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"We already promised each other our future, but you haven't come to find me these past few days. I thought you dumped me."
Asakura continued to speak affectedly.
If Yukinoshita Yukino and the others saw Asakura like this, they would probably get goosebumps.
"No, no, that shouldn't be the case..."
Gotō Hitori came back to her senses, muttering softly and uncertainly. She seemed a bit confused, but a moment later, the girl immediately shook off that confusion and said confidently: "Yes, that's right, there's no such thing... This kind of joke isn't funny at all!"
"Oh, then do you have any evidence to prove that we're not lovers?"
Asakura asked leisurely.
The girl was choked for a moment, but then she said: "If we were really lovers, we wouldn't even have exchanged Line IDs, would we? Your number isn't in my contacts either..."
"Wrong."
Asakura shook his head.
"Huh?"
The girl looked bewildered: "What's wrong?"
"The answer is that something that didn't happen doesn't need proof. If you were truly Gotō Hitori, you should only show confusion and inability to understand my question, not actually look for so-called 'evidence'."
Asakura replied, his sharp gaze making the girl unable to avoid him: "Why have your answers, from the beginning, been like speaking for 'Gotō Hitori' from a third-person perspective? Who exactly are you? Are you a swamp person?"
"Asa-Asakura-kun, what are you talking about... I, Hitori, don't understand, okay?"
The girl started to play dumb.
"Is that so? Then let's go directly to the Gotō family. If you are truly Gotō Hitori, then you shouldn't mind me having a good chat with your parents about your recent behavior as 'Gotō Hitori', right?"
Asakura pressed on.
"So what are you talking about... Please don't do such unreasonable things, my... my family will be very troubled!"
The girl said angrily.
Her acting was good, but Asakura could still feel the guilt she was trying to hide with her anger.
"Did you murder Gotō?"
Asakura asked abruptly.
The girl froze for a moment, but then her expression became even angrier. Asakura's intuition told him that this time, she seemed genuinely angry.
"No way! I wouldn't hurt... I just... just..."
She spoke angrily, but her tone became fleeting again.
"Then let me rephrase it..." Asakura saw that the other party's momentum had inexplicably dropped again, so he continued: "What are you?"
The girl remained silent.
A moment later, Asakura suddenly noticed a change in the girl's demeanor.
From the sunny, outgoing big sister type she was a moment ago, she reverted to the gloomy, introverted little slug feeling he first encountered.
"Eek eek eek, am I supposed to explain? No way, no way!"
The girl mumbled nervously as if talking to an invisible person, shaking her head desperately.
Seeing her like this, it was as if a lightning bolt flashed behind Asakura's head. A sudden inspiration struck him, and he took a step towards the girl, leaning one hand against the wall in a wall-slamming pose, and asked forcefully: "That guy just now, was it a spirit trailing behind you?"
"Yes, that's right, I'm really sorry for using even ghosts to become a popular normie, I'm truly sorry for being born into this world..."
The girl said, trembling.
"What? Is it just this level of problem...?"
Asakura breathed a sigh of relief.
"Eh?"
Gotō Hitori looked at Asakura blankly, feeling that his reaction seemed different from what she had initially expected.
The girl had thought that the other party would either scold her for being a delusional chuunibyo who only had flower fields in her mind and made up strange things, or despise her as a coward who didn't mind being possessed by a ghost just to gain a sense of being acknowledged by others.
"Don't worry, the pain will only be for a moment. After that, neither the spirit attached to you nor the miserable memories of this period will remain. You will still be Gotō Hitori, and you can live the same peaceful life as before."
Asakura raised his finger and said softly, and on his fingertip, a small flame, like the wick of a candle, appeared.
Without any tools, and no chance for prior preparation, the girl, who was close by, could confirm that the flame on Asakura's fingertip was definitely not a product of magic.
Rather, she felt an indescribably strong sense of crisis from the bean-sized candlelight.
Subsequently, her somewhat sluggish brain finally understood Asakura's words.
"A-Asakura-kun is, is he a shrine maiden or priest who exorcises monsters, like in manga?"
Gotō Hitori exclaimed softly.
"Pretty much, it's fine if you think of it that way."
Anyway, no memories would be left, so Asakura had no intention of explaining.
"W-wait a minute! You, you want to exorcise Hoshino-san?"
Although the girl was still trembling, her expression showed some other emotions.
"Hoshino-san? Is that the name of the spirit behind her?"
Asakura frowned and said, "Don't be fooled by sweet words. Regardless of whether the other party is good or evil, being possessed by a ghost will gradually absorb your life force, eventually leading to a serious illness. There are only disadvantages and no benefits... In short, stand still."
Before Asakura could make a move, the girl ran away like a small rabbit.
But it was obvious that even an ordinary athlete couldn't react faster than Asakura, so when the girl had run two steps and thought she was about to escape danger, she made a sound like a squashed frog because Asakura had grabbed her guitar case.
"Hey, hey, don't take advantage of girls in my shop..."
At this moment, Ijichi Seika, who had arrived at STARRY at some unknown time, looked at Asakura gripping the girl's guitar case as if he was about to instantly refine her, and said unhappily, "Otherwise, I'll have to ask you to leave our shop."
Asakura hesitated for half a second between 'first eliminate the spirit behind her, then instantly refine the memories of Gotō Hitori, Ijichi Seika, and everyone else who might have witnessed this scene' and 'first let go of Gotō Hitori's spirit, then find an opportunity to instantly refine it later', and finally released the girl's guitar case.
The result, to Asakura's surprise, was that Gotō Hitori's demeanor changed again. It seemed the spirit named Hoshino had once again possessed her.
Is this a provocation against him? As Asakura frowned, intending to choose the first option, the girl merely thanked Ijichi Seika first, stating that she wasn't taken advantage of and it was just playful banter between friends, then said to Asakura, "It's not convenient to talk here. Let's go to a coffee shop outside and have a good chat."
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