Yuusei-kunâs teaching was formed after considering every part of my power.
Besides the expected knowledge, control practice and so on, he also trained me in areas such as physical strength and self-defense techniques.
Hence I quickly transformed as I followed him doggedly.
I learned to sense the power flowing in my body and how to control it.
My physical strength also increased by leaps and bounds and I got 1st in the inter-class relay.
Even though it became my dark history in every round, I was able to overtake everyone and pass the baton this time.
I was stunned by my own strength.
Also, having gone to exterminate phantoms with Abe-kun after class, I believe Iâve reached a considerable level.
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âYouâre a cheat, Naba.â
âCheat?â
âYeah. Basically like being unjust or unfairâŠâ
âUnjust!?â
âAh, my bad, that wasnât what I meant⊠Um, itâs like being awesome in an atypical way.â
Yuusei-kun teaches me a word I donât quite understand.
âIn an atypical way.â
That may have some truth to it.
Honestly, raising my athletic abilities and becoming able to exterminate phantoms with just a fingertip in a month or so, would have been unthinkable to the me in the 1st round.
âThen is Yuusei-kun a cheat too?â
âYup, thatâs right. No oneâs more of a cheat than me.â
Yuusei-kun laughs confidently.
Finding that strange somehow, I laugh out loud too.
Itâs fun being with Yuusei-kun.
I can feel my strength rise steadily.
Chako, Iâm growing stronger steadily.
Iâll show you that I can also obtain the strength to save Chako.
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âNaba, do you know what theăPriestess of Ominous Cloudsămeans?â
â⊠Sorry, I donât.â
My eyes swim at Yuusei-kunâs abrupt question.
This is bad. Yuusei-kun wonât show leniency towards things like this.
I tend to pretend not to notice things because I donât really want to know more about myself.
TheăPriestess of Ominous Cloudsă.
Persuading myself that itâs just a title, I never tried investigating it. I guess Yuusei-kun noticed that.
Yuusei-kun gives a small sigh at my reply.
âListen up, Naba. You must know what you are if you want to be strong. Understand?â
âYesâŠâ
ââOminous cloudsâ is an ill omen. Like how suspicious-looking clouds appearing in the sky makes people feel uncomfortable.â
â⊠Yes.â
ăOminous cloudsă. Ill omen.
Does that mean Iâm an ill-omened priestess?
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âYou also realised that your power is something awesome after training with me, right? Itâs a cheat. So much so that it can even turn back time.â
âThatâs right⊠yeah. Iâm surprised I managed to live without much considerations until now.â
âAh. Well, thatâs because people like Kamo and I did things behind the scenes.â
â⊠As expected.â
I kind of sensed it after knowing my power.
This power is too great for me to live a normal life.
I was often attacked by phantoms when I was young.
The reason why I strangely didnât experience anything horrifying was because someone protected me.
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âHad Kamo-senpai and Yuusei-kun always been protecting me?â
âAh, hmm, it was other onmyoujis when you were young. These days, itâs us.â
â⊠Iâm sorry.â
Iâve been living without realising anything all along.
I find my worthlessness pathetic.
How much had I been protected by so many people?
I close my eyes at the me who didnât try to know anything.
When I do so, Yuusei-kun scratches his head as though heâs irritated.
âAhh, my bad, I didnât plan to have a conversation like that. Ugh, anyway! About theăPriestess of Ominous Cloudsă.â
He returns to the topic.
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âWhat I meant is, your power is awesome, Naba.â
â⊠Yeah.â
âThe so-called âill omenâ, probably, refers to onmyoujis and phantoms causing conflicts around theăPriestessă. Because onmyoujis want to annihilate phantoms while phantoms probably want to snatch the world from humans.â
â⊠Are these sentiments still around?â
âOh, well, whatâs murky is murky after all.â
Perhaps something came to Yuusei-kunâs mind as his eyes turn sharp.
I nod slowly as I look at his face.
Sure enough, thereâs a need for me to be clearly aware about myself.
â⊠I got it. Thank you for telling me.â
If it was the me before, I may have ended things by laughing âI donât have such a power!â
But I understand now.
This power that grows stronger as I train is abnormal.
If I wish for something grand, it will surely come true.
An ill omen.
The source of conflict.
Thatâs me.
Thatâs theăPriestess of Ominous Cloudsă.
âOh, but yâknow, Iâm not that worried.â
â⊠Why?â
I thought my existence is something terrible but Yuusei-kunâs eyes narrow as he chuckles.
Frowning at the conversation that I donât quite follow, I look up at Yuusei-kun.
