Chapter 9
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Outing (5)
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For the next roughly thirty minutes after that, I had to listen to this girl named Misaki's stories.
"Munch munch. This is delicious. Give me one more."
"No. Buy your own with your money."
"I don't have any right now."
"Haa... Fine, eat it. Go ahead."
To be precise, I had to listen to her while she stole the lunch I was supposed to eat.
Otherwise, she'd start bawling.
Thanks to that, I learned a bit about this girl named Misaki—that she was a total loner with no friends—and some of her family background.
"So, let me get this straight. You're the daughter of a famous exorcist family, and you're so talented that you can talk to ghosts or see them in everyday life?"
"Yeah!"
I could tell something was off about her.
What is this, Jujutsu Kaisen?
No, the stories she was telling sounded straight out of some exorcism anime.
The problem was, I couldn't just dismiss it as a kid's wild imagination.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[First Scenario Progress: 5%]
The thing right in front of my eyes is unrealistic enough as it is.
I'm already the weird one here. Who am I to call someone else weird?
On top of that, as far as I remembered, two of Ero Villain's games featured yokai.
One was an escape-the-female-yokai galge set in the neighborhood, and the other was the complete opposite—a story about an exorcist in a tight outfit battling the yokai lurking around town.
Huh? Wait a sec...
As far as I recalled, the protagonist's name in that game was definitely...
"Your name's Misaki, right?"
"Munch munch. Yeah. So?"
"Then what's your family name?!"
"Oh! Right. Tachibana. Tachibana Misaki."
Tachibana Misaki.
Hearing Misaki's full name, I couldn't help but be stunned.
First, because the galge protagonist wasn't a high school girl but an elementary school kid, and second...
This little squirt turns into that body?!
Whoa—the character who made you go "whoa" out loud looked like this as a kid.
While I was pulling a shocked face after hearing her family name, Misaki tilted her head at my expression and asked.
"Why? Is Misaki's name weird or something?"
"No, it's not that..."
"Pfft! Then why the face? You even fed me lunch, and Grandpa said not to tell my family name, but I did anyway."
"Huh? He told you not to tell your family name?"
I voiced my doubt at Misaki's words.
In Japan, you usually call acquaintances by their family names. So why hide it?
"Yeah. He said if ghosts or people with grudges against us hear our family name, they might attack. So we only reveal it to enemies when we want to, or after completing a mission safely."
Seems like some exorcist family tradition.
Wait a minute, now that I thought about it...
In the game, Misaki's debut goal was taking down the yokai that destroyed her family, right?
And come to think of it, the protagonist's family name never came up during the story.
The only times were right before the final boss fight and after defeating the yokai final boss, when she shouted her name and declared the mission complete.
I hadn't thought much of it back then, but there was this backstory.
Ero Villain, you crazy bastards.
What kind of galge has hidden lore like this?
No, actually, thinking deeper, Ero Villain always had this side to them.
Yeah, they had stories only they knew about that players missed, right?
How does this connect to this world?
"What're you thinking so hard about? Oh, and we've been talking about my name all this time. You haven't told me yours!"
No, this wasn't something for me to worry about right now anyway.
What mattered to me now was...
"Ah, yeah. My name's Takuya. Let's get along from now on."
"R-Really? You don't think it's weird that I talk to yokai or don't say my family name?"
"Nah, it's fine. I've seen weirder people than that."
That her family was loaded.
I was just stressing over how to scrape together seed money for Bitcoin.
Play my cards right, and I might snag a sugar mama?
Even pocket change would do. From a rich family like hers, it'd be on a whole different level from mine.
With that in mind, I pondered how to get along with this kid Misaki—no, my future benefactor.
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About an hour later.
The sun, which had been scorching the ground, was finally starting to calm down.
Takuya said goodbye to Misaki.
"Ah, guess it's about time for me to head out."
"Already?! No! Play more!!"
Misaki threw a tantrum at Takuya's words, begging him not to go, but...
"No. Not playing anymore. Go home."
Takuya just held up his palm and shut her down.
Misaki puffed out her cheeks to show she was sulking...
Puff.
Poke.
"Pffft!"
...but Takuya deflated her with a quick poke of his finger.
Of course, separately from that, Misaki freaked out at being treated like a kid.
"Eek! Don't treat me like a little kid!"
"Hehe. Sorry, sorry."
After humoring her whining for a bit...
