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Hoshimori Shion was drenched in sweat.
Indeed, she had gone out to play, and she had played far too much. She had even fallen directly into the sea, only to be pulled out by other girls.
Watching Ayane still sniffing at her, Shion couldn’t help but wish she could slap her morning self for deciding to go out.
It was truly… a bit much. As the thought crossed her mind, she sniffled.
“Big sister has definitely caught a cold,” Ayane declared, scrutinizing her elder sister from head to toe as if she were a criminal. “And big sister is pretending nothing’s wrong, cooking here.”
“Alright, alright, I admit it,” Shion conceded, raising her hands in surrender. “I went to the beach while you were out.”
“And then, you caught a cold from the wind?” Ayane pressed.
In a sense, she had indeed caught a cold from the chilly wind; the sea breeze had been quite cold. With this realization, Shion nodded, knowing that, strictly speaking, it wasn’t a lie.
“Honestly, big sister, you need to take care of yourself,” Ayane chided playfully, pulling the blanket she had been using while watching TV off the sofa and draping it over Shion. “Also, aren’t you going to take care of the shrine today?”
“What’s there to take care of?” Shion replied helplessly. “The gates have been open all day, and not a single soul has come to worship. Hoshimori Shrine is so neglected these days, even thieves wouldn’t bother with it.”
“Alright, alright,” Ayane relented, seemingly having no intention of pressing further. After all, seeing her elder sister, who always took care of her, fall ill genuinely pained her.
“Then, shall I wash the dishes today?” Ayane offered.
“No, no, no, quickly put those down,” Shion hastily interjected, thwarting Ayane’s idea. “We don’t have money to buy new bowls. I’ll just wash them myself.”
Ayane pouted, and though reluctant, she obediently sat down to eat.
Shion stroked Ayane’s hair, reassuring her, “Don’t worry, I’ll be all better tomorrow.”
“But I still have to go back to school tomorrow,” Ayane grumbled, clutching her head in frustration. “Because I slacked off today, the teacher told me to tutor some low-scoring classmates tomorrow.”
‘Just how badly did you slack off today…?’ Shion’s gaze betrayed a strong urge to tease her.
“What do you mean ‘how badly’!” Ayane retorted. “It’s just… I was caught hiding in the bathroom stall while I was supposed to be mopping…”
“How long were you hiding?” Shion pressed further.
“One…”
“An hour?”
“A whole day… I was found hiding until past three in the afternoon…” Ayane mumbled weakly.
Shion felt a sudden urge to give her sister a light tap on the head.
“A whole day?! You can hide in a bathroom for that long?” Shion was at a loss as to where to even begin her exasperated comments.
“I finished previewing all three textbooks,” Ayane stated seriously.
“Don’t use your study drive for things like that!” Shion finally couldn’t hold back, giving Ayane a light flick on the head.
****
It was deep into the night.
Shion groggily climbed out of bed and pressed the alarm off.
Yet, the moment her feet touched the floor, she nearly stumbled back onto the bed.
Her head felt so dizzy, and she was terribly cold… Shion clutched her head, struggling to clear her mind. However, the moment her hand touched her forehead, she knew.
‘It’s over. I have a fever. And it seems to be quite severe.’
‘Why now, of all times? But I have to exorcise tonight. If I drag it until tomorrow, whether the fever gets better is one thing, but the evil spirits will definitely grow stronger… If I can’t handle them then, it’ll be game over again.’
Clutching her head, she recalled why she had gone to bed so early: hadn’t she felt dizzy and sleepy after dinner? Now, she was burning with a high fever.
Shion stumbled into the living room, fumbling through a drawer to find a small medicine box. Fortunately, according to the game’s setting, Shion had a habit of keeping medicine at home, which she had discovered while cleaning previously—it was now proving useful. Shion took out a few fever reducers and swallowed them, then popped a few mint candies to clear her head before sitting down to rest.
She glanced at Ayane’s bedroom door, relieved that she hadn’t woken her.
Once her body felt slightly better, Shion tiptoed out of the living room and made her way to the shrine. As before, she offered a prayer to the deities, sensed the extent of the evil spirits’ emergence, and then picked up the consecrated Spirit Slicer.
Perhaps her body was truly unwell today, for even the Spirit Slicer felt somewhat heavy.
“Don’t be afraid, Hoshimori Shion. You can do this.” Shion continuously encouraged herself, took a deep breath, pushed open the shrine’s back door, and headed towards the back mountain.
The mountain wind at night was less fierce than the sea breeze, but due to the higher altitude, it blew even colder. The wind whistled through the trees, making Shion, clad only in her thin miko (TL Note: A shrine maiden, a female attendant at a Shinto shrine.) robes, shiver uncontrollably. Already feeling cold all over from the fever, this made her feel even more frigid.
‘How long had she been walking?’
Shion wasn’t sure; her head was swimming with dizziness. Only the crisp, cold moonlight filtered through the rustling tree shadows, scattering into fragments upon the ground.
“You… will die.”
Shion felt something speaking beside her, its voice mournful and sickening.
The girl flinched, instinctively swinging the Spirit Slicer in her hand. A dark shadow was cleaved into fragments by the silver gleam of the blade, leaving behind only a bloodcurdling shriek.
Where the voice had just been, Shion suddenly felt a dull ache in her hand.
It turned out the evil spirit had already drawn close, and due to her high fever, she hadn’t even noticed its presence right beside her. Raising her arm, she saw a dark gash already carved into it, blood slowly seeping from the wound, drop by drop.
Shion broke out in a cold sweat; if that evil spirit had been even slightly stronger, she would undoubtedly be dead, not just nursing a wound.
Looking again, she saw four or five evil spirits already surrounding her, closing in step by step.
The pain from the gash on her arm, paradoxically, cleared Shion’s head considerably. She raised the Spirit Slicer, holding it protectively before her chest, and fixed her gaze on the surrounding evil spirits, wary of their impending moves.
One after another, the evil spirits abandoned caution, lunging directly at Shion.
“Don’t be afraid, Hoshimori Shion, you can do this!”
While desperately cheering herself on, she swung the Spirit Slicer with all her might.
The maiden’s blood and the shrieks of the evil spirits intertwined in the air, shattering the night’s tranquility. Even the crisp, cold moon seemed to splinter along with it.
In the end, it was the maiden wielding the Spirit Slicer who stood victorious. With a final swing, she vanquished the last evil spirit. Shion, finally unable to stand any longer, collapsed to the ground.
‘Ah, here it comes again? Just like the first exorcism, I won, but it was such an ugly victory…’
The maiden closed her eyes. According to the game’s premise, having successfully completed the exorcism, she should wake up directly in her own bed the next morning.
‘Only…’
When Shion opened her eyes once more, however, all she saw was a distant, shattered red torii (TL Note: A traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, symbolically marking the transition from the mundane to the sacred.).