After about four hours on the road, they finally arrived at Nagano Station.
The scenery along the way had been pleasant enough—Nagano lay within the region surrounding Mount Fuji, and through the gaps between the buildings, one could catch glimpses of the towering, snow-white peak in the distance.
After parking the car, they climbed a narrow slope and wandered through a web of cramped alleys.
Somewhere along the way, Dou Tang felt an invisible stillness wrap around him. He had never felt so distinctly aware of being in Japan before.
It wasn't cherry blossom season, and the snow on Fuji was already melting.
Yet the sight of the mountain peeking between tangled power lines and aging wooden houses, the slender, winding streets beneath their feet—all of it carried that unmistakable, nostalgic flavor of the country.
"What are you spacing out for?"
Lu Zizhen stood at the entrance of a private house, smiling in amusement at his dazed expression.
They would be staying here for a week, and Lu Zizhen had gone ahead and rented the entire place.
"Nothing," Dou Tang replied, collecting his thoughts as he carried their luggage inside.
Huaiyin was already darting through the rooms, looking around with childlike excitement.
The moment they entered, a faint smell of damp wood greeted them. Dou Tang frowned slightly, but Lu Zizhen caught his expression and explained,
"No one's rented this place for a while. It's not peak Fuji-viewing season. A little mustiness is normal—just air it out a bit."
He nodded and began to examine the layout.
The house was simple but charming: an open kitchen, a small living room with an old TV, and a hallway leading toward the back. To the right was the guest room; beside it, separated by a narrow staircase, was the bathroom. Out back, there was even a small open-air bath.
Lu Zizhen took off her sunglasses, whistled, and spun around in the living room with her arms wide.
Huaiyin, meanwhile, was fiddling curiously with the ancient television.
"How's that? Pretty good taste, right? The view from upstairs is amazing—you can see Mount Fuji!"
"Really?"
Huaiyin's eyes sparkled. The long-awaited trip had clearly lifted her spirits. Dou Tang couldn't help but smile.
"Go on up and take a look. Pick any room you like."
Huaiyin had already started running for the stairs when she suddenly paused, turning back. "Pick… my own room?"
He nodded.
She looked a little disappointed that she wouldn't be sharing with her brother, but still hurried upstairs.
Setting the luggage down in the living room, Dou Tang said, "You've gone to too much trouble again."
Lu Zizhen waved him off.
"We're grasshoppers on the same rope—no need for politeness."
He noticed that she seemed to enjoy binding the two of them together, always speaking as if they were on the same side.
But in truth, he had never once regarded anyone as truly being on his side.
He sank down onto one of the thick floor cushions—comfortable enough, though he could never quite get used to sitting directly on tatami. Crossing his legs without much care for posture, he said,
"So then—about this Ao Oni business. What intel do you have?" Lu Zizhen pulled out her phone and opened her notes.
"Ao Oni, huh… You know it—the free indie horror game that blew up a few years back. It got so popular it even got movies and anime."
The story had been simple: a group of bored students sneaks into an abandoned Western-style mansion, gets locked inside, and finds themselves hunted by a tall, blue-skinned monster with unblinking eyes. That creature became known as Ao Oni—the Blue Demon.
Dou Tang nodded, recalling the premise.
Lu Zizhen sprawled lazily on the tatami, stretching her long legs under the low table until her toes, wrapped in black ankle socks, poked at his thigh.
"…What are you doing?" he asked flatly.
"Ugh, come on," she groaned, yawning. "I drove four hours straight—you're not gonna let me relax a little?"
She stretched again, half-lying there as she scrolled through her phone.
"Anyway, I got some new intel. Normally I wouldn't tell you where it came from—but since you've already met that exorcist girl, I guess it's fine."
"Modern exorcists like us," she continued, "all have our own networks. Usually they're family-based or personal circles—people who exchange information, share commissions, that sort of thing."
Dou Tang opened a bottle of oolong tea, took a sip, and said,
"Sounds like the assassin organizations you read about in novels."
"Well," she murmured, "when our job is literally hunting monsters and spirits, I guess we are assassins of a sort."
She gave him a wry look.
"Honestly, the difference between killing a demon and killing a person isn't always that big."
He shot her a strange glance.
Lu Zizhen just shrugged—and her fidgeting feet started inching closer again. Sighing, Dou Tang caught her ankles and gave them a quick tickle.
"Hahaha—s-stop! Stop that!" she squealed, bursting into laughter and pulling back, only to find his grip unyielding.
"Stay still. Keep messing around, and I'll keep tickling." His tone remained perfectly calm.
"You're so boring sometimes, it's actually impressive," she grumbled, flopping backward and flexing her toes in mock protest.
"Anyway," she went on, "the intel says there's a Western-style mansion hidden deep in Myōkō–Togakushi Renzan National Park, west of Nagano City. No record of when it was built. But according to exorcist sources… a Blue Demon really does reside there. A deformed one."
"In Japanese folklore, oni are just monsters with immense strength. Red Oni, Blue Oni—you can think of them as, well, Hulks who never learned to transform back… and happen to eat people."
"The Hulk, huh…"
Dou Tang's eyes brightened slightly. In his mind, he could already picture himself transforming into a Candy Bean Warrior and brawling with a Blue Demon.
"Hey—easy!" Lu Zizhen yelped, realizing his grip had tightened again.
He quickly loosened it.
Pouting, she shot him a glare before continuing,
"That Blue Demon story got leaked years ago. It spread as an urban legend and eventually inspired the game. And that's about it."
"So why hasn't anyone dealt with it yet?" Dou Tang asked. "What about your exorcist friends?"
Lu snorted.
"Exorcists in Japan don't move unless there's money involved. No commission, no exorcism. There are too many wandering spirits in this world—if they worked for free, they'd never stop."
He was quiet for a while, then asked,
"What about in Huaxia? You've met exorcists from there, haven't you? What kind of people are they?"
Her arm went limp. The phone slipped from her hand and landed softly on the tatami. She stared up at the ceiling and sighed.
"Hmm… how to put it? A bunch of idiots, really. Stubborn, awkward, and… admirable idiots."
"What do you mean?" he asked, frowning.
She was silent for a long time before finally muttering, "I don't really want to talk about it."
Dou Tang could only shake his head helplessly.
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