"Welcome to the training room. This is where exorcists can practice their skills."

When Hasegawa-san opened the door, a gust of wind blew into my face and startled me.

I was standing in a spacious room with bright overhead lights. It looked like a dojo. However, on the side of the dojo was a section of the room that contrasted the traditional feel of the dojo. This more modernized part of the room contained all kinds of equipment that you'd find at the gym. The result was what seemed to be two separate rooms, with the center wall removed.

What caught my eye were two people sparring on the dojo. But it wasn't just any judo match. Two Kami, one green and another yellow were clashing fiercely, one with fists and the other with a spear.

It didn't seem to be a fair match, as one had a weapon. But the burly Kami used nothing but his fists to deflect the rapidly thrusting spear. When I focused on his fists, I noticed that the spear was actually flowing around his fists, almost like it was being picked up by a current. That seemed to be the source of the gust earlier.

Is this what Hasegawa-san meant by powers?

Almost as if to answer my question, the spear-wielding Kami suddenly stopped thrusting, and I saw his spear glow with a yellow intensity. Crackling noises filled the air, and the hairs on my head felt like they were prickling up.

Electricity?

The Kami threw the spear at the wind Kami, who once again tried to manipulate it, but as the spear missed, electricity jumped from it and struck its intended target. The wind Kami froze, seemingly paralyzed and unable to move, and its opponent charged electricity in a closed fist to finish the fight.

But right before the fist reached the Kami's face, the wind spirit's fist also began to fly in an uppercut. Even though the yellow Kami had begun its punch first, it wasn't enough. A gust of wind blew throughout the entire room, and my clothes flapped around.

The green Kami's arm suddenly accelerated as if pushed upwards by an invisible force, and the head of its assailant violently flew down.

The fist and head collided with a massive impact and the sound of the yellow Kami's head being blown off created a powerful shockwave.

I winced, but there wasn't any blood, or guts. Much like the Kuchisake-Onna, the electric spirit's body simply disintegrated, leaving no trace.

"Phew! You almost had me there! Too bad this old man keeps quite a few tricks up his sleeve!"

Because of the intensity of the fight, I hadn't noticed that at each end of the dojo stood two men who quite resembled the Kami. The green Kami floated over to a tall, muscular older man wearing a hakama. Upon closer inspection, I realized that his eyes were glowing the same shade of green as the Kami. Did my eyes glow when Hoshi was out?

The other, younger man sighed as his opponent clasped hands with his Kami. He adjusted his glasses, but the eyes behind them weren't glowing.

"You never cease to amaze me sensei. Thank you for the match."

"Yusuke, you've gotten a lot stronger. Pretty soon you'll be the one beating my ass! Bahaha!"

Hasegawa-san cleared his throat, and both men looked over at us.

"Nakamura-san, Abe-san, this is the girl I mentioned to you earlier. Please teach her as much as possible before your mission tonight."

I suddenly realized that the attention was now directed towards me, and I hastily introduced myself.

"A-ah, my name is Sayuri Miyake. Please take care of me."

The older man once again started to laugh with his hearty guffaw.

"Bahaha! You don't have to look so nervous! We're all family here! I'm Nakamura Kaitaro, and my student over here is Abe Yusuke! He's one of the youngest exorcists here, but it seems you've taken that title from him!"

Abe-san was pretty tall, but compared to his sensei, he looked considerably short. He looks like he's about Kenta's age...

"Sensei, you've said my introduction for me again..."

Hasegawa-san chuckled, and asked "Well, in the meantime, can you two teach Ms. Miyake the basics? Make sure to report to me or Ueda-san on her capabilities too."

Nakamura-san gave an exaggerated thumbs-up.

"O-K!"

He's a bit of a weird one, huh?

As Hasegawa-san left the room, Nakamura-san grinned.

"Young one, let's have a look at your Kami!"

I raised my hand.

"Hold on. Question."

"Hmm?"

"Am I supposed to change into an outfit like yours...?"

Abe-san laughed gently. "No. Sensei's just wearing that because he feels like it. Don't mind him. He happens to own a dojo, you see."

