The Aftermath: A Visitor

  After a few minutes, Kayo's legs finally responded to his will, tingling painfully as they woke from their week-long slumber. He shakily swung them over the edge of the hospital bed, his remaining hand clutching the metal rail for support. The cool linoleum beneath his bare feet sent a shock through his system, grounding him in reality—or what he hoped was reality.

  Drawn by the sunlight, he shuffled toward the window, his hospital gown fluttering around his knees. The simple act of walking felt foreign after so many days confined to bed, his muscles protesting each step.

  When he reached the window and looked down at the bustling street below, Kayo blinked once—then again—his expression morphing from confusion to horror to fascination. The ordinary world he'd known his entire life had transformed, revealing a layer of existence he'd never glimpsed before.

  Spirits walked among the living.

  They weren't the cartoonish ghosts of children's stories, but entities of substance and purpose, each one distinct. A businessman in mid-century attire passed through pedestrians as he walked with determined steps, his briefcase clutched tightly, eternally late for a meeting decades past. Near a vending machine, a young woman in a blood-stained school uniform stood motionless, her head tilted at an unnatural angle, eyes fixed on something only she could see.

  At the crosswalk, an elderly couple linked arms, their forms semi-transparent in the morning light, their clothing styles suggesting they'd died sometime in the 1970s. Unlike the others, they seemed content, smiling gently as they waited for a traffic light they would never need to obey.

  More disturbing were the less human apparitions—a writhing mass of shadows that coiled around a street lamp, occasionally stretching tendrils toward passing children. A creature that resembled a fox, if foxes had too many tails and eyes that glowed like embers, trotted between parked cars with deliberate purpose.

  Most unsettling of all was the tall, gaunt figure that stood directly beneath Kayo's window, its face upturned toward him. Though it wore the appearance of a man in traditional Japanese funeral attire, something about the proportions was subtly wrong—limbs slightly too long, neck extending further than anatomy should allow. As Kayo met its gaze, it smiled with too many teeth and bowed deeply, mockingly.

  "They've always been there," came a voice from behind him, soft yet somehow filling the room. "You simply lacked the sight to perceive them."

  Kayo whirled around, nearly losing his balance. The sudden movement sent a wave of dizziness crashing through him, forcing him to grab the windowsill for support.

  Before him stood a figure that defied easy description. At first glance, it appeared to be a tall, slender man dressed in an immaculate white trenchcoat that seemed to glow with its own inner light. But Kayo's eyes couldn't quite settle on the details of its face—features shifting subtly between heartbeats, never quite the same from one moment to the next. The only constants were eyes like liquid mercury and a smile that held neither warmth nor malice.

  "Hello there, Kinoshita Kayo." The voice was multilayered, as though several people spoke in perfect unison. "My name is the Seller."

  Kayo pressed his back against the window, his heart thundering in his chest. After The Smiler, he couldn't trust anything that appeared unexpectedly.

  "W-who are you?" His voice cracked embarrassingly. "I'm sorry, I'm just... shaken up by all of this."

  The Seller inclined its head slightly, the movement too fluid to be entirely human. "Understandable. Few survive an encounter with The Smiler with their sanity intact, much less their lives." It gestured toward Kayo's bandaged stump with a gloved hand. "Though not without cost, I see."

  "You didn't answer my question," Kayo said, surprising himself with his boldness.

  The Seller's smile widened a fraction. "Direct. Good. That will serve you well in the days to come." It took a step forward, its movements leaving faint trails of light in the air. "I'm basically a merchant of death, life, and everything in between. I sell information that can either cause someone to die or live, depending on how they use it."

  It paused, head tilting as it studied Kayo. "I see The Smiler has possessed some of your body."

  Kayo's blood ran cold. "W-what? How do you know that?"

  "A magician never reveals his secrets," The Seller replied, running one gloved finger along the edge of Kayo's hospital bed. Where it touched, faint symbols briefly glowed before fading. "But let's just say I can see the threads that bind our realities together. And you, Kinoshita Kayo, have something very dark attached to your thread."

  "Can you help me?" The question burst from Kayo before he could stop himself, heavy with desperation.

  The Seller's mercury eyes gleamed. "I could help you, but it will cost you."

  "Cost me what?" Kayo asked, suspicion creeping into his voice.

  "Something worth approximately twenty million yen." The Seller held up one hand, particles of light dancing between its fingers. "Or a piece of your soul."

  "Twenty million yen?!" Kayo's jaw dropped. "I don't have that kind of money! I'm just a high school student!"

  "Then I could take a piece of your soul instead." The Seller leaned casually against the wall, the white of its trenchcoat stark against the hospital's pale blue paint.

  "N-no way," Kayo shook his head vehemently. "I've seen enough horror movies to know how that ends."

  The Seller laughed—a sound like wind chimes in a storm. "Oh, you misunderstand. This isn't a fairy tale contract where I own you forever. Let me explain." It approached Kayo, movements fluid as water. "When you sell a piece of your soul, you lose that part temporarily, BUT—" it raised a finger emphatically, "—you can get it back."

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  "How?" Kayo asked, unable to hide his interest despite his fear.

  "By getting rid of ghosts and spirits." The Seller gestured toward the window. "The very ones you can now see. Each one you help cross over restores a fragment of what you've lost."

  Kayo's mind raced. "So I'd become some kind of... exorcist?"

  "In a manner of speaking, yes." The Seller nodded. "Though 'spiritual custodian' might be more accurate. Many of these entities simply need guidance to move on. Others..." Its expression darkened momentarily. "Others require more forceful methods."

  "And this would get rid of The Smiler?"

  "Not directly. But I would give you the knowledge needed to seal it away permanently." The Seller extended its hand. "So, do we have a deal?"

