"Right," Maria says, shoving the phone into her pocket. "We'll call when we're in the woods." She rummages in her pocket for a moment, then passes down a tiny spool of red thread. "Tie this around your wrist. And, uh, hm." Maria already had her own little magatama, of course. She'd got it the first night she'd stayed over at Maya-oneesan's house. But she didn't think Venus had given one to Hiroshi.

Oh wait, there was one there on the wall. It was kind of big... but Maria thought she had a solution for that. She starts unwinding Hiroshi's scarf from his neck, shifting around on his shoulders to make it easier.

"Give Maria the magatama and then we leave, okay? Maria's gonna make you a protective amulet."