Chapter 10: Perhaps Emiya Isn't Very Popular with Girls
Emiya wasn't quite sure why things had turned out this way, but there was no doubt that Yotsuya Miko was angry.
And not just a little angry—she was genuinely mad.
On the walk home, she barely spoke to Emiya, merely focusing intently on her phone, her slender fingers clicking away on the screen so fast they almost sparked.
Emiya tried asking what she was doing, but Miko only said she was discussing something very important with her best friend.
Even though it was practically the same world, and barely more than a decade had passed, Emiya could feel a definite generation gap.
In his world, the mobile phone, while a convenient communication tool, didn't have nearly as many functions as it did now.
In Emiya's memory, a phone was still the clunky, old-fashioned type with a small screen and many keys.
If we shift our perspective to Yotsuya Miko's side, we can see the true content of her discussion with her best friend—
[...]
[Can't Eat Enough How dare he tease our adorable Miko-san? That kind of guy is absolutely despicable!]
[Miko Bunny : Right, right!]
[Can't Eat Enough: So, Miko-san, how about we go to Shibuya tomorrow after school? I heard the restaurant we frequent got a new chef.]
[Miko Bunny: Speaking of chefs, I remember Emiya-kun saying he can cook, too?]
[Can't Eat Enough: ...]
[Can't Eat Enough: You've changed, Miko-san. Now you can't go three sentences without mentioning a boy.]
[Can't Eat Enough: So introduce him to me quickly. I need to judge his cooking skills to decide whether or not to allow him to date our lovely Miko.]
[Miko Bunny: What are you talking about???!!!]
Yotsuya Miko abruptly pressed the power button hard on her phone, then shoved it back into her pocket without hesitation, ignoring its continuous vibrations.
She was angry. She was going to give her best friend the silent treatment for ten minutes.
How could her first reaction not be to help her, but instead to inquire about that guy's cooking skills? If he really was a great cook, would this friend even betray her?
Besides, what was this nonsense about dating? Was she kidding?!
They'd only known each other for less than two full days!
Yotsuya Miko instinctively turned her head to look at Emiya, who was walking behind her. She found that he was staring all around the streets, not even noticing that she had stopped.
Smack—
Inevitably, Emiya walked right into her, but the prepared Yotsuya Miko simply leaned slightly forward and maintained her balance.
Even at this moment, Emiya was utterly bewildered, but Yotsuya Miko slowly narrowed her eyes.
She didn't know why, but she felt even angrier now.
"Ding-a-ling-ling—"
Fortunately, the ringtone sounded just then. However, the call wasn't for Yotsuya Miko, but for Emiya, who had just gotten the phone.
It was given to him by the Assistant Supervisor named Ijichi Kiyotaka, who said it was a special model exclusively for internal Sorcerers and would notify him of mission requests in advance.
Emiya answered the call.
The person calling him was indeed Ijichi Kiyotaka, who said there was a low-level mission perfect for him, so he had accepted it on Emiya's behalf and was now asking for his confirmation.
Emiya accepted, as expected.
After hanging up, Yotsuya Miko seemed to forget her earlier displeasure and quickly asked Emiya, "Are you going to take a Cursed Spirit exorcism mission now?"
"They said there's a low-level exorcism mission nearby at a school, so they want to test my ability first."
Emiya thought this was normal. After all, it was an official organization, so they should at least test the capabilities of new recruits.
"You're going right now? Won't it be dangerous?"
Yotsuya Miko couldn't shake her worry. Whether high-level or low-level, facing those monsters was bound to be dangerous, right?
Furthermore, the Sorcerers didn't know Emiya couldn't see the Cursed Spirits' true forms, but she did!
"It shouldn't be, right? They said the Cursed Spirit this time is at most Grade 3, and I'll be cooperating with a student from Jujutsu High..."
Ijichi's original words were that the student could easily exorcise the Cursed Spirit alone, so there was no need to worry about safety. The main reason for having Emiya join was that the higher-ups wanted to observe his abilities and have him demonstrate his skills as much as possible.
But while that might be theoretically sound, is a girl the kind of creature you can reason with?
So Yotsuya Miko's worries were not lessened one bit.
She hesitated and pondered for a moment before finally saying to Emiya, "Then, if it's okay... how about, how about you take me with you? At least I can help point out the Cursed Spirits' location..."
Yotsuya Miko was, of course, scared to go fight evil spirits in an empty academy at midnight.
But compared to that fear, she was more worried about Emiya's safety. And if the evil spirit was truly as weak as they claimed, he could definitely protect her.
Besides, the Yin-Yang Eye wasn't going to disappear, so learning more about this stuff would certainly be beneficial to her!
Yotsuya Miko internally made many excuses to conquer her fear, but she still couldn't completely hide the worry and fear on her face.
To creatures like Cursed Spirits, who have little to no intelligence, Yotsuya Miko's expression might not have changed much, but the emotion was quite obvious to Emiya.
He was very touched that she was worried about him, which made it all the more impossible for him to let Miko come along.
"Even if you wanted to go, Miko, you wouldn't have a reason to explain to your family why you're going out at night, would you?"
Emiya's intention was just to get her to drop the idea of coming along, but his words seemed to carry some ambiguity.
"..."
Bang—!
This time, Yotsuya Miko didn't speak; she took direct action.
She expressionlessly flicked Emiya on the forehead with her finger, then turned and walked away. In Emiya's line of sight, she walked to her house at the end of the street, went inside, and closed the door.
"It seems... I accidentally said the wrong thing again?"
Emiya was trying very hard to reflect on his problem.
Maybe he was just the type who wasn't very popular with girls?
Fortunately, just as Emiya was wondering how he could get her to forgive him, a new message suddenly came in on his phone.
[Miko Bunny: If I could see Emiya-kun's home-cooked food tomorrow, maybe I'd be very happy?]
The good news was that she wasn't truly angry. The bad news was... when did they become friends?
Was it when Miko said she would help him set up his new phone?
Hmm...
Even though it was a smartphone, why did Emiya have to feel like it wasn't smart at all and was somewhat difficult to deal with?