Persona: Devil Summoner

Fang Zexia smiled, exerted a little effort, broke free from Fang Zejin's hand, and left the home that once belonged to her with light steps.

Now, this is not my home anymore. My home is somewhere else.

Yoshizawa Sumire just stared blankly at her sister's receding back, lost in thought for a long time, just standing there like a wooden sculpture.

Click, the door opened.

An honest middle-aged man wearing glasses pushed open the door and walked in. When he saw Yoshizawa Sumire in the room, he was stunned for a moment: "Sumire? So you are at home? - Then who was that person I just saw at the station... Was I seeing things..."

He muttered, unbuttoning his suit jacket.

"Dad, I've been home all the time."

Yoshizawa Sumire didn't know what to say, so she could only reply with this sentence. The middle-aged man said "oh" and continued to change out of his work clothes.

The daily life of the Fangze family will remain the same as before, without any disturbances.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 325 Meanwhile, the Niijima Family

"So, are you really going to do it?"

In the neatly tidy room, a man and a woman were looking at each other. The woman lowered her head with a helpless expression on her face. With moist eyes, she looked like a weak little white rabbit.

"Of course, you have to take advantage of the time when your sister is away..."

The man said this in a tough tone, approaching the woman with a smug smirk on his face.

"Yes, but..."

"There's nothing to worry about... I picked the time when your sister isn't at home, isn't it just so that no one will notice even if I shout louder?"

If you are familiar with Japanese light novels or romantic comedies, you should be able to tell right away that this kind of ambiguous dialogue is 100% not what it means.

This man and woman are, of course, Jiang Tianwei and Niijima Makoto.

The place where the two of them were was actually in Shinjima's house, or strictly speaking, in Shinjima's room.

The Niijima family's house is quite large. From the layout of the rooms, it is not difficult to infer that this was originally a happy space where a family of four lived together. Although only a set of daily necessities for two people can be found now, traces of the parents once living together can be seen everywhere.

Shinjima's room is really the kind of room that you can tell at a glance that she is a good student. The windows are bright and clean, and the room is neatly cleaned. The desk connected to the bookcase is filled with supplementary books for exam preparation. On the desk is a laptop for studying, papers for finishing, and a panda pencil case that looks a bit old, which is quite cute. In the corner of the room, you can find a set of dumbbells, which are probably used to relieve stress when you are tired from studying.

By the way, although they are both laptops, if they are placed in Ryuji's house, people will think they are used for playing games, but if they are placed in Niijima's house, people will think they are used for studying... What an interesting subconscious mind.

Jiang Tianwei had no intention of exposing other people's scars. From the fact that Shinjima had never mentioned her parents to him, he could roughly guess that there must be some tragedy in her family that was not to be told to outsiders. Since Shinjima's sister went to work, there were only two people in the family, a man and a woman, living alone in a room. Usually, there would always be some ambiguous plot.

But, as mentioned before, once we mention "normal circumstances", exceptions will basically come right away.

Jiang Tianwei opened the bag in his hand and took out the things he had just rented from the video store one by one: "The Grudge", "The Ring", "A Nightmare on Elm Street"... These are all things that once brought considerable psychological trauma to a generation: horror movies.

From these things, as well as Shinjima's increasingly pale face and his expression that seemed to be about to cry, we can roughly guess the theme of today... That's right! It's special training!

"So... Anyway, it's special training. I'll help you with your homework, right? The first grade exams are coming up soon, right?"

There was sweat on Shinjima's forehead, his face was pale, and his eyes were lifeless.

When Jiang Tianwei called her, she really thought that the "study" this junior student mentioned was about coming here to study! But it turned out that he wanted her to study!

Jiang Tianwei's reasons are also very sufficient. Why is Xindao really afraid of ghosts? Is there a possibility that she doesn't understand the routines of ghosts? It's like a horror game blogger. After playing horror games for a long time, he will not be afraid, because when he arrives at a haunted place, he is already mentally prepared.

