I gazed out of my bedroom window into the starless night.

“A demon… is pretty bad, isn’t it?” I asked the girl inside my ring.

“They are certainly not to be trifled with… They exclusively hunger for humans, it would seem. Perhaps they desire to regain the humanity they had lost through the living?”

“Ain’t that extra bad?”

I rested my chin on my palm, tapping the side of my face with my index finger.

“Yuki-san, what do we do?”

“There is not much to do. If it shows itself, then we have to be ready to deal with it. If it does not, then we have not much to worry about.” She answered with her usual tone.

“If it doesn’t appear here, that just means it’s running amok somewhere else, doesn’t it?”

“You and I are in no state to do anything about that. The main issue at hand is ensuring your safety.”

…

“Aren’t there any measures we can take, like, at all? I can’t just sit here with my thumb up my ass…”

“Hmm… I reckon there is one thing.”

Yuki-san directed me to my father’s old room.

It was more of a coop than an actual room anybody would willingly live in. It felt like it was harder to breathe in this room compared to anywhere else in the house. The scent of all the attributes within had yet to fade.

“Check the drawers, young Kumagawa-sama.”

And so I did.

“The one by your knees.”

I pulled the drawers open. Inside were sheets of paper with nigh-illegible text written on them, which I could barely make out as spelling the word “barrier”.

“Those are talismans. They can be used to ward off demons and the like. The paper acts as a vessel to contain a spell placed on it. It is a convenient way to cast magic and have it remain active without the caster being in the vicinity. Take a few, young Kumagawa-sama.”

I followed her command.

“Okay… so do we just tape them around the neighborhood?”

“Not the neighborhood. Come, boy.” She instructed me out of the house.

Slipping on my shoes, I followed Yuki-san’s directions. She led me to the shrine right across the street.

The stairway that led into the shrine was guarded by a singular chipped wooden gate. Its ominous shadow loomed overhead as I made my way into the shrine proper.

I turned on my phone’s flashlight as I made my way up the stairs, so that I wouldn’t trip.

Though it had only been a short while since my old man passed away, the place was overgrown with vegetation, which made me suspect he never really took good care of it in life. Vines had slithered up most of the structures and moss grew from between the creases in the stone walkway.

Off to the left of the stairs was a Chozuya. The holy water within had turned sludgy and brown. No sins were being washed with this. Beyond the Chozuya were several dimmed, mossy stone lanterns which led further into the complex.

At the very end of the shrine complex stood the oratory hall with two dull and worn-out dog statues guarding the entrance, as well as a dilapidated offering box in between them. The statue on the right was missing an ear and had a large crack going down from the left side of its neck to its right paw. Its companion was in no better condition either, as moss had grown on its pedestal and a spider had made its lair in the crevice between the dog’s body and its base.

In broad daylight, the place would probably look like a shrine that had simply seen better days, but under the shroud of night, the place was the perfect setting for a PS1-style indie horror game. As if they were an omen of spooks to come, the hooting of owls accompanied me on my midnight pilgrimage.

“So, Yuki-san, where do we tape these thin-“

Before I could finish my sentence, the sound of scurrying feet and the knocking over of stones froze me in place, jolting every muscle in my body. Once I had regained my composure, I took a deep breath before inspecting the source of the noise. I whipped my flashlight back and forth before focusing on the point where I thought the noise had come from.

Two glowing yellow beads stared back at me. It was like predator staring down prey, though it was hard to say which was which, as we were both frozen in place.

The difference though, was that the other party was a cat with fur as dull and matted as lint. At a first glance, the cat did seem to grin like a certain Cheshire feline. However, on closer inspection, it was just a patch of fur around its mouth. There was nothing to be frightened of.

I let out a sigh.

“Scared me for a second… Turns out it was just a damn cat.” I said as the animal scurried away.

Without any warning, Yuki-san came out of the ring.

“W-what’s wrong? Is something there?” I asked as I did a frantic 360-degree scan of the area.

“Good evening to you too, Minori -sama.” She spoke.

I stared, perplexed, at Yuki-san who seemed to be speaking to thin air. I strained my eyes in the direction she stared to see if some figure would pop up like last time.

“As you can see, we are very busy… No, it is not something you can help us with, not in your current condition at least. The most you can do is to keep your eyes open.” She continued to speak.

“Umm, Yuki-san…” I tapped her on the top of her head, as her shoulders were too low for me to reach comfortably.

She turned towards me.

“Ah, pardon me, young Kumagawa-sama. I was simply talking to the Kami of this shrine.”

“Kami?” No matter how hard I looked, there was nothing there.

Yuki-san let out an “ah” as if an epiphany had struck her.

“It appears that you are still unable to perceive her. You will in due time, however, so no matter. She is a Kami of harvests, though she has not much going on for her as of the last few decades. As you can see, this is a suburban neighborhood and not a ricefield. It was one in the past though.”

“Umm… so can she help us?” I said, still straining my eyes.

“I am afraid not. Like myself, much of her power was supplied by Genzaburou-sama through his prayers, despite not owning a farm. And like myself, she is no longer the Kami she once was. I am afraid that she will be of no help to us. No offense intended towards you of course, Minori-sama.”

“Huh…” It was all so hard to grasp.

“That all being said, Minori-sama. We would like to replace the talismans Genzaburou-sama placed. I am afraid that they have lost their protective power.”

Yuki-san stepped towards the door of the oratory hall. There was a sheet of yellowish paper with faded text written on it.

“How are the donations fairing? Do you think we can upgrade to wooden talismans? They last considerably longer than these flimsy sheets.” She said as she tore the old talisman off of the door.

She reached onto the back of the talisman we brought from home and pulled off a thin transparent film from it, before sticking the talisman onto the door.

 “Is that so? Quite a shame, though it is to be expected.” She said as she stepped away from the building.

Yuki-san and I walked around the shrine, placing several talismans all around.  

The talismans projected a force field of sorts, which could not be passed through by certain spirits. Apparently, the shrine was conveniently built more or less at the center of the whole neighborhood, so it was the best place for the talismans to go if we wanted to cover the neighborhood efficiently. The force field the talismans projected, however, were invisible, or at least to me.

“That should do it.” Yuki-san said as she placed the last talisman onto a tree at a corner of the shrine.

“So… we’re safe, right?” I asked.

“Yes, I believe we-“ Yuki-san stopped mid-sentence.

Her eyes shot wide open, focusing on something in the distance, and her mouth twisted into a deep frown.

I didn’t dare to turn around and see what it was she so intently glared at.

“I had not considered that…”

“Yuki-san, what’s wro-“

“Run, boy! Head back to the house!” she yelled out, her voice cracking in sheer distress.