Tokyo, love before they become female ghosts

Humans cannot choose whether or not they are born into this world, because it is a proposition for which there is no choice whatsoever.

As a child, Mio Koizumi had thought more than once that if she had the right to choose her birth, she would never have been born into her current family.

In a dilapidated, seemingly abandoned rural house, young Koizumi, carrying his old schoolbag, pushed open the door and went inside.

The mother was curled up and writhing on the floor, next to her was a used needle.

I went to my mother's side and picked up the needle, not because I was afraid of pricking her, but because I was worried that she would roll it to the side and I would accidentally step on it.

As for his father, he's probably in a casino right now, cursing and swearing.

With a blank expression, young Koizumi cleaned up the trash on the floor and went to the kitchen to find the little rice left and cook it.

Before she could recover from the effects of the medicine, I quickly cooked the wild vegetables I picked on my way home from school, mixed them with soy sauce, and that was my dinner.

Back in her room, young Koizumi took out her textbooks and began to do the homework assigned by her teacher.

Faint sobbing could be heard from outside the window, and young Koizumi instinctively covered herself completely with the blanket.

She could sense that it was getting dangerous outside at night, with scary guys everywhere.

Gradually, all the able-bodied people in the village have moved away from here.

It's said that the city has started implementing anti-paranormal measures, which has led to a surge in housing prices after many years.

Even if it means borrowing money, even if it means taking on huge debts, many people still choose to do this.

The father had taken out a huge loan, which he used as gambling money.

As the sky brightened again, Koizumi, who hadn't slept soundly, groggily woke up from her room.

The mother, her eyes unfocused, leaned against the wall and looked at her daughter standing at the door with her schoolbag on her back. She called out to her weakly.

"I want to drink water."

Koizumi pondered for a moment, then picked up the cup and turned on the tap, letting out murky yellow tap water.

Once the liquid had settled and become barely clear, Koizumi put it in another cup and handed it to his mother.

Then she left home and headed towards school.

When I arrived at the school, the ground was covered with fallen leaves and the windows were covered with dust, making it look like it had been abandoned.

In a daze, Koizumi felt that the school, like herself, existed in this world, but no one wanted it anymore.

The thought only flashed through her mind for a moment before she went to the classroom.

She was the only student in the class, and the teacher was an elderly woman with gray hair.

The first thing the old man did before class every day was to share the breakfast he had brought with her.

The old man didn't not want to leave, but he couldn't leave anymore. He knew he was old and didn't want to trouble his children.

He didn't want his children to live in unrest because he was leaving in an uneasy state.

Aside from attending classes, the elderly and the young did not speak to each other.

Like two unwanted robots, they went about their business in this abandoned world, following the established routine.

After school, young Koizumi braved the scorching sun and went into the forest to search for wild vegetables for the night.

With the villagers moving away, the small shop has long since closed down, so everyone has to rely on themselves for food and drink.

Carefully breaking off fresh ferns and placing them in a plastic bag picked up from the roadside, just as young Koizumi was about to head to the next place, a cry for help suddenly came.

"Help!!"

Koizumi trembled with fear, instinctively wanting to run away.

He hadn't run far when he gritted his teeth and ran back towards the direction of the distress call.

By the stream in the forest, Koizumi looked at the child who had already swallowed a lot of water, and the water ghost that was holding onto his ankle tightly to prevent him from floating to the surface.

The stream wasn't deep, only up to the thighs, but because of the water ghost, it seemed like a bottomless abyss.

Watching the child being frantically pulled by the water ghost, young Koizumi gritted his teeth and followed the advice he had heard from the adults in the village: if you encounter wild beasts, you can drive them away by roaring loudly.

Koizumi, suppressing his fear, picked up a stick and pretended to be fierce, yelling "Ahhh!" as he struck the water's surface with the stick in an attempt to drive away the water ghost.

The water ghost looked at the young spring on the shore, tugged at the child for a while, and then turned into black mist and slipped away.

Then, young Koizumi pulled the child out of the water and kept patting his back to help him cough up the water.

"Thank you, my name is Takuya Hase..."

"Mio Koizumi".

After a brief conversation, the two children, one big and one small, walked along the path towards the village, where they encountered Hasegawa Arakawa, who looked anxious.

"Thank you, thank you child, thank you for saving my grandson."

While Koizumi remained expressionless, young Takuya Hase excitedly spoke up.

"Grandpa, Sister Koizumi is amazing! She scared away the water ghost that took me away!"

Hasegawa Arakawa looked somewhat enlightened upon hearing this.

"Who is Koizumi Souichi to you?"

As if she had mentioned something difficult, after a long while, Mio Koizumi spoke blankly.

"My father."

"I see..."

When they returned to the village, young Koizumi learned that his father had been beaten to death because he couldn't pay off his debts.

Her mother died from a drug overdose, and it was only after her death that Koizumi learned that the house had been sold at a low price and creditors were coming to her door demanding repayment of their debts.

Looking at the menacing yakuza members blocking her doorway, Koizumi pursed her lips and lowered her head to hide her distress and pain.

"She owes so much money, let her come work with us to pay off the debt. Take her with you."

In the judgments that were likened to livestock, Koizumi was led away like a piece of wood.

His blank, wide eyes were filled with a numbness that showed he had lost all hope for the world.

They pulled Koizumi away and made her sit in the back seat of the car.

As the car jolted along, Koizumi stared blankly into the surrounding darkness, the despairing roar of the engine filling his ears.

Then, a thoughtful, noisy murmur reached my ears.

"You idiots! Are you all insane?!"

After the violent impact, Koizumi's head slammed heavily into the trunk. As the car door slammed shut, an old but powerful voice reached his ears through the trunk.

"Give Koizumi back to us! We'll pay off the debts her parents left behind!"

Then came a young voice.

"It's only 300 million. Our shrine can pay it back by taking on more exorcism missions over the next few years!"

Perhaps it was the other party's identity as an exorcist that was too useful in this era of supernatural occurrences, or perhaps it was the talismans floating around Hasegawa that were too intimidating.

Amid the yakuza members' grumbling and cursing, a new contract was drafted, and then Koizumi blankly got into the old, white sedan with a deeply dented front.

"Old man, you'd better pay off your debts, or we'll tear your shrine down!"

Under threat, the car started.

In the back row, Takuya Hase looked at Mio Koizumi, who was still in shock from the incident, and after a moment of thought, he smiled and spoke.

"Sister Koizumi, from now on we're family!"

Recalling this, Mio Koizumi smiled and remarked.

"That's how it is. The brat and I became family. If I hadn't refused to inherit it, Morita Shrine would be my property now."

As Jia Yezi listened to Koizumi Mio's stories about Takuya, a hint of envy appeared in her eyes.

"That's wonderful..."

I wish I could grow up with Takuya-kun since I was little...

Just as the two women were chatting, in the building across the street, Fu Jiang, wearing gray sunglasses, a black dress with purple trim and bell sleeves, and long, shapely legs gently wrapped in custom-made black stockings, put down her binoculars and seemed to be deep in thought.

"Who is that woman? Why isn't she listed in the file...?"