“Uhm, how about something like this?”

Laika raised her hand first.

“If she is stuck inside a box, if we hit it a little bit would we not be able to force her out?”

Would something you’d do to fix an ancient malfunctioning television really work…?

“Can a spirit even be forced out using physical force…?

Beelzebub, who had her arms crossed and her head tilted, asked.

“Well it’s better than nothing! Let’s give it a shot!”

“Azussama! If we hit Harukarsan ourselves she will die!”

Oh yeah… For something like this, having exceptional stats is actually a problem…

And so, we’ve decided that Sharusha would be the one to hit her.

“You got it? Don’t hit her too hard. But don’t hit her so lightly that it doesn’t force her out either.”

“That’s pretty difficult…”

I thought so too.

“Okay, I’m gonna do it. Harukarsan, sorry about this”

BAM! BAM! BAM!

“Ow! Ow!”

Even though it’s Harukara’s body that’s being hit, it looks like Rosary is also feeling pain.

“How is it? Think you can come out?”

“It doesn’t look like it… Ow! Owww!”

“Sharusha, stop! We’re abandoning this method!”

This time, Farufa raised her hand.

“Me! I’ve got an idea! How about shock therapy? If we startle her enough, wouldn’t Rosary jump right out of the body?”

What a cliche. These two ideas are surprisingly close to what a j.a.panese person might suggest.

“But how are we going to shock her?”

“Yup, Farufa has a good idea!”

I’m floating up the night sky.

I’m floating up the night sky while carrying the Rosary that’s inside Harukara’s body.

“N-nee-san, I’m begging you, let’s stop here… We’re already way too high up as it is…”

“By the way, think you can come out? Or is it still impossible?”

“I can’t… I still can’t seem to come out of Harukarsan…”

So being so high up isn’t enough of a shock.

“Can’t be helped. Time for stage two.”

“Uhm, there was a stage two?”

There’s no point if we don’t surprise Rosary so I didn’t tell her about it.

“Yup. I’m going to drop you now”

“Whaaaaat! P-please, anything but that!”

“Don’t worry, Laika’s already turned into a dragon to catch you”

“H-help! I-I’m going to be killed!”

If she’s this terrified then her spirit should be able to come right out. This seems much more likely to succeed than the last one.

“Sorry. Harukara’s life is on the line. Try to bear with it ok?”

Then I let go.

“Uaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"

After a horrendous scream, I hear Laika call out “She’s safe!”. I leisurely descended to check on the situation.

“So did it work? Is she out?”

“Nee-san, I thought I was going to wet myself…”

With a pale face, Rosary was collapsed on top of Laika. She was still in Harukara’s body.

“Seems like this was a failure too…”

After that we tried out several more methods. For example, when morning came we called for a priest from the village to perform something like an exorcism for us.

“Uhaaa! I’m dying-! This is going to kill me!”

Since it seemed like Rosary would have disappeared before she would have managed to separate from Harukara, we abandoned that method too.

And so, after exhausting all of our ideas, it became noon.

According to Beelzebub, “If she doesn’t come out soon, there’ll likely be detrimental effects to Harukara. How bad it’ll be will depend on the strength of Harukara’s soul”

“We are running out of time, and since none of us have slept it is getting hard for any of us to think. This is not good…”

Laika was downcast. For us to be unable to find a solution… Farufa and Sharufa couldn’t stay up anymore and had long ago been put to bed.

“I’m also getting sleepy… But if we fall asleep now, Harukara’s going to die… Huh, wait a second”

I might have figured something out.

“Laika, everytime Harukara drinks alcohol, she always ends up wasted doesn’t she?”

“Yes. That does tend to happen…”

“If we can manage to somehow only have Rosary go to sleep, in this body that’s currently being occupied by two souls, wouldn’t that mean she and Harukara would switch places?”

I’m going to say this outright, this suggestion had no basis in logic. It was just a thought.

“Yes, trying to force her to sleep does seem like it might work.”

We then proceeded to drown Rosary, who was still in Harukara’s body, with alcohol.

“I’ve hardly ever drank alcohol before though…”

“You’re in Harukara’s body so it’s fine. Bathe yourself in alcohol!!”

Harukara seems to always pa.s.s out after drinking around four shots of booze. Though maybe because she hadn’t had any sleep, after downing her third shot, she pa.s.sed right out onto the table.

We carefully observed her after she keeled over.

Before long, she raised her head.

“Huh? I don’t remember drinking any alcohol though? It’s the middle of the day too, what happened?”

“Harukara!” “She has come back!” “Oh, it looks like it was effective!”

“Huh? Even though it looks like I’m waking up after a bout of heavy drinking, why is everyone looking at me so happily? … Also for some reason, my body feels really heavy.  It’s like there’s something clinging to it…”

Yeah, there really is something clinging on to you…

“With this, if Harukara can get a firm grip on her consciousness… When that happens, it should be difficult for her to stay possessed…”

“But how are we going to do that?”

“If that’s the case then leave it to me! I have a method to wake her up that will leave her fuming.”

Beelzebub seems to have come up with an idea. She immediately went and grabbed Harukara’s hand.

“Here, come this way. Right this instant.”

“Eh? This, isn’t this the bathroom…? Yesterday’s bath water should be cold by now though…”

“That’s why it’s perfect!”

Beelzebub then picked up Harukara and threw her into the bath.

SPLASH!

Harukara’s face breaks the surface almost immediately.

“Why would you do that… Well I’m definitely awake now!”

“Yes you are. That’s why you were able to separate.

Behind Harukara was Rosary’s transparent body, floating.

“Huh…? I’m out…?”

Rosary muttered in a daze.

“Nice! Separation success!”