A Good Reason to Talk to High Schoolers

Hoshino whipped his wand, conjuring two marble-sized balls of grey light that fired half a second later. They missed. They smacked against the shield that Hazama conveniently placed along the walls. It looked like that was where all his efforts went. Well… He didn’t really miss. The malevolent spirit dodged. Yeah. It dodged. It weaved itself out of the bolt’s trajectory like a seasoned boxer. And to rub it in, the malevolent spirit’s shitty laugh track violated his ears.

BUT excluding his superior’s superb accuracy—right, the spirit dodged a bolt from Hazama at point blank. Of course, an attack made from two or three meters away would not do the trick. Hoshino wasn’t trying to be sneaky either.

Hoshino was taught early on that there were no spells that would let an exorcist compete with a malevolent spirit physically. He asked. Politely. They pointed and laughed at him. It wasn’t even a dumb question. Remembering that—and after smushing all of his negative feelings into a ball and dumping it at the side of his memory lane—brought his options down to two.

As per Mr. Yeehaw Tanaka’s words of wisdom, one of his instructors, also an alcoholic: To win against a malevolent spirit, either you fight smart or fight like a bitch. He was not smart. Thus, his first choice was to limit the spirit's movement somehow so that it had no choice but to take a bolt to the face. The second was to trick the spirit so he could break its legs and then… punch a hole through its face.

Malevolent spirits died if they were killed. Exorcism. Yay.

Hazama had already sprinted forward even before Hoshino’s train of thought could arrive at the station. Her body was brought low, her head positioned much lower, and her right arm swung as if she was going to stab the malevolent spirit in the eye.

The malevolent spirit welcomed the challenge. It bellowed a chuckle like a BOSS. The tension skyrocketed. But then it sailed straight down like a broken kite because the stupid eerie laugh track played. Bothered, it planted its feet forward and aimed to crush Hazama’s head. It was certain that its attack would hit first. Hoshino knew that as well.

Hazama did too. Without a word. Without a breath. Without even the flick of her wrist. Hazama conjured a shield that blocked the malevolent spirit’s right elbow, killing its attack before it could reach her.

The malevolent spirit shuffled to the side. It was going to make another attack, but its side hit another shield. Its attack was killed again, breaking its rhythm. Confused, it raised its left arm to take another swing. The same thing happened—a shield met the spirit’s left elbow. And when it decided to attack anyway, another shield intercepted its left bicep and then its fist hanging in the air.

It couldn’t attack. It couldn’t get away. The malevolent spirit shrieked. Hoshino could tell from its strained, darkened eyes that it no longer wished to fight. It could be bait. But that didn’t matter anyway. Hazama pointed her wand at the monster’s left knee. Bolt. Her voice sounded so merciless yet so sweet. A glint of light flashed at the tip of her wand and it was followed by a contained explosion immediately overturned by the sound of the spirit’s ethereal flesh getting crushed and blown apart—like someone slapped a wet towel against a wall. The bonus was seeing the rest of the monster’s left leg floating midair right before it crumbled into nothingness.

Very cool.

The malevolent spirit was going to fall backward. Hazama won. Straight up. But Hoshino knew the look in the spirit’s eyes. He could not see the type of face Hazama was making, but he was certain that the spirit knew that his superior would not let it go. It looked angry, prepared to disappear and to take as many people as it could with it. Hazama probably noticed it already, but he couldn’t be too sure.

If Hazama could do it, then maybe he could do it too. The spirit’s left eye twitched. Hoshino wasn’t sure if this was its tell, but judging from how it was positioned and the amount of space available to it, this spirit would most likely swing at her with its left arm.

Hoshino cast a shield near the right side of Hazama’s face. He was right. The monster aimed for a kill with its left arm. However, Hazama already had her wand pointed at the monster’s left elbow and had it explode—killing the attack again before it became a problem.

The monster fell to the floor. The unnerving laugh track played. And as it was about to say its final words, Hazama tapped its forehead with her wand and blasted its head with a bolt.

She was… amazing.

“How are you feeling, Hoshino-san?” Hazama asked, turning to face him as she wiped the malevolent spirit’s ethereal blood and flesh from her face. It would disappear in a minute or two and wouldn’t leave a smell, but maybe it really was hard to ignore the ick.

“Not great…” Hoshino breathed, glancing over at his crotch. It wasn’t wet. His heartbeat strongly suggested that he was also far from being calm. His will was strong enough, maybe. No, he truly was the master of his own body. He gave her a helpless smile. “I have this great urge to—”

“Please refrain from contaminating the crime scene, Hoshino-san.” Hazama held back a thought or two and then chuckled to herself. “Though it would be very funny if you did.”

“How…” Hoshino’s hands were still shaking. A part of him believed that it was still there, so much so that his saving grace was Hazama’s cute smile. That and how she dealt with the problem so easily and were now pretending as if nothing important happened. “How… exactly?”

