#apparently i screen recorded it from a video ?

[loppiopio]

psychic damage.

#durarara #izaya orihara #a cheap imitation #i made a thing #for chapter 45 #i can finally start unloading the shit i've made for this fic #it's been so long #sound effect is from resident evil 4 remake i think #apparently i screen recorded it from a video ? #i made this months ago and since then have considered making an improved version since this one is so static #besides the ptsd popup #buuuuut i will probably never get around to it #gonna keep the tags short(er than usual) because idk what to say rn #maybe i'll update them when i think of something #oh my god it's coming to me now #i think the most time consuming part of this was editing a pokemon background to be blue #like the ocean #haha #anyways identify anything here and win my appreciation :) #i remade or edited a lot of these assets pixel by pixel because that is the way i am ;o: #which is why i don't think i'd make it through more advanced edits #but i'd like to

[help-itrappedmyself]

Danny Punches a Clown part 2 I guess

shoutout to @that-random-fangirl

Masterpost

The batmobile pulls into the batcave as usual once they’re done dealing with the Joker’s hostage situation, but no one is celebrating at a job well done tonight. Because while the Joker is back in Arkham, for now, it wasn’t one of them that stopped him. While the rest of them dealt with the goons downstairs, Batman went up to where the Joker was supposed to be hiding out with the kids, only to find him on the floor with a growing bruise on his face. The kids were nowhere to be seen. 

So, Batman sweeped the room, making note of a video that was still recording on the computer. Probably a taunt for him that the Joker never got to release. He pulled all the files from the computer and brought them with him when he left. 

The police arrived, the civilians were taken care of, but none of them had any idea what happened in the room the Joker was in. Apparently none of them heard anything, despite the fact the Joker had a gun with him no shots were fired. And none of them knew what happened to the kids. 

So the family gathered around the batcomputer to try and find out what had happened. They rewound the video back to the beginning, hoping to at least find out if the kids were okay.

The video opened to the Joker being his usual self, holding his gun, looking like he hadn’t yet gotten punched in the face.

“ Bats! Wonderful to see me isn’t it? I know it's been too long, and I’ve got some presents for you!” Joker turns the camera to show three kids, two no older than six, both blonde and terrified, and one that could be a teenager, probably around twelve to thirteen with black hair and looking bored. The camera swings back to the Joker after a moment. “ Of course, I have a bunch of adults too, but these little kiddos are just for you! I have such plans for them bats!” 

“Hey, crazy clown?” They hear, coming from one of the children. Joker stops ranting to look past the computer, probably at the kid who’s speaking and the bats all look at each other in disbelief.“ Look, I’m sure you have some sort of reason for all this hostage-taking and gun-waving, probably even for dressing like that.” 

“ Oh, this kid is insane.” Tim mutters.

“ However, I already have one fruitloop in my life and that is more than enough for me, so I’m going to have to leave now.”

The Joker starts laughing, he bends over and wraps his arms around his stomach laughing his normal cackle that has most of the room cringing. They watch as the child, the older one, walks right up to the Joker, who is still laughing, and punches him in the face.

They watch in silence as the Joker falls limp to the floor. Jason whistles. Then the boy turns more toward the camera, but really towards the children as he starts talking to them and they see him fully for the first time. Black hair, blue eyes, looks exhausted and he just punched the Joker in the face. The kids look amongst each other for a moment, all thinking the same thing, before turning back to the screen to see the boy, this tiny boy who called the Joker ‘crazy clown’ and punched him in the face helping the other kids escape out the window. 

“ Bruce, no.” Dick mutters. “ We don’t even know who this kid is.”

“ This kid just knocked out the Joker in one punch, if Bruce doesn’t nab him, I will.” Jason states.

Everything devolves into arguing from there, all the kids shouting amongst themselves arguing either for or against the adoption of the kid. It goes on for a while before Bruce speaks up.

“ Let’s just find the kid first.” Bruce says, He’s already pulled up facial recognition and is chatting with Oracle about the CCTV footage by the warehouse. “ All of you go get some rest, I’m going to go see if I can track him.”

“ Hey! If you’re going back out, we’re going back out!” Dick complains. “ We’re concerned about the kid too.” 

Bruce starts to argue with him, but is cut off by the sound of motorcycles as Jason and Tim start to head back out, already talking to Oracle about where to start. Dick heads out after them and Damian goes to sit in the batmobile, waiting. Bruce heaves a sigh before climbing in after him.

“ Okay, Oracle what do we have?” Batman asks.

“ I was able to track him into an alley, but nothing after that.”

Now with part 3!

#dcxdp #dc x dp crossover #batman #danny phantom #my writing #I have no idea where this is going really #it has no ending #just middle ideas #dp x dc

[ddejavvu]

Mei I will do anything you ask ever my love, could you please write something about reader finding Spencer Reid completely zoned out and watching those baby sensory videos? Like the ones with the dancing fruit kinda thing? Mwah mwah mwah

You suppose everyone needs a brain break every once in a while; even doctors with multiple PhDs. You hear a light, bouncy melody coming from the living room and you assume Spencer is finally moving past his fixation on classical music. You should have known better, though, because instead of the song playing from the rickety old record player you'd found at a garage sale, it's coming from the tv.

Spencer had griped about the size of the television you'd bought and mounted on the wall in the living room, claiming that it was ridiculously large and that there was no need for a screen bigger than your computer. But he's apparently glad for it now as his eyes droop almost shut, his cheek smushed against a pillow as he curls up on the couch. He's laying on his side, the light from the television illuminating the dim room in shades of pink and blue, occasionally yellow as a pineapple joins the other fruits dancing across the screen.

Apparently, he's discovered the world of baby sensory videos.

Blueberries and strawberries and pineapples and even the intermittent raspberry bounce and bob and weave across the screen, the music paired with it soothing and calming. Though it's upbeat, it's relaxing, and Spencer's muscles are less tense than you've ever seen them before.

As much as you want to tease him for being lulled to sleep by a dancing banana, you know he doesn't often give himself the rest that he needs. So you pick up a blanket off the end of the couch instead, leaning over the back of the cushions to tuck it over him.

"Sweet dreams, Spence," You croon, "Love you."

His cheeks go as red as a strawberry.

#spencer reid x reader #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid scenario #spencer reid oneshot #spencer reid one-shot #spencer reid one shot #spencer reid headcanons #spencer reid headcanon #spencer reid hc #spencer reid hcs #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid fic #spencer reid blurb #spencer reid drabble #spencer reid dialogue #spencer reid fluff

[bluefairyhere]

I think I'm in love (with you)|| Colby Brock

¬Colby meets a girl at a coffee shop. ¬Pairing->f!reader x f!reader ¬w.c 2.3k ¬t.w. SMUT, swearing, Colby being a little agressive, y/n being silly, edging, rough play, unprotected sex.

You can't do it. No. You can't do it. No. No. NO! Was all that ever crossed your mind when you were with your friend Colby. He's a fuckboy, he has no real feelings for you. Giving in will only get you hurt.

You'd had a crush on him for as long as you could remember and lately he'd been giving you mixed signals. Flirting with you in a way he never had before, but then he'd show up and say he had a date with some other girl. At the beginning you didn't think much of it since you figured it was only some friendly, playful banter. But then it started getting more and more serious in a sexually tense way. Right now, Kat, Kris, Sam, Celina, Colby and you were hanging out. You had just finished recording a long video at one of the haunted locations and decided to come hang out for a little bit since you finished way earlier than expected. For now, you were watching a horror movie.

When you'd first gotten there, you sat on the corner on the couch and covered your legs with a blanket. Colby hadn't taken long to sit right next to you while everybody was getting on their sits to watch the already preestablished movie: Sinister. It was a solid re-watch and apparently Kris had never watched it before, so you guys agreed to watch it on your way home. You were on your phone, trying not to pay attention to the fact that Colby deliberately decided to sit next to you even though at the time most of the seats were not taken. Sam and Kat took care of bringing snacks for everyone, and the movie began.

At first, everything was cool. The movie was rolling, Kris and Kat were gasping and you were giggling at how edgy the whole thing was. By the time you reached the half, Colby also got his legs under the blanket and placed a hand on your thigh. You bit your lip, instantly overthinking it and feeling nervous, but you decided to brush it off. The movie went on but you were more distracted with the guys' banter than the movie itself, trying not to focus on Colby right next to you--who was also bantering. And it was working until his hand, which had never left your thigh, suddenly squeezed it hard but not enough to hurt you, however still provoking for you to open your eyes widely. You instantly looked at him, who was casually staring at the movie on the screen while eating some popcorn with his other hand. This. THIS. This you could simply not put yourself through. "Hey Colby, help me make more popcorn in the kitchen?" You asked as you stood up suddenly. The dark haired boy looked confused but nodded and added a "sure" to the gesture. You headed to the kitchen right away---which was a considerable distance away from the rest of the guys---and stood besides the counter, your arms crossed. "What's up?" He asked unceremoniously. Your eyes went wide again in disbelief. "´Whats up'?" you replied angrily. "Listen Colby, I'm fed up with this. I'm not just another one of your girls that you can play and confuse, okay? So drop it."

Colby looked fazed now. He certainly seemed like he wasn't expecting such an outburst.

"Listen, if this was about the couch-" but you didn't let him finish.

"This isn't just about the couch thing, Colby. This is about everything that's been happening lately. The looks you give me, the things you say. Everything! I'm fed up, I don't understand you! You hook up with so many girls, why must you bother me?" Colby looked at you as if you were speaking some sort of different language. "I think I'm in love with you." Was his reply. You couldn't believe what you were hearing. Him? In love with you? Imposible. Unthinkable. This had to be some sort of elaborate joke.

"What do you mean by that?" You asked in return, no longer angry but deeply confused as you crossed your arms and looked up and down to him, not recognizing what was in front of you.

"It's just-" Colby seemed frustrated, almost as if he couldn't find the right words, or translate his feelings into coherent thoughts. "It's been a few months since I started thinking this. If you weren't around, I'd miss you. I'd always want to tell you everything about out investigations before anyone, or anything good really. I've been with other girls, I know, but only to try and get you out of my head... which obviously hasn't worked."

"And you expect me to believe this is why you've been all flirty and touchy? because you're 'in love'? C'mon Colby!" You mumble exasperated, so much information overloading you. "That makes no sense, I mean, why did you never tell me if you're so madly in love?"

Now Colby seemed to be the upset one. "Just like you’re doing now, I didn't think you'd take me seriously."

"So you decided touching me just now was a better course of action? Bravo." You were starting to get mad again, you really thought he was not being for real. But what was this then? A prank of some sort?

"I couldn't help it okay?! It's like my body can't help it, I wanna touch your skin... not even in a perverted way. I just... want to be near you, feel the heat of your body."

Okay. Maybe he was serious. There's no way he'd say something like that just because. But then, what did all of this mean? His words left you completely speechless, so you did what any human being would've done---leave the room in complete silence. You went up the stairs and got into the first room you found. You turned on the lights and realized it was actually Colby's. You were about to retrace your steps when Colby came in too and closed the door after himself, looking at you with a dark gaze. "Did you just run away from me?" he asked, visibly hurt "I'm not gonna bite you, I just confessed my feelings for you for fuck's sake."

"I didn't run away, Colby, I just... need to think. Digest everything."

"What's there to digest? I've seen the way you look at me, Y/N. I know you feel the same way, I can feel it." As he said this, he came closer and closer to you, making your body shiver and the butterflies in your stomach flutter.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Cole." You, however, stuttered. You'd no idea why were you being so stubborn. If he was telling the truth, which it seemed like he was, this was the best case scenario you had always wished for.

"I think you do, Y/N. You're doing it just now." Right after saying that, he leaned in for a kiss.

But he didn't kiss you right away, moreso he waited for you to lean in too. And oh boy did you. You leaned in right away, waisting no more time. Your hands were cupping his cheeks desperately, and one of them passed to grasp his dark black hair, in need of more. His hands were on your waist, bringing you closer to him, your breasts pressing against his chest. You could feel his hardness inimical to your lower belly. You stopped the kiss and looked up at him, your faces only an inch away.

"What are we doing..?" You whispered.

"What we should have done months ago" After saying that he kissed you again, this time more passionately, more instenely. He moved to his front, making you move as well, until you fell onto the bed. "Do you want to do this?"

Did you? That was a good question. You definitely did, but was it wise? Everyone was just downstairs, probably wondering what was taking so long. Plus, what would this mean? Would this make you a couple? You meant, after everything he'd said this couldn't possibly be just sex. But you really wanted to do this... just the thought of his terse pale porcelain skin against yours, his growls and whimpers, his member inside you...

"What does this mean, Colby?" You asked, unable to let your worries go for the heat of the moment. He seemed to think about it a few seconds before answering.

"All I know is you mean everything to me." He replied simply. Did he mean it? You'd known Colby for years, he wasn't the type of person to say things he didn't mean, he was actually known for being very upfront and honest about everything. Okay then, that decided it.

"I wanna do this, Colby. I want to do this so bad, but I don't want it to be meaningless."

Without any other single word, Colby got on top of you and started kissing you again, roughly. You did know he liked his sex rough, which was good because so did you. You could feel his hands going up and down your body, one of them reaching under your shirt and grabbing firmly one of your breasts, pinching your nipple. You moaned against his lips.

Eagerly, Colby broke the kiss and looked at you with lustful eyes. He reached the border of your jeans with his hands and unbottoned them, taking them off swiftly. Now you were only on your panties and top, since you decided to not wear a bra under your hoodie today. You gulped, almost unable to contain your ardour for his skin. But it felt different, it felt... special. This wasn't just any guy about to fuck your brains out, this was Colby. Your friend for years. Your closest comrade. You were a bit scared, sure, but it felt real. And you had a hunch he was feeling the same.

Colby got off the bed and kneeled in front of you, looking at your blushed face from in bewteen your thighs. "May I taste you?" He asked, taking your panties off. You nodded but he shook his head. "I need for you to say it outloud so I know you're sure, I don't want you to regret any of the things we're about to do." 'Everything we're about to do? What on earth is he planning?' you thought. You also loved the fact he was looking for enthusiastic consent, which you immidiately gave. "I do want you to, Colby."

Right away, he buried his face in your pussy and started licking your clit, drawing circles around it with his tongue slowly at first, hightening the velocity by the second, making you moan moderately loudly. With two of his long fingers he started to finger yourself, hitting you with the most magical combo you could've ever dreamt of. You could feel his fingers deep inside of you, and that alone was driving you crazy, but his tongue too? Your moans were getting louder and you were quick to whimper "I'm getting close."

But then he stopped. You instantly opened your eyes and looked at him in confusion.

"What are you doing?" You asked him reluctantly.

"We can't have you finishing so fast, can we?"

He whooped out his enormous cock and pressed his tip against your entrance while he looked at you, silently asking for consent. You nodded your head yes and he pushed. Now his tip was pressed against your entrance and he groaned. "Are you ready?" to which you whimpered a 'yes'.

Without further ado, he pushed his big lenght inside of you, slowly but fully, and you moaned loudly once again. He started thrusting at a slow pace but eventually reaching a faster one, all of his dick coming in and out, his balls creating a noise when they hit your ass. It was all so lewd yet it felt so... romantic. It felt special, real, meaningul. Colby leaned in and kissed you, your tongues sparrings with one another. His hand cupped your cheek lovingly as he fucked you fast and rough. He then stopped and turned you around, which you took as an indication to get on doggy-style and so you did. He started thrusting you from behind and gave you a very light slap on your right cheek. You loved it.

"Harder." You whimpered. And harder he went. He gave you another spank, but this one was loud and hard. You gasped. He then gave you another one and another one. With your hand, you reached to your crotch and started stimulating your clit while he fucked you. You could feel the orgasm building up. "Colby, I'm close." You moaned. Colby's reply was stopping, again, and turning you around.

"I wanna look into your eyes when I make you finish, baby." And now he started fucking you again, but this time it was slower, deeper. He caressed the skin og your breast as if you were going to break, which had an incredible difference with the previous moments. But you liked it... no. You loved it. "Y/N. I'm in love with you."

Your eyes rolled to the back of your head and your body started to shake in a very well known climax sensation. Your moans were incontrollable and you could feel Colby's body tensing and shaking as well. You felt new warmess inside of you, liquid and thick. He was filling you up. Finally, he let himself fall on top of you, softly, and cuddle you.

"Colby."

"Yeah?"

"I'm in love with you too."

He smiled and opened his mouth to say something when the door suddenly opened. It was Sam. As he saw you he seemed to be confused for a few seconds, but then his face turned from that to surprise, and very quickly to understanding, as if he had just connected some dots. He turned around and closed the door, through which you could hear him yell "Found them guys! They're busy."

Everyone downstairs burts into laughter and you blushed violently. Colby just smiled and looked at you. "Totally worth it."

#colby brock fluff #colby brock x reader #colby brock smut #colby brock #colby brock imagine #sam and colby #colby #xplorer #xplor #spilled ink #imagine #colby brock fanfic #colby brock x y/n #colby brock x you #colby brock scenario

[matts-k1tten]

𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫

summary: y/n and chris have been dating for about 3 months. but one day y/n finds out that chris has apparently been cheating on her when an anonymous number suddenly sends her pictures of chris and other girls and text messages between him and other girls. y/n believes it and doesn’t hesitate to end it with chris without giving him an explanation. but what happens when chris shows up at her front door?

containing: angst, smoking, swearing, mentions of cheating. yeahhh this might not be good but at least i tried!!

a/n: little gift bc of my absence 💋

ఌ

ღ

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☁︎

“Oh shhhit” i slur out. “you feel it yet?” my best friend whispers from next to me. i nod with a cheeky smile. “hell yeah” I reply as i take another hit. Jazzy and I were currently on the hood of my car having a smoke session. “i feel great” jazzy mumbles as smoke flows out her mouth. “shit” i whisper. i felt like i was floating like that everything i know wasn’t real and it was just me and the sky. the stars seemed to be brighter than usual so much that i reach my hand out and graze a star with the tip of my fingers. “My god”

the star was blinding me and all i could focus on was that star. jazzy was laying on the car with her eyes closed and a blunt in between her fingers. the star suddenly faded into the distance as i blink multiple times and snap out the trance i was put in. i look over at jazzy who was asleep and snoring. i laugh a bit and take the blunt from her fingers and put it out. “cmon let’s go home.” i murmur. jazzy groans and rolls off the hood of the car opening the passenger side and getting in. I do the same.

— ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☁︎

jazzy’s snoring echoing through the room was the only thing you could hear besides my phone. i was now a bit sobered up but jazzy smoked more than me and was higher than the clouds. Looking at a video, a text pops up on my screen from an unknown number. Confused, i clicked on it and was met with a text that read “he’s a cheater.” and multiple items attached. i felt my heart drop to my feet and sobriety hit me all at once as i clicked on the videos and screen shots the number sent me. the first item was a voice recording containing chris talking to another girl who’s voice i couldn’t identify, guessing it was a fan or a random he met at a party.

“you want it baby?”

“yea i do-fuck!”

“this is all you wanted right? you slu-“

i clicked out the video feeling tears start to mark my waterline. the video was clear but you couldn’t deny that it indeed was chris. the tears started to fall down my cheeks and land on the screen as i frantically text the number back with my fingers spreading the tears.

to: unknown number

⚠︎︎ who is this? how did you get this?

