Standing alone at the construction site, Karin held her phone in one hand and an umbrella in the other, scrolling through the headlines. Worry and simmering anger were written all over her pretty face.
She'd never been a smoker before—but now she pulled out a ladies' cigarette like it was second nature and lit up right there.
It had already been months since her father's suicide, and since she'd halted all activities to lay low. Even now, Karin still couldn't understand why her biological father would do this to her.
After killing himself, he'd left behind a diary that trashed her name, ruined her future, and set her whole life on fire.
And the nonstop online harassment had pushed her mind right to the edge.
"Why would you do this to me…?"
Karin murmured, eyes unfocused as she stared up into the dim sky.
Then, a hateful, venomous voice suddenly echoed right beside her ear, like it was crawling out of the air itself.
"You're asking why? Because you never respected me. You and Hatsumi both looked down on me! You got famous—so why the hell wouldn't you give me money when I asked?!"
Karin whipped around and met a twisted, pitch-black figure head-on.
Its face was hideous, blood pouring from every opening. The expression on it was nothing but spite and rage.
Karin recognized him instantly.
"D-Dad…?!"
There was no way. No way she'd ever expected to see him again.
Wasn't he dead?
But the moment she heard that stream of snarling hatred, Karin's fear was swallowed by anger.
"Neither Hatsumi nor I ever looked down on you—you were the one who looked down on yourself! And you know exactly why I wouldn't give you money, don't you? All you ever did was gamble, gamble, gamble—Mom left because of that! So why won't you ever change?!"
Her father—now a curse spirit—warped even further, his whole form darkening like rot spreading.
"That bitch only ran because I had no money—who do you think I was doing it for?! I was this close to hitting it big—and you ruined it! You're a bitch too—every last one of you! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!"
He roared, and black cursed energy gushed out of him like a flood.
Under that pressure, the exposed rebar around the site began to tremble.
THUD—THUD—THUD!
The heavy impacts made Karin's chest tighten with panic.
She tried to run, but cursed energy blocked her path like a wall, trapping her in place. She couldn't move—couldn't even take a step.
Karin stared at her father in disbelief as he controlled the rebar—sending it crashing down toward her like falling meteors.
She'd never imagined her father saw her like this.
And she'd never imagined that even after death… he'd still try to kill her.
Am I going to die?
That thought floated up, cold and weightless.
Memories flashed through her mind.
When she was little, their family had been happy. Hatsumi, herself, Mom, Dad—warm dinners, normal days, laughter.
Then Dad started gambling… and everything shattered.
The family fell apart. Her mother left in heartbreak. Karin and Hatsumi moved out and barely contacted him.
Karin clawed her way up with nothing but effort and talent—going from a nobody rookie idol to a blazing hot, top-level idol in just two years.
And that was when her father showed up again—demanding money. After she refused, again and again…
He died.
And then he posted a diary online saying she killed him.
The media swarmed. Rivals milked it. Even after the police cleared things up, the dogpiling harassment didn't stop.
She had no choice but to disappear and hide.
"…If this is where it ends, maybe that's fine," Karin whispered, face loosening into a strange, quiet relief. "I'm sorry, Hatsumi… Mom… I couldn't even call you one last time."
She closed her eyes.
And in that exact instant—Takumi's figure shot in from the side.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Like he was hammering steel, he used his bare fists to blast the heavy rebar away.
When the impact never came, Karin's eyes snapped open.
A handsome teenage boy had appeared in front of her like he'd stepped out of nowhere.
Karin stared, stunned.
With his back to her, Takumi locked his gaze on the curse spirit that had been her father.
"Having that much hate for your own daughter… that's a first for me."
"WHO ARE YOU?! WHY ARE YOU STOPPING ME, YOU BASTARD?!"
Her father howled. With a sweeping motion of his hand, even more rebar tore free, dropping like meteor strikes straight at Takumi and Karin.
Vmmmm—
But the moment the metal reached Takumi, it froze—stopping less than an inch from him, unable to move forward even a hair.
Takumi didn't even change expression.
"I'm just an exorcist passing by," he said coolly. "Make sure you remember that."
He raised two fingers, calmly pointing at Karin's father.
"[Cursed Technique Reversal: Red]."
Positive energy surged into the Limitless—condensing into something like a miniature newborn star.
A red point of light, no bigger than a grain of rice, fired from Takumi's fingertips.
In the next instant, it struck Karin's father and sent him flying hundreds of meters away, pulverizing him without resistance.
BOOM!!!
After carving out a tunnel of destruction, the curse spirit dispersed into nothing.
"Pathetic," Takumi clicked his tongue. "Didn't even drop a trait."
He turned back toward Karin, who was still trembling from shock.
The moment their eyes met—that familiar love-at-first-sight jolt hit like a clean electric snap.
And Takumi instantly understood.
That gut feeling earlier? It wasn't danger. It was his love radar going off.
"Ms. Nanase," Takumi asked gently, "are you okay?"
"Uh… I-I'm fine."
Karin snapped out of it, flustered, then blurted the questions she could barely hold in.
"What was that just now? How did you do that? What happened to my dad—why did he come after me?!"
Her dead father had shown up, tried to kill her, then this stranger appeared and erased him.
Everything that had happened in the last minute had scrambled her brain completely.
Takumi answered like it was nothing.
"It's not complicated. Your father turned into a curse spirit. I'm an exorcist who happened to pass by. I saved you, and I also took care of him. And by the way—my exorcism fees usually start at five million. Ms. Nanase… when do you plan on paying?"
One sentence yanked Karin back to reality so hard it almost hurt.
She lowered her head and said, voice small, "I… I don't have that much money."
"…Huh?"
Takumi's face went dead.
"You're a super famous idol," he said flatly. "You're telling me you can't come up with a few million? Are you messing with me?"
Karin's expression tightened with frustration and embarrassment, but her voice stayed soft.
"I've stopped working lately, and because of what happened with my dad… I lost a lot paying penalties for cancelled ads and breached contracts. Right now… I really don't have that much."
She quickly calculated it in her head. Even if she emptied everything she had, she only had around two million.
Five million in one go? That wasn't happening.