"Lady Tomie is so beautiful~ hehehe."
Jay wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, his eyes filled with obsession as he stared at the Tomie before him.
In that gaze, the greed, the desire, and the urge to possess her were already overflowing. Yet, under such a look, Tomie only responded with a strange, unfathomable smile.
"Yes, yes, Lady Tomie… Lady Tomie, I dream about you every night, Lady Tomie!" Ham also stared eagerly at the woman before him. Ever since following her into this building and stepping into what looked like a classroom, he hadn't been able to move his eyes away from her for even a second.
This Tomie was suffocatingly beautiful, a beauty that could drive people mad, a beauty that made one want to claim her entirely for themselves.
Tomie's smile deepened as she gazed at the two men. These two were already her captives. A little tease here, a little seduction there, and they would soon learn the meaning of regret—regret so deep they would wish they had never met her. But for now, what intrigued Tomie far more was the third man in the room.
"Mr. Jack, why is it that ever since we came in, you haven't said a word?" Tomie twirled a lock of her long hair around her finger, looking at him with a half-smile, half-smirk.
Jack swallowed hard, unable to stop the sound from escaping his throat. His eyes on Tomie were not filled with lust like the other two, but with fear.
It had been just a moment ago—just a moment—when Jack, along with the others, had signed a liability waiver outside. The form stated clearly that anything that happened after entering the haunted house was the visitors' own responsibility, and the park would not be held accountable. Then, following Tomie, they had entered.
And as Jack trailed behind her, he had seen it—at the back of Tomie's head, a pair of eyes had suddenly opened and looked straight at him. And then, right out of her hair, another face had emerged—another Tomie's face—smiling at him. That instant had left him utterly stunned, as though his very soul had been pulled out of his body.
When Tomie finally sat down, the face had vanished again, hidden in the curtain of her hair. Since then, a single question had been gnawing at Jack: was this Tomie a human… or a ghost? What he saw—was it just his imagination, or some illusion cast by a Ghost-type Pokémon working in the attraction?
"M-Miss Tomie, just now… there was a Ghost-type Pokémon staff member nearby, right?" Jack asked nervously.
Tomie laughed, a sweet yet chilling giggle, as though she had just heard the funniest joke in the world. The other two men, however, were far too entranced to notice anything strange. They only stared at her, intoxicated, as if bewitched.
This bizarre sight only deepened Jack's fear. He knew his companions well—yes, they admired Tomie, they had even chosen to come to this amusement park because of her—but their behavior now was far too abnormal. They shouldn't have been this obsessed, this blind to everything else.
At the very least, they should still be capable of listening to someone else speak! Yet here they were, acting as though they could see nothing but her. The realization made Jack's heart pound with dread.
"No, Mr. Jack," Tomie said sweetly, her eyes narrowing in amusement. "There's only me here in this haunted house~"
Jack's breathing grew ragged. If there weren't other ghost staff members, then what in the world had he just seen?
"Mr. Jack, was it my enemies who told you something?!" Tomie suddenly erupted in fury. Her voice rose into a hysterical scream as she leapt up and seized his shoulders, shaking him violently. Her twisted expression, contorted by rage, made Jack tremble all over. In panic, he shoved her away with all his strength.
Tomie let out a cry as she stumbled, falling hard to the ground. Her head struck the edge of a desk with a sickening thud, and blood immediately gushed out, staining the floor. Weakly, she lifted her hand as if to reach for something… then went completely still.
"Jack! What have you done?!" Jay grabbed Jack by the collar, his face a mask of shock and rage, screaming in disbelief.
Jack, meanwhile, stared in horror at the motionless Tomie. What had he just done? Had he… killed her? Killed Tomie? And not only that—he had killed her inside someone else's haunted attraction?!
He was finished.
In that instant, a crushing wave of fear and regret clenched around Jack's chest. He rushed toward Tomie's side in desperation, tearing Jay's hands off him in the process. That obsessed madman, Jay, who had been hopelessly infatuated with Tomie—he was the reason Jack's life had been ruined!
Murder was a serious crime. He would have to pay with his life.
Jay's lips trembled as he bent down, testing for Tomie's breath. After a moment, his face went pale—there was none. She wasn't breathing at all.
"My goddess… hehehe… my Lady Tomie…" Ham muttered blankly as he stepped forward. In his hand gleamed a utility knife, and his dazed eyes fixed only on her.
"Ham, what are you doing?!" Jack's voice cracked with terror as he instinctively backed away. This man was already beyond saving—completely insane.
"You killed Lady Tomie, Jack!" Jay roared as he tackled Jack to the ground, raining down punch after punch on his face. Jack struggled frantically, the two of them grappling in a frenzy that quickly threw the entire classroom into chaos.
Meanwhile, in Ham's eyes, Tomie was beckoning to him. Though blood trickled endlessly from her lips, staining her smile, he saw only the most beautiful woman in the world. He moved toward her reverently, knelt by her side, cradled her head tenderly in his arms, and leaned his ear close to her mouth.
"…Is that so… Lady Tomie, I understand now, I know what you want… I will set you free from this body right away, Lady Tomie…"
A twisted smile spread across Ham's face as he raised the utility knife.
