The air felt heavy and still, as if the night itself was holding its breath. Two figures stood atop a decaying building overlooking an abandoned cemetery complex.
One wore a strip of white cloth tied over his eyes, his black hair faintly ruffled by the breeze. A dark blue jacket and matching pants clung to his frame—both printed with a skull over a yin-yang symbol, a quiet warning to anyone who knew what it meant.
Beside him stood a boy with brown-black hair and a thin scar slicing over his left eye. His own eyes were empty black, exhausted and hollow, like someone who hadn't remembered how to smile in years.
"Hey, senior," the brown-haired boy muttered, narrowing his gaze at the crumbling cemetery building below. "Don't you think that wraith has been in there way too long? It should've sensed our aura and rushed at us already."
The covered-eyed boy tilted his head, smirking. "You're right. But I get the feeling it's just waiting for us. Or maybe it's terrified of my powers."
"You shouldn't be so full of yourself, senior," the boy shot back. "Even if you're the strongest executioner in the world, you could at least act modest."
The other boy didn't bother answering. Instead, he jumped off the rooftop with a careless laugh.
"Hey!! Stop calling me senior already—it pisses me off! Just call me by my first name! It's Itsuki Ensho! So remember it, Seiji!!"
"I'll call you whatever the hell I want!" Seiji shouted from the roof's edge. "And why are you heading in first?! The higher-ups told me not to let you out of my sight!"
"Lalala~! See you, Seiji! I'll be back when I'm done—!"
"Damn it!! If you're going alone then at least—put up a barrier first—!"
Seiji froze mid-sentence, shoulders sagging. "He didn't hear a single thing I said… why was I stuck with this babysitting job?"
He exhaled, shaping a seal with his fingers. "Alright… let's get started. Dark mist, blanket the sky. Let the wraiths fall, unseen by the eyes of the world."
A crawling fog burst outward, forming a vast square perimeter around the cemetery. It rose like a wall of black glass, swallowing the night sky as if erasing the world beyond.
"Barrier up," Seiji murmured, tapping his earpiece three times. "Kazue, Itsuki already entered. I set the concealment field. Contact the cleaners."
A woman's voice crackled back through static. "Copy that. But please tell Itsuki to take it easy this time. The cleaners are sick of filing damage reports and I'm sick of reading them."
"I'll try. But you know he doesn't listen to anyone."
"I know he doesn't—! But please try anyway!"
Seiji cut the line, leapt off the roof and descended into the black mist. The moment he crossed through the barrier, a surge of suffocating negativity crashed against him like cold ocean water.
"What the—? Wasn't this supposed to be a Class-1 wraith? This feels like Class-3 at least…"
He shook off the pressure and sprinted forward, following the burning trail of Itsuki's aura deeper into the ruins. Each footstep cracked grit and shattered bone-dry leaves beneath him. He vaulted over rubble and tombstones, cutting down small wraithlings with flicks of glowing talismans.
"Using talismans on these weak ones is better. No point wasting aura."
He skidded to a stop as he turned a corner.
Itsuki stood casually in the corridor, holding a plastic bag and chewing a steaming meat bun. In front of him trembled a monstrous wraith nearly three meters tall—five spider-like legs, two bony arms, five bulbous eyes, and a black tongue that dragged against the floor. Terror radiated off of it, step by step retreating from the blindfolded boy.
"Hey senior!! Why haven't you taken that thing out already?!" Seiji barked.
"Oh, Seiji! Took you long enough," Itsuki mumbled with his mouth full. "I bought steaming meat buns."
"What—?! Forget the food! Deal with the damn wraith! And don't destroy the building!"
"I was gonna," Itsuki shrugged. "Can't promise anything about the building though." He teleported beside Seiji, dropping the plastic bag into his hands.
"Tch! Don't shove your food on me! And if you don't destroy everything, I'll buy that expensive ice cream you like!"
Itsuki froze mid-bite, then beamed. "Really?! Seiji, you're the best! I'll try my best!"
'I don't get paid enough for this…' Seiji thought bitterly.
The wraith screeched and spat a sphere of compressed black curse energy. Itsuki raised a hand lazily.
"Huh? You don't like me? That kinda hurts," he muttered, squeezing the sphere until it vanished without sound.
Even after watching him a hundred times, Seiji couldn't deny it—Itsuki was on another level entirely.
The wraith howled, tore through a wall, and bolted.
"Huh? Running away? Am I really that ugly?" Itsuki teleported ahead of it, gripping its face with one hand.
"Don't run. Don't move. Don't try anything. Or I'll kill you."
His smile disappeared. With a wet crack, he crushed the wraith's skull and tore it free. The corpse dissolved into smoke and vanished.
"Well, I killed you anyway." He flicked the fading head aside.
"Okay, I'm done. Ice cream time?"
"Yeah, yeah," Seiji sighed, chewing one of the meat buns he'd stolen from the bag.
"HEY!! Who said you could eat my meat buns?!"
"This is my pay for babysitting you all day," Seiji said flatly.
"Hahaha!! Whatever! Ice cream! Ice cream! Ice cream!"
"Stop acting like a kid. We need to get Kazue first," Seiji said, releasing the barrier.
"Kazue was here?! How did I not know?! Tell her to bring my glasses!"
"Maybe because you didn't listen during the briefing. And I already told her."
"Man, you really are the best, Seiji! Let's go!!"