Chapter 116: The Twitter Virtuoso

Hashimoto Kotone, the easiest to win over, had been successfully guided. With that task complete, Qiao Qiao began to contemplate his next target.

Through his experience with Kotone, Qiao Qiao had gained some insight. While these shrine maidens were not inherently opposed to learning spirit-exorcism techniques, they still found the idea of using weapons for such purposes somewhat difficult to accept. His success with Kotone—guiding her only after she had experienced the sensation of exorcising spirits with bullets—was entirely due to her personal fondness for B-movies and anime. The other three shrine maidens would require a different approach.

As he pondered, Qiao Qiao noticed Hayami Nanase looking at him. Well, he decided, he would start with her.

Qiao Qiao picked up his phone and reviewed Nanase’s file. Though she appeared to be a typical high school girl, she actually suffered from severe social anxiety. During her middle school years, she had been a notorious problem student—withdrawn, refusing to interact with others, frequently skipping classes, and often ignoring her teachers when called upon.

It wasn't until her third year of middle school, when a severe supernatural incident occurred at her school, that things changed. Relying on her spiritual power, she had managed to temporarily suppress the vengeful spirit, holding it at bay until a professional exorcist could arrive to finish the job. It turned out that Nanase had been able to see supernatural entities since she was a child—possessing what was commonly known as "spirit vision."

By observing the flow of yin energy and spiritual power, she could easily discern the goodwill or malice of others. At the same time, due to her spiritual constitution, she was a magnet for vengeful spirits. This was the reason she dared not interact with others; anyone who grew too close to her would inevitably be targeted by spirits, and she had been helpless to stop it. Of course, after she joined the Shimogamo Shrine, these issues became less of a concern, but the habits formed over years were not so easily broken.

Nanase was much more comfortable typing than speaking. Indeed, she maintained an active Twitter account with over a hundred thousand followers, where she acted as a sharp-tongued critic of various entertainment media, including games, anime, and films. Her reviews were so incisive and witty that she had garnered a massive following. Incidentally, her account did not reveal her identity as a high school girl; to most, she appeared to be a mature, sophisticated woman—so much so that she had even received romantic confessions from many girls in her direct messages.

*Such a person,* Qiao Qiao thought, *won’t be so easy to fool—or rather, to guide.*

After lunch, Suzuka finally crawled out of her room, yawning.

"We’re supposed to be on vacation, yet you were completely missing all morning," Qiao Qiao remarked.

"Ha—I was chatting with a friend until late last night, and before I knew it, it was dawn," she replied.

Qiao Qiao assumed she was talking about that Vtuber from Kyoto. The complexities of female friendships were something he struggled to understand.

"Speaking of which," Qiao Qiao said, reminded of Nanase by Suzuka’s presence, "do you know the Twitter account 'Nanami Nanase'?"

"Of course I do. Qiao-san, do you take me for some old hag from the previous century?" Suzuka asked with a look of surprise. "At first, I just thought the account name was interesting, but after following it, I realized this person actually has surprisingly good taste."

"Indeed," Qiao Qiao mused. The name "Nanami Nanase," when read in Japanese, sounded like a tongue-twister; it was a character from a certain author's work. Judging by the publication date, that character was even older than Nanase herself. Incidentally, that author was currently obsessed with writing horror-themed fiction and had already penned dozens of volumes.

"What’s the matter? Are you planning to start a career as a Twitter personality, Qiao-san?" Suzuka asked curiously. "Come to think of it, your Twitter account barely has any content. That won't do."

She quickly pulled up his profile on her phone. Aside from a few scattered retweets from a year ago, the last six months were almost entirely filled with posts like "Running low on ammo," "Exorcising spirits near Shinjuku tonight," and "A simple guide to shooting." It looked exactly like the feed of a military enthusiast. Incidentally, Suzuka had one hundred and fifty thousand followers.

"Never mind that," Qiao Qiao said, ignoring her teasing. "What do you think the owner of that account would be interested in?"

"It feels like she’s passionate about everything, but if I had to choose, I’d say gaming," Suzuka said, scrolling through the account. "She’s very knowledgeable about games and gaming hardware, and she often writes recommendation blogs."

"Games and hardware, huh?" Qiao Qiao fell into thought. He didn't know much about electronics; his phone was a basic, no-frills Apple model. As for games, he hadn't touched them since he once tried playing an FPS with Suzuka and was killed repeatedly because he was terrible with controller-based aiming. He was, quite frankly, hopeless with his hands. Finding an entry point for conversation seemed difficult.

"Suzuka, you must know quite a bit about electronics, right?" Qiao Qiao suddenly realized.

"Hmm? I’m alright, I suppose. I know enough to build my own PC."

"Isn't that impressive?" Qiao Qiao looked her up and down, surprised. He didn't understand PC building, and the mere sight of the prices for those graphics cards and CPUs was enough to give him heart palpitations.

Why would anyone spend two hundred thousand yen to build a computer, only to use it for playing browser games? When that kind of money could buy real weapons! Qiao Qiao couldn't fathom it.

"So, Suzuka, do you have any time this afternoon?" he asked.

"I don't have any particular plans today." Suzuka suddenly sensed something and narrowed her eyes. "Are you asking me on a date, Qiao-san? That won't do. I’m only three years old; I’m not at the age for such things."

"No, to be precise, I’d like to invite you to join me for an exorcism."

"?"

Does any man invite a girl out in Kyoto just to go exorcise spirits? That seemed fundamentally wrong.

"Qiao-san, you really shouldn't say things like that when inviting a girl out," Suzuka said, sounding like a mother worried about her son’s inability to find a girlfriend. "Even if you are going to exorcise spirits, you have to be a bit more tactful."

"I see. So, does that mean you don't have the time?" Qiao Qiao had already pulled out the mission file, but judging by her tone, she didn't seem interested.

"I might... well, the timing isn't great, um," Suzuka stammered, looking away. *Who wants to go exorcising spirits with Qiao-san?* If it were Arashiyama or the Fushimi Inari Shrine, that would be a different story. She’d heard Fushimi Inari was great for finding a romantic partner, and the hot springs in Arashiyama even had private rooms with mixed-gender baths. Besides, since they were in Kyoto, they should at least visit landmarks like the Kiyomizu-dera or the Golden Pavilion, even if they skipped the Manga Museum. Although she talked about "traveling," the thought of sightseeing alone was far too lonely.

"What a pity," Qiao Qiao said. "By the way, this job is for a gaming company."

"A gaming company? Speaking of gaming companies in Kyoto..." As Suzuka searched her memory, she curiously glanced at the documents in Qiao Qiao’s hand. It was Nintendo.

"?"

Suzuka froze. "Qiao-san, is it too late for me to say I want to go?"