[ It isn't Yuta's first mission out on his own by now, but the responsibility is still novel enough that there are still some slight jitters involved. Not that they end up being all that warranted when he's regained enough power and trained hard enough to overcome his previous weaknesses, it's just the matter of the principle. He doesn't want to fail. At least so far one part of the mission hasn't been too difficult. Having been send to a place where curses of increasing strength have started cropping up for some inexplicable reason, tasked to eliminate said curses and also find the source, leaves him partially in his element. Or rather, his other half's. It's a chance for Rika to stretch and cut loose a little and for Yuta to adjust to this new version of her.
(He tries not to dwell on the loss of her original soul too much — now permanent bereavement at last. She deserved to pass on peacefully and he can find comfort in the gift she left behind for him. He can. But grief is grief and remains a complicated beast, he knows.)
He watches her tear through the last of the lower level curses gathered together, signaling an end to this round of cleaning up in this area. ]
Good job, Rika-chan.
[ He praises just to watch her preen a little despite the fact that their task is far from over. His ability to sense cursed energy has markedly improved, but it can still be difficult to really get a good feel, especially when Rika is out even half-manifested as she is. This is practice for that, too. Yuta can tell there's a stronger curse lingering around somewhere in the vicinity — or maybe, with any luck, it's the source — and he tries to hone in on it. A moment of focus later and his feet set him on a course down an alley, Rika drifting in his wake. ]
— for timemarcheson
(He tries not to dwell on the loss of her original soul too much — now permanent bereavement at last. She deserved to pass on peacefully and he can find comfort in the gift she left behind for him. He can. But grief is grief and remains a complicated beast, he knows.)
He watches her tear through the last of the lower level curses gathered together, signaling an end to this round of cleaning up in this area. ]
Good job, Rika-chan.
[ He praises just to watch her preen a little despite the fact that their task is far from over. His ability to sense cursed energy has markedly improved, but it can still be difficult to really get a good feel, especially when Rika is out even half-manifested as she is. This is practice for that, too. Yuta can tell there's a stronger curse lingering around somewhere in the vicinity — or maybe, with any luck, it's the source — and he tries to hone in on it. A moment of focus later and his feet set him on a course down an alley, Rika drifting in his wake. ]
This way, I think...