A Problem To Tackle.............Literally

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Tokyo, Japan,

Nerima Ward,

Samuel POV,

A pair of teenagers could be seen walking through the streets of the Nerima Ward of Tokyo, the building were quite closely built but still in a way that they would not hinder the public, some even formed a bit of a canopy over the streets with their open windows and the likes, the wires pertaining to electrical connections only served to add to this technological 'canopy' of sorts.

The roads and paths were cleanly kept but still, some things like plastic bags rolled around anyway, it was impossible to keep such a place completely clean after all. The Sun shone overhead and people could be seen at shops, accompanied by smaller stalls. At the same time, a good few students were also making their way to the respective schools, colleges and universities.

But we digress, amongst these crowds, an unusually tall silver haired teenager could be seen walking with a sharply contrasting, pitch black haired one.

The fact that Samuel was currently wearing a simple black shirt only seemed to highlight his well built figure turning more than a few heads.

Miko, who had her gaze locked downwards out of fright and slight shame, was completely oblivious to this fact.

Samuel only looked from one direction to the other in slight awe, they were all around him. Varying shapes, sizes and figures but still ugly and terrifying nonetheless, these 'ghosts' were present nearly everywhere and in great numbers.... it was good that people couldn't see them lest there be panic.

"This must be..... annoying." Samuel rubbed his chin in thought, for all he knew, she could see them from birth.. It would be really upsetting as well offsetting to always have to look at these things.

"A-Annoying?" Miko slightly stuttered in her question, he just called them annoying? They were scary! Scary as hell! She was too busy being scared of them to be annoyed!

"Having to stare at these things all day." Samuel scratched his cheek with a small smile, he was already contemplating whether or not to ask Echidna if she could make it a switchable thing.

"U-Um, you really can see them then?" Miko looked down, clenching the ends of her skirt with a strained expression. It was strange but, the fact that she wasn't the only one who could see and hear those things was something she could find solace in.... it was really weird of her wasn't it?

Samuel shrugged in response, "We wouldn't be having this conversation if I couldn't." He slightly smiled, maybe he was being a dick but there was no need for her to know the full story.., even this much was him going out of the way.

"You're... right." Miko nodded with a relieved sigh, she really wasn't alone.. Her cousin could see these things too, that.... Miko was guilty that she felt slightly happy because of that fact, guilty because she was glad that he shared the same misery as her.. Though, was it really a coincidence that it was her cousin that could see them too? Was it perhaps a family thing? To be able to see such creatures?

Samuel, noticed her plight and couldn't help but smile, "You're a kind person." He praised honestly, and then there was him, withholding information and making the conversation go in a way he wanted...

"...?" Miko looked at him in a mixture of surprise and confusion, where did that come from? "...If you say so.." She nodded meekly, she needed some time to process the information that had been forced upon her today and wasn't quite thinking right.

"Oi! What's wrong with you?!" A rude voice brought Miko out of her ruminations, what was going on now?!

Samuel simply smiled, "Nothing?" He asked jokingly, giving a close eyed smile to the rough looking teenager in front of him, was it one of those 'wanna hang out with us' moments?

Though, the next words of the stranger left him taken aback, "What are you doing to her?" His collar was grabbed making Samuel smile pensively, holding up his hands in surrender, "What do you mean?"

"Eh? Eh?!" Miko looked between her cousin and the strange person that had grabbed him in confusion, was the guy talking about her? "Haah..." She sighed, clenching her bag, there really really was something wrong with the world, it seemed to be hell bent on ruining her day.

"Do you need help?" He looked at Miko worriedly, there really was something wrong with these ikemen! The girl was clearly afraid of him.. she was even trembling! Still, the silver haired asshole wore an unworried smile on his face, as if he was pleased by it!

"Yeah no." Samuel wasn't dealing with this, the guy came out to help Miko out of what he had presumed to be an abusive relationship. He placed a hand on his shoulder with a small twitching smile, "While you wanting to help her is admirable, maybe you just jumped to a conclusion."

