While I was chanting a curse, the system said I was Xiao Yan?

Two days ago, in Kyoto.

The morning sunlight streamed through the wooden windows of Kyoto College, casting dappled patterns of light on the floor.

The air was filled with the scent of old wood and tatami mats, and occasionally a few birds chirped from the depths of the courtyard. The entire campus was as quiet as an ancient ink painting.

Ankagi stood at the school gate, arms crossed, her gaze fixed on the corner not far away. Her classic shrine maiden outfit was pressed without a single wrinkle, and her twin ponytails bounced up and down with the rhythm of her heels hitting the ground. Her chin was slightly raised, and her whole being exuded an aura of 'the person I'm waiting for hasn't arrived yet.'

She has been standing there for ten minutes.

"Why haven't they arrived yet!" Angehime muttered under her breath.

She glanced at her watch, took a deep breath, and frowned impatiently. If the person she was supposed to contact hadn't turned down the service, she wouldn't be waiting here...

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

A male voice came from the end of the corridor, sounding obviously nonchalant, and his apology in Kansai dialect was completely insincere.

Anka-hime looked up and saw a blond-haired boy wearing a Zen temple kimono, yawning, slowly walking towards her with an arrogant expression that said, "I may be late, but what can you do to me?"

Anka-hime narrowed her eyes, her anger rising slightly, and silently muttered the newcomer's name: "Zen-in! Naoya!"

Naoya walked over and looked her up and down, his gaze lingering on her face for less than half a second before shifting away to look at the distant sky.

"Let's go, songstress," he said.

"ha?!"

"Now that the main characters are here, let's not waste any more time."

Naoya's tone was as flat as if he were stating an insignificant fact, completely unaware that he had no problem: "The time of a quasi-first-level sorcerer is more valuable than yours as a second-level sorcerer."

Anka-hime paused, her face flushing red at a visible speed: "Who's wasting time here! And what about him?!"

"Where's the honorific language?! Where's the honorific language I use with my senior?!"

"You're so fussy..."

Naoya waved his hand, turned around and walked towards the car outside the school gate, his back seemingly saying, "I really can't do anything with you, I'll just give in to you for now": "Songstress, senpai, let's go quickly."

Angehime stood there, watching the figure stride towards the car, her lips twitching.

She took a deep breath, silently repeated "Important mission, important mission, important mission" three times in her mind, stomped her right foot hard, and then, grimacing, dragged her numb leg and jogged after him.

As the car wound its way through the streets of Kyoto, the scenery outside the window gradually changed from ancient temples and townhouses to modern residential areas and commercial streets.

Ankagi sat in the back seat, far away from Zenji Naoya. She looked down at the mission description on her laptop, her twin ponytails swaying gently with the bumps of the car.

After holding back for a while, she began to explain the mission, pointing to the mansion on the computer screen.

"Originally, a company owner and his family lived here. His company ran a chain of stores in the local area, but starting in July last year, the barbecue restaurant suffered a devastating blow due to the mad cow disease problem. Later, due to mounting debts, the whole family committed suicide."

Afterwards, the house became a notorious haunted location. Local junior and senior high school students, university students from other counties, and freelancers all came there to test their courage, and the rumors spread like wildfire, with the number of victims growing wider and wider.

As she said this, she glanced at Zenin Naoya, who was sitting next to her.

Naoya sat on the other side, legs crossed, sunglasses perched on his nose, his gaze fixed on the rapidly receding street scene outside the window, his expression as indifferent as a lord inspecting his territory, seemingly not listening to what she was saying at all.

Seemingly sensing the angry gaze, he turned his head to look, then tilted his head, signaling Ankagi to continue.

A tic-tac-toe symbol appeared above her head, and a vein bulged on her forehead. After taking a deep breath, Anka-hime continued her explanation.

"Rumors about paranormal locations always spread very quickly, especially recently, they spread at an incredible speed through the Internet."

Recently, three more elementary school students went missing on their way home from school. Their families and police, while searching for them, may find the house and be harmed, increasing the number of victims. The source must be found and resolved as soon as possible.

After a while, Zenji Naoya said, "Yes."

The carriage was quiet for about five minutes.

Then Anka-hime raised her head and spoke in a tone that said, "I finally couldn't hold back anymore."

"Seriously, why you?"

Naoya didn't turn his head, but merely tilted it slightly: "What do you mean?"

"I mean this mission."

Anka closed the folder, turned to look at Naoya's profile, her expression clearly showing disdain: "Why did Mingming-nee refuse this mission? She was the one who approached her first, and she would definitely have accepted it in the past..."

"Who knows?"

Naoya's tone was indifferent: "Perhaps it's because there are more important things to do, or perhaps it's because he doesn't want to carry out missions with certain people."

Angehime's eyelid twitched.

Who are "certain people"?

"I didn't mean anything specific."

Naoya finally turned around, a faint smile playing on his lips behind his sunglasses: "Why are you taking this personally?"

Angehime took a deep breath, then another, and then pinched the folder in her hand to create a shallow crease.

"I mean..."

She said, enunciating each word clearly, "Someone as strong as Sister Mingming, if she were to carry out this mission, I wouldn't need to..."

She paused, swallowing back the second half of the sentence, "to carry out missions with you," but her eyes conveyed the message perfectly.

Naoya looked at her, a slow smile curving his lips: "You don't know how lucky you are, geisha."

"ha?"

"With a genius like me from the Zen school by your side, isn't a mere level two mission a piece of cake?"

Naoya's tone was matter-of-fact, as if stating a truth that had been proven countless times: "You should feel honored, otherwise how could a sorcerer like you, who is basically incapable of direct combat, possibly complete such a mission?"

"You won without even lifting a finger; you should be thanking me!"

Angehime stared at him for three seconds, her teeth grinding together.

Then she turned her head, looked out the window, and muttered in a voice only she could hear, "...arrogant megalomaniac!"

The car continued forward. The assistant driver wiped the cold sweat from his brow, silently accelerated, and decided it was better to reach the mission location as soon as possible.