"Am I still dreaming?"
"Isn't that guy the really hot one I dreamed about last night?"
"And that girl with dragon horns... she's the giant dragon, right?"
"Yeah. I'm definitely dreaming. I'm still in bed. I just haven't woken up yet."
Kobayashi muttered to herself and instinctively turned to head back inside.
But the moment she saw the unfamiliar bedroom door, she froze again.
This luxurious villa was nothing like her apartment.
If she went back into that room now, wouldn't that mean she'd just slept in somebody else's bedroom?
But... I'm still dreaming, right?
With her brain completely locked up, Kobayashi just stood there, unable to move.
Hearing the noise upstairs, Takumi and the girls all looked up.
Since it was Kobayashi, even Tohru's attitude wasn't bad.
After all, they'd been drinking buddies last night. In Tohru's mind, that put Kobayashi slightly above the level of ordinary lowly humans.
"Hey, Kobayashi, come down and eat."
"Huh? You know my name... wait, what?!"
The second Tohru called her by name, Kobayashi's brain short-circuited.
She had never expected her dream to be real.
"This is my house. What's wrong, still half asleep? Come down and eat breakfast first. After drinking my divine wine last night, your body's gotten stronger, so you shouldn't be walking around on an empty stomach either~"
Takumi smiled as he invited her down too.
With her head still a total mess, Kobayashi drifted down the stairs in a daze.
But the moment she actually reached the table, her mental state nearly exploded.
Duang~ Duang~ Duang~
Everywhere she looked, there was wealth.
Even girls like Maria and Asia seemed to have more capital than she did.
And they all looked so young, obviously still students.
"Ah... damn it!!"
Letting out a silent scream in her heart, Kobayashi finally snapped back to her senses.
Even though being surrounded by a bunch of younger girls who were all more generously built than her was absolutely devastating to her womanly pride, right now Kobayashi was more focused on Takumi and Tohru.
"So... you're Takumi, and she's Tohru?"
Kobayashi asked cautiously, then got a confirming nod from both of them.
Tohru, still baffled, looked at Kobayashi and said, "You were pretty enthusiastic last night, so why are you acting all timid now?"
"..."
Kobayashi stared back with dead-fish eyes, completely unable to explain that she'd just been drunk off her ass.
At the same time, her heart skipped a beat as she turned toward Takumi.
"If the dragon thing was real, then that means..."
"Yeah. I happened to pass by and save you last night, then brought you back with me. Want the full version? Like how your blo—"
"No! Please, I'm begging you, don't say it!!!"
Kobayashi looked like she was about one second away from dropping to her knees in front of him.
Her face flushed bright red. She had absolutely no dignity left.
A worn-out office programmer like her had actually molested a fresh-faced high school boy.
Kobayashi could practically see prison bars closing around her future.
While she was sinking into absolute terror, Mio and the others looked perfectly calm.
Maybe Kobayashi's presence gave them a sense of security through sheer comparison.
Even Mio, who used to be the quickest to get jealous, was unusually friendly toward Kobayashi.
"Miss Kobayashi, don't be so stiff. Onichan and Tohru already told me what happened last night."
"Huh?! They told you?!"
The second Mio said that, Kobayashi felt like the sky had just collapsed on top of her.
She was done for. Absolutely prison-bound.
Seeing Kobayashi react like that, Mio looked completely confused.
What she knew about was Kobayashi running into a cursed spirit, and she'd just felt bad for her.
Only Maria, who understood everything, kept her head down and quietly said nothing.
"Alright, Miss Kobayashi, don't get so worked up. I may be a high schooler, but I'm also an exorcist on the side, so I'm not going to go around talking about private things."
Takumi winked at Kobayashi and discreetly made the situation clear.
Catching the meaning behind his words, Kobayashi finally let out a breath of relief.
She shot him a grateful look, though there was also a trace of shyness on her face.
A grown woman like her having this kind of connection with a fresh young hottie like Takumi really did stir up all kinds of feelings.
"Wow... I didn't expect you to be an exorcist too, Takumi-kun. Thank you for what you did last night."
Kobayashi bowed deeply to him in gratitude.
Then she took the initiative and asked, "How much does a job like that cost? I'll pay."
"Five million."
"..."
Hearing Takumi casually name that number, Kobayashi locked up on the spot.
That was literally all the savings she'd managed to build up after working two full years.
And that was only because she'd pinched pennies and lived like a nun to save it up little by little.
But she'd already said the words out loud, so with tears welling in her eyes, Kobayashi started mentally figuring out how to come up with the money.
Seeing that she looked like she was about to cry, Takumi finally couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Miss Kobayashi, I'm not charging you for this exorcism. Just give me your number so we can stay in touch later..."
"Oh, come on, I can't possibly accept that~"
That's what she said, but reality still won out in the end.
If she actually handed over all her savings, she'd be living on air starting tomorrow.
Still, because she was a deeply responsible person, Kobayashi insisted on writing Takumi an IOU.
"I'll pay you back little by little every month. You did save my life, after all. If I can, I'd really like to properly thank you sometime."
Looking at how serious she was about it, Takumi smiled and nodded.
"If you're insisting that much, Miss Kobayashi, then I won't argue. In that case, come eat breakfast with us."
"Okay. Thank you."
She was still a little stiff, but Kobayashi didn't refuse.
She genuinely felt lucky to have made friends with a guy like Takumi.
After living in this world for so long, this was the first time she'd learned that ghosts and dragons actually existed.
But that sense of gratitude died the moment her phone started ringing in her pocket.
The second she pulled it out and saw the time and the caller ID, Kobayashi realized something horrifying.
She was late.
"Oh no, my perfect attendance bonus is gone!!"
Kobayashi shrieked on the spot.
That monthly attendance bonus was a pretty serious chunk of money.
"What a miserable corporate slave life... I absolutely don't want a future like that!"
Seeing that, all the girls silently sighed in sympathy.
Takumi decided to step in.
"Then I'll take you there. Tohru, stay home and keep learning more maid stuff."
"Okay!"
Tohru nodded excitedly.
Then Takumi grabbed the panicking Kobayashi and pulled off something so close to teleportation it might as well have been cheating.
"Cursed Technique: Blue."
By compressing the distance in space, the two of them instantly appeared on the rooftop of Kobayashi's company.
Arriving at her destination in the blink of an eye, Kobayashi still hadn't fully processed it.
It wasn't until Takumi called her name a couple of times that she finally managed to steady herself on her feet.
"W-we're here already...? That's way too insane."
"Just a tiny bit of magic."
"Wow... that's amazing."
Kobayashi let out a stunned little sigh, but she didn't have time to keep chatting.
She immediately rushed downstairs.
Watching Kobayashi leave, Takumi then stepped off the rooftop himself.
Under the effect of his recognition barrier, no one noticed his movements at all.
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.