Chapter 38

Let's go back a little in time, to before Sefek, Toy, and Melt attacked Kousuke's house.

"Kaa-kaa-kaa, ka-ka-ka-ka~♪"

In the sky above Sapporo, a white crow was flying, humming a tune.

The crow's name was Shiro, a bird-type shikigami created by Kousuke's shikigami technique.

"Kaa"

As if saying, "I think I'll go to the mountains today," Shiro let out a cry.

While Kousuke was at high school, and Kuro was keeping watch over the house, Shiro's daily routine was to take a walk in the sky while observing the city.

"Kaa?"

At that moment, Shiro suddenly noticed a concerning scene.

In a back alley garbage dump, a crow was tied up with plastic rope.

Two men who looked like troublemakers were throwing garbage at the tied-up crow.

"Kaa!"

"Kaa-kaa!!"

On the rooftops of nearby buildings, other crows were watching, unable to help their bullied comrade, and were warning the men.

"Kaa..."

In a way, Shiro tried to accept this as the natural order of things.

However, as a fellow crow, he couldn't look away from the scene.

"Always digging through garbage, huh?!"

"Ga-"

"If you want garbage so much, here you go!"

"Kaa-"

The men seemed quite drunk and were throwing without any restraint.

The crow's feathers were stained with blood from the garbage being thrown at it.

"Kaa..."

Shiro thought. If he made a conspicuous move, it might disrupt his master's goal of living a peaceful life.

But—

"Whoa, what's this white crow?"

—He couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

"Kaa!"

"Ouch!"

"Ugh!"

The shockwave emitted with Shiro's cry sent the men flying about two meters away.

"It's a monster, a crow monster!"

"I was against bullying crows from the start! Help me!"

Shaken by the shock, the men fled in a panic.

"Kaa!"

Ignoring the fleeing men, Shiro flew to the bullied crow.

He then released a tiny 'flying slash' to cut the rope.

"Kaa..."

The rescued crow, though confused, showed gratitude to Shiro.

"Kaa!"

As if saying, "Case closed," Shiro let out a cry and flew away.

There was no reason for him to stay any longer.

"Kaa..."

The crows perched on the surrounding buildings were captivated by the sight of the white crow soaring effortlessly to a height far beyond their reach. They marveled at the sight.

In the world of crows, there are no positions like bosses or leaders.

However, the instinct to be drawn to the strong and seek safety exists.

Some crows out of mere curiosity,

Some out of admiration for the strong,

Some seeking the safety of being under the protection of the strong.

It was inevitable that such crows would gather around Shiro.

"..."

Seeing the flock of crows that followed him on his sky walks, Shiro muttered.

"Kaa..."

'Why is this happening...'

◇

"Ugh, I lost again."

I was playing a puzzle game on my smartphone, but I couldn't clear it. This level is a bit difficult.

"Master, are you having trouble?"

Nia, concerned, spoke to me.

Ah!

"Nia, can you clear this level?"

"Leave it to me."

As Nia said, the screen started moving on its own.

Before my eyes, the stage I couldn't clear was quickly solved.

"Whoa..."

The screen continued to show a fast-forwarded version of expert puzzle-solving, and the score was displayed.

"Stage cleared! High score achieved: 999,999,999 points!"

It was a score I had never seen on any walkthrough site.

"Nia... thank you."

"Please call me whenever you need help."

Yeah. I guess I don't need help with app games for a while. I might get noticed by the game developers.

"By the way, Nia. Wasn't the screen crack this small before?"

Before Nia was created, the crack on the screen from the battle with the 'toy' esper, Silk Hat, had remained.

I had noticed it during the game, but the crack was clearly smaller now.

"Probably due to the electric current flowing through my body. The atomic bonds severed by the crack are being reconnected by the current."

"Wait, it's healing on its own?"

"Yes. It feels like it's collecting dust from the air to fill in the missing pieces."

"Wow..."

I don't really understand the science, but it's healing on its own. Nia is amazing.

"More importantly, Master, isn't it time?"

"Oh, right!"

Phew, I almost forgot.

Today, I have plans to go shopping with the rest of the group.

I realized the evaluation had exceeded 50,000 points! Thank you all for your support!

I've been trying not to focus on the numbers because I was afraid of losing bookmarks, but it's still nice to see them go up.

The story is far from over. I hope you'll continue to follow the adventures of the main characters.