Marin Kitagawa removed her black chiffon dress, carefully hung it on a hanger, and then stepped into the shower. She turned on the showerhead, letting the warm water wash over her sweat-dampened body.
After finishing, Marin wrapped herself in a bath towel, pressed her lips together, and stared at her reflection in the mirror, engaged in an internal battle.
Her commitment to character accuracy made her want to ask Ye Xing for help - to draw several tally marks on her thigh, just like Kuroe Shizuku's tally marks.
But her maidenly shyness made Marin feel this would be crossing a line.
And there was one more crucial reason.
If Saki Kawasaki found out that she and Ye Xing had come to a love hotel, and even done something like drawing tally marks on her leg with a pen...
She would definitely get the wrong idea...
If it came to that, some strange misunderstandings would surely arise.
After all, there's no way to prove your innocence in such matters...
After hesitating for a long while, Marin finally decided to first ask Ye Xing's opinion and discuss it with him before making a decision.
He might not even agree to such an outrageous request anyway.
Marin placed her wig, hair accessories, and various other small items on the bathroom counter. She changed into clean clothes from her bag - a loose short-sleeved top and hot pants - then walked barefoot across the floor, carefully leaving the bathroom.
Seeing Ye Xing sitting there, looking bored, made her heartbeat suddenly race.
"Um... Ye Xing, aren't you going to take a shower?"
"I didn't sweat, so no need."
"Y-yeah, right."
Marin gave an awkward laugh, making conversation just for the sake of it.
"S-seems like you have the kind of constitution that doesn't sweat easily."
She had noticed it this morning while sitting together on the train and during the event.
Even in this hot summer, Ye Xing had a refreshing coolness about him. Just being near him felt soothing, like a cool autumn breeze.
If they removed all their clothes and touched directly, or even embraced... it would probably feel as comfortable as sleeping on a bamboo mat...
Coming to this realisation, Marin suddenly snapped back to reality, her pretty face flushing deep red.
What was she fantasising about!!!
How could such embarrassing images appear in her head - the two of them removing their clothes and embracing naked...
"Kitagawa, your face is very red."
Hearing Ye Xing's words, Marin fanned herself with her hand, appearing flustered yet trying to act composed.
"I-it's just the hot weather... I might be getting a bit of heatstroke..."
In that moment, Marin finally experienced the terrifying power of Ye Xing, Sobu High School's Satan and founder of the Supernatural Society.
This was practically... a male succubus!!!
No wonder her usually aloof friend, Saki Kawasaki, and her younger sister, Keika Kawasaki, were always mentioning her name.
So that's how it was...
Truly fearsome, absolutely fearsome.
"Um... Ye Xing-kun."
Marin Kitagawa took a deep breath, carefully sat down on the heart-shaped bed, nervously twisting her pale golden hair as she tentatively asked.
"Could you... help me with something?"
"With what?"
Marin Kitagawa blushed, her voice as faint as a mosquito's hum.
"Could you use a black marker to draw some tally marks... on my thigh..."
Upon hearing this, Ye Xing frowned slightly, adopting a righteous expression as he spoke solemnly.
"Kitagawa-san, what kind of person do you take me for? A god-waiting boy? The male version of Hokkaido's war goddess? Such a request is really asking too much."
Marin Kitagawa couldn't refute these words.
She, too, felt that she had gone too far.
It was clearly her own miscalculation, and the fact that Ye Xing-kun had accompanied her to this cosplay event was already quite kind and considerate of him.
Now she was making such an embarrassing request - he must be really troubled by it...
"However..."
Ye Xing suddenly changed his tone, his serious expression disappearing as he removed the pure black mask and spoke with a smile.
"Since it's your request, Kitagawa-san, I'll reluctantly make an exception. After all, you're one of my few friends."
"Eh?"
Hearing this, Marin Kitagawa looked somewhat surprised.
"One of your few? Aren't everyone in the club your friends?"
Ye Xing replied matter-of-factly.
"Most members can't really be called my friends. Actually, I have very few friends."
Before Marin Kitagawa could fully grasp the deeper meaning behind these words, Ye Xing left the room.
A few minutes later, he returned holding a black marker pen.
"Alright, I've got it. Let's begin."
Looking at the black marker in Ye Xing's hand, Marin Kitagawa felt for the first time in her life such intense nervousness that she could barely breathe.
Right now, she was only grateful for one thing.
Thank goodness she was wearing hot pants that exposed her thighs - if she had been wearing tight jeans, the only way to draw the tally marks would have been to take them off...
"Lie down properly."
Hearing Ye Xing's commanding tone, Marin Kitagawa's eyes showed nervousness as she carefully lay down on the heart-shaped bed, nervously closing her eyes and even covering her cheeks with both hands.