"If you're bummed, come back here the day after tomorrow at this time. I'll be here too."
Takuya told Misaki.
Misaki gave him a puzzled look.
"Why not tomorrow?"
"I Got plans with a friend tomorrow. So the day after is good."
"A friend?!"
At the mention of another friend, Misaki looked way more shocked than before.
Takuya chuckled at her face and said,
"I'm not a total loner with no friends like you."
"Eek! I have friends too!"
"Who?"
"Yoshino! And Haruhiko! And..."
"All yokai or ghosts, right?"
"...Sniff."
That one line made Misaki squat down, hang her head, and sniffle.
"Friendless loser" cut deep for a girl with no friends.
Seeing her sniffle again, Takuya wondered if he'd gone too far... tsked, and offered some comfort.
Or rather,
"Aw, it's okay. Everyone lacks friends sometimes."
"Sniff! Go away!"
"Sorry, I said."
"You're the worst! Sniff!"
It might've looked like teasing,
but Takuya patted her head and said,
"Then I'll be your friend. So you're not a loner anymore, right, Misaki?"
"Sniff. Sniff."
"If you let me, I'll bring lunch the day after tomorrow too."
"Sniff. Bring it, and I'll be your friend."
"Hehe. Deal. Look forward to it! I'll get something good. Oh, and since I'm older, call me big bro when we meet."
"No way... I'll call you uncle."
"...Fine. Do what you want."
"Hehe, kidding!"
Sheesh.
Takuya gave her head a few final pats, grabbed his bike, and headed off somewhere.
"Day after tomorrow! This time! Remember!!"
Leaving those words behind.
Misaki just watched him go with sidelong glances until he was out of sight.
A moment later, when Takuya was no longer visible, someone slinked out from beside her.
Naturally, it wasn't human.
[Miss. Shall we follow him now?]
The ghost following Misaki—Chunsik... no, Yasuo.
For some reason he was named like a guy who'd crawl out of a ravine, the male ghost asked Misaki.
[Sniff. No. Don't go.]
Misaki sniffled in response to Yasuo's question.
Yasuo gazed at her with warm eyes, like he was watching young love.
Just as the heartwarming mood settled in...
[Did that boy catch your eye, Miss Tachibana?]
Another voice echoed from empty air.
But unlike Yasuo's appearance, this one...
Seemed to speak directly into her mind, bypassing her ears. Misaki turned to look at the one calling her.
[It's not like that. Be quiet, Zen-nee.]
The one calling her was a great yokai who'd once plunged Japan into chaos—a foe the Tachibana family defeated long ago, now reduced to a shikigami.
[Oh my, lying to your big sis hurts my feelings~]
The great yokai Nyotengu.
True to her name "female tengu," she had a feminine form, an overwhelming figure, and shallow, upturned eyes that made her look like a total femme fatale yokai.
[Don't lie. You just tease me all the time.]
[Nooo, your big sis wouldn't~]
Nyotengu said that while hugging Misaki tight.
Misaki grumbled inwardly but didn't pull away from the embrace.
After enjoying the hug for a short while, Misaki said to Nyotengu,
[Enough already. Time to head home hugging you, Zen-nee.]
[Ehhh, so mean~]
Misaki ignored Nyotengu's whining and started descending the shrine mountain.
Yasuo swiftly stuck to Misaki, while Nyotengu leisurely smiled at the sight.
A bit later, after Misaki got into the family car and left for home...
Nyotengu, left at the shrine, recalled the boy—no, the man-like guy she'd just seen, and muttered,
"I wonder who could rack up that much karma of slaughter~"
Karma of slaughter only comes from taking lives.
Even the greatest samurai of the Warring States era barely hit a few hundred.
But that guy...
[Had thousands, right~]
He carried the karma of thousands of deaths.
Something no ordinary human could possibly have.
But that alone wasn't enough to pique a great yokai's interest.
Thousands? Not unheard of. Emperors or shoguns throughout history had that much.
What really intrigued her was...
[I wonder who that 'woman' hiding behind all that thick slaughter karma was♪]
The woman lurking behind his karma, glaring at her murderously.
Thinking back on it...
-Chill!
Even she, with power near divine, had shuddered in fear for a moment.
[Shall I look into it myself~?]
Nyotengu was dying to know who it was.
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⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[Yokai are invisible to ordinary eyes and can only be seen with special 'eyes.']
