Asada Senna filled Baishi Shū in with every detail she knew about the evil spirit.
When she mentioned that the culprit that took Mr. Nishimura's life was "Onryō", a kind of vengeful spirit that fed on human souls, understanding instantly dawned on Baishi Shū.
Even though Reimei Temple had only two rooms, it was complete with everything they needed. One of the rooms was made into a hall to enshrine Buddha, leaving the other to become their living quarters. The living quarters were further then divided into two sections, one of which was their bedroom while the other was the repository to store a plethora of ancient codes and records.
Baishi Shū knew the spirit. He had come across a particular title known as "The Records Of Demons And Spirits" when he was younger. It was a collection that recorded almost all of the demons and spirits that resided in Japan, and Onryō was one of them.
"Onryō" was not the name of a ghost, but the collective name of a certain group of spirits. Generally, it was a kind of depraved spirit that was born out of intense jealousy, wicked crimes, or a terrible grudge that twisted one's soul into pure hatred. They rarely stayed in one place and usually had their own sphere of action to roam around.
In normal circumstances, Onryō was not harmful to people. Only when they came into contact with something they had been obsessed with during their lifetime would they turn into the most vengeful, malevolent spirit, brutally torturing the living as they took their time to consume the living's soul.
Apparently, Mr. Nishimura had bumped into an Onryō on his way home after they parted ways last night. Perhaps something about him had triggered that particular Onryō's jealousy, so he met his demise.
Human beings were vulnerable when facing a demon or an evil spirit. Baishi Shū clutched his prayer beads so tightly that his fingers turned white.
His heart was flooded with guilt. If he had not gone to catch the last commute and had walked Mr. Nishimura home instead, things would have happened differently. Mr. Nishimura would not have died, and a family would not have shattered.
Unfortunately, there were no ifs in life.
"Don't be too hard on yourself, Baishi-san," Asada Senna consoled when she saw the guilt in Baishi Shū's eyes.
"Even a grand Shinto priest or a holy monk can't shield every one of their worshippers from this kind of unfortunate incident, however powerful they might be. There is bound to be some slip-ups, and the best they can do is give them a blessing charm and pray that no calamity will befall them," Asada Senna said before pausing. After a few seconds, she sighed and continued, "The world is moving too fast, and with our stressed-out urban existence, those who die not due to natural causes and those who hold too much wickedness beyond redemption will eventually transform into evil spirits and remain on Earth to terrorize the living…"
"Is there no Hell in this world?" Baishi Shū suddenly asked.
"There is Hell in this world," replied Asada Senna as she gave Baishi Shū a surreptitious gaze, "But it only exists in folklore. For us shrine priests and priestesses, Hell doesn't exist. We believe that if you are pious enough, your soul will return to the celestial realm or the Western Paradise, as you monks put it, and find peace in the arms of kami-sama or Buddha. Meanwhile, as for those who refuse to believe in that, when they die, their souls will either dissipate or turn into evil spirits…"
'So, there is no Hell here…' Baishi Shū sighed deeply.
Baishi Shū began to wonder about the probability of creating Hell himself, but he soon denied the thought, as that was impractical. After all, spiritual power was just a kind of power that could strengthen the wielder's body. It could, to some extent, perform miraculous deeds such as exorcising an evil spirit, but it was not omnipotent. It could not grant the wielder the ability to soar into the sky or the power to drill into the ground. As such, a feat such as hewing out a space for the soul of the deceased to enter so that they could be reborn only existed in novels.
Be that as it may, it did not mean that he was out of options. Mostly malevolent spirits were spawned in an excessively cold and dark place or a land full of grudge and resentment. All he had to do was alter the geological conditions like directing sunlight into those mentioned places to chase away the darkness and purge the resentment. This way, without the source of evil, the number of evil spirits would be greatly reduced.
As for how to do it… Baishi Shū had been revising the subject of geography recently. He found that usually a land filled with an unceasing grudge was related to the magnetic field, its latitude and longitude, and the amount of sunlight. Therefore, so long as he could combine the fundamental theory of the consecration of sacred tools and religious rite with geography, he would certainly find a solution to solve the problem. This was way easier than creating Hell himself.
