Half an hour later, in Kyoto City's Reverse World, an alley twelve kilometres from Kyoto Municipal Kindergarten.
"Arrived successfully."
Ye Xing stepped slowly through the Gate, murmuring as he observed the thick, tide-like black mist beyond the alley.
Through recent explorations, he'd already grasped one fundamental truth.
Just a single Gate separated two completely different worlds.
In the surface world's Kyoto, the most dangerous location was the derelict building he'd marked as the sole S-class site.
Yet that same building would be considered a safe house in the Reverse World.
After all, as long as you didn't approach that Gate, the evil spirits inside wouldn't even attack proactively.
The key difference between both Kyotos was this:
In the Reverse World, evil spirits never needed to ask, "Can you see me?"
Even ordinary people like Yui Yuigahama could clearly perceive evil spirits here.
This meant they could attack humans on sight.
After all, this was a world ruled by evil spirits - Ye Xing, a human with Spiritual Power, was the outsider here.
Ye Xing walked steadily towards the alley's exit. Facing the nauseating black mist, he said:
"Come out."
With these words, the pale ghost hand materialised again.
Its recent continuous feasting on evil spirits and Gate removals in the Reverse World had brought noticeable growth.
No longer terminating at the wrist, it now extends through the forearm and upper arm, only lacking a shoulder connection to become a complete limb.
"Tell me... what exactly are you?"
Ye Xing strolled leisurely through Reverse Kyoto's streets, smiling at the pale ghost hand trailing behind him.
Of course, having no mouth, the ghost hand offered no reply.
Ye Xing had also tried getting it to respond by writing.
As it turned out, the ghost hand seemed completely illiterate.
Truly shameful.
Still, through Miko Yotsuya's successful awakening of her ability, Ye Xing had managed to glean a few valuable pieces of information.
Like Miko's Hyakume, the pale ghost hand was undoubtedly a Soul Manifestation—just a rather special one.
The first peculiarity was that Ye Xing still didn't know the ghost hand's true name.
Perhaps he'd have to wait until the ghost hand fully solidified and took on a humanoid form before he could call its true name and unleash its full power.
The second peculiarity was far more unsettling.
The ghost hand's true form was far more terrifying than any evil spirit he had encountered so far.
The proof was simple.
Before he actively manifested the pale ghost hand, Miko Yotsuya had been completely unaware of its existence.
For a psychic to be unable to see an evil spirit, there was only one explanation.
Take Oda Noto, or the old woman from the original storyline—both were psychics, but all they could perceive were vague, shadowy outlines, unlike Miko, who could see evil spirits in their true forms.
Moreover, some evil spirits were so powerful that they couldn't even be observed.
And among the evil spirits Ye Xing knew of, only his pale ghost hand was something even a psychic as strong as Miko Yotsuya wasn't qualified to "see."
This thing's true form…
Could it be some kind of Cthulhu-esque evil god?
Tentacles?
Now that would be interesting.
With these thoughts in mind, Ye Xing pressed forward, the thick black fog parting effortlessly under the pale ghost hand's touch.
Gradually, his figure vanished entirely into the darkness.
Only the eerie crimson moonlight from the Reverse World's sky cast its ghastly glow upon the scene.
...
Meanwhile, in the clubroom of the Supernatural Quantum Mechanics Research Society—or "Super-Q Society" for short—
Rio Futaba stirred her coffee in a beaker, the clinking of the stir rod against the glass ringing clear.
She watched as Yui Yuigahama and Miko Yotsuya, seated across from her, stared intently at their phones, their expressions tense. The sound of a reporter's voice played from the device.
With a sigh, she remarked dryly, "Do you have a little sister or brother in that kindergarten?"
After these past few days of interaction, Rio wouldn't call herself friends with Yui and Miko, but they could at least exchange a few words whenever they happened to meet in the clubroom.
Today, however, was the first time she'd seen the two of them here after school.
At the question, the girls blinked, exchanged glances, then shook their heads in unison.
"I'm an only child."
"Then…"
Rio's brow furrowed slightly, her gaze sharpening as she took a sip of coffee, feigning nonchalance.
"Why are you both so invested in this live broadcast?"
Yui and Miko stiffened at the question. Eventually, Miko—whose nerves were slightly steadier—managed a strained smile and explained,
"Well… It's just that something like this has never happened before. We're a bit worried, that's all."
"Is that so?"
Rio's response was neutral.
"Where's Ye Xing today?"
"Er... he had some business to attend to and went home first."
"I see."
Seeing that Rio Futaba seemed to have asked casually without any intention of probing further, both Yui Yuigahama and Miko Yotsuya finally breathed a sigh of relief.
If she had really pressed for details, they wouldn't have known how to explain.
Originally, Miko Yotsuya had wanted to go with Ye Xing, too.
But after some consideration, she abandoned the idea.
For one thing, Miko's Hyakume, though now grown to five eyes, was at most comparable in strength to one of the hundreds of evil spirits in that abandoned building - roughly B-grade evil spirit level.
Travelling over ten kilometres in the Reverse World, with all the potential dangers along the way, was something she couldn't even imagine.
With her current strength, if she went with Ye Xing, she'd only slow him down in the black mist and be completely useless.
Another reason.
This time, the opponents weren't evil spirits.
But armed humans.
Before setting off, Ye Xing had asked her a soul-searching question:
"Can you bring yourself to kill someone?"
Miko had wanted to say that she could do it to protect the innocent.
But the reality was, she knew she couldn't.
At least not in her current state.
Pointless bravado meant nothing.
All Miko could do now was watch the live reporter coverage with Yui Yuigahama and pray silently in her heart.
...
Fifteen minutes later, outside Kyoto Municipal Kindergarten.
"What's the situation on the ground?"
A bespectacled middle-aged man with a square jaw, short hair and beard, his face set in determination, wiped sweat from his forehead with his sleeve as he asked his subordinate.
"Still no progress."
"Damn it..."
The man gritted his teeth before gesturing decisively.
"Get me a bulletproof vest! I'm going in alone to negotiate with the hostage-takers!"
"Th-that's... you can't, Director Yagami! You're the field commander - you can't take such risks!"
"There's no other way!"
Soichiro Yagami, Director of the Metropolitan Police Department's Criminal Affairs Bureau, clenched his fists tightly.
"Over an hour has passed. The hostage-takers' mental state is unstable. If this continues... the hostages' lives..."
Hearing his words, the surrounding Metropolitan Police officers and Self-Defence Forces reinforcements fell into silence.
The situation was extremely complex.
There were over twenty hostage-takers, all armed.
A direct assault?
Among the hostages were many kindergarteners aged five or six.
Who could bear responsibility if casualties were to occur?
This was Japan, not Russia - they couldn't just eliminate hostages along with the criminals.
Just then.
"Director Yagami!"
A Metropolitan Police officer wearing a bulletproof vest rushed up to Soichiro Yagami, panting as he reported:
"R-reporting, Director! An unidentified individual has entered the scene!"