Touko spoke as she watched Miko take off her shoes, then asked why she had come home late today.
"Did something happen today?"
"Yeah. I helped an old woman find her way home, so I got held up a little."
As she spoke, she handed the bag in her hand to her mother.
"This is their thank-you gift. Kyosuke can have it."
"Is that so?"
Yotsuya Touko took the bag and began lecturing her.
"Don't be so reckless next time. It's really not a good idea for a girl to walk alone at night."
"Yeah. Sorry for making you worry."
Yotsuya Miko nodded, though a smile still appeared on her face.
"But what happened today was actually pretty nice."
As she met her mother's gaze, she began telling her about the old woman she had encountered that day. She left out the part about seeing Ghosts, and, with Miko's revisions, the story became one of how the old woman had suddenly recovered her memories.
"That old lady seemed really confused at first, but when we got to her front door, she suddenly became much more lucid and remembered all sorts of things. She went inside, opened the safe at home that apparently no one had been able to open for a long time, and took out a hair ornament to put on. Her daughter said it had been a gift from her husband. It was like some incredible miracle. Maybe she saw her husband, who had died long ago, standing outside the door."
As Miko spoke, she slowly walked into the kitchen and looked toward her mother.
"Maybe Father is watching us from somewhere we don't know about, too."
"...Yes, that's right."
Yotsuya Touko simply smiled at her.
"Dad's always watching over you."
"Touko..."
Beside the woman who bore the weight of the family's responsibilities, a figure slowly appeared.
"You're right. I've always been here..."
"Kyosuke, come have some pork soup."
Touko pulled herself together, took the pork soup out of the bag, and ladled some into two bowls. She handed one to Yotsuya Miko and set the other on the table.
"Okay."
Miko simply picked up her bowl of pork soup, thinking that she had one more thing she needed to do.
The Ghost in a Kimono
"French Bakery Grizzly," a pastry shop with a snarling bear's face hanging on its sign.
Its cakes had their own distinctive style, too.
Yotsuya Miko looked in the direction of Yurikawa Hana's finger. A pastry called "Forest Walking Bear Cake" had two bear shapes on its thickly frosted surface, with a strawberry even larger than the bears behind them.
"Look at this cake. Isn't it super cute?"
Maybe it was cute?
Looking at the Ghost crouched in front of the cake, blocking it from view, Yotsuya Miko hesitated, then gave a noncommittal reply.
The little Ghost in front of her had four eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth. There was nothing cute about it.
"Do you think it's okay?"
"Oh, it's not that. I think it's cute... Ah."
Glancing back at the Ghost blocking the cake, Yotsuya Miko answered against her better judgment.
"Then I'll get this one."
The Ghost pounded on the glass counter, screaming, "Let me out!" That was what Miko found ridiculous. Weren't things like this supposed to be able to pass through walls? And how was it making that pounding sound when ordinary people couldn't even hear it?
Her attention had been drawn to the bizarre little Ghost, so she hadn't noticed what the sales clerk had said at all.
"What should we do?" Yurikawa Hana turned to Miko, trying to get her advice. "What do you think, Miko?"
"What?"
"She said there's only one left."
Oh, so they couldn't both buy one. Yotsuya Miko looked at the counter.
"Then I'll get the Mont Blanc next to it..."
As she spoke, two Little Old Men appeared behind the "Chubby Mont Blanc," as if they were deliberately trying to get on her nerves.
"..."
Yotsuya Miko's expression shifted. She carefully swept her Spiritual Sense around the counter, then finally picked her target.
"I'll have the Cream Puff on the end."
"I'll have the Forest Walking Bear Cake."
Carrying their purchases out of the pastry shop, Yurikawa Hana weighed the pastries in her hands and looked rather pleased.
"Which dessert shop should we visit next?"
She asked Miko,
"Mrs. Donut? Or Butt Mochi?"
"Hmm... Butt Mochi?"
"Sounds good! Maybe they'll still have the strawberry flavor today."
Seeing the smile on Hana's face, Yotsuya Miko felt that even the distress of encountering Ghosts earlier had eased a little.
Though, trouble had found her again.
Her Spiritual Sense sent a violent tremor, warning her that a powerful Ghost had appeared up ahead.
Its appearance certainly had the bearing of a strong opponent.
Yotsuya Miko stopped and stared straight at the Ghost. It wore a gray-blue kimono, had four eyes with the upper pair stitched shut, and bared tightly clenched teeth without any lips to cover them. Its bizarre features were set right in the center of its face. Looking at the long, sharp claws extending from its hands, she felt a headache coming on.
A Ghost like this would be hard to defeat, even if she used some of her power. Unless she used Soul Collision Art, formed by tearing apart a huge amount of Spiritual Sense, to kill it through sheer numbers—as she had when dealing with the Ghost at Godmother's place last time—she had no way to kill it silently in front of Yurikawa Hana. And unlike last time, she had no prayer-bead energy to suppress Soul Devouring Tribulation, which she wouldn't be able to control after losing so much Spiritual Sense. What was more, killing this one would take far more Spiritual Sense than the previous Ghost.
