DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONES...

Run.

All that you could do was run.

You didn't know why she had it out for you so much. You didn't even like her fiancé, he was just a narcissistic creep in your eyes, but your Academic rival, Liuchu Jiang, seemed convinced that you'd been secretly pining for him.

That was how you found yourself running for your life from a group of thugs.

They were really determined it seemed, as not even running deeper into the slums could shake them.

It was getting dark, and everyone always warned you to never stay in rural or abandoned areas once the sun went down.

'Accidents' could happen.

The wind rushed past you as you continued running, not even knowing where you were trying to go.

You could hear the annoyed jeers of the men not far behind you, but that was just more motivation for you to keep pushing yourself further.

Then, it began to rain.

It was a drizzle at first, but now it was coming down hard.

You ultimately decided to run into the nearest apartment complex you could find.

You kept glancing back, or looking through the corners of your eyes, you could've sworn that you kept seeing a flash of red. A red coat? Red-hair? There had been a figure standing over there holding something red, but he was gone before you could get a proper look at them.

You decided to focus on finding shelter first, the visibility was even worse now that the rain was falling so heavily.

After trying several locked doors, you finally found a descending staircase.

You couldn't see the end, it was that dark.

But, what other option did you have at this point?

It was either this, or those creepy weirdos.

Anyone would've picked the dark staircase...

You could hear your own steps echoing the lower you went. You even lost count of the steps at some point, using your phone flashlight to survey the darkness, just when you thought you had stumbled into some SCP, you finally reached the bottom.

The walls were dark-grey, and grimy, covered in dirt, and some suspiciously reddish-brown stains that were certainly not blood.

Looking around, you noticed that the 'building', if it was even a building, looked a lot like an underground apartment complex. That was promising, if you picked a unit lock, you could stay in one until morning.

In truth, you had no one. No one was looking for you. No one would look for you should you disappear. So perhaps that was why you were being this reckless.

THUD

You jumped slightly at the heavy sound. It echoed from deeper inside of the complex. So it wasn't abandoned? Maybe this place was some sort of gang meetup.

You shivered at the thought, and promptly ran back up the stairs.

You'd just have the brave the thugs.

Or so you wished.

127 steps later, you still couldn't hear any sounds signaling the outside world. Then 243 steps later you finally realized that you had been tricked. This sadistic building had tricked you into feeling comfortable during the descent, and now that you were ascending, only now did you realize that you were trapped.

Your legs were weak from hiking up nearly 300 stairs, so you stopped and sat down, curling against the wall.

Your phone had no signal, and you were too broke to afford a data plan, so you weren't contacting anyone but the police.

But even if you did, would they even find you? Were you trapped in here forever?

THUD

Another loud sound, this time, it was coming from further up the endless staircase.

Then there was a wet sound, and the overwhelming scent of metal filled your nose.

You had to choke back retching sounds.

It was completely dark, you weren't stupid enough to turn on your flashlight right now, but you could've sworn that there was something heavy and wet slowly rolling down the stairs to your location.

If you moved now, you risked alerting whatever the fuck was up there, but if you didn't move-

THWACK

Something heavy collided with you, sending you back down the stairs in a painful tumble.

It was a long way down.

You felt your head collide with a particularly maliciously-placed stone stair and your vision went black.

---

You don't know how long you've been out.

But somehow(you were just that lucky apparently), you woke up again.

At the base of the stairs, you immediately panicked, as something heavy and foul-smelling was on top of you.

It was clearly morning, as even this terrifying place was visible thanks to the dregs of light that made it all the way down here.

That was how you were able to see the body of the leader of that group of thugs that had been chasing you the night before.

You didn't scream, screaming would alert the thing currently chomping away at another corpse a few feet away.

It was terrifying to look at, ripping away flesh and snapping the bones of one of those other thugs.

You had to move.

You had to get out of here, but if you made a sound, perhaps it would-

There was something behind you.

"८ ጉこતコ." 'hello'.

The ghost that had been snacking on the thugs promptly high-tailed it out of the area, staggering down the hall opposite to where you, and this new ghost behind you were.

He was massive, and silver hair cascaded down his back. There were bloodstains on his surprisingly healthy-looking skin, and bandages obscured his eyes.

Strangely enough, you sensed no real hostility from this one, and the strange inhuman sound he made registered as a greeting in your mind.

He was holding a scalpel in one of his large hands. "λ ک ሰ ৺ ટ ત λ コᄃ 々ኟנત ィ⊔ こ ป" 'are you okay? want you to look for somebody'

This thing wanted your help with something? You could vaguely sense what the meaning behind its 'words' were.