“Because it happened before.” Hazama opened the door to check if it was clear—it seemed like it was safe, considering that she felt comfortable enough to look back at him after. “I was training this guy… who was very confident, so confident in his skills that he proclaimed that he’d rise through the ranks and beat an S-rank malevolent spirit. He broke down and pissed himself badly during his very first encounter… we had to evacuate the civilians to save face.”

“Oh…”

“Tears running down his cheeks. Snot from his nose through his mouth and chin.”

“I—”

“It was a D-rank case.”

So he was better? Was Hazama trying to cheer him up?

“That does make me feel a little bit better, not gonna lie—” Hoshino stopped. He furrowed his brows. A thought came to mind, and it broke his little, fragile heart. “Wait, is this why you had the nearby civilians evacuated?”

Hazama fixed her glasses, eyes closed, her lips pursed and quivering.

“Hazama-san…”

Hazama cleared her throat. “It was important to get the civilians out of here nonetheless… as the case became more of a pain in the ass now that a malevolent spirit formed outside of the victim’s room. We’re lucky that it tried to kill us first.”

Hoshino swallowed. Another thought danced around his brain, making his ears ring. His head felt too heavy and, at the same time, floating. His chest tightened. He covered his mouth, the tip of his thumb and pointing finger tracing the scars on the sides of his mouth.

Hazama clapped to get his attention, her gleaming eyes looking frigid and somewhat commanding. “Let’s focus on the things we can actually do something about. I know what you’re thinking, and I think you’re right. But… we have a new problem… Well, it can be dealt with if the three of us do our jobs correctly, but still… In the event that we fail to exorcise a malevolent spirit or a cursed object—even just one—it’s highly likely that people will die. Do you know why, Hoshino-san?”

Hoshino’s smile wavered. She was still testing him, even after all this.

“Their curses… or the malevolent spirits themselves… would likely be aiming at the victim’s immediate family or close friends as an act of revenge.”

“Correct.” Hazama faced the ceiling with her mouth half open. Hope escaped from her lips. “This means that we have to formally restart the investigation and ask permission from the higher-ups to let us question a bunch of people who may or may not be targeted. Anyway, the net will be too wide. It will take too much time. Then, we put them under protection for forty days. We still haven’t figured out the spirit that killed the victims in the first place, Hoshino-san… My weekend…”

Hoshino cupped his chin and walked toward the door. It was the time for him to do some detective-type shit. He might as well look the part. There, he faced the rest of the room with the mind of a seventeen-year-old boy. After deleting the mental image of him as a teen diddling his dingdong on the bed while ogling the beauty of the magazine’s centerfold…

Plain.

That was the second thought that came to mind. The victim didn’t think much of this room. The trophies were neatly displayed, arranged by the year they were obtained. Who the hell does that? Of course the biggest and coolest should be in the middle.

It was also possible that he was overthinking things and looking like an idiot while he imagined a bunch of photos—scenes he couldn’t make out the details of—passing through his head. But he might as well commit. Doubling down in the most pointless situations was the manliest thing he could do right now. And maybe he could think of something. Hazama’s precious weekend was ruined. Maybe she would praise her attitude after this.

Oogami Subaru.

He probably didn’t see this room as his own. It felt more like a place where he slept. Like a cheap love hotel room. With dim lights, broken bathroom doors, and sticky tiled floors. All that shit. They hadn’t interviewed his family yet, but he could assume that their relationship with him wasn’t great. It was also weird for this person to be attached to cigarettes… a consumable.

“Hazama-san… I have something.” Hoshino gasped and widened his smile, comically. Hazama didn’t find it too amusing. “If I’m right… then we might be able to save some of our weekend, but we need to act quickly—”

“I’m listening,” Hazama replied. A little too quickly. A bit of hope shone beneath her glasses. “Please, go ahead, Hoshino-san.”

Oh lord.

Hoshino was forced to look away. She looked like a ravenous puppy expecting a treat. But there was no other way than forward. Hoshino swallowed, nodded to himself, and faced her.

“The victim’s family should immediately be placed under protection. We can check if the victims were friends with them to be safe—neighbors, but that’s unlikely. Once they’re safe… we should go to Sakuramine High. I feel bad for saying this, but Oogami Subaru doesn’t seem to have a shred of personality outside of him being an ace of the judo club. So being ‘friends’ with the guy meant that you’re doing something with him or he’s doing something to you. With that… we might not necessarily be looking for a malevolent spirit that killed him and his friends. We’re looking for another victim that killed them in revenge.”

Hazama’s eyes widened. “That makes sense, and there’s the motive—but that’s assuming the malevolent spirit itself also came from the school. I checked their files recently when this thing was dumped to us, and I haven’t seen any cases pop up related to that; we would especially know if the school had that covered up. Not unless it happened very recently…”

“Or if that someone was possessed by a spirit?”

“Interesting.” Hazama cupped her chin, her glasses gleaming. “If these people were killed in revenge… that will narrow a few things down.” She regained her usual, tired smile. “Good eye, Hoshino-san. I suppose I can let you talk to some high schoolers… but we have one problem…”