The Correspondence

On Mount Kagami-oboro, inside the small hut behind the Kagami-oboro Inari Shrine, Miketsu, dressed in her miko robes, watched the transmission sent by Tsuruha on her laptop screen. Listening to her divine messenger's report, she couldn't help but frown slightly.

"No word of Hell Correspondence or the Hell Girl? Are you sure?" Miketsu sat up from her reclining position and asked Tsuruha.

"I am certain... Lady Uka, our ties with the Underworld are currently very close. The Inari gods of our branch shrines maintain contact with the Shinigami in their respective jurisdictions. Obtaining information related to the Underworld is quite simple," Tsuruha replied respectfully.

In recent decades, to maintain the stability of life and death in the mortal world, there had been extensive cooperation between Inari and the Underworld on basic affairs. Inari had established many liaison points in the divine realm of the dead, and many local Inari branch shrines often served as passages and outposts for Shinigami traveling between the two realms, facilitating their various activities in the human realm.

For instance, when Shinigami needed to reside in the human realm under human identities for work, Inari would resolve their identity and financial issues. Many Shinigami also used Inari shrines to visit the human realm for vacations during their rare breaks. Since Shinigami were mostly spiritual bodies, Inari used technology from the Lunar Capital to create physical vessels for them, making their movements in the human realm more convenient.

Furthermore, currency exchange between the human realm and the Underworld was now primarily handled through Inari. In this society of extreme population expansion, the number of lonely spirits who died before their time was growing exponentially. To accommodate such a vast number of souls, Wangsi Chengs had been springing up one after another in the Underworld, forming a massive ghostly society that directly stimulated the booming development of the Underworld's real estate industry.

Consequently, the relationship between Inari and the Underworld had become very intimate. Gathering intelligence was easy, which was why Tsuruha had been able to collect the information so quickly after Miketsu's order; there were many Underworld personnel stationed right at the main shrine.

"They don't know anything? Now that's interesting..." Miketsu mused with interest. On the other side of the screen, Tsuruha also spoke up thoughtfully.

"Lady Uka, could it be that this so-called Hell Correspondence isn't an issue with the Underworld? Perhaps a yokai or a wild god with the ability to connect to the netherworld is behind it?" Tsuruha voiced her suspicion, and Miketsu nodded slightly in response.

"It's possible, but unlikely. I can't imagine a yokai or wild god with that kind of power spreading such an urban legend. What would be the point of sending the resented to hell? What do they stand to gain?" Miketsu pondered. She had seen many yokai or wild gods that devoured people, but she had never heard of one dedicated to sending people to hell specifically because of a grudge. The main issue was the lack of motive—why would the mastermind behind Hell Correspondence do this?

"Lady Uka, do you mean... the root of the Hell Correspondence issue still lies within the Underworld itself?" Tsuruha asked tentatively. Miketsu gave a firm nod.

"Exactly. I believe this Hell Correspondence is still related to the Underworld. Since we can't get anything out of the Shinigami or the Judges, let's go find someone higher up to ask." Stroking her chin, Miketsu spoke slowly. Tsuruha's expression on the screen turned to one of shock.

"H-higher up? You... you don't mean to speak directly to the Ten Kings, do you?"

"Yes. Tsuruha, make the arrangements immediately. Send a message to the Underworld in the name of Uka. I want to meet with the master of the Fifth Hall. Oh... no need for a physical meeting. Just patch them through to this laptop for a video call. Underworld offices should be fully digitized by now, right?"

With a faint smile, Miketsu looked at her divine messenger on the screen. Tsuruha hurriedly nodded.

"Yes, Lady Uka. Tsuruha will see to it at once..."

With those respectful words, Tsuruha's image vanished from the screen. Just as Miketsu stretched, preparing to lie back and wait to speak with the master of the Fifth Hall, her expression suddenly froze. She paused for a moment as if sensing something.

Then, her gaze sharpened. She activated her causality vision, allowing the dense, sky-filling threads of causality to manifest before her eyes. She reached out and plucked a single thread entangled with her own being, closing her eyes to focus.

When Miketsu opened her eyes again, a smile played on her lips.

"How very interesting..."

...

As the sun set and night descended, the moon rising in the east quickly climbed to the peak of the night sky. The city, shrouded in darkness, gradually fell into silence.

Somewhere in the vast city, a quiet stillness enveloped a dark apartment building. At this late hour, the lights in most rooms had been extinguished, and most of the residents had drifted into dreams. However, a faint, ghostly blue light still glowed from one window.

Eguchi, dressed in pajamas, sat at her desk. The lights were off. An old computer sat on the desk before her, its screen providing the only source of light in the dim room. The screen displayed a Google search page, and four words had already been typed into the search bar: Hell Correspondence.

Eguchi's expression was solemn and focused, her eyes fixed on the time in the bottom right corner of the screen. It showed 23:59. Only a few seconds remained until midnight.

'Regardless... there's no harm in trying...'

With that thought, the moment the four digits in the corner reset to zero, Eguchi hit the enter key. The page jumped. Contrary to common sense, the search results showed only a single, lonely entry. Eguchi froze for a second before clicking it decisively.

The webpage loaded, and the entire screen turned pitch black. In the center of the dark screen was a small white input box, with a short sentence written in Japanese above it.

"Your grievance, I shall dispel."

Seeing this incredibly simple and plain page, Eguchi was stunned, her mind racing.

'This... the Hell Correspondence is real? No... it could be a prank site... the only way to know for sure is to try...'

Thinking this, Eguchi typed the name 'Fushimi Inaba' into the box and tapped enter. With a flicker of fire that went almost unnoticed, the input box vanished, and the entire page returned to total darkness.

Eguchi sat still, waiting for something to happen. But after a long while, her surroundings remained as peaceful as ever.

"Phew... looks like it was just a legend..." Eguchi sighed with relief. But as she stood up and turned around to go to bed, she froze in place, paralyzed.

"This... where is this..."

Eguchi murmured in disbelief. In the split second she had turned her head, the scenery before her eyes had undergone a world-shaking transformation.

At this moment, what lay before Eguchi was not her familiar, cramped room, but an outdoor wilderness.

The glow of the setting sun illuminated the sky, staining the surrounding grass. A quietly flowing stream reflected the sunset's radiance, surrounding the spot where Eguchi stood like a small island. In front of her was a large tree with a dense canopy, and standing beneath that tree was a young girl.

She looked to be around middle school age, with black hair cut into a hime-cut, wearing a black sailor uniform. Her skin was a sickly, pale white. Her face, which should have been cute, was devoid of any life, and her large, crimson eyes lacked even a hint of light.

Facing this petite girl who radiated a terrifying aura, Eguchi couldn't help but take two steps back.

"Are you... the Hell Girl?"

Facing the terrified Eguchi, the girl with the wooden expression spoke slowly. Her voice was cold and steady, devoid of any fluctuation or emotion.

"I am... Enma Ai."