Just when Baishi Shū rode immersed in his own thoughts, he heard a rumbling noise from his stomach. He rubbed his belly and turned to Asada Senna. "Do you have bento?"
Dumbstruck, Asada Senna replied, "Huh? What did you say?"
"Bento. I'm hungry. Don't they provide a meal for you since you guys assist them in investigating paranormal events?" Baishi Shū asked as he thought inwardly, 'Even a walk-in gets better treatment than them.'
Asada Senna was entirely robbed of speech. She could not follow his train of thought. One second earlier, he was grief-stricken and was asking about some serious stuff like heaven and hell. Then, seconds later, he did a U-turn and claimed that he was hungry.
'He really is an interesting guy…'
Asada Senna smiled and her eyes narrowed into crescents.
"Unfortunately, they don't provide meals for us. However, I can treat you to a bowl of ramen. I know a shop nearby that I think is pretty good."
"Well, lead the way then." Baishi Shū accepted the invitation happily.
The cost of living in Japan was exceedingly high. The price of a bowl of ramen was about 1,000 yen which was a month's worth of income for Reimei Temple. Needless to say, for a large shrine like the Yotsuya Suga Shrine where Asada Senna came from, a thousand yen was not worth mentioning at all. Therefore, Baishi Shū did not feel pressured about Asada Senna paying double for their dinner.
A few minutes later, a beautiful scenery appeared in a ramen shop somewhere in Arakawa City. The beautiful scenery was not referring to a monk having dinner with a miko, but to Asada Senna. This was because, since Baishi Shū still had to go to school during the day, he did not wear his usual robe. Besides that, he did not shave his head completely to the skin, so if he did not mention it, everyone would just regard him as an athletic student and not a monk from a temple.
After they filled their stomachs, Asada Senna suggested that they go for a walk around the street. It occurred to Baishi Shū that she rarely had the chance to come out from the shrine, so she wanted to make use of every chance she got to get her jollies.
Baishi Shū turned down her invitation. He was very certain that the reason she invited him for a walk was that she wanted somebody to help her carry her bag and stuff. That was just a woman's way to trick men into becoming their personal bag-carrying robot. He was not going to let her have her way. Besides, he had something more important to do. He had just chanted the "Diamond Sutra" four times today, so he had six more times left. He needed at least three hours to finish the remaining share to get six points of spiritual powers. Was it more important to help her carry her stuff or to get his six points of spiritual powers? That should not even be a question.
After he saw Asada Senna storm off, Baishi Shū found a nice spot in the police station and prepared to chant the "Diamond Sutra".
Before he started, Investigator Ueno asked, "Young shifu, you don't have a girlfriend, do you?"
"Yeah, what's wrong?" Baishi Shū replied.
'Does Investigator Ueno want to introduce his daughter or niece to me?'
However, before he could say anything, Investigator Ueno let out a laugh and walked away, leaving Baishi Shū dumbfounded.
He had no idea why Investigator Ueno would ask him that question, but he reckoned it was not the right time to dwell on something trivial like this.
He closed his eyes and began chanting the "Diamond Sutra".
The police station was open around the clock. He did not have another job tonight, and it was still early. Therefore, he continuously chanted the "Diamond Sutra" ten times and raised his spiritual power by ten points. By the time he finished the eleventh round, he felt refreshed. He looked at the clock and realized that it was already half past 11 p.m.
Asada Senna also returned to the police station with a lot of stuff in her hands. After she shoved everything they needed to Baishi Shū, they then departed for their destination. Her bag was heavy as it was filled with many paraphernalia that Baishi Shū could not name. It took him everything to suppress his curiosity and keep silent.
Their destination was an open space used to keep construction equipment. This kind of open space was not uncommon in Japan and would usually become a children's playground. However, with the development of time, it was harder to come across this kind of open space.
It was only when they arrived at their destination that Baishi Shū's curiosity was answered.
Asada Senna grabbed the bag and took out a camera.