Edward glanced at Takako standing before him, then turned his eyes toward the staff member who had been frightened to the point of tears. For a moment, he felt that this whole scene could actually be woven into the later parts of the Ju-On storyline—or, if nothing else, edited into a behind-the-scenes reel. Unfortunately, he hadn't brought a camera along tonight. Even if he wanted to film this bizarre incident, it was too late, so for now, he could only shelve the idea.
Or rather—
This reminded Edward of what he had done back when he was shooting Dead Silence.
He had set up a haunted house attraction, invited people inside, and then staged elaborate pranks to scare them. Of course, such things required participants to sign agreements beforehand, and they always had to be compensated handsomely afterward. Compared to those prop-based scares, though, Edward thought that if Takako herself took on the role of frightening people, the results would be on another level entirely. She could probably reduce countless people to tears.
Just look at the poor staff member in front of them as proof.
According to her story, she had come back because she'd left some belongings behind during the day's shoot. After the day's filming wrapped up, she had thought to retrieve them. But when she entered the house, the door suddenly shut behind her—and then refused to open again, no matter how hard she tried.
"…And then… then I heard someone speaking upstairs," the young woman stammered, sitting trembling on the floor, her eyes still wide with leftover terror. "I thought maybe one of the actors hadn't left yet… or maybe it was a thief." She cast another frightened glance toward Takako, unable to suppress the fear in her gaze.
Edward scratched his head. What she said wasn't unreasonable. After all, filming had ended for the day. Though Edward had already purchased this house, he didn't allow random people to enter in order to protect the set from damage. So her coming back to retrieve her things wasn't strange. What puzzled him was why the door had refused to open.
Could it have been… Nightmare Possession?
The thought flashed through his mind.
That skill allowed Takako to become possessed by Kayako. From everything Edward had observed so far, its effects were disturbingly powerful. Whenever Takako acted under possession, her performance exerted crushing pressure on the people around her. Edward himself never felt it, since Kayako could never harm him, but for the others… it was another story.
Plenty of people had already been frightened by Kayako's aura.
"…Then, the moment I noticed the door was closed and the voices stopped, I was just about to head back downstairs… but suddenly, the door behind me opened by itself. I didn't think much of it at the time…"
"So, I just walked in. Inside, there was no one—only the props lying around. But right then, I heard creaking noises coming from above, in the attic."
"I called out, but no one answered. I got worried that maybe someone had fainted up there, so… so I climbed up."
Listening to the girl's account, Edward felt his lips twitch. He rubbed his face, caught between amusement and exasperation. Should he say she had good luck? Or terribly bad luck?
Because what she had just described was straight out of the Tokunaga family arc—a segment they hadn't even started filming yet. Although Jim and George had already wrapped their roles, the Tokunaga family scenes hadn't been shot at all. The reason was simple: the set needed renovation, and until the fresh paint fully dried, filming couldn't begin, or the walls would peel and break continuity.
"And then… I had just climbed into the attic when I heard something crawling toward me. In the dim light, I saw… a blurry figure. Instinctively, I shone my phone's flashlight at it…" Her voice quavered more and more as she spoke.
By now, Edward had guessed the truth.
Takako, still under Kayako's possession, had been upstairs in the attic, "finding her sense of character." The moment she heard footsteps, this unlucky girl had climbed up. Even though Takako had already removed her makeup, with Kayako's possession active, creating terrifying illusions was child's play.
No wonder the poor girl had been scared to the point of wetting herself. Terrified, she had scrambled down the stairs in a panic—only to witness the chilling sight of "Kayako" dropping from the attic and crawling toward her through the shadows.
It was… a bit much.
Honestly, Edward thought this young woman had remarkable courage. An ordinary person might have fainted dead away on the spot.
"All right, Takako. Next time you're looking to get into character, give me a heads-up first," Edward said helplessly, waving a hand. Still, he wasn't about to admit it was partly his fault. He couldn't exactly explain to others about Nightmare Possession. If he did, they would probably start wondering if he was losing his mind.
"Yes, Director. I know I was wrong," Takako said earnestly, nodding. She truly hadn't expected to frighten a staff member so badly this time.
The other crew members, especially those in charge of stagehands and props, exchanged wary glances. Clearly, next time they needed to enter the house to arrange the set, they would first make absolutely sure Takako wasn't lurking inside. Otherwise, the next ones reduced to tears might be them.
Everyone knew by now just how terrifyingly realistic Takako's acting became. The mere thought of what that poor girl had gone through tonight made their stomachs churn. To encounter such a scene in the dead of night, and not faint on the spot—that was already a stroke of luck.
After resolving the matter of Takako unintentionally terrifying a staff member, Ju-On's filming continued to progress steadily. Around this time, Edward finally met with Zoroark again.
"All handled?" Edward asked.
Zoroark nodded. It had been following Secretary Kennedy at Ghost Films, helping handle company affairs. Thinking of this, it handed Edward a stack of documents. Edward took them and gave them a quick glance.
