Haruto was falling.
Again and again.
He sprinted through the burning void, lungs tearing, legs screaming, as Airi reached out to him from the collapsing bridge of starlight.
"Haruto—help me!" her voice cracked like shattering glass.
He leapt toward her—only for the bridge to dissolve.
She fell.
He fell.
Darkness swallowed them both.
Then another scene snapped into place.
He ran through the ruins of the fortress again, this time closer—closer—hands inches from grabbing her wrist.
But every time he touched her—
SHE FELL AWAY.
As if the world itself was rejecting salvation.
Haruto screamed her name, pushing his Seven Samurai form to its limit—
But the nightmare swallowed all sound.
A last attempt.
A last failure.
The moment Airi's eyes faded into starlit void—
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
Haruto's alarm clock exploded to life, ripping him awake.
He sat up violently, gasping, heart hammering in a cold sweat.
His eyes darted around.
Just silence.
Haruto dragged a hand through his messy hair, breathing hard.
"…A nightmare… again," he muttered. "Airi…"
He brushed the thought aside and got dressed quickly. Uniform. Bag. Phone.
His head still throbbed faintly—ghostly echoes of solar fire—but he forced himself forward.
He stepped outside and waited by the front door. Cool morning breeze. Birds chirping. Ordinary life.
And then—
"Kenta, you alive in there?! We're gonna be late!" Haruto called.
A moment passed…
Then the door next to him slowly opened.
Kenta stepped out with his usual dead-eyed morning expression, hair barely brushed, holding a can of energy drink like his life depended on it.
He grunted. "Bro… I almost died. My alarm didn't ring."
"I heard yours ring," Haruto said flatly.
"That was yours."
"…Oh."
Kenta smirked suddenly, excitement punching through his sleepy look.
"Anyway—dude. Check THIS out."
He shoved his phone toward Haruto's face.
A video thumbnail read:
"WARNING: DO NOT ENTER TANGLEWOOD — PARANORMAL SURGE CONFIRMED"
Below it were the faces of five famous content creators, all panicking and shouting in their respective clips.
Haruto blinked. "Tanglewood? That abandoned house at the edge of town?"
"Yep!" Kenta grinned. "They're all saying EMF spikes, ghost writing, floating objects—full-on Phasmophobia level haunting!"
Then he elbowed Haruto. "We should totally investigate tonight."
Haruto stared at him.
"…Kenta. Are you stupid?"
"Absolutely," Kenta said proudly.
Haruto sighed, but a faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips despite the lingering heaviness in his chest. They kept walking.
As they reached the school gate, Haruto rubbed the side of his head.
It wasn't the normal headache.
More like a memory trying to break free.
Or a presence watching.
He shook it off.
Classes began.
Mr. Yoshida marched into the classroom with his usual chaotic, teacher-on-caffeine energy.
"Good morning class! Today we will—" he tripped on the corner of the desk—
"OAGH!"
—and slammed face-first into a stack of textbooks. Everyone winced.
Haruto whispered, "Is he okay?"
Kenta whispered back, "He's fine. He's Mr. Yoshida. He's immortal."
Mr. Yoshida stood up immediately. "I'm okay! Anyway—turn to page 160—NO, NOT 140—WHO WROTE ON MY WHITEBOARD—WHO DREW THAT—"
The entire lesson was chaos.
But, for once, comforting chaos.
It felt normal.
Something Haruto desperately needed.
School ended with the final chime.
Haruto and Kenta looked at each other.
"No backing out," Kenta grinned.
Haruto exhaled. "Fine. Let's get this over with."
Night settled over the town like a heavy blanket.
Tanglewood House sat alone at the edge of the street—lights off, windows cracked, grass dead and unmoving. The air around it felt colder than the rest of the neighborhood, as if the house itself exhaled frost.
Kenta started his stream, flipping his camera on.
"What's up everyone! Kenta here—today we're doing something incredibly stupid—breaking into the highly haunted Tanglewood House. If I die, tell Elyra she still owes me 500 yen."
Haruto groaned. "Why am I here…"
"You love me," Kenta said casually.
"I deeply question it every day."
Haruto held a flashlight, Kenta held a thermometer. Like the classic horror duo.
They stepped inside.
The door creaked behind them, closing on its own.
Immediately—The atmosphere changed.
The air grew heavier, thicker, colder.
The shadows moved subtly, pulsing like slow breathing.
Haruto whispered, "This… feels wrong."
Kenta aimed his camera down the hallway.
"Okay, okay… viewers say ghosts usually respond to voice. So… uh… Is anyone here?"
Silence.
Then—
CRAAAAASH!!!
