Dropout Exorcist Part 1 Chapter 2

 Chapter 2: The Aftermath and a New Incident

"...Man, rice is good."

After parting ways with Nagisa, Shinya went to a nearby beef bowl restaurant.

Steaming hot meat. Fluffy white rice. A rich, steaming bowl of miso soup. Pickles and red ginger on the side.

Shinya shoveled the beef bowl into his mouth, pausing now and then for a sip of miso soup while savoring its flavor.

This might have been the first time he'd ever thought that a chain restaurant's beef bowl could taste this good.

As a student living on his own, Shinya used to eat this kind of thing every so often but he'd never had any particular attachment to the taste.

But as far as his body was concerned, this was the first white rice he'd had in four years and nothing could ever tasted better. Miso soup was a dish no Japanese person could do without too.

The crisp napa cabbage pickles were good too. Whether they were domestically grown or not didn't matter one bit. All that mattered was the taste of home he hadn't been able to eat in that other world, nostalgic and yet unbelievably delicious.

"...Thanks for the meal."

Without thinking, he pressed his hands together in thanks. He was truly glad to be back in Japan. It wasn't just the food culture; the level of civilization itself was worlds apart.

The magical civilization over there had been its own thing with plenty of rare and impressive sights but when it came to sheer convenience, this world was overwhelmingly superior.

"Ahh, that hit the spot. The taste of white rice after so long is the best."

Having polished off the mega-size portion, Shinya wandered idly through the nighttime streets. The town where he lived was a fair distance from where the tsuchigumo had been, maybe like twenty kilometers.

Time-wise, things had gone just as the god said, about five minutes had passed since he'd been summoned but distance-wise, it was way off.

What exactly happens to land him twenty kilometers off like that? This made him want to tell the guy to do his job a little more carefully. Sure it was disrespectful towards a god but a man's thoughts are his own.

"Well, I guess it is better than getting sent back to some other prefecture or overseas but that god sure is sloppy."

If he'd been teleported overseas, he'd have genuinely agonized over how to get home.

By reinforcing his physical abilities from where the tsuchigumo had been, allowed him make it back to this town without taking too much time. It made for decent exercise and helped him get a feel for his own abilities too.

(Physical abilities have dropped by abit, but overall, it was still clearly above where I was before the summoning. My spirit power's holding at almost the level it reached over there. I can still use every spirit art I'd already learned. Physical reinforcement, spirit sight, barriers, defense, healing, purification, stealth: all fine. If it's a type without bodies like a vengeful spirit or evil spirit, exorcism through spirit talismans still works too. But offensive elemental spirit arts are still a no-go as always.)

The basics were all usable. Attacks through spirit talismans didn't do much against youma who'd materialized a body out of malevolent energy but for ghost-type beings without a body, evil spirits and vengeful spirits and the like, he'd proven he could handle them by testing it on some spirit that happened to be drifting by and purifying it.

(At least I can handle simple exorcism jobs. Well, I can deal with youma too, if it comes to it.)

As an exorcist, it meant he'd have to pick and choose his jobs but as long as he could handle evil spirits and vengeful spirits without trouble, he could still work.

He could pick out some cursed property here and there, purify and make use of it, or buy one cheap and haggled-down before selling it high. That might work too.

(Though I knew it already, but yeah, I still can't just release spirit power as a simple orb or bullet shape or in the form of a blade, either. And converting spirit power to give it an element is still off the table too. If I could do that, it'd open up a lot more options in a fight and be useful in all kinds of ways.)

Shinya's spirit power right now went beyond first-rate, beyond even top-tier exorcists: an amount without equal anywhere in this world.

But he couldn't put it to effective use fully. He had no aptitude whatsoever for release-type spirit arts.

So no matter how much spirit power he had, he simply couldn't release that vast reserve and hurl it directly at a youma to bring it down.

Still, it was better than before. Back then, he had little spirit power on top of it all so the arts he could use had weak effects, and if he let a spirit talisman leave his hand for too long, it would lose its potency entirely.

So before he'd gone to that other world, purification had meant physically pressing a talisman against the target with his own hand; he'd never have been able to pour spirit power into a talisman and let it float, deploying a full defensive barrier on its own just like the way he had done with that tsuchigumo.

(And on top of that, if it weren't for the special talismans I picked up in that other world, I couldn't even cast it away from my hand for very long at all. Even so, every technique I can use now is leagues stronger than it used to be. No need to agonize over it like I used to.)

Back then, he'd agonized endlessly, lamented his circumstances and carried a deep inferiority complex toward his brilliant brother.

As a reaction to it all when he'd started high school, he'd left his family home and begun living alone in this town.

But now that he was back from the other world, he genuinely didn't care about any of that past anymore.

He'd gained power. Lived through experiences most people never would. Learned to accept himself. Been recognized by others, too.

He wasn't that old self anymore, the one who was sneered at as a failure, who couldn't even properly take down a low-level evil spirit, let alone a youma.

The self he was now had overwhelming power and confidence built on real experience. So what was there left to agonize over?

"Well then. Guess I'll just head home and get some sleep for now."

