You say this is a love game?

But isn’t this story a little too unpleasant?

Mizutani Makoto seemed unsure. He looked at it again and again, his eyes repeatedly sweeping across the three sections of this task. When his sight focused on the word "children" for the umpteenth time, his brows knitted tightly and his fists immediately clenched.

"He's not an earthbound spirit."

Coincidentally, at this moment, Chidori's voice rang out in Mizutani Makoto's mind.

Now, Chidori was following him. This was a tradition of Mizutani Makoto's—if there was a suspected monster to be fought, he would definitely bring along all the help he could. Now he had his family with him, and although it seemed he was standing here alone, Satori Yoshiko was actually hiding in his amulet, and Chidori was also curled up in Chidori Maru, staying with him.

Chidori said, "Earthbound spirits are ghosts shaped by intense obsessions. They only move within a specific area and may harbor resentment, but that resentment is generally not strong enough to harm humans... Unfortunately, I sense a strong, suppressed resentment in this ghost before me."

Chidori is a thunder-slashing blade. Its brilliant thunder can naturally restrain the evil spirits in the mortal world and is extremely sensitive to certain "evil things".

"He is a vengeful spirit, but he has not yet been exposed."

Just like Yoshiko Satori back then.

"Does he have self-awareness?"

"Hmph, I suppose he does. Look, doesn't he still remember his own name? A name is incredibly important to a soul. If he still remembers it, then there's no reason he wouldn't be aware of his true nature... It's possible that his memory is hazy, and it's also possible that he's forgotten certain key things, but if he says he doesn't know he's a vengeful spirit, then he's just feigning ignorance."

Having said this, Chidori snorted coldly: "Don't be soft-hearted, just kill him!"

Chidori has a strong murderous nature!

...It really touched my heart.

Mizutani Makoto nodded, but did not directly expose it.

Mizutani Makoto looked at Yoshida Akira with a remarkably calm gaze, as if observing prey hiding in the shadows. Soon, a friendly smile appeared on the boy's lips. It wasn't a ferocious smile, but it made Yoshida Akira feel as if he were being stared at by a wild animal. For a moment, he froze in place, unable to move.

A certain smell that frightened the evil spirits emanated from his body.

It's like thunder in the sky.

Chidori is restless.

When her consciousness left her body, the Chidorimaru in Mizutani Makoto's body was in a dormant state, like a dead object, and could not be noticed by others.

However, now she is inside Mizutani Makoto's body, closely connected to Chidorimaru's original body. It is naturally easy for her to control its power to scare this little vengeful spirit.

"Ghosts don't appear without reason."

Mizutani Makoto whispered.

Chidori scoffed. "That's not necessarily true. I've been wandering for over a decade now, and I've seen more vengeful spirits than you have. You might think that vengeful spirits are born out of terror, pain, and resentment, but I want to tell you, that's not the case... A significant number of vengeful spirits are the result of their own sins, and even after death, they're still hell-bent on taking people down with them."

Mizutani Makoto certainly knew this.

A vengeful spirit that intentionally seeks to harm others' lives is no longer an ordinary vengeful spirit and must be dealt with severely.

Killing directly is definitely the best solution.

But when he looked at the task of "The Returning Child", Tongzi was in blood C.

In addition to Tongzi's mission reward, there was also some personal emotion involved. He still wanted to see what the "children" required by this mission were like.

Mizutani Makoto shook his head decisively: "It's possible that he was born bad, but he became a vengeful spirit at such a young age. My intuition tells me that the story behind this may not be simple... Let's just give him another chance because of his age."

"Chidori, don't do anything yet. I want to find out what happened."

After saying this, Mizutani Makoto slowly reached out and placed one hand on the top of Yoshida Akira's head. The gesture was as gentle as an elder comforting a frightened child, and the scene was warm and almost reassuring.

But as the person being touched, Yoshida Akira was dumbfounded.

An indescribable sense of oppression descended from above him. Mizutani Makoto was now with Chidori, and the thunderous power of his aura held Yoshida Akira firmly in check. His body began to tremble slightly, and the timid smile on his face gradually froze.

The obsession that constitutes the appearance of this "child" is screaming madly.

Danger and a strong sense of crisis surged up. If I didn't escape, I would definitely die, but if I escaped, I would also die.

Mizutani Makoto looked at Matsushita Kei: "Where did you meet him?"

Matsushita Kai raised his hand and pointed to a fork in the road not far away. "It's near my home. Usually there are few cars passing by. I met him on my way home."

