Kawashima Toya yawned and slowly walked back to his room to rest.
"Can I really pretend not to see them?"
Kasumigaoka Utaha mustered up her courage and returned to her bedroom. She pulled back the covers of her supposedly warm bed...
Only to find an evil spirit, dying horribly with empty sockets where its eyes should be, hiding under the blanket. It opened its mouth wide and rasped, "Can you see me?"
In an instant, a bone-chilling sensation swept through her entire body.
"..." Utaha was about to scream and run, but Toya's advice suddenly echoed in her mind.
Just pretend you can't see them!
She comforted herself with this thought, forcing herself to look calm.
But in the next second, the evil spirit didn't seem to believe her and leaned closer to check.
In that moment, Utaha could even smell the stench of decay.
"Kawashima, help me!" Ignoring everything, Utaha ran for her life, with the completely frenzied evil spirit chasing right behind her.
The evil spirit roared loudly, "You can see me!!!"
The apartment wasn't big, and the evil spirit's roar shook the walls so much that Toya couldn't sleep at all.
"I told you, just pretend you can't see them..." Toya rubbed his forehead, realizing he probably wouldn't be getting any sleep today.
He was just about to get up and deal with the evil spirit for Utaha.
The bedroom door burst open, and Utaha rushed in, tears streaming down her face.
Behind her was an evil spirit baring its fangs and claws.
"So smelly and ugly... I wouldn't be able to pretend either." Seeing the hideous evil spirit and smelling the foul stench, Toya frowned. "Die!"
His Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, clear and blue as the sky, activated, and the evil spirit's Points of Death appeared instantly.
Toya reached out and tapped lightly. The ferocious, terrifying evil spirit dissipated immediately.
After the evil spirit vanished, Toya patted the trembling Utaha and comforted her, "Don't be afraid. I've dealt with it."
"Go back to sleep early. Once you adapt to these changes, there won't be any danger."
"How can anyone adapt to this kind of change..." Utaha's beautiful, alluring face still held lingering fear. "That evil spirit was hiding in my blanket!"
"Opening it to find a terrifying ghost... that's too horrifying!"
Toya stroked his chin, sympathizing deeply. "It appeared in your blanket? That would indeed be hard to ignore."
He hadn't expected the evil spirit to be so clever, knowing to hide under the covers to scare people.
It was perfectly normal for Utaha to be frightened.
"So what do you plan to do? You can't just not sleep, right?"
Toya looked a bit helpless. "If I rest, I can't give you much help!"
He wasn't a robot; he couldn't stand guard 24/7.
His Source Points couldn't be spent recklessly for now. Shishou Scáthach might give him some advice later.
Improving himself based on her advice would allow him to survive the Evil God's banquet more safely.
Once the banquet was over, he would have the energy to do other things.
A sly smile curled the corners of Utaha's exquisite lips. "I have a way that won't disturb your sleep."
"Oh? What way?" Toya asked with a hint of interest.
His daily rest time was used to go to the Land of Shadows to train and become stronger; this was the only time he couldn't waste.
Utaha walked to the closet outside the room. "I'll sleep here!"
She opened the closet to reveal a secluded tatami mat inside.
Bedding and everything else were fully prepared; clearly, she had set this up in advance.
"How about it? Is it okay if I sleep here?" Utaha was already prepared for Toya to refuse, ready to unleash a barrage of dirty jokes.
Using the power of dirty jokes, she would force Toya to agree to let her sleep on the closet tatami.
"Sure, sleep in there." Toya flopped back onto his own tatami. "Go to sleep early. Come to the agency with me tomorrow morning."
"There's a treasure protecting the agency, so you don't have to worry about evil spirits appearing there."
"From now on, try to do your work and everything else over there."
"Kawashima..." Utaha suddenly felt an inexplicable touch of emotion.
He looked like he didn't want to care about anything, yet at the critical moment, he helped her find a way out.
"This feeling is quite strange." Utaha lay on the closet tatami, her face slightly flushed.
"I never thought we'd be sharing a room."
Suddenly, Utaha remembered something and hurriedly took out her phone.
"Almost forgot. I haven't notified them yet."
"I don't know if Yuigahama can see them, but notifying them is always safer."
"Them" naturally referred to Yuigahama Yui, Yukinoshita Yukino, and Kato Megumi.
"I've never shared a room with a boy before."
Although they hadn't known each other long, they could barely be considered friends.
After all, everyone had experience contacting Evil God minions, so it wouldn't be strange if they could see evil spirits too.
As Utaha sent the message, Yui, Yukino, and Kato all received it.