Chapter 33 33: Festival Of Dolls (Part 3)

Whack!

Not expecting a girl to just suddenly attack, Delinquent No. 1 was caught completely off guard and knocked flat on the ground.

[I can do this!]

Shido stepped over Delinquent 1's "corpse," aimed the broom at Delinquent 2 who was charging at him, and gave him a hard thrust!

"Guwa!"

And so, the other one clutched his stomach and fell down too.

"If you've learned your lesson, hurry up and get out of here!" Shido glared at the delinquents on the ground and said angrily.

"Bastard! Don't get too full of yourself!"

But right at that moment, a pair of arms slipped under Shido's armpits and tightly locked his shoulders.

"Oh no!"

Shido turned his head and saw that Delinquent 1 had gotten up at some point.

[Was my hit too light?] Shido thought with regret.

"Hold her tight! Watch me leave a mark on her pretty face!"

Unable to move, Shido helplessly watched as the other guy shakily stood up as well. Delinquent 2 raised his fist, gathered all his strength, and yelled.

[Damn it!]

Shido closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and waited for the incoming punch.

"You delinquents, let go of Shid... Shiori!!!"

At that moment, a familiar voice rang out beside his ears.

"Uwaa!" x2

Opening his eyes, Shido saw two balls of silver light accurately hit the delinquents' heads.

"Yakumo... senpai?"

Was it because she had just finished the ritual and still had some Spirit energy left in her body? Or was it because her Spirit energy flowed backward when she saw Shido get attacked? Either way, Mikoto had pulled two leftover ritual paper talismans from her sleeve, coated them in Spirit energy, and threw them.

Even if the Spirit energy was very weak, to a normal person, it was no different from being smacked hard in the head by a fully pumped volleyball.

"Oh no!"

Rather than the delinquents lying on the ground, Shido got a much bigger headache when he saw the ujiko standing behind Mikoto, who had just watched the girl use actual Spirit energy.

"Ugh!"

Mikoto realized her mistake too, but it was too late. At that moment, her only thought was that she couldn't let Shido get hurt, so she threw the talisman without a second of hesitation.

[What should I do?]

Mikoto thought anxiously. The existence of Spirits was a total secret to normal people, yet she had just used Spirit energy right in front of a crowd.

[Magic?]

No, that wouldn't work. She was a miko, not a magician. Calling it a magic trick would just feel weird.

"Amazing! As expected of Yakumo-senpai, you can actually use spiritual power!"

"Shi... Shiori-chan?"

"Was that a Taima-jutsu (Exorcism Art) just now? That was a Taima-jutsu, right!"

"Y-Yeah, it was a Taima-jutsu."

"Yakumo-senpai really is a true miko!"

Watching a panicked Shido trying his best to adapt to the situation, Mikoto vaguely understood what he was trying to do.

"Oh my, that was truly amazing! Truly amazing!"

After a moment of silence from the ujiko, Chief Matsuto, who was standing at the very front, was the first to start clapping.

"No wonder Tamako left the shrine to you. I didn't expect you to actually have spiritual power" Namiki-obasan also nodded in praise.

"The student has surpassed the master, truly surpassed the master."

"I was wondering if that was the case during the festival earlier."

"No wonder Tamako let a girl from a distant relative's family take over the shrine. She's a natural-born spirit medium."

"As expected of a shrine's miko. She's on a completely different level from those cosplayers in Akihabara!"

Everyone started talking at once, but no one seemed to find it weird that Mikoto had used spiritual power.

Maybe it was because these people were believers of the shrine in the first place. Maybe it was because the festival earlier was too successful. Or maybe people just naturally chose the most reasonable explanation for what they saw. Under Shido's guidance, the ujiko twisted the common sense of "humans shouldn't have spiritual power" into the completely abnormal sense of "a miko is supposed to have spiritual power."

"But either way, fighting bad guys isn't a miko's job. Leave this to me."

Chief Matsuto stepped forward, clapped his hands, and acted like a peacemaker as he spoke to the two delinquents:

"Well, hello there, you two. Did you go swimming today?"(TL:I still don't understand this catch phrase)

"Huh? Who the heck are you, old man!"

"If you get in our way, we'll kill you!"

By now, the two delinquents had gotten back up. Even though they felt a bit guilty facing so many people, once they noticed that most of the crowd were old folks, they got their courage back.

"Well... even though you guys don't seem to recognize me, you've probably dealt with my subordinates plenty of times, right?"

