After confirming the aura of the bloody handprint, Kaito transmitted a strand of spiritual energy.
Like the first thaw of frost and snow, the aura left by that unknown evil spirit was easily crushed by the blazing spiritual energy, which was like the brilliant sun.
Since being marked by the bloody handprint, Yumiko had felt dizzy and weak all over, with a bit of chilliness, somewhat like symptoms of a severe cold.
After the bloody handprint disappeared, she felt like a shivering traveler in a harsh winter who had finally welcomed the warm spring sun.
While her body and mind felt comfortable, her whole self also felt much more relaxed.
"Mm", Yumiko's beautiful brows slightly relaxed. Looking at her ankle, which had returned to its fair complexion, she twisted it a few times and was somewhat surprised, "It really disappeared?!"
There was no longer that heaviness, that feeling like she couldn't lift her foot. Her whole self felt more energized, as if she had just recovered from a serious illness.
"How much is the fee? I'll gather the payment as soon as possible," The girl quietly calculated in her heart. Her family was in decent condition, and since childhood, the pocket money she had saved up was no small amount. Taking out tens of thousands should be doable.
She just didn't know if it was enough.
"We can put the matter of payment aside for now," Kaito shook his head and added, "Although the curse of the bloody handprint has been lifted, the source of the curse is still there."
"You mean", Yumiko snapped out of it, and her fair face, which had just regained some color, turned a little pale again.
"As long as that evil spirit who targeted you is still around, handprints like this will appear again sooner or later."
Kaito said calmly, "My act of erasing the mark might have already enraged that evil spirit."
"So"
The girl swallowed hard, her emerald eyes flashing a hint of panic, "My current situation is actually more dangerous now?"
"Not quite more dangerous."
Kaito raised his head and glanced at the sky outside the window, the sun was about to set.
In Japan, there's a saying about the "twilight hour," meaning that onmyoji (exorcists) believe dusk is the time when ghosts and gods are most likely to appear. It's the time of day with the heaviest yin energy, when one is most likely to see things they shouldn't.
"In any case, let's go to your home and have a look first."
Half an hour later.
"This is my home."
In front of a high-end apartment, Miura Yumiko stopped and entered the code to open the door.
The layout was a typical 2LDK Japanese-style apartment, but the interior was delicately decorated. Upon entering, the kitchen and dining room were on the left, and slightly ahead was the living room. Since the lights weren't turned on and the curtains were tightly drawn, the interior was a bit dim.
"Since I live alone, there aren't any male slippers at home."
Yumiko apologized, "So, Kaito-kun, please just come in directly, no need to change shoes."
Kaito didn't mind such minor details and just nodded casually, letting his gaze fall on the various corners of the room.
Miura Yumiko followed beside him like a little wife, then suddenly furrowed her brows slightly and looked at the window ledge not far away.
"I remember I didn't close the curtains before leaving this morning", She trailed off, stuck mid-sentence. She didn't know when it started, but suddenly a cold, ghostly wind began to blow through the room, icy to the bone.
Even though it was spring, the indoor temperature dropped close to freezing. Wearing only a short skirt and over-the-knee socks, Yumiko quickly began to shiver from the cold, "S-So cold"
Even the most slow-witted person should realize something was off by now.
Yumiko clutched her arms, rubbing them for warmth, her voice slightly trembling, "Kaito-kun i-is it here?"
Kaito didn't answer. He just slightly shifted his gaze to a spot beside the sofa not far away.
There was a faint, shadowy black figure crouched there. Its blurry outline vaguely showed that it was on all fours, reminiscent of something like a spider.
At the same time, a faint click sound came from behind them.
Yumiko instinctively turned around, only to see that the door, which had just been open, had now closed.
A dark room, bone-chilling wind, a door that closed on its own.
Everything was maxed out, every element was in place.
Yumiko tried to reopen the door, but the doorknob felt like it had been welded shut, completely immovable.
She then pulled out her phone, only to find that there was no signal at all.
She tried dialing the police, but only got the busy tone "doo-doo-doo."