He'd get to sleep on a real futon for the first time in ages. What a wonderful thing that was. And today, as it happened was a Friday. Tomorrow was Saturday, so there was no school. Shinya wasn't in any club activities either so he had nothing in particular to do come morning.

He could sleep as long as he liked and laze around all day.

In that other world, he'd slept outdoors more often than not and it wasn't as if fancy inns had been easy to come by.

Having satisfied his appetite for food, Shinya set off for home to satisfy his appetite for sleep next.

* * *

Kyogoku Nagisa was busy dealing with the aftermath from the tsuchigumo incident. Rescuing the missing and her partner, filing a report with the police, contacting the main house, dealing with the tsuchigumo's eggs: there was a mountain of things that needed doing.

The police had arrived on the scene and were helping with the aftermath now.

In this world, exorcists were a widely recognized part of society and those officially certified by the state carried a fair amount of clout. The Six Houses especially, along with certain other influential clans, received a degree of support behind the scenes, which was why the police had cooperated so readily.

"Yes. Things have concluded safely on this end. I'll send over a formal report at a later date. The damage falls within expected parameters as well. No casualties as of now."

She gave a brief report to the main house over the phone. In this incident, the survivors had seemed all but hopeless, but the tsuchigumo had been keeping them alive, likely preserved as food for its egg-laying so they still had breath in them.

It was entirely possible that the first few people it had caught were already eaten by the tsuchigumo but it seemed they'd made it in the nick of time.

"Though the branch-family member who accompanied me was injured. Fortunately it was only minor so I expect he'll be back on his feet soon."

"...Understood. Branch family or not, I'd heard he showed promise among the younger ones, but I suppose a branch family member is still just a branch family member after all. I'll see to that on my side. Kiyotaka will take over the tsuchigumo case then. You will move on to a different case."

The person on the other end of the call — the current head of the Kyogoku family, and Nagisa's own father — Kyogoku Kiyohiko, told her this in a flat tone that seemed to carry no emotion whatsoever.

"...But Kiyotaka-sama. How should the handover be arranged?"

"Handle it verbally. You can file the report later yourself. I will let you know of the details on the next case."

"...Understood."

The moment Nagisa answered, the call cut off at once. She slowly put her phone away as the dial tone droned on the line.

"...Same as always, I suppose."

Nagisa carried out, without complaint, whatever missions her father the clan head handed down to her. But not once, not a single time, had she ever received a word of thanks or praise from Kiyohiko. No matter how many missions she completed, no matter how successful she became, he treated it as simply expected without giving a second thought.  

What's more, most of the credit for her achievements ended up going to her brother, the heir or to someone else entirely.

(In the end, it turned out for the best that I kept him a secret.)

Just as Shinya had asked, Nagisa reported without mentioning his presence or his help. If it had reached her father's ears, it really would have caused trouble. As far as Nagisa was concerned, he'd saved her life and she wanted to thank him properly, so she wanted to make his achievement known.

But the situation and the circumstances surrounding her wouldn't allow it.

Even so, Nagisa wanted to thank Shinya personally. Even if he refused outright, the feeling behind it still mattered.

(I really do need to thank him properly. He did save my life after all. So of course I need to.)

That said, she hadn't even asked for his contact information. Only after Shinya had already left then it occur to her: why hadn't she asked for his contact info back then? She cursed her own carelessness.

(I suppose I must have been rattled in all kinds of ways. Meeting him, being saved again, talking with him or maybe I just got swept up in the moment.)

What came back to her was a memory from long ago. He probably didn't remember it but even now Nagisa still did.

That day...

(Ugh, I really am pathetic on top of being useless. Idiot me. Why would I slip up on something like this?)

She didn't even know if he lived somewhere around here. It was as if she had no clues at all. At this rate, there'd be no thanking him, nothing at all.

(Even so, if I really wanted to find him, I could do it.)

All she had to do was trace the lingering trace of his spirit power. It was a slightly stalker-ish way of thinking but she half-convinced herself it was all for the sake of thanking him properly.

(I'll go ahead and track him down first.)

Nagisa pulled out a spirit talisman she'd kept tucked in her uniform and recited an incantation. After that, the talisman transformed into a single white bird.

Or rather, it wasn't just her doing it; this was a shikigami, the kind exorcists conjured using a spirit talisman as a medium.

"Please track his trail. Once you've found him, come back to me."

Nagisa's shikigami was a sophisticated one. Rather than an exorcist tethering it with a thread of spirit power and puppeting it directly, it could act on its own using the spirit power sealed within it. Because of that, her shikigami could operate even if it was far away from its caster.

It could also share its field of vision with her and she could even change its behavior on the fly.

The bird took to the sky, flying off in the direction Shinya had gone.

This should be enough to find him, Nagisa thought, a smile rising to her face.

(What should I get him as thanks? And it would be rude not to go see him in person; I should think about what's convenient for him too.)

Fretting it over this and that, she looked completely unlike during the call with her father moments ago, just like an ordinary girl her age, worrying yet clearly enjoying herself at the same time. A soft smile appeared on her face as she thought over what came next.

