We arrived at the destination.
According to Kou, the address of this girl had been posted on the forum, so we traced it here and followed the lead. Along the way, Yumiko mentioned that their controversies forum acted as a quest board. The people in town would post their experiences, or more accurately, requests. Contracts directed straight to the Hunters. That girl's message was no different.
Yumiko also added that they collected fees. Like it was an actual job.
I did not want to complain. Why should I risk my life for free? Still, making income off people's situations felt strange. It did not make us feel like heroes. More like a business.
"So this is the place? Looks abandoned," Yumiko commented, her eyes darting left and right as she observed the open field.
The house was a mess. Weeds had grown so wildly that you would wish someone had cut them down already. The walls looked worn, the roof slightly caved in, and the atmosphere itself felt wrong.
I stared directly at an open window.
The negative energy I was sensing felt vile. Thick and oppressive. Whatever this doll was, it might be powerful.
"I mean, she did say they locked themselves up in here, right?" Kou cockily adjusted his glasses. "With luck this bad, I would not dream of being in situations that would put me in harm's way."
As much as I wanted to disagree, he was right.
Yumiko walked up to the front door and knocked. Slow and deliberate. Loud enough that anyone inside should have heard it.
Nothing.
"Huh? No response?" Yumiko turned to face me. "Maybe they are not home?"
"She obviously is."
Yumiko focused back on the door and knocked again. Still nothing but silence.
"Should we break in"
"Why do we have to do something like that?" I snapped back at Yumiko's insane suggestion.
"Yuu kun, you are so boring."
"No, it is called common sense."
During our bickering, a creaking noise seeped out beside us. Slowly, we turned toward the front door. To our surprise, it had opened slightly on its own.
We froze.
The door opened slowly, dragging out the suspense, but just before it could fully open, it stopped. A girl with dark purple hair peeked out. Heavy bags sat under her eyes. Her hair was poorly taken care of, messy and lifeless. She looked exhausted. Like she had not slept properly since this whole incident began.
"Um… can we come in?" Kou asked softly.
She hesitated, then opened the door wider and let the three of us inside.
The house was a complete mess.
Practically everything had been moved somewhere else. The living room, dining room, even the kitchen were completely stripped. The only thing illuminating the interior was a single lightbulb hanging weakly above us.
"It seems we need to introduce ourselves. This is Yuu, the inexperienced pervert."
Was that a threat?
I could hear Kou's silent giggling beside me.
"And this is Kou, the lonely nerd."
"H huh? I am not lonely."
I held my laughter, just enough to get on his nerves.
"And I am Yumiko, the leader of this team. We are the Hunters."
Yumiko struck a strange pose, something straight out of a low budget superhero show. Kou joined in without hesitation. Since when did this team have weird poses? What was next, a corny catchphrase?
The girl, Hinata, simply stared at us in silence. She probably thought we were scammers.
"A are you guys really the Hunters?" Hinata asked. Her voice was soft and miserable.
"Of course. We are here to save you," Yumiko replied with an enthusiastic thumbs up.
That alone seemed to calm Hinata down.
You could not help but feel bad for people like her. Why did she have to get involved in this mess? What did she do to deserve it? Her black gown, her messy hair, her hollow eyes. She must have been wishing, praying that someone might save her.
"What next?" I asked.
"You and Kou will investigate the doll. I will talk with Hinata," Yumiko said.
"Huh? Together with this"
Before Kou could rant further, I grabbed his jacket and dragged him upstairs.
Using my powers, I followed the source of the vile energy. I stopped in front of a door with a simple nameplate that read Hinata.
The source was coming from her room.
I opened the door with a straight face. Just as expected, the room was no different from the rest of the house. Empty. A bed, a wooden desk, a chair by the window. Nothing else.
Everything in this house felt depressing.
My eyes moved around the room until they landed on a doll sitting at the center of the desk.
"Huh? There it is," I pointed.
"I see." Kou grinned faintly and confidently walked toward it.
I tried to stop him, but I knew he would not listen. I watched him with a narrowed glare.
Kou grabbed the doll.
Nothing happened.
I could clearly sense negative energy from the doll before, but the moment Kou touched it, it vanished. Was that even possible?
"Kou, I do not sense negative energy from you."
"That is because unlike you and Yumiko, I am not a freak of nature," he sighed calmly as he walked past me.
"Then why do you stick with Yumiko?" I asked.
"It is simple. It is way more fun watching her chase an impossible dream."
He was right.
Even though I joined to get rid of my powers, I also wanted to see the world Yumiko believed in. A world where humans and supernaturals could coexist. It sounded stupid, but when Yumiko talked about it, it felt possible.
Still, I had a feeling she was hiding something.
"Is this doll really that powerful?" Kou tossed it casually in the air.
"I sensed something earlier."
Kou reached for the doorknob.
Something felt wrong.
Before I could react, something shot through the open window at incredible speed. I kicked aside just in time, barely avoiding getting my head pierced.
The object embedded itself into the door.
A car windshield.
Slowly, we turned toward the window. In the distance, a van had crashed into an iron pole. People gathered around it in panic.
That windshield came from that van.
We looked at each other and spoke at the same time.
"This doll is the real deal!"