On her way home, Sakura gained a clearer understanding of the power of the protective charm.
In the past, she had to carefully avoid these evil spirits, but today, every spirit she encountered backed away, making way for her.
This made Sakura feel much more at ease, and a smile appeared on her face.
With the charm's protection, she no longer had to worry about spirits clinging to her!
Staring at their door, Sakura hesitantly opened the door and went inside.
The house was pretty dark with an eerie atmosphere, despite this, the house was very neat and clean.
As she stood inside, she took a deep breath and slowly removed her shoes and cautiously placed them on the shoebox.
"Sakura, how is school?" The raspy voice startled her but she still replied.
"It's okay… grandfather." She took a peek at the shadows and noticed the eyes that were watching her before lowering her head.
It's her grandfather and the head of Matou family, Zouken Matou
'"Is that so? You've been acting strange these past few days." Her grandfather gave a chuckle which made her shiver.
"I'm so sorry…." Sakura just lowered her head, not daring to look at him.
"Oh? What's that?" Her grandfather asked, eyeing her phone.
Sakura knows he's talking about the keychain. ''I-I bought i-it.. If it's bothering you I—!"
"It's alright. Girls have their phases." But as he said that, his eyes narrowed to the keychain hanging.
"Now why don't you rest. It must've been an exhausting day for you." Those words that came from her grandfather made Sakura feel uncomfortable as if she was seen through.
But he's right, a lot of things happened today and she was already feeling exhausted since yesterday. If she wasn't so used to stress, she would have probably passed out by now.
"Excuse me…'' Sakura bowed again and slowly went to her room.
Zouken just watches her go upstairs before muttering, "A mystic code? A weak one but for wraiths?"
Mystic Codes aren't exactly uncommon in Japan, it has its own culture which doesn't follow the standard practice from Mage Association, charms, talismans are also mystic codes that are very popular here in the east.
The magus' in Mage Association and japanese magus' aren't exactly in best terms so he didn't think it was someone from there, and as someone who has lived here for centuries, his authority is equal to that of Tohsaka in terms of surveillance if not greater.
"But charms eh? It seems that she's finally starting to see it." Zouken gave a dark chuckle.
He already noticed the weirdness of Sakura but only this time he can confirm she's seeing 'that'.
A Mystic Code, huh? How interesting. He would have to look into this "exorcist" later. Zouken narrowed his eyes before he turned around and left, as for what he's talking about, only he knows what that is.
—-
Once inside, she shut the door and glanced at the salt scattered all over the corner of her room. Her smile gradually faded, replaced by a serious expression—there was still an evil spirit in her room.
Although the protective charm had proven its ability to repel spirits, it was still unclear whether it could protect her in a direct confrontation.
Sakura glanced around her bedroom before her gaze settled on a stuffed toy sitting on her bedside—a plushie named "Little Eye" with a single eye.
Before she left the exorcism agency, Diego Seijuro had warned her that the baby spirit was likely hiding inside her Little Eye plushie. He advised her to stuff it in a cabinet, keep it out of sight, or, if possible, throw it away.
Of course, Diego didn't actually believe Sakura was haunted.
In his opinion, Sakura just had bad sleeping posture and was overly paranoid. He suggested that she should stop keeping weird-looking human-shaped plushies on her bed, as they could easily lead to hallucinations.
It was like how abstinence meant avoiding certain videos—Sakura needed to cut back on horror movies.
Her fear was purely psychological. If she watched fewer horror films and removed eerie-looking dolls from her bed, her symptoms would gradually fade.
Sakura, however, didn't think there was anything particularly weird about Little Eye's design. In fact, she found its eye quite unique and interesting.
But since Diego Seijuro had warned her, she figured it was best to follow his advice.
Reluctantly, she picked up the Little Eye plushie, intending to put it in the cabinet.
Then, something unexpected happened.
The moment she grabbed the plushie, an icy chill shot through her fingers, and a cold, eerie presence seeped into her body from the toy…
Startled, Sakura immediately threw the plushie away.
Could it be…
Under Sakura's anxious gaze, the baby spirit that had been tormenting her for the past two days slowly crawled out of the plushie!
The spirit before her bore no resemblance to an innocent infant. Its mouth stretched unnaturally wide, beyond the limits of a normal baby, shifting between gaping open and contorting into a terrifying grin, creating an eerie sense of distortion.
