"Good morning, Natsuki-kun."
The black-haired Lady Kaguya sat on the sofa, absorbed in playing with the phone. Seeing Natsuki come downstairs, she looked up to greet him.
"I remember when I died, phones were still Nokia brand. All they could do was make calls and send texts. Now they can even do video calls... Science and technology really are the primary productive forces!"
You're a ghost—a purely spiritual existence! Don't go converting to the Church of Science!
"Stop playing with the phone." Natsuki raised an eyebrow. "Do you feel unwell at all?"
"Huh?" Lady Kaguya tilted her head, her tone confused. "What's wrong?"
Your body has become blurry and indistinct—what do you think is wrong?!
After one night.
This Lady Kaguya's condition was clearly very wrong.
If yesterday she'd been in HD mode, today she'd clearly dropped to 720p resolution.
"Strange, how did this happen?"
Lady Kaguya looked down at her body and quickly widened her eyes.
Natsuki said flatly:
"You don't know what's happening with your own body?"
"Even if Natsuki-kun says that, it's my first time being a Guardian Spirit. I have zero experience." Lady Kaguya looked pitiful, hugging her chest with both hands. "Could I be sick?"
You're just a Guardian Spirit—you don't even have a body. How could you possibly get sick?!
Natsuki said solemnly:
"What did you do last night?"
"Let me think..." Lady Kaguya raised a finger to her lips. "After Natsuki-kun fell asleep, I was playing with the phone in the living room the whole time. When the phone ran out of battery, I charged it while continuing to play... Then it was morning."
So you didn't sleep all night and just kept playing with your phone! Starting off by pulling an all-nighter cultivating immortality—be careful you don't drop dead!
Oh wait.
She was already a ghost.
As a ghost, staying up all night cultivating immortality shouldn't be a problem at all.
"I feel a bit weak." Lady Kaguya's tone was uncertain. "I might be... hungry?"
The essence of a Guardian Spirit was still that of a ghost—not human.
They'd tried last night. Lady Kaguya could drink beverages and eat food, but she couldn't taste anything, nor would she feel any sense of fullness.
As for where the consumed food went, only heaven knew.
Natsuki thought for a moment and said solemnly:
"Didn't you say yesterday that touching physical objects consumes some kind of energy?"
As a ghost, in her normal form she shouldn't be able to make contact with matter. Otherwise, the whole world would have descended into chaos long ago.
Lady Kaguya blinked. "...That does seem right."
Case closed.
There was only one truth.
You kept consuming unknown energy to play with your phone and completely drained yourself dry!
As a ghost, you managed to drain yourself dry from staying up all night cultivating immortality—how pathetically weak are you?!
"Natsuki-kun, what do we do now?" Lady Kaguya asked pitifully.
"I don't know either." Natsuki shook his head. "Let's head to school first."
After quickly eating some bread and drinking a glass of milk, Natsuki grabbed his bag and left for school alone.
Unlike usual, today he had a Guardian Spirit lady by his side.
"I really want to stay home and keep playing with my phone..."
Lady Kaguya's tone was regretful.
Still thinking about playing with your phone—if you overdo it, you might just dissipate into nothing!
Walking out the door, he happened to see Miko Yotsuya coming out from next door.
"Good morning, Miko."
Natsuki raised his hand in greeting.
"Morning." Miko nodded slightly, her gaze falling on the lady. She said quietly, "Good morning, Miss Shimizu."
Lady Kaguya smiled and nodded, her bearing elegant. "Good morning, little Miko."
"Um..." Miko pressed her lips together, hesitating. "Why does Miss Shimizu look different from yesterday?"
Lady Kaguya covered her face with both hands. "Because Natsuki-kun kept tormenting me in all sorts of positions last night..."
Don't say misleading things! If the ice-sculpture young lady heard that, there would definitely be casualties!
Having a Guardian Spirit—this kind of "accessory"—for the first time, of course Natsuki wanted to properly test her abilities. He couldn't very well just enshrine her as his mother-in-law, could he?
Miko's expression didn't change as she turned to look at Natsuki. "What happened?"
Natsuki sighed, explained the situation, then said earnestly:
"...Let this serve as a warning. Miko, don't stay up late playing with your phone anymore."
Miko shot him an annoyed look. "You have the nerve to lecture me when you do the same thing."
Chatting along the way, the two soon arrived at school.
Ever since learning that Natsuki had the ability to repel evil spirits, Miko had decided they would commute to school together from now on.
Being misunderstood by others was nothing compared to facing exhaustion and despair alone.
Besides, they were childhood friends. Being misunderstood didn't matter.
Natsuki and Miko parted at the shoe lockers. They changed into their indoor shoes and each headed to their own classroom.
Class hadn't started yet. The classroom was mostly empty with only a handful of people present.
The black-haired, red-eyed ice-sculpture young lady sat in the corner, quietly gazing at the sports field outside the window. Sunlight fell on her flawless profile—her breathtaking beauty was without the slightest imperfection. Boys had been walking back and forth in the corridor many times already.
Unfortunately, her coldness was just as famous as her beauty. Surrounded by an aura that warned strangers to keep away, everyone could only admire from afar, not daring to approach.
Until Natsuki appeared.
"Little Kaguya, Mommy's here!"
Miss Shimizu's eyes lit up as she called out happily.
Kaguya Shinomiya pressed her pink lips together slightly but didn't speak.
"So mean." Lady Kaguya covered her cheeks. "Not saying a single word—little Kaguya really doesn't want to see Mommy, does she?"
"..."
Kaguya bit her lower lip, quite troubled.
No one else in the classroom can see you—how am I supposed to talk to you?!
In her memories, her mother from childhood had been the quiet, taciturn type. Why had she become like this now?
Turning to look at Lady Kaguya and noticing her abnormal state, Kaguya's expression hardened.
"...What happened?"
Kaguya asked in a low voice.
Natsuki sighed. "It's a long story."
Before he could finish, Natsuki suddenly felt his finger twitch. He turned to look and saw Chika Fujiwara walking in from outside with a radiant smile.
"Good morning, Natsuki... Ehhhhh??"
Chika's eyes went wide in disbelief. "Is that Kaguya-chan's mother?"
Lady Kaguya, who had just been covering her face and pretending to be aggrieved, now flashed a peace sign:
"That's right, it's me."
Natsuki explained, "A lot happened after school yesterday. Long story short, Shinomiya-san's mother is now my Guardian Spirit."
Because his voice was too loud, several classmates in the room turned to look.
Chika covered her pink lips, her pretty face written with curiosity. "Let's go. We can talk slowly in the board game club room."
"..."
Board Game Club activity room.
"So much happened yesterday." Chika puffed up her cheeks. "You didn't even invite me. So mean."
Kaguya crossed her arm over her chest. "You still had club activities. Even if we'd told you, you wouldn't have had time, right?"
The ice-sculpture young lady finished speaking and turned to look over. "Mother... what exactly happened? Why have you become like this?"
Natsuki didn't hide anything and shared his theory. "...That's the situation."
After listening, Kaguya furrowed her elegant brows slightly. "Is there a way to replenish her energy?"
"We experimented yesterday." Natsuki said. "Your mother can't replenish energy through food."
"I've got it." Chika suddenly raised her hand, her voice ringing out clearly. "Maybe she... needs mana replenishment."