"Ah..."

Nakamura-san cracked his knuckles. "More importantly, let's teach you the basics of Kami. I heard you don't know its ability yet. No worries, we'll just train other things! How about you bring your Kami out?"

Come on out, Ho-

The light blue spirit appeared out of thin air before I could even finish my thought.

"Ooh, have you given her a name yet?"

"Hoshi."

"Nice, nice, have you discovered what her ability is? And does she have a weapon?"

As a response to his question, Hoshi's naginata appeared in her hands.

"Unfortunately, we still don't know what her ability is." I had no clue what it could be. If she's a part of my soul, would it have to do with my personality?

"Oh, don't worry about that. That'll come soon enough. Hoshi uses a naginata, huh... Since it's a bit like a spear, why don't you spar with Yusuke here?" Nakamura-san gestured over towards his pupil, but something was off...

"Ah! What happened to Abe-san's Kami? He exploded!"

Abe-ssan laughed again. "Oh no, don't worry. Once a Kami is defeated, it only goes out of commission for some time. Now if you were in a fight, that would be pretty problematic... but as for our match, we're not going to physically fight. Maybe another time, but for now, training your Kami is most important."

"I see..."

I still felt bad watching Abe-san's Kami explode. I felt like watching Hoshi do the same would be traumatizing.

"Sensei, by that logic, I can't use my Kami right now, remember?"

"Ah. My bad! Bahaha! You can spar with me instead!" Nakamura-san grinned mischievously. His eyes were twinkling.

Uh oh, this old man scares me. I mean, he just beat the crap out of Abe-san's Kami...

"Since it would help in our fight, let us explain what our Kami's abilities are. Mine's named Fujin, and as his name suggests, he uses wind. I suppose you could call me a free spirit, bahaha!"

Abe-san coughed awkwardly. "I apologize, he makes jokes like that a lot. My Kami's name is Raijin-"

"Yusuke named him that after Fujin. Heh."

"a-and his ability is using electricity. Unfortunately, outside of his own body, he can only use electricity if it's channeled through a medium..." Abe-san made no acknowledgment of his sensei's remark, but I couldn't help but giggle since he looked flustered.

Nakamura-san crossed to the other end of the dojo and summoned his Kami.

"Alright. Now come!"

Already? What do I even do???

Hoshi noticed my nervousness and smacked me playfully in the back of the head before charging in by herself. She swung her blade towards Fujin, but he effortlessly grabbed the end of the naginata's handle, just under the blade. He then pushed Hoshi back.

"Young one, it looks like you're having her make the decisions. While that in itself can be a good thing, let's try having you tell her what to do."

"Er... Hoshi... what do I have her do?"

Even though we were sparring, I was so confused that I couldn't stop myself from asking him for help.

"My bad, should've explained better. Since your Kami can sense your feelings, with enough practice, she should be able to know what you want her to do. Think of it like controlling a fighting game character, except with your mind!"

Well, I'm definitely familiar with fighting games. Almost as if following my thoughts, Hoshi jumped back, putting some space between herself and Fujin. Because of her naginata, Hoshi had a more effective range than Fujin, which meant we should keep our distance.

Despite our unease, Fujin only stood there and watched. Nakamura-san and Fujin must be waiting for me to make a move. I resigned myself to taking the offense again. It's not like I'm expecting to win, anyway, so I might as well try this.

Hoshi suddenly dashed in and stopped just out of Fujin's range. Thanks to the range of the naginata, we were able to force him to defend instead of immediately counterattacking. Hoshi raised her weapon high up above her head, gleaming from the light, and then began to bring it down on Fujin's head. Fujin raised his arms to catch the blade, but I wanted that to happen.

Pouring every bit of our concentration into the strike, Hoshi suddenly changed the trajectory of the naginata's path. Almost as if she were writing in the air, the naginata curved to the side and slashed toward Fujin's stomach.

Caught off guard, Fujin couldn't react in time to Hoshi's feint, and could only watch as-

BOOM!

Fujin used his fist to punch the side of the naginata with deadly precision and slammed the weapon to the ground. Hoshi was effectively disarmed, and we went from seemingly winning to losing in the blink of an eye.

