Prologue 5

So, if you ignore her stupid and lame drawings, and minimize all her long and drawn-out monologue, here's what you get.

It turns out that there are two kinds of spirits: the "Positive" ones, which are the ones I usually see, the ghosts of people, and the "Empty" ones, the evil spirits, in the form of monsters that attack people and devour their souls.

The Shinigami have two duties: to send the Positive ones to the so-called "Soul Society" and to eliminate the Void ones.

'Somehow I don't care about any of this, and something obviously doesn't feel like getting involved in all of this…' I heard the red fox's displeasure in my head.

'At least we know who she is now,' I pondered, looking at the stranger's face Shinigami. 'That she was no ordinary ghost was immediately apparent, so I think her story is believable. Except…'

"Hey, Shinigami, why don't you untie me and go back to do your job, huh? I'm getting pretty tired of lying on the floor like this," I resented the girl in the black kimono, still fluttering around with my hands tied behind my back.

…but then I heard an eerie scream somewhere nearby that made me feel like the ground was shaking.

'Is that… that monster? Empty?' I heard Kurama's surprised voice, but I didn't have time to answer him.

"Yeah, I'd love to. But, I don't know why, I can't feel Empty's presence anymore, as if a huge power overrides my sensitivity…" she hesitated, ignoring my torture again, which clearly made me want to kill her.

"What do you mean, dattebayo?!" and though the monster screamed so loudly and terrifyingly that it seemed as if the house was about to collapse, this Shinigami didn't seem to hear a thing. "He's right there! Go deal with him before something terrible happens!"

"What are you…?" Before she could finish her sentence, she finally heard the monster's deafening shriek.

She first looked in the direction of the source of the sound, and then looked into my eyes with a suspicious and slightly surprised expression.

'Wh-why is she looking at me like that…?'

"N-o-o-t~~~~!!!" suddenly came a girlish voice from the first floor of the house.

'That voice… it belongs to Yuzu!'

Shinigami, reacting to my little sister's voice, turned around and ran down to the source of the scream, grasping the hilt of her sword.

"Hey! Wait! Untie me first!" I angrily demanded, still floundering on the floor.

"It is the Empty! I'll go and deal with him, and you stay here!" She pointed at me, and then she turned around and stopped at the threshold of the room.

"Stop fooling around, you little rat! My family was attacked! Break the spell! Hurry up!!!" I yelled with rage, and then I realized why she had stopped.

"Ichi-nee… are you okay…" came Karin's faint voice, and then I noticed her slowly crawling into my room.

She was all wounded.

"Alright… It hasn't gotten here yet… It happened so suddenly… Blood suddenly gushed from Dad's back… Something huge attacked Yuzu and me… I thought I should… Warn you…" Her voice was getting weaker and weaker. "Ichi-nee… Before it sees you… Hurry up and…"

'Karin…' I watched with trembling eyes as my little sister slowly closed her eyelids and clearly heard her last word, which squeezed my heart with force…

"Save yourself…"