"How's it look in there?"
"It's really wet! There's water everywhere! Don't come in too fast or you'll slip—"
"…"
Kuzeha Yuu's brow twitched at Yotsuya Miko's very misleading response.
"I meant… is there anyone inside?"
"Oh, no. No one's here!"
Miko's voice echoed from within the bathroom. Kuzeha Yuu glanced at the female restroom sign above and finally relaxed.
This wasn't a joke.
A girl mistakenly entering the boys' bathroom was just socially embarrassing at worst.
But a guy entering the girls' bathroom? If caught—he might as well start practicing license plate stamping.
Stepping onto the damp floor, Kuzeha Yuu entered the girls' restroom.
Honestly, it didn't look all that different from the boys'—just that the urinals had been replaced with cubicles.
Once Kuzeha Yuu entered, Miko quickly ran over and stood behind him.
"It's in the last stall…"
"You're sure it's Hanako-san?"
"That's what it called itself. I can't be sure… but it definitely seems smarter than the others."
She spoke nervously.
"Smarter, huh…"
Kuzeha Yuu already had a guess.
As he walked forward, Miko instinctively grabbed the hem of his shirt, closely following behind.
Just as they reached the stall, she suddenly tugged at his sleeve again.
"W-Wait… should I step out while you exorcise it?"
Kuzeha Yuu paused for a moment and let out a small sigh.
"I'm demonstrating for you. If you leave, who am I even demonstrating to?"
He looked at Miko's increasingly red face and lowered gaze. A mischievous thought popped into his mind.
"Yotsuya-san… you didn't misunderstand anything, did you?"
When he saw her cheeks flush even deeper, Kuzeha Yuu confirmed it—she totally misunderstood.
"My technique is purely serious and professional. But if you want to learn the 'unprofessional' kind…"
"Stop! It's my fault—I was thinking weird stuff. Just start already!"
Before he could finish, Miko cut him off, her face now burning.
Last night—
While desperately researching exorcism methods online, she stumbled across a post on an anime forum.
"Exorcist Master Subdues Toilet Hanako—She Screams Nonstop!"
Trusting the internet and believing that anime fans are usually good people, she had grabbed a notebook to jot down the key techniques.
The video was intense, the fight passionate—and censored.
She didn't sleep a wink.
Kuzeha Yuu shook his head and didn't ask further. He simply opened the bathroom stall.
Inside sat a ghostly girl in a school uniform, her blood-red eyes snapping open.
"A boy?! A disgusting boy entered the girls' bathroom?!"
The spirit shrieked, her voice as grating as fingernails on a chalkboard.
Miko quickly backed away a few steps, terrified of getting in the way.
She braced herself, expecting to see some complex ritual or incantation.
But Kuzeha Yuu's eyes simply glowed with a cold light—no chanting, no tools.
He raised his hand and slapped the spirit right into the stall door.
Then—
SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!
Left and right, a full combo.
"All right. Step one in Spirit Binding—suppress the ghost's power!"
"Basically, beat the hell out of it!"
Miko blinked in stunned silence as Kuzeha Yuu delivered a dozen more slaps.
Weirdly… the evil spirit's terrifying aura looked… way calmer now?
Holding the ghost in place with one hand, Kuzeha Yuu grabbed Miko's hand with the other.
A strange, warm energy flowed into her body.
"Come on, you try."
Miko hesitated. She glanced down at her faintly glowing palm, then thought about the nightmare she'd been living these past few days.
She clenched her jaw, shut her eyes, and—SLAP!
Soft. Like smacking a plush toy.
"Not bad. Keep going."
To help her conquer her fear and gain confidence, Kuzeha Yuu had her slap the ghost several more times.
Seeing her movements grow more natural and less panicked, he continued.
"Okay, now for the actual Spirit Binding."
He began demonstrating the technique while explaining each step in detail.
He didn't expect her to master it all in one go. The goal today was just to build a foundation.
With her natural spirit-sensing talent, Kuzeha Yuu was confident Miko could learn the art quickly.
"Almost there!"
As Kuzeha Yuu wrapped up the binding, most of the ghost's dark energy had faded.
What remained looked like a fairly cute, if ghostly, high school girl.
"You're… Hanako from the urban legend?"
He asked.
The ghost girl immediately shook her head furiously.
"Nope!"
"Dead people name themselves, you know? I just thought calling myself that would scare people more…"
Kuzeha Yuu wasn't surprised.
The more famous and widespread the legend, the stronger the ghost associated with it.
There was no way a real urban-legend-level spirit would be haunting a random high school bathroom.
"So… what can you do?"
"Fight, drink, get perms, do nails…"
She peeked up at him cautiously. When she saw his brow twitch, she quickly added:
"I-I can also hide in the girls' bathroom and secretly take pics!"
Before she could finish, Kuzeha Yuu expressionlessly absorbed her into his storage space.
"Yep. Totally useless."
Then he turned to Miko.
"I'll hold onto this one for now. Once you've got the technique down, you can devour it later."
Miko nodded blankly, visibly more relaxed than before.
Just then, something hit her.
Face flushing again, she started pushing Kuzeha Yuu out of the bathroom and whispered:
"Kuzeha Yuu-kun… wait outside for a minute. I need to, um, go…"