Should you really trust this creepy ghost-doctor thing?

Run.

All that you could do was run.

You didn't know why she had it out for you so much. You didn't even like her fiancé, he was just a narcissistic creep in your eyes, but your Academic rival, Liuchu Jiang, seemed convinced that you'd been secretly pining for him.

That was how you found yourself running for your life from a group of thugs.

They were really determined it seemed, as not even running deeper into the slums could shake them.

It was getting dark, and everyone always warned you to never stay in rural or abandoned areas once the sun went down.

'Accidents' could happen.

The wind rushed past you as you continued running, not even knowing where you were trying to go.

You could hear the annoyed jeers of the men not far behind you, but that was just more motivation for you to keep pushing yourself further.

Then, it began to rain.

It was a drizzle at first, but now it was coming down hard.

You ultimately decided to run into the nearest apartment complex you could find.

You kept glancing back, or looking through the corners of your eyes, you could've sworn that you kept seeing a flash of red. A red coat? Red-hair? There had been a figure standing over there holding something red, but he was gone before you could get a proper look at them.

You decided to focus on finding shelter first, the visibility was even worse now that the rain was falling so heavily.

After trying several locked doors, you finally found a descending staircase.

You couldn't see the end, it was that dark.

But, what other option did you have at this point?

It was either this, or those creepy weirdos.

Anyone would've picked the dark staircase...

You could hear your own steps echoing the lower you went. You even lost count of the steps at some point, using your phone flashlight to survey the darkness, just when you thought you had stumbled into some SCP, you finally reached the bottom.

The walls were dark-grey, and grimy, covered in dirt, and some suspiciously reddish-brown stains that were certainly not blood.

Looking around, you noticed that the 'building', if it was even a building, looked a lot like an underground apartment complex. That was promising, if you picked a unit lock, you could stay in one until morning.

In truth, you had no one. No one was looking for you. No one would look for you should you disappear. So perhaps that was why you were being this reckless.

THUD

You jumped slightly at the heavy sound. It echoed from deeper inside of the complex. So it wasn't abandoned? Maybe this place was some sort of gang meetup.

You shivered at the thought, and promptly ran back up the stairs.

You'd just have the brave the thugs.

Or so you wished.

127 steps later, you still couldn't hear any sounds signaling the outside world. Then 243 steps later you finally realized that you had been tricked. This sadistic building had tricked you into feeling comfortable during the descent, and now that you were ascending, only now did you realize that you were trapped.

Your legs were weak from hiking up nearly 300 stairs, so you stopped and sat down, curling against the wall.

Your phone had no signal, and you were too broke to afford a data plan, so you weren't contacting anyone but the police.

But even if you did, would they even find you? Were you trapped in here forever?

THUD

Another loud sound, this time, it was coming from further up the endless staircase.

Then there was a wet sound, and the overwhelming scent of metal filled your nose.

You had to choke back retching sounds.

It was completely dark, you weren't stupid enough to turn on your flashlight right now, but you could've sworn that there was something heavy and wet slowly rolling down the stairs to your location.

If you moved now, you risked alerting whatever the fuck was up there, but if you didn't move-

THWACK

Something heavy collided with you, sending you back down the stairs in a painful tumble.

It was a long way down.

You felt your head collide with a particularly maliciously-placed stone stair and your vision went black.

---

You don't know how long you've been out.

But somehow(you were just that lucky apparently), you woke up again.

At the base of the stairs, you immediately panicked, as something heavy and foul-smelling was on top of you.

It was clearly morning, as even this terrifying place was visible thanks to the dregs of light that made it all the way down here.

That was how you were able to see the body of the leader of that group of thugs that had been chasing you the night before.

You didn't scream, screaming would alert the thing currently chomping away at another corpse a few feet away.

It was terrifying to look at, ripping away flesh and snapping the bones of one of those other thugs.

You had to move.

You had to get out of here, but if you made a sound, perhaps it would-

A strange glitching effect occurred on the area around you, and everything was suddenly red.

You were in a different place now, seemingly teleported to this strange, red area.

The ground was still the same grey from the apartment complex, only, it was as if you were 'outside', but outside was just an endless red sky.

Then, in the distance you saw him. The red figure from earlier that you had only caught glimpses of was standing about thirty feet away from you.

The thing that it had been holding that you couldn't distinguish through the rain was a red umbrella.

The figure 'glitched out' again, and now it was suddenly much closer to you. Leaning down towards where you were sitting flat on your ass, from under its red bangs, you saw a pair of wide, eerie eyes.

