Night hung over the city, as thick and dark as ink that would not dissolve.
The Shinomiya estate, a massive mansion in the very heart of Tokyo that resembled a modern fortress, stood silently in the darkness like a slumbering giant beast.
Deep within the grounds, in a room decorated with an austere, minimalist coldness that allowed not the slightest trace of warmth, Ai had just finished her routine physical diagnostics and combat training.
She stood barefoot on the icy floor. Her plain white training outfit was soaked through with sweat, clinging tightly to the powerful yet graceful lines of her perfectly honed body.
There was no expression on her face.
Those blue eyes that usually carried a touch of lazy detachment now simply stared quietly at her reflection in the mirror.
"Use myself as bait…"
She murmured softly, repeating the insane plan she had settled on earlier that day.
Was she afraid?
Of course.
For those curses that defied common sense, brimming with malice and the unknown, any normal person would feel a primal fear deep in their bones.
But for Ai, that fear still fell within the range she could endure.
Compared to the "punishments" of the Shinomiya family, punishments that could grind a person's will to dust and drag their soul into a hell with no end, the threat of mere curses almost seemed… merciful.
She closed her eyes, and fragments of memories sealed in the deepest parts of her mind flickered past against her will.
A lightless solitary confinement cell.
Cold, biting electric shocks.
Drugs that drove nerves to the brink of madness…
Countless "training" sessions, cold and systematic, all meant to shape her into a more perfect, more obedient tool.
...
Ai let out a slow breath. When she opened her eyes again, the last trace of hesitation had vanished from her blue gaze. In its place was a mechanical calm, absolute and resolute.
If all roads led toward hell anyway, she would rather walk the one she paved with her own hands.
She stopped hesitating and turned to prepare for tonight's "game".
She did not choose the Inunaki Tunnel that was marked as "quasi special grade".
The danger level there was too high, and the unknowns too many. If anything went wrong, she might not even have the chance to hit the emergency beacon before she was killed on the spot.
Her goal was to be "wounded", not to "seek death".
So instead, she chose an urban legend that was quietly gaining popularity among high schoolers, a ritual with a very high success rate and relatively controllable danger.
The Midnight Game.
According to the rumor, if you followed the rules of the game to the letter, you could, after midnight, successfully summon a wandering, starving cursed spirit.
Ai calmly took out the items she had long since prepared from a drawer.
A sheet of white stationery.
A red pen.
A brand new white candle.
And a sharp surgical scalpel.
She glanced at the digital clock on the wall.
11:40 p.m.
There were twenty minutes left before the final deadline for starting the game.
She walked to her bedroom door and laid the sheet of white paper flat on the floor.
Then she picked up the red pen and, stroke by stroke, wrote her name in the center of the page.
When that was done, she picked up the scalpel without a flicker of emotion and lightly sliced the tip of the index finger on her left hand.
A bead of warm, dark red blood quickly welled up from the cut.
She held her finger over her name on the paper, letting that drop of blood fall precisely on the last letter.
...
The moment the blood touched the paper, there was a faint, almost inaudible sound.
That droplet of blood seemed to come alive, rapidly spreading along the other letters, dyeing her entire name an eerie, uniform crimson.
Expressionless, Ai finished the step, then straightened and turned to face the heavy wooden door of her room.
She raised her right hand, curled her fingers, and began to knock on the door at a steady, measured rhythm.
"Knock."
"Knock."
"Knock."
Once, twice…
In the empty, silent corridor beyond, only that monotonous, oppressive knocking echoed again and again.
She had to knock exactly twenty two times, not one more, not one less.
This was the most important step in the game, the key to inviting the "guest".
When the twenty second knock fell, the clock hit midnight exactly.
Ai picked up the white candle and lighter that she had set aside, and walked toward the bathroom at the end of the corridor, the one with no windows and no light.
She pushed the door open and stepped inside, then closed it behind her and locked it.
Click.
With that soft sound, she completely cut herself off from the light of the outside world.