It was still daytime, and the shadow Yuuko had retracted its power at this time.
As for the other, normal Yuuko, although she had no restrictions on her movement other than not being able to leave the school grounds, her own power was being intercepted by the shadow Yuuko. Her figure was probably also hidden somewhere in the old school building and would not come out on its own.
Therefore, before Hiiragi Inori arrived, Miyauchi Hikage and his team had already entered this old school building to do some simple location scouting and map out the interior routes.
Seeing that the "helper" Miyauchi Hikage had found was a strange woman who had just walked into the old school building with her bag without saying a word, Itou Kaiji couldn't help but ask him.
"Boss Miyauchi, what's that woman's background?"
In response, Fujimiya Konomi also moved a little closer with interest.
"That woman is someone Nanami-san found to help. She's here now to confirm the situation in this old school building," Miyauchi Hikage briefly introduced Hiiragi Inori's identity.
A shrine maiden from Takamiya Shrine?
Isn't Nanami-san a government employee? Why would he ask a shrine maiden from a shrine to help?
What can a shrine maiden do here? Help pray for blessings?
And that woman doesn't seem to have the slightest bit of a shrine maiden's aura about her.
Itou Kaiji muttered, and Fujimiya Konomi also fell into thought after hearing these words.
On the other hand, a look of recognition appeared on Kanoe Kirie's face.
This morning, her grandmother had just explained to her the past of the Kanoe family, including how the family had also been the administrators of a long-established shrine on this land a hundred years ago.
It was just that a hundred years ago, for some unknown reason, the ancestors of the Kanoe family gave up on continuing to run the original shrine.
And after the shrine was closed, the current Seikyou Academy was built on the original site of the shrine.
It was also in her grandmother's explanation that she mentioned the Sakitama that the Kanoe family had once worshipped and its origin.
She had also heard of several other shrines in Saitama Prefecture that had worshipped other Mitama.
This seemed to include the Hiiragi family of Takamiya Shrine.
It could be said that the Hiiragi family was a long-time friend of the Kanoe family. It was just that ever since the Kanoe family gave up the shrine, their relationship with those shrines and families had naturally diminished a lot.
Thinking that her grandmother seemed to still be thinking about the Kanoe family's former shrine, Kanoe Kirie felt that she could go and ask this shrine maiden from the Hiiragi family about the situation.
But then she thought of the vengeful spirit of Yuuko hidden in the old school building, and a look of nervousness appeared on her face again.
After all, although she could be considered her grand-aunt, more than half a century ago, it was her grandmother who had committed an irreparable mistake, leading to her tragic death.
Recalling the ferocious demon she had once accidentally seen, even though it was daytime now, Kanoe Kirie was a little afraid to step into this old school building.
She could only keep comforting herself in her heart that as her grandmother's granddaughter and the future heir of the Kanoe family, she had to overcome her fear and face her grand-aunt Yuuko, who had turned into a demon.
Miyauchi Hikage glanced at the three people beside him.
After learning that most of the rumors about Yuuko-san were spread by Kanoe Yukariko, Itou Kaiji had become much more relaxed and currently did not believe that any real ghosts would appear here.
Fujimiya Konomi should still be in the skeptical stage. After all, the dusk maiden she saw with him was a real event. She probably just wanted to know what changes had occurred to her body and whether she had really come into contact with ghosts and the like.
As for Kanoe Kirie, whom he had only just met, she seemed to have heard a lot from her grandmother, but she should still be in the adaptation phase of not yet having accepted these changes.
Hiiragi Inori, who had just walked in, was a supernatural being who had received orthodox Shinto training at a shrine. Although Miyauchi Hikage did not sense any particularly strong aura from her.
But by relying on her ability to sign a contract with the local ley line and borrow power from it, she should be a relatively stable Grade 1 combatant when fighting on her home turf.
Perhaps it was precisely because a Grade 1 supernatural being was enough to deal with more than ninety percent of abnormal events in this world that her attitude seemed overly relaxed when faced with a ghost that had been stable for more than half a century.
