Tokyo: I can enlighten all obsessions

Kamiki Tetsu rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Don't lump me in with those guys who're always horny."

As he spoke, he even patted the hand that had just touched the boy with a hint of disgust.

"I am very self-disciplined."

I'm not in the mood to keep joking around.

Kamiki Tetsu quickly reached into his robes.

The moment my fingertips touched the mirror, a burning, stinging sensation shot through my nerves straight to the top of my head.

The temperature of this thing right now is just like that of a piece of freshly baked charcoal.

"then."

He gritted his teeth and carefully took out the cracked mirror, handing it over.

"Be careful, it's hot, and... it's about to break."

Kujo Himeko put away her joking expression.

She reached out her hands and skillfully took the rickety mirror.

The slender fingers seemed to be pricked the moment they touched the frame, and flinched slightly, but then gripped it firmly again.

She lowered her head, her eyes narrowed slightly, her gaze fixed on the mist deep within the mirror's surface, peering through the layers of cracks.

However, even when Kujo Hisana brought her face extremely close, her eyes almost squinting into slits, the mirror still appeared cloudy.

Beneath those layers of cracks, only a hazy mist churned, like a stagnant pool of muddied water, making it impossible to discern what was inside.

"...I can't see clearly."

Kujo Hisana bit her lip lightly and looked up.

She didn't speak, but instead gave Kamiki Tetsu a questioning look.

Kamiki Tetsu understood what she meant.

Since it cannot be seen with the naked eye, we have no choice but to resort to other means.

He nodded slightly, his face grim.

next second.

The light in their vision began to distort, and the originally bright blue sky lost its clear disguise, turning into a dark purple that looked like a pool of blood.

[Spiritual Vision] Open

As the facade of the real world was torn away, Kujou Hisana looked at the mirror in her hand once again.

This time, the murky gray fog melted and dissipated quickly, like snow meeting the blazing sun.

The scene deep within the mirror was finally exposed to their view without reservation.

In that narrow, cramped world reflected in the mirror.

A petite figure was huddled in the deathly darkness, hugging her knees and shivering.

It's Hoshino Ruri.

Or rather, she is the real Hoshino Ruri.

She was burying her face in her knees, her shoulders heaving violently, as if she were crying silently.

However, what made Kamiki Tetsu frown was not her crying.

It's not about her current state.

Every crack on the surface of that mirror now seemed like a cruel projection, precisely etched onto her body.

From her cheeks and arms, all the way down to her bare ankles, dense cracks were spreading, like a porcelain doll about to shatter.

Then came another soft "click" sound from the mirror.

Kamiki Tetsu witnessed a piece of "skin" the size of a fingernail peeling off Hoshino Ruri's arm in the mirror, turning into specks of firefly light and dissipating into the darkness.

"Knock, knock."

Kamiki Tetsu extended his finger and gently tapped the shaky mirror twice.

The crisp sound was like a thunderclap, piercing through the deathly darkness.

The huddled figure in the mirror trembled violently and slowly raised its head.

In those cracked pupils, the reflections of Toru Kamiki and Hina Kujo were clearly seen.

Their eyes met.

"...!"

Hoshino Ruri stared wide-eyed in disbelief, her face instantly overwhelmed by immense joy.

They can see her!

Ignoring the excruciating pain as her body seemed to peel away like fragments, she lunged at the mirror, her two cracked hands pressed tightly against the invisible barrier, her mouth agape as she silently screamed outwards.

"no."

Kujo Hisana frowned, pressed her ear close to the mirror, but could only catch a glimpse of deathly silence.

"The sound was completely blocked out; we couldn't hear what she was shouting at all."

"fine."

Kamiki Tetsu narrowed his eyes, his gaze fixed on the rapidly moving lips of the girl in the mirror, his tone calm:

"I understand lip reading."

"Huh?" Kujo Hisana turned her head in surprise, as if looking at some rare creature: "Are you some kind of agent? You even know this?"

"It's something I learned from working part-time before."

Kamiki Tetsu shrugged and casually offered a reason that was both heartbreaking and laughable:

"In order to be able to scold that menopausal store manager without any obstacles in front of my colleagues, I unconsciously learned how to do it."

Kamiki Tetsu said no more, his gaze fixed on the pale face in the mirror.

Unexpectedly, Hoshino Ruri did not scream "Help!" hysterically like a typical victim. Instead, she forcibly suppressed her fear and spoke rapidly, her lips moving quickly.

"What is she saying?" Kujo asked nervously.

"She's giving out information...surprisingly clever."

While keeping his eyes glued to the mirror, Kamiki Toru translated simultaneously, his voice low and intermittent:

"That day... to avoid the rain, I ran into an old residential compound."

"She was complaining there...why nobody could see her..."

Kamiki Tetsu suddenly frowned, and his recitation slowed down, as if he were confirming some key details:

Then, a person appeared.

"Wearing a Noh mask and a kimono."

"That guy told her that someone would give her a gift in a little while. If she accepted it, she would become the center of attention from then on."

Kamiki Toru's voice abruptly stopped.

Silence spread between the two.

"Noh masks... kimonos..."

Kujo Hisana repeated the two words in a low voice, her face instantly turning extremely ugly.

"It's the landlord."

Kamiki Tetsu nodded.

Things have gotten complicated.

