatami mat beside him.
“Grandfather!”
Senior Fuma, surprised, looked on.
“This is a book detailing our family’s secret martial art, Swift Wind. I’ll give you three days; if you want to steal its contents, try to do so.”
I respectfully received the book with both hands from Senior Fuma’s grandfather.
“Thank you.”
The fatigue accumulated throughout the day seemed to dissipate just by looking at this book.
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