A lamp shot across the hallway like it was thrown by an invisible force, exploding against the far wall in a spray of glass.
Haruto froze.
Kenta froze.
The thermometer beeped violently.
"D-dude… that wasn't wind," Kenta stammered.
Haruto swallowed. "No… that was a warning."
But the house was only getting started.
Behind them…
Somewhere deeper in the dark…
They heard a faint whisper.
"Haruto…"
Both boys stopped breathing.
Kenta whispered, "That wasn't me."
Haruto whispered, "I KNOW IT WASN'T YOU."
Shadows flickered at the corner of their vision.
Something moved behind the doorway.
Soft footsteps.
Then the noise of something dragging.
Kenta's camera trembled.
"Bro we are SO screwed—"
But Haruto stepped forward despite the fear knotting in his stomach.
"Airi…" he muttered unconsciously.
If something in here had her voice—
He had to know why.
The flashlight flickeredTwice. Then—
It shut off completely.
Leaving them in absolute darkness.
And from the hallway ahead…
SOMETHING STARTED WALKING TOWARD THEM.
The footsteps grew louder.
Slow. Wet. Dragging.
Haruto's breath hitched as a pale shape appeared in the hallway—at first a silhouette, then a full figure emerging through the dark as the moonlight filtered through a cracked window.
A ghost. An actual ghost.
Its neck hung unnaturally long, head lolling to the side like it was barely attached. Its arms dangled, fingertips scraping the floor, leaving white frost behind. The face was the worst—blurry, distorted, like a corrupted video desperately trying to load. Its mouth twitched. Its chest rattled with each step.
Kenta's eyes widened with pure terror.
"H-H-Haruto—THAT'S A HUNT!"
Before Haruto could react, Kenta grabbed his arm and dragged him into a nearby closet, slamming the door shut. The two squeezed inside, breath held, Haruto clutching the flashlight while Kenta held the thermometer like it was holy scripture.
Outside, the thing's footsteps scraped closer.
Haruto whispered, "Don't move."
Kenta whispered back, "I can't even breathe!"
The footsteps reached their door.
Stopped. Silence. Then—
TAP. A cold hand slapped the outside of the closet door.
Kenta silently mouthed:
We're dead.
Haruto squeezed his eyes shut.
Then—
The lights flickered once… twice… and blasted on.
The hunt ended.
The footsteps receded, dissolving into the house's deeper shadows, like the ghost had been pulled back into something darker.
Kenta gasped for air, grabbing his chest.
"Bruh… I had a heart attack. I swear my soul left my body and waved goodbye."
Haruto opened the door slowly.
"…Come on. We still need to figure out what's going on."
"Why are we still in this house?!" Kenta whispered harshly.
"We need evidence."
"Oh my god, we ARE Phasmophobia players."
They moved room by room until a foul stench hit them, thick and rotten, like decaying meat soaked in stagnant water.
Kenta gagged instantly. "What—what died in here—MY NOSE IS DYING—"
"That's not normal rot." Haruto covered his mouth with his sleeve. "It's… ritualistic."
They descended the creaking stairs into the basement. The smell grew stronger.
And then—they saw it.
A ritual circle drawn in dried, blackened blood. Candles surrounding it, half melted.
Symbols etched onto the floor like complex, ancient sigils.
Kenta stepped back, eyes watering.
"Bro… nope… nope… this is—this isn't part of the base game—"
Haruto knelt beside the circle, scanning the symbols with his flashlight.
"This looks like a sealing ritual… Something was being held here."
Kenta pointed at a streak of smeared blood.
"Or something escaped."
Haruto picked up an old, dusty book next to one of the candles.
"…Maybe there's a way to close it before anything else gets out."
He flipped through the pages—
Then shadows crawled across the floor.
"Kenta—behind—!"
Too late.
A violent force slammed into Kenta's back, sending him face-first into the candle circle. The candle tipped and dropped onto the dried blood.
The entire sigil ignited instantly.
A crimson flame spiraled up like a living serpent, devouring the symbols.
The floor vibrated. The walls shook.
And then…BOOOOOM!
The circle ERUPTED.
Not fire—Ghosts.
Hundreds of screaming, distorted forms blasted upward, ripping through the floorboards, through the ceiling, and streaking out into the night.
Haruto shielded himself from the shockwave.
Kenta lay on the floor, dazed.
"Bruh… what did I do… I just wanted content…"
Haruto yanked him up.
"Let's MOVE!"
They sprinted up the stairs, out the front door, stumbling into the street.
And froze.
Ghosts—hundreds of them—now flooded the city skyline.
