Part One
An Application for Exorcising Evil Spirits?
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“I’m definitely going to be killed by some yokai or evil spirit.”
“Don’t worry,”
Mukai said reassuringly.
“We’re already dead.
Evil spirits and yokai can’t kill us anymore.”
He patted Makino on the shoulder—
“Uh-oh, this isn’t good.
The spirits bound to this area are starting to gather because of the accident.”
Mukai looked past Makino’s shoulder.
“Huh?”
Makino turned around and saw a black, swelling mass of spiritual energy.
Panicking, he pulled out a Netherworld Talisman.
Beside him, Mukai stepped in to help.
He drew a large circle with both hands,
freezing the motion of the space around them.
Time in that part of the city stopped.
While dodging the approaching dark shadows,
Makino blew on his talismans and hurled them one after another.
The evil spirits absorbed into the talismans
flared up for an instant and vanished completely.
“Phew…”
Watching the air grow clear again,
Makino let out a long sigh.
After confirming that all the nearby evil spirits were gone,
Mukai clapped his hands,
restoring the flow of space—
and the city began to move once more.
Dealing with evil spirits, earthbound ghosts, and yokai
was technically the Removal Division’s responsibility.
But since there weren’t many official “special cases,”
other departments often had to step in to help—
whether they liked it or not—
so everyone eventually got used to doing a bit of everything.
“Well, that’s it for tonight.
I’m out of talismans.”
Only Removal Division staff
could receive Netherworld Talismans,
distributed by the Reaper Division.
“This whole process is such a pain.
You have to fill out the paperwork and file a request
before they’ll even give you any.”
“Huh? Really?” Tadokoro asked.
“Yeah. The talismans are linked to the Book of the Dead.
When a talisman disappears,
the spirit it captured is erased completely—
and so is its name from the record.
So it’s one talisman per spirit.
And get this—our pay depends on how many we exorcise.
It’s all commission-based.
You guys in the clerical section have fixed salaries,
so you’re fine.
But we spend a lot of time down in the mortal world,
and we need money.
Yet they won’t even cover our expenses.”
Makino stuffed the sweet bun he’d been holding into his mouth.
“There are only twelve special cases right now, right?
Even with all these evil spirits around,
the Removal Division has only three staff members—including me.
The other two are assigned to the north and west sectors.
It’s a total black company.”
Even so, the division was considered to be at maximum capacity.
Tadokoro’s Erasure Division had one more staff member than that,
but since their work mostly involved processing souls
received from the Delivery Division,
they managed fine with a small team.
And as for the Dispatch Division,
Mukai was the only one.
Even though the number of dispatched spirits was increasing,
he couldn’t leave central headquarters—
for a reason.
Spirits with strong attachments
were naturally drawn to Mukai’s spiritual wavelength,
sometimes coming to him on their own.
Others, while waiting for their turn in the Afterlife Salon,
chose the path of reincarnation instead.
Every soul was different.
“By the way,” Tadokoro said,
“the Cremation Division runs with just two people, right?
That’s the senior section—
Old Man Gen and Ms. Makiko?”
Gentarō had died at eighty-six,
but still had ten years of lifespan left,
so he was stationed in the Cremation Division.
Makiko had died at fifty-eight,
with twenty years remaining on her natural lifespan.
“Old Gen says he’s having the time of his afterlife.
His body doesn’t ache anymore,
and the food’s great. Lucky guy.”
“You can’t exactly tell an old man
to go chase after evil spirits, can you?
Right people for the right jobs,” Tadokoro replied.
“Still, Makino—you’re amazing.
That speed of yours, I could never pull that off,”
Mukai said.
“R-really?” Makino said shyly.
“Well, if the job’s done, let’s go get a drink,”
Tadokoro said, stretching his arms.
“What about those wandering souls over there?”
“The dangerous ones are mostly gone now.
We can deal with the rest tomorrow.
Overworking’s bad for your health—even when you’re dead.”
Mukai patted Makino’s shoulder
and started walking toward the bar.
