Hikaru's focus sharpened at once."He" in that sentence was obviously the late husband.Hashira lowered her lashes slightly, both hands resting on her thighs, her pale fingertips pressing into the fabric of her kimono. "At first, I thought it was just my imagination. After Nakamoto passed, everything involving the company fell on my shoulders. There were weeks when I slept only a few hours at a stretch, so I told myself it was exhaustion, nothing more. But then it started happening more frequently. At night, I would see him standing beside my bed. He never spoke. He only stood there and looked at me."She raised her eyes, and in their depths lay something thin and cold. Fear, carefully contained. "The way he looked was terrifying. Some nights I was certain I would faint right where I lay."As she said it, she placed one hand lightly against her chest, as if even the memory was enough to send pain through her heart. The gesture was entirely natural. And entirely dangerous. Hikaru glanc

Hikaru snapped back to attention and withdrew his gaze at once, stepping into the rear courtyard with a slight bow of his head."Master, are you alright?"Miyuki opened her eyes slowly.Her cherry-blossom irises were beautiful beyond measure, like something carved from the rarest jade in existence, clear and gentle. But in their deepest layer, barely visible, rested a tiredness that had no real bottom.She sat upright slowly, the small bell tied at her ankle chiming with a clean, delicate note, then rose and walked toward him. At nearly six feet tall, standing before Hikaru now, she looked like an older sister gazing down with fond patience at a younger brother who had just wandered into trouble.She reached out and ruffled his hair, the corner of her mouth curving just slightly."I am not as fragile as you think."Hikaru said nothing.But he knew without any doubt: the wound in Miyuki's soul had started hurting again.If it hadn't, she would not be lying out here at this hour.Years

The moment he saw what lay before him, his steps stopped dead.On the bare stretch of earth beneath the open night sky stood seven metal pillars driven deep into the ground.Seven of them.Of varying heights.Arranged in a formation he recognized immediately.Not randomly placed.A deliberate replication of the positions of the seven stars in the Big Dipper.The wind across the summit carried the smell of cold iron and something dry and ancient, the kind of quality that came from years of sun, blood, and lightning hammered into an object over and over until the material itself remembered it.Hikaru's pupils contracted slowly."The Heavenly Seven-Star Dipper... Sealing Formation."He murmured it almost below audible range, the words dissolving into the wind before they could carry far.He moved forward with careful steps.From below, the seven pillars had looked like nothing more than tall metal stakes driven into the earth. But up close, he could see that the dull gold tint they carri

"Don't look!"Hikaru's voice dropped an instant.His hand pressed Hashira's head firmly against his chest, not allowing her to lift it even a fraction.Hashira went still.She did not know what he had just seen.And precisely because she did not know, the fear inside her spread faster. Against her ear was the sound of Hikaru's heartbeat, rapid and heavy, but steady in a way that made no sense. The smell of living warmth, of fabric, of the faint salt of a man's exertion mingled with the freezing air of her own breath, and in that moment Hashira's thoughts dissolved into something she could not organize.The room was completely dark.Not the darkness of a light going out.Not ordinary night.It was as though the entire room had been pulled out of the real world and thrown into a lightless space with no exit. The window, the door, the ceiling, the walls: all of it had been swallowed. The blackness did not hold still. It moved slowly across every surface like a layer of rotten oil, cold,

Hikaru had no idea what dangerous thoughts the woman on his back was entertaining. If he had known, he would have seriously reconsidered whether Yin Energy could cause permanent neurological damage. Right now, every fragment of his attention was fixed on the seven pillars in front of him.Running back down the mountain was not an option. The Wraiths had sealed off the path. Standing here waiting to die was equally useless. The Heavenly Seven-Star Dipper Sealing Formation was being eroded. If the Yin Energy continued to spread, it would not only kill them: whatever lay beneath might genuinely wake.Hikaru drew a long breath. Then he slowly set Hashira down.The moment she left his back she staggered, nearly dropping to the ground. Hikaru caught her waist immediately. The curve of it was soft, but also cold, cold enough that he frowned."Can you stand?"Hashira nodded, but her hand remained clenched around his sleeve. "Yes.""Don't drift far from me.""Alright."She answered compliantly