Spectral shapes flew through buildings, alarms blared, lights flickered across entire blocks of Tokyo. Cars swerved. Civilians screamed. Shadows danced across skyscrapers like swarms of locusts made from nightmares.
Haruto whispered, "We… we just unleashed a city-wide haunting."
Kenta's phone buzzed.
Elyra.
He answered immediately.
"WHAT DID YOU TWO DO?!" Elyra shouted through the speaker, her digital voice distorting with panic.
Kenta pointed at the sky.
"Uh… small mistake… tiny mistake… okay—HUGE mistake—Haruto messed with demon Latin!"
"I DID NOT—YOU FELL INTO THE CIRCLE!"
Elyra groaned, mechanical joints grinding in frustration.
"I swear… humans… Every time I leave you two alone—DISASTERS happen."
Haruto shouted back, "Elyra, just get here!"
"Fine! I'm coming!"
A few seconds later, a streak of blue zoomed the corner as Elyra sprinted toward them at robotic speed—only to collapse and gasp like someone who had run a marathon.
"Jeez… I need to grease my legs…" she panted. "I wasn't built for cardio…"
Haruto pointed at the sky.
"We need to contain this NOW."
Kenta nodded. "Time for emergency ghostbusting."
Haruto stepped forward. "CHARGE UP!"
His armor materialized—but this time, it pixelated into blocks and faded into the Minecraft Movie Ghostbuster Form—sleek proton-pack powered armor made from cubic obsidian plates, with glowing neon ghost-tracking sensors.
Kenta followed, slamming his belt in place.
"CHARGE UP! Ghostbuster Comics Form!"
His armor appeared ink-black, with comic-panel lines glowing green, proton coils swirling like animated scribbles around his arms.
Then Elyra stepped forward dramatically, despite still panting.
"LEGO SYSTEM: GHOSTBUSTER GAME FORM!"
Her armor snapped together piece by piece, clicking like plastic bricks, glowing with bright yellow studs and a tiny LEGO proton pack humming with power.
She straightened.
"Alright… time to fix YOUR mess."
Haruto raised his proton blade.
Kenta readied his comic-style ghost cannon.
Elyra loaded her LEGO particle beam.
Ghosts screamed across the sky.
Tokyo descended into supernatural chaos.
Haruto inhaled deeply.
"Let's clean up a haunted city."
The sky above Tokyo was a swirling storm of spectral light—green streaks, flickering blue phantoms, and violent bursts of supernatural energy ripping through the air. Civilians screamed and fled between the chaotic waves of ghosts tearing through the city.
Haruto, Kenta, and Elyra sprinted down the street, their Ghostbuster forms glowing through the darkness as they began firing on the nearest swarm.
"LEFT SIDE!" Haruto shouted, swinging his pixelated proton blade at a charging wraith. The sword hummed and sliced through it, trapping the spirit in a glowing cubic cage before it burst into particles.
Kenta unleashed a comic-panel proton stream—the beam looking hand-drawn as it bent in exaggerated zigzags.
"Get beam'd, idiots!" he yelled, trapping three ghosts at once before slamming them into the asphalt.
Elyra skidded in LEGO form, her plastic boots clicking sharply.
"Stop MOVING!" she yelled at a ghost as she snapped a LEGO trap onto the ground. The ghost dove toward her but instantly got sucked in, shrieking like a rewinding VHS tape.
Then—
A figure flipped off a nearby rooftop and landed gracefully beside them, coat fluttering.
Lilith.
Except now she wore a Cartoon Ghostbuster Masked Charger Form—her armor smooth and flat, colors bold and outlined like an animated detective come to life. Her weapon looked like a cartoonish proton vacuum.
She pointed at the ghosts.
"Move aside. This city is already on my nerves."
She clicked her vacuum on.
FVVVVVVOOOOOOOP
A tornado of cartoon suction blasted out, ripping twenty ghosts straight out of the sky and into the canister, complete with silly cartoon sound effects overlaid onto the horrifying shrieks.
Kenta blinked.
"…Okay, that's OP."
Lilith cracked her knuckles.
"You haven't seen anything yet."
The four fought through the streets—zapping ghosts, grabbing civilians, pulling people from flipped cars, shielding families from vengeful apparitions.
Haruto leapt forward and tackled a man just as a ghostly axe swung downward.
"Kenta—trap it!"
Kenta dropped a comic trap on the ground.
"BEEP BOOP, DIE!"
The trap exploded in comic onomatopoeia—BANG! POW!—and sucked the ghost inside.
Suddenly—
A booming roar echoed.
Something massive stomped into view behind the skyscrapers.
Kenta's voice cracked.
