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Once Utahime was done celebrating her win, she calmed down and turned back only to spot her juniors standing there looking at her.
She blinked in confusion, and soon realization hit her, and a scary premonition came to her.
"Rabbit Bomb Attack!!!" exclaimed Naoya.
"Rabbit Bomb Attack!!!" mimicked Kuroko.
They saw me!!!!!! Utahime screamed internally as embarrassment flooded her entire being.
"W-What are you guys making fun of?! T-That's how seasoned sorcerers act during missions!!! You should learn from me!!!!" declared Utahime, hoping that the two would believe her.
Naoya looked at her with a 'seriously' look.
Kuroko stood still and looked at Naoya to confirm his doubts.
Naoya gave a sagely nod, walked closer to Utahime, and showed his phone to her.
On the phone's screen, there was Utahime's video of doing a pose and yelling 'Rabbit Bomb Attack' like a chunni. Since the phone didn't capture the curses or the rabbits in the video, it just looked like a girl playing make-believe.
Utahime watched in horror as the video finished playing and then turned towards Naoya, who was smiling sweetly at her.
"I will make sure to show how a true sorcerer acts to the juniors who will join later," said Naoya.
Utahime immediately tried to snatch the phone from Naoya's hand. Too bad she was shorter, and Naoya simply raised his hand, making the phone out of reach for the miko.
"Delete it!!! Delete it!!! Give me the phone!!!" complained Utahime, but Naoya simply started walking away, making the miko grab him and pull him.
That didn't help much as Naoya simply dragged her along as well.
With all that commotion, their first mission for this school year got completed.
The three gave their reports to the people from the Jujutsu division standing outside, and went back to Kyoto.
The next day was a weekend, meaning a day off from school.
Right now, in Kyoto's branch of Zenin estate, Naoya was standing in an open training field alone.
It was still early morning, and the girls were asleep, so Naoya decided to get his affairs over with.
The cursed spirit he captured yesterday was stored within his shadows. He made a hand sign and brought the spirit out.
After having some inquiry with the spirit, Naoya made some mental notes.
1) The spirit's cursed technique worked by marking a whole territory first and inserting its cursed energy into the terrain.
2) The technique worked on everyone except for the cursed spirit, even Naoya and his other shikigami as well.
Naoya thought for a while and concluded.
[Tiger Funeral]
Snow, the giant white tigress, jumped out of the shadow and looked at Naoya.
"Snow. Kill it," ordered Naoya.
Without hesitation, the tigress tore the cursed spirit apart, ending its life.
In Naoya's opinion, the cursed spirit was not that effective for him. First of all, setting up a territory required a week's worth of prep, even after getting potential boosted. Not good for fights. Secondly, if the spirit were to leave the territory, its cursed technique over the area would be cancelled as well, requiring him to set up the plan again. Not to mention, even after all that, he, too, would be affected by it.
Killing the spirit turned shikigami gave various benefits. First of all, even though it was dead, its power still lingered and could be given to another shikigami. Secondly, it gave a boost to Snow, who could get stronger with every shikigami's death in his arsenal. He wasn't going to let his shikigami, who were closer to him, be sacrificed, but the common cursed spirits turned shikigami were a fair game.
He cannot endlessly farm weaker shikigami to be sacrificed since, after a while, weaker shikigami won't give any boost to Snow, but for now, it was fine.
Some of the dead shikigami's cursed energy went back to the shadow dimension, while some of it flew towards Snow.
After eating up the cursed energy the tigress roared out loud in excitement, causing a disturbance throughout the estate. The servants and clansmen who were awake jumped in surprise, some even getting ready for a fight.
Naoya looked at the excited tigress and caressed the huge cat, making the tigress stop roaring and start purring in delight.
"Good girl," muttered Naoya before the tigress toppled him playfully.
"Easy there, Snow. So? You feeling stronger?" asked Naoya.
Snow nodded in response, making Naoya smile.
After playing around with Snow and the other shikigami for a while, Naoya got back to his training. In the afternoon, he had to take the girls out for a stroll, so the morning needed to be productive.
After the training was over, and the girls were woken up, given a bath, and dressed, the three of them sat down with Kagenori for their breakfast.
"So? Maki-chan, Mai-chan? Going for a stroll?" asked Kagenori.
"Yes!" cheered Maki.
"Nii-Nii take us!" cheered Mai.
"Speak after you are done chewing," chided Naoya and seeing the girls' spill a bit and wiped their mouths.
"Grandpa, come too?" asked Mai.
"Grandpa too!" said Mai in excitement.
"Haha. I don't think I will be able to go on a long walk. I will rest here. Go and have fun. Here, take this and buy something for yourselves," said Kagenori, and he started fiddling with his wallet and was about to grab a stack of 10000 yen notes.
*Cough**Cough*
Naoya gave a fake cough, making the old man stop.
'Don't give them too much.' Naoya spoke with his eyes.
'Says the brat who jumped around whenever he got money from me.' Kagenori replied with his eyes.
'I was smart. These two aren't. They will spend everything on sweets and eat everything in a day,' replied Naoya.
Maki and Mai looked at their brother and grandfather, who were staring at each other, and wondered what the two of them were doing.
After multiple rounds of back and forth, the twins stood proudly with a 10000 yen note each.
"You really want to make me play the bad brother part later, huh..." muttered Naoya, knowing full well that he would need to take the excess sweets from the two.
"That's the problem for the bad brother. The kind grandpa doesn't care," replied Kagenori with a smirk and patted the girls who came to hug him and thank him.
Naoya gave the old man a stink eye, making Kagenori's grin widen.
