Chapter 87: Divination in Step with the Times

"This... how can this be?"
The teacher, a young woman whose age was indiscernible beneath light makeup, stared in panic at the empty warehouse.
"No, I checked just yesterday—it was right here..."
Seeing her reaction, Qiao Qiao began to form a few guesses.
Through her spiritual sight, the warehouse appeared ordinary.
Yet in the spot where the anatomical model had once stood, a heavy residue of dark energy lingered.
Clearly, if the teacher was telling the truth, the human skeleton model had indeed been stored here until yesterday.
Its sudden disappearance must be the result of some supernatural influence.
"Ms. Yamada, please don't panic. First, contact the teachers and custodians in charge here—see if anyone moved the model,"
Ayano Fujiwara soothed the teacher.
Her spiritual sight, too, revealed the lingering miasma.
"There’s definitely something wrong."
Masato Kōdeki had already checked before; he now shifted his gaze toward the campus.
The exorcist responsible for cleansing the school a week ago was from the Nagoya Onmyoji Bureau—a veteran with six years of experience, who had assured them everything was in order.
Masato trusted the exorcist’s skills.
Had a second anomaly appeared in this brief interval?
Or was the evil spirit more cunning than they thought?
Deep in thought, a long-bodied pipe fox appeared beside him.
The creature glided through the air, swiftly reached the spot with lingering miasma, sniffed, then returned to Masato’s side.
"Go."
At his command, the pipe fox shot off like an arrow, vanishing between the walls.
How impressive.
Qiao Qiao marveled inwardly.
Such mastery over shikigami, carried out by a refined, wind-blown youth—it certainly scored high on style.
"It seems this matter is truly strange,"
Ayano Fujiwara adjusted her glasses, looking at her companions.
"But isn’t this all a bit too coincidental?"
Masato rubbed his chin.
It wasn’t just that nothing had happened the day before their arrival—it also included the previous incident at the aquarium.
Originally, Asano Ariko and her team had been assigned the safest, easiest mission.
Yet at the aquarium, they encountered the spirit-awakened seal; now, at the high school, they found themselves face-to-face with a revived evil spirit—one returned from the underworld.
From every angle, it was just too much of a coincidence.
In the world of the supernatural, coincidences are rarely good omens.
Masato fished a coin from his pocket.
Clink—
He tossed it, letting it fall onto the back of his hand.
"Hmm, it seems the evil spirit is still somewhere in this school,"
he mused aloud.

The series of actions piqued Qiao Qiao’s curiosity.
"Is that what’s called divination?"
"Indeed, divination within Onmyoji arts—it’s the most powerful of all exorcism techniques,"
Masato replied with pride.
"Legend has it that Abe no Seimei could pronounce life and death with a single word, predicting every event years in advance. Throughout history, the Onmyoji Bureau has seen many prodigies gifted in divination."
Masato didn’t mention a certain shut-in; everyone knew who he meant anyway.
"But isn’t Onmyoji a traditional Japanese art? Why use a coin toss?"
Qiao Qiao pressed further.
A coin toss always seemed so Western.
He had imagined Onmyoji would use counting rods or tortoise shells for divination.
"Onmyoji evolves with the times. The coin is simply the simplest divination tool—at the Tokyo Bureau, they even use computers for divination,"
Masato laughed.
"Still, Abe no Seimei advised his successors never to depend too much on divination. Those who try to control fate are ultimately consumed by it."
That sounded surprisingly modern.
Qiao Qiao raised an eyebrow.
On second thought, perhaps that was the essence of a true mystic.
But since they’d resorted to divination, perhaps spirit communication could work as well?
Qiao Qiao considered, then looked into the warehouse.

Buzz—
Time rewound to yesterday.
Late at night.
The human skeleton model still stood motionless in its place.
At midnight, a certain transformation occurred.
Qiao Qiao saw the model suddenly stir as if gaining life, struggling to stand upright.
Dark energy wrapped its entire frame, tendrils spreading like tentacles in every direction.
After scanning its surroundings, the skeleton model pushed open the door and left the warehouse.
The spirit communication ended there.
Yes, the model’s behavior confirmed it was possessed by an evil spirit.
Whether it was the same as before, Qiao Qiao lacked sufficient information to compare.
Yet the nature of this evil spirit reminded him of another—
the one at the Happiness Bakery.
Back then, Qiao Qiao had checked three times before discovering the hidden remnants of the spirit.
Initially, he’d thought it a unique case.
But now, comparing the evil spirit that revived after purification by a seasoned exorcist, perhaps this was a new variant?
Reflecting on the Kamaitachi incident and subsequent youkai cases, it seemed they were all generating resentful spirits across Tokyo to collect dark energy.
Could there be a connection between the incidents in Tokyo and Nagoya?
While Qiao Qiao pondered, the pipe fox returned to Masato’s side.
"Found it,"
Masato nodded, hearing the creature’s chittering.

So quickly?
Qiao Qiao was surprised.
He had expected a difficult, twisting investigation, with interviews and searches before pinpointing the anatomical model’s location.
Isn’t that how it usually goes in stories?
This shikigami seemed almost too convenient.
He wondered if the Bureau’s technique could be shared.
Come to think of it, many shikigami were once youkai—could a creature like Suzuka be transformed into one?
Qiao Qiao’s thoughts wandered.
"It’s in the old gym equipment warehouse,"
Masato glanced at the field, where another class had begun, apparently doing physical tests.
"Let’s have the students clear out first,"
Ayano Fujiwara instructed the teacher.
After the students returned to their classrooms, accompanied by Vice Principal Misawa, the group made their way to the old gym warehouse beside the field.
The school had a long history, founded in the Taisho era.
In other words, girls in kimono and boots once raced across these grounds.
The classroom buildings had been renovated several times, but the old gym warehouse remained untouched, preserving its Taisho charm.
It had begun as sturdy construction, but repeated missed opportunities for repairs had left it unchanged.
Now, the warehouse’s function had been replaced by the new gym storage; the old one survived only as a historical marker.
Naturally, there were no tales or anecdotes about this gym warehouse, the kind that often appeared in Qiao Qiao’s study materials.
At Nagoya Women’s University High School, however, the past two years had brought a surge of ghost stories about the old gym warehouse.
Stories of girls locked inside, their cries unheard until they starved to death, bodies discovered only once the smell alerted others.
Stories of a girl hiding a boy for secret meetings, only for an unaware custodian to lock the door, trapping them for a month, ending with them killing each other.
Such legends were countless.
Yet when Qiao Qiao arrived, he saw no trace of dark energy.
The ancient building exuded an aura of its era, but not a hint of evil.
It’s said that objects left alone for a hundred years can become tsukumogami. Calculating, from Taisho to now, it’s almost a century.
Qiao Qiao suddenly understood why the evil spirit chose the old gym warehouse as a hiding place.
No one came here regularly; it drew little attention, and the spirit, needing neither food nor water, could lie low in peace, never discovered.
More importantly, the old gym warehouse, steeped in history, had accumulated some spiritual energy. Before it developed consciousness and became a tsukumogami, this energy was the perfect sustenance for an evil spirit.
If Qiao Qiao were an evil spirit—
If he considered from the spirit’s perspective, weakened after exorcism and revived, he would surely choose a place rich in spiritual energy to recover.
Ayano Fujiwara and Asano Ariko quickly set a barrier around the warehouse, preventing the spirit’s escape.
Masato prepared to summon shikigami to investigate.
Qiao Qiao raised his hand.
"I have a plan."