Because he went to bed early the night before, Sogu woke up before the alarm clock rang the next morning.
The morning light shone into the room, and the phone beside the pillow was flashing, with several messages received in the middle of the night.
[23:45] Hongzi: Why is the door locked?
[23:45] Hongzi: I know you’re not asleep yet.
[23:48] Hongzi: Are you really asleep?
[00:01] Hongzi: Akane has fallen asleep a long time ago. I want to chat with you for a while.
[00:25]Hongzi: Good night.
Shaking his head, Sogu put down his cell phone and packed the bedding into the closet.
He was indeed too tired yesterday. He had a very good sleep at night. His phone was placed next to his pillow and messages were sent one after another, but he didn't feel anything at all.
Opening the locked door, fortunately, Hongzi was not lying outside.
After looking at the room next door, Zonggu walked over, hesitated for a while, then slowly opened the sliding door and took a look inside.
"..."
Looking at him outside the door, Akane Kirino opened her eyes wide and subconsciously pulled up the thin quilt covering her chest.
Snap, Zonggu immediately closed the door.
Thumb thump thump thump——
Before he had even taken a few steps, Kirino Akane stood up and chased after him.
"Soya!"
"Keep your voice down..."
Looking back at Hongzi who was still sleeping soundly, she closed the door and her voice was much lower: "What did Zongya want to do to me and Hongzi just now?"
"...What are you talking about?"
She came over, "Because Zonggu was sneaky just now."
Zonggu looked at the sky and couldn't deny it.
"I just wanted to see if you were awake."
"Really?" Akane Kirino looked at him, "I just woke up too."
"It's really early. It's not even six o'clock yet."
"Because I seemed to have fallen asleep very early last night...but when I woke up, I saw Soya peeping at the door."
"..."
Seeing that he was speechless, Kirino Akane smiled slightly again.
"I'm hungry, go prepare breakfast. I want to eat the cat ear noodle soup that Sogu made once before."
"Cat ears? If you had told me earlier, I could still prepare. Not today."
"Ah...by the way, you have to prepare the dough one night in advance, right?"
"Well, there's also soup stock."
"Okay. That's whatever."
The two of them went downstairs to wash up, and Kirino Akane took Soya to the living room, and together they burned incense in front of the Buddhist altar.
Ding--
Coming to the kitchen, Zonggu was responsible for preparing breakfast, and she was responsible for sitting at the dining table and waiting.
"Soya."
"Um."
"Is the job at the shrine very hard every day?"
"It should be said that it is the work of the organization. To be honest, it is like this during this time, and there is nothing we can do about it."
Akane Kirino held her chin, "Obviously Obon is a time for the whole society to have a holiday."
"Well." He set up the cooking pot, "So the overtime pay these days is also very high."
"Hey, how many are there?"
"Well... I only know it's very high. I haven't confirmed how much it is."
"All right."
After a while, Zonggu suddenly looked back.
Kirino Akane was in a daze. It took two or three seconds to come back to her senses and tilt her head.
"What's wrong?"
"I also want to ask you this. I heard you sigh."
She didn't continue to hide it, "The night after tomorrow, I want Souya to go to Kyoto with us."
Yesterday was the day of welcoming the pots, and the day after tomorrow was the day of giving the pots during the Obon Festival. There is also a quite grand pot-giving ceremony in Kyoto.
"Go and see Wushan send fire?" Zonggu asked.
"Well... we can also take a look at Wushan to send fire, but I want to go to Lanshan to release water lanterns."
"Lanshan water lantern?" He thought for a while, "No problem."
"Is it really okay?"
Akane Kirino looked at him, "Soya looks exhausted every day when he comes home."
"We haven't reached the limit yet." He smiled and turned away, "And I just went there to have a look. If I don't wander around, I won't be too tired."
Although it was her own invitation, Kirino Akane didn't want him dragging his exhausted body to forcefully accompany her.
"I'll think about it again... let's talk about it then."
"Um."
After making breakfast, the two of them were eating at the table. Kirino Akane asked about yesterday's duty.
"It's just very busy."
"All right."
