"A psychic?" Asuka stared at the man named Reigen Arataka on the screen, his spiritual senses fully open. "This guy doesn't just lack Spiritual Energy; he doesn't have a single trace of spiritual fluctuation."
"If you ask me, he's a complete and utter ordinary person, even worse than that Kanonji."
"Well, a lot of times these shows are just like this. Let's keep watching," Kisuke Urahara said with a smile.
On the television, the exploration team arrived at an abandoned mansion rumored to be possessed by an evil spirit.
A haggard-looking client was crying to them, saying his shoulders had been aching constantly lately and he could hear eerie crying at night.
Master Kanonji immediately struck a pose, yelling as he unleashed his signature move, the Kanonji Ball.
Although it did leave a negligible little dent in the wall, it seemed completely useless against the anomaly here.
Seeing the situation about to become awkward, Reigen Arataka coughed twice and stepped forward.
"Leave it to me." He rolled up his sleeves with a serious expression and pulled a handful of coarse salt from his pocket, scattering it in a circle around the client. "This is my special, Sure-Kill Exorcism Salt! As long as this is scattered, no evil spirit can hide!"
Asuka watched that bag of props—which had absolutely no Spiritual Energy and was definitely just ordinary table salt—and his eye twitched wildly. But an even more outrageous move followed.
Reigen walked behind the client who was complaining about shoulder pain and slammed both hands onto the man's shoulders.
"Evil spirit! Begone! Behold my Intense Massage Evil Spirit Banishment Wave!"
"Ahhhhh!!" The client let out a squeal like a stuck pig.
On the TV, Reigen Arataka used extremely professional, forceful, and skilled massage techniques, frantically pressing and kneading the client's shoulders, cervical spine, and back.
The cracking sound of bones rubbing together made the viewers in front of the television tense up.
"It hurts, hurts, hurts! It's going to break! It's going to break, Master!"
"Endure it! This is the evil spirit putting up a stubborn resistance! I'm about to force it out!"
Reigen was sweating profusely, and the force in his hands increased a bit more.
Five minutes later.
The client collapsed to the ground like a puddle of mud, but when he climbed back up and stretched his body, an expression of unbelievable ecstasy appeared on his face.
"Huh? It doesn't hurt?! My shoulders really don't hurt anymore! And my whole body feels so light!"
The client excitedly grasped Reigen's hands. "Master! You truly are a god descended to earth! You really exorcised the evil spirit!"
"Hmph, a mere evil spirit is nothing before my psychic powers." Reigen Arataka straightened his sweat-wrinkled suit and skillfully handed over a business card.
"Thank you for your patronage. The exorcism fee is thirty thousand yen. We accept cash and QR code payments."
"Hahaha... This is just too funny!" Shinobu Kocho, who had been sitting quietly to the side watching TV, finally couldn't help but burst out laughing. "How is this an exorcism? He's clearly just a massage therapist!"
Asuka speechlessly massaged his forehead, feeling like his intelligence had been insulted.
"A fraud playing dress-up like this can actually go on TV and openly make money? It seems this World of the Living is quite sick as well."
"Haha, no matter how you look at it, the result is good," Kisuke Urahara summarized with a beaming smile. "The client's shoulders really don't ache anymore, and Mr. Reigen made his money. This is the unique balance of the World of the Living."
Watching the comical scene on the screen where Reigen Arataka and Kanonji put their arms around each other's shoulders and laughed to close out the show, Asuka sighed.
Although he found it absurd, seeing Shinobu shaking with laughter beside him, his originally speechless mood shifted.
Yes... these harmless little scams at least revealed a kind of vibrant life that belonged to the human world.
Just like that, a few more days of this daily life flashed by.
This afternoon, Asuka and Shinobu arrived at a newly opened, large-scale amusement park in Karakura Town.
The amusement park on the weekend was packed with people, filled everywhere with the laughter of children and the roaring of various rides in operation.
To Asuka and Shinobu, everything here was a novelty.
