Rei Ao asked, "You seem very familiar with the placedo you come here often?"
"I haven't, latelyschool's been busy." She shook her head. "I know it so well because I grew up here."
She smiled. "Surprising, isn't it?"
She expected shock, but Rei Ao only looked at her gently.
"No. From the way you spoke with Sister Mahiru I sensed you'd known each other long, almost like mother and daughter."
"Mother and daughter."
That really wasn't wrong. After her parents died in an accident, she'd been brought here; Sister Mahiru was like an adoptive mother to her.
Shirahi stuck out her tongue. "So you saw right through me. Most people say I look like a boy."
"Then they have no eye. To me you're a beautiful girl who draws attention the instant one sees her."
Rei Ao's frank admiration deepened Shirahi's blush.
"Tthank you"
She dropped her gaze, trying to hide her burning cheeks.
~~~
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Chapter 755: Otherworldly Energy...
Suddenly,Rei Ao's brow knitted.
In one corner of the room he sensed a faint ripple of poweran energy that did not belong to this world.
He strode over to examine the spot, yet outwardly nothing looked amiss.
"What's wrong?" Tsuruyama Shirahi asked, tense.
"I've found a clue," Rei Ao replied. "But the situation may be more complicated than we imagined.
Tonight I'd like to keep watch here and see if those strange phenomena return."
"Ttonight?"
"Right. I'll speak with MissMahiru."
Shirahi nodded. "All rightI'll stay with you."
Nightfall
Darkness cloaked MiracleGarden.
Rei Ao and Shirahi sat in the children's dormitory and waited. The room was utterly silent save for the wind outside.
After an indeterminate time the air temperature plummeted; a chill swept over them.
"It's here," Rei Ao murmured.
"Ooo ooo"
A faint, miserable sobbing echoed through the roomso forlorn it made one's skin crawl.
Shirahi gripped Rei Ao's hand. "That's the sound!"
He patted the back of her hand. "Don't be afraidI'm here."
Following the sound, they discovered it came from inside the wall.
Rei Ao placed his palm against the bricks and released a gentle surge of power. The masonry trembled; moments later a hidden recess slid open.
Inside lay an ancient box carved all over with enigmatic runes.
The instant his fingers touched it, the runes blazed with eerie light, flooding the room.
"Ah!" Shirahi cried.
At the same moment a violent gale roared through the window, hurling objects everywhere.
A shadow coalesced at the center of the room, resolving into a pale woman with vacant eyes.
"Why have you disturbed my rest?"
Her voice was icy and hollow, echoing off the walls.
Shirahi cowered behind Rei Ao, trembling.
Rei Ao met the apparition's gaze without flinching. "We only seek the truth. Why are you terrifying the children?"
"Truth?" The ghost let out a cold laugh.
"You would not wish to know. This is my domainleave!"
Black energy erupted from her hands, lashing toward them.
Rei Ao snorted. He lifted his own hand
Boom!
The dark force detonated in his palm. The specter shrieked, a piercing wail that ripped the night apart, and her form twisted, dissolving in a burst of iridescent light.
Shirahi clapped her hands over her ears. The last wisp of resentment scattered on the wind, carrying stray cherryblossom petals across her pale face.
"Wwhat was that?" She backed away until she met the cold wall.
Moonlight spilled through the shattered window, outlining Rei Ao's profile like that of a god. Fading golden sigils still circled his fingertips. He shook his hand and the runes winked out like fireflies.
"An aggregation of negative emotions corrupted by energy from another realm," he said, gazing out at the courtyard, now calm again.
"This world is far more complex than you imagine: gods, demons, incursions from other dimensions they all exist."
Shirahi's pupils contracted. Rumors she had always dismissed as superstition tumbled through her mind.
"So, Rei Ao you can eliminate them?"
"It was nothing but a flick of the wrist."
A teasing light danced in his rainbow eyes. "For now, though, let's share the good news with MissMahiru."
Shirahi's thoughts whirled, her senses still reeling from the supernatural shock.
Mahiru's room
The corridor was dim; they stopped at AnekjiMahiru's door. Rei Ao knockedno answer.
Pressing his palm to the wood he felt a lingering chill: residual energy from beyond this worldfaint, but dangerous.
"Something's wrong."
He drew Shirahi close; space warped at their feet and in the next heartbeat they stood in a steamfilled bathroom.
Mist curled above the tub where Mahiru's pale body floated halfsubmerged, raven hair spread like seaweed.