So, today Jiang Tianwei specially rented a lot of learning materials to help Shinjima learn what "horror movie routines" are!

Jiang Tianwei has never been able to understand why there would be a type of horror film that specifically uses scaring people as a selling point. He himself does not watch them, and he cannot understand why some people like to be scared. If you really like horror so much, just tell your boss: "Boss, I don't want overtime pay for overtime work in the future! I don't want salary for work!" Then you will immediately experience what unforgettable horror is - as long as people have no money, hell is everywhere!

But even though he didn't understand, he wasn't so bored as to post something online and confront horror movie fans.

To use a famous Chinese diplomatic phrase, it is "seek common ground while reserving differences." If we call on everyone to remain consistent and take sides in everything, and then denounce things that are not to their liking, wouldn't that become "uniting the party to attack the dissidents" and "eliminating dissidents"?

But to be honest, horror movies are made to scare people. People with little courage will definitely not watch them, while brave people will not be scared and may even enjoy watching them. Doesn't this make horror movies look shameful? But considering that recent comedies are not funny, tragedies are not tearful, and martial arts dramas are not full of fighting, it is not a big problem for horror movies not to be scary.

So, when he thought about the horror movie that was about to play its most primitive effect today, Jiang Tianwei couldn't help but think: Ah, I am such a good person! I am simply the savior of horror movies!

"You, are you thirsty? I'll buy you a drink..."

"I brought Sprite."

Jiang Tianwei interrupted Shinjima Makoto who was about to run out of the house in a panic, and took out a few cans of Sprite from a plastic bag like magic.

"Well, are you hungry? I'll go buy you some snacks..."

"I brought a snack gift box."

Seeing that Shinjima Makoto was about to get up and leave again, Jiang Tianwei took out another aluminum box from the plastic bag and placed it on the table with a bang.

"Well, well, have you checked out the Phantom Thief's website? Maybe there are helpless people looking for help..."

"Give up, President. Running away won't solve the problem."

Jiang Tianwei's voice was very gentle, but the expression on his face was clearly full of anticipation. It was obvious that he was looking forward to seeing Shinjima screaming in fear next.

Fear of ghosts is Shinjima's biggest weakness, and Shinjima herself is well aware of it, so she asked Jiang Tianwei to help with special training.

Everyone knows the result of the first special training.

So, if there is one, there will be two!

Jiang Tianwei carefully reflected on his last failure experience.

In the final analysis, it is because Niijima is really afraid of ghosts! So, why is she afraid of ghosts? Jiang Tianwei personally thinks that it is probably because of [unknown]. As mentioned before: Many times, people feel terrified because they do not understand, are not clear, and do not know.

The most typical example is when the camera was first introduced to China, it actually caused considerable panic among the people, because when the camera took a picture, it would suddenly produce fire, and then its image would appear on a small piece of paper. The superstitious people thought, "Ah, is my soul captured in the picture?" In the traditional Chinese view of life and death that emphasizes the six realms of reincarnation, this naturally scared a lot of people.

Are there still people who are afraid that taking photos will take away their souls? This is because people have a deeper understanding of ghosts. Following this line of thought, why is Shin Niijima afraid of ghosts? Maybe it is because she does not understand ghosts! So, let's help her understand them.

As for why they had to meet at Shinjima Makoto's house, the reason was simple. Jiang Tianwei felt that home, or one's own room, was an environment where people could feel most at ease. It should greatly reduce the sense of fear, especially since it was broad daylight now. There was definitely nothing to be afraid of - of course, if she was really scared, wouldn't that be interesting?

Jiang Tianwei told his ideas to Shinjima Shinichi, who shook his head like a rattle: "No, no, no, stop it. The method you mentioned is fine if it really works, but if it doesn't, I will be too scared to stay at home!"

"Then where else would you watch it if not at home? Would you go to the cinema?"

"Do I really have to watch this damn thing? Can't I just not watch it?"

