259 What the Hell Is That!? (1/2)
Mika was hugging Mashiro while standing in the practice field.
”Mashiro... try hitting that.” She attempted to get Mashiro to attack the target by pointing at the round target.
”Chirp?” It was clear that the silver-winged loli didn’t quite understand.
”Hit that target with your power,” Mika tried explaining again.
Mashiro blinked in seeming realization.
”Chirp!” She appeared to understand and flew towards the target.
Seiji and Natsuya observed her carefully.
They witnessed the silver-winged loli flying towards the target, and then... crashing into it!
*Smack!*
She bounced off the target.
”Chirp...” Mashiro flew around dazedly in midair for a few circles and almost dropped out of midair.
”Mashiro!” Mika shouted, rushing over just in time to catch her.
Seiji and Natsuya were rendered speechless.
”How was that just now?” Seiji asked anyway, holding no expectations.
”It was on the level of a young child’s punch,” Natsuya answered calmly.
'Yep, a normal level... the hell!'
”Mika, how’s Mashiro-chan?” Seiji asked.
”She’s alright; she doesn’t seem to be hurt.” Mika gently patted the silver-winged loli’s head.
”Chirp!” Mashiro was excited. Seiji suspected she believed that she was being praised for doing well.
”It’s fine as long as she’s okay.” Seiji sighed and rubbed his chin in contemplation.
”Mika, perhaps you should change the way you ask her to hit the target. She misunderstood you and crashed into the target headfirst instead. Maybe you should word it more accurately, so that she uses her true powers.”
”Yeah... but what should I say?” Mika felt that it was a difficult problem.
”‘Don’t use your body; use your internal power to attack that thing...’ Try saying something like that.”
Mika copied Seiji’s sentence word for word and pointed at the round target again.
”Chirp?” The silver-winged loli tilted her head in confusion.
It seemed that there was a failure in communication.
”This is a difficult problem—how should we have a Spiritual Creature that only half understands us and can’t communicate to attack the target that we want?” Seiji felt helpless about it. ”President, do you have any ideas?”
Natsuya mulled it over. ”When Yin-Yang Masters control Spiritual Creatures, we don’t use words; we use spells... a connection through Mana. Uehara-san and that creature, Mashiro-chan, have a connection already. Perhaps words aren’t necessary; she just needs to think it, and Mashiro-chan will understand... Just maybe.”
”Mika, did you hear that?” Seiji asked. ”Try thinking what you want her to do as hard as you can.”
Mika nodded and looked towards Mashiro. Mashiro returned her gaze with an innocent expression.
The two of them simply stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity.
*Chirp~~* The silver-winged loli suddenly broke into a burst of cute laughter.
Mika revealed a helpless expression as she looked back towards Seiji and Natsuya. She had failed again.
Seiji covered his face in exasperation.
Just what could they do?
Seiji recalled how Mashiro tensed up upon seeing Shika.
Since Mashiro felt enmity towards Shika, it was likely that she detected Shika’s nature as the [Reaper’s Curse], wasn’t it? The most likely explanation as to why Mashiro had been so defensive was in order to prevent Shika from getting close to and harming Mika.
In that case... Seiji looked over at the targets and pondered a while longer.
”I have an idea that we could try,” he said slowly.
He gestured for Mika to release Mashiro-chan and beckoned Natsuya and her to come closer to him.
When the two girls were standing beside him, Seiji whispered his idea to them.
”Is this how we'll do it?” Natsuya muttered softly. ”Alright. I promise that Uehara-san won’t come to any harm.”
”Fooling Mashiro-chan like this doesn’t seem good to me... but we do need to be able to see her true powers...” After hearing Natsuya's promise, Mika agreed after some hesitation.