Holiday

In the afternoon in Tokyo, on a bustling street, a girl with long black hair wearing a high school uniform was walking along. She looked down at the phone in her hand, a smile appearing on her face.

"I have things to do this afternoon, so you have the day off~"

Miko looked at the text message from the contact labeled Lord Deity. Seeing the characters on the screen that seemed to emit faint golden light, she couldn't help but feel her heart swell with joy and excitement. She was almost ready to hold the phone up in front of her and bow down in worship to this holy oracle, thanking him for his divine grace.

'Great... I don't have to work myself to death today...'

Looking at the oracle on her phone, Miko's heart was incredibly stirred. However, the composure she had gained through long-term training allowed her to restrain her burgeoning joy. Although she was extremely excited inside, the only reaction that reached her face was a faint smile.

In terms of emotional control, Miko was at the top level.

"Oh? Miko, what are you looking at that makes you so happy? Let me see!" Just then, a curious female voice came from behind her. Startled, Miko turned around to see a girl with short yellow hair behind her. At that moment, she was leaning forward, trying to peek over Miko's shoulder to see the message on her phone.

"Ha—Hana!?"

Seeing the girl, Miko immediately tucked her phone away and turned to face the girl who had suddenly appeared, speaking in a surprised tone.

"Hehe... Of course, I wanted to see where you're always rushing off to after school. What were you looking at just now that made you so happy? Could it be a message from a boyfriend?" Looking at Miko, the short-haired girl named Hana spoke with a smile. It was clear she was Miko's friend from school.

"Boyfriend? No way... You're joking, Hana. I don't have a boyfriend right now."

Hurriedly putting her phone into her bag, Miko spoke to her classmate and friend with a calm smile. However, the other girl didn't seem to believe her, instead speaking with a snicker.

"No boyfriend... then where do you rush off to every day after school? You don't go home, and you don't do club activities. You're so drained the next day... You must be going on dates with a boyfriend, right..." Hana continued to smile at Miko. Since Miko would usually walk part of the way home with her, Hana knew her recent schedule had been a bit unusual.

"What are you thinking... Would someone go on a date every single day? I just signed up for an extracurricular cram school. The workload is a bit heavy, so I have to stay late. That's why I'm out of energy the next day..."

Facing her friend's question, Miko responded with a calm expression. Seeing Miko's response, Hana nodded.

"I see... but aren't your grades pretty good, Miko? Do you really need to sign up for a class?" Hana asked, somewhat puzzled, while Miko only responded with a dry laugh.

"Ahaha... Well, learning never ends. My grades are okay, but there's still a lot of room for improvement... After all, I want to work hard and aim for the University of Tokyo."

"Hmm... I didn't expect you to have such ambitions, Miko. In that case, I won't bother you. Bye-bye~"

Hearing Miko's words, Hana was about to wave and leave, but Miko immediately waved her hand to stop her.

"Eh? Is something wrong? Shouldn't you be heading to your cram school now?" Looking at her friend, Hana tilted her head curiously. Miko spoke with a smile.

"Ah... the thing is, the cram school I signed up for has the day off today. So I'm free this afternoon. We can go for a walk together..." Miko said slowly. She planned to take advantage of this rare holiday to go shopping and relax.

...

In a bustling urban area, in the underground mall of a commercial district.

Under the lights of the underground street, countless pedestrians flowed past. The shops on both sides were filled with a dazzling array of goods. Miko and Hana, enjoying their holiday, were wandering through the area.

"Oh! Those dango over there look pretty good! Miko, let's go check them out!"

Hana, who was beside Miko, seemed very easily attracted by various snack shops. She dragged Miko along as they raided several shops in a row until both her hands were momentarily full of various snacks, which she stuffed into her mouth as they walked.

Hana's expression was one of total satisfaction, but Miko's expression seemed a bit off.

"Hana... why did we come here?"

