Chapter 5: Yoru's Exorcism Diary
"B-Bread?"
Yotsuya Miko's expression was slightly complicated; for a moment, she didn't know how to respond.
It was true that she didn't remember how many slices of bread she had eaten in her life.
But the key issue was: Are evil spirits the same as bread?
Did Yoru mean that, in his eyes, evil spirits were just food like bread? That there was no need to remember how many he had devoured?
Before Miko could fully process this, Yoru pulled out the notebook she had seen that morning from his jacket and casually handed it to her.
"The answers you want are probably all in there. I'm too lazy to explain, so just read it yourself."
Looking at the black notebook Yoru was offering, Miko gently bit her lower lip with her pearly white teeth. Her golden eyes showed hesitation.
A very unsettling feeling suddenly rose in her heart.
According to Yoru, he had only awakened the ability to see those "things" about half a month ago.
But clearly...
Yoru's understanding of evil spirits and ghosts was far more profound than hers, even though she had possessed the "Sight" for years.
If she took this notebook now and came into contact with the truth of this world...
Could I ever go back?
After hesitating for a long time, Miko finally reached out with her fair right hand. Her slender fingers touched the cover of the black notebook, and she took it.
She took a deep breath to calm the nervousness in her chest and slowly opened it.
The very first sentence that came into view stunned Miko.
[March 20th. Weather: Overcast.]
[Today, I awakened the ability to see evil spirits and ghosts.]
[Damn it. I opened my eyes first thing in the morning and saw a monster with a twisted face standing by my bed. scared the hell out of me.]
Reading this sentence, Miko unconsciously sighed.
She could only say she related completely.
Even now, occasionally when she opened her eyes in the morning and was suddenly startled by spirits or ghosts, she would break out in a cold sweat.
At the same time, the anxiety in Miko's heart eased a little.
She looked at Yoru, who was leaning against the rooftop railing and gazing at the distant scenery. She thought that although he acted very calm now, he was just like her when he first saw an evil spirit—scared out of his wits.
Having the emotion of fear... that was the sign of a normal human being.
Just as Miko started to smile slightly, her smile froze as she read the next entry.
[Finished eating.]
[Surprisingly, evil spirits actually taste pretty good. How should I describe it?]
[The texture is a bit like spicy gluten strips, but with a crispy shell.]
[Friends who often eat evil spirits know that swallowing is easy, but cooking is hard.]
[I tried deep-frying one in oil, but they don't seem to count as ingredients. Can only eat them raw.]
[Whatever. Raw it is. It has a kind of primitive, natural flavor.]
Miko's brain had crashed. She couldn't even think; she just subconsciously turned the page.
[March 26th. Weather: Sunny.]
[After continuously devouring evil spirits for the past few days, I have a deeper understanding of my ability.]
[It's not just seeing them.]
[After devouring them, my physical fitness strengthens slightly. The specific effect seems to depend on the strength of the target spirit.]
[Also, after eating, memory fragments that don't belong to me appear in my mind.]
[I suspect these might be the experiences of the spirit when it was alive.]
[In these memory fragments, I only play the role of a third-party observer with a God's-eye view. I don't experience them personally, so there's no negative impact on me.]
...
[April 2nd. Weather: Clear skies, not a cloud in sight.]
[How many evil spirits have I devoured during this time? I haven't kept track.]
[Around two or three hundred? Maybe four or five hundred. After all, there are just too many of these things.]
[As the number of devoured spirits increases, I've found that ordinary spirits and ghosts—perhaps out of fear of a natural predator—no longer dare to approach me.]
[In fact, they flee rapidly as soon as I appear.]
Reading this entry, Miko's eyebrows twitched twice.
From March 20th to April 2nd was only thirteen days in total.
Yoru had actually devoured hundreds of evil spirits in such a short time?
That meant he was eating at least twenty or thirty of them every single day?
Although the notebook didn't say it explicitly, based on Miko's experience, unless she deliberately went to remote, dark places, the number of "things" she saw daily was only about four or five.
What did this mean?
It meant that from the moment Yoru awakened his Sight, he hadn't been avoiding evil spirits. Instead, he had been actively and enthusiastically hunting them down every day.
Can this guy be a normal human!?
The content of the next entry, however, was something Miko found difficult to understand.
[April 4th. Weather: Rainy.]
[Found another "Door."]
[Just as I suspected, in areas where these things exist, the activity of evil spirits and ghosts within a radius of several kilometers increases significantly.]
[If left alone, Kyoto will turn into a place for the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons in less than two months, won't it?]
[Those old geezers at the shrines are all useless one after another. They have evil spirits clinging to their own backs, yet they say they want to perform blessings for me?]
[However, if the setting of evil spirits and ghosts is the same as in Mieruko-chan, I remember there are so-called Gods who have the ability to eradicate evil spirits.]
[Maybe I haven't found the right place.]
[Or perhaps, Gods do exist, but They are simply unwilling to help me.]
[Whichever it is, it doesn't matter anymore.]
[Tomorrow is the start of term at Sobu High. I'll consider the next step after making contact with Yotsuya Miko.]
The daily entries in the notebook ended there.
At the very back was a list compiled by Yoru detailing the reactions of evil spirits when attacked with weapons made of various materials.
Reading this section, Miko finally understood why he had done what he did that morning.
It wasn't for fun.
He was conducting experiments to find out which material caused the maximum damage to evil spirits.
What is professionalism?
This is professionalism.
Miko even felt it had a flavor of scientific exorcism.
However, there was one point she couldn't understand.
Miko looked up at Yoru and asked in confusion.
"What do you mean by 'Mieruko-chan'? Have you seen me before? And what exactly is this so-called 'Door'?"
"Hmm... how should I describe it?"
Yoru shrugged and smiled nonchalantly.
"You can understand it as... even though I haven't met you, I know a lot about you."
"As for the Door..."
"If you have time after school today, I can take you to see one with your own eyes. Once you see it, you'll understand everything."