EPISODE 14 — "THE MASKS OF FEAR"
Morning never truly came to Osore High.
It pretended to—thin sunlight slipped through the gray clouds—but something in the air made the entire school feel like it was holding its breath. The hallways were quieter than usual. People whispered without realizing why. Teachers paused mid-sentence, sensing something wrong but unable to explain it.
Only Kaito understood the cause.
Or rather—the thing inside him did.
The sealed voice of Kyōfu-no-Kami, the God of Fear, pulsed faintly inside his chest like a second heartbeat. Ever since the battle on the rooftop, the connection between them felt tighter… heavier… and sometimes, the god's emotions bled into his own.
He walked through the hallway with his head down, glasses reflecting the pale light, trying to stay invisible, but every footstep around him made his skin crawl. Every conversation felt like it was happening too close.
Fear was leaking.
And it wasn't just his.
---
At lunch break, Haruka and Jun dragged him to their usual corner behind the old school building. Haruka looked frustrated, Jun looked tired, and Kaito looked like he hadn't slept at all.
Haruka crossed her arms.
"Okay. Tell us. What happened last night? You've been acting like something is crawling under your skin."
Kaito swallowed. He wanted to act normal. He wanted to reassure her. But the truth was too sharp to hide.
"There's… something coming," he murmured. "The seal inside me is weakening faster. I don't know why."
Jun tightened his grip on his notebook.
"Is it another awakening god?"
"No." Kaito shook his head. "This is something different."
Kyōfu-no-Kami's whisper rose inside him—not words, but sensations. A warning. Hunger. Anger.
He clenched his shirt over his chest.
Haruka stepped closer, softer now.
"Kaito… we're with you. Whatever it is, we'll handle it together."
He wished he believed that.
---
Later that day…
Osore High's cultural club was hosting a small mask exhibition in the gym. Students walked around tables, admiring hand-carved wooden masks—oni faces, folklore spirits, festival designs.
It seemed harmless.
Until Kaito stepped inside.
Instantly, the world tilted.
Every mask in the room turned toward him.
Not physically—
But spiritually.
He froze in place. The mist of Kyōfu stirred violently inside him.
Jun whispered, "Kaito? What's wrong?"
He couldn't answer.
An old mask—black wood with deep carved eye sockets—began leaking a thin trail of darkness. No one else seemed to see it. Haruka grabbed Kaito's arm, feeling him tremble.
"Kaito…?"
The darkness thickened, swallowing the mask whole.
Then—
A shriek cut through the room.
A student on the other side of the gym dropped to their knees, clutching their head. Their shadow twisted unnaturally, growing long, writhing, stretching across the floor like a living serpent.
Jun's eyes widened.
"Another vessel…?"
Kaito shook his head.
"No. Worse."
The possessed student raised their head slowly. Their eyes had turned pitch-black, and when they stood, their shadow rose with them like a second body.
Kyōfu-no-Kami's voice whispered inside Kaito:
"THIS IS NOT A GOD. THIS IS FEAR GIVEN FORM… A MASK WITHOUT A FACE."
A Fear Wraith.
Born from the collective anxiety brewing in the school—and drawn to Kaito like a magnet.
The creature lunged.
Haruka pulled Kaito back as desks burst into splinters. Students screamed and ran in every direction. Jun flipped open a talisman, activating a defensive charm that flared with golden light.
Kaito felt the god inside him thrash violently.
"LET ME OUT."
He hesitated.
Every time he allowed Kyōfu's power to surface, it felt harder to pull it back. Harder to stay himself.
But the wraith charged again.
Haruka yelled, "Kaito—now!"
He closed his eyes.
The symbol on his chest ignited.
A wave of black mist exploded outward, freezing the wraith mid-air. Shadows wrapped around its limbs, pulling it back, tearing at it. The gym darkened as if swallowed by night.
Kaito's voice was layered—with his own, and the god's.
"Disappear."
The wraith fractured into thousands of shards of shadow and dissolved like smoke.
Silence fell.
Students stared at Kaito—terrified, confused, speechless. And in that moment, the fear he'd tried so hard to avoid…
…latched onto him again.
Haruka whispered his name.
Jun approached carefully.
But Kaito stepped away from both of them.
He saw the looks.
The trembling hands.
The way everyone stood back as if he were the monster.
And the worst part?
Deep inside, Kyōfu-no-Kami was laughing.
A soft, cold whisper:
"THESE HUMANS WILL ALWAYS FEAR YOU… BECAUSE YOU ARE MINE."
Kaito's chest tightened.
For the first time since the ritual, he wondered—
not whether he could control the God of Fear…
…but whether he could keep himself from disappearing entirely.