Miko Yotsuya was never the kind of girl who drew attention. Her uniform was always neat, her voice soft, her large eyes avoiding direct contact. The kind of presence that hid in the back of classrooms, behind the last row, hoping to go unnoticed.
But what she tried to hide wasn't shyness. It was fear. A trained fear. Refined.
From a young age, Miko saw what others couldn't. Bodies suspended in stairwells. Cracked skulls whispering at bus windows. Mirrors reflecting presences that weren't in the room.
She learned to act like an ordinary girl.
To smile faintly. To walk at the right pace. To avoid reacting to invisible claws brushing close to her face. Because if the ghosts noticed… if they realized she could see them…
They came closer.
And when they came closer, they didn't want conversation. They wanted contact.
Hana, her best friend, lived in a world apart. Always cheerful, always hungry, cracking jokes that almost drowned out Miko's daily terror. But Hana was a spiritual beacon—and the dead were starving flies. The problem was, Hana never knew. And Miko never told.
She just swallowed hard and endured.
Until today.
Because today, something changed.
Megumi Katō didn't look like the others. She didn't avert her gaze out of politeness. She simply didn't see. There was no trace of spiritual sensitivity in her—no flicker of perception, no loose thread that could serve as bait.
But the space around her was clean.
Miko noticed it the moment she approached.
No whispers. No figures standing among the bushes. No bony fingers scraping the ground. The silence was real. The air felt normal.
Megumi seemed just… ordinary.
But there was something in her chest. A hidden warmth, steady, that blocked the advance of shadows.
Miko didn't understand where it came from.
She only knew she needed to stay close.
She couldn't explain why she decided to talk to Megumi. It was impulse, fear, hope. Not courage. Necessity. And the result was immediate: she breathed. For the first time in a long while, she felt the air enter her lungs cleanly.
Sitting next to Megumi was like discovering that the world still had solid ground.
And when the boy arrived, everything grew even quieter.
Yuta Okkotsu didn't need an introduction. Even those who'd never spoken to him knew his name. But Miko… she sensed more. Felt more.
His body carried weight. Not from muscles or his steady posture. It was something else.
Density.
There were no entities nearby when he approached. No shadows behind the tree. No figures lingering by the school wall. The space around him was clear—not from absence, but from intimidation.
Miko had never felt this before. Ghosts didn't flee. They didn't hide. But here… they retreated. Vanished.
She understood instantly.
He wasn't like her.
He was worse. Or better. Or… something beyond.
And yet, when he sat down, he didn't ask questions. He didn't look at her strangely. He just existed there, in the space beside Megumi, with a naturalness no exorcist carried. Because it wasn't theatrical. Or ritualistic.
It was instinct.
Miko didn't speak. Neither did he. But the air between them didn't need words.
And for the first time, she felt that pretending not to see… might no longer be necessary.
Maybe, with the right people nearby, seeing wasn't a sentence anymore.
Maybe it was just the beginning.
---
'Miko Yotsuya.'
Yuta glanced away from his lunchbox for a second. Her posture was discreet, but the way she avoided staring at the air around her… it was telling.
'Never thought she'd show up this soon.'
He chewed slowly, watching the courtyard calmly.
'In my past life, she was just an anime character. Mieruko-chan. Funny how her name felt like a joke and a tragedy at the same time.'
'But here? Here she's alive. And clearly seeing more than she should.'
She didn't talk. Didn't try to make conversation. But the way she looked at Megumi was clear: relief. And when her eyes lingered on him a second longer than needed, Yuta knew.
'She felt it.'
'The ghosts didn't come closer after I arrived. They scattered like roaches when the light comes on.'
He took a sip from the bottle Megumi had shared with him. He wasn't thirsty. He just wanted something to occupy his hands.
'She doesn't understand what I am. But she's already trying to find a word for it. Maybe she thinks I'm a god. Maybe a walking shrine. Maybe just a black hole of spiritual energy that swallows anything that gets close.'
'But whatever her theory is… she's not wrong.'
Yuta adjusted his posture unhurriedly. His left hand rested on his knee, while his right still held the open cereal bar wrapper. The taste was irrelevant. But the moment… wasn't.
