Surrounded by monsters, she endured two grueling weeks, and her spirit nearly broke down.
Just as she was about to give up struggling and be torn apart by those monsters, someone had effortlessly eliminated the terrifying, seemingly unbeatable creatures in her eyes, even casually saying that they were nothing more than ordinary Evil Spirits.
She had thought she had been saved, only to find that she had merely fallen from one hell into another.
They were not angels at all, but an Onmyoji and his domesticated Star Wrath Shikigami.
And she was the sacrifice they had chosen.
She had no strength to resist and did not want to struggle. She simply accepted reality calmly.
So she resigned herself to following Kira Yoshikage. In any case, he always had a way to find her.
Although she would eventually be treated as a sacrifice, at least staying by his side gave her temporary peace. She did not have to worry about being killed by monsters.
At least until the Shrine was built, she could enjoy a relatively peaceful life.
What she never expected was that Kira Yoshikage, who had left her with an impression of being cold and mysterious, would work as a bartender on the top floor of a hotel after school. Even though this bar, named "Angel Ladder," was a social venue for high society, it could not change the fact that he was a bartender!
Wasn't this sense of incongruity coming on a little too strongly?
And on top of that, he was even being followed by other girls from school. She had personally seen them enter this hotel... and now things had become even more absurd. Two girls in unfamiliar school uniforms had also found their way here, and they had even brazenly pulled out pistols in public!
Sakurajima Mai was one hundred percent certain that those were definitely not toy guns, but genuine weapons capable of killing people!
The two girls seemed to belong to some special organization and possess legal licenses to kill. That was why they dared to draw their guns in public and even bluntly declared that they would kill a woman who appeared to be very familiar with them, simply because she had come to meet Kira Yoshikage without permission.
What they said left Sakurajima Mai even more incredulous, because Kira Yoshikage had actually said that he only wanted a peaceful life.
A man who could arrange for his Star Wrath Shikigami to threaten the chairman of Shuchiin Academy claimed that he only wanted to live peacefully. Who would believe that?!
Yet although Sakurajima Mai did not believe him, there were plenty of people who did.
For example, those two girls clearly believed it wholeheartedly, and were even somewhat disappointed by it. Clearly, in their minds, it was perfectly normal for Kira Yoshikage's definition of "peaceful" to be different from everyone else's.
Sakurajima Mai really wanted to ask what was going on, but she did not dare approach them.
That was because she knew they could not see her, and because she was afraid it might anger Kira Yoshikage.
But after sitting there for so long, Sakurajima Mai finally could not hold back and asked:
"Um, excuse me..."
The girl's voice was extremely tense, even somewhat timid.
"What is it?"
Kira Yoshikage seemed to have finally noticed her, but he still did not look at her. He simply asked as if speaking to the air.
"May I go to the restroom?"
Sakurajima Mai rubbed her legs together and asked weakly.
Kira Yoshikage did not answer. He even stopped moving his hands.
He looked up at where the girl was sitting and calmly said while she nearly suffocated from nervousness:
"You don't need to ask me for permission."
Sakurajima Mai took that as consent. She carefully climbed down from the high stool, squeezed her legs together, and walked toward the restroom.
A little while later, the girl returned to the bar after quickly taking care of her physical needs and quietly sat there again.
After hesitating for a long time, Sakurajima Mai asked softly:
"May I have a glass of water?"
"What would you like to drink?"
Kira Yoshikage glanced at her.
"You can sit a little closer."
Sakurajima Mai obediently sat down in front of Kira Yoshikage. A drinks menu was placed there.
Her eyes swept over the cocktails, and she said slowly but firmly:
"Lemonade."
In any case, if she ordered a cocktail, he would definitely replace it with lemonade on the grounds that minors were not allowed to drink alcohol.
"So why are you following me?"
Kira Yoshikage asked while skillfully mixing a cocktail.
"Huh?"
The question left Sakurajima Mai stunned instead. She did not know how to answer. What did he mean, why was she following him?
Sakurajima Mai said quietly:
"I... I thought you were the one who told me to follow you."
"When did I ever say that?"
Kira Yoshikage raised an eyebrow slightly. Why did he not remember saying anything like that?
Sakurajima Mai looked confused.
"Didn't you also make me a Miko of the gods? To stop me from running away, you looked at me when you left school. Wasn't that a warning not to think about escaping?"
Kira Yoshikage handed her the lemonade he had prepared.
"Do you know what your situation is called?"
"What?"
"An overactive self-consciousness."
"..."
Sakurajima Mai puffed out her cheeks slightly after being criticized without mercy.
Even if she could not resist, she could still get angry!
Kira Yoshikage's expression remained calm.
