In the driver's seat, Mei Mei's long, slender hands rested lightly on the leather steering wheel.
She cast a long look at you as you reclined comfortably in the passenger seat. Her beautiful eyes, usually so full of shrewd calculation, now churned with turmoil that refused to settle.
Her lips moved slightly as countless questions flashed through her mind, but after the words lingered on her tongue for a long while, all that emerged was a remark tinged with an exceedingly rare dryness and hesitation.
"You really are... opening my eyes..."
Faced with this Grade 1 Sorcerer's undisguised wariness and probing, you offered no explanation. You simply tilted your head slightly, curled your lips without confirming or denying anything, and gave her an utterly calm smile.
Just then, the car rounded a gentle bend, and the slight centrifugal force woke Megumi Fushiguro, who had been curled up on the spacious leather back seat.
"Mm..."
Megumi Fushiguro gave an indistinct murmur and sat up.
He rubbed his bleary eyes hard with his two small hands, then opened his mouth in a wide, unguarded yawn.
Clearly, for a child under ten, pushing the cursed energy in his body to such extremes to merge shikigami during such an intense, life-or-death escape had left both his mind and body utterly exhausted.
Megumi Fushiguro's small face, usually marked by a maturity and coldness beyond his years, now held some of the bewilderment of someone just waking up.
Watching the unfamiliar streets slide backward outside the window, he asked you quietly, his voice soft with sleepiness.
"Shunchen... are we going home now?"
You looked at him through the rearview mirror and answered in the affirmative.
"That's right. We're already on our way home. But Megumi, while you're still awake, could you tell me in detail what