The archangel sighed inwardly, 'The closet already have three people squeezed in here; hopefully a fourth won't show up.'
"Took you long enough to open the door," As she entered the room, Gremlin Ryou looked around at the surroundings, perked up her little nose and gently sniffed the air, then said with a dead serious tone, "Boyfriend-kun you weren't doing something weird, right?"
Weird is an understatement, this was a spectacle.
That tiny closet actually managed to gather both Heart, Spade, and Club all at once. If a Diamond showed up, they could play cards right there.
But Kaito was already used to these little girls acting like he was having affairs, and had no intention of acknowledging it.
"You came here for the Inugami matter?"
Seeing he got straight to the point, Ryou didn't play dumb and gave a slight nod, "I'm the one who brought the trouble; Nijika and the others are innocent."
She paused, then said, "If today's attack really was the work of Inugami, refusing to let go of those who defile the divine then just hand me over."
"I hope, after that, you'll take Nijika and the others and leave."
To outsiders, this cold, emotionless girl was willing to sacrifice herself and walk toward death alone to protect her friends. It should've been a deeply touching scene.
But Kaito, just thinking about the three Girls in his closet, couldn't keep a straight face.
However, his silence was misunderstood by Ryou as hesitation.
After all, possibly facing a mythical god even an exorcist who knows magic would find that a headache, right?
"So, I won't let you help me for free," Although Yamada Ryou is a little gremlin normally, when it comes to serious business, she's pretty reliable.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have won over that little fangirl Kita with just one performance.
"If you need money I'll message my mom and have her prepare ten million yen in cash as payment."
Her daughter went on a trip with friends and didn't come back, leaving only a message to prepare cash. Wouldn't Mrs. Yamada think it's a kidnapping?
As if worried Kaito would misunderstand, Ryou added, "My mom and I have a secret code. We only use it in dangerous situations. As long as I don't use the code, she'll just be a little suspicious and not too worried."
"You're surprisingly clever"
"Heh heh, I'll take that as a compliment," The blue-haired girl put her hands on her hips, those golden eyes shining brightly, "Of course, if you're interested in my body, feel free to use it If I die a virgin and end up in hell, the other ghosts will laugh at me, right?"
'So you've already accepted that you're going to hell?'
'And what kind of ghost has the free time to mock that kind of thing anyway?'
Even hiding in the closet, Nijika's tsukkomi spirit was blazing, she couldn't shake off the label of the straight-man role. [T/N: Google the meaning, it's a little complex]
Still, the archangel was genuinely touched.
She was willing to sacrifice herself for the band; Ryou was the same.
Seeing that the gremlin still had a bit of conscience left if they made it through this, maybe she could cut her some slack in the future.
"I feel like that third 'payment' is more like a reward for you whatever, I'll let you sort it out among yourselves," Kaito snapped his fingers, and the slightly cracked-open closet door seemed to be brushed by an invisible hand, it swung wide open.
Three people were already stuffed inside, what's one more? They could seriously start a card table now.
Completely unprepared for this to happen, the girls who were peeking out were stunned. Kita, who was leaning too far forward, lost her balance and tumbled out, but fortunately wasn't hurt.
The girls stared wide-eyed at each other. The air felt frozen.
Kaito crossed his arms and watched the scene with great interest, main theme: enjoying the show.
And this show really didn't disappoint.
After a long silence, Ryou finally broke it.
The blue-haired girl sighed deeply, her face full of disappointment, "Nijika, I misjudged you."
"W-Wait let me explain!"
"What's there to explain? Don't tell me you're gonna say you were rehearsing?"
Ryou clutched her chest, heartbroken, "You didn't invite me to a jam session in the middle of the night? This is targeting! Isolation! Bullying!"
'The jam session is what you're mad about?'
Just when Nijika was about to try defending herself wait, no, explain she couldn't help but glare at her, "It's not like we were deliberately targeting you Bocchi-chan didn't come either, right?"
At that, she grew a little anxious, 'Don't tell me Bocchi will show up to join the chaos too?'
