novelraw Chapter 12: Genius!
Chapter 12: Genius!
With another soft "click", the screen lit up once more.
The picture appeared.
"Wait?"
It was just that as the image emerged, Takeshita Ai froze completely.
Having watched so many exquisite animations in the past, she couldn't imagine that the images she was seeing now would have a style from an ancient era, a time before she was even born.
"What in the world is this!?" A trace of anger bubbled up in Takeshita Ai's heart.
She thought she was being played for a fool.
Because what appeared on the screen was an extremely crude, static art style reminiscent of "Kamishibai"—that is, a peep show format.
The characters looked like paper cutouts from yellowed, old paper, with stiff movements and rudimentary scenery.
In the background audio, a man wearing a mask, using a hoarse and bizarre tone, clacked a wooden clapper and leisurely delivered the opening lines."Step right up, don't walk on by, it's time for Yamishibai..."
Takeshita Ai's brow instantly furrowed.
What was this? A student project?
Has that old stubborn Suzuki Kiyoto gone mad? Submitting this kind of thing to the Audit Department?
She leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms over her chest, and her face already bore a few hints of impatience and disappointment.
She made up her mind that if this thing couldn't display a single redeeming quality within one minute, she would just turn it off directly and then write the feedback: "Amateurish, crude, rejected."
The first episode's story began.
The title was—"The Talisman Woman".
On the screen was a young man who had just moved into a new apartment. Strangely, many talismans were plastered on the apartment walls, doors, and even the ceiling.
The narrator, in an emotionless tone, recounted that the man didn't think much of it, merely assuming the previous tenant was somewhat superstitious.
Then, he noticed it.
In the window of the apartment opposite his, there was always a woman with long hair silently watching him from over there.
No matter if it was day or night, as long as he looked out the window, that woman was there, motionless. Her long black hair covered her face, leaving only a blurry silhouette visible.
Seeing this, Takeshita Ai's crossed arms subconsciously dropped.
Wordlessly, her body leaned slightly forward once again.
An indescribable sense of familiarity quietly crept up from the bottom of her heart.
She remembered when she was in her early twenties, to save money, she too had rented an old apartment in a remote corner of Tokyo. That building was similarly dark and damp, the hallway lights flickered erratically, and the neighbors all had hazy faces, carrying the indifference and alienation unique to city dwellers.
It seemed like... she had once had a strange neighbor too.
And at this moment, Takeshita Ai realized that as the plot progressed, she also seemed to have adapted to this roughly produced animation in the shortest possible time.
She even felt that, after watching so many exquisite animations, this slideshow-like animation had a unique sense of contrast.
"Then I will just keep watching." Takeshita Ai pursed her lips and chose to continue watching.
The story went on.
The man began to feel uneasy. He drew the curtains, but he always felt that that gaze could pierce through everything. Objects in the house started moving for no reason, and strange scratching sounds could always be heard at night.
He grew increasingly frightened and remembered those talismans. But when he came back from work, he found that the door wasn't closed, and talismans had once again been pasted onto the walls.
Just as the man, somewhat irritated, was about to tear off this talisman, that woman suddenly appeared.
A jump scare right in the face!
"Ugh!" Even Takeshita Ai was startled. Without realizing it, she was already immersed in it.
Then the police arrived and took away the woman who had trespassed into someone else's room. Except, right before leaving, the woman was still saying something to the man, seemingly words of warning.
But the man didn't hear clearly and was still very confused.
Thus, this man didn't pay it any mind, assuming she was just a mental patient.
Returning home, looking at the muddy footprints all over the floor, he helplessly wiped the room with a rag.
Until he lifted a round table, only to discover that the underside of the table was also entirely plastered with talismans.
"These talismans..."
Takeshita Ai's heartbeat inexplicably skipped a beat.
She thought of her own home. Hanging at the entryway was a traffic safety amulet she had prayed for from Senso-ji Temple, and her mother had also once sent a so-called consecrated shrine talisman, telling her to keep it in her wallet to ward off evil.
These seemingly superstitious items had long since integrated into the daily lives of the Japanese people, becoming a type of psychological comfort.
The man in the story hysterically and tremblingly tore off many talismans.
Right at the moment when fragments of talismans filled the air as they were ripped down—
The scene abruptly shifted!
One vengeful spirit after another appeared above the male protagonist's head, hanging there like they had been lynched. Accompanied by a certain eerie heartbeat sound, the screen instantly cut to black!
"Swish!"
Takeshita Ai abruptly stood up from her chair. Due to her movements, the chair slid backward, the wheels scraping against the floor and letting out a harsh screech.
Her chest heaved violently. Her heart felt as if it was going to leap out of her throat, crashing wildly behind her ribs.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
The office was very quiet. She could even clearly hear her own thunderous heartbeat.
A drop of cold sweat slid down her temples, bone-chillingly cold.
It was over?
It just ended like that?
What happened to that man? What was that talisman woman?
There were no explanations, no follow-ups, only that abrupt terrifying moment enough to leave endless shadows in a person's heart.
Unlike the kind of "story-driven" horror in "Onibo Samurai", which had a cause and an effect, a beginning and an end, what "Yamishibai" brought was a pure, unreasonable, phenomenal level of horror!
It was like a poisoned needle, piercing accurately into the softest and most everyday parts of your heart when you were completely unguarded.
It made you doubt whether your home was safe, doubt the dark shadow outside your window, doubt the stains on the ceiling, and doubt every single moment you were accustomed to but found terrifying upon closer thought.
If it were a Japanese person from Earth, they would know that this was the essence of an "urban legend"!
But the people of this parallel world's Blue Star Japan didn't know.
Takeshita Ai slowly sat back down in her chair. She picked up the water cup on the desk and took a large gulp, barely managing to suppress those roiling palpitations.
Her hands were still trembling slightly.
She had been in the industry for so many years and had reviewed hundreds or thousands of horror-themed works. Some were bloody, some were disgusting, and some toyed with human nature. But not a single one could make her feel such real, delayed terror after watching it like this crudely drawn, low-cost "peep show" in front of her.
She even didn't dare to reminisce about that old apartment she used to live in back then, didn't dare to think about that neighbor with the blurry face.
"Suzuki Kiyoto... Nohara Hiroshi..."
Takeshita Ai looked at that simple proposal, muttering these two names.
She picked up the videotape. Looking at the three characters of "Yamishibai" on it, an unprecedented light burst forth in her eyes.
That was the pleasant surprise and excitement of having discovered a rare treasure.
"Genius..." She uttered these two words from the bottom of her heart. "This is absolutely a genius idea!"