If Ayato had noticed the three youkai from the very beginning, then did that mean he had originally organized the Test of Courage because of them? Was his goal to help the three of them?
"What?! You weren't the ones who knocked me out?!"
At that moment, Arataki Itto suddenly shouted from a distance, his face turning pale as though he had seen a ghost.
"That's right, it wasn't us. We were scared away by you back then too. Don't you remember?"
The child wearing a kappa mask scratched his head in confusion.
"Boss!!" ×N
Just then, the members of the Arataki Gang came shouting as they ran over and threw their arms around Itto, nearly knocking him over.
"W-Wait—! What's wrong?! Calm down!"
Their sudden movement startled Itto into yelling again.
"There are ghosts!!" ×N
"Ghost flames!" ×N
"And... spirits!" ×N
The group clung to him while shouting nonstop.
Their cries drew the attention of everyone nearby, including the Shogun and the others.
"D-Don't be scared. Calm down, c-c-calm down—!!"
Even as he said that, the one most frightened was clearly Itto himself. His face was deathly pale.
"Haa... How noisy."
The Shogun could not help muttering.
"Huh? Ghost flames? Spirits? I don't remember us setting up any mechanisms like that."
Miss Kitsune scratched her head in confusion. She had absolutely no memory of those unfamiliar things.
"It seems there are still things left unexplained beyond just you three."
Ayaka glanced at Miss Kitsune, resting her folding fan beneath her chin as she murmured.
"That's been troubling me too. Before this, I clearly sensed that someone had tampered with the mechanisms we'd already set up, but I could never find the person responsible. They're extremely good at hiding. Even if I try to search with youkai power, they can somehow break through it in reverse."
The kitsune sounded thoroughly puzzled and troubled as she explained.
As expected. So that was it.
There was still someone else hiding in this forest... Whether that person was truly a ghost or spirit aside, their unpredictable behavior alone made them somewhat dangerous.
On the other side, Arataki Itto was still yelling, perhaps because he had not yet recovered from the shock.
Tap, tap...
A figure gradually emerged.
It was Shikanoin Heizou.
After stepping out, he looked at Itto with a speechless expression.
"You're so loud. Keep this up and you'll scare away even the ghosts."
He could not help scolding Arataki Itto.
"Uh... sorry."
Itto immediately shuddered and covered his mouth. People from the Tenryou Commission cast something of a nightmare-like shadow over him.
It was all that Kujou tengu's fault!
"..."
Heizou gave him a sidelong glance, then walked directly over to the Shogun and bowed respectfully to both her and Ayaka.
"Shogun-sama. Miss Kamisato."
Ayaka gave him a slight nod in return...
"Heizou, how is the investigation going?"
The Shogun asked with concern.
"I have a lead. Shogun-sama, please come with me."
Heizou gestured for her to follow.
"...Understood."
She nodded, then glanced around at the situation nearby. After thinking for a moment, she ultimately turned toward Ayaka.
"Ayaka..."
She called softly to the person beside her.
"Please give your orders, Shogun-sama."
Unlike her usual intimate manner around the Shogun, Ayaka immediately straightened and stepped forward with practiced grace until she stood before her. She held her folding fan horizontally in both hands, lowered her eyes, and responded with the formal courtesy of a subordinate.
"Tell everyone present what just happened. During this period, do not allow anyone else to enter the forest, lest they encounter unforeseen danger."
The Shogun issued the order in the manner befitting the Raiden Shogun. Even so, her tone toward the girl instinctively remained gentle.
"As you command."
Ayaka bowed her head.
Her elegant voice carried a firm resolve, while her ice-colored eyes had lost their usual softness and turned cold and focused.
This was Ayaka while carrying out an order.
It was also the only truly icy side of her.
"!"
The little kitsune nearby stared blankly at Ayaka's profile.
The Shirasagi Himegimi looks so cool right now...
That was her first thought.
"Mm... Let's go."
The Shogun nodded in satisfaction, then gestured to Heizou, who was waiting beside her, for him to lead the way.
"Yes."
Heizou nodded and set off first, with the Shogun following.
Along the way, they passed Kaedehara Kazuha. She deliberately avoided looking at him so things would not become awkward, but he noticed her anyway. His gaze shifted toward her, and after a brief moment of surprise, his expression became complicated.
...
...
She followed Heizou all the way to the central clearing of Chinju Forest.
Along the way, she deliberately looked for the young shrine maiden from before, but unfortunately there was no sign of her. Perhaps she had moved to another location, or maybe she had not appeared this time at all.
Had something happened?
Or had she also been affected by the matter involving the ghost?
The Shogun did not know.
But that was not important.
What mattered was that at the place where the shrine maiden should have appeared, red writing had been added to the familiar noticeboard.
It was glaringly conspicuous, clearly intended to convey some kind of message.
