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“The hell are ya doin’!?”

I hurriedly stepped behind Rir and held down her arms. Then, while pinning them down so she couldn’t move them, I slowly peeled her hands off the statue’s neck.
…It kinda feels like she’s usin’ a lot more power than normal.

A few minutes later, I had managed to get her off the statue.

“Oy, Rir!!”

This wasn’t something she would normally do, and even supposing it was part of the prayer, she should’ve said something when I tried to stop her. More importantly, even after peeling her off, she didn’t move at all.

“Rir, what’s wrong?”

I peered at her face. Her eyes were empty, as if there was no one in there. Her expression was blank, save for some slight dread. Her cuteness and rich expressiveness were nowhere to be found.

Right now, it was as if she was staring into empty space with eyes like those of a dead fish. She didn’t even blink.

“Rir… Rir!”

I tried shaking her shoulders to get her out of this trance. I hoped that this might change something, that a strong enough impulse would fix it.

“Woof!”

Ten seconds later, Rir produced the same doglike bark she always used.
…Good, looks like that snapped her outta it.

“Rir, are you alright?”
“I’m… alright. Why do you have tears in your eyes, Shuu?”

Good… that’s really good. I was afraid I’d lost her again.
I just had that gut feelin’.

“Rir… earlier, you acted weird.”
“Eh… what?”
“You don’t remember?”

Is her memory still hazy?
For now, I told her what she had done and how she had acted afterwards.

“…I did that?”
“Yes.”

She looked at me with an expression of disbelief. Still, she gradually started to frown, as if she was remembering something.

“N-Now that you mention it, I feel like my consciousness grew dim while I was praying. I don’t remember anything after that.”
“I see.”

I was curious what happened there, but… for the time being, I was glad that she was fine.

“At any rate, can you even remove the head of a Jizou statue?”

To that simple question, there was one clear answer in my memories.

“Yep, you can. We once saw it with its head off. This statue, I mean.”

That happen quite a long time ago… before Ayumu shielded Mika from the glass shards. When Ayumu, Mika, and I were in the neighborhood, we discovered that, for some reason, the statue’s head was lying next to it.

It obviously scared me. But Ayumu just said, “we can’t leave it like this,” so the three of us lifted the extremely heavy head and placed it back on the statue.

Since a long time ago, there were always weird rumors about that statue, so I was scared we’d end up cursed if we left it like that. Though Ayumu probably just felt sorry for it and Mika went along with him.

Thinking about it now, this might be part of the reason Lord Jizou revived the two of them in Anazumu. It might also be the reason Kanata, Sakura, and I luckily ended over there.

“Woof~, to think something like that would happen…”

When I told her about my memories, Rir looked at me in understanding.

“Yep… more importantly, are you fine now?”

In reaction to my question, she touched her body in several places and tried repeatedly opening and closing her hands.

“It looks like I am.”
“Hah… that’s good.”

What a relief.

Maybe – assumin’ Lord Jizou is one of Anazumu’s gods – there was a reaction with Rir, since she’s originally from the same place. And then she ended up actin’ weird. Does that make sense?

…Right now, it doesn’t matter.

“Let’s go home for the day,” I said while standing up and holding out my hand to her.

We can start investigatin’ it from tomorrow on in Anazumu. Let’s ask Kanata for help and find out what happened.

Normally, Ayumu was the most experienced traveler in all things Anazumu, but he would be busy organizing the wedding of his acquaintances.

“You’re… right.” Rir didn’t take my hand and instead pulled me into a strong embrace. In this position, she rubbed her cheeks against me. “You were so worried, there were tears in your eyes. I love you, Shuu!”
“Eh, well, uhm. I didn’t wanna lose you again.”
“Awoo! Should we go to one of these hotels, after all? I want to offer you my body and soul.”

I avoided her crazy impulse with a “we can do that tomorrow without any rush.”
These hotels are seriously dangerous. I am… also in the mood to cut loose, but Anazumu is better suited for that.

“…Anyway, let’s go home.”
“…Woof~.”

Holding each other’s hand tightly so we wouldn’t get separated, we walked towards our home. For now, we decided to discuss it with everyone and keep Rir away from the statue.

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