Soya doesn't have a mobile phone, but the Kirino family's old house does have a landline phone that works normally.
"Sister?! Are you okay!"
The surprise call came from the microphone, and Zonggu could hear it clearly even from the side.
"..."
Sugawara Kyoko glanced at him. She couldn't let him avoid him, and she couldn't leave him in her current state. She could only move closer to the microphone and lower her voice.
"Yamako, I'm fine."
In the battle that took place last night, the Soul Exterminators concentrated in the center of the battlefield from the beginning. The underworld army was defeated in one blow. She also suffered a big impact and has not been able to recover until now;
She needs to return to the shrine to get rid of the impurity in her body, and now she has to be supported by Soya to stand still.
After briefly explaining what happened last night, Sugawara Kyoko asked her sister to arrange for someone to come over as soon as possible to take her back to the shrine.
"address……"
Sogu looked at the corridor absentmindedly, and it took him a moment to realize that she was asking him.
"The address here? It's in Kawaoka Town..."
She didn't need to relay it, and Sugawara Tamako on the other end of the phone could understand it.
"Hey, who else is there?"
"A good Samaritan."
...
After approval, a white commercial vehicle drove into the yard of the Kirino family's old house.
The words "Fuyun Shrine" are printed on the body of the car. The driver's driving skills are a bit unfamiliar and he tried it several times.
After the car door opened, there were several serious-looking shrine maidens who came down with Tamako Sugawara. They all seemed to be in their twenties or thirties.
After all, they had just met last night, and Yuzi still had some impressions of the tall and thin Soya. Although it was unexpected, she was not as panicked as before.
"Thank you for saving my sister..."
Looking at the elementary school students saluting in front of him, Zonggu just nodded.
"Easy to do."
After helping the depressed Sugawara Kyoko to the car, several shrine maidens thanked him again. Just as they were about to leave, Soya suddenly expressed that he wanted to take a ride.
There is still room in the car, "Where do you want to go, Mr. Sotani? We can send you there directly."
"No need to bother, just take it to the nearest tram stop."
I happened to be on my way back to the shrine, and it only took a few minutes to drive there.
The door slowly closed, and the commercial vehicle backed up and left Kirino's yard, entering a two-lane road.
Soya was about to get off the car soon and chose to sit by the door in the middle, and sitting next to him was Sugawara Kyoko.
The commercial car drove slowly on the small road. Although she was looking ahead, her attention was always focused on Zonggu next to her.
Although the hitchhiking was a last-minute idea, his decision to go out seemed to be based on something she said while waiting for Yuzi to come over...
Sogu suddenly took something out of his pocket.
"..."
Sugawara Kyoko glanced calmly, moved her lips, and looked forward again.
"What is this?" The sister in the back seat suddenly stuck her head out.
"Okja."
"It's okay." Zonggu showed her the thing in his hand, "Word cards."
Tamako Sugawara took it and flipped through it a few times. There was nothing special about the word cards made from cardboard, so she quickly returned them to him.
"It's all in incomprehensible English...Did you do this yourself?"
"Um."
"Why?"
"Preparing for the exam."
"Are you going to go to college?"
"..."
Zongya raised his eyes from the word card and turned to look out the window. There was still snow piled under the wooden fence beside the road.
"Enter high school."
"Eh?"
Sugawara Tamako wanted to ask something more, but her sister's stern eyes glanced back, and she swallowed the words that came to her lips.
Zonggu watched all this calmly.
What a serious and strict sister.
There are also children of this type in children's welfare homes, but they usually do it to get attention from adults, and few can carry it out to the extent she does.
He had already looked away before Sugawara Kyoko came to look.
I don’t know how everyone is doing now...
A few minutes later, Fuyun Shrine's commercial vehicle stopped on the roadside near the tram stop.
"Mr. Sotani."
The miko who was driving turned around and said, "It seems we can't park over there, so we can only send it here."
"That's it."
Zonggu nodded, opened the car door, "Thank you."
"You are welcome."
She took out a business card from nowhere and handed it over, "If you need it, you can contact me at any time. If the tutor is Sotani-kun, you can get a discount~"
"..."
He glanced at the business card:
[Yumiko Harada. Second year economics student at Kyoto University, part-time tutor. Contact number:...]
Sugawara Kyoko frowned, "Ms. Harada..."
"——Kyoko-chan, college students have a lot of expenses."
The miko driver half turned around and put one arm on the back of the seat.
"For an ordinary part-time miko like me, the hourly wage of working at a shrine is very low. Of course I have to find some part-time jobs... Or is Kyoko-chan planning to give me a salary increase?"
"..."
"I understand. If necessary, I will contact Ms. Harada."
Under Sugawara Kyoko's slightly apologetic eyes, Soya put away his business card, opened the door and got out of the car.
"Children these days grow up so fast."
The tall, thin boy on the side of the road disappeared from the rearview mirror, and Yuko Harada was no longer distracted. "A junior high school student is that tall."
Sugawara Kyoko leaned on the back of her chair and just responded in a low voice.
"I'm a junior, handsome, I like it a lot. I don't know when they will contact me..."
Buzz——
"Hey, so fast?!"
"..."
Sugawara Kyoko also raised her head.
"Mayuri, answer the phone for me!"
Another miko sitting in the passenger seat took out her mobile phone, looked at the caller, and suddenly smiled.
"Who?"
"He's the man that Yumeko can't refuse."
She answered the call and put the phone to her ear.
"Zong...ah, it's Mr. Sugawara...it's nothing!"
As she spoke, Yuko Harada glared at the miko next to her, who smiled and asked her to pay attention to the vehicle in front of her.
"Yes, we have received Miss Kyoko."
She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that Sugawara Kyoko had lost her previous energy and was leaning against her body.
"The situation is not optimistic... We will be back as soon as possible."
...
During the busy hours, there are only a few people on the tram platform.
The weather is sunny, and the snow near the railway tracks has melted a lot, but it is still a bit cold in places where the sun does not shine.
Zonggu touched his arm, stood up from his seat, and felt his body became a little warmer when he stood in the sun.
The tram hasn't come yet.
He is going to Kyoto in the west to find someone he has never seen before.
This was a spur-of-the-moment trip. Fortunately, it took less than an hour to take the train from Konko City to Kyoto, and the time spent going back and forth was not worth regretting...provided he could make it back.
"..."
Can you come back?
The other party was a very dangerous person, and it had been his last option since the beginning. But after staying at Kirino's house and spending more than a week peacefully, he had almost forgotten this option.
But as if to continue the main theme of his short life, his expectations once again met with surprise:
The evil spirit that indirectly helped him escape from hell was so powerful that no one could deal with it.
The spirit removers will do what they can after a great defeat, but the natural spirits from the underworld do not know what fear is, they are destroyed and resurrected, and they continue to come from the other world;
He could spend the night in Kirino Akane's room once because she was scared, but he could not take risks again and again because of this, let alone return the amulet that suppressed her spiritual sense to her.
Only then did Zonggu realize that his leeway was actually very small, and taking a step back would mean he was helpless.
And the only choice in this depression was that the miko lady he dug out of the snow helped him recall it with an unintentional soliloquy.
["...A ferocious spirit of that level has never been seen before... If Izanami-sama is still guarding the land of underworld, he will never let it escape from the other world..."]
The spiritually aware people in the world also seem to know that the Lord of Underworld has left there long ago, but they do not know her whereabouts.
But Soya knew.
Ding ding ding——
Along with the slight vibration of the railway track, a rapid ringing of bells sounded in the empty platform.