In Shinto animism, hair shares the same phonetic root as the word for 'deity,' and so it has long been invested with a dual significance — as a vessel for life-force and a medium for the divine.
The longer and more lustrous the hair, the fuller the soul it was said to carry, the stronger one's fortune. Cutting it was seen as severing the spirit, shortening one's life.
"Even if people don't put much stock in that sort of thing anymore — you've poured a great deal of feeling into your hair, haven't you?"
Amamiya Rin set down his teacup, studying Amano Sei's long hair with a contemplative expression.
Belief is your magic — that much, at least, holds true here.
In this world's logic, the existence of long hair in the attic was not without reason. If Amamiya Rin's read on the situation was correct, Amano Sei herself possessed a certain quality — and her feelings for Hiratsuka Makoto were crystallized in the very hair she had grown for his sake.
To put it simply: Amano Sei's belief-force had taken up residence in her long hair. Because of Hiratsuka Makoto's betrayal, the positive emotion that had once been suffused with love would now curdle into resentment — turning that waist-length hair into a curse born from her own soul.
The moment Amano Sei decided to cut it, her hair would kill her to preserve its own existence — and then go after Hiratsuka Makoto next.
Of course, all of this was Amamiya Rin's analysis based on what he knew. Whether it was actually the case, he had no way of being certain.
The logic of curses was not something the ordinary human mind was built to follow.
"Whatever the case — the time and feeling you've put into this beautiful hair is real. It would be a shame to cut it off so carelessly just because of a breakup. Doesn't that feel like letting yourself down?"
Amamiya Rin met Amano Sei's eyes. She looked back at him, a trace of confusion flickering in her gaze.
"You might be thinking of cutting your hair as a ritual — a way of leaving the past behind. But if I'm being honest, it sounds more like avoidance. Running from your past is easy. It feels clean. But it doesn't solve anything, because the past is always still there. If you don't face it squarely, you'll never truly move on. It becomes a splinter lodged in your chest — every time you think of it, it digs in a little deeper."
Listening to Amamiya Rin's counsel, Amano Sei's fingers tightened around the ends of her hair, her expression wavering.
She held his gaze, and she could feel the sincerity in it — the unmistakable warmth of someone who was genuinely thinking about her, not just speaking at her.
That focused look. Those measured words. A quiet, convincing force, slowly drawing her tangled heart into something more ordered.
"Then… what should I do?"
The question came out before she could stop it, and a lost, uncertain expression settled over her face.
"The hardest thing to face is usually the road you've already walked. Feeling regret. Feeling humiliated. Wanting to erase every trace of that time — that's natural. But real courage isn't about rushing to draw a line under it all. It's about being able to turn around, look clearly at who you were on that road, and then — acknowledge it. Accept it. Decide where you want to go from here."
Amamiya Rin's gaze rested on Amano Sei's long hair, then returned to her eyes as he continued, unhurried and sincere.
"If you're willing — think of this hair as a trial. A trial sent from the past. Growth is nothing more than repeatedly overcoming the weaknesses of who you used to be. The day you cut your hair not because you broke up with Hiratsuka Makoto, but simply because you feel like a new style — that's the day you'll know you've passed the trial. That the knot inside you is finally undone."
Amano Sei listened in silence. The dense, stagnant weight pressing against her chest seemed to ease, little by little, with each word Amamiya Rin spoke — as if a faint path had become visible through the fog. A path toward truly letting go of the past and walking forward.
"…I think I… understand a little, now."
She said it softly, the bewilderment in her eyes slowly giving way to a quiet, growing clarity. She bowed her head toward Amamiya Rin with genuine gratitude.
"Thank you, Amamiya-kun. I'll try — to make peace with it, and with who I was."
Half an hour later, at the café entrance, Amano Sei gave Amamiya Rin a small bow and turned to leave.
Kawakami Tomie slipped her arm through Amamiya Rin's, and the two of them strolled leisurely along the street.
Sunlight filtered through the canopy of roadside trees, scattering dappled light across them both.
"Tsk, tsk."
Tomie let out a short, unreadable scoff. She angled her face toward him, regarding Amamiya Rin from the corner of those beautiful eyes of hers, her tone soaked in undisguised amusement.
"My, my — that was quite the speech. Vessel of life-force, divine medium, running from reality, real courage, overcoming the trial — you even pulled out Hypnosis guidance techniques, didn't you? All that effort to talk someone out of cutting their hair. You stopped just short of planting a direct suggestion: Treasure your hair forever.