...Nevermind. It looked like he could react in time after all.

Fujin raised his fist, and Hoshi and I instinctively flinched. But no attack came. Hold on, is he...?

Nakamura-san laughed.

"He wants a fist bump. You shouldn't leave him hanging!"

Ah. They truly are similar. Hoshi awkwardly bumped Fujin's fist, and Fujin lifted his other hand from her naginata.

Nakamura-san laughed again. "I'm impressed! You learn very fast! That feint was so good, I almost fell for it!"

I somehow doubted that, but his words brightened me up anyway.

"Anyhow, I think you're ready for the mission. You won't be in any actual danger anyway. Yusuke and I will be there to make sure you never get hurt."

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

After seeing their strength firsthand, that statement was a lot more relieving than I'd like to admit...

Abe-san cleared his throat, and I jumped. The fight made me forget he was there. "Miyake-san, are you sure you don't know Hoshi's ability?"

"Y-yes, why?"

"Well, when I was observing your fight, I noticed something when you used that feint. Normally when you swing the naginata, it just looks like an ordinary attack, but... Actually, Hoshi, can you do something for me?"

Hoshi nodded brightly.

"Thank you. Alright, try swinging your naginata, except not just in a straight line. You can go slower, but try making curves with the trajectory."

Hoshi took her naginata and started to swing it in random directions. She looked like a toddler playing with a toy sword, which made me laugh. But soon something caught my eye.

"Woah..."

As her naginata traveled through the air, it left behind a streak of dark blue, giving the impression of a paintbrush. But what amazed me was how pretty it was. Little light blue spots sparkled in the dark ink, and it looked like a night sky full of stars.

"I noticed that when you made the naginata travel in an unorthodox path, it left a similar trail. I don't know what it does, but I'm sure it has to do with Hoshi's ability."

Hoshi had an expression of pure joy, and soon she began drawing all sorts of shapes all over the air. She was acting like it was her birthday. It was really funny.

Looking closer, I noticed that as she kept drawing, the streaks that had been there longest faded. It seems like there could only be so much ink in the air at a time.

A sudden thought came to my mind.

"Hold on... Hoshi, try writing a word."

She stopped and thought for a second, and then once again began drawing in the air. Except, this time, she was writing. Soon, the word hoshi 星, or star, was glowing brightly in the air. It seemed to somehow be glowing even brighter. We all looked at the word apprehensively, but nothing happened. I sighed. With how my hobby was writing, I was so sure that something would have happened...

Nakamura-san patted my shoulder. Don't look so disappointed, young ones. "You'll figure out your ability sooner or later. I'd say the biggest chance of you discovering it would be during the mission. After all, you experience the most growth in the heat of battle!"

Maybe there's some truth to that statement, as Hoshi awakened when I decided to stand up to the slit-mouthed woman.

_________________________________________________________

Not long after our sparring match, Nakamura-san and Abe-senpai brought me to floor B25.

"We're going to get you some equipment. Even if your Kami can defend you, that doesn't mean you shouldn't pitch in!" Nakamura-san fist-bumped Fujin, and a small gust of wind burst from their meeting point.

I was met with a lobby with a reception desk in front. Behind it was a hallway leading to the left and right, and from the corners of my vision I could see that they had several doors. The walls and floor were completely white, and it gave off the atmosphere of a hospital. The reception desk was empty.

Nakamura-san confidently walked up to the desk and pressed on a small bell lying on its surface. The bell made a surprisingly loud chime, which brought Hasegawa-san running from the hallway on the right.

"Ah, there you are, Miyake-san! I have your equipment ready. Can you come with me?"

The word "equipment" excited me a bit. I mean, you can't blame me for that. Who knows what Youkai-related things they've made? Maybe there would be weapons with blessings or something.

"Miyake-san, sensei and I will wait for you here. I think it'd be easier for you to concentrate without having sensei around, anyway."

"I can't even deny that, Yusuke! Very well. Take your time, young one."