"No. No way. No freaking way—"
A Giant Marshmallow Monster waddled into the city, smashing signs, stepping on cars, waving its puffy arms like a happy but murderous parade attraction. Every step shook the ground, frosting melting off its body like molten sugar.
People screamed as it swung its sticky bulk into buildings.
Haruto groaned.
"It's always the big ones…"
Then—
A massive metallic shadow soared overhead.
BOOOOOOM
The giant mech from their last kaiju battle crash-landed in front of the Marshmallow Monster, striking a heroic pose.
Mr. Yoshida's voice thundered through the speakers.
"Down with you!"
The mech's chainsaw arms roared to life as it charged the Marshmallow Monster.
Kenta pumped his fist.
"LET'S GOOOOOOO!!!!"
The mech slammed into the giant marshmallow, carving chunks off its gooey body, sending sticky debris splattering across nearby buildings. The Marshmallow Monster shrieked and tried swatting the mech away, but Yoshida grappled it by the head, threw it backward, and blasted it with the note-cannon shoulder unit.
The monster burst into a rain of sugary gore.
Elyra stared, blinking.
"…Gross."
Lilith dusted melted marshmallow off her cartoon coat.
"People have strange enemies."
But then—
A wave of white drones descended from the sky, sleek like polished surgical blades.
The AI robots of Nebula Industries landed in formation around the ruined house.
Their cold, glowing eyes flashed as they scanned the ritual site.
Haruto stepped forward.
"What are they doing—?"
Without warning, the robots began firing beams into the shattered basement. The sigils began erasing. Candles extinguished one by one. The residual energy was sucked into a glowing prism they carried.
The circle died.
The remaining ghosts shrieked and dissolved into dust.
Silence fell.
Then… footsteps.
From the billowing steam of extinguished supernatural energy stepped a tall, slim man with silver hair, glowing blue eyes, and a perfect smile.
Dr. Verax.
The CEO of Nebula Industries.
He looked like someone sculpted him in a lab—handsome, calm, charismatic.
The civilians surrounded him immediately.
"DR. VERAX SAVED US!"
"He ended the haunting!"
"Look! SOL-01 is incredible!"
SOL-01, the lead AI robot, stepped forward and bowed mechanically.
The people clapped wildly.
Kenta's jaw clenched.
"Oh COME ON! We fought for forty minutes straight! We risked our lives! We saved like forty people!"
Haruto grabbed his shoulder.
"Kenta. Not here."
Dr. Verax glanced their way—
A polite smile.
Eyes cold as a dead star.
Then he turned back to the crowd, waving as cameras flashed.
Lilith sighed.
"I've seen enough. I'm returning to HQ."
She dissolved into cartoon smoke and vanished.
Haruto, Kenta, and Elyra rewind their belts. Their Ghostbuster forms shattered like broken light.
Mr. Yoshida marched his mech away, stomping off toward the direction of their secret base.
On the street, Elyra flicked Kenta's forehead.
PONK
"OW! What was that for?!"
"For unleashing a citywide haunting."
Her LED eyes narrowed.
"And for almost getting Haruto killed in a closet."
"HEY—he dragged ME in!"
Haruto chuckled softly.
"I want to know more about Nebula Industries."
Elyra crossed her arms, gears whirring.
"And you will. Soon. We're nowhere near done with them."
Kenta smirked.
"I can't wait."
Elyra glowed faintly.
"Alright. I'm heading back to recharge. My legs feel like they're filled with cement."
She jogged off stiffly, sparks flicking from her joints.
Haruto and Kenta walked together through the quieting streets. Sirens echoed. Emergency crews patched up buildings. Ghost residue floated like ash.
Kenta checked his phone.
"H-HARUTO! OUR STREAM—IT'S AT FIVE MILLION VIEWS?!"
Haruto blinked.
"W-Wait… what?!"
"The internet LOVES us!"
But then—
Every screen on the buildings flicked to black.
Then revealed a broadcast:
Dr. Verax.
He held a microphone, smiling flawlessly.
"The paranormal outbreak has been neutralized thanks to Nebula Industries and our superior autonomous units. It is clear that the city needs innovation—not outdated, reckless Masked Chargers who couldn't even detect the source."
Kenta threw his hands up.
"BRO! WE WERE SAVING PEOPLE FROM DEATH! THIS GUY CLOSED A CIRCLE THAT WE ALREADY BROKE!"
Haruto sighed.
"He's turning the world against us."
The broadcast ended.
Haruto and Kenta continued walking home, the city still glowing with faint supernatural residue.
And Chapter 11 ends with the two stepping into different streets—
both silent, both thinking the same thing:
Something darker is beginning.