It was a busy day as usual at Shinjuku.

At the Shakuzawa Building to be exact.

It is said to house a very young fortune-teller whose divinations are as accurate to the point that people believe he has the power of foresight. There was once that a medical practitioner went to him to have his predictions told.

Though the building became notoriously famous for a number of reasons, a lot of people still flock into this building to see the fortune-teller himself

Within the confines of the fortune-telling room is a boy named Polka Shinoyama, dressing himself in a typical fortune-teller fashion, his hood concealing half of his face not only to look like the part, but also to hide his Evil Eye that he uses in fortune-telling. Though most fortune-tellers use hot and cold readings to give out fortunes, Polka utilizes both readings and his Evil Eye ability to make himself more authentic.

Polka begins to sit himself in front of a small round table with a crystal ball, a paper, and a spider-designed mechanical pencil in place.

It's not just a normal mechanical pencil. In fact, it resides the soul of Inspector Miyabi Hosorogi, an Internal Affairs officer who was murdered in the basement of the same building they are right now five years ago. He was transferred into the said pencil by Polka a few weeks ago and is also the one who suggested the boy to turn into fortune-telling.

It was 8:30 in the morning, about an hour and a half since they opened store. A number of people are still lined up outside.

"Guess a fair number of customers is enough to start our day" Polka muttered to himself as he glanced through the apartment window as he takes a short break.

"Well, that's already a given after a number of things happened here" his friend and hacker, Takuya Kurumi, answered as he caught into his ramblings.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again" the boy nodded in shame as he apologized

A few weeks ago, in the dark of night, he was caught up in a three-way altercation between troublemakers Phantom Solitaire (Tena Sorimura) and Lemmings, as well as his fellow resident and butler-in-training Xiaoyu Lei. As a result, he used his powers to break them up, inadvertently causing nearby onlookers to panic and record what was happening. The raw video gained popularity online, becoming what was known as "The Invisible Hands Incident" and attracted a handful of law-enforcing agency officers on site.

Polka finished his break and returned to the room.

"Your next customer is here" his coworker, Misaki Sakimiya, reminded her as he prepares himself.

The door opens and the customer enters.

However…

Behind the fortune telling room, Takumi notices something odd, but very familiar. The eyeball-like creature linking to Polka begins to shudder in fear.

"What's happening? Wait is it-"

Sitting at the couch reading encyclopedias, Civil A. Sabaramond also felt the strange presence.

"Something's off" he muttered

In the basement of the building, Lulu felt a strong chill in her spine

"Something bad is in the building!!"

"So you felt it too?" Soara Habaki asks to confirm her suspicions

"The great elemental just warned me. It's heading to Civil-sama"

"This is bad, like real bad! I've got to go to Lady Sayo" warned Xiaoyu, receiving the same chill he felt during their sparring session with Soara.

The two thunder-blessed fighters hurriedly headed upstairs as Lulu covered herself under the table.

At the fortune-telling room, both Polka and Hosorogi felt a strong chill.

What is this presence? Hosorogi thought

It almost felt like last time I met with Sabaramond-san, but then it's not. Polka thought the same

A young middle school girl in her third year, dressed in a thick purple coat and holding a pink elephant plushie, enters the room and sits in front of the table, facing Polka.

"Greetings. My name is Yayoi Hozuki. Nice to meet you, Mr. Fortune Teller" she introduced herself.

30 minutes earlier…

In a nearby hotel...

Keitaro Gentouga lays exasperated on the table

It has been an hour worth travelling from Kyoto to Shinjuku after a lengthy battle with the Taisui Xingjun god possessing Ai Kamiyo

"What a night" Keitaro weakly addressed everyone as he sighed

"To be honest, I'm really too tired to drive, it's been a four and a half hour trip to Shinjuku" Yayoi's cousin, Eiko, agreed to Keitaro's complains

"Luckily we found a cheap spot for us to rest"

"¥1,400 isn't cheap for this kind of hotel! One more thing, where did you get your check-in money from?"

"My savings account. After all, we do really need to plan our expenses in our trip to Kyoto"

"THAT'S BECAUSE I THOUGHT OUR BUDGET IS LIMITED TO KYOTO ONLY! Travelling to Shinjuku is not part of the plan."

"Not to worry Keitaro. We will only be here for three days or less. Consider this as a victory vacation."

"I hope so"

Considering how he knew Yayoi well, Keitaro had a bad feeling about this.

The trio had to double-check the graduates if they are properly sealed, especially with the High Priest, before they checked in into the hotel. Once they reached inside the room, all of them had to lay down on a bed.

"While we're at Shinjuku, why not we go and travel around?" Eiko suggested

"Perhaps you have a point, but we need to rest first." Keitaro retorted back

The three of them closed their eyes as they slowly drifted to sleep without event thinking to change their clothes…

Yayoi found herself lost in a lush forest. She sees smoke coming out from afar and decides to follow the trail. Following the trail, she reaches a cliff overlooking the source of the smoke: an empire in the state of crumbling. She can hear the sounds of people wailing as they slowly engulfed in flames. She turns her back from this unsightly scene, only to witness a robed figure carrying a corpse with white hair as they approach the cliff. 

Yayoi quickly concealed herself in a bush as she witnesses the figure gently laying down the corpse. A few seconds later, a magical circle appeared right where the corpse laid. A soul then appears above the corpse, saying words that are unintelligible to her.

"What the hell are they talking about?" 

All of a sudden, the entire world crumbles. Yayoi wasn't able to make it in time. Then she hears the sound of Keitaro calling out her name.

"Yayoi-chan, Yayoi-chan" 

Yayoi slowly awaken to Keitaro repeatedly pushing her as to wake her up.

