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Just as Hana Yurikawa was rubbing her small head, her face full of big, honest confusion—
Miko Yotsuya finally spoke.
She took a deep breath, then looked straight at Hana with an unusually serious expression.
"Hana… I really didn't want you to know this."
"But for your own safety, I can't keep quiet anymore."
"You… you've been targeted by an evil spirit."
"..."
As Miko's words fell, silence spread through the air.
She had expected Hana to panic the moment the truth came out.
Instead, the next second, Hana clutched her stomach and burst out laughing, completely unconcerned about her image.
"Hahaha… Miko, why are you suddenly saying stuff like that?"
"Did you and Mr. Asher plan this together to mess with me today?"
"No wonder you dragged me to a place like this."
"But wait, it's not April Fool's Day, is it?"
"…Cough—Hana, I'm serious!"
Seeing Hana's utterly unconvinced expression, Miko immediately grew anxious.
She wasn't lying. Not even a little. She would never joke about something like this with her best friend.
"How can you not believe me?"
"Oh! You don't know yet, do you? Mr. Asher is actually an onmyoji!"
"That night I met him was because I was being chased by an evil spirit, and Asher saved me!"
"Miko, stop fooling around. How could evil spirits even exist?"
"And Asher being an onmyoji? Aren't those just frauds and fake mystics?"
Hana didn't believe a word of it.
After all, 'the Master did not speak of ghosts or gods'. In modern society, very few people believed in supernatural things unless they'd seen them with their own eyes.
And Hana clearly wasn't one of those people.
So when Miko suddenly told her she was being haunted by an evil spirit—
It wasn't that Hana didn't trust her best friend.
It was just that the worldview she'd built over more than ten years was screaming at her that this kind of thing was impossible.
"Hana, everything I'm saying is true!"
"Don't you feel it? Ever since you left the locker room this morning, hasn't your body felt… off?"
"Uh…"
When Miko brought that up, Hana froze.
Memories of the day surfaced in her mind.
Just like Miko said, after PE class that morning, once she changed clothes and left the locker room, her head had felt heavy and foggy.
It was like something was sitting on top of her head.
And the whole day, she'd been unusually sleepy.
Still, even then, Hana found it hard to believe that evil spirits actually existed, let alone that one had latched onto her.
"I mean, yeah, I've felt terrible today, but—"
Before she could finish her sentence—
Asher finally decided he couldn't watch this any longer.
He cut in calmly.
"Alright. If the goal is to make Hana believe in evil spirits, that's actually pretty simple."
"Mr. Asher, do you have a way?"
Miko immediately looked over, nervous.
Asher just smiled faintly.
"Easy. Let her see what you see."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Miko blinked, confused.
Asher didn't explain further.
In the next moment, under the puzzled gazes of both girls, he raised his hands.
His fingers moved swiftly, forming seals in rapid succession.
Then he spoke.
"Spirit Sight, activate."
The instant his voice fell—
Something unbelievable happened.
Miko and Hana's eyes widened in shock.
A faint, pale-blue ripple spread outward from Asher's body, like waves in still water.
In seconds, the ripple reached Hana, who stood frozen in place.
The sight was strange, unreal, and downright magical.
Hana's mind screamed what the hell.
Yet after a few seconds, she didn't feel anything unusual in her body at all.
That only made her more confused.
Then Asher spoke again.
"Hana, why don't you take out your compact mirror and have a look."
"Eh?"
Though puzzled, Hana obediently rummaged through her bag and pulled out the small mirror she used for touch-ups.
The moment she opened it and saw her reflection—
Her eyes went wide.
Because in the mirror—
Perched right on top of her head—
Was a hideous infant-shaped evil spirit.
Its entire body was covered in black, wrinkled skin. Its eyes were hollow pits of darkness. Its form was twisted, its face so ugly it made her skin crawl.
The infant spirit seemed to notice her movement.
It lowered its head and met Hana's gaze through the mirror.
For a split second, it froze.
Then it realized something.
The human beneath it… could see it.
"Giiii—yaaaah!"
A shrill, bone-chilling scream burst from the infant spirit's mouth.
"Ahhh—!!"
Hana screamed in terror, her legs giving out as she collapsed onto the gravel-covered ground.
Her compact mirror flew out of her hand and clattered away.
Unable to speak, the infant evil spirit bared its sharp teeth and lunged viciously toward the helpless Hana beneath it.
Just as it was about to pounce—
"Word Spirit: Bind!"
Asher's voice rang out.
Two glowing, pale-blue chains made of spiritual energy shot through the air with sharp whistling sounds.
In an instant, they wrapped tightly around the infant spirit's small body, suspending it in midair.
No matter how violently it struggled, it couldn't break free.
All it could do was let out helpless, piercing shrieks.
Hana stared blankly at the scene before her, eyes wide.
If someone had told her before today that evil spirits existed—
She would've slapped them twice and asked if they were spouting nonsense.
But now?
Now she could only nod like her life depended on it.
Not only did evil spirits exist—
She'd had one of those horrifying things sitting on her head all day long.
Just thinking about it made her break out in cold sweat.
If it weren't for Mr. Asher and Miko…
Would she have stayed completely in the dark, slowly having her life force drained by that infant spirit, just like in those TV dramas?
Would she have wasted away into skin and bones and died without ever knowing why?
"....."