"Asuka! Let's go ride that!" Shinobu pointed at a roller coaster spiraling in mid-air like a giant dragon, her eyes sparkling with eagerness.
Asuka glanced up at the roller coaster named [Extreme Challenge] and raised an eyebrow dismissively.
Facts proved his perception was accurate.
When the two got on the roller coaster and plummeted down from the highest point at a near-vertical angle along the track, the surrounding tourists were screaming frantically with their eyes squeezed shut.
The two of them just sat in their seats expressionlessly...
"...Maybe it's because of Manager Urahara's Gigai, but it doesn't feel that thrilling," Shinobu stuck out her tongue.
Asuka analyzed it seriously. "It might also be because we've adapted to the speed of Shunpo for so long, so this sense of weightlessness isn't as intense."
But regardless, it still counted as a novel experience.
However, the haunted house experience that followed nearly turned into an accident.
In the gloomy, terrifying haunted house corridor covered in red paint and eerie sound effects...
A staff member dressed as a zombie suddenly jumped out of a hidden door and lunged at the two with bared fangs and brandished claws.
"Killing intent!"
Asuka's muscles instantly tensed, and he threw a punch on reflex.
"Asuka! Stop! It's fake!"
Fortunately, Shinobu was quick-witted. She grabbed Asuka's arm and hung her entire body onto him, stopping his fist right in front of the zombie.
The staff member playing the zombie had originally wanted to let out a terrifying roar...
But upon meeting Asuka's gaze, which looked like a demon from hell, and feeling that suffocating, genuine killing intent...
The staff member's legs gave out on the spot, and he cried out with a trembling voice, "B-Big bro... I'm just working a job... please don't kill me..."
The farce only ended after Shinobu apologized profusely and forcibly dragged Asuka out of the haunted house.
"You really don't have an ounce of common sense, do you?" Coming out of the haunted house, Shinobu rubbed her temples helplessly. "I told you those were ordinary humans playing dress-up. Why did you throw a punch?"
"...Who told him to jump out so suddenly? He really did look the part," Asuka argued righteously.
"Sigh, expecting you to know how to enjoy these things is really asking too much of you..." Shinobu sighed.
Before they knew it, evening was approaching.
The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the entire amusement park in a warm, orange-red hue.
The noisy crowds gradually dispersed, and Asuka and Shinobu sat side by side on a long bench by the amusement park's artificial lake.
In Asuka's hands were two giant pink cotton candies.
He had just waited in line for ten minutes to buy them; for someone as impatient as him, this was an unprecedented action.
"Here." Asuka handed one of them to Shinobu.
"Thank you." Shinobu took the cotton candy and took a small bite.
The moment the cotton candy touched the tip of her tongue, it melted instantly, and that sweet taste spread all the way to the bottom of her heart.
The surface of the lake sparkled, reflecting the fiery sunset in the sky.
A gentle breeze blew past, rustling the short hair at Shinobu's temples. That exquisite butterfly hair ornament shimmered with a soft luster in the setting sun.
Neither of them spoke, simply enjoying this rare tranquility in silence.
To them, the time over these past years felt like a long, tangled dream.
Now that they were finally sitting together again, time seemed to slow down immensely.
It was as if between heaven and earth, only each other's breathing and the gentle breeze of the World of the Living were flowing.
In this silence, the atmosphere gradually became a bit unusual, and an ambiguous warmth began to rise between the two.
Shinobu turned her head and looked at Asuka's profile.
The setting sun cast its light on his face, which still bore that cold, stern look.
But in those pitch-black eyes that were once filled with hatred, the brilliant sunset and precious peace were now reflected.
Shinobu's heartbeat began to accelerate involuntarily.
"Asuka..." Shinobu's voice was very soft.
"Hmm?" Asuka turned his head, his gaze meeting hers.
She lowered her head slightly, her hands twisting the hem of her skirt, the blush on her cheeks even brighter than the sunset on the horizon.
"Asuka, I..."
Shinobu took a deep breath and raised her head again, those purple eyes sparkling with unprecedented determination and tenderness.
"I have always... really liked..."