Mizutani Makoto nodded thoughtfully: "Let's go and take a look."

Matsushita Kei immediately nodded in agreement, a look of relief on his face. He knew that Mizutani Makoto was usually cool and didn't seem to talk much, but he always made people feel at ease - that calmness and composure gave people the illusion that "as long as he's around, things won't be too bad."

So he looked back, bent down and patted Yoshida Akira's stiff shoulder, then led the two of them along the street.

On the asphalt road, the shadows of the trees were mottled, and the wind blew gently, bringing up a few fallen leaves.

Matsushita Kei found that Yoshida Akira suddenly became less lively. Before, the child always followed him jumping and skipping, but now he walked in front with a staggering step like a prisoner on his way to the execution ground. He held the football in his hand, but he no longer put it down and kicked it a few times like before.

There was nothing special about the place where he met the child.

Mizutani Makoto narrowed his eyes and carefully examined the street. It wasn't wide, and on both sides were low-rise residential buildings with peeling walls. It looked like a rather old residential area. Occasionally, cigarette butts and drink bottles could be seen on the ground.

Matsushita Kai: "It's okay here during the day, but at night it might be a bit scary."

Mizutani Makoto nodded and took out the [Sin Smelling Salts] from his backpack.

His universal tracking bottle.

The sin-stain smelling salts he had on hand were part of his stock.

He had thought about helping to find Yutsuki Matsushita before, so he bought a bottle of sin smelling salts from Kurosawa Yoshihito. He thought he could easily find clues about Yutsuki Matsushita, but when he went to the place where Yutsuki Matsushita disappeared, he found that the bottle of smelling salts was motionless.

The place of disappearance is not necessarily the place where the "sin" occurred.

At the place where Matsushita Yutsuki disappeared, the [Guilt Smelling Salts] did not trigger the pre-swing, which means that Matsushita Yutsuki did not die at the crime scene, and even that place was not where Matsushita Yutsuki's obsession lingered. Mizutani Makoto was unable to use the [Guilt Smelling Salts] to investigate, so he put it aside.

Now that this bottle is in stock, it’s a good time to judge it here.

"No response."

Mizutani Makoto couldn't help but reveal a regretful expression.

"what?"

Matsushita Kei was unable to react.

"This isn't the place where he's obsessed... It seems he's just a wandering ghost. We need to find where he woke up."

Mizutani Makoto put away the [Sin Smelling Salts] and turned to look at Yoshida Akira, who was showing fear on his face.

"Big brother, please don't kill me, okay?"

Mizutani Makoto shook his head: "I didn't kill you. I just wanted to help you pass away. If you're still unhappy, you can tell me who killed you."

At this point, there is no turning back.

A spiritual power filled with resentment burst out from Yoshida Akira's body, and the originally gentle child's face suddenly twisted, just like Satori Yoshiko's before. The whites of his eyes turned black, and his pupils were covered with a hideous scarlet color, almost bleeding.

The football in his hand turned into a pool of thick blood and fell to the ground.

Matsushita Kei was still in shock.

Suddenly, a dark green spirit bullet brushed past his shoulder and exploded into Yoshida Akira's chest. The dark green firework seemed to be imbued with a strong toxin, immediately causing the vengeful spirit to scream.

No matter how high Satori Yoshiko's stats were, she was still a low-ranking Reversed Zashiki. Her output was completely inadequate compared to her peers, but Yoshida Ming was no match for a low-ranking vengeful spirit, even one with the lowest level of spiritual defense. Satori Yoshiko's explosion immediately blew him away, leaving him almost defenseless.

At the same time, a burnt smell filled the air.

That was the breath of thunder and lightning.

Matsushita Kai turned his head stiffly and saw the young man behind him. A thunderbird suddenly took off with the sound of crackling electricity, flying around this place like a hunting hawk, and actually pressed down towards Yoshida Akira. The three corners framed him like a prison.

The vengeful spirit rolled over, trying to break free from control, but let out a violent scream the moment it touched the thunderbird. The light from the exploding electric current was so bright that Matsushita Kai couldn't see anything in the center. All that was left was the electric light that kept tearing the air apart, and the figure that kept blurring in the electric light.

"Relax a little, Chidori."

"Do I need you to tell me? I would have stopped using my strength long ago, otherwise he would have been killed!"

Swish——!!

Thunder roared, as if divine punishment had come.