⚠︎︎ hello? who the fuck r u?

my texts wouldn’t go through, i figured the number blocked me before i could say anything. i swipe through the items the number sent me with shaky hands and a pit on my stomach scared of what i might find. my other hand that wasn’t occupied covered my mouth in shock at what i was seeing. the texts, pictures, videos, voice messages everything was enough proof i needed to know that chris was a filthy cheater. i drop my phone on the bed and cover my face and burst out into sobs. i was an easy one to hurt, i’ve always been sensitive as a kid and very gullible.

my sobs woke up jazzy from her slumber as she slowly blinks her eyes open. she groans and rubs her eyes and looks at me with a concerned face. “what’s wrong? what happened?” jazzy furiously questions and throws herself up against the headboard and wraps her arm around me. she rubs my shoulder and pulls me into her while i sob uncontrollably. “shh what happened?” jazzy whispers while rocking us back and forth. “i-i” i try to speak but ended up muttering out croaks instead. “it’s alright i got you.” jazzy whispers again. my chest was tight and my throat hurt with all the sobbing. i couldn’t speak, it felt like my throat was closed off. “shh breathe, breathe”

after a while my shaking comes to a stop and my tears start to slow down. “what happened?” jazzy asks and leans away to look at me. my face was now puffy and my eyes were red with dried tears on my cheeks. i sniffle before looking back down at my phone. jazzy follows my eyes and also looks at the now black screen, confused but patient. “what’s on there?” jazzy whispers and pats my arm. i look at her and back at the black screen letting my gaze linger there for a moment. “show me”

after a minute, i unlock my phone and it reveals the messages with the unknown number with the items attached. i couldn’t bare to look at it again so i hand the phone over the jazzy to which she removes her hand from my shoulder and takes the phone. jazzy scrolls through my phone with wide eyes and her jaw slack. “what the fuck” she whispers. i could hear her playing the audio recordings and listening to the dirty talk provided within it. faint moans and grunts were heard followed by chris’s voice occasionally speaking up.

“turn it off” i mumble into my hands. jazzy doesn’t hear me because of the volume so it continues to play and mold itself in my mind. that was a sound i could never forget. “turn it off!” i speak louder. the audio abruptly comes to a stop followed with the faint plop of the phone colliding with the comforters. jazzy shakes her head in disbelief. “what the fuck was that?!” she whisper yells. i feel my throat start to ache again. “i don’t know..” i reply my voice all wobbly and weak.

we stay there in silence for a moment, both of us processing what we just discovered. i felt used, worthless, angry, hurt, and everything that came with it. my anger seemed to bite at me and i could feel my blood boil as i snatch the phone and unlock it to text chris a whole paragraph.

to: chris💗

4:33am

r u fucking kidding me? all this time our relationship meant nothing to u?! all those dates, kisses, hook ups, and gifts were nothing?! i can’t believe i fell in love with such a disgusting person like u. ur sick in the head. why’d u make me fall for u just to hurt me? use me? make me feel worthless?! if u didn’t have any feelings for me that’s fine but doing that is a whole other level. i can’t believe u. fuck you we’re over. goodbye christopher.

*y/n blocked “chris💗”*

i didn’t realize i had hot tears streaming down my face until i turned off my phone and saw my reflection. these weren’t tears of sadness, but anger. you could practically see the veins popping out my forehead. jazzy didn’t know what to do but stare at me while my breathing became uneven. my breathes were either to short or to long, to loud or to quiet and shaky. jazzy rubbed my back as an attempt to soothe me with a look of sympathy. “let’s go to sleep yea? we’ll deal with this in the morning” jazzy whispers. i look at her for a second then nod. jazzy gives me a ‘sorry’ smile and lays down, rolling over so her back was facing me.

a few minutes later jazzy was back to snoring. all i could do was stare at the ceiling confused, angry, sad. all i could do was lie there and think about everything me and chris once had. everything came crashing down so fast. i barely had time to enjoy our moments before this random person sent me that. it made me physically sick to think about. i just wanted to disappear, disappear from all my problems and vanish from the universe.

my tears made my face feel like plastic every time i moved my cheeks. I let out a deep sigh of defeat and roll over to my side, closing my eyes which made a slight burning sensation under my eye lids. I kept my eyes shut and forced myself to sleep, if I sleep I’ll be okay, if I sleep this will all be a dream and in the morning it’ll be all fake.

— ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☁︎

*BANG, BANG, BANG!!*

Loud and aggressive knocks against my front door woke me up from my sleep. It was non stop and kept on going. It irritated me to my core, who the fuck was knocking on my door at this time?! I sit up and grab my phone checking the time. 1:22pm.

Okay well maybe it wasn’t early. I glance over to the other side of my bed which was empty. The banging was probably jazzy who went to get starbucks or something and accidentally locked herself out. I get out of bed and head over to the bathroom to grab my toothbrush and turn on the sink. I squeeze the toothpaste on it and turn off the sink, heading to the front door.

*BANG, BANG, BANG!!*

“Okay!! Okay!! i’m coming!” I yell, my voice a bit muffled. The banging abruptly stops when I swing the door open and see chris standing there. Memories of last night came flushing back reminding me of what I had just found out. Maybe it was real. My face visibly drops from the sight. Chris had on grey sweatpants and a black hoodie with a hint of dior sauvage and his eyes were red and slightly puffy. Matt was parked on the street in front of my house, staring at us with a kind of disappointed look.

“Y/n, can we just talk for a moment please.” Chris pleads. I shake my head side to side quickly as I feel my eyes start to water. “Please” Chris whispers. I try to shut the door but Chris stops it with his foot. “Get out of here Chris” I growl and start to speed walk to my bathroom. Chris follows me inside and shuts the door behind him. “What did I do wrong can you just tell me?!” Chris yells with worry laced in his voice as I spit and rinse my face. Chris stares at me waiting for an answer. I ignore him and shove pass him to the kitchen. “Y/n!” Chris shouts while following me. I stop in my tracks and turn to face him.

“What Chris?! Literally what?!” I yell in his face while leaning toward him a bit. He stares at me with glossy eyes and licks his lips before speaking, “You love me?” He whispers. My angry expression fades as I lean back. “I did.” I whisper and cross my arms, looking down. Chris stays silent. “Then tell me what I did wrong if you love me..” Chris whispers with hurt in his voice as he steps closer to me. I refuse to look up at him r not shake my head. “It doesn’t matter anymore” I reply and look up at him.

Chris blinks at me. “Yes it does!! Tell me please!”

I stare at him for a minute. He stands there waiting for an answer. “Cause you’re a filthy cheater! Don’t act clueless and pretend you don’t know what you did!” I cry out, finally letting go of the tears. Chris looks at me confused and shocked. “Y/n, w-what are you taking about?!” Chris stutters.

I scoff and pull out my phone and click on the saved chats with the unknown number. I hand the phone to Chris who takes it with his eyebrows furrowed.

After a few minutes of Chris scrolling through the items he starts to laugh. I look at him with a wide eye. “What’s so funny?!” I ask and snatch my phone back. He continues to laugh and covers his face and shakes his head. “You really believe that y/n?!” Chris yells through his hands. I stare at him waiting for him to stop whatever this was. “Stop laughing fuck face, what is wrong with you?! You think this is funny?”

“No! It’s just these videos and pictures, you can tell that it’s not me, some of them are edited and some are old, those voice recordings are clearly fake whoever made those used a voice maker” Chris replies. I look at him with a confused expression and unlock my phone. I look through the items and zoom in on the pictures. You could clearly see how edited it was. I felt so stupid. “Fuck” I whisper and giggle a bit. “I think I was too high to spot the editing”

Chris laughs louder when he heard my sentence. We calm down a bit and stare at each other. “I’m so sorry baby I didn’t know” I speak. Chris smiles at me and steps closer.

“It’s okay baby, but you need to lay off that smokin’.” Chris laughs. I smile up at him and lean in to kiss him. Chris kisses me back and lifts his hands to hold my face.

I pull away and smile at him. “I love you, y/n.” Chris whispers while rubbing my cheek with his thumb. “I love you more.”

————————————

#chris sturniolo #chris sturniolo headcanon #chris sturniolo angst #chris sturniolo fluff #chris sturniolo smut #christopher sturniolo #matt sturniolo #sturniolo triplets #matt sturniolo fluff #matt sturniolo smut #nick sturniolo #matt sturniolo angst #matt sturniolo headcanon #matthew sturniolo #masterlist #nicolas sturniolo #sturniolo x reader #sturniolo smut #sturniolo fanfic #fanfic #spotify #soundcloud

[gloomy--angel]

Decrypting the fragmented messages from Martyn‘s PiratesSMP finale (I‘m back with lore brainrot yay!)

———

In his stream there‘s 6 messages he gets with only parts revealed. The rest looks like this with the strange symbols always changing.

(example)

So here’s all the timestamps for the messages & what I’ve been able to get from them. I can‘t ensure they are correct. (The text in italics is stuff that I‘m still unsure about & the rows of 5s are the words I haven‘t been able to decrypt. I‘ll explain why that is below.)

- - 1:15:21 - -

Martyn!?

- - 1:38:48 - -

That has to be you? What took you so long to get out here?

- - 1:46:38 - - (message confirmed by martyn)

There isn‘t much time left! You‘ll be alright so long as you hurry.

- - 1:47:43 - -

C.H.E.S.T have taken an invention/infection and tweaked it. The world got locked in. Iris 5555 failsafe 555 di5 t5e5 5i555.

Edit: You could get locked in. is another solution I found. I think this might fit better.

- - 1:59:47 - -

The portal is close. We can‘t risk them seeing it. 55 5555 a distraction so you can slip away.

- - 2:13:05 - -

Be swift, keep calm & remember your training. Ill only be able to keep it open n for a few more minutes then I‘d have to quarantine this world.

———

I‘ll try my best to explain how I got to these results now (I hope this explanation makes sense to someone lol)

Firstly I looked at all these messages, screen recorded them and then did some research on how to even make them look like this. I found a tutorial and during this video I noticed that not every fragmented letters looks the same. They are based on the width of the original text. An i is a very slim letter so the fragmented (or as it is apparently called, obfuscated) text would be slim as well. The opposite goes for a wide letter like w and d which will result in a wide fragmented character.

With this info and the example message Martyn revealed I was able to test and confirm this. Every fragmented symbol has a set width, reaching from 1 to 5 pixels. The fragmented characters constantly change, but they always stay the same size. So all I had to do now was skip through my recordings of the messages and find frames where the I can count the pixels of every missing character and write the number down. It took very long and I had to check several times because I kept making mistakes and miscounting. But I got these results:

- Message 2: 5553 has 35 55 you! 5553 3554 you 55 2555 to 553 553 here?

- Message 4: C.H.E.S.T 5555 2545n 55 155e53155 555 3w5545d 131 555 5o525 553 25c455 151 3515 5555 failsafe 555 di5 35e5 515551 

- Message 5: 555  555352 15 52o551  55  55523 r154 t555  555155  131 55 5555 5 51535a53155 55 555 555 5l15 away.

- Message 6: 55 s51431 k555 5525 5 55555555 55u5 355151551 3ll 5525 55 5525  35 4555 i3 5555 n 455 5 few 5555 min5355 5he5 325 5555 35 quarantine 3515 55525111

(didn’t do 1 & 3 because 1 was kinda obvious and 3 was already revealed. )

Now I know the amount of missing characters & how many pixels wide they are. In the minecraft text font almost all characters are five pixels wide, as you see above. But there are a few outliers:

4 pixels: lowercase k & f

3 pixels: lowercase t and uppercase i

2 pixels: lowercase L and apostrophes (there is also a 1 pixel apostrophe but it doesn‘t seem like it‘s used here)

1 pixel: lower i as well as dots, exclamation marks and commas

With this I was able to read some of the missing letters. The rest was guessing. Or I guess using wordle solvers and other websites to find fitting words. That’s how I got to the results above.

———

Additional notes on the messages:

— I don‘t know if the word in message 4 for is invention or infection. I think both would work. Infection could mean some kind of virus?

— Iris is the only word I could find that would fit with a capital i (and make sense in the context of pirates) but I haven‘t been able to form a logical sentence with it. I‘m assuming it is a capital letter because it‘s a new sentence. But it could technically be a t. (if anyone has ideas on this pls tell me..)

— Don‘t know what the missing words in message 5 are. I don‘t think they would change the meaning greatly though. (make doesn‘t work bc k is 4 pixels)

— The italics words in message 6 I‘m still a bit unsure about. There is some other word groups that could fit, but none of them made much sense in the whole sentence. I do think it’s possible that I‘m wrong there.

— Edit, bc I forgot to add this. But I don‘t know why there is a singular n in message 6. It is either a strange way to shorten and which would not match the rest of the writing style at all or it is a typo which I don‘t think is that unlikely tbh. I think the way the message would have to be written (with commands I assume) would make it easy to make a mistake there, so maybe it is just the n from open.

— Edit 2: Missing part in message 5 might be "We need a distraction …" (suggestion from @.ilexdiapason)

———

I am honestly very surprised that I got this far. Not what I was expecting when I started this. Obviously these messages weren‘t intended to be decrypted like his — which is why I don‘t think I will ever figure out the full messages — but I wanted to try anyway. Martyn has said he‘ll reveal them at some point so I guess I‘ll find out how correct I am. I definitely had my fun with this, also big thanks to the two people (once and percival) in Martyns discord that were replying to my messages while I was doing this lol <3

#inthelittlewood #itlw #itlwlore #pirates smp #martyn inthelittlewood

[sir-adamus]

so as part of the RWBY 10 year anniversary celebrations in Japan (i posted yesterday about how they had a screening of the top 7 favourite episodes as voted by the fandom over there), there was apparently a video message from Kerry too where he talked about how the crwby want to keep the show going and he hopes to share some good news soon (and it's possible he recorded that message when he was in Japan last month)

like, they are staying optimistic and they are all so dedicated to keeping this show going, and y'know i think it's kinda beautiful how far this fandom really goes, people all over the world holding out hope that this story gets to finish on CRWBY's terms. they're not giving up, and neither should we

#RWBY

[mvybanks]

the one with the tiktok prank - w/ frat!rafe

a/n: was i thinking about this while getting a wax? 100% + i don’t know if you guys know about this trend and it’s kinda toxic but anyway…🫣

warnings: a little bit suggestive, jealous!rafe

nav

add yourself to my taglist <3

add yourself to my rafe taglist <3

Scrolling on TikTok has never been more boring than today. Every single video you stumble upon looks the same and it’s making you want to throw your phone across the room. There’s only so far of videos you can watch of bottles and jars being pushed down some stairs, it’s getting too old already. Your boyfriend is no help either as he’s gaming with his friends and talking to them through the big headphones on his head while you lie on his bed.

You huff in annoyance until something finally catches your eye. “Telling my boyfriend I got waxed by a guy” the white, bold letters on your screen read, which gets your undivided attention. When the guy, apparently the boyfriend of the girl who’s making the TikTok, turns around at the speed of light at the realization that some other man touched and saw his girlfriend naked, you giggle, knowing full well that your own man would go insane.

Suddenly, a wicked smile etched on your face as you got an idea to make your day more interesting. After all, Rafe is having his own fun, why shouldn’t you entertain yourself as well?

Propping his phone on his nightstand and pressing the recording button, you take your own phone and press it against your ear as you fake a phone call. It’s hard to keep your laughter in, but oh, you know this is going to rile him up and you can’t wait for it.

“Hey Emma,” you say into your phone, knowing that Rafe won’t suspect anything if he hears you talking to your best friend. “Yeah, this day’s been so boring. I got a brazilian wax for the first time though,” you add the last part nonchalantly. You swear you can see your boyfriend’s head slightly turn at your words, which makes you notice that one of his ears is uncovered and free from his headphones.

“Mh, it was okay. I went to the guy you recommended and he didn’t make me feel a thing, I swear.”

Rafe almost falls from the chair when he whips around to face you, an unreadable look on his features as you try your best to not completely burst into laughter at the sight of his expression.

“Guy?!” He asks, raising his voice and throwing his headphones behind him.

You place your hand on the microphone of your phone, as if anyone could even listen to your conversation, and shrug, “What? What’s your problem?”

“What’s a brazilian wax? Is that on your legs or armpits or something?”

You chuckle, “It’s…down there.”

He raises from the chair and walks closer to his bed, “And a guy did that?! How is that even allowed? Did he touch you?”

You can basically see smoke coming out of his ears, but does he look hot when he gets jealous. You pretend to end your phone call, then you crawl to the foot of the bed until you’re sitting on your knees and looking up at your very angry boyfriend. “I don’t get what you’re getting so mad about. It’s not like anything happened.”

Gently taking your chin between his thumb and forefinger, he bends his neck down to meet you. “What happened is that another guy touched my girl and maybe now I have to remind her who she belongs to,” he smirks, causing you to trap your bottom lip between your teeth in order to stop the smile that wants to take over your features.

“Yeah, I guess you have to,” you whisper against his lips.

You close your eyes, waiting for his mouth to find yours; you can feel his hot breath on your lips, when suddenly he mumbles, “If you wanted me to take your clothes off, you could’ve just asked instead of making this all up.”

When you reopen your eyes, his signature smirk is still lingering and you only want for him to drop the cocky attitude and give you what you want. “Shut up and kiss me, Cameron.”

“Always a pleasure doing business with you, sweetheart.”

taglist:

@gemofthenight @vigilanteshitposting @m-indkiller @buckysdogtagss @yoonabeo @iruzias @babypoguelife @poppet05 @earth2starkey @illicitfixations @palmwinemami @marzipaanz @wildflwrdarlin @sweetestdesire @guililove @colbysbrocks @magnificantmermaid @chaostudee @rafesmoon @mistalli @fangirl-madz @canarysposts @screan @fishingirl12 @cilliansangel @mattyskies @rafecluver @jjsunrolledblunt @pedrosprincess @jjmaybankisbae @em-dee @rentaldarling @houseofperfecttaste @3in1shampooconditionerbodywash @jjsbank444 @taintedxkisses @hallecarey1 @savage-aespa @dogmomalsop @gh0stb4e3 @maybankslover @aris-void @dreamingwithrafe @slvt4starkey @angelofcigs @lovelyxtom @kiamilax @colsongunkelly @congratsloserr @urmomswashingmachine @loveu-always @gumdropgirl @wpdailyminimeta @rentaldarling @bee6r @savagemickey03

#rafe cameron #rafe cameron fanfiction #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron angst #rafe cameron obx #rafe cameron x you #rafe cameron x y/n #rafe cameron smut #rafe cameron x female reader #rafe cameron fluff #rafe cameron outer banks #rafe cameron one shot #rafe cameron blurb #obx #outer banks #drew starkey #frat!rafe

[slexenskee]

Detour (MDNSY Oneshot)

For an ask about the reactions of the JJK cast on MDNSY Gojo's... everything 😂

Scrubstan22 finds himself in the (un)enviable position of explaining Ru-kun to the JJK cast

(Link here: or read below)

Nanabi Shun, better known by his online handle ‘Scrubstan22’ is having his most surreal day yet. An unhinged mad scientist turned villain with a space-time quirk and an obsession with Ru-kun that borders on the same level as even the most delusional of Scrubs, has accidentally flung him, an innocent bystander, into an alternate dimension. 

This would be terrifying, if it wasn’t apparently some kind of alternate dimension where Ru-kun’s anime is real. 

And not only is it real… it’s apparently Ru-kun’s true origin story?? 

To be fair, it’s still terrifying, but Scrubstan22 has more pressing matters to focus on than his own mortality and possible impending doom. 

Gojo Satoru apparently exists in this world— but Ru-kun does not. 

