Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 3 - Chapter 5

The Labor Union’s Rebellion

Tuesday, August 12th

The door let out a loud screech as Koutarou pulled it open. The smell of dust in the mansion assaulted him too.

“All right, haniwas, are you sure this is it?”

“There’s no mistaking it, ho! We’re detecting a whole swarm of ghosts, ho!”

“And we can smell Sanae-chan’s spiritual energy, ho! She’s nearby, ho!”

Koutarou and the others had arrived at an old Western style mansion at the end of the row of villas. As the other villas were all high quality and in excellent condition, this one stood out like a sore thumb. The outer walls were cracked and starting to collapse, the windows were broken, and the garden was overgrown with weeds. Its old-fashioned design alone made it stand out already, but it was so dilapidated that it cast a shadow on the whole neighborhood. And as the sun set and it was starting to get dark, it looked like something right out of a horror movie.

“Aside from the ghosts, I can sense the presence of people inside.”

Shizuka peeked in through the open door and looked around.

“You can? I can’t sense things like that.”

Koutarou looked around as well, but he didn’t really get what Shizuka meant by “presence.”

“Then look over there, Satomi-kun. Fresh footprints.”

“Ah, you’re right...”

The mansion was covered in dust, so the footprints down the hallway were quite visible. Koutarou hadn’t understand what she meant before, but he could see that the footprints were fresh. Old ones would have at least a fine coat of dust over them, dimming the outline.

“An abandoned mansion other people won’t go near, swarms of ghosts, signs of Sanae, and signs of people entering recently... There’s no mistaking it. This is the place.”

Going through all of the information, Kiriha came to what seemed like a logical conclusion. Koutarou agreed with her.

“The question is if the perverts inside have noticed us or not. And if there are any traps lying in wait.”

“You’re worrying too much, Ruth. If there are any traps, we’ll just blow them away.”

Theia grinned as she pushed past Koutarou and Shizuka and entered the mansion. She boldly walked forward, unafraid of any traps.

“That’s dangerous, Tulip. We don’t know what they might do.”

“That goes both ways. Besides, staying on the defensive doesn’t suit me. Suppress and advance is my motto.”

“Still, you’re being too reckless.”

“If that’s what you think, then cover my back. That’s your duty as a vassal.”

“Fine, I get it.”

Normally Koutarou would yell at her, but this time he obeyed.

“Heh heh, it seems you’re finally realizing your place.”

“I’ll let it slide this time, and this time only.”

As Theia looked back happily, Koutarou pulled something he could use as a weapon out from the paper bag filled with exorcism tools. He chose a stick with a tag on it that read “Limited edition sacred tree branch: Cypress stick.” Koutarou held it with both hands like a bat and gave it a few practice swings.

“Yet another weapon fit for a barbarian...”

“At least I don’t use a space battleship every time.”

The black holes were already above Theia’s shoulders, fitted with heavy-duty firearms. All of the weapons she used were built in to her space battleship, the Blue Knight.

“I hope it doesn’t turn into a fight...”

Circumstances being what they were, Ruth was outfitted for combat like Theia. But instead of firearms, she was armed with a large sword and shield. Since she was from a house of knights, she was better with those. That said, even swords and shields from their home planet were technologically advanced things.

“Karama, Korama, exit synchronous mode and prepare to fight.”

“Understood, ho!”

“Starting to charge the spiritual energy weapons! Ho!”

Kiriha ordered her haniwas to get ready for combat. She herself wasn’t armed, but thanks to the battle capabilities of her haniwas, she didn’t have to be. That said, she just looked too defenseless emptyhanded, so Koutarou gave her the paper bag.

“Kiriha-san, please use one of these.”

“Thank you, Koutarou. Then I’ll take this.”

Kiriha smiled and pulled out a tamagushi. With the way she dressed, she looked like a shrine maiden as she stood their holding it. But strangely enough, it didn’t feel like cosplay, like in Yurika’s case. That was probably because of how composed she was.

[Note 2: Tamagushi - An special offering made from a tree branch decorated with strips of paper, used in Shinto ceremonies]

“Once you’ve finished preparing, follow me, men! The battle is about to start!”

“Tulip, there might not even be a fight.”

“You’re too naive, pleb! Those perverts are going to get annihilated.”

“Hmm... Well, whatever.”

When they were ready, Koutarou and the others followed Theia deeper into the mansion. Although they would usually do things their own ways, this time they were all united for a single objective. When they first met, that probably wouldn’t have ever happened, but now they didn’t think anything of it.

The weapons above Theia’s shoulders fired in succession. She had summoned high-caliber, rapid-fire guns from the Blue Knight and countless bullets were currently headed towards their targets. Said targets were the suits of armor and stuffed animals that had been inside of the residence. They were pulverized by the hail of bullets.

“Hmph, far too easy. I was expecting more from moving suits of armor and stuffed animals.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Tulip. Your weapons are just too strong!”

Theia hadn’t shot them for fun or anything like that. As Koutarou and the others were exploring the mansion, the armor and stuffed animals had suddenly come to life and attacked them. But before they could even approach, they were pulverized by Theia’s overwhelming firepower.

“Ah jeez... What were you going to do if there were people inside?”

After seeing the destroyed decorative knight armor and stuffed bears, Koutarou couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of what would have happened to a person inside.

“That would have been an unfortunate accident.”

However, Theia showed no sign of reflecting on her actions, leaving Koutarou amazed.

“Come on now!”

“There’s no need to get so excited, pleb. Are you not thrilled to witness my splendor?”

“Not even close!”

“It’s all right, Satomi-sama. I’m on the lookout for any signs of life.”

“Huh? Really?”

Koutarou stopped in his tracks.

“My firearms are being controlled by the data Ruth is sending as the vanguard. It’s designed not to target humans.”

“You’re kidding?!”

“As if I would kid about this! Just what do you take me for?!”

“Oh, I don’t know! Someone who tries to kill me from time to time!”

“By the way, Kiriha, where is Sanae? Since they’re attacking now, shouldn’t that mean we’re getting close?”

As the argument began to lean in Koutarou’s favor, Theia quickly changed the topic.

“And she’s not even listening...”

“Satomi-sama,” Ruth whispered to Koutarou as he was getting fed up with Theia. “Please trust Her Highness today. Although it might be hard to understand, she is worried about Sanae-sama too.”

“...Okay.”

As a special request from Ruth, Koutarou backed down. He had more or less understood how Theia really felt. If she didn’t care, she wouldn’t have helped otherwise.

“Karama, Korama, how about it?”

“Ho! She’s probably underground, ho! I can sense a large cavity below, ho!”

“There’s a staircase leading down just up ahead, ho!”

“Underground, huh? A fitting place for a small-time villain to be lurking.”

“Ouch, that hits close to home.”

Kiriha smiled wryly at Theia’s words. Since she had come from underground too, what Theia said also applied to her.

“I-It’s just a figure of speech! I had no intention of insulting your home!”

Heh heh, Tulip really is on edge.

Seeing Theia desperately make excuses cheered Koutarou up a little.

Koutarou and the other four were being watched as they proceeded by the ghost hunters hiding underground.