"ત λ コᄃ ጉ つ д コ" 'desire name'

This strange, flexible, and frankly terrifying ghost was asking for your name. You could somehow decipher the strange sounds it was making. It was as if your brain was unconsciously translating it.

"⊔ λ ત д ৺ п ⊔ こ ત ટ дこ ጉ つ д コ" 'want to know your name'

Your instincts were telling you that something bad could happen should you comply with his requests, but if you didn't, wouldn't he kill you?

Summer was always unbearable for you. You hated the bugs, the heat, the light-spirits that thrived in the blazing sun, but you especially hated the vacation.

It was merely a social event, something the elite gushed over and praised your bastard father and mother for.

"You're so good to your family!"

They'd coo and flatter you unashamedly like that. It was all that you'd hear, in an attempt to convince you that everything was fine, and great.

Every time you heard that sort of language, it made you sick.

The 'loving family' vacations he presented to the rich in his circle were nothing but your own personal hell.

Your older sister, Minami, had an A-rank contracted Ghost, that automatically made you forever stuck in her shadow. She monopolized the love of your parents and isolated you, making you the outcast of the family, and her own personal lapdog.

Any sort of agency you attempted to gain would result in beatings, your reputation was tarnished, and your spiritual energy was so low that you couldn't even contract an F-rank spirit.

You were the dictionary definition of the word 'fodder', a cautionary tale Minami would use to lift herself up.

Eventually, the 'luxury vacations' to that large vacation house in a small forest located in Northern Honshu turned into your place of banishment.

Every summer, sometimes even lasting longer than those three months, your 'family' would ship you off, and allow Minami to attend the social events without you there to 'stain her reputation and dull her shine'.

This year was supposed to have been no different.

Birds chirped as the run-down van spat you out onto the dirt path that led to the large house. Tall, familiar trees and foliage surrounded you, you'd been here countless times before after all, and so you didn't waste time, dragging your small suitcase up to the door, you fished out the old keys and unlocked the door.

Everything inside was how it had been a few months ago, when you were last here. The only difference was the thin layer of dust that had settled over the floor and furniture.

Closing and locking the door, you put up a few talismans to ward off lower-ranked spirits before you headed upstairs.

Three doors down the long hallway was the room you had chosen for yourself the first time you'd been here ten years ago.

You were weak, so it wasn't any surprise that you didn't sense the dark, ominous energy that seeped from underneath the closed door.

It would've taken a far higher-ranked exorcist to identify the spirit that was sitting casually on the tatami mat in the center of the room.

As soon as you pushed the doors open, your world shifted.

---

He wasn't sure what it had been exactly. The first time he saw you being dragged up the stairs of this very house by your father, the small human girl that shared your blood crying lies that you had been the culprit of the shattered mess of porcelain on the floor, he had wondered.

Were humans truly this foolish now?

Your parents had always favored that small, frankly useless girl, completely ignoring the diamond that was you, a human born with absolutely no spirit energy.

Time was meaningless to a creature like him, so across the ten years of repetitive visits you aged, growing up as beautifully as your circumstances allowed, but at the same time, you grew less and less lively.

Your soul was dying, having been crushed and snuffed too many times.

You needed something to care about, something to empty to your mind.

He had exactly what you needed.

---

The doors slid open. It had been a while, so the wave of dust that washed over you had you coughing. The only downside to such a beautiful house in such a remote location was the insane amount of dust that could build up.

Fumbling around for the light switch, once you found it and switched it on, you saw it.

It was sitting on your favorite Tatami mat, barely fitting on it due to its rather massive body.

Even sitting down with its legs loosely crossed, it was at least as tall as you.

Long, dark hair cascaded down its shoulders, pooling in black strands on the floor like dark strings. It's face was hidden mostly by its hair, and the white fedora it wore.

No human could look like this, the black void of its moth was curved into a smile, though it felt neither malicious, or friendly.

"Po... Po... Po..." The deep, pleasant sound that it made wasn't exactly speech, it wasn't 'words', it was more like an energy frequency that you could sense, but not understand.

It was somehow compelling you forward, his aura was influencing you forward until you were in its range.

Your back collided with the mat as you tried to scramble away, far too late to successfully escape now.

He easily leaned over you, his back curling inward unnaturally as he seemed to appraise you for a moment.

Moving just a bit close, a long, slick tongue snaked out of its mouth, sliding up your jaw in an unnerving lick.

As close as you were to it, you could now see the wide, inhuman smile on his face that previously hidden sharp fangs in his dark maw. "Po... Po..."