Several paper cutters stained with blood, a small bag of blades, a small iron hammer for smashing bones, and pliers for pulling teeth with the blade still wrapped in bloodied flesh, with pieces of light brown cat skin attached.
Beichuan Si flung the opponent's shoulder bag to the ground coldly, letting the tools inside scatter all over the place.
"This..." Magong Tong's lips trembled.
The cruel tools on the ground made her whole body tremble uncontrollably just by looking at them.
The seemingly harmless young man turned out to be someone who took pleasure in torturing small animals.
The white cat remained as it was, nestled in Magong Tong's arms, its pair of sapphire blue eyes as innocent and naive as a child.
It poked its head around, curiously and oddly observing this warm yet cruel world, not quite understanding why Magong Tong had such an expression.
The afternoon's slanting sunlight dispelled the winter chill, allowing a rare feeling of warmth.
But the icy voice of Beichuan Si, completely out of place in this setting, came through.
"Magong."
"...Yes!" Magong Tong shook with a start.
"Close your eyes for now."
"Ah...? Oh." Magong Tong was first taken aback, then tightly shut her eyes.
The sound of punching and kicking came through, and Magong Tong, following Beichuan Si's advice, kept her eyes tightly shut, not daring to breathe.
With her eyes closed, she could clearly hear Saito's pleading voice.
"No, it's not what you think!."
The sound of fists hitting a person didn't stop.
"If this keeps up, I'm going to die."
Saito seemed to have been kicked by Beichuan Si, letting out a groan of pain, begging for mercy, crying.
Beichuan Si's voice still didn't emerge, and at the same time, the dull thuds on the human body continued to be heard.
After a while, Magong Tong finally heard Beichuan Si speak:
"Get out of here."
A scramble of scuffling noises, accompanied by panicked footsteps, and everything around fell silent.
After a good while, Beichuan Si's voice came through again:
"All right, you can open your eyes now."
Magong Tong finally exited the tense state of holding her breath and opened her eyes.
The world still had its usual colors.
The slanted sun shone upon them, giving a feeling of warmth.
In Sakurai Park, a gentle breeze blew through, lacking any chill, and the cherry blossom trees swayed with it.
"That person just now won't do, let's find the next one." Unlike the increasingly warm weather, Beichuan Si's tone remained as cold as ever, and he looked back, unable to suppress a frown:
"Did I scare you?"
"No, not at all!"
Magong Tong stuffed the white cat back into the corrugated box, her hands hastily waving: "It wasn't Beichuan's fault earlier."
She really saw it clearly just now, and didn't expect that someone who looked so kind and gentle would carry so many tools for torturing small animals with him.
Compared to that young man with a warm demeanor, like a spring breeze towards others...
Magong Tong quietly glanced at Beichuan Si.
She would rather have a good relationship with Beichuan Si.
Magong Tong didn't know whether it was her illusion, but thinking like this, she distinctly felt the chilling feeling clinging to her dissipating further, making her feel warm all over—
This winter, unexpectedly, might not be particularly cold.
"Is that so?" Beichuan Si's expression softened a bit, nodding and asking, "Where is the next meetup with the online friend?"
"Wait a moment..." Magong Tong hurriedly took out her phone, glanced at the location on it, and said:
"Not far from here, at Cure Café."
Cure Café?
This was quite a coincidence, Cure Café was just the place he had been to earlier.
Most of the people inside were students, and students' thoughts were relatively simple, so they probably wouldn't encounter someone like that young man just now.
"Got it." Beichuan Si nodded and said, "Let's head over there quickly now."
He just wanted to quickly settle this matter, find a place to foster the white cat, and then go home.
It was getting late now, and leaving Beichuan Huili... and Shen Gu Mirai at home made him a bit uneasy as well.
"Okay, Beichuan." Magong Tong nodded obediently, quietly walking ahead to lead the way.
The two walked along this way until they were almost at Cure Café, when Magong Tong couldn't help but ask, "Um... Beichuan, may I ask you a question?"
Magong Tong was really curious.
Why could Beichuan Si tell at a glance that something was wrong with that young man? Saito had a kind and harmless demeanor, at least Magong Tong couldn't see anything strange about him.
"..." Beichuan Si was silent for a while, seeming to have already guessed what Magong Tong would say next, and said, "I have a very special ability, I can see things that ordinary people can't."
Beichuan Si turned his head, a dead light flickering deep within his eyes.
"See... things that can't be seen?" Feeling the compelling gaze from Beichuan Si's eyes, Magong Tong's voice became stammering. Even though Beichuan Si's eyes looked no different from usual, they brought her immense pressure.
Magong Tong suddenly had some realization.
Why had Shen Gu Mirai, Qian Xia Chiyuki suddenly sought out Beichuan Si?
It must have been because in the past, Beichuan Si had no interaction with these people, and now one by one they were approaching him, there was certainly something unique about Beichuan Si among them.
"No matter whether you believe me or not, Magong, I've already told you the truth. That person earlier was entangled with too much resentment..."
Beichuan Si recalled the earlier scene and shook his head a bit.
Although Saito appeared smiling, with a warm demeanor, in Beichuan Si's vision, he was shadowed by ten, no, more than a dozen resentful spirits transformed into cat spirits. That dark resentment rising made it impossible for Beichuan Si not to notice.
Twisted tails, black pus oozing from wounds on the cat spirit skin, the white eyes of the dead cats...
Beichuan Si thought he had been rather gentle in his approach, at least the other person was still standing.
Thinking this, Beichuan Si couldn't help stretching out a hand to touch the head of the white cat.
The little creature still looked as if it didn't know what had happened, seeing Beichuan Si touch it, it even extended its soft little paw to pat Beichuan Si's finger.
Beichuan Si neither got angry nor upset, his voice remained calm, "Let's go."
The two of them walked into Cure Café together.
...
What happened next was surprisingly simple. Through Beichuan Si's ability to see the dead aura, he clearly saw several cat spirits with golden auras entwined around the girl dressed in a delinquent style in front of him.
These cats had been euthanized naturally, each cat blessing this seemingly unreliable girl with dyed hair.
So good spirits carry a faint golden glow?
Beichuan Si looked at Magong Tong and saw that thin circle of flexible golden aura amidst a cloud of cursed black air.
Could that be as well...?
Beichuan Si raised an eyebrow, his thoughts quickly flowing.
But he soon abandoned his idea and tried to persuade Magong Tong.
After all, being able to meet such an owner was also lucky for the white cat.
With Beichuan Si's persuasion, Magong Tong hesitated for a while, but eventually entrusted the white cat to this girl named Takiyama Nanako.
Hopefully, she could actually treat the white cat well.
Magong Tong silently sent out this prayer in her heart.