A famous gourmet once said that humans have three great desires.
The desire for sleep, the desire for food, and the desire for sex.
As a desire that is relatively easy to satisfy in modern society, the desire for food rarely troubles modern people.
If you haven't experienced it, it's hard to imagine how those who were extremely hungry felt when they gnawed on their leather shoes or pulled out and swallowed cotton from their clothes.
And now, Keli and Sato Kazuma felt that kind of hunger.
A hunger that surpassed seeing super tempting food videos on Instagram late at night when you're about to go to bed, only to realize there are other people at home, so you can't go out to find food or order delivery. It was like a kitten's claws teasing their nerves.
What was even more terrifying was that even though they had just eaten, and the taste of the rice ball still lingered in their mouths, the feeling of hunger continued to gnaw at them.
"What's going on?"
Keli frowned. It seemed fine before, but once he realized he was hungry, the feeling intensified at an extremely rapid rate.
For example, a moment ago it was a hot summer day and he really wanted a cold cola but didn't even have water to drink. Now, he felt like transforming into a great devourer upon seeing a green belt, teaching the Tokyo city government a lesson for setting up a buffet by the roadside.
Keli could still endure this feeling, but Kazuma clearly couldn't hold on. He looked longingly at the 7-Eleven convenience store they had just browsed, his mind filled with the meat buns in the warmer.
He wanted to ruthlessly ravage those deliberately fragrant, textured, snow-white buns, pour some sauce over them as usual, and then swallow them one by one.
He felt like he was Jörmungandr, capable of swallowing the entire planet, regardless of earth, stone, or steel.
"Hey… Keli, we should still have money, right? How about we buy some more?"
Kazuma's eyes glittered with longing as he turned to Keli.
"Watch your wording! It's *I* who still has money!"
Keli reprimanded and corrected Kazuma's mistake righteously.
Kazuma was startled by Keli's sharp tone, and his mind cleared.
"Wait, why are we still hungry even while eating?"
Just as the two were about to sit down and discuss the situation, a "fragrance" suddenly wafted over.
It wasn't from the convenience store, but from a location several streets away.
Kazuma and Keli exchanged glances.
"You feel it too?"
Kazuma asked, and Keli nodded with a solemn expression.
Kazuma used the word "feel."
Because it was incredibly bizarre; although it felt like smelling something, in reality, a location appeared in their minds, just like when playing Monster Hunter and gathering enough tracks, the scoutflies automatically navigate.
The two didn't believe their noses could, in just a few hours, go from being worse than a single hair on a dog's body to directly violating the basic principles of evolution and fast-forwarding to "Father of all Gods, grant me sight."
Moreover, that scent was like a fatal temptation, constantly telling them that as long as they found the source and ate it, the problem would be solved.
Facing the sudden situation, the two briefly discussed it and came to a conclusion: although the current situation was very strange, and it was late at night so there might be some danger, it was still necessary to go to the source of that "smell" to see what was going on.
Keli pulled out a dagger from his in my arms, and Kazuma casually found a branch from the ground that seemed sturdy enough for a few swings, then stealthily approached the darkness.
Although it was early morning, thankfully it was Tokyo; even in this remote area, faint streetlights cast a pale glow on the road.
Following the sensation, the two made their way to a dark alley entrance.
Looking at the completely dark alley where only by squinting could one vaguely see some reflected light, Keli saw something vaguely wriggling within it.
The rustling of plastic bags, whether from inside the alley or carried by the wind, made Kazuma shiver, and he was about to step behind Keli to shield him.
Pulling out his phone, whose battery was almost dead, Keli flipped it around, pointing the screen towards the alley, and squinted to look inside.
A wagging yellow tail and fluffy white belly. Kazuma looked at the thing and sighed in relief.
"It's just a stray dog."
Indeed, what appeared before them was a Shiba Inu with its back to them, but strangely, perhaps due to insufficient light, the dog's head was still completely black.
And the moment they saw this thing, the two confirmed that this dog was the source of the scent, and as they saw it, the appetite within them also became restless, seemingly urging them to quickly go and eat this thing.
This couldn't help but make the two a bit confused.
What's going on? Why would I feel an appetite for a dog?
Just as the two were wondering, the dog finally sensed their presence, stopped its digging-like movements, and turned its face.
Yes, it was a face.
Chin-length short hair, large eyes, a small nose, and cherry lips holding a fishbone.
A face that could absolutely be called a beautiful girl's, but at this moment, that face bizarrely appeared on a Shiba Inu's neck, twisting with the furry body and looking against the light at the two at the alley entrance.
"Human! Human-Faced Dog!"
Terrified by the scene before him, which defied human common sense, Sato Kazuma grabbed Keli's shoulder and yelled.
Keli, however, calmly turned his head to look at Kazuma.
"What is a Human-Faced Dog?"
Keli, not being a native Japanese, his first reaction upon seeing this thing was: Is someone's father doing performance art for a national alchemy qualification?
"It's… Human-Faced Dog is an urban legend. It's said that at night, dogs with human faces appear on the streets, talk to people, and then laugh when they see humans being hurt."
Kazuma was still in a state of brain freeze. Isn't this an urban legend? Isn't it something supernatural? How could this thing appear in…
Suddenly remembering that he had seen a goddess today, died and revived, revived and died again, and could even revive next to Keli even after dying, and Keli couldn't die at all—after a series of events, Kazuma suddenly stopped trembling.
Oh! So it's just a ghost-like thing that appeared? Isn't that normal?
Having figured out the situation, plus the fact that although the thing was really scary at first glance, it was just so-so after a while, and otakus are generally unfazed by various strange things, Kazuma quickly calmed down.
After all, various bloody hentai and jump scares from horror games had already accustomed otakus, but Kazuma was still a bit nervous. Seeing Keli, who wasn't flustered at all and hadn't even lifted his foot, Kazuma couldn't help but speak.
"Hey, hey! This is a ghost-like thing, aren't you scared? Maybe this thing can attack our souls or something…"
"Ghost…" Listening to Kazuma, Keli stroked his chin.
He thought that just Durarara!! alone had a bunch of mythical urban legends, and even Baki had spirits, and there were even things like turning into light, ancient stone tablets recording the great battle between the Hanma father and son, and so on.
So, the appearance of just one urban legend was very normal.
"If there really are ghosts in this world, can't we make our deaths more tragic, so we'll have a good future when we go to Yomi-no-Hirasa-ka? It seems in various legends, the more tragically one dies, the more powerful one becomes as a ghost."
Hearing Keli's words, Kazuma was completely thrown off. He always felt that he should be the one giving others high blood pressure, but ever since he met Keli, his blood pressure had been fluctuating wildly like a roller coaster.
By God, at a time like this, you're still thinking about your future? Do you want me to steal some cucumbers from Tsukinomori Garden Department for you to make more spirit horses so you can get to Hirasa-ka faster?
Seeing Kazuma silent, Keli squinted at the Human-Faced Dog with the beautiful girl's face and scoffed.
"You said in legends, Human-Faced Dogs use words to scare people away. So how is she going to hurt me with words?"
The Human-Faced Dog put down the fishbone by its mouth, looked at Keli, and opened its mouth.
"Big… Big brother…" 1
Keli instantly clenched his fists.
"Very well, it seems today I must act on behalf of Heaven!"