In the clubroom of the Occult Research Club, the air felt almost frozen.
Kaguya stood in front of the door like a gatekeeper, blocking the exit completely. With her small frame she blocked the entrance completely, ruby eyes burning with that inviolable pride unique to the daughter of a great conglomerate.
"Then you'll have to get past me first."
The words rang out, filled with resolve and authority, and the tension in the room spiked instantly.
Faced with this almost theatrical scene, Natsume's expression did not ripple in the slightest.
He did not spare Kaguya even a second glance. Instead, he turned calmly, sat back down in his seat, and picked up the cup of black tea Utaha had brewed for him earlier.
"Since the owner does not welcome us, forget it," he said lightly, as if it were completely trivial. "Yashiro, we are leaving. Commission cancelled."
"Wait!"
Natsume's "even if you beg me I might not go" attitude caught Kaguya completely off guard to intimidate these supposed charlatans.
She had expected them to argue passionately, maybe even lose their tempers. What she had not expected was for him to so cleanly and decisively give up on what, by all appearances, was a very lucrative job.
She was just about to unleash the full weight of the Shinomiya name, to make this clueless fraud understand exactly what kind of power he was trifling with, when
"Kaguya… Kaguya-sama…"
A cold, trembling hand clutched at the hem of her uniform, weak yet desperate.
Kaguya turned sharply, and found herself staring into Ai's blue eyes, shot through with blood and filled with something close to pleading.
"Please… please let him go take a look…" Ai's voice was hoarse, her lips drained of color by fear, her entire body swaying as if it might collapse at any moment. "I… I really cannot hold on much longer… if this keeps up… I will…"
The raw fear in Ai's voice hit Kaguya harder than she expected.
She looked at her maid, as close as a sister to her in all but blood, and the proud, icy mask on her face finally began to crack.
Deep inside, her loyalty to science and reason clashed violently with the worry and pain she felt for Ai.
In the end, her concern for Ai won.
"…Fine," she ground out, forcing the words through clenched teeth, "consider yourselves lucky. I am in a good mood today, so I will make an exception and allow you to enter Shuchiin… once."
"But. If I discover you are up to anything suspicious, if you dare try to take advantage of this situation even a little, then even if the gods themselves intercede, I will never forgive you."
She had not even finished speaking when Natsume was already on his feet, walking right past her with that same unhurried calm, as if nothing had happened at all.
"Yashiro, let us go."
Being so completely ignored made Kaguya grit her teeth, her chest rising and falling with anger. But when she looked at Ai, who was close to collapsing, she could only stomp her foot in frustration and follow after them.
Natsume's decision to accept this job was partly due to curiosity as the "strongest" toward that bizarre Mirror Ghost, something even his Six Eyes could not immediately perceive.
More importantly, though, it came from a a small streak of mischief
He really wanted to see it with his own eyes.
When Kaguya, the genius young lady who trusted only logic and science, finally came face to face with a real, undeniable evil spirit that no science could explain, just what kind of beautifully chaotic expression would appear on her face as her worldview crumbled.
The thought alone convinced him this trip to Shuchiin would be worth every second.
...
In the car heading to Shuchiin Academy, the atmosphere was thick and heavy.
Natsume had thoughtfully left Eiko, still tired from the previous night, to rest at the office. He brought only Yashiro along.
Kaguya sat stiff and upright, arms crossed, a scowl practically written across her features. She looked at the small gothic loli hugging her eerie dolls, who looked no older than an elementary schooler, and her rational mind protested immediately.
What is this… An occult club that is obviously just a front for fraud, and they are taking a minor along on exorcisms? This is unbelievably unprofessional.
She stole a sidelong glance at Natsume, who was calm as a still lake.
Then again, it is precisely because they seem so unprofessional that they do not look like dangerous criminals. They look more like a bunch of weirdos with strange hobbies.
That very "lack of professionalism" actually let her tension ease slightly.
...
On weekends, Shuchiin Academy shed the bustle of weekdays and was unusually quiet.
Even empty, the nationally famous elite school for the children of high society families still carried its usual air of prestige that made others instinctively feel they should keep their distance.
That quiet did not last long.
"Vice President?!"
"It is Vice President Shinomiya!"
Even on weekends, there were still a few hardworking honor students from ordinary families on campus, trying to narrow the gap between themselves and the geniuses.
When they saw the queenlike figure of Kaguya, radiating an icy aura, walk in with three total strangers, their faces showed shock and curiosity in equal measure.