In fact, only the above-ground part of the mansion was in a state of neglect and disrepair. The basement had been cleaned up and maintained. Using the ruined mansion exterior as a facade, they had made the basement into their base.

Each side of the underground base stretched at least twenty-five meters long. And with five meters to the ceiling, the base was very spacious. It was so large because the basement was originally designed as a rec room. Things like a billiard table and a roulette board were still left in the room.

The ghost hunters had set up their belongings where the billiard table and things were originally. They had the ghost catching tools they needed for their work, and things they needed to survive such as beds. They even had monitors set up showing footage captured by hidden cameras inside the mansion.

There were three monitors in total, but by switching between feeds, they could survey the whole deserted mansion. Koutarou and the others were currently being shown on one of the screens, destroying the interior as they advanced further in.

“Aniki, this is bad! It looks like the intruders have found the entrance to our underground base!”

“What?!”

The ghost hunter who had been watching their progress on the monitor screamed, which caused the second ghost hunter who was relaxing on the sofa to rush over.

“What happened to the guys defending the mansion?!”

“They got obliterated by the smallest girl! Armor and stuffed animals don’t stand a chance!”

Their evil spirits had possessed the suits of armors and stuffed animals. It was similar to how Sanae’s Poltergeist powers worked. They could move and attack with the armor, just like how Sanae could throw encyclopedias at Koutarou.

However, the weaponized armor and stuffed animals were all rent asunder by Theia. In the end, the lower class evil spirits were practically powerless.

“Oh yeah, unlike us, they’re good with physical attacks...”

“This is bad! At this rate, they’ll be here any moment! What do we do, Aniki?!”

“Calm down, Hachi!”

The leader hit Hachi on the head as he was running around in panic.

“Th-Then what do we do?”

Hachi stopped moving and stared at the leader.

“There’s no need to fight them on their terms. That’s why we’ve been preparing for this kind of scenario. There were some evil spirits that could mess with people directly, right? We’ll have them mobilize as well and send these intruders packing.”

“Ah, do you mean the ones with a higher salary?”

“Why do you think we hired them?”

“That’s Aniki for you! I didn’t realize!”

“And then there’s the weapons we made yesterday, right? Prepare those as well.”

“I got it! I’ll get right to it!”

Hachi ran towards the next room right away. The next room was the hangout for the hired evil spirits.

But other than the ghost hunters, there was someone else watching the monitor.

“Koutarou... You came to save me...”

It was the captured Sanae, still trapped inside of the transparent container. The hunters had brought the container with Sanae in it down to their base where they were waiting for their trade partner to arrive. The container Sanae was in had been placed in the corner of the room, and she was able to peek at the monitor from her position. Helpless, Sanae had been staring at the screen for quite a while now.

“Koutarou... It’s really Koutarou...”

When Koutarou appeared on the monitor, Sanae thought her heart might stop... even though she didn’t have one, being a ghost and all. That was just how surprised she’d been. But at the same time, she felt a strong sense of relief. Having been so anxious all this time, that sense of relief made Sanae go weak in the knees.

“S-Stupid me! I decided not to get along with Koutarou! What am I getting relieved for?”

Sanae shook her head in an attempt to snap herself out of what she was feeling, but it wasn’t so easy to get rid of feelings that had taken root in the heart.

Sanae had decided to treat Koutarou like the enemy he was. Her resolution had only gotten stronger, fed by a sense of helplessness over being captured by the ghost hunters. However, her resolve buckled the moment she saw Koutarou. She was just hoping maybe, just maybe...

But she also told herself that getting her hopes up would only get her hurt even more.

“What’s the meaning of this, Koutarou?! If you consider me an enemy, then just leave me be! What did you come here for?!”

Sanae’s worries ran deep, and because of that, she couldn’t take her eyes off of Koutarou, even on screen.

“This is it—the basement!”

Koutarou kicked open the door to the basement. With the momentum he had from running down the stairs, it flung open and smashed into the wall. Once the door was open, Koutarou and the others rushed in.

“There she is! It’s Sanae!”

The moment they entered the basement, Koutarou spotted Sanae. She was in the furthest corner, trapped inside of a cylindrical container.

“Sanae! Are you okay?!”

Koutarou shouted to her, but Sanae roared back at him.

“Why are you here?! I never asked you to come save me! I know you only think of me as some troublemaker!”

“Now is not the time for this!”

Koutarou was amazed at Sanae, who was practically ignoring the situation. But he was also relieved to hear her energetic voice. Koutarou and the others still thought of the ghost hunters as perverts, so they were worried they might have done something horrible to her.

“Sorry for getting in the way of your touching reunion, intruders!”

Koutarou and Sanae’s discussion was interrupted when the ghost hunters got between them.

“This ghost is ours! So go home before you get hurt!”

“That’s right! Just go home! It’s time for kids to go to bed!”

Their confident stances didn’t waver before Koutarou and the others. They had their hands on their hips and their chests pushed out, boldly facing the group.

“Impudent small-time villains! That’s an awfully brave thing to say to me! If you’re going to go that far, I hope you’re prepared for the consequences!”

“Give us back Sanae-chan, you perverts!”

Theia and Shizuka glared at them. However, the two ghost hunters continued to grin, their confidence still going strong.

“Small-time villains? Perverts? Just who are you talking about? Wouldn’t that be you guys?”

“That’s right! We haven’t done anything wrong!”

Those words enraged Koutarou and he yelled back at them, “What?! You dare say that after kidnapping Sanae?!”

“Just what have we done wrong?!”

The duo had committed several perverted acts in the process of going after Sanae, not to mention kidnapping and confining her. Despite that, they accused Koutarou and the others of being the real villains. That didn’t just anger Koutarou. Ruth was mad now too. But the hunters didn’t know any better. They just kept going mockingly.

“In the end, we’re not breaking the law. There’s no law against capturing ghosts, right?”

“And this is our base! We bought it! But you just barged in here!”

“Moreover, is that ghost asking for your help? She’s not, now is she? You guys just waltzed in here uninvited. That’s trespassing!”

“Help us! Policeee!”

“Heh heh, the law is on our side! In fact, we’re allies of justice!”

“Ugh...”

It was true that there was no law against capturing a ghost. It was also true that Sanae wasn’t asking for help and that they were trespassing. The ghost hunters had made a solid case. Neither Koutarou nor Ruth could argue with them. The same was true for Theia and Shizuka. And as if to provoke Koutarou and the others, the ghost hunters grinned and laughed.

“I see. In that case, your only mistake was messing with us.”

The only one who reacted differently was Kiriha.

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Let me tell you.”

Kiriha’s normal smile vanished and a deep wrinkle formed on her forehead. Her eyes narrowed into a piercing stare at the two men.

And then in an icy cold voice, she spat, “We are invaders. We’ve never obeyed the law from the very beginning. Villains? That suits us just fine! We do as we please. As if we’d give a damn about your circumstances! We’ll be taking back Sanae, allies of justice or whatever!”

Kiriha was angry. It was almost as if she was burning with rage. The fire in her eyes looked like it would scorch her enemies.

“...Kiriha-san...”

It had already been four months since she had come to room 106, but this was the first time Koutarou had ever seen her truly angry.

“Sanae-chan is our friend! Ho!”

“Even if she might not like it, we’ll take her home! Ho!”

