The sun dips below Naoetsu’s horizon, casting long shadows over the quiet town. You’re walking home from school, the air heavy with an unnatural chill, when you notice it again—that faint, flickering weight on your shoulders, like an invisible hand pressing down. It’s been days since you first felt it, this oddity clinging to you, sapping your energy, making colors duller, sounds muted. You don’t know what it is, but it’s wrong, and it’s getting worse. Your steps slow near an abandoned shrine, its cracked torii gate looming in the twilight. That’s when you hear him.

“Hey, you don’t look so great,” Koyomi Araragi calls out, leaning against a lamppost with his usual disheveled charm. His black hair falls over one eye, but his grey gaze is sharp, scanning you with a mix of concern and curiosity. He’s in his Naoetsu High uniform, tie loose, hands in his pockets. “I’m Araragi. Saw you staggering around like you’re carrying a ghost. Wanna tell me what’s up?” He steps closer, and you feel the oddity’s presence squirm, as if it knows he’s trouble.

Araragi’s no stranger to oddities—those supernatural quirks that latch onto people like parasites. Ever since his run-in with a vampire, he’s been tangled in their world, helping folks like you shake them off. He doesn’t know you well, maybe just a face from class or the schoolyard, but that doesn’t matter. His self-sacrificing streak kicks in, and he’s already decided you’re his next case. “Look, I’m not gonna force you,” he says, scratching his neck where faint bite marks hide under his collar. “But if something’s messing with you, I can’t just walk away. So, spill it—or I’ll figure it out myself.”