"Are you finally up?"
"You overslept again."
Kyosuke complained as Mother placed the breakfast she had prepared on the empty seat in front of her, while Father Masamori greeted her.
"Good morning, Miko."
It did look like a beautiful scene, but Yotsuya Miko merely pressed her lips together and silently sat down in her chair.
"What is it? I heard you've been feeding a kitten outside?"
Father seemed interested in the matter, while Mother urged her,
"All right, eat your breakfast quickly, or you'll be late."
"You'll be late."
Their pet came over beside her and repeated the words like a parrot.
If this thing didn't lick its food like an idiot, Miko's tolerance for it would still be fairly high.
Looking at the breakfast laid out before her, she knew that Ghosts and physical beings couldn't touch each other directly, but this thing had clearly made it difficult for her to eat.
"Oh, right."
Yotsuya Kyosuke looked at her and remembered something else.
"There are two puddings in the fridge. Are they Big Sister's?"
"Mm."
Yotsuya Miko nodded, then glanced at Father out of the corner of her eye again.
"If you don't write your name on them, be careful or they'll get eaten again."
"Hey, Kyosuke, don't bring that up."
"Dad ate the pudding that time, and you two had a huge fight because of it."
"Stop dredging up last year's old accounts."
Father played the part of an ordinary person, joining in his son's and wife's conversation and enjoying himself.
Miko's mood worsened a little more. Maybe she shouldn't have bought those two puddings. Then she wouldn't have been reminded of the past.
"Big Sister really looked like a Malevolent Ghost back then."
"...I can't pretend I didn't hear that."
"Huh?"
Yotsuya Miko pushed the breakfast in her hands in front of Kyosuke, then rose from her chair.
"I'm going to get the pudding. I don't have much appetite today."
"Then don't give it to me."
"Children should eat a little more."
As she spoke, she opened the refrigerator. Looking at the two puddings inside, she sighed again.
"Is it really all right for you to eat only two puddings for breakfast?"
Mother Touko was somewhat worried as she watched Miko bring over the two puddings. As for Yotsuya Kyosuke, he silently ate the extra serving of breakfast.
"No, just one."
Ignoring that pet, she silently pushed the other pudding in her hand in front of Father Masamori.
"It's for him."
Though she hadn't said so explicitly, both Kyosuke and Touko understood.
"For Dad?"
Touko looked toward the empty seat. She couldn't see Ghosts, but the instant Miko handed over the pudding, she felt as if someone were there.
"Is it for me?"
Father put down the newspaper in his hands and looked toward Miko. However, Miko lowered her head, silently peeled open the pudding's lid, and ate it in small bites.
Once a person died, they couldn't come back to life.
After studying Soul Bodies, Zhang Qiudao and the other Demonic Path cultivators gradually clarified one question: what was the True Spirit, what was the Soul Body, and what was the essence of a person?
The True Spirit was a person's essence. No matter how similar two people were, even if they were individuals split from the same soul, the True Spirit itself couldn't be divided. The shattering of the True Spirit meant the shattering of the very concept of a person. At the instant a person died, even if their Soul Body might form, their True Spirit was already completely gone.
In other words, the Father standing before her was merely a false construct formed from memories.
Nothing could repair the shattering of a True Spirit. Not even Zhang Qiudao could do it.
Yet no matter how much she tried to convince herself, Yotsuya Miko still couldn't regard the Father before her as a monster possessing her father's memories.
"...I suppose so."
After falling silent, "Yotsuya Masamori" seemed to finally realize that the person before him couldn't see him.
"I'm sorry. I ate it without permission last year. I'd always wanted to apologize to you, but I could never say it. In the end, we still never made up."
As he spoke, he poured out the original owner's memories, the original owner's emotions, and the original owner's regrets.
Yotsuya Miko bit her lip and stubbornly held back the tears in her eyes, but...
"Miko."
Mother silently walked over to her and hugged her tightly.
"I'm sorry. I made you remember something unpleasant."
"It's nothing like that. I just suddenly missed him a little."
Miko shook her head and finished all the pudding in her hand, turning it entirely into acceptance.
"I'm full."
"Mm."
"I...I'm full too."
Yotsuya Kyosuke looked at the breakfast before him and ate about seventy or eighty percent of it—out of guilt.
"Sorry, Big Sister. I didn't know that pudding was..."
"Kyosuke."
Yotsuya Touko suddenly spoke. She released Miko and began clearing the dishes from the table.
"You two should go to school."
She placed the dishes one by one in the kitchen, then finally picked up the pudding from the table and looked toward Miko.
"Can I give it to Dad for you?"
"Mm."
Miko nodded, lacking enthusiasm.
Having realized once more that he had done something wrong, Kyosuke finally didn't dare say anything else. He put on his shoes and hurried out the door. However, he turned back to look at his sister again. For some reason, he still felt that something was wrong with her today.
Was it because she was too sad?
Yotsuya Miko reached the door, put on her shoes, and looked back once more.
"Be careful."
"Take care on the way."
"The pudding..."
Father and Mother said these things, along with that pet.
"Mm."
Miko took a deep breath and smiled at them.
"I'm leaving."
Watching Miko leave, Yotsuya Touko silently closed the door and entered a room.
