'Could it be… Hanako really never considered me a frien—'

"No way! You sly human, you actually tried to sow discord between me and Hanako! Hmph!"

"Kukuku! Trying to drive a wedge between us so I'll betray Hanako, is that it?"

"What kind of relationship I have with Hanako has nothing to do with you! Anyway, Hanako and I are friends, and I will absolutely never betray a friend! Stop talking nonsense trying to drive us apart, I won't believe a word you say!"

Looking at Hikari's rather handsome face, which bore an irritating smirk, Miss Mary loudly berated him.

And hearing the rebuke in the cute, clip-toned voice of this short girl, Hikari just smiled and shook his head, "I'm not trying to drive a wedge. I'm just helping you analyze the situation objectively."

"Given Hanako's brutal and cunning personality, she would never have a real friend."

"You think of her as a friend, but she might not consider you one. Is it worth keeping secrets for someone like that?"

Hearing Hikari's words, Miss Mary didn't hesitate this time and instead sneered coldly, "I already said your tricks to sow discord won't work. No matter what you say, Miss Hanako told me she wants to be my friend. And when it comes to friends, I will absolutely keep secrets. I suggest you stop wasting your breath. Whatever tricks you've got, just bring them on already."

"No, no, no, I only want to ask Miss Mary something. Just a question," Hikari suddenly said.

"What question? If it's about how to get Miss Hanako out of the Resentful Domain, I won't tell you. I absolutely will not betray my friend," Miss Mary said firmly.

"It's not that. I just want to ask, would you mind having one more friend? I want to be friends with you, Miss Mary," Hikari suddenly said.

"Eh?", Miss Mary looked up in shock, only to see Hikari smiling at her with squinted eyes.

"You're saying… you want to be friends with me?", Miss Mary, wondering if she misheard, asked Hikari again in disbelief.

"Yes," Hikari nodded calmly.

"Uh…", Miss Mary's cute little face froze. Her large emerald eyes stopped moving, and her cherry lips parted slightly. Her whole body entered a dazed state.

She hadn't expected Hikari to say he wanted to be friends with her.

After all, they'd just been fighting like enemies.

But hearing Hikari's words and seeing the seemingly sincere look in his eyes… Thinking that she might have one more friend made Miss Mary's heart suddenly race, and her breathing grew rapid.

A flicker of hesitation appeared in her eyes, and she fell into an inner struggle.

Dazed and silent for over ten seconds, Miss Mary finally stammered to Hikari, "H-Humans and urban legends can't possibly be friends."

"Why not?", Hikari said calmly.

"It's just not possible…"

"Is there some law or regulation saying humans can't be friends with urban legends?"

"No…"

"Then why not?"

"Uh… I… I don't know either. But it's just impossible, isn't it? Humans and urban legends being friends…"

"Exactly why not?"

"Why are you asking me? How would I know?"

"So, are we friends then?"

"N-No we're not! I'm not friends with you, you stupid human!"

"Why not?"

"What do you mean why not? I should be the one asking you, why do you want to be friends with an urban legend like me? You're a human, saying you want to be friends with me is way too weird!"

Maybe because Hikari's words were just too absurd, Miss Mary even began to suspect he was messing with her.

In the end, she shouted at Hikari loudly.

Hikari remained calm and calmly raised the stakes, "No, there's nothing weird about it."

"I really do want to be friends with you, Miss Mary."

"After all, you're not actually bad-hearted, and you've never truly hurt a human, right?"

"Even though you're an urban legend, you just like teasing humans, don't you?"

"Also, the only reason you came at me so fiercely this time was because you wanted to avenge your good friend. That's why you wanted to give me a proper lesson, isn't that right?"

"Your personality isn't evil and cruel. On top of that, you're so loyal and righteous. Of course I'd want to be friends with you. What's so strange about that?"

"Uh…", Hearing these words from Hikari, Miss Mary fell into confusion and conflict.

Even though she was still pinned underneath him, and he was still gripping her neck, those words from Hikari sounded very strange.

But hearing the way Hikari so directly praised her character and heart, Miss Mary couldn't help but freeze.

Because no one had ever praised her like that before.

Or rather, no one had ever praised her at all.

As a discarded doll, Miss Mary actually had a bit of a love deficit.

Though she never said it, she longed for friends very much.

That's why she cherished her urban legend friend Hanako and was willing to avenge her.

But Hikari was a human. Can humans and urban legends, or a "living doll" like her, really be friends?

Miss Mary fell into endless turmoil and deep thought.

In the blink of an eye, several minutes passed.

Looking at the doll Mary, whose dazed eyes seemed like she might fall asleep, Hikari spoke again, "So? Have you decided? Will you be my friend, Miss Mary?"

Interrupted from her thoughts by Hikari, Miss Mary's beautiful eyes stared tightly at him.

Her little mouth parted slightly, as if to say something, but quickly closed again. Then, it opened again.

Repeating this inner conflict a dozen times, Miss Mary's exquisitely cute face suddenly twisted in anger, "I-I-I don't want to be friends with you humans!"

"You humans are all liars! Big fat liars!"

"You humans are the best at lying! What you just said must've been a lie too!"

"I'll never trust you humans again! Hmph!"