"Mmm-hmm... Didn't I tell you before? This underground street has so many snacks, and they're all so delicious... Mmm... I've wanted to bring you here for a long time, but I didn't have the chance until today..." Hana said while eating takoyaki.

"Ah... I see..." Miko spoke in a calm tone, but in her heart, she was silently complaining.

'Lots of snacks... but there are also a lot of strange, creepy things here too...'

As she thought this, Miko scanned the area ahead. In the crowded underground street, an unusual number of aberrations were wandering around. There were skeletal workers in overalls wearing broken hard hats, headless men in suits, and a girl in a blood-stained kimono with a split chest... All kinds of ghosts were mixed in with the crowd, and their numbers were clearly higher than on the surface.

'Because it's an underground street... do these guys find it more welcoming during the day?'

Miko thought to herself. Looking at the eerie figures swaying back and forth, she seemed to lose her appetite for the oden in her hand.

She finally got a holiday; she didn't want to waste it in a place like this...

"Hmm... Miko, aren't you going to eat? It'll get cold if you don't..." Just then, Hana, who was stuffing food into her mouth, noticed the oden in Miko's hand. Miko looked at it and decided she shouldn't waste food...

Just as Miko was about to use her chopsticks to pick up a piece of chikuwa from the paper bucket, a cold wind suddenly blew by her right ear, accompanied by a dark, ghostly whisper.

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

As the cold wind blew in her ear, Miko's whole body shuddered slightly, and goosebumps rose on her back. At that moment... a large face with rotting flesh extended from her right side, blocking Miko's view and almost completely obscuring her vision.

That large face, which was more than twice as swollen as a normal person's, was covered in rotten meat. Two eyeballs as large as lightbulbs almost bulged out of their sockets, and a mouth full of rotten teeth opened, once again uttering dark words.

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

This was a relatively large ghost. It was currently standing behind Miko, its neck stretched long to bring its deformed face right in front of Miko's eyes, allowing her to clearly see every bit of decay on it.

Under the ghost's stare, Miko didn't move an inch, and no expression could be seen on her face. Seeing this, Hana tilted her head curiously and then asked.

"Miko, do you not like eating this?"

"Um... it's not that. I just suddenly feel like I need to use the restroom... Hana, could you please hold this for me..." As Miko spoke, she handed the oden to Hana. Hana took it without a second thought and pointed towards a direction on the street.

"The restroom is over there. I'll wait for you here."

"Okay, I'll be right back..."

Nodding, Miko walked towards the restroom, and the ghost with the long neck and big head slowly followed behind her.

Miko entered the women's restroom. She took a quick scan and found no one else inside, except for a few bloated little ghosts squatting in the corner, snickering as they watched her enter.

Miko didn't go into a stall. Instead, she walked straight to the large mirror above the sink. Through the mirror, she could clearly see the deformed and twisted ghostly figure behind her.

At this moment, it had once again brought its deformed face close to Miko's. Its mouth, full of rotten teeth, split into a horrific smile. Through the mirror, it fully displayed its terrifying form before Miko's eyes, while a weird laugh once again came from its mouth.

"Hehehe...

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

Hearing the ghostly words in her ear and seeing the deformed face right beside her in the mirror, Miko took a deep breath with an expressionless face and then raised one hand.

"I can see you... very clearly!"

With a sharp shout, Miko's raised hand delivered a heavy elbow strike backward. Her elbow slammed hard into that eerie face, causing the entire swollen, deformed face to cave inward. With a high-pitched howl, the big-headed ghost stumbled back two steps.

Turning around and looking at the ghost before her, which was covering its deformed face with its arms and wailing, Miko didn't say much and instead took two quick steps forward.

"I can hear you... very plainly!"

With another shout, Miko delivered a fierce knee strike to the ghost's stomach. The ghost's entire body arched back, and it fell onto its backside. After a cry of pain, it struggled to get up and lunged at Miko. Miko nimbly dodged the stumbling, slow, and almost non-threatening lunge. Then, she spoke again.

