A worried face of Yona greeted Nara when she regained her consciousness. Due to the severe headache, it took a while for her to register her surroundings. A desk at a corner, a wardrobe beside it and a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf at another corner. She was no longer in Jejin Forest. She was currently at her room in Yona’s house.

“How are you feeling?” Yona looked relieved as she leaned back against the chair beside Nara’s bed.

A piercing, sharp pain shot through Nara’s head so hurtfully she winced when she sat up. Massaging her temples did nothing to relieve the searing, throbbing pain. She moved backwards on the bed to keep her head resting against the headboard. Moving her body was a real struggle at the moment when she’s feeling exhausted as if she had gone swimming in the ocean.

“My head hurts, but otherwise I’m fine,” Nara murmured, her head throbbing as she talked.

Yona let out a sigh before she folded her arms across her chest, frowning angrily. “What were you thinking? Wandering off into the forest alone like that? Do you have a death wish?”

Although it wasn’t the proper time to smile, Nara was suppressing her grin. It seemed like it had been forever since someone was this worried about her. Her own parents always wore that terrified expression every time they saw their daughter. Nara had been longing for this kind of affection for quite a while.

Moving to this town wasn’t that bad of an idea after all.

Yona gave Nara a look as though she had gone insane. “Why are you smiling?”

Shaking her head slightly, Nara said, “I’m just happy that you’re worried about me.”

Yona lifted a brow in confusion. “Has someone told you that you’re weird?”

“All the time.”

The two of them broke out in giggles. However, the giggling didn’t last long. Probably because they realized how traumatic and horrifying the word “weird” was for people like them.

There was a long pause before Yona continued, “But seriously. Tell me. What were you doing in the forest?”

Lying to Yona – her cousin who could actually see the same creatures she saw daily – was surprisingly uncomfortable for Nara. But if she told her about Jinushigami and her plan, obviously Yona would completely ban her from entering the forest. And Nara didn’t want that. So lying was her only choice.

“Nothing.” Nara shrugged. “I was just taking a walk and I ended up there.”

Yona eyed her suspiciously, but she didn’t press her any further. “Do you remember what happened?”

Nara’s mind flashed back to the time when she was in the forest – the Kasa-obake, the Yama-uba and the figure in white wrapped up in blue flame, Jongin.

Nara gasped and looked around frantically, searching for the three youkai when she was fully aware there were only Yona and her in the room. “Where is Jongin? Is he fine? Did you see a Kasa-obake? How about the Yama-uba?”

“What are you talking about?” Yona reached out her hands to grab Nara’s shoulders, calming her down.

Taking a deep breath, Nara started to tell everything that had happened in the forest, of course entirely leaving out the part about her knowledge of Jinushigami and his allegedly cursed shrine. She told Yona about her coincidental meeting with the same Kasa-obake they’d seen yesterday near the bus stop, the sudden appearance of a Yama-uba, the chase inside an abandoned shrine and the unexpected arrival of her one and only familiar while pretending she didn’t know a thing what shrine it was.

Yona shook her head in disbelief after Nara finished her story. “Well, that explains why you almost had no spiritual energy inside you when you were brought here. You don’t know how lucky you are.”

Nothing of Yona’s words made sense for Nara. Opening and closing it again in bewilderment, Nara only managed to say, “Come again?”

Clearing , Yona seemed like she was ready to give a long lecture. “There are two types of human: the ones who have spiritual energy – like us – are called indigos and the ones who don’t are vanillas.” Looking at Nara’s confused gaze, Yona waved her hand dismissively as she added, “Don’t ask me why we call them vanillas. I don’t know why either. I’m sure the reason is unimportant.” She then continued her explanation. “People who don’t have spiritual energy only have life energy inside their body. Unlike us, we have both life energy and spiritual energy. But that doesn’t mean we have any advantages.

“Spirits absorb life energy to heal their wounds faster and they absorb spiritual energy to get stronger. Obviously, more spirits seek power. That’s why indigos attract spirits. Vanillas die if they’re out of life energy. We, who have both energies, die if one of our energies is completely dry. So do you know that you almost died?”