To make it easier for him to draw the tally marks, she even slightly parted her long, fair legs.
This scene was practically like...
"Ah... mmm..."
The tickling sensation of the marker touching near the sensitive area of her inner thighs made Marin Kitagawa feel her whole body go weak, and she couldn't help but let out a few soft moans.
It wasn't just her body that went weak.
Marin Kitagawa felt a very strange sensation at the same time.
She didn't quite understand it, but she had heard experienced friends describe it...
This feeling seemed to be...
'I must stay calm, absolutely must stay calm.'
Marin Kitagawa warned herself inwardly, determined to maintain control and absolutely not do anything that would betray her good friend Saki Kawasaki.
Yet the blush spreading across her fair skin was an instinctive physical reaction, completely beyond the control of her conscious will.
Whether intentionally or just being thorough, Ye Xing drew the tally marks at an unhurried pace, maintaining moderate pressure with steady strokes as he chuckled softly.
"Every mark I'm drawing for you now will have to be repaid double later."
Marin covered her cheeks with her hands, not daring to look up at the scene between her legs, afraid of meeting Ye Xing's gaze and revealing her current embarrassment and shyness. She could only reply in a slightly breathless voice.
"I... I understand. Next time you... encounter this situation, I'll... I'll draw them for you too..."
The innocent Marin clearly hadn't grasped the deeper meaning in Ye Xing's words. Naively, she thought he meant that next time they cosplayed, she would help with this kind of makeup that was inconvenient for her to do herself.
Despite the shame, Marin suddenly realised her current experience was more valuable than she'd imagined.
Only by personally experiencing what a character went through could one truly understand them.
The shame, the fear of being discovered, yet the inexplicable excitement in her heart, not wanting him to stop, the humiliation of having tally marks drawn on her body mixed with that thrill...
So this is how it was.
Marin understood.
So this was exactly how Kuroe felt when she had tally marks drawn on her!
She suddenly felt a sense of relief.
Fortunately, she'd forgotten to draw the tally marks on herself before coming.
Were Kuroe's tally marks drawn by herself?
No.
In that case, how could drawing them on herself help her understand Kuroe's feelings at that time!?
A true cosplayer should experience everything the character went through to truly understand the character's essence!
Just as Marin was lost in these wandering thoughts, she suddenly heard Ye Xing speak softly.
"Done."
"Th... thank you."
Marin murmured in response, about to get up from the bed, when she felt Ye Xing flip her over.
"When I said done, I meant the legs are done. There are other places too."
"Other places... Could it be!?"
Marin suddenly remembered.
Although Kuroe's character design only showed tally mark patterns on her legs...
If you met the hidden conditions in the game, you could unlock a special CG image.
In that CG image, Kuroe didn't just have tally marks on her thighs - even her buttocks...
The good news was that Ye Xing truly wasn't boasting. Knowing about this CG image proved that he really was a veteran eroge player who had achieved perfect completion.
The bad news was that Marin had just realised she had truly become Kuroe.
"Ye Xing, don't... Mmm..."
Before Marin could finish speaking, she felt her hot pants being pulled up. Although she was lying face down and no sensitive areas were exposed - at most it was like wearing a bikini - she still felt an indescribable shame.
"Mmm..."
Marin Kitagawa lay face down on the pillow, silver teeth lightly biting, unable to suppress the panting from her nose, her eyes growing dazed.
"No... I can't... I'm going to... I can't take it anymore..."
...
After five minutes had passed, Marin Kitagawa lay sprawled on the bed, her body so limp she had no strength left.
"OK, done."
Like a pure artist, Ye Xing admired the several black tally marks he had drawn on Marin Kitagawa's fair skin, nodding with satisfaction.
"Excellent, truly the peak of my artistic career."
Marin Kitagawa's eyes were vacant as she lay on the bed, completely drained of energy, looking utterly spent.
It wasn't just Ye Xing.
She had reached her peak too, only...
It was purely physical.
...
In the afternoon, the same activities continued - taking photos with other cosplayers or tourists as souvenirs.
Throughout this process, Marin Kitagawa seemed distracted, frequently stealing glances at Ye Xing, yet whenever he turned towards her, she would startle like a frightened bird and quickly avert her gaze.
The good news was that she had experienced what Kuroe Shizuku experienced.
The bad news was that the experience was a bit too intense.
This behaviour persisted until they boarded the return train after the event ended. She seemed to want to say something to Ye Xing, but upon seeing his expression - as if nothing had happened - she swallowed her words.
...
Back in the hotel room, Marin had just changed into normal clothes when she heard knocking at the door.
Hesitantly, she opened it to find standing outside the very person she was most afraid of seeing right now.
"So Marin, did you have fun? Did the costume I made receive widespread praise?"