It’s utterly absurd! It’s unreasonable and unfair! Maybe those songs really do already exist in this world— as the very unamused talking Panda keeps trying to tell him— but if No Scrubs and Ru-kun aren’t performing it, then they don’t actually exist at all! Nanabi couldn’t possibly put into words how life-changing it was to see Ru-kun perform in person. The fact that he doesn’t exist in this world— or at least not as the shit-posting global celebrity rockstar that Nanabi knows him as— is really quite sad. These poor kids don’t know what they’re missing out on. As a major Scrub and Ru-kun simp, Nanabi just can’t let this slide. He has to rectify it immediately. 

Luckily he has a perfect solution.

His entire downloaded archive of all things No Scrubs and Ru-kun.

Some of Gojo Satoru’s students are more impressed than others. 

“I hate that he looks so good in that skirt,” comes from the glasses-wearing girl. Maki, he thinks is her name. He only watched through the anime once so he’s pretty bad with the names of all the side characters.  

“I should have known he’d make an excellent Sailor Moon after he stole my uniform.” Kugisaki Nobara complains, looking exactly as her character does in the anime. 

Neither of them are enthused to see Ru-kun in his crossdressing glory, but Nanabi notices they’re unwillingly enthralled nonetheless. 

Itadori Yuuji himself— the main character of Cursed Fight Season One— is unsurprisingly the most enthusiastic about it all. He nearly climbs over Nanabi for a better look at the recording on his phone, eyes alight. 

“Sensei is so cool as a rockstar! It really suits him well!” Itadori exclaims, delighted. “And he’s singing ‘My Chemical Romance’? Sensei has such good taste!”

“He’s just an emo-punk loser who clearly had way too much time on his hands,” Fushiguro Megumi protests, although despite his inflammatory remarks he too doesn’t look away from the screen. 

Apparently quite a few No Scrubs’ songs are from this band ‘My Chemical Romance’. Yuuji even shows him the music video of the same song from the actual band just to prove it, although that was wholly unnecessary. Nanabi believes him when he says all these songs already exist in this world and belong to other bands— he just doesn’t care. If anything, seeing the other bands perform it just confirms what he already believed; Ru-kun does it better. 

Nanabi is happy to show them all the fan recordings he has of No Scrubs, gushing over the various outfit choices and the songs themselves. It’s actually kind of nice that these songs exist already, because that means these kids already know them and he can argue about which are superior without having to explain. Itadori’s favorite is ‘A Loaded God Complex’, called ‘Sugar We’re Goin’ Down’ in this world (although Itadori admits the changed title suits Ru-kun far more), Fushiguro’s is ‘Island in the Sun’, and Panda translates that Inumaki’s is ‘Thanks for the Memories’, but Panda himself confesses he’s unfamiliar with this genre of music. The two girls decry all their picks as boring, and don’t seem particularly impressed by any of Ru-kun’s songs until—

“Paramore!!” The two girls screech in unison, suddenly looking a lot more invested than they had earlier. 

Nanabi has up a recording from the Scrubs Unite tour, which Ru-kun had done entirely in drag. They’d finally gotten to the encore, where Ru-kun had tried to weasel his female bandmates into singing the encore song, insisting it was made for a female vocalist. They summarily denied him, so he ended up singing the song himself, called Misery Business. It’s one of Nanbi’s favorite performances, and one Ru-kun hasn’t done since. 

Even Maki and Kugisaki are begrudgingly impressed. 

“He sounds like a male Hayley Williams— that’s so fucking unfair,” Kugisaki denounces, despairing. “Why does that bastard have to be good at everything, seriously.” 

“The outfit is pretty spot on too, if he just dyed his hair, it’d be a great cosplay.” Maki agrees, sourly. 

“Does he play anything else from Riot?” Kugsaki rounds on him. “What about That’s What You Get?”

Nanabi looks up at her helplessly. “Sorry, I don’t think so. But they apparently have a ton of unreleased stuff though, so maybe I just haven’t heard it.”

Apparently back when No Scrubs was truly an underground band playing random shows at dive bars, they had an insanely large setlist. Most of those songs never made it onto any of the official recordings. He’s heard rumors online that there’s a vinyl floating around, but aside from a single interview with All Might, has no real confirmation of its existence. 

“I think it’s awesome that Sensei has an alternate personality as a rockstar,” Yuuji enthuses, looking rather fond and indulgent as he stares down at Ru-kun strutting across a stage. “I hope it’s more relaxing than being The Strongest all the time.”

Nanabi blinks at him. “Oh. He’s that too.” 

The Jujutsu Tech students stare at him blankly. “... What?” 

//

As it turns out, they’re all collectively more confused and bewildered by the whole Sixwings thing than they are the ‘world’s strongest’ thing. In this world, since the moment of his birth Gojo Satoru was always meant to be the strongest. That he can destroy armies in the blink of an eye and pull out purple-laser-death-beams-of-doom (apparently a technique called Hollow Purple in this world) and walk through explosions unscathed is just common knowledge among the Jujutsu World. 

So all of his footage of Dabi’s many international exploits was met with a genial disinterest. 

His media folder of Sixwings, however…

“He’s… really in a relationship?” Kugisaki looks utterly confounded. “A normal, healthy, longterm relationship?”

“He’s getting married?” Maki sounds bewildered.

“He has a kid?” Fushiguro sounds unimpressed. 

Panda scratches his chin. “Huh. Hey, that’s good for him! He sounds like he’s actually a well-adjusted and normal guy.” 

“Is his boyfriend a psychopath?” Kugisaki asks, urgently. “I really can’t see how else this would work out.”

“Not at all! Hawks is well-known as a very charming and friendly hero. He’s actually a really good guy.” Nanabi protests. 

Kugisaki squints at him. “How the hell does he put up with him then?”

Nanabi smiles sheepishly. “Uh… he’s pretty easygoing I guess?” 

Maki is leaning over him for a better look at his phone, using her fingers to zoom in on the photo he has up of Hawks and Ru-kun at the U.A. School Festival. He doesn’t swing that way, but even he has to admit they looked really good that day. And with Eri thrown in on top of it? It’s no wonder they’re regularly voted as the cutest couple in Japan.

“Damn. They actually look really good together.” Maki says, begrudging. 

“Tuna, tuna.” Inumaki pokes Panda in the side.

Panda gives a solemn nod. “Inumaki-kun has a good point. What’s all this gossip about a Sixwings baby?”

“Oh, that’s Eri-chan.” Nanabi scrolls down to a better photo of her. There’s one from the Ru-kun signing event at Tower Records, where a sinfully good-looking Ru-kun is holding her on his hip and waving out to the crowds. “She’s the child he birthed from his own body.”

Fushiguro blinks rapidly. “He what now?”

“He’s fucking with you.” Kugisaki denies immediately. 

Nanabi shrugs. “Maybe— but no one knows for sure! To be honest, none of his powers make much sense to us, so some people believe it and others don’t.”

Maki’s expression turns worried. “Well, they’re not all that clear to us either… I mean, there’s a lot you can do with cursed energy…”

She glances up at Panda. Panda just gives her a thumbs up. “That’s right! I mean, I exist, so who knows!”

“There’s a couple different rumors about it, but none are confirmed.” Nanabi fills them in with a gleeful expression. “The main one is that she really is the Sixwings baby, and they had her when they were teenagers and kept it a secret. There’s also a couple variations where Eri is his child, but the regular way, but he’s slept with a lot of people and none of them were women so people are pretty skeptical about it. Then there’s also the theory that he did birth her from his own body, but not with Hawks. There’s no real guesses on who her father is for that one.”

His companions look at him with varying degrees of incredulity. Nanabi spreads his hands. “The likely answer is he’s just messing with everyone and she’s adopted, but like I said, we really don’t know!”

Itadori doesn’t really seem to care about the truth either way, grabbing at his phone to scroll through the photos. “They’re so cute together! Haha, she really kind of even does look like sensei a little bit! She’s definitely just as stylish as he is!”

Itadori keeps scrolling until he gets to the infamous Swing incident, saved in all its glory in an endless gif format. 

They all stare in silence as, on screen, Gojo Satoru gets KO’d by his kid on a swing set over and over again. 

“Send me that.” Kugisaki demands. 

//

Scrubstan22 gets rescued eventually. It’s a pretty boring affair, truth be told. He didn’t see any real curses, or any kind of fighting. 

Gojo doesn’t return to campus until long after the sun has set, to the bizarre scene of all his students shoving their phones at poor Nanami, who looks as if he regretted ever coming in person to turn in his paperwork. They’re apparently trying to show Nanami photos of Gojo in drag, despite his vocal protests. The moment they lay eyes on him they pounce on him instead. None of their explanations make any sense. There’s something about him being a rockstar, and also married, and apparently a mother, and they have plenty of blurry photo evidence they try to shove at him. It looks like they all took photos of someone else’s screenshots, so the quality leaves much to be desired. Maybe if he squints really hard, that does kind of look like him in a mini skirt, but who’s to say really? 

Unfortunately for the students, the space-time continuum rights itself overnight and they all lose their collective memory of Scrubstan22 and his alternate-universe. But the digital evidence remains, and occasionally Kugisaki will pull out her phone and watch a very random gif of Gojo-sensei getting smacked to the ground by a kid on a swing, and while she has no idea where it came from, she draws immense satisfaction from it anyway. 

#mdnsy oneshots #fic may death never stop you

[joeys-babe]

Joey B Blurbs: Water

————————————————————————-

Summary: While bored at home during the twin’s nap time, you try the Water by Tyla Tiktok trend on your husband Joe.

Warnings: nothing really. fluff, unserious/funny

Pairing: Joe Burrow x reader

Imagine universe: Into The Mystic

————————————————————————-

November 6th - Day after win over the Bills

(yn’s pov)

Joe and I were currently cuddled up on the couch in comfortable silence, the only sounds being of the overhead fan and TV quietly playing the science channel.

Yesterday the Bengals had yet again a big win and it seemed like things were starting to click with the team. That Bye Week was exactly what they needed to set the season on a good path.

I scrolled through TikTok on my phone, one Airpod in my ear so I could hear the audio while leaving one ear free to hear any remarks from Joe about what he was watching on the TV.

Lately, my FYP consisted of puppies, couples, other WAGS, and thirst edits of Joe (I'm not ashamed).

Just under two weeks ago, I pranked Joe after seeing a video on TikTok and I wouldn't be lying if I said I have a couple more trends I've wanted to test on him.

One of them is the trend that consisted of you playing the song “Water” by Tyla as you secretly record your man to see if they'll try to get a peak of the screen to see her do the water dance.

I already knew that Joe would never openly fawn over another woman in front of me, or in private either really. Knowing it wouldn't have a super-positive impact on me and our relationship. But, there was still a part of me that wanted to see how he'd react to it.

Hell, he probably didn't even know the trend; which honestly would be the best outcome.

My head was lying comfortably on Joe’s shoulder as he intently paid attention to his favorite channel. I discreetly took my Airpod out of my ear and back in the case before pulling up the audio.

I had my phone angled to where it was hidden discreetly but Joe was still in frame.

The show was on a commercial break and through the camera view it showed Joe scrolling on his phone, occasionally laughing at something then scrolling on.

Turning my volume button up, I clicked the record button and studied Joe’s expression.

As soon as he turned I looked at him with a shocked look, but he was only grinning and showing me this video of a fainting goat on his Instagram feed; not even paying attention to the audio.

When he noticed the bitchy look on my face he immediately looked at me rather confused.

“What? Do you not think it's funny?” - Joe

My gaze on him softened when the fact he didn't know any significance of the audio became apparent. When I moved my phone out of its hiding spot and Joe realized he was being recorded, he looked at me even more confused.

“What are you doing?” - Joe

I turned the video off with a laugh and pecked his lips. When I pulled away Joe still looked lost and a little annoyed as to why I hadn't started explaining myself yet.

“Do you not recognize that song?” - you laughed

“No…” - Joe gave you a puzzled look

“It was a little TikTok trend that girls do on their boys. you, my love, are one of the very few that passed.” - you

“Yay?” - Joe

“Very yay, Joey!” - you giggled

Joe smiled slightly before gesturing to the TV that was counting down the time left on the commercial break.

“Can we watch the show now?” - Joe

“Of course. You had such a good reaction that I'm gonna bake you a pumpkin pie later.” - you

“Really?!” - Joe

“Yup!” - you

Joe squeezed me as a thank you and nuzzled his face in my neck, suddenly feeling the need to be cuddled.

“I still don't know what I did that was so right, but I'm glad I made you happy.” - Joe

————————————————————————-

Authors note: this fic was too short to even qualify as an imagine so here’s my first blurb!

Hope you enjoyed! ❤️

#joe burrow #bengals #joe burrow imagine #joe burrow x reader #joey b #cincinnati bengals #joe burrow fan fic

[coochiequeens]

I don't like conservative "news" media like fox and this site but no one else is talking about how surrogacy gives pedos access to kids.

The fertility industry is handing designer babies over to men with zero vetting or scrutiny of their mental fitness or criminal history.

By KATY FAUST

Surrogacy is risky for children. Not just the risk of a primal wound via intentional birth mother separation. Not just the risk of identity struggles if their genetic mother is purchased from a catalog. Not just the risk of mother-hunger if they are raised in a home absent maternal love. 

Surrogacy puts children at risk for the worst kinds of abuse. 

That became glaringly obvious last month when YouTubers Shane Dawson and partner Ryan Adams announced the birth of twin boys. Dawson’s long history of sexualizing children is well-known and well-documented. Evie magazine detailed concerning incidents including Dawson pretending to masturbate while watching 11-year-old Willow Smith’s music video, referring to a 6-year-old fan as “kind of sexy,” justifying pedophilia as a mere “fetish,” typing “naked baby” in a child pornography search and remarking that the returns were “sexy,” and proclaiming, “I would rape all of you” when viewing a series of photos featuring young girls wearing his merchandise.

In one show, he instructed a 12-year-old to eat a “cocktail weenie” with the recognition that child molesters comprise a significant portion of his audience. Dawson and Adam have another 10 embryos in frozen storage should they decide they want a few more children around the house.

We hope no harm comes to the boys to whom Dawson and Adams have been granted (via surrogacy contract) parental rights. But other surrogate-born children were not so fortunate.

Contrary to what you may think, surrogacy isn’t just about helping infertile couples have babies. When we look at how surrogacy is actually practiced and promoted, we see surrogacy isn’t about babies, it’s about on-demand, designer babies shipped worldwide. And sometimes, those babies are shipped directly to child abusers.

We don’t know the raw numbers because, unlike organ donation, the medical wing of #BigFertility requires no tracking or follow-up of those who avail themselves of their services. (Apparently, there’s more concern about the survival of a kidney than a child.) And unlike adoption, which heavily vets and screens prospective parents and monitors the child post-placement, surrogate-born children are not known to social workers and often disappear across international borders.

Even when safeguards are in place, predators often go to great lengths to acquire children to abuse. In 2022, the country was horrified by the story of a suburban pedophile ring set up by two married men who raped and pimped out their adopted sons. 

That children created by a fertility industry with no mechanism (and no desire) to scrutinize intended parents for things like mental fitness, criminal records, or predatory history end up in the homes of dangerous adults should surprise no one.

Absent any kind of record-keeping or follow-up on these children, those of us who reject surrogacy on the grounds that it violates the rights of children, must piece together the risks when stories of child victimization emerge. 

These 5 Pedophiles Mail-Ordered Babies

Psychiatrist Jo Erik Brøyn held a high position in Norwegian social services responsible for child protection and was involved in several high-profile cases of child removal. He also acquired two boys through an Indian surrogate. In 2018, police discovered 20 years’ worth of child pornography in his possession — more than 20,000 images and 4,000 hours of videos — depicting child sexual abuse including “boys masturbating each other, fixed/sexualized violence against children, anal sex by men with boys or oral sex of children (including toddlers) on grown men.” He was sentenced to less than two years in prison. Some sources report that the boys have been returned to his care.

An unnamed German pedophile hired a Russian surrogate for €60,000 who birthed the baby in Greece. He then flew the child back to Germany. In 2020, a regional court found him guilty of child abuse and producing and possessing child pornography. His child was a subject of 16 of those cases between the ages of 2 and 3, and the defendant was in possession of 175,000 images of child pornography. He was sentenced to five years in prison. The child was removed from his custody. 

In 2013, Mark Newton and Peter Truong were convicted of subjecting their surrogate-born son to “the worst [pedophile] rings … if not the worst ring I’ve ever heard of,” according to one investigator. After paying a Russian surrogate $8,000 to carry the child, the pair began to violate the boy as a newborn.

“The abuse began just days after his birth and over six years the couple traveled the world, offering him up for sex with at least eight men, recording the abuse and uploading the footage to an international syndicate known as the Boy Lovers Network.” Police believe the pair created the boy through surrogacy “for the sole purpose of exploitation.” The child was removed from their custody, and the men are serving decades-long sentences.

During the height of the Indian surrogacy boom, it was revealed that an Israeli sex offender had procured a little girl via surrogacy. Had #BigFertility had any kind of vetting in place or required fingerprinting or simply character references, it would likely have been discovered that the man had spent 18 months in jail for sexually abusing young children under his supervision. The discovery shocked authorities in both India and Israel, but because they couldn’t prove that abuse had yet taken place, there was no ground to remove the girl from his custody. It did however validate India’s decision to ban single men and gay couples, who composed 30-50 percent of intended parents, from the Indian surrogacy market.

In 2014, intended parents Wendy and David Farnell commissioned twin surrogate children in Thailand, then a global hotspot for surrogacy. The little girl, Pipah, was healthy, but the little boy, Gammy, had serious medical issues as well as Down Syndrome. A scandal erupted when the couple took the little girl back to Australia but abandoned Gammy to be raised by the Thai surrogate.

It was then discovered that David had been jailed in the late 1990s for sexually molesting two girls under the age of 10, and was charged, convicted, and sentenced again in 1998 on six counts of indecently dealing with a child under the age of 13. When his criminal record was revealed and investigated, a judge determined there was “a low risk of harm if Pipah stays in that home,” and she remained in the care of Wendy and David until his death in 2020. The “Baby Gammy” case was one of several scandals that prompted the Thai government to ban commercial surrogacy altogether. 

Many of the above cases are older, the results of contracts that were drawn up when surrogacy was less common. Since then, the surrogacy industry has grown exponentially with a projected 1,000 percent increase by 2032. In addition, there are entire organizations devoted to delivering custom-ordered babies to men, none of which will have to submit to background checks or fingerprinting. So expect more cases of surrogate-born child exploitation in the coming years. 

Whether or not the child ends up abused, whether it’s paid or altruistic, whether it’s traditional or gestational, and regardless of the intended parent’s household composition, surrogacy always violates the rights of the child. It is not a problem that can be solved through regulation. The only way to protect children is to ban surrogacy worldwide.

#Anti surrogacy #Surrogacy exploits women #Babies are not commodities #No one is entitled to biological children #Some people should not even be near kids #Are fertility agencies required to do background checks on potential parents?

[vs-space-orcs]

Imagine aliens who like to come to deathworlds to experience the local nightmare conditions, like those people that do extreme outdoorsy sports stuff (idk what that's called but those people are Insane. Anyway) or storm chasers.

Imagine the alien equivalent of a youtuber from a planet that had no concept of barometric pressure changes documenting their experience waiting for and through a thunderstorm. Would they naturally be able to feel changes in pressure in more detail than us since they aren't used to it?

