Chapter 151: Ah, She's Human!
Luke took Miko and Yuria to a nearby restaurant.
Plates and bowls of all sizes covered the entire table.
Tiny Yuria stared blankly at an amount of food that could probably last her three days, experiencing an enormous revelation.
'Could the secret to becoming a powerful exorcist… be eating a lot?!'
Come to think of it, Hana, whose life energy was unusually powerful, could also eat an incredible amount.
Having seemingly achieved enlightenment, Yuria decisively lowered her head and resumed eating with renewed determination.
Unfortunately, the food at this restaurant was not particularly good.
The noodles in the miso udon were too firm and lacked elasticity.
The kishimen—essentially flat-cut noodles—had almost no satisfying texture.
The pork cutlet relied entirely on its sauce, and the meat practically crumbled as soon as it was chewed.
Overall, it was barely edible.
Luke could only give the restaurant a passing grade.
The exterior decoration looked quite nice, but the cooking was disappointing.
And although the food was mediocre, the prices…
Well, they were not particularly cheap either.
Ding~
After finishing her mixed rice, Miko set her dessert aside and lowered her head to check her phone.
Her close friend Yurikawa Hana had sent her a message.
She opened the chat with the Ram Rabbit profile picture.
[Hana: My mom bought me some lingerie today.]
[Hana: Unfortunately, it's still a bit too small. I think I'll need to visit Mesotes again tomorrow.]
[Hana: Oh, Miko, you should come along! Then we can show each other what we bought.]
[Hana: And Yuria-chan, you too!]
[Miko: I'm down to go, but let's skip the fashion show.]
[Miko: Though, I'd love to see a picture of yours.]
[Hana: (Image)]
Seeing the Ram Rabbit reaction image captioned "Are you a demon?", Miko snickered.
Then she turned toward Yuria, whose round cheeks were puffed full of food, and rested her cheek against one hand with a faint smile.
Thinking back to when her Yin-Yang Eyes first awakened, Miko had constantly been troubled.
Even with Sensei and Hana helping her, neither could remain beside her every moment.
Again and again, she had been forced to see evil spirits and pretend they did not exist.
If she had never met someone like Yuria, another person with the same kind of sight, then no matter how much courage she possessed, she probably would have lost the will to keep enduring eventually.
Though back then, Yuria's weaker Yin-Yang Eyes had not allowed her to properly understand the world Miko was seeing either.
"Yuria-chan, after school tomorrow, let's go shopping with Hana."
Miko smiled at her.
"Mmph? Mrrghh~"
Yuria looked over in confusion with her mouth stuffed so full that she could barely speak.
She hurriedly grabbed her juice and gulped down a few mouthfuls.
"I can go, but I normally shop in the junior section, so I probably won't be able to give much advice."
Luke and Miko both froze at exactly the same time.
'She really shops in the children's section?!'
They had suspected something similar before, but hearing Yuria say it herself was still unexpectedly shocking.
Miko quickly hid her surprise.
"Advice doesn't matter."
"We're friends, right? Going shopping and hanging out together is perfectly normal."
"Mm— I guess that's true."
Hearing that, Yuria nodded and accepted the invitation.
Miko smiled gently.
Before getting to know her, Miko had always thought Yuria was somewhat aloof and solitary.
She seemed to prefer being alone and rarely joined everyone else.
Then one day at lunch, when Miko had been frightened by an evil spirit in the restroom and desperately searched for somewhere to hide, she unexpectedly discovered Yuria quietly eating her lunch there.
Compared with back then, Yuria had become much more cheerful.
Luke stared at Miko's warm smile—the kind of expression someone might wear while watching a child grow up—and paused.
'Don't tell me Miko is awakening a mother-hen trait too?'
One person like that was already more than enough.
Luke helplessly thought this while pulling the shrimp tail from his fried-shrimp rice ball.
Ding~
Miko picked up her phone again.
[Hana: (Image)]
[Hana: Sexy?]
In the photo, Yurikawa Hana held a lacy bra—already quite large in cup size—against her chest. She was posing in front of a wall covered in Ram Rabbit plushies, having sent a timed photo to Miko.
