Mai Sakurajima grew wary.
Rio Futaba frowned slightly.
Miko Yotsuya sighed quietly.
The great Yui Yuigahama was blissfully enjoying her delicious lunchbox.
"Hey, Ye Xing!"
Marin Kitagawa spotted Ye Xing sitting by the window and waved cheerfully, walking in with quick steps and a bright smile.
"I promised to discuss cosplay with you all, so I hurriedly ate an onigiri and came straight over."
"Please have a seat."
"Thanks."
After Marin sat down, Ye Xing finally looked up and suddenly reached out.
"On your face."
Before Marin could react, Ye Xing plucked a grain of rice from the corner of her mouth.
Seeing this, Rio's expression changed, and she quickly interjected.
"Hey, you can't..."
Ye Xing pulled out a tissue with his left hand and wiped the rice grain from his right index finger.
Then he turned to Rio with a puzzled look.
"What can't I do?"
Rio opened and closed her mouth before mumbling quietly.
"I thought... You were going to eat that grain of rice casually."
"How casual would you have to be to do something that ridiculous?"
Ye Xing rolled his eyes, too exasperated to even properly respond.
Beside them, Marin's cheeks turned slightly pink, though it was unclear whether from embarrassment about having rice on her face or from the shyness of Ye Xing wiping it off for her.
Sensing the awkward atmosphere in the clubroom, Rio cleared her throat and changed the subject.
"You're... Marin Kitagawa, right? I'm Rio Futaba from Class 1-D. Nice to meet you."
Hearing Rio's introduction, Marin's face lit up with recognition.
"So you're Rio Futaba! I've finally met you in person."
"Huh?"
Rio looked confused.
"Am I famous or something?"
"Not exactly."
Marin waved her hand with a laugh.
"It's just that Hana mentioned in class that your Supernatural Quantum Mechanics Research Society isn't as strange as the rumours say, and that all the members are actually really nice people."
When Marin Kitagawa mentioned "Hana", she was naturally referring to their classmate Hana Yurikawa.
With Hana Yurikawa's naive, innocent yet gentle and kind personality, after receiving help from the Supernatural Society, she would never allow anyone to claim in her presence that the society was just a strange club formed by weirdos.
"I see."
Rio Futaba nodded noncommittally, first glancing at Ye Xing sitting by the window before shifting her gaze back to the smiling Marin Kitagawa before her. Finally, she gritted her teeth and made up her mind to get straight to the point.
"Kitagawa-san."
"Yes, Futaba-san?"
"I..."
Rio Futaba blushed, lightly biting her lower lip.
"My chest is too big... if I want to do cosplay, is there any way to solve this problem?"
"Ah, oh, oh..."
Marin hadn't expected that their discussion about cosplay would start with such an explosive topic right away.
Then she smiled nonchalantly and spoke gently.
"Ah, Futaba-san, you don't need to feel embarrassed. This is a common issue many cosplayers face; nothing to be awkward about."
Marin gave a quick glance at Rio Futaba in her white lab coat.
"Futaba-san, maybe you should take off your coat first? This problem shouldn't be too difficult..."
Just as Marin was halfway through her sentence, Rio Futaba had already removed her lab coat.
In that instant, it was as if a seal had been lifted.
Marin's mouth slightly opened, her expression one of complete shock.
Bloody hell.
This could easily rival Hana's proportions.
The problem... seemed slightly too big.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, Marin finally snapped out of it and hurriedly spoke up.
"Actually, it's fine! I've seen tutorials online that can completely conceal even the largest proportions."
"Online?"
Seeing Rio Futaba's slightly furrowed brows, Marin felt deeply ashamed.
"Actually... I haven't actually done cosplay before, I've just read about some things online..."
Her voice grew progressively quieter towards the end.
She felt utterly ashamed.
Here she was, brazenly talking about discussing cosplay together.
Yet when faced with Rio Futaba's first question, she couldn't even provide a proper answer.
It was truly disappointing.
Thinking this, before anyone else could speak, Marin suddenly stood up, clenched her fists and declared earnestly to Rio Futaba:
"Futaba-san, don't worry! I'll go research more online, and next time... no, when I come back tomorrow, I'll bring the necessary tools. I promise to solve this problem for you!"
With that, Marin turned and left the clubroom.
Watching her retreating figure, Rio Futaba shook her head slightly in resignation, though the corners of her lips couldn't help curling upwards.
This Marin Kitagawa seemed like a good person.
At least, unlike most students, she didn't make any snide remarks about her more developed physique compared to her peers, and she genuinely seemed willing to help.
Assessment complete - new ally acquired.
After Marin Kitagawa, the outsider, had walked some distance away, Ye Xing finally moved his chair to the table. Watching the members enjoying the bento boxes personally prepared by Mai Sakurajima, he opened his own.
