Zong Gu has no dissatisfaction with the spiritual enlightenment institutions in the human world, but when it comes to feelings, they are not at the forefront.
After all, the only members of the Spiritual Awakener Organization that he has had direct contact with so far are Sugawara Kyoko and Noma Minami, and Tamako is at most half of them.
In Jingzi's opinion, it seems that because he has been wandering in the underworld for two years, the things he values are completely different from those of ordinary spiritually aware people.
She realized that it might be more reliable to talk about money directly.
"The day after tomorrow, can Soya-san come?"
"I remember Yuzi said that there will be a festival at the Shrine the day after tomorrow?"
"Yes. But the festival won't last long, and it won't affect Soya-san."
"Then let me come over and take a look."
Jingzi suddenly grabbed him.
"What's wrong?"
Zong Gu turned around, but she was staring in front of him.
"Right in front of Sotani-san, there is a Girl of the Underworld."
"..."
Although there would be no impact if he walked through it, he immediately bypassed it.
"Thank you. Have you always been there?"
"No, he just showed up tonight."
Soya stopped.
"Are there any more nearby?"
"There's one over there." Kyoko looked across the street, "It also just appeared tonight."
The two of them continued walking to the station, and she kept pointing out the Daughters of the Underworld along the way, and finally turned her sights to the sky.
"There are more and more. It seems that the evil spirit has escaped nearby."
"Can you see the direction of the radiation from the encirclement network?" Zongya asked.
Kyoko shook her head.
"The movements of the Underworld's Daughter and the Underworld Army are not obvious yet, otherwise the agency would contact me to participate in the operation."
She then gave her own inference, "Judging from the density, they probably haven't found the specific location of the evil spirit."
"Yeah."
Zong Gu looked at her for a while, "Even if you find that evil spirit, what can you do?"
"The intelligence is limited, and in order to avoid unnecessary casualties, we can only cooperate with these natural spirits and continue to try existing methods."
She was also looking at him, "Sotani-san has always been very concerned about its movements. Have you found any way to deal with it?"
"No, I'm looking for it too."
Soya told half truths and half lies. The person who knew how to deal with evil spirits was Asagiri Suzu, but she didn't tell him.
"But no matter what we do, it's meaningless if we can't find the trace of the evil spirit, so I need my senior to provide me with information."
Under the streetlight not far away stood a girl from the Underworld. Kyoko now understood the reason why Soya couldn't reveal his identity as a spiritual awakener, and nodded slowly.
"In three days at most, the Yomi's daughter and the Yomi's army in the Kinki area will be completely surrounded, leaving the evil spirit with nowhere to hide.
At that time, Soya-san can take action with us."
...
A night of silence.
The next morning, when Soya was preparing breakfast in the kitchen, Akane Kirino and Anko Yoshikawa came over.
"Good morning."
He looked back at the two people who used to come to the door when he was having breakfast, and then turned back.
"I woke up fifteen minutes early today. Did you come too early?"
"Yes, because neither Hongzi nor I had breakfast."
"..."
"Ah, miso soup."
Akane Kirino walked into the kitchen and looked beside him, "It should be too late to prepare the portions for me and Anko now, right?"
"It's too late..."
Zonggu's rhythm was somewhat affected, so he paused for a moment, then poured some more water into the pot.
Fortunately, the rice is cooked enough...
"Why didn't you tell me in advance?"
Akane Kirino looked at the tofu cut into small pieces and said, "Guess."
"On a whim."
"Guessed it right!"
He shook his head, "You didn't even prepare a lunch box, did you?"
"Then I'm ready, don't worry."
Yoshikawa Anko also walked into the kitchen and looked at the marinated salmon pieces next to her.
"Sogu takes the trouble to make breakfast every morning, just like a housewife."
"If you don't eat it, you'll lose."
"Eh?"
"It's nothing...you can't skip breakfast."
Yoshikawa thought for a while, "But if I were to prepare breakfast by myself, I would probably just make some sandwiches or vegetable salads."
"Yeah."
While the miso soup was cooking in the pot, Soya cut two more pieces of salmon, sprinkled them with salt and marinated them.
"I always feel that this is a bit perfunctory. Only when it comes to food, I don't want to perfunctory myself."
