Breakfast ended quietly, with neither of them saying much.
Since Akira had cooked, Yotsuya Miko obediently gathered the dishes and carried them into the kitchen to wash them.
Sitting in the living room, Akira wiped his mouth and called out to her.
“Miko.” She looked up from the sink, confusion written across her face.
“It’ll be New Year’s soon.
I’ll be heading back to my hometown for a while.
I probably won’t be back for a little over a month.” Akira was not actually from Tokyo.
In fact, his hometown was genuinely rural—not the kind of place Tokyo people jokingly called “the countryside” whenever they talked about Chiba, but a real backwater.
He had finished middle school there before getting into Sobu High in Chiba, and eventually university.
He had never been especially gifted.
A large part of his advantage came from memories of his previous life.
For him, much of what he studied was simply relearning things he had already known, making it much easier to pick up.
Back in elementary school, things were at their worst.
There were so few students in the village that several grade levels often shared a single classroom while one teacher taught each group separately.
Needless to say, the quality of education left much to be desired.
Unless someone was an outright genius capable of mastering everything from books alone, succeeding was difficult.
Middle school had been much better.
Although the educational resources still could not compare to the city, students from all over the town gathered there, allowing proper classes by grade and enough teachers for each subject.
It was, at least, a normal school.
After hearing him, Miko stood silently in the kitchen for a while.
Then she forced a smile.
“In that case…
Onii-chan, have a safe trip.
Don’t worry about me.
I can take care of myself.” “If you want to come with me, pack your luggage yourself.
We leave the day after tomorrow.
Bring plenty of warm clothes—it gets very cold over there.” Akira looked at the girl helplessly.
‘You’re obviously miserable.
There’s really no need to force yourself to act fine.’ With that said, he stood up and prepared to head out.
As he reached the entryway and bent down to change his shoes, Miko hurried out from the kitchen.
Digging into her pocket, she held out a small accessory.
“Oh, Onii-chan…
please take this with you.
It’s my Halloween present.” Prayer beads?
Akira looked at the nervous girl standing so close to him, then glanced at the bracelet.
Something seemed to click.
He accepted it and slipped it onto his wrist.
“Thanks.” Even then, worry still lingered across Miko’s face.
After putting on his shoes, Akira turned and opened the front door.
Snap!
The string holding the bracelet suddenly broke.
The beads scattered in every direction.
[Negative energy detected.
Automatic defense activated.
Fortune -1000] ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ Akira’s expression darkened.
Behind him, tears immediately welled up in Miko’s eyes.
“Um…
maybe the quality wasn’t very good…
I’ll go report the seller later…” Looking at her, Akira let out a quiet sigh.
“Forget it.” He reached over and gently pinched her cheeks into a smile.
“Don’t overthink it.” He waved goodbye before stepping outside.
The bracelet reacting at all meant it had some effect.
Just not enough.
The system had still deducted a thousand points of fortune after the automatic defense activated.
The real question was whether prayer beads in general were only this effective, or whether these particular beads had simply been low quality.
After all, the money he had given Miko covered her living expenses.
She had some spending money too, but certainly not enough to casually buy expensive religious items.
His fortune still hadn’t accumulated long enough.
In the end, relying on mysterious external objects with uncertain effects could never compare to possessing a fortune directly tied to the scale of a nation.
The limits of what fortune could actually accomplish still needed further testing.
… Shinjuku.
Akira met the paranormal specialist he had contacted beforehand.
She was a young woman with short pink hair, dressed casually, with numerous runic tattoos visible across the exposed parts of her skin.
Seeing the generous client who had casually handed over a one-million-yen consultation fee last time, and finding him both young and handsome, Higa Makoto came to a single conclusion.
‘Another idiot.’ Still, out of respect for money, she had shown up anyway.
The previous million yen had already equaled two or three months of what she normally earned working nights at clubs.
This time she was not merely giving advice—she actually had to come in person.
Given how generous this client was, surely the consultation fee would at least double…
maybe even triple.
Any sane person avoided dangerous spirits whenever possible.
Who voluntarily ran toward haunted places?
At least this fool had not reached the absolute limit of stupidity.
He knew enough to hire someone to watch his back and had picked someone relatively easy to work with.
At least he would still be alive long enough to pay her.
After meeting in Shinjuku, the two of them traveled together to a haunted property Akira had previously purchased in Shimokitazawa.
“One last time,” Makoto asked.
“You’re really not giving up?” Among all of Akira’s unusual properties, this house was considered the safest by professional standards.
Anyone moving in would mostly experience minor poltergeist activity at first.
As long as they did not stay long-term and moved out promptly, the risk of death remained relatively low.
“I’ve got to try.” Akira nodded firmly.
“I might as well learn something.” The business side of things had already been entrusted to Kongming, an SSR-level logistics genius.
For the time being, Akira did not need to worry much about making money.
Nor did he need to rush the matter of expanding his harem.
The only truly urgent issue was the daily supernatural attacks brought about by the curse attached to the haunted house.
He hated being completely powerless against the supernatural, able to do nothing except passively defend himself.
He had to try something.
If today’s experiment failed, then his only remaining option would be to spend money freely and hire paranormal professionals as permanent bodyguards.
‘Learn it myself?’ ‘Impossible.’ According to Higa Makoto, spiritual abilities were almost entirely innate.
Either you were born with them or you weren’t.
Families of exorcists sometimes passed down bloodlines that made awakening such powers more likely, but even then, talented people were rare.
More importantly, a person’s upper limit was usually fixed from the moment their ability awakened.
It was almost impossible to improve it later.
Some people possessed only the faintest trace of spiritual power.
The most unfortunate were those who could see spirits…
but had absolutely no way to fight back.
Exorcism itself was largely a discipline built on accumulated experience.
Most techniques were simply knowledge refined and passed down through generations, nothing like the flashy supernatural abilities shown in movies and television.
Shikigami did exist.
As long as a spiritual medium successfully subdued a spirit, that spirit could become a shikigami.
Gods existed too.
When spiritual practitioners encountered beings they could neither defeat nor subdue, but who were at least willing to communicate and negotiate, those spirits gradually came to be worshipped as gods over time.
That was precisely why Japan was filled with countless local deities of every imaginable origin, along with the equally bewildering assortment of religious sects devoted to them.
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