Miko felt that she had fallen into a rather troublesome situation.
Because she had the glasses "Mystic Eye Killer" lent to her by that exorcist gentleman, she had enjoyed a rare period of good rest after her Spirit Sight awakened—although she would still see those things upon waking up or when not wearing the glasses during things like bathing, as long as she put them on and ignored what she saw out of the corners of her eyes, everything would return to normal.
She also knew this was just a form of escape and didn't count as truly solving the problem.
But escape is very useful, after all! She was just an ordinary person, right? Asking her to face monsters that looked like they had crawled out of a horror movie was just too much to ask...
That being said, she would occasionally still be troubled by certain situations.
Just like right now.
Although everything looked fine through the lenses of the glasses, she could clearly see from the periphery of her vision that she was enveloped by a patch of shadow.
That was certainly not the shadow of anything normal, but a monster about four or five people tall, looking like a swaying zombie giant.
The size of the monster was naturally not the main reason Miko felt troubled; after all, before she got the glasses, she had seen even more formidable things.
The key point was that this thing seemed to have set its sights on her friend, Hana.
She was Miko's best friend, but this best friend of hers seemed to have a constitution that easily attracted strange existences—the old lady who once sold her the evil-warding prayer beads had mentioned it might be because Hana's life energy was relatively strong—anyway, Little Hana was once again entangled by a monster.
This monster was using Hana as something like a barbecue grill, grabbing the small monsters nearby and roasting them instantly above her head, then stuffing them into its mouth to taste them with great relish.
A greasy and nauseating chewing sound came from its mouth, and those small monsters hadn't completely died yet, still letting out screams that made Miko's scalp tingle; finally, accompanied by a disgusting gulping sound, those shrill cries were swallowed whole into the stomach of the zombie-like giant monster.
After repeating this several times, Miko clearly felt that her friend beside her seemed to be growing somewhat weak.
"Strange, I obviously ate my fill at lunch today... why am I hungry again now..."
Hana, who had absolutely no inkling that she was being used as a barbecue grill, rubbed her stomach and said to Miko with a bitter face: "Miko, wait for me a moment, I'm going to the convenience store to buy some bread."
"I-I'll go with you too!"
Even though she knew she couldn't help much, Miko couldn't just sit by and watch her friend grow weak like this.
"Whoa, why so loud all of a sudden... that determined look makes it seem like you're heading to an execution dock or something. You're being too dramatic, Miko."
Hana said with a broad, careless laugh.
However, her smile then turned a bit mischievous: "More importantly, Miko, do you happen to have... well, someone you're interested in?"
"Why do you say that?"
Miko dealt with her casually while distracted, using the periphery of her vision from the edge of the Mystic Eye Killer to watch the giant monster's movements.
"Because you suddenly changed your look," Hana said with an expression like a Mudkip that had seen through everything and held the pearl of wisdom in its grasp: "You're obviously not nearsighted, yet you've started wearing these non-prescription glasses... could it be that the other person is a glasses-con? And they're these thick-rimmed black frames too; it seems their tastes are quite special..."
"It's nothing like that, Hana, don't talk nonsense."
Miko spoke subconsciously.
Yet when she was teased by her best friend like this, the first thing that popped into the girl's mind was Asakura's calm and unruffled face.
In fact, she had also obtained his contact information that day.
But the girl really couldn't be sure if he would specifically come to help her over a situation that, in his eyes, might just be a "small matter."
"Bread, bread, bean paste buns, pork cutlet sandwiches—hey, this brand actually released a new gyoza bread? How innovative, I'll buy one! And the standard yakisoba bread..."
"Is it really okay to buy this much?"
"Yeah, I really should control myself a bit..." Hana nodded: "After all, it'll be snack time in a little while!"
"...These breads don't count as snacks?"
Miko couldn't help but complain.
However, after seeing Hana finish off a bean paste bun in two or three bites and her complexion improve significantly, she didn't say anything more.
If she hadn't been able to see that monster from the edges of her glasses, she probably would have just thought her friend was lacking sugar. The girl thought to herself.
"By the way, Miko, have you heard about the recent urban legends around here?"
Sitting on the seats provided by the convenience store, Hana suddenly asked while drinking milk to relieve the dryness in her mouth from the bread.
"U-urban legends?"
Miko glanced at the giant monster standing beside them and asked, pretending to be calm: "There sure are a lot of urban legends lately... what's it like this time?"
However, this "glance" of hers seemed to have been noticed by the giant monster; it bent its waist and spoke with a voice as filthy and viscous as a mop soaked in sewage hitting the ground.
"Can... you... see... me?" "Can... you... see... me?" "Can... you... see... me?"
Miko only felt her scalp go numb and her heart thumping incessantly. Fortunately, she had experienced similar dangers before, so she tried her best to calm down and acted as if she were listening to her best friend.
"The 'Spirit Away in the Alleyway,' of course!"
Hana, who wasn't quite so observant, clearly didn't notice Miko's unease and said excitedly: "They say a girl disappeared while passing through an alley recently. The police checked the nearby surveillance but couldn't find where she went. Only the local elderly people say she was 'spirited away'!"
Miko tried hard to focus her attention on the conversation with her best friend, attempting to ignore the gaze of the giant monster's eyes, which were almost pressed against her own face.
In the next moment, around the monster's fist-sized eyes, the parts that would be considered the eye sockets for a human suddenly began to bubble like boiling liquid.
Immediately, the girl realized those weren't bubbles or bumps, but many, many tiny, densely packed eyes.
The girl felt like she was about to cry.
No, if she didn't have the Mystic Eye Killer to let her see a normal world through the lenses, she certainly would have burst into tears long ago.
