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Hearing the girl introduce herself, Asher froze.
That name sounded really familiar.
Wait. Wasn't that the name of the protagonist from Mieruko-chan?
Memories surfaced in his mind.
Asher turned his head and studied the girl beside him.
Sure enough, her appearance and clothes matched Miko from the anime almost perfectly.
The only difference was that the anime was 2D, and the girl in front of him was very much real.
No wonder he hadn't recognized her right away.
"…Um, is something wrong…?"
Feeling Asher openly staring at her, Miko got goosebumps all over.
She lowered her head, not daring to meet his gaze, and asked nervously.
Only then did Asher snap out of it.
He cleared his throat to cover the awkwardness and shook his head.
"It's nothing."
"Yotsuya Miko, huh?"
"My name is Asher."
"Asher…"
"So it's Mr. Asher."
"Anyway, thank you so much for saving me, Mr. Asher!"
"If you don't mind… could we exchange contact information?"
"I-I don't mean anything weird! You saved my life, and once I've recovered, I really want to repay you properly!"
Afraid he might misunderstand, Miko hurriedly added an explanation.
In the anime, aside from when she was with her friends, Miko usually looked calm and expressionless, which made her seem cold and distant.
But in reality, she wasn't heartless at all.
She kept that blank expression to minimize facial reactions, so evil spirits wouldn't notice her or fixate on her because of some slip-up.
If anything, Miko was timid and easily frightened.
Sometimes she'd even get scared out of her mind when a spirit suddenly appeared.
All of this meant her social circle was limited to her best friend, Hana Yurikawa.
Forget male friends. Even female friends were basically just her.
So, in a way, Asher was the first boy she'd ever been this close to.
Her little brother, Yotsuya Kyosuke, didn't count.
Even after saying all that so carefully, Asher didn't agree right away. He simply shook his head casually.
"There's no need to repay me."
"If we run into each other again, we'll talk then."
"You feeling better now?"
"It's late. You should head home. I'm leaving too."
With that, Asher stood up.
Seeing how decisively he moved, Miko felt a wave of disappointment rise in her chest.
She looked at his back and opened her mouth, wanting to say something.
In the end, she didn't.
Biting her soft lip, she finally spoke.
"…Okay."
"Goodbye, Asher."
"Yeah. Goodbye, Miss Yotsuya."
Without looking back, Asher walked away, leaving only his retreating figure behind.
Miko stared at his fading silhouette for a long time.
Then she slowly stood up from the bench.
"I really hope we meet again, Asher…"
After murmuring softly, she limped toward the direction of her home.
…
Meanwhile, Asher followed the system's guidance toward his residence in this world.
He had to admit, the system was pretty considerate.
It even solved the whole identity problem the moment he arrived.
And he'd transmigrated with his own body.
If it were a soul transfer…
Just imagining having to flirt with girls using someone else's body made Asher shudder.
If it were a soul transfer, he'd rather be a eunuch.
Speaking of which, there was also the matter of Miko asking for his contact information earlier.
It wasn't that Asher didn't want to exchange contacts.
After all, she was the first girl he'd met in this world.
The problem was simple.
He didn't have any communication device at all.
Exchanging contact info was impossible.
Luckily, the system was prepared for that too.
He gave him a sum of money. It wasn't much, but it should be enough to get by for now as start-up funds.
Once he got settled into his new place, he could go buy a phone or some other way to stay in touch.
Asher had already mapped out his next steps.
Since this world clearly had evil spirits and yokai, and he himself was an onmyoji with the power to exorcise them, then maybe he could make a living as a professional exorcist.
He could earn money to survive and improve his abilities at the same time.
As Asher was thinking this over, he finally arrived at the residence the system had arranged for him.
It was a residential building that didn't look fancy at all. In fact, it was painfully ordinary.
Standing in front of the building, Asher stared at it for a long time.
It wasn't that he had any complaints about the place the system had assigned him.
It was just that… something felt off.
For some reason, the moment his gaze settled on the building, he felt a vague sense of unease.
The place was unnaturally quiet. And when he stepped into the area around the building, the temperature seemed to drop several degrees, completely different from outside.
"Nothing's wrong with this place, right?"
He muttered under his breath.
Suddenly, Asher remembered the Spirit Vision ability the system had rewarded him with after he destroyed the evil spirit earlier.
With caution in mind, he silently activated Spirit Vision.
After all, this was a world filled with monsters and spirits. Being careful never hurt.
But the moment he looked, his heart skipped.
His eyes faintly glowing with a pale blue light, Asher looked back at the building.
What he saw made his scalp tingle.
Thick strands of pitch-black, icy aura wrapped around the entire building, writhing slowly like a massive venomous snake.
"…?"
"Holy crap!"
"This place the system gave me isn't a haunted building, is it?!"
"....."