Walking straight to the end of the escape room corridor, the four of them saw an old television appear in their field of vision.
It was a cathode-ray tube TV from the 1970s, a model long since discontinued.
Just as the four stepped inside, the television suddenly flickered on as if someone had pressed the power button. Bzzt bzzt bzzt! Static filled the screen, startling them all.
Before long, the TV signal seemed to stabilize. The screen displayed a black-and-white image and automatically began playing a short horror clip—footage from the film Ju-On.
But unlike the full version most people had seen, what played on this TV was an edited cut, stripped of context.
There was no setup or resolution—just a group of doomed individuals, one after another, entering the house and then dying mysterious, gruesome deaths.
It looked more like a raw warning left behind by the departed—a found-footage tape capturing their final moments.
Takashi had actually already seen all the Ju-On movies.
What's that? You're wondering how someone so cowardly could still watch horror? Well, that's just it—he's both a coward and deeply curious.
Just like Ludewah insisting on playing games even though he sucks at them.
To be fair, the Japanese really do understand horror.
After watching Ju-On, Takashi could never sleep with the lights off again.
What made Ju-On terrifying was how it shattered his previous belief that "as long as you're under the covers, you're safe."
Nope. That ghost crawled under the blanket!
How could that little ghoul sneak under the covers and still go on a killing spree?!
Wasn't the blanket supposed to be an impenetrable barrier? A sacred, ghost-proof shield? How could it still kill him after he hid?
That thing had zero respect for the rules!
There are rules for humans, and there should be rules for ghosts too. Japanese ghosts seriously have no manners!
Creaaaak~
The film finished, and the moment the TV screen went black again, Takashi and the others saw the wall in front of them suddenly crack open and slowly slide apart.
Staring into the shadowy, chaotic room that looked like it had seen a fierce struggle, a wave of intense unease flooded Takashi's heart.
Forget the money—could he leave now?
Feeling Takashi's hand trembling ever so slightly, the already-nervous Nagisa stood on tiptoe and tried to whisper in his ear.
But Takashi was tall—too tall for her to reach even on tiptoe—so she had to lean against his chest a bit, her tone soft and teasing:
"Scared?"
"W-Who's scared?! Nagisa, what kind of joke is that? A proud member of the Shijo family, afraid? Ridiculous!"
"If you're scared, Nagisa, you can hide behind me."
Before Takashi could respond, Maki and Tanuma Tsubasa both chimed in.
In this gloomy, eerie silence, the four of them were still holding hands, standing so close together that no matter how softly Nagisa spoke, the other two could hear it.
You did that on purpose, didn't you.
Takashi shot her a glare.
Secretly holding my hand in front of your boyfriend is one thing, but now you're saying it out loud to draw his attention here?
Are you trying to spice things up?
What next? Gonna let your boyfriend watch you fool around?
I am not a yellow-haired thug!
Realizing she was treating him like some character in their little act made Takashi angry.
Not caring what Nagisa would think, he yanked his hand away from hers and deliberately took a step to the side to widen the distance between them.
Nagisa froze for a moment.
She wasn't angry that he pulled away—she was just surprised that Maki and Tanuma Tsubasa had overheard her.
She shrugged and gave a half-hearted "Okay, thanks."
"Takashi, if you're scared, I can protect you. I'll even let you stand in front of me," Maki added, not forgetting about Takashi.
You sure you're not just using me as a human shield?
Whether he was protecting her or being protected by her, Takashi didn't bother calling her out.
Still, all this back and forth oddly made him feel less afraid.
"Thanks for that, seriously."
"No problem."
THUD!!!
Before Maki could finish her sentence, a loud crash echoed from upstairs.
Takashi, who had just started to relax, immediately tensed up again.
"Ahhh!!!"
Maki was so frightened her knees buckled, clutching Tanuma Tsubasa's arms in a death grip to keep herself from collapsing.
Tanuma Tsubasa had also been startled by the sudden noise.
More importantly, Maki had somehow found the strength to grab him hard. Really hard.
Weird.
This girl couldn't even open a soda bottle sometimes. Where'd all that strength come from?
"Nagisa, don't be—"
Tanuma Tsubasa turned instinctively toward Nagisa, only for his pupils to shrink sharply as he fell silent.
There she was, trembling like a quail, face buried in Takashi's chest.
One tall, one petite. Honestly... they looked kind of perfect together.
If only the girl wasn't his girlfriend.
Takashi was the first to react. Noticing Tanuma Tsubasa's gaze, he gently patted Nagisa's shoulder and said:
"Kashiwagi-san, I know your boyfriend and I look a lot alike, but you're hugging the wrong guy."
Tanuma Tsubasa exhaled slightly at those words.
Yeah.
Even he had been startled the first time he saw Takashi. In this pitch-black setting, it made sense for Nagisa to mistake him for someone else...
...Right?
Even if it still stung, that was the only way Tanuma Tsubasa could comfort himself.
Might as well make do. What else could he do?
Sometimes, to get through life, you have to wear a little green on your head.
What, was he supposed to just break up?
Tanuma Tsubasa had confessed to Nagisa because he genuinely liked her.
The most bitter jealousy comes from those who can't have what they want, and those who fall first fall hardest.
He had confessed. He had fallen first. But the initiative was never in the hands of the one who confesses.
"...Mm."
Nagisa didn't speak. She simply lowered her head, cheeks slightly red, fiddling with the fringe on her forehead.
She didn't dare tell Takashi that she had really been scared.
The atmosphere was already tense, and the sudden loud noise—combined with Maki's scream—made it almost impossible not to panic.
It was like watching a horror movie with friends. The movie itself might not be scary, but the friends who scream at every little thing? They're the scariest part.
This time, the blame was squarely on Maki.
Keep acting, go on! You graduated from the La Masia Film Academy, didn't you?
Even though Nagisa was genuinely frightened, Takashi—prejudiced by his assumptions—thought she was just putting on a show.
"Um, I'll go take a look upstairs," Takashi said, seizing the chance to make an escape.
Rather than stay here any longer, he'd rather be alone for a bit.
Besides, haunted houses only had so many tricks. At worst, some actor in costume would come chasing after him.
If it was just a person, then there was nothing to be afraid of.
Worst case, he'd drop them with an elbow strike.
And if one didn't do the trick, then two would.
Halfway up the stairs, Takashi suddenly caught a foul, pungent odor in the air.
It was a stench so sharp and sickening that it reminded him of all the dismemberment cases he'd read about.
His imagination immediately began filling in the blanks with vivid, gruesome images.
The mental pictures were so real that he couldn't help but stop in his tracks, heart pounding.
He looked up the stairs, then back down.
Suddenly, things didn't feel that awkward after all.
As long as he wasn't embarrassed, it was other people who had to be.
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