Rain Woman

"Is it raining?"

"Good thing Mom stuffed an umbrella into my backpack when I left this morning."

A light drizzle fell from the sky. Students leaving school gathered beneath the teaching building, some pulling out umbrellas while others stood empty-handed.

"Hah, it's only a little rain. I'll just walk home and treat it like a shower—"

"Give it up. You think anyone's going to invite you to share?"

"Damn it, aren't you the same?"

The boys without umbrellas gathered together, chatting as they waited for the rain to stop while glancing to the side.

Whenever another student was invited by someone of the opposite sex to leave under a shared umbrella, they immediately responded with whistles and jeers.

It was raining?

Akihi Yu looked up at the sky and reached into his backpack.

He had been busy killing someone and burying a body yesterday. When had he had time to check the weather forecast?

Still, using the 'Transformation Technique' to make an umbrella on the spot was hardly difficult.

".Akihi, want to share?"

Beside him, the Class Monitor, Ai Nao, had opened her umbrella. After struggling with her expression for a moment, she turned to Akihi Yu and spoke.

"I can walk you to Imperial Sakura School."

"Then."

Akihi Yu withdrew his hand from his backpack and nodded.

"I'll trouble you, then."

"Ahhhh!"

"Damn it, the Class Monitor really—"

As the two stepped into the rain, a string of anguished cries came from behind them.

As their class's Class Monitor, Ai Nao excelled in both academics and character, treated others sincerely, and had an incredible figure. She was the dream goddess of countless boys.

She had often looked after that 'pretty boy' before, but they could explain that away by saying he was being bullied. Now they were sharing an umbrella. That was practically an open declaration that he was her true love. How could they not be jealous?

"A bunch of brats."

Akihi Yu rolled his eyes at the louder jeers behind him.

Tap, tap, tap.

"Wait~~ Take me with you!"

Amid hurried footsteps, a petite figure holding a backpack over her head darted beneath the umbrella.

"Amame?"

"Hehe~~"

The newcomer was Amame Ei, who often walked with Akihi Yu. Her shoulders were already wet, and she grinned at Ai Nao.

"Nao-chan, you don't mind, right?"

".Ah. No."

The Class Monitor blushed. Her umbrella was fairly large, but with three people squeezed beneath it, they were bound to brush against one another.

"Great! I checked the weather forecast yesterday, but I forgot to bring my umbrella~~"

The naturally friendly Amame Ei linked arms with Ai Nao's other arm and 'squeezed' her toward Akihi Yu.

"You know each other?"

While discreetly using the 'Transformation Technique' to enlarge the umbrella, Akihi Yu spoke.

"Of course."

"Nao-chan is first in the grade. Who wouldn't know her?"

Amame Ei answered as if it were obvious. The now-calm Class Monitor shook her head slightly.

"Compared to Amame, who supports herself, my grades are nothing special."

"Oh?"

"Amame, tell us more."

"It's nothing much. I just work at my grandfather's Shrine."

As the three left together beneath the umbrella, a Crow perched atop the teaching building spread its wings and flew into the rain. The raindrops seemed to strike an invisible barrier around it, sliding down one after another.

Though he was enjoying school life, Akihi Yu had not been idle.

He was multitasking, training a ninja technique: Paper Clone.

That was right. Konan's technique in World of Fire was only D-rank in difficulty!

Like the 'Four-Legged Technique' he had given Tanimura Wataru, it was essentially an extension of the 'Transformation Technique.' Konan's 'Paper Clone' was likewise merely an extension of the 'Clone Technique.'

In contrast, more common techniques such as Water Clone were all C-rank ninja techniques.

The Crow spread its wings and soared, its gaze sweeping across the ground below.

It searched for a target to practice ninja techniques on.

Bunkyo Ward.

Tokyo Metropolitan Koishikawa Secondary Education School.

Known for culture and education among Tokyo's twenty-three wards, Bunkyo Ward had fifteen universities, seventeen high schools, and thirty-one middle schools. The famous 'Todai' was located here. Whether in anime or movies, whenever someone wanted to establish an elite identity, they usually began with, 'Graduated from Todai.'