The haniwas stepped out in front of Kiriha as if to protect her. Unlike their normally hard to read expressions, they now seemed to be angry too.

“That’s right. I had forgotten. I never cared for this planet’s laws to begin with!”

Theia regained her bravado, readied her weapons, and flashed a ferocious smile like a predator enjoying chasing down its prey.

“I’ll make you regret talking down to me! My name is Theiamillis Gre Forthorthe! Don’t you dare forget it, even in the afterlife!”

Four months ago, that hostility was all directed at Koutarou.

“Your Highness, let’s go!”

“Yeah!”

And four months ago, Ruth would have tried to stop Theia. But now she armed herself and stepped forward to protect her.

“Your luck ran out when you laid hands on my tenant! A landlord and tenant are like family, ghost or not!”

Four months ago, Shizuka had forbidden Koutarou and the others from fighting. But now she was ready to throw down. She clenched her fists and took a stance while stomping her foot to get a good feeling for the floor in the basement.

“Sanae!”

Lastly was Koutarou.

“Wh-What?! It’s not like I asked for your help!”

“I understand! That’s why I won’t forcibly take you back home!”

“Huh?!”

“But in return, after I’ve beaten up these guys, I want to talk with you! Just listen at the very least! After that, you can do whatever you want!”

“...”

Sanae didn’t answer—at least not verbally. She just nodded her head ever so slightly. That was enough for Koutarou.

“All right, then let’s get this started!”

Koutarou was normally pretty quick to get into a fight, and as long as he’d made up his mind, he didn’t really care who he was fighting or if he was in the wrong. He readied his branch like he was preparing to play baseball.

I see. It’s just as Senpai said...

Using his branch as a bat, Koutarou started thinking. He was unusually pumped up. This wasn’t just about taking down an enemy.

“Good news, you guys. You get to go on a trip!”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I’m in top form today! I’m gonna knock you straight to the moon!”

Koutarou felt like Babe Ruth hitting a home run with the bases loaded.

As expected, Theia and her short fuse actually started the fight.

“Victory to the attacker! Blue Knight, use short-range anti-personnel missiles! Don’t hit Sa—”

“Wahaha, have you forgotten where you are?!”

But just before Theia launched her missiles, a hole opened up below her feet. It was a pitfall the hunters had prepared beforehand. Theia was unable to avoid the sudden trap and fell straight into the hole.

“Waaaaaaaaah!”

“Idiot! Did you think we were completely unprepared?!”

“Idiot! Idiot!”

“Qu-Quit messing around!”

“Your Highness!”

“Tulip, are you okay?!”

Ruth rushed to Theia, and Koutarou peeked into the hole from the side. Kiriha and Shizuka were still facing the enemies, but they’d been thrown off a little.

“All right men, get them!”

“I’m kinda getting hungry.”

“We better be getting paid for this...”

“It’s a common trap to promise something to get free labor.”

“You’re getting hungry because you keep thinking like that. Our obsessions are leaking out.”

“Quit your yammering and go!”

“Okaaay!”

The hunters didn’t miss their chance to go on the offensive. Their attack came in the form of the crowd of evil spirits that had captured Sanae. But this time, their numbers were more than doubled. Several dozen evil spirits of various sizes flooded out from the next room over, headed towards Koutarou and the others.

“They’re coming! Hurry up and get out of there, Tulip!”

“Your Highness, your hand!”

“S-Sorry!”

Theia grabbed Koutarou and Ruth’s hands to crawl out of the pitfall. But as that was going on, the three of them were defenseless. Seizing the opportunity, the evil spirits lunged at them.

“All right you guys, I’ll attack them! Lend me your power!”

“That guy’s getting full of himself just because he can attack humans directly.”

“I heard his salary’s pretty high too. He must be pretty conceited.”

“Shush, he’ll hear you.”

Koutarou and Ruth had their backs turned to the evil spirits and Theia was hanging on to them. They were pretty much inviting an attack.

“Your Highness, please hurry!”

“I’m going as fast as I can”

“Waaaaah, we’re done for!”

Koutarou and Ruth knew the evil spirits were coming for them, but they couldn’t just drop Theia back into the pitfall. If they did, she would be a sitting duck. Instead, all the three of them were now in a major pinch.

“Don’t forget about us!”

“Leave it to us, Satomi-kun!”

It was Kiriha and Shizuka that stepped in to save them. Kiriha used her haniwas to defend while Shizuka beat down the evil spirits one at a time. The two of them were proficient at fighting ghosts so they were holding their ground, but being vastly outnumbered made it a struggle. Had the room been smaller, Shizuka’s attacks would have taken down the evil spirits much more efficiently. The large room and high ceiling gave the flying ghosts an advantage over Shizuka who was just fighting with her fists.

“Tulip, now’s our chance!”

“Yeah!”

As Kiriha and Shizuka were buying time, Theia crawled out of the pitfall.

“Ah!”

That was when Ruth, who was keeping a watchful eye on her surroundings, noticed the ghost hunters approaching.

“Got you!”

“Take this!”

While Koutarou and the others were distracted by the evil spirits, they had snuck up and thrown what looked like small balls.

“Your Highness! Satomi-sama!”

If Ruth hadn’t noticed, the three of them would’ve been hit.

“Whoa!”

“What?!”

But since Ruth pushed the two of them away, she was the only one hit. The balls hit her head and shoulder with a small sound.

“Ruth-san!”

“Are you okay?! Ruth!”

Koutarou and Theia went pale when they realized what was happening.

“...Huh?”

But Ruth simply tilted her head in confusion. For some reason the balls hadn’t hurt her. She was rather puzzled since she was certain they were dangerous.

“I-It looks like I’m fine.”

“Thank god!”

After confirming that Ruth was okay, Koutarou and Theia let out a sigh of relief before getting confused.

“But what happened? I thought that was an attack!”

“What did they do?”

“Too bad we only hit one.”

“But one is good enough! Wahahaha!”

“Wahahahahaha!”

The ghost hunters boasted triumphantly, and seeing that confused Koutarou and the others even more. However, the reason for their behavior soon became obvious.

“H-Huh?! S-Satomi-sama, look out!”

“Huh?”

Heeding Ruth’s warning, Koutarou moved. A short moment later, a large sword swung down where he had been standing. The solid metal blade easily dug in to the concrete floor. If that had hit Koutarou it would have been, needless to say, quite bad.

“W-Whoa! That could’ve killed me!”

The attack took Koutarou by surprise, but his jaw dropped when he saw his attacker.

“Please run away, Your Highness, Satomi-sama!”

“Ruth-san?! Why?!”

“Have you gone insane, Ruth?!”

The person who swung at Koutarou was none other than Ruth. Even now, she was preparing for another attack as she pulled her blade out of the floor and bravely took a stance. In stark contrast to her fearless posture, she looked like she was about to cry.

“M-My body is moving on its own! I don’t want to attack you!”

“On its own?”

“C-Could it be because of those weird balls?”

It was the only explanation Koutarou could think of.

“That’s correct!”

“Very observant, young man! An evil spirit was packed into each of these balls! And if they hit someone, they possess them and make them do whatever they want!”

“Damn it, you do some horrible things in very plain ways!”