There was no heart-shaped ketchup design—just an ordinary, nutritionally balanced bento that looked delicious.
"Let's eat while we talk."
Ye Xing picked up a cherry tomato with his chopsticks and placed it in his mouth before speaking slowly.
"What's the current frequency of Gate appearances?"
At his question, Miko Yotsuya, the chief investigator of the Supernatural Society, immediately replied.
"Based on the intelligence provided by Tamamo-no-Mae and the investigations conducted by me and Futaba, Gates in Kyoto currently appear roughly once every week to ten days. Moreover, their danger levels are gradually decreasing."
Yui Yuigahama, listening nearby, smiled sweetly.
"That means we can take more breaks and go shopping together often."
"Don't relax just yet."
Ye Xing spoke slowly.
"Although the frequency of Gate appearances has decreased, no one knows if more anomalies will emerge in this world in the future."
"We can't afford to slack off on improving our strength."
"The first task..."
Here, Ye Xing paused, looking at the four Supernatural Society members before him—and one unofficial member, Hachishaku-sama, who was curled up in a corner playing with her fingers.
"Can we figure out a way to get our hands on some gun parts?"
Rio Futaba's expression changed at his words.
"What are you planning?"
"To make a few guns. I don't need them myself, but they'd be good for your self-defence."
"Guns? Leaving aside how inconvenient they'd be to carry, none of us even know how to assemble them."
Ye Xing smiled nonchalantly.
"I didn't know before, but I do now."
Rio Futaba, Yui Yuigahama, Miko Yotsuya, Mai Sakurajima: "..."
What could they even say to that?
Fine, you win.
After a moment of contemplation, Rio Futaba pressed her lips together and said,
"The parts are strictly controlled. Even if we could get them, we can't be sure if the source is trustworthy. It wouldn't be worth attracting the Metropolitan Police Department's attention just to make a few handguns for self-defence."
"Fair point. We'll revisit this later then."
Ye Xing nodded slightly in agreement before speaking up again.
"Futaba and Miko, which one of you is free after school today? I need help with something—just one of you will do."
Rio Futaba and Miko Yotsuya exchanged glances. The former adjusted her glasses and spoke calmly.
"I need to organise the information I gathered during spring break and visit the library to research quantum mechanics. Let Miko go."
"Alright, it's settled then."
At that moment, Rio Futaba had no idea...
Just what she was missing out on.
"Now, the final issue."
"We need a new collaborator—not an external one like Marin Kitagawa or Oda Noto, but an internal member with the power to assist in fighting evil spirits."
Ye Xing's proposal left the members hesitant, unsure how to respond.
Excluding the two ordinary members, Mai Sakurajima and Yui Yuigahama, the only Supernatural Society members with actual combat capabilities against evil spirits were Ye Xing, Miko Yotsuya, and Rio Futaba.
The problem was the vast disparity in their combat strength.
Ye Xing was overwhelmingly invincible—so far, no evil spirit had managed to harm him, let alone one that could push him to use his full power.
Meanwhile, Miko Yotsuya and Rio Futaba were on the same level. Together, they could handle an S-class Gate, but not without risk.
Without Ye Xing accompanying them, they could enter the Reverse World but couldn't move freely amidst the swarms of evil spirits, much less allow Hyakume and Bone Woman to devour them for levelling up.
Slow levelling meant insufficient strength.
Insufficient strength meant they could only enter the Reverse World when Ye Xing was free, further slowing their progress.
It was a vicious cycle.
"Sigh..."
Miko rested her cheeks in her hands and sighed helplessly.
"That's true, but finding someone trustworthy, capable, and thoroughly vetted is incredibly difficult."
Aside from founder Ye Xing and Miko, the other three Supernatural Society members had all joined by chance.
Rio Futaba was recruited for her analytical skills, and it took nearly half a month before she learned the truth.
Mai Sakurajima and Yui Yuigahama were directly involved in supernatural incidents.
If the Society were to recruit now, the only trustworthy candidates they could think of were two people:
Kazusa Touma and Hana Yurikawa—both clients of supernatural cases who, after being helped, never leaked a word, proving their trustworthiness through action.
The problem?
They were just ordinary people and couldn't provide any meaningful assistance yet.
"I was waiting for you to say that."
While the others pondered, Ye Xing tapped the table confidently, smiling.
"Actually, I've already scouted someone perfect."
He paused, glancing at Miko and Yui.
"And both of you have met her before."
"Wait, really?"
Yui Yuigahama and Miko Yotsuya both wore puzzled expressions, racking their brains but unable to recall meeting anyone who might resemble a psychic.
This was one of the advantages of being a transmigrator.
Not just Mai Sakurajima and the others before him, but Ye Xing had a certain level of understanding of any character who wasn't just a background extra.
The personalities revealed in the plot couldn't lie.
Light Yagami was like that, and so was that person.
