Demon Capital Slayer

Chapter 3 The Silver Immortal Ritual
The Paranormal Society's activity room is in the old school building, which Mikasa felt was perfectly appropriate.

Once you actually step inside the building, you'll find that it's just an old building with a long history, and its decay is evident in every aspect.

The wooden floorboards underfoot are warped and worn, making a creaking sound when stepped on. The paint on the walls is peeling and slightly yellowed. Only half of the lights in the corridor are on, and they occasionally flicker due to poor contact.

"Setting up the paranormal club's activity room here is quite fitting," Yu Jian suddenly said.

"Miken-kun's sense of humor is really..." Aizen Yurika shook her head.

The two had just had dinner together. The ramen at the ramen shop near the school was surprisingly good, but the students passing by were giving them very strange looks. They seemed like devout believers who had noticed a male consort next to a statue of Buddha.

"W-Is this right?" After seeing Yu Jian's appearance clearly, they all showed expressions of "That's more like it."

Later, Mikami discovered that Aizen Yurika was just as headstrong as herself. She made no attempt to explain herself to outsiders, instead focusing more on the large bowl of ramen that was served next.

Unlike her slender figure, Yuriko had a great appetite. She ordered ramen with extra noodles and also added fried tofu skin. Unlike typical Japanese ramen, she ate it quickly and quietly.

"It's almost time. Nogizaka-san should already be in the classroom."

Aizen Yurika raised her wrist to look at her watch; the hands pointed to 6:35.

"The third floor?" Yu Jian's ears caught a slight movement. At this hour, the only people still at school could be members of the paranormal club.

"It's a promise, you'll give me 1000 yen after the ceremony, not a penny less!" Although it was a girl who spoke, her tone and words were very much like Gian's.

"Is a thousand yen a lot?" Miken asked, puzzled.

“That’s not a small amount,” Lily said.

But it's not much; these days, the average office worker earns around 200,000 yen a month.

It seems that besides commissioning Nekopakuto, Nogizaka Ruka has tried other solutions, such as financial power.

After knocking on the door, the two entered the paranormal club's activity room. Nogizaka Ruka, who had posted the request, was already waiting inside. Mitsurugi also noticed a stranger present.

She had dyed blonde hair, wore platform shoes, and had a healthy tan. While her face was fairly sweet, she wore heavy makeup, and her uniform was clearly modified, with black over-the-knee socks and half her thighs showing beneath the skirt. Her phone was adorned with numerous plush toy pendants, and her nails were painted in a variety of colors—a very typical "hot girl" look.

"Aizen-kun, Mitsurugi-kun, you've arrived! Let me introduce you. This is Naota Sayaka, my classmate. She's also participating in the ceremony tonight." Nogizaka greeted them warmly.

"Hey hey, just call me Sayaka, Naota sounds so lame. Anyway, Yoroshiku (Nice to meet you)." Despite her gaudily dressed appearance, Sayaka was quite enthusiastic, especially towards Mitsurugi.

"Handsome, is your name Mikage? That's a very rare surname. Wow, you're so tall, are you 1.9 meters?" Sayaka's eyes practically sparkled as she leaned closer and kept trying to strike up a conversation.

"...More or less." Mitsurugi looked at Nogizaka, who clasped his hands together, giving him a 'despicable' look as if he was begging Mitsurugi to be a sacrifice.

"Let's talk about the ceremony," Aizen Yurika steered the conversation back on track.

“Okay, I plan to summon Kokkuri-san. This ritual originated from Ouija boards, but the target of the summon is not so random. It is limited to a friendly fox spirit named ‘Kokkuri-san.’ As long as we don’t break any taboos, it will be safe.” Nogizaka began to introduce tonight’s ritual.

Although he's a paranormal enthusiast, he's surprisingly cautious.

Through Nogizaka's description, Mitsurugi learned that the ritual was roughly similar to the Ouija board ritual, and all that was needed were white paper and coins.

First, draw a torii gate in the center of a piece of white paper, resembling the character "开" (kai). Then, write simple answers such as right or wrong, yes or no, auspicious or inauspicious around the torii gate, and attach numbers and a Japanese syllabary (hiragana and katakana) next to it.