(I'll finish this case quickly and before the next one starts, I'll set up an appointment and go see him at least once. Yes, that sounds good.)

Looking forward to that moment, Nagisa threw herself into finishing the aftermath even more perfectly than usual.

But before long, the shikigami she'd sent out would come back, unable to trace him at all thanks to Shinya's concealment art and she'd fall into a deep slump over it, though at this point, she had no way of knowing that yet.

* * *

Time rewinds a little, to somewhere in a certain city.

"Ahh, boring. This is just me pickin' on the weak, ain't it?"

In a dim back alley, a boy in a school uniform muttered, looking bored out of his mind.

Maybe close to a hundred eighty centimeters tall. A boy with navy-blue hair, distinctive for the red streaks running through it. At his feet, several young men crouched, groaning.

"You lot picked the fight and you still couldn't take down one guy even with a bunch of ya jumping in? Pretty pathetic, don't you think, boys?"

"Y-you bastard... Don't get cocky."

The short-haired man who seemed to be their leader glared at the boy, but the boy just let it roll right off him.

"We've got Ambizu backing us up, you know that?"

"What's that, some new-breed delinquent gang? Guess it ain't yakuza these days, just some weird biker-gang-lookin' punk name slapped on. Well, whatever. C'mon then, take me there, why don't ya."

The boy grabbed the man with one hand and hoisted him up like it was nothing.

"Guh!?"

"Truth is, I was lookin' for guys just like you. When it's trash like you lot, I don't gotta hesitate, don't gotta hold back, don't even gotta feel sorry for ya and I can do all sorts of things. See, our boss, he's after people."

"That's enough, Yashiro."

The voice came from the mouth of the alley. Looking over, there stood a fair-skinned, gentle-looking man in a black suit, still in his late twenties by the look of him. Maybe just over a hundred eighty centimeters tall. A white-haired man with eyes coloured in red and blue.

"Well if it ain't the boss. What're you doing in a place like this?"

"I heard you were acting on your own again. So I came to see for myself."

The gentle-faced man gave a small snort through his nose, and yet his eyes stayed cold, endlessly cold. The instant the young man held by the boy called Yashiro caught sight of those eyes, his body began to shake uncontrollably.

"But hey, boss. It was you who said it. Gather people up, you said. And that means... a whole lotta people for you to use as sacrifices, don't it."

In that instant, an astonishingly dense killing intent burst from Yashiro's body. He aimed that killing intent, riding on a wave of raw anger, straight at the man he called boss.

"Heh. You think killing intent that weak is enough to frighten me? Or were you trying to call someone else in here? Unfortunately for you, I've already laid a barrier around this place. No one's coming."

"Ahh, that so? Well, that's a shame."

He shook his head side to side, and the killing intent dissolved into nothing. At that, the man smiled.

"I don't dislike that about you. Follow my lead, and I'll make sure your wish comes true, without fail. I'm a man who keeps his promises."

"...Don't you go back on that."

"I swear it. So you follow my orders in return. I'll leave the selection of sacrifices to you. Using society's trash is fine by me. They've got plenty of value as sacrifices too. But you have to call me before you make a move. I'll assign you some support."

(What kind of "support". That's just you keeping tabs on me.)

Yashiro cursed inwardly. It pissed him off but he did his best not to let it show on his face. He didn't know how far it would actually work on a man like this but he had to at least put on a show of willingness to obey.

"That's real kind of you. Guess I'll do that from now on, then."

The man they'd been holding couldn't fully follow what the two of them were saying. But one thing was clear to him regardless: his life was entirely in these two people's hands.

"So that's how it is, sorry 'bout that. But you lot go trapping ordinary folks and innocent people too, don't ya, pulling all kinds of unreasonable crap? This is just that comin' back around on you."

"W-what are you..."

"Yeah. Take me to the guys backing you up, alright? Gotta bring them along too, or it won't be nearly enough. Otherwise, I'll end up havin' to snatch some totally clueless regular folks. I don't wanna do that, so bear with me, yeah?"

The savage grin spreading across his face made it plain he didn't feel the least bit sorry.

So what would happen to them from here was already settled, plain and simple.

"A hundred and eight sacrifices. Gathering that many here in Japan is a bit of a chore, but it's a necessary one."

Watching Yashiro at work, the white-haired man murmured quietly to himself, looked up at the sky from the back alley, and let an eerie smile spread across his face.

"Soon, the curtain rises on revenge. Soon, I'll wipe them out down to the last root."

— Wait for it, Kyogoku. I will see you wiped out, root and all.

The man's murmur echoed faintly through the back alley, but no one was there to hear it.

That day, the delinquent gang Ambizu, which had made this city its base, vanished overnight without a trace.

Dozens of people, the boss, the executives, and the rank and file alike, disappeared as if spirited away, and the police launched an investigation, but there were no witnesses, and the security camera footage showed nothing at all.

It was an incident that might as well be called a mass spiriting-away and the investigation pursued angles like a turf war with a rival organization but the case was on the verge of running into a dead end.

But a month later, when the upper ranks of the prefectural police requested cooperation with the investigation from a certain quarter, the curtain would rise on a new incident.