Looking at Saki Kawasaki's smiling face, Marin recalled what had happened that noon in that room, on that heart-shaped bed, and couldn't help but show traces of guilt in her eyes.
"Saki, I... I..."
"Why are you acting so strange?"
Seeing Marin's hesitant, tongue-tied appearance, Saki Kawasaki said with an amused smile.
"We're friends, why are you being so evasive?"
"Friends..."
Marin murmured the word softly, feeling even deeper guilt and unease in her heart.
She never expected things would develop to that point.
Although Marin had no experience in this area, she had heard from friends about such matters...
Clearly, she had... reached climax at that time.
The shame was one thing.
Now there were two crucial problems.
First.
Did Ye Xing notice?
Marin felt certain he must have noticed, but just didn't mention it.
After something like this happened, how should she face Ye Xing from now on?
The second problem.
Having done something that felt like cheating, how should she face her good friend Saki Kawasaki?
Even the closest friends couldn't be completely indifferent about matters of the heart, could they?
If she told the truth...
Could she and Saki Kawasaki still remain friends afterwards?
In the end, Marin still lacked the courage to truthfully confess what had happened that day, and could only force a strained smile.
"That... I had a really good time today. The costume you made received high praise from everyone at the venue."
"Really? That's wonderful!"
Saki Kawasaki didn't notice anything unusual about Marin Kitagawa, simply assuming she was tired from the event.
After all, wearing such a heavy black chiffon dress and standing under the blazing sun for several hours was truly a double torment on both physical strength and mental energy.
Saki Kawasaki herself was very passionate about sewing, so hearing that the clothing she made had received unanimous approval from everyone naturally made her quite happy.
"That's great. Are you tired? Would you like to go out for dinner together?"
Marin Kitagawa forced a smile.
"That... I don't really feel like going out."
"Oh, that's fine. What would you like to eat? I'm going out to dinner with the others and can bring something back for you."
"Mm... whatever you're having will be fine."
"Okay."
After Saki Kawasaki left the room and the door closed behind her, Marin Kitagawa collapsed onto the floor as if all strength had been drained from her body.
Her thoughts spun completely out of control, replaying the scene from noon over and over.
And that strange feeling she had experienced at the time...
"What... should I do..."
...
Three days later, on the Shinkansen train.
Ye Xing sat by the window, the summer sunlight illuminating his face and creating an extremely beautiful picture.
Hina Amano, sitting beside him, couldn't help but steal glances, thinking to herself.
She hadn't paid much attention before, but now that Ye Xing wasn't speaking and wasn't displaying his abstract personality, she finally noticed...
He was really quite handsome.
"Speaking of which..."
Hina Amano spoke softly after watching him secretly for a while.
"Is it really alright not to bring Yui and the others along?"
"It's fine."
Ye Xing replied in a calm tone while watching the scenery flying past outside the window.
"After being away from Kyoto for so long, there are many accumulated exorcism requests to handle. Just the two of us are enough for this trip."
"Are we going to... Itomori Town?"
"Yes."
Initially, Ye Xing had actually planned to go to Itomori Town alone.
But after reconsidering, he decided to bring Hina Amano along.
As a professional exorcist, Ye Xing had specifically studied Japan's ghost stories and folklore.
Although the stories varied wildly and didn't have much reference value, there was one point worth noting.
For humans to establish contact with deities, they must go through some kind of medium.
There were many types of mediums - like the shrine maiden's kuchikamizake passed down through generations of the Miyamizu family, or the wind chimes in that Tokyo shrine - all could serve as medium objects.
So the question arose.
Did that weather-controlling deity have a so-called shrine?
Perhaps it did, but checking them one by one would be too time-consuming.
That left only one option.
Hina Amano, who had been chosen by the deity and was destined to become a living sacrifice, capable of manipulating weather through prayer - she was the medium.
"Itomori Town..."
Hina Amano stole a glance at Ye Xing's profile before lowering her head, tugging at her sleeve, and staring at her own semi-transparent wrist, which had already taken on a rainbow hue, her expression deeply complicated.
She had already sensed it - something in the heavens was calling to her.
Only by becoming a sacrificial offering and disappearing as a kamikakushi could Japan's weather return to normal.
Hina Amano's original plan had been to tell no one about this, neither her younger brother nor the members of the Supernatural Society, simply waiting quietly to sacrifice herself so Japan's weather could be restored.
However, Hina Amano wasn't foolish.
She vaguely realised that Ye Xing seemed to already know about her condition, though he hadn't said anything directly.
Just then, Hina Amano suddenly noticed red threads appearing in the air.
Before she could react, the red threads drifted before Ye Xing and quickly formed words that nearly made her laugh aloud, words that carried a distinctly sycophantic tone.
"Master, you've finally arrived."