Tokyo Unnatural Forensics

Chapter 259, A New Curse – The Smoker

Comedian Tetsu Miyahara never imagined that he would one day return to the mortal world.

He had naturally heard of Uesugi Muneyuki's great name. In his mind, Uesugi Muneyuki, as a legendary forensic doctor, must be a powerful figure who was proficient in all branches of forensic medicine, understood all symptoms and signs of death, was familiar with all cutting-edge international technologies, and could rival those American forensic doctors.

But when Uesugi Muneyuki finally found him, Miyahara Tetsu realized that it was all a lie.

That kid cheated!

He didn't rely on any technology; he clearly relied on his ability to solve cases by directly communicating with the deceased!

If you use the answer to work backwards to solve the problem, then of course any design you make will seem reasonable!

Therefore, when Uesugi Muneyuki explained to Inspector Shiratori that he felt something was amiss because he couldn't find the emergency inhaler on Miyahara Tetsu, since an asthma patient would not be without it, Miyahara Tetsu's ugly face instantly turned into a mask of pain.

You know shit!
The comedian thought to himself.

Miyahara Toru was already ugly, and he deliberately grew a mushroom haircut to make himself look ugly. His old face was wrinkled, and under a mask of pain, he was so ugly that it was almost unbearable to look at.

However, that's how comedians are. Sometimes, being too handsome isn't an advantage but a disadvantage, because it makes the audience focus more on their face than on their jokes. In that case, they might as well be actors or idols. On the contrary, if a comedian is ugly enough, ugly in a distinctive way, ugly in a unique way, they will leave a deep impression on the audience. At the same time, an ugly man seriously pretending to be stupid and telling jokes on stage can be very funny.

It's hard to say how it is in other places, but in a very repressive society like Japan, people really enjoy this kind of thing.

When his grievances were redressed, and when this ugly man watched as his partner was taken away by the Metropolitan Police Department, Miyahara finally breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Do you resent it?

They're still complaining!
Hate it?

Miyahara thought for a long time, but he didn't feel much hatred anymore. He was already in his forties and his health had never been very good, so he never thought he could live to be a hundred. For this guy, a down-on-his-luck ugly man who was eliminated by Japan's exam-oriented education system could go from a small theater in Yoshimoto Kogyo to a top-tier comedian with an annual salary of thirty to forty million yen, and then die a spectacular death, and even make headlines all over the country after his death, that was enough for him.

In a daze, Miyahara Tetsu felt his soul, now fulfilled, begin to move uncontrollably. He arrived at a deep, narrow passageway, where a large door covered with inscriptions was tightly closed, but a faint glimmer of light could be seen through the crack.

What is this place?
Am I about to become a Buddha?
Miyahara Tetsu thought for a moment, then decided to push open the door.

Surprisingly, the other side was neither paradise nor a place of rebirth, nor Hirasaka Yomi or the eighteen levels of hell.

It was actually a tantric Buddhist temple.

At the entrance, there are thirteen blood-red agate steps, each engraved with the Sanskrit mantra of Aizen Myō-ō. On both sides, hexagonal copper pillars each hang nine-ringed vajra bells. The dome of the portico presents a three-dimensional mandala, with the crimson Aizen Myō-ō in the center, its three eyes wide open in anger, its six arms holding a vajra bell, a five-pronged vajra, and a lotus bow. The demons of greed suppressed at its feet are transformed into lapis lazuli reliefs, forming a yin-yang barrier with the nine-headed, thirty-four-armed gilded bronze sculpture of Vajrayaksa Myō-ō on the door.

If Miyahara Toru had a good understanding of Buddhism, he might have been able to recognize the chanting of the "Sutra of Reason" in the main hall.

Unfortunately, he wasn't very educated.

Where am I?

Further on, passing through the vermilion ground, the central dual main statues are dynamically rotating. The throne of Aizen Myōō rises, and behind it, a vermilion screen is painted with an eight-petaled red lotus Garbhadhatu Mandala. The lapis lazuli statue of Vajrayakā Myōō rotates along the moon's orbit. On the circular altar, every soul that has been liberated by Uesugi Sōsetsu leaves its mark in this hall, signifying rebirth in Buddhahood.

With the appearance of Miyahara Tetsu, hundreds of small Buddhist statues immediately turned around, all eyes fixed on the comedian. This made Miyahara shudder, but on some instinct, he slowly walked to the center of the hall.

The master of the main hall was not there, but under Aizen Myō-ō's seat, a woman with long hair wearing the standard uniform of a Fuji TV female news anchor was smiling at him.

"Huh???" When Miyahara Tetsu saw that face, the comedian's legs went weak and he collapsed to the ground.

"Mariko Hironaka?! You're not dead?! You're still alive?"

"Wait a minute, are all those rumors, curses, and supernatural events about Fuji TV true?!"

If there's one way to describe a situation that's terrifyingly frightening, it's the situation Miyahara Tetsu is currently facing.

Mariko Hironaka seemed to have heard Miyahara's words. She got up from in front of Aizen Myōō. However, the female anchor did not walk normally. Instead, she turned her body upside down with her chest facing upwards and crawled on the ground like a spider with her hands and feet. As she crawled, she even stuck her head out of her neck for more than a meter.

"Ahhhh! Don't kill me! Don't kill me! Spare me! We acted together before, didn't we? Spare me!"

Miyahara was utterly terrified, and at this moment, Mariko Hironaka burst into maniacal laughter: "Hahahaha~ What do you mean I'm still alive? I'm not dead? Think again, Miyahara, you're the one who's dead! You're really dead, otherwise how could you see me?"

"Oh, right! Unless I'm dead... Yes, I'm already dead."

