At around nine o'clock in the morning, in the auditorium of Danhai University, the entrance ceremony for freshmen was just halfway through.
This is the time for freshmen representatives to speak:
"...In this season when cherry blossoms are dancing, we enter Danhai University with anticipation..."
Yoshikawa Anko stood on the stage, her voice was relatively calm, but her hands holding the speech were trembling slightly.
While reading, she quickly glanced at the audience.
Most of the freshmen in the ten first-grade classes were looking at her on the stage;
In the array of Class B of the first year facing the high platform, Akane Kirino poked her head in the direction of Class A next to her, as if she was looking for someone. Her movements were conspicuous and could be seen at a glance from the platform.
Anko Yoshikawa felt a little uncomfortable, but Akane Kirino suddenly turned her head and looked at her straight.
"..."
She was a little stiff again.
"...Here, continue to grow here until..."
In the array of first-year Class A below the stage, Zonggu, who was distracted, turned his attention to the stage at this moment.
"Are you still nervous?"
He looked at Yoshikawa, who became the freshmen representative because of his first place in admission, and imagined what would happen if he were the person on the stage instead.
This was not an unfounded fantasy. Before she agreed to speak as a freshman representative, he first declined the school's invitation during spring break;
And his past here is completely blank, and he didn't even take the entrance exam. It's obvious that the school values his recommenders.
"Izanami..."
She seems to have some other extraordinary identity in the world of ordinary people.
"who?"
The folding chair made a creaking sound, and Fushimi Keisuke, who was sitting next to him, suddenly turned to look at him, "What's so 'beautiful'? It seems like a girl's name?"
"..."
"Could it be someone Souya likes?"
Zonggu opened his mouth and closed it again.
"so good."
Seeing that he neither admitted nor denied, Fushimi shook his head and turned back.
The speeches on the stage continued. The first-year students below the stage were sitting on folding chairs, divided into areas according to their classes, separated by a two-person wide aisle;
I don't know when, there were several figures who were too young to be teachers, walking through the corridors, as if looking for someone, but no teachers came to help or intervene.
When one of the women walked to the queue of Class A, she suddenly stopped:
"you……"
Fushimi sat in the middle of the row, but he responded faster than anyone else.
"What's up?"
"..."
She frowned and looked next to him, "No, it's not you."
"Soya——"
Soya, who was sitting next to him, was so shocked that he pulled Fushimi's hand down and asked, "Looking for me?"
"No, it's the girl next to you."
"..."
Chao Wuling turned to look at her, then quickly turned away again.
"Wait a minute, you know I am..."
The young woman blurted out, and then paused for a short while, not caring about the curious glances from around her.
"Can you feel me?"
She spoke vaguely, Chao Kirin looked ahead and had no reaction, but Soya suddenly understood: she was probably from the shrine.
In recent years, people with strong spiritual abilities have become increasingly rare. In order to attract new blood, spiritual institutions such as shrines and temples have naturally reached out to schools where young people are concentrated.
Indeed, there is no more appropriate time than the day of the freshman entrance ceremony.
Sotani soon noticed that another woman in casual clothes stopped in front of the team of Class 1B, aiming directly at Akane Kirino among them.
"Can we take a moment to chat?" On the side of Class A, the young and beautiful shrine employee has not given up yet, "It will only take a few minutes."
The speechless Asagiri Suzu and Kirino Akane from Class B both looked towards Soya.
"..."
He shook his head. The shrine staff on both sides returned without success and went elsewhere.
However, judging from the fact that they did not come into contact with others after that, it seemed that among the freshmen of this class, there were only two spiritual awakeners, Asagiri Suzu and Kirino Akane;
Although the other party was rejected, he did not give up. After exiting the auditorium, he stood guard at the door.
"Aren't you interested?"
After rejecting Asagiri Suzu, Soya thought of asking her what she thought.
She looked at him for a moment and then turned her head.
"It doesn't matter."
The first two people who arrived seemed to be from the same shrine. They chatted outside the auditorium and kept looking at Class A and Class B;
During this period, people from other shrines came to the auditorium one after another, and some even wore witch costumes and expressed their intentions straightforwardly.
Among them, Soya saw the miko Sugawara Kyoko whom he met several times a month ago.
