Nonexistent Shrine.
When Asakura heard this name, he felt a subtle sense of familiarity.
He then immediately realized that Saori had told him about this ghost story during the first offline meeting of the 'Otaku Girls Unite' community, saying it was a mysterious shrine that couldn't be mapped but could grant wishes if one entered it.
That young lady even planned to go there for a test of courage, but later gave up for various reasons.
Now it seemed that the so-called 'Nonexistent Shrine' was indeed not a good place.
"I'm sorry, the client for the exorcism is, in a way, part of a client's privacy, so I can't just bring you to meet them—" Urushibara Ruka showed a troubled expression: "I'm truly very sorry…"
"No, I was too abrupt; I should be the one apologizing."
Asakura didn't really mind, after all, Japan's national conditions were different from China's; it seemed to be very taboo here to make a big fuss about such matters when hiring someone to perform rituals.
So he simply reached out naturally and brushed the girl's shoulder: "Careful, there's a small Snake."
"Eh? A Snake?!"
Because Asakura's tone was too casual, Urushibara Ruka initially thought he was talking about an insect or something and didn't react immediately.
Then, when she saw a small Snake, as thick as an electrical wire, appear in Asakura's hand, she was so frightened that her face turned pale and she instinctively took a step back.
"It's alright, I've already taken it off you."
Asakura casually released the Snake in his hand, and the small Snake, being quite perceptive, quickly slithered into a drain opening by the roadside and immediately disappeared.
"Thank you, Asakura."
"No need.
Even if I hadn't taken it off, the teeth of such a small Snake can't bite through human skin; it's essentially harmless."
Asakura said.
"…No, it's mainly a matter of mental health."
The Miko-san said solemnly: "Eating an apple and finding a worm in it is essentially not very harmful either."
And it even adds protein, right?
Asakura looked at her weary expression and very rationally didn't ask anything further.
He just chatted for a couple more sentences before excusing himself.
He found a secluded corner, disengaged from combat, and teleported back to the Round Table Hall.
Asakura then took the purchased art supplies to the Student Council for submission.
Before this, he had planned to ask Amakusa Shino for a favor, but now he had other things to do, so he left without saying much.
This nonchalant behavior, however, made Amakusa Shino, who was prepared, somewhat surprised and uncertain, wondering if she had overworked Asakura and made him angry…
The Vice President-san watched Asakura's retreating back, wanting to speak but hesitating for a long time, ultimately saying nothing.
She just muttered something about 'compensation' under her breath.
Back in the Clubroom, Asakura took a breath, drinking the cold tea.
After waiting for a while, a small Snake slithered in through the door crack.
If Urushibara Ruka were here, she would notice that this small Snake was completely the 'same model' as the one Asakura had taken from her shoulder earlier.
That's right, just the same model, not the same Snake, because the previous one had already turned back into a thread in the sewer.
And this one was formed from other threads on Urushibara Ruka's miko outfit.
As soon as Asakura touched her clothes, he could have stripped her using the Curse [Snake] if he wished.
Now, this technique of refining the Curse, even to the point of a single thread, was a much more advanced way of casting, not to mention setting the Curse to be delayed and triggered only when certain conditions were met.
This was something Asakura could only achieve after completing the composite Curse and gaining a deeper understanding of Curse itself, completely different from the initial stage where he could only cast simple Curse without any technique.
"Do you know the address?"
Asakura asked softly.
The small Snake nodded very intelligently.
Asakura reached out, allowing the small Snake to slither up his arm and into his clothes pocket.
He didn't leave from Soubu High School, but instead took a detour from the Round Table Hall to shop number 12 in the Toyama Shopping District.
The shop was quiet, indicating that the service lady he had just hired hadn't finished her moving arrangements yet, but this also made Asakura's movements easier.
He turned into the back alley, summoned the old Ford car, and immediately activated its stealth mode, gliding into the air.
Following the small Snake's guidance, Asakura quickly pinpointed the location of the house where Urushibara Ruka was going to perform the exorcism.
All he had to do was head in that direction.
However, as he approached his destination, he found that he seemed to have arrived in a wealthy neighborhood.
The surrounding residences had changed from common apartments and detached houses to more luxurious detached villas.
Not only were they larger in area, but even the walls and gates looked taller and grander than those of ordinary detached houses.
"Fujiwara?"
Upon reaching his destination, Asakura looked at the mansion in front of him and then at the nameplate by the gate.
He thought to himself that this surname sounded subtly familiar, as if he often saw it on TV.
However, Asakura did not go in directly, nor did he even stop at the entrance.
He simply found an inconspicuous alley, deactivated stealth mode, and parked there.
However, if someone in the Fujiwara residence were inspecting the sewers, they would suddenly find many snakes in the mansion's pipes.
After waiting for a moment in a nearby alley, Asakura returned to the small snake and learned the general situation inside the mansion.
Urushibara Ruka had already left, but the person who was the target of the exorcism was still lying in bed, her condition unknown. However, judging from the worried expressions of others in the mansion, the exorcism did not have a very good effect.
Should he go directly to the door?
No, forget it.
Asakura quickly dismissed the idea of openly going to the door.
Without seeing the patient's condition, he was not confident that he could cure her. More importantly, he did not want to deal with a family with such close ties to the authorities in the open.
"Let's wait a bit longer."
So Asakura took out a red bean bun from the back of the car, ate it, and scrolled through his phone. Besides confirming the urban legend of the 'Nonexistent Shrine' through the accompanying App provided by Ryunosuke, he also searched for information about the Fujiwara family.
As expected, he quickly found the information he wanted to know.
"A Minister of State and a diplomat—" Asakura frowned: "And the former Prime Minister is also named Fujiwara…"
Although the Fujiwara residence just now could indeed be considered a mansion, it seemed a bit cramped for a former Prime Minister's home. Was it a branch family, or just a separate annex of the main family?
Suddenly, the small snake clinging to Asakura's finger bumped his phone screen with its head.
"Is she the target of Miss Urushibara's exorcism?"
Asakura stopped scrolling his finger, looking at the girl with a radiant smile like a flower on the screen, and couldn't help but murmur: "Why is it another pink-haired one?"