Published at 24th of December 2020 10:20 am

Chapter 28: Sour then Sweet

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–Just a little more. Just a little more, Furuya-san.

The girl’s buoyant voice echoed in my head strangely clearly.

–Fufu. It’s thanks to you, Furuya-san, that I’m getting a nice full stomach. I really need just a little bit more now.

But the voice that I had heard so clearly faded into nothingness as my consciousness woke up. By the time I sat up from my bed, as usual, I couldn’t remember what the girl had said.

It was the day after the attack of the woman who runs away from boobs.

I had been admitted to a hospital run by the Exorcist Society for an examination.

The injury itself was not serious but Soya forced me to go through the procedure to make sure I hadn’t injured my head.

Although last night had been a bit of a disaster, I had succeeded in getting us a clue for figuring out the identity of the woman who runs away from boobs. So I had accepted to be hospitalized by viewing it as a short vacation, thinking that it wouldn’t be bad to relax in a quiet and well-ordered place like this every once in a while…

"So you’re sure nothing happened with Karasuma Aoi?"

"How many times have I told you…"

In a private room in a hospital.

I was being interrogated by Kaede early in the morning.

Kaede, who had apparently come to the hospital right after I was brought in yesterday, rushed into my room first thing in the morning today as soon as the doctors declared that there was nothing wrong with me.

Even demons were supposed to have tears. I had been foolish enough to think for even a moment that she was worried about me being attacked by a terrible monster.

When Kaede came running into the hospital room, the first thing she said when she saw my face was,

"I finished interrogating Karasuma Aoi last night. Now it’s your turn. I’m going to see if there are any discrepancies in your statements."

And she then began the continuation of our phone call last night, an interrogation that lasted until now.

When she first came into the hospital room, it looked like she had a momentary look of relief on her face, but it was probably just my imagination.

"How misleading. That Karasuma Aoi is more of a problem child than I thought she was."

Well, even I hadn’t thought that Karasuma would have played that kind of ero voice track while I was on a phone call. No matter how many screws she had missing. When I was explaining the situation to Kaede, even I inwardly thought, "I don’t know if she can believe something this ridiculous."

"Try not to do anything that can lead to such misunderstandings in the future. That’s an order."

"Hey you… shouldn’t you be at least a little bit worried about a person who has just been attacked by an outrageous monster?"

I recalled the tremendous intimidating aura that had been released by the woman who attacked Karasuma and me last night.

A fifth-ranked monster.

The threat level of the woman who runs away from boobs had been determined from Karasuma’s testimony, the damage at the scene of the incident, and the traces of spirit power left behind.

In response to this, the city of Shinonome had issued a spiritual disaster warning and a team of professional veteran exorcists had been dispatched.

If the woman really was fifth-ranked then there were likely going to be dozens of casualties among the general public. It was said that even professional exorcists wouldn’t stand a chance against a fifth-ranked if their strength was ordinary.

It was practically a miracle that Karasuma and I had managed to make it back in one piece.

My attempt to make Kaede feel pity for me failed as she narrowed her eyes as if saying "So what?"

"You were just pathetic enough to get attacked by a fifth-rank. Besides, your injuries aren’t even that bad. You’re expected to be released from the hospital this morning and should be able to return to work by then."

"…didn’t you say something like ‘Get out of there right now!’ yesterday? You sounded unusually panicked."

"Huh, I don’t know what kind of misunderstanding you have but yesterday I only ordered an immediate retreat to minimize any possible damage. It’s my responsibility as a professional exorcist."

"You’re not cute as usual…"

"What?"

"No, it’s nothing."

Kaede’s sharp glare stopped me from giving a retort. She used the opportunity to complete her routine checkup of my climax exorcism ability and then quickly left her seat as if saying that she had no more business with me.

"Although I’m going back to my parents’ house today, you need to pay more attention to your own behavior rather than that monster. If next time isn’t a misunderstanding and you actually start abusing your ability… then I will kill you."

In the end, she left my hospital room without a single word of concern for my condition.

"Ah, oniisan-senpai, hello hello. How are you feeling? A worried Mei has arrived!"

Right after Kaede left.

Tachikawa Mei, a third-year middle school student at the School for Exorcists, walked into my room as if switching places with Kaede.

She got her information quickly, as always.

"I heard that you’re about to be discharged so I decided to drop by with some light snacks. Here, please take this."

Mei, dressed in her school uniform, placed a box of four different flavored jellies on the side of my bed and sat down on the round chair for guests.

