Meanwhile, after listening to Black Cat's explanation, the girls' view of this fortune-telling shop immediately changed.
It seemed this fortune-telling shop had never appeared in Yotsuya Miko's story. Could it simply be a coincidence?
Shinomiya Kaguya was slightly disappointed, but then, out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly spotted a somewhat familiar figure.
She quietly alerted the girls who were preparing to leave.
"Don't go yet. Yotsuya Miko is here. We can observe her up close."
It seemed her deduction had not been wrong, and they had arrived at just the right time.
The girls immediately followed Shinomiya Kaguya's gaze.
An orange-haired girl, who looked even more well-endowed than Kasumigaoka Utaha, was excitedly dragging a black-haired girl toward the fortune-telling shop.
That black-haired girl was Yotsuya Miko, the target of their trip.
"Ma'am, do you have any powerful prayer beads? I mean the kind that won't break easily!" the orange-haired girl energetically asked the shop's godmother.
The godmother swiftly glanced at the two of them.
They were both dressed ordinarily. They clearly did not have much money.
But considering that rich girl and her friends were still watching from the side, the godmother decided she should display a little genuine skill.
Thus, under the gaze of eight beautiful girls, the Shitamachi Godmother quickly glanced at the faintly visible shadow beside the black-haired girl, then revealed a profound smile.
"Hehe, powerful prayer beads? The beads I have here have all been strengthened by my spiritual power. But before that, I have a question for you, young lady."
She looked at Yotsuya Miko. "Have you recently been seeing strange things? Or have strange things been happening around you?"
Such a direct question truly stunned the girls present. Black Cat in particular looked at the godmother in disbelief.
How did this godmother know that Yotsuya Miko could see strange things?
Did she really have skills, with scamming merely being her job while exorcising evil was her real life?
Or was it that... this old scammer also had a Diary?
Out of shock, Black Cat's thoughts became increasingly bizarre.
As for Yotsuya Miko, although she too was shocked by the godmother's question—
There was currently an Evil Spirit in shackles behind her, which, for some unknown reason, had followed her all the way here from a nearby alley.
So she still maintained her self-deceiving attitude and refused to admit anything no matter who asked.
"No. I haven't seen anything!"
Faced with the girl's denial, the godmother did not respond. She merely nodded, then crouched down and began searching through her shabby shop.
After quite a while, she finally pulled out an ancient wooden box covered with seals and took out a string of prayer beads that even glimmered with golden light beneath the sun.
"Since we've met today, it must be fate. These prayer beads were my masterpiece in my prime, and now I'll give them to you. Here, put them on and give them a try."
Let them see the spiritual power of the Shitamachi Godmother at her peak. I refuse to believe this still won't hook a big fish like you.
The godmother muttered internally as she glanced at Shinomiya Kaguya, while maintaining an expression of confident control.
Seeing the godmother's confident appearance, Yotsuya Miko hopefully put the prayer beads on her wrist.
The next moment, beneath the godmother's calm expression, the prayer beads Yotsuya Miko had just put on exploded apart, the scattered beads smacking heavily into the Shitamachi Godmother's face.
Rest assured, there really isn't any evil demon lord in the Diary
The godmother had been defeated. Then she gave up.
Watching the prayer beads she had crafted in her prime prove so utterly fragile in someone else's hands, she felt that at her age, perhaps she ought to go home and farm instead.
But while she wanted to give up, Shinomiya Kaguya's eyes lit up.
Although she had not seen anything herself, it was obvious that some kind of filthy thing had just been beside Yotsuya Miko.
As for this godmother, perhaps she could usually only make a living by scamming people.
But the scattered prayer beads proved that she was definitely not a complete fraud. At the very least, she possessed some spiritual power, which was why she could sense the abnormality around Yotsuya Miko.
Surely it would not cost much to get this old godmother to reveal some secrets about the "Reverse Side World."
Shinomiya Kaguya silently issued an order to Hayasaka Ai in the distance, while she and the other girls hurried after Yotsuya Miko's disappointed departing figure.
Since Yotsuya Miko truly could see those filthy things, it was time to lay their cards on the table and check whether she had a Diary.
