“Huh? What’s wrong, Itsuki-kun?”

Aya-chan, with a puzzled expression, stood in front of me. I blinked and looked around.

I was back in the forest from earlier. The mysterious village and the strange voice were gone.

All that remained was my hand still holding Aya-chan’s after I had caught her when she tripped.

As I let go, a rainbow-colored light shimmered before disappearing.

There was no doubt about it—I had just resonated with Aya-chan.

And then there was that name I heard at the end, “The Ice Princess.” Aya-chan’s mother, Touka-san, had mentioned it before. Named monsters like that are all of the Sixth Rank.

In other words, this monster was on the same level as Raikoudouji.

And such a monster was residing inside Aya-chan.

I still didn’t know why it had taken residence inside her, but I could at least make a simple guess as to why Aya-chan’s magic hadn’t been leaking out.

Perhaps the monster didn’t want its own magic to mix with Aya-chan’s and leak out.

So, it sealed the magic inside, and as a result, Aya-chan lost her ability to use magic.

That theory seemed to make sense.

But there were still some unresolved questions.

Why was the Ice Princess inside Aya-chan? And why hadn’t it completely taken over Aya-chan?

Could it be that it’s gathering strength inside her?

For example—this is purely hypothetical—what if the Ice Princess was injured in a battle with another exorcist and was using Aya-chan as a safe place to recover?

But in that case, why reveal its name? If it were injured, it wouldn’t want to take unnecessary risks.

So… why?

I kept mulling over the pieces of information I had, but every theory I came up with seemed to crumble just as quickly.

And as I was deep in thought, I felt a gentle squeeze on my cheeks.

“Itsuki-kun?”

I looked up and saw Aya-chan, tilting her head, her expression full of concern.

She looked like she was asking, “Are you okay?”

I shook off my thoughts and gave her a smile.

“No, it’s nothing. Let’s keep going.”

“Okay! This way, Itsuki-kun!” she said, starting to walk again.

“Wait, hold on!”

“…?”

Aya-chan turned back with a questioning look, and I held out my hand.

“I was wondering if you could lend me your hand for a second.”

“Huh? Okay, sure.”

I had hoped maybe the rejection had been lifted, so I took her hand again… but, unfortunately, there was no resonance this time.

“…Never mind. Just be careful not to trip again, okay?”

“I’ll be fine! I won’t trip this time!” she declared confidently as she walked ahead. I followed behind her.

…Maybe it’s better not to tell her about all of this. I’ll discuss it with Dad, Renji-san, and Shirayuki-sensei when we get back.

But I should at least find out what happened to Aya-chan a month ago.

“Hey, Aya-chan, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“You mentioned to Shirayuki-sensei that you made a friend when you went on that job with Renji-san, right? What kind of person were they?”

There was a chance that friend could be connected to the Ice Princess.

As I asked, Aya-chan furrowed her brows, thinking hard.

“Hmm, their name was…”

She trailed off and pressed her finger to her forehead, clearly struggling to remember.

“Huh? I can’t seem to recall their name…”

“Maybe you’re just blanking on it.”

“Yeah, maybe! But I remember their face clearly. They looked exactly like me.”

“…Exactly like you?”

That phrase immediately made me think of the girl I had seen during the resonance.

“And she was really hardworking! Even though she was the same age as me, she took care of her little siblings. She said she had three younger siblings and that her parents both worked, so she handled the housework. Isn’t that amazing?”

“…She did the housework?”

“Yep! She said she even cooked meals for her family. Isn’t that incredible?”

Aya-chan’s eyes sparkled with admiration as she spoke. She genuinely seemed to respect this friend.

But a girl who looked just like Aya-chan and helped with chores and childcare…

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I couldn’t help but think of the girl I saw in the resonance.

Where was that place, anyway?

It had to be a part of Aya-chan’s mental world, but if that was the same village she visited with Renji-san, then it was a pretty strange place.

Sure, there are all kinds of people in Japan, but… would anyone still live in thatched-roof houses and do laundry without machines in this day and age?

…Then again, maybe. The world is full of different kinds of people.

But calling Kyoto the “capital city” in this day and age? And who’s the Crimson Monk? I’ve never heard of them.

Ugh, this is frustrating. No matter how much I think about it, I can’t come up with any answers.

As I continued to ponder, we came upon a fork in the road.

Aya-chan pulled out the map from her pocket and looked at it carefully before pointing to the right.

“We should go this way, Itsuki-kun.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, we’re here right now, right?” she said, pointing to a spot on the map.

I traced the route with my finger from the starting point to our current location, and finally, I understood.

“You’re right. That’s impressive, Aya-chan.”

“R-Really? It’s no big deal!” she replied, smiling shyly, clearly pleased with the compliment.

She put the map back in her pocket and headed to the right, and I followed behind.

“It’s so cool here, even though it’s summer,” Aya-chan remarked.

“Yeah, it’s probably because of all the trees.”

“Do you think it’s cooler here or at the beach?”

“Hmm, I’d say here. The beach is hot.”

Our conversation was simple, like two elementary school kids chatting, which made sense given how we looked, but it still felt a bit odd for me.

As we continued following the map, I suddenly heard a voice from somewhere.

“…Hey.”

It was a faint, raspy voice, calling out from the distance.

I glanced around, searching for the source, but saw no one. Could it be one of the other exorcists participating in the training?

“Hey, Aya-chan, did you hear that?”

“Yeah, it sounds like someone’s calling for us.”

So it wasn’t just my imagination. We both stopped and listened more closely.

“Hey!”

This time, the voice was louder. It was closer.

I looked in the direction of the sound and saw… a large mouth.

A mouth, and nothing else.

It was probably around 50 cm in size. A pair of thick lips, with a single leg protruding from behind, standing amidst the trees. Or rather, trying to blend in, but it stuck out like a sore thumb.

The lips moved, and then opened wide, revealing yellowed teeth and a thick, fleshy tongue.

“Hey!” it called out again, like it was trying to get our attention.

…It was a monster.

“Itsuki-kun…”

“Yeah, I got it.”

I extended my Silveit and quickly pierced the monster.

It offered no resistance, disintegrating into black mist as it faded away.

The feel of it was like that of a First Rank monster.

But why was there a monster here? This is supposed to be an exorcist training facility…

As I was thinking that, Aya-chan, standing next to me, quietly muttered as she watched the black mist dissipate.

“…Hey, do you think this is the ‘little accident’ your dad mentioned?”

“…Yeah, maybe.”

Come to think of it, he did say something like that.

“Yeah, that’s probably it.”

Of course. The point of this exercise was to teach the importance of working together as exorcists, so throwing us into a real situation makes sense.

…Talk about tough love.

With that in mind, I decided to keep walking toward the goal with Aya-chan.

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