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After saying goodbye to Miko Yotsuya and Hana Yurikawa, Asher headed home alone.
It was already getting late.
The sky had begun to sink into dusk, the sunlight fading into a yellow-orange glow.
But as Asher walked down the street, his expression was troubled.
He'd actually wanted to treat Miko and Hana to a meal earlier. A small thank-you for helping him buy a pretty decent phone at a great price, and for sticking with him through all the annoying paperwork like getting a SIM card.
Unfortunately, when Asher reached into his pocket and felt the pitiful thickness of his yen, he'd had no choice but to change his tune and say, "Next time."
"Man, money really does stop a hero in his tracks," he muttered.
"If only someone would randomly show up and give me a pile of cash."
He let out a long sigh.
Originally, he'd thought that now that he was a legit onmyoji, with real exorcism abilities, things would be easy. Take on a few spirit-hunting jobs, make some money, grow stronger at the same time. A perfect plan.
Reality, however, was far less kind.
After observing things throughout the day, Asher realized something important. Ordinary people in this world had no idea evil spirits or yokai even existed.
If supernatural stuff was kept that secret, then naturally, exorcism requests wouldn't just fall into his lap.
And on top of that, he was a complete nobody. No reputation, no connections, no base to speak of.
Why would anyone come looking for him to deal with ghosts?
He still had a long road ahead of him.
Since making money with his abilities wasn't going to work anytime soon, he needed another plan.
At the very least, he had to earn enough to survive.
Otherwise, he'd become the first transmigrator and onmyoji in history to starve to death. A disgrace carved permanently into the wall of shame by generations of successful isekai seniors.
When he really thought about it, there was only one realistic way for him to make his first bit of money.
Part-time jobs.
"Seriously? I get isekai'd, I have a system, and I still have to grind part-time jobs just to survive?" Asher felt genuinely miserable about his situation.
Just as he let out another deep sigh and prepared to accept this cruel reality—
Suddenly—
"Ahhh! Help!!"
A piercing scream tore through the dusk-lit air, sharp enough to feel apocalyptic.
Asher froze for a split second, then immediately looked toward the source of the scream.
"Huh? Did the universe actually answer my inner plea?"
"…Whatever. I should check it out first."
Shaking his head, Asher pulled himself together and sprinted toward the sound.
At the same time, in a narrow, shadowy alley—
A blonde girl with twin ponytails, wearing a high school JK uniform, was collapsed on the filthy ground.
She looked fragile and delicate, but right now she was nothing short of terrified.
Her once neat plaid skirt was smeared with grime. Her slender legs, wrapped in white socks, were streaked black with dirty water and dust.
She was a mess.
But the most alarming thing was her face.
Her cute features were completely drained of color, pale as paper.
Her eyes were wide open in terror as she stared straight ahead.
Standing before her was a horrifying figure.
Its proportions were grotesquely exaggerated.
Nearly three meters tall, with arms so long that the palms hung down to its knees.
On those hands were black fingernails at least ten centimeters long.
It wore a gray dress, and its black hair hung messily down past its calves, tangled and filthy as if it hadn't been washed in years.
Beneath that greasy curtain of hair was a corpse-pale face.
Its eye sockets were sunken and pitch black, no whites, no pupils.
Even its lips were completely black.
The entire face was deeply unsettling.
The monstrous woman curled her lips into a grin, a long tongue flicking out like a snake's as she fixed her gaze on the girl and let out a chilling, sinister laugh.
She began to walk forward on her long legs, step by step.
Each footstep felt like it was crushing down on the girl's heart, squeezing the air from her lungs.
"W-What are you?" the girl cried.
"D-Don't come any closer!"
"Please! Please don't come closer!"
"…!"
Tears streamed down her deathly pale cheeks as she desperately tried to retreat, scrambling backward with her hands.
Her palms suddenly touched something cold.
The wall.
There was nowhere left to go.
"Waaah… please don't come any closer…" she sobbed.
"I don't care what you are… please… just let me go…"
Her desperate crying was heartbreaking.
But it clearly meant nothing to the thing in front of her.
The woman kept advancing, slowly, relentlessly, until she stood right before the girl.
Looking down at her from above, those pitch-black eye sockets stared without a hint of emotion.
Then the monster opened its mouth.
That thin, grotesquely long tongue shot forward like a venomous whip.
It was about to coil around the girl's neck and strangle her to death in this forgotten alley.
"No—don't—!"
The girl screamed in utter despair.
One second passed.
Two.
Three.
After several heavy breaths, the pain she expected never came.
Trembling, she cautiously opened her eyes.
What she saw made her pupils shrink again.
The tongue that should have killed her was frozen in midair.
The towering monster itself was bound tightly from head to toe by glowing, mysterious chains that radiated a faint blue light.
"W-What… what's going on?" she murmured in disbelief.
Then she noticed something else.
Following the chains back, she looked down the alley.
A teenage boy was standing there.
She didn't know when he'd appeared.
Beneath his feet was a glowing formation, and the luminous blue chains were extending directly out of it.
"Y-You are…?" she asked blankly.
Asher, faced with her stunned expression, spoke calmly.
"If you don't want to die, get over here. Now."
"Ah… o-okay!"
Snapping out of it, the girl scrambled to her feet and rushed past the immobilized monster, practically tripping over herself as she ran to Asher.
She stopped only after reaching his back, breathing heavily as she stared nervously at the scene.
Then—
Crack.
A faint sound rang out.
In the next moment, it exploded into a violent, rapid series of noises.
Crackle, snap, bang!
Asher and the girl looked over just in time to see the glowing spirit chains shatter completely, bursting apart in an instant.
"How is that possible…?" Asher stared in shock.
This was the first time he'd ever encountered an evil spirit capable of breaking free from his Word Spirit: Bind in less than thirty seconds.
[Ding! Host has discovered a yokai: Long-Tongued Woman!]
[Defeating this yokai will grant: One Onmyoji-exclusive skill gacha draw!]
"....."