Chapter 8
"Is it really okay to just leave like this?" Kisaragi Chiyo used her umbrella to prop herself against the ground, looking back into the darkness behind her.
Those pitch-black ghosts, whose facial features were indistinguishable, were each holding a chocolate cupcake provided by him with great passion—a cupcake that, according to the original plan, should have been his breakfast tomorrow.
What the hell.. no, isn't this exactly what "seeing ghosts" means right now?
Kisaragi Chiyo was amused by his own lame joke, a faint curve rose on his lips; though it was very brief, it was still noticed by the Long-haired Wraith, who had been keeping his attention fixed on him the entire time.
"Quite interesting, isn't it?" At this moment, the Long-haired Wraith inexplicably displayed a sense of maternal affection; his eyes curved into a smile, his expression gentle and calm.
“They are actually all very good children.”
Kisaragi Chiyo looked at the pitch-black ghosts floating with joy because they had eaten cake, she truly couldn't see how these several ghosts, who were clearly already adult-height, had anything to do with being children.
"When I first woke up, I was actually in a state of lost reason." The Dark-purple-eyed Wraith lowered his eyes, suddenly slipping into a storytelling mode.
Kisaragi Chiyo did not interrupt him, but instead took advantage of the pause to open the ride-hailing app on her phone, placing an order and waiting for a driver who would be willing to accept a call at midnight.
At that time, I was like a beast lost in chaos, devoid of any individual thought. Aside from wandering aimlessly through the building, I would only launch attacks blindly against anything I saw.
"Of course, those targets did not include humans." After saying this, the Wraith lifted his eyelids to glance at Kisaragi Chiyo, then quickly added another sentence, as if afraid that if he explained himself even slightly too slowly, Kisaragi Chiyo would develop unnecessary misunderstandings of him.
“You laid hands on them?” Kisaragi Chiyo, acting as a qualified listener, raised the question at the opportune moment.
The Dark-purple-eyed Wraith fell silent; he did not deny it.
"So, how did you regain your sanity later?" Kisaragi Chiyo began to speculate unhurriedly. He recalled some stories he had heard from professionals; just as big fish eat small fish, or eagles catch rabbits, there were clear hierarchies among spirits as well.
It was simple and brutal: they were divided by strength. The powerful devoured the weak, just like the laws of survival of the fittest in nature. It was more accurate to say that after dying and becoming a ghost, they were no longer constrained by the order of society; their survival actually became much more free and cruel.
“Did you eat them?” Kisaragi Chiyo did not use an affirmative tone, being very rigorous; after all, he didn't dare to guarantee that there weren't any vegetarians among these non-human entities.
"I didn't." The other party denied it just as quickly.
"Even if I were to lose my sanity.. I wouldn't go that far." The Long-haired Wraith's tentacles, condensed from white mist, slapped the ground in dissatisfaction, making continuous slapping sounds to express his displeasure.
"How can you speculate about me like that?" A sorrowful expression appeared on the Wraith's handsome face.
If the other party were a special profession, someone would already be impatiently opening a champagne tower just to win a smile from the beauty.
I thought we would have at least some level of trust between us after getting to know each other.
"Sir." Kisaragi Chiyo raised her eyes, her misty gray eyes revealing no particular emotion.
If you have no concept of time, I can tell you: from the moment we met until now, the time we have known each other has not even reached three hours.
"So we've already spent that much time together?" The Wraith cupped her face with both hands; it was such a girlish and cute gesture, yet she performed it without the slightest hint of incongruity.
Long?" Kisaragi Chiyo let out a scoff. "Even a pig-butchering scam would have more patience than you.
"Doesn't that just happen to show that I am a sincere ghost?" The Long-haired Wraith laughed, his eyes narrowing.
"Stop giving yourself so much credit." Compared to the Dark-purple-eyed Wraith's enthusiastic attitude, Kisaragi Chiyo appeared particularly cold at this moment.
I don't believe a single word of your nonsense.
Kisaragi Chiyo was actually quite good-looking, but due to his personal temperament, it was usually difficult for people to realize at first glance that he was a young and handsome man. Furthermore, Kisaragi Chiyo always preferred to remain detached from the crowd, even frequently absenting himself from gatherings among young writers. Consequently, in the few social interactions he did have, the only image he left behind was that of a gloomy, strange young man with bangs that covered his right eye.
On the contrary, the Long-haired Wraith, with whom he had spent less than three hours together, could be said to be one of the few who had seen Kisaragi Chiyo when his entire face was revealed.
"Is that supposed to be a joke?" The Long-haired Wraith couldn't help but smile faintly. After all, as a spirit, every word he spoke was pure ghost talk.
