Longing and Reality

"Mm..."

To outsiders, this might have looked rather intimate, but for some reason, Yuria always felt a little awkward.

Our relationship isn't that good yet, is it?

She cautiously glanced at Yotsuya Miko. Perhaps noticing her wariness, the powerful psychic released the hand resting on her shoulder.

"Yuria? Then can I call you Yuria-chan?"

Yurikawa Hana had not noticed anything amiss. Instead, she looked at Yuria with great interest, showing her bright, cheerful smile. She was happy that Miko had made a new friend.

"Uh..."

Why is everyone so enthusiastic? Futamido Yuria looked at the approaching Yurikawa Hana, panic flickering in her eyes as she forced a smile.

"Well... I still have something to do, so I'll be going first. You two carry on."

As she spoke, she ran far away. After glancing back at them from a distance, she disappeared into the crowd.

"Huh?"

No matter how innocent Hana was, she understood that those words had merely been an excuse.

"Miko, does she dislike me?"

"No, that's not it."

Yotsuya Miko shook her head. Yuria running away had been within her expectations. After being isolated for so long, it would have been strange if the girl could naturally chat with them.

"She's just... a little shy around strangers."

Having been able to see ghosts since childhood and ostracized because of her abnormality, "shy around strangers" probably did not fully describe her situation.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, it's fine. Next time, let's invite Yuria out together. Oh, right—didn't you say you were going to buy underwear today?"

She smoothly shifted the topic to their shopping plans. Hana no longer dwelled on Yuria and instead became quite interested in what clothes she should buy.

Well, more accurately, what underwear she should buy.

Seeing that Hana's attention had shifted, Yotsuya Miko took out her phone and sent a message to someone.

On the street, a Golden Twin-Tailed Girl had not yet made it home. She was busy worrying over the trouble caused by a powerful psychic.

Yes, Yuria regarded all of this as trouble.

"Damn it, that girl definitely thinks I'm a joke..."

Thinking about everything that had happened that day, Futamido Yuria felt an indescribable emotion surge within her.

She had clearly done something like that, yet Miko had approached her so intimately. If that was not teasing her, then what was it?

Just as she was thinking of a way to get revenge, her phone began vibrating violently. A message had arrived from someone named "Yotsuya Miko."

"Third condition: Get along well with Yurikawa Hana. Give her something to eat and she'll be very happy."

"..."

Looking at the words on the screen, Yuria's hand trembled slightly around her phone.

"What exactly is this girl trying to do?"

She gritted her teeth.

"If this is the final condition, then fine. I, Futamido Yuria, accept it!"

She said it loudly, hoping that the girl would keep her word.

After sending the message, Yotsuya Miko did not continue monitoring Yuria's situation. After all, a girl's reclusiveness probably could not be cured in a day or two.

She went shopping with Hana until very late, when the sky had already darkened.

After saying goodbye to Yurikawa Hana, she walked home alone.

Shopping with Hana always takes so long.

Thinking this, Yotsuya Miko opened her phone, which had received a new message. It was from Yurikawa Hana.

"Let's show each other the underwear we bought later."

"No. But I want to see Hana's photo."

That shameless attempt at getting something for free soon earned Miko a reply from Hana: a picture of the Ram Rabbit being pierced by spikes.

Yotsuya Miko had never expected to get anything for free, so she merely smiled faintly as she walked down the pedestrian overpass stairs. However, there were always unexpected incidents on nights like this.

Looking at the old woman sitting on the steps, Yotsuya Miko could not help sighing.

I'm going to get home even later tonight.

"Ma'am, are you lost?"

"Mm... mm..."

The old woman mumbled incoherently. She had lost all her teeth, though it was not the worst possible situation.

"Do you recognize the way home?"

The old woman looked toward her and moved her mouth.

"I see."

Yotsuya Miko crouched before the old woman and held out both hands.

"Then please show me the way."

Fortunately, the old woman did not point in the wrong direction.

Miko carried the old woman on her back and walked in the direction she indicated. After traveling quite a distance, they finally arrived at the old woman's home.

"Mom?"

A middle-aged woman looked over anxiously, while Miko finally managed to set the old woman down.

Now I can relax.

Yotsuya Miko listened as the woman told the old lady how worried she had been. Seeing the woman hand the old lady her dentures, Miko finally let out a sigh of relief. She was about to leave when the old woman suddenly grabbed her.

"Huh?"

"I don't know who you are, but thank you so much for your kindness."

The old woman, now wearing her dentures again, spoke as she bowed—but she bowed in the wrong direction.

"Sorry for the trouble."

The middle-aged woman looked at Yotsuya Miko apologetically.

"She used to be a very reliable person when my father was still alive, but now she's even forgotten her family's names and her own."