Even though just downstairs was a bustling city full of traffic, this little apartment building seemed to be surrounded by some mysterious force, severed from the noisy real world, becoming a dead zone with no way to call for help.
"Kaito-kun", Yumiko's voice was clearly laced with sobs.
After all, she was just an ordinary girl who lived in an ivory tower. At most, she was slightly popular in real life, and her biggest worry was probably that her crush didn't like her back.
Now, suddenly encountering such a horror movie-like bizarre situation, she finally understood what "so scared your legs go weak" really felt like.
But
Thinking that it was because of her request that Kaito-kun had been dragged into such danger, Yumiko clenched her teeth, pulled a self-defense fruit knife out from the shoe cabinet by the entrance, and stood in front of the weak and delicate pretty boy from her class.
"Kaito-kun, I I will do my best... do my best to hold it back"
The figure of the evil spirit gradually became clearer.
Its thick black hair was like sticky ink, covering most of its body. Its eight limbs were thin like bamboo joints, sprawled across the floor, making one think of disgusting arthropods.
Yumiko's breathing became even more rapid, but she still took a deep breath. Like a knight buying time for her prince to escape, her pretty face showed determination as she turned her back to him, "So, please make sure to find the right momentrun!"
Kaito: ""
'Although I appreciate the thought, Miura-san aren't you underestimating me a bit too much?'
'Come to think of it, Miss Togawa was like this too.'
'Could it be I am born with a face that really makes people want to protect me?'
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Chapter 14: Too Much Hair, Too Weak to Resist Fire
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Although she didn't really need protection, Miura Yumiko's actions were certainly commendably brave.
After all, not everyone is willing to stay behind and cover others when facing life-and-death danger.
Most people still hold onto the mentality of 'better them than me,' distancing themselves from anything not directly their problem.
'To be able to interfere with reality, making it so that even normal people without Yin-Yang Eyes can see it, this evil spirit is indeed quite powerful.'
'But that is all there was to it.'
Though the evil spirit before them looked terrifying, it was only at the level of an ordinary vengeful ghost.
To ordinary people, of course, it was a catastrophic disaster. They wouldn't even have a way to escape. But to most cultivation sects, it was just an experience bag for new disciples to practice on.
The evil spirit clearly had some intelligence, but not much.
The curse had been removed, and its emotions were purely anger. It wanted to go berserk and start killing indiscriminately.
But as a predator, its instincts told it that the strange human beside its prey was extremely dangerous.
Even though he looked full of flaws, it felt like the moment it made a move, it would be destroyed.
Fear and anger tangled together, making the evil spirit hesitate.
It wanted to go but felt unwilling.
It wanted to fight but feared something would go wrong.
It was stuck there, unable to advance or retreat.
"Why is it just standing there?", Miura Yumiko had been really scared, and the only reason she wasn't collapsed on the ground was because of sheer willpower.
But after waiting for so long and not seeing the long-haired evil spirit charge, it was like it had frozen. Just crouched in place with no movement for a long time.
Kaito didn't answer. He simply stepped forward.
Finally, the long-haired evil spirit reacted, taking a step back, still keeping a distance of around five meters from Kaito.
Miura Yumiko: "..."
'Is that backward step seriously?'
Kaito continued forward, and the evil spirit kept backing away.
Like two parallel lines that would never intersect, always keeping the same distance.
But the room was only so big. Soon, the evil spirit had nowhere left to retreat.
This made it increasingly anxious, letting out an ear-piercing shriek that cracked the glass with spiderweb-like fractures.
This kind of sonic attack was far too much for ordinary people to handle.
Miura Yumiko couldn't help but press her hands tightly against her ears, but it didn't help much. Her brain still felt like it was being stabbed with needles.
Kaito had originally wanted to observe this evil spirit, which, up to now, was the strongest he'd encountered in this world. To see if it had any unique traits.
But after scanning it thoroughly with his spiritual sense, he could only say it was painfully ordinary. Nothing noteworthy at all.