Nakamura-san and Abe-san stayed behind while Hasegawa-san led me through one of the doors in the hallway, to where we found a massive storeroom. Weapons of all shapes and sizes hung on the walls, and there were several different gadgets that I didn't recognize.

I could've spent hours looking at every single thing in there, but Hasegawa-san started to say something and snapped me back into reality.

"Here you go, Miyake-san. Usually, you can bring more equipment, but I figured since you'll be accompanied by chaperones, you won't need as much. Especially since you've never been on a mission before. Too many things might overwhelm you."

He gestured towards a counter with a small assortment of things. He picked up what looked to be a gray canister.

"This is a smoke bomb. It pretty much does what you'd expect, but there's a catch. But you're going to have to learn a new concept to use it. It's called 'imbuement'."

"Imbuement?"

"Yes. I think we're going to have to explain a lot here, so do your best to keep up. Let's see... ah, yes. Essentially, Youkai and Kami are spirits. While Kami are your own spirit, Youkai are malevolent spirits, as suggested in the legends about them. Now both of them have the properties of being incorporeal, yet they can interact with objects when they choose to."

Like most things in my life as of late, that made no sense.

"So how do they do that?"

"Well, Miyake-san, research into the Youkai and Kami has resulted in a theory. While there's no real way to confirm it, I'd say it's a pretty good guess. The theory revolves around a spirit realm."

A spirit realm... This really does sound like something out of a folk tale.

"Think of the world as a cake. While one layer would be the realm of the living, which I'm sure you're accustomed to, a different layer would be the spirit realm. But they're both the same cake, and they overlap."

"So like... Different camera filters over the same photo?"

"Yes, exactly like that. But usually, the two realms can't interact. So how do Youkai and Kami do it? Well, the answer can be found in what we call soul energy. Everyone has it, although we barely know anything about it. Nevertheless, it's essentially the power of your soul and is especially prominent in spirits such as Youkai or Kami. This soul power allows entities to affect the other realm. In other words, a Youkai can attack someone in the living realm, or a Kami can exorcize a Youkai in the spirit realm."

This was starting to get a bit complicated. But wait. He said imbuement...

"Hold on, does that mean that there's a way for me to fight the Youkai myself too?"

Hasegawa-san smiled brightly.

"You're smart. In fact, it does! Imbuement is charging an object with your soul energy. Honestly, it's not easy to do at first, and will take you some time to practice. But eventually, you'll be able to fight the Youkai with gadgets and weapons alongside your Kami!"

This sounds straight out of a shonen manga. Well, I felt bad making Hoshi do all the fighting anyway...

"And that brings us back to the topic of this smoke bomb. Usually, normal smoke bombs wouldn't do anything, as Youkai can sense soul energy and just attack you without using sight. That's why people with Kami, who have stronger soul energy, attract more Youkai. Well, we don't know why they're attracted to soul energy, we just noticed that from different tests... A-anyhow, imbuing this smoke bomb with soul energy will activate it, and the resulting smoke will also have soul energy imbued into it. Meaning, the Youkai can't see or sense you properly."

Wow, that sounds useful. I'm definitely going to use those a lot. But that brings up another concern...

"Hasegawa-san, do we have to pay for the equipment ourselves?"

Hasegawa-san quickly shook his head.

"The equipment is paid for by the Agency, which is funded by the government. Convenient, huh? Just don't abuse the equipment too much, or there might be consequences."

The word abuse brought a thought that had never come across my mind.

"Hasegawa-san, are there people that use Kami to their advantage?"

Hasegawa-san's face suddenly darkened. I didn't even know he could make such a grim expression, and it scared me a bit.

"A-ah, I'm sorry if I offended you..."

Hasegawa-san suddenly smiled, but it looked a bit forced.

"Ah, don't worry, Miyake-san. I just remembered something unpleasant. Anyhow, yes, as with humans, you'll always find some that don't... Use their talents for others. Some get work as mercenaries or assassins. The government has a lot of trouble dealing with those sorts of people. Anyway, there's still the rest of the equipment I have to explain to you!"

I could tell that he was changing the topic, but I understood that I had brought up an uncomfortable conversation, so I welcomed it.

