Follow The Whispers of The Lost

“Ah, thank God we’re away from there…” Honoka muttered, heaving a long breath of relief as the neon glare of the main strip faded behind them.

“Agreed…” Naomi nodded solemnly. “The alleys back there smelled like… lustful roses and sweet adult nectar.”

“WHAT?!” Honoka jumped, her face flashing a violent shade of red at the sheer vulgarity of the words coming from her junior’s mouth.

“Or that’s what this flyer says, anyway,” Naomi added with a wry smile, waving a colorful scrap of paper. “*Join us for the greatest night of your dreams—*”

“Where did you get that?!”

“Give it here.” Eiji, ever the practical one, snatched the flyer and shredded it into confetti in one fluid motion.

“An older man gave it to me while we were walking by a very… empty lobby,” Naomi replied nonchalantly.

“You dumbass.” Eiji looked too exhausted to even begin the lecture, so Honoka stepped in, nodding firmly.

“Don’t take things from strangers, Naomi-chan. Especially not in the night district.”

“Wow, you two…” Naomi’s eyes glistened with mock adoration. “So dependable!”

Before another comment could be flung her way, Eiji came to a halt at the mouth of a particularly desolate alley. “We’re here.”

The girls shot him an inquisitive glance. Eiji stuffed his hands into his pockets, his eyes scanning the shadows like an alert hawk. “Honoka-san. Do you hear anything?”

“I see and sense nothing, Eiji-dono!” Meh popped out of thin air, squeaking like a frantic plush toy.

“Can’t… Meh hear it instead?” Naomi tilted her head.

“An interesting question, Mizuno Naomi!” The shikigami batted its wing-eyelashes as it hovered. “Most shikigami do not possess the auditory range of an Auditor. Audity is a rare gift. They can hear much further and much deeper into the veil than any shikigami or exorcist ever could.”

“So… Honoka-san is extremely rare and special?” Naomi’s praise caused a fresh blush to creep onto Honoka's cheeks.

“Naomi-chan, shush.”

“Honoka-san?” Eiji raised a brow, pulling her back to the task.

“Right, right!” She shook her head, her bangs swaying. She closed her eyes and furrowed her brows, determined to focus. Her frown deepened as she strained to catch a whisper, but a few seconds later, her shoulders slumped in defeat. “Ah… I don't think I can use it willingly. I'm sorry, Eiji-kun.”

“Don’t worry, Honoka-san! We believe in you!” Naomi chirped, placing a warm, encouraging hand on her senior’s shoulder.

The gesture was meant as simple motivation, but it had an immediate, physical effect. Honoka froze. Her face stiffened.

“I can… hear whispers!” she gasped, her face lighting up.

“You can?!” Naomi pulled her hand away in shock.

“Wait… it’s fading again.”

“...”

Eiji watched the exchange with growing curiosity. He recalled the massive, inexplicable surge of energy Naomi had summoned with that talisman weeks ago. Was she more than just a bystander? Could her presence act as a catalyst for others?

“Put your hand on her shoulder again.”

“Eh?”

Eiji left no room for hesitation. As Naomi did as she was asked, Honoka’s eyes flew wide.

“Can you hear it now?”

“I… I can!”

A heavy silence followed as the three of them processed the discovery.

“What does this mean, Senpai?! Am I a battery? A generator? Does my palm hold magical powers like—”

A light chop to the head silenced the girl. “Shhh.” Eiji brought a finger to his lips, watching Honoka as she began to track the whispers with her eyes.

“It’s coming from over there…” Honoka pointed down the road, leading them through a maze of increasingly grim alleys.

Before long, they arrived at an old construction site—a sprawling expanse of skeletal structures, rusting machinery, and stacks of lumber. It was the quintessential haunted site, the kind Naomi usually saw in her manga.

“It’s clearer now…” Honoka winced as the volume spiked in her head. “I hear something eerie… a voice trapped in agony.”

“Ominous…” Naomi shuddered, but stepped forward anyway. “Count me in!”

Ignoring her antics, Eiji approached the chain-link fence and cleared it with an effortless, athletic leap.

“Woah…” Naomi tried to mimic the move. Eiji, already on the other side, was spared the sight of her undignified scrambling, her skirt doing little to cover her as she clambered over.

