Chapter 58: Wang

“When I found Yuzu, my daughter had just started elementary school.”
“I had just transferred to my current job at the school.”
“I still remember—it was after work one day. I was walking home when suddenly, I heard a bark.”
“There, inside a cardboard box, curled up, was a puppy. It must have only recently been weaned.”
“I couldn’t bear to leave it, so I brought it home.”
“At first, Chizuko wasn’t too happy about it—she’s somewhat allergic to animal fur. But Makoto was delighted.”
“But in time, Yuzu became part of our family. Back then, Makoto was in elementary school; her illustrated diary was almost entirely filled with Yuzu.”
“All these years, Yuzu has been with us.”
“The clearest memory I have is from five years ago, one night.”
“The gas in our house leaked. We were all fast asleep.”
“Only Yuzu sensed something was wrong and woke us up.”
“One could say it saved our lives.”
“Later, Yuzu grew old. In March, after lying down to sleep, it never woke again.”
As he spoke, Shige Kamiyama turned his gaze to the photograph in his hands.
It was taken during a family outing.
A younger Shige Kamiyama, his wife, and a daughter who looked to be in high school.
And a dog.
His face was filled with nostalgia.
But in Qiao Qiao’s eyes, if her guess was correct, it was precisely this dog—Yuzu—that had led Kamiyama into his current predicament.
Perhaps it simply didn’t want to pass on so soon.
Perhaps it was just reluctant to leave the world of the living.
After its death, the spirit lingered.
Ordinary spirits are fragile.
Without any lingering attachments, they dissipate and pass on completely within seven days.
But if there is an obsession—
After seven days, they transform into vengeful spirits; lacking enough dark energy, they vanish, or absorbing it, they linger.
Yuzu had been gone for two months. If it were still in the house,
it could only be a vengeful spirit.
Being haunted by such a spirit would cause symptoms like Kamiyama’s—fatigue, nightmares.
Even if Yuzu simply didn’t want to leave its family,
its presence had already brought misfortune upon them.
Qiao Qiao borrowed Kamiyama’s restroom.
She assembled her revolver.
Since it was a vengeful spirit, it had to be eliminated.
Qiao Qiao stepped out of the restroom
and explained the situation to Kamiyama.
“Yuzu?”
Kamiyama could hardly believe it.
It wasn’t that he doubted Yuzu might have an obsession—
He just couldn’t believe Yuzu could harm them.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Kamiyama, even its mere presence can harm you and your family,” Qiao Qiao said.
At that moment, Chizuko Kamiyama, who had been busy in the kitchen, suddenly came out.
“Master, please leave.”
“?”
Qiao Qiao tilted her head.
“Saying Yuzu would hurt us—you’re a fraud!”
“In this world, I know for certain Yuzu is the only one who would never harm us!”

“Vengeful spirit? Dark energy? Those things have nothing to do with Yuzu!”
“Yuzu is—was—our family. Family members never hurt each other!”
She was agitated,
and still held a knife in her hand.
Qiao Qiao took half a step back.
Shige Kamiyama intervened just in time, stopping his wife.
It took over ten minutes to persuade her to go upstairs and stay out of the way.
“Chizuko… Even though she’s allergic to animal fur, she really liked Yuzu.”
“Getting close to Yuzu meant sneezing for an hour, but Chizuko still played with Yuzu every day.”
“Yuzu’s death was a blow to her as well.”
“She asked me to dismantle Yuzu’s bed because she didn’t want to see it and be reminded of sad memories.”
“Sigh…”
Kamiyama sighed, seeming to age by several years in that moment.
“I understand.”
In Qiao Qiao’s brief career as an exorcist, such situations were not rare.
No deceased soul is ever insignificant to the living—
Whether human or animal.
It is precisely such lingering attachments
that give birth to vengeful spirits.
“Mr. Kamiyama, do you know if Yuzu had any favorite things?”
Qiao Qiao scanned the room but couldn’t find any trace of Yuzu.
It was afternoon; weaker spirits probably hid themselves well.
She needed to lure it out.
Waiting until night would be fine, but something felt off, so she decided to try right away.
“We’ve already gotten rid of all the food Yuzu liked…”
Kamiyama glanced at the fridge, then suddenly remembered something.
“Ah, yes.”
He led Qiao Qiao to the yard.
There was a storage room.
Kamiyama rummaged around and produced a rather rough-looking stick.
“Chizuko and Makoto used to play fetch with Yuzu; I rarely played with it myself.”
Following Qiao Qiao’s suggestion, Kamiyama placed the stick beside the dog’s bed.
In the sunlight,
nothing happened.
“Should I throw it?”
Qiao Qiao decided to change her approach.
Human vengeful spirits act according to their obsessions.
Animal spirits, she was encountering for the first time.
They probably act as they did in life.
Kamiyama nodded, picked up the stick, and tossed it forward.
Almost at the same moment,
a white shadow sprang from Kamiyama’s side.
It raced toward the stick.
Qiao Qiao did not instinctively fire her gun.
She saw that the white shadow was shaped like a dog.
It ran across the grass, reached the stick, lowered its head, trying to pick it up.
But its body passed right through the stick.
It seemed confused, tried again, but failed.

The bewildered dog returned to Kamiyama’s side,
circling him, tongue lolling, wanting to nuzzle its master, but afraid it would find, as with the stick, it could not touch him.
All of this, Kamiyama could not see.
“How is it, Master? Any effect?”
He could only see the stick lying motionless on the ground.
“Just a moment.”
Qiao Qiao carefully observed the dog.
Then she reached a conclusion.
This was not a vengeful spirit.
Indeed.
There was not the slightest trace of resentment or dark energy.
If Qiao Qiao were to describe it, it was simply an ordinary spirit.
A spirit born after life ended.
How odd.
Because Yuzu had died two months ago.
Normally, it should have dissipated and passed on, or, due to obsession, transformed into a vengeful spirit.
It should not still remain as it was just after death.
This was beyond Qiao Qiao’s knowledge.
Yes, Qiao Qiao could shoot Yuzu and help it pass peacefully.
But to fire at such a harmless spirit felt inappropriate.
Qiao Qiao was not some war-crazed gun enthusiast.
She was a person of principle.
Vengeful spirits must be eliminated.
But ordinary spirits—she preferred to contact her boss and have him handle their passing.
Yet, bringing this spirit to the Midnight Diner seemed difficult.
Qiao Qiao hesitated.
As she pondered,
she noticed wisps of dark energy drifting in the air, seeming to move toward Kamiyama, seeking to attach themselves to him.
Just then,
the dog’s spirit—
Yuzu—
barked at the dark energy.
Only Qiao Qiao could hear it.
As if protecting its master, the bark scattered the dark energy.
However, since Yuzu was merely an ordinary spirit,
its actions could only slow the accumulation of dark energy, not eliminate it.
Seeing this,
Qiao Qiao understood.
Yuzu
indeed had an obsession.
But what it cared about was not its own death—
it was Kamiyama’s family.
With this realization, Qiao Qiao had an idea.
She picked up her phone and sent a message to Asano Priestess on Line.