Hoshimori Shion often frequented the school forum, where students, particularly those with a keen curiosity for such matters, absolutely adored all kinds of supernatural tales. The forum was rife with stories from around the school: statues that walked at midnight, Hanako of the bathroom, and so on. Even Shion, a shrine Miko, found these stories incredibly captivating. Though she was well aware of the existence of ‘spirits,’ she simply couldn’t suppress her curiosity and often found herself poring over these eerie accounts.
Ultimately, she was both a coward and a connoisseur of the macabre.
However, many of these so-called ‘ghost stories’ were, in fact, instigated by malevolent spirits. Some of these spirits were not particularly potent, their only threat being to cause physical discomfort or present unsettling images that led to sleepless nights due to psychological suggestion. Beyond that, their influence was minimal.
As for those who could genuinely perceive ‘spirits,’ their numbers were remarkably few.
For instance, Iori Shigure couldn’t discern the faint aura of malevolent spirits emanating from her own grandmother, leaving her at a loss for how to help.
Similarly, Kazama Nanami, while at sea, couldn’t see the malevolent spirits, and on one occasion, she sailed a boat directly into a cluster of them with Shion aboard.
While ordinary people could, under certain circumstances, glimpse malevolent spirits, these were always exceptionally extreme situations. Only when these spirits were highly concentrated, posing an immediate threat to human survival, or when an individual spirit had grown immensely powerful, would many ordinary people become aware of their presence.
But Kujou Sakuya was different. She could see even the smallest, most insignificant malevolent spirits! This ability to clearly perceive malevolent spirits had once been unique to Shion, who possessed the Spirit-Sealing constitution.
‘Why was this the case…?’
Lost in thought, Shion soon spotted the shrine’s vermillion torii. The towering red gate seemed to beckon to her, welcoming her home. Every time she returned, the sight of that grand torii filled her with a familiar sense of belonging and peace.
Shion passed through the torii, stepping onto her family’s grounds. Although she hadn’t turned on any lights so as not to disturb Hoshimori Ayane, every blade of grass and every tree here was intimately familiar to Shion. Even without lights, she could close her eyes and navigate directly to the washroom to clean herself before returning to bed to sleep.
‘Who cares, anyway? Whether Sakuya can see them or not, she’s an incredibly important friend to me now.’
As for the emotionless female voice from the system that had spoken of a main quest, a mission, and the truth when she first gained her enhanced abilities…
‘Ah, I’ll worry about that later. There’s no time limit to the game, after all. I can take my time; surely I won’t graduate high school without completing the main quest.’
‘I’ll slowly advance it, the main quest and all.’
Shion yawned. Despite having quickly rinsed herself with water, she still felt incredibly drowsy. Sakuya had even teased her about often collapsing into bed in her Miko robes without changing.
‘Well, I can’t help it!’ All her pajamas had been claimed by Ayane. As an older sister, Shion was quite indulgent with her younger sibling in such matters, so she had relinquished all her sleepwear to Ayane. Besides, it was still summer, so sleeping in her Miko robes was perfectly fine. She would just find a slightly thicker outfit for winter.
Tomorrow would be the first weekend after the academic performance tests, and she planned to go out with her sister and Sakuya.
Since the tests had ended, everyone seemed to have become busy again. Shigure frequently visited the hospital to care for her grandmother, and Nanami was occupied with fishing and earning money at home. As for Igarashi Rie, she had been incredibly busy lately, occasionally sending Shion a ‘good evening’ and ‘good night’ message, and they rarely saw each other at school. Shion probably had no idea that Rie was currently overwhelmed with her own family matters.
She’d heard Ayane had already decided where they were going but hadn’t told Shion. Perhaps it was a surprise she knew nothing about, or perhaps a fright. In any case, when it came to outings, Ayane was unlikely to mess up. After all, at home, Ayane was responsible for spending, and Shion was responsible for managing the money. One of Shion’s most important duties as an older sister was to rein in her silly sister’s spending habits, otherwise, the two sisters would be eating dirt by next week…
Staring up at the ceiling, faintly illuminated by moonlight, with a satisfied smile, she let out a huge yawn. Her eyelids slowly grew heavy, and Shion closed her eyes.
****
Tonight was dreamless, a truly peaceful night.
When the morning light of the next day filtered through the curtains and fell upon Shion’s face, she opened her eyes.
The young woman let out a wide yawn, then glanced at her phone, almost slapping herself.
Last night, by the time she’d returned to the shrine, it was already past one in the morning. Now, waking up this morning…
Shion stared at the large ‘6:20’ displayed on her phone, lost in thought. It was barely half-past six in the morning… Had she really only slept for about five hours last night?
And yet, she wasn’t sleepy at all.
Moreover, there seemed to be another issue.
At 5:30 AM this morning, Shion had received a message from Sakuya saying she couldn’t sleep last night. It wasn’t due to nightmares; according to Sakuya, she simply got a little nervous before going out to have fun, which kept her awake.
‘Ha… Sakuya is just like my sister.’ During the last cultural festival, Ayane had also been unable to sleep on the night before her formal performance, despite having rehearsed exceptionally well.
‘Speaking of which, since I’m up so early today…’ A sudden thought sparked in Shion’s mind.
****
Having woken up about an hour earlier than usual, Shion was able to prepare breakfast quite leisurely that morning. And then…
She ambushed herself behind Ayane’s door.
By all accounts, waking up so early today, she should definitely be able to scare Ayane when she came out of her room.
Having estimated the time, Shion already heard footsteps within the room. Ayane seemed to have yawned, now out of bed and ready to step out.
Closer and closer!
The door cracked open, then slowly widened.
Shion was poised, ready with her scare tactics and expression.
“Wah!!!”
Hoshimori Ayane, preemptive strike! She suddenly darted out from behind the door and let out a cute tiger’s roar directly at Shion!
“Eh?!” Shion was startled, recoiling a small step, but that was all. Ayane’s adorable demeanor wasn’t truly scary.
“You really are a silly older sister, aren’t you?” Ayane, dressed in her pajamas with her hair neatly styled, stood with her hands on her hips, a triumphant smile on her face, as she spoke to Shion. “Silly sister, I could smell breakfast, and I heard you walking outside my door, stopping right when you reached it. You didn’t really think I was a dummy, did you?”
Hoshimori Ayane, intelligence crushed!