Tsugumomo (つぐもも)

Well.

Good morning, Kazumi.

Damn it!

Get your damned dirty paws off my Mi-chan!

That's enough, Sis...

Damn that Kasumi! Was she trying to kill me?

Obi Sash Tsukumogami Kirio

Malison Exorcist Kagami Kazumi

She wouldn't if you'd just behave.

'Sup?

Shiramine Shitone

Osanai Osane

Chikaishi Chikao

Good morning, Kagami.

Good morning.

Something feels... off.

You think so, too?

What? Did you forget to put these on?

What do you think you're doing?!

You wanted to see as badly as I did!

Same old same old.

Yes. It seems that way.

Wait.

Everyone, try to remember...

exactly where we are.

This is a dream

Tsugumomo

Tsugu

m 0 0 l 0 -10 l 10 -10 l 10 0

m 0 0 l 0 -10 l 10 -10 l 10 0

Chapter 4

Swapped!

"Swapped!"

Some Days Earlier

Some Days Earlier

Satou-san?

Here.

Takayama-kun?

Takayama-kun?

Attendance

A lot of people absent today...

Sensei, we can't have class like this!

He's right. We should have a study period instead.

I'm going to consult with the other teachers.

Study quietly until I get back, okay?

Yeah!

Hey, wanna do versus mode?

I'm starving, dude.

Eat your lunch, then!

Keep it down, okay?

Sure!

Hey.

You hear about how Takayama's been absent

because of some kinda sleeping sickness?

A sleeping sickness?

He won't wake up, no matter what they try.

The doctors have even thrown in the towel.

Kiriha-san?

Indeed. This calls for the Troubleshooters' Office.

Troubleshooters' Office

The sleeping sickness that has been spreading among the second-years

Today's Subject: The Sleeping Sickness -More students have started missing classes over the last few days -Seems to be spreading among second-years -Once asleep, they don't wake up

started a few days ago,

Takayama Takashi

Sick Sick Sick Sick

Chikaishi Chisato

Nazuki Natsuki

Sick Sick Sick Sick

Mikawa Mitsuo

Sick Sick Sick Sick

Misa Misako

Sick Sick

and at this point, has affected about half of them.

Even in the other classes?

There's no doubt this is an amasogi's doing.

We'd better solve it fast, then.

Right. And on that note...

I've arranged for an advisor to help this club of ours

deal with these ever-increasing cases of aberrations.

Is it a woman?

Yes.

Is she young?

She looks that way, yes.

Pillowy

Pillowy

Is she... pillowy?

No.

I'm your advisor, Shirayama Kukuri.

Shirayama Kukuri-sensei

Yes!

Advisor

A regional goddess... as an advisor?

Anything goes, huh?

Fashion Glasses

That bein' the case,

The room of the first victim, Takayama Takashi

The room of the first victim, Takayama Takashi

you can leave this whole mess to me.

If an aberration's behind it all, we check the first student who got sick.

Mother's Testimony

Mother's Testimony

According to his mother, she thought he'd left for school as usual,

but when she got home from work,

he was still asleep in his room.

I've seen a ruckus caused by a tsukumogami pillow before.

The wielder at the time ended up draggin' other folks into his dream.

That does sound similar to this sleeping sickness.

Yep.

Which is why I figure this here pillow oughta be our amasogi!

Huh?

We checked the first three students who fell to the sleeping sickness,

Mikawa Mitsuo

Takayama Takashi

Nazuki Natsuki

but there was no sign of the amasogi.

I see...

This is what you "figured"?

Because you were completely off.

I mean, it seemed real sketchy...

The reasoning of looking into the first victims made sense, but...

Those guys, huh?

Mikawa Mitsuo

Takayama Takashi

Nazuki Natsuki

They always were hanging out, come to think of it.

No telling what kind of trouble they got up to.

Man, that's nasty!

I don't get you!

Come on, it's time for class.

Is there some clue about the three of them?

Attendance

Wait a minute...

Sensei!

What's wrong?

The attendance sheet.

The first day he was absent,

Takayama's mother didn't know he was still asleep.

Shiramine Shirou

Takayama Takashi

Chikaishi Chisato

Nazuki Natsuki

But you marked Takayama and his friends as "sick,"

without even checking with their parents!

Which means... you must have known why they were absent from the start.

I...

Sensei, we know all about these kinds of incidents!

You have to tell us what's going on so we can help you!

Sensei!

Sorry for barging in like this.

It seems this pillow is the amasogi.

Then after she wakes up, we need to ask her to destroy it.

Nah. She fled into her dreams.

Isuzu ain't gonna wake up on her own.

What if we destroy the pillow?

All the folks inside her dream are gonna end up stuck there.

What do we do, then?

This is the kinda thing you need Shirayama-sensei for!

Hey there. I'm the dreaming pillow tsugumomo, Bakura.

Dreaming Pillow Tsugumomo Bakura

Bakura-chan's got the power to get people in and outta dreams!

I see. The idea is to try to convince Isuzu within her dream, then?

That would be ideal, since it would avoid malison atonement.

If you're unable to convince her,

the same pillow amasogi should exist in her dream realm,

and you'll need to destroy that.

So either convince her... or destroy the pillow inside her dream?

The dream realm is distinct from reality, but connected by your mind.

So if you're hurt inside the dream, it will have an affect on your body.

Therefore, to minimize the danger, we'll be splitting your minds up,

and your other half will be the one that enters the dream realm.

Other half?

On your initial entry into the dream,

you may be confused and not realize it's a dream.

In that case, maybe we could agree on a keyword I can write in my sketchbook?

Once we see that, it should help us realize the truth.

Tadataka, be ready in case things go awry.

Leave it to me.

Here we go, then.

People and dreams,

connected in a fleeting moment, in which all can be as they truly wish...

That's right! We're inside Iraha-sensei's dream!

In reality, I'm a boy, and Kirio-kun is a girl!

And our goal here is to talk sense into Isuzu!

I didn't realize this is what she meant by our "other half"!

It's kind of awkward to run!

I didn't realize these got in the way so much...

Iraha-sensei!

What's wrong? You shouldn't be running in the hallway.

We've come to bring you back.

Release the students from this dream!

Or else we'll be forced to destroy that pillow of yours.

An amasogi capable of something on this scale

is going to result in a fierce atonement!

Sensei, please!

You actually made your way into this dream, huh?

You two live up to your reputation.

What?

I knew you'd try to destroy the pillow, too.

I'm thinking your friends are waiting nearby,

waiting to destroy the pillow you stole from my room