Tokyo: I can enlighten all obsessions

3:30 p.m.

As the school bell, announcing "freedom," rang on time, the once lifeless classroom instantly came to life.

The sounds of chairs being dragged, laughter and playful banter, and the clamor of discussing where to go for karaoke all blended together to create the background music of "youth".

However, none of this had anything to do with Toru Kamiki.

He deftly stuffed his textbooks into his backpack, slung it over one shoulder, and before anyone around him could react, he had already passed through the back door.

The corridor was filled with a distinctive, mixed odor.

The scent of the antiperspirant spray, the dusty smell of the floor that had been trampled on, and that faint "musty" smell that only he could detect.

That emanated from every tired student and every anxious teacher.

"I can't finish my homework," "I don't want to go to club activities," "That girl is so annoying"...

Countless subtle negative thoughts gathered together and settled in the corner of the ceiling, forming clumps of invisible, dark stains.

"At this concentration, a level one [Ill-gotten One] or even a level two [Monster] will naturally emerge here in about three days."

But he didn't even pause for a moment.

After all, no one was paying him to handle it.

As Kamiki Toru walked down the slope, which was tinged orange by the sun, the image of Section Chief Amami's tired face from the previous night, along with the tedious explanation of "disaster classification," floated into his mind.

The authorities have classified those items into levels based on their degree of harm.

Lv.1 [Miscellaneous] and Lv.2 [Strange]

The former is dust in the air, the latter is an urban legend without any physical form.

For him, these two options were either unprofitable or ineffective against physical attacks, making them "extremely low-cost-performance" junk.

What really deserves attention starts from Lv.3 [Demon].

"It possesses a physical form, follows rules of killing, and has strong physical destructive power."

That guy at the convenience store that night was of that caliber.

Although it's dangerous, you can kill them as long as you figure out the rules, and there's a bounty for it.

As for the regional radiation of Lv.4 [Calamity], the inherent domain of Lv.5 [Subspace], and even the national-level Lv.6 [Natural Disaster],...

"Oh."

Kamiki Tetsu chuckled, but didn't stop walking.

That's something big shots would have a headache. If he really encountered that, he would definitely be the first to hand in his resignation and run away at lightning speed.

Passing through the rusty barbed wire fence, Toru Kamiki arrived at the agreed-upon location.

In this abandoned park, overgrown with weeds and rusty playground equipment, a figure was already standing there.

At first glance, Kamiki Toru couldn't help but stop in his tracks.

Standing beside the faded swing set was not the "poor working boy" dressed in a red and white shrine maiden outfit, but a beautiful stranger who seemed to have wandered onto the wrong set.

The dark blue suit jacket was impeccably tailored without a single wrinkle, and the gold school badge on the chest shone brightly in the setting sun.

That's the uniform of a prestigious girls' school called "St. Margaret Academy".

The impetuous Kujou Hisana was now quietly looking down at her toes.

Her long, black hair fell smoothly over her shoulders, and the afterglow of the setting sun bathed her in a soft, ethereal glow.

That innate, dignified air was completely out of place in the dilapidated environment around him.

It's like a famous painting that someone carelessly abandoned in a garbage dump.

"...Really?"

Kamiki Tetsu subconsciously tugged at his backpack strap, his deep eyes filled with suspicion.

If it weren't for the fact that her face was still familiar, he simply couldn't connect the young lady in front of him, who exuded the air of a "noble lady," with the idiot who slipped and fell in the convenience store, covered in blood from her nose, and clung to his leg crying and shouting, "I have no money to pay for this!"

Is this what they mean by "a perfect beautiful girl as long as she keeps her mouth shut"?

Looking at the beautiful scene before her, Kamiki Tetsu couldn't help but recall the comical image of her lying in the black, filthy blood last night, with blood streaming from her nose.

Fraud.

This is absolutely visual deception.

Just as Kamiki Tetsu was internally ranting and raving, the girl who seemed to have stepped out of a painting seemed to sense his presence.

She suddenly raised her head.

The original "melancholy literary girl" atmosphere vanished the moment she saw Toru Kamiki—

Snapped.

Broken to the ground.

"Ah! Kamiki-kun!!"

Kujo Hisa's previously quiet face instantly came to life.

She was like a husky that had spotted its owner, waving her arms wildly, her once dignified young lady demeanor completely gone.

"Great! I thought you'd stand me up because it was too much trouble!"

"..."

Sure enough, this is the real body.

Kujo Hishi ran a few steps to Kamiki Tetsu, bringing with her a faint fragrance.

She frantically opened the expensive-looking leather backpack, rummaged around inside, and finally presented a bottle of unopened oolong tea with both hands as if offering a treasure.

"Here you go! This is what you wanted!"

The girl's eyes sparkled, as if she was afraid that Kamiki Tetsu would change his mind, and she shoved the drink directly into his hand.

"Even though I just bought it at a convenience store, it's a limited edition item that I had to run around two blocks to find!"

Then, she quickly took half a step back, clasped her hands together, and bowed deeply to Toru Kamiki, her tone as sincere as if she were making a wish at a shrine:

"I'm counting on you for today's official appointment trial, Mr. Kamiki!"

"Click."

With a crisp sound as the plastic bottle cap was unscrewed, Kamiki Toru tilted his head back and took a large gulp without any hesitation.

The cool tea slid down my throat, relieving the heat in my mouth.

He breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the idiot in front of him who was still bowing.

"Alright, stop worshiping."

Shinki Tetsu shook the half-empty bottle of oolong tea in his hand and got straight to the point:

"What exactly did that bald guy arrange for you?"

