An Exorcist Magical Girl!

Why did he try to protect me?

 

I can assure you, it wasn’t his own choice.

 

His eyes had a really annoying glint in them at that moment.

 

In retrospect, there was no reason for him to complicate things by taking me out while his body was being pierced by an exorcist’s arrow.

 

What would he gain from a desperate last attempt?

 

Obviously, wiping out all five of us was a convenient and surefire way to take our souls.

 

I’m just guessing, but I think that Eom Jingyu was ordered to do this by someone else.

 

Someone who killed him as soon as he was caught. The only explanation I can think of is that someone higher up told him not to touch me.

 

Oh, wait. If that theory is correct, it doesn’t explain my involvement in the park.

 

Did he still plan to kill Seo Jun in the end and leave me alive?

 

Or maybe he should have left me out of it in the first place, but he made a mistake and got me involved?

 

Jingyu’s mistake. It was a plausible enough hypothesis, considering how Young-chun had been captured so randomly at the Banho mall, these criminals had some kind of loophole.

 

Or maybe they’d changed their minds after the park incident and decided to let me live.

 

If so, why me?

 

The question went around and around and around.

 

The answer to this question was still unknown, but I knew one thing for sure: it was best not to reveal that Eom Jingyu wanted to keep me alive.

 

An S⁺ rank student who suddenly appeared was being protected by a criminal.

 

I’d better keep my mouth shut if I didn’t want to be lumped in with the criminal.

 

Ah, so why me?

 

This question has been rattling around in my head all day without an answer.

 

Needless to say, the next day, Friday, arrived with no answers.

 

 

***

  

It was already the last day of May.

 

The midday air was now as hot as summer, and the long gym pants that had been so common not so long ago were long gone.

 

Gone are the days when kids wore a full set of uniforms and tights.

 

As the days got hotter, everyone wore gym shorts or similarly designed casual shorts to school.

 

A few brave kids even wore cool refrigerator pants to school, whether or not they got in trouble with their teachers.

 

The few kids who still wore uniform shorts or skirts were now all bare-legged.

 

I don’t want to wear tights when everyone else is freaking out about not being able to get their skin off.

 

I usually wear a short-sleeved t-shirt and a skirt.

 

I don’t care what kind of bottom I wear, but I can’t wear a uniform top because it’s too hot. 

 

I hate wearing anything with a collar in the summer, like a casual or polo shirt.

 

It makes me feel like I’m wearing a fur shawl in the middle of summer.

 

Seo Jun, on the other hand, is wearing a polo shirt just fine. 

 

She always buttons them all the way up to her neck and never skips a tie, which is kind of weird. 

 

I didn’t even buy a polo shirt top because I didn’t think I’d wear it anyway.

 

“Uh-oh, isn’t that plain clothes? What grade are you in?”

 

These days, running to school has become a routine.

 

Even though the temperature has reached a level that makes me sweat after a short run, it’s still pretty cool on campus.

 

All thanks to the ghosts. Wow, we really don’t need air conditioning in the summer.

 

Oh, by the way, no customers. Isn’t it about time I got one?

 

I can’t wait to get to 30% defense progress.

 

Please, someone, anyone, come to school with a decent caseload.

 

I begged in my heart and knitted feverishly with my hands. It was the morning makeup activity for the drama club.

 

“Hey, I think that’s enough for now, we have club time this afternoon anyway.”

 

Art Team Leader Hyun Hana took a quick look at the progress and announced an early dismissal.

 

I could feel the drama team members looking at me with envy.

 

I went back to the classroom early and was sitting in my seat when I heard a commotion outside.

 

Was it a ghost?

 

Half-excited, I looked down at the playground and saw that the students had stopped running and were staring at something.

 

A black mass was writhing in their direction.

 

Upon closer inspection, there wasn’t just one, but several smaller black masses wriggling behind the first one.

 

It didn’t take long to figure out what they were.

 

It was a family of black cats.

 

“What are you looking at?”

 

Seo Jun, who had just returned from the library, slid up next to me and stuck her head out.

 

“Oh, cats. Do you want to go see them?” “Heck, yeah!”

 

We had time before class anyway.

 “Is there anything in the stall?” “…….” “I don’t think so.”

 

As I walked away from the cafeteria, disappointed that there was no way the school cafeteria would sell cat food, Seo Jun asked me if I wanted to go to the convenience store.

 

As much as I wanted to, I didn’t have enough time to go to the convenience store, so I decided to wait until later.

 

It was a little quieter than earlier because the students who had been snapping away were starting to leave.

 

I was able to see a family of cats right in front of me.

 

The kittens were born exactly like their mother, with all black fur and piercing yellow eyes.

 “I hadn’t seen her in a while, so I wondered where she’d gone, and then I realized… She had kittens.” “Do you know this cat?” “Yeah. She used to hang out at the playground. I used to see her almost every day before you moved.” “Oh, that’s good. There were only pigeons and sparrows in the school before I transferred.” “At least there weren’t any ghosts.” “That’s true.”

 

You have to endure the ghosts to get the school’s resident cat, I see.

 

I’d heard somewhere that yawning while making eye contact can make cats drop their guard, so I bent low and made eye contact with the mother cat.

 

…You want me to yawn with my mouth open like that? Isn’t that a strange composition? It’s like I’m looking at a family of cats and my mouth is watering again!

