Yekase sprinted out, cradling her ramen bowl, steam trailing like a pale mist.

Yokai gathered along the street and tilted their heads toward the castle keep. The big yokai never bowed to each other, so that symbol of highest rank stood empty, usually just a test site for spell cards. Now the four upturned eaves were trimmed in cerulean flame, and the air warmed into a bright, restless hum.

A figure stood on the highest ridge of the roof.

A pink‑haired girl in a checkered shirt and a pumpkin skirt. A mask floated beside her, held aloft by blue fire, like a moon on a torch.

She hugged a roll of cloth, snapped it open toward the crowd. Four brush‑stroked characters blazed:

[Walk Out of the Mountains]

“…What’s this, poverty relief?” Yekase glanced at the tengu.

“I—I don’t know…”

The yokai looked just as lost. No one dared to get close. Everyone waited for someone else to stick their neck out.

But Yekase saw a red‑and‑white streak shoot out from the forest, arrowing for the keep.

“That’s the Yokai Shrine Maiden!” the tengu said, relieved. “She fixes every incident.”

Yekase nodded, half enlightened.

So the tengu squad keeps day‑to‑day order. The shrine maiden handles anomalies. Division of labor, neat and tidy…

“You again? Starting a new incident, Menreiki!”

The shrine maiden’s shout cracked the air.

The suspect didn’t flinch. “Didn’t you feel it? The Great Barrier’s opened! We’ve been caged in this Empty Country for a thousand years. Don’t you want to see what the outside’s become?”

“The outside is the realm of humans now. If we leave, we won’t hold ground. We’ll be hunted and killed in exile.”

“Even so, I want to see it with my own eyes! The wide world beyond this Empty Country. The true sky and the sea. The strange and wondrous, the impossible made real!”

“What’s wrong with the Empty Country!”

Both fell silent for a breath.

“Words won’t bridge this. Spell Card Duel, then. If you win, go or stay—your call,” the shrine maiden said.

“Just what I wanted. I wager the title of strongest. Come.”

“Duel!”

[Yokai Shrine Maiden Life Points 8000]

[Menreiki Life Points 8000]

“…What is happening? Weird letters and numbers just showed up on the keep’s wall!” Yekase blinked.

“That’s the shrine maiden’s new barrier. ‘Spell Card Duel 2.’ Looks like she finished it! What it actually does—I don’t know,” the tengu admitted.

“But Menreiki doesn’t question it at all!”

“I… don’t know why!”

What a useless captain.

Yekase had no stance on their quarrel. She didn’t know yokai politics. If she believed their ‘freedom’ talk, and it turned out freedom meant killing, she’d be a sinner for ages. So she stood aside and watched.

The keep’s wall projected both duelists in close‑up, like an esports stage glowing over stone.

“I’ll take the first move.” Menreiki’s face didn’t shift. Five square cards floated before them.

“Those are spell cards?” Yekase asked.

“Looks like it…”

Menreiki’s fingers skimmed the cards, stopped on the second from the left, and tapped.

“Normal Summon Noh‑P.U.N.K. Ze Amin!”

A stylish girl flashed into being on the tiles. She neither spoke nor moved. She just stood, quiet and sharp, like a psychic ghost given shape. So that’s a spell card’s effect?

“Activate Ze Amin’s effect. I pay 600 Life Points. I add Noh‑P.U.N.K. Foxy Tune from my Deck to my hand.”

[Menreiki Life Points 8000→7400]

“You spend your own Life Points? That’s your resolve…!” the shrine maiden said.

Stop being amazed by yourself.

And the yokai crowd… why are they acting like these rules are old news?

“Activate Foxy Tune. I send it from my hand to the GY with another card. I Special Summon Ukiyoe‑P.U.N.K. Sharakusai from the Deck!”

“She can Special Summon straight from the Deck!” the tengu gasped.

You too? You’re buying into this now?

Yekase noticed how quickly the yokai accepted and understood “Spell Card Duel 2.” So the barrier writes the rules into cognition. If the shrine maiden wants a headline incident, who could stop her?

Yekase’s brow creased, a shadow like a cloud edge.

“Two Level 3 monsters… could it be—?!” The shrine maiden, whom Yekase had flagged as dangerous, took half a step back from the two ghosts Menreiki had called.

“I won’t be what you expect! Activate Sharakusai. I pay 600 Life Points. I send both monsters on my field to the GY as material—”

[Menreiki Life Points 7400→6800]

A vortex opened, blue fire bending like a whirlpool.

The two distinct ghosts drew in, fused into a beam.

“Fusion Summon! Level 8, Ukiyoe‑P.U.N.K. Rising Carp!”

Two ghosts merged into… hey, that guy again with a different pose? Where’d Ze Amin go?

“Hmph… I thought a big one was coming. This is it? Only 1000 attack. At this level, the onmyoji outside would eat you alive.”

“Not yet. Rising Carp’s effect. I tribute it. I Special Summon Noh‑P.U.N.K. Deer Note and Gagaku‑P.U.N.K. Wa‑Neshi from my Deck!”

Menreiki flicked her wrist. The carp blurred, broke into smoke, and two new ghosts took form—kin to Ze Amin, but each with their own cut.

Also, what’s a Deck, exactly?

