Following

At dusk, the sun had already sunk beneath the horizon. Only the lingering glow of sunset spilled out from the edge of the sky. Although night had not yet fully fallen, the city lights had already begun to turn on one after another.

On a bustling street, rows of shops had lit up their neon signs. Inside a lavishly decorated Chinese restaurant by the roadside, Miketsu sat by a window facing the street. In front of her, the table was covered with all kinds of dishes. Sitting across from her was Yura, who was holding a bowl of rice and rapidly sweeping food off the table with her chopsticks, stuffing large mouthfuls—rice included—into her mouth. From her wolfing-down manner, it was obvious she had been starving for quite some time.

“Slow down. Be careful you don’t choke—no one’s going to steal your food,” Miketsu said calmly as she watched the girl’s far-from-elegant eating.

“Mmm—can’t help it—mmh—today I only had a little breakfast before going out to exorcise spirits—mmh—and I waited forever at your school gate—so hungry I couldn’t stand it—mmh—”

“Heh… you might be hungry, but that doesn’t mean you have to eat like this,” Miketsu said with a smile.

Yura swallowed the food in her mouth, took a big gulp of water from the glass beside her, then let out a long, satisfied sigh before speaking again.

“Ah… it’s not just hunger. I haven’t eaten anything this good in ages. To save money, these past few days in Tokyo I’ve basically been living on supermarket discount food and instant noodles…”

After downing most of the water, Yura spoke with relief. Miketsu tilted her head slightly and asked curiously,

“Aren’t you an onmyoji from a Kyoto Onmyo Clan? Didn’t your family give you more money?”

“Well… I did originally bring more,” Yura replied while continuing to pile food into her bowl. “But my awful older brother mocked me, saying that bringing so much money meant I was coming to Tokyo to sightsee instead of train. So I got mad and left most of the money at home, only bringing a little with me… which meant I had to scrimp and save.”

Miketsu laughed softly.

“Then you really did this to yourself.”

“Ugh… you’re right. I really made things hard for myself. I thought it’d be good training for my willpower… but I didn’t expect daily life to be this tough. Honestly, this is harder than exorcising evil spirits…”

As Yura continued eating and talking, the lavish spread of Chinese cuisine was quickly wiped out—mostly by her alone. Once she was finally full, Yura leaned back in her seat, patting her stomach with satisfaction.

“Ah… I’m stuffed. This place is really good. Thanks so much for treating me.”

“You’re welcome. I’m glad you liked it,” Miketsu replied with a gentle smile.

“…Still, it’s kind of strange,” Yura said thoughtfully. “We just met today, and you already treated me to a meal like this. This was our first meeting, right? And earlier I was even hostile toward you…”

Miketsu’s attitude was far too familiar for someone she had just met—she had even spent a considerable amount of money to treat a complete stranger. Even being friendly had its limits… Could it be she had some other motive?

Seeing the look in Yura’s eyes, Miketsu smiled as if she had seen through her thoughts.

“Hehe, don’t overthink it. I just felt that we had some affinity. That’s all.”

Back then, a thousand years ago, when we first met, I had no money—and you treated me to a meal. This is just a small repayment, Miketsu thought to herself.

……

After finishing their meal, the two chatted briefly. Yura tried to learn more about Miketsu, but made no progress. Soon after, they parted ways. Miketsu settled the bill and stepped alone onto the street.

Standing amid the flow of pedestrians, she looked up at the night sky and murmured,

“I didn’t expect to meet an old acquaintance today. Fate’s little surprises can be quite interesting… heh. Since we’ve met again like this, I’ll give you a bit of opportunity.”

Her expression sharpened.

“What happened at noon still hasn’t been fully resolved. This is a good chance to take care of it all at once…”

As she spoke, Miketsu activated her causality vision. Dense, tangled Threads of Causality appeared before her eyes. Facing the vast web of fate made manifest, she quietly reached out and adjusted it.

……

After leaving the restaurant, Yura headed toward home. When she reached the entrance of the train station and was about to go in, her spiritual senses suddenly stirred, and she stopped in her tracks.

“This is…?”

She activated her spiritual vision and looked in the direction that had triggered her senses. Across the busy road, she saw four or five grotesque spirits from the demon realm gathered together, following closely behind a girl wearing a high school uniform, a backpack on her shoulders, with chestnut-colored hair and a broad forehead.

Why are so many spirits gathered together like this?

Yura’s heart tightened. She abandoned the idea of entering the station, locked onto the girl being followed by the spirits, and strode after her with a serious expression.

……

Carrying a large backpack, Akiko Shikaku walked briskly through the streets, her face heavy with gloom and frustration, radiating a deeply oppressive aura.

“What’s going on… what’s going on…? Today was supposed to be perfectly prepared—how did it end up like this…?”

Muttering to herself, Akiko quickened her pace, clearly still brooding over what had happened during the day.

She had meticulously prepared to show her classmates the unseen world, yet an inexplicable accident occurred. Even her most reliable planchette ritual had mysteriously failed. The summoned spirits not only refused to divine as usual, but actively resisted her.

For Akiko, who cared deeply about her image and vanity, today’s events were a devastating blow to the reputation she had worked so hard to build. Many people were already treating it as a joke—something she absolutely could not accept.

“No matter what, I’ll prepare properly tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll reclaim my standing. I’m the genius medium Akiko Shikaku—those ordinary people have to remember that!”

With renewed resolve, she decided to reorganize everything once she got home and picked up her pace. As she walked, she glanced behind her and saw numerous overlapping, faint black shadows following her.

“As expected… just like always. Things are following me again. Fine—tonight I’ll catch one of you…”

Ever since awakening her ability to see what “should not exist,” every time Akiko went out to take spirit photos or investigate the occult, something would follow her home.

At first, she had been afraid of these unclean entities. But later she noticed that no matter how many shadows followed her, they would vanish without a trace shortly after she got home.

Unable to explain this, Akiko concluded that she must possess some undiscovered special power that unconsciously dealt with these spirits. This belief made her increasingly reckless in her occult explorations, never considering the danger. In her view, any spirit that dared to cling to her would inevitably be destroyed by her mysterious power—so there was nothing to fear.

With confidence high, Akiko left the busy streets and entered a quiet residential area, finally arriving home—a three-story old Western-style mansion in a private compound, clearly reflecting her family’s wealth.

She went straight to her room by the window. The modest space was plastered with constellation magic diagrams torn from what looked like shōjo manga. Strange tools lay scattered everywhere, and the desk was piled high with books on bizarre supernatural phenomena.

Sitting down, Akiko began planning how to perform tomorrow’s “show.” Behind her, the ugly spirits that had followed her gathered together, seemingly preparing to act.

Suddenly—without a sound—seven or eight pale, skeletal arms stretched down from the ceiling above the spirits. Before they could react, the arms seized them tightly. The spirits struggled in panic, but it was useless.

The grotesque white arms tore the spirits apart, gripping their limbs and dragging them up into the ceiling. As they vanished, muffled chewing and swallowing sounds echoed above—sounds Akiko Shikaku could not hear at all.