Upon hearing this, Yotsuya Miko was so scared that tears almost welled up, and she stammered,
"Ka… Ka… Kano Yoruhoshi, Ev… Ev…"
"Hungry for what? If you're hungry, eat. What's the use of telling me, I'm not a chef."
Before Yotsuya Miko could finish, Kano Yoruhoshi waved his hand to interrupt her, then leaned close to her ear and whispered,
"Look closely, this is a person, not an Evil Spirit."
Hearing Kano Yoruhoshi's words, Yotsuya Miko finally relaxed a little, though she still bit her lower lip, looking at the beautiful girl with a startled expression.
There was nothing she could do.
In the past, Yotsuya Miko could judge whether someone was human or an Evil Spirit just by their appearance.
But ever since she was almost successfully entrapped by an Evil Spirit disguised as Hiratsuka Shizuka last time, she had developed a sort of PTSD.
Just hearing the phrase "Can you see me?" was enough to scare her soul out of her body.
Fortunately, Kano Yoruhoshi was by her side; otherwise, she would have blurted out "Evil Spirit" just now.
"Excuse me for intruding."
Seeing Kano Yoruhoshi speaking intimately close to Yotsuya Miko's ear, the beautiful girl tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, said something softly and gracefully, then turned and left without any hesitation.
After the other party left, Yotsuya Miko finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, she remembered that the other person's appearance seemed a bit familiar.
"Wait a minute, wasn't that… Mai Sakurajima?"
"Not familiar, don't know her."
Seeing Kano Yoruhoshi's indifferent expression, Yotsuya Miko raised her eyebrows a few times, surprised, and said,
"You don't know Mai Sakurajima? Let me tell you, she's…"
"A former national idol, child star debut, famous actress, starring in many morning dramas, right?"
Kano Yoruhoshi directly recited a long list of Sakurajima Mai's titles, then yawned and said,
"I know her very well, I just have no interest. Don't forget, the most important thing right now isn't chasing celebrities."
Hearing this, Yotsuya Miko's eyes visibly dimmed a few shades, and she nodded with a solemn expression, saying,
"Yes, I understand."
As a Supernatural Power User with Yin-Yang Eyes, after learning from Kano Yoruhoshi about the dangers lurking in Kyoto and the restless Evil Spirit-related incidents threatening all of humanity, Yotsuya Miko had already made up her mind.
Even disregarding her own safety, she was determined to resolve this matter with Kano Yoruhoshi.
"Alright, relax a bit."
Seeing Yotsuya Miko's solemn expression, Kano Yoruhoshi chuckled and patted her shoulder.
"I'm in a good mood today, so I'll treat you to dinner, and then we'll start your training."
"What do you mean by training? Am I a Pokémon?"
"If only you were a Pokémon, I'd inject you with Rare Candies like crazy."
"Don't say strange things."
After some playful banter, Yotsuya Miko's nervousness finally eased a bit, and she said with a slight blush,
"This… treating me to dinner, just the two of us, alone?"
"Of course, just the two of us."
"This… alright."
Yotsuya Miko felt her heart suddenly race.
She stole a glance at Kano Yoruhoshi's profile, thinking that when he wasn't saying strange things, he was indeed very charming.
Could it be…
But they had only known each other for five days; was this progress too fast?
Did she misunderstand?
But, dining alone together, that sounded very ambiguous.
What if, during dinner, Kano Yoruhoshi suddenly confessed to her, how should she respond?
Accept… or refuse?
Yotsuya Miko was very conflicted.
…
Half an hour later.
Yotsuya Miko stared blankly at the ominous, gray-walled, dilapidated unfinished building radiating an eerie and unsettling aura, and said,
"You… you said dining alone meant coming to a place like this?"
"That's right."
Kano Yoruhoshi, with a serious expression, took out two bento boxes from his bag.
"I secretly snuck out of school during lunch break to buy these. You're really getting the VIP treatment."
Yotsuya Miko looked at the unfinished building before her, her golden eyes showing extreme reluctance, feeling her legs turn to jelly.
"Can, can we not eat here? You, didn't you say, it would just be the two of us?"
"Yes, just the two of us 'humans,' right? I'm keeping my word."
Seeing Yotsuya Miko still hesitating, Kano Yoruhoshi shrugged and walked straight into the unfinished building.
"Anyway, if you don't come in, our companionship ends here."
Hearing this, Yotsuya Miko's cute little face showed a look of wanting to cry but having no tears. She finally bit her silver teeth, stomped her foot, and, suppressing her fear, followed him in.
As soon as she entered the unfinished building, she felt a very familiar aura, one she had experienced in the alley last time, and she thought to herself,
"It seems there's a 'door' nearby."
At this thought, Yotsuya Miko's mood became even heavier.
Not because of anything else.
The last "door" she hadn't seen or felt its terrifying aura before she stepped into the alley.
This meant that the influence range of that "door" was limited to that dark alley, a few tens of meters long.
But this time.
She had only just stepped inside and clearly felt the aura of the "door."
This unfinished building, from its exterior, looked at least thirty to forty stories high, likely designed as a large shopping mall.
This meant that…
The "door" existing here could influence an area more than a hundred times larger than the last "door"!
"Training, now officially begins."
As Kano Yoruhoshi's words fell, Yotsuya Miko suddenly saw hundreds of eyes, varying in size and color but all exuding madness, emerge from the dark corners of the unfinished building where sunlight couldn't reach.
The gazes of hundreds of non-human eyes were all fixed intently on her and Kano Yoruhoshi.
Suddenly encountering such a terrifying situation, Yotsuya Miko felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar, her pupils dilated in shock.
"No elevator, let's take the stairs."
Kano Yoruhoshi's expression remained calm, as if he hadn't seen the Evil Spirits at all.
Yotsuya Miko finally understood what the so-called "training" meant.
Having reached this point, she had no other choice but to suppress the fear in her heart and follow Kano Yoruhoshi into the stairwell, heading up the unfinished building.
"Can you see it?"
"Can you see it?"
"Can you see it?"
…
After entering the dark and narrow stairwell, the Evil Spirits not only did not retreat, but instead followed them.
Yotsuya Miko would occasionally catch a glimpse, from the corner of her eye, of strands of inky black, dripping wet hair, or incredibly pale, grotesquely twisted fingers, flashing past her.
In the quiet stairwell, apart from the incessant questioning of the Evil Spirits, only her and Kano Yoruhoshi's footsteps, intertwined with the scene of hundreds of Evil Spirits crowded together and following behind them, formed a terrifying tableau akin to a hellish scroll painting.
---
Advanced Chapters: [ko-fi.com/ibringuponthee]
Latest Chapter: Chapter 62 - Mai-senpai, Sakurajima Mai, Rio Futaba's Truthful Deduction