- Mayu's first Solomission -
- From Mayu Ryomen's Point of View -
After arriving at an abandoned shopping mall that resembled a ghost town, Kiyotaka brought the car to a stop.
During the short drive, the guys chatted about trivial matters and news that didn't bring anything earth-shattering — which, in our everyday life, was already considered good news.
At least, that's what I gathered from the bits and pieces of conversation I occasionally caught, as I had mostly been absorbed by my own inner voice, which I had been actively conversing with.
"There we are," Kiyotaka's calm voice informed us, glancing at me through the rearview mirror.
I couldn't help but throw a rather uneasy half-smile in the glasses-wearer's direction.
He surely already knew what was in store for me...
"Stay on standby, Kiyotaka," Satoru ordered him as he was already stepping out of the car.
"Of course," Kiyotaka acknowledged dutifully, just as I got out too.
I was greeted by a corner of Tokyo that one could safely assume no one would want to move into anytime soon.
The facades of the few buildings standing nearby were practically shedding their plaster, as if trying to free themselves, with shattered and broken windows completing the desolate picture.
Not to mention the countless colorful graffiti tags that lent a bit of color to the rundown neighborhood, while the dead-end street was slowly drowning under heaps of trash.
Not something you would typically expect — after all, Tokyo's streets were usually known for being extremely clean and well-kept.
Here, the exact opposite prevailed.
As I scrutinized the surroundings thoroughly, Satoru had already retrieved a long case from the trunk and signaled Kiyotaka that he could drive off, immediately drawing my attention back to my teacher, whom I eyed curiously.
But then I noticed the shopping mall in the background, and my breath caught in my throat.
That wasn't seriously where he was sending me, was it?!
Taking an instinctive step backward, fear rising within me, I looked up and down at the tall building, which stretched over several floors.
A black-violet cursed aura seeped dangerously from the boarded-up windows, cloaking the building like a protective shell and practically hissing at us for daring to approach.
All that was missing were long, clawed hands reaching out to drive us away.
Suddenly, the whole situation became overwhelmingly real.
He wasn't seriously planning on sending me in there, was he?!
I wasn't unfamiliar with places like this — but up until now, I had always explored them together with Megumi or Kento, or I had simply avoided them altogether.
Suspiciously, I now eyed the case he held, from which an ominous aura radiated, matching the cursed energy emanating from the shopping mall.