Who Will Stop The Rain?

It was always the same story. For as long as Naomi could remember, the world had been a place of endurance.

She wasn’t athletic, she wasn't social, and she certainly wasn't brave. As a child, she thought if she turned herself into a stone, the waves would eventually stop hitting her.

So, whenever her parents let her play at the park, the script never changed.

“Heh, what are you gonna do?”

“She’ll probably go crying back to her mom!”

A boy would show up, spit mean words, and wait for a reaction. Naomi would just sit there. She endured. She waited for the storm to pass, burying the bubbling emotions deep where no one could see them.

If I just stay quiet, they'll leave. That was her mantra.

Until one day…

“Leave her alone!”

Someone actually stood up. A boy she’d never spoken to—short black hair and eyes so piercing they felt like they could cut glass. He threw himself into a fight with her tormentors just so she could run.

And she did.

She ran until she bumped into a girl with golden hair and a gaze that resembled the sun.

“Hey, you! What are you running from?”

Naomi couldn’t take it anymore. She spilled everything. The harassment, the fear, and the boy who was currently acting as her shield.

“What?! That’s unthinkable!”

The girl’s fury was instant. Before Naomi could even process the surprise, she was being dragged back to the park by her wrist.

“W-Wait!”

But the stage was empty. The fight was over; the boys were gone.

“Ah-re? What’s with that?” The girl tilted her head, baffled.

Naomi felt a pang of regret for the boy. Would she ever get to thank him?

“Oh, apologies! I haven’t even introduced myself properly m. My name is Hazuki. And yours?”

“Naomi,” she replied. Timid, but for once, she didn't stutter.

“Listen here, Naomi. From now on, you’re my friend. Whoever hurts you answers to me, okay?”

Hazuki’s eyes beamed with a terrifying level of determination.

A friend?

After nine years of silence, she finally had one. And it was all thanks to that boy.

“Okay…” Naomi whispered, sealing the deal.

That was the start. Hazuki was even more headstrong than she looked, chasing off bullies like a guardian deity. For the first time, Naomi was free.

They grew up side-by-side. Through Hazuki, Naomi discovered parts of herself she never knew existed—the ability to laugh until her sides ached, the thrill of trusting someone wholeheartedly. She felt alive.

They shared everything, including a fascination with the occult. They spent hours scouring the web for ghost stories, chasing the high that only a good scare could provide.

Then came the night of their middle school graduation. The rumored abandoned parking lot they had heard of from online forums.

It was bound to be their greatest adventure yet.

The atmosphere was heavy, the air thick enough to make their skin crawl. It felt… too real.

Out of the darkness, a deformed creature lunged. It was a nightmare given shape, pinning Hazuki down with massive, wretched arms.

“Naomi, run!”

Hazuki’s scream shattered Naomi’s paralysis. Her feet moved on instinct. She fled. She left her only friend behind to save her own skin.

By the time she reached Hazuki’s parents and the police found the body, it was over.

Hazuki was dead.

Their greatest adventure yet… would be their last.

The apologies Naomi sobbed into the dark could never change a thing. She had lost her only friend. Her light.

High school was a lonely affair. Without Hazuki to shield her, the cycle had restarted. Naomi had never learned to fight back, and the popular girls smelled the weakness on her instantly.

They looked at her with scorn. Then, they brought in the heavy hitters—scary upperclassmen.

Naomi didn't even try to resist anymore. Deep down, she felt she deserved it.

This is my punishment. I should have died with her.

“What are YOU doing here, punk?!”

“Me? Just taking out the trash.”

That voice. That same piercing gaze.

Naomi’s heart skipped. Could it be?

He dismantled her tormentors without batting an eye, moving with a terrifying grace. Then, he turned to her.

“You dropped this yesterday.”

He held out her sketchbook. The sketchbook she had lost.

He… had saved it. He had been watching.

Who is he?

She had to know.

“W-wait!” Naomi called out, clutching the book to her chest.

But he was already gone, disappearing past the school gates. She had been too slow, lost in the shock of it all. Still, a small smile tugged at her lips. He was a student here. He was real.

That boy from her past… he existed. He still protected her.

As she stood there, a girl with short red hair came jogging out, huffing with exertion.

“That idiot! Where did he go?!”

She stopped, looking at Naomi with an exasperated expression. “Uhm, excuse me, have you seen a blonde dude? Weirdly nice bone-structure, eyes like someone who just got out of prison?”

“Eh?” Naomi blinked. “I… think so. He just left.”

“That damn fool! He didn’t even mop the floor properly! I’ll get you back for that, Kanzaki!”

The red-haired girl stomped back toward the building, muttering curses to the empty air.

“Kanzaki, eh…?”

Naomi whispered.

⌁◉⌁

“D-D-do come a-again!”

Eiji sighed at the stuttering man before him and spared a glance at his watch.

“I’m off. Shift’s over,” he announced, much to his manager’s dismay.

“Wait! Eiji-kun!” The man beckoned him before he could escape, his eyes betraying exactly what he was about to propose.

