Chapter 76: Hone-Onna's Powerful Combat Ability, The Virtuous Wife and Good Mother Sakurajima Mai
"That is... Futaba's Soul Manifestation?"
Miko, whose stamina was almost at its limit, supported her body with the katana. Looking at the female ghost standing beside Rio, a look of surprise appeared in her golden eyes.
Hone-Onna (Bone Woman), like her Hyakume, was a monster from the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons.
Legend had it that Hone-Onna was an evil ghost transformed from a Geisha who suffered verbal abuse, insults, and bullying from men during her lifetime.
Hone-Onna looked beautiful, but in reality, she was just a "pink skeleton" (beauty is skin deep), with a body composed entirely of white bones.
"Hachishaku, get ready."
Hearing Rio's command, Hachishaku also froze for a moment.
As a witness present for both members' awakenings, she had some experience.
But the last one who awakened, Miko, was a spirit medium with the "Sight."
Rio, an ordinary human, could also awaken such an ability strong enough to fight evil spirits?
Hachishaku felt more and more that signing a contract with the human named Yoru was a wise decision.
As the saying goes, a wise bird chooses a good tree to nest.
Rather than living in fear every day in the circle of evil spirits, it was better to join the Super-Quant Club and get an iron rice bowl (stable job).
"Understood."
Hachishaku floated to Rio's side, her gaze also locking onto the evil ghost in front of them.
"Hachishaku, defense is up to you."
Rio, with her hair tied in a ponytail and heavy glasses removed, had less of a gloomy temperament and more of a decisive heroism.
"Go, Hone-Onna!"
As Rio's voice fell, the Hone-Onna draped in a floral kimono appeared instantly in front of the evil ghost.
The latter reacted quickly too, immediately spitting out its dark green, tough long tongue like a bullet, aiming at Hone-Onna's forehead.
"Sigh..."
Even in battle, Hone-Onna's movements were elegant.
She just let out a soft, resentful sigh. From her skeletal body hidden under the kimono, a sharp, white bone spur instantly extended, piercing through the evil ghost's abdomen and pinning it straight to the wall.
The evil ghost's face twisted further. Its left hand gripped the bone spur piercing its abdomen, trying to crush it directly and break free.
"Hachishaku!"
"Understood."
Without needing Rio to say more, Hachishaku, who had gained a lot of exorcism experience following Miko recently, immediately reached out with both hands and clamped down on the evil ghost's arms.
"This guy..."
Hachishaku frowned tightly, looking very strained.
In the contest of strength, she actually fell into a disadvantage.
Mind you, this was while Hone-Onna had pinned the evil ghost to the wall with a bone spur, limiting part of its power.
This evil ghost's strength was far more powerful than she and Miko initially judged!
"Miko..."
Using Soul Manifestation for the first time, Rio was already dizzy like Miko back then, but she still held on. Looking at the evil ghost pinned to the wall, hesitation appeared between her brows, but she finally made up her mind.
"Slash it!"
"Okay."
Miko's stamina had already reached the red line.
If she were Ultraman instead of an exorcist, the warning light on her chest would be flashing like a disco ball right now.
Even so, Miko forced her body to move step by step, slowly walking up to the evil ghost. She gripped the katana tightly, took a deep breath, and slashed the tip towards its neck without hesitation.
"Hold on."
Just then, a gigantic Pale Ghost Hand appeared out of nowhere, pressing the evil ghost's body directly into the wall of the badminton hall.
Hearing this familiar voice and seeing this familiar Ghost Hand, Miko and Rio had the same thought simultaneously.
The danger is lifted.
Miko slumped to the ground. Looking at Yoru walking out from the corner with a frivolous smile still on his face, tears overflowed from her eyes.
"You, you, why are you so late... I was almost done for."
Rio also retreated a few steps, leaned against the white wall, dispelled her Soul Manifestation Hone-Onna, glanced at Yoru, and said calmly.
"This guy was probably hiding somewhere long ago. He didn't show up because he wanted to see... cough, wanted to see if we could win with our own strength."
"Rio Futaba knows me well."
"Hmph."
Rio snorted lightly. She subconsciously raised her hand to push her glasses frame but pushed air, feeling slightly awkward.
"Just a rational judgment based on your nasty personality."
At this moment, Hana was completely dumbfounded.
In her ordinary eyes, what happened just now?
A pervert with a dark green long tongue that made people feel disgusted chased them into the badminton hall.
When Miko was about to lose, Rio suddenly started saying nonsensical things, changed to a high ponytail hairstyle, and crushed her glasses.
Then, the pervert was suddenly pinned to the wall by something, and a hole appeared in his abdomen.
Finally, Yoru appeared.
What is going on!?
Hana couldn't see the Soul Manifestations Hyakume and Hone-Onna, nor could she see Hachishaku the evil spirit, so she couldn't understand what happened just now at all.
