It couldn't really be that Kayako, could it?
Toru felt a chill run through him. Even with his psychological resilience, for a moment he felt life was meaningless, as if he might be finished.
All fear comes from insufficient firepower. If it were a ghost he could physically exorcise, Toru would not be afraid no matter how many appeared.
But unfortunately, Kayako was precisely the type of ghost immune to physical attacks. She was practically a concept, fundamentally unkillable. She was the grudge itself.
As one of Japan's most famous ghosts, Toru could not possibly have misremembered her name.
And it was because he remembered exactly who she was that cold dread seeped into his bones.
In his memory, Kayako's abilities were terrifying.
Infinite resurrection, infinite doppelgangers, overwhelming physical strength, teleportation, invisibility, phasing through walls, mental attacks, mind control, space manipulation, time manipulation, reality distortion, and more.
Calling her a ghost was inaccurate. Calling her a god would not even be an exaggeration.
If her abilities were real, even Gojo Satoru would be split in half.
Her only flaw was being bound to the haunted house, unable to let the grudge spread uncontrollably.
If a ghost like this existed in this world, then this world was far more dangerous than he had imagined.
At this moment, Toru truly wished he could slap himself. If he could go back, he definitely would not have interfered.
Affection was meaningless to Kayako.
In her original story, she fell deeply, obsessively in love with a man while alive, but after turning into a grudge, she killed the person she loved without hesitation.
She was a pure ghost.
If he had never known Kayako, and had never gone near her haunted house, maybe nothing would have happened.
But now, he had approached her himself. The karmic connection was likely already formed. If she really became a grudge one day, would she come for him?
Maybe he was overthinking it and she only shared the same name?
Toru looked at Kayako.
A white dress, a black cat, the name Kayako Kawamata, and both her surname and given name were uncommon.
Plus his own Spirit Vision, and how Shizuka had ignored her earlier when they walked down the street.
Everything pointed to this being the terrifying grudge.
What should he do now? Find real clergy? They would probably be the ones exorcised.
Unless this world had a high-magic system full of supernatural powers, Kayako was simply an unsolvable monster.
What kind of horror is the most terrifying? Cthulhu-type horror, where no method works and there is no resolution. That is the most terrifying.
Kayako did not know why Toru's expression suddenly turned strange. She lowered her head nervously, thinking she had done something wrong.
She looked at the uniform shoes on her feet, her ten pale toes curling slightly, and asked in a small voice:
"Um, what is your name? You helped me so much, but I never asked."
Toru really did not want to tell her, but he had no choice now. He forced a smile and said, "Fujiwara Toru."
"Fujiwara-san?"
"I'm less than two years older than you. You don't have to be so formal."
"Then Fujiwara-kun?"
"Yeah, call me that. Is it alright if I call you Kayako?"
Her heart raced again. He was calling her by her first name, so casually and directly.
Kayako smiled unconsciously. She nodded lightly. "Th-that is fine. Fujiwara-kun can call me by my name."
Toru finally calmed himself.
If it is a blessing, it is not a curse. If it is a curse, you cannot avoid it.
Since things had come to this, worrying was pointless. He needed to think about solutions.
"I have class tomorrow, so I'm heading back to sleep. Kayako, you should go home too. Even though Tokyo is safe overall, this area is a bit remote. Be careful."
Toru said this, waved at her, then turned toward home in his tracksuit.
Kayako stared blankly at his disappearing figure.
Only when he was about to turn the corner did she suddenly react. As if possessed, she quietly followed after him, stepping where he stepped.
I, I'm not a pervert. I'm not trying to stalk him. I just want to know where Fujiwara-kun lives.
Yes, I only want to know where he lives. I don't have any other intentions.
Whispering to herself as if giving herself courage, she followed Toru from far behind.
As a top agent, Toru immediately sensed someone untrained tailing him.
Seeing that it was Kayako, he did not stop her. He pretended not to notice and kept walking.
Could she actually be a yandere too?
When he reached the luxurious Western-style mansion, Toru opened the gate and went inside.
Outside the fence, Kayako gazed at the blooming roses in the garden, then at the European-style mansion he had entered.
"So Fujiwara-kun lives in such a beautiful place."
Only after she saw the lights inside turn on did she reluctantly walk away, repeatedly looking back.
The mansion had long been fully secured. Sitting on the sofa, Toru held his phone and watched Kayako leave through the exterior cameras.
He looked up at the crystal chandelier, at the vast but lifeless mansion.
For some reason, he suddenly felt the same fear he had when he lived alone as a child.
"I got scared by Kayako."
He sighed. He touched the pistol in his pocket. This thing was useless against a grudge.
"Calm down. It's not hopeless yet. The current Kayako is still alive, although she is strange, like her gloomy aura."
"But one thing is certain. She has not turned into a grudge yet, and she doesn't have those terrifying abilities."
"In the original story, the grudge erupted only after she was brutally murdered by her husband, who accused her of cheating."
"So from another perspective, as long as Kayako does not die, she will not turn into a grudge, and I will be safe."
"Which means I cannot avoid her. I even need to get closer and protect her."
He could not fully trust the original story either. With her current domestic violence, who knew if her terrible parents might kill her early, causing the grudge to erupt ahead of time?
"I have to keep an eye on Kayako. If possible, I should take the initiative and eliminate her parents, who are basically walking nuclear triggers."
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)