Next, the coin is placed under the torii gate. Several participants hold the coin down and silently recite the summoning incantation. When the coin begins to move, it indicates that a spirit is attached to it, and divination can be performed. The other party will then answer by moving the coin to the corresponding answer.

After completing all the questions, you must silently recite the farewell prayer asking the spirit to leave until the coin returns to the torii gate.

There are only three taboos related to the ritual: do not let go of the fingers during the ceremony, do not ask about the privacy of the spirit, and properly dispose of the ritual materials afterward.

Yu Jian listened from the side and suddenly felt a sense of wonder. He realized that he had never had such a rich array of extracurricular activities when he was in school in his previous life.

"In short, based on the notes left by the senior members of the Paranormal Society, you absolutely must not let go of your fingers before the ritual is over," Nogizaka emphasized repeatedly.

Although he was just following the textbook, being honest in this regard is actually less likely to lead to major mistakes.

Seeing that it was almost time, Nogizaka took out the white paper and coins he had prepared in advance, which were supposedly high-quality materials purchased at a high price from a paranormal forum.

However, Mitsurugi only noticed that the coin looked old, and the white paper wasn't smooth printing paper; other than that, he couldn't discern anything. Oh, considering what Sayaka said earlier, it's not hard to see that this Nogizaka-san is quite wealthy.

In contrast to the bustling daytime atmosphere, the campus was exceptionally quiet at night. Lighting four candles and turning off the lights, the empty classroom, illuminated only by candlelight, immediately acquired an eerie atmosphere.

"Whoa, this is a little scary." Sayaka deliberately moved closer to the sword, but there was no fear on her face. Instead, she seemed eager to try it out.

“If we only need three people, how about you stand by and watch for now, Miken?” Yurika suddenly said, giving Miken a wink.

"Okay." Yu Jian nodded and immediately understood what the other party meant.

This is like acting as your own insurance policy; you clearly don't believe it, but you're actually very cautious.

“Then let the three of us hold the ceremony.” Nogizaka took the lead and sat down at the table.

The three of them pressed down on the silver coin and began to chant the summoning line, "Lord Silver Immortal, please come forth."

Yu Jian looked around but didn't see anything unusual. He only noticed that the temperature in the classroom had dropped slightly, but there was a temperature difference between day and night, so it didn't seem to be anything unusual.

"It moved!" Sayaka shouted excitedly.

"Calm down, stay calm." Nogizaka's nostrils flared, clearly also agitated.

Aizen Yurika, on the other hand, maintained steady breathing and looked at the two people beside her with great interest, as if trying to figure out whether they were acting.

Yu Jian was doing the same thing. It wasn't winter yet, so the three of them weren't wearing heavy clothes, and none of them were obese with an exaggerated body fat percentage. Relying on his rich experience in human anatomy accumulated in his dreams, he could accurately judge the direction and magnitude of their force from muscle changes.

Currently, the students participating in the ceremony have very relaxed arms, as if the coin is moving on its own.

This gradually piqued Yu Jian's interest, who had initially been watching with a detached, spectator's mindset.

"Let me ask first, let me ask first," Sayaka asked first.

"Lady Silver Saint, how is my love fortune this semester?" After saying that, she winked at Mikasa.

As soon as the words were spoken, the coin held down by the three people's index fingers began to move slowly, but the direction was 'inauspicious'.

"Hey, don't joke around! Why would it be a terrible omen?"

Sayaka's face flushed crimson as she tried desperately to change the coin's trajectory, but to no avail. Finally, the coin landed squarely on the 'misfortune' side. The delinquent girl sized up the other two, her gaze gradually turning hostile, and a look of suspicion appearing on her face. "Me? I really hope to have a super~ awesome romance in high school," Sayaka said meaningfully.
"But...but this is Lady Gintoki's answer." Nogizaka's voice was hesitant and didn't sound very convincing.

"Hmph, let's just leave it at that." Sayaka snorted but didn't argue, since the other party had given her money.

"Who's going to ask next?"

"I'll do it," Aizen Yurika said.

Do ghosts really exist in this world?

"Aizen-kun?" Nogizaka looked nervous, worried about angering the spirit.

"This shouldn't involve the other person's privacy, right?" Aizen Yurika asked calmly.

