"That is... Rio's Soul Materialisation?"
Miko Yotsuya, her stamina nearly depleted, leaned heavily on her longsword as she gazed at the female ghost standing beside Rio Futaba. Her golden eyes reflected astonishment.
Bone Woman, like her own Hyakume, was a yōkai from the legends of Hyakki Yagyō.
Legend said Bone Woman was once a geisha who suffered endless humiliation, insults and abuse from men before transforming into an evil spirit.
Though Bone Woman appeared beautiful, she was merely a skeleton in fine robes - her entire body composed of bleached bones.
"Hachishaku-sama, prepare to engage."
At Rio Futaba's command, Hachishaku-sama hesitated momentarily.
Having witnessed both members awaken their abilities firsthand, she considered herself somewhat experienced.
Yet when Miko had awakened her powers, she'd been a psychic with Mystic Eyes.
How could an ordinary human like Rio Futaba manifest abilities strong enough to combat evil spirits?
Hachishaku-sama grew increasingly convinced that contracting with that human called Ye Xing had been an exceptionally wise decision.
As the saying goes, fine birds choose worthy trees to nest in.
Rather than living in constant fear of evil spirits, joining the Supernatural Society for stable employment seemed far preferable.
"Understood."
Hachishaku-sama floated to Rio's side, her gaze locking onto the evil spirit before them.
"Hachishaku-sama, I'll leave defence to you."
With her hair tied in a ponytail and heavy glasses removed, Rio shed her gloomy demeanour, revealing a decisive martial spirit.
"Go, Bone Woman!"
As Rio's command rang out, Bone Woman in her patterned kimono instantly appeared before the evil spirit.
The latter reacted swiftly, firing a dark green, whip-like tongue bullet-fast towards Bone Woman's forehead.
"Sigh..."
Even in combat, Bone Woman moved with grace.
A melancholic sigh escaped her as a pale white bone spike shot from beneath her kimono, impaling the evil spirit's abdomen and pinning it against the wall.
The evil spirit's face contorted further as its left hand gripped the bone spike piercing its stomach, attempting to shatter the restraint.
"Hachishaku-sama!"
"On it."
Requiring no further instruction after numerous exorcisms with Miko, Hachishaku-same immediately seized the evil spirit's arms.
"This thing..."
Hachishaku-sama frowned, straining visibly.
In this contest of strength, she was actually losing ground.
Remarkably, this was with Bone Woman's spike already pinning the spirit to the wall, limiting its power.
This evil spirit's strength far exceeded what she and Miko had initially assessed!
"Miko..."
Like Miko during her first Soul Materialisation, Rio was already dizzy but persisted, watching the pinned spirit with hesitation before finally resolving:
"Finish it!"
"Right."
Miko's stamina had already entered the danger zone.
If she were Ultraman rather than an exorcist, her chest warning light would be flashing like a disco ball by now.
Even so, Miko Yotsuya forced her exhausted body forward, step by step, slowly approaching the evil spirit. She tightened her grip on the long sword in her hand, took a deep breath, and, without hesitation, swung the blade towards its neck.
"Hold on."
At that moment, a massive pale ghost hand materialised out of thin air, slamming the evil spirit straight into the badminton court's wall.
Hearing that familiar voice and seeing that familiar ghost hand, both Miko Yotsuya and Rio Futaba had the same thought simultaneously.
'The danger is over.'
Miko slumped to the ground, tears welling in her eyes as she watched Ye Xing emerge from around the corner, his face still wearing that same carefree smirk.
"You... you... Why did you take so long... I was almost done for..."
Rio Futaba took a few steps back, leaning against the pristine white wall as she dispelled her Soul Materialisation—Bone Woman. She glanced at Ye Xing and remarked calmly, "This guy was probably hiding somewhere the whole time, waiting to see... cough... waiting to see if we could win on our own."
"Rio Futaba, you know me too well."
"Hmph."
Rio let out a light scoff, instinctively raising her hand to adjust her glasses—only to grasp at air, leaving her slightly embarrassed. "Just a rational judgement based on your terrible personality."
Meanwhile, Hana Yurikawa was utterly bewildered.
From her perspective as an ordinary person, what on earth had just happened?
A disgusting pervert with a dark green, slimy tongue had chased them into the badminton court.
Just as Miko was about to lose, Rio suddenly started spouting nonsense, changed her hairstyle to a high ponytail, and crushed her glasses.
Then, the pervert was inexplicably pinned to the wall by something invisible, with a gaping hole in his stomach.
And finally, Ye Xing made his grand entrance.
What the hell was going on!?
Hana couldn't see the Soul Materialisations of Hyakume and Bone Woman, nor could she perceive the evil spirit Hachishaku-sama. She had no way to comprehend the events that had just unfolded.
"Since you didn't kill him outright..."