Therefore, the other party's accusation was entirely without issue.
Kisaragi Chiyo let out a sneer. His eyes were narrow and willow-leaf shaped, with upturned corners that always carried a faint sense of mockery, like a biting spring chill, whenever he looked up.
"So you admit you're a liar?" Moonlight filtered through the Dark-purple-eyed Wraith and fell upon him, the silver long earrings reflecting light amidst his hair.
The Dark-purple-eyed Wraith did not continue the conversation; he had no intention of arguing with Kisaragi Chiyo on this topic. However, it was undeniable that he was indeed hiding certain things, so upon meeting Kisaragi Chiyo's gaze, he chose to raise both hands to signal his surrender.
After the other party showed a willingness to concede, Kisaragi Chiyo lost interest, he was not the type of person who enjoyed prying into everything anyway. So, upon hearing the ding of a notification from his phone, he went along with the other's wishes, tacitly letting the topic end there as he withdrew his gaze.
"Someone actually accepted the order." Kisaragi Chiyo lowered his eyes, looking at the notification on the app showing that the driver was rushing over, let out a soft, quiet gasp.
"After all, there are still many people who only finish work at this time." The Dark-purple-eyed Wraith floated to his side, resting his chin on one hand; he restrained his white mist to prevent scaring the driver later.
"As expected of Tokyo." Kisaragi Chiyo sighed with genuine admiration after hearing the explanation.
After all, in the small place where he used to live, there were hardly any pedestrians on the streets after nine o'clock at night.
Aside from small animals like cats, dogs, frogs, insects, the only things one could see active outside were thieves.
Just as Kisaragi Chiyo was lost in thought, the taxi he had hailed pulled up in front of him. Looking at the driver, who was greeting him with a simple, honest smile, Kisaragi Chiyo fell silent.
The taxi he had hailed was truly a bit cramped.
Heh." Even the Dark-purple-eyed Wraith beside them couldn't help but show a look of surprise. "How lively.
In the black Honda taxi, where it seemed only the driver was present, a white-dressed female ghost with bleeding eyes sat in the passenger seat, wearing an eerie smile; a young man who looked like a college student with a bowl cut sat obediently in the back seat, upon noticing Kisaragi Chiyo, he lifted his head from his lap and shook it toward the car window.
There was also a cute little girl in a red dress with twin tails sitting on the roof of the car. She was barefoot, her legs dangling out the window and swinging back and forth; if one ignored the balloon floating tightly around her neck, she truly looked like any other normal child.
What a real piece of work, destined for hell.
The Hazama beside her was still smiling, but Kisaragi Chiyo could sense that the other party was likely very angry at this moment.
Author's Note:
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Thanks to all the little angels for the collections, mwah everyone 030
Chapter 9
"As expected of Tokyo." Kisaragi Chiyo let out another exclamation.
Interpersonal relationships in a big city are indeed complex and the ecosystem is diverse.
Look, he had been in Tokyo for less than half a day and had not only encountered a Hazama, but even a random taxi ride came with three vengeful spirits.
"Now is not the time for lamenting." The Dark-purple-eyed Wraith beside him furrowed his brows. He was certainly not worried about what the three vengeful spirits in the taxi would do to Kisaragi Chiyo, since he was right there by her side.
What was troublesome was the driver, who had the appearance of a simple and honest, good-natured man; without a doubt, this middle-aged man, who did not look like a bad person, was a heinous murderer.
One could tell from the soaring resentment emanating from those three vengeful spirits that they had likely been following the middle-aged man since their deaths, waiting for their power to accumulate enough to swarm him and tear him to shreds.
"How about we wait a bit?" Considering the danger involved, the Long-haired Wraith prepared to persuade Kisaragi Chiyo to simply change to another car, but before he could even finish his sentence, he saw her already pull open the car door and lean down to sit inside.
It was truly too reckless.
The Long-haired Wraith huffed indignantly, but its body remained honest, quickly following behind that person and drifting inside together.
The Wraith's level is far higher than that of a vengeful spirit, let alone an existence capable of single-handedly controlling an entire area as a Hazama domain.
So when the Dark-purple-eyed Wraith drifted in and sat down beside Kisaragi Chiyo, the bowl-cut student sitting in the back, clutching his head, practically wanted to press his entire body against the window to avoid them. If it weren't for the lady in the white dress sitting in the passenger seat, he would probably have tried to squeeze both the ghost and himself into a single seat, preferring to violate traffic rules rather than sit with Kisaragi Chiyo and the others.
Compared to the wary expressions of the lady in white and the bowl-cut student, the little girl in the red dress sitting on the roof felt far more curiosity than fear toward the Long-haired Wraith. She poked her head out of the car window, her black and white eyes sparkling as she scrutinized the stranger—a human and a ghost—sitting in the back seat.
