Hero, Heroine, and the Ordinary Guy
"Straight into combat."
I was sitting on a rice paddy ridge near Kanemachi City, close to Shinamori Shrine. Hanasaki, the shrine maiden in charge of handling occult incidents around here, had given me a mission to exorcise an evil spirit alongside Inuyama Shino, the werewolf, as a sort of skill test.
By original game standards, Inuyama was your classic Hulk-type character. Timid and quiet normally, but once transformed, uncontrollably powerful with no telling when she'd revert. Knowing that about herself, she stayed even more passive and tight-lipped in everyday life.
"Hey. You got here quick."
"I exercise regularly anyway. Figured I'd jog since I had to come out."
"Knew it."
I smell like sweat. It stung a little, but given her sensitive nose, I decided to let it slide.
It was nighttime now. Mom wasn't thrilled about me heading out this late, but I'd convinced her easily enough—I'd done the same thing before the move, sneaking out under the guise of "exercise" to fumble through minor evil spirit exorcisms.
This was outskirts territory, practically countryside, so there were hardly any streetlights. In the pitch dark, I could faintly make out Inuyama fiddling with her gray hair as she followed me.
Hanasaki's designated spot was deep in the woods. Heading into a shadowy forest at night felt a bit spooky, but I kept a straight face after glancing over and seeing her nervously chewing her lip.
Let me recap the info Hanasaki handed over. About a week ago, farmers working the fields started coming down with some illness. Doctors confirmed it was a lung disease with no clear cause.
Kuebiko, the scarecrow deity possessing a local scarecrow, mentioned a strange presence slinking into the woods last week.
And finally, a student passing through the area had gone missing.
"Today's target apparently spawned outside the woods and headed inside."
"Yeah."
"The soul's original owner was a regular person, but whatever grudge or influence turned it into one hell of a powerful evil spirit."
I'm sorely lacking in raw combat power. Sending me on an exorcism anyway seemed like Hanasaki's way of accelerating my training in perceiving the essence of souls, per my request. And tagging along Inuyama as a bodyguard/partner, though I wasn't sure I could fully trust her given how tense she looked.
Ahem.
About five minutes after stepping into the woods and tracking soul traces, the eerie atmosphere had us both speechless.
"Hold up."
"...Why?"
Even as she asked, Inuyama froze in place.
Focusing my eyes like I'd been practicing lately, I spotted soul tracks like footprints. I put my right index finger to my lips and signaled east with my left hand. Inuyama sprouted her wolf ears and sniffed the air.
Our faces hardened in unison.
"Smells like a corpse."
"It's not just one soul."
Conclusion: one obvious. The evil spirit had killed someone.
I'd never tangled with a man-eater before.
We both halted without a word.
Right. I'd gotten complacent with no big incidents lately. This world was crawling with Western and Eastern monstrosities—pro exorcists could slip up and die. And the political, financial, and underworld scenes were riddled with intelligent horrors like vampires.
Get your head in the game. This is the real story starting today.
I bit down hard on my left thumb—the one I don't usually use—drawing blood, infused it with spiritual energy, and rubbed it on my right eyelid. Blood's a potent spiritual medium. Without any special traits beyond my eyes, I needed these hacks to maximize it.
"The dead person's soul... it's been eaten. Not fully absorbed, but it's become part of the evil spirit."
"You can see that clearly?"
"For now."
It was crystal clear—not blurry or vague, just the chance it could be illusion or hallucination that bugged me.
Distance: roughly 20 meters. The human shape shrouded in dark energy was... off. Two faces, four arms. Two hands gripped axes; the other two trembled. One face thrashed like it was in agony.
Is that the eaten soul?
To get a sharper look, I brought my still-bleeding hand to my eye.
A sensation hit—like crossing into forbidden territory—and the evil spirit's structure snapped into focus.
Overall humanoid. Soul core at the heart. The devoured human soul compressed like a crushed doll, only head and arms protruding.
Yeah. The essence of the soul was...
"Wait!"
Impact slammed me face-first into the dirt.
"...Huh? What... was that?"
"Your face just blurred out. Some weird mark appeared in front of your eye."
"Oh... thanks. My memory's fuzzy too."
Setting aside nearly crossing that uncrossable river, our commotion had alerted the evil spirit.
"...I'll go first."
"Soul core's in the left chest—like the heart. The two souls aren't fully merged; a thread-like suppressed soul body spreads through the whole form."
"Got it. From here on..."
A guttural growl escaped Inuyama's throat. Her eyes went red, nails lengthened. I'd glimpsed fangs elongating too.
To avoid friendly fire, I climbed a tree out of sight and observed from above.
" sure have insane natural physiques."
The death aura was so thick it'd shred my body on contact, but werewolf-form Inuyama charged in, claws sinking into the evil spirit without a scratch.
Even half out of her mind, she remembered my last tip—aiming relentlessly for the soul core, darting around like a beast. Intimidating as hell.
Yeah. Way more terrifying than the original game's static text and images.
Anyway, time for my part.
As a law-abiding Japanese teen, I don't carry swords. I could get certified later via Hanasaki or someone, but right now, my arsenal was meager.
I pulled out the stainless steel fork I'd snuck from home, channeling spiritual energy into it with the technique the fortune-teller grandma taught me.
Aiming for the opening from Inuyama's assault. I held my breath on a mid-tree branch, watching below.
She wasn't registering it as human-shaped, but "left chest" stuck—she hounded that spot obsessively.
Come on, come on, now!
The evil spirit dodged Inuyama's strike big-time. I plunged the household fork into its left chest. Something insanely tough crumbled under my hand, and it let out a hideous screech.
■■■■■■■■■■■-!
The half-devoured soul spat out, black aura dissipating.
Only one exorcism method I knew: pray to a god to purify the neutralized spirit.
Local deity: just Kuebiko.
"Wise Kuebiko, you know this pitiable soul. Guide it to where it belongs."
⟨ Urgent Exorcism Rite ⟩
The scarecrow from the paddy shuffled over, purified the evil spirit, and left. As tension ebbed, claws slashed from behind.
Her eyes blazing red, reason gone—I rolled into the dirt, thinking.
If I can see soul essence, maybe I can tweak the werewolf-human shift too.
To refocus, I tore into my already mangled left thumb again, smearing it on my eye.
Intenser foreign sensation swept my head. In my rainbow-tinted vision, I locked onto Inuyama's soul—grinning murderously at me.
Black and white. One soul adorned in two colors.
Black dominated the surface now, so drawing out the white might revert her.
But reaching the core soul ain't easy. I extended my blood-scented left hand as bait.
She snatched it with talon-like claws, fangs sinking in. I clenched my teeth through the mind-shattering pain, touched her soul with my right hand.
Applying the eye-focus trick to my fingertips, I gathered spiritual energy, touched the white part of her soul, and empowered it.
The more I pushed, the more her power drained from my left hand.
Once over 80% white, she reverted to human form and collapsed belly-up.
I wrapped my gushing left hand in bandages and asked,
"You okay?"
"Hnggg."
"I'm gonna die."
Plopping down beside her with a sigh, woozy-eyed Inuyama mumbled,
"M-master..."
That absurd word hit me—I remembered. This was an adult game world. Puppy-type heroine.
Inuyama Shino was the loyal sort who devoted herself to superiors.
"We're screwed."
And her salvation arc was notoriously brutal.