Water trickled along her swanlike neck.
"Mahirunee!" Shirahi cried.
Rei Ao plunged his arms into the water and lifted the unconscious woman out, laying her on the tiles. Warm droplets slid down her shapely figure and darkened the cloth of his robe.
Kneeling, he touched a glowing point of gold to her brow.
Mahiru gave a faint moan; the bluish tinge left her lips.
"She inhaled residual otherworldly energyit disturbed her lifeforce," he explained just as her lashes fluttered open. In the hazy light she saw Rei Ao's handsome face above her.
"So it was a dream" Mahiru chuckled drily.
"Single for so long I fantasize about the first goodlooking boy I see. Am I really that desperate?"
Suddenly her arms looped around Rei Ao's neck. Damp hair brushed his hand, carrying the scent of citrus shampoo.
"Since it's a spring dream, handsome, why don't I" Her warm, wet lips found his, while one slender hand slid
Shirahi's eyes flew wide. She tried to look away, yet the scene held her frozen.
Mahiru drew back with a small gasp of admiration. "Is a man supposed to be like that?"
~~~
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Chapter 756: At Night in Miracle Garden...
"Mahiru-san, this is not a dream."
Rei Ao's voice held a trace of teasing amusement as he glanced at the crimsonfaced Tsuruyama Shirahi.
"Shirahi-san is standing right over there watching, you know."
"???"
The air froze.
Mahiru's movements stopped short and she stiffly turned her head.
When her eyes met Shirahi's shocked gaze, the cheeks that had been flushed with heat just moments ago went deathly pale.
"Uh"
She frantically snatched up a bath towel to wrap herself and shrank into a corner, a far cry from the boldness she'd shown only seconds earlier.
Half an hour later
The three of them sat on the livingroom sofa.
AnekjiMahiru was bundled in a thick knit sweater, earlobes red enough to bleed as her fingers twisted the hem of her skirt.
Tsuruyama Shirahi stared down at her own toes, hardly daring to breathe.
Rei Ao, by contrast, lounged comfortably, savoring hot tea as though nothing steamy had occurred at all.
"II really thought I was dreaming," Mahiru stammered, unable to meet Rei Ao's eyes.
"I must have dozed off in the bath because I was exhausted, and when I woke up I just"
Her voice dwindled until it vanished into the awkward silence.
"No harm done,"
Rei Ao set his teacup down.
"What matters is that the strange noises in Miracle Garden are taken care of."
He slid a small boxfound in a hidden compartmentinto the center of the coffee table. Runes on its surface glimmered faintly in the moonlight.
"Everything started with what's inside this."
Mahiru's gaze landed on the box, and a thought struck her.
"Is it some kind of toy?"
She had assumed a mischievous toy was behind the racket.
"Whatever it is, as long as it won't scare the children anymore, that's good."
Rising to her feet, gratitude flashed in her eyes.
"And thank you for saving me."
"No thanks necessaryjust something I could do along the way,"
Rei Ao replied.
Outside, the moon drifted west. As Rei Ao stood, his robe rustled softly.
"It's late. Shirahi-san, Mahiru-san, you should rest too."
With that, he headed for the guest room Mahiru had prepared.
Tsuruyama Shirahi also slipped away, head bowed, leaving Mahiru staring after Rei Ao's back, fists clenching.
She murmured:
"Is that really a man's?"
As a physician, she knew anatomy wellmaking Rei Ao's physique all the more astonishing.
Tsuruyama Shirahi lay on her bed, blankly watching the ceiling. Scenes from the bathroom replayed inescapably: Mahiru's flushed cheeks, Rei Ao's barely restrained expression
There were bigger supernatural problems at hand, yet her mind was filled with those two.
Ugh, Shirahi, what are you even thinking!
She rolled over, burying her burning face in the quiltwhen soft footsteps sounded in the hallway.
"Who's there?"
Holding her breath, she rose and quietly cracked open her door.
In the moonlight she saw Mahiru, clad in a silk nightdress, long legs half hidden by shifting shadows.
In the dead of night Mahiru stood before Rei Ao's door, fingers poised above the panel, hesitating. Her chest heaved as though she were making a momentous decision.
"Mahirunee?"
Shirahi bit her lip, watching as Mahiru drew a deep breath and knocked.
Almost at once the door swung open. Rei Ao's tall figure loomed over her; before she could utter a word he swept her up by the waist, flashed a devilmaycare smile, and carried her inside.
