Uchikawa Ryosuke fervently prayed.
With all his heart.
Truly, filled with every bit of regret and despair he had experienced until now.
Was it thanks to that?
Knock, knock.
A sound resonated against the window of the second floor.
It was a sound that was incredibly close to ‘tap-tap,’ yet too clear and substantial to be described as merely that.
Rattle, rattle.
As the window rattled, it creaked open, and dark powder poured down from beneath the thick blackout curtains.
The dark powder drifted down to the floor like ash falling from the sky, eventually forming a small mound as if someone had swept it with their palm. Then, it slid across the floor until it reached Ryosuke.
The approaching powder slithered and began to take shape.
As if an artist was creating sand art, it appeared so naturally.
“What is this…?”
Ryosuke muttered blankly at the bizarre sight.
『 Now 』
The words moved as if responding to Ryosuke’s question, forming letters.
Each grain of sand and dust seemed to be alive, slowly moving to display lines and dots that contained meanings in Japanese and kanji.
『 Anything 』
Ryosuke could only gaze at it, mouth agape.
『 Didn’t I say? 』
As he finally beheld the mound of powder having formed a sentence, a chill swept through him.
Was this the feeling when cast naked onto the snowy fields of Hokkaido?
It felt as if icy water had been poured over him from head to toe, and a terrifying sensation gripped him, freezing him from the depths of his insides to the tips of his hair, then melting down.
A primal warning was screaming madly.
“Crazy….”
Ryosuke recalled the turning point he had experienced not long ago.
The memory of performing necromancy in the dark bathroom. The way the water ghosts that had been trapped in the Nendoroid crawled out, writhing and attacking people; he had held his breath, unaware that his body temperature was being robbed away in that endless moment.
Beyond the darkness of the bathroom, where normally the soft, warm skin of women would entwine with his, only the fierce resistance of men echoed, and the sound of that resistance being futilely crushed resonated, alongside the terrifying noise that disgusted him physiologically as the water ghosts poured in, trying to drag people away.
“Again, again….”
Ryosuke thought the sensation he felt from the powder was similar to that time.
No, he was sure of it.
Thoughts whirled crazily in his mind, popping out as one, while countless musings sank and surfaced in his unconscious, conjuring up an utterly bizarre form. Even though his eyes were open, it felt as if the world before him was spinning, and the chill filled his entire body like a sharp blade piercing his brain.
And in that process, instinct stirred, thoughts leapt crazily over one another, ultimately leading him to one conclusion.
“Shinju… is it you again?!”
The conclusion was that this bizarre phenomenon he was witnessing was indeed the work of Shinju.
Just as he had once manipulated water ghosts, just as he’d compelled him into necromancy, and just as he’d lured him over a video call before the torii to come quickly, it was now doing the same through this powder. He reached that conclusion.
And as he shouted, the powder gathered as if responding, forming a tiny mound. Then, like water flowing upwards, it began to rise into the air in a slender shape.
And finally, it took form right before Ryosuke’s eyes.
It was a mouth.
Though it had the thickness and bizarre squamous nature that made it look entirely unlike human lips, it possessed a tongue made of powder that was eerily similar to that of a human.
[ Wish. ]
The mouth moved slowly, speaking to Ryosuke.
Despite having only lips and a tongue, it moved, tapping against the roof of its mouth as if it had a hard palate and soft palate, and despite lacking vocal cords, it fluttered its lips as if able to produce sound.
[ Speak your wish. ]
With every syllable it uttered, the mouth spat out powder, as if something was being expelled from its throat. But this powder, instead of heading toward Ryosuke, returned to the mouth like metallic dust adhering to a magnet, entering its inner chamber and beginning to form yet another shape.
[ Speak your wish. ]
The powder morphed into teeth.
[ Earnestly. ]
It curved into the roof of the mouth.
[ Earnestly wishing. ]
The powder became its neck.
[ Speak your one wished wish earnestly. ]
The vocal cords formed upon the neck, starting to branch into a lung, then a stomach, then intestines.
[ Say the one thing you crave and desire most. ]
The powder forming the intestines twisted and turned, becoming a heart, and that newly formed heart began to swell and shrink as if it were genuinely beating, expelling black powder. This powder melted into skin, which seemed to blend with the darkness filling the room.
Thus, the mixture had created a body with no head or limbs, dissolving again into the darkness, leaving only the mouth exposed. With an even more distinct voice than before, it urged him.
[ One single wish. ]
[ One single craving. ]
[ Say the one thing you wish to protect. ]
[ What do you desire? ]
[ In exchange for that resolve to sacrifice anything, ]
[ What could possibly be your one wish? ]
With that clear voice piercing his ears like a forceful shove, Ryosuke could no longer hold himself back and sprang up.
He stumbled, rolling to move outside.
“Am I supposed to wish for anything in this absurd—absurd situation?!”
He shouted like a madman, heading toward the door, grabbing the doorknob as usual to step outside.
That’s right.
He intended to leave.
“Huh?”
Ryosuke blinked in disbelief.
“The doorknob….”
There was no doorknob.
The doorknob he had opened countless times before, the one that should absolutely exist on the entrance door was gone.
“Why… is the doorknob…?”
He blinked in disbelief, staring blankly at where the doorknob should be.
But no matter how much he looked, the nonexistent knob wouldn’t suddenly appear.
The doorknob that should have been there was missing, and even when he waved his hands, hoping it was just out of sight, he felt no sensation whatsoever.
“What the hell… what is this?!”
Ryosuke’s face turned pale.
“Doorknob! Doorknob!”
Ryosuke lost complete composure over this ridiculous absurdity, frantically searching for the doorknob.
He fumbled around the mirror attached to the entrance, opened and closed the shoe cabinet, twisted the knobs of the shoe cabinet, thinking perhaps one of them was the doorknob, repeatedly opening and closing it in a frenzy. He even felt along the cold metal wall and rummaged through his shoes, touching the rigid marble floor.
Crash!
“There has to be a doorknob right here—–!”
Ryosuke seemed to have gone insane, flinging all the shoes out of the cabinet.
After clearing them all away, he felt inside to check for a doorknob, but when he couldn’t find it, panic gripped him, and he screamed in madness.
“Ahhh! No! The doorknob! The doorknob!!!”
He felt an overwhelming fear in an utterly incomprehensible situation.
His breath hitched, and he felt hyperventilation coming on from the shortness of breath.
Tingling started from his extremities, and his entire body felt as if it were cramping.
Even amidst all this, he was unable to regulate his breath, gasping furiously, his vision blurred, and dizziness struck him. His mind felt paralyzed as no thoughts came to him, while his heart raced wildly, pumping blood throughout his body.
Ryosuke crouched down by the shoe cabinet, clutching his chest as he trembled.
“Ugh, w-whoa! Ugh, ugh!”
With his trembling hands, he squeezed his neck, pounded his fists on the area of his heart and lungs, shouting for them to return to normal, and banged his head against the metal wall, desperately trying to return his body to its original state.
Ryosuke endured the agony of hyperventilation and terror for a long time until he finally managed to stabilize himself.
But…
[ Speak your wish. ]
“Hah, haha….”
As Ryosuke spent what felt like an eternity in anguish, an unidentifiable ‘mouth’ floated to him.
The mouth spoke to him calmly, hovering by the sliding door of the entrance.
[ Speak your wish. ]
It seemed to say that unless he expressed a wish, he would not be able to leave.
“Hahahaha, ha! Hahaha!”
Ryosuke could do nothing but laugh like a madman.