"If you want to leave, you can do so at any time. But becoming a Miko is your best choice, unless you want to be as popular as you were during the day."
Sakurajima Mai's body trembled. You call that being popular?
Kira Yoshikage did not disturb her, giving her plenty of time to think.
After quite a while, Sakurajima Mai finally seemed to come to her senses and said softly:
"More than two months ago, a woman broke into my home and kidnapped me."
"When I woke up, I was already in the basement of Shuchiin Academy."
"After I had been imprisoned for several days, the woman guarding me became very frantic. She seemed to have lost something extremely important and searched all over the room. That was when I realized that what she was looking for was actually me. I don't know why, but even though I was standing right in front of her, she could not see me at all."
"Then that man came..."
Sakurajima Mai fell silent for a long time before saying in a low voice:
"Shinomiya Kōkō, the chairman of Shuchiin Academy."
"Because of my 'disappearance,' they conversed right in front of me as if I were not there."
"From their conversation, I learned that they seemed to intend to make me a 'Miko' and offer me to the gods as a sacrifice during a ritual. Since the gods supposedly favored pure maidens, even the people who kidnapped and guarded me had to be women, to prevent any accidents."
Sakurajima Mai gave a self-mocking smile. Perhaps she should even be grateful that this was their purpose; otherwise, she had no idea what else she might have endured after being kidnapped.
"At first, I tried to escape from the school. Since no one else could see me, everything went smoothly along the way. But after leaving, I discovered that although humans could not see me, 'Evil Spirits' could. As a result, wherever I went, I was watched by groups of Evil Spirits."
"Having no other choice, I could only return to Shuchiin Academy."
"You should know the rest."
Sakurajima Mai's voice had become calm, but her faintly trembling body still showed that she was not in a good emotional state.
Kira Yoshikage quietly listened to her account. Knowing what she was worried about, he said calmly:
"A Miko is not necessarily a sacrifice."
"The ritual they used to raise the gods had flaws. That was why the Miko who should have been offered to the gods was turned into a sacrifice instead."
Sakurajima Mai lowered her head in silence and asked softly, as if confirming it:
"So I don't have to die?"
Kira Yoshikage stared at the girl's fair little hand for quite a while.
"If you want to die, you can do that too."
"As payment, could you leave your hand to me? I'll treasure it properly."
Kira Yoshikage's tone was extremely sincere, but Sakurajima Mai still tried very hard to refuse him:
"I'll pass."
If she could avoid dying, she did not want to die for the time being.
Sakurajima Mai took a sip of lemonade and felt much more at ease.
Perhaps it was the relief of learning that she did not have to die, or perhaps the suppression she had endured for so long had finally found an outlet. In any case, Sakurajima Mai now felt as if she had returned to her former state—
Except that the fact that no one could see her still troubled her.
Sakurajima Mai held the cold glass in both hands and asked softly:
"Um, Kira-kun, may I ask you a few questions?"
"You may."
For a girl who was about to become a Miko and work hard to protect his peaceful life, he could provide free consultation.
Sakurajima Mai pressed her lips tightly together and voiced the question that had troubled her all this time:
"Why can't anyone see me?"
Kira Yoshikage thought for two seconds before answering:
"Because you are a Psionic User. This is your psionic talent."
"Psionic talent?"
"To put it simply, you can understand the essence of all supernatural phenomena as manifestations of psionic energy in the material world, while humans who possess psionic talents are Psionic Users."
"Every Psionic User has their own psionic talent. These talents are both blessings and curses."
"If used well, they can destroy the world. If used poorly, they can also destroy the world."
Sakurajima Mai retorted:
"What's the difference between those two?"
"The former is destruction caused by your conscious intent. For example, you become tired of humanity and decide to use your psionic energy to destroy the world."
"The latter is when your psionic energy runs out of control, causing your body to explode like a giant nuclear bomb and destroy the world."
Sakurajima Mai looked doubtfully at her own hands.
"Am I really that powerful?"
"No."
"Then what you just said..."
"It was just an example."
Sakurajima Mai suddenly felt a tightness in her chest. How infuriating!
Kira Yoshikage ignored the girl's frustration and continued explaining:
"Your current condition is a typical case of psionic energy running out of control."
"Ordinary Psionic Users first awaken 'Spiritual Sight,' the ability to see spiritual entities. But, driven by your instinct for self-preservation, you accidentally activated your psionic talent, making yourself impossible for others to observe."
"Although this temporarily removed you from danger, your already-uncontrolled psionic energy became difficult to calm."
"If you remain unable to control your psionic energy, this state of being unobservable will grow increasingly severe."
"Not only will humans be unable to observe you, even most spirits will be unable to detect your existence."