Even though she was fully dressed, Hana's stunningly perfect figure was still obvious. Yet, the sheer sexiness was instantly overshadowed by her goofy, wide-eyed grin.
Looking at the adorably goofy Hana, Miko couldn't help but squint her eyes and chuckle softly. "Heh heh."
From Luke and Yuria's perspective, however—Why had Miko suddenly started looking so silly?
She was not even touching her favorite dessert anymore.
Luke could not help calling to her.
"Miko?"
"Eh?! Ah! Sensei, you can't look!"
Miko hurriedly pressed her phone against herself.
Only after realizing Luke was still sitting peacefully across from her did she release a breath of relief.
Luke had not originally intended to look.
But now his curiosity had been awakened.
"So what is it? You're staring at your phone and grinning like an idiot…"
"I was not grinning like an idiot…"
Miko protested unhappily and moved the phone away.
"Besides, it's a secret between girls. Sensei isn't allowed to see."
"Oh."
"If you really wanted to see…"
Miko hesitated, then blushed.
"You can look at mine."
"…"
She had not said much, but judging by the sudden embarrassment spreading across Miko's face, Luke could roughly guess what kind of conversation she had been having.
He could not help reminding her,
"Don't talk about weird things in front of the kid."
Yuria, who had somehow been dragged into this, shifted her gaze from Miko toward Luke.
"I'm a high-school student. I'm not a kid anymore."
"Mm, that's true…"
Miko murmured.
"Still, some things are probably too early for Yuria."
"So…"
Yuria stared between them.
"What exactly are you talking about?"
...
Since the evil spirit had left behind a fountain pen filled with malicious resentment, their harvest today had been quite good.
They decided to stop there.
Besides, with Yuria acting as a tiny third wheel, Luke and Miko could hardly spend much private time together anyway.
After saying goodbye to Luke, who needed to deliver the talisman-sealed fountain pen to Kasumizuki, Miko and Yuria also prepared to head home.
"Hey, what exactly were you talking about back at the restaurant?"
Yuria rubbed her stomach, which had become round from eating too much.
She still could not let go of the mysterious topic they had refused to explain.
"Yuria-chan isn't allowed to know~"
Miko narrowed her eyes and happily walked ahead.
"Ugh—"
Yuria muttered,
"Is it really that secret?"
"It is."
Miko climbed the stairs of the pedestrian overpass with light steps.
"Ugh!"
Then she saw an elderly woman with completely white hair, hunched over and sitting on one of the steps leading down from the bridge.
Her face was entirely hidden in shadow cast by the sunlight, making her features impossible to distinguish.
'An evil spirit?'
'A human wouldn't sit outside in weather this hot, right?'
But if it really was an evil spirit…
Pulling out a dagger in the middle of such an open street would not exactly be convenient.
'Better pretend I didn't see it.'
Having made up her mind, Miko hurriedly grabbed Yuria, who was struggling to walk with her overly full stomach, lowered her head, and started down the stairs.
"Eh?! What's wrong?"
Yuria looked at Miko in confusion.
Miko said nothing.
She simply continued forward, step by step, approaching the place where the elderly "evil spirit" was sitting.
Even after encountering countless evil spirits, walking this close to one still made Miko's heart pound uncontrollably.
'It's okay…'
Miko encouraged herself.
She calmly stepped onto the same stair as the old woman and prepared to continue downward.
Smack!
Miko froze.
She slowly looked toward her wrist.
"Mi… ss…"
The old woman had grabbed her.
From beneath the shadow, she raised a deeply wrinkled face and made an unclear sound.
'Eh?'
'My hand… was grabbed?'
Miko tilted her head in confusion.
'UWAAAAAAAH!'
'SHE GRABBED MY HAND! AAAAAH—!'
The realization hit her.
Miko's eyes widened as her thoughts exploded into panic, her entire body stiffening so violently that she nearly jumped into the air.
"Eh? She really is human…"
Yuria poked her head around from the side and looked directly at the old woman.
'Yuria-chan! Save… me?'
'Eh?'
'Human?'
Miko lowered her head and looked at the old woman again.
The elderly woman opened her mouth slightly.
Her wrinkled face looked quite gentle.
"Eh?"
She really was just an ordinary white-haired old lady.
Miko's mouth fell open in astonishment.
…
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