Its eyes were empty, deep black voids, devoid of any life, emitting a chilling darkness that made its entire face look even more horrifying.
Upon seeing Sakura, its grin widened further, and it began crawling toward her in a slow, twisted manner.
"Mommy… can you see me…?"
Its voice seemed to come from nowhere, sometimes an infant's cry, sometimes a chilling, eerie whisper that sent shivers down the spine.
A wave of fear engulfed Sakura. Her mind went blank as she instinctively stepped back, distancing herself from the bed.
But the baby spirit didn't stop. It rolled off the bed and continued crawling toward her, its grotesque grin stretching wider with every movement, exuding an ominous aura.
…The charm!
In the midst of her panic, Sakura suddenly remembered her protective charm. She hurriedly pulled out her phone and clutched the charm hanging from it, shakily holding it up toward the baby spirit.
The crawling spirit froze instantly, as if it had seen something it feared. It refused to move any closer but instead let out a piercing shriek, trying to disrupt Sakura's actions.
Her head felt dizzy, but she managed to stay conscious. Summoning her courage, she took a step forward, gripping the charm tightly.
The spirit reacted like a mouse seeing a cat, screeching as it frantically retreated. It crawled back into the plushie and fell completely silent.
The room was now eerily quiet.
Cautiously, Sakura reached out and touched the plushie. The icy sensation from earlier was gone, replaced by a faint, fuzzy warmth.
She tucked the charm back into her pocket and carefully touched the plushie again—no reaction.
Could it be… the baby spirit had been sealed inside the plushie and wouldn't come out for the time being?
She never expected the charm to have not only exorcising powers but also the ability to suppress spirits!
Its effects were far stronger than Diego had described!
Sakura hadn't truly believed the spirit had possessed the plushie, but now that she had seen it for herself, there was no way she was keeping it.
She took the plushie outside, walked several hundred meters, and tossed it into a trash bin.
Along with it, she also threw away the Little Eye keychain on her backpack.
Before, she never thought much about it, but now that she looked at it, the plushie's design really was unsettling. It was better to get rid of it.
Seriously, what was she thinking when she bought that thing in the first place?
When she returned home, she saw the face she wanted to see the least.
"Huh? Why are you running so fast, Sakura?" An annoyed voice greeted her, with curly blue hair and blue eyes.
Shinji Matou, her older adopted brother.
Sakura lowered her head and muttered, "It's nothing…"
Shinji saw her timid look and a feeling of vanity sprout on his chest before saying, "Tch, get out of my way and don't make a mess."
Sakura just nodded obediently and hurriedly went upstairs, making Shinji's eyes narrow before ultimately ignoring her.
After returning to her room, Sakura immediately locked the door and checked the surroundings, surprised that there's no baby that came back.
'But still, there are spirits outside…' Sakura fell into deep thought. It might not be that effective against powerful spirits or there are too many for them.
However, for the middle-aged spirit in the bathroom, the charm was quite effective.
As Sakura held the protective charm and stepped into the bathroom, the spirit of the middle-aged man immediately showed signs of disgust, instinctively retreating to face the wall in the corner.
But that was the extent of the charm's effectiveness. Unlike the infant spirit, which had vanished when exposed to it, this one neither disappeared nor fled.
Perhaps, to this spirit, the bathroom itself was its hiding place.
It seemed that getting rid of this middle-aged spirit would require Diego himself to take action.
Still, just forcing the spirit into a corner was already good enough for Sakura.
This spirit sometimes lingered in the bathroom and wouldn't leave, and ever since Sakura noticed its presence, she hadn't been able to take a proper bath.
Removing the charm from her phone, she hung it on the bathroom doorknob.
Sure enough, the spirit did not enter again.
Finally letting her guard down, Sakura enjoyed a long, comfortable bath.
Feeling the warm water wash over her, she experienced a rare moment of relaxation. Lying in the bathtub, her thoughts drifted to the massage session Diego had given her that afternoon.
If just a few minutes of massage felt that good, wouldn't a full-body session completely unblock all her meridians?
Would she finally be able to keep spirits away without needing the charm?
The thought filled Sakura with anticipation.
Once she saved enough money, she was definitely going to book a full-body massage with Diego!