The worst part was that a Ghost like this would undoubtedly have an extremely high-quality Soul Body. An outbreak of Soul Devouring Tribulation was practically inevitable.
Thoughts flashed through her mind one by one. Miko looked at the Ghost with deep apprehension. Her sudden pause left Yurikawa Hana confused.
"Miko?"
"Ah... I think we should go to Mrs. Donut instead."
All she could do now was hope the thing wouldn't follow Yurikawa Hana. Better yet, they could avoid it altogether. As she thought this, Miko looked at the Ram Rabbit on Hana's backpack.
The Ghost they'd run into the last time she met Yuria had already been remade into a talisman pattern and placed inside the Ram Rabbit charm she'd given Yurikawa Hana. To be safe, Miko hadn't activated this new Evil Banishing Talisman right away, so it would be ready to protect Hana when the time came.
It seemed that time had come.
"Sounds good!"
Hana didn't show any displeasure at the change of plans. Instead, she turned her thoughts back to Mrs. Donut.
"Then I'll get a Bloody Classic today, too."
She jogged over to Yotsuya Miko, took her by the arm, and led her in the opposite direction.
At the same time, Miko poured a large amount of spiritual energy into the Ram Rabbit, activating the talisman pattern.
Although it still used fish as its flesh, the Ghost's quality had improved considerably. The pattern could currently interfere with Ghosts over a wide area, as long as that Ghost hadn't noticed the Life Energy on Hana... No, even if it had noticed, it would still find it hard to get close.
And as long as the pattern held out through the night... she could deal with that thing herself.
Thinking this, Yotsuya Miko finally felt a little more at ease.
But soon, her brows knitted together. Although Hana hadn't gone near the thing, the Ghost was still following them.
Had it noticed after all?
She moved both hands and sent a streak of black light into her and Hana's shoulders.
If the Life Energy had alerted that thing, then she just had to conceal its presence.
"Miko?"
Hana had been talking about how sweet the donuts were. She glanced at Yotsuya Miko, puzzled as to why Miko had suddenly patted her shoulder.
"Looks like a bug landed on you."
"What? Did you get it? Where is it?"
"Don't worry, it already flew away."
At that, Yurikawa Hana relaxed and let out a long breath.
"That's a relief."
She was about to say something else when her stomach suddenly growled.
"Huh? That's weird. I ate so much before we left. Why am I hungry already?"
"Well... Then let's just buy more at Mrs. Donut."
Looking at the Ghost behind them, Yotsuya Miko poured more spiritual energy into the Ram Rabbit, increasing its ability to interfere. It would greatly shorten the talisman pattern's lifespan, but she couldn't worry about that now.
As long as Yurikawa Hana didn't get targeted by that thing.
Afterward, the Ghost finally turned and left, as though it had lost its prey.
Only after sensing that it had indeed left the range of her Spiritual Sense did Yotsuya Miko breathe a sigh of relief.
Then her stomach growled.
"Uh..."
Maybe she shouldn't have cast the spell on herself.
"What? So you're hungry too."
Seeing the smile on Yurikawa Hana's face, the thin-skinned Yotsuya Miko couldn't help covering her face.
"I just... didn't have much of an appetite at dinner, so I didn't eat much."
"Is, that, so?"
"Hana..."
One more thing: About the term "Ghosts" in the story. As everyone knows, in Japan the word "oni" refers to a species. In modern Japan, oni usually means a strong, fierce monster like a wild man or an ogre. The Ghosts in Miko's world should be called "spirits" or "evil spirits." I've been using "Ghosts" throughout the story not because I wanted to confuse these concepts, but because I was too lazy to use terms like "spirits" or "evil spirits." By the way, I originally planned to replace "Ghosts" with "Soul Bodies," but "Ghosts" was easier to type, so I gave up on that.
If you aren't used to this terminology, I can take suggestions and change it to "evil spirits." But if you say they're all evil spirits... well, there are also Mountain Gods, Bakeneko, and all sorts of odd things. I'll look up the lore about Bakeneko and local gods later.
Lastly, I apologize for the late update.
A Harbinger of Crisis
"See you tomorrow, then."
"Yeah, bye."
Yotsuya Miko smiled and waved goodbye to Yurikawa Hana. As Hana walked farther away, the smile gradually faded from Miko's face, leaving behind a gloomy expression.
She silently headed back the way she had come, returning to the street from earlier. She used her Spiritual Sense to check her surroundings again. The presence of many Ghosts appeared within its range, but the one she was looking for was nowhere to be found.
"Has it... already left?"
She finally withdrew her Spiritual Sense and rubbed her head again. This was the worst-case scenario.
Yotsuya Miko had no way to track Ghosts. She hadn't yet had time to learn that skill from Soul Nourishing Artifact Path Understanding; studying the other techniques alone had already taken too long. Now she regretted it a little.
"I should've learned one while I had the chance."
Looking at the empty street, where only Ghosts remained, Yotsuya Miko shook her head again, trying to stay optimistic.
"If it left the area, then it probably won't go after Hana again."
Before you continue