Time passed slowly, yet the ringing showed no signs of stopping.
"It's been over a minute," Kawashima Toya murmured softly. "The evil spirit seems quite persistent."
"Won't give up until it achieves its goal?"
Kasumigaoka Utaha watched this scene with growing horror.
"It hasn't hung up automatically after a minute—this is definitely an evil spirit!"
Thinking of this, Utaha didn't know what to say.
"Why are evil spirits, Evil Gods, and the like all targeting me?"
"I'm just an ordinary high school student."
Although she had encountered an Evil God minion and was easily targeted by evil spirits, surely they couldn't just keep picking on the same person, right?
"That's incorrect!" Just then, a voice that was neither male nor female came from the phone.
"The reason I'm calling you is simply because Kawashima Toya doesn't have a phone."
"I can only reach him through you."
"Don't speak." Toya signaled Utaha not to answer and asked in a deep voice, "What do you want with me?"
This call could ignore the angel's holy light, which was enough to prove its origin wasn't simple.
To be safe, Utaha couldn't answer to avoid being marked.
"Don't be nervous."
The androgynous voice on the phone seemed to be comforting them. "I have no malicious intent."
"You can treat me as a good friend. Feel free to chat with me anytime."
If the voice were that of a cute, energetic girl, it would be a pleasure to listen to.
But the owner's voice had no distinction between male and female, and its flat tone was nothing short of horrifying.
Utaha hid behind Toya, covering her mouth tightly, afraid to make a sound.
Toya's eyes gradually turned into clear, azure orbs like the sky, and his voice grew cold.
"What is your purpose?"
At this moment, the Points of Death of the phone had appeared, including the connection to the call from an unknown location.
If the entity continued to spout nonsense, he wouldn't hesitate to cut the connection directly.
"Wait, I'll talk!" The voice on the phone spoke seemingly panicked words in an extremely calm tone.
"I'm specifically reminding Kawashima Toya to attend the banquet on time."
"The time for the banquet is confirmed: 8:00 PM the day after tomorrow!"
"Location: The Skyscraper of Holy Glory!"
"Please dress as formally and solemnly as possible for the banquet. That way, Kawashima's handsomeness will truly shine."
"If you really don't have suitable attire, you can discuss it with me."
Before the voice could finish, Toya casually picked up a pen from the table and threw it.
"There is only one goal this time."
Whoosh!
The pen pierced through the faint evil spirit aura entwined around the phone like a sharp sword.
The evil spirit's aura collapsed instantly, turning into ash and vanishing.
The call ended abruptly.
Toya picked up the phone and handed it to Utaha, who looked like she wanted to say something but stopped. "Take it. That clump of evil spirit aura has been cleared."
"Kawashima, what's this about a banquet?" Utaha took the phone with a complicated expression.
A seemingly ordinary banquet that an evil spirit specifically invited him to—it looked dangerous no matter how she viewed it.
For a moment, her worry even outweighed her fear of the evil spirit.
"Nothing. Don't worry." A confident smile appeared on Toya's handsome face. "You heard it too. It's just a banquet."
"What problem could there be?"
He had long been prepared for the Evil God's banquet, but it had exceeded his expectations.
He originally thought the skyscraper standing in the ruins was eye-catching enough.
Now it seemed the Skyscraper of Holy Glory wasn't the main character of the banquet.
The protagonist of the banquet was someone else.
"It doesn't seem as relaxed as you say." Utaha had a premonition that this matter was far from as simple as Toya made it out to be.
But all her doubts vanished when she saw Toya's confident demeanor.
If the professional, Toya, wasn't worried, what was she worrying about?
Utaha yawned and pointed to the spot near the angel halo display cabinet. "Kawashima, I'm going to lay out a futon there and rest."
Although sleeping in the lobby seemed a bit constrained, drowsiness wouldn't wait.
As for resting in other rooms of the agency, she was still a bit afraid.
Only by being in the same room as Toya could her fear of evil spirits subside.
"Mmh, go ahead."
Toya waved his hand. "I'll wake you up when a client comes."
Not long after, Utaha's breathing steadied as she drifted peacefully into a sweet dream.
Toya looked at the high-tech smartphone he had bought from the system and sighed with emotion. "As expected of a system product; even evil spirits can't invade it."
That strange call didn't even fear the holy light released by the angel halo, yet it claimed he didn't have a phone.
This showed just how powerful the upgraded system was.