âIf you team up with onmyoujis like Kamo and I, youâll be able to erase every phantom in this world. If you team up with the older Kuo[1], youâll be able to kill every human in this world. ââYet, whatâs the wish of such a you?â
Yuusei-kun laughs like heâs having fun.
Aah. Thatâs right.
I wish neither to annihilate the phantoms nor to stand at the apex of humankind.
I only have a single wish.
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âI want Chako to always remain laughing.â
Yes.
I use my power for that reason alone.
Pfft, Yuusei-kun burst out laughing at my reply.
âRight? I know right? You are, great! Youâre saying that youâll use that power just for the sake of saving a weird phantom after all.â
Ahaha, Yuusei-kun laughs.
Looking at that smile, it feels like things will be fine.
Although Iâm an ill-omened priestess, I never thought of giving rise to conflicts.
âYou donât mind, Yuusei-kun? As an onmyouji, donât you want to get rid of phantoms?â
âAh, well, thatâs because of my job, you see. Personally, I think itâs inane to make the world lose such interesting creatures.â
â⊠So Yuusei-kun likes phantoms too.â
âRather than âlikeâ, itâs more of having an interest in them.â
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The black eyes behind Yuusei-kunâs glasses shine.
Itâs probably his usual âI want to dissect them.â
I chuckle as I look at those eyes.
Because Yuusei-kunâs the same as Tomotaka-senpai.
âBy the way, about the relationship between the body and the ego that you mentioned.â
Yuusei-kunâs eyes turn serious as I laugh.
Thatâs what I requested Yuusei-kun to investigate.
Drawing in my laughter, âUn,â I nod, urging him to continue.
âNormally, the body and the ego are firmly attached and detaching and whatnot isnât possible. However, it may be that the connection is weak for Tomonaga. She should also be someone whose ego isnât easily absorbed by others.â
âI see. Thatâs why she wasnât absorbed and remained separate even after entering senseiâs body.â
âYup. Well, itâs may be because you used your power to bind the older Kuoâs power too.â
I see.
Chakoâs body and ego detach easily.
And, unlike other phantoms, she possesses an ego that doesnât quite merge with others.
The veil-like thing I visualised for the sake of suppressing senseiâs power.
It further cut apart sensei and Chakoâs egos, allowing for the strange occurrence of a single body having two egos.
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âMoreover, whatâs more interesting is that her contract with Kamo ends as long as her body disappears.â
âThe contract ends, as long as her body disappears?â
âYup. It probably occurred to the older Kuo after he learned about Tomonaga. The standard familiar contract is made using an onmyoujiâs blood and a phantomâs totem. The contract ends once the onmyoujiâs blood loses power⊠in other words once he dies, or once the phantomâs totem disappears. But Tomonaga has no totem. Which part of Tomonaga did Kamo make a contract with then? ââThe answer is her bodyâs miasma. Thus, the contract ends once that disappears.â
The black eyes behind Yuusei-kunâs glasses shine.
âThe older Kuoâs prediction was right. As expected of The Strongest Phantom In This World. He should have found the power of the contract that bound Tomonaga. By erasing her body and leaving only her ego, Tomonaga could return to being a free phantom.â
I try to suppress the boiling of my heart as I listen to Yuusei-kunâs words.
There, I can see the method to save Chako, right there.
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âThe older Kuo presented his own body as Tomonagaâs new body. Tomonaga probably couldnât bring herself to live by replacing someone she was close to. If so, what if thereâs something else?â
âIf I make a new body for Chako and put Chakoâs ego in itâŠ!â
âYup. The familiar contract will end. Tomonaga wonât disappear either.â
I finally found it.
The answer to saving Chako.
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ââŠ!! Great!â
âOh, but, thereâs still a problem. How does one make a body with no ego?â
âYouâre right. We need a body that Chako can accept.â
âAah. Well, isnât there still time until Tomonaga disappears?â
âYes. Because itâs always on Valentineâs.â
âAlright. Letâs ponder more on this as we train!â
We begin running towards Yuusei-kunâs next goal.
Heâs really an amazing person.
With a greed for the fun, be it increasing his knowledge or training his body, he does them with a fun-loving attitude.
Being with him is fun.
Itâs wonderful, to be able to become his rival.
Completely absorbed, I devote my days to training.
I may have been intoxicated with making myself strong.
I had a training camp with Yuusei-kun in summer break.
It was truly training while spewing out blood.
Although it was bitter and tough, Iâm able to endure any kind of training once I think that it will be the tie to saving Chako.
However, after the spartan summer break endsââ
ââChakoâs figure vanished.
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[1] He actually refers to sensei as âKuo aniâ (older bro Kuo). Basically differentiating him from Kousuke who has the same family name. I took out âbrotherâ cos together itâs too much of a mouthful.