I have an unlimited number of shikigami

“Oh, black lilies are quite rare…” Fujiwara Izaya pondered for a moment, “I’ve been in Nan-in-douya for over a month now, and I haven’t seen this flower anywhere. Is it a specialty of the temple?”

Abbot Kiyoha glanced at the door of the tea room, then turned his gaze back to Fujiwara Izaya's face.

“No,” he hesitated for a moment, but still chose to be honest, “Mrs. Tanimura brought them from Tochigi Prefecture and gave me some.”

Fujiwara Izaya and Kasahara Mieri exchanged a glance.

'Confirmed!'

Beware of scams.

After a moment's thought, Fujiwara Izaya changed the subject: "How much yellow jade did Mrs. Tanimura receive from the master?"

As expected, it has finally arrived... Abbot Qingye sighed inwardly and trembled for a while: "3806 grams."

Upon hearing this, Kasahara Fukaeri immediately took out her notebook from her canvas bag and slowly wrote "3806 grams" on a blank page with a ballpoint pen. She gripped the pen tightly, and the words she wrote looked like they were carved into a brick with a nail, which had a unique charm.

One gram of yellow pine jade can reinforce a barrier with a space of one cubic meter.

3806 grams, which means reinforcing 3806 cubic meters of space. Such a barrier isn't large; it's roughly enough to cover the space of a small villa.

How much does it cost?

"11 yen per gram."

"Tsk tsk, it's more expensive than gold."

“It wouldn’t have sold for this much before.” Abbot Qingye exhaled slowly. “It’s just that the price has skyrocketed in the last six months. At the beginning of the year, it was 4 yen per gram, but now it’s 11 yen.”

“No wonder you couldn’t resist selling it.” Fujiwara Izaya nodded in understanding.

Kasahara Fukari changed her sitting posture, sitting sideways next to Fujiwara Izaya with her legs together, and hunched over taking notes in her notebook.

"Did Mrs. Tanimura mention its purpose?" Fujiwara Izaya continued to ask.

"Her home is in the mountains, and she plans to use yellow pine jade to construct a barrier to prevent insects, snakes, and rats from entering the house."

Do you think this reason is credible?

Silence descended.

There was no sound coming from inside the tea room, except for the chirping of cicadas coming from the window.

Abbot Kiyoha stared intently at Fujiwara Izaya's face for a long time before slowly shaking his head. He looked tired, and his face had aged and become haggard. He sighed deeply from time to time. The sighs were strange, like something stuck in his throat, making one feel uncomfortable.

Fujiwara Rin didn't urge him, nor did she want to see his expression, so she looked out the window. Along the linden tree in the courtyard, countless cicadas emitted short, mournful chirps, flying to and fro. The sound of the waves could also be faintly heard, and the sea breeze lifted the lower corner of the yellow-green curtains, which rubbed against the tatami mat, making a sound like swaying bamboo leaves.

After a long while, Abbot Qingye's voice, which sounded much older, finally rang out.

"Whether Madam Tanimura is telling the truth or not is not for this humble monk to judge."

Kasahara Fukari frowned her beautiful brows, about to speak, when Fujiwara Izaya gently tugged at her sleeve.

Then, the aloof policewoman obediently lowered her head.

“Indeed, it’s not up to you to judge.” Fujiwara Izaya slowly stood up, looking down at him. “To be precise, it’s my responsibility. Please take me to see Mrs. Tanimura.”

Abbot Qingye was somewhat surprised and stood motionless in front of the tea table.

He had prepared a lot of things to say... and it's already over before it even started?

“Abbot Kiyoha, please!” Fujiwara Izaya said politely.

Although his voice was not harsh, his eyes carried the oppressive feeling of a superior. Abbot Qingye knew he could not refuse, so he could only get up and lead the way.

After leaving the side hall, we headed towards the back mountain.

The summer sun was blazing, and there wasn't a single tourist in sight.

Passing by a Jizo statue, Fujiwara Izaya pulled Kasahara Fukaeri along and clasped their hands together in prayer.

"Eri-neechan, what did you wish for?"

"Make a wish?"

"You didn't just bow once, did you?"

“Yeah.” Kasahara Fukari glared at the bored little boy.

Her aloofness, as if she didn't recognize you, made her profile appear even more elegant. Fujiwara Izaya gazed at her profile and whispered, "I just made a wish with Jizo, hoping to melt away Fuka Eri-nee within three months."

Kasahara Fukaeri stumbled and almost fell.

"You made me wear high heels to climb the mountain, now you know you were wrong!" Fujiwara Izaya said gloatingly, then turned and ran.

"Keep dreaming!" Kasahara Fukaeri cursed through gritted teeth behind his back.

The pebbly path stretched forward, and after exiting the temple's back gate, a clear stream appeared beside the path, with beautiful water plants swaying on its surface. Midway, a small wooden bridge was crossed, beside which bloomed white flowers that looked like apricot blossoms or something else.

Fujiwara Izaya stood on the bridge for a few seconds admiring the flowers.

Three or four white ducks emerged from the bridge, gliding away on their deep yellow webbed feet, and lay on the shimmering water, their white feathers sparkling with silver light.

"Why aren't you leaving?" Kasahara Fukaeri caught up from behind.

“Look at the ducklings.” Fujiwara Izaya pointed to the ducklings.

Kasahara Fukaeri also looked over and simply commented, "Very cute."

Fujiwara Izaya licked his lips: "I'll steal one tonight and take it home to try."