"Hey everyone, logging in for the first time from Terra. We're two days ahead of a thunderstorm here in 'Ohklawhowma,' as the locals call it, and we can already feel the atmosphere changing around us. It's hard to describe. It's like your skin and bones feel... unsettled. Really fascinating."

"Hey everyone, logging back in one Sol day before the predicted storm, and we are really feeling the atmosphere changing as the day goes on. I'm doing alright but my partner Navideah is in bed, her bones and skin are hurting pretty bad. They say even among humans there are some people who are more susceptible to pain caused by these pressure changes. Absolutely insane to think a whole sentient species, an entire planet, just deals with this every day. I've been to a lot of deathworlds but Terra is something else."

"Hey everyone, it's the day of the storm and the storm is starting to 'roll in' as the humans say. *camera pans to show a large storm cloud approaching on the horizon*Look at these atmospheric water structures! This one is going to be pretty tame by Terra standards. No solid water chunks raining from the sky and definitely no 'tornado.' We respect humans who chase those storms but decided we're not that intense.

Anyway *bright flash of light* OH DAMN I think we just saw some lightning! *thunder clap* and there's the thunder. They say the shorter the time between the flash and the thunder, the closer it is to you. And look at this! The horizon is hazy because that water structure, 'clouds' the humans call them, is dumping absolutely massive amounts of water on the landscape. Really, really exciting stuff!"

*video taken from inside the ship, with the sound of water hitting metal echoing everywhere* "Hey everyone, my recording equipment is having some trouble hearing me over the noise of water hitting the ship. The humans like to say it's 'raining cats and dogs' which are two small Terran companion animals. Not sure what that means but it really is insane how much water is coming out of the sky! I have some more footage being captured on cameras outside the ship that I'll edit and post later.

These changes in the atmosphere are really brutal on the body. I'm feeling it pretty good. My head hurts like you wouldn't believe, and Navideah had a fluid leak from her scent organ earlier. Apparently this is completely normal for humans. Some of them don't even feel any different when these storms come, which is absolutely insane every part of my body including my skin hurts. I have never has more respect for the humans their world is absolutely one of the wildest we've been to. And this is just an every day thing for them! Absolutely wild." *loud thunderclap and screen goes black*

"Hey everyone, we made it through the storm! My recording equipment had some interference so I'll be sorting through footage but I just wanted to let everyone know we made it, and we are packing up to head home.

Pain aside, this has been an incredible experience. The awe you feel on this wide open plain as these massive super structures of water in the atmosphere approach is really something else. It'll set your antennas on end. It really will. The anticipation as the storm approaches and the pain increases is so intense. It's unsettling and uncanny, but you can't help but think how beautiful it all is.

Anyway, it's been a long few days, so we're signing out for a bit while we head back home and recover. Wave Navideah! This is us, signing out."

#alien storm chasers #earth is a deathworld #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities

[hysteria-things]

✿ FIVE ✿

ʚ♡ɞ 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 | 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 | 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 | 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 ʚ♡ɞ

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: chris x reader

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: you and your former best friend chris sturniolo hang out for the first time in a long time.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: swearing

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 822

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: i added a promise? tag to make it easier to navigate!

nick is editing the recently recorded video when chris opens his door without knocking. nick lets out a yelp and aggressively takes off his headphones, staring up at his brother with horror and anger in his eyes. “for fuck sake!”

“stop yelling, it’s just me. have you heard from y/n?”

he gives him a look that looks like disgust, but his facial expressions are so similar that chris doesn’t know which emotion is which anymore. “not since the afternoon. why?”

“just curious,” he says, closing the door.

chris’s phone is on the kitchen island facing upwards. he taps the screen to see if there are any notifications, but there aren’t. he groans. it’s almost midnight, she has to be home by now.

as matt is walking into the kitchen, his phone goes off making him lunge across the island to grab it. matt stops in his tracks and looks at chris with wide eyes. “i’m confused.”

“keep on walking, lover boy,” chris says, holding up his hand in a shooing gesture. the boy rolls his eyes and opens the fridge. he stays hunched over the island, a smile appearing on his face when he sees it.

y/n l/n is typing…

he didn’t bother waiting for you to finish typing when he opened up snapchat. your bitmoji is on the bottom left corner above the keyboard, the three dots in the thought bubble moving from side to side as you type. a breath of relief was released from him when your message popped up.

Y/N

| i made it home

| see?

ME

| fine you win

| thank you for keeping your promise :)

Y/N

| as always (unlike you😒)

ME

| I SAID I WAS SORRY

Y/N

| i know i know i’m just kidding

| you're lucky claudia kept throwing up or i would’ve stayed there for wayyyy longer

ME

| LMAO

| that must’ve been fun to witness😍

Y/N

| for sure

ME

| are you free tomorrow?

Y/N

| i have no life

| so yes!

ME

| cool!

| do you want to hang out?

| like the good old days🥹

Y/N

| sure why not?

ME

| BET

| i’m going to text you to plan i hate using snapchat

| see you tomorrow :)

matt approaches next to chris. he’s sipping a root beer he got from the fridge a few minutes ago. “you’re going to hang out with y/n tomorrow?”

chris hides his phone by bringing it to his chest. he stares at him with a look of annoyance. “can you not snoop at my private conversations?”

he shrugs. “i wasn’t snooping. it just so happened to be in my eyesight.”

“get out of here, lover boy.”

you’ve been writing in your journal more frequently than you have anticipated. you’ve had this journal for a while but stopped for no apparent reason, but ever since the triplets, it’s been a number one priority in your eyes.

your brain moves faster than your hands, so you write down whatever your scrambled thoughts are telling you to. half the time you don’t even know what you’re writing.

that’s when you remember you’re supposed to hang out with chris today, so you place your pen into the crack of the book and start texting.

you get up from the bed and take a shower. after that, you find a decent outfit and throw it on. by descent you mean a black long-sleeve shirt and gray sweatpants. you’re basic like that.

walking to your parent’s room, your mother sits at her vanity putting the final touches on herself. you knock on the doorway, and she looks at you through the mirror and smiles. “hi, sweetie.”

“hey.” you reply. “so… just letting you know chris is coming over soon, even though you guys are going out anyway.”

“your father is in the car waiting.” she says, getting up and grabbing her purse. she grabs your shoulder lightly. “i’m glad you guys are starting to talk again.”

she kisses you on the head, exiting the room.

there is a knock at the front door, causing you to spring up from the couch.

you stand there for a beat before opening it. chris stands there with his hands in his pockets, lifting his head when he hears you. you look behind his shoulder and lift a brow. “your clones aren’t joining you today?

he laughs and shakes his head. “no. you didn’t ask for them.” you open the door wider for him to step in.

he looks around. “still feels like my second home.”

the heart inside your body flutters at the comment, but you clear your throat to distract yourself. “do you want anything? a drink or something?”

“i’m good, thanks.” he looks down at you, a grin plastered on his face. “i just want to hang out with you.”

biting your lip, you smile. “ask and you shall receive.”

𝐭𝐚𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭!

@bunbunbl0gs @lexisecretaccx @thy-mission @angelic-sturniolos111 @sophssturn @mattsneezing @janiellasblog @blahbel668 @meg-sturniolo @hearts4chris @mattslolita @sturnbaby @imwetforyourmom @tillies33ssss @sturnifyed @mayhem-72 @ripmattitude @p1xieswrld @alorsxsturn @txssvx @sttzee @multiluvr @delilahprentiss @matthewsspecial @sturnolio-luvs @sturniolho @suga-daddy-69 @tworosesblackthorn @luckistar-posts @gnxosblog @junnniiieee07 @sturnioloslurps @tylerthecreatorsrealwife @flowerxbunnie @imaslut4kehlani @sturniolosandmoree @hertvgirl @whoreforchrissturniolo @sturniolotriplettoplover @stars4matt @freshsturns @loverrsposts @sturnlcvr @elliesturniolo1 @tpvmz @user283926392 @lalalands86 @sukiipjs @sturniologirl813 @leahrab @chrissturniolosslut @h3arts4harry @sturnioloblogs @creamoncreamoncream2 @luv4kozume @ivyyyyyysposts @mirxcle1 @iluvm4ttsturni0l0 @catalina-island @mbsbaby @mattsdollie @pinkfarts @slut4mattsturn @thesturniolos @vickeyzloserz @nononopenono1 @bitchydragonparadise @gdsvhtwa @hrt-attack @bellasfavbisexual @dwntwn-strnlo @venusbabysblog

#[ ✿ ] promise? #chris sturniolo #matt sturniolo #nick sturniolo #christopher sturniolo #nicolas sturniolo #matthew sturniolo #sturniolo x reader #sturniolo fanfic #sturniolo imagine #sturniolo smut #sturniolo fluff #chris sturniolo fanfic #chris sturniolo smut #matt sturniolo fanfic #matt sturniolo smut #chris sturniolo fluff #matt sturniolo fluff

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

02/02/2024 Daily Recap

TLDR; SaveOFMDCrew Tumblr Updates; How To Help; Twitter Hashtags; Daily Lists; Reminders: Appreciation Events; Live Rewatch OFMD Party with Q+; Operation Auxiliary Wardrobe; Cast & Crew Sightings; New Watch Partys; Actually reasonable Articles; Stats; Petition Status; Morale; Love Notes; Daily Darby/Tonight's Taika

= Save OFMD Crew Tumblr Up =

The SaveOFMDCrew Tumblr is finally up and running! Due to some weirdness with accounts they'll be under @saveofmdcrewmates as opposed to the regular name. This will have the same news as the other platforms so feel free to give them a follow.

== How To Help ==

Twitter folks: looks like @SaveOFMDCrew as well as several other people who've been leading the charge on twitter wanted to remind everyone on when to use what hashtags. Apparently there's been some cross pollination and they wanted to try and clear it up. Thank you to @havethisonelife for summarising.

Haterade Posts:

#OhBloysHeMad , #TheNumbersWereThere, #FinishOurStories Avoid: #DontStreamOnMax

When Advertising ourselves:

#SaveOFMD #AdoptOurCrew

Horny Posts:

No tags (Edit: @SaveOFMDCrew said it was ok to use #OurFlagMeansDeath on horny posts, just no other tags).

Suggestions for How to Help

Looking for ways to help? There are still daily ideas for you here: How To Help Save OFMD Task List - US How to Help Save OFMD Task List - Outside US

==Reminders!==

Cast Appreciation Events!

Tomorrow is Day of Damien! A day to shower Damien Gerard (Father Teach) with support and kindness for all he's done for our fandom! He has been hitting #SaveOFMD events pretty hard trying to support us! 

When to start: Saturday February 3rd, 6 AM CST, 7 AM ET, 4 AM PT, 12 PM GMT  Hashtags: #DayOfDamien

His Social Media Accounts:

Linktree (has his cashapp, etc) / Instagram / Twitter / Twitch / Tiktok

== Live - Rewatch Party with Q+! ==

This rewatch party is particularly important because the crew is really trying to get people hyped for the BBC launch of s2 on Feb 5. Everyone is hoping that if the s2 launch in the UK shows huge interest it'll be a huge boon for the potential for s3 with the networks.

Sunday Feb 4, 2 PM GMT / 9 AM ET / 6 AM PT

Watch Party Hashtags:

#OurFlagMeansRewatch

#AdoptOurCrew

#SaveOFMD

#OurFlagBBC

=Operation Auxiliary Wardrobe=

Do you do applique, crochet, cross stitch, embroidery, knitting, needle felt or any other textile-based OFMD Art? Wanna join a fun group of participants? Starting next week there will be a recruiting drive for a new fabric+thread project mid-month if people are interested! If you want to jump in now you can message @ForceMonument on twitter, otherwise other avenues will be opened sometime in the coming weeks!

=Cast & Crew Sightings =

This is from 01/26/2024 but I missed it and I feel like it needs to be shared. Dominic Burgess being a goofball badass as Jeffrey Fettering singing a 18th century version of the Friends theme song. <3 (Apologies for the quality of the video, I had to record it off my screen so people didn't have to go to Twitter). Twitter Post.

Wee John Wednesdays Mondays are back!

Mon 5th Feb, 10.30pm on Kristian Nairn's Instagram

=NEW WATCH PARTIES =

You can see a running list of current/upcoming watch parties here.

Thank you @libbyroseitm for the new Watch Party!

Uncle Season 1 watch party on i-player. Thurs 15th + Fri 16th Feb (GMT - 8 PM , ET - 3PM, PST - 12 PM)

Catered specifically for the UK crew, but we'd be thrilled for anyone else using VPN's to join in too! Here's an article on how to join via VPN

WatchParty Hashtags:

#ForTheNewUncle

#SaveOFMD

#AdoptOurCrew

== Articles ==

Finally! The Q+ Article is wonderful and very uplifting.

Our Flag Means Death: Why It Deserves to Find a New Harbor

The 10 best TV shows to watch this week, from Mr and Mrs Smith to One Day

Hairy Bikers Go West, Death In Paradise and Wheel of Fortune: TV highlights this week

The Uncertain Fate of “Our Flag Means Death” Season 3: A Closer Look

Every show canceled so far in 2024

Netflix adds one of ‘the best shows of 2022’ after it was dropped by HBO Max

== STATS ==

Thanks to @Seven_Sugars over on twitter for this info and analysis.

Also, as always, more fun stats from @meowzawowza on twitter from the Netherlands.

== Petition Status ==

Almost to 84K signatures friends!

== Morale ==

I know we're ending day 24 of being the Gravy Basket. It's been a lonnnnng several weeks. We haven't heard from chaos dad in around a week now, so it may seem again like things are slowing down again. As several folks have mentioned before, not every day can be ground breaking, but seeing everyone in the community getting together, having fun with watch parties, discussing ofmd meta, making new art and fanfiction, it feels like the momentum is still there. We often don't see many updates on the weekend so take this time to relax, take a break, maybe do the rewatch party if you have time on Sunday. I did want to bring up, this article on The Tourist is cool because it highlights that HBOMax has cancelled some very highly rated shows in the past and Netflix has picked up on them-- and while we didn't see anything from the 2024 Netflix announcements (as @poison-into-positivity mentioned, even if it was picked up it wouldn't be for 2024) that doesn't mean it's not still a possibility. So don't give up hope. It's going to take some time to get through to the networks, and we'll keep keeping at it.

If you are feeling down or concerned, be sure to reach out to your fellow crew, we're all here for you.

== Love Notes ==

Hey lovelies. You are so incredibly strong, do you know that? No matter what's going on in your life, you're still here. Every single day you get back up, and you keep going. That is incredibly powerful, and incredibly strong, and don't let anyone tell you any different. Do you think our buddy Rhys let's anyone tell him he's not the baddest ass mf on the planet? Nope.

If all you did today was get out of bed, or take a shower, or walk your dog, and nothing else, you kicked today's ass. If you wrote fanfiction, or watched a tv show, you kicked today's ass. They say that "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" and while I see where that phrase is coming from I like to think of it a bit differently. What doesn't kill you, gives you a glimpse of just how strong you already were. You are the reason you are kind, you are the reason you are strong, you are the reason you continue to grow. You. Outside forces can help shape you, but you have always been strong even when you have felt your weakest, it's just not always easy to see. That strength is so important, and so is your need to rest. Remember to take a break from all the stressors of your life, whether that be a shower, or a 5 minute walk, or a day or a week away from the internet, whatever works for you. Even the strongest bridge in the world can break when there's too much weight on it. That doesn't mean the bridge is any less strong, it means something extremely heavy pushed it past its limits. Anyway, enough of my ramblings, just please know, everyone out here in the crew are so incredibly proud of you, we're rooting for you, and we're so very grateful you're still here with us.

===================================

Speaking of resting....Reminder! No recap for 02/03/2024 unless someone else wants to do one! Please feel free to, obviously! I will be off drinking after taking a dip in some hotsprings and then watching OFMD with two friends who have yet to see it. So if I show up lurking and drunk-tumblr you all, I sincerely apologize, but I hope if I do that drunk Abby is at least amusing. Love yall <3

===================================

== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==

If you wanna see someone else other than these two in these gifs from OFMD let me know, we can switch it up a bit.

#ofmd daily recap #ofmd daily recaps #daily ofmd recap #daily ofmd recaps #ofmd #our flag means death #stede bonnet #gentlebeard #renew as a crew #edward teach #save ofmd #rhys darby #blackbonnet #save our flag means death #Taika Waititi #adopt our crew #ofmd renewal #renew our flag means death

[kchasm]

Ryu Number: Don Adams

Don Adams was an American actor, best known for his role as the incredibly skilled yet incredibly clumsy secret agent Maxwell Smart in the secret agent spoof sitcom Get Smart. If you don't recognize the title—which, fair enough, it aired literally sixty years ago—he also notably voiced the dimwitted cyborg police officer protagonist of the Inspector Gadget cartoons.

He has a Ryu Number of at most 4.

The last portion of Space Quest V: Roger Wilco – The Next Mutation features our titular protagonist infiltrating the SCS Goliath, making use of its cramped, labyrinthine maintenance tunnels.

Apparently someone in development thought the passageways a bit reminiscent, video-game-wise: Take the right wrong path, and Roger will speedily crawl in the other direction with an unexpected cameo on his tail.

Space Quest 6: Roger Wilco in the Spinal Frontier is fully voiced, including—as you may know already because @ryunumber—noted disc jockey, announcer, and voice actor Gary Owens. Normally this wouldn't be enough to count the actor themselves, even if they are credited in the game—but persist past the end credits and fade-out and you'll hear the narrator thank you for playing Space Quest 6 before extroducing himself specifically as "Gary Owens, signing off." Totally counts!

Finally, guess who got himself a copy of TV Land Presents Blast From the Past?

Mind, it's such a jalopy of a game I couldn't get it to run on my computer without serious graphical issues...

... but I was able to get it to run just runnily enough to confirm its nature! If you ever wanted to play a game where TV stars of a bygone era ask you trivia questions about the shows they were on... then you're not exactly choked with options, are you?

Gary Owens pulls double-duty here, playing both quiz host and TV star questionmonger, his questions focusing on the sketch comedy show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (where he was the on-screen announcer).

Don Adams' questions, of course, have to do with Get Smart. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any clean, non-glitched-out footage of him from my recordings, so have this video I extracted from the game files instead.

You know what? There's a charm to it.

#ryu number #ryu #super smash bros. ultimate #pac-man #space quest v #roger wilco #space quest 6 #gary owens #tv land presents blast from the past #don adams

[crimsonstonetranslations]

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo Another Files - The Dead’s Wish - file 03

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo novel translation

Another Files - The Dead’s Wish

( file 01 | file 02 ) file 03 - the spirit's wish

- 1

- With full concentration, Sakamoto Eiji stared intently at his editing work across the computer screen.

He was in the movie circle’s room at the clubroom building. It had been a tradition of the movie circle Eiji was in to showcase the film they made in the campus festival.

This time, Eiji as a fourth year student had been appointed as the director and was producing a horror film. The story told of a group of men and women—four people in total—who had gone to an abandoned hospital for a test of courage and had accidentally encountered something not of this world. It had been filmed through a camera held by one of the cast members to give the composition a documentary feel.

Although some had mockingly pointed out that similar works had existed before, Eiji didn’t think that was the case. This was his own original work. He too acknowledged that there had been films with a similar format. However, Eiji hadn’t come up with his idea from watching those. Hence, those people had no reason to mock or complain about it. Besides, Eiji felt very confident about his work this time.