She was the complete opposite of my frightening childhood friend who had threatened to kill me despite being in a hospital…

"Thanks. But what about school?"

"When I heard that oniisan-senpai had been attacked by a monster, I thought it would be a good excuse to skip class so I decided to give you a visit."

Mei said in a light tone, then continued,

"That’s just a joke. I heard that you were going to return to Shinonome after being discharged this morning and hurried over to give something to you."

She pulled out three talismans from her pocket.

"What are those? Talismans?"

They had a strangely detailed structure and contained spirit power so dense that even someone who couldn’t use any spirit vision techniques like me could feel it. Those talismans were clearly some kind of special magical artifact.

"Fufufu. You see, these are talismans that allow you to shape-shift into whatever form you want just by lightly applying spirit power. Although they’re disposable items that wear off after about thirty minutes, they’re extraordinary items that combine spiritual substances and illusionary magic, making it possible for anyone to achieve an ultra-realistic shape-shifting transformation!"

Mei proudly explained the talismans as if she had made them herself.

"That means that you can even shape-shift realistic big boobs to scare away the woman who attacked you, oniisan-senpai!"

She held out the three talismans to me.

"If you’re coming back to Shinonome city, please take these as a good luck charm. Give them to your teammates and take one to protect yourself. Well, the girl from the Soya Fa…Soya-senpai may not need it though."

"No, no, no, wait a minute."

I pushed away the talismans.

"These talismans must be considerably expensive. I can’t accept them so easily."

It was quite rare to find a person who could handle the shapeshifting technique in the first place.

Putting it into the form of a talisman and then making it available to everyone was extremely difficult. Not just anyone could do it. So naturally, the value of these talismans was immeasurable.

Even though this girl always puzzled me with where she got her information and things from, this gift was not something I could accept just by promising to do her some small favors in the future in return.

"Besides, I don’t need these talismans for self-defense anymore."

I said so firmly.

Because I was sure that this woman who runs away from boobs case would be solved today.

After all, we had Soya’s demon eyes.

The terrifying and perverse ability to easily grasp everything from the content of a person’s first wet dream to their favorite wank, from the number of people they had done it with to the number of times they had masturbated.

When I had checked with Soya, she said, "I have to strain my eyes a bit but I can still see a girl’s three sizes precisely!" So this morning, she and Karasuma were currently searching for the flat-chested girl at Shinonome High School.

It was only a matter of time before the identity of the woman who runs away from boobs was revealed.

All we had to do after that was have the veteran team that was going to be arriving later today exorcise her and the woman who runs away from boobs case would be over.

That was why even though a spiritual disaster warning had been issued to the entire Shinonome area, I had the peace of mind to stay quietly in my hospital room and think, "It’s okay to take it easy every once in a while" (though I hadn’t been able to take it easy at all because of Kaede).

"I appreciate your concern, but this time I’ll just accept your feelings."

"That won’t do."

"Huh?"

I didn’t know why Mei was so stubborn about me taking the talismans even though the case’s resolution was basically in sight.

"What’s wrong. You’re being unusually pushy today."

"Because… it was Mei who introduced you to the job in Shinonome…"

Mei who was usually in a playful mood dejectedly dropped her shoulders.

"You never know what might happen today or tomorrow so I want you to have it with you just in case. If you end up not needing to use it then you can just return it to me then."

"…alright."

If she wanted me to accept the talismans so strongly then I had no reason to refuse.

I received the talismans and Mei’s face brightened.

"Ah, you accepted it right? Now you have to give me a hug in return!"

"Hey."

"Fufufu, just kidding. Well then, take care."

Mei said, clearing away the awkward atmosphere as she left the hospital room.

"Geez."

A junior I could never bring myself to dislike.

"Ah, I better hurry up and get ready to check out."

After dealing with Kaede and Mei, much of the morning had already passed.

I didn’t have much luggage so I quickly got dressed and got my few belongings ready.

"Hmm?"

I had just left the hospital after a quick discharge procedure when I received a call from Karasuma.

Unlike me, Karasuma wasn’t injured, so she should have been accompanying Soya to Shinonome High School this morning to look for the flat-chested girl. The fact that she took the trouble to call me made me wonder if the pair had already figured out the identity of the woman who runs away from boobs.

"Furuya-kun? We have a bit of a problem."

I almost dropped the phone when Karasuma said the following words.

"Miss Misaki has collapsed."

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