Harmost's War Records: II

"'Shiki'? Not much different from the 'jinni' of home?" With that doubt, Harmost began chatting with his new companion… An unplanned journey starts here.

"So you really are a ghost?"

"No! I'm not dead yet!"

"But you haven't lived either, have you?"

"Uh… if you put it that way…"

The chatty girl who called herself a "shikigami" stuffed rice dumplings into her mouth so hard that Harmost somewhat feared she would choke.

"If I must say, my case is more like a so-called 'bound spirit'?"

"That's still a ghost…"

"Not the kind you mean!"

After another round of bickering Harmost finally understood: this creature was perhaps similar to Sumeru's so-called "jinni."

By true name one seals a name-bond. Driving by true name—mystic arts the world over are much the same; perhaps that shows one of humanity's deepest fears—the fear of being mastered.

Musing so, Harmost began to regret not studying the occult, but the obscure course of marine biology…

Not only must he cross to Inazuma, he must face a living-hell thesis defense…

But now with a noisy little thing at his side, perhaps it counts as a turn for the better…