Chapter 110: Training Niguredo!
Inside the dessert shop, Luke sensed the evil spirit following Miko toward the restroom and nodded in approval.
He had never expected the day would come when Miko would actively go exorcise an evil spirit on her own.
His gaze shifted to a girl entering the shop.
She paused by the door to fix her hair and smooth the wrinkles that walking had left on her carefully chosen outfit. Her appearance was fairly cute.
However, Luke was not looking at her at all.
He adjusted his vision with the spirit-sight technique and looked again.
A crowd of evil spirits followed closely behind the girl, each holding a sign like members of a cheering squad.
[I Only Love You!]
[You're the Most Beautiful!]
[Come With Me!]
[I'll Give You Everything!]
Luke stared speechlessly at the collection of pathetic simp signs.
After experiencing evil-spirit incidents of every size, this was still the first time he had witnessed such a bizarre sight.
He could not tell whether evil spirits genuinely loved this type of girl or whether she merely looked innocent while secretly leading them all on.
"Did I make you wait long~?"
The girl spoke in a sugary voice as she approached the handsome boy.
"Not long at all~"
The boy immediately grabbed her reddened hand and held it tightly.
That caused the evil spirits behind her to roar in madness.
"Eh?"
A sudden problem appeared on the battlefield.
The long-tongued female evil spirit, now missing half her body, crawled beside the boy and began wailing.
"You're mine… You're mine…"
The man and woman stared lovingly at each other while the evil-spirit squads gathered behind them.
For some reason, the whole scene was…
"Ugh. Disgusting."
Luke looked away, refusing to watch what resembled a deranged autograph event.
Miko returned after luring the evil spirit away. She held the hem of her clothes, lowered her head, and spoke dejectedly.
"Sensei, I didn't manage to destroy her. She escaped…"
"It's fine. That spirit doesn't have much time left anyway."
Luke could not resist looking back at the couple. He drank his orange juice while watching with great interest.
As for the liquid and gray mist flying through the air, those were not raindrops.
They were fragments of evil-spirit energy.
The simps behind the couple had already begun fighting among themselves.
The female spirit currently held a slight advantage, but there were far more male simp spirits. Even a battle of attrition would eventually destroy her.
Besides, Miko had already cut away half her body.
The outcome was obvious.
Still, the fact that this man and woman had gotten together could almost be considered a great public service.
"Ugh…"
Miko also saw what was happening.
Her expression changed repeatedly, and her body flinched whenever the evil spirits struck each other.
It seemed even someone with Yin-Yang Eyes like hers had never witnessed such a situation.
However, Miko-chan's constitution could not be summarized with Yin-Yang Eyes alone.
She could see evil spirits, but she also possessed a strange constitution that attracted them.
That remained true even when her friend Yurikawa Hana, who carried powerful life energy, was beside her.
Thinking of that, Luke looked toward Miko.
The weather was rather cold today, so she had added a few layers.
She seemed especially fond of beige. Her hoodie was once again beige, with the cords of its wide hood hanging on either side of her chest.
Her sky-blue skirt remained the same, but she had paired it with black thigh-high socks, giving her outfit a neat and stylish look.
She looked very pretty.
"Sensei?"
Miko did not avoid his gaze. She sat beside him and quietly spoke.
"Mm?"
"Um…"
Miko thought for a moment.
"During the exorcists' gathering, there was an exorcist who always had a small fox-like spirit resting on his shoulder…"
Luke nodded in recognition.
"Ah, you mean Shiraishi Sen. That was one of his guardian spirits. Why?"
'So it really was a guardian spirit?'
Miko nodded, hesitated, then asked again.
"Did Shiraishi-senpai receive that guardian spirit from an Inari shrine in Kyoto?"
Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto worshipped fox spirits and served as the main shrine of all Inari shrines in Japan.
It was natural for an ordinary person to think that way.
However…
"No. Apparently, it has been passed down through his family. If I remember correctly, his family has been a line of Shinto priests since before the Meiji era."
Luke only vaguely remembered it because he had never cared enough to investigate further.
The only facts he knew for certain were that Sen was extremely wealthy and did not need to pay taxes on much of his land.
"Oh…"
Miko could not help becoming discouraged.
A family of Shinto priests.
No wonder.