She gave up her previous plan to "inspect the work".
"In addition to Kyoto, there are also many Bon Odori festivals held in other nearby places these two days."
"Well, Kirino can go shopping with Anko. Bring your bell too."
"Okay. Can I take leave from Sogu's work?"
"Originally, there were not enough manpower..."
After breakfast, Kirino Akane didn't plan to go upstairs to sleep. She sat in the living room and waited for Anko to wake up, while Soya changed her clothes and went out.
The second time he went there, because he was already familiar with the route and the required time yesterday, he did not deliberately seek to arrive early. But when he arrived at Notogawa Kaban, all his fellow mikos had already arrived.
"We didn't get to chat much yesterday. I came here early today, but Soya-kun turned out to be a little lazy."
"I am sorry."
"After today's duty is over..."
"I'm still sorry."
It was not yet time to start duty, and no one was willing to start work early. The small chat room was crowded with chattering witches, and the police were nowhere to be seen.
Buzz——
Anko: Did Soya come to Akane and I's room this morning to peek?
"..."
Soya: Don't listen to her nonsense.
Hongzi: Why don't you wake me up for breakfast?
Soya: I think sleep is more important than breakfast.
Hongzi: It's obviously just the opposite.
Soya: For Anko.
Hongzi: For me, being able to see Soya is more important.
Zonggu smiled and did not reply for the time being.
Another minute or two passed.
Hongzi: You should say something!
Soya: If you're shy, don't say such things.
By eight o'clock in the morning, Moriyama Ayumi explained the scheduled matters to her colleagues as usual. They became more familiar with each other, and she was more relaxed today, at least she no longer stumbled when speaking.
"—Then I'll leave it to you."
Under her watch, the spiritual awakeners dispersed throughout the town step by step. Based on yesterday's experience, Soya rented a bicycle after leaving the meeting.
And before he even arrived in his "jurisdiction", dispatches from the agency were already coming to his door.
Stopping on the side of the road and picking up the phone, Zonggu showed great enthusiasm for his first job of the day.
"receive."
Only an hour or two later, this enthusiasm could not withstand the more "enthusiastic" work and was completely overwhelmed.
At 12 noon, rest on time.
Soya found a small restaurant near the park and ordered a special pork chop rice for lunch.
The store was doing good business and there were many diners sitting there, so he sat at the corner of the bar.
"welcome."
Another customer walked into the store.
When they were close to a certain distance, Zonggu turned around in response, a little surprised.
"bell?"
Chaogiri Ling responded, stopped beside him, looked up at the menu inside, "What did you order?"
"Another piece of pork chop rice." Zongya said to the shopkeeper, then looked at her, "Why is Suzu here?"
"I'm here to find you." Chaogiri Ling sat down on the chair next to him with some difficulty.
Zonggu offered his hand, "They haven't come over yet."
"No."
He looked at her again, without asking her how she knew she was here, and said, "I can't rest long at noon."
"Yeah." Chao Wuling nodded.
She was a little strange. Based on past experience, she probably wanted to say something to him.
Zonggu didn't ask any questions, waiting for her to speak on her own initiative.
After a while, their pork chop rice was served together.
Zonggu picked up a piece of pork chop and tasted it. It was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The texture and taste were pretty good.
“The timing of the pork chop is very good.”
"Um."
Asagiri Suzu seemed to have little appetite. He had almost eaten, and her portion had not been touched much.
She pushed her portion of fried pork cutlet over, and Soya pushed it back.
"No, I'm full."
"Um."
He wiped his mouth, and Chao Wu Ling also put down his chopsticks and looked at him, "I have something to tell you."
Zonggu nodded.
"An evil spirit escaped from the underworld..."
Bang!
The small restaurant suddenly became quiet.
Everyone's eyes were focused on the two people here, one tall and one short, and they could easily guess that the person who slapped the table just now was the former.
"..."
Taking a deep breath, Zongya looked around again and apologized to the people around him, especially the shop owner, for his gaffe.
When his eyes gradually moved away, he rubbed his painful palms and confirmed to Chaogiri Ling in a low voice: "The evil spirit that escaped from the underworld?"
