Miko

The train moved steadily along the tracks, weaving through the city's forest of high-rises. Inside the quiet carriage, passengers went about their usual journeys. Since it wasn't peak hour, the space inside was exceptionally empty—at least, on the surface.

In the hidden side of the world that ordinary people cannot see, hideous ghosts dwelled. They wandered among the crowds, attempting to drag those walking in the human realm down into the demon realm. However, no matter how hard they tried, as mere aberrations, they couldn't pose a threat to those in the human realm; ordinary people couldn't even perceive them.

Of course, that only applied to ordinary people...

Inside the train, a girl with long black hair wearing a high school uniform sat upright in her seat. She held her phone in her hands, her eyes wide and staring at the screen. Her cute, slightly rounded face was a mask of blankness, her entire body frozen in place like a stone.

The stiff girl didn't dare move a muscle. She hardly blinked and didn't even dare to breathe. Her eyes were fixed on the screen, yet no interface was active on it.

The reason for her abnormal behavior was that at this moment, a ghost was sitting on either side of her. Two ghosts were pressed tightly against her, one on the left and one on the right. She stared deathly at the screen, not daring to glance even a fraction to the left or right.

To her right, a ghost with a split skull, a face covered in blood, and a dangling eyeball leaned its head between her line of sight and her phone. It stared at her with its hollow, bleeding sockets, opened its mouth full of missing teeth, and rasped.

"Can... you... see... me?"

Facing that horrific visage, her frozen face didn't change at all, but her heart was screaming.

'I see you perfectly!'

To her left, a ghost with disheveled hair, soaking wet and bloated, pressed its mouth against her ear. It blew a cold chill into her ear as it spoke.

"Can... you... hear... me?"

Stung by the cold air against her ear, goosebumps broke out all over her body. Yet, her expression and movements remained unchanged. The scream in her heart, however, grew louder.

'I hear you clearly!'

'Go find someone else! Stop sticking to me! Is there something about me that attracts you?!'

She cried out helplessly in her heart, but the two ghosts on either side showed no intention of leaving. Instead, they continued to test the limits of her endurance.

Faced with the ghosts' constant probing, her nerves had long since been stretched taut. No matter how terrifying the sight, she didn't allow herself even a single overreaction.

Through the ghosts' incessant, harassing tests, she seemed to be holding on. Just as she hoped they would finally leave, the hideous face with hollow, bleeding eyes suddenly lunged forward. It stopped less than ten centimeters from her face, completely filling her field of vision. The pungent smell of blood forced its way into her nose.

The moment the ghostly face lunged, her heart skipped a beat. Under the sudden, immense fear, she instinctively closed her eyes. An instant later, she regretted it.

"Really... can't... see... me!?"

The ghost's voice was nearly a roar. It seemed to have detected a hint of her reaction. Paralyzed by fear, her heart leaped into her throat.

'Oh no... I can't keep pretending... I'm going to be found out...'

Her terror-stricken mind was filled with desperate screams. With her eyes closed, she felt as if the thing had pressed right up against her face, ready to tear into her at any moment.

In the darkness, her tension reached its breaking point. Just as she was wondering if she should try to feign sleep to get through this, a soft voice sounded in her ear.

"Excuse me, may I sit here?"

'Why is someone coming over now?!'

Hearing these words, her heart tightened. Realizing that pretending to sleep would only make things more suspicious, she reluctantly opened her eyes. What she saw was not the ghostly face, but a girl slightly younger than herself. She wore a uniform, had shoulder-length black hair, and possessed an exquisite, beautiful face.

And the terrifying ghost was nowhere to be seen.

"Gone?" Seeing the scene before her, she couldn't help but gasp in shock. She immediately regretted it, knowing there were two ghosts. Even if this one was gone, there was still the other one! Wouldn't her outburst confirm she could see them?

In her panic, she pretended to look naturally to her left out of the corner of her eye. What she saw was a middle-aged man reading a newspaper nearby. The ghost that had been blowing into her ear was also gone.

"They're gone... both of them... this..."

She stood there in a daze. Then, the soft voice spoke again, interrupting her thoughts.