Chief Matsuto played with the cowlick on his head and said:

"Allow me to introduce myself. My family name is Matsuto, and I am the Police Chief of Tengu City."

Chief Matsuto tugged at the tie on his suit. In an instant, his good-natured aura vanished completely, replaced by an overwhelming pressure and a gaze sharp enough to make any criminal shiver in fear.

"P-Police?"

Instantly, one of the delinquents' faces turned green.

"You guys have a lot of guts, making trouble on Nanko-gang's turf. Do you want to try wearing concrete shoes at the bottom of the lake?"

Namiki-obasan also pulled the kodachi out of her purse, speaking with eyes full of killing intent.

"The... the Yakuza?"

As a result, the other delinquent's face turned green too.

"W-We're sorry!!!"

"P-Please forgive us!!!"

The two punk teenagers ran out of the shrine faster than a puff of smoke, looking like they would never dare to come back. With the delinquents dealt with, the ujiko expressed their satisfaction with today's festival and took their leave.

"Anyway... that saved us," Mikoto looked at Shido and sighed. Thanks to her status as a miko and Shido's help, she wasn't treated as a freak or dragged off to a lab to be sliced into pieces.

"Yeah, in more ways than one." Shido nodded. Thanks to the Police Chief and the Nanko-gang, the delinquent problem was solved too.

The two went back inside, enjoying green tea and yokan after a busy day.

"The police are one thing, but isn't the Yakuza a bit..."

Thinking about Mikoto dealing with the Nanko-gang, an image popped into Shido's head: the young girl tied up in a dark room at the shrine, wearing a blindfold and a gag, surrounded by huge guys covered in tattoos.(TL:No!Bad shido)

"Shiori-chan... are you thinking about something rude?"

"N-No, I'm not." Looking at a very suspicious Mikoto, Shido guiltily turned his head away.

"While being worried about by Shido makes me happy, if the Yakuza really tried to hurt me, my Spirit energy would definitely flow backward."

"Ah..."

Shido suddenly remembered. The girl in front of him was what they called a Spirit—an existence capable of destroying the world. Compared to that, the Yakuza were basically adorable.

"...Yakumo-senpai is amazing."

"Eh?"

As the yokan on the table was finished, Shido suddenly muttered something that confused Mikoto.

"Being able to run the shrine all by yourself, and even getting the big shots of Tengu City to favor you... If it were me, I definitely couldn't do it. I just feel like... I'm so far away from you, Senpai." Shido smiled wryly.

"Ouch!!!"

The Shido who just said those words took a solid hand-chop right on the head. He looked up and saw Mikoto's angry face. It was the first time the girl had ever gotten angry at something Shido said.

"Let me get this straight, Shido. Kotori—the Commander of Ratatoskr—is a hundred times more amazing than some Police Chief or the Yakuza! If we're talking about being favored, you're already favored by a world-class big shot! Not to mention, you also have me, Tohka, and Yoshino—actual Spirits—by your side."

Compared to the police or the Yakuza, Ratatoskr was an organization operating independently of any country, even owning its own airship. And Spirits were beings that could literally wipe out the world.

"Today was just normal social networking. Compared to these little things, Shido—who can save Spirits—is the truly amazing one."

The distance Shido felt was just a difference in social experience. Mikoto had already been dealing with society before crossing over, while Shido was just a completely normal high school student until April. That was it.

"Hey, Shido. You are the only person in this world who knows all my secrets. So... please don't ever use the word 'far away' again. If even Shido distances himself from me, then I'll be all alone again."(TL:Dawg she is so sweet!!)

The police department, the Yakuza... whether she built connections with them or made them her enemies, it meant absolutely nothing to Mikoto. Only Shido was different. She didn't want to be hated, and she didn't want him to pull away. If that really happened, she would definitely cry.(TL:AHHHHHH)

"Yakumo... senpai..."

Seeing Mikoto make a face like a small animal abandoned in a cardboard box, Shido finally realized just how careless his words were.

A Spirit, a transmigrator, and... a gender-bend girl. The only person who could truly understand Mikoto was Shido. If even Shido felt she was far away, then Mikoto would be thrown right back into a world where she didn't belong.

"I'm sorry! Yakumo-senpai!"

Realizing all this, Shido quickly bowed his head and apologized.

"Since Shido knows he was wrong, you have to accept your punishment."

Mikoto closed one eye and tapped her lip with her finger, looking very mischievous.

"What is... the punishment?" Shido asked carefully.

"Let me think... Yep, decided. The punishment is—we're going on a date next weekend. A date."

The girl blinked and said playfully.

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