"A rather classic urban legend... or rather, can this really count as an urban legend? It's just a simple missing person case, right?" She tried her best to keep her voice from trembling at all, speaking in a normal tone.
"I've only heard about it from friends," Hana shook her head. "Supposedly, in this area lately, people occasionally hear a woman crying in the alleys, but even if they follow the sound to look, they find nothing. Additionally, some others say that when they try to take a shortcut through an alley to get elsewhere, they inexplicably get lost in those short little alleys, as if the alley suddenly turned into a maze where many, many alleys are connected together..."
"Whoa, that sounds way scarier than just a simple 'Spirited Away'."
Miko took a sip of her drink, her movements looking perfectly natural.
But if one were to look closely, they could still see her hand trembling imperceptibly.
'Can't... you... see... me?' 'Can't... you... see... me?' 'Can't... you... see... me?'
The giant monster seemed somewhat disappointed; it slowly straightened its body and walked out of the convenience store, seemingly intending to hunt some small monsters to continue roasting on the "barbecue grill" it had found.
Miko keenly seized this opportunity and yanked up Hana, who was still eating her pork cutlet sandwich.
"Oh, right! I just remembered I have things to do. We can't keep dawdling here. Hana, let's go, hurry!"
"Eh? But I haven't finished eating... Wait, wait a sec, don't pull me—ah-re~"
"Stop playing with memes at a time like this! I'll treat you to Rabbit Dango!"
"Oh oh! That legendary dessert shop? I'm going, I'm going! Miko is the best~"
The two reached the entrance of the convenience store. The moment the automatic doors slowly slid open, Miko discovered that the giant monster that was supposed to have left was already blocking the doorway.
'As I thought...' The monster's face slowly slid down from its head, sliding all the way down to its abdomen. Its blurred features, which looked like they had melted and stuck together, began to wriggle simultaneously. Then, the monster's viscous, terrifying voice rang out: 'You CAN see me!'
Ah.
The girl thought to herself.
It's all over now.
☆
On the other side, at Star... bucks.
Although he was ultimately defeated by the literal meaning of R18, Asakura could tell that Ayase was no longer as resistant to Kirino's hobbies as she was at the beginning.
"In high school, meeting someone you can call a soulmate is actually a very rare thing. It would be a bit of a pity to fall out over a small conflict." He advised the girl: "If possible, you should make up with Kirino soon."
"Why do you call Kirino by her first name so casually, Asakura-nii? Are you two very close?"
As a result, Ayase looked at him suspiciously, asking in a tone that was subtly heavy.
"Isn't your focus a bit strange..."
Asakura complained first, then shook his head and said: "I'm not that well-acquainted with her; we're just online friends. As for why I call her by her first name... that's naturally because I only knew her online handle. I only found out her actual name after you mentioned it, and I have no idea what her last name is."
"I see."
Only then did Ayase's expression become relaxed and sunny again.
But then she seemed to think of something and her face clouded over with distress: "Even if you say that... fine, even if I admit I just had a prejudice against those things... things I hate are still things I hate... Why does Kirino like that kind of stuff anyway..."
"I don't expect you to accept it all at once; after all, a person's perspective is one of the hardest things in the world to change," Asakura said. "So just take it slow. Start by getting in touch with the most basic parts. As long as you can feel even a little bit of joy from those works, your view of them will surely become completely different from what it is now."
"...Since Asakura-nii has said so..."
Ayase pouted—even with such a childish movement, she was still a sight to behold. At first glance, her temperament belonged to that typical "Yamato Nadeshiko" type of ice beauty, similar to Yukino, but after spending time with her, one would find she is different from Yukino.
Whether it was being gentler or more approachable... in short, she lacked that chill that kept people a thousand miles away and possessed an air of approachability that made people relax naturally.
"Then I'll start by watching An-pan-man..." the girl said.
"Isn't that a bit too basic?" Asakura complained.
"Is it? But isn't An-pan-man already a 'guchiku' character who lets people eat his own face?"
"...Don't look at it from a human perspective; after all, he is bread."
"Besides, the anime Kirino liked before was on the same level, right? The kind made for little kids."
"Stardust Witch Meruru... well, I haven't seen it, but I hear quite a few 'adult fans' watch it too. It's quite popular among a specific crowd," Asakura said. "It probably isn't actually that juvenile."
After all, there were plenty of "books" of that theme at Comiket...
"It really feels complicated..."
"So just take my recommendation and start with Puella Magi Madoka Magica—"
Before Asakura could finish, he stopped as if he had suddenly sensed something, looking up slightly toward a certain direction.
"Asakura-nii, what's wrong?" Ayase asked curiously.
"A defense mechanism I left behind previously has been activated."
Asakura stood up hurriedly: "Sorry Ayase, go back on your own for now. I have some business to attend to."
"Wait, Asakura-nii!"
Ayase scrambled to her feet: "I'm coming too—"
"No need. Although I don't think there's any big danger for you, letting you get involved voluntarily is another matter entirely." Asakura shook his head, refusing clearly: "I haven't reached the point where I'd be that irresponsible."
"But..." A look of worry appeared on the girl's face.
To be honest, the previous experience at Chiba Port Tower felt as illusory as a dream to the girl, but even so, she could feel the danger and terror Asakura had experienced then.
I have witnessed him brush past death; how can I comfortably watch him head toward the battlefield once again?
"Don't worry," Asakura said, completely unconcerned. "Unlike what you're imagining, I'm used to this kind of thing. It's not a big deal. For me, eliminating an anomaly is no different from eating a biscuit. I'll contact you using the Snitch when the time comes."
"But biscuits can choke a person to death too," the girl said.
"Can't you wish for something better for me?" Asakura rubbed the girl's head. "Don't worry," he said, "I will win!"