Chapter Three: The Dependable Adult Office Worker

Shimizu Yuki drew her gaze back from the window. At some point, a fine, drizzling rain had begun to fall outside.

By all ordinary logic, no one should have appeared outside a third-floor window, and he certainly should not have been able to see anything beyond the glass while staying alert to the hallway.

But this world had never cared much for ordinary logic.

For instance, there was the water-drenched, voluptuous wet ghoul hovering just beyond the window.

And for another, there was Shimizu Yuki himself, who had drawn the single eye of the Hundred-Eyed Demon.

[A Single Eye of the Hundred-Eyed Demon]

[Quality: Excellent]

[Use 1: Equip on a yokai avatar]

[Use 2: Use directly to occupy one equipment slot. If equipment slots are insufficient at the time of use, the user's spiritual power will be continuously drained.]

[Current equipment slots: 1/1]

The great eye of the Hundred-Eyed Demon was very useful.

Not only did it grant superb vision, it could also move freely within a radius of roughly fifty meters centered on him, rotating its point of view at will.

Its concealment effect was excellent, too. The wet ghoul had yet to notice that it was being watched, which said enough.

The drawback was that a second perspective would suddenly appear before his eyes.

As a result, Yuki could only use it while standing still. The moment he started moving, he would feel nauseated, as if he were seasick from a three-dimensional image.

As for the first use, there was no way to test that yet.

"Is that wet ghoul an onmyoji's shikigami?"

Listening to the clearly approaching footsteps in the stairwell, Yuki could not help looking terrified.

Before he could reason further, the footsteps outside the door stopped.

At just the right moment, Yuki took a deep breath, clenched the thorny wooden club in his hand, and under the wet ghoul's silent gaze...

The next instant, as the door was shoved open, he roared and unleashed his crude stick technique!

"Get the hell out of my way!"

Under Yuki's frightened stare, a pair of rough, steady hands caught the wooden club cleanly, followed by a burly body that looked as if it might burst straight through its police uniform.

Yet on this body, shaped like that of a bodybuilding champion, sat a face that seemed absurdly out of place: the bright, open countenance of a young boy.

"A ghost! It's a ghost!"

Yuki collapsed backward in apparent terror.

Then, as if remembering something, he said with bluster that could not quite hide his fear, "I won't let you pass!"

The handsome youth sighed in resignation, then reached with practiced ease into the inner pocket of his suit and held up his identification card before Yuki's eyes.

- Special Police Officer: Ken Hasegawa.

"Police?"

Yuki lowered his outstretched arms and stared blankly.

Hasegawa nodded to him, flashed a toothy grin, said, "I'll take it from here," and then asked, "Sister Nanjo, there's one more, right?"

Before Yuki could answer, a cool voice came through the radio on Hasegawa's chest:

"She's lying right behind that boy in front of you. Also, remember to use my rank when you're on the job."

Yuki's pupils shrank.

Without a doubt, this "Sister Nanjo" was the master of the powerful wet ghoul outside the window!

"Roger that, Deputy Superintendent."

Hasegawa patted Yuki on the shoulder. "If you've still got the strength, carry your friend and come with me out of here."

"Officer, I still have a few other friends..."

"Don't worry. Someone will take care of them too."

No sooner had he spoken than the wet ghoul outside the window drifted soundlessly into the room, sending a chill down Yuki's back.

Shikigami count as people too. No problem there.

As an ordinary person, Yuki remained silent under the joint gaze of Hasegawa and the wet ghoul for quite a while before finally rallying himself, slapping his own cheeks and, with considerable effort, hoisting the unconscious Ririko onto his back.

His first impression after lifting Ririko was that something felt awkwardly pressed against him.

She was not heavy at all, but he began to suspect he might have gotten her turned the wrong way.

...

Before long, the group had reached the outskirts of the abandoned school.

There waited a van with its hazard lights flashing, parked in full compliance with traffic regulations.

Yuki hesitated, then asked, "Officer... don't you think something's a little strange?"

"Strange how?"

"It's been raining the whole time, but we haven't gotten wet..."

"Hasegawa: That's because the rain is being made by Miss Hiyori. Supposedly it brings good luck."

"Hiyori?"

Before Yuki could finish puzzling over that, he saw a palm-sized teru teru bozu in a pale blue dress slowly float toward him, then gently settle on top of his head and cling there.

