ch1-ch20 · 012-inter1

Interlude: Ichijō Hiyori and Kuri Mio

Kuri Mio was a mage.

She'd Awakened at the age of fourteen, and gained the ability to use magic.

Her parents and teachers were thrilled about her Awakening.

Being an adventurer was dangerous work, but it was a profession that paid well. Even if she didn't become an adventurer, just being able to use magic gave her opportunities to work in cutting-edge scientific fields, so there were various career paths open to her future.

If she worked as an adventurer and built up her magical power, it was a talent that would keep her in demand even into old age.

That was what it meant to be a mage.

Everyone celebrated for her, and Mio — a girl with a serious personality — thought, This is my true calling, and set about learning magic practice and adventuring methods.

Everyone cheered her on for her hard work. There were people who envied and resented her, but even then she kept pushing forward positively, thinking, Then I'll just work twice as hard for their sake too.

By the time she entered high school, her efforts had paid off, and she could use almost everything classified as low-level magic.

Her high school classmates also made a big fuss over Mio's talent.

Among them, only one person poured cold water on her — her classmate, Ichijō Hiyori. ◇ One day during lunch break.

The classroom was as noisy as ever.

That day, Mio's group was excitedly chatting about how Mio had been leveling up as a mage. Few kids her age had mastered all the low-level magic. It was rare enough to be called extraordinary.

Of course, once they turned twenty and trained at Shinjuku Tower, anyone could open the path to becoming a mage.

But Mio, who'd mastered low-level magic before adulthood, had already gotten a massive head start.

By the time she turned twenty, she might even be able to use intermediate magic, or even an advanced spell or two.

They were chattering away about all that.

That's when Hiyori wandered over and asked, "What're we talkin' about~?"

She must have come back from finishing lunch. She grinned goofily and joined the circle.

One of the girls in the group said, "Mio-chan's gonna do great at Shinjuku Tower!"

And Hiyori responded like this:

"It's super dangerous though."

Her voice sounded the same as always. But her eyes were cold.

She was smiling, but she wasn't smiling.

And yet, nobody around her noticed. ◇ Normally, Hiyori was a happy-go-lucky airhead. The class mood-maker. A goofball.

Energetic and lively. Good at both studies and sports, but she only put in a moderate amount of effort.

That was the impression everyone had of her.

And that's what she'd said.

The others shot back, cheering, "She'll be fine! Mio's got this!"

Hiyori just brushed it off with a "Yeah, maybe~" and played it off as a joke.

But Mio couldn't shake the look on Hiyori's face at that moment. The sound of her voice. ◇ After school that day.

Mio called Hiyori out and asked her what she'd really meant by those words.

"Mio-chan. Have you ever fought a monster?"

"I don't understand what you're getting at. There's no way I could have, right?"

You had to be at least eighteen to enter Shinjuku Tower, even if you were Awakened.

Sixteen-year-old Mio couldn't go in.

Which meant there was no way she could have fought a monster.

"Hmm... Well then, wanna come hang out with me tonight?"

"Huh? Why would I?"

"Heheh, just a little date, Mio-chan." ◇ It was blatantly suspicious.

And yet, Mio was curious about what Hiyori had to say, so she went to the place Hiyori had specified.

It was a certain location in Tokyo. Just before midnight.

Nearby was a large forest, a place famous as an occult spot. Not somewhere you'd go unless you'd been called there. Maybe she was planning a test of courage.

When Mio arrived at that place, Hiyori and a man in black were there.

The man in black — no matter how you looked at him, he didn't seem like an ordinary law-abiding citizen.

He was even wearing sunglasses, despite it being nighttime.

"Miss, is this the girl?"

"Yeah. Maybe..."

Mio couldn't quite catch their conversation.

They seemed to be talking quite familiarly, which made her imagine a crime boss's daughter with her handler, but that probably wasn't it. She didn't know what kind of business Hiyori's family was involved in, but if it were a designated organized crime group, word would have gotten around. There were just rumors that her family was really big.

There was a chance it could be that, she supposed.

She regretted coming.

If things go wrong, I'll blind them with a flash spell and escape during the confusion. No — that's what the sunglasses are for. Then what about using a more aggressive spell to shock them? But that's dangerous, right?

As Mio stood on guard, thinking these things, Hiyori approached.

That's when she noticed.

Hiyori was dressed in ordinary, easy-to-move-in casual clothes.

But in her hand was a sword bag. She prayed the contents were just a practice sword.

"Well then, let's go."

