At Osaka Suminoe Police Station, Asu Toshifuku massaged his temples with a headache.
“Grant Ogawa and Tano Toru one month of administrative leave each. Tell everyone to keep their mouths shut.”
“Yes, sir!”
After issuing the orders, Asu Toshifuku heaved a heavy sigh, then stood up and put on his jacket. He drove his police car to the intersection that had caused Ogawa and Tano Toru’s mental breakdown.
The intersection had already been cordoned off with police tape. The surrounding officers repeatedly greeted Asu Toshifuku as he arrived.
“Chief.”
“Hmm.”
Nodding absentmindedly, Asu Toshifuku walked to the center of the cordoned area and stared at the ground where a faint human face seemed to emerge from the pavement.
Although he had already seen photos and mentally prepared himself, witnessing it in person still made the veteran policeman’s eyelids twitch uncontrollably.
“Have we contacted Tennoji?”
“Yes, the head priest of Tennoji is already on his way.”
Asu Toshifuku nodded and ordered the dispersal of the curious office workers and students gathering around. Then he went alone to a nearby coffee shop.
Evil spirits?
The unfamiliar yet familiar term surfaced in his mind. As a police officer, Asu Toshifuku had naturally felt scornful toward such concepts in his younger years.
But with age, experience, and exposure to certain incidents, he gradually stopped firmly denying the existence of ghosts and deities.
Instead, it became an unconfirmed question in his mind.
Asu Toshifuku wanted to solemnly declare to the world that ghosts and deities didn’t exist, but some things truly couldn’t be explained with current methods.
He had never told anyone that he himself had experienced a supernatural incident.
Back when he was still an assistant police inspector, he had worked on an extremely gruesome dismemberment murder case. The crime scene had made even the young officers vomit repeatedly.
Asu Toshifuku was among them. The moment the coroner found the hearts of the wife and daughter inside the stomach of the murderer—the husband—particularly shocked him.
However, what made Asu Toshifuku remember this case so vividly wasn’t the horrific crime scene, but what was in the bedroom.
The wife’s decapitated head, placed calmly at the center of an eerie ritual array, wearing a bizarre smile.
During the investigation, a senior officer had suggested they visit Tennoji Temple to cleanse themselves of bad luck. Everyone went except him.
He believed that as a police officer, believing in such supernatural nonsense was shameful. This incident had offended that senior officer.
Afterward, Asu Toshifuku encountered various strange occurrences.
The curtains that seemed to hide someone but revealed nothing when pulled open. The unexplained noises and sound of breaking porcelain that frequently came from his living room.
At first, Asu Toshifuku thought rats had gotten into his house. That was until his ex-girlfriend tried to strangle him, and the door wouldn’t open no matter how hard he kicked it.
Most chillingly, not long after, his ex-girlfriend smiled just like that eerie severed head before slitting her own throat in his home.
Asu Toshifuku was truly understanding for the first time the inexplicable side of this world that science couldn’t explain.
“Chief Asu.”
“Ah? Chief Priest Soumei, please have a seat.”
Snapped out of his reverie by Chief Priest Soumei, Asu Toshifuku hurriedly invited the stern Tennoji chief priest to sit.
Instead of sitting, Chief Priest Soumei shook his head slightly and looked toward the intersection cordoned off by police tape outside the window.
“This matter is quite troublesome… Let’s go take a look.”
Hearing this, Asu Toshifuku stood up and accompanied Chief Priest Soumei to the edge of the scene.
Staring at the eerie human face on the ground, Chief Priest Soumei’s brow furrowed tightly, and his aged, slightly narrowed eyes widened unusually.
Asu Toshifuku noted the change in Chief Priest Soumei’s expression and couldn’t help but feel nervous. After all, the terrifying supernatural incident he had encountered before had been resolved by this priest with just one ritual ceremony.
“Is it serious?”
Chief Priest Soumei didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he removed the Buddhist prayer beads from his wrist, took out a jade disc from his inner pocket, and began chanting an exorcism incantation.
“By this invocation! I call upon all gods and enlightened beings! Bind the demons and subdue the evil! Eliminate all malevolent spirits! Swiftly, as decreed by law!”
Crack.
As soon as the incantation ended, the sound of shattering jade came from Chief Priest Soumei’s hand. Asu Toshifuku instinctively turned to look.
He saw Chief Priest Soumei struggling painfully for a moment before tremblingly releasing the jade disc.
Asu Toshifuku’s gaze involuntarily followed the falling jade disc. Where it had broken, a darkness that seemed capable of devouring everything had seeped into what should have been a flawless white jade.
“Chief Priest Soumei!?”
Chief Priest Soumei raised his hand to indicate he was fine, his expression grave as he stared at the evil, increasingly clear smiling face on the ground, which now seemed on the verge of revealing distinct facial features.
Chief Priest Soumei took a deep breath and turned to his assistant.
“Nagasaki, bring the items.”
“Yes!”
The assistant promptly turned and went to the car, returning with a bag of exorcism tools.
Shedding his initial sternness, Chief Priest Soumei moved with solemn focus, taking out a Shimenawa and a mini Torii that had been blessed and worshipped.
“Toshifuku, have the police secure the perimeter and contact the nearest construction team.”
Asu Toshifuku was taken aback.
“Construction team?”As Chief Priest Soumei and his assistant unfurled the Shimenawa, he explained, ‘There are times when we cannot expel evil spirits, only confine it here to prevent it from entering our world.'” But confinement can eventually be broken, so we must adapt. We’ll have the construction team build a statue here to prevent others from coming into contact with it.”
“But… I don’t have the authority to interfere with the Road Bureau…”
“No matter, I will explain it to the Metropolitan Police Department and the Road Bureau.”
Asu Toshifuku nodded upon hearing this. Understanding the severity of the situation, he immediately began making arrangements.
Within half an hour, the construction team arrived at the scene and, under Chief Priest Soumei’s guidance, began casting a Three Wise Monkeys Statue in the middle of the road to suppress the evil.
Just as things were proceeding methodically, a subordinate rushed to Asu Toshifuku in a panic.
“Chief, something major has happened at Shiraishi Mountain!”
The subordinate then reported the situation at Shiraishi Mountain to Asu Toshifuku. Overhearing this, Chief Priest Soumei’s face suddenly changed.
“Lead the way!”
Seeing his subordinates frozen in place, Asu Toshifuku immediately roared.
“Are you deaf?!”
About ten minutes later, Asu Toshifuku and his group arrived at Shiraishi Mountain, the site where the Qingshi Gang had held their illegal midnight racing event the previous night.
The moment they arrived, Abbot Soumei saw what even ordinary people could clearly perceive – the darkness engulfing the entire business vehicle, and hair spreading everywhere like lichen.
With just that one glance, Abbot Soumei suddenly became paralyzed with shock, his voice unavoidably trembling.
“Call Kyoto…”