Only a Max-Level Main Character Could Understand: The Nostalgic Version and the Provocation

That afternoon at Sakashita Store, the air was thick with the stale smell of oden and cheap tobacco.

Sunlight lazily spilled over the magazine rack by the entrance, and dust motes danced in its rays. Ukai Keishin sat behind the register, holding an ancient weekly manga and humming some old Showa song. He was so off-key that even the original singer would probably have called the police.

He flipped a page, bored out of his mind, and his eyelids began to droop. In a little country store like this, the only busy time was after school, when a horde of starving high schoolers descended on it. The rest of the time, it was quiet enough to feel like a retirement home.

He had the distinct feeling that something was watching him from behind.

Ukai Keishin scratched his slightly bleached, straw-colored hair and glanced over his shoulder.

The sight nearly scared him out of his wits.

A face was pressed against the glass of the store's front door.

It really was pressed against it. The glass squashed the features out of shape, while the lenses of a pair of glasses reflected an eerie white glare. The eyes stared straight into the store, like those of a vengeful spirit from a horror movie, unable to pass on and glaring at the world of the living.

"WAAAH—!!"

Ukai let out a shriek, and the manga flew from his hand, smacking into the cigarette rack beside him.

"What the hell is this?!"

Furious, he rushed out from behind the counter and yanked open the door.

The "vengeful spirit" stumbled, adjusted his glasses, and straightened up, revealing his signature green tracksuit.

"I-I'm sorry!" Takeda Ittetsu hurriedly bowed, his movements stiff as a schoolboy caught doing something wrong. "I just... wanted to see if there were