Part 4
The Shibuya night was brightly lit, and the streetlights still illuminated the night sky like bonfires burning in the night, even far away from downtown. Touji silently stared into the misty night on the roof of the dorm.
In February the night was still as cold and windy as winter, and wind would often blow Touji's hair. He leaned on the railing, his right hand lifting the bangs over his forehead. The bandanna that normally wrapped around his head was taken off in his left hand, and due to the bandanna that was almost his trademark, the current him gave off somewhat of a different impression than usual.
Just then, the door to the roof opened, and he reflexively brought up the bandanna. But--
"......So it was you."
The person who appeared in the rooftop door was Harutora. Touji instantly relaxed, leaning back onto the railing.
Harutora had a can of coffee in either hand. It seemed that he had long since known that Touji was on the roof. He called out, walking up to Touji.
"What's up, punk. The atmosphere seems like you're missing a cigarette."
"Shut up, I don't smoke or drink."
The two of them teased each other like the past, and then Harutora said the word "Here.", tossing a can of coffee to Touji. Touji didn't especially thank him, silently taking the coffee from his good friend.
Harutora smiled lightly.
"Can't sleep, Touji?"
"Why did you come here?'
"Hmm? Uh, well...... When I thought of the exam tomorrow deciding my future fate, I became too nervous to sleep."
Harutora lowered his head, dropping his gaze to his hands as he pulled open the tab on the coffee can. Touji's mouth curved into a mocking smile as he looked at Harutora's appearance.
"......What an idiot......"
"Hmm? What did you say?"
"Nothing."
Touji shrugged his shoulders at the clueless Harutora and then pulled on his tab as well, bringing the coffee can to his lips. Touji drank a sugarless coffee while Harutora's was slightly sweet. They had long since known each other's likes, so checking the marking on the can was superfluous.
"Come to think of it...... I never expected they would want us to purify a spiritual disaster, that's only something that you would see on TV. I thought I was used to it already, but the Onmyou Academy really is random."
Harutora's face sank as he spoke.
Touji had revealed the contents of the exam to Harutora and the others on the road to the dorm. Natsume and the others had seemed a bit opposed to learning the exam topic beforehand, but they hadn't spoken up to stop him.
"Can students like us successfully purify a spiritual disaster?"
"Purification methods were taught in the curriculum, right? I heard that we'll first have preliminary review tomorrow and then begin the exam in the evening. Also, what's important for the exam are your preparation and ability to respond rather than whether you can actually purify or not. Moreover, we're just purifying a spiritual disaster that's around phase one."
"It's a spiritual disaster no matter how low the phase is. If I recall, phase one is...... a spiritual disaster that won't harm physical beings, right?"
"Right, they can only harm physical beings when it reaches phase two. Phase one is 'a degree of aura distortion that cannot naturally recover', so it's not truly an 'aura-triggered disaster', but just a first stage. Professional exorcists would only need two or three people to handle the purification, and we have the whole class...... It's just that the teachers seem to be planning on not letting Natsume help with the purification at the start." Touji replied to Harutora's question with a calm tone.
Not letting Natsume participate in the exam was because she had a trump card - the servant shikigami Hokuto.
Hokuto was a dragon, a spiritual beast that had served the Tsuchimikado family for generations. Just by using Hokuto's spiritual pressure, a phase one spiritual disaster could be forced to 'scatter', so though they would allow Natsume to participate in the exam, they wanted her to assist from behind as much as possible - Principal Kurahashi had explained.
"With that, Natsume pretty much doesn't need to take the exam."
"The Onmyou Academy emphasizes power, and they probably judged that there was no reason for Natsume to be tested."
"That's great, Natsume. Well, mortals like us can only properly take the exam."
Harutora drank his coffee, looking into the night sky, and Touji also looked up.
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