Ruth must have been possessed by an evil spirit that was making her attack Koutarou and Theia against her will.

“Even worse, you hit Ruth! Why didn’t you aim for Tulip, you idiots?!”

“You’re getting angry over the wrong thing, pleb!”

“But I can’t just punch Ruth-san!”

“What?! So you’re fine with punching me?!”

“Yeah.”

“Heeeeey!”

“Go on! If you don’t run, that girl will cut you down!”

As Koutarou and Theia were arguing, Ruth swung her large sword in another attempt to demolish them.

“Kyaaaaah! My finger switched on the blade’s energy coating on its own!”

A faint green light began emitting from the blade, increasing its destructive power dramatically.

“That’s bad, pleb! Be my shield!”

“I flat out refuse! As if I could block that!”

“Well, they say that citizens are a country’s shield!”

“They don’t mean it that way!”

“Ruuuuun!”

Ruth swung her sword down as she cried. Koutarou and Theia managed to dodge at the last second thanks to Ruth desperately trying to shift the sword’s path. However, the light around the blade grazed Koutarou’s stick. That alone was enough to blow the upper half clean off.

After destroying Koutarou’s stick, Ruth’s sword buried itself in the floor once more, digging much deeper than before. The destructive power of the blade covered in a green light was incomparable to just a little while ago.

“That’s some amazing power.”

Koutarou broke into cold sweat as he tossed aside the remaining half of his stick.

“R-Ruth isn’t going easy on us...”

Having thrown herself to the ground to avoid the attack, Theia hurriedly stood back up.

“Are you sure she’s not holding a grudge because you’re always so unreasonable?”

“Of course she’s not!”

“More importantly, can’t we do something, Tulip? At this rate, we’re going to get killed!”

All Koutarou and Theia could do was run. They couldn’t risk counterattacking and hurting Ruth. So in order to evade her sword, they ran circles around the pitfall.

“I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!”

Ruth was right on their tail, still in tears as she chased them around the pitfall. It may have looked like a comedy sketch to an onlooker, but for the people involved it was dead serious.

“I might be able to knock her out with non-lethal weapons, but as with the armor and stuffed animals before, the ghost will probably keep attacking with her body! We’re better off with her still conscious!”

“Th-Then what about her weapon? It’s powered from your ship, right?”

“If I turn off Blue Knight’s transfer function, she won’t be able to use her weapon, but I’d lose mine too! Then we’d really be helpless!”

“Do it right away! It’s better than not doing anything at all!”

“I got it!”

In the end, Theia listened to Koutarou. She was also desperate to do something about their current situation.

“Blue Knight, activate the emergency shutdown for the remote weapon transfer system!”

“As you wish, my princess.”

As the bracelet responded to her command, both Theia and Ruth’s weapons vanished as if they were erased. It made no difference to Theia who was prepared for it, but Ruth lost her balance when her large sword and shield suddenly vanished.

“I’ll leave the enemies to you, pleb! I’m going to catch Ruth!”

Theia turned around and rushed towards Ruth, who was giving her a big opening.

“Understood!”

Koutarou obeyed Theia’s command and ran towards the hunters.

“Aniki, he’s coming this way! This is bad!”

“Calm down! It’s just one guy! We won’t lose if it’s two on one!”

Thus a fierce fight erupted: Theia versus Ruth and Koutarou versus the ghost hunters.

As Koutarou and Theia began their fights against their opponents, an odd commotion was happening over where Shizuka and Kiriha were fighting the crowd of evil spirits.

“What’s with this girl?! She can hit us barehanded?!”

“And what’s with those haniwas? We can’t even get close because of that yellow light they’re making!”

“Nobody told us the enemies were this strong!”

“Yeah! If we have to fight someone this strong, I want a higher salary!”

“Quit your complaining and fight them!”

“I’m sure you’re fine. You already have a high salary.”

“What?! Why don’t you try saying that to my face?!”

The evil spirits were fighting with each other. Because of Shizuka and Kiriha’s overwhelming strength, the majority of them had begun hesitating. The lower paid evil spirits had no reason to bet their lives(?) on this fight.

“What’s going on...?”

“It seems like the middle management is arguing with the regular employees.”

Shizuka and Kiriha were dumbfounded that the evil spirits had suddenly stopped their attacks to start arguing. It gave them a great opening, but the situation was just far too absurd. Neither of them had the urge to attack.

“The enemies only seem powerful because you’re not taking this seriously!”

“Are you stupid? You can tell just by looking that they’re ridiculously strong! Those girls won’t get any weaker just because you’re spouting some psychology!”

“Yeah, you’re just the hunters’ dog! You’ve been tamed by a high salary!”

“What?! Don’t just ignore your own procrastination! Just how much do you think I’ve covered for you?!”

“Get lost! We won’t get anywhere by talking to you! We’ll negotiate with the hunters directly!”

“Yeah! Our struggle won’t end until we get a 50 percent raise!”

As absurd as it was, the situation was developing in a strange direction. Before too long, the evil spirits were targeting the ghost hunters.

“Leave the negotiation to me. I used to be an employee of a labor union.”

“Are you serious? That’s actually really encouraging.”

“But I got fired after some illegal transactions got exposed. And my life went downhill from there...”

“Seriously?! That’s really encouraging in a different way!”

“H-Hey, stop! You’re going to turn on your employers?!”

“That kind of outdated ideology won’t work on us. We’ll use whatever we can. That’s how it works in our generation.”

“...Now that I think about it, I don’t have any obligations to those hunters either.”

“Why don’t you aim for a raise as well?”

“I guess I will. Nothing will come from a pointless fight.”

And so the spirits united under the front of getting a raise and approached the hunters who were still fighting with Koutarou.

“Sorry kid, just wait until we finish talking.”

“Wha?!”

The evil spirits pushed Koutarou aside and faced the hunters. Having been suddenly thrust aside, he lost his balance and rolled all the way over to Theia and Ruth who were in the middle of a grappling match.

“What’s going on?”

“W-Who knows...?”

Koutarou shook his head while upside down.

“How is it going for you two?”

“It’s just as you can see.”

Theia had succeeded in restraining Ruth. She easily surpassed Ruth when it came to fitness, and once it became a close-quarters fight, there was no fear of her losing.

“I’m truly sorry, Your Highness.”

Ruth apologized to Theia while still trying to escape her restraints.

“It’s fine. Besides, it’s not your fault.”

“So the only problem’s over there...”

With Theia and Ruth’s problem temporarily handled, Koutarou looked back towards the evil spirits.

“We firmly object to these unjust working conditions!”

“Raise our salary!”

“Raise it!”

“They want better working conditions?! It seems they’ve picked up some unnecessary bits of knowledge! We gathered too many evil spirits!”

“Aniki! The evil spirits are making scary faces!”

The evil spirits began voicing their protests. Being suddenly surrounded by their supposed allies, the ghost hunters were flustered.

“Satomi-kun!”

“Koutarou!”

That was when Shizuka and Kiriha came over to Koutarou and the others to report what had happened.

“Landlord-san, what’s going on over there?”

“They’re fighting amongst themselves.”

“Really?”

“It seems that way. There was something about the risk being too high for the reward, and how their share was too small.”