Yoshida Akira let out an extremely sharp wail. The sound was like a child's cry and an adult man's roar overlapped together, chaotic and creepy.

He struggled, trying to break free from the lightning flashing on his body, but the more he resisted, the more violent the thunder became, as if it wanted to turn every corner of his body upside down.

Crackling——!!

The exploding electric current slowly subsided, revealing the vengeful spirit underneath that was almost electrocuted to death.

The Thunderbird, which should have been destroyed in the sudden attack, actually regrouped after electrocuting Yoshida Akira. Clearly, this was what Chidori meant by "retracting power." Even dealing with this tiny vengeful spirit didn't cause much damage to the Thunderbird's lightning power.

Yoshida Akira's body twitched violently, and the scarlet light that flashed in his eyes faded.

“Wu ...!!”

"Stop barking."

Mizutani Makoto's voice remained calm, devoid of malice. "I've lived with vengeful spirits before, and I know that most of you carry grievances... Come back with me. There must be someone else behind you who deserves to die. I will help you resolve all the resentment you once held."

Yoshiko Satori was floating in the air, and her expression when she looked at Yoshida Akira was quite complicated.

The young man did not hide anything and said bluntly: "Of course, judging from your appearance, there is no possibility of you resolving your resentment and becoming a Buddha. Then let me send you to the afterlife so that you can reincarnate and start a new life as a human being in your next life."

Yoshida Akira was lying on the charred ground, his head tilted up, his scarlet pupils staring straight at him. The pupils slowly expanded, becoming like the eyes of some bird. The eyeballs quickly became deformed, and the round pupils stared at Mizutani Makoto.

This scene frightened Panasonic so much that he couldn't stop backing away.

"Mizutani, this is—"

"bird?"

Mizutani Makoto looked at the vengeful spirit, his gaze falling on his shoulder blade. It seemed as if something was wriggling in that area, like flesh and blood surging, trying to extend something out of it.

Bird in a cage?

Mizutani Makoto immediately frowned and waved his hand:

"Kaiko."

"Here, big brother!"

"Let's take him back."

In mid-air, Yoshiko Satori, dressed in a kimono, was on full alert. The dark green silk thread in her hand burst into flames and coiled towards Yoshida Akira like a python. The dark green fireworks illuminated the hideous and bleeding face in the sunset. The skin seemed to be peeled off, and the deformation had spread to the tip of the nose.

But he was already very weak.

Being swept by Chidori's thunder force, the crushing blow caused his spirit and spiritual power to become exhausted.

Under normal circumstances, it is difficult for Yoshiko Satori to successfully activate the "Anti-Soul Thread", but facing a paper-level vengeful spirit that is on the verge of collapse and cannot even enter the "second form", she successfully controlled it. The dark green silk thread turned into lines and was engraved on the boy's face.

In an instant, Yoshida Akira's changes stopped.

Mizutani Makoto looked down at the "boy" in front of him, his eyes as cold as a knife.

Chidori no longer shouted for fighting or killing.

She and Mizutani Makoto reached a surprising consensus:

"This guy was transformed into this by another monster... He's a different kind of ghost."

"How many more creatures like him are there, waiting to harm innocent people?"

"We must catch the guy behind him!"

Yoshiko Satori's control chain can still hold for a while.

Seeing that Matsushita Kei was still in a trance, Mizutani Makoto said bluntly: "This is a vengeful spirit that wants to harm you. Leave the rest to me."

"Is this okay?"

Matsushita Kei asked subconsciously.

"Okay, you did a great job."

Having said that, Mizutani Makoto took the time to glance at Yoshida Akira, who was standing there like a puppet.

"Just like I said before, leave him to me and I will help him get rid of it."

Mizutani Makoto's series of reactions and arrangements may be too efficient for Matsushita Kei, an "outsider".

This was also influenced by his experience in the cracks. Mizutani Makoto had long been accustomed to exploring clues alone and calmly and solemnly resurrecting the dead. Even in the world of exorcists, his swift and decisive style of exorcism was definitely rarely understood.

While people like Matsushita Kei were still confused, Mizutani Makoto had already arranged everything.

"If you encounter a ghost again, just notify me."

Based on the current situation, Mizutani Makoto reminded: "There should be very few earthbound spirits in Night Light City right now. The ghosts you encounter wandering the streets are mostly vengeful spirits."

"No matter how well a vengeful spirit disguises itself, its nature is harmful to humans. If you're worried about your family, you can ask them to go out less in the near future."