I initially thought it was just an ordinary campus ghost story, or a prank by some wild vengeful spirit.

Unexpectedly, it turned out that the most troublesome guy was involved.

This also means that what Hoshino Ruri is holding is not a wish-granting machine at all, but a death contract that has already been signed.

Kamiki Tetsu didn't waste time lamenting the severity of the situation.

He quickly pulled out his phone, his fingers flying across the screen to type out a line of bold text.

He then attached the glowing screen to the mirror and showed it to the girl inside.

Did that guy tell you how to end it if you don't want to use it anymore?

Kamiki Tetsu didn't actually have much hope.

After all, that so-called "landlord" is someone with a perverse sense of humor who treats humans as playthings.

A vengeful spirit of this level would usually only offer a hopeless and deadly path; how could it possibly kindly leave behind a "termination clause"?

But this is just a routine confirmation.

however.

The moment she saw the words on the screen, Hoshino Ruri in the mirror seemed to grasp at a straw and nodded frantically.

The extent of the injury was so great that one might worry her cracked neck would break off.

She opened her mouth eagerly, enunciating each word carefully, as if afraid that Kamiki Tetsu might miss a single syllable.

Kamiki Tetsu's pupils contracted slightly.

He read that sentence aloud.

"Just make everyone hate you..."

He paused, turned to look at Kujo, and slowly uttered the second half of the sentence:

"...and then it will be over."

"Make everyone hate her?"

This sounds like the simplest of requests.

In a high school filled with jealousy and exclusion, it's incredibly easy to ruin someone's reputation.

but.

Kujo Hisana frowned, looking towards the direction of the teaching building, her expression becoming extremely strange: "Kamiki-kun, according to what you said, the current Hoshino... has a powerful aura of charm, right?"

"ah."

Kamiki Tetsu felt a throbbing sensation in his temples.

If it were the original, inconspicuous Hoshino, all he would have needed to do was rip off the principal's wig or yell at him in the broadcasting room, and he could have won the hatred of the entire school in no time.

But this imposter is a vengeful spirit that can make members of the opposite sex instantly lose their minds and be forced to "fall in love".

Even if she were to stab someone with a knife right now, those brainwashed guys would probably shout with ecstasy, "I've been rewarded!"

"We need to make those lust-driven guys feel disgusted under this forced brainwashing..."

Kamiki Toru sighed, feeling his vision blurring.

"It's like asking a pack of starving dogs to hate a piece of raw, bloody meat."

"This is even more difficult than getting the head of student affairs to grow hair."

"On another note..."

Kamiki Tetsu suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to look at the girl beside him:

"Didn't you confidently say in the text message that your Kagura bell could fix this mirror?"

Before he could finish speaking...

"Click."

A crisp sound.

The largest crack on the mirror suddenly extended downwards by an inch, and a small shard of glass even flew out and grazed the back of Kamiki Tetsu's hand.

Hoshino Ruri in the mirror let out a silent lament, her body's outline beginning to blur.

"Hey! It's going to break!"

"Ah! Yes! That's right!"

Kujo Hisana was startled by this sudden turn of events.

She frantically reached into the cloth bag she carried with her, grabbing at it like she was trying to pull out Doraemon's pocket, and finally managed to pull the thing out.

"Clang—"

With a crisp, melodious metallic clang, a Kagura bell with an antique design, wrapped in red and white shimenawa rope, appeared in her hand.

Without further hesitation, Kujo Hisana gripped the wooden handle of the Kagura Bell with a solemn expression and gave a sudden jerk of her wrist.

"bell"

The crisp sound of the bell rang out in the air.

This sound was not merely an auditory vibration.

Kamiki Tetsu clearly saw a circle of pale golden ripples, visible to the naked eye, spreading out from the bell and instantly enveloping the mirror that was about to collapse.

The effect is immediate.

The sound of shattering glass stopped abruptly.

The cracks that were still moving across the mirror surface seemed to have been paused, frozen in place.

Deep within the mirror.

Hoshino Ruri's expression, which had been contorted with pain, gradually eased, and the "fragments" that had peeled off her body stopped dissipating and reattached to her soul.

Things have stabilized for now.

After confirming that the mirror had stopped breaking, Kujou Hisana breathed a sigh of relief and lowered her hand that was holding Kagura Rin.

The two exchanged a glance and winked in unison.

The otherworldly vision quickly faded.

Blue sky, cicada chirping, dappled shadows of trees—the normal world returned to my sight once more.

"Keep a close eye on this thing."

At that moment, Kamiki Tetsu left those words behind, turned and walked away without the slightest hesitation, as if the mirror that had been giving him a headache for half a day was now a thing of the past.

"Huh? Wait a minute!"

Kujou Hisana, clutching the mirror, pressed for an answer, her face full of confusion:

"Where are you going? How are you going to make those crazy boys hate her, that monster with her irresistible charm?"

Kamiki Tetsu didn't turn his head, but simply waved casually with his back to her.

"It's very simple."

His voice drifted over on the wind.

"Right now, in those guys' eyes, she's an absolutely untouchable beauty. It's precisely because they can't have her that they're driven mad."

"It only takes a moment to shatter this illusion."

Kamiki Toru stopped and turned his head to the side:

"That is to let them see it with their own eyes—"

"The goddess I dream of kneeling and licking is so cheap and desperate in front of other men."