Thus, Yotsuya Miko, still dejected over the shattered prayer beads yet relieved that the shackled Evil Spirit had stopped following them, had barely taken a few steps before Shinomiya Kaguya and the others blocked her path.
Yotsuya Miko had initially been somewhat puzzled about what the girls at the shop entrance wanted from her.
But in the blink of an eye, she saw in shock that every one of those beautiful girls had taken out a Diary that looked extraordinarily familiar!
Immediately, the great diary war she had dreamed about during her nightmare a few days ago flooded back into her mind.
Those impossibly beautiful girls before her suddenly all became dangerous in her eyes.
She quickly glanced at her friend, Yurikawa Hana.
Yurikawa Hana was currently stepping forward to greet those beautiful girls in a friendly manner, apparently having noticed nothing strange about the peculiar diaries in their hands.
Sure enough, just like those Vengeful Spirits and Evil Spirits, the Diary that had somehow suddenly appeared on her desk was visible only to her!
Yotsuya Miko, who had only just thought she had escaped disaster, immediately broke out in a cold sweat.
Yotsuya Miko originally wanted to continue playing dumb and muddle through, but one of the girls directly called out her name.
"Yotsuya Miko, could we have a little chat?"
"Huh? Miko, you know them? When did you meet so many pretty girls? Why didn't you tell me?" Yurikawa Hana froze for a moment, then looked at Yotsuya Miko in surprise.
Before Yotsuya Miko could speak, that girl introduced herself to Yurikawa Hana first.
"I'm Shinomiya Kaguya. My family has some business dealings with Yotsuya Miko's family, so that's how we know each other. Do you have time now, Yotsuya Miko? There are some things we'd like to ask you about."
Shinomiya Kaguya smiled at Yotsuya Miko, but that seemingly friendly smile felt utterly chilling to Yotsuya Miko at that moment.
She remembered now. This woman was the one who had called her a few days ago, asked whether she was a "Diary holder," and had been immediately hung up on and blocked.
She knew she could not avoid this anymore. They knew her phone number and her identity; no matter how much she wanted to pretend ignorance, it was impossible now.
In this situation, she at least had to let Hana leave first. She could not drag her into this!
So Yotsuya Miko looked at her friend as if she were about to cry. "Sorry, Hana. I haven't seen these friends in a long time, so we'll probably be talking for quite a while... How about you go home by yourself first?"
Although Yurikawa Hana found it a little strange, seeing Shinomiya Kaguya's approachable smile, she felt that the other girl probably was not a bad person.
"Okay, I understand. Miko, have fun catching up with your old friends! Then we'll see each other on Monday!"
As Yurikawa Hana skipped away, Yotsuya Miko was inwardly bidding her beloved friend farewell.
As Yotsuya Miko put on an expression that said they could kill or torture her as they pleased, Little Bocchi subconsciously felt as though she had found another social anxiety sufferer.
Kasumigaoka Utaha, meanwhile, incredulously scratched her head.
She had originally thought that if Yotsuya Miko really possessed a diary, then no matter how frightened she was, she would at least try opening the Diary to see what was inside.
So she had previously believed Yotsuya Miko probably did not have a Diary.
But when all of them had simultaneously taken out their diaries in front of Yotsuya Miko, Yotsuya Miko had revealed a panicked expression in that brief instant.
Although she had controlled her expression with astonishing willpower almost immediately afterward, that was already enough for them to confirm it.
That was why Kasumigaoka Utaha was so shocked.
"So you really treated this Diary as the same sort of thing as those Vengeful Spirits and haven't opened it even once until now?"
Seeing Yotsuya Miko on the verge of tears, she asked her that question.
"Huh?" Yotsuya Miko froze, seemingly not expecting these girls' "judgment" to begin with such a non-aggressive question.
Kasumigaoka Utaha sighed and looked at Shinomiya Kaguya. "Fine, your guess was right. Let's find a place first and explain the diary situation to her properly."
She looked back at Yotsuya Miko. "Are those things still following you right now? If not, just answer. If they are, then don't answer."
This time, Yotsuya Miko finally reacted.