Jay and Jack were too busy tearing at each other to notice. They traded blow after blow, grappling, clawing, screaming, until finally Jack grabbed a pencil case from a desk and smashed it against Jay's head, knocking him dizzy enough to loosen his grip.
"You lunatic! Can't you see? That woman isn't even human!" Jack shouted, wiping the blood from his own face.
But when his eyes flicked toward the desk, he froze.
Ham was kneeling in front of it, bowing reverently toward Tomie's severed head—her head, lying neatly atop the wooden surface.
"You're all mad… no, it's me who's gone mad… or maybe this whole amusement park is mad…" Jack whispered.
Then Jay struck him again, dragging him back to reality. Jack wrestled Jay's face toward the desk.
One look was all it took. Jay fell silent, dumbstruck, his chest heaving with panicked breaths. Slowly, trembling, he staggered toward Tomie's corpse. There, he collapsed to his knees, clutching the headless body with a vacant grin.
"My Tomie… my Lady Tomie… the tumor is gone now. I'll protect you."
Watching the scene unfold, Jack nearly lost his mind. Were his companions truly hypnotized? Or was he the one going insane? Where were the staff? Where was Officer Jenny? Why was no one coming?
Then a sharp, shrill voice tore through the room.
"Kill… the imposter! Kill her!"
Jack shuddered violently. The severed head on the desk had opened its eyes. It glared at its own body and shrieked.
At the same time, from the body's torn neck, another face began to push its way out, screaming back just as fiercely.
"Kill her! She's the imposter! My love, kill her!"
Jay seized a broken desk leg. Ham gripped his bloodied knife.
Jack collapsed into the corner, hugging his knees. His whole body trembled as he stared at the nightmare before him.
Tomie's head cursed her body. Tomie's body cursed her head. Each accused the other of being the fake. But which was the real one?
"I can't tell… I really can't tell anymore!" Jack burst into hysterical laughter, tears streaming down his face as he slapped the floor with his palms.
The classroom devolved into chaos: Jack laughing madly, Jay and Ham savagely tearing at each other, and Tomie's head and body shrieking foul words at one another.
Time passed. Jack, gasping for breath, lifted his head. The room had gone quiet.
For a fleeting moment, hope lit his eyes—maybe the police had come? Maybe help had finally arrived?
But no. What he saw instead made his blood run cold. Jay and Ham lay lifeless on the floor, their eyes blank, staring straight at him. And crawling across the tiles toward him was Tomie's severed head, its wound sprouting writhing tendrils of bloody flesh.
"Jack… help me kill her. I'm the real Tomie. I love you. I don't blame you for pushing me."
"Jack… I'm the real one. I'll give you anything, anything at all…"
The body staggered toward him as well. From the stump of its neck, tiny eyes blinked at him, watching. Both head and body closed in, step by step.
Jack backed away frantically, but the walls left him nowhere to run.
He suddenly remembered a thought he once had while watching Edward's horror movies. Back then, he had scoffed at the characters' cowardice—why were they so afraid? If it were him, he'd just fight the ghosts head-on.
But now, confronted with two Tomies, he could only tremble. His legs had gone soft, his strength gone.
"Shut up!" Jack suddenly screamed, rising to his feet with wild eyes. Clutching the utility knife in his trembling hand, he charged forward.
If he couldn't tell who was real… then he would just kill them all.
…
A long time later, Jack slumped onto a chair, exhausted. He gazed at the carnage around him with a faint smile. But then, to his horror, the remains began to shift, sprouting faces—each one Tomie's face.
"Jack…"
"It hurts…"
"Jack…"
"They're all fakes!"
"Hehehe…"
The voices swarmed around him, echoing endlessly. With a look of utter despair, Jack raised his knife once more.
"Wow, what kind of game did those three play?"
In the tourist rest area, a group of visitors who had just finished the attraction stared curiously at the three people lying on the ground.
"Tomie!" Jack suddenly bolted upright with a scream. His terrified eyes darted around—only to see the smiling crowd, and his two companions, Jay and Ham, also sitting up beside him.
For a moment he was stunned. Hadn't they both died? Hadn't he watched them kill each other with his own eyes?
"Dear guests, how was the special attraction?" A familiar voice spoke. Jack turned, trembling, to see Tomie herself, standing there with a cheerful smile.
"J-just now…" Jack began angrily, but she cut him off.
"Just now was one of our amusement park's special immersive experiences. If you recall carefully, you'll realize it was all fake…" Tomie explained sweetly.
Jack blinked in confusion. And then, when he thought back, it did seem that way. The "blood" smelled faintly of paint. The "fight" between Jay and Ham had been staged with fake boxing gloves. No one had really died.
Everything suddenly made sense.
The three men left the attraction laughing, reassured. But that night, as Jack drifted into sleep, he dreamed again—dreamed of that final scene.
Surrounded by countless Tomies, overwhelmed by their voices, he had raised the knife to end it all. He remembered the pain vividly, the sensation of writhing flesh crawling over his skin.
"…I really couldn't tell," he murmured in despair.
(End of Chapter)