Noticing Miko Yotsuya's gaze, Yukino Yukinoshita—who had finished about half of the curry rice she bought from the cafeteria—looked up and asked,
"Is something wrong, Miko Yotsuya?"
Miko scratched her cheek awkwardly and said softly,
"Well… I'm just a little curious about the Nekomata power you gained."
"After Luo Yu told me about it, I looked up some legends about Nekomata during the break. So… Yukino Yukinoshita, can you actually turn into a cat?"
Pressing her lips together, Yukino explained,
"It's not turning into a cat. I only gained the abilities of a Nekomata."
But before she could say anything more, Luo Yu added from the side,
"That's right. She doesn't become a cat. She just grows cat ears and a tail."
"Huh? Cat ears and a tail?!"
The moment Miko heard that, she stopped eating and looked at Yukino with sparkling excitement.
Yukino shot Luo Yu an annoyed glare.
Then, under Miko's eager gaze, she quickly finished the rest of her meal before reluctantly activating her Nekomata transformation.
A pair of soft cat ears appeared on her head, and a tail swayed gently behind her.
"This is what it looks like."
"Wow!!!"
Seeing Yukino Yukinoshita with cat ears—looking even more adorable than before—Miko Yotsuya felt as though an entirely new world had opened before her eyes.
"That's amazing!"
Fortunately, Miko managed to restrain herself. She only stared in fascination and didn't attempt to touch the cat ears.
After a brief demonstration, Yukino returned to her normal human appearance.
Curious, Miko asked,
"So… does that mean Yukino Yukinoshita is slowly turning into a Nekomata and no longer human?"
Yukino's expression became slightly conflicted as she opened a rice ball and replied,
"To be precise, it's more like the half-demon characters you see in manga or novels."
"In daily life I appear as a normal human. But whenever I want, I can transform into the Nekomata form and use the power inside my body."
"However, right now all I can really do is transform. My physical abilities feel stronger, but I haven't fully figured out whether I have any other abilities yet."
As she spoke, she turned to look at Luo Yu.
Luo Yu blinked while chewing a piece of meat. After swallowing, he said,
"Well, that's something you'll need to explore yourself."
"It also depends on what you want to do with it."
"Do you want to keep living as a normal person… or use the power you've gained to do something more?"
"Depends on me…?"
Yukino glanced down at the rice ball in her hand and took a bite.
After thinking for a moment, she turned to Miko Yotsuya.
"Miko Yotsuya, what about you?"
"Now that you've started learning magic, what do you want to do?"
"Me?" Miko tilted her head.
"At first, I only wanted to control my Yin-Yang Eyes. Before, evil spirits were always surrounding me, and I had to constantly worry about them noticing that I could see them. It was really exhausting."
"But now that I can control my Yin-Yang Eyes, I can simply turn them off whenever I want. If I don't see them, they can't interact with me either."
She paused before continuing enthusiastically.
"But after learning that there are more things in this world than just evil spirits, I want to keep learning magic."
"Not just to protect myself—but also to protect my family."
"Of course, I've only learned a few basic spells so far. If I want to become strong, it'll still take a long time."
She suddenly turned toward Luo Yu with bright eyes.
"Luo Yu, when will I be able to learn the powerful magic you showed me before?"
"And also—what are the strongest spells?"
Taking a sip of juice, Luo Yu thought for a moment.
"At your current pace, you should be able to start learning intermediate magic in about a month."
"No need to rush. Just improve step by step."
"As for the strongest magic…"
"The spell I showed you that night—Comet Azur—is one of the legendary sorceries."
"There are other legendary spells too, but they belong to different schools. I'll explain them to you one by one when we have time."
Naturally, Luo Yu knew all of those legendary spells.
Some of them were even incantations.
However, compared to incantations, Luo Yu used sorceries much more often.
When it came to incantations, he mainly used buffs and a few ranged attacks like Lightning Spear.
As for Dragon Communion incantations, he rarely used them at all.
As for whether Miko Yotsuya could learn legendary spells…
Luo Yu glanced at the girl's hopeful face and thought for a few seconds.
"Well, Comet Azur might consume too much magic for you right now."
"Compared to that, Stars of Ruin and Founding Rain of Stars are legendary spells with slightly lower requirements."
"And there are also lower-tier versions of those spells that are better suited for learning gradually."
"Stars of Ruin… Founding Rain of Stars?"
Miko's eyes shone brightly.
"Those sound like super powerful spells!"
Excited, she immediately resumed eating her lunch enthusiastically.
Meanwhile, Yukino Yukinoshita watched Miko thoughtfully.
When she first met Miko, Yukino had assumed she was simply a shy girl.
But now she realized something different.
After learning about this world, Miko had shown far more determination than Yukino had expected.
She could say without hesitation that she wanted to protect her family.
As for Yukino's own family…
A trace of confusion appeared in her eyes.
She turned to Luo Yu and asked,
"Luo Yu… do you think my family might already know about the existence of evil spirits and curses?"
"Hm?"
Luo Yu looked at her in surprise before analyzing calmly.
"I've heard people say that the Yukinoshita family is a prestigious household in Chiba, right?"
"Generally speaking, powerful local families like that usually know something about the supernatural world."
"They might even have certain connections to it."
Yukino found his reasoning quite convincing.
It wasn't arrogance—her family truly did hold influence in Chiba.
Considering how long supernatural phenomena had existed, it would be strange if they knew absolutely nothing about them.
After finishing another rice ball, Yukino finally made up her mind.
"I'm not sure if this is the right decision…"
"But Luo Yu, Ranni told me yesterday that you could teach me how to control my power."
"May I ask for your help?"
Luo Yu smiled.
"Sure, I can teach you."
"But once I do, you'll have to join our faction—just like Miko Yotsuya."
"Faction?"
Yukino blinked.
"You mean the Carian Magic Academy that Miko Yotsuya joined?"
"Besides us… who else is there?"
"Just the four of us."
"…What?"
Seeing the girl's eyes widen slightly, Luo Yu spread his hands with a smile.
"Me. Ranni. Miko Yotsuya. And you, once you join."
"That's it."
"Oh—if we're counting everyone, we can also include my spectral steed, Torrent."
As he spoke, Luo Yu took out the whistle used to summon Torrent and slipped it onto his finger.
Since the Dark Moon Ring already occupied his ring finger, the whistle had to go on his middle finger.
Yukino watched this in silence.
Four people…
And a horse?
What kind of faction was this supposed to be?