As she spoke, the woman seemed to rally herself.

"Thank you so much. I have to repay you properly."

"Ah, no, please don't worry about it."

Although Miko said this, the woman still went inside, apparently intending to fetch something.

"Please wait a moment."

"Ah, um..."

Before Miko could stop her, the woman had already entered the house. Looking at the old woman beside her, Miko knew she had lost her chance to slip away. She could not exactly abandon the old woman there.

And then there were the ghosts that had somehow begun surrounding the old woman.

"Four... six... three."

The ghosts beside the old woman repeatedly spoke the same string of numbers, as though it were very important.

Her husband?

However, ordinary people could not hear ghosts.

Rubbing her head, Yotsuya Miko looked at the old woman beside her and sighed.

Whatever. If that ghost tries anything, I'll just kill it.

She decided to see things through to the end and tell the old woman the numbers herself.

Chapter 29: Longing and Reality

Who would have thought that ghosts could thank people?

After the old woman heard the string of numbers, she suddenly seemed like a different person. She entered the numbers into a safe and took out an item that had not been opened for a long time: a hair ornament her husband had given her.

The old woman, whose condition had originally been poor, regained her senses. Like a normal person, she called out the woman's name.

Meanwhile, the ghost beside her bowed slightly.

"Thank you..."

It had noticed that the human before it could see it, yet she had not harmed it.

This gesture made Yotsuya Miko uncomfortable, but it also brought her relief.

She did not know what she was relieved about. Perhaps she was simply glad that she no longer had to kill the ghost before her.

After once again refusing the family's invitation, Yotsuya Miko carried the pork soup the woman had given her and walked home.

She sent her mother a message, telling her that she was safe and on her way home.

After sending that message, Yurikawa Hana sent her one as well.

A picture and a sentence.

Looking at the words and the accompanying image, Miko could not help smiling.

Hana had actually sent the photo after Miko's casual remark, though she had done it teasingly, like wearing underwear over a Superman costume.

"Sexy?"

Yotsuya Miko did not reply. She put away her phone and slowly continued down the road.

Perhaps being able to see ghosts did not only bring misfortune.

Thinking of the Bakeneko on her father—the man who pretended to be an ordinary person at home and seemed difficult to get along with—and the husband of the old woman she had met today, Miko felt that she still understood far too little about ghosts.

What will they do when they see me?

Do they really kill anyone who sees them, like on television? Or do only some ghosts behave that way?

All sorts of questions surfaced in Yotsuya Miko's mind, but she had no answers to any of them.

If she were in the Xuanhui Realm, the knowledge in her mind would provide reasonable explanations for most phenomena there. Those explanations had been compiled through the practical experience of the cultivators of the Xuanhui Realm. But this was Miko's world—a world without spiritual energy, without an underworld to contain ghosts, where ghosts and humans walked together, and only a small number of people could see them.

Or perhaps this world really did have an underworld, and the number of people who could see ghosts was astonishingly high. Perhaps the ghosts walking among humans were merely a small minority, while the powerful ghosts had never appeared before the public.

Miko had never considered this question before, because she had once been one of those who could not see. Even after she gained the ability, she still had not thought about it. To her then, ghosts were terrifying things that could not be treated as something visible.

But now... you had to split up...

Yotsuya Miko touched Eye-Eye at her side. The Evil Banishing Talisman inside it was still working as hard as it could, but after several days of consumption, its effectiveness had worsened considerably, reminding her that it needed repairs or replacement.

The energy of the prayer beads in her mind was nearly depleted as well. As her Spiritual Sense grew stronger, she had begun to suppress Soul Devouring Tribulation more effectively. Her stronger Spiritual Sense also allowed her to identify ghosts with greater precision and gradually expand her range of perception. She could even slightly distinguish the differences between individual people.

An energy unlike that of ghosts appeared in every person's body. The stronger someone's body, the more powerful this energy was; the weaker their body, the weaker it was. This energy suppressed the aura of ghosts and drove away weak ones.

Yurikawa Hana possessed the strongest such energy among everyone Miko could sense nearby. Yet it was precisely this powerful energy that attracted ghosts. Powerful ghosts often treated this intense energy like food and wanted to contaminate it.

However, Hana had her—a demonic cultivator whose strength was considered to be at the very bottom in the Xuanhui Realm, but who was still strong enough to exterminate most ghosts walking among humans in this world.

Yotsuya Miko's current strength had already given her the ability to uncover the other side of this world.

However, while investigating the secrets of this world, she still needed to further increase her strength.

"Let's work toward that goal for now."

By the time she reached home, it was almost nine o'clock. Her mother opened the door.

"I'm home."

"Welcome home."