Unlike Adachi Ward, where most students drifted through life, the students here were almost all elites among elites.

—Of course, that only referred to intelligence.

"That student...?"

"Ah, that's Kishida Jun from Class 3-A."

A female student who had taken out her umbrella noticed a boy standing quietly in a corner beneath the eaves and could not help asking her companion about him.

The male student had delicate features and looked every bit the model good student, but his expression overflowed with sorrow.

"Don't disturb him. He's probably mourning a friend, isn't he?"

No matter how strangely the other students looked at him, the boy standing quietly beneath the eaves remained motionless.

Soon, all the other students had left. Only he still stood there.

It was raining again, Miyashita.

The boy raised his head.

Watching the fine rain streak through the sky, he felt as though he had returned to half a year ago.

"Oh no, I forgot my umbrella!"

Being good at studying did not mean one was perfect in every other respect.

As the boy named 'Kishida Jun' walked out of the teaching building and looked up at the falling rain, he could not help feeling annoyed.

At that moment, a girl with a ponytail opened an umbrella printed with little bears, and Kishida Jun's gaze could not help drifting toward her.

It was Miyashita.

"What is it, Kishida?"

Noticing his gaze, the ponytailed girl turned around.

"N-Nothing."

The temperature of Kishida Jun's cheeks abruptly rose, and he shook his head in panic.

However, the ponytailed girl, Miyashita Ryoko, had already noticed his embarrassment at having empty hands and no umbrella.

".Do you want to share?"

After hesitating, the girl raised the umbrella in her hand, her cheeks flushed crimson.

"Huh?"

Just as Kishida Jun froze, meaningful voices sounded behind him.

"Oh?"

"Ooh~~~"

As an elite middle school, the students here naturally did not whistle or jeer.

But when they encountered something like this, their youthful natures still made them chuckle.

Yet to Kishida Jun, those sounds were like thunder!

"N-No, I'm fine."

In the end, the boy turned his head aside and rejected her.

"I see."

She lowered her head, and the umbrella hid her face.

"I guess I was being nosy. Sorry."

With that, the shy girl turned and ran into the curtain of rain. Only Kishida Jun, who instinctively lifted his hand, remained, along with the regretful and mocking voices behind him.

"She got rejected. How embarrassing."

"How pitiful."

The girl walked faster and faster, eventually breaking into a jog.

Rain splashed over her, blurring her vision, and she failed to see the flashing traffic light.

She ran straight out of the school, and then—

A truck sped past.

Splash.

The sound of something heavy falling into water snapped Kishida Jun back to his senses.

An umbrella printed with little bears had appeared before him at some point. The girls' school uniform beneath it belonged to their school.

"Hey."

"Do you want to share an umbrella?"

A familiar voice rang out, making Kishida Jun's entire body tremble.

That voice, that voice?! No, impossible. Miyashita had already—

Kishida Jun looked down. Beneath the umbrella was a pair of slender hands streaked with blood; lower still was a skirt hem soaked with water; and... those shoes that had once lain scattered in a pool of blood.

"Ah..."

His breathing grew ragged, and his entire body stiffened. For a moment, Kishida Jun could not tell whether he was in reality or dreaming.

"Do you want to share an umbrella?"

When she asked for the second time, Kishida Jun finally reacted.

"Miyashita!"

"I want to apologize to you."

Facing the figure that had haunted his thoughts for half a year, Kishida Jun finally gathered his courage!

"I've always liked you, but I could never act on it."

"When you asked me to share an umbrella that day, I was actually very happy."

Whether what stood before him was real or an illusion, the boy had to say these words, words half a year too late.

"But I didn't have the courage to step under your umbrella. It was all because of... my stupid pride."

"I... killed you!"

His hands pressed against his trouser legs as Kishida Jun bent deeply toward her at a ninety-degree angle.

"I'm sorry—"

"Do you want to share an umbrella?"

Yet the only answer he received was still that same question.

At the same time, because he had bowed his head, Kishida Jun saw half of the face beneath the umbrella.