"Don't worry, Bocchi didn't come," Kaito swept the area with divine sense. Though seriously injured and not as powerful as before, covering a whole hotel was still a breeze.
In the room diagonally opposite, the little social-phobic girl was sound asleep, though her sleeping posture was terrible.
Hitori had kicked the blanket aside, even exposing her fair, flat little tummy.
Kaito used his divine sense to pull the blanket over her. Of course, the main reason was to cover her bellybutton.
Even if the Jade Emperor himself showed up tonight, you sleep with your stomach covered.
"Well thenwait, how do you know that?", Just as Nijika was relieved, she realized something off.
"I was born with great hearing, and didn't hear Bocchi's footsteps."
Kaito said with a straight face. No way he'd say, "I swept with divine sense and could even count how many legs a mosquito has," right?
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Chapter 73: Curse God
'I suspect you're lying to me, but I have no evidence.'
Nijika wrinkled her perky little nose, looking all puffed up in anger.
But thinking it through carefully, if she kept fussing over it, the only one who'd end up embarrassed would be herself so she let it go and looked at the other girls present, wanting to speak but holding back.
Nijika had planned to sneak back to her room quietly after Ryou left, pretending as if nothing had ever happened.
Even though Kita and Miura also knew this secret, since they were sisters in hardship, they'd definitely stick with her and keep the secret in silent agreement.
But now all of that was broken.
'He did it on purpose, didn't he? Definitely on purpose, right?'
The girl glared at the culprit, grinding her teeth lightly, really wanting to bite him.
'What a mean guy!'
The next morning, early.
The inn provided free meals three times a day. The taste was average, but the variety was impressive. Guests could also tell the waitress in advance what they wanted to eat, and the kitchen would prepare the necessary ingredients.
Of course, you couldn't make outrageous requests. Things like Australian lobster, foie gras, and caviar definitely weren't available.
Today's breakfast options were plentiful: ham salad sandwiches, grilled sea bream, fried eggs and so on and so forth. You could pick whatever you liked.
Bocchi took a bite of the fried egg on her plate, feeling a bit confused.
'Why does it feel like... the mood this morning is kind of weird?'
No one was talking. Even the most cheerful Kita and the gentlest Nijika just kept their heads down, quietly eating their own breakfasts, not chatting at all.
'Did something happen that I don't know about?'
After they broke up last night, Bocchi just went back to her room to rest.
She played with her phone a bit before sleeping, or more accurately, she updated her "Guitar Hero" account with a new post.
The content was, [First sweet trip night with the super popular handsome guy from class.] Then, as she scrolled through the comments full of envy from fans, she couldn't stop grinning like an idiot, and eventually fell asleep just like that until dawn.
By the way, even though Bocchi was shy, introverted, and full of self-doubt in real life, so much so that she couldn't even look the convenience store clerk in the eye when buying something, she was a hopeless little social anxiety case, her online identity was entirely self-created.
In her online world, she was a super sociable extrovert with over a hundred friends in her contact list, and even had a school basketball ace as a boyfriend. That was the persona Bocchi made up online.
Of course, after meeting Kaito, that so-called basketball ace boyfriend was swiftly declared "broken up with" in her latest post, and she switched over to another "once-in-a-thousand-years super beautiful boy."
Even though it all sounded super exaggerated, a surprising number of fans actually believed her and even urged Bocchi to post photos, but the guilty little social anxiety case just ignored them all.
Boasting a bit online was fine, but if she really posted a photo of Kaito, there was a good chance that within three days, some rabid fan would dox him, trace the clues, and track him down offline for an assassination.
Just imagining that scenario made Bocchi shiver, 'Totally unacceptable!'
Ahem, back to the story.
Back to last night.
After having an honest chat, the girls decided to stick together through thick and thin. They came together, and they'd leave together.
To show their resolve, each of them went back to their rooms to grab their blankets and pillows, and they all made a floor bed in Kaito's room.
Although Kaito didn't quite understand the logic behind it, 'If you want to show determination, why do you have to crash in my room.'
But Ryou swore up and down that sleeping on the floor together better expressed the idea of "we're a shared fate unit."