'Megumi was the first. The first character I met in this world who came from an anime. But she wasn't just anyone. She was Megumi Katō. An ordinary girl, almost too unremarkable, who only stood out for being so quiet.'
'And now she's here. My girlfriend. Steady, grounded, strong in a way that doesn't need to see ghosts to face the world.'
He glanced at Miko again.
'But Miko… Miko's different.'
'She's the kind of character who didn't choose any of this. She was just born seeing what she shouldn't. And learned to swallow her panic to keep living.'
'If it were me… in my past life… seeing what she sees… with no power… I'd have lost it.'
Yuta leaned his shoulder against the tree trunk behind him.
'She's stronger than she looks. Strong in her silence. In her retreat. In the way she pretends not to see when everything inside her is screaming it's real.'
Miko held the tea cup with both hands. Her fingers still trembled slightly. Not from cold. From tension. Reflex. Trauma.
'She must have sensed that Megumi's amulet blocks something. The curses… they must veer away without even knowing why.'
'And now, sitting between an ordinary girl with an invisible shield and a guy who doesn't bother hiding he's a living threat… she's finally breathing.'
Yuta lowered his gaze for a moment.
'The system hasn't sent me any new missions yet. But with Miko here, it's only a matter of time. She attracts these things. Always has.'
'And me…'
He ran his fingers along the sleeve of his jacket.
'I don't usually attract. I hunt.'
'If she sticks around… it's inevitable. Things will start crawling out of the shadows. They'll try something.'
'But this time… she won't be alone.'
Yuta looked back at the courtyard. Megumi opened her lunchbox lid and offered Miko a rice ball. The girl declined with a shy smile. But there was something different in the way she smiled now.
'For the first time, she smiled without fear.'
Yuta didn't comment. Didn't change his expression. But inside, a conclusion solidified.
'You don't choose who shows up in your life.'
'But you choose what you do next.'
And in that moment, even without promising anything…
He had already chosen.
'I'm not waiting for a system mission for this.'
Yuta leaned his head against the trunk, feeling the breeze cut through the courtyard's silence. The distant sounds of voices, clinking cutlery on trays, and footsteps shuffling in the halls no longer drew attention.
'Since I reincarnated here, everything I've done… was for me.'
'I killed because I needed to level up. I exorcised curses because the system told me to. I gave out amulets to protect the people I care about, but even that… came with rewards.'
He twirled the cereal bar in his fingers, now forgotten.
'But with her, no.'
'Miko didn't ask for anything. Doesn't know who I am. Doesn't even imagine what I can do. But even so… when she looked at me like that, like I was the only breathable air in a world full of smoke…'
'I knew.'
The light filtered through the leaves above, casting shifting shadows across Megumi's face. She was calm, eating slowly. On the other side, Miko held the tea with both hands, as if she still couldn't believe this was real.
'She shouldn't even be alive.'
'Not like this. Surrounded by curses every day. No power, no training, no one to protect her.'
'But she endured. Pretended not to see. Pretended not to feel.'
Yuta closed his eyes for a second, feeling the faint warmth of cursed energy still flowing through his body's channels.
'She's like an exposed wire… in the middle of a storm.'
'And yet, she didn't burn out.'
'So no. The system won't tell me what to do with her.'
'I'm going to protect Miko. Even if there's no points, no XP, no notification.'
'Even if it slows me down, even if it costs me something.'
'Because for the first time… I want to do something without expecting anything in return.'
The wind shifted. Megumi offered another piece of her lunch. Miko declined with a shy wave, but smiled. It was faint, but it was a real smile.
'And that's why she'll keep living.'
'Because now she's not alone anymore.'
'She's under my shadow.'
'And any curse that tries to cross it… will vanish.'
'No chance to explain. No time to regret.'
The sky began to clear through the heavy clouds. Rays of light touched the concrete walkways, inching forward, as if the day were waking up again.
'This world still doesn't get it…'
'But I'm not just a piece anymore.'
'I'm the player.'
Yuta opened his eyes.
The tea still warmed Miko's hands.
Megumi chewed calmly.
And he, for the first time since he was reborn…
…didn't need to pretend he was just part of the scenery.
Support here: patreon.com/22Mirko22
Thank you so much for reading - see you in the next chapter!