Ren studied the Akariwake for a while, watching how the ring caught the light as he turned it between his fingers. There was something strange about it today. It was warmer in a peculiar way. He couldn't tell if it was because of the metal itself or rather the weight of Kagami's words still lingering in the back of his mind that gave him that impression.
But then, something got even stranger.
The violet trails of smoke emitted from the ring, which had been slowly drifting towards one singular direction that whole time, seemed to change in intention. It was as if the path itself was reshaping or changing course toward somewhere else.
Ren lowered his hand and glanced at Kagami.
"Are you seeing this?" he asked.
"I see it," she finally said. "But you're the one wielding the ring, not me."
After that, she hopped down from a roof overhead where she had been standing all along and landed on the floor beside him.
Ren followed the new path, tracking the violet wisps as they curled ahead. They seemed to move more slowly, like searching for something themselves as they moved. Still, the general direction was there, even if it felt more hesitant.
The ring led them to a set of rooms built in the same luxurious style they had seen since the gardens, with silk curtains fluttering among ruined furniture. The grand murals and depictions on the walls made Ren feel small as he inspected the place. And then there were the shrines scattered all over the place, all tucked into their walls, some holding statues of different shapes and sizes, while others were left hollow.
All that until Ren reached a larger chamber at the end of the hallways, darker than the rest. Inside, a ray of light fell through a broken section of the ceiling, partially illuminating a massive mural carved into the wall. It depicted a goddess or maybe a witch, though only part of her face remained lit. The other one kept hidden in the shadows.
The trails from Akariwake curved into the room and then stopped altogether.
So there was something about this place, Ren thought, though he couldn't quite tell what that was. He stepped forward cautiously, careful not to disturb anything around.
Then, he sensed movement once again. It was coming from behind one of the curtains along the left wall. Upon inspection, he decided it couldn't have been the wind since there were no direct openings toward that area.
He crossed the room, stepping carefully to avoid the broken wood scattered across the floor. When he reached the curtain, he paused briefly in front of it, listening for any sign of movement. But nothing came. So he pulled the curtain back himself.
There was a little girl behind it. She was small, barely tall enough to reach Ren's waist. Her body jolted slightly the moment the curtain pulled back, but there was no place for her to run anymore, since behind her, there was only a wall at that point.
She wore something that looked traditional: a robe that, despite its small size, still looked too large for her build. But it was truly her eyes that struck him most. She bore those same golden irises Ren had seen in Naraku before. Just like the Kagemonos there or the Pact Echo from his last trial. They were golden irises with dark swirls of black fluid running along them. And yet, there seemed to be something different about her when compared to those creatures. She didn't seem aggressive at all. On the contrary, there were small involuntary movements that gave her away as something more human.
"Who are you?" Ren asked.
But there was no reply.
Behind him, Kagami moved into view, and her gaze turned darker as soon as she saw the little girl. Her ears went flat.
"This person shouldn't be here. There should be nothing interfering right now."
Ren glanced down at Kagami, then back to the girl.
"What do you mean? Interfering with what?"
"Your trials, Ren. Where's your mind at?"
The little girl watched them, like a cornered stray.
Ren then crouched slightly, keeping his tone as calm as he could manage.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said.
No reaction.
Ren glanced at Kagami, holding up Akariwake to show her. The ring had stopped emitting any of its usual violet smoke trails or its particles. It wasn't pointing in any direction anymore.
"You think she caused this?" he asked.
"Does it matter? She's not supposed to be here."
"But she doesn't feel like a threat."
Before Kagami could answer, though, the girl took advantage of Ren's momentary distraction. She turned abruptly and ran out through a narrow side door.
"Wait!" Ren called out and followed instinctively.
Kagami sighed, then followed as well.
The little girl slowed down as soon as she saw herself back in the hallways, but kept walking ahead, stepping over specific boards and sections of the floor as if following some invisible logic. Ren followed cautiously, studying her path, trying to decipher the purpose behind it.
But then she stopped abruptly and turned to face him. She then gestured for him to stay still as well.
"What is it...?" Ren asked, confused.
But then, as he looked to his right, Ren noticed an indentation in the floor with a slim screen of transparent glass that had a glyph drawn onto its surface. It was so thin it looked like part of the floor itself.
He leaned in slightly, inspecting it closely. It was a hidden mechanism. And just as he opened his mouth to speak, the trap snapped: a section of the wall to his left opened exactly at the height of his neck. Then a blade swished in the air so quickly that Ren could barely see it fly across. He could only hear that distinct sound of something cutting sharply through the air.
Ren froze for a few moments, processing what had just happened.
"You knew that was there..." Ren said aloud, looking at the girl.
But the little girl didn't answer. She simply turned and continued on, following the same careful walking along specific parts of the architecture.
Ren was both baffled and intrigued. There was no way to know how long this girl had been there or under what circumstances. But it was clear she knew more about this place than he did. And arguably more than Kagami herself, who had been banished from it so long ago.
"Wonderful, one more cryptic gift from the universe. What could possibly go wrong?..."