That meant it had no reason to keep existing.
"Burn," Just a simple syllable.
Several basketball-sized fireballs suddenly emerged from the air in front of him, blazing like little suns, exuding intense heat.
With a casual point of his finger, the fireballs merged together as if they had a life of their own, instantly transforming into a slender dragon shape, mouth wide open, impatiently pouncing on the long-haired evil spirit before it.
Big body, weak defenses, too much hair. Maybe it was from playing too many games lately, but the moment he saw the inky black long hair of the evil spirit, he instinctively went with a fire-based spell.
Though, it didn't really count as a spell. Just a simple manipulation of spiritual power, molded into the form of a dragon.
Even so, the long-haired evil spirit had no resistance whatsoever, and in the blink of an eye, it was devoured by the flaming dragon. It didn't even have time to scream before its entire body turned to ashes with a "crackle pop."
At the same time, the eerie chill in the room dispersed, and the temperature gradually rose.
Miura Yumiko glanced at her phone. The signal suddenly showed full bars.
The girl was still a bit stunned, "Th-that's it?"
It had looked so grotesque and terrifying, and yet Kaito had casually wiped it out.
Especially that dragon made of flames he summoned. It looked vividly alive, like a real creature.
Thinking back to how she had acted like it was the end of the world, even volunteering to stay behind Yumiko's cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
"It's gone," Kaito shook his head, "Just a little ghost. Not worth mentioning."
This long-haired evil spirit had clearly given a bit more merit in return.
If the previous two exorcisms had earned merit about the size of a sesame seed or a mung bean, then this one was more like a sunflower seed. Though shelled, of course.
"I just didn't expect Kurumizaka-kun to be this powerful", Yumiko gave an awkward smile, now looking at him with a bit more reverence in her eyes.
This was a natural instinct when humans were faced with something beyond their understanding.
A super handsome classmate, who was secretly a powerful exorcist, and had just saved her life.
If this were a manga, next would be the beloved teen romance comedy arc, right?
"Thanks for the compliment," Kaito mercilessly shattered her fantasy, "The exorcism fee is a friendly five million yen. How would you like to pay?"
To be fair, the price wasn't unreasonable.
According to official Japanese surveys, the average monthly salary of a typical office worker was around 330,000 yen. Five million yen was just under two years' worth of wages.
Two years' salary in exchange for a life. This was a deal 99% of people would take without hesitation.
If Kaito wanted, he could've easily asked for more. But since this was the first commission accepted by the club he just founded, offering a slight discount was normal.
Besides, even though Kaito hadn't needed her to stand in front of him, he still appreciated Yumiko's earlier action.
"Five million, huh", Yumiko pursed her lips, quickly calculating her savings in her head before letting out a breath of relief.
Her family was doing fairly well. Her parents both did business abroad, not exactly ultra-rich, but decently well-off.
She had saved up a bit over eight million yen since childhood, just enough to cover the fee for this commission.
"How do you have over eight million?", Looking at the notification of funds received on his phone, Kaito raised an eyebrow.
"Because I have something else I'd like to ask of you," Yumiko bit her lip, a little embarrassed, "Can I trouble you to stay the night here?"
Even though the evil spirit that had been targeting her had been slain and burned to ashes, the girl still felt uneasy.
As the saying goes, "Once bitten by a snake, you'll fear ropes for ten years." The pressure an evil spirit gave off was ten times worse than any venomous snake.
She kept feeling like there were still other dirty things lurking in the dark corners of her home, waiting to emerge after she fell asleep at midnight.
In short, she felt very unsafe.
Yumiko was even planning to talk to her parents soon about moving into a cleaner apartment. She never wanted to experience something like this again.
As the one who slayed the evil spirit, Kaito's presence was like a branch in the eyes of a drowning person.
A normal reaction would be to cling onto it, and never let go.
Just his presence, even without doing anything, gave Yumiko genuine peace of mind.
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Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining. You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.
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Chapter 15: Pots and Pans, Submit to Me!
"Of course, it's also okay if you don't agree."