"Excuse me, could you move over a little?"

"Um, ah! Yes, of course... please, take a seat!" Snapping back to reality, she hurriedly shifted over, leaving a wide enough space for the black-haired girl to sit down.

Afterward, she continued to sit there blankly. She looked around and found that all the grotesque ghosts in the carriage had vanished at some point.

'They're all gone... in the blink of an eye... they're all gone...'

She marveled in her heart. Her tension, which had been at its breaking point, suddenly deflated.

Though she didn't know what had happened in that split second she blinked, at the very least, she finally had a clean moment free of those disgusting things. She could finally relax.

Thinking this, she slumped against the seat like a deflated balloon.

Watching her, the black-haired girl spoke softly.

"Miko-senpai, your name is Yotsuya Miko, right?"

"Eh? Yes..." Hearing the girl's words, the girl named Yotsuya Miko turned her face in confusion. The other girl was pointing at Miko's feet, where an ID card had fallen. It had her photo and name on it. Seeing this, Miko immediately realized what had happened.

When she was frightened earlier, her grip had loosened, and the ID she was holding with her phone had dropped to the floor.

"Ah! Thank you for the reminder... I was just a bit tired, and it accidentally slipped out. How embarrassing..."

Miko quickly picked up the ID and thanked the black-haired girl. The girl smiled at her and spoke slowly.

"It's not embarrassing at all. Facing pressure far beyond what you can bear, fatigue is inevitable... I can see that Miko-senpai is someone who handles pressure very well..."

"Eh... not at all..." Looking at the smiling face and hearing the strange words, Miko didn't know how to respond and could only give a dry laugh.

...

The train sped forward without stopping. Soon, it reached Miko's stop. When she stood up and walked to the automatic doors, stepping onto the platform as they opened, she froze in place.

"As I thought... they're only gone from the carriage..."

Looking at the ghosts wandering the platform—seeing a body crushed flat beneath the tracks crawling up with a moan—her expression froze again.

She had hoped this ghost-seeing vision had finally ended and she could return to a normal life...

Seeing the familiar ghosts still wandering among the crowd, Miko sighed inwardly and walked forward.

Yotsuya Miko was supposed to be an ordinary high school girl. However, not long ago, she suddenly gained the ability to see terrifying things that didn't belong in this world. Since then, she lived every day in fear, yet she couldn't show any sign of abnormality.

Miko could see the thousands of ghosts hidden within the demon realm, and she could see them very clearly. But her intuition told her that if she let them realize she could see them, she would face horrific consequences.

'Why do these things exist in this world... I'm just an ordinary person... why do I have to see them...'

She had to pretend she couldn't see them, just like any other normal person. Miko didn't dare test what would happen if those terrifying ghosts found out she could see them.

For a long time now, Miko's life had been a walk on a tightrope. Every day was a battle of nerves... and being surrounded on both sides on the train earlier had nearly pushed her over the edge.

Thinking of that massive ghostly face that had pressed right up against her, Miko touched her stomach.

'I need to get home and shower... before the smell is noticed...'

Gripping her bag tight, Miko walked out of the station toward home.

...

On a quiet street, Miko walked along the sidewalk. As she walked, her eyes were drawn to a vending machine leaning against the curb.

Wanting to further soothe the shock she had received on the train, Miko decided to buy a bottle of water to calm her nerves.

'Just a normal bottle of water... I hope there's nothing weird stuffed inside the machine this time...'

Thinking this, she walked up to the vending machine. Seeing that it looked normal, she breathed a sigh of relief. She took her wallet out of her bag and prepared to look for coins.

At that moment, a gust of cold wind blew down the street, forcing Miko to squint. When she opened her eyes again, a 10,000 yen bill from her wallet was being blown away...

"Ah! Wait!"

Seeing this, Miko chased after the flying bill. The bill drifted with the wind, turned a corner, and blew into an alley. Miko ran after it.

But when she turned into the dark alley entrance, her footsteps stopped, and her expression froze once more.

In the damp, dark alley, the light was dim, and a cold chill seeped out from its depths. At the source of that freezing wind, deep in the shadows, a massive figure was squeezed into the space.

