When I opened my eyes, it was already dawn.

Seeing Anko on the pillow, Zonggu thought he was still in a dream.

Just seeing her shivering and huddled up, he quickly woke up.

"バカ..."

(ba ka)

Zonggu sat up, covered her with the thin quilt, and looked at the alarm clock next to her. It was still three or four minutes before six o'clock.

Turning off the alarm clock, he sat and watched her for a while, wondering when she sneaked over.

Get up, go downstairs, and wash up.

After preparing breakfast, he returned to the room upstairs. Hongzi was lying on the tatami, seemingly still in the same posture as before.

After changing into the clothes he was going to wear when going out, Soya walked over to Hongzi and squatted down, touching her cheek with the back of his hand.

She closed her eyes, her eyelashes trembled slightly, and her breathing was soft and inaudible.

After looking at it for a few times, his hand dropped again, his fingertips picked up the shoulder strap of the black tank top, and pulled it down a little.

"..."

Her breathing quickened for a moment, and no matter how hard she tried to control it, she could no longer maintain her calmness.

His fingertips brushed across his smooth shoulders, "Can you do that?"

Hongzi opened his eyes and knocked his hand away.

"……satyr."

Lifting up the shoulder strap, she turned over and faced away from him. After two seconds, she pulled up the quilt and covered her head completely.

"Breakfast is ready." Zong Gu stood up, "If you want to continue sleeping, you should go back to your room. She will wake up at any time."

When he walked to the door, Hongzi pulled down the quilt, his face turned red from holding back.

"I want to have breakfast."

Returning to the restaurant downstairs, Zonggu sat down and took a few bites, and she came over quickly.

Breakfast was simpler than usual, consisting of a piece of fried salmon, a boiled egg, a plate of vegetable salad, and a few pieces of steamed pumpkin left over from last night.

"When did you come here?"

"...I don't know, I didn't check the time."

"It's really suspicious. He didn't do anything to me."

"No!"

Tuk-tuk, knocking twice on the table, Zonggu peeled the boiled eggs.

Starting from the broken point, the eggshell disintegrated piece by piece, and soon only the nearly perfect-shaped egg white remained.

Hongzi watched from across the dining table, chewing a vegetable salad, and he peeled the eggs and handed them over directly.

"Thanks……"

He hooked his fingers and she handed him another egg.

"Don't come to me today." Zonggu continued to peel the eggs, "And don't let her come here."

"oh……"

"The weather is very hot and I am very busy."

"I understand." Hongzi nodded, biting down half of the egg in one bite.

Breakfast continues.

Sogu was in a hurry and finished his meal quickly before heading out.

"See you tonight."

"Um……"

Hongzi came to the entrance and sent him out, "Be careful on the road."

After putting on her shoes, Zonggu turned around and smiled at her.

"I'm going out."

When we arrived at the station, an eastbound tram pulled into the station.

Soya got on the train and got off at Notogawa Station after two stops.

Although the distance was very close, this was his first time here. He opened the map and checked the location of the local police station, and hurried towards it.

More than ten minutes later, Soya successfully found Notogawa Kouban, and then found that he was the first spiritual awakener to arrive.

But the police in Jiaoban arrived early.

In other words, the police on duty here last night haven't changed their shift yet.

"Need help?" One of the policemen noticed him and yawned as he came out, "Did you lose something? Or..."

"No, I was sent by the agency."

Zongya took out the agency's black card and proved his identity to the other party.

"Oh, it turns out they are from 'over there'... I thought they were all witches." The policeman looked at him and said, "Come in, you came early enough."

Soya followed him in, "This is my first time coming to the Noto River. I'm not familiar with it, so I came here early."

Another police officer inside asked: "So you are the one on duty here today?"

"No, I'm standing guard on the street."

"That's really hard work..."

After chatting with the two listless policemen for a while, Soya's colleagues came over one after another as the morning sun gradually rose, and they were all miko.

The spiritual person in charge of the interrogation today is a miko named Ayumi Moriyama. She is very young and looks like a high school student, no more than the second grade at most.

"Please give me more advice..."

More than a dozen spiritual awakeners got to know each other, and as the only male, Zong Gu received too much attention.

"Yoshiaki Sotani...that's a really nice name, just like your face. I seem to have seen you somewhere before, no, I must have seen you. You were sent by Rurikoin Headquarters, right?"

"It's a pity..."

"Hey...then which shrine do you belong to? You can't be a monk, right?"

"Fuun Shrine in Nosu Town."

"Fuyun Shrine? This name sounds a bit familiar..."

Another young miko next to her thought about it, "Last month at Mount Ibuki, it was the eldest lady of Fuyun Shrine who killed the evil spirit, right? His name was Sugawara... Sugawara..."

"Sugawara Kyoko." Soya added, not mentioning that he was also present at the time, or even personally killed the "evil spirit" person.

"Yes, it's Sugawara Kyoko! I remember that in April, she seemed to be the one who killed that peerless evil spirit with one arrow..."

"That's right."

He smiled and said, "The eldest lady of our shrine is amazing."

After chatting for a while, after everyone arrived, Moriyama Ayumi stumblingly explained some scheduled matters to her colleagues, and then asked them to deploy in their respective areas of responsibility.

The area Soya was assigned to was in the Noto River Central Park area, opposite Noto River Middle School, and on the other side of the middle school was the local city branch office. There were not many residential buildings nearby, which was a good thing for him.

At least that seems to be the case for now.

After walking two blocks and arriving at Central Park, Soya found a bench and sat down.

Some people were walking their dogs, some were jogging, and there was also a primary school student who came to the park early in the morning to catch beetles. He was wearing his own clothes and looked no different from ordinary citizens.

If it is a miko with very distinctive appearance, it will be different. It will attract some people's attention...

Zong Gu thought, and soon received the first dispatch of the day, from the agency.

"Mr. Sotani, there is a spirit entity in the Notogawa Museum that destroyed the facilities in the museum and then escaped. Based on the direction in which it escaped, it is speculated that it may be fleeing towards your area. Please help intercept it."

"I understand. Any more specific location information?"

"No."

Zonggu stood up, took a breath, "Copy that."

Hang up the phone and walk out of the park. According to the map, the Noto River Museum is at the other end of the main road between the park and the middle school. If the fleeing spirit does not change direction midway, it is indeed most likely to escape to his side.

.

Arriving at the intersection, Zonggu scanned the pedestrians, looking for spirits that might be mixed in among them.

Without other information, he couldn't even be sure whether the spirit body would escape here, so that was all he could do.

Not long after I took my seat, another call came in, from Ayumi Moriyama who was in charge of Notogawa Kyoban.

"Sotani-san, there is a spirit entity causing trouble in Lingen Building. The situation is urgent. Please go over there now."
To be continued...