Samuel yanked the hands off himself before fixing his collars.

"Samuel is my cousin...." Miko spoke blandly, a deadpan on her face, she too had already put together what was happening and the only thing she could say was, people were too quick to jump to conclusions.

"Huh?" The young man's concerned face turned to one of confusion as Samuel silently laughed at his expense, it was a misunderstanding but a hilarious one. His expectations had been blown out of the water considering Samuel was expecting it to be one of those cliche events.

-x-X-x-

"I'm sorry, man."

"No problem." Samuel patted his shoulder with a chuckle, done with his laughing fit already, stuff like this was really something one could only see in the 21st century.

The embarrassed young man bowed his head a good few times before walking off coolly... or so he thought except his red face completely gave away just how embarrassed he was.

"....I'm sorry." Miko rubbed her forehead with a sigh, never had she expected something like that to happen..

"He thought we were in an abusive relationship..." Samuel rubbed his nose with a small laugh, he definitely wouldn't be forgetting this for a long long time.

"...." Miko averted her gaze, slightly red from embarrassment, that was a really wild assumption.. but, it was her fault. She couldn't help it, her cowardice was something she couldn't get rid of no matter how hard she tried...

"Well it's just funny, no need to work yourself up about it." Samuel dismissed her thoughts with a wave of his hand, self-conscious, afraid, courageous and kind... His cousin was certainly a personality.

They walked into a convenience store, and while Miko had no real idea of why they were here except to talk about the 'ghosts', Samuel really did want to buy something.

"Welcome." The man at the counter spoke out with dead eyes, tired of his job and annoyed with the stupid customers that couldn't just leave after buying what they needed.

"Where?" Miko looked around, her cousin had already gone somewhere as soon as they entered.. With a small sigh, Miko made her way to one of the refrigeration units, having promised her brother ice cream.

Samuel walked off to one of isles rubbing his chin in thought, if the ghosts could interact with physical objects then couldn't physical objects interact with them as well? So far, from what he had seen, these things seemed to show limited intangibility what with them crossing through walls and people like the former weren't even there.

At the same time however, they appeared to step over certain things and crawl along walls, if they were completely intangible, such wouldn't be the case. They didn't exhibit advanced forms of intelligence and seemed to be moving without any specific aims.

'You put together a lot just from seeing the ones on the way here.' Echidna praised in a pleasant tone, 'Surprise surprise, I've been researching them since we came here.' The witch couldn't have let such things go unchecked after all. With the limited information from when they were within Samuel's line of vision and passed through him unknowingly, Echidna put together a lot.

'They get consumed into existences more powerful than them. They're doing it to each other too. Seems to be a way of 'living', if you can call it that.'

"If that's the case...." Samuel slightly smiled, if it was so then getting rid of any in the immediate vicinity would be easier than he had thought.

-x-X-x-

Miko ran her gaze over the flavours present before reaching for a particular one, picking it up with a smile on her face.

Though, the next instant, she froze up with wide eyes, small tears forming on the corner as a grotesque tall humanoid with ripped clothes oozing miasma breathed down her neck. The box of ice cream almost fell from her hands..

"Can you.....Can you see me?" It asked, tilting it's head at inhuman angles.

Miko didn't even dare to breathe, these things would just go away if she ignored them.

"Yeah."

Miko's eyes widened in shock as she stumbled to the side, her back up against a glass pane, "What are you doing?!".. Or so she would have shouted at Samuel but the girl was too afraid to even move.

Did he do it to get the thing away from her?

The creature screeched, turning to Samuel, who ran up to it before tackling it to the ground by wrapping his arms around it's waist and throwing himself forward, miasma swirling around his arms as he did.

'To use my body like that.' Echidna smiled widely at her contractor's unique course of action.

"W-What?" Miko couldn't help but stutter, did he just.... tackle a ghost to the ground?

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