Rio took several deep breaths, steadying herself before addressing Ye Xing with detached calm. "Seems you and I had the same thought."
Ye Xing walked up to Miko and extended his hand. "Can you stand?"
"Yeah..."
A faint blush coloured Miko's cheeks, but she still took his hand, letting him pull her up.
Rio frowned slightly and said flatly, "Miko, give your sword to Hana."
"Huh?"
Miko looked utterly confused.
What kind of nonsense were these two planning now?
Though she thought that, Miko was too exhausted to argue. She simply gave in.
"Here."
Hana, ever the airhead, only realised what was happening after she instinctively accepted the sword from Miko.
"Eh!? You don't mean for me to—"
"Exactly."
Ye Xing smiled and nodded, stepping aside to give Hana a clear path as he gestured towards the evil spirit pinned helplessly against the wall by the ghost hand.
"Go ahead, Hana."
"Go ahead... with what?"
Ye Xing shrugged with a nonchalant air and chuckled.
"Of course, we stab this bastard. If you want to give it a few more, I won't object—I'll even cheer you on. Go for it."
"Huh?!"
Hana Yurikawa was stunned, shaking her head vigorously like a rattle-drum.
"No, no, absolutely not! That's assault! And if it's worse, it could even be..."
"This thing isn't human."
Ye Xing cut her off with a smile, pulling out a silver nail from his pocket. With a motion both gentle and deliberate, he pressed the sharp tip into the heart of the evil spirit before them.
Under Hana's horrified gaze, he repeated the action several more times, then pointed at the still-twisted face of the evil spirit—its major arteries pierced, blood pooling beneath it, yet still snarling and clawing—and said flatly,
"See? If it were human, it'd be dead by now."
Hana hesitated.
"But..."
"No buts."
Ye Xing took hold of Hana's wrist, guiding the tip of the long blade in her hand toward the evil spirit's neck.
"This thing is called an evil spirit. As you just saw, it's a monster."
"There's only one way to deal with evil spirits."
"And that's to show no mercy."
Under Ye Xing's guidance, Hana drove the blade into the half-human, half-evil spirit's neck, then sliced horizontally, severing its head.
Watching as the evil spirit dissolved into black smoke, which Ye Xing then inhaled, Rio Futaba gave a slight nod, her expression one of confirmation.
Miko Yotsuya finally understood why they had Hana—not one of the Supernatural Society's members—be the one to strike.
It was to test a theory.
If evil spirits could avoid the "sight" rule by merging with human bodies, did that mean they also lost certain advantages in return?
Exactly as expected.
Normally, Hana, an ordinary human, wouldn't be able to harm an evil spirit at all—even wielding a spiritual object like the long blade—since she wasn't a psychic.
Yet now, she hadn't just harmed one—she'd outright killed it.
This confirmed Rio's hypothesis.
By circumventing the "sight" rule, these half-human, half-evil spirit monsters had developed a corresponding weakness: even ordinary humans without spiritual power could hurt and kill them.
"Haah..."
Rio leaned against the wall, exhaling deeply before murmuring in admiration, "This ability... really takes it out of you."
Compared to her, Miko—who had used Soul Materialisation multiple times—was also exhausted, but she recovered much faster. At the very least, she could move normally now.
Just then, Ye Xing suddenly leaned close to Hana, who was still gripping the long blade in a daze, and whispered something in her ear.
Her expression grew even more complicated upon hearing his words.
"Miko, take Yurikawa home."
Miko nodded, placing a comforting hand on Hana's shoulder and speaking softly,
"Let's go, Yurikawa."
After Miko Yotsuya left with Hana Yurikawa, Rio Futaba seemed to finally breathe a sigh of relief as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Her body suddenly slumped straight towards the ground.
Fortunately, Ye Xing reacted swiftly and caught Rio before she fell.
"You really were pushing yourself too hard."
In this position, it was as if Rio Futaba had practically collapsed into Ye Xing's arms.
She breathed in his scent, listening to the rhythmic heartbeat from his chest, her cheeks flushing crimson. Like an ostrich burying its head, she lowered her face to hide her embarrassment, speaking in her usual calm and rational tone.
"It wasn't pushing myself. I just couldn't let my guard down until the matter was fully resolved."
At this point, Rio glanced at the broken glasses in her hand and shook her head helplessly.
"I'll need to get new glasses again."
Ye Xing teased without concern.
"Serves you right for trying to look cool back then."
To summon Soul Materialisation, one only needed to call its true name. There was absolutely no step requiring her to crush her own glasses.
What did she think she was - Yu Narukami summoning Izanagi?
"But I have to admit,"
Ye Xing looked down at Rio nestled in his arms.
"You did look incredibly cool when you tied up that high ponytail, crushed your glasses and called out your soul's true name."
"Shut up."