This could be called one-sided intimate knowledge.
Ye Xing stood up and walked to the window, watching the gradually intensifying rain outside, speaking meaningfully.
"Kyoto has been raining quite frequently lately."
...
That night, at Ye Xing's home.
Miko Yotsuya sat on the sofa, holding a cup of hot tea, feeling an inexplicable nervousness.
She still remembered the last time she'd come to Ye Xing's place alone.
It was right after escaping that abandoned building.
That day, like today, had been rainy.
She'd even taken a shower at his place.
That classic line - "A gentleman's word is as good as his bond, if I say I'll peek, then I'll definitely peek" - had appeared at that time.
What did Ye Xing want with her?
Just as Miko was lost in thought, Ye Xing sat down opposite her with a can of Coca-Cola.
After a few seconds of silence.
"Miko."
Miko snapped back to attention.
"Ah, what is it?"
With an utterly serious expression, Ye Xing spoke earnestly.
"How can one materialise their soul and become stronger?"
"Huh?"
Miko looked confused.
"By devouring other evil spirits, right? You already knew that. In fact, you were the one who told us."
Ye Xing nodded noncommittally and asked again.
"Then how can psychics themselves become stronger?"
Miko lightly bit her lower lip. Faced with this question, her golden pupils dimmed slightly as she lowered her gaze.
"Only through training and gaining more experience fighting evil spirits... After all, I don't have your ability to devour spirits to strengthen myself."
As fellow psychics, neither Miko Yotsuya nor Rio Futaba possessed Ye Xing's ability to grow stronger by consuming evil spirits themselves.
No matter how many spirits their materialised souls devoured, no matter how powerful they became, their physical bodies remained ordinary humans.
Perhaps this was the limitation of psychics.
Against those terrifying evil spirits that could scale walls and possessed immense strength, their human forms were simply too fragile.
"Then what would happen if someone forcibly tried to devour an evil spirit?"
Miko replied softly.
"They'd definitely die."
"Exactly."
Ye Xing agreed.
"Evil spirits and humans are fundamentally different existences. For a human body to fuse with a spirit's energy would be suicidal."
At this point, Ye Xing suddenly changed tack.
"But suppose there was something like a converter - something that could transform a spirit's power into a form that even a human body could safely consume to grow stronger. Wouldn't that change everything?"
"Hiss..."
Miko considered this carefully.
That actually made some sense.
If such a converter really existed, to use an inappropriate analogy, it would be like a juicer.
By converting the originally unabsorbable evil spirit power into a form that the human body can assimilate...
This might actually work.
As she thought this, Miko Yotsuya raised a new question.
"But where would we find this converter..."
Mid-sentence, Miko suddenly realised.
Why look elsewhere?
Wasn't the so-called converter sitting right across from her?
Ye Xing, who had devoured thousands of evil spirits yet remained human, wasn't he the perfect converter?
No.
Wait.
Conversion was one thing, but how could she absorb it?
By eating Ye Xing?
Recalling how those foolish evil spirits had bitten him only to either swell up and explode or writhe in agony, Miko felt a chill run down her spine.
Dare she try?
More importantly, she didn't want to eat Ye Xing anyway.
Noticing Miko's changing expressions, Ye Xing delivered a precise remark.
"You're not actually considering eating me, are you? That would indeed be suicidal."
"Direct consumption is obviously impossible, but if it's... You know what I mean? That might work."
Hearing Ye Xing's cryptic words, Miko looked at him with innocent curiosity.
"If it's what?"
"Don't you understand?"
Ye Xing sighed slightly before speaking slowly and seriously.
"If it's in liquid form, it might be possible."
"Liquid..."
Miko murmured thoughtfully.
"You mean... blood?"
"Hmm... if you think so, then yes, but not just blood."
"What else could..."
Here, Miko froze.
Gradually, everything became clear.
At this moment, the naive and innocent Miko Yotsuya had an epiphany.
So that's what he meant by liquid!!!
"Ahem."
Miko's face flushed slightly as she cleared her throat. Her heartbeat accelerated noticeably, but she maintained a serious expression.
"Well... drinking blood doesn't seem ideal. Besides, it would harm your body. If there are other methods, we should try those first."
Seeing her reaction, Ye Xing frowned slightly.
This response... wasn't quite right.
For Miko, who had never been in a relationship and was utterly naive, to react so mildly when discussing such matters... was unexpected.
Just slightly shy?
Normally, shouldn't one be blushing furiously with eyes misting over?
Ye Xing stared directly into Miko Yotsuya's golden eyes.
"What do you mean by that?"
"The same thing you meant."
"Shall we say it together then?"
"Alright, 3, 2, 1..."
Miko Yotsuya: "A... a kiss."
Ye Xing: "Infusing..."
Deafening silence.
After a long pause, Ye Xing finally spoke slowly.
"In my case... never mind."