I am only one world away from Yukinoshita.

The footsteps stopped, and a brief silence fell over the room as Nozomi's voice paused.

"Then the strange man suddenly began to dance slowly, still in the same position as before. The dance was like a strange waltz, but it was more like a sudden onset of epilepsy. His hands and feet twitched involuntarily, but with a certain rhythm. The man continued to walk forward without caring, but he did not take his eyes off the strange stranger."

"but--"

Rena realized that someone was gripping her sleeve tightly. In the darkness, she groped for the hand that was holding her sleeve and gently covered it with her own, trying to soothe it.

"The man noticed that every time the stranger finished a dance, he would slide forward a step with a comical gait until the two were getting closer and closer."

The plot seemed to be approaching its climax. Kiyoyori picked up the tea in front of him and took a sip, not showing any particular panic.

"At first, the man didn't pay any attention, thinking it was just a drunkard causing a scene in the street. But as he got closer, he could see the stranger's appearance more clearly. It was a well-dressed man with his own unique elegance. But the closer the man got, the more he could see the stranger's expression. On the neck that was bent at a terrible angle, there were a pair of wide eyes staring straight at the sky, and a mouth that was almost stretched to the ears."

The soft background noise drifted over from the table, giving off an eerie, supernatural feeling.

"The man, frightened by the stranger's expression, turned around and walked across the street. Fear was growing in his heart, and his heart was pounding wildly in his chest. He couldn't help but glance at the spot across the street, but found that the stranger was still gone."

The background noise suddenly changed to a loud sound effect, startling Qinglai, who was drinking water, so much that his hand jerked violently.

She is now clearly able to empathize with the man's feelings in the story.

The man looked away in confusion, only to find the stranger standing at eye level with him. Terrified, the man froze, while the stranger stopped dancing, but maintained his eerie posture and chilling expression. The man dared not run, so he quickened his pace, swiftly leaving the street where the man had been. The hurried, chaotic footsteps echoed in the small room. Once the surroundings were quiet again, and the man was sure he had walked quite a distance, he stopped, letting out a sigh of relief. Suddenly—

The stirring yet eerie background music started playing again, and Kiyoshi, who had been frightened once before, was frightened once more.

She clutched her chest, secretly panting.

Rather than saying the story is scary, it's more accurate to say the background music is incredibly frightening...

"The stranger appeared under the streetlight ten meters away from him. His smile became even more ferocious, his mouth almost stretched to the height of his nose. The pure malice and laughter in his eyes terrified the man so much that he could hardly move. Then, the man suddenly ran towards the man, rushing towards the stunned man at a speed that ordinary people could hardly match," Xi Mei raised her voice and her pace quickened. "The man screamed and immediately turned and ran. Only his footsteps echoed on the street. He could clearly feel the stranger approaching."

"When he was still a block away from the man's house, he was panting heavily, leaning against a car parked on the side of the road. He should have left the man behind. Before he could even relax, the man saw that enlarged, eerie smiling face in the dark car window."

"what--!"

Immediately after the background music stopped, a piercing scream came from Mizore's phone, and poor Kiyotaka's little heart once again suffered a shock that he shouldn't have to endure at his age.

She pressed her hand against her knee, where the yukata had been soaked with tea that had spilled from her hand earlier.

“That’s all,” Nozomi said, scratching her cheek with her index finger sheepishly. “How was my story? This urban legend is quite famous.”

"Nichimi-senpai, you can become a late-night radio announcer from now on." Reina moved her slightly numb left arm, and Kumiko, who was originally holding her arm, now hugged her arm instead.

As expected, Mizore, who served as the sound engineer beside Nozomi throughout, did not have any special reaction.

"If you don't want to be a performer in the future, you could consider developing your career in sound effects or post-production."

Qinglai slowly added some black tea to his teacup.

"Isn't Kiyora afraid?"

Kiyoyori's smug expression and attitude surprised everyone.

"Yeah, I saw this article on Twitter before, and someone even made a short film based on it. I've already seen it, so it's nothing special..."

If the horror of horror movies lies in their frightening sound effects and sudden terrifying visuals, then the fearsome aspect of oral traditions, urban legends, and even ghost stories lies in association, or the imagination. If the imagery of a story has already been formed, which unintentionally limits the brain's ability to extend the details of the story outward, then it is naturally less frightening.

"Eh..."

He let out that sigh, seemingly quite frustrated.

Kiyoshi suddenly felt offended.

"Then it's my turn."

Ying moved closer to the candlelight, illuminating her unchanging, calm expression.

But suddenly, Kiyoshi's heart skipped a beat.

P.S.: I'm not exactly a ghost story teller, but I used to be terrified by my classmates' ghost stories... In junior high, the whole class watched Ju-on. I was always home alone back then, and for a whole month afterward, I felt like there was someone lying next to my bed... However, the story mentioned in this article is based on someone's personal experience. I was really startled when I saw this video on Bilibili. It's quite interesting, and those who haven't seen it can go and watch it.

Chapter 160 Extra - We're 17

This is a story that sparks the imagination.

The story begins with a couple arguing, during which the woman accidentally falls from a high-rise building due to a rough shove. From then on, nightmares haunt the already guilty man.

The man kept dreaming that his girlfriend, who had turned into a vengeful ghost, would come to his door. In every dream, he would be captured by the ghost and interrogated by the neck.

Why did you kill me?!

The man could only shake his head in terror, letting out sharp, frightened groans through his choked throat. When he woke up, the terrifying hallucinations would disappear as if nothing had ever happened.