At once, a gentle warmth began rising through his body.

Hasegawa looked amazed. "Miss Hiyori is usually very shy. She hides whenever she sees a stranger."

"—That means he has the potential to become an onmyoji."

It was the woman's voice from the radio.

Yuki subconsciously looked up.

What came into view was an adult woman with an expressionless face and arms folded across her chest.

Her crisp short hair, immaculate attire, and the staff badge hanging from her chest all made it clear that she was an office worker with years of frontline experience.

Only the contours of her front armor were a little too eye-catching; her black tie had been maliciously bent askew, and even the white shirt beneath was pushed up tightly, the second button straining as though it might cry out at any moment.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Nanjo Ami."

She did not offer a perfunctory handshake. She simply said, "You're safe now."

In an instant, a tremendous sense of security washed over him.

Even Yuki could not help but relax all over, all his strength draining away, nearly dropping Ririko in the process.

After a moment's daze, he finally stated his name.

Nanjo Ami nodded. "Get in."

The van had been modified. There were not many seats inside, but there was a great deal of space.

Apart from the driver's seat and the passenger seat, there was only a single bench in the back. After laying Ririko flat inside, Yuki climbed in after her.

He looked at the girl's skirt, which barely covered her at all, then at the rearview mirror in front that gave an unobstructed view of the back, then at the wet ghoul sitting in the cargo area, and finally at the teru teru bozu on his head.

After thinking for a long while, he decided to take off his coat and cover her with it.

The child had grown up. Best to leave her a little privacy.

"Yuki-kun, your psychological resilience is truly impressive," Nanjo Ami, seated in the passenger seat, praised after seeing this. She took out a laptop. "Would you mind telling us what happened from the beginning?"

The van continued slowly through the night for a while longer.

After clicking save, Nanjo Ami closed the document. She took a deep breath, the badge hanging from her chest rising and falling gently.

"I understand the situation now. Later, you'll give a statement, then go to sleep and forget everything that happened today."

"I promise you, everything is already taken care of."

At Nanjo Ami's assurance, Yuki stared at Ririko, who at some point had somehow turned herself upside down and was using his thigh as a pillow.

"What about that spirit board?" Yuki asked. "That thing was seriously wrong."

"It was probably deliberately circulated by the Friendship Club..."

Nanjo Ami realized immediately that she had misspoken. She shook her head. "What comes after is no longer your concern, Yuki-kun."

"How could it not concern us?"

It was not Yuki who said this, but Ririko, who had somehow opened her eyes.

Ririko reached out and closed her hand around empty space at her chest, as though the pendant that should have hung at her neck were still there. "Whether it's Kumamoto, Aofuji, or Takahashi, they're all my friends..."

"Too dangerous."

For the first time, Nanjo Ami interrupted someone mid-sentence. She stared at Ririko without expression.

"Ordinary people should not be exposed to this."

"But people should at least have the right to know." Ririko's face remained blank, but her voice had grown dim. "At the very least, I don't want to be unable to say a word when their parents ask me why."

"I'm sorry."

Nanjo Ami's voice remained utterly flat, like that of a robot capable only of formulaic responses.

A great deal of repeated experience had taught her that at times like this, simply apologizing and saying nothing else was the best choice; what she had said earlier was already a serious lapse in judgment.

She was rigid.

Ririko's fist was rigid.

"My employee number is 2-009-xxx."

Nanjo Ami lowered her head slightly and smoothly handed over a photocopy of her badge.

"If you have any dissatisfaction or suggestions, you may file a complaint against me immediately after you complete your statement at the special affairs division of the police station tonight. Staff will provide a response within three business days."

Seeing the atmosphere growing tense, Yuki had an idea and poked at Ririko's loosely clenched hand. "Togawa-san, what are you holding in your right hand all this time?"

"Oh, this is my kendo pendant. It doesn't really do anything..."

Before Ririko could finish, she discovered there was in fact nothing in her hand.

The pendant was gone.

The girl's mouth opened, and the dam holding back her "kendo" spirit collapsed in an instant.

Her face turned red at a visible rate, and then, curling in on herself, she clung to Yuki's waist with both arms, trembling all over as she burst into loud sobs:

"I thought that awful headless monster was going to eat meeeee!"