The Asagami residence sat within its own grounds: a spacious, L-shaped, single-story Japanese-style building. Only one floor, but far larger than ordinary homes—possibly bigger than a typical three-story villa.
Besides the living room, kitchen, bath, and toilets, there were seven rooms usable as bedrooms. In practice, only three were used—Fujino's, Miss Tama's, and Yūki's.
The house had originally been the main mansion of the Asakami head family (the "Asakami" written differently), later remodeled. The wooden corridors and the old wooden storehouse by the entrance to the courtyard still carried the quiet patina of age.
Only half an hour earlier, Yūki had told Fujino he'd left the hospital early and would return to school. To avoid worrying her, he didn't mention the murder scene or being questioned at the station with Shiki.
Fujino's texts had expressed worry and displeasure, but also a little excitement: she'd prepare tea and sweets and wait for him.
And, at the end of their exchange, Yūki had also casually told her that Shiki planned to stay another night.
…
Yet the moment Yūki returned and saw Fujino's neat packing—Shiki's small amount of luggage and school bag bundled together on the living room tatami—it was clear Fujino hadn't seen that last message.
"Fujino, it's too late—"
Before he could explain properly, Fujino nodded as if she understood.
"I see. Then, Miss Shiki can stay in the inner empty room as before—"
"No," Shiki cut in. "I'll sleep in the storehouse outside."
So that was it: if she didn't sleep under the same roof, it "didn't count."
Shiki really had thought it through.
But making a guest sleep in a storehouse was still—
"Shiki, stay inside. I'll take the storehouse."
"You just got out of the hospital. Stop showing off."
With that, Shiki gave him no chance to argue. She gathered her things and walked straight toward the old storehouse by the courtyard entrance.
The storehouse door wasn't locked. Miss Tama cleaned it regularly; it wasn't dusty and was reasonably clean.
Most of what was stored inside were items left behind after the Asakami family's bankruptcy—never properly dealt with after the previous head of the family (Fujino's biological father) died by suicide due to debt.
The storehouse was large enough that even with junk occupying two-thirds of it, the remaining space was more than enough to get through one night.
It was summer, and Yūki had other reasons to allow it—so he didn't stop her again.
"…Fine. The nights are okay this season. Which room was she using? I'll bring her bedding."
"No need," Fujino said calmly. "I thought Miss Shiki was leaving immediately, so while packing and tidying the room, I moved the bedding she used into the storehouse as well."
"…"
That speed. Fujino really had been raised by Miss Tama.
"Ah!"
As if remembering something, Fujino gasped. Yūki looked at her. She lowered her head, distressed.
"The tea and sweets… I didn't have time to prepare them."
On the other side of the courtyard, Shiki stood at the storehouse door, staring at the neatly prepared mattress and blanket, frowning.
…
…
…
At one in the morning, Yūki dressed quietly. After confirming Fujino was asleep, he rummaged a drawer, pulled out an antique short blade, and carefully tucked it inside his clothes.
Then, still uneasy, he pulled out another weapon from a different drawer—an extremely sharp, hiltless short sword. It was less than half the short blade's length, but it was made of pure gold; even thin, it had weight.
Yūki wrapped it tightly to his thigh with bands until it was secure. Then he slipped out of his room.
One trait of old Japanese houses was that they weren't as solid as city apartments, with so much wood in the structure. You couldn't just stomp around without sound—especially at night, when people slept on tatami.
Fujino, because she couldn't feel pain, was dull to such vibrations. But Miss Tama had always been uncannily sensitive—she'd catch Yūki whenever he tried to sneak out and would lecture him.
If Shiki stayed in the main house, Yūki had a feeling she might notice too.
He didn't like wandering at night. But now he had something he had to confirm.
He walked alone through empty streets for about twenty minutes and returned to where they'd found the corpse.
When he'd called the police, it hadn't yet fully darkened. Now six or seven hours had passed. Forensic work should have finished long ago. The body was gone, of course, and even the blood had been cleaned.
Only yellow tape sealed off the small blind spot.
Yūki strongly suspected Shirazumi Rio, but he couldn't fully rule out something like the "corpse demon."
Still, who it was didn't matter most.
What mattered was that when they'd found the corpse earlier, he'd heard the system's notification that Fate Power increased.
And now his remaining points had indeed risen to two.
He wanted to understand why.
Previously, Yūki had guessed Fate Power increased only with life-turning crises and hardships.
There should be a threshold—because even when his company had been forced to absorb losses due to failed negotiations after his Fairy Eyes weakened, nothing had happened.
But back then, he hadn't felt truly cornered.
If "seeing gross things" or "having to adjust plans" were enough, then in twelve years he should have gained far more than twice.
So even if it wasn't direct mortal danger, it had to be a crisis he could clearly feel.
Now, in less than a week after touching the "non-ordinary," he'd matched the total gains of the previous twelve years. If he could find the rule, he'd have more leverage.
That was why he'd returned here.
But after ducking under the tape, circling around, even climbing onto the convenience store roof with a box to inspect things… twenty minutes later, Yūki no longer felt nervous.
There was no corpse. No ghost. Once cleaned, it was just a trash corner between a store and a wall.
Nothing.
No reaction from the system.
Sighing, Yūki headed to the next location.
A grove north of the small park below the hospital where he'd been staying.
From information he'd quietly gleaned at the station, the first July murder scene—the one Shiki had witnessed—had been near here.
"It should be by this tree…"
-------
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