“Naomi-chan…” Honoka shook her head as her junior struggled.

“WOOEE!” Naomi slipped on the landing, but Eiji caught her by the waist before she could hit the dirt.

“You’ll break a leg, you idiot.”

“Senpai…” Naomi smiled coyly, looking away.

“Ah… the gate was actually open,” Honoka noted wryly, pushing the flimsy, unlocked door and waltzing in.

“Ah.”

“Ah.”

Eiji and Naomi shared a silent, awkward realization.

“Sen—”

Before Naomi could speak, an ear-piercing shriek tore through the air—a sound so sharp even those without the gift could hear it. From the depths of the unfinished building, a green, translucent figure emerged. Her hair was a wild, disheveled thicket of thorn-like strands swaying behind her as she glided forward.

“S-S-Se-Senpaaai!” Naomi jumped back instinctively. Honoka winced, the spiritual pressure hitting her Auditor senses like a physical weight.

“So she’s here.” Eiji’s frown deepened. There was a flicker of pity in his eyes; the essence of what used to be a human had turned into something truly hideous. But pity wouldn't save her soul.

He gestured for Honoka and Naomi to move back, cracking his knuckles as he stepped into the path of the approaching spirit.

“Meh.”

“It’s a typical vengeful Onryo, Eiji-dono. A spirit born when a soul, typically that of a young woman, meets an untimely and violent end. No doubt she is blinded by a thirst for retribution….”

“Onryo, huh?” Eiji exhaled slowly, his breath escaping in a long, thin wisp. His eyes shifted, the dark iris bleeding into fiery depths, as if he were peering into the heart of a distant, blazing world.

With a shriek that sounded like a choir of the damned, the spirit lunged. Her claw-like nails and elongated arms swung menacingly at Eiji’s throat, but he moved with liquid grace, swaying back just enough to let the attack whistle through the air. He maintained a tactical distance, circling the screaming, tormented figure.

Eiji struck back with a snap of his wrist, a red streak of lightning grazing the specter’s head and scorching the air. He pulled his arm back, stepping into a defensive crouch.

The Onryo abruptly halted. For a moment, they locked eyes. Within those hollow sockets lay a profound, bottomless void of despair. Her face appeared to be in a state of advanced decay—a strange sight, given how recently the girl from the club had gone missing. If Eiji’s theory was right, this spirit was undoubtedly the girl Tsutsuji had mentioned, but her soul had rotted at an impossible speed.

As they stood in a stalemate, the specter suddenly dashed forward again. Eiji braced himself, stepping into a close-range counter with a fist coated in red energy.

“Hm?”

The spirit didn’t clash with him. She weaved past him entirely, moving with a sudden, eerie focus, as if he had simply ceased to exist.

“Watch out!” Eiji yelled.

Naomi and Honoka scrambled to the side as the green blur swept toward them. But the woman’s spirit ignored them too, passing straight through the chain-link fence and vanishing into the darkness of the street beyond.

“What just… happened?” Honoka asked, her brain struggling to catch up with the sudden shift in the spirit's priorities.

“Maybe she had some... other business to take care of?” Naomi ventured.

Eiji didn't wait to speculate. He bolted toward the fence, clicking his tongue in annoyance. “After her, damn it!”

The pursuit led them away from the neon haze of the night district and onto the more respectable avenues of Shina. Even at this hour, the streets were mostly abandoned; the occasional whoosh of a passing car and the rhythmic flash of streetlights were the only signs of a living world. The three of them stayed on the paved path, trailing the elusive green figure that represented a life cut short.

As they rounded a sharp corner, however…

“…EH?!”

Naomi came to a wheezing halt, bent double with her hands on her knees as her lungs burned.

The specter was gone. The trail had gone cold.

But before despair could set in, Honoka stepped forward, her head tilted as she listened to the frequencies only she could catch. “I hear… something. I’m not sure what it is,” she whispered, her throat dry. “It sounds… human.”

“Hu…man?” Naomi managed to stand up straight, wiping sweat from her brow.

Eiji hummed, his mind racing to put the pieces together. The specter could have vanished at any time; why lead them here first? Was she trying to show them something? Or was she hunting someone else?

The young man nodded and gestured for the senior to take the lead. “Show us.”

Whatever piece was missing from the puzzle was waiting for them at the end of those voices.