[Comprehensive] Natsume Reiko's trip

After an hour's train ride, and climbing up a mountain that is inaccessible, the Hakozaki family's house finally appeared before Reiko's eyes.

This is an old house soaked in time. The outside is surrounded by wooden fences, and a rather large courtyard can be seen from the gaps. Behind the courtyard is a double-storey Japanese-style building like an ancient aristocrat.

Because there were no pedestrians nearby, Reiko put Qianmian directly on her shoulder: "Is this the place? It's really spectacular."

"Yes, this is where the master lives." Qianmian tried to raise his head, looking at this familiar yet unfamiliar building, with a little melancholy in his eyes.

Reiko is not good at interacting with humans, let alone making surprise visits to strangers' homes, but her strong desire to meet "someone who is also visible" finally overcomes her resistance to the unknown.

She took a deep breath and knocked on the door of Hakozaki's house.

After a while, footsteps came from the other side of the door, and a boy who looked about the same size as Reiko opened the door, showing a bewildered expression the moment he saw Reiko.

The boy's expression was a little stiff, and he seemed to be the type who was not good at getting along with people. He tried to squeeze out a smile, trying to make himself look friendly: "This is Hakozaki's house, I don't know who you are looking for?"

Reiko also showed a smile, but Reiko, who is used to "smiling", naturally has a more natural expression on her face than the boy: "Is Mr. Hakozaki there? I accidentally got his notebook buried in Yahara Forest. So I want to ask him something."

"I remember you, you are the master's son, Master Hayato, right?" the person standing on Reiko's shoulder interrupted suddenly.

At this moment, Hayato noticed the little paper figurine on Reiko's shoulder, and looked at Reiko again: "Are you also a person who can see?"

Reiko's eyes widened slightly in surprise, and then she replied calmly: "Yes, I can see monsters, and this time I came to visit because of Senmen's matter. My name is Natsume Reiko, can you tell me your name?" ?”

Now that we're all the same, there's no need to lie to each other anymore, right?

"Hayato Hakozaki, the successor of the Hakozaki Ichimen Demon Eliminator." The gloom on Hayato's face dissipated a little, he opened the door, and turned sideways to let Reiko in, "My father is completely invisible now, and his body is not very good. Well, I hope you don't get your hopes up too much."

"No." Reiko shook her head, "I never have expectations for humans."

Hayato paused, looked at Reiko's smile, and was speechless for a moment.

The inside of Hakozaki’s house is just like its appearance. It’s surprisingly large, and the winding corridors make it hard to tell the difference between east, west, and north. People who come here for the first time may get lost if they don’t have someone familiar to guide them.

Hayato took Reiko to a reception room and poured a cup of tea: "Please wait here for a while, I will go and ask my father if he intends to see you."

The steaming tea showed Reiko's amber eyes: "Okay, sorry for the inconvenience."

After the sound of Hayato's footsteps disappeared at the end of the corridor, Reiko put Senmen on the table, rested her head on her arm, and her expression became serious: "Chino, there is some strange smell in this room, although it is very vague. , but I always feel like I’m being watched by something.”

"I didn't feel anything special, but Reiko is the most powerful human being I've ever seen, maybe she can feel something that we can't detect."

Looking at the high roof, Reiko could feel that there was something like a barrier surrounding this ancient house, but outside the barrier, she always felt enveloped by something, if I had to say it, it was something like a black cloud Bar.

It seems that Reiko's senses have become more and more acute since she began to plunder the names of monsters and create a book of friends.She can vaguely feel that there is something called spiritual power or demon power flowing in her body, and it is escaping to the surroundings at an extremely slow speed. This is probably the reason why some people will gradually lose sight of it.

In addition, she can gradually detect the aura emanating from monsters, and the situation where monsters and humans were always mistaken in the past rarely happened again.

"Father promised to see you, you can go to the study with me." After a while, Hayato brought back Mr. Hakozaki's reply.

Reiko silently followed behind Hayato, looking at the corridor here.

Various spells were affixed to the secret place of this ancient house, which should be the source of the enchantment.But why be so cautious?Including Hayato opening the door for her, I always feel that this family is guarding against something.

Hayato brought Reiko to a wall: "This is an 'invisible study'. Only the owner inside opens the door or the guardian lets the entrance open, and people outside can enter."

Guardian?