Rio murmured these words, her face growing even redder.
"Take me home."
"Alright."
Supporting the slightly unsteady Rio, Ye Xing walked out of the badminton hall.
World Famous Painting - "Where is Mai Sakurajima?"
Mai Sakurajima was at home cooking.
...
After seeing Rio home and helping her sit on the sofa, Ye Xing naturally took a seat himself.
Rio sighed helplessly and delivered a precise remark.
"This is your second time visiting my home. Don't you have any particular thoughts about it?"
Ye Xing scanned the living room before nodding slowly.
"Hmm, your place is quite spacious. Mind if I see your bedroom?"
"N-no... absolutely not!"
The previously composed Rio instantly lost her composure.
"A g-girl's room isn't something you can just enter! Are... are you some kind of pervert!?"
"Keep scolding me, I love hearing it."
"Tch, getting happy from being insulted. You really are a pervert."
Rio gritted her pearly teeth, shooting Ye Xing a resentful look while thinking she was completely powerless against this guy.
After resting for a while, Rio untied her ponytail, letting her hair fall loosely over her shoulders again.
She first went to the kitchen to brew two cups of coffee. Placing them on the table, she tapped her fair chin with a ballpoint pen, wearing a thoughtful expression as she recalled recent events.
"Based on my personal experience, the conditions for awakening Soul Materialisation are exactly as you described - first 'recognising' the existence of those things, then facing one's true self. With sufficiently strong conviction, one can obtain the ability."
Truly Rio Futaba.
No sooner had she recovered than she began organising and analysing information.
"And..."
Rio took a sip from her cup. The rich bitterness of the coffee helped clear her mind.
"From Miko's Hyakume, my Bone Woman, and your... never mind, let's exclude you from the analysis for now."
"In summary, judging from the cases of Miko and myself, the type of Soul Materialisation ability is inextricably linked to the user's true inner self."
"Though honestly, since it's the manifestation of one's true self and soul, this outcome is perfectly logical."
As Rio Futaba analysed, Ye Xing raised a hand to interrupt.
"You should rest before continuing your analysis. Don't want your brain overheating and crashing."
Rio looked at him with exasperation.
"My brain isn't a CPU. It's not going to burn out."
Despite her words, Rio did feel slightly lightheaded - likely due to excessive mental exhaustion from her first Soul Materialisation experience.
"I'll take my leave then."
"Mm, see you."
With Rio's personality, she'd never say something like asking Ye Xing to stay at her place tonight.
She wanted to rest early anyway, as both her mind and body felt thoroughly drained.
...
"You're back? Wash your hands, dinner's ready."
Upon entering, Ye Xing was greeted by Mai Sakurajima's gentle voice.
This reminded him.
Among all recent events - the appearance of Onimaru Kunitsuna, those half-human, half-evil spirit creatures, and the Wu Clan - these were all secondary.
Problems solvable by strength weren't problems to him.
But how to handle Mai Sakurajima's Adolescence Syndrome?
From Rio's analysis in the original storyline, Mai's condition stemmed from an unconscious desire to escape to a world where no one knew her.
Seriously?
This quantum mechanics explanation felt rather far-fetched.
Unknown doesn't mean unperceivable.
What kind of demonic wishing machine was this?
The method to make everyone remember idol Mai Sakurajima again...
A public confession at school?
Ye Xing knew his notoriety at Sobu High would guarantee school-wide attention.
But to avoid playing favourites...
How many names would he need to declare?
"I, Ye Xing from Class 1-A, love second-year Mai Sakurajima-senpai, same-year students Rio Futaba, Yui Yuigahama, Kazusa Touma, and Miko Yotsuya!"
?
That scenario seemed... problematic.
Moreover, would just the students and staff of Sobu High really be enough to cure Mai's Adolescence Syndrome?
As Ye Xing pondered, an extremely peculiar idea gradually took shape.
If he did that...
The feasibility seemed high.
"Dinner's ready."
While deep in thought, Mai approached, wearing an apron, and placed two steaming dishes on the table.
Noticing him still motionless on the sofa, she frowned slightly in complaint.
"I told you to wash up. Daydreaming again, honestly..."
Mai took two wet wipes from the table, knelt before Ye Xing, and began carefully cleaning his hands as she asked softly,
"How's that Hana Yurikawa girl? Did the request go smoothly?"
"Yeah, pretty well."
Ye Xing nodded casually.
"Just that the three of them nearly died. Overall, though, quite successful."
Mai's eyes widened in alarm.
"That dangerous?"
"What did you expect?"
Ye Xing explained with complete seriousness.
"You should know, a certain famous exorcist once said that even jumping down a single step could risk their life. Wouldn't you say that's dangerous?"
"That's... a bit exaggerated, isn't it?"
"Not at all. There was also the legendary assassin master who dissolved easily in water."