Chapter 46: Professional Exorcist, Rolling Out
"But..."
At this critical moment, Yui Yuigahama showed a sharpness that contrasted with her usual ditzy image.
"That place is already surrounded by the Metropolitan Police Department's forces. Leaving aside whether you can handle armed kidnappers, just trying to get inside would be impossible, right?"
Facing this question, Yoru simply smiled and asked back.
"What time is it now?"
Yui took out her phone and checked.
"4:30 PM. What's wrong?"
Halfway through her sentence, Yui realized something. Her pupils shrank in shock, and she covered her mouth.
"Are you planning to..."
"Exactly."
Yoru nodded slightly.
"In half an hour, it will be the Ouma-ga-toki (Twilight/Witching Hour)."
Yoru's plan was simple.
Go to the Otherworld Kyoto through a "Door."
Then, using the "Door" inside the Otherworld, return directly to the physical world, right inside the Kyoto Municipal Kindergarten.
It sounded simple.
But the difficulty of execution was on a completely different level.
First, Hachishaku's ability to open a "Door" hadn't cooled down from the seven-day limit yet.
This meant that if Yoru wanted to enter the Otherworld, he could only find a pre-existing "Door."
And the architecture and terrain of the Otherworld and Physical World Kyoto were identical.
In other words.
After entering the Otherworld Kyoto, Yoru would have to travel several kilometers, or even more than ten kilometers, through that thick, eerie black mist to reach the "Door" corresponding to the one inside the Kyoto Municipal Kindergarten in the real world.
Not to mention that after returning to the physical world, he would have to face at least twenty mentally unstable thugs armed with firearms.
Difficult. Too difficult.
This was practically an impossible mission.
If Yui could understand this, Miko, as a spirit medium, naturally understood it even better.
She looked at the relaxed Yoru. A meaningful look flashed in her golden eyes. After hesitating for a few seconds, she spoke softly.
"Actually... for this incident, you don't need to take such a big risk. Leave it to the Metropolitan Police Department; they are professionals after all."
For someone with Miko's personality, saying such words was truly not easy.
Although she looked frail on the outside, as seen from the train molester incident, Miko was the type of person willing to sacrifice herself for the benefit of others.
The premise being:
The one sacrificed was herself.
Miko knew very well that no matter how worried she was about the safety of the teachers and students in the kindergarten, she had no right to ask Yoru to take such a risk.
Moreover, what was the success rate?
Nine deaths and one life?
Or one percent?
The risk involved was simply too great.
"Oh, right."
Yoru suddenly seemed to remember something. He pulled a bank card from his pocket and handed it to Miko.
"There's 60,000 bucks in here. It is...."
To his surprise, before he could finish, Miko suddenly burst into tears, looking heartbroken.
This threw Yoru off completely.
"What's the meaning of this, little sister?"
Miko sobbed softly, her shoulders trembling as she spoke.
"Are you hell-bent on seeking death?"
Yui also looked complicated, staring at the bank card in Yoru's hand and murmuring.
"Yoru-kun, if you die in that black mist, the children still won't be saved. How about... we think of another way?"
Listening to the two girls, Yoru froze for a moment, then laughed dumbfoundedly.
"What are you guys thinking? This 60,000 bucks isn't my inheritance. It's the exorcism payment the Old Geezer transferred to me for the recent jobs."
"Huh? Oh, oh, is that so..."
Realizing she had misunderstood Yoru, Miko, who was crying halfway through, blushed with embarrassment and took out a handkerchief to wipe her tears.
She thought this makes more sense.
Given Yoru's personality, he wasn't the type to deliberately seek death knowing the risks.
This was the cautious exorcist who screamed he was at "critical health" after using just one-tenth of his power.
But....
"60,000!?"
Hearing this astonishing figure, Yui's volume increased a few notches. Realizing it, she scanned the surroundings and lowered her voice.
"Counting from Tuesday, it's been less than three days, and you have 60,000 bucks in commission rewards? Isn't that too much?"
"Is it?"
Yoru shrugged.
"We are fighting genuine evil spirits. In other words, we are saving the clients' lives. Do you have some misunderstanding about the income of professional exorcists?"
Yui and Miko looked at each other, shook their heads, and said in unison.
"This money is too much. We can't take it. You keep it."
Yoru was shocked.
Good grief. Is this a sci-fi movie?
Is this the campus version of 'The Three-Body Problem'?
This is 60,000 bucks! For high school students, that is definitely not a small amount.
And they rejected it so decisively?
Are you guys...
Angels?
"Take it. I've already split it evenly."
Yoru placed the bank card on the table.
"The total was 100,000. Each of us gets 30,000. The remaining 10,000 will be kept by me as the club's activity fund for now."
"This..."
Miko looked at the bank card on the table with a complicated gaze.
"I accept commissions to help people. Taking money... feels kinda weird."
Yoru pouted and said helplessly.
"Have you two ever heard the story of Zi Lu Receives an Ox?" (Note: A story about Confucius' disciple accepting a reward for saving someone, which Confucius praised because it encouraged others to do good deeds).
"No."
"Young people these days really lack culture."
After this complaint, Yoru explained.
"Basically, accepting a reward is only natural. Leaving aside the danger of eliminating evil spirits, have you considered one problem?"
"If our exorcism work were free, it would lead to an obvious result."
"That is, anyone who feels they encountered a supernatural event—regardless of the severity, regardless of whether their life is affected, or regardless of whether their life is threatened—will post a commission."
"After all, it's free. For the client, there is no loss in trying."
"But for us, we would have to waste a massive amount of time sifting through a pile of meaningless false intelligence to find the people who truly need help."
"We have classes during the day, so our time is already tight. How many clients who truly need help would be injured or even die in supernatural events due to this wasted time?"
These words left Miko and Yui speechless.
They were just ordinary high school girls; how could they have thought about such complex implications behind it?
"Alright, take it."
Yoru checked the time on his phone, stood up, stretched, and smiled.
"Now, it's time for me, this Professional Exorcist, to go save Kyoto."