Just judging by its appearance, after reinfusing spiritual power, the surface of the prayer beads clearly became glossier and more lustrous.

If one stared at it closely, they could occasionally see a streak of white light flashing across the surface of the beads.

“Does the effectiveness of a magical artifact directly correlate with the spiritual power infused into it?”

Hikigaya Hachiman carefully examined the prayer beads in his hand, deep in thought.

He hadn’t followed the system’s instructions to the letter—namely, to first inject spiritual power and then imprint a talisman with the desired function.

Instead, he had simply infused the artifact with additional spiritual power.

But even after skipping that step, the effectiveness of the prayer beads in repelling evil spirits had improved significantly.

They could now repel even advanced-level evil spirits with ease. Against special-grade evil spirits, they could probably hold out for over ten minutes.

It was more than enough to serve as a lifesaving item for Yuria Niguredou.

Of course, that’s assuming the fake loli didn’t go out of her way to get herself killed.

“It’s yours now.”

After confirming the capabilities of the prayer beads, Hikigaya Hachiman extended his hand and placed them in front of Yuria Niguredou.

“For me? Are you serious?”

Hearing Hachiman’s words, Yuria pointed at herself, her face filled with disbelief.

She had witnessed the massive amount of spiritual energy Hachiman had used to enhance the prayer beads from start to finish.

And yet, he was just giving away something that powerful—without hesitation!

And he was giving it to her, a stranger he had only known for less than two hours!

“Of course. Since I said it’s for you, I won’t take it back…”

Resting his cheek in his hand, Hachiman watched as Yuria Niguredou carefully and almost reverently put the beads on her wrist like a treasured gift.

He silently apologized in his heart.

Sorry for treating her like a guinea pig.

After all, he had only just begun experimenting with modifying magical artifacts.

He didn’t truly know how powerful his first modified artifact would be.

But since most of the evil spirits Yuria dealt with were low-level, the artifact he modified should suffice without issue.

‘Next time I modify an artifact, I should try embedding a defensive-type talisman…’

With that thought, Hachiman stood up.

“You’re leaving?”

Yuria, who had been fiddling with the prayer beads on her wrist, quickly stood up when she saw Hachiman move.

“Yeah. You should get going too. Didn’t you need to buy soy sauce for your master?”

Nodding, Hachiman said with a teasing smile.

“That was just a convenient excuse to stay alive! Don’t take it seriously!”

Upon hearing Hachiman’s words, Yuria’s face darkened with a flash of embarrassment and frustration.

She swore that the next time she got into a tough spot, she would never use the “buying soy sauce” excuse again.

“All right, all right. Well then, have a nice weekend.”

With a nod—no need to dwell on trivial matters—Hachiman bid Yuria farewell and walked alone toward the main street.

Since he had no other weekend plans, he followed the flow of pedestrians along the road toward the train station to head home.

“Now that I think about it, midterm exams are next week… I wonder how Yuigahama’s reviewing is going…”

Yukinoshita Yukino had planned to study liberal arts over the weekend, and since Hachiman ranked third in the liberal arts subjects, he didn’t need to attend the study session.

Which meant only Yuigahama was receiving tutoring at her home today.

Although there weren’t any surveillance cameras set up or anything, he could easily imagine Yuigahama clutching her textbook with a distressed expression on her face right now.

And beside her, Yukinoshita, holding her forehead with a look of helplessness.

The image brought a faint smile to Hachiman’s lips.

“Eh? Hello, big brother! I didn’t expect to see you here…”

As he waited on the platform for the train, a surprised and pleasantly familiar female voice called out from beside him.

The voice rang a bell—he had heard it before.

Hachiman slowly turned his head to find a girl standing nearby, carrying a guitar case on her back.

“You’re… Tsuchimiya Kagura?”

Hachiman raised an eyebrow.

Since she was the first of his sister’s friends to invite Komachi over to her house, Hachiman had a pretty clear impression of Tsuchimiya Kagura.

“That’s right~ I’m surprised you still remember my name, big brother!”

Tsuchimiya Kagura seemed to really like wearing sailor uniforms.

The last time Hachiman had gone to Tokyo to pick up Komachi, Kagura had been wearing a black and white sailor uniform.

Today, she was dressed in a blue and white one.

But he had to admit, her short hair gave off a sharp, energetic vibe.

Combined with the uniform and black knee socks, she gave off a valiant and striking appearance.

“Are you from some martial arts family or something?”

Even though she hadn’t displayed any martial arts or sword skills, just standing in front of him, Hachiman felt that her combat power was remarkably high.

“Eh? Big brother, how did you figure that out?”

Hearing Hachiman’s words, Kagura’s eyes showed a flicker of shock and panic.

She hadn’t done anything—how did he guess?

“Just a feeling, I guess?”

Hachiman noted Kagura’s reaction but didn’t press further.

Everyone has their secrets, after all.

“To guess someone’s profession based on intuition… big brother, are you some kind of pervert?”

“Ugh…”

It was just a normal question—why did his sister’s friend have to call him a pervert?

Hachiman was speechless.

“Ah, sorry! That’s not what I meant…”

Seeing the dejected look on Hachiman’s face, Kagura hurriedly waved her hands to explain.

She had only meant to say it was impressive how he could tell she practiced martial arts just from the details.

“So, what brings you to Chiba on the weekend?”

Hachiman ignored her explanation and instead asked why Kagura was carrying a guitar around in Chiba on a weekend.

Given that she lived in Tokyo, it didn’t make much sense for her to be here now.

“Ah, actually I came with my older sister.”

She reached up and lightly touched her short hair. When she mentioned her sister, Hachiman clearly sensed a tone of admiration and dependence in her voice.

“Sister?”

“Well, she’s more like an older girl from a neighboring house that we’re really close with.

But she treats me very well, almost like family…

Kagura~”

Just as Kagura was explaining, a mature, gentle female voice called from behind her.

In the next instant, Hachiman saw a blur in front of him, followed by a wave of fragrance in the air.

Then, a tall woman dressed in a black sailor uniform, also wearing black knee socks, threw herself at Kagura.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep