Chapter 289: Failed Exorcism

"An exorcism?"

On January 4th, after everyone had finally taken off their shrine maiden outfits and changed into beautiful kimono for their long delayed first shrine visit of the year (Hatsumode), Mikoto suddenly received a rather strange request.

"That's right. Please, we need you to perform an exorcism."

The one who came to ask was the headman of a village near Tengu City. According to him, a number of supernatural incidents had been happening there lately.

"I understand. Please allow me a little time to make preparations, and then I'll head out."

The man seemed very anxious. As for the shrine, things had more or less calmed down by now. After all, it wasn't the kind of shrine that drew tourist level crowds. By the 4th, aside from still having a steady flow of worshippers, there were no major ceremonies left to officiate for the moment. If she stepped away for a few days, it should still be able to operate smoothly with Hina and the Ratatoskr staff helping out.

"But will it really be okay? Doing an exorcism and all?"

Hearing Mikoto agree, Shido couldn't help feeling uneasy. Not to brag on her behalf, but there probably wasn't a shrine maiden in the world more terrified of ghost stories and the supernatural than Mikoto. Letting her go do an exorcism felt like it would only end with her curled up under a bed, shivering in terror.

(Though that would be cute in its own way.)

Shido thought to himself.

"It'll be fine. This isn't even the first time I've done an exorcism. Usually it's just a matter of reciting norito prayers, putting up some ofuda charms, and helping purify the bad luck clinging to the person involved."

Mikoto smiled and said that.

If there really were an evil spirit, that would be another matter entirely. But in truth, most "exorcisms" Mikoto had dealt with after coming to Tengu City were closer to symbolic rituals than actual spiritual battles.

"I see."

Hearing that, Shido understood. Really, there usually weren't any spirits to begin with. Most of the time, it was just people scaring themselves and then coming to the shrine for peace of mind.

"In that case, everyone should go too. We can't let Mikoto go there alone."

But after Kotori heard about it, the little Commander firmly declared that they would all go together.

Considering that Westcott had only recently acquired a Demon King, it really didn't seem safe to let Mikoto go alone. So she accepted Kotori's suggestion.

And so, the group boarded Ratatoskr's long distance vehicle and all headed to the site together.

"Animal spirits?"

After arriving at the village, Mikoto and the others heard more details about the incidents from the village headman.

"That's right. There's an old research laboratory not far from here. It's abandoned now. Apparently, they used to perform all kinds of experiments on animals there, so people say it must be the spirits of the animals that died during those experiments causing trouble. It's a famous local story around here."

The headman explained.

"Could this be DEM...?"

The moment she heard the word laboratory, Mikoto instinctively thought back to what had happened in Izu.

"D... B... M? No, no, that laboratory belonged to the government. Not some DBM."

The headman clearly had no idea what DEM was. He even got the name wrong.

"Anyway, could I ask you, Miko-sama, to go take a look at the laboratory? Please."

"Eh?"

Hearing that, Mikoto froze. It was already getting late. If they headed to the laboratory now, the sun would be setting by the time they got there.

A darkening sky. An abandoned laboratory. Animals that had died in experiments...

"There's no need to go to such trouble. The house right beside this place will do perfectly. I can feel a very fine spiritual ley line flowing through here. If I perform the ritual from here, it should actually be much more effective than going all the way to the laboratory."

Pointing to an empty nearby house, Mikoto smiled as she said that.

(She's scared.)

Though her words sounded full of confidence, with Shido sitting right behind her, he could practically see the cold sweat forming on her neck and the way she was faintly trembling.

"Ohhh! If that's the case, I'll go make preparations right away."

The poor headman bought it completely and got up at once.

"Hey, Boy, shall we go peek at Miko-chan's exorcism ritual?"

A little later, Mikoto entered the room and announced that she needed to perform the ritual completely alone, asking not to be disturbed.

"No. Senpai already said the ritual will fail if random people are around."

Shido tried to stop her.

Though this wasn't really a battle against some evil spirit, Shido knew that whenever Mikoto performed rituals, she took them incredibly seriously. She did every detail as faithfully as possible according to Tsukuyomi's memories, recreating the old mysteries with care.

And because of that, from some time ago onward, the area really had started to feel cleaner, as if purified. A pure, spotless atmosphere spread outward from the room where Mikoto was working, rippling through the whole village.

(That's probably why Senpai has managed to attract so many worshippers.)

Looking at Mikoto's silhouette through the paper shoji screen, Shido thought that. Her sincerity, the ancient ritual, her meticulous bearing as a shrine maiden, and the faint spiritual power she possessed—all of that combined into a qualitative difference. Anyone who witnessed such a ritual would surely believe Mikoto was a true shrine maiden with genuine spiritual power.

"Even if you say that, I'm still super curious. All right, then... like this... hup!"

Nia grinned mischievously, went over to the shoji, and poked a finger sized hole right through the paper.

"Wait, Senpai will get mad."

Shido tried to stop her again.

"She won't get mad if she doesn't catch us. Besides, this is a rare research opportunity! If I ever need to draw an exorcism scene in the future, I can use this for reference."

Smiling wickedly, Nia pressed her eye to the hole and peeked inside.

But she had overlooked one thing.

"Kukuku, I see. So using a method like this lets one observe the ritual's contents? How very ninja like. In that case, I too shall try."

Kaguya imitated Nia and poked her own hole in the shoji.

"Curious. Yuzuru would like to join too."

And of course, Yuzuru came over too.

"Shido, what are everyone doing?"

Tohka wandered over as well.

"My, my, I'd also love to see how Mikoto-san performs an exorcism."

Miku came running over, carrying a dizzy, half fainted Natsumi in her arms—looking thoroughly worn out from being toyed with.

"W-wait... everyone..."

Yoshino wanted to stop them.

"I'm telling you all, disturbing Mikoto is not okay."

Kotori walked over too.

"Shido..."

Origami came as well, though she seemed to be aiming straight for Shido.

"E-Eh? Wait... why are there suddenly this many people here...?"

Nia, who had turned around, looked completely baffled at the massive crowd that had gathered behind her without her noticing.

"Hold it, Origami! What do you think you're doing?!"

Just then, Tohka noticed that Origami was trying to use the confusion to shove Shido over, so she turned and angrily rushed at her. Her sudden movement was like pulling the bottom block out of a carefully stacked tower, instantly ruining the balance of the already tightly packed crowd.

"Uwaah!"

"Kyaa!"

"W-wait?!"

CRASH!

With one spectacular impact, the paper sliding doors completely collapsed under their weight.

"Huh?"

Mikoto turned around and stared at the pile of people stacked on top of each other on the floor in pure shock.

"Ah, this is bad."

Then she immediately realized that her ritual had just been interrupted, and she hurriedly tried to gather her focus again.

(!!!)

But at that exact moment, something terrifying happened. From the pitch black forest in the distance, a sticky, incredibly uncomfortable wave of energy pulsed outward, making everyone's skin crawl.

And then Mikoto saw it—

From the direction of the abandoned laboratory the village headman had mentioned, a blinding light burst forth!

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