After Ryuji left the office, Shizuka was still feeling a bit flustered. It took her a few puffs to calm down, and when she did, a sudden realization hit her.

  "Wait... why did I even call him over here in the first pce?"

  ---

  "Purple Entry: 'Iron Fist'!"

  A simple yet powerful ability oivated, it would double the power of Ryuji's punches.

  "She really does live up to the title of 'Iron Fist Spinster'," Ryuji thought with amusement, as he reized how fitting this ability was for Shizuka Hiratsuka.

  "Loading!"

  This kind of ability, which directly boosted his bat power, was too valuable to depose. Ryuji smiled, satisfied with this new addition to his abilities.

  ---

  Talery System:

  - Host: Ryuji Hoshino

  - Bloodline: Human

  - Loaded entries: Soul Dev [Red], Yin-Yang Eyes [Gold], Presence cealment [Gold], Iron Fist [Purple]

  -Points: 120

  From ay ste, Ryuji now had four loaded taleries. He was in a good mood as he returo the . But the momeepped iiced how the atmosphere had ged.

  pared to before, the other students in the css were now quietly curious about him. Their sideways gnces gave away their thoughts they were w what exactly had happeo those three bullies from the other day, but no one dared to ask.

  The school day passed, and when csses were over, Miko appeared at his desk, looking for him. But today, something was off.

  "Ryuji-kun..." Miko's voice was small and filled with ay. She looked at him with a pitiful expression, ohat immediately gave Ryuji an idea of what was b her.

  " you see it?" she asked, gng nervously around her, clearly frightened.

  As expected, Miko, one of the anime's heroines, had an unusual talent for attrag monsters and ghosts. It seemed like yet another spirit had been drawn to her today.

  Ryuji chuckled softly, uo resist her pitiful expression. "Leave it to me," he said reassuringly.

  Without further dey, Ryuji activated his Soul Dev ability.

  "Shua! Shua! Shua!"

  Several dark s materialized from thin air, shing out and binding the spirit that had been haunting Miko. With Ryuji's growing strength, dealing with such lesser spirits had bee a trivial matter. The entity barely had time to react before being sucked into the dimensional rift created by the s.

  "Ryuji! Thank you!" Miko excimed, walking up to his side as the air around them became peaceful again. Whenever Ryuji was near, she felt a profound sense of safety, knowing that he could protect her from all the eerie things she saw.

  "As long as I'm here, nothing will happen to you," Ryuji said, giving her a fident smile.

  "Uh-huh," Miko nodded eagerly, forted by his words.

  "Let's go home," he added, taking her haly as they left the school grounds together. They were a new couple, after all, and it was only natural for them to want to spend time together.

  As they walked through the quiet streets, Miko talked about her day what she had seen, what had made her ugh, and even the more muhings. Ryuji listened without interrupting, letting her vent all her thoughts. If it weren't for him, Miko might have sunk into a much darker mi, burdened by her ability to see spirits. But with Ryuji by her side, she could at least feel lighter, even when dealing with the supernatural.

  After some time, they finally reached the front of Ryuji's house. He stopped and turo Miko, a pyful glint in his eye. "It's still a bit early. Would you like to e inside and hang out for a while?"

  Miko's face turned a light shade of pink as she looked down shyly. She khe implications of going inside a boy's house alone, even though they had just started dating. But she nodded, her voice barely above a whisper. "Yes... I'd like that."

  Ryuji grinned. "e on, then."

  ---

  Meanwhile, elsewhere in town...

  "This is the pce!" Eriri said fidently, pointing at a house.

  "How do you even know where he lives?" Utaha asked, eyeing her curiously.

  "Mind your own business!" Eriri snapped back, rolling her eyes.

  Behind them, Megumi sighed, feeling a bit exasperated. "Why did you tw me along for this?" she asked, clearly not ied in the venture. "I told my mom I'd be home early. We're not in the club anymore, so I don't see why I o be here."

  Eriri, annoyed by Megumi's disi, retorted, "We're all part of the club! Don't you care about saving it?"

  "I don't want to," Megumi replied bluntly, her face as emotionless as ever. In her mind, Tomoya's antics were no longer her . She had never been that ied in the club, and with everything that had happened, she felt even less ined to care.

  "You!" Eriri was left speechless by Megumi's straight to the point answer.

  Before she could say anything more, Utaha cut in, "It doesn't matter. We're already here. Aren't you the least bit curious about who this 'Ellie' is?"

  Both Utaha and Eriri had been taken aback by Tomoya's suddeion that he had found a new heroine. Even though they were usually rivals, this situation had put them on the same side. They o know who this mysterious Ellie was.

  "..." Megumi had nothing to say. She didn't care about Tomoya's supposed new 'heroine.' But since she was already here, she decided to wait and see what would happen. After all, the quicker this was over, the quicker she could head home.

  ---

  "Bang! Bang! Bang!"

  Utaha knocked on Tomoya's front door, but there was no response. Minutes passed, and the house remained eerily quiet.

  "Strange. Maybe he's out w?" Eriri suggested, though she didn't sound viomoya often worked part-time to support his hobbies, so it wasirely out of the question.

  "What luck," Utaha muttered, her frustration clear. "Should we head back?"

  Megumi, who had remained silent until now, was the first to speak up. " we go home now?"

  Before the others could respond, the door suddenly creaked open on its own.

  "Wait... what?" Eriri took a step back, her voice trembling slightly. The door had opened by itself, and uhe moonlight, Tomoya's house looked unnervingly dark and quiet.

  "This... doesn't feel right," Utaha said, her bravado faltering as she also took a step back. Despite her usual calm demeanor, she couldn't shake the uling atmosphere.

  Megumi, standing behind them, narrowed her eyes. Uhe other two, she had a suspi of what might be going on. After the strange enter she had with Ryuji the previous night, she had a sinking feeling that the world was far strahan she had previously believed.

  "Maybe there really is something weird in this world after all..." Megumi muttered under her breath, her mind drifting back to Ryuji.