Feeling refreshed, she returned to her bedroom.
Glancing at the salt-filled basin in the corner, she saw that it remained undisturbed, showing no signs of any spirits.
It seemed that the infant spirit was truly gone, making her bedroom a "safe zone" once more.
Before bed, Sakura took out the "protective powder" Diego had given her and followed his instructions to consume it.
Sure enough, drowsiness crept in after about thirty minutes, and for the first time in a long while, she fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.
—
Closing the door of the office, Diego happened to meet Issei who's waiting for him.
"It's late. What brings you here?" Diego asked with a puzzled look.
"You're asking me that?" Issei looked at him from top to bottom before replying, "You're recovering yet you're here doing your job. It's pretty worrying."
'I see' Diego nodded, "I need money so I have to do something."
Remembering that Diego lost his valuable belongings, Issei nodded in understanding, "Still, you should focus on recovery first, who knows if your injuries will start opening."
"Of course, I'll take very good care of my health." Diego chose his words correctly to not make them worried, he did get arrested earlier after all.
They started walking back home when Issei asked, "So? How's your job?"
It's been four days since Diego decided to go back to his previous job as Almighty Exorcist and obviously, this caused quite the concern between him and his father.
Although there was no problem in his health so far and the school also allowed him to take the recovery leave, that doesn't mean he's already up for his previous job.
In fact, Issei believes he should stop, it sounds illogical but he sort of believes that Diego was cursed due to his constant exorcism practice and it resulted in him being put to coma.
"It's all good. Got a client and solved it yesterday, and then I started some advertising today." Diego yawned. He was so busy setting up his business these past few days that he didn't get a proper rest. Now that he's done, he wants to return to the temple and get some good sleep.
"You solved an evil spirit? How did you do it?" Issei approached him and asked with a curious look. He's a monk but his supernatural senses are weak so he's really eager to know how Diego did it.
"I did some prayers and a ceremony. It wasn't that hard since the evil spirit was weak." Diego lied without blushing.
"So even after amnesia, you can still do an exorcism? That's really impressive." Issei did not doubt his words.
"Instincts I guess." Diego shrugged before asking, "By the way, why did you ask? Don't you know how I do my exorcism?" He was pretty confused in this regard. His uncle looks like a scammer but Issei? From what he observed, this guy was too serious to do anything crime related.
So why is he practicing this stuff? Is it really family tradition?
"You haven't told me about this back then." Issei just shook his head. He knows that his cousin has some background related to exorcism but he never saw it, the reviews of his office were good though and his father also personally vouched for him.
"Hey… what was I like before anyway?" Diego asked, intrigued by his past self.
"Hmm, you were pretty cold."
"Cold?"
"Indeed, you're cold and detached. You just leave after school and then return home at night, you don't really explain how you do your exorcism."
"Cold and detached huh?" Diego muttered. He can't see himself acting like that, He tried to picture himself that way, but the thought felt foreign.
Has he really been that different?
"Aren't you bugged out by this? Like I can imagine it was pretty frustrating communicating with me." He asked.
"Not really, when we do talk to you, you answer, it's just that you don't take initiative," Issei shrugged, "and it's already a blessing for you to talk, if i remember, most students are scared of how cold your face look, even Shinji actively avoid you."
"Shinji?"
"Some punk." Issei sneered.
"That's something." Diego rubbed the back of his neck, "I guess it'll be a pain explaining this once I return to school huh?"
"Oh you bet it is. But if you act cold enough, they'll probably scramble away as usual." Issei snickered.
"You sound very amused by that." Diego gave him a side eye.
"Not really but after seeing you now, it does sound very amusing." Issei replied honestly.
"Great. Now I need to do some acting to avoid trouble." Diego grumbled.
"On the bright side, you can just say you forgot them and that's why you aren't talking." Issei suggested.
"I have a feeling that something bad will happen if I did try that."
"You can try."
"I'll think about it," Diego stopped in a convenience store and asked, "I'll buy something, want anything?"
"Hmm, let's go, I want to see what we can have for dinner tonight." Issei wanted to refuse but seeing Diego's casual look, he agreed and entered along with him.
As the two entered the convenience store, a soft voice hummed,
"He's alive? And he didn't even look for me? How sad." A pair of red eyes shimmered in the darkness.