The Beginning

All of us might have heard of stories, rumours or even myths from here and there. Some might be affiliated with demons, while some with spirits. Some of you might believe in these ‘stories’, while some of you may not. However, there is something about this concept that everyone must understand, which is their existence.

      These monsters or spirits from myths are alive for a purpose but not all can see them. The few who can see them and interact with them are called the Cast. The ones who make contracts with spirits after summoning them are the Off-Cast. Finally, the Cast who decides to hunt these creatures based off the miasma they emit are called hunters/ pursuants. The hunters have their own ranks in the ‘Yokai’ realm, which is similar to ‘the underground’. They are paid for every ‘Yokai’ they hunt. The ranks of these ‘Yokai’ start from Folklore followed by grades such as C, B, A. Although these are the only mentioned ranks, there exists three ranks, which consist of the most dangerous ‘Yokai’… ‘The Divine, The Demonic and The Mythic’. Rather than calling them ranks, they could be considered separate entities, different from those in stories and myths.

     Now that I have explained the most basic thing about these creatures from the stories, let us go back to the story of a boy in high school, who was different from normal kids of his age. Usually, the Cast awaken at the age of 10, but this boy was different. He could see lingering regrets, spirits and even come across ‘Yokai’, so everyone feared him.

“Hey, it’s him, right?”

“Yeah… Don’t look him in the eye. You’ll get cursed.”

“Cursed? I heard that people lose it and hang themselves after they reach home”, whisper the students at the high school where the boy was attending.

“Again… another year without any peace”, says the boy to himself.

     The new semester had just begun and the boy had joined the ‘Sakurano High School’ a high school in Saitama, Tokyo, Japan.

“Ah~… Look who’s here!” comes a voice from behind the boy.

“Tch… Not again…” says the boy to himself silently and tries to ignore the people who were trying to pick on him.

     He walks up the stairs slowly and when he reaches halfway to the second floor, the students who usually bully him corner him from both the sides of the stairs.

“You trying to ignore us?”

“Well, Akihiko-san! It doesn’t matter anymore.”

‘These guys think they’re strong… I haven’t even shown them my true power’, thinks the boy to himself.

      The bullies see him smirking and they get pissed off at him and say-

“You… Why are you laughing?”

“I’m… n-not l-l-laughing…”

“Then why do you look like you’re going to win…?”, asks one of them with an intimidating face.

“It’s cause… weak.”

      All four of the bullies on his either sides snap and one of them says-

“Grab him. Finally you’re showing some spurt, you little…!” and they grab him while they take turns and kick and punch him.

“Time to use my new combo… Crusher!” says one of them while punching him and then lands a strong punch in his face.

     They hear a crack and they leave him immediately. Nobody walked up the stairs from that side, but there were few who stayed at the bottom waiting for them to stop.

     The bell rings after that and they say after leaving him on the stairs-

“If you tell anyone about how that happened then we’ll make your entire life hell.”

“Yeah! You had better remember not to. Of course if you want to you can.”

“Stop it. Anymore and he might burst out crying.”

“Yep. Let’s get going.”

     The students who were waiting for them to finish climb up the stairs and see the boy beaten badly and lying down with a bloody face.

“D-do you need…”

“Just go away…,” says the boy and the students go rushing to their classes.

     The boy, Akihiko Ito was branded off as a cursed child from when he was 8 years old. The reasons to him being called a cursed child was that he had the ability to see spirits from his birth. Nobody believed him since they thought of spirits and ghosts as objects existing only in stories. Until…

“Those guys… I’m going to get back at them someday.” Says Akihiko while laying down and facing the ceiling.

     Suddenly a small white object flies in front of him and sits on his face.

“Hahah… I’m fine. It’s okay, Pei.” He says after getting the white object off his face. The white object was a mini-spirit. It was incapable of harming anyone and was not strong enough to touch anyone other than those who could see it and most of all it was one of his only friends.

“HA! I won again!”

“No… You didn’t!”

“Shut up. We all saw he didn’t end up getting killed.” Say a bunch of old spirits while gambling over whether Akihiko would win or not.

“These guys… Don’t you all have better jobs?”

“Of course not. We’re dead.”

“Then go to heaven for god’s sake.”

“We can’t. We had this same conversation last month too, REMEMBER?”

“… I’ll be going then.”

“Alright! See you again, squirt!”

     Akihiko gets up, heads to the roof of the building, and opens the door.

“It’s open today. Surprising.” He says and goes near the fence.

“Even if they bully me for so long… I’m not dumb enough to throw away my life by jumping off.” He says while looking down at the field.

     He then lays down over there and takes out his smartphone and turns it on. On the screen, a new message arrives and he clicks on it.

[Mom: Is everything fine on your first day?]

[Me: I’m not a child anymore you know…]

[Mom: But I can’t stop worrying. You know how I am.]