Yoshikawa didn't quite understand his persistence, "Perfunctory...?"
"After all, Soya has been 'hungry' for a long time." Kirino Akane said suddenly, "This is retaliatory compensation."
Zong Gu glanced at her, and the two looked at each other and smiled tacitly.
"..."
Yoshikawa Hongzi pursed her lips unconsciously.
"The main dish is pan-fried salmon. As a side dish, can it be tamagoyaki?" Soya asked.
"Okay."
"Where's Yoshikawa?"
"Eh...ok."
The salmon was placed aside and continued to marinate. Sogu took out two more eggs and beat them into the bowl together with the eggs prepared before.
"Did Soya go there yesterday?"
"Um."
"How about it?"
"I got a little bit of news..." He glanced at Yoshikawa next to him, "Just in the past few days."
"Oh. Thank you for your hard work."
"Let's talk about it later."
"Uh-huh."
"By the way, if you two stay here, I won't be able to concentrate on preparing breakfast."
"Sorry sorry~"
Kirino Akane pulled the dazed Yoshikawa Anko out of the kitchen, and immediately saw Asagiri Suzu who had appeared in the living room at an unknown time.
"Good morning, bell."
She nodded and continued to fiddle with her phone.
There wasn't much preparation in advance, so it took Sogu a little longer to prepare breakfast for four people, but it didn't take too long.
Rice, fried salmon, tamagoyaki, a plate of Kirino's homemade pickles, and a bowl of miso soup, a very traditional Japanese breakfast.
After putting all the food on the table, the three girls came over.
"I just picked up cooking again not long ago. There is no way to compare my cooking skills with your mother's, so don't expect too much," Zongya said.
"I don't have such expectations."
Pulling the chair closer, Kirino Akane leaned in front of the miso soup and smelled it.
"It feels good...if it exceeds my expectations, I will be jealous."
"Don't Kirino have any expectations?"
"I don't expect to compare with my mother. But it would be bad if Soya's cooking skills were higher than mine."
"There's something wrong." Soya sat down, "I won't compete with Kirino."
"If a girl can't match a boy's strength, it would be bad no matter what."
"Girl power... I'm just talking about cooking."
"I - opened - moved -"
"..."
It didn't take much effort to prepare breakfast, but the time spent at the table was enough for Zonggu to prepare another meal.
Kirino Akane ate very quickly and spent the rest of the time telling him what she had experienced at the club's recruitment meeting yesterday.
Including how he was actively recruited by several sports clubs, and how he cruelly rejected all the olive branches after visiting and experiencing them.
"Were Kirino in the sports club in middle school?"
"No, but my foundation is pretty good...that's what they said."
The sun was rising gradually, and by the time Zonggu realized it, it was already far past the time to go out.
But Anko Yoshikawa, who used to send reminders in time, looked absent-minded and didn't eat much breakfast.
The four people hurried out and rushed to the station. It happened to be rush hour and the platform was overcrowded.
After finally squeezing into the carriage, they had already dispersed.
Soya was tall and first saw Kirino Akane who was looking around on the other side.
After the two made eye contact, she grabbed her other little hand and waved at him.
The bell is over there too.
So……
There were people on both sides. He struggled to turn his body, but it was only slightly deflected, but it was enough to see the people behind him.
"Yoshikawa."
She was so squeezed that she couldn't reach the handrails, so she could only hold on to his uniform to stand steady on the tram that was shaking a little after it started.
"Sogu..."
Yoshikawa Anko grabbed his uniform with one hand, freed up the other hand, and pushed up the glasses that were about to fall off.
After confirming that it was her, Sogu turned his head back and faced the middle-aged man on the seat hugging his briefcase tightly.
"Are you okay?"
"Well, it doesn't matter."
“It won’t be so crowded when you get to Yamashina.”
"Yeah...that's right. Time is running out."
She stood on tiptoes and got as close as possible so that the sound could be transmitted to him more clearly.
"Is there something hidden from me between Soya and Akane?"
"……No."
"Tell me, even if it's a private relationship, I won't be unhappy. So, is this the case?"
"How is that possible?" he retorted.
"That is to say, there is indeed something that is being hidden from me."