novelraw Chapter 20: Terror
Chapter 20: Terror
The story began.
On the screen was a young boy who had moved into a new apartment.
The narrator, in that tone devoid of any fluctuation, recounted the boy discovering talismans pasted in his home, and the neighbor in the opposite apartment watching him eerily.
"...What a strange neighbor," Tanaka muttered to himself subconsciously, having already forgotten to drink his alcohol.
And subconsciously, he realized that the apartment appearing in this story seemed to be the type of apartment very common in Tokyo Metropolis. Or rather, even Tanaka himself, having come from out of town to live in Tokyo Metropolis, was currently renting an apartment of this exact type.
"Gulp." Thus, Tanaka even subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva, also developing some curiosity towards this story.
Therefore, including him, the customers seated at the bar counter all looked toward the television.
Looked toward this program.
The plot continued.
Through the window, the boy saw the woman opposite with a head full of black hair, a pale face, dull eyes, and behavior filled with eeriness.The atmosphere in the diner grew increasingly heavy.
Akemi unconsciously hugged her arms tighter. She also lived in a single apartment, and she actually knew nothing about what kind of person her neighbor was.
When the story reached the point where the boy, even after calling the police to take that woman away, also discovered his own home was filled with talismans.
Even the underside of the table was talismans.
The climax arrived.
Furious and exasperated, the boy began tearing off the talismans hysterically.
Only, in the process of tearing off the talismans, this boy finally discovered that there seemed to be something extra beside him. But he didn't dare lift his head at all, continuing to tear at the talismans, yet his entire being had already become incomparably despairing.
Then, amidst despairing murmurs, darkness instantly descended.
The End!
"Ah!"
Akemi let out an inadvertently suppressed low gasp, her body violently shuddering, as if an auctioneer's gavel had struck heavily upon the heart of everyone in the Midnight Diner.
Dead silence.
A more thorough dead silence than at any time prior.
The air seemed to have solidified; only the low hum of the refrigerator compressor and a few heavy, suppressed breaths could be heard.
The drunkenness on Tanaka's face had long since vanished without a trace, replaced by an extremely pale complexion. His knuckles turned slightly white from gripping the beer bottle so hard, and a layer of fine cold sweat seeped out on his forehead.
Akemi's expression was even worse than Tanaka's. She bit her lower lip tightly, her eyes filled with terror and lingering fear. She didn't even dare turn her head to look at the small door of the shop, deeply afraid that a talisman would be pasted outside the small window on the door.
As for that university student, he was continuously wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, his eyes behind the glasses flickering with inconsolable trepidation.
Even the normally steady Mizukami Sho felt his back turning somewhat cold. He subconsciously touched his arm—a patch of icy goosebumps.
This animation...
No blood, no jump-scare ghost wails, and even very few dynamic movements.
But just those few simple pictures, and that eerie narration, had built up a sense of bone-deep, inescapable terror.
Because it was too close to real life.
Apartments, neighbors, talismans, walls... these were all the most common elements in daily life. Precisely because they were common, when combined with the unknown and the eerie, the resulting fear would be infinitely magnified.
"Gulp."
It wasn't known how long passed before Tanaka swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty, breaking this suffocating silence. His voice was dry, hoarse, and carried a trace of trembling:
"What... what the fuck... kind of ghostly thing is this..."
He no longer had his previous arrogance and disdain, leaving only a weakness like surviving a disaster.
"Too... too scary..." Akemi also said in a barely audible voice. "I... am a bit afraid to go home now... Opposite my door, it seems there's also a woman living there who doesn't go out much..."
Her words made everyone's hearts tighten once again.
"Its terror is not visual, it's psychological." That university student pushed his glasses up, analyzing in a tone that carried an academic air yet similarly couldn't hide his fear: "After watching it, it makes you unable to resist thinking: what if... what if this kind of thing happened to me? This kind of immersion is what's most terrifying."
That's right!
Everyone nodded their heads in deep agreement.
Their minds were currently filled with that room plastered full of talismans, and those ghostly figures hanging upside down from the ceiling. This imagery would probably become their nightmare for tonight, and even for several nights to come.
"Boss... what's the name of this animation?" the university student asked with a trembling voice.
Mizukami Sho's gaze fell upon the television screen. When the final production credits flashed by, he clearly saw those three Kanji characters.
"'Yamishibai'." he softly replied.
'Yamishibai'...
These three characters were like a branding iron, deeply engraved into the heart of everyone present.
Tanaka silently set down his beer bottle, no longer having any mood to drink. He stood up, pulled a few bills from his wallet and placed them on the bar counter, saying in a hoarse voice: "Boss, the check."
"I... I'm leaving too." Akemi also hurriedly got up, as if staying one second longer would result in being swallowed by darkness.
The customers paid and left one after another, their footsteps rushed, all wanting to return to their own homes as quickly as possible and lock their doors and windows tight.
But did they really dare to look under the table? Did they really dare to carefully inspect the ceilings of their own homes?
No one knew.
Soon, only Mizukami Sho was left in the Midnight Diner.
He silently cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks, but the scenes from just now played back in his mind uncontrollably over and over again.
He lifted his head and glanced at the clock on the wall.
12:25 AM.
"Well, it truly is a bit of a... frightening story." Mizukami Sho leaned against the doorframe, lit a cigarette, and gently smoked it.
As the hot, spicy air rolled into his lungs, he also couldn't help but think of some of the plot details in this animated short film.
He subconsciously turned his head to look outside.
Not far away, outside the alley, were those residential buildings and relatively low three-to-four-story apartment houses.
Looking at those black, gaping windows, some palpitations also appeared in his heart.
Subconsciously, he didn't even dare to continue observing.
He merely withdrew his gaze.
"Hm!?"
Suddenly, Mizukami Sho looked at the corner of his Midnight Diner, his expression slightly changing, even the corners of his eyes twitching. Because right there, in the corner, he actually saw a talisman pasted there.
Perhaps because of its age, that talisman had somewhat yellowed. At the edge of the light's illumination, in the dim corner, it was incomparably obvious at this moment.
The hand Mizukami Sho used to hold his cigarette trembled slightly.
He even felt a bit of bitterness in his mouth.
He remembered this seemed to be a talisman he had prayed for from a temple over a decade ago, used to suppress evil entities. He had originally forgotten about it long ago, but at this moment, suddenly seeing it and remembering it, something felt wrong in his heart, and his back felt cold.
"Boss, a serving of tamagoyaki! Add two portions of cheese!" Just at this time, the door curtain was lifted, and a frequent customer walked in, tipsy.
"Oh... Yes! Please wait a moment." Mizukami Sho immediately reacted, a somewhat awkward smile appearing on his scarred face.
He realized he had actually been scared.
He shook his head forcefully.
"It's just an animation." he couldn't help but grumble.
But a premonition suddenly arose in his heart.
Starting tomorrow—no, perhaps starting tonight—in countless sleepless late nights like this in Tokyo, the name 'Yamishibai' would quietly spread via word-of-mouth like a terrifying urban legend.
This kind of urban-themed horror animation, which also fit some of Tokyo Metropolis's environments, combined with some terrifying bizarre stories heard in the past.
It seemed... a bit thrilling just thinking about it!