"Ah!" I heard a scream from up front—it was Nana. "Th-there's a skeleton!" I stopped and followed her pointing finger. Moss covered the white bones; they'd been dead a long time. I was surprised she even spotted it. But no Timeflower grew near the skull. What was going on? Had this person not died by suicide? Suicides always sprouted Timeflowers. Maybe theirs had already faded. "Rest in peace," I murmured, bowing to the skeleton before leading Nanami and White Stone away.

Here, I noticed something strange. We'd found several skeletons in a row, yet not a single Timeflower. This place was eerie. "Weird," I muttered. "Why no flowers at all? Did these people not kill themselves?" Suicide or murder might not matter here. Or perhaps this haunted spirit mountain banned Timeflowers entirely.

Finally, I spotted one Timeflower. The dead girl looked young, deceased only days ago. Her tongue hung long from the tree branch, but her body wasn't badly decayed. Nanami covered her mouth and turned away. White Stone, tougher, stayed to comfort her.

I plucked the Timeflower and bowed to the girl. Back in that research facility, I'd seen gravely ill teens fight their fate, stretching their time by years. Compared to them, suicides felt shameful. But the dead deserved rest. Dust to dust.

I helped Nanami up. "Can you walk?" She nodded weakly, face pale. Honestly, her own death face had been worse—but I'd never say that. She'd hit me.

I wanted to carry her, but I handled corpse duty. Seeing worse bodies might break her. "I told you to guard camp at the mountain base," I said gently. "You insisted on coming." I wasn't scolding—just bad at caring. "Sorry," Nana whispered, head down. I ruffled her hair. "I'm not mad." White Stone coughed. "Stop flirting. Others are here." I shook my head and led on.

Truthfully, our haul sucked. We'd found corpses but only three Timeflowers. None held over ten years of time.

Then—a figure caught my eye. Far off, but in red-and-white robes. Yesterday's shrine maiden? She held something bright: a Timeflower! She spotted us, froze for three seconds, then fled. She definitely saw Timeflowers. "Follow her!" I told the girls. But Nana moved too slow. I used Time Acceleration on us three, yet tracking one person in these deep woods was hard. Alone, I'd manage—but abandoning them? Unforgivable if something happened.

"That girl has a Timeflower," I explained while searching. "So she sees them too. Another Time Ability User?" White Stone asked, supporting Nana. "Maybe." I never claimed time powers were mine alone. Once, I fought a twisted Ability User with "Time Desolation"—erasing time in a zone. Brutal. I beat him but didn't steal his power.

"Hey," White Stone said, eyeing a familiar tree. "Haven't we been here?" Knife marks scarred its trunk. Since when did she carry a knife? "Lost?" Impossible. No mountain fog. We'd climbed straight up. Why circle back? This mountain was weird.

"Rest time." I sat on a bluish stone and pulled out bento boxes. Nana refused food, still haunted by corpses. As I unwrapped mine, red-and-white robes flashed— the shrine maiden! "Got you this time." "Time Stasis!" I froze hundreds of meters around us. Costly, but chasing her endlessly wasted more time.

Up close, she was just a ten-year-old girl. I released the stasis. "Whoa! Teleportation?" To frozen targets, my movement seemed like teleportation—except I couldn't phase through walls. "Who are you?" I asked. "Enki Koichi," she chirped, fearless. "Big brother, was that teleportation?" I brushed her off.

I brought Koichi over. "This is Nanami Hayashi. And Mingzi Baishi Senpai." White Stone—no, Mingzi Baishi—stroked Koichi's head. "Hello, little shrine maiden." "Hi, Nanami姐姐, Mingzi姐姐! I'm Enki Koichi." Her eyes glued to our bento, drooling. "Koichi-chan, hungry?" Mingzi Baishi asked warmly. The girl nodded cutely. Nana gave her portion away. "Share with us." Koichi clapped happily. "Yay!"

After lunch, I showed a Timeflower. "Koichi-chan, can you see this?" She nodded. "Of course! I gather lots of soul flowers. Mom can't see them, but she believes me." "Could you show me where you grow them?" I asked gently, worried she'd distrust me. Her innocence surprised me. "Sure! Mom set barriers here. I'll guide you—or you'd wander for days." Mingzi Baishi patted her head. "Such a good kid."

"Big brother, you never said your name!" Flustered by Timeflowers, I'd forgotten. "Cold Creek." Koichi looked up. "Cold Creek哥哥, why's your clock so full? More than our three combined!" She saw time indeed. Mingzi Baishi answered, clearly fond of her. "He's a divine messenger sent to save the world." Ridiculous—but Koichi believed it. Kids were so innocent. "Amazing! I'm not like that. They call me a devil, a monster." Her voice dipped sadly, then brightened. "But Mom says I'm good. Not a monster." This kid had suffered for her powers too.

"We're here." Koichi pointed to a modest shrine ahead. "My home." Beside it bloomed fields of Timeflowers.