"You are just exhausted. There are no such things as ghosts in this world, it is all in your head."
"It is not in my head, it is real, it is real!" Ai screamed hysterically.
"Interesting."
The previously silent Natsume finally spoke.
He rose to his feet, and for the first time his blue Six Eyes began to seriously examine Ai in front of him.
However…
In the very next moment, his brows faintly drew together.
Through his Six Eyes, there was nothing on Ai at all.
No lingering cursed residue, no clinging malice, no sign of any spirit possession.
The space around her body was completely clean.
How was that possible?
Could his Six Eyes, which were supposed to perceive all flows of cursed energy, have failed?
"Yashiro," Natsume called quietly.
"Mm."
Yashiro had already sensed that something was wrong. She put down her cream puff and pulled two strange looking dolls from the small backpack she carried.
One looked like an astronaut alien, the other like a teddy bear missing one eye.
They were two of her powerful "graduates."
"Go. See what is on her."
At her command, crimson light flashed to life in the dolls' eyes. Their bodies turned into twin black shadows that shot out, circling Ai once from left and right at high speed.
A few seconds later, they returned, letting out faint, hissing noises that clearly meant: nothing.
"I cannot feel anything either." Yashiro's small face grew unusually grave. "No cursed energy, no spiritual presence. It is like… she is just a normal human on the verge of a mental breakdown."
That result plunged everyone in the room into silence.
It was their first time encountering something so strange that neither the Six Eyes nor Yashiro's powerful graduates could perceive it.
"I said so, did I not? This is obviously something she imagined herself," Kaguya snorted coldly, even more convinced of her so-called scientific judgment.
"No, that is not it."
Yashiro tilted her head up, the strange twin pupils of her eyes glimmering with thought.
"No lips… can only be seen in reflective surfaces… and it cannot be perceived by normal jujutsu methods…"
She seemed to recall some extremely rare legend recorded in her family's old texts. Word by word, she spoke the name.
"This is probably a Mirror Ghost."
"Mirror Ghost?"
"Yes." Yashiro nodded, her expression solemn. "A very special kind of spirit. It is not born from human negative emotions, in other words, not from cursed energy. It is more like an aggregation of a concept, a projection that parasitizes the very concept of 'mirror' and does not truly belong to our dimension."
"It has no physical form and does not rely on cursed energy to exist, so any detection that targets cursed energy is useless. Only an 'observer' who has established a link with it through a specific ritual, like the Midnight Game, can see it in reflective surfaces."
The explanation defied common sense, and made Kaguya's brows knit even tighter.
Natsume, however, understood at once.
If the link couldn't be broken directly, he would have to cut it off at the source.
If it could not be directly exorcised, then he had to cut off the link between Ai and that Mirror Ghost at its source.
"That Midnight Game," Natsume turned to Ai, "where did it come from?"
"It… it started at our school," Ai replied, her voice still shaking. "Lately… it has gotten really popular at Shuchiin…"
"Shuchiin Academy, huh."
A glint of comprehension flashed through Natsume's eyes.
"I know what to do."
He looked back at Yashiro. "Get ready. We are going to Shuchiin."
The moment he finished speaking, an icy voice, loaded with absolute authority, cut sharply across his words.
"I oppose it."
Kaguya stepped forward, spreading her arms to block the doorway like a lioness guarding her territory.
Her ruby eyes locked onto Natsume, sharp as blades.
"Shuchiin Academy is one of the nation's most prestigious schools, a place where the nation's future elites are raised. I will never allow charlatans who peddle superstition and prey on fear to set one foot on our campus."
"You want to get in?"
She lifted her chin, the corners of her mouth curling into a cold, scornful smile.
"Then you'll have to get past me first."
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