  Kayo hesitated, his gaze drifting back to the window, where the spirits continued their eternal routines, invisible to everyone but him. Beyond them, normal people went about their lives, blissfully unaware of the supernatural world existing alongside their own. His parents would be visiting soon. If he didn't do something about The Smiler...

  "Ok, deal then," he said finally, swallowing hard. "Whatever it costs to get rid of The Smiler."

  The Seller's smile widened to an almost unsettling degree. "Excellent choice."

  It reached out, not taking Kayo's hand as expected, but placing its palm gently against his chest. "This may feel... uncomfortable."

  Suddenly, Kayo felt lightheaded, as though the room were spinning around him. An icy sensation spread from The Seller's touch, seeping through his skin, burrowing deeper into his very essence. It was like having a vital organ removed while fully conscious—not physically painful, yet accompanied by a profound sense of loss. Something fundamental, something he'd possessed since birth without even knowing it, was being extracted.

  When The Seller withdrew its hand, Kayo gasped for breath, collapsing back against the window. The strange being now held what appeared to be a small sphere of blue-white light between its fingers. The light pulsed rhythmically, almost like a heartbeat.

  "Twenty-five percent of your soul now belongs to me," The Seller announced, somehow making the sphere disappear with a flick of its wrist. "In return, I will tell you how to seal The Smiler away."

  "I feel... different," Kayo whispered, placing his hand over his chest. There was an emptiness there, a hollowness he couldn't quite describe.

  "That's to be expected," The Seller replied with clinical detachment. "Some report feeling colder. Others describe a diminished capacity for certain emotions—usually joy or hope. Nothing you can't live without temporarily."

  "Great," Kayo muttered sarcastically. "So how do I get rid of this thing?"

  The Seller's expression grew serious, all trace of casual demeanor vanishing. "Listen carefully, for I'll only explain this once. The Smiler exists in the space between consciousness and oblivion—the realm of dreams and nightmares. That is where you must confront it."

  "In my dreams?"

  "Precisely. When you fall asleep tonight, The Smiler will appear to you. It will invite you to embrace enmity—to surrender to its influence."

  "And I say no, right?"

  The Seller nodded. "You must deny it completely, with absolute conviction. When you do, it will become enraged. It will drag you to a plain of pure blackness—the void from which it originated."

  Kayo shuddered at the thought. "And then?"

  "When you find yourself in that darkness, you must recite words of power—any words of religious or spiritual significance can work, but the most effective against entities like The Smiler is this Latin incantation." The Seller leaned closer, voice dropping to a whisper. "'Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica. Ergo, omnis legio diabolica, adiuramus te.'"

  Kayo struggled to memorize the foreign words. "Can you repeat that?"

  The Seller did so, more slowly this time, until Kayo could recite it back with reasonable accuracy.

  "Good," it said, satisfaction evident in its tone. "Once you chant these words, The Smiler's power will be temporarily diminished. That is when you must fight it—not physically, but with your will, your very essence."

  "Fight it? How?" Panic began to rise in Kayo's chest. "I couldn't even hurt it in the real world with a consecrated stake!"

  "In the dream realm, will is reality," The Seller explained patiently. "The Smiler draws its power from fear. Deny it that fuel, and you gain the advantage."

  "And if I fail?"

  The Seller's expression grew grim. "If you fail, it will possess you completely and probably kill your family while wearing your skin. Your consciousness will be trapped forever in that void, experiencing endless torment."

  Kayo felt sick. "And if I win?"

  "If you win, you will absorb its power." The Seller's mercury eyes gleamed with something like hunger. "Though this will cause severe emotional trauma, it is far better than the alternative. You will gain abilities beyond normal human comprehension—and become something both more and less than human."

  "Like what you are?" Kayo asked softly, the realization dawning.

  For the first time, The Seller looked genuinely surprised. It recovered quickly, its smile returning. "Perceptive. Yes and no. My nature is... different. But the principle is similar."

  "Will I still be... me?"

  The Seller considered this. "Your core self will remain intact, though changed. Think of it as evolution rather than replacement. The boy you were will become the foundation for what you will become."

  Kayo nodded slowly, trying to process everything. "I have more questions—"

  "And time for none of them," The Seller interrupted, glancing toward the door. "Your parents are approaching. They wouldn't see me, but your conversation with apparent empty air might raise uncomfortable questions."

  It stepped back, its form already beginning to fade around the edges. "Remember the incantation. Remember that fear is The Smiler's weapon and domain. Deny it that, and you stand a chance."

  "Wait!" Kayo reached out with his remaining hand. "How do I find you again? How do I get my soul back?"

  The Seller's smile was the last part of it to fade. "You don't find me, Kinoshita Kayo. I find you. As for your soul... look to the spirits. They will show you the way."

  And then it was gone, dissolving into nothingness just as the door to Kayo's hospital room opened, revealing his parents' worried faces.

  "Kayo?" his mother called, noticing him standing by the window. "What are you doing out of bed?"

  As his father rushed to help him back to the hospital bed, Kayo cast one final glance out the window. The spirits still moved through the streets below, but now they seemed to notice him watching. Several paused, turning their faces upward. The fox-like creature sat on its haunches, all its tails raised in what might have been salute.

  And beyond them all, standing precisely where The Seller had appeared, was a figure of perfect darkness with a bleeding crimson smile.

  "I'm coming for you," Kayo whispered, too quietly for his parents to hear.

  The Smiler's grin widened in response, and then it too vanished, melting into the shadows cast by the morning sun.

  Kayo allowed himself to be led back to bed, his mind already preparing for the battle to come. Tonight, in dreams, he would fight for his soul, his family, and his future.

  As his mother fussed over his pillows and his father spoke with the doctor about discharge plans, Kayo silently practiced the Latin incantation, each syllable a weapon being sharpened for the coming war.