While Natsume was enjoying a peaceful, satisfying day with his power quietly boosted, another "chosen one" of Sobu High was on the verge of a nightmare.
Kasumigaoka Utaha, the famously gifted second-year genius of Sobu High, was known across the school for her overwhelming grades, a model-like figure, and that face which somehow balanced both intellect and sensual charm. Beneath the glamorous halo of "honor student school belle," however, she hid another identity—bestselling light novel author "Kasumi Utako."
Yet right now, this girl who usually wrapped herself in confidence and sarcasm, was curled up in the corner of her tastefully decorated bedroom, trembling violently under a fear that had pushed her to the brink.
Tick, tock. Tick, tock.
The European-style clock on the wall, which normally gave the room a sense of refined atmosphere, now sounded like the scythe of the Grim Reaper. Every tick hammered against nerves that had already been stretched to the point of shattering.
The hour hand was about to touch midnight.
"No… not again… please, not again…"
She hugged her knees to her chest, burying her head deep between them, the plea that escaped her lips, barely louder than a whisper.
But curses don't stop just because someone begs.
The moment the hour and minute hands overlapped at twelve…
Whrrr.
The laptop sitting on her desk, which had been completely powered off, suddenly lit up on its own.
A blood-red popup window exploded across the screen, filling it from corner to corner.
The design was crude, ugly, like some amateur prank program, with only one line of text on it. That single line pulsed and flickered, written in the same eerie crimson.
[ Do you like… red rooms? ]
At the same time, a mechanical, emotionless synthetic voice seeped out of the laptop speakers, echoing through the quiet room like a chant.
"Do you… like… red rooms?"
"Do you… like… red rooms?"
Kasumigaoka Utaha jerked her head up. The calm, elegant mask she wore in public was nowhere to be seen. All that remained on her face was bone-deep terror, draining every last trace of color.
She tried to close the popup. She clicked the X. She tried opening Task Manager. Nothing worked.
She yanked out the power cable.
The screen did not go dark.
That blood-red window seemed to have fused with her machine, like malware fused into the system itself, impossible to excise.
Worse, as that bizarre question repeated again and again, her entire bedroom began to fill with an ominous, sticky red glow, as if the color of fresh blood had seeped into the air itself and was now coating every surface.
This was the second night she had been visited by this urban legend.
The urban legend known as "The Red Room."
Everything was exactly the same as the first night.
And tomorrow would be the third day.
The day that decided whether she would live or die.
After the phenomenon first appeared yesterday, Utaha had forced herself to stay rational. Drawing on a level of calm far beyond that of ordinary people, she immediately went online to investigate.
What she found on message boards and old threads made her feel ice-cold inside.
Help! That popup just appeared on my computer too! What is this?!
OP, are you still there? My friend saw it a few days ago, and then he…
This is a curse! It has to be a curse! Anyone who encounters the "Red Room" dies on the third day!
The way they die… it's horrible… I heard their throats get slashed and the whole room turns red with blood…
Every single line on the screen slammed like a hammer into her proud heart, shattering all reason and composure, grinding them into dust.
It was proof that the legend was real.
And that it killed.
On the verge of a breakdown, she had tried to reach out.
She logged into her author account under an anonymous handle, the account that had hundreds of thousands of fans. In a readers' group that was only open to her most dedicated supporters, she finally let a crack show in her armor and posted a desperate SOS.
[ Kasumi Utako: I've run into… something that can't be explained scientifically. My computer seems to have some kind of virus I can't get rid of. What should I do? ]
The readers in the group were anxious for their idol, and they responded with goodwill and concern.
But their advice only made her feel even more hopeless.
[ Reader A: Don't be scared, Sensei! If it's a virus, just reinstall your OS! ]
[ Reader B: Yeah, exactly. Or just hard shut down and pull the main breaker! ]
[ Reader C: Maybe Sensei has been pushing manuscripts too hard and is hallucinating? You should rest properly! ]
From the perspective of normal life, these were perfectly reasonable, well-meaning suggestions.
Right now, they were completely useless.
No one understood what she was trapped in.
She was imprisoned in her own bedroom, locked inside a cage that did not belong to the everyday world at all. A cage built around a single word:
"Curse."
---
At the same time, on another side of Chiba, in a quiet school clubroom, power was surging through another person's body at a terrifying pace.
Within just a few seconds, Natsume could feel his cursed energy reserves swelling at a rate that was almost frightening. What had once been a narrow stream had already become a roaring river.
His physical abilities underwent a dramatic transformation. Strength, speed, stamina, even the regenerative capacity of each cell, were all boosted across the board in an explosive fashion.
The leap in power brought with it a powerful sense of control. It made Natsume slowly exhale, a satisfied light flickering in his eyes.
"Teacher… are you alright?"
Beside him, Yashiro had keenly sensed that fleeting, godlike surge of vast power rolling off him. For the first time, real shock appeared on her small face.
"I am fine."
Natsume drew his aura back in, returning to his usual calm. He glanced out at the night sky that had long since turned pitch black.
"That's it for today."
He turned to Yashiro.
"It's late. Yui has already gone home. You should head back early too."
"Yes, Teacher."
Yashiro bowed respectfully.
After watching her leave, Natsume stretched lazily. He savored the unprecedented strength flowing quietly through his body, his mood lifting even further.
He had purified a legendary cursed spirit, obtained an absurdly powerful new technique, and grown significantly stronger.
It really had been… a peaceful and fulfilling day.
With a satisfied smile, he locked the clubroom door behind him and stepped calmly into the night on his way home.
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