After Mio finished cleaning the kitchen, the clock had just passed 7 PM.
The new chat group functions had opened up: daily sign-ins, random point rewards, and the confirmation that there were now ten total members.
A pretty big deal.
Shirakawa didn't pay it much mind for now. He'd check the chat log later. Right now, he needed to deal with Hanako's situation.
So he brought Mary with him.
They headed to the rental room where Hanako was temporarily staying. With his own keys in hand, there was no need to knock.
Having had the grudge purified from her soul, Hanako's personality had undergone a dramatic shift.
Gone was the malice and hostility from before.
Sensing Shirakawa's arrival—
She ran barefoot to the entryway, still adjusting to this new sense of freedom. When she saw him, her expression remained carefully composed.
"Hanako," Shirakawa said, stepping aside, "I'm guessing you two don't need introductions?"
He moved aside to let Mary in, leaving the two urban legends time to catch up.
The rental unit's sofa was still clean and unused.
With a rare moment to relax, Shirakawa opened the dimensional chat group—
New members had brought new energy. The chat was far more active than before.
But before he could even scroll through the log—
He was immediately roasted by a certain goddess of wisdom.
Saeko Busujima:I honestly didn't expect other worlds to really exist. Ours is just a regular modern society.
Aqua:Of course they exist! Though the world I'm stuck in sucks—no sparkling wine, inns cost a fortune, and I have to work just to eat! Aaaah!! Damn you, high schooler!
Ordinary High School Student:?
Mai Sakurajima:Please stop with the blanket accusations!
Aqua:I don't mean you! I'm talking about that NEET shut-in who dragged me into another world!
Gabriel:Are you... biased against NEETs?
Asuna:Ahem...
"Why are all of them familiar faces...?!"
Staring at the familiar nicknames lighting up in the chat group, Shirakawa couldn't help but feel a wave of strangeness.
Saeko Busujima from the Highschool of the Dead World—from the look of it, the zombie outbreak hadn't happened yet.
Sakurajima Mai-senpai, the Fallen Angel Gabriel, and even the ever-dutiful Yuki Asuna, clearly had just entered the Sword Art Online game.
And then—one line from the so-called Goddess of Wisdom…
She basically dissed most of the chat group in one go. Shirakawa couldn't tell whether Aqua was extraordinarily lucky or hopelessly cursed.
He stopped paying attention to the chat conversation and shifted his focus to the chat group interface itself. Apart from the existing world teleport anchor that could be exchanged with points, two new icons had appeared:
Sign-In.
Shop.
"So minimalist."
"Looks like it's about time... to try out this sign-in feature!"
Meanwhile, Hanako Hiraki and Mary were privately catching up. They discussed everything that had happened—including the matter of forced exorcism.
Upon hearing about the physical changes Mary experienced after being forcibly exorcised, Hanako could no longer suppress the emotions stirring deep inside her.
Grabbing Mary's arm tightly, she asked with urgency:
"You're telling the truth…?"
"As long as I undergo enough forced exorcisms, I won't need to fear sunlight anymore? I could even go out freely during the day?"
"Of course."
Mary, once nothing more than a doll, had no modern social awareness. Even as she recounted the process of forced exorcism, her face remained expressionless.
In fact, she couldn't understand it at all—
Why would Hanako resist something that felt so good?
"Uh… I'll think about it."
Even though she didn't have a body anymore, the mere idea of walking freely under sunlight was tempting enough to outweigh everything else.
Hanako glanced toward Shirakawa, who sat calmly on the sofa—the same boy who had helped her graduate. After a brief internal struggle...
A faint blush colored her pale cheeks.
She stepped forward.
Thanks to her middle school biology classes, she wasn't completely naïve. After pulling out the sealed holy sword—Curry Stick, even witnessing it again, Hanako couldn't help but gulp.
Finally...
She lifted the hem of her red pleated skirt, and—just like the last time—sat down hard on the same spot that had once been purified. Gritting her teeth, she tried to endure the strange sensations of the exorcism.
Tilting her head slightly, she looked at Shirakawa—the one who had chosen to save her—and said sincerely:
"Master… please continue… Exorcise me again."