— — — — — — —
Yotsuya Miko blinked in surprise. "Wait… spirits can get embarrassed?"
The sight of a spirit feeling awkward was oddly amusing.
Yuuko's toes practically curled in the air from secondhand embarrassment.
She immediately refuted, "we were humans too, you know!"
"Uh… s-sorry, my bad!" Miko scratched her cheek awkwardly.
"Y-You guys are actually talking… to a ghost?"
Yukinoshita Yukino's voice trembled slightly, while Yuigahama Yui shrank behind her, too scared to even peek out.
"Eh? Where? Where is she?"
Yurikawa Hana kept looking around, trying to spot the ghost.
Yotsuya Miko: "…"
Classic Hana.
But unlike the spirits they had encountered before, this one was different.
Not only could she communicate, but she had also been actively causing disturbances to keep students away.
"A kind spirit, huh?"
Lynn glanced at the glowing [Devil's Piece] on his status panel, then back at the floating ghost in front of him, a strange look in his eyes.
A spirit… could actually become part of his familia?
Expanding the diversity of Devils, huh?
Driven by curiosity and a dedication to researching the [Devil's Piece], Lynn felt it was worth a shot.
Once this request was over, he'd find a way to bring Yuuko along.
For now, he set the thought aside and focused on listening to her story.
Her name was Kanoe Yuuko.
She was an old spirit, or as ordinary people call her, a ghost.
She was a bound spirit—tied to this place.
Because she couldn't leave the old school building and had nothing to do, she spent most of her time asleep.
But one day, when she woke up again, something had changed.
The sky above the old building… was swarming with Cursed Spirits.
They were all low-level spirits and couldn't actually harm her, but—
They had invaded her territory!
Well, mostly, they were just disgusting to look at.
At some point, some kind of magical array had appeared in the old school building, trapping these Cursed Spirits inside.
So…Kanoe Yuuko simply drove them all up to the second floor and moved the array to the stairway, preventing them from coming back down.
Eventually, these spirits started attacking each other…And then, one terrifying combined Curse was born.
Kanoe Yuuko shivered just thinking about it.
She never expected that driving them upstairs would result in something so terrifying.
If not for the array, she probably would've been done for already.
But now, the array was covered in cracks, and she wasn't sure how much longer it would last.
Still, she was oddly calm about it.
She'd already been a spirit for decades, just floating around with nothing to do.
If she disappeared completely… well, it wouldn't be that big of a deal.
After hearing her story, Lynn quickly pieced together what was going on.
Someone was intentionally raising Cursed Spirits.
They had sealed them in an enclosed space, letting them devour each other to create a more powerful Curse.
Kanoe Yuuko's actions—trapping them upstairs—had only accelerated the process.
No wonder Natsuki had called the student council idiots.
Sure, Cursed Spirits were easy to create, but they were a nightmare to control.
If things got out of hand, the consequences would be disastrous.
Lynn had Miko explain the situation to the three who couldn't see spirits.
Yukinoshita Yukino was surprised.
"So… the floating chair was actually Miss Yuuko's way of keeping students away?"
An unexpectedly kind ghost?
But still—
She looked up.
As expected, she couldn't see anything.
Frowning slightly, she sighed.
"Even if you tell me there's something terrifying up there… it's hard to believe when I can't see it."
She glanced at Lynn and the others.
Aside from Lynn, everyone else could see it?
Was it something they were born with… or was there a way?
After hesitating for a moment, she asked, "Is there a way for us to see it too?"
Lynn gave her a quick look.
"There is."
"But are you sure you're ready for it?"
"Once you see the real world… there's no turning back."
His voice dropped into a low, serious tone, making Yukino and Yui break out in a cold sweat.
Yukino hesitated for a moment, then clenched her teeth. "Rather than being left in the dark… I'd rather know the truth!"
"Utaha, give her a buff."
Utaha summoned the Devil's Grimoire at Lynn's command.
There were plenty of spells that allowed humans to see Cursed Spirits.
As the book materialized in Utaha's hands out of thin air, Yukino's pupils shrank.
This woman… actually possessed supernatural powers?!
Utaha activated a spell from the Devil's Grimoire—"Revealing Sight"—on Yukino.
A golden beam of light shot directly into her eyes.
She instinctively shut them tight.
A strange sensation, as if something was washing over her eyes, flooded her senses.
It lasted only a moment before fading.
Then, Yukino abruptly opened her eyes.
And right there—A tall, elegant woman with long purple-black hair was floating in midair.
Her eyes widened slightly.
"This is… Miss Ghost?"
She felt a chill spread from the top of her head down her spine.
So it really was floating.
Taking a deep breath, she slowly turned her gaze toward the second floor.
And then—
"...Ugh…"
A cold sweat instantly drenched her back.
A dense, purple mist, thick like storm clouds, loomed over the entire old school building.
It was suffocating—like stepping into the depths of hell itself.
"This is… the real world…" Yukino's voice trembled.
For the first time in her life, she felt like everything she had ever known was a lie.
Her fragile perception of reality, already riddled with cracks, shattered completely.
"What? What?!"
Yurikawa Hana's curiosity piqued, and she immediately chimed in.
"I wanna see too! I wanna see too!"
Utaha casually cast"Revealing Sight" on her as well, then turned to look at Yuigahama Yui.
Her gaze seemed to ask, "Do you want it too?"
Yui gulped and glanced at Yukino—who stood frozen, visibly shaken.
She hesitated for a moment.
Then, clenching her fists, she firmly nodded.
Another golden beam shot into her eyes.
"Ahhh! This is terrifying!"
Even the usually carefree Hana gasped at the sight of the overwhelming purple mist.
"Ah, but Miss Ghost is really cute."
Yotsuya Miko: "…"
Classic Hana, still as scatterbrained as ever.
Kanoe Yuuko, surprised by the compliment, blinked before responding gracefully,
"Thank you, dear. You're quite cute yourself."
"Ehehe~!"
On the other side—
Yui looked like she was about to cry.
She wanted to be as carefree as Hana.
But she couldn't.
She absolutely couldn't!
Was this… still the same world she thought she knew?
As they struggled to process the shocking reality they had been thrown into, Lynn casually walked toward the second floor.
Yukino instinctively reached out, as if to stop him.
Was he really…Going to fight a monster capable of causing this kind of chaos?!
Shouldn't the school be responsible for dealing with something like this?!
Even Kanoe Yuuko seemed hesitant to let him go.
But before anyone could act, Lynn had already reached the base of the stairs.
He raised his hand—
And lightly tapped the cracked array disk.
Crack—
Crack, crack—
BOOM!
The already fragile sealing array shattered into dust in an instant.
"ROOOOOAAAARRRR!!!"
As if sensing its release, a soul-shaking roar erupted from the depths of the second floor.
Lynn turned back to the group with a calm smile.
"Now then—let's start the real mission."
"I'm dead!" Yukinoshita Yukino felt her soul leave her body.
.
.
.