The Occult Research Club's room smelled of old wood and dust.
Natsume casually pulled over a chair and sat down, calmly studying the "perfect" woman in front of him whose face was visibly tight with worry. Yui stood a little nervously behind him, sneaking curious glances at Haruno and Reiko.
Hiratsuka leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, brows drawn together. She felt that everything happening today had already gone far beyond what a humble schoolteacher should be expected to handle.
"Miss Haruno, can you tell me the details?" Natsume finally spoke, breaking the silence.
Haruno took a deep breath. The signature relaxed smile she always wore was completely gone. In its place were exhaustion and deep, genuine worry.
"It started last night," she said slowly. "Yukino suddenly started acting like a different person.
"During dinner, she lost control... out of nowhere. Her strength became terrifying. Two of the house staff could not hold her down."
"The most... exaggerated part," Haruno's voice carried a note of disbelief even now, "is that she jumped straight up onto the dining table and grabbed the grilled fish with her bare hands to eat it, like some wild animal. She was moving several times faster than she normally ever would."
Everyone in the room sucked in a sharp breath.
The girl who was always icy, rational, elegant, even borderline obsessive about cleanliness, Yukino... jumping onto the table and eating fish with her hands. Just picturing it made people's scalps prickle.
"After we forced her back to her room, she refused to sleep. She just curled up in the corner of the bed, like a frightened cat, her throat rumbling with these low sounds... and she watched each of us with wary eyes."
Pain flickered through Haruno's gaze.
"This morning, she refused to come out of her room at all."
"Before coming to you, we did ask Reiko and her sister to take a look," Haruno added with a bitter smile, glancing at Reiko beside her. "But even they could not figure it out. They only said Yukino's 'aura' felt strange. Reiko is the one who recommended you to me."
Natsume listened quietly until she finished. His index finger tapped lightly on the tabletop in a steady rhythm.
In his mind, the image surfaced of that icy girl in the Service Club room, always holding books about cats. The girl whose expression softened only when she spoke about them.
Loves cats. Suddenly stronger. Faster reflexes. Eating fish. Curling up like a cat to sleep...
The clues were already very clear.
"What is happening to Yukino right now is a spirit collision," Natsume said calmly, giving his diagnosis.
"Spirit collision?" Haruno repeated, confused.
"It is a very rare type of supernatural phenomenon," Natsume explained. "Simply put, under certain conditions, a person's soul and an animal's soul collide by accident and end up switching places."
He paused, then gave the conclusion that made everyone in the room stare in shock.
"The one occupying your sister's body right now is the soul of a cat.
"As for your sister's soul, it is most likely sitting somewhere inside that cat's body, not knowing what to do."
"A h-human and a cat switching souls?!"
This time the shout came from Hiratsuka, who could not take another word of it.
She straightened up and strode over to Natsume, face set in a stern frown.
"Natsume. What nonsense are you spouting? Do you have any idea what year it is? And you are still throwing around feudal superstition like this? Spirit collisions, soul swapping... you sound like a con artist."
As a teacher, she absolutely could not tolerate her student using something this absurd to mislead a worried family member.
"Hiratsuka sensei."
Before Natsume could respond, Haruno stepped forward and cut in, her expression suddenly sharper as she moved to stand between them.
"This is a family matter of the Yukinoshita household. Please do not interfere."
Her tone was polite and every word well chosen, but there was a steel in it that brooked no argument.
Hiratsuka was taken aback. She had not expected this always smiling young lady to be so forceful.
Haruno no longer looked at the teacher. She turned fully toward Natsume instead.
She had already hired several well known exorcists and spiritualists. One said Yukino was possessed. Another said she had snapped from stress. None of them could give a clear explanation that fit all of Yukino's behavior, much less a solution.
Only Natsume had done that.
He was the first and only one who could perfectly account for every strange thing Yukino had done.
That alone was enough for hope to flare again in the midst of her despair.
"Natsume-kun," Haruno's attitude shifted to one of unprecedented respect. She bowed deeply to him.
"Please forgive any rudeness on my part earlier. I have been frantic over Yukino's condition.
"I beg you, please help her."
She lifted her head, meeting his eyes.
"Would you... come to our home now and take a look at Yukino's situation?"