Compared with fighting evil spirits at close range, she still wanted to become a ranged fighter.
But judging by the situation, that remained impossible.
Having abandoned the idea of changing classes, Miko saw that Yuria had yet to arrive and continued asking questions.
"Sensei, why does he always speak using only single syllables?"
Luke scooped small bites of the newly served strawberry cake into his mouth.
"Mm, I don't know whether that's how he communicates with his guardian spirits or whether he was born with some kind of condition."
"He's spoken that way for as long as I've known him. I've never investigated the reason. But…"
"But?"
Luke nodded.
"There's a saying in this profession: those who are incomplete often possess great power."
"So it isn't strange for exorcists to have all sorts of unusual traits."
"Is that so?"
Miko froze and recalled the exorcist gathering.
A few people had missing body parts, but most were merely covered in scars and looked like gangsters holding a meeting.
That could not really be called incomplete, could it?
"But I didn't see many people with missing parts that day. Especially the shrine priestess. Isn't she extremely powerful?"
"Heh."
Luke lowered his spoon and sneered.
"She certainly isn't physically incomplete. She's only missing common sense."
He added another sentence.
"The other people who look normal are the same."
"…"
Miko fell silent, unsure how to respond.
Chime~
The shell-shaped wind chime above the dessert shop's door rang.
Luke raised his head and saw that the little Niguredo kid had finally arrived.
"Over here."
Luke waved to her.
"G-good morning!"
Niguredo Yuria's short legs moved rapidly as she ran toward them.
"Did you sleep badly?"
Yuria looked slightly exhausted. Faint dark circles surrounded her eyes, yet her expression remained excited and energetic.
"I'm fine. I just stayed up a little late and only slept for four hours."
Yuria answered honestly.
She had been so excited about learning proper exorcism techniques today that she rolled around in bed and could not fall asleep.
"Oh. Fine."
Luke reached into his pocket and took out a fountain pen.
"Here. This is your exorcism tool. Take care of it. If you lose it, Kasumizuki might sell you."
Ignoring the latter half, Yuria curiously picked up the fountain pen.
How was she supposed to exorcise spirits with this?
Was it an item that let her write in the air and erase evil spirits?
"A fountain pen? How do you use it to exorcise spirits?"
Miko directly voiced Yuria's confusion.
"Like this."
Luke removed the cap and thrust the pen through the air like a dagger.
However…
Miko looked at Yuria's short body and imagined the tiny girl trying to approach an evil spirit with such a small exorcism tool.
She would probably be held back by the forehead and slapped onto the ground before reaching it.
"…There's no helping it."
Luke understood the problem too.
"Small exorcism tools that are convenient to carry are already rare. Finding one that violates neither the Sword and Firearms Control Law nor school rules was difficult."
"O-okay."
Yuria no longer objected. She carefully examined the power radiating from the exorcism tool.
Luke added, "Use this for now. I'll replace it when we find a more suitable tool."
"The most important thing right now is allowing Niguredo to see those…"
A server walked past.
Luke paused until the server had gone before continuing.
"…those powerful evil spirits she couldn't see before, and teaching her how to draw out the exorcism tool's power."
"Mm."
Miko lightly nodded and looked at Yuria, who stared at the fountain pen so intently that her eyes were nearly crossing.
"Yuria?"
Niguredo Yuria did not respond and continued staring at the pen.
Like Miko, Yuria possessed Yin-Yang Eyes.
However, unlike Miko, she could only see weak evil spirits and could not see powerful ones.
Yet she possessed another unique trait.
She could see the powerful life energy surrounding people like Luke Nova and Yurikawa Hana, something Miko could not perceive.
Now she could even see the energy within an exorcism tool and trace it toward its source.
Luke stared at Yuria.
A short while later…
"Ah—!"
Yuria widened her eyes as fierce flames erupted from the fountain pen and surged up her arm.
She panicked and threw the pen away.
Luke reacted quickly and caught it in midair, staring at the little girl in surprise.
'She succeeded this quickly?'
"S-Sensei?"
Miko also looked at him in surprise.
Because she could already release an exorcism tool's power, she had naturally sensed Yuria's condition for that brief instant.
It had been a resonance of spiritual states.
A connection between the power of a person and an object.
She had never expected Yuria to achieve it so quickly.