It was an abnormally obese ghost. Wearing only red loincloth, it blocked the alley like a wall of meat. Its bloated body was covered in gaping wounds, with blades and knives sticking out of them. Its mouth was stretched to an impossible size, filled with jagged fangs. A thick demonic energy radiated from it, and around it lay the skeletal remains of small animals, even cats and dogs.

'This is bad... it looks like a really strong one... I heard rumors of a haunted alley nearby... is this it?'

Standing at the alley entrance, Miko thought silently as she looked at the scene. She could clearly tell that this ghost was different from the ones she usually saw. Both its size and the pressure it exerted were significantly stronger; it seemed to be approaching some kind of qualitative change.

At that moment, her 10,000 yen bill had drifted into the alley, with about a third of it pinned under the obese ghost. The ghost opened its mouth and rasped.

"Is... this... yours...?"

Seeing this, Miko decisively wanted to give up the money and leave. But she couldn't. If she turned and ran, she would be showing the ghost that she could see it and was leaving out of fear, even abandoning her money.

A normal person wouldn't just leave a 10,000 yen bill in an empty alley without picking it up, especially since it was their own. If she just walked away, the ghost would definitely notice.

But Miko really didn't want to go anywhere near that thing... if she went to pick up the money, she felt like she would easily make contact...

So, Miko couldn't pick it up, but she couldn't leave it either... and standing there was even worse...

She had to find a way to escape immediately...

Just then, Miko noticed a few cockroaches crawling near the bill. An idea suddenly struck her.

"Ah... cockroaches, I'm so scared... if that's the case, I don't dare pick up the money..."

Looking at the money beneath the ghost, Miko muttered to herself. In that moment, she found a perfect excuse for herself and the ghost as to why she wasn't picking up the money.

It couldn't be helped. To avoid contact with that dangerous thing, she had to say goodbye to her 10,000 yen...

Having found her excuse, just as Miko was about to back away, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind her.

"Yotsuya-senpai... are you afraid of those bugs?"

Hearing the voice, Miko froze for a moment, then spun around. Standing behind her was a familiar figure—it was the black-haired girl she had met on the train!

"You're... from the train..." Looking at the black-haired girl who had appeared out of nowhere, Miko spoke slowly. The girl responded with a smile.

"It seems Miko-senpai is in trouble... let me see, is it because there are bugs that you're afraid to pick up your money?" The black-haired girl stepped forward, passing Miko. Miko nodded a couple of times, still confused.

"Um... well, I am a girl... it's normal to be afraid of bugs..."

"I see... in that case, I'll go pick it up for Miko-senpai..." As the girl slowly walked forward toward the terrifying, massive ghost, Miko's heart skipped a beat.

"Ah! You don't have to! I don't want the money anymore, you don't need to go pick it up. There are... bugs over there..." Miko warned the girl in a panic. But the girl didn't stop. Before Miko's terrified eyes, she continued into the gloomy depths of the alley. The massive ghost also focused on the black-haired girl, its entire body beginning to stir.

"Bugs?" Hearing Miko's words and seeing the cockroaches crawling over the 10,000 yen bill, the black-haired girl reached out a foot and crushed them. Then, her eyes fixed on the obese ghost, her gaze meeting its own.

In that instant, the obese ghost suddenly let out a loud roar. Looking at the girl, its massive mouth split all the way to its ears. It shifted its massive body and lunged straight at the black-haired girl. In the distance, Miko was so frightened by the scene that she collapsed onto the ground.

"Watch out!"

Just as Miko was losing her mind with fear, the massive ghost pounced on the black-haired girl. Then... just inches from the girl, the ghost's entire body instantly burst into flames. Dazzling golden flames completely consumed the ghost's body in an instant. A heart-wrenching, agonizing shriek erupted.

At the same time, the black-haired girl had already picked up the bill. She turned her head to look at Miko, who was sitting on the ground with a look of utter shock.

With the golden fire at her back, Miketsu smiled at Miko.

"If it's a bug, why not just step on it?"