"Br… bread?"Yotsuya Miko's expression twisted slightly in confusion, unsure how to respond.
She genuinely couldn't remember how many slices of bread she'd eaten. But that wasn't the point—could evil spirits really be compared to bread?
What Kiba meant… was that evil spirits, to him, were so common, so insignificant, that remembering each one was pointless?
Before Miko could process that thought, Kiba casually pulled a notebook—the same black one she'd noticed earlier that morning—from his pocket and handed it to her.
"The answers you're looking for are probably in here," he said. "I don't feel like explaining everything. Just read it yourself."
Miko bit her lower lip gently, her golden eyes reflecting hesitation. A strange sense of dread began to rise in her chest.
According to Kiba, he had only awakened the ability to see "those things" half a month ago.
But clearly…His knowledge of evil spirits and the paranormal far exceeded hers—even though she'd had her spiritual sight for years.
If she accepted this notebook—if she exposed herself to the truth within—would she still be able to go back to her ordinary life?
After a long moment of inner conflict, Miko slowly extended her pale right hand, her slender fingers resting on the cover of the black notebook before finally taking it.
She drew in a deep breath, calming the tightness in her chest, and opened it.
The first line instantly stunned her.
[March 20th – Weather: Cloudy][Today, I awakened the ability to see evil spirits and ghosts.][BYD, I woke up this morning and saw a monster with a twisted face standing right next to my bed. It scared the hell out of me.]
Reading this, Miko couldn't help but sigh softly.She could relate—completely.
Even now, she occasionally broke out in a cold sweat when she accidentally locked eyes with a spirit upon waking up.
And in that moment, her tension slightly eased.
She looked toward Kiba, who stood leaning against the rooftop railing, gazing out over the city.
He seemed calm now, composed—but at the beginning, he'd been terrified too.He felt fear. He was still human.
A tiny, relieved smile began to appear on Miko's face—Until she read the next few lines.
[Finished eating.][Surprisingly, evil spirits don't taste bad. How do I describe it?][The texture's sort of like spicy dried strips, and the outer shell is crispy.][Anyone who eats evil spirits regularly knows—swallowing's easy, cooking's the hard part.][I tried pan-frying them, but I don't think they're considered "ingredients," so I had to eat them raw.][Oh well, raw it is. It's got that natural, primal flavor.]
Miko's brain completely short-circuited. She couldn't even think anymore—just flipped to the next page out of instinct.
[March 26th – Weather: Sunny][After constantly devouring evil spirits for the past few days, I've developed a much deeper understanding of my powers.][It's not just that I can see them.][When I eat them, my physical abilities improve—slightly. The level of enhancement seems to depend on the strength of the spirit I consume.][Also, after consuming them, I sometimes receive memory fragments that clearly aren't mine.][I think they might be traces of the spirit's previous life.][I only observe them from a third-person point of view—like watching a movie. I don't actually experience them directly, so it doesn't affect me emotionally.]
[April 2nd – Weather: Clear, not a single cloud.][How many evil spirits have I devoured by now? I haven't kept count.][Maybe two or three hundred? Could be four or five hundred. They're just everywhere.][As I've consumed more and more, I've noticed that lower-level spirits are starting to instinctively fear me—they won't even come near me.][Some even run away the moment I appear.]
Miko's eyebrows twitched—twice.
From March 20th to April 2nd—that's only thirteen days.
And he had devoured hundreds of evil spirits?
That means he's averaging twenty to thirty per day.
According to her own experience, if she doesn't go deliberately searching through alleys, tunnels, or abandoned buildings, she might see four or five spirits in a day.
Which means…Since the day he awakened his spiritual vision, Kiba Hoshiki has been actively hunting spirits.
He's never once backed away from them.This guy—Is not normal.
And then the next entry took an even stranger turn.
[April 4th – Weather: Rainy][I found another "door."][As expected, wherever this thing appears, spirits become much more active in the surrounding area—easily within several kilometers.][If I ignore it, Kyoto could turn into a literal "Night Parade of a Hundred Demons" within two months.][The old men at the shrine are useless. They've got evil spirits riding on their backs and still talk about purifying me or praying to the gods.][Still… if this world follows the same rules as Yotsuya Miko's world, I recall that gods capable of purging spirits do exist.][Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places.][Or maybe… the gods exist, but they just don't care to help me.][Whatever the case, it doesn't matter.][Tomorrow is the first day of school at Sobu High. Once I make contact with Yotsuya Miko, I'll figure out my next move.]
That was the final diary entry.
The remaining pages of the notebook were filled with organized results from Kiba's experiments—testing the effects of different materials and weapons on evil spirits.
Now, Miko understood why he had acted that way earlier that morning.It wasn't for show.It wasn't for fun.It was science.
A one-man, experimental exorcism research project.
Now that was dedication.
But one thing still puzzled her.
Miko raised her head and stared at Kiba. "You mentioned 'my world'… Have we met before? What do you mean by 'doors'?"
Kiba tilted his head slightly and gave a nonchalant smile.
"How do I put this… even though we haven't interacted, I know a lot about you."
"As for the doors…"He tapped the edge of the railing and grinned."If you're free after school, I'll take you to one.""Once you see it for yourself, everything will start to make sense."