"Yeah." She looked at his hand, "The teacher told me."
"What a headache..."
Zonggu couldn't help but sigh.
It would have been just an ordinary evil spirit, but it happened to escape from the underworld, which meant that the daughter of the underworld would follow. And this happened just when he needed his spiritual power the most.
"Did the teacher say where the evil spirit is?"
If it were in a faraway place like Kyushu or Tohoku, it would be easier to say...
"It's in the Kinki area."
"..."
Zonggu felt his head hurt even more, "The teacher has seen it, can't we just kill it?"
Asagiri Suzu didn't say anything, she just looked at him, expressing with her eyes that she couldn't instruct the teacher.
Zong Gu had no choice but to ask: "Did Suzu just come here to tell me about this?"
"No, I want to give this to you." She pointed to her left breast.
He quickly reacted, "Eight-foot beautiful magatama."
"Um."
Now is the time he needs it.
Chaogiri Ling grabbed his hand and pressed it on her chest, "By the way, I'll tell you how to use it."
"..."
It was soft in his hand and he squeezed it a little.
Chao Wuling glanced at him, and then, a cold and hard magatama appeared out of thin air in his hand.
It was dark green in color, small and exquisite, and looked like something he had seen before.
Zong Gu held the magatama, and she spoke again: "Concentrate your energy on the magatama and wrap it with spiritual power."
He nodded and followed the instructions. When the spiritual power was completely wrapped, the magatama was still in front of him, but suddenly disappeared from his perception.
"How's it going?" Chao Wuling asked.
Soya shook his head, "I can't feel it."
"A deeper awareness."
"How to do it?"
"You can only explore it by yourself." She looked at him, "If you can't do it, it means you have no chance with the artifact."
After a pause, Chaogiri Ling said again: "I believe you."
"What kind of sudden test is this..."
Sogu shook his head, looked at the time again, and focused his attention on the magatama in his palm again.
"Then I'll try again."
"Um."
Asagiri Suzu picked up the chopsticks and continued to eat, but her attention was focused on him and she didn't care at all about the taste of the pork chop rice in her mouth.
Wrapping the visible but "invisible" magatama with spiritual power, Soya's consciousness became more and more concentrated.
Surrounding, outlining, constructing and deconstructing, I don’t know how long it took, but spiritual power’s continuous exploration of nothingness finally received feedback.
Just like a stone dropped into a completely calm lake, the ripples spread out from the place where it fell, and the scope became larger and larger, so he felt the same;
What was originally just an insignificant point quickly expanded and soon appeared completely in his senses.
Magatama finally emerged from nothingness.
Zongya had a new feeling, as if this magatama was originally a part of his body. With a thought, the magatama suddenly melted into the palm of his hand and became invisible.
"..."
Chaogiri Ling took a breath and said, "You can really do it."
After saying this, her expression was far from happy, but instead had a heavy feeling of witnessing her fate.
When his thoughts moved again, the magatama reappeared. Zonggu picked up the magatama and looked at it with both his physical eyes and his mind's eye.
"It's amazing."
"Can you use it?"
"Um."
Controlling the ability of the eight-foot magatama to turn on or off the shielding of spiritual senses is simpler than controlling its integration into the body. It also only requires a thought. Souya feels relieved because of this. Even if he encounters the daughter of the underworld again, no matter how fast the opponent moves, there will be no
His thoughts are quick.
However, although the artifact is convenient, after all, it is something given to Asagiri Suzu by Emperor Tachibana. He has no intention of keeping it as his own. He will only return it to her after this embarrassing period of time has passed.
"Let's continue wearing Kirino's amulet until then."
Asagiri Suzu didn't say a word to this, and resumed eating pork chop rice.
There were about twenty minutes left in the break. Sogu sat next to him, waiting and playing with the magatama in his hand.
"Do they know that Ling came here to find me?"
"have no idea."
"That's good……"
After eating a small piece of fried pork chop, Asagiri Suzu had no appetite at all and quickly put down her chopsticks.
"Don't you want to eat?"
"Um."