“It looks like the labor union is finally taking a stand to improve the work environment.”

“The labor union?!”

As Koutarou was filled in on the situation, the negotiation between the evil spirits and the ghost hunters was about to reach its climax.

“You’re probably thinking you can get cheap labor from us ghosts just because we’re in a recession, don’t you? That won’t fly!”

“Wait, that wasn’t our intention at all!”

“Then why didn’t you tell us our enemies were that strong? We don’t get paid enough to fight opponents like that!”

“Th-That’s... Th-They just happened to be strong!”

The evil spirits held the upper hand in the negotiations. Without their help, the ghost hunters wouldn’t stand a chance against Koutarou and the others. The ghost hunters never had much to stand on to begin with.

“And we’ve heard that you can sell that girl for 300 million yen!”

“How about you give some of that to us?”

“Yeah! I’m hungry!”

“I understand where you’re coming from! But I can’t give you any money right away! I can’t raise your salary unless we beat those guys over there and sell off the girl!”

“That’s far too irresponsible! Quit messing around! Do you really think that’s acceptable for an employer?!”

“Just wait please! Once we sell that girl, we’ll give you your money!”

“Who would listen to that kind of deal? Will you give us our share now or not?”

“Th-That’s...”

It wasn’t a matter of whether they were holding out or not. The ghost hunters had already used all of their money. They had nothing to give to the evil spirits.

“...Hey, fellow evil spirits, I’ve been thinking.”

That was when one of the evil spirits stopped her colleagues who were getting heated up. The female spirit had long hair and was wearing a hostess dress.

“What is it now? This is important!”

“I know that. That’s why I stopped you. Are you okay with being blinded by just the money in front of you?”

“Just the money in front of us?”

“That’s right.”

She looked over her colleagues and pointed at Sanae with the feathered fan she was holding.

“Think about which would be better—waiting for that girl to be sold off and get paid, or eating her right now?”

“Um...”

The evil spirits all focused on Sanae, floating in her container.

“M-Me?!”

As the discussion turned to her, Sanae pointed at herself in surprise.

“Just look at that stupidly dense spiritual energy and that stability. It’s like she could materialize at any moment. I’d rather eat that girl than get paid.”

“Th-That’s certainly...”

“You know, you’re pretty smart!”

“Yeah, I agree with her!”

“I’m on board with that idea too!”

“H-Hey, you guys, what are you doing?!”

“You can’t eat her!”

Ignoring the panicking ghost hunters, the evil spirits all licked their lips. They stared at Sanae with desire in their eyes.

“Eeeeek!”

Sanae shuddered as they looked at her intently. She understood they were seriously planning on eating her.

“This is turning out really bad!”

Koutarou also noticed the change in situation and shoved his hand into the paper bag to find a useable weapon.

They’re planning on eating Sanae?! As if I’d let that happen!

Just like the hunters, Koutarou started panicking.

“W-Wait, you guys! Don’t touch her! If you do, you’re not getting paid!”

“We don’t care about that anymore! We want to eat her and obtain greater powers!”

The female evil spirit’s body began swelling up as her fellow evil spirits started combining with her. After absorbing all of the other evil spirits, the now giant female evil spirit sneered as she looked down on the hunters.

“Stop! That treasure is worth 300 million yen!”

“Just 300 million yen? You’ve got your digits wrong! That’s pocket money compared to that girl’s spiritual energy!”

“Stop! If you touch her, we’ll exterminate you!”

“Yeah! We’ll exterminate you!”

“Hahaha, just try it, you amateur ghost hunters! Without our power you couldn’t even fight, and you think you can beat us?!”

The evil spirits had combined because they all equally wanted to eat Sanae, but that had given them considerable power. A single swing from that giant arm was enough to send the hunters flying.

“Augh... A-Aniki...”

“U-Ugh... T-To think it would come to this... We relied too much on evil spirits, despite being ghost hunters...”

Blinded by their desires, the ghost hunters hadn’t even seen what was happening. It wasn’t until now that they had finally realized the reason for their failure, but it was already too late. They were thrown into the basement wall and lost consciousness.

“Now, you’re next, little kitten.”

“N-No, don’t come any closer!”

The evil spirit’s next target was Sanae. Frightened, Sanae started backing up, but her back quickly pressed up against the container wall. Unable to retreat any further, she began shaking her head.

“There’s no need to be scared. Become one with me. It’s not like you have anywhere to go either, right? With me, you won’t feel lonely anymore.”

“Nowhere to go...?”

Those words wormed their way into Sanae’s heart. No matter how long she waited for her parents, they weren’t showing up. And even Koutarou, who she had almost trusted, was her enemy.

If I go with these people, I won’t feel lonely anymore...?

Sanae was lonely all by herself. Even now, she was scared of being left alone again. The temptation shook Sanae.

“That’s right. Open your mind and accept us. If you do, you’ll no longer have anything to fear.”

The evil spirit continued temping Sanae with sweet words. When absorbing other ghosts, exploiting their weaknesses was most efficient. If they resisted, a lot of spiritual energy would go to waste.

“My mind...”

The evil spirit’s giant fingers wrapped around the container in order to absorb Sanae. The container easily cracked, and as the evil spirit gradually squeezed, the cracks grew larger. The evil spirit was careful not to crush the container right away because she was worried Sanae might put her guard up and she would lose their chance to absorb her. However, that slight delay greatly changed Sanae’s fate.

“Sanaeeeee!”

The moment Sanae heard that voice, she came back to life, pulling back from the brink of giving up.

“Koutarou?!”

It was true. The voice she heard was Koutarou’s. He had pulled out a short sword from the paper bag and was coming towards the evil spirit and Sanae.

“Tch! You’re going to get in my way, kid?”

With the appearance of Koutarou, the seed of doubt that had been planted in Sanae’s heart faded. Because of that, the evil spirit was unable to efficiently absorb her. Angered, the evil spirit bared her teeth, threatening Koutarou. Seeing that scared Sanae even more, and she completely rejected the evil spirit.

“Kyaaaaah! Noooooooo!”

Sanae no longer wanted to be absorbed by the evil spirit. Those feelings came out of her mouth in the form of a scream.

“Just wait, Sanae! I’m coming to save you right now!”

Koutarou charged at the evil spirit with his sword. Hearing Sanae’s scream stoked his fighting spirit and he gripped the sword even tighter.

“What can you do with a single sword?”

“We’ll see! The effect doesn’t last long, but it’s supposedly very dangerous for you!”

Koutarou was holding a demon slaying sword—“30 second instant holy sword: Something-calibur.”

Despite the fact that it was a mass-produced weapon with a short lifespan, it held enough power to rival an actual demon slaying sword. It was a revolutionary product.

“Damn, that’s the sword exorcists use!”

Sensing the danger from the short sword, the evil spirit let go of the container Sanae was in and attacked Koutarou.

“Whoa!”

“Quit moving around!”

But no matter how many times the evil spirit swung her arms, she was unable to hit Koutarou. His quick movements allowed him to dodge her massive arms.

“Combining seems to have made you even slower!”

“Quit your yapping!”

Just as Koutarou said, growing larger had stymied the evil spirit’s mobility. She seemed unused to her newly combined body. Although she had been able to take out the hunters with a surprise attack, that wouldn’t work on Koutarou.