He hadn’t secured a job and would likely end up unemployed once he graduated from the university. His friends would have been panicking in such a situation, but Eiji was different. He was confident that his work would win if showcased at the student film festival. If that were the case, surely film companies wouldn’t turn their backs on Eiji. He would be entrusted to direct a major film and his name would rise to fame.

Afterwards, it wouldn’t be so bad if he were to get caught in a romantic encounter with a popular actress. As Eiji was smiling to himself, his junior, Daichi, who was assisting his editing said, “Feels like something strange got caught on camera just now.”

Daichi was a third year student, but he hadn’t joined the movie circle right as he entered the university. He had only become a member roughly half a year prior. Apparently he had been aiming for film-related jobs, so he wanted to obtain some kind of award or achievement in the movie circle.

No new students had joined the circle this year, so Daichi became the target of being ordered around. “What something?” Eiji asked back as he glanced behind at Daichi.

“I think I saw some kind of noise...” “It’s just your imagination.”

A mere dogsbody like you shouldn’t talk so much, Eiji swore in silence before resuming his editing. The monitor flashed a scene of four people—the men and women as they arrived at the hospital—walking as they gleefully conversed with one another. 

Even so, only three people had been captured by the camera. The other person had been holding the camera to record his friends. A warm scene unfitting for a horror film, but this would only add to the richness of the film.

It would help intensify the terrors that they were about to experience. Ssshhh.

Noise suddenly appeared on the monitor. Eiji rewound the video slightly to examine the scene once again.

A noise was indeed present. “What is this?”

Clicking his tongue, Eiji momentarily paused the video. The footage was now unusable because of this noise. He had no choice but to do a retake. But if he were to do that now, the film wouldn’t make it in time for the campus festival.

“So there was noise after all,” said Daichi arrogantly. “You weren’t talking about this scene earlier, though?”

“Well, that’s true...” ”Geez.”

Eiji grew annoyed, but a brilliant idea suddenly appeared in his mind. He didn’t have to retake the scene. Simply treat this noise as intentional. Pretend that the camera hadn’t functioned properly due to a spiritual presence.

“This isn’t so bad,” said Eiji. Daichi tilted his head dumbfoundedly. “What isn’t?”

“So, it’s as if we purposely added the noise to add to the film’s atmosphere,” Eiji explained. The presence of the noise would make the film more real, adding to its terrifying feel. He could add more noise into other scenes as well.

Who would’ve thought he could come up with something like this. He really was a genius after all. Yet after hearing his explanation, Daichi still didn’t fully understand and his dumbfounded look remained.

That was just the person he was. After all, he had joined the circle solely to get achievements. He couldn’t see the potential like Eiji could. If people like him grew in numbers, perhaps the term Yutori Seidai[1] would be used more commonly.

Eiji gave up elaborating any further and went back to editing. However, as he watched the subsequent footage, Eiji couldn’t believe his eyes.

His monitor became pitch black, before repeatedly playing a scene he didn’t remember shooting. It wasn’t shot at a hospital either, but instead showed a railway crossing that seemed to be one near the campus.

“W-what is this…?” said Eiji unknowingly. “I wonder what...” asked Daichi, tilting his head.

“I don’t recall shooting any footage like this. What’s the scene after this?” urged Eiji. “E-even if you ask me, I don’t know,” said Daichi fearfully.

Had someone shot this footage and overwritten his own? What a horrible joke. All his hard work had turned to dust. “Hey, do something!” Eiji yelled, when the lights suddenly went out.

“What? What happened?” Even the computer monitor was shut off. Perhaps the fuse had gone out.

“Daichi, go check it out.” What awful timing at a crucial time like this. How incredibly annoying.

“Y-yes,” answered Daichi before tripping on something with an ‘ouch’ as he walked away. Amidst the darkness, the phone on the table began to vibrate from an incoming call.

The screen displayed ‘restricted’. Although suspicious, Eiji answered the call.

“Hello?” Clanging sounds could be heard from the other side of the call, together with the alarm sound signifying a train crossing.

“Hello? Who is this?” called Eiji. Suddenly, the sounds of the train crossing stopped.

<H…help me…> The terrifying voice that came out of nowhere made Eiji reflexively throw his phone away.

It had been a woman’s whimper. Eiji held his breath and looked at his phone that had fallen on the floor. He had no intention in the slightest to pick it up.

He hoped the lights would come back soon, but there was no sign of that happening. As time passed, his anxiety grew ever increasingly, and his heart wouldn’t calm down.

Eiji put all his concentration into his trembling throat and yelled, “Oi! Daichi! How is it?” Yet there was no answer.

What is he doing? Eiji converted his fear into anger towards Daichi to hold himself together.

But—the next second, something touched his nape. Something cold.

I mustn’t look—he should’ve thought, but for some reason, Eiji turned his head as if drawn by something. An eerily pale hand with prominent, dark veins.

It was that of a woman. The hand curled around his neck.

“Stop! S-stop it!” Eiji screamed through tears. The hand violently strangled his neck with no mercy. Until Eiji finally couldn’t let out a sound anymore.

His vision blurred— Between his wavering consciousness, Eiji could hear the voice of a woman.

Help me. -

2 -

“A cursed video?” said Haruka in surprise. She thought it was some kind of joke as the choice of words made it sound like the title of a horror film. However, Fujimoto Asami, who sat across from her, didn’t look like she was joking.

Her widened eyes signified the terrified look on her face. Haruka was swallowed by the intensity of it, the chatter of the bustling cafeteria as lunch hour approached felt like they were drifting away.

“That’s right. It has to be a cursed video,” said Asami again, gritting her teeth. Asami, a student from the same seminar as Haruka, had reached out to her to discuss something.

As the campus festival drew near, Haruka had thought it was probably to discuss romance or the like, so she had casually agreed. Yet, the words that had come out of Asami’s mouth had been entirely unexpected to her.

“I’m saying, it has to be a cursed video. Right?” said Asami, turning to the female student sitting beside her. It was Haruka’s first time meeting her. She was Asami’s friend, Natsuki. Since earlier, Natsuki had kept looking down and had a gloomy aura completely opposite of Asami.

In confusion, Natsuki responded, “Y-yes. I think so as well.” The two seemed convinced, but Haruka still didn’t understand.

“What do you mean by that?” asked Haruka. “This—”

Asami took out a transparent plastic box from her bag. Inside was some kind of DVD or Blu-ray disc. “What’s this?”

“I'm telling you, this is the cursed video,” said Asami, annoyed. “Ah, I see,” replied Haruka vaguely.

“What’s with that anticlimactic reaction?” said Asami with an exasperated tone, but it couldn’t be helped that Haruka reacted that way. She couldn’t immediately believe the existence of a cursed video, and besides, she didn’t understand what Asami was trying to get across.

Even so, Asami was normally a composed person. To become impatient and irritable like this, something serious had to have happened. “Could you please explain what’s actually going on?” Haruka asked Asami in a pleading tone.

Asami seemed to have realised that she had jumped into things. She then drew a long breath and said, “Actually, there’s an upperclassman in my circle called Sakamoto-san…” “What circle are you in?”

“The movie circle.” “Eh?” blurted Haruka in surprise.

“Do you really have to be that surprised?” asked Asami, and Haruka hurriedly shook her head. Haruka had misunderstood for a second. Asami was a member of the movie circle. While Yakumo was a member of the Movie Research Circle.

The university was filled with circles and associations that shared similar names. She had heard before that there were even five different snowboarding circles. “Sorry. So, what does the movie circle do?”

“We produce films.” “I see.”

If their activities were producing films instead of watching and critiquing them, then their circle was vastly different from the Movie Research Circle where Yakumo was. Well, Haruka wasn’t certain whether Yakumo even watched films, let alone critiqued them. “Then, recently we’ve been shooting a film to be showcased at the campus festival.”

“Amazing. Is Asami directing?” “No. The director is the upperclassman I mentioned earlier, Sakamoto-san. I merely helped with the audio recording and made some appearances in the film.”

“You’re in the film!?” “There’s no need to talk about that,” Asami immediately responded, sounding irritated.

Indeed, Haruka was getting sidetracked. “Apologies, please continue.” “Anyway, when we examined the footage we shot, something strange was captured on camera.”

“Something strange?” “Yes. I can’t put it into words very well, but it was really terrifying...”

“Terrifying?” “From what I heard, Sakamoto-san first saw it while editing. Afterwards, the lights suddenly went out and a female ghost appeared...”

Listening to the story thus far, Haruka finally understood what Asami wanted to discuss. For some reason, rumours had gone around that Haruka was knowledgeable about the supernatural.

Thanks to that, people had often approached her to consult about anything spiritual. Asami had to be one of them as well. It was true that Haruka had experienced a number of spiritual phenomena and had been a witness to the closure of those incidents. However, that was about as far as her involvement had gone.

The true person behind the closure of said cases was Saitou Yakumo. She had tried to clarify many times, but in the end they would always say, “In that case, Haruka, please ask for that person’s help.”

She could simply refuse them, but Haruka was weak to being pleaded to and it had become a bad habit of hers. In the end, she’d easily make promises to them. “Sakamoto-san became terrified and stopped coming to the circle ever since. Other members had mixed reactions, but the other day we decided to actually watch this DVD—” Asami continued her story with no regard for Haruka’s feelings.

“Uh-huh.” “Then—strange images that were never recorded appeared. That wouldn’t be a problem by itself, but the lights suddenly went out and everything became pitch black…and afterwards...” said Asami, giving a pause.

While it was mere seconds in reality, Haruka felt like it lasted for eternity. “In the room, a female ghost...” said Asami, covering her face with both hands.

She must be recalling that very scene. In that position, what sounded like sobs could be heard from Asami. The weather wasn’t cold, yet her body was shivering slightly.

It must’ve been a terrifying experience for her. “Are you alright?” consoled Haruka, placing a hand on Asami’s shoulder.

“This has to be a cursed video. I’m begging…please help me...” Asami lowered her hands and gazed towards Haruka.

Her eyes were wet from the tears that welled out of fear. Haruka turned to look at Natsuki. She looked terrified as well.

Yakumo wouldn’t be pleased, but Haruka wouldn’t be so cruel as to abandon them, having been met with such expressions. -

3 -

“Yakumo-kun, this is terrible, terrible—” Haruka roughly opened the door to the Movie Research Circle clubroom.

“What are you, Hachibee?” said Yakumo. He sat on his usual spot with a displeased look and stared at Haruka with languid eyes, as if freshly awakened. “Hachibee?” Haruka asked in return.

Yakumo ran a hand through his tangled hair and let out a long sigh. “The character that appeared in the period drama Mitokoumon. One that made a ruckus saying ‘terrible, terrible’ whilst bringing about trouble.” “Aah.”

Having mentioned that, such a character probably did exist. “You bring nothing but trouble and are good for nothing; truly just like Hachibee.”

“Ugh,” Haruka groaned. Though annoyed, it was true that she was good for nothing, so she couldn’t deny that fact.

“Stop getting into unnecessary trouble, quickly get rid of it,” said Yakumo, swaying his hand as if shooing her away. “Even if you say that…”

Lethargically, Haruka sat on the chair in front of Yakumo. She couldn't simply ignore Asami and her friend just like that.

“Besides, you’re getting in too much trouble recently.” “It’s not like I enjoy getting myself involved in trouble.”

“I don’t think that was the case.” “Eh?”

“This is the third time this week, you know. Impossible for this much trouble to come on its own if it wasn’t for you gathering them.” Yakumo lifted three of his fingers and aimed it at Haruka.

It was true that Haruka had brought in quite the amount of trouble recently. If Yakumo were to run a business as a detective specialising in spiritual cases, then she would have become a reliable assistant bringing in new cases. Unfortunately, Yakumo was merely a university student.

His displeasure over being brought two, three cases a week was perfectly understandable. Haruka understood that, but it was in her character not to sit still and ignore others in struggle.

“At least listen to the story first, can’t you?” Haruka observed Yakumo’s face.

Yakumo withdrew his body backwards as if evading her and clicked his tongue. While a little forceful, Haruka took that as an agreement and began explaining.

“There’s a cursed video—” said Haruka. Yakumo instantly shook his head from disbelief. “Are you stupid?”

“Why am I suddenly getting called stupid?” “This isn’t a horror movie, do you really think something as suspicious as a cursed video truly existed?”

Yakumo’s reaction couldn’t be helped. Haruka didn’t believe it at first either. But— “This is true. Watching this video would make a ghost appear. My friend became terrified at the thought that something might happen after...” Haruka placed the encased DVD lent by Asami on the table.

After glaring at the aforementioned DVD as if spotting a cockroach, Yakumo threw a condescending look at Haruka. “Have you watched the contents of this DVD?”

“Not yet,” Haruka shook her head. She came here right after hearing Asami’s story, so there was no way she had already watched it.

“So it isn’t confirmed whether a ghost would truly appear upon watching this.” “That is true…”

“If you haven’t confirmed it, then you shouldn’t have been able to conclude its certainty.” “Well, I guess so...”

“Even if the ghost were to appear as we watched it, we don’t know what kind of curse it is.” “What do you mean?” Haruka tilted her head.

“You don’t even know such a thing?” “Yeah.”

“Turns out the word stupid isn’t even enough to describe you,” Propping his chin with one hand, Yakumo threw a condescending gaze at Haruka. Even being looked at in such a manner wouldn’t make her understand what she did not.

“What are you trying to say?” “Has anyone who saw the ghost met with any danger?”

“That…” Apparently the upperclassman named Sakamoto had stopped coming to the circle, but that was all. She hadn’t heard of anything else.

“Nothing happened, yet they believed this video was cursed? Don’t you think they were rushing to that conclusion?” Yakumo was right.

The ghost had merely appeared and nothing else had happened. “But, if we waited for something to actually happen, wouldn’t it be too late?”

Putting off handling certain issues may only cause the situation to become more serious. Such an example would be stalker murder cases that happened as of late.

Haruka often heard of devastating cases in which the victim had already made a report to the police, yet the police had taken no action, getting the victim killed in the end. As Haruka made that argument, Yakumo’s expression grew visibly displeased.

“You’re trying to say this ghost might curse someone to death, is that it?” said Yakumo, his tone full of hostility. “Perhaps something like that will happen.”

“All this time, what have you seen?” asked Yakumo, clicking his tongue. “What do you mean?”

“Ghosts cursing humans to death? It’s impossible,” Yakumo firmly denied. That was true.

Panic had made Haruka forget an important point. Although currently concealed with a black contact lens, Yakumo’s left eye was actually a bright shade of red.

It wasn’t just red in colour, the eye allowed him to see the spirits of the dead—in other words, ghosts. Yakumo had solved a myriad of spiritual cases by putting that ability into use. Yakumo, who had always been able to see ghosts, defined them as clusters of feelings of people who had passed, according to his own experience.

Because of that, he didn’t think ghosts were capable of exerting physical influence. Ghosts cursing humans to their deaths was something that could never possibly happen.

Even though Haruka had witnessed that fact firsthand, she had gotten shaken from having seen Asami so deeply frightened. “So this isn’t a cursed video?”

“It would be right to think that way.” Yakumo folded his arms and nodded firmly.

He must’ve been trying to say not to overreact just because a ghost had appeared. Coming from Yakumo’s perspective who had always been able to see ghosts, it wasn’t hard to see why he would think so. “But…in that case, what should be done?”

Judging from Asami’s terrified state, she probably wouldn’t be convinced even if Haruka tried to explain. “That isn’t my problem,” said Yakumo without a care.

Against such indifference, Haruka had nothing to reply. She wasn’t confident about it, but there seemed to be no other option than to explain things to Asami. -

4 -

Having been kicked from Yakumo’s room, Haruka tried to contact Asami. However, only the dialling tone could be heard; no one was picking up, nor was there any reply from the answering machine.

She had no choice but to leave a message with the subject of wanting to discuss the spiritual phenomenon. After sending the message, a thought came to her mind.

She might not be Yakumo, but she wouldn’t be able to explain things to Asami without knowing the contents of this DVD. Haruka decided to pay a visit to the campus library.

In the library there were booths with DVD players in them. She planned to watch it there. Haruka could’ve just watched it at home, but Asami might get in touch with her, so it would be better for her to stay around the campus area. Furthermore, while Yakumo had said there wasn’t any curse, she still didn’t want to watch it alone in an enclosed room.

There had to be other people in the library, so she didn’t need to be scared. Luckily, a booth in the corner was unoccupied.

Haruka sat on the chair within the booth. The monitor was a mere seventeen inches, but that shouldn’t be a problem as she just wanted to check the contents. Haruka plugged the earphones into her ears and placed the DVD on the tray before pressing the play button.

The first image displayed was of the students preparing for their shoot in the vicinity of an abandoned building. A man who appeared to be the director spewed out instructions one after another with an arrogant tone. This person had to be the movie circle’s upperclassman, Sakamoto.

Haruka spotted Asami’s figure in the middle of reading the script. Moments later, the scene changed.

This one captured a man and two women, one Asami and the other Natsuki. “Ready, action!” said a man’s voice who was probably Sakamoto’s.

Along with that, Asami, Natsuki, and the man began to walk whilst conversing. The hand holding the camera followed after them. The image was shaky and difficult to watch, to the point that it made Haruka feel nauseous.

“W-what on earth?!” shouted Asami in surprise as she pointed at the stained walls of the hospital. Her acting couldn’t remotely be considered good, even if to put it nicely.

“What? What is it?!” The man holding the camera responded, and ran towards the spot Asami had pointed to zoom in closer. A cursed straw doll laid there, its body punctured with a long nail.

The group screamed in unison. Haruka was merely watching the footage, yet her head hurt for some reason.

Apparently the concept of the story had been that one of the four people happened to be filming with a camera on his hand. However, their acting had been way too obvious, rendering it unentertaining to watch. On top of that, the zoom in had been too intentional and over exaggerated that Haruka ended up laughing.

Perhaps the footage had been shaken on purpose to make it feel more realistic. Even so, the shaking had been over the top as if shot whilst riding a jet coaster, that any viewer would be nauseous. Haruka was relieved at the fact that she was watching with a small monitor. If it had been a large one, she might not be able to stand watching it.

More importantly, she felt like she had watched a similar film before. A horror film with a documentary style just like this one had gained popularity a while back, and it was as if this film was trying to copy it.

Haruka wanted to click the pause button, but she shook her head and reconsidered. She wasn’t watching to enjoy the film’s content. Rather, she did so to confirm the spiritual phenomenon.

Afterwards, Haruka regained her focus and a few scenes continued with a similar pattern. As she began to think the film was going to end just like that, noise suddenly appeared on the monitor.

Straightening her back, Haruka intently watched the monitor. The noise gradually spread larger, until the monitor eventually hissed like a sandstorm.

Moments as she thought the display would remain in that state, the noise vanished. A railway crossing appeared on the monitor.

Clang, clang— Sounds of the railway crossing echoed through.

The flashing red light warning the incoming train stirred up her anxiety. The railway crossing scene continued for some time before the monitor suddenly went black.

Haruka thought the film was over, but that wasn’t it. The blackness slowly thinned out over time.

Not long after, something emerged amidst the darkness. A human figure.

It seemed to be a woman dressed in white. The woman laid in a place that looked like a coffin.

She had a youthful appearance. Her eyes were closed, unmoving. While she had a thin layer of makeup on, one could tell she was extremely pale underneath.

Is she dead? As Haruka questioned that fact, the scene changed once more.

This time it depicted a street. People came and went throughout the nighttime crowd. What is this?

