Supernatural Hunter in the Modern Era

Interesting visitor

The next day Niel woke up at four in the morning and started preparing for the shop opening. He cleaned the shop checked the cash register, and double-checked the inventory. His father sold many things here from local items to foreign ones, you could find some paper talismans here that were written by some Shinto priest, to holy water that supposedly came from the Vatican itself. 

After checking everything and knowing everything was in place, Niel went to the altar he set up in the house to honor his parents. At first, he wasn't sure if he should've buried his parents or not, since his mother was a Catholic and his father was not, and there was also the added shock of it all. It took him a bit more time to come to a decision, but in the end, Niel decided to have them cremated and there were now on the altar. Niel looked at the Urns where his parents' ashes were in. 

"Hey... Heh, I still can't believe you two are gone. I always imagine every time when I wake up in the morning that you two would be there to greet me. Even now I think I could still smell mom's cooking, and then I'll hear dad's lame stories... Yet here I am all alone, without mom's cooking and instead eating cup ramen for breakfast. Without dad's lame stories, and instead the eerie silence..." 

Niel sat down in front of the altar cross-legged. He then took out a bottle of sake which his father hid in the closet in the master bedroom. When Niel found it, there was a letter was attached and it was addressed to him. The Sake was for him it was to congratulate Niel on graduating from Uni. 

"Old man, who knew that you were keeping something like this. Already planning for my graduation, huh. Well, unfortunately, because of some people not telling me that they had a massive debt I don't think I'll be able to graduate in this lifetime," Niel shrugged his shoulders as he chuckled. 

"Anyway, since you guys are gone and I won't be graduating, so how about we open this up to celebrate me reopening the store instead." 

Niel took out three shot glasses and filled them each with Sake. He then placed the two in front of the urns and raised his own shot glass. 

"To reopening the store." Niel drank the Sake in one gulp.

"This is really good stuff, you really did know your stuff, old man."

As he spoke, Niel felt like he could see his dad sitting in front of him, raising his own glass. He could also see his mom pouring another for his dad. Witnessing that scene made Niel smile a bit as he also poured more sake for himself and drank it. Niel looked at the time it was already six in the morning. Niel took another sip of Sake and stood up. 

"Alright then, let's try to do my best today." 

"You can do it son." 

Niel who was about to leave suddenly heard a familiar voice, he immediately turned around but there was no one there. Niel stared at the altar for a few seconds and smiled. 

...

On a Friday morning, the closed shop named The Yokai's Bane finally reopened its doors. Some old customers came by to have a reading, but then when they learned that Niel's mother was dead they simply gave their condolences and left. 

A few other customers came in the morning they too gave their condolences and bought a few trinkets and left. Once it was lunchtime Niel finally understood that what was truly making money in this store was his mother's fortune-telling. 

'Still, even if my mom has clients coming all the time 24/7 she wouldn't be able to earn too much. Now that I have time to think about it, even if we sold all the trinkets in this shop we shouldn't be able to earn so much money. So how did my mom and dad get to pay off a good chunk of the debt? There must be something that I don't know of.' 

Niel who had no customers coming in afterward started to do some thinking. He made a few theories as to how his parents were getting the money none of which were legal. 

'Well they were dealing with the Yakuza so maybe they really were doing something illegal, but what?' 

While Niel was thinking of various things his parents could've done he suddenly heard the bell of the shop door. 

A girl wearing the school uniform of the nearby private school entered the shop. The girl was beautiful, she had long black hair, deep dark eyes, with a slim and attractive body to match. She entered the shop and started looking around curiously. 

"How can I help you?" 

The girl was surprised by the sudden voice speaking she almost stumbled backward. The girl finally noticed Niel who was standing behind her. 

"Um hello, I'm looking for Kamizaki-san is he here?" 

"I'm Kamizaki Niel, do you need something from me?" 

"Niel-san? Um, no, I actually need someone named Kamizaki Shun-san." 

"Kamizaki Shun is my old man, why do you need to see him?" 

"Is he here, please tell him that this is important." 

"I'm sorry to tell you this but my old man, he's no longer with us." 

There was a brief pause after hearing the news of Kamizaki Shun's death. It took her by surprise but after a while, the student spoke. 

"... I'm sorry to hear that... So are you the one running this store now?" 

"You could say that, so why did you want to meet my old man?" 

"I wanted to meet Shun-san because I heard that he would be able to help me... I don't know who else to talk to, so can you please help me?"

As she spoke the student suddenly became frantic which startled Niel, and as he was about to answer he then heard the robotic sound of the System with the screen popping up in front of him. 

[Side Quest: Rescue the Damsel in Distress]

[Rewards: Will depend on how the Host completes the quest.]

When Niel saw the screen he could not help but look at the school girl differently. The only reason the System would even give such a side quest would be because of something supernatural. This Side Quest could also help him finish the Main Quest.

"Alright, you need to calm down first, I'll listen to your story." 

...

After closing up the shop, Niel brought the lady to the living room upstairs. The school girl was obviously wary of Niel and hesitated to follow but in the end, did so. The school girl sat down nervously while Niel got some water. 

"We haven't been properly introduced, as you know I'm Kamizaki Niel, and you are?" 

"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Ishida Manami, a third-year in Tsumuji Private High School." 

"It's nice to meet you Manami-san. So you were looking for my old man, what kind of help did you need from him?" 

"Um... I heard from some people that this place, the Yokai's Bane deals with everything supernatural and they can help me deal with my problem."

"And what is this problem?" 

"I think I'm being haunted by something." 

"Haunted so like a ghost a demon or something supernatural." 

"Yes, I think so, but I'm not really sure and I don't know who else to go to. My parents think I'm seeing things because of the stress of entrance exams. My friends think I'm joking around. So I tried talking to some people on the internet who think they know more about ghosts and other things like that, but unfortunately, most of them turn out to be fakers. When I was trying my hardest to look for help, it was then that I heard a rumor of a shop here in Shibuya that deals with all manner of supernatural things... Um, I know that you ask for a lot of money for these kinds of jobs, and I don't think I can pay you that much but this is all I have saved up."

Manami took out a stack of cash and tried to give it to Niel who did not take it and simply stared at it. Hearing what Manami said Niel now had a pretty good guess as to how his parents were able to get so much money in so little time. 

"I-is this not enough? If you give me a bit more time, I can give you more, so please help me." 

"No, it's not that... I..." Niel looked at the desperate face Manami was showing and sighed. 

"Can you tell me what kind of things are happening to you specifically?" 

"So are you going to help me?" 

"I'm not my old man, I didn't even know he did these kinds of things, and to tell you the truth I'm new to all of this. All I could truly promise is that I will do my best."