After a quick, utilitarian meal to replenish his stamina, Horitake left the restaurant. His demeanor shifted instantly, his senses sharpening as he entered "work mode."
He watched the sky darken further and the flow of pedestrians dwindle to a trickle. Horitake knew the time was drawing near. If there was truly a demon tied to this library, it was only a matter of time before the creature made its move.
He couldn't stay on the open street; he was too conspicuous.
Surveying his surroundings, Horitake slipped away into the shadows. With a silent, effortless leap, he ascended to the rooftop of a nearby residence. Concealed behind the lush branches of a few overhanging trees, he settled in to watch the library with cold, patient eyes.
The target was undoubtedly the library. All he had to do now was wait—wait for the building to reveal its secrets, and then act when the moment was right.
Horitake was a patient hunter.
Eight o'clock... nine... ten... eleven... midnight.
Finally, the bell tolled for the start of a new day.
Even in a city as bustling and grand as Kyoto, the streets were deserted at this hour. Most citizens were deep in slumber within the safety of their homes. This void of human activity was the perfect playground for a demon's arrogance.
Horitake remained motionless on the roof until, suddenly, he sensed an anomaly.
Someone is coming.
It was the presence of a human—not a demon.
After half a night of waiting, the first arrival wasn't the predator he expected, but a person.
Frowning with curiosity, Horitake stayed low behind the foliage, his gaze fixed on the library entrance.
A man emerged from the shadows of a distant alley, his footsteps heavy and dragging. He swayed slightly as he walked, his movements sluggish and mechanical. He reached the open plaza in front of the library doors and simply stopped, standing there like a statue.
Horitake focused his gaze, activating his Spirit Vision to get a better look.
The man's state was utterly wrong. He was in a daze, his eyes half-open but glazed over, devoid of any spark of consciousness. His posture was rigid, his gait a clumsy shuffle. He looked exactly like a sleepwalker.
No, not just 'like' a sleepwalker, Horitake realized. He is one.
The man's mind was clearly elsewhere. He moved like a marionette with its strings being pulled by an invisible hand. He was still dressed in his nightclothes—simple pajamas meant for the comfort of a bed, not a midnight stroll through the city.
But how could someone sleepwalk this far?
Based on his observation, the man had been walking for a long time. His home clearly wasn't in the immediate vicinity. Who sleepwalks out of their front door and treks across the city to a library in the dead of night?
Horitake examined the man's clothing more closely, hoping to discern his status or occupation. Unfortunately, in plain pajamas, there wasn't much to go on. However, the quality of the fabric suggested he was an ordinary citizen, neither impoverished nor elite.
After reaching his destination, the man remained standing before the library doors, staring blankly at the wood as if waiting for a command.
The library itself remained dark. No lights flickered on; no doors creaked open. There was no reaction at all.
Horitake watched the scene with a cold, analytical eye. He said nothing, his mind racing through the possibilities.
You live long enough, and you see everything, he thought.
In this day and age, bizarre occurrences were becoming the norm. For a man to sleepwalk from his home all the way to a library and then stand there waiting... it was beyond eerie.
But the true strangeness was only beginning.
Before long, a second person arrived. They exhibited the same glazed eyes, the same rigid posture, and the same dragging footsteps. They shuffled out of the darkness and took a place right beside the first man.
The second was followed by a third, then a fourth, then a fifth...
One by one, more people arrived. Each of them was in the same state of semi-consciousness—lost in a fog, eyes vacant, moving like the living dead or puppets on a string.
Eventually, a dozen people stood there. All of them were in a trance, dressed in their nightwear, forming two neat, orderly rows in front of the library entrance.
The sheer surreality of the scene, combined with the oppressive silence of the night, made even Horitake feel a slight chill down his spine.
Imagine it: a silent city under the dim glow of waning streetlamps, a massive library looming like a shadowy monolith, and twelve sleepwalkers standing in perfect formation, staring into the void, waiting for something unknown.
Hidden on the rooftop, Horitake found himself momentarily at a loss.
The source of this phenomenon was human, not demonic, which made it difficult for him to intervene directly. He didn't know what was actually wrong with them. If he jumped down and tried to snap them out of it, would he cause irreversible mental damage?
What had happened to these people?
Even if sleepwalking was the cause, a dozen people wouldn't sleepwalk simultaneously. Even if they did, they wouldn't all gravitate to the exact same spot. And even if they did that, they certainly wouldn't line up in two perfect rows.
The conclusion was inescapable: They are being controlled.
The idea took root in Horitake's mind. Was this sleepwalking, or were they under the influence of mass hypnosis?
He felt he was closing in on the truth. Even if he didn't have the full picture yet, he was certainly on the right path. These people were almost certainly being manipulated by some form of hypnotic suggestion.
But that raised even more questions. Who hypnotized them? How? When?
From his vantage point, Horitake could tell these people had come from all directions, meaning they lived in different parts of the city. Who would go to the trouble of hunting down individuals across Kyoto just to put them in a trance?
Wait... this explains the disappearances, he realized.
Over the past few months, more than three hundred people had vanished into the Kyoto night. Those people must have been hypnotized, led out of their homes in a trance, and brought here.
This was why the map showed the highest concentration of "red dots" centered exactly on this library. The Fanying Library was the epicenter. The missing hundreds had all been drawn here like moths to a flame.
As for the police officers who had come to investigate at night... they had either been hypnotized themselves or, more likely, silenced permanently.
Now, a new question loomed in Horitake's mind: Now that these twelve people are here, what happens next?
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