The crowd’s energy rose with every shift. Only Yekase sat in the dark on the rules… Would be nice if “Spell Card Duel 2” taught outsiders too.

“Wa‑Neshi’s effect. I pay 600 Life Points. I add the Field Spell P.U.N.K. JAM Session from my Deck to my hand, then activate it.”

[Menreiki Life Points 6800→6200]

“Her Life Points keep dropping…” the tengu breathed. “A deck that burns itself for victory…”

After swallowing those names, Yekase could follow. If Life Points hit zero, you lose. That’s every game.

“I tune Level 3 Wa‑Neshi with Level 5 Deer Note. Synchro Summon.”

“Fusing then Synchro? I’ll admit your battle strength…”

“Level 8, P.U.N.K. JAM Dragon Drive! JAM Dragon Drive’s effect— I pay 600 Life Points. I add Joruri‑P.U.N.K. Madam Spider from my Deck! Chain Deer Note’s effect— when it goes to the GY from the field, I revive a monster in the GY. I choose Sharakusai!”

[Menreiki Life Points 6200→5600]

The shrine maiden actually worried. “At this rate, you’ll burn your Life Points down to ash!”

“No matter. To leave this mountain we both resent, this sacrifice is needed. Paying Life Points triggers my field. I draw one.”

“I banish Deer Note from the GY to Special Summon Madam Spider. Madam Spider’s effect— I pay 600 Life Points. I add Joruri‑P.U.N.K. Dangerous Gabu from my Deck. Field Spell— I draw again.”

[Menreiki Life Points 5600→5000]

Hand spent, hand refilled.

Complicated game… but Yekase was catching up. It felt like tabletop card games she’d played: pile resources, press the other side, win. That red card Menreiki just grabbed looked like something meant to stop the opponent cold.

“I tune Level 3 Madam Spider with Level 8 JAM Dragon Drive. Synchro Summon.”

“—Level 11, Ukiyoe‑P.U.N.K. Amazing Dragon!”

A red dragon wreathed in blue fire unfurled above the keep. The sky shifted shade. Thunder muttered from far hills.

“Level 11… you climbed that high.” The shrine maiden sighed. “I admit it—you aren’t playing around. You mean to walk out of here. But standing where I stand, I have to stop you.”

A sudden kinship. Of course.

Are Japanese yokai more chuunibyou than Japanese humans? Hard to say.

“Amazing Dragon’s effect. I revive Madam Spider from the GY. From my hand, Noh‑P.U.N.K. Ogre Dance— I tribute Madam Spider to Special Summon it! I activate the Continuous Spell Gagaku‑P.U.N.K. Crash Beat. I set one spell or trap. End of turn.”

One Amazing Dragon at 3000 attack. One Ogre Dance at 2500. One Sharakusai ready to be fodder. And a face‑down that screamed mouth‑split danger. Just looking at it felt heavy.

How would the shrine maiden answer?

“My turn. I draw.”

No fear in her face. No hesitation, only motion.

“Normal Summon Mikanko of the Sword – Hare. I activate the Equip Spell Mikanko Dance – Mayowashino, and equip it to your Amazing Dragon. As long as I control a Mikanko, I seize its control.”

She didn’t fire off ghost effects?

Yekase had expected her to do a flurry and flood the field. She opened with a straight-up steal?

“I won’t let you. When you target Amazing Dragon, Crash Beat triggers. I destroy Hare.”

Hare shattered. Amazing Dragon flew toward the shrine maiden’s side, then snapped back to Menreiki as the equip broke. But the equip stayed linked to it; once she summoned again, control would swing—

“Chain to your effect. I activate the Quick‑Play Spell Mikanko’s Rivalry. I Special Summon Ohime the Manifested Mikanko from my hand, ignoring its conditions.”

Of course—

Menreiki pointed at the shrine maiden. “You chained me, didn’t you? You just chained my effect!”

“And… what of it?!”

“Since you chained my effect, P.U.N.K. JAM Dragon Drive revives from the GY. Then Sharakusai’s effect— I pay 600 Life Points and Synchro Summon! Level 11, Ukiyoe‑P.U.N.K. Amazing Dragon! Field Spell— I draw one.”

[Menreiki Life Points 5000→4400]

Amazing Dragon still got yoinked, but another Amazing Dragon roared back onto Menreiki’s field.

“—Activate Amazing Dragon’s other effect. On Synchro Summon, I count all Level 3 Psychic monsters I control and in my GY. I bounce that many of your cards to your hand. My picks— Ohime the Manifested Mikanko and Mikanko Dance – Mayowashino.”

“Tch…”

Dance left the field. Amazing Dragon followed it to the grave… but Menreiki still held three monsters, the weakest at 2500 attack.

“She’s used her Normal Summon. Menreiki still has that face‑down trap that blanks monster effects. Things look bad for the shrine maiden,” the tengu said, tight with nerves.

Yekase nodded slowly. The numbers on the field stood like a drawn blade—8,200 attack; next turn could carve the witch-miko’s 8,000 life points to zero.

Around them, yokai whispered like reeds in a night wind, weighing whether to follow Menreiki out of the Land of No-Where, and their plans after.

As for the witch-miko herself—her first assault had failed.

Silence came first, cool as well-water; then she finally lifted her head. Her eyes caught the light like cold stars.

“Not so fast—the game isn’t over yet!”