"Since you didn't kill this guy directly..."
Rio took a deep breath for a while, adjusted her breathing, and said faintly to Yoru.
"It seems you thought of the same thing as me."
Yoru walked up to Miko and extended his hand.
"Can you still stand up?"
"Mmhmm..."
A blush flashed across Miko's cheek, but she still took Yoru's hand and let him pull her up.
Rio frowned slightly and said flatly.
"Miko, give your sword to Yurikawa-san."
"Hah?"
Miko looked confused.
What new trick are these two playing?
Although she thought so, Miko really didn't have the energy to think, so she just went along with it.
"Here."
Hana was also a bit ditzy. She subconsciously took the katana handed by Miko before realizing belatedly.
"Eh!? You guys don't want me to..."
"Correct."
Yoru nodded with a smile, stepped aside to make room for Hana, and pointed at the evil ghost pinned to the wall by the Ghost Hand, unable to move.
"Please, Yurikawa-san."
"Please... what?"
Yoru looked matter-of-fact, shrugged, and smiled.
"Of course, give this bastard (B) a slash. If you want to give him a few more slashes, I won't object; in fact, I fully support it. Go for it."
"Hah!?"
Hana was shocked, shaking her head like a rattle-drum.
"No, no, absolutely not! That's a crime of assault! If it gets serious, it could be..."
"This guy isn't human."
Yoru interrupted Hana with a smile. He took out a silver nail from his pocket and, with an extremely gentle, slow, yet firm movement, pierced the sharp tip of the silver nail into the evil ghost's heart.
Under Hana's shocked and terrified gaze, he repeated this action several times, then pointed at the evil ghost who was still clawing and grimacing despite having its heart's main artery pierced and blood flowing all over the ground. He said faintly.
"See? If he were human, he would be dead by now."
Hana hesitated.
"But..."
"No buts."
Yoru grabbed Hana's wrist and slowly brought the tip of the katana in her hand close to the evil ghost's neck.
"This thing is called an evil spirit. Just like you saw, it's a monster."
"There is only one way to deal with evil spirits."
"That is, show absolutely no mercy."
Under Yoru's guidance, Hana thrust the katana into the neck of the half-human half-evil spirit, then sliced horizontally, separating its head from its body.
Watching the evil ghost turn into black smoke and get sucked into Yoru's stomach, Rio nodded slightly, showing an expression of "as expected."
Miko finally understood why they let Hana do it instead of the Super-Quant Club members.
It was to verify a point.
Since evil spirits could avoid the "Seeing" rule by merging with a human body, did they lose some advantages correspondingly?
Sure enough.
Logically speaking, Hana, an ordinary human, even holding a katana that was a spiritual item, shouldn't be able to cause any substantial damage to an evil spirit since she wasn't a spirit medium.
But now, she not only caused damage but directly killed an evil spirit.
This confirmed Rio's conjecture.
While circumventing the rule of "Seeing," this half-human half-evil spirit monster also developed a corresponding weakness.
That is, even ordinary humans without abilities could harm and kill them.
"Phew..."
Rio leaned back against the wall, exhaled a long breath, and couldn't help but sigh.
"Using this ability... is really tiring."
Compared to her, Miko, who had used Soul Manifestation many times, although also exhausted, recovered much faster. At least normal movement was no problem.
At this time, Yoru suddenly leaned close to Hana's ear, who was still holding the katana and hadn't recovered from the shock, and whispered something.
Hearing his words, Hana's expression became even more complicated.
"Miko, send Yurikawa-san home."
Miko nodded, patted the complicated-looking Hana on the shoulder, and said gently.
"Yurikawa-san, let's go."
....
After Miko left with Hana, Rio seemed relieved, finally breathing a sigh of relief. Her body suddenly fell straight to the ground.
Fortunately, Yoru was quick-eyed and quick-handed, catching Rio.
"Acting tough indeed."
This posture was like Rio lying directly in Yoru's arms.
Smelling his scent and hearing the rhythmic heartbeat from his chest, her cheeks turned completely red. She lowered her head like an ostrich to prevent Yoru from noticing her shyness, whispering in her usual calm and rational tone.
"Not acting tough, just couldn't relax vigilance until the incident was completely resolved."
Speaking of this, Rio looked at the crushed glasses in her hand and shook her head helplessly.
"Have to get a new pair of glasses again."
Yoru teased nonchalantly.
"Who told you to act cool back then?"
To summon Soul Manifestation, calling the True Name was enough; there was absolutely no step of crushing glasses.
Did you think you were Narukami Yu summoning Izanagi? (Persona 4 reference).
"However, I have to say."
Yoru looked down at Rio lying in his arms.
"When you tied up the high ponytail, crushed your glasses, and called out the True Name of your soul, you were indeed very cool."
"Shut up."
Rio whispered this, the shyness on her face intensifying.