[Me: Fair point.]

[Mom: Get along with everyone. Ok?]

[Me: Hm.]

     After the conversation, he starts up a game on his phone and is immersed in it. He plays the RPG game for about 3 hours and then the bell rings again. He gets up and says-

“Time to eat!” and takes out his lunchbox.

     He starts to eat his lunch while playing the game and after a few minutes the door opens and three girls come to the roof. They see him and say-

“Oh! There you are!” and go near him.

“Why today…?”

“Hm? Did you say something?” ask the girls while looking down at him.

“N-no… I’m leaving anyways. Ha-ha.”

“Huh…? Who said you could leave?”

“Wait, I can’t?”

“No…. You will serve as entertainment for us.” Says another one of the girls and they start to laugh.

     Akihiko leaves anyways. One of them starts to chase after him but he waits and then turns around and says-

“I can kill you; you know…” and the girl chasing him hesitates and goes back to the roof.

     With a sigh of relief Akihiko says-

“Finally! Now, I’ve got to find a better spot to play in… Hm…”

“Aki!”

“Hm? Oh, Mitsuru!” he says after waving at his friend who was walking towards him.

     Akihiko was a very gloomy looking boy and had black hair. His eyes were as red as blood and he had dark circles under his eyes. Meanwhile, his friend Mitsuru was comparatively good-looking and was popular in class as well.

     When Mitsuru walked to Akihiko, a girl appeared from behind him and looks at Akihiko. They both stare at each other in disgust-

“Uweh… It’s you…,” they say at the same time.

     The girl was another one of his friends named Ayame. She had long black hair and was really beautiful. A slender body to a pretty face. Everyone looked up to her but she never made contact with anyone other than Akihiko since he made contact with her first by calling her something ridiculous. She stood first in academics every single year. Her eyes looked just like Akihiko’s. They were blood red in colour. These were the only human friends he has had from middle school.

“How come you both argue whenever you meet?” asks Mitsuru.

“He looks like my doppelganger from a parallel universe!”

“She looks like my doppelganger from a parallel universe! Stop copying me!”

“Shut up! You copied me first!”

“You wanna settle this in a better way?”

“Sure… I’ll take you on anytime, any day!” says Ayame with a grin.

“Don’t cry after you lose.” Says Akihiko with a smirk.

      They go to their clubroom and have their lunch there. Before the lunch, Akihiko goes up against Ayame in the RPG game he usually played… And completely destroys her.

“NOOO!!!!” says Ayame with a frustrated face and continues to eat.

“Hehe… I told you.” Says Akihiko with a proud face and continues to eat.

“Hahaha… How many losses does this make it for Ame?”

“5…”

“Hmm? I didn’t hear you properly…,” says Akihiko.

“567!”

“Oh, you remember it.”

“Then why did you ask me…?”

      Ayame being at the top in academics loved to play games. Mostly, Akihiko and Ayame were very similar to each other.

“So, where’s Pei?”

“Oh, he’s right above you.” Says Akihiko while pointing on Ayame’s head.

“Pei-chan!!!” says Ayame on seeing Pei and her eyes sparkle as she touches it.

“You still can’t see them, can you? Mitsuru?”

“Yeah…” says Mitsuru while clenching his fist under the table.

     The three of them were in the occult club and had most of the time off. So they would pass time either by playing or by doing something else. Akihiko and Ayame could see spirits but Mitusru was the only one among them who could not.

“What should we do today? Oh, right! Is your nose alright?”

“Yeah… I mean, it hurts when I breathe or touch it.”

“You should get it checked.” Suggests Mitsuru.

“I thought of that but…”

“But?” ask Ayame and Mitsuru together.

“… There’s a special event today!”

“… Special event? Are you sure it’s today?” asks Ayame hesitatingly.

“People were continuously tweeting about it though.”

“Let me check!” says Ayame and she checks her phone. Then she reads the tweets and says out of anger, “OYE! READ THEM PROPERLY!”

“Wait, it’s not today?” says Akihiko and checks the tweets as well.

[Whoa! It’s finally coming… Nevertheless, who knows probably tomorrow might be a day raining cats and dogs so then we can probably win the tournament with the power of lag!]

“Oh! Its tomorrow…”

“Be a little attentive, will you?” says Ayame as she finishes her lunch. Mitsuru finishes up as well and says, “I have some work to do as well so I’ll catch you both later.” And he leaves the room in a rush.

“Sure see-.” Says Akihiko and before he could complete his sentence he leaves.

“Hahahaha! That was hilarious!”

“S-shut up. You hag.”

“I’ll just think I didn’t hear that… I’m leaving too. It seems there’s an important quiz on something. Won’t you write it too?”

“I’ll see. Let me finish before that.” Says Akihiko while eating as fast as he could.

“Fine. See ya!” says Ayame and leaves the room.