 

“Hey, back here. Hold still.”

 

Seo Jun pulled out his cell phone and snapped a picture.

 

“It came out good.” “Oh, Seo Jun , you’re so good at photography, can I post it on Stardust?” “Sure. I’ll send it to you.” “But Seo Jun, do you think you’d like to be a stargazer? I hear that exorcists are being asked to be stargazers these days.” “Who?” “Senior Shin. Does he have many followers?” 

As soon as I uploaded the photo, Hanbyul sent me a message.

 

—Hehehehehehe! He looks just like you!

 

I replied,

“Say hello, these are my cousins,”

and she sent me a series of question marks asking if it was real.

 

I shamelessly replied that they were 100% real.

 

When Seo Jun saw my message, she muttered,

“They look so much alike.”

 

“Kyaaah! Hahahah!”

 

I jumped back in surprise as the mother cat suddenly began to meow.

 “Did I get too close?” “Are you angry with me because I look like you?” “No!” “I’m kidding, it doesn’t look mad at you.”

 

Seo Jun gestured to where the cat’s gaze was directed.

 

“Look, there’s something behind you.” “Oh, did you see a ghost or something?”

 

【Talent: Exorcist (Aspiring)】【Status: Utilized】【Link Open: ■■■■□□□□□□ …40% 】 

As expected.

 

I opened my account and looked back to see a head floating in the air, chin to crown, glaring at the cats.

 

❰Skill: ‘A Craftsman Wears No Tools’ has been activated❱

❰Skill: ‘Simple Clairvoyance’ has been activated❱

 

“Hey, get lost!”

 

The ghost has been exorcized with a blow my black aura’s blessed cell phone.

 

❰【Talent: Exorcist (Aspiring)】 Defense against deletion crisis is 0.05% complete❱

❰A total of 27.65% of the defense work has been completed!❱

 

I suppose an unsolicited exorcism doesn’t go unnoticed.

 

But what’s a percentage in the face of a family’s peace?

 

I am satisfied that I was able to protect the peaceful landscape in this warm sunshine.

 “It is a warm day… I wish it was a grassy field so I could lie down.” “It’s too sandy to lie down.”

 

I grunted in a wistful tone, and Seo Jun agreed, whipping up a cloud of sandy dust that blew toward the cats.

 

“Shall we go up? Look at the time.” “Hm, what time is it already?” 

As she waved to the cats and turned to go back to the classroom, a new status message appeared in front of me.

 

❰An additional mission has been created.❱

 

An additional mission?

 

I hadn’t seen the word mission since the day I first accepted the Exorcist talent and was thrown into the eight-hour evaluation field.

 

❰Extra Mission: 1.5x Defense Progress Event!❱

❰Successful completion of the mission will increase your current defense progress by 1.5x❱

 

Oh, this sounds good, maybe it’s worth a shot if the mission is good?

 

❰Exorcise the ‘Animal Spirit’❱

❰Time limit: 5 minutes❱

❰Are you sure you want to accept the mission? ❱

 

Holy shit.

 

❰Yes/▶No◀❱

 

I typed

‘no’

in quick succession.

 

❰Additional missions have been canceled.❱

 

Exorcise animal spirits?

 

Honestly, I would have taken the job if I’d had a day or two to do it.

 

Animal spirits aren’t the most common spirits you’ll encounter, but I’m sure if I had a longer time limit, I would have wandered around trying to find them.

 

Five minutes?

 

That’s like telling me not to leave my all-girls high school.

 

The problem was, I’d been at the school for about two months, and I hadn’t seen a single animal spirit.

 

All I’ve seen are human spirits!

 

There was no reason for me to accept a mission that was so obviously doomed to failure. 

 

You never know what the penalty will be for not completing a mission, so it’s always better to pass on something like that.

 

By the way, if I’m not mistaken, the mission asks me…

 

“What are you doing, let’s go.”

 

Seo Jun, who was leading the way, stopped and urged.

 

“Oh yeah.”

 

Well, I’ve only received two missions so far, so worrying about it will only lead to more negative speculations.

 

Let’s put it out of our minds.

 

I made up my mind, but I couldn’t help but feel dirty as the number 1.5 times the progress of the defense work flashed before my eyes.

 

 

***

 

 

First period break, with the aura of sleepiness filling the classroom.

 

Chizizik─

 

An unexpected announcement comes over the loudspeaker.

 

“It’s a lost-and-found announcement. Students who have lost their purple-covered spring notes are asked to claim them in the broadcast room. This is a reminder. The purple-covered spring notebook is in the lost and found box outside the broadcast room. If you have lost it, please pick it up.”

 

It’s not a wallet, it’s not a wireless earpiece, it’s just a notebook, and you broadcast it on?

 

And if you’re going to announce lost and found items during the lunchtime music show, why would you do it at such an odd time?

 

It seemed strange in many ways, so I asked Hanbyul, the broadcasting department, and she said it was no big deal.

 

“Our broadcasting department doesn’t broadcast at this time, and we don’t make lost and found announcements like this because the lost and found is in front of the broadcasting department, and that’s the responsibility of the student government.” “So the student government broadcasts now?” “No. They don’t even know how to turn it on, and they don’t do a very good job of keeping track of the lost and found. They just keep a lost and found book.” “Not the student government, not the broadcasting department?” “Nope. There’s probably no one in the broadcast room right now.”