Tokyo Exorcism Diary

Stowing his phone in his pocket and tucking the contract into his backpack, Hoshino Gen strolled leisurely along the sunlit afternoon streets. Around him, pedestrians came and went, some heading toward him, others brushing past as they went on their way.

There were students in school uniforms laughing and joking, tourists wandering freely in casual attire, suit-clad office workers hurrying past, and elderly folks pushing carts loaded with groceries on their way home.

The vibrant tapestry of urban life played out on every corner. Weaving through it all, Hoshino Gen’s lips curled into a faint, self-deprecating smile.

The train clattered steadily along its tracks, winding through alleys and bustling streets, past towering skyscrapers.

Instead of heading home, Hoshino Gen went to the antique shop.

Tossing his backpack to the side, he settled down at his usual desk and retrieved the smartphone wrapped in a red string once again.

The phone belonged to Shiina Wakana, a familiar, latest-model iPhone with a cute bunny-patterned case.

Hoshino Gen twirled it in his hands, inspecting it briefly before his gaze returned to the screen visible between the red string’s gaps.

On the screen, a girl with a pale, lifeless face—Chi-chan—stood motionless, her empty, deathly gaze fixed unblinkingly on the world outside the screen.

Hoshino Gen pondered momentarily before unwinding the phone’s red string. Without waiting for the figure inside to stir, he took out a yellow talisman from who-knows-where and stuck it onto the back of the phone.

With the string removed, Chi-chan’s appearance was even clearer.

Setting aside her corpse-like aura of deathly silence and eerie presence, one could objectively say she was a cute girl. She wore a blood-stained Lolita dress, with a white choker encircling her slender, pale neck—a vision most people would only expect to see on livestream platforms.

“Can we talk?” Hoshino Gen asked, smiling at Chi-chan on the screen.

Silence. Nothing happened. Hoshino Gen chuckled to himself, slightly amused at his own question. Just as he was wondering what the vessel for the ghost in his phone might be, his own phone buzzed with a message alert from his pocket.

Hoshino Gen’s number was a privilege to have—something secured through connections. It was safe to say he had never received spam or junk messages before.

Setting Shiina Wakana’s phone aside, he pulled out his own and checked the text.

The message was from an unknown number, containing a file link.

The moment he clicked it, the screen switched to a seemingly official-looking document.

Code C-104 [Net Phantom]
Name: Hamada Michiko / Chi-chan
Gender: Female
Age: 15
Occupation: Student (on leave), YouTuber
Address: Tokyo, Chiyoda Ward, Higashi-Osaka 2-chome, 43-6
Date of Death: September 20, 2019

Following the basic details was a lengthy biography about Hamada Michiko—or Chi-chan, as she was known.

Stripping away the unnecessary embellishments, the narrative formed in Hoshino Gen’s mind was this:

Michiko’s greatest asset from a young age was her striking appearance. Born into a single-parent household, she learned to leverage her looks to gain the protection of others—strangers, classmates, and even teachers.

But beauty, while an advantage, also invited disaster.

Michiko fell victim to assault by a teacher at school, leaving her with severe depression. Forced to take a leave of absence, she faced constant ridicule and abuse from her mother at home.

In a bid to silence her mother’s taunts, Michiko became a YouTuber to earn money.

Her natural charm made her path as a streamer surprisingly smooth. Within two years, she transitioned from a complete nobody to a popular figure in the “loli” niche.

Once she gained fame, earning money became easy. With her newfound income, Michiko’s mother stopped berating her and even quit her job, using her daughter’s earnings to fund her lavish lifestyle.

Though their lives seemed to improve, Michiko remained unhappy. The internet’s harsh criticisms and malicious rumors weighed heavily on her already fragile mental state.

The final straw came when news of her assault by a teacher surfaced online.

When her livestream chat was flooded with her worst fears, Michiko’s psyche shattered.

In her adorably decorated room, equipped with costly streaming gear, she ended her life with a pair of scissors, stabbing them into her throat. Her blood stained her elaborate Lolita dress.

At the age of 15, Michiko’s life ended.

From her young, lifeless body, the entity known as [Net Phantom] emerged.

After reading the file, Hoshino Gen immediately knew who had sent it—the government’s Special Affairs Unit.

As expected, the official channels excelled in gathering intelligence.

“Tch.” Hoshino Gen clicked his tongue lightly. It was indeed a tragic story. Even he couldn’t help feeling a twinge of pity for the girl who had died so young.

He pocketed his phone and picked up the iPhone that imprisoned Michiko. Looking at the screen, where the lifeless girl remained frozen, he spoke again.

“Michiko?”

“…”

Chi-chan’s figure twitched slightly on the screen. Her expression flickered between twisted, calm, and glitch-filled distortions before settling back into a lifeless stillness.

Hoshino Gen smiled. “See? You can hear me. Are you sure you don’t want to talk?”

Michiko gave no further response.

Unbothered, Hoshino Gen nonchalantly turned off the phone’s screen and stowed it away.

His stomach grumbled. Time to go home and eat.

As for Michiko… Hoshino Gen had initially planned to extract her spirit from the phone and kill it. To him, the vessel holding a spirit was far more valuable than the spirit itself.

But after reading the file from the Special Affairs Unit, he changed his mind. A ghost barely two years old in this modern era—its vessel couldn’t possibly be some priceless artifact.

He’d keep her around for now. Her ability to traverse the digital world was rare and might be useful someday.

In his past life, his master had taught him a few tricks for taming ghosts. The first step, if he remembered correctly, was to resolve their twisted resentment. With that in mind, perhaps it was time to find a moment to visit Chiyoda Ward.