"Sen… senpai…"
Looking down at the girl trembling in his arms, Shido felt his heart start beating faster on its own.
"Look. That couple is using the horror movie mood to cling to each other."
"Exactly. It's simply unbearable to watch. How improper."
"That's gross....."
Even worse, Mikoto's small cry had drawn other people's attention. Only then did Shido notice that, in the row above them, three girls from his class were sitting there. Right now, the three of them were chatting in the tone of housewives gossiping in a TV drama.
"Hey, isn't that Mikoto-chan?"
"Wait, the guy with her is Itsuka?"
"So the rumors were true! That damned Itsuka harem!"
And in the row below them sat several third-year senpai. At this mont, they were staring this way with murderous eyes.
"Hey, senpai, please get up. I'm begging you."
Shido whispered to Mikoto. However, the girl had already entered a state where she heard nothing around her. She only kept hugging him tightly while staring fixedly at the screen.
And so, while Shido sat there feeling as if he were sitting on needles, the movie entered its climax.
The girl, chased by the Ushi no Toki woman until she had nowhere left to run, escaped into the shrine hall and tightly shut the door.
Just as the girl let out a breath of relief and turned around, what she saw was the Ushi no Toki woman, who had sohow already appeared behind her. On that terrifying face, those bulging eyes stared at the girl's pale cheeks from almost no distance at all.
"Kyaa——!"
Finally, the terrified Mikoto let out a scream.
At the sa ti, the movie screen quickly darkened.
"What's going on?"
"I don't know. Special effects?"
"So scary…"
As the only source of light inside the theater, the huge screen seed to be covered by a thin veil of night. It looked dim and gloomy, making the already frightening movie feel even stranger.
"What exactly is happening?"
Looking at the screen flickering between light and darkness, Shido frowned.
Just then, his phone vibrated in his pocket.
[!!!]
He took out his phone and saw that the call was from Fraxinus.
"Hello?"
[What are you doing, Shido!? Didn't you say you were going to watch a movie? Don't tell you pushed Mikoto down or sothing!]
Kotori's angry voice ca from the other end of the call.
"Wait, we really are watching a movie!"
[Anyway, leave imdiately! Mikoto's Spirit energy is flowing backward!]
"Eh?"
Shido's eyes widened. He finally understood what the flickering night-colored darkness in front of him really was.
"Ya… Yakumo-senpai… let's go."
Looking at the girl trembling in his arms, Shido helped Mikoto up, then hurriedly left the theater.
_______________
A few minutes later, aboard the airship Fraxinus…
"You like bullying the girl you care about? Are you an elentary school boy, Shido?"
Looking at Shido, Kotori asked with a displeased expression.
"As if!"
"Then why did you take Mikoto to watch a horror movie she's bad with? You even scared her to the point that her Spirit energy flowed backward."
"Uu… sorry."
Faced with angry Kotori and Mikoto, who was still trembling, Shido had nothing to say.
"Well, anyway, it isn't that serious."
Kotori sighed. She had never expected that Mikoto, who had always been considered the most ntally stable among them, would have her Spirit energy flow backward because of a horror movie.
"Is that really true?"
Reine asked.
"What do you an?"
Kotori tilted the Chupa Chups in her hand with a puzzled look. Logically, it was just a horror movie. As long as Mikoto did not watch it anymore, it should be fine.
"Horror movies are fine during the day. But once night cos, and if soone lives alone…"
"Ah."
Hearing Reine's words, Kotori opened her mouth wide.
That was right. During the day it was still fine. But once night ca, and Mikoto happened to be living in an empty shrine, it might very well cause a second Spirit energy reverse flow.
"What should we do? Should Mikoto move into the Spirit apartnt?"
Kotori asked.
"No. That shrine is what Obaa-chan left behind. I don't want to move out because of sothing like a horror movie."
Mikoto shook her head with a bitter smile. Although she really was scared, moving out of the shrine because of that was still out of the question.
"If possible, please tell the ending of the movie. That should make things better."
Mikoto said.
"That's true. Even if it is a horror movie, when it cos to the ending, the protagonist usually defeats the evil spirit. In that case, knowing the evil spirit is not unbeatable can reduce the fear."
Reine nodded.
"Then let's have the crew look up the ending of that horror movie."
Kotori nodded.
"Ah… Commander, there is no need to look it up. I happen to have watched that movie."
At that mont, Kannazuki raised his hand.
"Oh, I didn't expect you to be useful in a place like this. Hurry up and explain."
"Yes. In truth… the protagonist receives power from the gods at the end and tries to use that power to seal the Ushi no Toki woman."
Kannazuki nodded and said that.
"Eh… that actually sounds pretty good."
In an instant, the story had changed from despair and horror into a supernatural battle. As a horror movie, the ending sounded a little like a B-grade film, but with that, Mikoto's fear should lessen.
That was what Kotori thought.
"However, in the end, the protagonist still fails to defeat the Ushi no Toki woman. Her limbs are broken, and she is thrown into the pond in the yard. Ah, what a delightful developnt. From beginning to end, the whole movie is filled with a chilling feeling. Especially the ending. First, it gives the audience a thin line of hope, then turns it completely into despair. It gives you the feeling that no matter what you do, you can never escape the Ushi no Toki woman's curse. Truly… wonderful!"
Kannazuki twisted his body in deep emotion.
anwhile, the light inside Fraxinus's bridge dimd all at once, as if night had descended.
"Wait! Even if that is the ending, it's still just a movie! A movie!"
Seeing Mikoto cling to him again as her power began flowing backward once more, Shido hurriedly shouted.
In the end, Kannazuki was carried away by two large n, each holding one of his arms.
Kotori sighed and said:
"There's no helping it. Shido, you're staying at Mikoto's house tonight."
"Eh? Wait…"
Hearing Kotori's words, Shido was shocked.
"What's the problem? Mikoto ended up that scared because of you, Shido. Or are you the kind of irresponsible man who scares a girl half to death and then throws her alone into an empty shrine overnight?"
"Uu…"
And so, the matter of Itsuka Shido staying overnight at the shrine was decided just like that.
________________
That night…
[This is my first ti staying overnight at Yakumo-senpai's house.]
Shido lay in the room beside Mikoto's, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling as he thought that.
[Well… there's nothing I can do about it.]
Although his original goal had only been a small prank, it was still a fact that he had caused Mikoto's power to flow backward. So if staying with her could make Mikoto feel at ease, then it was sothing he should do.
Looking out the window, the shrine late at night was dark and silent. Even Shido himself, who had watched the movie too, felt a little scared.
"Well… it was just a movie. There's no way soone would really do sothing like Ushi no Toki Mairi."
Shido said that.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
However, at that mont, when everything was silent, there really was a faint sound drifting over.
It sounded just like—
The sound of soone hamring sothing.
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