"What time is it?"

"It's been 20 minutes since we fell asleep, we need to tidy ourselves."

At the breakfast table. Yayoi was gazing off the window, feeling empty

"Yayoi-chan, what's wrong?" Eiko worriedly asks.

"I've got this weird dream"

Yayoi then explained to them what she dreamt about. Both Eiko and Keitaro were dumbfounded.

"Hold on Yayoi, you're telling me that you were dreaming of witnessing a kingdom in ruins?"

"Exactly"

"And then you saw a skeleton doing something to a corpse?"

"A handsome one, to be exact"

"Well, I can't be in a position to say 'I don't believe you' though" Eiko thought, having witnessed first-hand sorcerous phenomena during their trip to Kyoto.

It was during that time when they went to retrieve the graduate positioned at Kubizuka Daimyoujin Shrine. They were being pursued by two malevolent shikigamis under Taisui Xingjun when Eiko noticed Keitaro acting strangely, such as giving her the ability to see ghosts and defeating those shikigamis by unsealing Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi. Turns out that Keitaro was possessed by the spirit of Abe no Seimei, who accompanied them to retrieve The Condemned Sinner of Restrained Rampage.

All of a sudden, an idea flashed through Eiko's mind

"Say, why don't we visit a fortune-teller nearby?"

"Eh?"

"Spill me the details"

Eiko hands them her phone and points at a website she suggested

"There's a fortune-teller setting up shop in this building a few blocks from here. A lot of people lined up to have their predictions told, and judging from the reviews I don't think that fortune teller's a sham."

Keitaro scrolled through the reviews, looking for authenticity, He found a couple of great reviews from a medical examiner who now became a regular customer at the shop.

"Well, we did plan to look around Shinjuku for a few days. Let's make this our first stop." Keitaro agreed to the idea.

With no time to waste, Yayoi and the rest tidied themselves up and left the hotel. Bringing with them is the Self-Slitted Maiden of a Thousand Souls.

She is an S-Ranked Graduate that Yayoi and Keitaro found at the H Castle ruins. After curing her of a curse that corrupted her for a long time, she mutually agreed to become their ally along the way.

During their drive, Keitaro found something about the building that worried him.

"Eiko, are you sure it's okay to visit that building?"

"What are you talking about?"

Keitaro then showed them two videos related to the building. In the first video, an unknown figure is seen gently carrying a couple of unconscious orphans out of the burning building and into the ground. The second figure shows something else that made both of them worried about where they're going:

A flock of flailing hands above the building rooftops, as if to grab something else

Chills crept into Eiko.

"Well, as long as living people are flocking there, it's safe to assume that everything is normal"

"I hope so"

"Guys, I hate to say this to you all, but we must not let our guard down" Yayoi cut their conversation off as they reached the building

From a distance, it's already certain for the trio that something feels off about the building. Despite the number of people present, they feel a strong aura within that is similar to what they felt at Route I.

The aura of a spirit greater than an S-Rank Graduate.

Just as I thought, coming into Shinjuku is a bad idea Keitaro thought, having remembered what he had said to Yayoi earlier.

The three of them entered the building into the second floor. From the waiting area, a receptionist dressed in exotic clothing handed them cards.

"Please write your name and purpose of fortune here" she said

"Oh just give us one. It's for my friend actually"

"Is that so? Well isn't she adorable?" she replied, turning her attention to Yayoi

"I may be young, but I can still knock the teeth off of you"

YAYOI!!! MIND YOUR MANNERS

"Oh how strong she is" the receptionist answered eccentrically

She then shifted her attention to the plushie doll. At that moment, the Maiden felt an ominous aura on her as she prepares to summon a bunrei and cut her throat

Don't. There are people in here. Yayoi conveyed through her as she squeezes the doll

She's not human. The Maiden conveyed back

I know, but we can't afford to attract attention right here. Keep an eye out of things for now

Understood. The Maiden reluctantly replied

Yayoi handed Eiko her sash.

"Eiko, summon her where no one can see you, then come back to Keitaro once you're done"

"Understood"

Eiko hurriedly went out the building and into an alley as instructed by Yayoi

Present time…

It was Yayoi's turn to meet the fortune teller. The receptionist called out her name, prompting her to stand up and step inside.

"Greetings. My name is Yayoi Hozuki. Nice to meet you, Mr. Fortune Teller" she introduced herself.

Simultaneously…

Here goes nothing

"Sever"

Eiko threw the sash in the air as it unwinds itself. A girl in a white Kosode came out floating in a slumped position. As the sash slowly descends around her, her true form emerges: just a head with jet black eyes.

The area above the building is slowly enveloped in an unseen dome, completely marked with a coffin containing a headless corpse in a pure white Kosode.

"Self-Slitted Maiden of a Thousand Souls"

I'll take it from here. You have to go back to the kid

Eiko agreed before returning back to the building

Remembering Yayoi's advice, the maiden had the area under watch as she concealed herself.

Back at the room…

There are two different auras… I can assume Eiko had successfully brought the Maiden out, but the other one, it's different than any other graduates we have faced the whole time

Yayoi felt the very same chill that Polka felt earlier. She had sensed a very strong presence in front of the fortune teller

The same can be said for Polka

This spiritual energy… It's very much stronger than the elementalist accompanying Civil. If that's the case, could this girl be…a visitor from another world?

Judging from the spiritual pressure itself, this guy is not just the real deal, he is not human. Could this fortune teller here be… one of the replaced?

It was at this very moment that both Polka and Yayoi set their suspicions on one another as they come face-to-face for the first time.