"That's amazing, Yuria-chan!"
Miko excitedly hugged—and strangled—Yuria's head.
"Mmm~"
Yuria expertly placed both arms beside her neck and defended herself against Miko's chokehold.
'Heh. How could someone destined to become a great exorcist be restrained by such a minor grappling technique?'
"How did you do that?"
Luke asked Yuria curiously.
"Oh~ I could see something coming from it that looked similar to Yurikawa-san's life energy."
"It also seemed to pull my life energy outward, so I adjusted my state a little, and then… that happened."
Yuria explained honestly.
That made sense.
"Hana? Life energy? You can see that power?"
Miko, who had previously discussed Hana's condition with Luke, stroked Yuria's small head and asked in confusion.
"Mm."
"Then why can't I see it?"
Miko looked toward Luke again.
"How would I know? I'm just a normal person."
Luke spread his hands.
There were countless questions in the world without answers.
"Then let's find somewhere to test it again."
Luke finished the cake completely and thought for a moment.
"Do either of you know somewhere similar to the cursed building?"
Since Yuria could directly draw out the exorcism tool's power, they could move to the next step.
He would find a place filled with evil spirits and help both beginners improve their coordination with their exorcism tools.
Miko shook her head.
"I know!"
Yuria laughed proudly.
She had possessed immature Yin-Yang Eyes since childhood and had searched everywhere for traces of mysterious powers.
She knew every place in the city that might contain evil spirits and every location rumored to be truly haunted.
Miko looked at the energetic and excited Yuria and felt as though she could already predict the future.
Tilting her head aside, Miko released a gloomy sigh.
"Sigh…"
"Hm? Yotsuya-san, did you not eat brunch?"
Yuria looked at the slightly exhausted Miko.
"I'm not Hana…"
Miko sighed again and patted Yuria's shoulder.
"In any case, prepare to work hard."
"Eh?"
...
"Help—!"
Along a mountain road stood an abandoned, dark highway tunnel.
The area was famous for being an old mass grave.
Inside the tunnel, Miko and Yuria ran around in terror while a huge evil spirit chased them.
The spirit had absorbed the power of many other evil spirits.
Half its body was trapped inside an oil drum, while its arms, legs, and head extended from beneath it as it observed the surroundings.
It swung a chain and dragged nearby evil spirits into the drum, devouring them and increasing its own power.
As it continued feeding, the oil drum swelled larger and larger.
Then—
Boom!
The drum exploded.
Countless round heads pushed out from the evil spirit's stomach, releasing resentful moans and agonized cries.
Mm.
To train the two little girls now capable of releasing their exorcism tools, Luke had deliberately increased the evil spirit's strength.
Everything he did came from kindness.
"Ughhh—!"
Miko and Yuria trembled while gripping their dagger and fountain pen, watching the evil spirit evolve.
"I didn't expect Niguredo to become capable of seeing powerful evil spirits immediately after releasing an exorcism tool…"
Luke recorded the discovery on his phone.
"Send."
After sending the information to Kasumizuki, Luke stood beneath the sunlight outside the tunnel's shadows and raised his head toward Miko and Yuria.
"Can't both of you release your exorcism tools now? Why can't you deal with a single evil spirit?"
"Sensei, this one is far too strong! Can't we start with something weaker?"
Yuria had begun addressing him the same way Miko did.
"It makes no difference. Either destroy that evil spirit or keep running."
Luke told them, "You'll either train your spirit or your stamina. It's perfect!"
Calling on the exorcism tool's power, Yuria barely blocked the evil spirit's chain attack.
She crouched near the edge of the tunnel and asked Miko with trembling pupils, "Miko, did you train like this before too?"
"Of course!"
Miko nodded tearfully and extended her dagger in the same manner.
"…You've suffered."
Yuria hid behind the barrier formed by the exorcism tool's energy with a sorrowful expression.
"I'm out of strength, Yuria-chan."
"Then?"
"Prepare to run."
"Help—!"
Watching the two begin fleeing again, Luke started recording a video.
He sent it to Kasumizuki, followed by a voice message.
"Kasumizuki, I'm properly training the two little girls. Remember to pay my wages."
Just like when he first trained Miko, Luke sincerely envied the two of them for having a teacher like him.
…
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