Although more than two years had passed since that incident, Sakurajima Mai still felt some physiological discomfort when recalling it even now.
She had emphasized to her mother more than once that she only wanted to shoot things that a 14-year-old girl should shoot, but her mother still forcibly signed a contract for her, who was still in junior high school at the time, to shoot a swimsuit photobook on the grounds that "swimsuit photos sell better."
And every time she questioned it, all she got was her mother's cold explanation: "You don't understand what the right choice is yet."
It could be said that the more time passed, the more she felt her own wretchedness at that time when she recalled forcing a smile in front of the camera.
It was also after that that she began to have thoughts of defying her mother, and showed great resistance to the subsequent jobs her mother arranged for her that required her to complete in an image that did not fit her.
Difficult-to-resolve conflicts began to arise between mother and daughter because of this.
After entering high school, Sakurajima Mai directly expressed her intention to suspend all entertainment activities.
However, even at this time, her mother's response was still so cold.
"Since you chose this path, don't expect me to support you."
Then, after entering high school, Sakurajima Mai spent a semester rushing to complete the previously signed contracts, and then moved out of her home to live alone.
But when she returned to school after solving all problems, she, who had been absent for a semester, still couldn't find her place in the school.
Those classmates might try to please her because of her identity as a famous child star, but she, who only wanted to experience the life of an ordinary person, didn't want to see those people who looked at her with a child star filter trying to please her at all.
As a result, she, who wanted to return to life, didn't have any friends to talk to in school, and couldn't integrate into the school environment at all.
And amidst this inner conflict, clues to the problem on her body gradually appeared.
The first to be affected was actually her mother.
After she chose to suspend entertainment activities and live alone, she actually still maintained a way of getting along with her mother by communicating once a week and meeting once a month.
But at the end of last year, her mother forgot the meeting she had agreed on for the first time.
After that, if Sakurajima Mai didn't take the initiative to contact her mother, her mother would hardly remember that she had a daughter for a month.
At that time, Sakurajima Mai had already noticed something wrong.
It was just that she didn't think much about it at that time, and even felt that there was no problem with this. At least such a mother no longer showed that suffocating desire for control.
Then by May of this year, the ability rampage caused her to be forgotten by everyone for half a month.
Basking in the sun and blowing the sea breeze on the bench by the coastal road, Sakurajima Mai told what happened to her bit by bit.
Her tone could actually remain calm, but when mentioning junior high school matters, her voice would occasionally tremble slightly.
And throughout the process, she had been emitting spiritual fluctuations, indicating that her inner emotions were not that calm.
"You want everyone to treat you as an ordinary girl, and don't want those peers to always treat you with a big star filter when getting along with you. At the same time, you yourself also hope to completely escape your mother's control. So when you realized you had this ability, you were actually happy, right?"
Sakurajima Mai reached out and smoothed her hair blown by the wind.
"Although I don't want to admit it, you are indeed right. At first, I was indeed very happy, feeling that I could finally live the life I wanted."
Miyauchi Hikage nodded and added: "Then you found that your ability was out of control."
"Actually, your heart is still in conflict now."
"You don't dislike acting; you still love your career. You just want to be able to decide your own work by yourself and not be influenced by others anymore."
"At the same time, you want to distinguish your career from your life in your heart. When working, you are a child star who became famous at a young age, a genius beautiful girl actor rarely seen in a century."
"In normal times, you hope that you can live the life of a normal high school girl, without caring about the halo of a big star, without being overly concerned by the people around you, and enjoy the youth that should belong to you with the mentality of an ordinary person. I should be right."
After listening to Miyauchi Hikage's words, a wry smile appeared on Sakurajima Mai's face.
"Your eyes are really unreasonable. But I suggest you be a little more tactful in the future, otherwise your mouth will easily offend people."
This feeling of being completely seen through just by standing in front of others was really uncomfortable.
Fortunately, it seemed that when the other party activated his ability, his eyes would light up. Otherwise, standing with such a person would probably only create greater pressure.
Sakurajima Mai shook her head and continued: "But you're right. I am indeed quite greedy. I can't bear to leave the entertainment industry, but I don't want to be controlled by my family and the company, and I also want to have the same youth as other girls."
She paused, then suddenly revealed a helpless smile: "How about it? Do you feel that the filter for 'Sakurajima Mai' has shattered all at once?"
Yotsuya Miko looked at Miyauchi Hikage with some worry: "The spiritual reaction on Miss Sakurajima is getting stronger and stronger. If this goes on, maybe those dirty things will be attracted."
Sakurajima Mai's ability hadn't stabilized yet, and the spiritual fluctuations triggered would unconsciously attract the approach of those vengeful spirits.
If the ability stabilized, Sakurajima Mai, who could only see those low-level vengeful spirits for the time being, wouldn't encounter any threats.
