novelraw Chapter 22: Agitation!
Chapter 22: Agitation!
"I... holy shit..."
It wasn't known how long passed before that university student who had been acting cool blurted out a curse. His glasses were crooked on one side, his face was deathly pale, and he was continuously panting heavily. "Is... is this fucking a story a human could come up with?!"
No one answered him.
Because everyone was scared speechless.
This kind of thing like tragic veneration was truly a niche method of transferring bad luck in Japanese folklore, yet one that everyone knew about.
However, everyone usually paid no attention to it and didn't care about it at all.
Now it was actually being displayed nakedly in an animation.
And so directly.
So straightforwardly.
Displayed in such an effective manner!They cast their minds back; in the past, they had even subjected others to tragic veneration as a joke, had been subjected to it by others, or even out of jealousy or hatred, had truly used the method of tragic veneration to curse others with bad luck!
Now, not only were all their faces pale, but even their hearts were violently thumping "thump, thump."
They were terrified!
...
Meanwhile, at the dispatch center of a large taxi company in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo.
It was brightly lit here. Dozens of drivers who had just finished their shifts or were waiting to receive orders were gathered in twos and threes, smoking, chatting, and killing time.
A television was also hanging in the lobby of the dispatch center.
"Hey, Senior Kitagishi, I heard that new animation on TV Tokyo yesterday was very scary?" A young driver in his early twenties named Kenji, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, spoke with a face full of disdain to a gray-haired old driver beside him.
The old driver addressed as Kitagishi was sipping hot tea in small mouthfuls. Hearing this, he couldn't even be bothered to lift his eyelids. "Children's playthings, how scary can it be? Might as well think about where the next long-distance trip goes."
"Heh, I want to see just how formidable it is." Fearing nothing in heaven or earth, Kenji picked up the remote control and tuned the channel to TV Tokyo.
Punctually, the story of "Tragic Veneration" progressed to the scene where the young man arrived at the hospital.
"Tch, this kind of troupe again." Kenji curled his lips.
Horror films in hospitals, this kind of horror story had already been done to death.
But as the plot continued.
Bizarre things happened.
Especially towards the end, when on the screen, that taxi driver let out that shrill, hysterical shout, wanting to chase the protagonist out of the car, and when that large truck shone its blinding lights and got closer and closer...
"Clang!"
The thermos cup in Senior Yamada's hand fell to the ground, the scalding hot tea spilling all over the floor.
The talking and laughing of all the drivers in the entire dispatch center ceased abruptly!
Everyone's gazes were dead-set nailed to the screen!
That crashed taxi, that despairing scene, was like a steel needle, fiercely stabbing into the hearts of this group of men who made their cars their homes!
"Damn it..." The cigarette in Kenji's mouth fell to the ground. He felt his calves trembling. "Is... is this real or fake..."
"You... you can't leave this village alive..." A middle-aged driver unconsciously repeated the line from the show, his voice filled with trembling.
Fear, like a plague, instantly spread throughout the entire dispatch center.
A driver who had just finished a long-distance trip and returned from the mountainous area of Chiba Prefecture instantly turned pale. He remembered that when he passed by a deserted village just now, he seemed to have also seen a few strange silhouettes by the roadside...
"No way! I'm not running anymore tonight! Putting the car away!"
"I'm not running either! Damn it, who knows if the next passenger I pull will be a human or a ghost!"
"I won't accept trips to the mountains or the countryside even if you pay me three times as much!"
The emotion of panic rapidly fermented.
What was originally just an animation had now become a curse hanging over their heads. They ran on the road every day and dealt with strangers every day. This kind of horror that was close to reality had too much lethal power!
Senior Yamada slowly crouched down and picked up his thermos cup. On that weather-beaten face of his, an expression of trepidation appeared for the first time.
He had driven night shifts his entire life, what kind of strange people and weird things hadn't he seen?
But he had never thought that one day, he would be so terrified by a mere three-minute animation that he wouldn't dare grip the steering wheel again.
This thing called 'Yamishibai'... was toxic!
...
In the Suzuki Section.
When the two characters "The End" appeared, Suzuki Kiyoto only then realized that he had unknowingly stood up, his back soaked in cold sweat.
He looked around. Every person in the office bore an expression of having survived a disaster.
"Suc... succeeded..." Haseji Kakeru muttered to himself.
"Too formidable... Nohara-kun, you're simply a devil..." Kitagawa Yao looked at Nohara Hiroshi, her eyes filled with awe and worship.
Suzuki Kiyoto let out a long breath of stale air. He walked in front of Nohara Hiroshi and heavily patted his shoulder. A thousand words ultimately coalesced into just three words:
"You've worked hard."
Nohara Hiroshi still merely smiled calmly.
If the first episode of Yamishibai could be said to be the kind of step-by-step terror possessing true ghosts and monsters.
Then the second episode was the terror created within human hearts.
Rather than ghosts and monsters.
It would be better to say it was... the sinister human heart!
"Now it all depends on tomorrow's viewership ratings." Suzuki Kiyoto slowly breathed a sigh of relief, turned to look at everyone, and said, "Go get some rest. Remember to come to the office punctually tomorrow morning, and we'll see the results together."
"Yes!" Everyone replied.
...
Iwata Masao finished his social engagement in Akasaka and returned to his apartment located in Minato Ward reeking of alcohol and women's perfume. The hands of the clock had already quietly slipped past midnight.
He tore off his tie and threw himself heavily onto the soft sofa, the flattery and compliments from the drinking table still echoing in his mind.
A smile appeared on the corners of his lips.
He very much enjoyed this feeling of being flattered and complimented by others.
"Excuse me! These are the highest-grade products produced by Toshiba Industries! Everyone can take a look!"
"Wow! So strong!"
"Excellent! This is the future of our great Japanese industry!"
He casually turned on the television, and the screen was showing a boring late-night shopping commercial.
Iwata Masao picked up the remote control, and as if possessed by a ghost or god, he wanted to see what episode Suzuki Kiyoto's joke had progressed to. But when he saw the time displaying 00:35, he laughed mockingly at himself and casually turned off the television.
Why bother?
A piece of garbage with a premiere viewership rating of only 1.75%, what kind of waves could it make on the second day?
If it could maintain 1.5%, they should go to a shrine to fulfill a vow.
Watching that kind of thing was simply a waste of his beautiful time savoring the taste of victory.
He was much more willing to reminisce about the exquisite original drawings of 'Onibo Samurai' presented by those few animators under him. That was art, the perfect product of the fusion of money and talent.
...
Similarly, in another, even quieter study, Deputy Bureau Chief Takada Toshihide had also long since tossed the name 'Yamishibai' to the back of his mind.
In his view, this chess piece was already ruined. Not only had it failed to bring any assistance to that fellow Asumi, but it had instead become a laughingstock.
What he needed to consider now was how to thoroughly marginalize the people of Asumi's faction in the S-rank projects for the second half of the year.
The entire TV Tokyo, and even the entirety of Tokyo, seemed to have no one else who cared about that bizarre animation quietly airing in the late-night corner this night.
Except for Takeshita Ai.