Seeing the grin, Naoya sighed in defeat, but suddenly felt his hand being held.
"Here. Buy something for yourself as well," said Kagenori and gave a note to Naoya as well.
"I don't need it, Grandpa. I earn eno-"
"Shuh! Just take what the kind grandpa is giving you," said Kagneori and lightly smacked Naoya.
Naoya felt that the old man had probably hurt himself more than he had hurt Naoya.
He stared at him for a while before pocketing the money, making Kagenori smile fondly.
After talking a bit longer with Kagenori and asking if he needed something, Naoya and the twins left the estate for their stroll.
.
.
.
On the streets of Kyoto, the girls were looking around curiously. They haven't seen the scenery like this back at home, and to them, everything looked new.
Naoya has explored some parts of the city, but it was still a slightly different experience from Tokyo.
After arriving at the marketplace, the girls immediately started to find stores that interested them and were running around excitedly.
Naoya checked for any vehicles or anyone suspicious lurking around that might be targeting them or could hurt the girls, but found nothing of the sort.
On the other hand, he spotted someone familiar.
He crept a bit closer to the person and excitedly called them out.
"Rabbit Bomb Attack!"
As if a shiver went down their spine, the person turned around to find the person who yelled and frowned, seeing Naoya standing there.
"Hello, Senpai. Fancy meeting you here," greeted Naoya.
"Zenin," hissed Utahime and glared at Naoya.
"Nii!"
"What are you doing?"
The girls ran upto Naoya, seeing him do something interesting.
"Maki, Mai. Don't run around like that. You will get hurt if you fall," said Naoya, and stopped the two from running around.
Utahime looked at Naoya and the girls with surprise.
"Your sister?" asked Utahime, thinking that the twins looked cute.
"?"
Maki and Mai looked at Utahime curiously. She was a new character.
"Yes. Senpai, meet them. Maki and Mai. Maki-chan, Mai-chan, meet Rabbit Bomb Attack lady. Greet her," said Naoya.
"Oi! What are you telling them?!" complained Utahime and stomped closer to the siblings.
"Maki-chan! Hello Rabbit Bomb Attack nee-chan!"
"Me Mai-chan! Hello Rabbit Bomb Attack nee-chan!"
The two replied enthusiastically, thinking that the older sister had a funny name.
Utahime felt arrows pierce her heart from their cuteness, but still felt hurt at being given a name by the two kids.
Naoya, on the other hand, laughed out loud, making Utahmie even angrier at the Zenin.
"You! I won't forgive you!" threatened Utahime thought Naoya simply snorted at her.
Her glare intensified, but she sighed and looked at the kids who were looking at the weird lady.
"Maki-chan, Mai-chan. I am not Rabbit Bomb Attack Lady. My name is Utahime Iori. Nice to meet you," said Utahime and crouched down to their level.
"Eh?? Rabbit Bomb Attack is funnier."
"Rabbit Bomb Attack!!"
Her smile twitched in response, and she looked at Naoya to fix the situation.
Naoya wanted to play around for a bit, but decided not to make the senior angrier.
He picked the girls up and started talking to the two of them.
After some back and forth and gullible tactics, the girls started to call her, normally making Utahime sigh in relief.
"So, senpai. What are you doing here?" asked Naoya, with two ice creams in hand, and gave one to Utahime.
While talking, the four of them headed to an ice cream shop, being dragged by the twins.
Maki and Mai already got their ice creams and were sitting on a bench to eat.
"Thanks," said Utahime and took the ice cream from Naoya.
"I got a day off and came out for a stroll. Tsukumo-senpai is off on her own as usual, and it gets boring being alone in the dorm," said Utahmie.
Naoya nodded. He understood very well how bad loneliness felt. Now he got may friends and people he could talk to, but in the past he was quite alone.
"What about you? On an errand?" asked Utahime.
"Nah, just taking the girls on a stroll. They need a change in scenery from time to time. It's less hectic on me in the long run," replied Naoya.
Utahime nodded, not understanding much by what Naoya meant, but let it go. She was no expert in dealing with kids anyway.
"Hey Zenin."
"Yes senpai."
"Any shot, you will delete the video?"
"Haha. No."
The spoon in Utahime's hand snapped from her frustration.
Naoya simply laughed and got her a new spoon before focusing back on the ice cream while occasionally making sure that the girls were not smudging their clothes.
After they were finished, Utahime decided to take her leave.
"Well, I should take my leave. Bye-bye, Maki-chan, Mai-chan. Zenin, see you at school," said Utahime with a smile.
"Nee-chan! Come too!" called Mai.
"Play with us!" added Maki, trying to entice the older girl.
Utahime smiled at them and patted their heads.
"Thank you for inviting. But I should not intrude on you all," said Utahime.
"Meh. No problem at all. Come along, senpai. Better than getting bored back at the dorm. Help me with taking care of the kids. You probably know the area better than I anyway," replied Naoya, dismissing her concern.
"No No. It's fine."
"Maki, Mai, New mission, pull her along!" ordered Naoya.
"Yes!" saluted the girls and grabbed Utahime's hands and pulled her along.
"Eh? Wai-"
"Mission!"
"Mission accomplished!"
"Give up, senpai. You won't be able to defeat the twin tag team. If you need to go somewhere else, then do tell me."
"Huh? I mean, I am free but...Oh well, fine! I will show you and the girls around! I am the senpai here after all!" declared Utahime, accepting defeat by the twins' puppy eyes attack.
Seeing the three Naoya smile and click a picture of the three, though wondered if he should start teaching Maki and Mai about cosying up with strangers.