"A weird evil spirit..."
Hearing Kitagawa Marin's warning, Natsuki turned to look toward the train entrance. An evil spirit wearing a cloak and wielding a massive scythe—shaped like the Western Grim Reaper—boarded the train.
The edges of this Grim Reaper spirit's black robes seemed to burn like flames, constantly dispersing into wisps of smoke that drifted through the air. Various evil spirit faces would occasionally surface across the robe.
Clearly, this was no ordinary evil spirit at first glance.
After boarding, the Grim Reaper spirit silently walked up beside the driver.
The train driver was obviously just an ordinary person. He paid absolutely no attention to the evil spirit beside him, concentrating fully on observing the road conditions ahead.
But in the eyes of Natsuki, Miko, and Kitagawa Marin, the Grim Reaper spirit slowly raised the massive scythe in its hands.
"Eh eh, what does that evil spirit want to do?"
Kitagawa Marin's eyes flew wide with tension.
Yotsuya Miko likewise tensed her body, watching nervously.
Under the three's observation, the scythe in the Grim Reaper spirit's hands swung down violently at the train driver, cleaving straight toward the driver's head.
"Ah..."
The blonde gyaru couldn't help but let out a small cry.
"Stay calm. Don't panic." Natsuki spoke in a low voice. "The driver is fine."
As long as you couldn't see evil spirits, they couldn't harm humans. The Grim Reaper spirit before them had to follow the same rules.
The scythe cleaved straight through the train driver's head. The driver showed absolutely no reaction whatsoever—didn't even blink.
"Thank goodness." Kitagawa Marin covered her chest and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "That was so scary just now."
Natsuki raised a brow:
"Something even scarier is coming."
"Eh?"
The blonde gyaru quietly looked over and discovered that after the Grim Reaper spirit finished swinging its scythe, it didn't stand still—instead, it silently walked up to a passenger seated behind the driver and raised its black scythe once more.
This passenger was a man, head down, playing on his phone. Clearly an ordinary person—unable to see the Grim Reaper spirit before him.
The scythe fell, cleaving into his head once more.
And then nothing happened.
The Grim Reaper spirit silently walked up to the third passenger and raised its scythe again.
"N-no way?" Kitagawa Marin was shocked. "Is it planning to chop everyone on the train?"
Miko tensed her body and spoke in a low voice: "That's clearly what it's doing."
The blonde gyaru grew nervous: "If we can't see it, that's fine—but we can see it. Will we be in danger?"
Natsuki spoke in a grave tone:
"There's no precedent. No way to know."
No one knew what would happen if an evil spirit chopped you in the head with a scythe. So to be safe, Natsuki made a snap decision and activated his "Evil Spirit Repelling" aura.
At the same time.
The Grim Reaper spirit continued advancing, its scythe cleaving down toward the train passengers. Most showed no reaction whatsoever—but from one woman's body, an evil spirit was suddenly dragged out by the scythe. It screamed and struggled to no avail—soon it was absorbed into the Grim Reaper spirit's body, becoming a twisted face on the black robes.
"Eh eh, what was that?"
Kitagawa Marin's eyes went wide.
"I don't know." Natsuki shook his head.
But one thing was obvious: this Grim Reaper spirit was highly unusual.
A moment later.
The Grim Reaper spirit approached the area near Natsuki and the two girls.
"Amamiya-kun." Kitagawa Marin nervously grabbed Natsuki's sleeve. "The aura—the aura!"
Natsuki spoke in a low voice:
"I already activated it."
As the Grim Reaper spirit stepped into range of the aura, transparent flames immediately erupted across its body.
"Your evil ends here."
Kitagawa Marin breathed a quiet sigh of relief, making a peace sign near her eye and sticking her tongue out playfully.
But then the Grim Reaper spirit took a step backward, quickly leaving the aura's range. It swung its scythe and sliced off the burning corner of its black robe, discarding the piece on the ground—then raised its head to look at Natsuki and the two girls.
The smile on Kitagawa Marin's face froze instantly.
"I think it saw me."
The blonde gyaru turned her head and saw Natsuki silently gazing out the window as though nothing had happened.
She looked at Miko.
Yotsuya Miko had, at some point, pulled out her phone and was nonchalantly scrolling as though nothing was wrong.
Kitagawa Marin puffed out her cheeks.
Your reactions are way too fast!
The corner of the black robe quickly burned to ash in the flames. The Grim Reaper spirit stopped moving and silently stared at Natsuki and the two girls.
Under the robes was only pitch blackness—no face visible at all. But Natsuki could clearly feel that he was being watched.
Natsuki raised his guard internally.
Evil spirits in the real world had a clear distinction between strong and weak. The standard for classification was how long they could endure under the Evil Spirit Repelling aura.
The longer they lasted, the stronger they were.
Without question, the Grim Reaper spirit before him was quite powerful.
Fortunately, at that moment, the train began to slow, arriving at the next stop.
"Should we get off first?"
Miko asked quietly, somewhat frightened.
"No need." Natsuki observed the Grim Reaper spirit covertly. "That evil spirit is getting off."
Miko carefully looked over and indeed saw the Grim Reaper spirit silently turn around and silently exit the train along with the other passengers.
"Phew..."
Both girls let out sighs of relief in unison.
"It's too dangerous outside." Kitagawa Marin grumbled. "I want to go home."
"Home isn't safe either." Natsuki's tone was somber. "Even the invincibility-under-the-covers rule doesn't work anymore."
"Amamiya-kun is so mean. Even if you know that, you don't have to say it out loud."
"..."
Having witnessed the Grim Reaper spirit, the rest of the journey passed peacefully and uneventfully. The group arrived safely at the zoo.
"Zoo, here I come!"
Yuri Kawahana raised both hands and shouted cheerfully.
"Since we rarely come to the zoo, we should definitely take photos as souvenirs." Kitagawa Marin pulled out her phone and began snapping away—click click click—having already forgotten about what just happened. "Let's take a group photo together."
Miko answered listlessly: "Sure..."
After taking photos.
Natsuki's group began queuing up, then bought tickets to enter the zoo.
When going through the ticket gate, there was even an evil spirit staff member wearing a uniform, standing to the right of the entrance. It observed all the guests with hollow, pitch-black eyes, occasionally making ticket-checking motions with its hands.
Japan truly deserved its reputation as the land of corporate slaves. In I Am a Hero, even after turning into zombies, they didn't forget their jobs. Now, having become evil spirits, they continued their work from life. Truly the epitome of corporate slaves!
Natsuki didn't even bother activating his aura. He simply chose to ignore it and passed through the ticket gate.
It was May.
The weather was perfect.
The zoo was bustling with visitors—quite lively.
"Kyosuke, should we follow the zoo guide and see everything in order?"
Natsuki asked, looking down.
Yotsuya Kyosuke nodded: "That's fine. Let's save the pandas for last."
Miko furrowed her brow slightly and spoke in a low voice:
"I feel like the zoo is... kind of strange."
Natsuki was about to speak when he suddenly received a game notification.
[Congratulations, player. You have discovered the large-scale dungeon 'Zoo Ghost Story']
[This dungeon will begin testing soon. Please look forward to it]