"The situation didn't allow for it. Otherwise, a direct suggestion would have been the cleanest solution."
Amamiya Rin walked on steadily, leaning on his cane. He spared her a brief sidelong glance, his face carrying no particular expression.
"Her hair is too close to her. If she went to cut it — if that thing truly has a will of its own — taking her life might be a matter of seconds. No matter how fast I reacted, I couldn't stop it in time. The only option right now is to stabilize her and avoid triggering the death condition."
Amamiya Rin's brow creased slightly.
"And besides — belief-force is real in this world. If she can genuinely let go, perhaps the obsession dwelling in that hair will dissolve along with it."
"And if she can't let go?"
Tomie pressed, a faintly entertained gleam in her eyes.
"…I don't know."
Amamiya Rin had no answer for that.
It was too close. Too immediate. The moment the hair's curse triggered, he would have no chance to intervene. All he could do for now was buy time — stretch the countdown a little longer.
"But as long as there's time, there's a chance to find another solution. If the fatal outcome triggers directly, there's no possibility left at all."
Tomie stared at him for a few seconds, then let out a soft, amused hmph. She reached over and pressed her fingers to the crease between his brows, smoothing it out.
"Honestly. If you just stopped meddling in other people's business, wouldn't your life be so much easier?"
"And whose fault is that? If you hadn't gone and stirred up trouble, I never would have run into Amano Sei in the first place — and I certainly wouldn't be worrying about anyone's hair."
Amamiya Rin replied, perfectly composed.
"Hmph. Always blaming me. But even so — I like you, you know. Just the way you are."
Tomie laughed and hugged his arm.
Back at the apartment, Amamiya Rin and Tomie parted ways — she returned to her room, while he climbed into the jeep and drove to the [Drink Sports Club] gym.
He parked, pushed open the heavy door, and was met with that familiar layered scent.
The cold bite of metal, the damp weight of steam, and something else — a thick, invisible pressure that hung in the air.
There was none of the sweat-smell typical of an ordinary gym. The place smelled more like industrial machinery that had been running at full load for hours — faint traces of machine oil and ozone.
If not for the sign outside, no one would ever mistake this for a fitness center.
"Rin~! You finally made it — the morning session is about to start!"
A nimble figure swept in from the side, a firm arm looping itself around Amamiya Rin's shoulders without so much as asking permission.
A lazy, intimate voice purred close to his ear, and warm breath tickled the edge of it until his earlobe went faintly warm.
"I timed it. I'm not late."
Feeling the solid elasticity pressed against his back, Amamiya Rin replied without turning around.
He didn't need to look. There was only one person who could call him that.
It had to be one of the Kawakami Tomies.
He tilted his head slightly, and in his peripheral vision caught a face — just as beautiful as any other Tomie, but radiating a fuller, more vivid glow from frequent exercise, almost dazzling in its vitality.
Where most Tomies had a refined, delicate beauty, this face carried an added edge of wild flair and healthy luminance. Her eyes were sharper and brighter, as if small flames burned in the depths of her pupils.
The arm around him was noticeably more solid than any other Tomie's — smooth muscle lines running taut and compact beneath the skin, carrying a sense of power that far surpassed the ordinary.
From that single casual embrace, Amamiya Rin felt an irresistible force pull him firmly against her.
This was the Tomie who had synced with him during his very first Triple Compression training session.
Thanks to the gym's particular nature, this Tomie had developed an addiction to training — this was already her fourth visit? Or fifth?
They had spent so long in the Dream World that minor details like this, too trivial to bother recording, had slipped beyond recall.
Amamiya Rin tested his footing and tried to pull free. Not so much as a millimeter.
The strength in this body had likely long surpassed any ordinary fitness enthusiast — no, with Triple Compression at those output levels, it was probably professional grade. She could probably go head-to-head for a bodybuilding championship.
Tomie laughed and let go of his shoulders — then immediately circled around in front of him, hands on her hips, chest held with a subtle lift of pride.
Unlike the other Tomies, she had changed into a sports tank top and shorts that allowed for free movement. Full pectoral muscles, sharply defined deltoids, and well-developed biceps were all on full display — yet her waist remained slender, and the lines of her abs were clearly visible.
The muscle distribution was balanced. Her build was slightly larger than the average Tomie's, but nothing was bloated or disproportionate. Her whole body moved like a she-leopard coiled with explosive power — feminine curves intact, yet housing a kinetic strength that could detonate at any moment.
