Miko looked at herself; her clothes were almost completely destroyed, revealing a large amount of skin.
"How am I supposed to get back?"
"Sumimasen, is anyone there?"
Hearing a voice, Miko immediately struck an amateur combat pose.
"I'm a delivery person. I have the clothes you ordered. Is anyone there?"
Miko finally breathed a sigh of relief and stepped out from the darkness. Not far away, a woman in professional attire was looking around fearfully.
"Excuse me, over here."
The moment Miko appeared, the delivery person screamed, covered her mouth, and collapsed onto the ground.
At this moment, Miko was practically covered in blood. Although her wounds were healed, the blood was very much real.
She looked as if she had just murdered someone.
"Ah, I'm sorry, this blood is my own... I mean, I won't hurt you."
"Can you give me the clothes...?"
The delivery person swallowed hard, her legs trembling as she stood up and shakily handed over the shopping bag.
"Excuse me, that will be seven hundred thousand yen in total."
Miko's face stiffened; she hadn't brought that much money with her.
"The card is on you. After all, it's my body too."
Hearing that Akuto was willing to lend her the money, Miko looked relieved. She took the card Yaeko had given her out of her school bag and handed it over.
The delivery person finished swiping the card on the POS machine and, before leaving, whispered, "Are you in some kind of danger? Do you need me to call the police for you?"
Miko's face stiffened, and she waved her hand with a forced smile.
"No need, thank you. I'm going home now."
The delivery person kept looking back every few steps until Miko was out of sight.
Miko changed into the new clothes. She couldn't buy a school uniform outside, so she bought a similar pleated skirt.
Aside from the shoes, everything Akuto had bought—the socks, underwear, shirt, and sweater—was brand new.
And they were all high-end goods.
They looked better and felt more comfortable to wear.
As she put on the underwear, Miko's face turned visibly red.
"How do you know my size... You really were peeking, weren't you?"
Akuto pretended not to hear.
When Miko arrived home, Mrs. Yotsuya had already returned.
"I'm back."
"Miko, you've been coming home later and later lately!"
Mrs. Yotsuya looked somewhat stern.
"I bet she's in a relationship, isn't she?"
Kyosuke leaned his head over from the sofa, fanning the flames with a mischievous grin.
He thought his mother would get angry and lecture his sister, but to his surprise, Mrs. Yotsuya's expression suddenly changed, and she looked at Miko with a face full of gossip.
"Eh? Really, Miko?"
"Who's the boy? Is he handsome? When are you bringing him home?"
"Eh?" Kyosuke was shocked. "Mom, Sis is in a middle school romance, aren't you going to stop her?"
"What do you know? The innocent love of youth is the most beautiful thing!"
Mrs. Yotsuya clasped her hands together with a longing expression.
"Mom, don't listen to his nonsense. I'm not in a relationship."
"I'm a little tired. I'm going to take a bath first."
Miko walked upstairs, while behind her, Mrs. Yotsuya's expression gradually became serious.
"Miko wasn't wearing this outfit when she left this morning, was she? And it smells like new clothes. This child..."
"It seems I need to have a talk with her. You can't make mistakes at this age."
Besides Mrs. Yotsuya, Miko's father watched his daughter's back with a complex expression.
Unlike Mrs. Yotsuya, as a Benevolent Spirit, he could feel that the aura on Miko had changed.
Moreover, Miko was covered in the scent of blood.
"Miko..."
As Miko soaked in the bathtub, the blood in her hair immediately dissolved, dyeing the bathwater red.
It took changing the water several times before Miko finally cleaned herself up.
After dinner, Mrs. Yotsuya sent Kyosuke away and looked at Miko very seriously.
"Miko, you haven't done anything wrong, have you?"
Miko was completely confused.
"You're still young; there are some things you shouldn't do. You have plenty of youth ahead of you. You can't become a mother so young, do you understand?"
Miko's face turned visibly red.
"You... Mom, what are you saying! I'm not in a relationship, I... I'm going back to do my homework."
Miko fled the room.
Mrs. Yotsuya's expression became even more troubled.
Not in a relationship... Mrs. Yotsuya thought back to the bill Miko had seen last night.
"This child... she hasn't gone down the wrong path, has she?"
She had seen the brand of that sweater, Hermes. That one pullover alone was worth five hundred thousand yen... Miko had no idea her mother was thinking so much about a single piece of clothing.
At this moment, she had just finished her homework and, forcing herself through her exhaustion, changed her clothes and lay on the bed.