Hiyori said it in her usual tone.

At that moment, Mio said "Okay," and followed her. ◇ Why had she followed her that day?

She really wondered about that.

It wasn't regret, but she still felt it now.

What had she been thinking? What had she expected when she followed?

What she saw at their destination was Hiyori cutting down a demon in the midnight forest.

The sight was breathtakingly beautiful. ◇ Her family — Ichijō Hiyori's family — was a lineage of exorcists stretching back to the Heian period.

Her family had fallen into decline in the modern era, where divine energy had thinned out.

Before Shinjuku Tower appeared, her family had apparently been nothing more than a house clinging to past glories.

The techniques themselves had been passed down through generations, but they were obsolete rituals no one could actually use. The spells seemed so dubious that modern people thought, I guess back when people were more religious, saying this stuff actually worked on them.

But low-ranking evil spirits did occasionally show up. People who could see them apparently could, even before Shinjuku Tower appeared.

Still, they were the kind of beings you could exorcise with a prayer, so they'd perform exorcisms on request.

They made a living as exorcists or faith healers in the shadow of modern politics and economics.

That was the kind of family it was.

Then Shinjuku Tower appeared, and everything changed.

Little by little, but unmistakably, the power of low-ranking evil spirits had increased.

And eventually, demons like ogres and hungry ghosts began to appear.

The ones who sensed the crisis were the exorcist clans, including the Ichijō family.

What people called divine energy — in other words, magical power — had spiritually activated all of Japan.

As a result, all manner of monsters and spirits began gaining strength.

When that happened, everything they'd dismissed as dubious old legends flipped on its head.

If the legends were true, there was even the possibility of historic great demons reviving.

The existence of evil spirits and demons was kept secret from the public. If ordinary citizens found out, there'd be panic.

And if negative emotions grew stronger, the sealing techniques passed down through generations of exorcists would weaken, increasing the chance of powerful demons reviving.

They couldn't let the general public know.

But it was already only a matter of time.

Magical power was steadily settling into the world.

As the world became saturated with magical power, the seals would weaken proportionally.

So the exorcists had to grow stronger, day by day, before that time came. ◇ After cutting down the demon, Hiyori told Mio about Japan's hidden side.

Sitting side by side on a park bench at night.

Hiyori told her about the exorcists.

"You saw that guy with me earlier, right?"

The man in black from before the forest.

"That guy, his right arm's a prosthetic. And his left eye's a fake eye, a fake one."

He was a member of a branch family of the Ichijō clan, and had been severely injured in a battle against a demon that had grown powerful.

According to Hiyori, there were many exorcists who'd been forced into support roles because of injuries.

"I mean, it was peaceful for so long, then suddenly Shinjuku Tower shows up. Evil spirits got stronger — demons started appearing — even if they tell you that, you can't exactly handle it all, right?"

She said it almost like she was grumbling.

"So, Mio-chan. I mean, of course if you climb Shinjuku Tower, you'll end up fighting lots of monsters, or what we call demons and evil spirits... but are you serious?"

Hiyori was saying it without saying it.

You're going to get seriously hurt.

She was trying to stop her.

That's how kind she was.

"...I'll fight."

Kuri Mio wouldn't stop.

She wanted to live up to everyone's expectations. That was part of it.

To Mio, magic was her weapon.

But more than that...

Mio had never had a dream of her own.

She'd vaguely become an office worker somewhere. Vaguely marry someone. Vaguely raise children... As a student, she had nothing she wanted to do, and no future dream.

She'd just been living vaguely.

She'd lived a life where she couldn't complain if people called her unenthusiastic.

But then, she'd come to be able to use a special skill — magic.

People who Awakened while still students and could use magic were rare.

And yet, she'd ended up being able to use magic naturally.

At first, her magic had manifested just by chance — she'd been frustrated that the gas stove wasn't lighting, wished it would "just light already," and fire shot out of her hand.

The shock and wonder of that moment had lit a great flame in Mio's heart, which had been living so vaguely.

Whether that feeling got through to Hiyori somehow...

"I see. Well then, wanna team up with me?"

She made the proposal in the same casual way she'd chat in the classroom. ◇ And so, Mio and Hiyori formed a tag team.

From then until they turned eighteen, they spent their days training and exterminating demons.

When they turned eighteen, they began going to Shinjuku Tower to get stronger.

To become stronger.

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Thank you for reading.

Finally, the heroines appear.

Today also marks a two-chapter update.

Another update was made at 9 AM as well.

Thank you very much.