"Let's get back to the point, Ms. Mamiya. Would you mind telling me first — where exactly am I, and why am I here?"
Amamiya Rin steadied himself and turned to Mamiya Yuka with the more pressing question.
"Well, about that..."
Mamiya Yuka's expression turned peculiar. The look she was giving Amamiya Rin was exactly like the look someone gives a rare and exotic animal.
A physically disabled man had suddenly transformed into a devastating swordsman. A vigorous, ferocious warrior had abruptly dropped dead. And then the dead man had inexplicably come back to life an hour later.
Even a full day and night later, thinking back on any of it still struck Mamiya Yuka as utterly incomprehensible.
"Yesterday afternoon you suddenly dropped dead. Your bag had several million yen in it — I couldn't just leave it sitting there, and I couldn't hand it to the police without explaining everything. So I had no choice but to bring you back here..."
Mamiya Yuka carefully recounted the events of the previous day.
After Amamiya Rin had come back to life, she'd tried to wake him — but he'd been sleeping so deeply that she hadn't dared use any drastic measures. Especially given that he'd just dropped dead. One look at those dark circles under his eyes had been enough to convince her; she'd simply let him sleep straight through from yesterday afternoon until tonight.
"Oh, right — a few people came looking for you yesterday too. What a small world!"
As she said it, Mamiya Yuka leaned in a little closer, her voice carrying a bright, conspiratorial energy — the unmistakable thrill of someone who'd turned up a minor secret.
"The first person to call was Kazumi Junya. And here's the coincidence — my folklore professor from university, Kirisaki-sensei, is his older brother! What are the odds?"
Mamiya Yuka said it with undisguised delight.
"A folklore professor..."
Amamiya Rin's expression went a little strange — though his concern wasn't the shared connection between two acquaintances. It was the profession itself.
A folklore scholar in a horror-themed world. Their mortality rate had to be somewhere north of ninety-nine percent, didn't it?
"What did Kazumi Junya say?"
Amamiya Rin's reaction was so flat that Mamiya Yuka puffed out her cheeks in mild indignation.
"He asked about your safety. I wasn't entirely sure what to tell him about the two of you, and your wounds were healing way too fast to easily explain. So even though Kazumi is Kirisaki-sensei's younger brother, I kept the details vague. I just told him you were resting at my place. He didn't push for more — he just said to have you call him when you woke up, so he'd know you were okay."
As for how she'd interrogated Kazumi Junya about Aizawa Yuuma until he'd been reduced to such a flustered wreck that he'd had no choice but to hang up just to escape her pestering — that part didn't need to be mentioned to Amamiya Rin.
"The second call... was from Ms. Fujino Terumi. The national idol herself." Mamiya Yuka settled back into her spot and gave Amamiya Rin a small teasing smile. "I genuinely didn't see that coming, Amamiya-kun. You and a national idol are actually friends? What a waste — I'm not a fan, and I'm certainly not a celebrity paparazzi. That connection you're carrying is completely wasted on me."
"Oh, and after Ms. Fujino Terumi asked how you were doing, she mentioned she had something else she wanted to talk to you about — but it didn't seem especially urgent. She just said if you have time, to give her a call."
"Anything else?"
Amamiya Rin gave a small nod and pressed on.
"And then there was a Dr. Kuroda. He introduced himself as your former attending physician. Same thing — just checking in, asked you to call when you had a chance to let him know you're alright."
"Too late tonight. I'll reach out to all of them tomorrow."
Amamiya Rin gave a noncommittal reply, his eyes nudging Mamiya Yuka to continue.
"Those were the three calls. After that — well, there's been this comedy duo lately that's absolutely blowing up right now. They even landed a prime-time slot on TV. But there have been some very strange rumors going around — apparently their stand-up routines aren't actually funny in the slightest, and yet every single audience member ends up laughing helplessly. I had a feeling there was something supernatural at work, so tonight I deliberately sat down and watched their program..."
Mamiya Yuka scratched the tip of her nose, let out a small, sheepish laugh, and said with an embarrassed grin:
"And then... well, you saw the rest yourself. Before I even knew what was happening, I'd fallen for it too."
"I'd strongly advise you to break this bad habit of yours."
Amamiya Rin let out a long, quiet sigh and turned to Mamiya Yuka with a measured warning: "Walk down dark roads long enough, and sooner or later you'll run into something you can't come back from. Keep this up and you're going to get yourself killed."
He himself would have gladly fled to the ends of the earth to get away from curses and ghost stories — but Mamiya Yuka practically marched toward death every single day. Just these past two days alone: the dissolution series, then the prime-time ghost. Honestly, the fact that she'd survived this long in this world was something of a minor miracle.
"This is not a bad habit, thank you very much — it's my passion, my career, and my calling! Exploring urban legends and local folklore, uncovering the secrets hidden inside them — I've dedicated my entire life to this pursuit!"
Mamiya Yuka planted both hands firmly on her hips and thrust her chest out, her face lit up with an expression that was equal parts wide-eyed innocence and iron-willed stubbornness.
"Too sweet," Amamiya Rin said. "Sweeter than strawberry milk."
He shook his head.
But despite the words, he didn't keep pushing.
For someone who carried genuine passion and unshakeable conviction toward a legitimate purpose — someone who'd faced real danger and still hadn't wavered — one word of warning was enough. To keep repeating it would cross the line into an insult.
"This world might actually need people like paranormal journalists and folklore scholars... even if the mortality rate is far too high."
All Amamiya Rin could offer now was a quiet blessing.
And to do the same thing himself — step into danger head-on, for his own sake and for humanity's.
Amamiya Rin pressed his fingers to his brow and looked around.
The room was small. Beyond the tatami mat he'd been lying on and the small patch where Mamiya Yuka had been sitting to watch television, there was practically no open space left. A desk, assorted clutter, a television set, and camera equipment had claimed almost every corner.
He pressed a hand against the wall and pushed himself to his feet, working through the stiffness still lingering in his limbs.
"Ms. Mamiya — how did you manage to sleep last night?"
"Oh, that? I just laid out another tatami mat on the floor. Don't worry about it," Mamiya Yuka said, pointing behind herself with a breezy wave of her hand.
"I've been imposing on you for a couple of days now. Since I'm back on my feet, it's time for me to be on my way."
A room this cramped — taking up the sleeping space of a woman he'd only just met and forcing her onto the floor. That wasn't something Amamiya Rin could bring himself to continue doing.
"Then let me walk you to the hospital."
Mamiya Yuka made no move to stop him. After all, she was a young, single woman with her dignity intact. She couldn't exactly make a habit of keeping other men overnight.
"Thank you, but that won't be necessary. I'll stay at a hotel."
A faint, bitter smile touched Amamiya Rin's face.
Morita Hospital, Toto General Hospital — two hospitals had already suffered mass casualties after he'd checked in. As much as he hated accepting something as metaphysically neat as curses attracting curses, the facts were the facts. The more curses clung to him, the more he became a magnet for new ones. If he checked into another hospital now, he was afraid it would end up playing out the plot of Infection.
Better to stay at a hotel for a couple of days first, then find a proper place to rent.
"Huh? Are you sure that's okay? Your body... you genuinely don't need to get checked out? You literally dropped dead yesterday!"
Mamiya Yuka was both surprised and genuinely worried. She couldn't make sense of his decision at all.
"Don't worry about it. The cardiac arrest was just from overexertion. Proper rest is all I need — there's nothing medically wrong with me. I just need to recuperate."
Amamiya Rin tucked his notebook into his bag, slung it over his shoulder, and made up his mind to leave.
____
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