But at this stage, her ability went berserk, and she might see those big guys that she couldn't handle now at all. If she accidentally revealed that she could see them, those vengeful spirits wouldn't be merciful when they attacked.
Among those who failed in supernatural awakening, nearly 20% of them came into contact with those hideous vengeful spirits during the ability awakening process, were traumatized by those guys, and thus failed to awaken.
A considerable part of them directly became the rations of those vengeful spirits.
Although the number of vengeful spirits in Fujisawa City wasn't large, and couldn't compare with Tokyo, let alone Beika Town where the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons happened every night, this was still a modern city within the Tokyo metropolitan area after all, so vengeful spirits were inevitable.
After all, vengeful spirits were not Cursed Spirits that would actively look for trouble. As long as no one could see vengeful spirits, these guys usually wouldn't cause any big commotion.
Releasing them (performing rites to help them pass on) once a year or half a year, and dealing with those restless guys among them, leaving the remaining harmless low-to-mid-level vengeful spirits was no problem.
Along the way, Yotsuya Miko did see several high-level vengeful spirits feeding on low-level vengeful spirits by the roadside.
If it were the time when she just awakened her Yin-Yang eyes, Yotsuya Miko estimated that she might really break her composure facing these big guys.
But now she had grown up. Knowing the mechanism of these vengeful spirits, combined with the ability of the diary, it was easy to ignore these vengeful spirits.
However, this was only actively avoiding these vengeful spirits. The current Yotsuya Miko knew very well that she was just a rookie who had just awakened cursed energy. Even with Cursed Tools, she could deal with at most a few low-level vengeful spirits.
It would be troublesome if Sakurajima Mai's spiritual fluctuation attracted high-level vengeful spirits.
Even though Miyauchi Hikage now had Grade 1 strength, and seemed to have taken a mid-grade Cursed Tool from the Cursed Warehouse of Jujutsu High yesterday, coupled with the Nichirin Blade Shinomiya Kaguya gave him before, he probably had the power to fight even if he encountered a special-grade vengeful spirit.
But now Miyauchi Hikage seemed to be carrying nothing but a bag, empty-handed.
In such a situation, the only thing he could rely on seemed to be that taijutsu. In such a situation, if several high-level vengeful spirits were attracted, Miyauchi Hikage probably wouldn't be able to deal with them easily.
Listening to Yotsuya Miko's explanation, the expression on Miyauchi Hikage's face hadn't changed much, but Sakurajima Mai's face began to look wrong.
That's right. Since there were institutions like Jujutsu High specifically established for supernatural events in the world, how could there not be those rumored ghosts?
Would she also attract the attention of those dirty things now?
Accompanying such thoughts, the spiritual fluctuation around Sakurajima Mai, who wanted to control her ability, became even more intense instead.
Regarding this, Miyauchi Hikage patted Yotsuya Miko on the shoulder: "Your reminder was very good. Don't remind next time."
Miyauchi Hikage looked at Sakurajima Mai again: "The filter shattering or something didn't happen. After all, I didn't have any expectations for the entertainment industry to begin with. Or rather, the fact that you are conflicted to this extent because of such things can already be considered a clear stream in the entertainment industry."
After all, the last idol who expressed her greed was Hoshino Ai, who became pregnant out of wedlock at the age when Sakurajima Mai idealistically shot swimsuit photos.
Although Hoshino Ai in this world shouldn't cause these messy things anymore, Miyauchi Hikage knew that this love-brained girl had transferred all her emotions to the "mysterious person." If that woman really discovered his identity, she would probably deliver herself to his door that night.
Precisely considering this "defect" in Hoshino Ai's personality, even if her upper limit was very high, Miyauchi Hikage had never considered signing Hoshino Ai to Asahigaoka Media.
He signaled Sakurajima Mai to adjust her emotions: "Don't be so tense. If you really attract vengeful spirits, I'll ask you for overtime pay then."
Hearing Miyauchi Hikage's relaxed tone as if he didn't care about those dirty things, Sakurajima Mai also slowly calmed her emotions down under Miyauchi Hikage's signal.
She asked about Miyauchi Hikage somewhat curiously: "Aren't you the founder of Asahigaoka Media? You should have been busy filming those online videos before, right? Then how did you awaken superpowers?"
"At the beginning of this month, I encountered a ghost while filming a video, and then naturally awakened."
Sakurajima Mai's attention was successfully attracted: "What, so you awakened in the same period as me?"
Miyauchi Hikage waved his hand without changing his expression: "It's okay to say the same period if you insist, but the gap between us might be much bigger than you imagine."
"I was designated as having special-grade potential by the strongest jujutsu sorcerer in the Jujutsu world now. I had Grade 1 strength half a month after awakening, and now I'm sent here by Jujutsu High nicely for a publicly funded business trip."
