"You... You recovered your spiritual power, Natsumi?"
Shido asked in surprise. Normally, Natsumi had already been sealed, so she should not have been able to manifest her Angel.
"...As long as I think about things that make super upset, I can recover part of my spiritual power. Though only to a limited degree."
Natsumi wiped the sweat from her forehead. As expected of the Spirit with the weakest ntal resilience. Just thinking about sothing was enough to make her emotions unstable to the point of her spiritual power flowing backward.
"Upset things?"
"Yeah. By the way, just now I imagined finding out I forgot my pen during class, wanting to borrow one, but no one being willing to lend one."
"Uwa, that's awful."
"And when I finally managed to borrow a pen and tried to return it after school, the other person said, 'Eh? I don't want sothing you touched. Just throw it in the trash.' Sothing like that." (TL: ughhh I love Natsumi so much)
"Stop talking already!"
The scene was so tragic that Shido could not help covering his ears.
"Anyway, let's use this to deal with them."
Natsumi said, raising the Angel in her hand.
"You an..."
Shido more or less understood what Natsumi was thinking.
"They like horror stories, don't they? Then we'll give them sothing real!"
As she spoke, Natsumi pointed Haniel at Shido.
"W-Wait..."
Shido reached out, trying to block the light from Haniel. However, it did not help at all. In the next instant, Natsumi had turned him into—a girl. (TL: ugh..soone help hold yutsuki)
"W-Wait, what is this?"
Using the reflection from the corridor window, Shido was shocked to see that he had been turned into true Shiori mode.
"Didn't Miku say before that there was a ghost in red clothes in this elentary school?"
Natsumi said seriously.
"So you turned into this? Why didn't you transform yourself?"
Shiori-chan complained, almost in tears.
"No... Look, if you think about it carefully, there's no way I can dress up in that bright red kind of look. I'd look like an idiot."
Natsumi awkwardly looked away.
"So you dressed up like an idiot instead?"
Hearing Natsumi's words, Shido completely lost it.
[Well, isn't this fine? Fraxinus has recorded the current Shido perfectly. Mikoto should like it.]
Kotori's voice ca through the earpiece. Ever since Mikoto's spiritual power began flowing backward, Shido had put the earpiece on.
"You too..."
[Leaving that aside, Shido, I also think those people went a little too far. Just follow Natsumi's plan and give them a good scare.]
Shido was just about to retort, but Kotori switched to a serious tone. Although she had not cared much at first, now that Mikoto's spiritual power was flowing backward, Fraxinus had no choice but to interfere.
"But..."
[Don't worry. We'll support you from behind.]
"Got it."
Realizing that he had no choice, Shido sighed and joined the plan.
____________
"What's going on? Is it still not fixed?"
On the other side, the producer was shouting at his subordinates impatiently.
"No good. It doesn't seem to be a system problem. The cara in that room itself must be broken."
The staff mber said, sweating heavily. Even though all the settings showed normal readings, the image coming from the cara was still black. Even though those caras had excellent night vision, the result was still the sa. Since the system could not fix it, the only conclusion was that the hardware itself had failed.
"Tsk! Hurry up and go!"
The producer beca even angrier. If soone went to that basent to repair it, the guests would realize that staff were nearby, so how could they still feel afraid? But that basent was the final destination all the guests had to reach, so letting the cara there stay broken was clearly impossible.
"I understand!"
The staff mber nodded, quickly opened the door, and prepared to run to the basent.
However... the mont he pulled the door open, his expression froze.
"Ah... Ah... Ah..."
His body trembled, and he pointed outside the door with his index finger. He was so frightened that he could barely speak.
"What happened..."
The producer walked over and asked. At that mont, the lights in the room flickered once, then went dark.
"A blackout?"
The producer looked around and found that not only the lights, but all the equipnt had stopped working.
"What are you all doing? Where's the backup power?"
The power had failed at the most critical mont. He angrily shouted at them.
"No good! The backup power isn't working!"
A depressing answer ca from beside him.
"Tsk!"
The producer angrily took out a flashlight, but no matter how he pressed the switch, the flashlight would not work.
"Hey! Did soone control the flashlights—"
Halfway through his words, he suddenly realized that the staff's flashlights had not been tampered with. In other words, no one should have been able to control these flashlights remotely.
Thud!
While he was sinking into frustration, the staff mber who had been about to go repair the basent cara suddenly lost strength in his legs and sat down on the floor.
"What happened?"
In the darkness, the producer noticed sothing pass through the doorway and enter the room.
Crash!
At that mont, a bolt of lightning flashed. Everyone present clearly saw that thing's appearance.
A red dress. White rolled back eyes. Tears of blood. Pale skin tinged with purple. Filthy, tangled hair.
Under Haniel's power, the cute Shiori-chan had completely beco a terrifying evil spirit. And—she was floating in the air.
"Uwaaaaaah—!"
Everyone scread. No matter how they looked at it, the scene was far too unreal.
The evil spirit slowly raised one hand. In the next instant, all the equipnt in the room exploded with violent sparks. The pens, papers, and various objects on the desks flew through the air as if caught in a storm.
[I must be dreaming...]
That was the producer's final thought before losing consciousness.
_______________
"Haa... It's over."
Shido wiped away his sweat, looking at the ruined room and the unconscious people inside with lingering fear.
Whether it was floating, the electronic devices exploding, or the props flying around, all of it had been caused by Fraxinus. A big Territory had already enveloped the entire elentary school not long ago, using technology far beyond modern understanding to support Shido in every way.
[The guests near the basent have all been knocked unconscious. Shido, use this chance to get Mikoto out.]
Kotori said through the earpiece. Because Mikoto had raised a barrier, even though it was only spiritual power and not her unbreakable Angel, the guests could not enter the basent at all. They could not even open the door.
Even so, to prevent them from noticing the strange scene inside the room while Shido rescued Mikoto, Kotori chose to knock them out.
"Yeah! Got it!"
Shido nodded and ran toward the basent at full speed.
"Eh? Wait! You're going like that—"
Natsumi, who had just arrived there, noticed Shido's movent and tried to stop him in surprise. But it was already too late. Shido, anxious to save Mikoto, had already vanished into the darkness of the corridor.
"Yakumo-senpai! Yakumo-senpai!"
On the other side, Mikoto, who was still standing in the basent and keeping the barrier up to stop anyone from entering, suddenly heard Shido's voice. However, it was different from usual. The voice sounded more feminine, just like Shiori-chan.
"Shido!"
Just hearing Shiori-chan's voice made Mikoto feel much more at ease. She did not think too deeply about it. She opened the door and threw herself into Shido's arms.
"Are you okay, Senpai?"
Shido held Mikoto by the shoulders and asked with concern.
"Mm, I'm okay."
Mikoto raised her head and smiled at Shido.
"Um, Shido, what happened to your hair?"
Then she noticed that Shido's hair had beco very, very long, and it was a little damp.
Crash!
At that mont, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky. The light passed through the stairway leading down to the basent, bringing a trace of brightness to the dim underground room.
"What's wrong with my hair?"
Through that flash of light, Mikoto saw a woman in red clothes. Her eyes were rolled back white, and tears of blood flowed from them. Pale hands tinged with purple were tightly gripping Mikoto's shoulders. She tilted her head, smiling horribly with a mouth that nearly stretched to her ears.
Yes. That was the female ghost form that Natsumi had not yet had ti to undo.
[!!!]
Looking at that evil spirit, Mikoto's eyes gradually lost focus.
After letting out a small scream, she collapsed softly to the floor.
She had fainted from fright.
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