Miyauchi Hikage couldn't even help but recall the Gojo Satoru quotes that Shinomiya Kaguya had recently shared in the group, which Shiina Mashiro had then shown to him.
Such as how the recent acceleration of the spiritual resurgence and the increasing activity of spiritual power had caused many sorcerers to misunderstand their own strength, mistaking the world's progress for their own growth.
Therefore, because it was their first meeting, Miyauchi Hikage didn't know if Hiiragi Inori had similar thoughts, having developed some illusions about her own strength due to its rapid increase in recent months.
In any case, Miyauchi Hikage simply summarized the situation here and what Hiiragi Inori had just said to him, and sent it all in a package to Nanami Kento, which was considered a formal showdown with them.
After all, he had already been reserved by the Jujutsu world. They had to give him some kind of joining fee, right?
While waiting for Nanami Kento's response.
Hiiragi Inori's side had also quickly walked around a few places in the old school building and then appeared somewhat puzzled.
"That's not right. I remember the ley line's gathering point is over here. Why is there no reaction after walking around?" she muttered, wondering if she had misremembered her mother's instructions when she left home.
But the spiritual power in this area was indeed much more active than in other places.
She muttered, and then walked around the old school building again, but still couldn't find the location of the ley line.
"Could it be that the position of the ley line has shifted due to the spiritual resurgence?" Hiiragi Inori still didn't think in the direction that all this might be caused by Yuuko.
The shifting of ley lines does happen occasionally due to earthquakes or other disasters, but it usually doesn't shift too far. The ley line in this vicinity should still be nearby.
She thought as she walked out of the old school building. After greeting Miyauchi Hikage, she went off in other directions within the school to search for the whereabouts of the ley line.
She had two reasons for looking for the ley line.
One was because the Shinto practice she cultivated required the help of ley line power. Although this was not her main base, it was fine to temporarily borrow an ownerless ley line and sign a temporary contract.
Of course, if there were other spirit mediums on this ley line who had already signed a contract with the local ley line, she naturally couldn't borrow the power of the local ley line without their permission.
However, the owner of this land, the Kanoe family, was no longer a family of priests. Although the ley line of this land was still nominally managed by the Kanoe family, it was actually no different from ownerless land. She only needed to obtain the approval of the ley line itself.
The second point was that Kanoe Yuuko had died next to the ley line here.
According to her mother's research, the place where Kanoe Yuuko was sacrificed should have been near the last shrine of the Sakitama Shrine.
When she died, she generated a strong resentment, and through the priestess bloodline in her body, she formed a connection with the local ley line that was close to a contract, which was what allowed Kanoe Yuuko to become a vengeful spirit close to an earth-bound spirit in that era of scarce spiritual power.
As long as she could find the ley line and connect with it, she could quickly confirm Kanoe Yuuko's current state through the ley line's condition.
The problem was that now she couldn't even find where the ley line was, so naturally, she couldn't confirm Kanoe Yuuko's situation.
Muttering all the way, Hiiragi Inori spent the next hour or so searching the entire school. Seeing that she wouldn't even make it back in time for dinner, she finally stood at the top of the school's back hill and helplessly called her home, asking if her mother had remembered the ley line's position wrong.
However, her mother answered very carefully on the phone.
The ley line was in the basement of the old school building, and Kanoe Yuuko's remains could even be seen there.
If it weren't for Kanoe Yukariko still wanting to atone for her sister, and the higher-ups being happy to see a harmless vengeful spirit replace the function of a Cursed Object, Kanoe Yuuko would have almost been exorcised ten years ago.
"The basement?"
Hiiragi Inori was taken aback. "What basement? I searched so carefully, and my spiritual vision has been open the whole time. I didn't see anything that looked like a basement."
There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone before a reply came.
"Based on my judgment, that Kanoe Yuuko is very unwilling for people to see the place where she died, so she will subconsciously cover up the location of her death."