Shinjima was frightened just by looking at the CD covers on the table. As we all know, the horror of horror movies basically comes from the atmosphere. If it is sunny, the horror will be reduced. If you turn off the sound, the horror will be greatly reduced. If you turn on a very exciting song, such as the most dazzling ethnic style, even Sadako will look a little cute.

"So, Comrade Niijima, give up resistance and come and see! Overcome your fear of ghosts quickly!".

"No! There is definitely something wrong with you!"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 326 Why don’t you use your invincible iron fist?

According to common sense in biology, the more an organism exercises a certain organ, the more developed it will be. From this theory, it is not difficult to see that this branch of the Niijima family will continue to strengthen its vocal cords in the future.

Before meeting Shinjima Makoto, Jiang Tianwei had never thought that humans could make such exaggerated sounds!

Back in the day, there was an animation about interstellar dinosaurs. In it, there was a pterodactyl that was good at using screams to attack the enemy. Not only could it cause mental pollution to the enemy, it could even cause mountains to collapse and glaciers to shatter.

(Maybe the new island is not really human, but a vanguard sent by the dinosaurs to destroy the humans on Earth?).

Jiang Tianwei rubbed his temples and pinched his ears, his mind full of messy thoughts. It is said that once a person falls into a trance, many involuntary random thoughts will emerge...

Many games have the concept of exclusive weapons, so the strongest exclusive weapon for Niijima is definitely a horror movie. As long as you play a horror movie for her, the screams will definitely explode the shadows and make them disappear."

“Sister…sister…wuwuwu…sister, save me…”

The initiator of the brazen operation that caused Jiang Tianwei's mind to be filled with thoughts was now hugging Jiang Tianwei's body, his two arms firmly holding his body like snakes! Being afraid of ghosts is a common attribute in the second dimension. Generally, this attribute is used to sell sex or give benefits. The frightened heroine will hug the protagonist with a cry of "Ah", and then her plump chest... cough cough cough...

However, now that Jiang Tianwei has personally encountered this situation, he finally understands what it means that fairy tales are all lies, what it means to be deceptive on the cover, and what it means to be subject to the actual product...

Xindao Zhen's arms tightly clamped half of Jiang Tianwei's body, and his arms went around under his right arm, bringing his entire left hand and entire body into the damage range. It was simply a textbook-level [Bear Hug].

It seems that something happened last time that made Jiang Tianwei sigh that the so-called "sweet scenes" in the two-dimensional and three-dimensional worlds are completely opposite... Ah! It seems that it was President Niijima last time! He is worthy of being President Niijima! He easily did what others couldn't do!

After two consecutive "trainings", Jiang Tianwei understood two things. The first point is that if you seek death, you will die. Don't easily challenge things that will threaten your life. This is the so-called "avoiding harm".

The second point...is that human beings always repeat the same tragedy: the only lesson that human beings learn from tragedy is that they never learn from it...

Jiang Tianwei now only hated himself for helping Shinjima to overcome terror. If he hadn't made this suggestion, it would have been over. Ah, it seemed that his original intention was to see the serious three-good student Shinjima scared out of his wits! That's fine. This fully illustrates the scientific nature of "you will suffer the consequences if you do evil."

"President, are you really afraid of ghosts..."

Jiang Tianwei reached out and tried to pull Shinjima away, but the president just held his chest tighter. Through his clothes and flesh, Jiang Tianwei could clearly feel his ribs wailing and his internal organs screaming in pain.

"I'm scared, I'm scared!".

Shinjima didn't care about his face and admitted it frankly.

"So I never understood why you were afraid of them...why can't you just knock them all down with your fists?"

"I'm going to beat you up... You sound like I'm violent..."

After saying a joke, Xindao really calmed down a little and let go of Jiang Tianwei's almost crushed ribs, but he still refused to let go of his arm.

"Besides, it's a ghost. How can you defeat a ghost with your fists?"

"But, you can't get rid of ghosts with fists. This thing was created by someone, right? You have never fought a ghost, so how do you know that you can't beat it with fists?"

