Episode 12 – Crimson Sparks
Soma awakens by a campfire.
The spirit has been defeated.
Kei, Touka, and Shikanosuke are burning their wounds closed with flame.
“You’re awake!” Shikanosuke grins.
“Did we win?”
“Yes,” Kei replies calmly.
Touka laughs excitedly.
“You used Goulin twice in a row!
That’s insane!”
“Is it really that rare?”
Kei nods.
“Consecutive activation is nearly impossible.”
Then he grows serious.
“Do not get carried away, Soma.”
Soma understands.
That warning means Kei believes in his potential.
Kei pulls out an old newspaper.
“My master once set the record for consecutive Goulin.”
Kurose Taizo.
Forty years ago, at age 48,
he unleashed five consecutive white Goulin strikes
with a massive hammer.
He defeated multiple high-level spirits alone.
“He is a legend.”
Soma hesitates.
“But mine was crimson.”
Kei explains.
“Like flame tests, Goulin has colors.
They represent temperature and spiritual intensity.”
Red.
Orange.
Yellow.
White.
Blue-white.
Blue.
“And beyond that… Purple.”
“Purple?”
“Almost never observed.
It transcends normal spiritual law.”
“There is a man who reached it.”
Kei’s expression darkens.
“Ichijo Ryoga.”
The strongest of the modern era.
He achieved Purple Goulin with a trident —
a weapon normally unsuited for it.
“Is he an enemy?”
Kei hesitates.
“The Exorcist Order is divided.
Ryoga is not on our side.”
Silence falls.
Soma clenches his fist.
“If the higher-ups harm innocent people…
I’ll stop them.
Spiritual power exists to protect those without it.”
Touka grins.
“Now that’s the spirit.”
Shikanosuke laughs loudly.
“I’m in!”
Kei watches Soma carefully.
“First, become stronger.
They are far beyond you.”
“I will.”
The campfire burns quietly.
Still small.
But alive.
Then Touka suddenly shouts—
“Wait.
We haven’t bathed in days!”
Shikanosuke scratches himself.
“I’m itchy!”
They drag Soma and Kei toward the bathhouse.
Laughter echoes.
For now—
they are alive.
And that is enough.