The scene switched yet again, now displaying the same railway crossing as earlier. Clang, clang—sounded the alarm.

Alongside the flashing warning light, a woman’s face appeared on and off across the entire monitor. The monitor returned to black.

Is it over? Haruka thought before a voice could be heard. “Help me...”

At the sound of a woman’s hoarse voice, something cold ran through Haruka’s back.  “Hyaa!” yelped Haruka as she stood up. The earphones on her ears slipped out and fell.

Her heartbeat went through the roof. Sweat dribbled on her forehead, and she struggled to breathe.

Haruka understood then. It wasn’t surprising that Asami had declared this to be a cursed video upon watching, as it was indeed that terrifying. Even so—

No ghost had appeared as Asami had claimed. Maybe they had been mistaken after all?

As Haruka was about to take the DVD out of the tray, something cold touched her nape. It was different from the wind. Almost like something was actually touching her.

Haruka wanted to turn around when a voice could be heard in her ear. “Please...stop it already...”

Haruka briefly thought the voice came from the DVD. However, her earphones had come off when she had stood up earlier. She glanced at her surroundings, but there was no one in sight.

Was that a ghost just now? Confused and scared, Haruka could only stand still in place.

- 5

- Haruka returned home with a heavy heart.

She couldn’t get the video she had just watched out of her thoughts. Its contents were incomprehensible, but that only made it plague her mind further.

After seeing the video, she had tried to contact Yakumo, yet her call hadn’t gone through. She had also tried to visit the Movie Research Circle clubroom, but Yakumo hadn’t been there. Even if they had met, chances were she’d only be treated as a troublemaker and chased away. Despite that, Haruka was certain her fears would’ve diminished by speaking to Yakumo.

By hearing a logical explanation, her thoughts would become organised, and just by talking to Yakumo, her feelings would grow lighter. How miraculous, even though she was convinced she would only be mocked upon.

There was no use having those thoughts now. She would visit Yakumo again tomorrow and ask him to watch this video footage. If Yakumo were to declare that she had been mistaken, she would be relieved.

Haruka headed for the bathroom for a change of atmosphere. After taking a shower and a hot bath, that scene would surely leave her mind. Unfortunately, her expectations were entirely wrong.

While washing her hair, she felt a hand reaching for her from behind. Even whilst submerged in the tub, she ended up sensing a person’s reflection on the mirror.

Being inside a cramped, closed area while defenceless made her anxious. In the end, Haruka escaped and ran out of the bathroom.

And even as she was drying her hair after a change of clothes, she was constantly worrying about her back. Asami must have felt the same.

Haruka turned the television to a louder volume than usual. She had just sat down on the bed when her phone rang. It was from Asami—

“Hello?” As soon as she picked up the call, Haruka could hear Asami’s gut-wrenching cries. <Help me!>

“What’s wrong?” <It really was a curse after all. Haruka, please do something!>

Asami’s voice was clearly trembling from fear. “Hold on. Keep yourself together. What happened?”

<Sakamoto-san...he...> “What about him?”

<H-he disappeared!> said Asami between sobs. “Disappeared? What do you mean?”

If Haruka were to panic herself, she wouldn’t be able to grasp the situation. She tried her best to question her calmly. <I’m telling you, Sakamoto-san disappeared,> said Asami restlessly.

“He wasn’t locking himself in his room out of fear of ghosts?” Asami had explained so at first.

<That was what I thought. But I was wrong. We went to his place together earlier, yet his house was unlocked...then, we couldn’t find him anywhere...> “Maybe he was just away for the moment?”

<His wallet and phone were left inside the room!> If that were the case, rather than being away, people would be led to believe that he had disappeared.

Not only had his door been unlocked, his phone and wallet had been left inside the room; however clumsy a person could be, it was abnormal. Despite that, it felt exaggerated to claim that he had disappeared due to a curse solely based on this much information.

“Perhaps he was only out for a short while and would come back soon?” suggested Haruka, but even she felt she was pushing that theory. Unsurprisingly, Asami denied in an instant. <That’s not it!>

“But…” <We waited for an hour in his room, but he never returned!>

Things were only getting stranger. “Then, police...”

<I had the same thought initially, that’s why I went home first. But it’s right there!> “What is?”

<That ghost. It stood in front of my house and stared intently across my window. Sakamoto-san must’ve been dragged by that ghost as well,> said Asami hurriedly. It appeared that Asami had panicked because the ghost had appeared in front of her house after Sakamoto’s disappearance.

She must’ve thought that she was about to be taken away next. “Anyway, contact the police first. I’ll quickly head over there too,” Haruka briefly said before she ended the call, put a jacket on, and left the house.

She knew she couldn’t do much even by going there. Nevertheless, she could at least calm Asami down. Besides, rather than trembling by herself at a time like this, her feelings should improve with the company of another.

The last time Haruka had visited Asami’s place had nearly been a year ago. Even so, she still roughly remembered the location. Her body shivered from the cold night air as she rushed towards Asami’s place.

Asami’s apartment was situated in the inner parts of a quiet road. The structure was rather old and while it used an automatic lock, the building had no security cameras. Haruka pressed the doorbell to Asami’s place through the intercom at the building’s entrance.

Yet there was no answer. Strange.

Haruka contacted Asami with her phone. Somehow, a cell phone ring could be heard from within the bushes in front of the apartment. What’s the meaning of this?

Haruka approached the bushes to find that a phone was dropped there. Once Haruka ended her call, the ringing of the phone within the bushes stopped as well. This is Asami’s phone.

Haruka crouched to pick it up. She recognised the model. There was no mistaking it, it belonged to Asami.

That meant something had happened to Asami. Haruka stood dumbfounded when something suddenly touched her nape. The cold sensation froze her back.

I mustn’t look. She repeated that sentence over and over in her mind, yet her body moved on her own.

Slowly, she turned to see the face of a deathly pale woman standing there. The same woman from the cursed video. “Aaah!” Haruka screamed as she fell to a sitting position, and the woman disappeared as if melting into the darkness.

There was no mistaking it anymore, the video was indeed cursed. Haruka gathered all her concentration on her trembling hands to contact Yakumo on her phone.

The dialling tone felt like an eternity. <What business do you have calling this late into the night?>

His tone was annoyed and displeased, yet tears of relief welled in Haruka’s eyes. “Yakumo-kun. Please, help me—” said Haruka, forcing out her voice.

- 6

- Haruka stood in front of the apartment entrance and stared emptily in the direction of Asami's room.

Afterwards, Yakumo had asked her to contact Gotou. Gotou was a police detective from the Unsolved Cases Special Investigations Division. One of the few people who knew about Yakumo’s ability, his assistance had contributed to the resolution of many cases.

Right now, Gotou and his partner Ishii were in the middle of investigating Asami’s room. Haruka hoped she had gotten worried over nothing and Asami would come out whilst saying, “What is it?”

However, the phone that had fallen in the bushes made that outcome unlikely. “Are you alright?” a voice suddenly spoke.

Haruka turned to find Yakumo there. Yakumo ran a hand through his messy head of hair with an annoyed look on his face, yet Haruka felt relieved from the bottom of her heart simply by seeing the face of the approaching man.

So much, that she felt like hugging Yakumo and sobbing to her heart’s content. Yet if she were to do that, she felt that Yakumo would mock her relentlessly, calling her ‘disgusting’ among other insults, so Haruka simply nodded. “Yes,”

“Tell me what happened,” said Yakumo with an unusually serious expression. Could it be that he regretted not properly listening to Haruka’s story earlier that day?

Truthfully, Haruka felt remorseful as well. She hadn’t fully believed Asami when she had all that talk about a cursed video. As a result, she hadn’t been too insistent in asking Yakumo for help.

Either way, there was no point to continue wallowing in regret. Haruka explained in detail all that she knew, including the contents of the DVD.

When she was finished, Yakumo reached for his chin and mumbled, “I see.” “Did you get anything?” asked Haruka.

Yakumo immediately frowned. “You keep saying that as your second sentence.” “Because...”

“Didn’t I always tell you not to rush into conclusions?” Precisely as he said.

Yakumo had emphasised that countless times. Haruka reflected on herself as well, but having little understanding of the situation had always made her anxious. “Could this really be the curse of the video…?” said Haruka without realising.

Oh no—Haruka thought as soon as the words left her mouth. Yakumo had just said not to rush into conclusions. And yet, Yakumo’s words weren’t what she expected.

“In a way, perhaps it could be considered a curse.” “What do you mean?” replied Haruka when Gotou and Ishii emerged from the apartment building entrance.

“Hey,” greeted Gotou as he casually waved his hand. Meanwhile, Ishii ran towards them like an excited puppy whilst calling out, “Haruka-chan—”

And then fell. “What are you even doing?” said Gotou, lightly bumping Ishii’s head before approaching.

Ishii patted his knees before following his superior. “So, how was it?” asked Yakumo.

“It was nothing.” “That doesn’t answer my question.”

“You’re noisy.” “Isn’t Gotou-san the one being noisy?”

“What did you say?!” As Yakumo and Gotou began their usual bickering, Ishii hurriedly mediated to stop them.

“You should just be quiet,” cursed Gotou, letting out his emotions on Ishii by landing a punch on his head. This too had been a routine for them.

Haruka felt relieved, but they wouldn’t make any progress by quarrelling here. “What about Asami?” asked Haruka again.

“About that...” said Gotou, stroking the thin layer of beard on his face. “She wasn’t in the room.” “N-no way…”

It took everything from Haruka not to break down at that moment. “Were there any signs of her room being ransacked?” Yakumo asked Gotou.

“None. Her room was neat. Furthermore, the door was unlocked and the lights were still on.” “Is that so...” murmured Yakumo, his gaze trailing into the air.

“Was Asami perhaps taken away by someone?” The situation was overly strange for her to have simply gone outside. Harika didn’t want to believe it either, but she presented it as a possibility.

“The circumstances are unusual, but I think that possibility is unlikely,” interrupted Ishii. “How so?”

“Haruka-chan, from your story earlier, she was terrified, right?” “Yes.”

“If that were the case, she should’ve locked the door.” “Maybe the culprit has a duplicate of the key.”

“Even so, if she was terrified, she should’ve had the door chain lock attached as well.” “Fair point.”

“There were no signs of damage on the chain lock, so we can conclude that she had opened the door out of her own will,” Ishii seamlessly explained as he adjusted his silver framed glasses with the tip of his finger. Haruka understood what Ishii was trying to say. Despite that, she still couldn’t accept it.

“But wouldn’t it be strange for Asami to leave without locking the door? The lights were on too, right?” “Well, yes. That was the case...”

“Besides, her phone fell in the bushes. That is clearly strange,” Ishii began to panic. “That’s true...”

He made a gesture of wiping his sweat. “Could this be the work of a ghost?” asked Haruka.

Ishii’s face instantly grew tense. “G-ghost?” “Yes. Maybe the ghost took away Asa—”

“That’s impossible,” Yakumo denied before Haruka could finish her sentence. Haruka knew what Yakumo was about to say.

Yakumo defined ghosts as clusters of emotions of the dead, incapable of exerting physical influence on the living. From Yakumo’s perspective, there was no way a ghost could have abducted a human.

Even so, Haruka hadn’t brought up that idea without consideration. She had suspected a certain possibility.

“But it’s possible that the ghost could’ve possessed Asami and led her somewhere outside of her own will, right?” So far, Haruka had witnessed a number of people getting possessed by ghosts.

Whilst possessed, their bodies would be manipulated beyond their will and they might act in unexpected ways. If this phenomenon had been a possession, it would explain the strangeness of the current situation.

What does Yakumo-kun think about this? Haruka turned towards Yakumo.

“I can’t deny that as a possibility,” said Yakumo, showing his approval for the time being. And yet, he seemed to be considering something else in his mind— -

7 -

“Would it really be alright for us to watch it?” asked Haruka reluctantly. The next day, Yakumo told Haruka that he wanted to see the cursed video. Hence, they went to the booth at the library together.

“Why are you asking that?” Yakumo gave his usual unenergetic look towards Haruka.

Why? Well, that’s— “Because, you might get cursed from watching it…”

“You’re still saying that nonsense?” “Nonsense...”

“This isn’t a horror film, there’s no way we’d be cursed just by watching a video.” “But, Asami’s whereabouts are still unknown...”

To this point, Asami was yet to be found. Apparently Gotou and Ishii were conducting a search, so she could only wait and leave it in their hands. Even so, if Asami’s disappearance had something to do with this video’s curse, they would likely have a hard time finding Asami.

“As for that, you yourself stated a different possibility last night, didn’t you. Have you forgotten?” He was referring to Asami going someplace else beyond her will due to being possessed.

Of course Haruka remembered. However— “That’s just one possibility...”

“I know. That’s why I need to watch the video to confirm a few things,” said Yakumo, ending their conversation. He popped open the DVD player tray and placed the disc there. The sight of the DVD being swallowed by the tray accompanied by mechanical noises felt terrifying to Haruka.

The play button was pressed and the video began. “This is utterly terrible...” said Yakumo, mixed in between sighs as soon as the scene started.

“Terrible in what way?” Haruka tried to ask casually. “The composition’s all over the place. They intended to make it feel like a documentary, but the footage was shaking excessively.”

“That’s true.” “Not to mention despite being university students, their acting was pathetic. The dialogue was hopeless. Like this, you’d be better off watching a broadcast test footage.”

Yakumo’s opinion was harsh, but Haruka had no intention of blaming him. That was because Haruka shared more or less the same opinion.

The monitor momentarily displayed some noise before the problematic scene appeared. An image of the railway crossing, the warning light that flashed red in unison with the clanging sound.

The scene then transitioned to the corpse-like woman’s face, then the bustling city at night, before returning to the railway crossing scene. As the monitor turned to black, a woman’s voice saying “Help me...” could be heard.

The video was undoubtedly terrifying no matter how many times one watched it. Once, Haruka had watched a French short film titled An Andalusian Dog.

The film had no clear storyline, mainly displaying a series of shocking, mysterious imagery. Ants crowding on the palm of one’s hand, an eyeball being sliced with a straight razor, a severed hand being poked around with a stick. Similar to when she had watched that film, her entire body felt uncomfortable right now.

After watching it once, Haruka thought they were finally done with, yet Yakumo replayed the same part over and over again instead. Perhaps he had discovered something.

“I see—” muttered Yakumo after they had finished watching the video. He placed a hand on his pointed chin. His face remained composed as usual.

“How is it?” asked Haruka, expressing the mysterious feeling wallowing within her. “A decent video.”

“Yes?” Yakumo’s reply was far beyond what Haruka had expected, throwing her off in confusion.

“I’m saying, it looked significantly more polished than the one made by the movie circle members.” “Polished?”

“That’s right. The composition was great, even the colours were well put together. Whoever produced it had a keen sense for this sort of thing. Most importantly, the video had a powerful message.” Yakumo repeatedly nodded in approval.

His manner of speech was as if appraising a work of art. From Haruka’s perspective, the composition and colours of the film had been extremely terrifying.

Even so, if the intention was to make the audience feel that way, then the video had succeeded in that regard. At the very least, the array of footage carried more appeal than ones Sakamoto and the rest had taken.

However— “There was a message?”

To Haruka, the video merely seemed like putting pieces of different scenes together. “There was. A very powerful one at that.”

“I don’t think there was though…” “That’s because you didn’t watch it properly.”

“I watched it properly, though,” replied Haruka in annoyance. When she had watched it for the first time, there were parts that had left her shocked, but this time around she had been watching more closely.

“If you did, you should’ve known, right?” “I’m asking because I don’t,” Haruka kicked the floor out of frustration.

“To think that you’d gotten accepted in this university with that level of concentration.” “Thank you for the wonderful praise. Rather than that, tell me then, what sort of message was in that video?”

“See it for yourself,” said Yakumo curtly, before removing the DVD from the tray and handing it over to Haruka. Yakumo must have implied for Haruka to keep rewatching the film until she finally understood.

Obviously, Haruka didn’t dare to do that. “No way,” Haruka firmly refused despite accepting the DVD handed over by Yakumo.

“To think you could be my assistant, being like that.” “I never intended to be your assistant. Besides, if I’m your assistant, I should be getting my share as well,” highlighted Haruka.

Yakumo flashed a smile. “What kind of reason is that?” “What do you mean?”

Haruka didn’t feel like she had said anything strange. “You wanted a share, but how much was the reward for this request in the first place?”

“That’s...” “Thanks to you, I’m practically forced to work all the time. Save the talk about rewards and the like for when you’ve managed to find a request that actually pays.”

Precisely. The majority of requests Haruka brought over to Yakumo had no compensation in return.

“Isn’t it fine? After all, it’s not like you’re running a business as a private detective.” “Exactly. I’m merely a university student. That’s why you’re only troubling me by bringing in problems like this.“

“S-sorry...” Haruka could only apologise. Yakumo had a point. Continuously bringing in requests that gave nothing in return wasn’t an example to be followed.

“Well, anyway. Rather than that, let’s go—” said Yakumo as he stood up and ruffled his dishevelled hair. “Go? Where to?”

“To investigate, obviously.” Eyes filled with mockery, Yakumo’s gaze stung.

Haruka questioned what she had done to deserve such a condescending look. Haruka knew they were going to investigate, but where? In the end, she didn’t complain.

Yakumo was finally willing to take action. There was no benefit in ruining his mood. -

8 -

Haruka and Yakumo went to the campus cafeteria. Earlier, they had visited the movie circle and asked Natsuki’s help to gather the people who had watched the video at the cafeteria.

Aside from Natsuki, two guys called Seiichi and Daichi came to attend the meeting. Seiichi was the other person who had appeared in the video alongside Asami and Natsuki. Meanwhile, Daichi was the assistant director who had been with Sakamoto when Sakamoto had been editing the video.

The person who had been recording with the camera was someone named Kentarou, but they hadn’t been able to contact him. Normally they wouldn’t have been bothered, but with the current situation, that fact turned increasingly worrisome.

“Apologies for troubling you all to come over.” As everyone else sat around the table, Yakumo was the sole person standing, speaking as he cast a gaze across everyone.

All eyes on the table were directed towards Yakumo. Who are you? That same question repeatedly surfaced and subsided. Yakumo, as if sensing that fact, smiled before he continued. “The truth is, I have ties with people from the temple, so I’m fairly knowledgeable about supernatural related incidents. Perhaps I could be of help to all of you for this case,” he said politely.

To Haruka, who was more familiar with Yakumo, that mannerism was clearly unnatural. Yet with it he seemed to have gained the trust of those who had only just met him. “Is it true that Sakamoto and Fujimoto’s whereabouts are unknown?” Seiichi was the first to open his mouth.

“Indeed. It is true that the two are unreachable as of now,” answered Yakumo carefully. “That’s why I’ve been saying I hated the idea,” added Seiichi, sounding fed up.

“About what exactly?” Yakumo continued the question without breaking his smile.

“The hospital that was our shooting location. There have always been rumours that there’s something there.” “By something, were you referring to ghosts?”

“Yes. Apparently the hospital director there used to be a maniac who performed human experimentation. The entire thing had been exposed and the hospital went bankrupt in the end.” “Is that so,” Yakumo responded in agreement, but Haruka knew for certain—deep inside, Yakumo didn’t believe it.

Haruka too felt suspicious about Seiichi’s story. Secretly performed human experimentation was a downright ridiculous story. Even if that had been true, then it should’ve become a major news story, yet she didn’t recall hearing such kind of news.

It was more likely an urban legend one would often find in a city or area. “Such a terrifying scene even appeared in the footage we shot; truly awful.”

