Kyushu, Sakura Prefecture, Kyoto City.
Today marks the first day of school for freshmen at Sobu High School.
The gentle breeze of early spring carries scattered pale pink cherry blossoms, framing the youthful figures of boys and girls in a picture-perfect scene.
Meanwhile, inside a second-floor club room of the main school building...
A girl with sleek black hair, wearing Sobu High's uniform, and sporting golden pupils—though not strikingly beautiful, undeniably cute—stands by the window, seemingly admiring the view.
Yet the tears welling in her eyes, her trembling pupils, and her quivering body betray the terror gripping her heart.
"Can you see me?"
"Can you see me?"
To an ordinary observer, the room is empty except for the girl, so silent that you could hear a pin drop.
But in the girl's eyes, the room resembles a living hell.
Dozens of grotesque, horrifying evil spirits, wreathed in faint black mist, surround her.
One of them has its body in the corner of the room while its neck stretches nearly five meters, its head swaying right in front of her face. Two bulging eyeballs fixate on her, threatening to pop out.
"Can you see me?"
Despite the overwhelming fear, Miko Yotsuya forces herself to appear calm, pretending to admire the scenery outside as she mutters,
"T-the weather... is r-really nice today."
She's on the verge of tears.
How did things turn out like this?
This isn't the first time Miko has seen evil spirits and spectres.
Normally, if she pretends not to notice, the "things" would ask a few times before leaving her alone.
But this time, even after hiding in the club room for nearly ten minutes, they show no sign of going away!
"What should I do?"
Miko Yotsuya lightly bit her lower lip, feeling like she was on the verge of breaking down.
She had considered leaving the clubroom, but in such a terrifying situation, her legs had gone weak. If she hadn't been holding onto the windowsill with her hands, she probably would have collapsed to the floor already.
If that really happened...
These "things" would definitely realise that she could see them.
As long as she pretended not to see them, she would be safe.
This was the ironclad rule Miko had deduced for surviving in this dangerous world.
But given the current situation, even pretending not to see them wouldn't solve the problem.
Just as Miko was feeling utterly hopeless, she suddenly heard the sound of the clubroom door being opened behind her.
With all her strength, she turned around and saw a black-haired, black-eyed boy who looked about her age, exceptionally handsome, walking in calmly.
Miko immediately realised this was an opportunity.
A chance to escape from being surrounded by evil spirits.
"Um... classmate."
Miko's voice trembled, her golden eyes filled with pleading.
"I think I sprained my ankle. Could you help me back to the classroom?"
Under normal circumstances, Miko would never make such a request to a boy she'd just met.
But right now, she couldn't afford to care about that.
If she didn't leave soon, the evil spirits would eventually notice her.
"Sprained ankle?"
To Miko's surprise, the boy just smiled nonchalantly before slowly closing the clubroom door.
Then, under her puzzled gaze, he walked over to the desk in the clubroom. With elegant movements, he took out several items from his pocket while muttering to himself.
"Let's see... what's left that I haven't tested yet. Peach wood dagger, silver nail, and a few talismans that supposedly can perform an exorcism. That should be about it."
After counting the items on the table, the boy looked up with a friendly smile.
"Hello, I'm Ye Xing, a first-year student at Sobu High. Today's my first day."
Miko nodded instinctively.
"I'm Miko Yotsuya, also a first-year. Nice to meet you."
Only after introducing herself did Miko belatedly realise something and nervously press her lips together.
"Um... could you help me out first?"
As soon as she finished speaking, all the evil spirits in the clubroom suddenly turned their heads in unison, their gazes fixed intently on her face as they let out hoarse, growling voices from their throats.
"Can you see us?!"
Miko's body trembled violently, cold sweat breaking out on her back.
Then something completely unexpected happened.
"Ahem."
Ye Xing cleared his throat and waved at the evil spirits around Miko as if greeting neighbours, saying cheerfully:
"I can see you."
Miko froze for a moment before her pupils contracted in shock. She hurriedly warned him:
"D-don't say that out loud!"
She didn't know why this boy named Ye Xing also had the ability to see evil spirits and spectres, but that question wasn't important right now.
The most critical issue was that the other party had actually torn down this thin veil of pretence.
If the evil spirits and spectres found out that he could "see" them...
Then it would all be over!
However, what happened next was something Miko Yotsuya had never anticipated.
After Ye Xing finished speaking, the evil spirits in the activity room actually shrank back into the corners, their twisted bodies huddled together, their terrifying faces displaying an expression she had never seen before—one called fear.
"What... what's going on here?"
Miko Yotsuya wore an expression of utter disbelief.
Evil spirits...
Were afraid?
What were they afraid of?
Could it be this boy named Ye Xing standing before her?
Just what in the world was happening?
Ye Xing looked at the group of evil spirits cowering in the corner, trembling in fear, and shook his head slightly in disappointment.
"None of the stronger ones... Well, these will have to do."
After saying this, he picked up the peach wood dagger from the table, walked over to the group of evil spirits, and stabbed one directly.
The evil spirits that were stabbed let out a shrill, agonised scream unlike anything Miko had ever heard before.
Ye Xing's gaze never wavered, fixed solely on the hole in the evil spirits' bodies. After it slowly closed up, he pulled out a small notebook from his pocket and jotted something down.
"Hmm... The peach wood dagger's lethality against common evil spirits is about the same as steel. Doesn't seem to have any special effects."
Next, Ye Xing repeated the same action several times, only switching the weapon to a silver nail and a talisman.
"The silver nail seems slightly more effective than regular metal, but not by much."
"This talisman is completely useless. That old fraud selling these at the shrine's stall—I'll have to go get a refund from him."
After finishing his notes, Ye Xing tucked the notebook back into his pocket, stood up, stretched lazily, and yawned.
"Good. Your work here is done."
As soon as he said this, Miko watched in horror as Ye Xing slightly opened his mouth, and the bodies of the dozen or so evil spirits transformed into a writhing mass of eerie black mist before being completely sucked into his stomach!
With the evil spirits finally gone and the shock of what she had just witnessed, Miko's mental resilience finally reached its limit.
Her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the floor, two clear streams of tears flowing uncontrollably from her bright golden eyes.
Just then.
"Huh? Why is there noise in the activity room?"
A female teacher in a white lab coat and black dress pants slid open the door to the activity room.
What appeared before her was a girl sitting on the floor, tears streaming down her face as if she had been bullied.
And standing not far away, holding a peach wood dagger, was Ye Xing.
"What... is going on here!?"