Nara gulped nervously. Realizing that she’d actually been a step away from death was appalling. She’d been too reckless. She’d thought that she might somehow survive if she entered the shrine, totally ignoring the Kasa-obake’s warning. Now when she thought about it again, how could a weak girl like her survive in a cursed shrine when even priests and priestesses couldn’t? Why had she thought she might have a chance?

The injustice of Jinushigami’s death had occupied her mind and clouded her thoughts from the greater risk before her.

Pretending to be oblivious, Nara asked, “Do you know something about the shrine?”

“I’ve been there before.” Yona’s voice was low and serious. “People have been talking about the shrine being cursed and many people have died because of it. As an exorcist, surely it’s my duty to check it out.” She shrugged. “I don’t know if it’s cursed, but there really is something weird about that shrine. As soon as I entered the gate, I sensed my spiritual energy being absorbed so intensely that I was certain if I lingered there a second longer, my life would be in danger. You’re lucky that you’re brought out before all of your spiritual energy was sapped completely. So, I’m afraid, even though I hate to admit it, it’s nearly impossible for us exorcists to conduct a search inside the shrine.”

It took everything Nara had to not ask “Is it The Lone Spirit’s doing? Have you seen him?”. Instead, she asked, “How can you sense spiritual energy?”

“As you train and hone your spiritual power, you’ll eventually be able to sense the flow of spiritual energy inside you and others.” Yona closed her eyes before she continued, “However, in my case, I’m not only able to sense it. I can see it.” She opened her eyes again and Nara gasped in shock.

Yona’s deep black eyes were now bright orange, blazing like amber. Nara blinked again to make sure she didn’t see things because of her severe headache. But no matter how many times she blinked, Yona’s eyes were still orange. Her eyes had just changed color, like Jongin’s eyes which turned icy blue from dark brown. How could they do that? Jongin was a youkai so there’s no telling what he’s capable to do, but Yona? Yona was a human just like her.

I must have gone insane, Nara thought.

“With these eyes, I can see it. And after some time, you can, too,” Yona said calmly.

Nara scoffed in disbelief, finding everything Yona said ridiculous. “There’s no way I can do—”

“This ability is genetic. It’s hereditary. Every exorcist in our family can do it. Sanctification Eye enable us to differentiate spiritual beings from living creatures. Though you need a lot of training to perfectly control your spiritual energy until you can use these eyes at will.” Yona’s eyes went back to black. “Even I can’t use it for a long time. It really drains me.” She reassuringly added, “And of course, those vanillas won’t be able to see the change in my eye color.”

The Sanctification Eye sounded amazing, but it wasn’t the one catching her attention. “So, can I avoid having my spiritual energy absorbed if I can control it?”

Yona pondered Nara’s question before answering, “Probably. But you need immensely high control of your spiritual energy. I might have done it a few times before. However, the shrine’s power to absorb is much stronger than anything I’ve ever faced. Don’t you ever think to go into that shrine again. Understand?”

“Alright. I won’t,” Nara lied. If she could avoid being absorbed, then she could walk into the shrine and pray to Jinushigami without dying. Even if the chance was so little, she wanted to try it. “Can we start the training now?”

“Sure,” Yona excitedly said.

Yona started explaining about the first step of the training, which was meditation. Meditation was the easiest way to gain spiritual energy from the air – the air contained spiritual energy. By being very still and in full concentration, she said that Nara could naturally sense the spiritual energy around her and absorb it, storing it inside her body.

“Imagine your body as a container,” Yona passionately instructed Nara, her orange eyes flaming in excitement. “Fill that container until it’s full with spiritual energy and close the lid. Don’t let any of it leak out. Hey, I can see your spiritual energy leaking out! Keep everything inside!”

Easy for her to say, Nara thought bitterly.

Absorbing the spiritual energy while keeping it inside her body was like looking both l