Saturday, 2:25 PM. Hikigaya Hachiman arrived at the eting place five minutes early.
"You're early," Just as he stopped to take a short break, Kawasaki Saki's voice ca from behind.
"You're early too." Turning around and seeing Kawasaki Saki in a light blue casual outfit, Hachiman scratched his head and, after so effort, only managed to say: "That outfit suits you."
"...Let's go." Choosing to completely ignore Hachiman's complint about her clothes, Kawasaki turned and took the lead, walking toward the shop of the so-called "Shitamachi Spirit dium."
Because an important guest was visiting today, Takeda Mitsue, the shop owner, had gotten up early to thoroughly clean her store.
During that ti, she even drove away custors who had co to buy prayer beads. After all, if her usual tricks to fool regular people were seen by that person, this eting might fall apart completely.
"Master, is the person coming today really that amazing?" It was nearly 3 PM. Niguredou Yuria, watching her master nervously pacing around the store, asked with confusion.
After all, her master was already the most powerful spiritualist in the Chiba area. If soone could make her this nervous… Could they be the strongest in the whole country?
"Not very amazing—extrely amazing!" Looking at her recently accepted disciple, Takeda Mitsue gave a wry smile. In front of those individuals, her own strength was like that of an ant.
"Rember: talk less, look less, do more! No matter what happens, do not anger them. Understand?" Takeda Mitsue had high hopes for Yuria, who had decent spirit vision. So she repeatedly reminded her to be cautious.
"I understand!" Seeing her master's serious expression, Yuria didn't dare disobey.
Just then, the wind chi at the door rang. A cold-eyed, expressionless young woman stepped in.
As soon as she entered, the solemn expression on Takeda Mitsue's face disappeared, replaced by a warm and flattering smile.
"Is she the person Master ntioned?" Yuria's eyes widened at the woman being treated with such humble courtesy. Her whole view of reality started to shake.
Wasn't this the delinquent girl from two classes over?! How could she be the "esteed one" Master spoke of?
While Yuria was still doubting whether her master had mistaken the person's identity, the wind chi rang again.
This ti, a boy walked in.
Coincidentally, Yuria recognized him too. After all, those dead fish eyes were hard to forget.
What followed stunned her even more.
As soon as Hachiman entered, Takeda Mitsue imdiately left Kawasaki's side, respectfully greeted him, and even addressed him as "Sir."
"Yuria!" After respectfully greeting Hachiman, Takeda Mitsue turned, intending to show off her disciple to the exorcist. After all, while Yuria's spirit vision could only see benevolent spirits, it was still barely enough to qualify her as an exorcist.
But when she turned, she saw Yuria standing there dumbfounded like an idiot.
Takeda Mitsue nearly fainted from frustration.
"H-Hello, I'm Niguredou Yuria..." Prompted by her master's scolding tone, Yuria finally snapped out of it. Wearing an awkward expression, she lowered her head and timidly introduced herself to Hachiman.
"Yeah, hi." Hachiman simply nodded in response and turned his attention back to Takeda Mitsue. He wasn't like Yukinoshita, a na-morizing maniac—he didn't know who this girl was at all.
"So, where are those things?" Despite having a mountain of questions for Takeda Mitsue, Hachiman suppressed them, intending to wait until after completing the exorcism request.
"Uh... Please follow ." Takeda Mitsue was briefly stunned by Hachiman's bluntness. Were exorcists always this direct?
No pleasantries, no warm-up—just straight to the ghosts.
Silently grumbling in her heart, Takeda Mitsue still maintained a respectful deanor as she led them out of the shop and down a comrcial street to a small alleyway.
"Sir, it's right here..." Looking at the countless black shadows writhing in the alley's darkness, she quickly stepped aside to give Hachiman the stage.
[Detected: 1 Special-Grade Evil Spirit, 3 High-Grade Evil Spirits, multiple Interdiate-Grade Evil Spirits…] Just one glance into the alley, and Hachiman's mind was flooded with system notifications.
"So many low-level spirits... Is this place spawning them?" Seeing the alley crowded with shadowy figures, Hachiman raised an eyebrow. This was the first ti he'd seen so many evil spirits gathered in one place.
Still, despite their numbers, most were just low-level—nothing worth fearing.
"Can you see them?" As Hachiman assessed the alley, Takeda Mitsue quietly asked Yuria beside her.
Yuria shook her head, a hint of guilt flashing across her face. "Sorry, Master... I still can't see anything..."
"I see… Maybe I was too eager. After all, you've only been studying under
for a little over a week." Though clearly disappointed, Takeda Mitsue quickly adjusted her expression and offered a warm smile.
While the master and disciple talked, Hachiman had already completed his assessnt of the spirits in the alley.
Although the alley was secluded, it wasn't completely out of public reach. To avoid attention, he decided to end things quickly.
With a raised hand, he released a surge of spiritual energy.
"Boom!" Takeda Mitsue and Yuria saw Hachiman lift his hand— Then, a terrifying storm of spiritual power surged forth and exploded.
In the next second, a gaping hole appeared among the mass of evil shadows in the alley.
"So this is an exorcist's power...?" Takeda Mitsue was stunned.
Even at her peak, she could never have dealt with such a horde. Yet this exorcist had casually wiped out more than half of them with a flick of his hand.
Her decades of spiritual training didn't even compare to the energy expended in one of his attacks.
"Exorcists... truly terrifying..." Chiba's strongest spiritualist—the Shitamachi Spirit dium—Takeda Mitsue watched the back of the boy before her, and a bitter smile crept onto her lips.
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