The moment they entered the town, it was as if all color had been drained from the world.
The sky was a heavy, suffocating gray.
A massive spiral-shaped cloud dominated the sky, visibly and sluggishly rotating.
The old utility poles along the road were twisted into spirals in a bizarre manner.
Even the corners of the houses and the mortar joints between the bricks took on eerie vortex shapes.
There was hardly a straight thing left in the entire town. Yang Yi almost thought he was in Chengdu instead of Kurouzu Town.
Yang Yi slowly brought the vehicle to a halt. Just ahead at the intersection, two figures were huddled together, waiting for them.
When Kirie Goshima and Shuichi Saito saw the pitch-black vehicle that looked like it had driven straight out of a sci-fi movie, a spark of hope ignited in their eyes, which had previously been consumed by despair and fear.
They knew their saviors had arrived.
"Need a ride?"
Yang Yi rolled down the window, his voice carrying a calm, reassuring power.
Under Kirie and Shuichi's shocked gazes, the Batmobile's side doors slowly rose upward like wings.
They were still confused about how a seven-seater car could possibly fit all nine of them.
But then, the sound of whirring machinery echoed from inside the vehicle.
The interior space rapidly expanded, and the original seating layout quickly adjusted itself.
Right before their eyes, two brand-new seats materialized out of thin air.
Sitting inside, his fingertips brushing against the futuristic, high-tech interior, Shuichi's violently pounding heart finally settled down a bit.
He began to recount the series of logic-defying, bizarre events that had been happening in the town.
"It all started with my father."
"He suddenly developed a near-insane obsession with spiral patterns."
"And then... then he twisted himself into a spiral. Every bone in his body broke."
Shuichi's voice carried an uncontrollable sob.
"My mom... she's in a really bad state."
"She's now absolutely terrified of anything spiral-shaped. We need to go home and check on her first."
"I'm afraid she might do something to hurt herself!"
The vehicle drove silently down the dead, twisted streets.
Suddenly, Kirie Goshima pointed at the back of a girl walking alone by the side of the road.
"That's Azami Kurotani, my classmate. She looks so weird."
The moment Kirie spoke, the members of the girl squad inside the car frowned almost in unison.
Through Miko Yotsuya's [Eyes of Truth], a twisted power was continuously radiating from Azami Kurotani's forehead.
That cursed energy shared the exact same origin as the eerie aura enveloping the entire town.
*Screech—*
Yang Yi slammed on the brakes.
With the sound of squealing tires, the Batmobile came to a steady halt right beside Azami Kurotani.
Before Kirie and Shuichi could even react, Tomie, Miko, and the others had already pushed the doors open and stepped out.
Their movements were swift and coordinated, instantly surrounding the bewildered Azami Kurotani.
"Hey there, little girl."
Tomie wore her sweet smile, brimming with a sickly, morbid charm.
She naturally draped an arm over Azami's shoulder, acting as if they were best friends who had known each other for years.
"Your bangs are quite unique."
"Hiding something good underneath?"
Startled by the sudden ambush, Azami instinctively tried to step back.
But Tomie's arm rested on her shoulder like an iron vise, making it impossible for her to break free.
The next second.
Tomie reached straight for her bangs and lightly flicked them up.
Azami's thick bangs were lifted entirely.
Beneath the bangs, on her smooth forehead, sat a spiral-shaped scar that took up more than half of her brow.
The scar was pitch-black and seemed alive, visibly rotating inward.
"Ah!"
Kirie and Shuichi cried out in shock at the same time.
They had never imagined that their usually cheerful classmate was hiding something so terrifying on her forehead.
The aura radiating from the scar hit them with a wave of intense dizziness and nausea, making their stomachs churn.
Azami's face instantly turned pale.
Having her hidden secret exposed in public, a rush of shame, anger, and fear flooded her mind.
"What are you doing?!"
She screamed, trying to shove Tomie away.
But it was all in vain.
As if stimulated by everyone's stares, the spiral scar on her forehead suddenly accelerated its rotation.
A faint suction force emanated from the center of the scar.
The flesh at the center of the scar actually began to slowly cave inward, as if trying to form a true vortex.
The smile on Tomie's face deepened, her eyes sparkling with the excitement of discovering a novel toy.
She simply reached out with her other hand, spread her fingers, and pressed them directly against the spinning spiral.
"Let's see what exactly you are."
Innate Technique, [Idle Transfiguration].
Activate.
Without the slightest resistance, Tomie's palm "sank" into Azami's forehead.
Her fingertips bypassed warm flesh and hard bone.
What she touched was the more fundamental soul.
In Tomie's perception, a foreign entity was coiled atop Azami's soul like a parasite.
It was a spiral-shaped curse.
It was constantly eroding and assimilating the girl's soul.
"Found it."
"Hahahaha!"
Within Azami's soul, Tomie's fingers precisely pinched the core of the foreign entity.
Then, she yanked it outward with force.
"Ahhhhhh—!!!"
Azami let out a bloodcurdling shriek.
Finally, under Kirie and Shuichi's watchful eyes.
Tomie's hand slowly withdrew from Azami's forehead.
And in her grasp was a writhing, struggling mass of black spiral energy.
A physical entity.
The moment the thing left its host's body, it let out an ear-piercing screech and tried to escape.
Tomie merely scoffed disdainfully and abruptly clenched her fingers.
*Pop.*
A soft sound echoed.
The bizarre spiral entity was crushed instantly, dissipating into the air as a wisp of black smoke.
The hideous scar on Azami's forehead also rapidly faded at a visible rate, ultimately leaving behind only smooth skin and a crescent-shaped scar from a childhood injury.
With the curse purged from her body, Azami went limp, collapsing to the ground completely unconscious.
The entire process had taken no more than ten seconds.
Kirie and Shuichi were completely frozen, their minds entirely blank.
What had they just witnessed?
Sticking a hand into someone's brain! And pulling a monster out of it!
Could this spiral-shaped monster be the source of the bizarre incidents in Kurouzu Town?