“I win, giant!”

“S-Stop it! Anything but that sword!”

“Take this!”

After dodging the evil spirit’s attacks yet another time, Koutarou lowered his posture and thrust his entire body weight behind the sword.

“Gyaaaaaaaah!”

“How about that?!”

Without any real resistance, the short sword pierced through the evil spirit’s body. Her face warped as she screamed in agony.

“Aaaaaaaah... Wait, huh?”

But it was only for a moment. Then the evil spirit’s anguished expression turned to confusion. On top of that, she felt no pain.

The puzzled spirit put the fight aside to ask Koutarou, “What is this? This doesn’t hurt at all, kid. What’s going on?”

“What?!”

Seeing what happened, Koutarou also forgot the fight and looked down at his short sword.

“Hmm?”

There was a message on a label hanging off the handle of the sword: “Returned due to malfunction.”

“It’s defective? You’re kidding me!”

“That’s my line! I thought I was going to die!”

“No, you’re already dead.”

“Shut up, kid! ...Wait!”

The evil spirit was the first to regain her senses, and suddenly swung their giant arm at Koutarou who was still standing still.

“Whoa!”

Koutarou desperately tried to dodge, but he couldn’t fully get out of the way in time. Though he managed to avoid a direct hit from the arm, the fan she was holding still hit him. Being hit head-on like that, Koutarou fell down onto the floor.

“Koutarou!”

“Satomi-kun!”

“Karama, Korama, deploy the spiritual energy field around Koutarou!”

“Understood, ho!”

“Koutarou, we’re on our way, ho!”

Shizuka and Kiriha came running over to Koutarou. To protect the three, the haniwas stood up against the evil spirit.

“Satomi-kun, are you okay?!”

“O-Ouch...”

Koutarou barely managed to stay conscious. Seeing Shizuka and Kiriha worried, he attempted to stand up. But the two of them quickly held him down.

“Don’t force yourself, Koutarou! Just stay down!”

“But...”

Koutarou still tried to get up, but the two just pushed him down on the floor and shook their heads.

“Just leave this to us!”

“Yeah! Kurano-san and I will beat that ghost!”

“O-Okay...”

Hearing that, Koutarou relaxed his body. He knew both of them were stronger than he was. They would be able to fend off the evil spirit. He listened to them because he had faith in that.

“Are you sure you should have said that?” The evil spirit laughed at Koutarou and the others. “Don’t think I’m the same as before.”

“What?”

Koutarou and the others looked at the evil spirit.

“Koutarou, Koutarou!”

When they did, they saw Sanae sinking into the evil spirit’s body. While Shizuka and Kiriha were occupied with Koutarou, the evil spirit had broken Sanae’s container.

“S-Sanae!”

“Sanae-chan!”

“Aaaah, stooop! S-Save—”

Before long, Sanae fully sunk into the evil spirit’s body with a plop.

“Ahahahaha! I can feel it! I can feel it! Such ridiculously strong power is flowing into me! Just how much power did this girl have?! I shouldn’t have wasted our time trying to convince her! I should have just done this from the start!”

The evil spirit was mad with joy after swallowing Sanae. Sanae was resisting, but even then the spiritual energy the evil spirit absorbed from her was considerable. She grew even more powerful because of it. The translucent evil spirit gradually became more opaque, almost as if her body was turning solid. And her body grew even larger, almost enough for her to bump her head into the five meter high ceiling.

“Aaaaaaaah! Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!”

And as the evil spirit got bigger and stronger, Sanae’s screams of agony got louder and echoed throughout the basement.

“Stop! Just— Aaaaahhh! Stop this!”

“More! Give me more power! You’ll become a part of me and we’ll live together forever!”

But unlike the evil spirit, Sanae was becoming translucent. Her body was normally opaque enough to look real, but now it was wavering. Anyone who saw her now could clearly tell she was a ghost.

“This is bad! At this rate, Sanae won’t last!”

“Let’s go, Kurano-san! We need to save Sanae-chan!”

“Yeah!”

Sensing that Sanae was in danger, Kiriha and Shizuka rushed the evil spirit. Watching them go, Koutarou desperately tried to stand up.

I... I don’t have time to be lying down. I need to... do something... or Sanae will...

However, his injured body wouldn’t listen to him. Just getting on his knees was dizzying enough to make him feel like he was going to faint.

“Nooooooooooo! Koutarou, Koutarou!”

“Sanae!”

But Sanae’s screams seemed to give Koutarou superhuman strength.

“Aaaaaaaahhh!”

Pumping himself up with a primal scream, Koutarou stood up. He didn’t care if his body was screaming in pain or if he couldn’t see straight. He shook his head repeatedly to clear his mind.

“Good job on getting up... is what I’d like to say, but...”

Looking at Koutarou, the evil spirit flashed a sinister grin. It looked similar to how Sanae and Theia would smirk, but Koutarou felt that this was fundamentally different to theirs.

“You were a bit too slow.”

The evil spirit threw something towards Koutarou.

“Landlord-san?! Kiriha-san?!”

That “something” was Shizuka and Kiriha, who were both hurt and unconscious now. In the short time it had taken for Koutarou to stand up, the evil spirit had defeated them. That was just how powerful she had gotten after absorbing Sanae’s spiritual energy.

“So what are you going to do on your own, kid? Hmm? You don’t even have a weapon.”

Shizuka and Kiriha were out cold, the haniwas weren’t moving, Theia still had her hands full with Ruth, and Koutarou had dropped the bag with the exorcism tools somewhere. All Koutarou had left were the charms he was in the habit of carrying.

“Nothing much. I’ll do the same as before. I’ll just... knock you out!”

Still staggered, Koutarou placed a charm in each hand and took a fighting stance.

“You think you can beat me in that state? Wahahaha, you’re pretty funny, kid!”

“Run away, pleb! You’re going to get killed!”

“Satomi-sama, you can’t!”

Theia and Ruth called out to him, but their voices didn’t reach Koutarou.

“On principle, I make sure to finish the fights I start.”

Just wait, Sanae. I’ll get you out of there...

Despite overwhelming odds against him and despite his physical condition, the fire burning in Koutarou’s eyes was stronger than ever. Despite being driven into a corner with two strikes, Koutarou still felt like Babe Ruth today.

“Is that so? Then die! In honor of your courage, you’ll get to be the first victim of my reborn powers!”

The evil spirit began laughing hysterically and rushed at Koutarou. She was planning on tearing his head clean off.

“I-I’ll absolutely knock you out...”

Koutarou strongly grasped the charms and swung his fists. He knew he would never reach the evil spirit, but he couldn’t stop himself.

“No, don’t die, Koutarou! Koutarouuuuu!”

That was because Sanae was crying, even now. She had been crying ever since they had gotten into their fight. That’s why even though he knew, he couldn’t stop. Even if it was impossible to win, he couldn’t turn his back on Sanae. To him, the evil spirit came second to Sanae.

“Ahyahyahyah! Gyahahaha! Dieeeee!”

The evil spirit approached Koutarou, thrusting out both of her arms to finish him off. Koutarou wouldn’t be able dodge now that he was slowed. Had the evil spirit been just a second faster, Koutarou probably would have lost his head.