That superbly conditioned physique combined with her signature bewitching face produced a visual impact that was genuinely startling.
Amamiya Rin's gaze swept over the changes in her build, and he felt a flicker of genuine surprise — even the faintest trace of quiet envy.
He'd wasted too much time at the hospital. His own body had only undergone Triple Compression training once. What a waste.
"Beautiful, isn't it? That one says something about 'growing into the true Tomie' — laughable. What kind of growth is becoming a blood-sucking monster? Mixing in external substances is nothing. Reaching the absolute peak of the body through pure, unassisted training — that is what it means to be the perfect Kawakami Tomie."
Tomie raised her arm in a triumphant flex. The bicep surged up like a small mountain, muscle fiber definition sharply visible.
So the other Tomie's words about change and growth had indeed lodged somewhere in her memory.
Only — unlike the Tomie who sought transformation by becoming a vampire, this one had lost herself entirely to this gym and sworn to forge a perfect physique through sheer discipline, defining what the name Kawakami Tomie could mean.
"Beautiful. Even a bodybuilding champion couldn't match your build, I'd say."
Amamiya Rin said it while glancing toward the other members resting and warming up nearby.
He spotted one veteran member who had been training far longer than Tomie. The muscle mass was enormous — but for sheer aesthetic quality, it fell slightly short of Tomie's.
Well. One was a man; the other was Kawakami Tomie.
A pleased smile spread across Tomie's face. Then something else surfaced in her memory, and a flicker of contempt crossed her eyes as she shifted topics, her tone sharpening with undisguised disdain.
"What a waste that that skinless lunatic died when she did."
"A waste?"
Amamiya Rin cocked his head.
"If she had lived one more day, I could have shown her what real beauty looks like. Hmph. Muscle that only becomes visible after stripping away the skin isn't fit to be compared with muscle developed through training an intact body."
Tomie raised her chin, arms folded across her chest, speaking with imperious certainty.
"Saying the skin hides the muscle so one can't appreciate true beauty? What a joke. Since when is muscle such an inconvenient thing? The beauty of muscle lies in the forging of it — in the mastery of it — in the rhythmic lines and taut fullness of power flowing in and out of control. When trained with care and intention, the skin is the finest medium there is for displaying the beauty of what lies beneath."
"She's dead now. There's no point dwelling on it. At the end of the day, she was just a lunatic."
Amamiya Rin gave a quiet, amused shake of his head.
"Oh — aren't you going back for the ointment?"
Something had occurred to him. The other Tomies were all working on their alchemical salves, but this one showed absolutely no urgency.
"There's no need for that! Whether the Apology Demon made me uglier, I honestly can't say — but I know I don't need any ointment to make myself more perfect. Needing a salve to repair your beauty is just proof that you don't trust your own charm."
Tomie stepped forward, closing the distance between them, those uncanny eyes fixed directly on his, her voice brimming with unshakeable conviction.
Those words — unilaterally dismissing every other Tomie — immediately sent shockwaves crashing through the Tomie Network.
(Idiot! Can't you tell your mind has already been warped by that gym?)
(You're covered in revolting muscle. Surely you don't actually think you look beautiful? Pathetic.)
(Ugh — I didn't want to say anything, but you're being so thick-headed that I have no choice but to tell you the truth and mock you for it.)
(Since when does any beautiful woman have muscles like that? Grinning away like some man — honestly, enough.)
...
The Tomies launched a coordinated attack on the one who had committed herself to physical transformation. Whether they were speaking truthfully, Amamiya Rin couldn't say.
But one remark among them sparked something in him.
He settled inward, quietly entering Dhyana — drawing his mind into stillness, thoughts going calm as a windless lake.
The Tomie beside him had sunk too deep to notice it herself — but he could feel it. This gym had been subtly interfering with his mental state all along. The fleeting envy he had felt toward Tomie just moments ago was precisely that at work.
But it was nothing to worry about.
Amamiya Rin's mind and spirit settled into quiet, like an ancient well undisturbed by any ripple.
The state of Dhyana had long since been woven into his everyday breathing and thought — a foundation as solid as bedrock. Everything strange and unsettling he had lived through would, in the end, become nourishment for his continued growth.
____
👻🔥+40 ch: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Danmachi: Summoning Ruri Gokou, And other Chuunibyou Brats
Let's achieve our community goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 extra chapter for everybody