“I am aware of the abnormality!! What information do you have!?”
“Bad news! That girl, Sanae-chan is dying!”
“What about the spiritual energy stabilization device!?”
“Aniki just left to set it up!”
“I'll leave that to you! But don't hang up the call!”
“Roger that!”
Having learned what she needed, Kiriha's already serious expression turned even more severe.
I can only pray we make it in time...
If the device that Kiriha had given to the ghost hunters in advance activated properly, Sanae should temporarily be able to recover. But the question was if she could buy the time necessary for the machine to be set up with her haniwas.
“Nee-san, the spiritual energy stabilizer’s output is stable Ho-! The operating limit is in 230 seconds! Continuing the countdown Ho-!”
As Karama said that, Sanae's body regained its clear shape. The yellow light emitted from Karama was stabilizing Sanae's body.
“I have connected the battery to Sanae-chan's aura through Karama's spiritual energy stabilizer Ho-! The converter is currently stable, we should be fine for a while now Ho-!”
The light emitted from Sanae grew a little stronger. It was weaker than normal, but it was no longer unstable and the light shone at a constant quantity.
Simply put, Sanae had recovered a bit, but Kiriha's expression was still serious.
“Only 230 seconds... we might not make it...”
Kiriha calculated the time necessary for the ghost hunters to activate the device. When she subtracted the time she could buy with Korama and Karama, she came up with a ten second something deficit. Which meant that Sanae would have to endure that remaining time in her previously unstable form. It was a dangerous bet that Kiriha would have preferred to avoid.
“Kiriha-san, just what is going on!?”
Koutarou figured that Kiriha had been able to act based on some kind of information she held, and he wanted an explanation from her. Since Koutarou could see that Sanae had been vanishing, he couldn't keep quiet.
“Sanae's spiritual energy supply has decreased and she is starting to disappear”
Kiriha bit her lip.
She had made preparations to keep this from happening, but the situation had changed faster than she had imagined.
“Disappear!?”
Koutarou's bad premonition turned out to be accurate and his expression was greatly distorted.
“What do you mean by disappear!? As in die!?”
Hearing that she was disappearing, Sanae ran up to Kiriha with a bitter expression. Since she had just had a scary experience, Kiriha's words sounded convincing. Sanae realized her own crisis and trembled in fear.
“Sadly, that's precisely what it means. There is insufficient spiritual energy to stabilize your body. If left like this, you will dissolve and assimilate with nature's spiritual energy”
A ghost was an existence that used some kind of power to gather spiritual energy to a single point. If that power was to disappear, they would become an unbound mass of spiritual energy and would surely scatter after a short while. The same way air does when a balloon bursts. It would diffuse in the surrounding air until it becomes indistinguishable.
“No, I don't want to disappear!”
Having realized the situation she was in, Sanae was overcome by an even greater fear than before. Her hair was disheveled and tears filled her eyes.
“Sanae-chan, stay calm Ho-!”
“If you move or if your feelings get out of control, you'll use up more spiritual energy Ho-!”
Every time Sanae moved, the two haniwas followed as they were what was keeping her body stabile.
“Even if you say that, I can't sit still after hearing that I'm going to disappear!! What do I do, Koutarou!?”
Scared, Sanae jumped at Koutarou. Fortunately, since the haniwas were stabilizing her body, Koutarou was able to hold Sanae.
Sanae...
Sanae was trembling in Koutarou's arms. And in order to stop that, he strongly embraced her.
“Kiriha-san, isn't there some way!? She can't just suddenly disappear!!”
Sanae's crisis wasn't Kiriha's fault. But even though he knew that, Koutarou pressed her for an answer. That's just how worried he was for Sanae.
“There are some people moving to stop it. All we can do is bet on them”
Kiriha showed Koutarou her cellphone. With that, he was able to understand that the person that she had talked with before was working to solve the situation.
“But there might not be enough time. I can't say with 100% certainty that she will be saved”
“Koutarou!”
Not enough time. Hearing that, Sanae held onto Koutarou even harder.
No, I don't want to separate with Koutarou!! Anything but that!!
Sanae's internal scream turned into force that she poured into her arms to embrace Koutarou even stronger.
This is so warm!! I am happy here!! So, so...!!
And she grasped her right hand even harder. Inside of it was a charm with the words 'Family Safety' embroidered into it.
“Hold me, Koutarou! So I won't disappear!”
That was Sanae's only wish.
To be together with Koutarou.