For humans, the most terrifying thing is terror itself. Once they discover that they can communicate with the other person, this sense of terror is greatly reduced. "Is that why you can still appear in the Odaiba building?" Miyahara Tetsu was still shaken, but felt much better than before.

"Heh heh, there are too few Yakshas under the command of the King of Light, you've seen that too, haven't you, Miyahara?" Hironaka Mariko said with a strange laugh, "It was I who suggested that Uesugi spare your life so that you wouldn't be reborn as a Buddha."

"Why?" Miyahara Tetsu asked, puzzled. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Do you want to find a companion? Are you lonely?"

Miyahara Tetsu has a wife and two children, but this guy knows that his wife doesn't really love him and only married him because of his high income. However, his wife treats him fairly well and manages the household reasonably well, so he doesn't have too many complaints, after all, he really is very ugly.

"Heh." Mariko Hironaka thought to herself, "I wouldn't even look for you if I went to Los Angeles to find a gorilla."

And how do ghosts mate?

“I suggested you stay because you have several characteristics. First, you are a perfect victim; you are not at fault in this matter. Second, you still have a deep attachment to the mortal world. Third, you are very kind by nature, which is rare for someone from Yoshimoto Kogyo. In your group, Miyano should be in charge of things related to the dark side of the entertainment industry, right?” Mariko Hironaka said with interest.

"Yes, that's why I've always been grateful to him," Miyahara said with a hint of shame.

"So, are you willing to join us and become a demon under the command of Vajra Yaksha?" Mariko Hironaka nodded and asked, "I am not a combat-type Ju-on; I need your help."

"To become... a demon under the command of the King of Light?" Just as Mariko Hironaka said, Toru Miyahara still had a deep attachment to this world.

"I...I really can't bear to leave my two children, I'm willing!"

The dead souls pass through the seven-fold corridor behind the main hall, where 720 colorful thangkas are inlaid on the walls, depicting 84,000 different forms of rebirth for all beings.

The crystal rainbow bridge at the end shines, and the seed syllables of the Five Wisdom Tathagatas are engraved on the bridge. The railings on both sides are decorated with intertwined Aizen arrow patterns and Yaksha ivory carvings.

"Dingling~Dingling~"

Mariko Hironaka shook the soul-guiding bell, and the crimson lotus fire of Aizen Myōō and the lightning patterns of Vajra Yaksha intertwined on the mist to form the Void Treasury Dharma Seal of the Mahavairocana Sutra, guiding Miyahara Toru into the Moonlight Gate of Vairocana Buddha at the end of the Crystal Bridge.

Thus, a new Ju-on was born.

The demon under the throne of Vajra Yaksha Wisdom King—the Smoking Demon (the one who suffocates).

........................

By afternoon, the area around the Odaiba building was filled with police cars, and news of Uesugi Muneyuki solving a murder case of a comedian while recording a program on Fuji TV had reached the Metropolitan Police Department.

When Superintendent General Eiji Watanabe heard the news from Inspector Higurashi, he was speechless: "What is Fujidai doing? How come people die every year? Is there something wrong with the Odaiba Building? Should we set up a special office in the Akasaka Police Station?"

"The news coming back from the front is that it has nothing to do with Fuji TV. It seems that it was caused by a private conflict between the comedy duo Umbrella Duo from Yoshimoto Kogyo," Inspector Higurashi said on the phone. "Actually, under normal circumstances, it should be judged as an asthma attack, but Uesugi-kun, who was present, disagreed and decided to conduct an on-site investigation. As a result, it turned out to be a real murder case."

"Oh, thank goodness it's true, otherwise I would have thought yesterday was happening again." Watanabe Eiji was a little speechless: "Fuji TV always manages to come up with something new for the Central Broadcasting Station... Uesugi-kun too, why does he always run into these kinds of things?"

"Putting that aside for now, according to the on-site investigation by forensic officer Uesugi and what Inspector Shiratori learned afterward, this case seems to involve the Kudo-kai's accounts. It is understood that Hiroyuki Miyano of the 'Rain After the Storm' duo, who is also the murderer in this case, has been taking on private jobs from the Kudo-kai and assisting in money laundering for a long time. The Public Security Police have already investigated them."

"Oh? Is it related to the police?"

Eiji Watanabe frowned slightly.

Although he is the Superintendent General of Police, he belongs to the criminal faction and is not under the jurisdiction of the public security police. He had already suppressed the public security faction with the Chiba case, but the appearance of Chief Cabinet Secretary Onoda has changed the balance of power again.

Moreover, he couldn't disobey Chief Cabinet Secretary Onoda's arrangements, because Onoda's brother was the Chief Cabinet Secretary. Many of Onoda's actions might not represent his own will but rather his brother's. Whether he could continue to climb the ranks depended largely on whether the Chief Cabinet Secretary was willing to speak on his behalf.

The Yokohama case had become so complex that even a superintendent of police like him was no longer sufficient to handle it.

"Yes, it's related to the Public Security Bureau, Chief Inspector. Do you remember what Forensic Examiner Uesugi said afterward?" Inspector Higurashi became very serious when he brought up this question: "There must be someone behind the Kudo Association directing things."

“I know that…” Watanabe Eiji didn’t say anything more because another call came in.

As expected, it was Chief Cabinet Secretary Kimiaki Onoda of the National Police Agency.

"I understand what happened at Fujidai, Director Watanabe." Chief Cabinet Secretary Onoda's usual calm tone came through: "The criminal investigation team did a good job, the Special Missions Unit handled it very well. Tell Forensic Inspector Uesugi that this is the end of it."

"We, the police, will handle the rest. Your future son-in-law just needs to enjoy the flowers and applause and focus on preparing for the engagement. We, the police, have a lot more to consider, hehe~"

(End of this chapter)