“How is it, little girl?”
After briefly explaining the use of Command Spells, Ibaraki-Douji once again wore that playful, mocking smile on her innocent-looking face.
She tilted her head, golden slit pupils studying Mizuki Mirei with obvious interest, as though admiring some amusing new toy.
“Now you are already my shrine maiden.
You have also grasped power born from the hell of resentment.”
Her smile widened.
“So…
the next thing to do is stir up conflict, yes?”
The whisper was soft.
Sweet.
Filled with temptation.
“There is no need to deny it.
I can see it clearly.
The flames of anger are burning inside your heart.”
Ibaraki-Douji glanced toward the inner shrine, where Mizuki Daikei had disappeared.
“That old head priest was sighing constantly earlier.
This shrine must have encountered quite the troublesome matter, hasn’t it?”
Her voice grew more delighted the longer she spoke.
By the end, a low snicker escaped her throat, carrying a hunger for blood and violence that did not belong in the quiet moonlit courtyard.
“Oh, my shrine maiden, be at ease.
I am not the sort of oni who accepts offerings for free.”
Her golden eyes gleamed.
“Tell me.
Where are we going next?
Who are we killing?
And how many?”
At that moment, she was no longer the cute little girl who had happily eaten macarons beneath the shrine eaves.
She was an evil oni that had crawled out of hell.
She did not conceal her craving for slaughter or destruction.
That pure, unfiltered malice chilled the air around her until the night itself seemed to draw back.
Mizuki felt a shiver race from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.
Under Ibaraki-Douji’s aggressive gaze, she instinctively took a step back and looked away.
“I…
I haven’t thought it through yet.”
Her voice came out flustered.
It was the truth.
She truly had not thought about what she should do after obtaining Ibaraki-Douji’s power.
This was still twenty-first-century Japan.
A modern society ruled by laws, order, documents, contracts, and surveillance cameras.
The Meiyuan Church was pressing Shihou Shrine step by step through despicable means, but on the surface, at least, they were still using debt contracts and legal procedures to pressure her father.
She was only a seventeen-year-old apprentice shrine maiden.
Was she really going to use supernatural power to retaliate against a group of people who, on paper, were still considered “legitimate”?
For a moment, she could not think of any proper way to break the deadlock.
“Huh?
What kind of answer is that?”
The smile on Ibaraki-Douji’s face vanished.
Disappointment and disdain replaced it without the slightest attempt at concealment.
“You are the shrine maiden of an oni.
What is with that pathetic look?”
She clicked her tongue.
“In my opinion, there is no need to think about so many unnecessary things.
Tear all the people you hate into pieces.
Is that not enough?”
Simple.
Direct.
Brutal.
Ibaraki-Douji’s words were like a devil’s whisper, carrying a fatal temptation.
Mizuki’s gaze gradually blurred.
She remembered the fear and powerlessness from earlier that evening, when the people of the Meiyuan Church had walked straight into her home.
She remembered Saito Shigeru’s polite voice.
The threat hidden under civility.
Her father’s aged, lonely back.
That sigh full of helplessness and bitterness.
Was she angry?
Of course she was.
Did she hate them?
Of course she did.
At that moment, she had even imagined destroying everything together with those people.
“Kill them…”
Mizuki’s eyes moved unconsciously toward the dark mountain path leading down from the shrine.
“Kill them all?”
In her mind, Saito Shigeru’s face surfaced clearly.
Polite.
Cold.
Cruel.
That was right.
Against jackals like the Meiyuan Church, who wore religion as a cloak, the simplest and most effective method was absolute violence.
Crush them completely.
Make them afraid.
Make them never dare stretch their hands toward Shihou Shrine again.
But…
Was that truly all right?
Ignore the law.
Ignore society.
Ignore morality.
Use the power of an oni simply because she was angry, simply because she hated them, and harm others according to her own feelings.
If she did that, what difference would there be between her and those people?
“Sorry…”
Mizuki’s eyes regained their clarity.
She closed them in pain, self-loathing twisting across her face.
“I really am a weak-willed woman.”
Her voice trembled.
“When it matters most, I can never make up my mind.”
Just imagining herself coldly ordering Ibaraki-Douji to attack filled Mizuki with inexplicable panic.
In the end, she was still too young.
She might have had wild thoughts born from impulse.
She might have hated enough to imagine revenge.
But when it came time to truly act, all sorts of concerns, restraints, and fears dragged her back.
She was only a young girl raised in an ordinary household, not someone prepared to stain her hands with blood.
It was the same at school.
She knew very well that if she were more proactive, if she threw away that pitiful pride and decisively built a closer relationship with Tachibana Hibiki, then Shihou Shrine might be able to connect itself to the unshakable Tachibana family.
But she had hesitated.
As a result, after more than a month as classmates, their relationship remained at the awkward level of acquaintances who were only slightly closer than ordinary classmates.
She was always like this.
Hesitating in front of every opportunity.
Standing still until the chance slipped away.
“Well, it is understandable that you would hesitate.”
Unexpectedly, Ibaraki-Douji did not mock her this time.
The oni girl looked at the shrine maiden curled on the ground like an injured little animal.
A calm light passed through those golden slit pupils.
Such a Mizuki Mirei could not yet become a proper tool in Tachibana Hibiki’s hands.
She was too soft.
Too clean.
Too accustomed to living beneath sunlight.
“After all, you have lived your entire life under the sun.”
Ibaraki-Douji hopped down from the veranda and walked toward her.
“In that case, I shall take you to see it.”
Mizuki raised her head.
“See…
what?”
Ibaraki-Douji stopped before her.
“The side of this world steeped in darkness.”
The night wind passed through the shrine courtyard, rustling the trees beyond the torii gate.
“There, the boundary between humans and oni becomes terribly blurred.”
A meaningful smile appeared on Ibaraki-Douji’s face.
“The number of humans devoured by us evil oni is far smaller than the number of humans devoured by your own kind.”
She extended her left hand.
“Come, my shrine maiden.”
Under the moonlight, that pale little hand looked almost gentle.
But behind it waited an abyss.
“Tonight, I will teach you a lesson.”
…..