"Oh, right! I almost forgot about the important matter!"

Kujo Hisana cried out in surprise and frantically rummaged through her purse, making a clattering sound.

After nearly flinging her lipstick and student ID away, she finally pulled a crumpled piece of printed paper from a pile of clutter and held it up to Kamiki Toru's face.

"This is it! In the past week, the Metropolitan Police Department has received several strange complaints about this park."

She cleared her throat, deliberately lowering her voice to try and project the seriousness of an "investigator," but her restless eyes betrayed her nervousness.

"Witnesses say that every evening as dusk falls and night descends, the sounds of children laughing and playing, as well as the creaking of swings, can be heard from this seemingly abandoned park."

Kujou Hisana swallowed hard and pointed to the surrounding deserted apartment buildings:

"However, the investigation shows that the area is about to be demolished, and the surrounding residents have already moved out. The few remaining households are all elderly people with mobility issues, and there are no children living there at all."

"So that bald guy... cough, the section chief is certain there's something wrong here!"

"A very standard ghost story opening."

Kamiki Tetsu casually commented, stuffed the half-finished oolong tea back into the side pocket of his backpack, and took the lead, striding across the broken yellow warning line.

"Stay close to me, don't fall behind."

"Yes, yes!"

The two stepped side by side into the overgrown clearing.

Almost the instant their feet touched the soil inside the park, the two of them closed their eyes simultaneously. When they opened them again, a faint, ethereal light, visible only to each other, shone deep within their pupils.

[Spiritual Vision] activated.

In an instant, the warm world that was originally dyed red by the sunset seemed to have a layer of disguise torn off.

The air was no longer filled with the fresh scent of grass and trees, but with a nauseating smell of rust and mildew.

The magnificent sunset overhead turned into a murky purplish-black, like stagnant blood, while wisps of black mist, writhing like living creatures, now clung to the abandoned amusement rides that had been standing still.

The real world was thus laid bare before our eyes.

This is not a particularly advanced technique.

It was just a basic trick that the bald section chief taught him during his onboarding training yesterday.

This is standard equipment for every member of the countermeasures office, just as it is taken for granted that office workers must know how to use a printer.

Ironically, while the "senior" from a prestigious institution beside him was sweating with nervousness over getting a permanent position, he, a complete newcomer who had only joined the industry yesterday, had already secured a permanent position ahead of time.

Thanks to the Lv.3 [Demon] that he "snatched" from the convenience store that night.

Because he single-handedly took down a high-risk target, the bald section chief had his file directly approved this morning.

In other words, the person standing next to this apprentice shrine maiden is actually a "Kamiki Investigator" who is now receiving a full salary.

The two walked along the overgrown path, their eyes quickly scanning the rusty amusement park rides.

The metal handrails of the slide, the iron chains of the swing, and the edge of the sandpit filled with dirty water.

Everywhere.

Beneath that purplish-black filter, countless tiny, somewhat eerie black handprints overlapped densely, like some kind of black mold that was multiplying wildly, covering almost every surface that could be touched.

Those handprints were even still wriggling slightly, as if countless invisible little hands were struggling to crawl out from inside the steel.

"...Confirmation complete."

Kamiki Tetsu felt a churning in his stomach. He blinked quickly and released the spell.

Herna Kujo, standing beside her, also turned pale and dispelled the spell.

As the eerie filter faded, the world before my eyes returned to the normal twilight park.

Maintaining clairvoyance for an extended period is not a good thing.

The feeling of staring directly at the "fumes" of the world is not just visually disgusting, but also a kind of continuous radiation to the cerebral cortex.

According to the warnings in the "Newcomer's Handbook," this behavior is called "sanity depletion."

If you stare at that real world for too long, the investigator will go insane from a mental breakdown before the monster even makes a move.

"To be honest... I'd rather face the [demons] than this kind of mental pollution."

Kujo Hisana rubbed her arms vigorously, her face pale, as if trying to scrub away the invisible filth clinging to her skin.

"At least those guys have physical forms, you can just smash them with a gohei. This invisible, intangible, sticky, damp, oppressive feeling... it's really the worst."

Don't make rash promises.

Kamiki Tetsu replied casually, his gaze sweeping over the cheap digital watch on his wrist.

The second hand ticks and returns to zero.

17: 00.

Ding—Ding—

The community loudspeaker, located somewhere unknown, started blaring on time.

That was the melody of a children's song called "Evening Burning and Little Burning".

However, due to years of disrepair, the broadcast sounded strangely distorted and had an electrical noise, like an old man with phlegm stuck in his throat humming softly, echoing through the empty streets.

The sunset glow... is fading...

The sun has set...

The originally cheerful children's voices were abruptly sped up and slowed down by the electric current.

[Hand in hand...]

Let's all...go...home...

The last syllable was stretched out infinitely by the static, and in that pale noise, it seemed to turn into a sharp "Get out of here!"

call--

A gentle evening breeze blew by.

It wasn't the cool breeze of an autumn evening, but a stuffy wind carrying a fishy smell.

"Huh...?"

Kujo Hisana's body suddenly stiffened.

Kamiki Tetsu also sensed it.

Shoulders, back, neck.

An unexpected heaviness descended.

That's not the weight of the backpack.

It was a kind of cold, slippery feel.

One, two, ten, a hundred.

Countless tiny black hands were frantically grabbing at their shoulders, squeezing and climbing against each other as if vying for a spot, causing their bodies to sink slightly.

The sensation was like having countless pieces of chilled raw meat pressed against your neck.

Before the two could react, countless overlapping, childish voices rang out close to their ears:

"Big brother... big sister..."

"Let's...play together..."