On the cliff, Hattori Heiji was cautiously eyeing the rope in his hand, then glancing at the solid tree trunk beneath him.
After a moment of hesitation, he muttered, "I'll go up first."
...Based on what he knew about Anonymous, she didn't seem like a bad person. But it wasn't exactly like she was a paragon of goodness either.
The memory of Naoko panicking and fleeing had really stuck with Heiji. So, he thought it was best to be cautious.
He didn't want them climbing up only to find Anonymous hiding with a stick, waiting to knock them off one by one, or worse—cutting the rope halfway up. That'd be a little more efficient than throwing rocks at people.
…
Hattori tugged on the rope and began climbing.
When he reached the top, he was a bit surprised to find that there was no one around. Anonymous was nowhere to be seen.
That caught Heiji off guard, and he couldn't help but let out a quiet sigh of relief. Encountering a mysterious enemy in this remote mountain, with two teammates who were already out of sorts—now that would have been terrifying.
But now it seemed like Anonymous just wanted to help them and had no other agenda.
The person who had spooked Naoko into fleeing earlier might've been someone else entirely.
It was possible it had been Anonymous, but Naoko might have just misidentified her—after all, that tattoo under Anonymous's eye could've looked like a scale in the dim light…
Hattori started to make some useless guesses, but the whole situation was still full of unknowns.
Without any more answers to be had, he instinctively turned his head and glanced at the reference book resting against the tree below.
Unfortunately, the book seemed to be in full-on "autistic mode," offering no solutions.
Heiji sighed and mentally tucked away his thirst for the truth. He'd wait until Jiangxia and Kazuha were brought up, then go back to reasoning with Kudo. Maybe they had some useful evidence…
With that in mind, Hattori called down, "Come up, I'll pull you guys."
Kazuha exchanged a look with Hattori before nodding toward Jiangxia, who had just snapped out of his "meditation."
"Go ahead, you go up first," she said decisively.
Although Jiangxia seemed to be more alert now, this was still a dangerous situation. If he slipped halfway up the cliff in his daze, there was a chance he'd drag someone down with him...
Hattori and Toyama Kazuha all had the same thought. Hattori subtly gestured toward Jiangxia.
Kazuha understood immediately.
She grabbed the rope, tied it tightly around Jiangxia's waist, and knotted it securely to prevent him from slipping off the mountain. The last thing they needed was for Jiangxia to see Naoko's body on the rocks below and have some emotional breakdown, letting go of the rope in guilt. That would be a disaster.
Jiangxia, for his part, couldn't quite figure out what was going on as she tied the knot.
Does this "off" state really look that bad? He thought. Next time, I'll choose a more suitable expression when I "off" myself.
But Jiangxia didn't make any mistakes during the climb—he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible so he could spread out his murderous reinforcement clay.
Toyama Kazuha watched him climb to the top with relief.
Then she grabbed the rope that Jiangxia threw down and smoothly climbed after him. Having practiced Aikido for years, she wasn't about to trip up now.
As the sky darkened, the trio made their way back down the mountain and headed toward the place where they were staying.
Once they reunited with the other three companions, Hattori Heiji quickly called the police and informed them about the tragic fall of Naoko.
But, thanks to the relentless wind and waves at sea, the police weren't able to get there right away.
The villagers attempted to head into the mountains to search for the body, but almost no one could find their way to where Naoko had fallen. No one could remember the route around the cliff, so they decided to wait until the next morning to search properly.
The high school students were on edge, but they had no choice but to head back to the hotel for now.
Though everyone was anxious, it was clear that their worries weren't quite the same. After all, the reasons for their anxiety weren't identical…
Jiangxia, for his part, calmly returned to his room, locked the doors and windows, and pulled out the mermaid with eager anticipation.
—He'd kept his promise, and the fish was now officially his.
The mermaid gave him a sideways glance at his luggage before turning away, wiping the corner of her mouth with restraint. She didn't seem particularly opposed.
One person and one ghost made a silent agreement and signed a contract.
Jiangxia pierced his own tattoo and let a drop of blood fall onto the mermaid.
As soon as the two made contact, the blood boiled and spread across the mermaid's body, finally stopping at her waist to form a strange "Z" shape in the flower-like design.
This time, the tattoo space reacted much more dramatically than before, like a giant droplet of water splashing into a bowl. The energy churned and swirled for a while before it finally settled.
It wasn't just the mermaid that had changed. The other ghosts were also affected.
—The ghosts of psychic masters typically share resources equally.
But Jiangxia's other ghosts weren't powerful enough to independently control the puppets, so they were relegated to being hangers or templates within the puppet clay.
The mermaid was the only one who could control a puppet on her own.
Unfortunately, now that the contract had been signed, the energy was distributed more equally, which meant the mermaid had lost her ability to act independently.
On the bright side, the other ghosts had all been slightly strengthened. Now, they could support the puppets in making some small movements.
Although they couldn't do it for long, it would help alleviate the "off" state Jiangxia was experiencing.
Jiangxia, eyeing the ghost with his personal mark in front of him, rushed over to hug her and try his hand at controlling her.
However, as soon as they joined hands, the mermaid shrank visibly before his eyes, eventually becoming the size of a regular ghost.
She floated past Jiangxia and toward the ghost mint, rubbing herself against it with a look of contentment.
Jiangxia: "..."
He turned and poked the mermaid, "Change back."
The mermaid, still holding the ghost mint, slowly turned around. She shifted her tail away from Jiangxia's poke and refused.
Jiangxia: "..."
This new ghost doesn't seem to play well with others.
He could probably force her to change back, but the ghost mint in her arms would definitely be destroyed.
Jiangxia sighed and then suddenly remembered something.
He turned his head to look at the Tengu.
Tengu: "Σ(°△°|||)︴!!"
Jiangxia tugged at its wings, thoughtfully. "You're also a demonized ghost. Mermaid can shrink, so why can't you grow bigger?"
The Tengu began to sweat. It really didn't have that function...
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 32/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*