"Honestly, I really envy people with talent," Jingū Suzuna said with a wry smile. "I mean, I have spiritual power too, but my aptitude is just… painfully ordinary.After graduation, I was kicked straight out of the school. I really thought I could still get stronger, you know."
Exorcist high schools existed to train students with spiritual power—but once graduation age arrived, anyone judged to lack special talent and long-term potential was quickly expelled.
Resources were limited. Rather than wasting them on people who had already hit their ceiling, it was far more efficient to invest in students who could become real combat power.
Students like Jingū Suzuna weren't rare at all.
And for people like them, the only way to keep growing was through sheer effort—risking their lives to earn resources on their own.
"Hey, hey, Kazuma, you probably don't know this, right?" Suzuna leaned in conspiratorially. "Let's put that creepy old man Genji aside for a moment—he used to be nothing more than a down-and-out office worker.But our captain? He's a big deal. You've heard of Amamiya Yūdō, right? The captain is his old friend."
When Suzuna first learned this herself, she'd been utterly shocked. Now, she was eager to see the same stunned expressions on Kazuma and Yūki Yako's faces.
She got her wish almost immediately—Yako's face froze in disbelief.
But when Suzuna turned to look at Kazuma and saw him still wearing a calm, indifferent expression, she blinked in confusion and asked again,"Kazuma, aren't you surprised? That's Amamiya Yūdō we're talking about!The hero of the Tokyo District! The man who singlehandedly drove back an S+–rank super yokai, the Hundred-Night Demon!Why do you look so… unmoved?"
Seeing Suzuna's growing dissatisfaction, Kazuma finally realized—belatedly—that he wasn't Amamiya Yūdō right now. He was just an anonymous exorcist passing through.
"Oh… he drove off an S+-rank yokai?" Kazuma said with feigned amazement. "That's really impressive. I had no idea the captain even knew someone that strong.Well, I'm kind of a training fanatic, so I don't really keep up with major events or famous figures."
"Seriously, Kazuma, are you even from the Tokyo District?" Suzuna groaned. "How can you not know Amamiya Yūdō?!"
Clearly a devoted fan, Suzuna launched into an enthusiastic explanation of Amamiya Yūdō's legendary exploits. When Kazuma's reaction remained stubbornly flat, she eventually gave up and turned back to chatting with Yūki Yako instead.
The two of them were obviously fellow fans, and before long, they were chatting animatedly like old friends.
From Suzuna's story, Kazuma also finally understood how Gōda Yūzaburō had ended up as a serum warrior.
After Kazuma—under the name Amamiya Yūdō—was recruited into the Countermeasures Division, Kujō Hina, who had demonstrated both outstanding performance and clear spiritual talent, was likewise admitted into the Onmyō Academy for further study.
Yūzaburō, however, hadn't been so lucky.
Lacking spiritual aptitude and already advanced in age, even though he'd been promoted, he was never granted access to the hidden, supernatural side of the world.
Then the great upheaval began.
The world descended into chaos, and Yūzaburō's family was inevitably swept up in the disaster.
After losing his loved ones, Yūzaburō came to a brutal realization of his own weakness. Without hesitation, he emptied his life savings—and with help from his former subordinate, Kujō Hina, he managed to purchase a vial of C-rank yokai serum, gaining the power he now possessed.
Given his position, even with money, acquiring C-rank yokai serum should have been nearly impossible.
But thanks to Kujō Hina's growing influence within the Countermeasures Division, Yūzaburō was able to obtain it.
The jagged scars crisscrossing his body were the price he paid—wounds earned through countless life-and-death battles with yokai.
After gaining power, Yūzaburō refused further promotion at his old workplace and chose this path without hesitation.
He wanted revenge for his family.
To do that, he had to keep getting stronger—no matter the cost.
Laughing and chatting along the way, the group soon arrived at the location where intelligence suggested Wanyūdō frequently appeared.
However, waiting passively was far less efficient than luring the enemy out.
And so, Jingū Suzuna and Yūki Yako quickly became the bait.
Wanyūdō was a yokai shaped like a massive wheel. It stalked lone women at night, deliberately making deafening noises behind them.
If you turned around, your soul would be sucked away.
If you didn't turn around, the blazing wheel would crush you to death.
In other words—no matter what you chose, escape was almost impossible.
To draw Wanyūdō out as quickly as possible, the group split up.