They contained Ghost Films current development reports: staff expansion, the formation of dedicated talent scouts and agent teams to sign and cultivate future stars, and the hiring of several renowned directors from within the industry. At the same time, Ghost Films had begun nurturing its own in-house directors and screenwriters. In short, everything was moving at high speed.
"Good. That's exactly what I want to see," Edward said with satisfaction. A company couldn't rely forever on his films alone. And since he would eventually take over Devon Corporation, his responsibilities would only multiply. Ghost Films had to learn to run smoothly even without his direct involvement.
"How much did Alien gross in total?" Edward asked. By now, the movie's theatrical run had ended.
"Final box office—3.5 billion!" Zoroark reported with a smile.
Edward was pleased, though not overly so. When he checked his "fear points," his mood dipped again. Despite the 3.5 billion gross, it only gave him enough to draw once more in the system lottery. The requirements for draws were rising higher and higher.
"But… the online reviews aren't especially good," Zoroark added. "Quite a few people complained that the Xenomorphs were too disgusting. They said they couldn't eat properly for days after watching."
Edward wasn't surprised. He had anticipated this reaction from the very beginning.
Back during filming, he already knew that with monsters like the Xenomorphs, creating genuine fear relied heavily on jump scares and sound design. Competing directly with traditional horror films was difficult.
To heighten the terror, he had modified the murder scenes—adding unique twists with the "Xenomorph Pikachu." Combined with his master level cinematography, these choices had amplified the audience's immersion. That people felt physically ill afterward only proved how effective it had been.
"Don't worry about it. Alien was meant for award competitions anyway," Edward said as he set the documents aside. He had no plans to continue the Alien series himself. At best, he might hand it off to up-and-coming directors under Ghost Films. Perhaps some of them could grow into talented monster-movie specialists.
Zoroark didn't argue. The film had already earned staggering profits, even after theaters took their cut—usually around 50% of ticket sales, plus taxes and other expenses. Even so, Ghost Films share still came to well over a billion, giving the company a massive development fund.
Edward quickly allocated the income: half would go to further company development, and the other half would once again be donated to his charity.
The foundation had become one of his most well-known initiatives. It had brought Edward, Ghost Films Productions, and even Devon Corporation immense public goodwill. To many families in need, the Stone family name was practically synonymous with salvation.
This goodwill also cemented the Stone family's position in society. Edward had no intention of abandoning it—in fact, he planned to gradually increase his donations.
Still, he had zero interest in becoming Pokémon League Chairman. That job was exhausting. His older brother, Steven, already worked himself half to death in the champion position. Edward couldn't even imagine shouldering that burden. He preferred simply being a wealthy man who complained about having too much money.
"As for the donations managed by Kode, assign a dedicated person to oversee them. Make absolutely sure the money goes through properly. I've heard about some scam groups targeting charity funds, trying to trick money out of people," Edward reminded Zoroark.
"What? There are actually people that despicable?" Zoroark was shocked.
Edward nodded grimly. In this world, there were plenty of vile individuals. To them, money meant for life-saving treatment was just another opportunity to line their own pockets.
That said, large-scale online fraud was rare in the Pokémon world. The presence of Porygon made such schemes extremely costly. Fraudsters needed powerful Porygon of their own just to resist League surveillance. Even then, laundering money across regions was a nightmare, since the world's banking systems were unified. All in all, scams were difficult and expensive—but not impossible.
"Just warn Kode to stay alert. I won't be contacting him about money transfers anytime soon, nor will you or the company accountants. That way, if anyone does try to impersonate us, he won't be fooled," Edward said firmly. It was better to be safe.
Zoroark jotted this down, then leaned closer with curiosity.
"Boss, what are you filming right now?"
"Now? We're shooting the Tokunaga family's segment," Edward replied calmly. On set, two schoolgirls in uniform were feeding rabbits.
As the camera pulled back, the shot turned into a voyeur's perspective from the trees in the distance—giving the impression someone was watching them. Takako was already in position.
This was the infamous sequence where Tokunaga Kazumi and her friend fed the rabbits, ending with her friend's death and Kanai's disappearance. In the original cut, director Takashi Shimizu had minimized it, only mentioning Kazumi's disappearance through police dialogue and showing a brief shot of her chin. But Edward knew the full story.
Kazumi fed the rabbits alone after her friend stepped away. Kayako attacked and killed her. When the friend returned, she found only Kazumi's shoe and the corpses of the rabbits. Then Kayako's death rattle sounded behind her. Turning, she saw Kayako crawling from the shadows.
Terrified, she sat on the ground, clutching a small shovel to defend herself—only for the corpse of Kazumi, now puppeteered by the curse, to join in the assault. The screen would cut to black.
Though never explicitly shown, the ending was clear: Kazumi disappeared, and her chin was later discovered embedded in her friend's shattered corpse.
Zoroark's face turned pale. Watching Kayako's grotesque movements, it bolted off in a hurry. To Zoroark, Edward's scripts seemed to grow more twisted by the day.
As for the poor audience… could they even handle it?
No—Edward thought grimly—the real question was whether the censors could.
(End of Chapter)
TN: I didn't watch this movie so I don't If I gotten the names right.