“Gwuh?! Wh-What is...?”

But the evil spirit’s arms never reached Koutarou.

Yurika first reached the old mansion several minutes after Koutarou and the others had entered the basement. She’d made a daring escape from the cosclub and used tracking magic to chase after Koutarou and the others.

“Wh-What do I do...?”

However, she was now frozen in place. The eerie sight of the mansion at night frightened her. It was practically in ruins and she knew there were lots of ghosts inside. She could even hear screams coming from within. The cowardly Yurika didn’t have the courage to enter the house.

“M-Maybe I should go home... Satomi-san did say I shouldn’t force myself...”

After standing in front of mansion for a while, Yurika eventually turned her back to the entrance.

“Yes, that’s a good idea! Nothing good will come from forcing myself!”

As she told herself that, she headed for the gate to the street. She would rather go home, tuck herself in to her futon, and go to sleep.

“...But...”

However, she stopped moving as she reached the gate. She couldn’t bring herself to leave.

“...”

She silently turned her head and looked back. The mansion in the middle of night really was frightening. Yurika sincerely wanted to flee, but something inside of her screamed at her, asking if she was really okay with that.

“Can I really rest easy if I go back alone...?”

Yurika remembered what Harumi had told her during the sports festival.

Even if nobody else is there for me, I’m still there for myself. If I give up now, I’ll lose to myself in the future too. And if I lose to myself, Senpai would be sad.

“I... I feel like going back like this would be a bad idea...”

Having prepared herself, Yurika turned back around. Clutching her large staff, she took several deep breaths to calm down.

“Besides, I feel like somebody is calling for help...”

At that moment, Sanae was indeed shouting for help. There was no way Yurika could hear it from the outside, but even though she couldn’t hear it, she was somehow able to feel it.

“That’s right!”

Immediately after she had prepared herself, Yurika came up with a brilliant idea.

“I’m scared of facing ghosts, so what if I use wide area magic from here?!”

She was scared of entering the mansion, but she couldn’t just abandon them. In that case, she decided she would help from outside. That was Yurika’s compromise between her cowardly nature and her duties as a magical girl.

“Here we go! Angel Halo!”

Having decided what to do, she brandished her staff.

“Bind Undead! Modifier: Huge Area Effect! End: Casting Time, Four Times!”

Yurika cast a spell that restrained ghosts. Since Sanae was with them, she couldn’t use anything more harmful than that. And in order to keep down the magic consumption and increase the area of effect, she increased the time it would take for the spell to activate. Because of that, it didn’t take effect right away after she had finished her incantation, but the spell was fully cast a dozen or so seconds later.

A purple light came out from her staff and gave the night sky a peculiar color. The light extended throughout the mansion. Because of the time it took for the spell to activate, the purple light covered an unbelievably wide area. The light enveloped the entire mansion, and even covered the basement that Yurika couldn’t see from the outside. An area several dozen meters wide with the mansion at its center was placed under the effect of Yurika’s spell.

“All right! My plan worked! Yurika, fight!”

Yurika cheered as she looked over the light enveloping the mansion. She had helped out quite a bit, but sadly there was nobody there to praise her.

“Ah, there she is! President, I found her! Yurika-chan’s secretly cosplaying in this kind of place!”

“Yurika-chan, even though you said you hated it so much, you must be really pumped up about going to Comiha...”

“Huh...?”

Instead, the only ones around were her natural predators, the cosplay society members.

At first, the light that filled the basement was purple. But as the light got stronger, it turned pure white. If Yurika had been here, she might have said it was the same light that saved Harumi during the sports festival. However, she was nowhere to be seen and nobody there understood the meaning behind the light.

“Gwaaaaaaaaaaah! What’s with this light?!”

Although the light covered everybody equally, the only one who began writhing in pain was the evil spirit. The spell Yurika had used was only supposed to bind the dead. But when the light changed from purple to white, it began burning the evil spirit’s body.

“What’s going on...?”

Koutarou looked on in surprise as the evil spirit began squirmed in agony.

“It’s going away! My power is leaving me! Ahhhhh, why?! I was supposed to be reborn with great power!”

As the evil spirit was burned by the white light, she began shrinking at twice the speed she had grown. At the same time, her opaque body became more and more translucent. Koutarou didn’t understand what had happened, but he did understand that the evil spirit was weakening.

“Pleb, what’s with your hands?!”

“My hands?”

Koutarou didn’t notice that his hands had begun glowing until after Theia pointed it out. They were glowing with the same light that was filling the room.

“The charms are glowing...?”

As Koutarou opened his hands, the glow got even brighter. The charms glowing in his hands read “family safety” and “evil spirits begone.” Theia was also the first to realize what was going on.

“Don’t you get it, pleb?! Those are weapons!”

When it came to fighting, Theia’s instincts were usually spot on.

“It won’t matter if you throw them or punch with them! Just use them like you do against Sanae!”

“R-Right!”

If the light filling the room could harm the evil spirit, then chances were that charms could do the same. Even if they didn’t, with the evil spirit this weakened, normal charms might still affect her. Realizing that, Koutarou clenched the charms in his fists once more.

“Here I come! Let me repay you for everything you’ve done!”

“Guaaah! D-Don’t come any closer! Don’t touch me!”

The evil spirit had already shrunk to half size. On top of that, she was unable to move anything but her mouth because of the light. As the evil spirit turned translucent again, Sanae could be seen inside.

“Sanae! Can you hear me, Sanae?!” Koutarou rushed towards the evil spirit while shouting to Sanae.

“...K-Kouta...rou...?” she responded in a weak voice.

“Just wait, Sanae! I’ll get you out of there right now!”

“Koutarou!”

Oddly enough, Sanae didn’t seem to be suffering any ill effects from the white light. Instead, as the evil spirit got weaker, she regained her vigor some. But even so, she was still in a weakened state. All she could do was call out to Koutarou from inside the evil spirit.

“Don’t come any closer! Please stop! I was wrong!”

Seeing Koutarou’s glowing fists, the evil spirit began begging for her life. Her arrogance from before was nowhere to be seen.

“I don’t want to get hurt! Please forgive me! Can’t you just let me go?”

“Did you do that when Sanae begged you? Did you let her go?!”

But Koutarou didn’t care for her begging. After hurting Sanae, the evil spirit was now asking to be spared. Her selfishness only made Koutarou even angrier.

“I’ll give her back! I’ll get her back to you! So please forgive me!”

“No, I definitely won’t forgive you! You hurt Sanae and everyone else! You can regret that on the other side!”

As if responding to Koutarou’s anger, the charms in his hands began to glow more. They started to glow so brightly that just looking at them directly was painful.

“This is for everyone!”

As Koutarou roared, his left fist hit the evil spirit right in the face and the glow dissipated. The gathered power had been used up.

The evil spirit was thrown back by the merciless blow. And taking the hit to the face, she wasn’t even able to scream. After getting punched, the evil spirit instantly shrunk to roughly Koutarou’s size.

“And this—”

Koutarou’s right hand moved now. He was standing like a pitcher, planning on finishing off the evil spirit by throwing the second charm.

“Eeeeeeeek! Stop! Please forgive me! I don’t want to pass on while holding on to a grudge!”