She seemed to realize that these people did not mean her any harm. In fact... it seemed they had come to help her?
So she cautiously shook her head. "No. After the prayer beads exploded, th-that thing went back."
More than ten minutes later, Yotsuya Miko finally found a place with no Vengeful Spirits nearby.
Before the girls, she took out the Diary for the first time of her own accord after having possessed it for two weeks.
"Open it. Everything you want to know is inside," Shinomiya Kaguya invited Yotsuya Miko.
Yotsuya Miko hesitated. "There really isn't some evil demon lord sealed inside, right?"
Kasumigaoka Utaha snarked irritably, "What evil demon lord? It's just a diary written by a mysterious bastard with an incredibly awful personality who takes pleasure in messing with people."
Little Bocchi had made a great contribution!
The diaries that had accumulated over half a month were no small amount.
Under Kasumigaoka Utaha and Shinomiya Kaguya's guidance, Yotsuya Miko temporarily skipped over some less important entries.
Of course, the more important reason was that they felt their own trivial matters were not worth wasting everyone's precious waiting time on.
After more than half an hour, Yotsuya Miko finally turned to the latest diary entry.
"So... I'm just the female lead of a horror manga?" After reading the diary, Yotsuya Miko could hardly believe what she had seen.
Ever since her eyes had suddenly begun seeing those things one day, she had been searching for the reason.
After searching for so long, the answer she received in the end was "because the plot demanded it."
Such a blunt and cruel answer was even worse than some mysterious explanation like "the Gears of fate have begun turning."
She had also received quite a lot of shocks lately, which was why she could barely remain rational now.
The girls said nothing, because they had never experienced Yotsuya Miko's feelings and did not know what they should say at such a time.
Hoshino Ai, on the other hand, clapped her hands as though she had thought of something. "Right! Since Reading Points can let us activate Spirit Vision, Miko, can you use Reading Points to try turning your Spirit Vision off now?"
That suggestion immediately made every girl's eyes light up.
Right, they had almost forgotten about the wonderful thing known as Reading Points.
"Although you haven't read the diary before, I remember You Know Who mentioned you quite a few times in it. You should still have some Reading Points now, right? Why don't you give it a try?"
Yotsuya Miko remembered as well.
Over this period, it did seem like she had occasionally heard notifications beside her ear saying things such as "You have obtained Reading Points," but she had been too frightened to react at the time.
Feeling somewhat nervous, Yotsuya Miko followed Shinomiya Kaguya's instructions and tried using her thoughts to write on the Diary.
Then, unsurprisingly, she failed.
Yotsuya Miko's Reading Points had all been obtained passively. She had never actively read the diary, and she had not yet accumulated the seven Reading Points needed to unlock the Diary's basic permissions. She still had not obtained many of the Diary's convenient functions.
In the end, Shinomiya Kaguya took out the fountain pen she normally used and let Yotsuya Miko make do with it first.
Holding a costly, exquisite fountain pen, Yotsuya Miko cautiously wrote the words "Turn off Spirit Vision" in the Diary.
Immediately afterward, she sensed the Diary's reply.
Her expression began to turn aggrieved.
"It says my Spirit Vision can't be turned off on its own. I can only spend Reading Points to block it, and the price is seven Reading Points per day."
That price was far from cheap. Under normal circumstances, they only gained two Reading Points a day.
By that calculation, Yotsuya Miko could at most block her Spirit Vision for two days a week.
"You should first use your Reading Points to get started with Ripple Aura Chi Kung. That way, you probably won't need to worry about being stalked by ordinary Vengeful Spirits." Kasumigaoka Utaha did not tell Yotsuya Miko to spend all her Reading Points on Ripple Aura Chi Kung.
After all, You Know Who had written in the diary that some kind of "indescribable existence" even appeared in Yotsuya Miko's later story.
Ripple Aura Chi Kung could at most deal with a few minor ghosts. It would be powerless against something like that.
If she really encountered trouble she could not handle, Yotsuya Miko should obediently pay the Reading Points to block her Spirit Vision.
That was what most of the girls present thought. It was essentially paying money to ward off disaster.
Before you continue