Kazuma and Yūki Yako formed one group, while the other three formed the second.
Yako and Suzuna acted as bait—but the two teams couldn't stray too far apart, in case reinforcements were needed.
On the pitch-black road, there were almost no passing vehicles.
Since the great upheaval, ordinary people avoided going out at night unless absolutely necessary—especially on remote roads like this.
Cold wind howled across the empty highway as Yūki Yako and Jingū Suzuna walked along it, their nerves stretched taut.
Suzuna, at least, had some combat experience and wasn't facing yokai for the first time, so she held up relatively well.
Yūki Yako, on the other hand, was different.
This was her first real yokai subjugation—and against a C-rank monster.
Just imagining something attacking from behind made her scalp prickle with fear.
"Honestly, it would've been better if I were the only bait," Suzuna muttered. "Yako's still a middle schooler. Isn't it way too dangerous to put her in this role?"
Originally, the plan had been for Suzuna alone to serve as bait.
But after some hesitation, Yūki Yako had volunteered as well—believing that two targets would increase the chances of drawing Wanyūdō out.
Yako knew she was dead weight.
Being bait was the only value she could offer. If she did nothing, she wouldn't feel right taking a share of the rewards.
Hunting yokai meant risking death.
If she didn't have that resolve, she might as well choose another job.
And she desperately needed money. A normal job would never earn it fast enough—so she had to gamble with her life.
"Whrrrrrrrr—!"
The silence of the road was suddenly shattered by the sound of a wheel spinning at terrifying speed.
A flaming wheel tore through the darkness, the roar of fire and rotation echoing as it raced forward.
At the edge of the pitch-black road, a single crimson glow rapidly expanded—closing in fast on the girl walking ahead.
"That's some intense yokai aura," Suzuna whispered. "It's taken the bait—but it's not targeting us. It's going after Yako's side!"
Yūzaburō and Genji, lacking spiritual power, couldn't sense yokai aura.
But Suzuna could.
She'd been on high alert from the start, and the moment Wanyūdō entered the area, she felt its overwhelming presence. From its trajectory, it was clearly locked onto Kazuma and Yako's position.
Walking alone on the deserted road, Yūki Yako was already panicking.
Then she felt it.
The thunderous noise behind her.
Even ignoring the grinding sound of a wheel tearing across concrete, the fiery glow erupting behind her in the dead of night told her one thing—
It was right behind her.
The flames were only inches away, yet for some reason, she felt no warmth at all—only waves of icy cold crawling up her spine.
She knew exactly what that meant.
If she turned around now, her soul would be taken.
Heart pounding, fear clawing at her chest, Yūki Yako forced herself not to look back and continued toward the prearranged rendezvous point.
She didn't know why Kazuma—who was secretly protecting her—hadn't made a move yet.
But she guessed he lacked absolute confidence and was buying time, waiting for Suzuna and the others to arrive.
Yako wanted to delay as much as possible—
But she'd clearly overestimated Wanyūdō's patience.
As a notorious "speed demon" among yokai, Wanyūdō had no interest in watching a girl stroll down the road.
After deliberately making several loud feints—and seeing that the girl ahead still refused to turn around—the flames surrounding its body surged violently.
The wheel spun faster.
Much faster.
It had lost patience.
Abandoning any attempt to steal her soul, Wanyūdō now intended to crush her outright.
Sure, the soul's quality would drop—but time was precious.
Who knew how many beautiful women were waiting further down the road to "catch a ride"?
The moment Wanyūdō's killing intent fully erupted, Yūki Yako felt her entire body go ice-cold.
The stench of death enveloped her.
Having lived her life as a sheltered greenhouse flower, she had never imagined yokai could be this terrifying.
She hadn't even faced it head-on—
And yet, simply being targeted made death feel unbearably close.
Overwhelming dread. Paralyzing fear.
At the very last moment, Yūki Yako clenched her teeth, reached into her skirt pocket, and pulled out the only thing she had left—
A single vial of low-grade holy water.
Even if she was going to die, she'd make sure the monster paid for it.
But when she finally made up her mind—
When she turned around—
What filled her vision wasn't a flaming wheel rolling at her with murderous speed.
It was a not-so-broad back, standing firmly in front of her.
"Honestly," a calm voice said, "you did better than I expected.I thought you'd break from fear. But for a middle schooler, you've got more backbone than most adults."