Seiichi’s face was as if implying this was the end of the world. “Who chose the shooting location?” asked Yakumo, and Daichi raised his hand slightly.

“You were the one who chose it?” Seiichi threw a blaming look at Daichi. “No, not like that. Sakamoto-san asked me to look for places for the shooting location, so I gave him several options. And that place was among the options I proposed—” Daichi explained before dropping his gaze.

Perhaps he felt responsible. However, if Sakamoto had been the one who made the final decision, he shouldn’t have to feel so guilty. Piecing their stories together so far—putting aside the part about human experimentation—the problem seemed to lie on the abandoned hospital that had been chosen as the shooting location, and thus the cursed video had emerged.

Even without human experimentation in the equation, hospitals were places where many people had passed away. It wouldn’t be strange for spiritual phenomena to occur while shooting footage in such a location.

“Was there nothing strange during the shooting?” asked Yakumo. The three exchanged glances and nodded.

Haruka sensed something was off here. Such a video had emerged as a result. It would be strange for nothing to have happened during the shoot.

“By the way, who was the first to review the resulting footage?” asked Yakumo. Daichi raised his hand once again. “I was present when Sakamoto-san was editing, and I suppose that was the first time that we saw the footage.”

“From what I heard, Sakamoto-san had seen a ghost then. Did you see one as well?” “No. The lights had gone out, so I went outside as I thought the fuse had blown. That was when I heard Sakamoto-san scream…”

“That means, you didn’t see it?” “I didn’t see it very clearly. But...I think there was a woman standing there when I returned to the clubroom.”

He didn’t firmly state that he had seen one, but he had seen something that could possibly be a ghost. “I see. Then, did you see one?” said Yakumo, facing Seiichi. 

“I didn’t…” Seiichi frowned. “Did you watch the video alone?”

“No. Sakamoto told me that he wanted me to watch it. So I watched it with Sakamoto.” “Did the ghost appear then?”

“No. The video was terrifying, but that was all.” Seiichi didn’t look too scared, but it might have been because he hadn’t seen the ghost.

“How about you?” asked Yakumo, this time turning towards Natsuki. “I also…didn’t see any ghosts.”

“You watched the footage, right?” “Yes.”

“Who did you watch it with?” “With Asami, just the two of us,” replied Natsuki, and Yakumo made a face as if surprised by it.

Rather than a spontaneous reaction, Yakumo seemed to have displayed that look on purpose to add emphasis. “Didn’t Asami-san see a ghost?” said Yakumo, asking Haruka for clarification.

“That was what I heard,” replied Haruka. Yakumo nodded in satisfaction at Haruka’s reply and faced Natsuki once more. “Why was Asami the only one who saw a ghost?”

“About that...Asami had watched it ahead of me. Sakamoto-san had passed the video to her…Then, because there had been a strange scene, Asami had said she wanted to watch it with me.” In other words, it was possible that the ghost had appeared while Asami was watching alone, yet when she had watched it with Natsuki afterwards, nothing had appeared. Asami had seen a ghost, yet Natsuki hadn’t.

The story made sense, but— Natsuki was clearly behaving strangely.

She was tense, as if afraid of something. “Was your story the truth?” asked Yakumo, folding his arms while narrowing his eyes.

“Yes,” replied Natsuki before lowering her head. Haruka thought Yakumo would pressure Natsuki with more questions, yet unexpectedly, Yakumo easily backed off and simply responded, “I see.”

Was Natsuki’s unnatural behaviour merely Haruka’s own misconception? While Haruka was deep in her thoughts, Yakumo spoke. “The information you all gave is incredibly helpful—” before directly walking out of the cafeteria.

Even though he had claimed he might be of help. The people he had left behind after his half baked effort became dumbfounded. Haruka intended to leave after giving a polite thank you in Yakumo’s stead, but Seiichi called out to her.

“So, what should we do now?” Well, it was natural for them to think that way.

“If we manage to discover something, I’ll reach out to you all.” “Do you know how to contact us?”

That… “Ah, right. Natsuki-san, could we exchange phone numbers?” said Haruka to Natsuki, and once they had exchanged their contact information, Haruka then chased after Yakumo.

- 9

- “So, have you found something?”

Haruka expressed her question as she finally managed to catch up to Yakumo after having left the cafeteria. Yakumo glanced at Haruka. “The big picture, pretty much,” said Yakumo nonchalantly.

“What do you know so far?” “I can’t say for now.”

Yakumo often responded like this. It wasn’t to purposely mess around nor to appear cool. Yakumo merely didn’t want to say anything unnecessary before acquiring concrete evidence.

That way, he tried not to create assumptions. “Just a hint wouldn’t hurt, right?”

“This isn’t a quiz show.” “Well, that’s true.”

“Even if this was a quiz, I’m fairly certain you wouldn’t be able to solve it with your abilities.” A ruthless comment, as usual.

“Yes, yes, I’m dumb after all.” “So you are aware.”

“Ugh!” Haruka felt her anger boiling, yet she would only be reciprocated a hundred times over if she tried to get back at him. 

“Well, if you listened to their stories, you’d understand that there were certain rules in place,” said Yakumo, spreading his arms jokingly. “Rules...”

“Yes. All of them watched that cursed video. Yet some saw a ghost and some didn’t. Think about why that was the case. You should arrive at the answer.” Sakamoto and Asami had seen a ghost. While Daichi had seen something that had seemed like a ghost—his response had been vague.

On the other hand, Seiichi and Natsuki hadn’t seen a ghost. Then, Sakamoto and Asami, who had seen a ghost, had gone missing.

As Yakumo had pointed out, there appeared to be some sort of rule. Even so, Haruka couldn’t grasp what that rule was no matter how hard she tried to think. Before long, they had reached the Movie Research Circle clubroom where Yakumo stayed.

They opened the door to find Gotou and Ishii inside. “Gotou-san. Ishii-san. What’s the matter?” Haruka exclaimed.

Gotou, who had been chewing on his cigarette, asked back. “You’re asking what’s the matter?” Hearing that, Haruka realised the stupidity of her question.

Last night, she had contacted Gotou and Ishii and had requested their assistance to investigate Asami and Sakamoto. “Sorry. I reflexively...”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m happy just being able to meet Haruka-chan like this,” said Ishii to Haruka, puffing his chest. Gotou jabbed him immediately. “Stop grinning.”

”Whatever you say, but could you stop trespassing into people’s rooms without permission? Not exactly the sort of thing the police should have done,” said Yakumo lazily as he sat down on his usual chair. “Ha? We’re investigating your request, you know! Besides, what trespassing? The one who didn’t lock the door was at fault!” stressed Gotou, slamming his fists on the table with every emphasis of his words.

“What a messed up reason. Gotou-san’s thought process has become like a criminal’s.” “What did you say?!” Gotou stood up while raising his shoulders.

“Now, now,” Ishii tried to calm him down, only to get hit on the head. “Also, smoking is prohibited on these premises,” said Yakumo, pointing at Gotou’s cigarette.

After all it took for Ishii to stop Gotou, Yakumo nonchalantly said something that could raise Gotou’s anger all over again. Well, that sort of thing was typical of Yakumo. Gotou clicked his tongue. “I didn’t light it up,” he said, putting away his cigarette.

“So—did you two find out anything?” Yakumo spoke after everyone was seated and the situation had settled down. Haruka thought Gotou would explain, but apparently he felt it was troublesome and gave a sign towards Ishii with a gesture from his chin. Ishii responded, “Y-yes,” and hurriedly took out his notes before he began.

“Sakamoto Eiji-san and Fujimoto Asami-san’s status are still unknown. We’ve explained the situation to their parents and requested them to fill up a missing person report to be handed over to us,” Ishii said lightly. Haruka’s feelings grew heavy upon hearing the words ’missing person report’.

Those words were proof that the situation had gotten serious. “Are there any leads?”

“As of now, we don’t have any notable information from witnesses. If only there were security cameras, we could have investigated from there. Unfortunately, neither Sakamoto-san and Fujimoto-san’s premises had any security cameras installed.” “Is that so...” said Haruka in disappointment.

If they had footage from security cameras, perhaps they would have an easier time finding leads to Asami and Sakamoto’s whereabouts. “What about fingerprints?” asked Yakumo, propping his chin on one hand.

“We’ve gathered those, but the two seemed to have friends over frequently, so it was difficult to identify ones belonging to them...” Ishii adjusted his silver-framed glasses with the tip of his finger.

Even if they had lived alone, if their friends had gone in and out often, it wouldn’t be surprising for fingerprints not belonging to the resident to be discovered. “Did the two of them ever get into some kind of trouble?” Yakumo asked a completely different question.

“We’ve questioned a number of people, but there’s still little information, so we haven’t discovered anything of the sorts...” “In the end, you didn’t manage to find anything, huh,” said Yakumo, stretching his body.

Ishii lowered his head and spoke. “Apologies.” To Haruka, it wasn’t necessary for Ishii to apologise over that. But it couldn't be helped as Ishii had a habit of apologising.

“Then, what about your end?” Gotou asked Yakumo whilst leaning over. Yakumo grinned boldly in return. “Well, I more or less know the overall picture,” he said calmly.

“What did you say? Explain at once!” Gotou exclaimed, his voice loud as if urging Yakumo. “I can hear you without you yelling like that,” Yakumo plugged his ears with his fingers, signalling that Gotou was noisy.

“Enough nonsense, quickly say it.” “I refuse.”

“W-What?” “I’m saying I don’t want to.”

“You little—what kind of attitude is that? After all we did because you asked for our help!” An infuriated Gotou grasped onto Yakumo’s shirt collar.

Despite that, Yakumo’s eyes remain composed and unfaltering. “Ishii-san, please arrest this person for charges of threat and violence.”

The conversation was suddenly thrown at Ishii, leaving him dumbfounded. “No, that...” he uttered in confusion. “Just try me if you dare!” yelled Gotou.

“Why are you being so arrogant?” “What?”

“Besides, it’s the police’s duty to maintain public safety. Yet you were acting like I owe you by asking for help?” “Ugh...”

Gotou seemed to have run out of words against Yakumo’s logically sound argument. And yet, refusing to admit defeat, he cursed, “Shut up,” and released Yakumo. Irritated, Gotou reflexively reached out for his box of cigarettes, but Yakumo immediately said, “No smoking,” and he halted his movement.

“Enough with the banter. Let’s get to the main topic,” said Yakumo, clapping his hand together. Haruka felt the atmosphere in the room tense up immediately. Gotou and Ishii seemed to feel the same way; the two stared at Yakumo with a stiffened expression.

After a pause, Yakumo turned to Haruka, “Take that out—” “That is what?”

Even if suddenly told like that, she didn’t know what it meant. “You really are an imbecile.”

“What does that mean?” “Go look it up in a dictionary if you want to know.”

“Ugh.” “I’m talking about the cursed video.” said Yakumo in disbelief.

Why can’t you just mention the item directly in the first place—thought Haruka in displeasure whilst taking out the DVD from her bag. “What is this?” asked Gotou.

“I told you about it yesterday, right? This is the aforementioned cursed video.” As soon as Yakumo said that, Ishii instantly screamed, “Eeek!” jumping out of his chair.

The next second, Gotou jabbed him and yelled, “Shut up!” causing Ishii to return to his chair dejectedly. “What did you say this was?” asked Gotou, picking up said DVD and observing it closely.

“A woman’s face appeared around the second half of this video. She might have passed away from an accident or the like. I’d like for you to try and identify that woman.” So that was how it was.

If they managed to discover the ghost’s identity, they’d be able to crack the mystery of this case. “Easy for you to say. How long do you think it takes to identify a person based on face alone?”

Gotou’s argument was spot on. To identify a person just by their face was extremely difficult to do.

“There is other information as well. It’s likely that she died near a railway crossing.” “Railway crossing?”

Gotou, who hadn’t watched the video, didn’t understand. Meanwhile, Haruka knew what he meant. In that video, the scene of a railway crossing repeatedly played. It appeared that the woman had tried to hint at the location of her death through that scene.

“Also, that woman’s name is Kana.” “Eh?” Haruka stood up in surprise.

How could Yakumo have known the name of the woman in that video? Her name shouldn’t have appeared anywhere. Haruka questioned that fact, yet Yakumo simply gave her a vague answer, “You’ll find out soon enough.”

Perhaps Yakumo had seen through the whole truth at this point, yet on the other hand, Haruka felt the mystery had only gone deeper. “What are we going to do after this?” Haruka asked Yakumo after Gotou and Ishii had gone home.

Sakamoto and Asami’s whereabouts were still unknown, and Haruka couldn’t even see any lead towards solving the case. Were the video truly imbued by a power of some sort, then Haruka who had watched it could fall into harm as well.

She had only just realised the fact and the thought made her shiver. “Actually, I intended to do this after further investigation, but we don’t have time.”

“What do you mean?” “Exactly as said. If things are left as they are, the two missing people might die.”

Haruka held her breath at the unexpected words coming from Yakumo. “C-can’t we prevent that from happening?”

“We’re making a move to prevent it, aren’t we?” “Ah, right...”

“That’s why, there’s something I want you to do,” said Yakumo, his lips forming a smile. Yet his eyes weren’t laughing at all.

Haruka felt an awfully terrible premonition— -

10 -

Haruka returned to the campus cafeteria. As she sat on one table, a woman approached her with hesitant steps.

It was Natsuki. Their meeting was no coincidence.

More precisely, Haruka had contacted her asking to meet. “Sorry for the suddenness,” said Haruka as she stood up.

“Not at all,” Natsuki replied weakly. Since their first meeting, Haruka had the impression that Natsuki was an incredibly fragile and seemingly unhappy woman.

Haruka ushered Natsuki to take a seat before returning to her own. “So, what do you want to talk about?” said Natsuki.

She appeared anxious, glancing at her surroundings several times. As if she didn’t want to be seen together with Haruka. “Truth is, I wanted to ask you about the cursed video.”

“I’ve told you what I know.” Natsuki’s voice became weaker than before.

Yakumo had requested Haruka to hear the story from Natsuki one more time. And it appeared that Yakumo’s calculation in choosing Natsuki as a target hadn’t been mistaken. “It’s nothing serious. I just wanted to confirm something,” said Haruka in a fabricated cheerful tone.

“About what?” said Natsuki, staring at Haruka. Natsuki gave her approval, but Haruka could clearly tell that she didn’t want Haruka to ask questions that pry too deeply.

Haruka felt sorry for her, but she couldn’t back down. “Natsuki-san, could it be that you actually know the identity of the woman in the video?”

As soon as Haruka said that, Natsuki’s face turned glum. Bingo!

So Yakumo’s prediction was right. “I don’t know,” Natsuki shook her head.

“Really?” “Yes.”

“That woman’s name is Kana-san. So? Do you remember now?” Haruka observed Natsuki’s face.

“How did you know Kana’s name?” Natsuki’s eyes widened as if they were about to pop out. As it turned out, she wasn’t very good at lying. Her words just now were the same as admitting that she knew about her.

“So you do know her. Right?” Haruka emphasised the fact. Natsuki lowered her head without answering and went silent for some time.

She seemed to be putting her thoughts together as to how she should respond. Or she could be firming her resolve to say what she knew. Natsuki lifted her face and firmly said, “I don’t know.”

Her expression was filled with determination, as if her weak impression from earlier had been a mere illusion. “Eh?”

“I’m saying, I don’t know,” said Natsuki once more. “But you know her name.”

“My friend has the same name, so I thought you were talking about that friend of mine earlier, but I was mistaken.” Haruka didn’t know what had changed Natsuki, but her resolve was unwavering to the point that there was no room to break through.

“But...” “Is that all you wanted to talk about?” asked Natsuki.

“Ah, that...” Natsuki’s reaction had been utterly unexpected, Haruka had trouble answering.

“In that case, I’m going now,” said Natsuki firmly before she stood up and walked away. Haruka could only watch her in silence.

Just what sort of transformation had occurred within Natsuki? Why did she act hardened all of a sudden? Haruka tried to find a reason, but she couldn’t find one. As if something that she had nearly managed to grasp had slipped through the cracks of her hand.

Amidst her confusion, her phone rang. It was Yakumo—

“Hello?” <How was it?> asked Yakumo directly.

“It didn’t work out...” said Haruka, disappointed. <Did she say she didn’t know?>

“Yes. But there’s no mistaking that she knows something. I tried to pry further, but she immediately rejected it...” Haruka thought she was about to get scolded by Yakumo for failing to gain information.

To her surprise, Yakumo said, <I thought as much,> as if he had known the outcome from the start. Haruka felt dissatisfied as it was like she was being played with on the palm of Yakumo’s hands.

“Hey, did you know from the start that Natsuki-san would refuse to answer the question?” <I had thought that such an outcome was a possibility.>

To Haruka, Yakumo seemed to be making excuses to evade the question. Yakumo must be the type that wouldn’t get discovered even if he were to cheat. Well, not that Haruka knew whether Yakumo was the type to cheat—

“So, what now?” <I’d like for you to contact someone. Afterwards, we’ll meet up.>

The person he wanted to contact must be Makoto, a newspaper journalist. During the previous case, intel from Makoto had been the key to resolve the mystery. This time too, that had to be the case. “Who should I contact, and for what?” asked Haruka, and Yakumo elaborated his plan.

“Why do we have to do something like that?” said Haruka, unable to hide her surprise upon hearing Yakumo’s explanation. Even so, Yakumo dodged it with his favourite line, <You’ll find out soon enough—>

Haruka felt dissatisfied over a number of things, but Yakumo wouldn’t say a word even if Haruka cornered him with questions. Haruka could only respond with, “Understood.”

Yakumo hung up the call after briefly stating the location and timing of their meetup. Haruka’s back grew heavy.

As the person who brought this problem in the first place, she was in no position to complain. Still, she didn’t like being toyed around like this. However, would they be able to find Sakamoto and Asami’s whereabouts with this? While questioning that fact, Haruka stood up from her chair.

- 11

- “Woah...” Haruka reflexively exclaimed at the sight of the building.

This was the abandoned hospital that had become the shooting location. It was situated at the base of a small mountain, with no other buildings surrounding it. The building had four stories, with a portion of the walls already crumbled down, and the window panes broken. Its condition was comparable to buildings in war torn locations that she had seen in the news.

Could it be that the cursed video had something to do with what had unfolded in this place—if one were to think that, the building would appear like it was emanating a dark aura. According to Seiichi, there had long since been rumours about this place being haunted.

Putting aside whether the whole thing about human experimentation had been true, something had to have happened here. This was a place no human should enter. And yet, they had made this place their shooting location. As a result, the cursed video was born; it made sense to think about it that way. Why did Yakumo ask them to gather at a place like this? Not to mention after contacting that person—

“Yakumo-kun,” Haruka called out as she set foot in an area covered by weeds. However, there was no reply.

Has he not reached yet? Yakumo was logical when it came to solving the mystery of a case, yet for all else, he was rather lenient, including when it came to time. Well, that was typical of Yakumo, you could even say it was part of his charm.

Even so, Haruka felt uncomfortable having to wait alone at a place like this. Haruka continued walking and as she arrived at the hospital entrance, she shouted once more, “Hey! Yakumo-kun! You’re not here yet?”

As she thought, still no reply. I have no choice but to wait.

Just as she had that thought, she felt like she saw something move behind the entrance door. That wasn’t all, she also sensed that someone was watching her. Haruka then peered inside.