"And you still can't control your ability now, and you have to worry about encountering those unclean things because of ability rampage."
Sakurajima Mai rolled her eyes at Miyauchi Hikage, and then stepped on Miyauchi Hikage's shoe without changing her expression.
Seeing Miyauchi Hikage's unresponsive appearance, she directly asked him: "So, Mr. Grade 1 Supernatural Being of the same period as me, how can I return to normal now?"
Since the scars in her heart had already been seen through by Miyauchi Hikage, she had nothing to hide.
Miyauchi Hikage rested his chin on his hand, opened the Eye of Destiny, and looked at Sakurajima Mai carefully for a while, before shaking his head: "Actually, I can't say for sure either."
Before Sakurajima Mai's emotions became agitated again, he quickly added: "Actually, it's not difficult if you just want everyone to remember you again."
"Just use behavior and emotions that are eye-catching enough to force everyone to realize the existence of 'Sakurajima Mai', right? I can even take you to Jujutsu High now and find someone to help you seal your current ability, but these are just treating the symptoms but not the root cause."
He continued to say to Sakurajima Mai: "To completely solve the problem of ability rampage, you must first make a choice in your own heart."
"Superpowers are originally a very idealistic thing. Especially in your current situation, your own inner conflict is the main reason for the ability rampage."
"You still have hesitation in your heart. Maybe you haven't thought about how to continue getting along with your mother in the future, or maybe you haven't found something that strengthens your belief."
"In short, if your own will is not firm, even if you find a medium to temporarily seal your rampaging ability, the power that cannot be vented will only cause greater disasters to your life once it breaks through the seal in the future."
Sakurajima Mai exhaled deeply.
So, is the root cause still in myself?
Before Sakurajima Mai fell into mental internal friction again, Miyauchi Hikage clapped his hands in front of her.
"But now, don't be awkward with yourself first. It has never been easy to reconcile with oneself. At least with your current mental state, you won't get an answer if you continue to struggle."
"It's better to relax your mind first and think about the things you always wanted to do before but never had the chance to do. Take advantage of your current state where you don't need to worry about anything, and do all the things you wanted to do. I think it should help your current situation."
"Maybe you won't need our help then, and you can control your ability yourself. This is also the best situation."
With Miyauchi Hikage's words falling, the spiritual fluctuation around Sakurajima Mai also stopped.
In the half month of being forgotten by others, she had been struggling with her existence and how many people could still see her.
It seemed that she really hadn't relied on this physique of not being noticed that she suddenly obtained to do anything.
Speaking of which, she had obviously lived in Fujisawa for almost two years, but to avoid being recognized, her usual range of activities was only within a thousand meters of home, the station, and the school.
Even Kamakura and Yokohama, which were next to Fujisawa City, she hadn't really gone there to have a good look except for the work left before.
She even wanted to see how her parents lived their daily lives after forgetting her.
Seeing the intention appearing on Sakurajima Mai's face, and that she was already thinking about where she wanted to go.
Miyauchi Hikage winked at Yotsuya Miko, asking her to come over for a whisper.
"The next work may have to be handed over to you to complete. Just accompany this big star to wander around the places she wants to go, and be a bestie to chat about her feelings. You can just let her pay for the expenses on the road. You shouldn't have any problem with this rare opportunity to get along with a big star, right?"
"I will also help you explain to Jujutsu High. And taking this opportunity, you can also find a way to abduct her to Jujutsu High. Maybe you can make this big star your classmate?"
With the acceleration of the spiritual resurgence, even if the constraints of the Secrecy Law were still in effect, they basically had no binding force anymore. Jujutsu High would definitely not mind finding a big star who had awakened to the supernatural to be a poster girl.
Hearing Miyauchi Hikage's words, Yotsuya Miko was a little moved but couldn't help but be a little flustered: "What about you, Hikage-kun? Are you ignoring it?"
Miyauchi Hikage looked at Yotsuya Miko as a matter of course: "Of course not. After all, it's a task for the two of us. Of course I won't throw everything to you. It's just that it's not good for an adolescent boy like me to follow you guys for a long time."
Just chatting with Sakurajima Mai for a while, they had already become "contemporaries." If they chatted further, the suspension bridge effect might really be triggered.
He felt that the atmosphere was already a bit wrong now. For safety's sake, it was better to cool down Sakurajima Mai first.
"And I have to go to school tomorrow. But if there is any situation on your side, I will definitely rush over immediately."
Yotsuya Miko's face immediately froze.
She almost forgot that Miyauchi Hikage hadn't dropped out of Toyogasaki and was still a student there.
And it seemed that Miyauchi Hikage had no intention of giving up this identity.
It could only be said that a genius like Miyauchi Hikage could indeed do whatever he wanted.