Her innocent and lovely appearance made the Wraith feel a sudden sense of pity.
"Hello there." Compared to Kisaragi Chiyo, who had been searching for something on her phone since she first sat in the car, the handsome Wraith squeezed out a smile and waved cheerfully at the girl outside the car window.
What are you looking at?
After greeting the girl, the Wraith curiously leaned its head closer to Kisaragi Chiyo's phone screen. Looking closely, it saw that she was browsing a news report from a week ago.
A report regarding the disappearance of a six-year-old girl in a red dress at an amusement park.
"Don't tell me you're planning to??" The Dark-purple-eyed Wraith suddenly had a bad feeling. He blinked slowly, looking at Kisaragi Chiyo, who had lowered her eyes and had resumed searching for cases of missing young men and women, unable to gauge her attitude for the moment.
He didn't think Kisaragi Chiyo was the type to hate evil, or rather, the type with a strong sense of justice. Therefore, from the very beginning, he had prepared himself for the possibility that she would ignore this incident. He had originally been thinking about what method he could use to persuade Kisaragi Chiyo to call the police, or perhaps to wait until he returned to handle the matter himself; after all, doing anonymous good deeds was not his first time.
You need evidence to call the police.
Kisaragi Chiyo saved several screenshots of the cases she had searched for. He seemed to have seen through the thoughts in the Wraith's heart, instead, he opened his phone's notes app and typed out a few lines.
He didn't have any intention of being mistaken for a lunatic talking to himself just yet.
I don't like trouble, but that's only on the condition that the other party has no intention of making a move against me.
'One thing worth noting is that very few people are willing to take a job when they see where I am heading.'
So he definitely has something to hide, or rather, the moment he saw I was alone, he had already identified me as his next target.
The reason Kisaragi Chiyo was so certain was also due to her sensitivity to all forms of malice; from the moment that driver saw her, Kisaragi Chiyo knew she had become the next victim he was preparing to strike.
Hostility, disgust, something secretive, carrying a sense of condescending excitement and anticipation.
Those emotions were like rotting garbage emitting a sour stench in the middle of summer; it was difficult for anyone to ignore them.
“I'm afraid it's not as simple as having a ghost in your heart, is it?” The handsome Wraith narrowed his eyes, a relaxed expression spreading across his smiling face, appearing as though he wasn't worried about Kisaragi Chiyo's safety at all. Or rather, he possessed absolute confidence in himself, believing that with his protection, the strength of an ordinary human would be utterly incapable of harming Kisaragi Chiyo in the slightest.
"Isn't there a whole truckload of ghosts?" The Dark-purple-eyed Wraith seemed to have developed a fondness for ghost-related puns.
He let out a low laugh and continued, "Look at that, having three friends to accompany me at work every day; I won't be lonely even when there are no customers."
“What a heartwarming story, it's enough to move even a ghost.”
"So, what do you plan to do?" The Wraith changed the subject, looking at Kisaragi Chiyo with interest. He leaned his body a few inches closer to her, his icy chill staining her haori.
He was unhurried, his breath as fragrant as orchids, a cold, ethereal scent seemed to soak into Kisaragi Chiyo's fingertips along with the chill.
Just as you said, calling the police requires evidence. Are you suggesting we play along with the opponent and let that guy walk straight into the trap?
The first method the Wraith thought of was this one; after all, they already knew that the opponent had the intention of making a move against Kisaragi Chiyo, making it so proactive that they didn't even need to create the conditions themselves.
'No'
Kisaragi Chiyo gave a negative answer; clearly, he had other plans for this.
"I've said it before, I'm a person who prefers to avoid trouble." Kisaragi Chiyo looked up, through the rearview mirror, his eyes met those of the driver, who was surreptitiously observing him.
His misty-gray eyes were devoid of emotion; he gazed at him as if he were looking at a pool of stagnant water, or rather, the gaze he cast was no different from looking at the weeds by the roadside.
The middle-aged man hated this kind of gaze most; he felt it was a form of contempt and disdain directed at him.
It wasn't his fault that he lost money gambling; everyone has bad luck sometimes. As long as he got one more chance, he could double his money and win it all back, including the principal, just like he did at the beginning.
And then there were those loan sharks; hadn't he said he would be able to pay them back in just a few more days? As for them calling his hometown and causing him to lose all face, those guys who used that to mock him should all just die, die, die, die, die!
So the middle-aged man took action. He naturally didn't have the courage to murder those rich people who were stronger than him or those he hated most, so he could only point his knife at those who appeared weaker than him.