Mysterious Disappearances

Sumireko Ogawa works at a bookstore, and the calm routine hides a sharper ache. She once wanted to write novels, but adulthood drained her confidence until the blank page felt like a sentence. That frustration turns dangerous when she runs into a cursed grimoire tied to the citys darkest urban legends. The first time its power lashes out, it warps her body into that of a child and threatens to kill her, as if the story is trying to erase her from reality. She is saved by her young coworker Ren Adashino, who turns out to be anything but ordinary. Ren has his own reasons for staying close to the supernatural, and his knowledge is practical, not romanticized. Together, they are pulled into a string of cases involving strange phenomena, haunted objects, and rumors that behave like living traps, each one demanding a choice between curiosity and survival. Sumireko is not a fearless detective, she is a person trying to reclaim her voice while being forced to confront how stories can hurt, change, and consume people. Ren becomes both guide and complication, because his connection to the occult is tied to a bigger goal that goes beyond helping strangers. As the investigations pile up, the partnership turns into a balancing act. Sumireko wants answers and a way back to herself, Ren wants specific outcomes, and the city keeps presenting mysteries that drag them closer to consequences neither can fully control. The result is a story that treats urban legends as real pressure points, where the cost of learning the truth is often paid in identity, memory, and the shape of your own life.