An Unidentified Ghost and the Next-World Task Force – Part 04

“Yikes.”

Hikaru had thought that was overkill, but the sight of the mangled road sign in front of him made him reconsider.

Road signs were usually slim white posts standing upright. This one, however, was slashed all over, its paint peeled back along the cuts, and bent sharply. The No Stopping or Parking panel had fallen to the ground.

Traffic cones had been set up, and yellow caution tape marked the area off. It was a quiet neighborhood, but this spot alone gave off an odd atmosphere.

“I don’t sense any mana.” Hikaru scanned the surroundings, but there was no trace of magical energy within a hundred-meter radius. “Lavia, if it were a ghost, there should be some magical residue, right?”

“Yeah, there should.”

“Then does that mean it wasn’t a ghost, just a person?”

He went over the witness report again. A woman walking home late at night had seen a white figure here. That