Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Approaching First Wave, a Crossroad of Fate

"Why can't these two say anything that makes sense?"

Holding a bamboo sword dripping with thick, viscous blood, Ririko looked in confusion at the two cultists on the ground. They had been beaten into unrecognizable shapes, yet they were still muttering about "love" and "the suffering of all living things."

After a flurry of blows, her hands had gone numb. It seemed to have had no effect on them; she couldn't extract a single piece of useful information.

"The reason cultists are cultists is that most of them are not mentally sound."

A voice devoid of any emotional fluctuation approached rapidly, causing the two cultists to shudder instinctively and stop their incessant mumbling. When they saw the living Nanjo Aimi standing before them, they stopped their rambling, and their eyes suddenly cleared.

"It seems I'm quite famous." Nanjo Aimi curled the corner of her mouth before glancing at Ririko. "You're too soft. Do you really expect to get information out of them like that?"

Ririko’s mouth twitched, but she had no rebuttal. Her method had been flawed, but she had been helpless; despite giving her all, she couldn't overcome the mentally unstable cultists.

"I heard you two stumbled upon these cultists by chance?" Nanjo Aimi snapped her fingers, and the Nurube that had just finished cleaning up the remains of the flying head demon in the distance drifted over. "You did well, but you were too reckless."

The Nurube hovered in mid-air, staring hungrily at the two trembling cultists, its eyes filled with impatience. Seeing Ririko about to protest, Uesugi Toru intervened just in time: "I’m confident I can handle it."

Nanjo Aimi paused subtly, then nodded. "That’s good."

"For now, let me teach you two a lesson." Facing the scrutiny of Uesugi and Ririko, Nanjo Aimi said calmly, "Kindness to the enemy is cruelty to yourself."

At some point, the exits at both ends of the alley had been covered by a faint, falling rain, temporarily isolating the alley from reality. Hiyoribo, having completed this arduous task, drifted over unsteadily and slipped into the white robes of the Nurube.

Nanjo Aimi looked down at the silently trembling cultists, her expression as indifferent as a chef staring at two ugly, wriggling lumps of meat.

"Don't look away. Watch closely," she said.

—Thirty minutes later.

"They've been picking out ordinary people in the Arakawa ward who have high emotional volatility, either luring them directly into the club or planting seeds of influence. The rhetoric is the same, but the scope and quantity are growing larger."

"But we got lucky; we found another hideout."

Nanjo Aimi tossed two white gloves, stained with fine bits of tissue, onto the ground and stretched.

However, Uesugi Toru was in no mood to appreciate her graceful silhouette. He suppressed the churning in his stomach and exchanged a glance with Ririko beside him.

He asked, "Are we still eating dinner?"

Ririko’s face was pale. She took a deep breath. "Yes, why wouldn't I eat a free meal?"

Nanjo Aimi gave a satisfied smile and clapped her hands. "Okay, okay, enough flirting. I didn't spend all that time interrogating them just to watch that."

Uesugi asked, "So, Aimi-san, are you trying to tell us that Arakawa ward is going to become increasingly dangerous, and you want us to move elsewhere?"

"Bingo! You really are smart, Uesugi-kun!" Nanjo Aimi laughed and ruffled Uesugi's hair.

But the next moment, her tone turned serious.

"It is true that Arakawa ward will be dangerous during this period, but I have already cleared more than half of the Love Club's branches and members, and I've drawn most of their attention onto myself."

Nanjo Aimi held up a finger. "But the 'First Wave' is approaching, and no one can say for sure if the currently peaceful wards are truly safe."

She spread her hands. "Stay and face known dangers, or leave to meet unknown challenges—the decision is yours."

The First Wave.

This was not the first time Uesugi Toru had heard this term. He looked at Nanjo Aimi, seeking an answer.

Ririko, meanwhile, frowned deeply. She had encountered too many bizarre and grotesque things today; this was far more absurd than mere urban legends like the fox-dog-raccoon spirit tales coming to life.

Nanjo Aimi did not bother with pointless concealment. She replied, "Just think of it as the monsters and urban legends from historical lore invading reality on a massive scale. The many sightings of ghosts and monsters that people uploaded to Twitter before were one of the omens."

Uesugi Toru thought to himself that the White Hannya's invasion of reality was indeed a fact, but he hadn't expected it not to be survivor bias, but rather a massive number of individual cases. Perhaps in the future, the legendary ten-thousand-slaying Fangxiangshi might also walk into reality, perhaps even bringing the entire city of Edo along with it.

Thinking of the Shira-Hannya that hadn't finished upgrading, and the two or three barely mastered skills in his hands, Uesugi Toru’s palms began to sweat, and a sense of urgency rose in his heart. Apart from the one-time-use Nanjo doll and Ghost-Daddy, he had almost no means to resist a two-star monster or higher.

Looking at Nanjo Aimi's shikigami—the Nurube with two and a half stars, and the seemingly fragile Hiyoribo with one and a half stars—their ratings were even higher than that of the severely wounded White Hannya, and their abilities even complemented each other.

It seemed that once the Shira-Hannya finished upgrading and opened the one-star card pool, he would need to accelerate his progress.

Uesugi Toru glanced at the remaining time—the upgrade would be complete by the early hours of the day after tomorrow. At that point, he could use the accumulated soul ash to perform a ten-pull and significantly boost his strength.

"The time of the Wave's arrival might be half a month away, or it might be within these next few days."

After delivering such terrifying information in two sentences, Nanjo Aimi had no intention of explaining further. She smoked, her deep dark circles prominent. "I have to go work overtime. The more I sweat now, the less I'll bleed in a couple of days. You two had better take care of yourselves."

"If something happens, call me and explain clearly, and I’ll get there as soon as I can."

Once she finished, the rain curtain on both sides of the alley vanished. Nanjo Aimi walked away briskly, leaving behind a clean alley and a somewhat bewildered Uesugi and Ririko.

After a moment of silence, Uesugi asked, "Are we still eating dinner?"

Ririko’s stomach let out a growl. She nodded slowly. "Yes, why wouldn't I eat a free meal?"

Having reached a consensus, the two walked in silence out of the alley that had perhaps become the key turning point of their lives.

Arriving on the street, the passing crowd was no different than usual. Students chatted and pushed each other in play, office workers hurried home after work, and elderly people could be seen everywhere in twos and threes, walking slowly.

In his ears was the silent hum of car engines; in Japan, a society where no one wants to inconvenience others, one could barely hear the sound of harsh honking. Everything was no different from any ordinary evening.

Just then, a sharp caw suddenly came from a utility pole overhead. A large flock of crows flapped their wings and scattered, obscuring the setting sun like a sudden dark cloud.

Watching this, Uesugi Toru remembered that this time of sunset was known in Japan as the "Hour of Meeting Monsters," and the time that followed was the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons.

He felt as though he were walking into the Night Parade.