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Seeing the baby wraith finally pinned down by Asher, Miko Yotsuya let out a long breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
She'd been worried about her best friend, Hana Yurikawa, all day because of that thing's presence.As expected, Mr. Asher was amazing. He caught such a terrifying existence in one move.
Miko honestly couldn't imagine what would've happened to Hana if she hadn't met Asher.
Hana Yurikawa herself was slumped on the ground, feeling much the same.
She stared at the baby wraith right in front of her. It was still baring its fangs and flailing wildly, yet no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't move an inch closer.
At first, she'd been scared out of her mind. It was her first time ever seeing something like this, after all. But once she realized it couldn't hurt her, she took a deep breath and relaxed.
In fact, she relaxed so much that she even had the spare attention to start examining what the baby wraith actually looked like.
"Alright, Hana, come over here. Now," Asher said, watching her curiously inspect the wraith.
"Huh…? Oh! Right!"
Hana finally snapped out of it and scrambled up, half crawling, half running, straight to Asher and Miko.
Once Hana was safely out of danger, Asher stopped holding back.
He raised his hand and formed talismans in midair. Two basic spells shot forward and slammed into the baby wraith suspended in the air.
"Waaah—!"
The wraith let out a shrill scream as the talismans detonated against its body.Its entire form was swallowed by the blast.
When the flames faded and Miko and Hana looked back at where it had been, the baby wraith was completely gone, as if it had never existed at all.
[Ding! Host has eliminated a Baby Wraith. Reward obtained: one Shikigami Gacha draw!]
Hearing Kagura's voice echo in his mind, Asher's mood instantly improved.
Looks like his luck wasn't bad after all. Even taking out such an ordinary wraith earned him a shikigami draw.
"Whew! I can't believe it, Mr. Asher. You really are an onmyoji!"
"That was incredible!"
"Ugh, Miko! How could you hide something like this from me for so long?!"
Now that the danger was completely gone, Hana's spirits shot right back up.That was just how she was, carefree and bold by nature.
Faced with her best friend's complaints, Miko scratched the back of her head and gave an awkward smile.
"It's not that I didn't want to tell you, Hana."I was afraid you wouldn't believe me…"And I was scared that if you knew things like evil spirits existed, you'd be terrified."
"Terrified? Not a chance!"
"Besides, we've got Mr. Asher, don't we?"
"If we ever run into a spirit again, we'll just go to him!"
Hana said it so casually that Asher's image in her heart seemed to grow taller without her even noticing.
But hearing that, Asher clicked his tongue and gave her an annoyed look.
"Oh really? Weren't you calling me a fraud just a minute ago?"
"If you don't trust me that much, next time something like this happens, don't expect me to help."
"Huh?!"
Hana froze for a second, completely stunned.
"W-wait, no, Mr. Asher!"
"I just hadn't seen it with my own eyes before!"
"Now that I have, if anyone ever calls you a fraud again, I'll punch them first!"
"Please, okay? We're friends, right?"
As she spoke, Hana suddenly grabbed Asher's left hand with her soft, pale fingers and shook it gently, right in front of Miko's shocked stare. She looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes, full of pleading.
"Hana, you…""…."
Honestly, maybe this was what it meant to be best friends.The way Hana acted cute was exactly like Miko's.
And compared to Miko, Hana's figure was even more… overwhelming.With her shaking his hand like that, Asher could practically feel himself brushing dangerously close to forbidden territory.
Under Hana's sweet, relentless charm, Asher surrendered.
He smoothly pulled his hand back and cleared his throat.
"Ahem…"
"Alright. Fine. I promise. If anything like this happens again, you can come to me anytime, just like Miss Yotsuya."
"Yes!"
"I knew you were the best, Mr. Asher!"
Getting his promise, Hana cheered and bounced happily in place.
"Since everything's settled, we should head home," Asher said.
Miko nodded, but Hana immediately shook her head.
"Just go home like that? No way!"
"School just ended. It's still early!"
"Let's go shopping! Mr. Asher, Miko!"
"And let's eat together. My treat!"
"Call it a thank-you for saving me from such a huge problem!"
"…Is that so?" Asher hesitated. He'd been about to refuse, but then realized he didn't really have anything planned once he got home.
Miko hesitated too.But the thought of spending a little more time with Asher made her quietly change her mind.
She usually went straight home because she didn't want to risk running into anything unpleasant.But if Asher was with her, those worries didn't feel nearly as serious.
With Miko agreeing, Asher couldn't exactly refuse under the eager gazes of both girls.So he nodded.
"Yes! Then let's go!"
Hana cheered, hooking one arm around Miko's and grabbing Asher's hand with the other. She dragged both of them out of the abandoned factory and toward the street, practically skipping with joy.
It was obvious that learning about the existence of evil spirits hadn't shaken Hana much at all.True to her carefree personality, she showed zero signs of having her worldview shattered.
To her, it all seemed… trivial.
Still…
There was one thing Asher couldn't deny.
Hana Yurikawa's hand was really soft.Smooth, pale, and pleasantly warm.
The perfect kind of softness that made it hard to let go.
It wasn't until the three of them walked into a pretty decent-looking sushi restaurant that Hana finally released their hands.
"....."