“—is for making Sanae cry!”

Koutarou let fly his trained right arm. His signature fastball screeched through the air like an arrow as it approached the evil spirit. It was like he had thrown a small meteor.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaah!”

And when the charm touched the evil spirit, her body began disappearing from where the charm had touched her. It passed through the fan she held up to defend herself, into the hand holding the fan, and through that hand into her arm. Wherever the charm touched the evil spirit’s body, she popped like a balloon. Unable to withstand the light, the evil spirit lost her form and finally passed on.

“Kyah!”

When the evil spirit dispersed, Sanae fell down onto the floor. Though free, Sanae was still weakened and was unable to move as she laid on her back.

“Owowowow... Ah, that’s...!”

And with Sanae in that state, another danger approached her. The charm that had just erased the evil spirit was falling down towards her. Despite vanquishing the evil spirit, the charm hadn’t lost its glow. And through the light, she could see the blue bag with golden embroidery that Koutarou would often throw at her.

“I-It’s over!”

Normally, getting hit by the charm would only slightly burn her. But Sanae was now extremely weak and the powerful light that erased the evil spirit was burning bright. She tightly closed her eyes as she realized that she would be forced to pass on as well. She was too scared to watch as her own body disappeared.

However, things did not come to pass as Sanae had imagined. The charm bounced off her chest and landed on her face.

“Huh...?”

Realizing that she wasn’t passing on, Sanae slowly opened her right eye. And right in front of her eyes was the glowing white charm.

“Yikes!”

She opened both of her eyes and held her breath. But still the white light didn’t harm her, nor did the charm explode like it normally would.

“Wh-Why...? Doesn’t this light force ghosts to pass on?”

Instead, she felt something warm entering her body where the charm was touching her. It was healing her weakened body little by little.

“And why isn’t it exploding...?”

After recovering for a moment, Sanae stood up. The charm slid off of her face, and she caught it in her hands.

“It’s disappearing...”

Almost as if waiting for Sanae to recover, the white light finally vanished, leaving only the charm in Sanae’s hands.

Why...?

The light that forced the evil spirit to pass on had healed her, and the charm that normally exploded on contact was now resting in her hands. Sanae was confused. Looking for an answer, she turned the charm over and read the embroidered words on the front.

Family... safety...?

In gold thread, the charm read “family safety.”

“Are you okay, Sanae?”

Before the meaning of the words sunk in, somebody called her name. Hearing that voice, Sanae quickly looked in the direction it had come from.

“Koutarou!”

“Well you seem fine...”

It was Koutarou. He was dragging his injured body towards Sanae, but when he saw that she was fine, he stopped and smiled.

“Koutarou, you...”

You fought so desperately and got beaten up so badly...

It was seeing Koutarou like that that made the words on the charm finally sink in for Sanae.

“For my sake... even though I’m your enemy... For my sake...”

Tears began streaming down her cheeks, yet she wasn’t aware that she was crying. She simply embraced the charm and gazed at Koutarou.

I get it. I understand... just what you think of me, Koutarou...

The charm that didn’t hurt Sanae. Koutarou’s ragged appearance.

Those things conveyed Koutarou’s intentions far more eloquently than words ever could.

“H-Hey, what’s wrong, Sanae?! Are you hurt?! Or did the evil spirit do something to you?!”

Surprised by Sanae’s sudden tears, Koutarou rushed over to her. He had completely forgotten the pain he was in.

“I-It’s... nothing... Besides, you’re the one who did something to me...”

That was when Sanae finally realized she was crying. But she didn’t think of stopping her tears, nor did she try to wipe them away. Instead, she just let the emotions overflowing inside of her manifest as tears.

“That’s... right.”

“And?”

“What?”

“You said you wanted to talk with me about something...”

“Oh, yeah, right.”

Standing in front of Sanae, Koutarou stopped to think.

Um, what did I want to talk about again?

But he couldn’t think of what he wanted to say. Too many things had happened and his brain was overheating.

“Sorry, I completely forgot with all that’s happened. I’ll remember once I’ve calmed down, so let’s go home for now, Sanae.”

“You really are an idiot...”

You even said you wouldn’t forcibly take me home... What are you saying now?

Sanae complained on the inside...

“I have no excuses.”

“But I’ll forgive you.”

But she wasn’t in as bad of a mood as she sounded.

“You did come to save me after all.”

“Sorry.”

“And Koutarou...”

Sanae strongly clasped the charm in her hands.

“Thank... you...”

Sanae smiled. Her eyes were red and the tears were still flowing, but she flashed the energetic smile she seemed to have lost.

While Koutarou and Sanae were making up, there were two figures trying to escape.

“Oh, it looks like it ended well.”

“If things had turned out bad, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth. With this, we can escape without regrets.”

It was the culprits behind all of the commotion—the two ghost hunters. They were trying to escape while Koutarou and the others weren’t paying attention. Fortunately, their efforts paid off and they were able to flee the basement without notice.

“We did it!”

“Let’s hurry up and run away!”

However, as they were celebrating, somebody stood in their way.

“...And where are you planning on going?”

It was Kiriha and her haniwas. Even while everyone was focused on Koutarou and Sanae, she hadn’t overlooked the hunters moving.

“Oh no!”

“Th-They’ve already found us!”

“P-Please, just overlook us!”

“Please!”

The hunters threw away their pride and prostrated themselves before Kiriha.

“Calm down. It’s not like I want to harm you.”

“Huh?”

“Really?!”

“Well, I do want to hurt you, so if you try to run, I won’t show any mercy.”

“We won’t run, lady!”

“We won’t run!”

The two sat up straight as Kiriha glared at them. They didn’t care that the floor was covered in dust.

“So, what can we help you with, lady?”

“You said you captured Sanae so you could sell her, yes?”

“That’s right, beautiful lady. That ghost is extremely rare, so she would fetch a high price.”

“Yeah! We were planning on selling her for 300 million! We were going to live a life of luxury!”

Having completely accepted their defeat, the hunters explained everything to Kiriha. To them, their pride wasn’t worth more than their lives.

“In that case, I will buy Sanae with my 300 million.”

“Whaaat?!”

“Seriously?!”

The hunters were amazed by the unexpected offer.

“By 300 million, you mean... 300 million?!”

The hunters couldn’t believe it. They questioned Kiriha’s sanity when she offered them 300 million yen in a situation where they had partially expected to be killed.

“Of course.”

However, Kiriha only calmly nodded her head. Looking at her, the leader’s expression changed.

“...It seems you have your reasons, lady.”

“That’s right. Of course, I don’t want you coming back, but there’s something else I want.”

“And that is?”

Kiriha narrowed her eyes at the ghost hunter’s question.

“Information. I want you to give me all the information you have about Sanae. That’s the condition for this deal.”

“You’re a scary one, lady...”

Kiriha didn’t chose her means when it came to her targets. She would even work with her enemies and pay them without question.

She said she was an invader, but...

The ghost hunters both broke into a cold sweat. They only just realized how dangerous the person they were dealing with was, and it wasn’t just because of the weapons she was using.

“I understand. We’ll do exactly as you say, lady.”

“Yes, we will.”

It didn’t take the hunters long to come to the realization that making this woman an enemy would be bad.