After checking out and leaving, seeing that there was still some time left, Sogu was ready to take her to the station by bike.
"No, I'll wait for you here."
"Waiting for me... will be boring."
"It doesn't matter."
Sogu didn't say much, and took her to the park on his bicycle. When he passed by a bench under the shade of a tree, he put her down.
"Just wait for me here."
"Um."
He was always running around Notogawa Park, so he would come over when he had some free time in the afternoon, even though most of the time he couldn't even stay for a few minutes;
The work of exterminating spirit bodies everywhere is still busy, but because there is a little more expectation, it is no longer boring, and the fatigue of running back and forth has also been relieved a lot in the short-term warmth.
In the evening, the last incident was solved, just a little after six o'clock.
Taking Asagiri Suzu, Soya went to return the rental bicycle first, and then walked together to the transfer.
Ayumi Moriyama stood at the door, greeting her returning colleagues, and her eyes were quickly attracted to the girl he was holding.
"Sotani-kun, is this a lost child?"
"No……"
After handing over the work and saying goodbye to the temporary colleagues who had worked together for two days, Soya took the train back with Suzu Asagiri.
When he got off at Jinhu Station, he couldn't go home directly. He had to go to the temporary station set up by the agency to inquire about his duty arrangements for the next two days.
"Things that can be solved by sending an email still require a trip in person..."
This is one of the inefficient aging practices recognized by almost everyone, and Jingzi also criticized it, but for one reason or another, it has never been reformed;
The only good thing is that the station is a necessary place for most people to travel. Perhaps this is also the reason why the voice of change is never loud enough...
Arriving at the station with messy thoughts, there were two shrine maidens in front of him. Souya waited for a while.
When it was his turn, the person in charge of the witch costume inside looked at him twice.
"A person from the Rurikoin Headquarters?"
"No." Soya shook his head and directly reported his name and the shrine he belonged to, "Yoshiaki Soya, Fuun Shrine, Nosu Town."
"Oh, I seem to have some impression that you were here the day before yesterday...wait a moment."
"OK."
In Kansai, especially in the Kinki region, the proportion of male spiritual awakeners is very low, and they are basically concentrated in temples or the Rurikoin headquarters. Male spiritual awakeners like Sotani who are affiliated with shrines are actually very rare;
Therefore, when you meet new colleagues these days, if you don't explain it specifically, the other person will think that he is from the headquarters.
After waiting for a while, the person in charge of the station printed out a form and handed it to Sogu.
"Now that electronics has been implemented..."
After taking the form, Zonggu glanced at the computer in the window again, "Just send an email."
The person in charge smiled and shook his head, "This is not something I can decide."
Sogu didn't say anything, and she looked at Asagiri Suzu, who came with him.
"Shrine, name."
"No……"
Zong Gu immediately realized that the other party had misunderstood her identity, "She just came with me and did not join the organization."
"Really?" The person in charge glanced at Chaogiri Ling a few more times, "If I feel right, you are a spiritual person, right?"
"Yes." Zonggu answered for her.
"Now that there are few spiritual awakeners in the Kinki area, why not let her join the organization... Is she Mr. Sotani's sister?"
"No." Soya also looked at Asagiri Suzu, "She's my girlfriend."
"..."
The person in charge looked at him again. The word "lolicon" came to his lips and he swallowed it again.
"I hope Mr. Sotani and Miss Girlfriend can reconsider the suggestion I just made."
"We will."
Because of this trivial matter, Zonggu was a little distracted. It was only after he left the station that he remembered to check his duty schedule for tomorrow.
"Um?"
Chao Wuling looked over, "What's wrong?"
"The ancestors of the Kirino family appeared..."
He was assigned to the night shift.
"I will be on duty at the Moriyama City entrance of the Biwako Bridge Toll Road from 9 pm tomorrow to 8 am the day after tomorrow, and from 9 pm the day after tomorrow to 8 am the day after tomorrow... I actually have a night shift."
Back at Kirino's old house, Soya first went to the Buddhist altar in the living room to burn incense sticks.
Buzz——
During the meal, Jingzi sent her her duty schedule.