"?"

Kasahara Fukari suddenly felt angry, raised her foot, and stomped hard on his foot with the heel of her high heel.

"Ouch, that hurts..." Fujiwara Izaya used exaggerated acting to brush off her kick, bent down to pick up a small stone from the ground, and with a graceful throwing motion, skipped it across the water eighteen times.

"Look, eighteen times!"

"Why are you so smug?"

Am I good?

"...Childish devil!"

Kasahara Fukaeri lifted her foot and walked away.

Abbot Qingye has already reached the edge of the small lake.

"You haven't told me how amazing I am yet!" Fujiwara Izaya caught up with her and walked alongside her.

Kasahara Fukari maintained her usual indifferent expression: "Not impressive!"

"Eighteen strokes aren't impressive enough?"

"It's just not impressive!"

"Since you've said that, show me!" With that, Fujiwara Izaya bent down, picked up a stone and gave it to her. "If you can hit it three times, I'll call you 'older sister'!"

"..." Kasahara Fukari lowered her head, looking at the square stone in his hand.

After a long while, she took a deep breath, twisted her slender waist, and kicked hard.

"Pfft!"

Abbot Kiyoha turned around and found Fujiwara Izaya lying sprawled in the stream. Kasahara Fukaeri was bending over, reaching down to pull him up.

A strange couple... Abbot Kiyono stopped and waited for them to catch up.

Fujiwara Izaya stood up from the water, wiped the water droplets from his face, looked at Kasahara Fukari's outstretched hand, weighed it for a few seconds, and then gave up the idea of ​​having the policewoman give him a wet seduction.

"You better watch out from now on!"

He made a threat before placing his hand on hers.

Kasahara Fukari pulled him up, then, as if her hand was burning hot, flung it away.

It's a little strange. I'm actually a bit taller than him, but why are my hands so much smaller than his? And when I hold his hand, a warm and unguarded feeling of intimacy is transmitted to me, which is so wonderful.

Following behind Kasahara Fukari, Fujiwara Izaya once again marveled at how perfect her legs were.

In the midsummer sunlight, her bright orange hair shimmered with a faint firelight, more beautiful than ever before. Following Abbot Qingye, the two walked along the dappled sunlight on the stone path to the pond at the back of the mountain.

Several girls from Kyoto were playing on the swings set up by the pond.

The pond reflects the blue sky and white clouds, surrounded by verdant mountains and forests. There are many small piles of stones by the pond, and in front of each pile stands a wooden tombstone. To express respect for the deceased, short scriptures are written in Sanskrit on the tombstones.

"Are these all the tombs of monks?" Fujiwara Izaya asked.

"Yes, it is indeed very humble." Abbot Qingye bowed to the two newly built graves. "When I first came to the temple, I was cynical: those with power and wealth left behind beautiful and magnificent graves. Now, when I think about this, I can only lament that we country folk had no imagination in life, and naturally, our graves were built without any imagination either. I think these graves are very desolate, but appropriate. Because after death, we don't need to continue begging for the imagination of others."

"Can elegance only exist in the imagination?" Fujiwara Izaya retorted. "What aspect of imagination are you referring to when you say you lack it?"

“This is it.” Abbot Qingye tapped the moss-covered stone tower top several times with his palm. “Stones or bones are inorganic parts left after a person dies.”

After he finished speaking, he seemed unwilling to discuss the matter any further, and silently walked forward.

Kasahara Fukaeri deliberately slowed her pace, leaving Fujiwara Izaya behind, before commenting, "He's practically a complete Buddhist."

“What does this have to do with Buddhism?” Fujiwara Izaya picked up a straight branch from the roadside and waved it as he walked. “Elegance, culture, humanity’s ideas about beauty—all of these realities are fruitless inorganic things. It’s not about repairing ancient temples, it’s just stone. Philosophy, it’s also stone. Art, it’s also stone. In general, except for emotions, stone can represent everything in the world.”

Kasahara Fukaeri racked her brains, trying to figure out what he had said that seemed so inexplicable.

But before she could figure out what was going on, Fujiwara Izaya kicked her foot, saying, "Sister, spar with me for a bit."

Amidst the swirling grass clippings, a wooden stick flew by.

Kasahara Fukari instinctively grabbed the wooden stick, assuming the starting stance for an iaido slash. The next second, she reacted quickly, throwing the stick aside and glaring angrily at Fujiwara Izaya, her face flushed.

ahhh-

That brat is so awful!

You can be childish all you want, why drag me into it?

Her rare shy demeanor was truly adorable. Fujiwara Izaya's gaze slid from her chest down to her legs, thinking that his aunt must try her best to fool this woman as soon as possible so that he could come out and save the day.

Kasahara Fukari suppressed the urge to pin him to the ground and beat him up, and asked with a stern look in her eyes, "What exactly did you mean by that just now?"

"You're too old-fashioned; there's no chance you'll see the light in a day!" Fujiwara Izaya said with a laugh.

"Seeing one's true nature" is a Buddhist term that means achieving complete enlightenment.

Kasahara Fukae stared straight at him, and the two looked at each other for three seconds.

"As the saying goes, Zen takes formlessness as its essence. Understanding what is formless and rootless is what people often call seeing one's true nature. To truly see formlessness, one needs to have an extremely keen observation of form. How can someone who cannot observe form and appearance with selfless keenness clearly know and see the formless and without appearance?"

Kasahara Fukari still didn't understand.