She is the only shrine member wearing a student uniform. Except for the school badge on the chest and the pattern on the cuffs, which are red, her uniform is no different from his.
"So she is a second-year student here?"
Kinki protects the capital of Kyoto. Over the years, the inner spiritual beings have been discovered. Akane Kirino, who has been wearing an amulet since she was a child, has become a fish that slipped through the net, so she is even more tightly held;
The freshmen representatives on the stage have returned to Class A, the entrance ceremony is almost coming to an end, and there is still an endless stream of shrine staff coming to see Kirino Akane and Asagiri Suzu.
"...Then, the entrance ceremony ends here."
After a concluding speech, the principal turned a blind eye to what was going on in the audience and calmly announced the end.
"Soya!"
The first-year students stood up and left one after another, and Kirino Akane stopped Soya.
He walked through the crowd and squeezed through with difficulty. She pointed at the more and more people waiting at the door of the auditorium.
"What's going on with those people?"
"As you can see, they are interested in your spiritual awareness. If you are not interested, just refuse."
"Just like the miko lady I met last night?"
"That's right. And Miss Sugawara is here today too. Didn't you see her?"
"Hey, I didn't pay attention..."
"She should still be here."
Soya looked around and found that not only Sugawara Kyoko but Asagiri Suzu had also disappeared.
...
In a corner outside the auditorium, two figures, one tall and one low, stood facing each other.
"do not be afraid……"
After driving away the intruder who came to disturb her, Sugawara Kyoko tried her best to restore her calm expression and tried to comfort the poor girl in front of her who was speechless, but it was to no avail.
But some things must be confirmed.
"Can you feel me?"
She asked unclearly, but she was convinced that if she were the same person, she would immediately understand what she meant.
"..."
But the petite and immature girl just looked up at her without saying a word.
really……
Sugawara Kyoko's expression turned cold. The girl in front of her was most likely not a spiritual awakener, but was possessed by a spiritual body.
Although the appearance of the two in the eyes of a spiritually aware person is roughly the same, she has been involved in exterminating spirits since she was ten years old and has encountered similar situations several times.
"It's okay, don't be afraid."
She stretched out a finger and put it on the girl's forehead, "I will eliminate the thing that makes you afraid."
"Also, if you can, please tell me later when this situation started to occur. Where have you been before this..."
Staring with both eyes, Sugawara Kyoko's mental power gradually concentrated on her fingertips, and she suddenly burst out with an angry shout.
"The demons and evil spirits must retreat!"
It was calm and nothing happened.
"..."
Chao Wuling's eyes moved, first he looked at the fingers on his forehead, and then he looked at her.
There is no doubt that she failed.
But Sugawara Kyoko was not discouraged.
There are tens of thousands of spirit beings in the world, and even if she started removing spirits at the age of ten, most of them would be of a type she had never heard of before. She did not expect that she could succeed in the first attempt.
Mental power is once again concentrated on the fingertips:
"The demons and evil spirits must retreat!"
"The demons and evil spirits must retreat!"
"Evil and evil..."
After repeated attempts and failures, Sugawara Kyoko still wanted to keep trying, but Asagiri Suzu no longer wanted to play with her and turned around to leave.
"etc……"
She stretched out her hand to hold her, but missed.
"Wait a minute, first grade!"
Sugawara Kyoko chased after her, "Aren't you scared?"
"You can feel it, right?"
"That is one type of parasitic spirit, trying to occupy your body to slow down the speed of its own dissipation. Although it will not squeeze out the soul that you ordinary people know, it will still consume your own energy.
Do you feel that you are more tired recently than before?"
"..."
Chaogiri Ling suddenly stopped.
The two of them had already walked out of the corner. Sugawara Kyoko glanced at the first-year students who were leaving, and then said:
"I can't get rid of the ghost in you by myself. If you don't mind, please come back to the shrine with me."
Asagiri Suzu did not respond, but looked at the person who was walking away from the crowd, making her feel exhausted recently.
"It turns out to be here."
Soya looked at her and then at Sugawara Kyoko beside her, "We meet again, Miss Sugawara... No, I should call you senior."
"..."
"She is the one I take care of. If anything happens, just tell me."