It was a face from which blood mixed with rainwater dripped continuously!

As an outstanding student, Kishida Jun also knew many urban legends. Though he had once dismissed them with scorn, now—

It was the Rain Woman!

The Rain Woman was a very famous Demon in Island Nation legends.

A woman stood in the rain. If a man smiled at her and invited her to share an umbrella, she would follow him forever. From then on, the man would live in a damp environment. Since ordinary people found it difficult to withstand such heavy moisture, they would soon die.

"Do you want to share an umbrella?"

Miyashita.

Would you keep repeating the same thing like this forever?

The question sounded beside his ears again. Maintaining his bowed posture, Kishida Jun tremblingly extended his right hand forward, just like in a traditional confession.

"Please let me—"

"Share an umbrella with you."

In the end, Kishida Jun's hand clasped her slender five fingers, which were covered in blood.

If it could let Miyashita rest in peace, even if he died—

"I don't forgive you."

?

The voice before him made Kishida Jun raise his head.

The umbrella was lifted backward, revealing the person beneath it in full.

It was still that familiar face, still that neat single ponytail, except blood mixed with tears slid continuously down the girl's cheeks.

"I don't forgive you."

Kishida Jun, who had already prepared to share an umbrella with her, was rejected instead!

"I will never forgive you, Jun."

The next second.

The girl vanished into thin air.

Only an umbrella remained in Kishida Jun's hand.

"Miyashita..."

"Ryoko."

The boy stood alone beneath the eaves of the school building, holding an umbrella as tears slid down his face and his whole body trembled.

". . . I'm sorry."

Not bad.

On a nearby branch, Crow, who was preening his feathers, showed a hint of admiration in his eyes.

An ordinary person with no spiritual power had consumed a Hell Viewing Technique and actually managed to break free on his own.

It had to be said that this boy possessed formidable mental strength. And the illusion just now had given him a slight fondness for the boy.

Akihi Yu had originally only been controlling this Paper Clone to practice ninjutsu. Now that he had encountered such promising "talent," he naturally had to make use of him.

"My, my, this breaks the rules."

?!

A frivolous voice rang out nearby, making the grief-stricken Kishida Jun instinctively turn toward it.

It was a man dressed in a plain white hunting robe and plain white finger guards. Beneath his tall white hat flowed a head of white hair. His complexion was as white as snow, while his features carried an unusual softness. Though he was dressed entirely in snow white, his pupils were crimson like blood.

The cuffs of his sleeves and the hems of his trousers bore flame-like patterns. At first glance, they also resembled traces left by blood staining the fabric.

"A Rain Woman tasked with reaping souls actually gave her own vessel to someone else."

The man in white robes and a white crown gently shook his head, wearing an expression of utter moral decline.

A vessel?

Kishida Jun glanced at the umbrella in his hand and forced himself to calm down.

"Who are you, sir?"

"You may call me White Ghost Messenger."

The man hovering beside Kishida Jun without his feet touching the ground answered.

"Kishida Jun, you should have died. You should have died at the hands of Rain Woman Miyashita Ryoko. But—"

He did not need the other man to say it. Kishida Jun already understood that Ryoko had spared him!

"Ryoko... what will happen to her?"

"What will happen?"

The being calling himself White Ghost Messenger gave a derisive laugh.

"A Rain Woman who violates the rules will naturally meet a most miserable end—"

"Let me take her place!"

Taking a large step forward, Kishida Jun clenched the umbrella in one hand and pressed the other against his chest.

"Please use my soul in Ryoko's place! A mountain of blades, a sea of fire, a pool of blood, a cauldron of boiling oil... I have no complaints. I'm begging you!"

"That won't do. Everything we in the Underworld do must follow the rules."

White Ghost Messenger shook a finger, refusing Kishida Jun.

"However,"

"If you help me with something, I can consider making an exception. Perhaps even..."

The elegant White Ghost Messenger spoke with a smile. Yet in Kishida Jun's eyes, he was an absolute Devil!

"Reviving Miyashita Ryoko may not be impossible."

Devil!

But did he have the right to refuse?

"Fine."