At first, the man just felt that he couldn't get out of this shadow and that these dreams were all his own imagination. But when he discovered that there seemed to be something invisible and intangible following him, he became really scared. In order to find peace, he hugged flowers and went to his deceased girlfriend's grave to beg for forgiveness, but all he got in return was an even worse nightmare at night.

When I opened my eyes, I could almost see my girlfriend's ferocious face.

Finally, the man, whose nerves were weakened by the torment, found a high-ranking monk, hoping to learn from the master how to get rid of this nightmare.

However, the high monk did not offer any further advice; he simply told the man:

"Your girlfriend will come looking for you tomorrow night. You need to hide well. If she doesn't find you, then you'll be fine."

The high monk's expression was just like that of all the wise men in stories; no matter how much the man asked, the high monk would no longer answer.

I anxiously await the day of judgment; tomorrow will be the seventh day since my girlfriend's death.

The man's room was simply furnished with a single bed, a standing wardrobe, an LCD TV, and two small side tables on either side of the bed, on which some personal belongings were scattered haphazardly.

With nowhere to hide, the man decided to hide under the bed after much deliberation.

As night fell and everyone drifted into a deep sleep, the man remained trembling under the bed, waiting. He dared not sleep, afraid that he would see that terrifying face again in his dreams, and even more afraid that if he fell asleep, he would never wake up again.

at last.

The man's face was pressed against the floor, and a slight vibration came from the wooden floor. He suddenly felt his skeletal muscles begin to tremble, and his teeth chattered uncontrollably. It was the height of summer, and although he hadn't turned on the air conditioner, he could still feel the temperature around him suddenly drop.

"Boom."

"Boom."

"Boom."

The rhythmic tapping of the floor drew closer, as if something had fallen heavily onto the floor, and the increasingly clear vibrations sent shivers down the man's spine.

It didn't sound like two feet could make a sound at all, and the dull pounding suddenly stopped.

"Squeak."

The door was opened.

An eerie silence.

The man closed his eyes in fear, curling up his body without daring to move. He covered his wildly beating heart with his hands, hoping to calm his heartbeat, which was as rapid as a horse galloping across the grassland, by holding his breath. His heartbeat was so clear in the silent room.

"Boom."

"Boom."

The dull thud sounded again, but this time it stopped quickly.

The man, who had secretly opened his eyes because he couldn't find him, was momentarily stunned by what he saw.

He saw—

A deformed head, crushed by something, with one eyeball detached from its socket, leaving only an empty eye socket. Congealed crimson spreads from the hole, and long black hair is spread on the ground, mixed with flesh and blood. The head and neck form an eerie angle, and the head slightly opens its lips, from which some black clump rolls out.

"Ah, ah—kill—"

The story ends abruptly here, leaving ample room for imagination, and Mizore's monotone voice also ceases.

The room at the hot spring inn suddenly fell into a deathly silence.

Kiyoshi suppressed the fear surging in her heart. The story itself wasn't particularly frightening, but the open-ended nature of the story was too much for her, who was good at imagining things.

Especially the overly detailed description of his appearance; Kiyoyori could almost picture that terrifying face in his mind.

No one spoke. Reina held Kumiko, gently comforting her, who had never encountered such a story before, while Yukino beside Kiyori was still leisurely drinking tea.

I really want to be hugged and comforted by Yukino...

Kiyoyori cast a pitiful glance at Yukino, but unfortunately, the other party didn't even spare her a look.

After catching his breath, Kiyoyori felt that he could accept it, but Mizore immediately threw out another question.

"Qinglai, do you know why that dead woman was able to find her boyfriend the moment she entered the room?"

A faint gaze pierced through the flickering candlelight and landed on Kiyoyori, who suddenly became restless. Kiyoyori didn't want to imagine that story anymore, but Mizore's question forced her to think about it.

"Who knows..." Trying to get away with it, she reached out her slightly trembling hand to her teacup, only to find that she had already drunk all the tea inside when she brought it to her lips.

Qinglai swallowed hard, her dry throat preventing her from speaking.

She awkwardly placed the teacup back on the table, and inadvertently met the gaze of Mizore across from her. That empty gaze seemed to pierce through Kiyoshi and land behind her.

"Senior Mizore...?"

Involuntarily, Kiyoshi turned his head gradually following the other person's gaze. His neck was like an old, rusty machine, making a sickeningly old sound with every movement.

"These are the sakes ordered by the esteemed gentlemen."

A voice suddenly came from Kiyoshi's neck, carrying a fragrant scent that brushed against her skin. Kiyoshi turned around abruptly and found a black head next to her shoulder, with a sickly pale face and makeup that looked even more frightening in the dim candlelight.

"Well!!"

Kiyoyori let out a startled cry, then scrambled to move toward Yukino, only relaxing when his back touched her familiar body.

Upon closer inspection, it was the same geisha from before, her lips pursed, seemingly trying to suppress a laugh.

A surge of heat rose suddenly, and an indescribable sense of shame and indignation spread through my chest.

Kiyoshi realized that she might have been tricked by some friends.

sulking, she took the sake cup handed to her by the geisha and drank it down in one gulp. The spiciness stimulated her taste buds, followed by a slow rise in sweetness.

"Senior Ying, why don't you just reveal the answer directly? That would save us the trouble of guessing."

Qinglai said irritably.

"Because that woman landed headfirst."

P.S.: It wasn't actually that scary, but I found it incredibly frightening when I first heard it. It's the only ghost story I remember; the imagery was so vivid, especially when I was writing it down and had to imagine it...