"And it hurts... to be touched!"

After dodging the ghost's lunge, Miko caught a massive opening. She delivered a spinning high kick that once again struck that deformed head. The force of this blow directly snapped the ghost's fragile neck. The ghost, its head separated from its body, struggled and fell to the ground, then began to dissipate bit by bit.

"Phew..."

Looking at the ghost whose spiritual body was dissipating before her, Miko let out a long sigh. After a few rounds of thrashing it, she felt incredibly relieved of her stress.

"So weak... As expected, these guys who look scary are actually not strong at all. They can't compare to a body that has undergone training."

Miko spoke with conviction. Then, she scanned the surroundings again and saw the group of little ghosts squatting in the corner. Unlike their previous snickering, they were now huddled together, trembling in fear.

'It's great that my training hasn't gone to waste...'

Clenching her fist, Miko pushed open the door and left the restroom. However, when she returned to the underground street, the scene before her made her freeze in place, stunned.

In the underground street, for some reason, the lights had suddenly dimmed. The lights in some areas seemed to be broken, flickering constantly, causing a wave of unease among the crowd.

And those many ghosts that were originally moving through the crowd were now walking in the same direction—towards Miko.

'Is this... because they heard that guy's scream and gathered here? This is not good...'

Looking at the many disgusting and weird ghosts slowly gathering toward her, Miko felt uneasy, wondering how she should face this mass of ghosts.

'Damn... there are too many people here. Otherwise, I could solve this instantly with a gun...'

Miko thought to herself. She still had a handgun in her bag, but firing a gun in a place like this would definitely get her taken to the police station. If that happened, her holiday would definitely be over.

'Is there anything that can drive these guys away without being noticed... I should have asked Lord Deity for an omamori or something to ward off evil...'

As the ghosts slowly approached, Miko quickly thought of a strategy. Just then, she had a sudden flash of inspiration and came up with a somewhat unreliable idea.

'I wonder if... this will work?'

As she thought this, Miko took her phone out of her bag. After navigating to a certain screen, she turned her hand and displayed it outward.

In an instant, the many ghosts in the underground street that were gradually closing in on Miko seemed to perceive something terrible. In a flash, every single one of them showed expressions of terror. They scrambled and fled in all directions, trying to get as far away from Miko as possible. Miko stood there, stunned, and then somewhat incredulously turned her phone around to look at the screen.

"That... actually worked?"

Miko spoke slowly in shock. At this moment, displayed on her phone screen was a text message sent by the contact named Lord Deity.

"I have things to do this afternoon, so you have the day off~"

Words have power. The more powerful the person who speaks them, the stronger the power of the words. When words are arranged and imbued with power, they can form a spell. The form of a spell is not limited to sound; writing it down also works. This is the principle of talismans—a talisman is a written spell.

This was the principle of onmyojutsu that Miketsu had told Miko during her lessons. According to this theory... the higher and more powerful a person is, the stronger their words are. Even if they don't specifically arrange them or imbue them with power, they can still exert influence... The recording of words is not limited to paper; perhaps electronic devices work as well...

What was currently displayed on Miko's phone screen was a divine decree. Although it existed on a phone in the form of a text message, it was a genuine divine decree.

In ancient times, gods conveyed divine decrees to priests through visions, cracks in shells, smoke, or stone fractures. The carrier of a divine decree could be enshrined as a sacred object.

And the text message sent by Miketsu was naturally a divine decree. The moment Miko's phone received Miketsu's message, it became a carrier for a divine decree, similar to the tortoise shells in the hands of ancient priests. In a sense, it had become a sacred object... The language in which Miketsu gave her order carried her aura. Before the record of a divine decree... ordinary ghosts fled in all directions.

"A simple text message has this kind of power... Is this... what a god is?"

Looking at the characters on her phone screen that seemed to emit golden light, Miko murmured to herself, her heart filled with awe.