"Wa"
The door slammed shut.
For an instant Shirahi thought she heard fabric tear
and right afterward the eerie noises in Miracle Garden started up again.
"Mahirunee"
She collapsed onto the bed, heart hammering.
In the darkness she rubbed her feverish cheeks, Rei Ao's voice echoing in her ears. Moonlight spilled through the curtains, casting a hazy glow over her blushing face, while the renewed commotion outside made the night feel unbearably long.
Dawn
Sunlight filtered through gauzy drapes, scattering flecks of gold across rumpled bedding.
AnekjiMahiru slowly opened her eyes, brow furrowed. A dull ache flooded every limb.
"Ughso sore"
Instinctively she tried to moveonly to find herself pressed against a furnacehot body.
A man's arm was wrapped possessively around her waist, his palm still warm.
Memories surged like a tide: her own hand knocking on his door, the flustered moment Rei Ao scooped her up, those utterly mortifying scenes
Unbelievable! She had actually, driven by some inexplicable restlessness, seduced a man several years younger than herself
even letting herself be "forced" to say things she could hardly believe had come out of her own mouth.
At the thought, Mahiru's face went scarlet; mortification threatened to swallow her whole.
"Ahhhwhat on earth did I do?!"
~~~
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(Bonus Chapter) Chapter 757: Daughters and Mother Talks...
The activity in the room did not subside until the sun was already high in the sky.
Only then did the waves of pleasure gradually quiet down.
At the same time, Tsuruyama Shirahi in the room next door had woken up early.
She was standing at the window, gazing at the cherry tree outside, yet images of Mahirunee together with Rei Ao kept flashing through her mind.
Her cheeks were burning, and a swirl of complicated emotionsones she could hardly make sense of herselfrose in her chest: awe at supernatural power, shyness over the scenes she hadoverheard the previous night, and an inexplicable envy?
"Knock, knock"
The rap on the door cut off her thoughts.
Shirahi hurriedly straightened her clothes and pulled the door open.
Rei Ao was leaning against the frame, hair slightly tousled, fresh from a bath, a lazy smile at his lips.
"Freshen up and come down for breakfast."
His gaze lingered a moment on her flushed face, as though he could read exactly what she was thinking.
"Mahiru's a bit tiredshe won't be coming down."
Shirahi nodded, her voice unsteady.
"Uunderstood."
She dared not meet his eyes.
Hastily she shut the door, pressed her back to it, and felt her heart hammer uncontrollably.
When Shirahi finally emerged, her eyes went to Rei Ao almost involuntarily, as though hoping for something.
He noticed, the corner of his mouth lifting in a barely visible curve.
"Shirahisan, come have a seat."
"All right."
Breakfast ended under a faintly awkward atmosphere.
Shirahi nibbled at her bread, her mind clearly elsewhere.
"You must have plenty of questions about yesterday," Rei Ao said suddenly. "Weren't you curious about the shrine's kami? Shall I take you to pay your respects?"
Shirahi jerked her head up, staring at him in surprise. "The kami of the shrine? Can I really meet it?"
"Why? Don't want to go?"
He raised an eyebrow, came over, and ruffled her hair.
"Come onI'll show you something interesting."
Her cheeks flushed scarlet and her heart pounded like a drum.
She had no idea what "something interesting" meant, yet a faint anticipation stirred inside her.
Perhaps from the moment she saw Rei Ao destroy that female ghost last night, her fate had already become tightly entwined with this enigmatic man.
In Mahiru's room, she finally managed to get up, supporting her aching waist.
Seeing the marks all over her body in the mirror, she felt both shame and a strange satisfaction.
Remembering Rei Ao's words and his domineering way of courting, her fingers unconsciously brushed her hot cheeks.
From the instant she had knocked on his door of her own accord, she had been destined never to escape the web of conquest he had woven.
"So this is Amagami Shrine?"
Shirahi stared at the vermilion torii before her, fingers pinching her skirt hem in spite of herself.
She was stunned.
In the blink of an eye, they had moved from Miracle Garden straight to the shrine gatejust like teleportation.
After witnessing Rei Ao destroy the ghost last night, she thought she was ready for the supernatural, yet suddenly arriving here still sent a shudder through her.
"You know this place?" Rei Ao asked, curious.
"Mm It's close to my school. I pass by often and sometimes stop to pray."