Hasegawa-san taught me how to use the rest of the equipment, which took some time. There was a type of bomb that let out a shockwave of soul energy, which would only damage spiritual entities in its radius. There were also shoes (they even had them made to look like my current shoes) that could be imbued with soul energy to run faster or even jump higher, which was the most exciting thing to me. I swear, as soon as I figure out how to control my soul energy...

"...And that's about it for now. Well, except for one thing. Let's get your weapon picked out."

Woah, a weapon?

Despite all of the crazy things that have happened to me as of late, a weapon still surprised me. I guess I'm still not used to things...

Hasegawa-san brought me over to a section full of different types of weapons. Katanas, shurikens, nunchucks, and even several types of guns were on display. I instinctively tensed up. I knew that the weapons were meant to hunt Youkai, but these could just as easily be used to kill humans too.

Hasegawa-san noticed my apprehension and tried to calm me down.

"Don't worry, these are too dull to actually harm humans, at least by accident. They only become dangerous when you imbue them. Unfortunately, while we're going to be picking out your weapon today, a weapon is one of the hardest things to imbue, so it might be a while before you can properly use it... Anyway, what type of weapon do you think you'd prefer?"

"Mmmmm..."

I don't know how to use any sort of weapon. The closest I've ever gotten was sword fighting in Wii Sports. Well, I might as well choose based on what I found cool then. I walked around the weapons aisle for a while, debating on what to pick.

Actually, wait. I think I already know, even if it's a bit anticlimactic.

"Hasegawa-san, do you have any naginatas, by chance?"

My reasoning was simple. I just wanted to match Hoshi.

"Ah, I think we do. Follow me."

Hasegawa-san led me to the end of the weapons aisle next to a couple of spears, where we found a row of different naginatas.

"You can pick whichever one feels right to you."

But before I could even pick up the naginata in front of me, Hoshi suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and I almost jumped. I really need to get used to this, because I don't think she's stopping anytime soon.

Hasegawa-san smiled at her.

"Ah, so this is what she looks like. I was going to ask you to show me her later, but this works too! But why'd she come out?"

Hoshi grinned at Hasegawa-san, before immediately speeding over to a naginata in the corner of my eye like a kid in a candy store. She then picked up the naginata and handed it to me. Hasegawa-san watched with amusement.

"Does she already know which one would suit you best?"

I looked at the naginata, which, surprisingly enough, felt the right size, without being too heavy or light. The shape of the blade itself was pretty, and the light reflected off of the tip like a glowing sun. Still, I had the feeling that this was just a coincidence.

"No, I think she just picked one she thought looked the coolest..."

_________________________________________________________

"Alright, let's break down the goal of this mission."

Hasegawa-san, Nakamura-san, Abe-san, and I were standing back in the office on floor B50. After reuniting with Nakamura-san and Abe-san, we spent a few more hours training, but not before eating lunch.

[Yuri, make sure to take care of yourself. Make sure to take breaks for lunch and dinner. Good luck, and do your best!] -Mom

Anyway, now it was pretty late into the night, and the mission was starting. I hadn't eaten dinner yet, but that can wait until after.

I'd asked why we had to wait till night, to which Nakamura-san responded "Well, it's because the Youkai are more active at night. Especially at 4 am, which some people across seas call the witching hour. Not exactly sure why, but it fits right in with our beliefs..."

Right after he said this, he started to laugh. He seems to find a lot of things funny.

Hasegawa-san continued his explanation, bringing me back to the present.

"This mission will be rank B, as the main target is rank B. But in reality, the rest of the mission should be fairly easy."

"Sorry, can you explain what that means to me?"

"Ah, my apologies, I'd forgotten. Youkai and missions have a ranking system for the level of danger they pose. It assigns a letter grade based on the difficulty. It goes from E, D, C, B, A, and S, with E being the lowest and S being the highest."

"Coming up with a unique system would be too much of a pain in the ass, so they chose to use one that a lot of the video games use," Abe-san added.

Hasegawa-san coughed awkwardly.