No light shone through and it was pitch black. Almost as if the opposite end was connected to another world. She briefly tried to adjust her eyes, yet nothing but darkness could be seen.

Perhaps I was mistaken. Haruka exhaled and turned her back to the entrance door.

The cursed video seemed to have caused her to overreact. She needed to calm herself down a little. Haruka tried to take long, deep breaths, but it didn’t help rid her of her restlessness.

Suddenly, footsteps could be heard on the ground. Haruka’s shoulders jolted and she wanted to turn. Unfortunately for her, something was pulled over her head at that instant.

It appeared to be some kind of cloth bag. What?

She wanted to take it off, yet her hands were already restrained behind her back. “L-let go!” Haruka yelled with all her might. Mind-numbing fear invaded her, destroying her sense of reasoning. With great struggle, she twisted her body in an attempt to escape the hands that had captured her.

However, it was futile. Her opponent was much stronger and just like that, she was dragged away.

“Help me! Yakumo-kun!” Haruka screamed in desperation. Perhaps she was already dragged all the way into the hospital building. If this continued, she would get dragged somewhere where her screams wouldn’t be heard.

Haruka resisted once again, but the more she did, her muscles grew exhausted and she ran out of strength. Her legs could no longer hold and she ended up being carried while dragged away. Something dark gradually spread within Haruka’s heart. It was probably despair.

Please! Yakumo-kun! Haruka could only pray.

Unfortunately, her prayers weren’t answered. As they descended something that felt like a ramp, she finally felt the hand that had been restraining her release.

Just as she thought that she was freed at last, Haruka was shoved, falling towards the concrete floor reeking of dust. With great difficulty, Haruka tried to crawl to her escape, but her hair was yanked and she was dragged once again.

Her hands were pulled behind her, tied with something that seemed to be a rope. At this stage, she couldn’t make an escape anymore.

It’s impossible now, she thought. Instinctively, her tear glands came loose and tears began to fall.

Never would she have dreamed that one day she’d be tied up like this without knowing anything. Am I going to be killed? If only I had known, I would’ve done many more things. There are people I wanted to see. Things I wanted to talk about.

Yakumo-kun. Haruka called out to that name in her heart.

“That’s enough.” The voice of salvation.

The voice Haruka had been waiting for from the depths of her heart. Yakumo’s voice.

The person who had tied Haruka up went and ran. “Gotou-san! Ishii-san! Don’t let that person escape!” yelled Yakumo.

“Wait!” “Let go! Damn it!”

“Stop resisting!” Groans and brawling noises could be heard.

Haruka, whose face was covered by a cloth bag, had no clue on what was going on. Moments later, with the sound of Gotou screaming, “Take this!” the atmosphere went silent.

“Are you alright?” Yakumo’s voice whispered.

Slowly, Haruka straightened her body and nodded. Then, the bag covering her face was removed. What came to her sight was Yakumo’s face.

“This isn’t a dream, right…?” said Haruka with a sob. Yakumo’s lips formed a little smile and replied, “Yes.”

If only she wasn’t tied up, perhaps Haruka would already be hugging Yakumo by now. “I wanted to come earlier, but ended up being rather late. I’m sorry.” Yakumo said in an unusually gentle voice as he placed a hand on Haruka’s head.

That gesture made Haruka’s heart, once closed up and frozen from fear, overtaken with relief that her tears began to flow once more. I was able to meet Yakumo.

“I’m going to untie the rope now,” said Yakumo before turning to Haruka’s back and removing the rope. Once her hands were freed, Haruka immediately felt fatigue all over her body. She finally had a chance to examine her surroundings.

Haruka turned to find people she recognised, Gotou and Ishii. They were standing at a distance from each other. On the bottom of their feet, a man was lying down with a bleeding nose. He must have gotten punched by Gotou.

There was no mistaking it, that person had to be the one who had assaulted Haruka. Haruka recognised the man’s face. He was—

“That’s right. He’s the mastermind behind this case,” said Yakumo, as if reading Haruka’s thoughts. -

12 -

“What’s the meaning of this?” Haruka approached Yakumo as she stood up.

Lying there was Daichi, a member of the movie circle that they had met at the campus cafeteria. Truth to be told, Haruka didn’t know much about him. Hence, she didn’t understand why he had attacked her at all. On top of that, Yakumo had said he was the mastermind of this case. In other words, not just the cursed video, he also had an involvement in Sakamoto and Asami’s disappearance.

“To explain that, we first need to clarify who the person in the cursed video was.” Yakumo slowly walked and stopped in front of Daichi.

Looking at Daichi from above, his gaze was incredibly cold that it scared Haruka, who was merely a witness. “Who?” asked Haruka.

Yakumo turned towards Ishii and said in a low voice, “Please.” Ishii nodded firmly before turning to Haruka.

“The woman in that video was Sawaki Kana-san.” Hearing the name, Haruka turned in Yakumo’s direction.

Kana had been the name of the woman Yakumo had requested for Ishii and Gotou to investigate. The question that had been on her mind back then resurfaced. “How did you know her name?”

“I told you, didn’t I? The video had a powerful message,” said Yakumo as if the answer was obvious, yet Haruka didn’t understand at all. Haruka emphasised that fact, and Yakumo sighed with an exaggerated gesture of disbelief before saying, “There was a noise that frequently appeared in that video, right?”

“Yes.” “You wouldn’t be able to tell from watching it casually, but with closer inspection, whenever the noise appeared, a set of letters briefly flashed on screen.”

Haruka didn’t realise that at all. Now that she thought about it, Yakumo had inspected the video several times. As it turned out, he had done so to confirm the letters that had flashed on screen.

“So the letters that appeared spelled Kana?” “Yes. Simply put, it was subliminal stimuli capable of engaging with one’s subconsciousness.”

“Is that so…” Yakumo must have felt something was off after watching it once. Hence, he had it replayed several times and had managed to discover the hidden letters.

“Kana-san passed away in the fall of last year,” interrupted Ishii. “Passed away...”

Haruka could imagine that was the case from the flow of the conversation, but upon being presented by the reality of it, her head began to hurt. Ishii took out his memo and began reading, “The cause of death was alcohol poisoning. Someone made a report of a woman lying on the street, but when the ambulance came she was pronounced dead on the scene.”

“How could that be…?” “That day, Kana-san attended her campus circle meeting and drank. Afterwards, the other circle members wanted to go for a second round, but Kana-san chose to go home. However, she collapsed on the way,” said Ishii with a pensive look on his face.

“Is that so...” “She collapsed alone on an empty street, so she wasn’t discovered in time. A really tragic accident.”

“I’ve said this many times, but the video had a powerful message—” said Yakumo calmly. “The railway crossing, alarm sounds, red warning lights. All of these indicated the location where Kana-san had passed.” “I see...”

“Besides that, Kana-san’s name was embedded through subliminal stimuli, and an image of her body was displayed. These carried a message: remember her death.” So that was how it was.

When Haruka had seen it for the first time, she merely thought it had been a series of terrifying images, but the video turned out to have a clear message. She understood that now, yet at the same time, something didn’t make sense to her.

“Don’t tell me, the video wasn’t cursed, but deliberately made by someone?” asked Haruka, to which Yakumo responded with a nod. “That’s right. The person who made it was none other than—him.”

Yakumo pointed at Daichi who was lying on the ground. “Why?” Haruka couldn’t understand why Daichi would do such a thing.

“Out of revenge,” said Yakumo, closing his eyes solemnly. “Revenge?”

“Yes. It’s a possibility that he and Kana-san were lovers.” Yakumo looked at Daichi once again.

“How do you know that?” “I said it was a possibility. Nothing more than my own assumption. Well, not that I don’t have any basis for it. According to Gotou-san’s investigation, they both came from the same high school. Perhaps they had been in a relationship since way back.”

“But, just based on that…” “Of course, I couldn’t draw a conclusion just based on that. However, if their relationship weren’t that close, he wouldn’t have gone as far as planning an entire act of revenge, right?” said Yakumo smoothly.

He had a look on his face as if he had known everything, yet Haruka still didn’t understand. “How could making that video become an act of revenge?”

“Not just the video. He was also the one who abducted Sakamoto-san and Fujimoto-san.” “Why did he abduct them?” asked Haruka.

Yakumo shuffled his hair in annoyance. “I think it’s about time that you speak for yourself. You’ve woken up, right?” said Yakumo, and Daichi slowly stood up. He didn’t try to run nor resist.

Perhaps he had already given up. “What…tragic accident….?” Daichi spoke, forcing his voice out.

The hoarseness in his voice, as if at the edge between life and death, carried with them an intense feeling of vengeance. “Eh?”

“Kana was murdered,” Daichi opened his eyes wide and stared at Haruka. His eyes glinted like that of a ferocious beast intimidating its opponent.

“But, just now...” As Haruka said that, Daichi immediately cut her off, “Wrong! Kana couldn’t drink alcohol. Yet Sakamoto and the others forced Kana to drink during the campus festival afterparty. In the end, they went for a second round and abandoned Kana, so heavily drunk that she couldn’t walk by herself, all alone.”

“T-that’s…” Haruka reflexively covered her mouth with her hand. She had often heard stories of university students getting drunk and even developing alcohol poisoning.

If those involved had drank out of their own volition, they had it coming for themselves. But it would be a much bigger problem if it had happened out of being forced to drink. New regulations have been made recently, and establishments also began having signs recommending not to drink too much in a short period of time and not to force oneself to drink.

Despite those efforts, it didn’t mean that instances of people drinking excessive amounts of alcohol become completely eradicated. Had Kana been one such victim?

Besides, if she really had been abandoned after being forced to drink, that would have been the same as murder, as Daichi had claimed. By law, the offenders should have been prosecuted for charges of causing death by negligence in duty of care.

“Kana was passionate about film and wanted to work in the film industry later on. And those people...took her dream away…” said Daichi. Tears dripped from his eyes. Judging from his reaction, Yakumo’s prediction seemed to be on the mark. Daichi and Kana had a special relationship going on.

Regardless of what sort of relationship, the two must have thought that their time together would continue on forever. Yet one day, their dreams were destroyed without warning—

“That night, amidst her drifting consciousness, Kana called me. I couldn’t decipher what she was saying at all because the railway crossing sounds were incredibly noisy. I asked her where she was, but she didn’t answer…Carrying my phone with me, I frantically searched everywhere I could. But I couldn’t find her...all the while I could hear Kana’s breaths getting weaker and weaker. Do you know how helpless I felt, unable to do anything as I listened to Kana’s final moments before she died?” spilled Daichi as he wailed. Sobbing, shoulders trembling, he wept without wiping away his tears.

Haruka was at a loss for words. She couldn’t find anything to say to Daichi.

“Please tell me one thing,” said Yakumo, watching the crying Daichi from above. Daichi looked up with tear filled eyes.

“What made you choose to go on such a roundabout method like this?“ Yakumo’s question made sense.

Why had Daichi gone about shooting a cursed video with a message, then had it shown to Sakamoto and the rest? “I wanted them to remember Kana, reflect on themselves, and suffer because of it...” Daichi dropped his shoulders listlessly.

So that was how it was. Daichi’s goal was to make them feel remorse by reminding them of their actions through that video.

And yet— “If so, why did you abduct Sakamoto-san and Asami?” asked Haruka.

Daichi’s actions contradicted his words. “Those people still didn’t remember anything even after watching that video. They acted as if those things never happened. So...” Daichi curled his fists tightly.

Hearing his words, Haruka recalled the time when Asami had first approached her to discuss this case. Asami had been terrified and had felt creeped out, but she hadn’t realised the hidden message within the video.

If she had realised it, then she shouldn’t have discussed it with Haruka. While the problem lied in Daichi who wanted to seek revenge, when thinking about Sakamoto and Asami who refused to look back even though someone had died because of their actions…Haruka grew chills until her back froze.

Could humans really become so indifferent towards other people as to reach such a point? Haruka felt like she would never be able to comprehend it.

Even so— “Even if that were the case, I still think it’s wrong for you to kill them,” stressed Haruka.

Yakumo shook his head in disbelief. “Don’t go on killing them on your own,” he said. However, from the flow of the conversation, Haruka felt it was understandable for her to interpret things that way.

“So, where are they?” asked Yakumo. Daichi pointed at a metal door across the corridor.

“Gotou-san,” called Yakumo, and Gotou replied, “On it,” before moving to remove the plank holding the door and forcefully opening it. Lying there were Sakamoto and Asami.

The two were in a state of being restrained; both were tied up with ropes with their mouths gagged up. Their bodies weren’t moving and their condition appeared concerning. Gotou quickly came closer to check on them.

“It’s alright. They’re merely passed out,” said Gotou, lifting his thumb. Haruka felt relieved, but on the other hand, she didn’t understand.

“Why did you lock them up in a place like this?” “You wanted them to understand—don’t you?” Yakumo glanced at Daichi, and Daichi nodded.

“Wanted them to understand?” “Yes. He wanted them to know how it feels like awaiting death in the darkness, all alone, unable to move their bodies.”

“Is that so—” Haruka bit her lips and hung her head.

Daichi’s actions were unforgivable, but that didn’t mean Haruka couldn’t understand his feelings of wanting the two to experience Kana’s suffering even if just a bit. “There is one thing I have to tell you,” said Yakumo to Daichi in a formal tone.

“Eh?” With a surprised look on his face, Daichi turned towards Yakumo. “Ishii-san,” Yakumo gave a sign to Ishii to take something out, and Ishii took out an IC recorder from his pocket.

Yakumo took the IC recorder from Ishii and handed it to Daichi. Daichi was left dumbfounded.

Yakumo began to explain, “There was a strange audio interweaving with the noise in that video. This is the result of extracting that audio with the help of a mixer.” Confused, Daichi pressed the play button on the IC recorder.

Amidst the static noise akin to pouring rain, a woman’s voice could be heard. <Daichi. Please...stop it already.>

Haruka remembered that voice. The same voice she had heard when she had watched the cursed video in the library.

“This is Kana-san’s wish.” “I…” Daichi’s voice choked.

“There’s one more message from Kana-san. Don’t forget about me, okay?—was what she said.” As soon as Yakumo finished his sentence, Daichi wept as he clutched the IC recorder. The sound of his cries felt like they could chip at the spirits of anyone who heard it.

- 13

- Haruka stood in front of the abandoned hospital, watching as a patrol car and an ambulance drove away.

The patrol car took Daichi with them. While the ambulance carried Sakamoto and Asami who had been rescued. Luckily, while their conditions were weakened, their lives weren’t threatened.

With this, it’s all over, Haruka thought, before realising there were more things left unanswered. “Hey, how did you know to suspect Daichi-san?”

She had no idea since when had Yakumo begun suspecting Daichi. “Simple enough. When Sakamoto-san and Fujimoto-san were abducted, their doors were unlocked. Why was that so?”

“Why?” “Because they had opened it willingly. Someone they knew came to visit, so they opened the door and invited the person inside.”

“What do you mean?” “When Fujimoto-san called you that night, she was shaken because of the ghost problem and Sakamoto-san’s disappearance. She must have had her guard up, so strangers or other people unaware of the situation wouldn’t be allowed inside.”

“I see. Meanwhile, Daichi-san was in the same circle and knew about the spiritual phenomenon.” “Pretty much. Well, not that I had known from the start that he was the culprit, but I had already suspected that the culprit had to be someone from within the circle. That was the reason why I had them gathered at that time.”

He must have been referring to their gathering in the campus cafeteria. “So, Daichi-san was acting suspicious by then?”

“That’s right. When talking about whether he had seen a ghost or not, his answer was vague. Said answer was only told after he had deliberated what kind of answer would be able to fool us.” So that was how it was.

Haruka was nearly convinced, but there was something else she didn’t understand. “So the ghost was Kana-san after all?”

“No.” “But Sakamoto-san and Asami saw a ghost.”

“Someone else was pretending to be a ghost.” “Pretending to be a ghost?”

“Don’t you know?” “I don’t know at all,” said Haruka firmly.

“Don’t boast about something like that,” scolded Yakumo. “Who did I ask you to deliver a message to?” “Natsuki-san.”

Before going to the abandoned hospital, she had sent a message to Natsuki per Yakumo’s instructions, saying, <We found a clue that may lead to Sakamoto-san and Asami’s whereabouts, so we’re heading to the location where the video was shot.> “As a result, he attacked you.”

“By that, you mean…” “Yes. He and Natsuki-san were working together.”

“Why?” “We better ask the person directly. You’re there, right?” Yakumo called.

Natsuki slowly walked out from behind the hospital building. Her face was pale and she looked exhausted. “We were friends...” said Natsuki weakly.

“Natsuki-san.” “Kana was my closest friend. I too attended the same event that night. Sakamoto-san and Asami forced Kana to drink sake…I saw it happen, yet I couldn’t stop them...”

Natsuki closed her eyes shut in frustration. The anger building up within her seemed to be directed at herself.

“Even when we were about to go for a second round, I wanted to go home with Kana because I saw that she couldn’t stand properly anymore, yet Sakamoto-san insisted on leaving her be, and we left her...” “Don’t blame yourself like that,” said Haruka, placing her hand on Natsuki’s shoulder.

“How can I not blame myself? That was why, to redeem myself, I told Daichi-kun the truth.” “Afterwards, the two of you orchestrated this plan,” said Yakumo, and Natsuki nodded in return.

Haruka understood the gist of the events that had followed without further explanation. The ghost that had shown itself to Sakamoto and Asami had been Natsuki pretending to be one. With those methods, they had tried to remind Sakamoto and Asami about their mistakes.

Natsuki, who had panicked after seeing the message from Haruka, had discussed it with Daichi. Daichi had then attacked Haruka to prevent their plans from getting discovered. They hadn’t intended to kill, but perhaps they had wanted to lock Haruka in the same place until Sakamoto and Asami repented.

“What are you going to do after this?” asked Yakumo. Natsuki lifted her face. She had a refreshing expression, as if all her doubts had vanished.

“I was wrong. This method will never be able to redeem my mistake. Of course, I’m going to confess about what I have done, and about the events of that day to the police.” “If that’s the conclusion you’ve reached—” said Yakumo.

Natsuki bowed deeply to Yakumo before walking away. This time, everything is truly over—or so Haruka thought, but she reconsidered.

To Daichi nor Natsuki, nothing was over yet. Haruka, too, as someone who had been involved, needed to witness this case to the end. That was how she felt. Yakumo slowly walked away.

Haruka followed after him when a question suddenly appeared in her mind. “Hey. Why did Kana-san call Daichi-san on the brink of her death?”

Her life had been in danger. Why hadn’t she thought of calling an ambulance? “When humans realise they’re at death’s door, they may have the desire to be rescued, but at the same time, they wish to rely on those dear to them.”

“I suppose you’re right...” Even when she had been attacked by Daichi, within her heart, Haruka hadn’t been thinking about contacting the police nor an ambulance, instead seeking help from someone else.

Her face heated up at the memory. “What are you spacing out for? Come on, let’s go.”

Disregarding Haruka’s feelings, Yakumo briskly walked away. “Wait for me!”

Haruka could only bury her feelings and ran after Yakumo. -

Translation Notes [1] Yutori Seidai (ゆとり世代）’Laid back generation’, a term to describe the Japanese people who went to elementary and middle school between the 1980s and early 2000s, in which the education at that time focused on creative development and self learning, such that the generation was claimed to be less competitive.

#shinrei tantei yakumo #psychic detective yakumo #shinrei tantei yakumo translation #psychic detective yakumo translation #yakumo saitou #saitou yakumo #manabu kaminaga