"Damn it!"

In the living room of Miura Yumiko's house, Inoue Yasutaka was startled when he sensed the flash of white light sweeping across all of Chiba.

In fear and panic, he slammed the table in front of him into pieces.

"Why?! Why are those people in Chiba?!"

Inoue Yasutaka's face was dark enough to drip ink.

Originally, he had planned to use the widespread blackout in Chiba to drain humans of their life force and use that to create five general-class evil spirits as new subordinates.

But who could have predicted that a single flash of white light would nearly leave him with nothing?

"Luckily... the special-grade evil spirits are still intact..."

He carefully checked every remaining evil spirit still linked to him.

Once he confirmed that the five general-class and over a dozen special-grade evil spirits were unharmed, Inoue Yasutaka finally let out a breath of relief.

Normally, he wouldn't care much about these "advanced cannon fodder."

After all, Chiba had no shortage of evil spirits—if he lost some, he could just fuse new ones.

But now, that white light had destroyed almost his entire reserve army. He'd have to start conserving resources.

Time to revise the plan...

Inoue Yasutaka's gaze shifted to Miura Yumiko.

.

.

.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Having not spoken with the middle-aged man for long, Yotsuya Miko came back downstairs blushing, now dressed in her loungewear.

Seeing his daughter return, the middle-aged man said a quick goodbye and disappeared from Hachiman's view, seemingly heading off somewhere else.

"Really, thank you so much for today!"

Coming up to Hachiman, Yotsuya Miko bowed deeply in gratitude just like her father had.

"No, it's nothing. Oh, here—hold on to this for now."

As he spoke, Hachiman took out another set of prayer beads from his system space—these had only been temporarily infused with spiritual energy—and handed them to Miko.

"These are... the old lady's prayer beads?"

Miko glanced down at them and hesitated for a moment before handing them back.

"I've used these before. They had some effect, but..."

"But they don't work on stronger evil spirits, right?"

Hachiman shoved the beads back into her hand.

"These ones have been temporarily enhanced by me. They should be able to repel higher-level evil spirits—at least for now. As for the real protective artifact I'm making for you, it'll still take a while..."

"You're making me an artifact?"

Hearing that, Yotsuya Miko didn't know exactly what an "artifact" was, but her heart filled with gratitude.

"Yeah, I just learned how to refine artifacts today. So making one will take a little more time."

Hachiman nodded, taking out the half-finished string of upgraded prayer beads and showing it to her.

"So pretty..."

Just one look and Miko was instantly taken with them. She reached out to touch them—but Hachiman immediately withdrew them.

"I have to finish enhancing them first."

Seeing Miko's clearly disappointed expression, Hachiman explained helplessly.

Right now, the prayer beads were only halfway through their upgrade process, and the spiritual energy inside was extremely unstable.

If anyone other than him touched them, they might explode.

"I want one too..."

Suddenly, a pitiful voice sounded beside him.

Turning his head, Hachiman saw Komachi staring at him longingly.

"You already have the bracelet."

A few black lines appeared on his forehead.

Not to mention that he hadn't even finished the first artifact properly yet—the bracelet Komachi wore on her wrist was way more powerful than any of his current creations.

"But I still want one!"

Pouting, Komachi clung to Hachiman's arm and shook it wildly.

This was outrageous!

He was making artifacts for outsiders and forgetting his adorable little sister?

She would definitely deduct points from his Big Brother Score!

"Fine, fine. I'll start yours after I finish Miko's, okay?"

Unable to resist Komachi's sudden spoiled behavior, Hachiman instantly surrendered.

"Yay!"

Komachi nodded in satisfaction.

.

.

.

They stayed a bit longer in Yotsuya Miko's living room.

Then suddenly, Hachiman's phone rang—it was a call from his dad.

"Hello? Dad?"

Seeing the time on the screen, Hachiman answered the call with a slight sense of guilt.

"Where did you and Komachi go?"

His father's voice on the other end was clearly suppressing anger.

Even though the whole city was without power, his boss still refused to let him leave work—he had to work overtime by candlelight.

And with the trains not running due to the blackout, he had to take a long-distance bus ride home at night.

Now finally home, his son and daughter were nowhere to be found!

Understandably, his mood was quite foul.

"Well, um..."

Glancing at the two girls in the living room, Hachiman gestured to Komachi to come over.

"Daddy~"

Receiving Hachiman's cue, Komachi jumped off the sofa, took the phone, and her tone instantly turned sweet and syrupy.

"Komachi? What are you two doing out so late?"

Hearing his beloved daughter's voice, Mr. Hikigaya's tone softened immediately.

"Well, since there's no power, it was getting boring at home, so I asked onii-chan to take me to a friend's house to hang out."

Komachi lied without even blinking.

"Is that so?"

Finding out his son and daughter were at a classmate's home—not out getting into trouble as he'd feared—Mr. Hikigaya sighed in relief.

"So you're not coming home tonight?"

Looking at the time on his phone, he continued.

It was already past 10 p.m.

Coming home at night with no electricity was dangerous. If possible, he hoped Komachi's classmate would let them stay over.

"Staying over tonight?"

Komachi turned to look at Hachiman.

This wasn't something she could decide on her own.

"That's no problem at all!"

Before Hachiman could even respond, Yotsuya Miko—who had been eavesdropping—hurriedly spoke up.

She couldn't guarantee that no new evil spirits would appear after the Hikigaya siblings left.

So if Hachiman stayed, she'd be more than happy.

"Then... we'll be imposing tonight."

Seeing the anticipation in Yotsuya Miko's eyes, Hachiman's eye twitched slightly.

But considering her safety, he nodded and agreed to stay the night.