"At that time, I also searched for a while and spent some spiritual power to find it. I think that ley line should still be in its original position, just hidden better by her."
At this point, her mother seemed a little worried.
Such a concealment ability was at least at the Grade 1 level. Even if her emotions had been stable for more than half a century, one still needed to be more careful in this era.
If necessary, her mother also said that she could come over to investigate together.
However, this point was politely declined by Hiiragi Inori.
"Now that I know the problem, I know what to do. I won't be coming home for dinner tonight. Remember to leave the door unlocked for me later. I'll be back after I'm done."
As she said this, after hanging up the phone, Hiiragi Inori stood at the top of the slope and looked at the old school building below.
"Looks like I have to change my clothes," touching her backpack, Hiiragi Inori thought that since she had wasted so much time, she would have to rest for an extra day when she got back after handling this matter.
When Hiiragi Inori appeared before Miyauchi Hikage and his group again, she had already changed into the traditional miko uniform passed down in her family.
Now, not to mention Miyauchi Hikage, even Fujimiya Konomi and Itou Kaiji on the side could feel that her aura seemed to have undergone some changes.
If the previous Hiiragi Inori looked like a listless woman, now her eyes seemed to carry a sharp glint.
Miyauchi Hikage could even vaguely see a faint white light emanating from around her, which should be the defensive ability of this miko uniform.
It seemed that the search of the past hour or so had made her a little more vigilant.
With this battle attire on, even if the shadow Yuuko went berserk, she should be able to hold out for a while.
Thinking this in his heart, Miyauchi Hikage still put on a puzzled look and asked her, "Hiiragi Inori-san, what's this?"
"Ahem," Hiiragi Inori coughed lightly, "This is a necessary ritual. Just wait for me outside the old school building. I'll be done soon."
She mentioned that the remains of that Kanoe Yuuko might be hidden in the old school building, and she was now going to find the location of those remains and pray for them.
Hearing these words, Itou Kaiji subconsciously took several steps back.
Even if there were no ghosts, he didn't want to see someone's remains in real life.
On the contrary, after hearing this, Kanoe Kirie finally mustered up the courage to stand up and ask Hiiragi Inori if she could go in with her.
Hiiragi Inori glanced at her.
So this girl seems to have some signs of spiritual power too. And she always looks familiar, as if she has seen her somewhere before.
"You are?"
She looked at Miyauchi Hikage, thinking that this person was one of his employees.
Miyauchi Hikage also briefly introduced Kanoe Kirie's situation to her.
After learning about the connection between Kanoe Kirie and Kanoe Yuuko, Hiiragi Inori also blinked.
It turned out that the photo of Kanoe Yuuko in her youth that she had seen before was ninety percent similar in appearance to the short-haired girl before her.
But since she was a descendant of Kanoe Yuuko, with this connection, it might be easier to find the basement with Kanoe Yuuko's remains.
And compared to Miyauchi Hikage, who had already been reserved by the jujutsu sorcerers, although Kanoe Kirie was a bit younger, her ancestors' relationship with the Shinto side was clearly much closer.
If her talent was good, then she could indeed find an opportunity to pull her and the Kanoe family back to the Shinto side.
Thinking of this, Hiiragi Inori nodded and said yes, but she would have to follow her commands later.
"What about you guys? Do you want to go with me?" she was referring to Miyauchi Hikage's group.
In response, Miyauchi Hikage glanced at the time.
After all this fuss from Hiiragi Inori, it was almost dusk.
Since the theme of this episode was the dusk maiden, Miyauchi Hikage's focus naturally had to be on dusk.
Besides, what was the point of dealing with that shadow Yuuko, who was full of hatred, could lose control at any moment, and most importantly, wasn't good-looking, when you could be dealing with a long, straight-haired, older-sister-type ghost?
So Miyauchi Hikage looked at Itou Kaiji.
"I'll film the dusk scene here and see if I can run into the 'ghost' we saw yesterday. Kaiji, as the man, you go into the old school building with them to help out and train your courage. I'll give you a raise later."