Chapter 10: The Seen and Unseen World
Unlike the somewhat "extraordinary" clamor of Sobu High's second year, for first-year Yotsuya Miko, her entire world had already been completely eroded by a terrifying "extraordinary."
The school bell, a horn of liberation for her classmates, was for her the start of another trial.
Walking out of the school gate, the sun was bright, and the streets were bustling with people, filled with the vibrancy of life. But in Yotsuya Miko's eyes, this world wore a completely different, nauseating face.
A bloated monster with a dozen arms clung to a utility pole by the road, each hand frantically tearing at something invisible. A salaryman with a neck as long as a snake was walking with his head down, but his head itself was several meters high in the air, its hollow eyes scanning the pedestrians below. Not to mention the floating conglomerates composed of countless eyeballs, and the short, dark figures gnawing on garbage deep in the alleyways, making crunching sounds...
This world had gone mad.
And what was even madder was that she seemed to be the only one who could see these things.
"—I can't see them. I can't see any of them."
Yotsuya Miko repeated this sentence over and over in her mind; it had practically become the mantra she depended on for survival. She kept her head down, her long chestnut hair covering most of her face, hiding lips that were colorless from fear.
She forced herself to focus on her phone screen, pretending to be chatting with a friend as she hurried through the streets that, to her, were like a scroll painting of hell.
She couldn't look, couldn't listen, couldn't react in any way.
This was the only rule of survival she had learned from countless near-breakdowns. These "things" seemed uninterested in humans who couldn't perceive them. Once she let them know she "saw," the consequences would be unimaginable.
Today, her younger brother Kyosuke wanted to eat a newly released pudding. As a good older sister, Miko took a detour to a 24-hour convenience store on her way home.
"Welcome—"
The automatic doors opened, and the store clerk's listless welcome, along with the cold air from the air conditioner, hit her, allowing Miko's tense nerves to relax slightly.
The bright lights and clean environment of the convenience store always gave her a false sense of security. There were a lot of people here, so the positive energy... might be stronger? Miko could only comfort herself with such vague reasoning.
She walked quickly to the refrigerated section, her eyes rapidly searching through the dazzling array of desserts.
"Ah, found it."
She saw the pudding with the cute cartoon bear printed on it. Just as she reached out, preparing to pull open the glass door—
An indescribable, abyssal chill instantly shot up from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.
The temperature of the surrounding air seemed to drop by more than ten degrees. Even the packaging on the store shelves seemed to be coated in a thin layer of frost.
It was here.
Miko's heart clenched violently, and all the blood in her body seemed to freeze in that moment.
She didn't dare to turn her head, didn't even dare to breathe. She could only use the stiff corner of her eye to sneak a peek at the reflection in the adjacent glass door.
In the glass's reflection, a sanity-shattering figure was slowly crawling out from the shadows of the shelves.
It was a monster, ashen all over, with shriveled limbs but an abnormally bloated stomach. Its skin was like rotten tree bark, covered in a sticky liquid and mold spots. Its mouth was stretched unnaturally to its ears, a dark, gaping hole with no visible teeth or tongue, only an endless, all-consuming hunger emanating from within.
It had no legs and could only drag itself across the floor with two withered arms, leaving two long, black, foul-smelling streaks in its wake.
"Hungry... so... hungry..."
A fragmented voice, like fingernails scratching on glass, echoed directly in Miko's mind.
A Starving Ghost Cursed Spirit.
The resentment and hunger radiating from it were so pure, so intense, that Miko felt her own stomach clench, waves of nausea rising in her throat.
It was blocking the exit of the narrow aisle she was in.
Miko's body was as stiff as a stone, cold sweat soaking her back. She could feel the monster's gaze locked firmly onto her.
What do I do... what do I do...
Her mind went blank. The mantra she relied on for survival, "I can't see it," was on the verge of failing under such close-range, terrifying pressure.
She could feel the monster inching closer to her. The stench of rot, mixed with the sour smell of spoiled food, drilled into her nostrils.
No, I have to be calm!
Yotsuya Miko, you don't see anything! You're just buying pudding!
Using all her strength, she suppressed the trembling of her body and forced a stiff smile that looked more like a grimace. She extended a hand that was shaking like a leaf, pulled open the glass door, took two puddings, and then turned to face the monster.
She had to walk past it to leave this corner.
One step, two steps...
Each step felt like she was walking on the edge of a knife, and every beat of her heart was like a war drum.
She forced herself not to look at the monster, her gaze fixed blankly ahead, but its image was seared into her vision with perfect clarity.
Just as she was about to brush past the monster, the Starving Ghost Cursed Spirit stopped moving.
Its disproportionately large head turned slowly towards Yotsuya Miko, accompanied by the "kaka" sound of grinding bones.
Its black, gaping mouth was almost touching her cheek.
"You... can... see... me... can't you..."
In that instant, Yotsuya Miko felt her world completely collapse.
She was trapped in the corner of the aisle, with no way to retreat, unable to move. An immense terror, like a cold hand, clutched her throat, preventing her from making even the slightest sound.