Inside the bathroom, she could not even see her hand in front of her face.
The air was cold and damp, and the deathly silence was so heavy it felt like it might crush the breath from her lungs.
Ai leaned her back against the cold door and flicked the lighter, bringing the candle in her hand to life.
Pop.
A small, orange flame fluttered into being in the darkness, barely pushing back the shadows in a tiny circle before her.
Yet that weak light only made the darkness beyond it, the darkness that could not be touched, seem even deeper, like a beast in the void baring its teeth, ready to devour her whole.
According to the rules, she had to wait here, quietly.
Wait for the "guest" she had invited to find her.
Time slipped by without a sound.
In this cramped, sealed, utterly silent space, every second stretched out like a century.
Ai forced herself to regulate her breathing, commanding her body to relax. Even so, that primal fear of the unknown buried deep in human instinct, still gnawed at her nerves like rot spreading through wood.
She could clearly hear her own heartbeat, racing harder and harder, completely out of her control.
She could feel the cold sweat soaking through her back, seeping out endlessly and soaking the thin fabric of her clothes.
Those hands of hers, trained so harshly that she could put a bullet through a target a hundred meters away without a tremor, were now trembling slightly as they held the candle.
The candle's light was her only lifeline.
That tiny, warm orange flame was her sole connection to the "normal world".
All of her focus was pinned on that flickering flame. She did not dare to glance even once at the surrounding darkness.
Then, suddenly.
The flame, which had been burning steadily, shook violently without warning.
A formless gust of air, icy to the bone, swept through the small bathroom from nowhere, filling it in an instant.
Ai's pupils shrank.
It is here.
Before she could react, the flame that had been her only support flickered madly and went out with a soft pop.
Darkness swallowed the room in an instant.
At the same time, a thick, suffocating malice surged toward her from directly ahead, thick with hunger and hatred, heavy enough to feel real.
Even though Ai had steeled herself for the worst, the sudden blast of terror that felt like it might freeze her soul still hit her so hard her heart nearly stopped.
Her body went rigid.
But the years of brutal, inhuman training finally proved their worth at the critical moment.
The most important rule of the game was clear in her mind.
[ After the candle goes out, you must relight it within ten seconds. Otherwise, you will become part of the darkness forever. ]
Calm down. Calm down.
She screamed at herself in her heart, forcing back the insanity creeping up from her fear. Relying on muscle memory alone, she used her shaking hands to grope blindly for the lighter.
Click, click.
The sound of the wheel scraping against the flint echoed sharply in the dead-black silence.
Once. Twice.
Her palms were slick with sweat. She failed to get a spark both times.
The cold, hostile intent pressing on her from ahead was rushing closer and closer.
She could practically hear it now, some wet, inhuman breathing right next to her ear.
Light, she thought, light up, now.
With every ounce of strength she had left, Ai scraped the wheel a third time.
Pop.
A tiny flame finally blossomed at the tip of the lighter.
She shoved the flame to the wick, and the candle caught. Orange light once more pushed back the despairing darkness around her.
She did it.
Relief hit her all at once.
It lasted less than a second.
Because when the candlelight returned and lit up the small space in front of her, she instinctively lifted her head and looked forward, at the mirror above the sink.
And then she saw it.
At some point, another figure had appeared in the mirror.
A "woman" with long, dripping black hair that hung down to cover her entire face.
No, it could no longer be called human.
It stood pressed up against Ai's back at an impossible angle, body bent and twisted in a way no human body could.
Slowly, so slowly, it raised its head.
In the candle's light, a face that words could never fully describe, a face warped by hatred and agony, came into view in the mirror.
There was no mouth.
The upper and lower rows of teeth were laid bare to the air, raw and bloody, with rotten, black strips of flesh dangling from them.
In the mirror, the ghost and Ai locked eyes.
Those pupils, swollen with endless malice, fixed on her, staring, staring, refusing to let her go.
"Ahhhh!"
A scream tore itself from her throat, raw and piercing, full of absolute terror, and finally shattered the deathly stillness that had lain over the Shinomiya estate.