578 Youve acquired a strange trait overnight! (2/2)

”I am Kazufuru Ooike, but also not him. More accurately speaking, I'm an existence who signed a contract with him that's currently combined with his body,” the girl replied.

”Combined with his body… What exactly are you?”

”I'm not sure myself. I suppose that you can treat me as something like a ghost. Kazufuru Ooike wished to live and to obtain power, while I responded to his wish. I combined with his soul and formed the current me, which brought him power and allowed him to live, along with helping him to kill his enemy.”

Seiji was rendered speechless.

He looked towards Natsuya.

Natsuya cast Astral Vision and carefully observed the girl before them.

”What I can see is that she's similar to Rana in her synchronized state… her body is formed by spiritual power similar to a Spirit-branded Retainer's,” Natsuya whispered to Seiji.

Similar to Rana… so that meant this phenomenon was similar to how Mika combined with Mashiro!

Kazufuru combined with a mysterious existence and transformed into a girl with a new personality!?

”Could you explain in more detail about what happened? What's the current condition of Ooike-san's soul?” Seiji looked back at the girl and asked some questions.

”Last night, Kazufuru Ooike was kidnapped while he was asleep. The kidnapper treated him cruelly. As he was about to die, his powerful desire summoned me… and then I killed his kidnapper, left that location, and walked here,” the brown-haired girl answered calmly. ”His soul is now also my soul, so he's fine.”

'His soul is now also my soul? That doesn't sound fine at all!' Seiji commented in his mind.

”Although I'm still somewhat confused… You're currently a dual existence with him, similar to multiple personalities… different personalities with the same body and soul, is that right?” Seiji tried asking.

”You could understand it that way.” The girl nodded.

This… was really just a female version of Kazufuru Ooike then! A gender change along with a new personality… You've acquired a strange trait overnight, Ooike-san!

Seiji glanced at this female Kazufuru and didn't know what to say next.

”You said that you killed the kidnapper… Who was the kidnapper? Where was the scene?” Natsuya spoke up next.

”The kidnapper was the man who previously gave Kazufuru Ooike a cursed item. I killed him within the Domain.”

”'Domain?'”

”Yes, this is my power. After I arrived… or perhaps I should say was born, I brought that man into my Domain and killed him.” The brown-haired girl adjusted her eyeglasses and spoke as if it was nothing.

”What type of power is the Domain? What happened to that kidnapper's corpse?”

”The Domain is a dimensional space that I can control to a certain extent… Even I don't know the full details of this power. As for that man's corpse, it was already devoured by the Domain.”

”Devoured?”

”It's now completely swallowed up by the Domain, as if it sunk into the ocean. Even I'm unable to retrieve his corpse anymore.”

This sounded like a rather dangerous power. Natsuya and Seiji exchanged glances.

”What exactly did that man do to Ooike-san?”

”First, he said that he analyzed how the cursed item was dispelled… basically, why the test product failed,” the girl explained. ”Then, he said that Kazufuru Ooike had potential and that he was going to perform an experiment. If this experiment succeeded, Kazufuru Ooike would be able to become a powerful individual and obtain great strength. The result was that he indeed obtained power, which is me.”

”And then you killed the kidnapper who performed this experiment… truly karma.” Seiji sighed.

”That's right… Harano-san, what do you think?”

”Eh?”

”About the fact that I killed someone.” The brown-haired girl looked directly at Seiji with her blood-red eyes.

Seiji blinked.

”I don't think anything of it. You did it for the sake of protecting Ooike-san. It could be called self-defense. This is perfectly understandable,” he stated sincerely.

”…You don't dislike girls that kill people?”

”Killing others is indeed something bad, but it also depends on the situation. Your situation isn't one where I would dislike you for it… No, I should say that I don't have the right to dislike anyone else because of killing others, because I've killed someone before as well.”