-493- The Youngest Onmyouji

"————"

The festive atmosphere began to fade away.

Guided by the unknown shikigami, Rozen and Natsume arrived at a nearby shrine, ascending the long stone steps.

The steps were not long, the type that even someone with Rozen's lack of physical strength could easily climb.

So, it didn't take long for Rozen and Natsume to reach the torii gate marking the entrance to the shrine.

A red torii gate stood at the end of the stone steps, emitting a sacred atmosphere.

Before this torii gate, the leading shikigami stopped.

"I've brought them here."

The shikigami, who had halted abruptly, spoke in a peculiar manner.

In response to this voice, a clear, somewhat mocking, yet seemingly joyful voice replied.

"I didn't expect to really find you. I was just pondering how to break through the Tsuchimikado family's barrier and bring someone out. But now, it's great. Saved me a lot of trouble."

As this clear voice resounded, both Rozen and Natsume raised their heads and looked ahead.

There, on top of the shrine's torii gate, sat a figure.

It was a young girl.

The girl appeared to be around twelve or thirteen years old, with long, curly golden hair tied into twin ponytails. She wore a stylish gothic Lolita outfit that was quite revealing.

Her upper body had only a sleeveless short top, while her lower body featured a mini skirt adorned with various decorations. She wore shiny patent leather knee-high boots, giving off a glamorous yet slightly unbalanced feeling, exuding a poisonous charm.

This young girl sat on top of the torii gate, causing her skirt to be in a precarious position. However, she paid no attention to it. She swung her legs, holding various festival snacks in her hand, eating with great delight.

"So, you're Tsuchimikado Akikan? And the one next to you is Tsuchimikado Natsume, right? Just as rumored. Even in this day and age, those from the branch family serve the main family as shikigami. They still have such a foolish family rule of treating people as shikigami. Truly stupid."

Despite her young age, the girl, both in attitude and tone, was incredibly arrogant. Her words were sharp and acerbic, making her seem both rude and malicious.

However, this kind of rudeness and malice coming from a young girl gave off a distinctive and unique sense of personality.

Because despite the young appearance and definitely not being too old, the girl had an adorable look that could easily make her a star like Kurahashi Kyouko.

No.

Rather, compared to Kurahashi Kyouko, the girl in front of them was indeed a star.

At least, after getting a clear look at the girl's appearance, both Rozen and Natsume remembered her from their own information.

"It's you?"

Rozen exclaimed in surprise.

"You..."

Natsume was equally astonished.

Neither of them had met the girl before.

However, in magazines and photobooks specifically covering the Onmyou Agency, both of them frequently saw her.

Among the current staff of the Onmyou Agency, there was an onmyouji with extremely high popularity in the industry.

She often appeared in various reports and photobooks, considered the image spokesperson of the Onmyou Agency. Even ordinary people had heard of her, and she was idolized by both aspiring and newly debuted onmyouji in the field of jujutsu.

In the world of Jujutsu, she was arguably the most famous onmyouji, even more popular than the head of the Onmyou Agency, highly anticipated as the rising star of the jujutsu world.

The girl before them was exactly that person.

"Dairenji Suzuka..." Rozen quietly voiced the girl's identity.

"One of the Twelve Divine Generals..." Natsume's expression became more serious.

Watching their reactions, Suzuka, the young girl, smiled.

Like a blooming flower, her smile was innocent and lovely.

However, the words that came from her mouth were like this.

"So you recognized me so quickly. That's why being too famous is troublesome. But what can I do? I'm just so cute, you know?"

Suzuka took a bite of a dumpling, then extended her hand and snapped her fingers.

Suddenly, the shikigami that had been guiding Rozen and Natsume vanished into thin air, turning into a talisman that flew back into Suzuka's hand.

During this, Suzuka inevitably released a bit of curse energy.

"...!"

Natsume, reacting to Suzuka's curse energy, instinctively took a stance, ready to draw a curse seal from the talisman box at her waist at any moment.

Facing Natsume's tension, Dairenji Suzuka looked at her with disdain.

"Don't be so nervous, okay?" Suzuka sneered as if looking down on them. "The one I just used was just a simple artificial shikigami, sent out to find you. Even if it stayed, it wouldn't be of much use. So I recalled it."

Saying this, a dangerous smile began to spread across Suzuka's face.

"Although you can't compare to me, you two are recognized as prodigies. If you want to be my opponents, you should at least summon shikigami of this level, shouldn't you?"

As she spoke, Suzuka's petite body started to emit curse energy.

It was a tremendous amount of curse energy for a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl.

The curse energy gathered in the air and summoned the shikigami of the girl.

It stood over two meters tall, with a total of three pairs of six long arms. It resembled more of a machine than a living being, flames burning on its head, and its iron body emanating red light, forming intricate patterns and designs.

Rozen immediately recognized this shikigami.

"Onmyou Agency's specially manufactured mass-produced artificial shikigami—'M3 Asura.'"

This was the shikigami Suzuka summoned.

"Hehe..."

The girl let out a laughter like tinkling bells.

However, that laughter carried a sense of danger no matter how one listened to it.

Following that...

"Let's play a little, shall we?"

Suzuka said happily, allowing the curse energy she emitted to flow into the Asura on her back.

Immediately, like an activated machine, the Asura raised its head.

"Bang!"

The next moment, the Asura raised its hand and shot a talisman like a bullet.