“I’m not doing unpaid overtime,” Eiji replied sternly, already unpinning the name tag from his shirt.

“It won’t be unpaid! You’ll just get it in… uhm… due time! That’s all.”

“I’ve heard that shi—” Eiji caught himself just in time. “—stuff before.”

“Come on, Eiji-kun! Just this one last time?” The manager pleaded, pressing his palms together in a prayer for a miracle.

Eiji working overtime wasn’t a new phenomenon, but once he realized the "due time" for his pay was "never," he’d started shutting it down. Besides, with the sudden rise in malevolence, his real job was eating up his schedule. Quitting the convenience store was starting to look less like a dream and more like a necessity.

“No means no. I’m off the clock.”

Eiji walked into the back room without a second glance, leaving his manager to slump over the counter in a heap of disappointment.

He needed to cool his head. That specter’s barrier was still a thorn in his side, an itch he couldn't scratch. He opted for a beverage to drown the frustration.

As Eiji pushed open the door to a bar called “Dream,” a familiar cocktail of cigarette smoke, cologne, and cheap booze greeted him.

“Yo, Hayato.”

“Yo! If it isn’t the one and only, Kanzaki Eiji!”

The man behind the counter chuckled. Hayato had known Eiji since he was a brat, though the passage of time was starting to show on him—mostly in the form of a decent beard that had replaced the pathetic stubble he used to sport.

“Oh, Eiji-kun… Heya!”

The only one who seemed immune to time was Shigeru. He offered the same goofy grin as ever, his voice still hitting that light, high-pitched hue. He was still thinner than any healthy man his age had any right to be.

“Hey, Shig,” Eiji muttered. Moving by muscle memory, he took his usual seat at the counter.

“How can I help my favorite customer today?” Hayato grinned cockily.

“Your only customer,” Eiji corrected.

“Hey, if you were my only customer, I wouldn’t have stayed in business for six years, would I? Plus, Yume comes by too, sometimes…”

“You’re contradicting yourself. Yume works here.” Eiji raised a brow. Hayato quickly tried to sweep the subject under the rug.

Business had been rough, so Hayato had pivoted the bar into a 24-hour hybrid shop, serving coffee from morning to evening. That was why he’d hired his sister for the weekends—Shigeru alone was a walking blunder waiting to happen if left unsupervised for more than ten minutes.

“Heh. So, what’ll it be?”

“The usual.” Eiji fished a few coins from his pocket.

“Cool. One non-carbonated juice, coming right up.”

Despite the snarky comment, Hayato got to work with the efficiency of a pro. He clearly missed the "bartender" life, even if prepping a fruit juice was more of a grandma’s job than a mixologist’s.

“Now that I think about it… why didn't you stop by yesterday?” Hayato asked as he stirred.

“Yeah, Hayato was lonely,” Shig added with a smug grin.

“I was not! Pfft! Don’t listen to that fool!” Hayato’s denial was frantic, his head shaking so hard it was a wonder it stayed on.

“Hayato isn’t being honest…” Shig whispered.

“I heard that, you twat!”

Eiji snorted. It was amusing. No matter how much the world changed, these two stayed exactly the same. It was the reason he kept coming back. They knew about his family’s death, but they never brought it up. They didn't offer pity or awkward silences; they just kept being themselves. That was the only thing that had helped Eiji during the dark times.

Not to mention, the juice was actually good.

“Say, Eiji-kun! How’s work going?” Shig asked, leaning in with anticipation.

“There’s been more movement lately. And I’ve hit a bit of a roadblock.” Eiji looked skeptical, the image of the barrier flashing in his mind.

“That talk again?” Hayato sighed. He slid a plain glass over, the kind usually reserved for straight vodka, filled to the brim with juice.

It was obvious they weren’t talking about the convenience store. Eiji had confided in Shigeru, who—unlike most people—was more than happy to believe in things that sounded like nonsense. Shig treated Eiji’s exorcist tales like a teenager waiting for the next volume of a shonen manga.

“Roadblock? What do you mean, Eiji-kun?” Shigeru tilted his head.

“I need to get inside a barrier… but I can’t. It keeps repelling me.” Eiji took a long sip of his juice, looking like a drunkard drowning his sorrows.

“What do you need to get inside for, anyway?” Hayato scoffed. “I swear, you’re too old to be a chuuni, dude.”

“There’s a specter I need to kill,” Eiji said flatly.

Hayato’s hair stood on end. “Pfft! Specters!” He tried to mask it, but the fear was written all over his face. “As if ghosts exist!”

He was too much of a coward to even entertain the thought.

“Eiji-kun, do you need to get inside the barrier?” Shigeru asked, still looking lost in thought.

“Of course I need to get inside…” Eiji paused. What was he getting at? “How else would I get to that—”

His mind froze. Something clicked, a mental gear finally slotting into place.

Did I really need to go in?

If the barrier was a fortress he couldn't breach, why not just force the occupant to come out and play?

Eiji felt like smacking himself. How had such an obvious answer escaped him? He just needed to lure the damn thing out.

“Thanks, Shig.” Eiji nodded to himself and downed the rest of the juice in one go.