"I don't want to be friends with you humans!"

Miss Mary, for some reason, lost control of her emotions and loudly rejected Hikari's request.

"Sigh…", Hearing Miss Mary's rejection and loud rebuke, Hikari sighed and shook his head helplessly.

"Not being able to be friends with you is a real pity. But if you're willing to tell me about Hanako, I'll still forgive you for today's offense and let you go unharmed, I won't hurt you at all. Okay, Miss Mary?", Hikari asked in a calm tone.

Miss Mary, however, wore a gloomy expression and suddenly let out a cold laugh, "Kukuku!"

"Your wolfish ambitions and scheming plots are all exposed now, aren't they? You sly human!"

"As expected, your goal was always about information on Miss Hanako. That talk about being friends with me was just a lie."

"I knew it. There's no way a human would want to be friends with an urban legend. Don't be ridiculous!"

Hikari suddenly smiled at her and said, "Nope. I really did want to be friends with you just now."

"Eh?", Looking at the sincere smile on the boy's face, the heart in Mary the doll's body, which normally shouldn't beat, suddenly thumped. She even felt a sudden pang of regret.

But she quickly sneered and said, "Enough, stop lying to me."

"Wasn't your whole plan to trick information about Miss Hanako out of me?"

"I'm telling you, no matter what, I won't tell you. I, Miss Mary, will never betray a friend!"

"Not only will I not tell you any information, I'm going to remember today's grudge!"

"Hmph, just you wait. I'll tie you up and torment you brutally one day, you damn human!"

At the end, her emerald-green eyes glared fiercely at Hikari.

Looking at the appearance of Miss Mary beneath him, and hearing the words of this delicately dressed gothic girl, Hikari could only shake his head in frustration.

'As expected of an urban legend, neither soft nor hard tactics work.'

Hikari had no plans to abandon his goal. After a fierce battle, having finally captured Miss Mary, this urban legend, of course Hikari wouldn't let this opportunity slip.

Since this girl refused the polite approach, she'd have to suffer the harsh one.

"You leave me no choice."

Hikari activated the electric discharge power of the Heaven Thunder Seed. Wisps of blue arcs coiled around his entire palm.

One arc after another spread across the body of Miss Mary, who was still pinned down.

Her small body began to tremble nonstop, and waves of clip-toned screams rang out.

Listening to the screams, Hikari's face remained calm. He didn't look pained at all.

After all, Miss Mary wasn't a real girl. She was a genuine urban legend.

If the roles were reversed and she had him pinned down, with her original goal being revenge, Miss Mary's treatment of him would definitely not be any gentler.

So Hikari showed no mercy.

He continued increasing the electric output in his hand.

Zzzzzzzz!

Arcs of lightning crackled. Miss Mary's delicate limbs twitched uncontrollably.

It was clear that after fusing with the Heaven Thunder Seed, the thunder power Hikari wielded had an incredibly strong suppressive effect on urban legends like her.

Miss Mary was clearly suffering from the shocks.

But under Hikari's questioning, she never said a single word.

Whether it was because Hikari hadn't trained the full Five Thunder Exorcism Technique yet and only had the raw Heaven Thunder Seed power, which wasn't enough.

Or perhaps Miss Mary herself was simply a particularly strong urban legend with high endurance.

In any case, even after over ten minutes of struggle, Hikari's hands had started to go numb from electrocuting her, but he still hadn't gotten the information he wanted.

Having zapped her for more than ten minutes straight, Hikari was tired and decided to rest his hand.

But as soon as he relaxed the electric current a bit, Miss Mary immediately started struggling again in a rage.

"Let me up!", Seeing her act just like before, struggling nonstop the moment she sensed an opening, her body starting to release Resentful power again, Hikari reactivated his Vajra Demon-Subduing Force and Heaven Thunder Seed energy to suppress her once more, forcing her to stay put on the bed.

However, having gained no useful intel after so long and only receiving verbal abuse instead, Hikari was starting to feel a headache.

Because if this dragged on any further, he'd eventually tire out and give Mary a chance to escape.

These urban legends weren't just strong, they were far too strange.

Going by his previous encounter with Hanako, who had her own Resentful Domain linked to the toilet, Miss Mary, being even stronger, most likely had one too.

Given Hikari's current strength, if Miss Mary escaped into her Resentful Domain, he probably wouldn't be able to find her again, just like with Hanako.

Hanako's space was toilet-related. Mary's might be tied to dolls or phones.

Although Hikari had his guesses, he didn't have a concrete solution.

After all, both "Toilet Hanako" and "Miss Mary's Phone" were well-known urban legends in Japan.

So their abilities were pretty strong, only legends like "Eight Feet Tall" or "Kuchisake-onna" might match them.

That he could beat them at all was already impressive.

Especially Miss Mary, her strength was considerable.

Hikari had used clever tricks to find an opening and subdue her.

In short, even though he seemed relaxed now, sitting atop Miss Mary and gripping her tiny neck, things weren't that easy.

Right now, Hikari had to keep both Vajra Demon-Subduing Force and Heaven Thunder Seed discharging at all times to maintain control.

But constantly operating both powerful energies was taxing even on Hikari's enhanced body.

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