"Take me home."
"Okay."
Yoru supported the unsteady Rio and walked out of the badminton hall.
World Famous Painting - "Where is Sakurajima Mai?"
Sakurajima Mai is cooking at home.
.....
After sending Rio home and helping her sit on the sofa, Yoru sat down too, acting as if it were only natural.
Rio sighed helplessly and retorted accurately.
"This is your second time at my house; don't you have any special thoughts?"
Yoru scanned the living room, nodded, and spoke slowly.
"Mmhmm, your house is quite big. Let me see the bedroom?"
"N... N... No! Absolutely not!"
Rio, who was pretending to be calm, broke character instantly.
"How can you enter a girl's room casually? You... you pervert!"
"Scold me a few more times, I love hearing it."
"Tch, getting happy from being scolded, truly a pervert."
Rio gritted her silver teeth and glared at Yoru, thinking she really had no way to deal with this guy.
After resting for a while, Rio untied her ponytail, letting her hair drape over her shoulders again.
She first went to the kitchen to make two cups of coffee. After bringing them to the table, she held a ballpoint pen, tapping her fair chin lightly, looking thoughtful. Recalling what happened just now, she spoke slowly.
"From my own experience, the condition for awakening Soul Manifestation is exactly as you said: 'Cognize' the existence of those things, then face the true self. If one possesses strong enough conviction, one can obtain the ability."
As expected of Rio.
As soon as she recovered, she began organizing and analyzing intelligence.
"Also..."
Rio took a sip from the cup. The rich bitterness of the coffee made her feel her mind clearing up a lot.
"Judging from Miko's Hyakume, my Hone-Onna, and your... forget it, let's not list you as an analysis object for now."
"Anyway, judging from the two examples of Miko and me, the type of Soul Manifestation ability is inextricably linked to the user's true inner heart."
"However, since it is the manifestation of the true self and soul, it stands to reason that this situation occurs."
Listening to Rio's analysis, Yoru raised his hand to interrupt.
"You should rest a bit before analyzing, lest your brain overloads and overheats."
Rio looked speechless.
"My brain isn't a CPU; can it burn out?"
Although she said that, Rio did feel a bit dizzy, presumably due to excessive consumption of mental energy from the first Soul Manifestation.
"Then I'll leave first."
"Mmhmm, bye-bye."
With Rio's personality, she naturally wouldn't say words like letting Yoru stay at her house tonight.
She also wanted to rest early, as she felt very exhausted both mentally and physically.
.....
"Back? Wash your hands, ready to eat."
After entering the door, Yoru heard Mai's gentle voice.
This reminded him.
Among all recent events, things like Onimaru Kunitsuna, the new species of half-human half-evil spirit, and the appearance of the Kure Clan were secondary.
Problems that could be solved with strength were not problems for him.
How to deal with Sakurajima Mai's Adolescence Syndrome?
Judging from Futaba Rio's analysis in the original story, Mai developed this symptom because she subconsciously wanted to go to a world where no one knew her due to multiple pressures, something even she didn't realize.
No.
Isn't this Quantum Mechanics a bit bullshit?
No one knows doesn't mean no one can cognize.
Is this a Demon Wish Granting Machine?
The method to make everyone remember Idol Sakurajima Mai again....
Public confession at school?
Yoru believed that with his popularity in Sobu High, it would inevitably become news attracting the attention of all teachers and students.
But to not show favoritism...
How many names would he have to list?
"I, Yoru of Class 1-A, like second-year Senpai Sakurajima Mai, same-year Futaba Rio, Yui Yuigahama, Touma Kazusa, Yotsuya Miko!"
?
This scene would be a bit too marvelous.
Besides, could just the teachers and students of Sobu High really ensure Mai's Adolescence Syndrome is cured?
Yoru pondered and gradually came up with a wonderful idea.
If he did that...
The feasibility was high.
"Food is ready."
Just as Yoru was pondering, Mai, wearing an apron, brought two steaming dishes to the table.
Seeing him still sitting motionless on the sofa, Mai frowned and complained.
"Didn't I tell you to wash your hands? Thinking about something again, really."
Mai pulled two wet wipes from the tissue box on the table, squatted in front of Yoru, carefully wiped his hands for him, and asked softly.
"How is that Yurikawa-san? Did the commission go smoothly?"
"Mmhmm, quite smoothly."
Yoru nodded and said nonchalantly.
"Just that the three of them almost died. Overall, quite smoothly."
Mai was shocked hearing this.
"So dangerous?"
"What do you think?"
Yoru explained seriously.
"You should know, a certain famous exorcist might even risk losing his life just jumping down a step. Do you think it's dangerous?" (Note: Reference to Geralt of Rivia / Witcher falling damage meme).
"This... is a bit exaggerated, right?"
"Not exaggerated. There's also an Assassin Master who is soluble in water."