Since he didn't have to sleep on the floor himself, Kaito just let them be.
However, this led to another problem.
If Bocchi saw her close friends walking out of Kaito's room early in the morning, she'd definitely be thunderstruck, right?
To avoid that situation, the girls woke up an hour early, brought the bed sheets and blankets back to their rooms, and tried to create the impression that "we slept in our own rooms last night."
Even though that prevented exposure, it made Nijika and the others feel naturally guilty when facing Bocchi, as if they'd done something bad behind her back.
In this kind of situation, naturally no one wanted to say much, afraid that a slip of the tongue would expose the truth.
And so, breakfast ended under that stifling atmosphere.
Today's destination was the most famous place in Hoori TownMochizuki Shrine, also the most popular tourist spot here.
After passing through the vermilion torii gates and following the stone steps straight ahead, before long they could see the grand main hall.
Maybe it was still too early, but when they arrived at the shrine, there weren't many worshippers around.
A gentle breeze carried falling cherry blossoms, scattering them across the ground, making the scene feel a bit lonely.
"Ah it's that shrine maiden from yesterday who was following behind the old lady!", Kita suddenly pointed in a direction and said excitedly.
Following her gesture, they saw a familiar figure in red-and-white shrine maiden robes standing near the ema display not far away, holding a bamboo broom and sweeping the flower petals from the ground.
The shrine maiden clearly didn't expect them to come visit the shrine this early and looked a bit surprised.
But she still greeted them warmly, especially when she saw Kaito, even her professional smile turned noticeably more genuine.
After a brief exchange of greetings, the shrine maiden formally introduced herself: Mochizuki Ayako.
Nijika was still thinking about last night's sludge monster, and after a few sentences, got straight to the point, "Miss Mochizuki, could I trouble you to introduce us to the old lady from yesterday? I have a few questions I'd like to ask."
"You mean Granny Chiyo?"
Mochizuki Ayako hugged her broom and hesitated slightly, "Granny rarely meets outsiders these days. But if you don't mind, maybe you could tell me about your concerns instead?"
'Can we?'
Nijika first glanced at Kaito for approval. Seeing him nod, she made up her mind and explained what happened in the hot spring last night.
At first, Mochizuki Ayako kept smiling like a nun listening to a confession in a booth.
But once she heard the words "a monster resembling sludge in appearance," her smile gradually faded, and her expression became noticeably serious.
Looks like they really came to the right place today.
Seeing Mochizuki Ayako's obvious look of knowing something, Ryou was the first who couldn't hold it in and asked curiously, "Miss Mochizuki, you seem to know where those sludge monsters came from?"
Facing her scrutinizing gaze, Mochizuki Ayako didn't get upset, she just nodded slightly, "The monsters you're talking aboutI do know a bit about them."
"However, their name is not sludge monsters, but"
"Vengeful Spirits."
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Chapter 74: Murakumomaru
There is a phrase called "disaster caused by spirits," referring to disasters caused by the manifestations of ghosts or gods.
Mochizuki Ayako slightly furrowed her brows. In Hoori Town, there were indeed appearances of vengeful spirits. One of the duties of the shrine was to eliminate vengeful spirits and protect the peace of Hoori
"This is the first time a vengeful spirit has attacked tourists in town"
In previous years, the appearances of vengeful spirits always occurred in a deep mountain not far from Hoori Town and only at night. Even if ordinary people went into the mountain during the day, they wouldn't encounter any danger.
But now, a vengeful spirit had actually appeared in the town and even openly attacked tourists. This was not a good sign, it meant their arrogance was growing.
Worried as she was, Mochizuki Ayako also felt something odd.
'Vengeful spirits posses immense strength. Their tentacles are like fierce steel whips, capable of easily breaking a tree thick enough for a person to wrap their arms around. Even a professionally trained martial artist will have a hard time escaping unharmed.'
'Yet, this group is completely unscathed and even came early in the morning to visit the shrine.'
'Could it be that the vengeful spirit doesn't actually harbor any ill intent?'