As her consciousness gradually drifted into sleep, the incantations and the second pair of eyes appeared on her face once again.
Akuto stood up expressionlessly, took out a phone to open an account, and then transferred all the money from Yaeko's card into it.
After doing all this, Akuto frowned and dialed Yaeko's contact information.
"Hello, Miss Akuto."
"Can you get a helicopter? I need one right now."
"Right now... I can make some calls. Your destination is...?"
"I need to hover over Tokyo. Just take me around for a few laps."
"I understand. Please wait a moment."
Less than ten minutes after hanging up, Yaeko called back.
"It's been arranged. A helicopter will arrive on the roof of my apartment building in half an hour. Should I arrange a car to pick you up?"
"No need. Just open the window."
After Akuto spoke, she put on her shoes and disappeared into the night.
On the other side, Yaeko pursed her lips but still opened the living room window as Akuto had said.
Though she didn't understand why Akuto would make such a request.
She couldn't possibly be jumping up here, could she?
Jumping down might be easy for the other party, but coming up... this was the 16th floor!
However, reality soon provided Yaeko with an answer.
Half an hour later, Yaeko looked out the window in terror.
She saw Akuto standing at a ninety-degree angle outside the window, walking up as if on level ground.
"She... she walked up!"
Yaeko even forgot her composure, her red lips parting into an 'O' shape.
"So... there really are superhumans in this world..."
Yaeko was completely mistaken; in this world, only Akuto could achieve such a feat.
Miko counted as half of one, but she couldn't control her Cursed Energy well yet, and she still had a long way to go before reaching this level.
However, Akuto had no intention of explaining.
"Is the helicopter ready?"
Today, Yaeko was wearing professional attire. The pencil skirt and suit jacket made her look even more capable and highlighted her beautiful legs.
"It's ready. Please follow me."
Yaeko took the lead and took the elevator to the top floor.
A small helicopter was waiting on the roof.
Akuto leaped onto it in one stride and looked back to find that Yaeko had also come aboard.
"I want to see the night sky of Tokyo too!"
Yaeko spoke loudly into Akuto's ear.
Akuto could even smell the elegant scent of perfume on Yaeko.
The helicopter soon took off. Akuto wore a headset, and the pilot looked down and asked, "Which way are we going?"
"Go wherever you want, just don't repeat the route."
Akuto looked down through the window.
The city, brightly lit in the eyes of ordinary people, was completely foul and murky in Akuto's eyes.
There was black smoke of various sizes everywhere, and each plume of black smoke represented a powerful evil spirit.
The one that fought Miko today was basically completely harmless.
It was the lowest level of evil spirit.
Those billowing black smokes were the real big shots.
"Miss Akuto, what are you looking for?"
"Evil spirits."
Akuto's eyes were fixed intently on the ground below.
This was the simplest method Akuto could think of to find her fingers.
If the fingers had been sealed away by someone, she would have to gather information through the Exorcist circles.
But if they had been eaten by an evil spirit...
Then that evil spirit would surely be much stronger than usual. Finding the strongest one was definitely the right move!
However, after coming up, Akuto realized she had been naive.
There was black smoke spreading for dozens of meters everywhere.
In a few places, the black smoke even reached a hundred meters!
"Where is that?"
"That's... the Yasukuni Shrine. Haven't you been there?"
Hearing Yaeko's answer, Akuto did not continue the topic but looked elsewhere.
"And there?"
"Kamishiro Hospital. It's been abandoned for a long time and there have always been rumors of hauntings."
Akuto made a mental note; there were many powerful evil spirits in that area.
Suddenly, Akuto was attracted to one of the auras.
It was only a plume of black smoke extending about a dozen meters, but that black smoke was constantly moving rapidly, and only within a small area!
"Is there a battle going on?"
"Go over there."
Akuto watched carefully and was almost certain that there was a fight happening there.
"An Exorcist...?"
"I'm really... looking forward to this!"
Akuto clenched her fists, wondering if there was an existence that could provide her with some entertainment.
After reaching the sky above the target location, Akuto took off her headset and opened the cabin door.
"This is far enough. Send me the bill. See you next time."
After saying this, Akuto leaned back and fell, her figure quickly vanishing into the darkness.
"Ah! How could she... Miss Yaeko, should I call the police?"
The pilot was dumbfounded. How could someone jump from several hundred meters up?
And without a parachute!
Yaeko seemed to have grown accustomed to it. She took a long look at the place where Akuto had disappeared, then leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes.
"No need. Let's head back."
"Not a word about what happened today is allowed to be spoken."
"Yes..."