"Well, I can't say you're wrong about that... Anyway, given how the target has likely killed someone, we have to assign it a ranking of at least B. But since Nakamura-san and Abe-senpai are here, it should be a breeze."

Nakamura-san gave an over-exaggerated thumbs up ("O-K!"), which Hasegawa-san ignored.

"The goal of this mission will be to exorcize the target Youkai and any other Youkai you find in Akihabara, as well as recover the body. Here's what we know about the target Youkai based on Miyake-san's testimony. We will be calling it Kumo for convenience since Miyake-san says it crawls like one. The police have attributed at least one disappearance in Akihabara to potentially supernatural causes, most likely this Youkai. Unfortunately, we've already scanned the entire area for large readings, and there were no traces of it anywhere. It likely hides in the spirit world when it isn't hunting."

Well, the name definitely suits it, but I feel like there were so many other names that could fit it too. Like Hellspawn, or Devil, or God-Help-Us-All, or-

"Wow, this thing's big." Nakamura-san and Abe-san were looking down at the papers." I can't wait to see what it looks like! Well, all those arms could prove deadly. But it shouldn't be too much of a problem for Fujin. He's a master at hand-to-hand combat, even if it's hand-to-hand-hand-hand-hand-"

"Alright, alright, we get it sensei."

"Bahahaha! Anyways, let's try and find some other Youkai too, so Miyake-san and Hoshi- can practice."

"That would be very much appreciated. Ah! I almost forgot. Miyake-san, can you open the Youbidase app?"

I brought my phone out and opened the special app.

"Here, let me teach you the rest of its features."

After downloading the app a while ago, I had played around with the different features on it. There was a map on top of the messaging system, but a lot of the buttons only created a popup that said "Feature locked." when I pressed on them.

Hasegawa-san turned around and started to mess with my phone for a bit, and it took a lot of my self-control to not look over his shoulder.

Turning back, Hasegawa-san opened up the map and pointed at a small button with a bell icon next to it. He pressed it, and a popup covered the screen, with the words "Call for help?" In the center of the screen was a big, circular button with a red SOS on it.

"This is the SOS call. If you ever find yourself in trouble, you can open this menu and hold on the button, and it'll alert anyone nearby who also has the app. It'll also give them your location on the map."

"Wow, that's quite impressive." I have the feeling I'll be needing that one a lot.

Nakamura-san guffawed. "Sure is! This app is a life saver!"

Hasegawa-san gave a satisfied look that seemed to say "Yes, praise me more," before looking back at my phone.

"Alright, so this next one's a work in progress, so don't rely too heavily on it."

He exited the SOS call screen and pressed yet another button, this time with an icon that looked like a wifi symbol. The map usually had my profile icon in the center signifying where I was, but the press of the button made it start to emit white rings that extended for a bit before disappearing. It looked like it was scanning the area.

"This is a Youkai tracker. Simply put, all living things give off some sort of soul energy in waves. But each organism gives off a specific wavelength, kind of like a fingerprint. The Youkai tracker utilizes this to mark these wavelengths and track specific targets. Why don't you have Hoshi come out?"

I didn't even do anything, since I knew that she'd come out the moment these words left his lips.

"Oh!"

As the white circles came out again, the spot on the map where we were started to glow red.

"It's now measuring the soul energy that Hosh's emitting. The brighter the glow, the stronger the energy reading, which means it can also measure a Youkai's power. Given that it's a prototype, there are some problems you'll have to deal with. You have to get close for long enough for your device to measure the waves, and at the moment the app can only track one wavelength at a time."

"Even so, that's amazing..."

"Just be careful, since it can't tell the difference between Kami and Youkai. Some Youkai are also able to repress the amount of waves they give off, so watch out for that too. But you don't have to worry too much about other factors. Normal humans give off weaker signals."

Oh boy. There's a lot to remember with all of these explanations. Hopefully, I won't forget anything later on. It's not helping that I'm starting to get hungry too.

Nakamura-san cracked his knuckles and smiled.

"O-K! Let's go make your first mission memorable!"

Hasegawa-san looked at him sternly. "Make sure to prioritize Miyake-san's safety. Good luck, you three!"