Looking at the memorial portrait of her husband, Masamori, she placed the pudding in front of it.
"The children missed you today, dear."
She spoke.
The Demonic Path cultivators led by Zhang Qiudao had developed a new Talisman system. Although its power was indeed weaker than that of the old Talismans, which emphasized the quality of the Talisman Paper, it wasn't that much weaker.
If quality wasn't strictly controlled, the power of both new and old Talismans would be greatly reduced.
Miko now understood this deeply. She knew she shouldn't have tried to fob it off with a single fish. Her current Evil Banishing Talisman could be used, but not completely—it could only be used a little.
Looking at the Ghosts merely being kept out within a radius of less than five meters around her, Miko silently turned her gaze toward the doll "Eye-Eye." Although the new Talismans could also have their power increased by strengthening the flow of spiritual energy, doing so not only consumed a great deal of energy but also shortened the Talisman pattern's lifespan.
Most importantly, the amplification couldn't be unlimited. It generally depended on the quality of the Talisman pattern.
It's better than nothing.
Miko consoled herself this way. Today, she was once again shopping with her friend Yurikawa Hana, heading to the shop that sold Butt Mochi.
The streets were peaceful again today. The Godmother of the fortune-telling shop had closed for business, apparently affected by the Ghosts. As for the posters on the streets, they still advertised all kinds of programs, such as Mr. Cave Bear.
Ever since Mr. Cave Bear had "rescued" her last time, she had become a devoted fan of the muscular old man. She still couldn't forget the Great Serpent Offensive.
After having Hana avoid the Ghost in front of them, Miko found an excuse to give her the Evil Banishing Talisman doll she had bought earlier but hadn't finished making because of time and material constraints. It was the Ram Rabbit she liked.
"Wow, thank you, Miko."
"Mm, it's nothing. Let's go eat Butt Mochi."
After successfully creating a Talisman pattern for the first time, the Evil Banishing Talisman Miko made afterward was much stronger than the first one. After all, she had used quite a lot of fish for this Evil Banishing Talisman. She had even slaughtered several fairly substantial Ghosts for it, so its range reached twenty meters. However, she needed to charge the Talisman pattern with spiritual energy once a day, and it couldn't last for even a full day.
Ultimately, it was still because the materials were too poor.
Should I make another artifact for processing Ghosts? Yotsuya Miko thought.
Naturally, the Demonic Path cultivators had considered this problem as well. They had tried all kinds of bizarre methods. An Evil Banishing Talisman, for example, could be strengthened by processing the Ghost used as its Talisman Base a second time and forcibly reinforcing it by infusing it with spiritual energy.
As she thought, a sense of being watched once again came from her Spiritual Sense. After what had happened with Kyosuke last time, she had devoted some of her attention to studying how to lock onto the gazes of ordinary people with her Spiritual Sense. She soon found a technique in the Soul Nourishing Artifact Path Understanding called the Eye-Penetrating Incantation. It meant making Spiritual Sense function like eyes—not merely providing vague sensory impressions, but producing images.
Its practicality was decent. Several times, she had seen the watchers. Most of them were men, staring for dozens of seconds or even several minutes. Once she looked over, they never looked at her again. Today, however, was strange. It was a girl.
"Watching" the Golden Twin-Tailed Girl leaning behind a building through her Spiritual Sense, Miko felt a little puzzled, but quickly cast the feeling aside. As long as the watching didn't affect her normal activities, it was fine. It was just like those previous voyeurs who had lust but no courage. Could you say they were breaking the law?
She walked down the street chatting and laughing with Hana, then once again ate delicious Butt Mochi, just like an ordinary girl.
Come to think of it, no powerful Ghosts seem to have appeared recently...
Yotsuya Miko thought that without powerful Ghosts, the power of the Talismans and artifacts she made was far too weak. Moreover, ever since last time, she hadn't cultivated the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record again. After all, she hadn't encountered any worthwhile prey. No matter how weak it was, it should at least be able to blow apart the prayer beads like that Ghost before.
Over the following days, she continued wandering around but still encountered no Ghosts that could be used as materials, which left her somewhat dejected. She wondered whether she should create one herself, but after thinking it over, she felt that having no powerful Ghosts was actually a good thing. After all, who didn't like a peaceful environment?
It was worth mentioning that the watcher was still there. She was a student at Miko's school, Futamido Yuria from another class. During the days she had watched Miko, Miko had also coaxed information about her out of others.
How should she put it? She was probably a pitiful person. The students around her all seemed to isolate her, and there were even rumors that she liked muttering mysterious things.
Miko didn't really understand why this person was watching her. She could only wait and see what this lonely girl her own age intended to do.
The opportunity came quickly.
"Um..."
In the indoor gymnasium, Yotsuya Miko had just finished a volleyball match and was resting against the wall in the corner. She turned her gaze toward Yuria.
"What is it?"
"Could I trouble you with something?"
The petite girl held a volleyball in both hands.
"Could you help me retrieve the volleyball?"
"Sure."
Yotsuya Miko nodded, feeling that she was perhaps a little luckier today. Not only had the watcher finally approached her, but...
She looked toward the equipment room—there was a big one inside.
Following Yuria, she gathered up the volleyballs and placed them in the metal basket. The girl leaned against the door and thanked her.
Before you continue