Hana Yurikawa's arrival caught Morpheus off guard, yet it didn't feel entirely unexpected.
"Good afternoon, Yurikawa-san. What's up?"
"A massage, of course!" Hana rubbed her shoulders. "I don't know why, but when I woke up this morning, my shoulders felt stiff again. It was so comfortable yesterday."
Yesterday. Massage. Comfortable.
As a healthy high school girl, Ritsu Tainaka overheard the conversation and immediately jumped to conclusions, her face flushing red.
Though she suspected it wasn't that kind of situation, her imagination ran wild.
Her heart raced like a rabbit was kicking it, pounding uncontrollably.
Morpheus didn't notice Ritsu's reaction. Instead, he glanced at Miko, standing behind Hana, and saw her eyes occasionally flicker to Hana's shoulder.
An evil spirit perched there, taunting Morpheus with a smug grin.
"You can see me! You can see me!"
Morpheus smirked, standing up. "Let's take this outside."
Hana nodded, grabbing Miko's hand and following him out of the classroom.
The trio climbed the stairs to the rooftop.
The spirit on Hana's shoulder continued its taunts. "You can see me! You can see me!"
"Oh, I see you alright. Clear as day," Morpheus replied.
The spirit froze, then, overjoyed, abandoned Hana and lunged at Morpheus.
Morpheus didn't hesitate, swatting it with a single slap.
You dare taunt me like that? You're done.
Smack!
With a crisp sound, the spirit disintegrated, vanishing into nothingness, obliterated beyond recovery.
Miko's eyes widened, staring at Morpheus in disbelief.
Hana, meanwhile, was utterly confused. "See what?"
She had no idea what Morpheus meant.
Morpheus turned to Miko. "When did you awaken?"
"M-me?" Miko stammered.
"Who else would I be talking about?" Morpheus countered.
"Last… last night," Miko replied.
"Oh, that's pretty lucky."
Awakening last night and meeting him today—did all the heroines in this world have a bit of luck on their side?
Hana glanced between Morpheus and Miko. "What are you two talking about?"
She turned to Morpheus. "Didn't you say you didn't know each other? Why do you seem so suspicious? You are crushing on Miko, aren't you?"
Miko's face turned beet red.
Morpheus flicked Hana's forehead. "Crushing, my ass We're talking about evil spirits."
"Evil spirits?" Hana rubbed her reddened forehead, baffled.
"Look over there." Morpheus pointed to the school courtyard, where grotesque spirits were缠绕ing students.
Hana's eyes widened. "What are those things? So gross!"
Miko gasped. "Wait, Hana, you can see them?"
Morpheus explained, "I temporarily gave Yurikawa-san a sliver of power so she could see them."
Miko nodded, understanding dawning.
Hana turned to her best friend. "Miko, you can see them too?"
Miko nodded.
Morpheus continued, "Unlike you, who relies on my power, Yotsuya-san awakened top-tier spiritual sight on her own. That's why she can see these things."
"Top-tier spiritual sight? That's so cool, Miko!" Hana exclaimed, impressed by how fancy it sounded.
"It's not cool at all," Miko protested loudly. If she could, she'd rather not have it.
Hana didn't get it. Wasn't something high-tier supposed to be awesome?
Morpheus chimed in, "Top-tier spiritual sight is impressive, but Yotsuya-san's just an ordinary high schooler. She doesn't know exorcism or have supernatural powers."
"She can see them but can't fight them."
"Worse, if those things realize she can see them, they'll attack and try to consume her."
"Now you understand why she says it's not cool."
"Seeing but not being able to drive them away, having to pretend she can't see them while they harass her—it's a huge burden."
"Get exposed, and you're done for."
Hana was stunned. Was Miko in that much danger?
And she'd just said something so thoughtless…
She quickly pulled Miko into a hug. "I'm sorry, Miko! I didn't think before I spoke. Forgive me?"
Miko shook her head. "It's not your fault, Hana. It's got nothing to do with you."
Her spiritual sight wasn't Hana's doing—it had awakened on its own. There was no way she'd blame her best friend.
Seeing Miko forgive her so readily, Hana beamed, rubbing her cheek against Miko's. "You're the best, Miko! I love you!"
Two beautiful girls, all touchy-feely. Nice.
Morpheus enjoyed the sight. Who didn't love a bit of wholesome girl bonding?
After a while, Hana let go of Miko and turned to Morpheus. "Hey, Morpheus-kun, you're so powerful. You must have a way to help Miko out of this, right?"
"I can," Morpheus nodded. He was curious to see what would happen if Miko, with her top-tier spiritual sight, received his power.
Would it change her? Or would nothing happen?
"But in exchange," He continued, "Yotsuya-san would need to become my shrine maiden."
In Morpheus's view, Miko's spiritual sight made her a perfect candidate for a shrine maiden—a role even closer to him than a devotee.
At his words, both Hana and Miko blushed.
As Japanese natives, they knew exactly what a shrine maiden was.
But a moment later, they realized what he meant.
A shrine maiden served a divine being. If Morpheus was asking Miko to be his shrine maiden, didn't that mean he was…