This dialectical statement of "the fish is not at peace with the seed and the fish is happy with the seed" startled Shinjima slightly. Her ruby-like eyes turned, and she recalled her impression of Jiang Tianwei in her mind. She couldn't help but shudder all over, and her tone suddenly became trembling and uncontrollable: "You, you, you, you are not going to take me to fight ghosts, are you? No, no... don't do that kind of thing."

What is a smart person? It is someone who can predict things before they happen.

But often, it is because people are too smart that some embarrassing things happen, such as...

(Ah! There is such a way to play! Why didn’t I think of it?! Or maybe he is the student council president, so he is smarter than ordinary students!).

Jiang Tianwei slapped his forehead, and at that moment he felt as if a light bulb had suddenly turned on him.

Yes, he really hadn't thought of this solution! If Niijima hadn't said it, he certainly wouldn't have thought of this method. He kept this good idea in mind, and said with a smile on his face, "How is it possible? Anyway, don't be afraid, or I'll accompany you to find a temple to burn incense?"

"May I!".

Shinjima Makoto could no longer tell the difference between a boat and straw. As soon as he saw a glimmer of hope, he immediately opened his mouth and tried to grab it.

"..."

Jiang Tianwei was a little speechless. He had only said it casually, but he didn't expect that she would really go?

Besides, how could he know any temples in Japan? The only shrines he knew were the Hakurei Shrine and the Ruri Shrine, and one of them wasn't even a real shrine.

"How about we go back to the church we went to last time?"

Jiang Tianwei tried to propose negotiation conditions. He didn't know about temples or shrines, but he had been to a church.

(You might even see a shogi idol.)

Jiang Tianwei thought so.

People are all rebellious, especially boys of this age. Dongxiang Yiersan's mother had scolded him severely before, so how could he swallow this? Hey, if you don't let me see you, then I still want to see you!

Later, Yi Er San was able to go to church again, which shows that the "ban" was not as mandatory as imagined.

Moreover, the two of them had already started studying Chinese chess last time. Logically speaking, it was no problem if they were crushed by the opponent in playing Japanese shogi, but it would be really embarrassing if they were beaten by the opponent in playing Chinese chess.

Therefore, during this period, Jiang Tianwei practiced the cheating skills of Chinese chess. Yes, this man felt that it was impossible for him to study chess skills, so he was studying how to cheat. Moreover, he had also thought of the cheating method. He had seen a domestic chess animation that year, which introduced a very interesting cheating method.

It is said that the chess player used the excuse of going to the toilet to secretly use the computer AI to simulate the chess game.

Now, it is also because going to the toilet more than ten times in a game of chess is indeed too much.

But Jiang Tianwei has a better way!

You can have Sumire Yoshizawa or one of your friends hide in the toilet and use AI to simulate the chess game, and then let the ghost Kasumi Yoshizawa act as a mouthpiece. The only drawback is that it will take a long time.

As for the level of AI, you can get a glimpse of it by just looking at the performance of AlphaGo. I can't say that I can win every battle, but at least I can become a "celebrity" in Japan and make a living by playing chess.

The more Jiang Tianwei thought about it, the more he felt that this was feasible. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was perfect. He was born to dominate the Japanese chess world! When the time comes, a cartoonist will draw a comic based on him. It just so happens that he also has a ghost. This wave is called paying tribute to the classics.

"President, let's go to church! Or rather, we must go to church!"

Jiang Tianwei's suddenly raised voice and sudden enthusiasm made Shinjima tremble all over. The girl's keen sixth sense reminded her: something is wrong!

"No, I always feel that there is something else behind what you said..."

"How is this possible! Am I that kind of person? Do I look like the kind of person who would intentionally bully others, observe their embarrassment, and then feel physically and mentally happy?"

"You couldn't be more like her!"

"You've become a pirate ship, so come with me!"

"I don't want to, you must be thinking of something very bad!"

The two of them were pulling at their limits, and it seemed that Shinjima still had a long way to go before he could overcome his fear of ghosts.