“Rinri-kun!
Is he not here?”
After school, Utaha Kasumigaoka went looking for Tomoya Aki as usual.
She glanced around the classroom, but instead of Tomoya, she found Eriri Spencer Sawamura standing there.
“I didn’t expect to see you here…” Utaha said as she approached.
“Are you looking for him too?”
“N-No, I’m not!”
Eriri immediately went on the defensive, caught off guard by the question.
“Who said I was looking for that idiot?
And why would I tell you anyway?”
Utaha clicked her tongue.
She had never considered Tomoya’s childhood friend a serious rival.
Eriri was far too easy to read.
With that textbook tsundere attitude, she practically had “losing blonde” written all over her.
Utaha was about to tease her further when she spotted Tomoya walking toward them.
“Rinri-kun.”
Tomoya looked as if he hadn’t slept at all.
His face was pale, his steps were slow, and he seemed to be dragging himself forward through sheer force of habit.
“S-Senpai?
Oh…
it’s you.
And Eriri.” When he saw the two girls, he gave them a distracted response, his eyes unfocused.
“Rinri-kun, don’t tell me you stayed up all night watching anime again,” Utaha said, studying him with suspicion.
This would hardly have been the first time.
“Y-Yeah, something like that.” Tomoya avoided giving a clear answer and forced out a hollow laugh.
“Anyway, I have something to do, so…”
Normally, he would have stayed and talked.
Today, he clearly wanted to get away as quickly as possible.
Just as he moved to leave, a black VHS tape slipped out of his bag and clattered onto the floor.
“What’s this?” Curious, Utaha crouched down and picked it up.
“DON’T!”
The instant Tomoya realized what had fallen, his eyes widened in panic.
He reached out to stop her, but Utaha had already taken the tape into her hands.
For some reason, he swallowed the rest of his warning and fell silent.
“A VHS tape?
Is it a movie?”
“I guess you could call it that…” Tomoya’s eyes darted away from her.
“Listen, Senpai, Eriri, I really have to go.
I have somewhere I need to be.”
His knuckles turned white around the strap of his bag.
Without another word, he spun around and sprinted down the hallway.
“…” Utaha watched him leave, frowning.
Everything about his reaction felt strange.
Before she could think it through, Eriri lunged forward and snatched the tape from her hand.
“If this movie was enough to keep that idiot up all night, then I want to see what the big deal is.” As far as Eriri was concerned, this tape had to be the reason Tomoya looked so exhausted.
“Eriri…
If you were that curious, why didn’t you ask him while he was still here?
Were you scared?” Utaha gave her a sharp look.
“T-That’s none of your business, YOU OVERGROWN COW!” Eriri glanced at Utaha’s figure, then down at her own chest, her expression tightening with frustration.
“I just want to see what kind of movie it is.
That’s all.”
“Then I’m watching it too.
Let’s go.”
“Hah?
Why would I watch it with you??”
Later that evening, Eriri stood in her entryway and stared at Utaha, who had followed her home as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“I never said you could come over!!”
“Does it really matter?” Utaha replied, utterly unbothered.
“If it turns out to be a horror movie, at least you won’t be scared with me here.”
Eriri had no good way to argue against that, so she clicked her tongue, unlocked the front door, and let her inside.
“Are your parents not home?” Utaha asked after stepping in.
“They have plans tonight.”
“I see.”
Utaha nodded and left the subject alone.
Eriri was the daughter of a British diplomat, so her family was wealthy.
A VCR was an outdated device by modern standards, but her house still had the kind of expensive entertainment setup that could play old tapes without issue.
“It’s starting.”
Once the tape began playing, both girls fell silent.
“This feels creepy already,” Utaha said after a moment.
“Is it actually a horror movie?”
They had barely watched anything, yet the strange atmosphere in the footage had already settled over the room.
Utaha had not expected her casual guess to be right.
At first, the video seemed fairly normal.
Then the screen abruptly cut to static.
Bzzzt.
“Did the tape jam?” Eriri tilted her head in confusion.
“Don’t tell me your VCR is broken,” Utaha teased.
“OF COURSE NOT.”
The moment Eriri snapped back, the video flickered to life again.
This time, the image on the screen showed a solitary stone well.
A second later, a hand reached out from inside it.
Then came a head covered in long, stringy black hair, followed by a body draped in a stark white dress.
The sight of the figure crawling out of the well made both girls shiver—
Sadako.
In Japan, stories like this were common enough that neither of them needed an explanation.
The figure on the screen looked exactly like the Sadako from the old urban legend.
“Seven days.” A cold, raspy voice seeped from the television speakers.
The next second, the screen went completely black.
The living room fell into dead silence.
Neither Utaha nor Eriri spoke.
After what felt like ages, Eriri finally broke the silence.
“I-It’s…
probably just a horror movie, right?”
“Y-Yeah.
Urban legends are just fake stories.” Utaha forced a dry laugh and nodded along.
It was the middle of summer, but both girls felt a cold draft crawl across the backs of their necks.
“Just as I thought.
The spiritual energy revival has only just begun, so there aren’t many evil spirits around yet.”
The next day, Ren arrived at school and ignored everyone as usual, heading straight to his desk.
He felt a little frustrated.
He had searched the area for hours the night before but found no trace of an evil spirit.
“Whatever.
The longer this spiritual revival continues, the more of them will appear.”
Pushing the thought aside, Ren glanced out the window and caught sight of Utaha Kasumigaoka and Eriri Spencer Sawamura walking down the hallway.
“The blood omen has fully formed.”
Yesterday, the dark energy above Utaha’s forehead had only carried a faint red tint.
Today, the aura had deepened into a solid crimson.
It was a clear sign that someone had been marked for death.
“And the girl beside her should be Eriri Spencer Sawamura…”
She was the well-known losing blonde childhood friend, the kind of anime character doomed to lose before the race even began.
Ren recognized her immediately.
It helps new readers find it.
And of course, your Power Stones help push the story forward.
Thanks for reading.