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“Good morning, everyone! There’s a reason we called you here.”
“I’m sure you wouldn’t have if there wasn’t one, Bro.”

It was the following day, and Mika and I had called the others first thing in the morning. Shuu and Rir likely had a lot of fun yesterday, seeing how close they were glued to each other. Mika and I obviously also had our fill and acted affectionately. Even Sakura was hugging Kanata’s arm. Indeed, none of us three couples didn’t act somewhat clingy.

Why, I don’t have to time to be thinking about that.

“Well, we called you here since something catastrophic happened just yesterday.”
“Huh… what did you and Ayu-nii do, Big Sis?”
“You didn’t turn traitor to the country, did you?”
“Not at all, we didn’t do anything, alright? This is about the evil god.”

The expressions of everyone who’d just been joking turned serious. Especially Shuu, who’d once witnessed Surtr killing Rir, was wearing a rare, puzzled look. It couldn’t be helped.

“So, what exactly happened?”
“Nothing has come from it yet… I’m not sure how to put it. In any case, let me tell you what we did yesterday.”
“Alright.”

________
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_

“…Seriously?
“Yes, seriously.”

Shuu was giving a strained smile while he was sweating bullets. From his look, he still seemed to be hoping that we were playing a prank on him.

“…I mean, I did assume there was some connection to the Jizou statue. To think it was containing such a secret.”
“No way, was Rir seriously on the verge of bein’ possessed back then!? That was a close call…” Shuu commented as he drew his girlfriend closer. “I ain’t gonna let that happen again.”
“Woof…?”

The wolf girl seemed to have question marks over her head for a moment, but then narrowed her eyes, likely in satisfaction at being pulled close to her boyfriend.

“But didn’t you, Mika-nee, and Shuu tell us some time ago that the head of the statue was removed, Bro?”
“Exactly. And then this man in black started showing up, messing with us.”
“…Hm~.”

Kanata was thinking. Meanwhile, Rir raised her hand to ask something.

“To begin with, I haven’t even the slightest idea why that statue was placed there. You mentioned some history behind it, but what exactly is it?”
“The statue reminds of the mysterious appearance of a samurai’s son,” Kanata explained. “It is said that it was donated by a passing sculptor, several years after the boy’s disappearance.”
“Several years later… and they never found the child?”
“Apparently.”

“What a sad story.” Rir’s ears drooped dejectedly. But they immediately stood up again and she continued with another question. “But why would some passerby donate a statue… a Jizou statue? Moreover, one with such a dangerous item from this world in it.”

“Oh, you’re thinking of the same, Rir?” Kanata wondered.
“Woof, There’s only one conclusion.”

Huh, are those two suddenly on the same wavelength?

Still, they weren’t wrong. A man suddenly appearing and putting down a Jizou statue filled with something dangerous was awfully suspicious. In the very place someone disappeared… a stranger later delivered an item related to Anazumu.

Thinking of it, it was pretty much like a kidnapping when Sages were summoned. And when it happened, they were erased from any records and memories. But back in the era when Jizou statues were placed around Japan, the disappearance of a single child wouldn’t have been that unnatural. It would have been easy to adjust the story. Even without erasing the memories of people.

I get it, that’s the conclusion those two reached.

“So, what you’re trying to say is that the one who brought the statue… was the son who disappeared?”
“You got it, Bro. It looks like everyone did.”

When I looked around, I had to agree with him. I thought I’d figured it out right after Kanata and Rir, but it looked like we all got it at the same time. How disappointing.

“But why would he look like an adult if only a few years passed?” Sakura asked. “It wasn’t like that with us.”
“Well, it’s hard to say in our case since only a few months passed, but if gods can freely adjust things like they please, as they did with Rir and Mr. Mitsuo, it doesn’t seem that impossible.”

It took us only a few minutes of discussing yesterday’s events to make so much progress. It was the right call to rely on my brother, he just kept surpassing me.

“In that case, is the man wearing the black hood also a samurai?” Sakura wondered. “He keeps saying nonsensical things.”
“Nonsensical…? Oh, I get what you mean. It’s too early to tell, but we can’t rule out the possibility. He could also be the evil god.”

It was fun to see them come to their interpretations. Being able to leave everything to a gifted younger sibling wasn’t a bad thing.

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