“Eh? But—”

Before Shigeru could ask anything else, Eiji was already off his stool.

“What? Leaving already?”

“Yeah. I think I’ve got it.” Eiji grabbed his bag and headed for the door. “See ya, guys.”

“There he goes...” Hayato sighed.

“Too bad… I wanted to hear more about that specter…” Shigeru added, slumping.

“Psychos. The lot of you.”

⌁◉⌁

Walking was a drag.

Eiji took the long way back to his apartment, using the distance to think. He’d heeded his shikigami’s warning about the rain, but without his bike to make the trip entertaining, he was in a foul mood. He opted not to cuss Meh out for the false alarm, though; a long, peaceful silence was better than the headache of calling him out.

How was he going to lure that specter out? He could ask the girl—she was the link to the curse, after all—but involving a civilian in an exorcism was a recipe for disaster.

Did he have a choice, though?

As his thoughts ran in circles, his feet had better luck finding their destination. He was back at his building in no time.

He ascended the rusty, creaky staircase to the first floor. He was moving in a trance until a light touch against his leg snapped him back to reality.

Purrr.

There it was, nuzzling its cheek against his shin—the small black kitten he’d been ignoring since yesterday. It followed him all the way to his door and sat there, looking up at him.

Eiji let out a long, defeated sigh.

The kitten replied with a tiny meow. Its meaning was lost on him, but its intent was clear.

As he unlocked the door, Eiji resigned himself to his fate. He didn't bother being careful as he stepped inside; he just left the gap open. He’d made up his mind—or rather, the cat had made it for him.

“Come on,” Eiji muttered, beckoning her in. The kitten meowed in delight and trotted past him.

“Eiji-dono, Meh believes the landlady strongly disapproves of pets.” Meh popped up, offering his usual brand of unwanted advice.

“I’ll just tell her the cat is a ghost, too,” Eiji retorted, swinging open his near-empty fridge.

“Meh doesn’t believe that’s a good idea…” Meh hovered closer to the kitten as she began to explore the run-down apartment.

The place was cheap, but Eiji had secured it for a steal after exorcising the "ghost" that had tanked the property value. The landlady had been terrified—probably more of Eiji than the spirit itself. It wasn't every day a high schooler offered to banish evil for a rent discount.

The shikigami hummed in puzzlement. “...It doesn’t seem to be afraid of Meh.”

It was an anomaly of nature. Cats were one of the few species that possessed the "Sight," able to view spirits as clearly as an exorcist. Some even returned as nekomata, though that was rare. This one just batted at the air where Meh was hovering.

“What is this creature?” The shikigami froze briefly. “It’s... positively adorable!”

“I guess milk will do,” Eiji muttered. He set a small bowl of cow’s milk on the floor.

The kitten began to lap it up like she was starving.

“Meh thinks she likes it, Eiji-dono!”

“Yeah, I have eyes. Now pipe down, will ya?” Eiji sighed, stripping out of his school uniform.

“What name shall we bestow upon her, Eiji-dono?”

“A minute ago you were telling me not to keep her,” Eiji reminded him.

“That’s a thing of the past now! Does Eiji-dono have any good naming ideas?”

“We’ll think of something.”

“How about... Yamata-no-Orochi?” Meh flapped his wings in thought.

“That’s a monster.”

“How about Susanoo?”

“That’s a god.”

“Baba, then?”

“…Now that’s just stupid.”

Eiji looked at the cat, who was busy finishing the milk.

Purrrr.

Another loud vibration, but it didn't come from the cat. This time it was Eiji’s stomach turn to protest.

The young man opened the fridge, only to be met with…

Nothing. A sheer and utter lack of anything with nutritional value.

“Just my luck...” He grabbed a jacket and headed for the door.

“Eiji-dono, where are we going?”

“I am going to the convenience store.”

He stepped outside only to be met with a sudden, heavy downpour. He didn't say a word—he wasn't about to give Meh the satisfaction of being right about the forecast. He just snapped open his umbrella and set out.

The closest store wasn't far. He stocked up on instant ramen and orange juice, while also grabbing what looked like cat food before starting the trek back.

The streets were deserted, the rain acting as a natural deterrent for anyone with a shred of common sense. Despite the gloom and the flickering, weak streetlights, Eiji felt at ease. Fewer people didn't mean loneliness; it meant peace.

“Eiji-dono!”

Peace over. Meh was back.

“What is it now?” Eiji asked reluctantly.

“There! Over by the bus station!”

Eiji squinted through the grey veil of rain. Across the street, huddled under the cramped roof of a bus stop, was a lone figure.

It was her. The underclassman from earlier.

She was drenched from head to toe, sitting on a lone bench beneath an abandoned bus station roof. Her expression was unreadable—blank, hollow.

She looked stranded beneath the only form of shelter she could find.

She looked like she was waiting for something to spirit her away.

Waiting for someone to reach out.

Eiji let out a breath that caught in the damp air. With a resigned sigh, he crossed the street, his boots splashing against the water-filled concrete.

Fate really had a twisted sense of humor.