The coin then began to move, eventually stopping at 'Yes'.

“Oh~” Lily Fragrance made a meaningful sound.

"Nogizaka-san, it's your turn next."

“Okay.” Nogizaka Ruka took a deep breath, her expression extremely serious, even somewhat devout.

"Lord Silver Immortal, is the method of 'absorbing spirits' truly real?"

Upon hearing his question, the others exchanged bewildered glances, clearly none of them having heard of the term. Yu Jian grew increasingly intrigued; could supernatural powers truly exist in this world?

The coin first moves to 'yes', then quickly moves to the Japanese syllabary chart. It seems the answer is not so simple, and there is a more detailed description to follow.

Nogizaka then nervously recounted the rest of the story.

"The power of the Netherworld is beyond the comprehension of mortals, heh heh heh... What does this mean?" Nogizaka Ruka's surprise was palpable.

"Strange, how could I be so rude? It's not what I've heard from the rumors." He lowered his voice, and although he didn't explicitly name anyone, his meaning was quite clear.

"Let's end this. Something's not right." Aizen Yurika frowned slightly.

"I don't care, but now we have to recite that farewell incantation, right?" Sayaka was the most relaxed, because she really didn't believe in such things. If she weren't short of money, she wouldn't have come to play such a boring game.

On the other side, Yu Jian slowly sat up straight from his chair, his eyes scanning the classroom. At the same time, he slightly bent his legs, his left hand instinctively pressing against his waist, his entire body entering a state of readiness to unleash his power.

Something was strange. The intuition honed by countless bloody battles in my dreams quietly responded, but my five senses couldn't detect anything amiss.

After waiting a moment, Yu Jian got up and went to the window. It was pitch black outside, and even the streetlights in the distance looked very blurry.

"What's wrong, Mitsurugi-kun?" Nogizaka couldn't help but be curious when he suddenly acted.

"It's nothing, let's finish quickly, it's getting late." Yu Jian waved his hand, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

"Oh."

"Gin-san, please go back." Nogizaka spoke first:

However, the coin did not move at all.

"Lady Gin-sen, please go back." Sayaka repeated impatiently.

The coin remained completely still.

"Thank you for your reply. Please return it to its source." Aizen Yurika read out the prepared message.

The coin trembled slightly, but still did not move towards the torii gate.

Upon seeing this, cold sweat began to bead on Nogizaka Ruka's forehead.

Yu Jian also noticed something was wrong. The muscles in the arms of the three people were tense, which meant that they were all exerting force, but the coin did not move at all.

"I said, isn't that enough?" Sayaka gritted her teeth and looked at the two of them. Ever since that terrible 'big breast' incident, she had felt extremely uncomfortable, and now she was increasingly suspicious that someone was targeting her.

suddenly--

Jingle Bell! ! !
"Ah!" Sayaka exclaimed in surprise, almost falling off her chair, only to find that it was just her phone ringing.

"What? You're just scaring yourself." She complained, picked up her phone to check, and her expression immediately turned strange.

"Hello? Who is this? Don't scare people by not speaking."

Sayaka called "hello" several times, but received no response.

"How ridiculous!" she angrily ended the call, only to have her phone ring again.

This time it wasn't a phone call but a message notification. Sayaka opened it and her expression immediately changed.

Why is it all garbled text?

The text message notifications kept coming in, from completely unfamiliar numbers. The content went from being unreadable to being identifiable, and was filled with all sorts of profanities, which finally made Sayaka explode.

"What the hell? Why are there so many spam text messages? Is this guy trying to provoke me?! I'm going to give this guy a piece of my mind."

Mitsurugi immediately sensed something was wrong. Judging from Sayaka's actions just now, it was clear she was very skilled with a phone; she could probably even type and send messages blindly under the desk during class. But arguing with someone required peak performance, which meant…

"Stop, Sayaka!"

"Wait……"

"Don't……"

The incident happened suddenly, and the three of them spoke almost at the same time, but Yujian was standing by the window, and the other two could not move due to the taboo of the ritual.

In the end, Sayaka's hand moved away from the coin.

The next second, a fifth voice rang out from inside the room.

"laugh!"

(End of this chapter)