"The third item... a hagoita."
She read it softly.
"It seems that shrine maiden wants us to complete the third round of the Test of Courage."
Heizou walked over and rested a hand beneath his chin.
"The handwriting is messy, yet there are no traces of a struggle nearby. That's strange. But Shogun-sama, have you noticed something else? There seems to be rather more writing than necessary."
Heizou looked toward her.
"You mean... these words might not have been written by her?"
She asked.
"That's possible..."
The three items in this Test of Courage had been selected by three different factions, which were also the three organizers: the merchants providing sponsorship funds, the Yashiro Commission, and the Grand Narukami Shrine.
"Are you planning to use this opportunity to participate in the third round?"
"Shogun-sama truly is perceptive. My commission happens to be unfinished, and I believe the clue may lie within this round as well. No... I'm certain it does."
Heizou spoke firmly, full of confidence.
The unknown gave rise to fear.
And uncovering the truth hidden within the unknown was the duty of a detective!
"Understood. In that case, let's go. This body is rather interested in the truth as well."
Her unspoken meaning was clear.
She would be his partner.
"...Thank you for your trust, Shogun-sama. This is my first time acting together with you. I hope you'll forgive any shortcomings on my part."
Heizou understood and spoke respectfully.
"It's fine... This is your commission. You mustn't let this body interfere with the timing."
She shook her head.
The two then set off once again.
She asked where they should go first, and Heizou said they should start at the place where they had first encountered the case, where Arataki Itto had collapsed.
There should still be clues remaining there.
"This is where Arataki Itto first encountered the 'ghost.' Of course, whether that woman truly was a ghost has yet to be determined."
Heizou said.
"How do you know the other person was a woman?"
She asked curiously.
"To tell you the truth, I saw her once at the beginning. But she was clearly very skilled at hiding. In that instant, she immediately shook me off. Even so, her general silhouette was deeply etched into my memory."
Heizou answered.
I see...
"What I'm most interested in right now is what she intends to do, and why she's acting so suspiciously."
Heizou rested a hand beneath his chin and began thinking.
"Or perhaps... why she knocked Arataki Itto unconscious."
The Shogun picked up the thought.
"Exactly. So Shogun-sama was thinking the same thing. Haa... Perhaps she merely wanted to escape, but unfortunately ran into Arataki Itto. With no other choice, she was forced to use some method she would rather not have used and knocked him unconscious."
"I looked around here earlier and found several clues. Please come with me."
Heizou led her over and stopped beneath a tree, looking down at a footprint on the ground.
He said it was the shoe size of a woman.
The Shogun deliberately walked over and compared it against her own slender foot.
When the two were placed side by side, it was indeed just as Heizou had said.
It belonged to a woman, because it was almost the same size as her own foot.
"That's right. It really is a woman's."
She nodded.
"And here..."
There was also a bent branch overhead, along with several faint scorch marks scattered around nearby.
"These are the... clues you mentioned?"
The Shogun withdrew her delicate white-stockinged foot from beside the footprint and looked up at the subtle traces before her, unable to help asking.
"That's right. Even so... these clues are still rather vague. At the time, I thought that if only there were some more direct physical evidence, things would be much easier. So, I found this—"
Heizou walked forward again, this time leading her downstream along the river.
Then he took something from his pocket and showed it to her.
It was a torn scrap of what looked like black cloth.
The material was unusual, unlike anything commonly sold on the market.
"This is...?"
She took it and examined it carefully, brushing her slender fingers over the surface before even lifting it to smell it.
"A fragment of blackout cloth. It was originally found here. I was worried the other person might notice it and remove the evidence, so I collected it beforehand and kept it with me."
Heizou smiled and gestured toward the shallow water behind him.
Sure enough, traces of black pigment still remained there.
It was dye from the blackout cloth that had been washed away by the water.
Blackout cloth had an extremely strong light-blocking effect and was commonly used on stages and in various other settings.
"You believe this was something she dropped?"
The Shogun handed the cloth back to Heizou.
"Yes. Look... the torn edge is very rough. It seems to have been ripped open by something sharp, such as a stone or tree branch..."
At that point, Heizou rubbed his chin again and smiled, as though he had already grasped some piece of the truth.
Perhaps this was what one called a detective's confidence.
"Shogun-sama, suppose there had once been a very large sheet of blackout cloth hanging from the tree. Its weight bent the branches downward. Then, when the blackout cloth was removed from the tree..."
As Heizou smoothly explained, he raised a hand and pointed toward the branches overhead, then toward the black traces on the ground.
"...When it was taken down, part of the cloth happened to catch on a branch and tear. A small fragment was left behind and fell into the water. Is that what you mean?"
She was no fool either.
With his explanation, she immediately understood the next part of the method and completed his reasoning for him.