________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Erina Nakiri thought for a moment before speaking."I'm not completely sure of the details, but I've heard that Calamity Fields are basically like a world that mirrors the negative side of humanity. Sometimes, impurities slip through from there and enter our world."
She paused, then added,"But most of the time, once those impurities show up here, they run into certain restrictions."
"If you can't see them, they can't hurt you."
"Ah, so that's how it works," Hisako said, finally understanding.
"Of course, it's not absolute," Erina continued. "Some impurities are strong enough—or unusual enough—to bypass those limits and attack people."
"But those kinds are rare. The Onmyō Bureau monitors them, and they usually eliminate them before anyone gets hurt."
At that, something clicked in Akio's mind.Impurities… Calamity Fields… those terms sounded familiar.Right—Twin Star Exorcists.
He'd only skimmed part of the manga, so he didn't know much about it. But if memory served, the protagonist's name was Enmado… something. Enmado Wheel? Enmado Roller? Whatever—it was something along those lines.
Typical shōnen setup.
As a kid, the main character had dreamed of becoming the strongest exorcist. Then, after some tragic incident, he gave up completely, swore off that path, and basically wasted away. Later, he met the heroine, and through her encouragement, he found the fire to chase his old dream again—once more striving to become the strongest.
Classic formula .Akio had seen that exact kind of protagonist at least eighty times, if not a hundred.
So the series hadn't left much of an impression on him—though he had to admit the fight scenes were pretty cool. He'd read bits of it before some other manga caught his attention and he dropped it.
And yet, here it was, stitched right into this world.
Honestly, Akio felt this crossover reality deserved to be called the Ultimate Frankenstein Mash-up.
While he was mulling that over, Hisako and Erina had already taken action. They drew on their inner light and began purging the evil spirits—these so-called impurities—that haunted the academy.
The impurities never stood a chance.
Or rather, they never stood a chance against the power of light. Light was their natural nemesis.
Against it, they melted away instantly, like snow under the sun, like butter on a hot pan. In just a few minutes, dozens of impurities had been completely erased by Erina and Hisako.
And to his surprise, Akio noticed something else—his own power in the Light Dimension had grown, just a little.
Huh?
That was unexpected. He hadn't thought his followers purging impurities would actually feed back into him.
The increase was small, yes, but it was real.
Which meant… if he had enough followers working hard, he could literally just sit back and grow stronger while they did all the work.
The thought sparked a wild idea.What if he started his own religion? Spread it far and wide, gather believers, have them hunt impurities—while he kicked back and powered up?
It didn't sound impossible.
Though, to be honest, he liked the idea of framing it as a corporation rather than a religion. More modern. More fitting for the times.
Meanwhile, Hisako was starting to realize something about her own abilities.
The more she fought, the easier it became to control her light. It wasn't just enhancing her physical strength anymore—it was responding to her will.
In her hands, the light could take shape as a bow and arrow… or a cannon.
Its versatility was insane, and it worked like a charm.
Still, Hisako preferred shaping it into a kitchen knife. Somehow, "cooking" the impurities suited her best. With a single clean chop, the creatures would scream, dissolve into smoke, and vanish completely.
But soon she noticed something strange.
No matter how hard she fought, the impurities in the academy weren't running out.
"Lady Erina," she called out, frowning. "Isn't the number of impurities here… a bit much?"
Erina gave a wry smile."You know how our academy works. Grandfather pushes everyone to the limit so he can forge the best chefs. Ninety-nine percent of the students end up as failures or stepping stones for the few who rise above."
"The pressure they're under is enormous. Those strong negative emotions easily breed or attract impurities."
"So yes… it's normal for the academy to be crawling with them."
Hearing that, Akio finally understood.
No wonder Tōtsuki Academy was so infested with spirits.
In the original Food Wars storyline, most of the students had miserable experiences—always one step from expulsion, constantly crushed by the weight of competition. With no joy in their school life, it wasn't surprising that so much "unclean stuff" gathered here.
Still, Akio couldn't help thinking: the higher-ups clearly knew about the impurities, so why didn't they do anything? Were they really okay with letting them linger, risking the chance they'd mutate and attack the students?
Turns out, he wasn't the only one who thought so. Hisako was wondering the same.
"Don't worry," Erina explained. "Grandfather already accounted for that. He struck a deal with the Onmyō Bureau. The academy is protected by a special barrier."
"If a particularly dangerous impurity appears, the barrier's defenses activate and destroy it."
That made Akio blink.
He knew next to nothing about onmyōji arts, but now that Erina mentioned it, he looked around the academy more carefully. And sure enough—he noticed something he'd overlooked before.
At five corners of the campus stood small shrines.
Each shrine enshrined a mystical artifact, and together, the five shrines formed a massive pentagram seal that enveloped the entire school.
So that was the barrier Erina was talking about.
Interesting.
Even with his limited knowledge, Akio knew the pentagram—also called the Kikyō Seal—was no trivial thing. It wasn't related to the shrine maiden Kikyo, but was actually created by the legendary onmyōji Abe no Seimei to subdue demons and spirits.
Installing such a seal at Tōtsuki Academy to automatically eliminate dangerous impurities? Clever. Deserved some praise.
Still, one thing didn't make sense.
If the pentagram seal could wipe out impurities… why not just clear out all of them at once? Why leave them roaming around the school?
Then, in the next moment, a possible answer occurred to him.
"..."
________________________________________________________________________________________________________