Reiko looked at the youkai standing by the wall in a white kimono with a mask showing only half of its face.This is a very beautiful monster, with slightly curly water-blue hair that grows to the waist, half of its exposed face has a gentle expression, and it nods to Reiko friendly.

"Up." Qianmian's voice came from Reiko's ear.

This is the "drawer"?In Mr. Hakozaki's notebook, it was recorded that he has terminated the contract with him, why is he still here?

"This is you, father's former shikigami. But even if the contract is terminated, you still don't want to leave." Hayato found that Reiko's eyes were always on her, so he explained.

"Die, open the intersection and let us in."

She bowed to Hayato, and moved two steps to the side, the white wall behind her instantly turned into a door.

A thin middle-aged man in his 40s and [-]s, wearing a pair of glasses, sat in the middle of a table full of books—this was Mr. Hakozaki.

"Master..." Qianmian's weak voice echoed in Reiko's ears accompanied by complicated emotions.

What will Mr. Hakozaki say after seeing Senmen?

Do you feel guilty for your actions, or do you feel that nothing matters?

Mr. Hakozaki pushed his glasses, and looked at Reiko with kindness: "Your name is Natsume Reiko, right? I never thought that my notebook buried in the Yahara forest would be picked up by someone who could also see it. I wanted to destroy those studies at the beginning, but I was still reluctant, so I buried them there... Ahem, probably this is also a kind of fate."

While talking, Mr. Hakozaki coughed lightly, his face was a little pale, and his body really looked very bad.

Reiko moved her lips, felt the sad breath of Qianmian on her shoulders, and decided to seek an answer.

She held the paper doll-shaped Senmen in her palm, and stretched it out in front of Mr. Hakozaki: "I came here to bother you today because of Senmen—the paper doll you once made, Mr. Hakozaki, and it wants to ask you something."

"Master, why didn't you use me back then? Obviously I was created in your expectation, why did you throw me away? I was caught in that book all the time, I was so lonely!"

Qianmian's small body was kneeling upright in Reiko's palm, and his lonely and sad voice slowly lingered in the room, lingering around Reiko.

But Mr. Hakozaki didn't answer. He just looked at Reiko's palm and showed a puzzled expression: "Is this paper figurine called Senmen? It...was made by me? Sorry, I don't have any memory."

Qianmian's simple face can't express all kinds of emotions like human beings, but at that moment Reiko really felt Qianmian's grief-stricken emotion.

It is a youkai born in the expectation of its master, and came to this world to fulfill its master's wish.

Even if it is finally caught in a notebook and buried deep in the ground, the owner must have his own reasons, right?

What is that reason?If you know, you can leave with confidence.

Because, if it is no longer needed, it means that the wish has been fulfilled, doesn't it?

But, but ah...

How could the owner just forget its existence like this?How could this be!

If so, why create it?

"I'm sorry, father can't hear the voice of monsters anymore. Besides, father suffered from hysteria not long ago, so he will suddenly forget something..." Hayato's face showed guilt. Find a shikigami who can fight side by side, but who can more or less understand the feelings of some people and monsters.

Reiko once thought that maybe Mr. Hakozaki would say "no more need" indifferently after learning about Senmen, or he might let him leave after apologizing, after all, Senmen was originally an abandoned existence.

However, Reiko didn't know that things would end like this.

If she had known earlier, Reiko would not have brought Qianmian here.

"Senmen... Senmen..." Mr. Hakozaki rubbed his chin and began to mutter to himself, "I seem to have mentioned this name, why on earth... On! On? Where are you? On!"

Mr. Hakozaki suddenly showed a panic expression on his face, and then called out the name of Shikigami loudly.

He quickly entered the study room, hugging Mr. Hakozaki's head: "Master, don't worry, I'm here, always."

But his voice could no longer be conveyed to Mr. Hakozaki, just as Senmen's thoughts were forgotten by Mr. Hakozaki.

"Father...he has been in a bad spirit since he couldn't see at all, and this house seems to have been targeted by monsters recently, and there has been a bad atmosphere lingering around, so it must have become like this..." Hayato was sad Looking at the scene in front of him, this kind of scene is clearly in the same room, but can never see the other party.

"You? Come out, you! Didn't you agree to be together forever? Why did you leave me and go away?" Mr. Hakozaki sat on the ground, looked around blankly, and called Shikigami's name.

With an extremely sad expression on his face, he hugged his master quietly, unable to do anything.

Close at hand, but so far away.

This is the relationship between invisible people and monsters.