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Crack.

Snap.

With things reaching that point, Tokitaka could absolutely no longer suppress his fear.

He was forced to clash his teeth together, revealing a face soaked in dread.

His jaw quivered uncontrollably, beyond his control, and his limbs felt as if they would collapse at any moment.

Snap.

Crack.

Amidst the terror, he barely managed to move his trembling lips to utter a few words.

“Ma, mama, Makahan-yahara-mitsutashin-kyo…(摩訶般若波羅蜜多心經)….”

The mantra his grandmother had told him to memorize long ago.

It was the Heart Sutra.

“My child. This Japan is a land filled with gods.”

“But the gods may not favor humans all the time; if you err, they could deliver dreadful punishments.”

“It frightens me that you might unwittingly provoke the gods while wandering about. So, let me share a mantra with you—make sure to remember it well.”

“Even the gods will fear the radiance of the Buddha…”

His grandmother had urged him to remember the mantra carefully, cautioning him that if he fell prey to the Kamikakushi or angered the calamity gods, or faced divine punishment where malevolent ghosts or yokai might emerge to threaten him, reciting this mantra would allow him to escape danger.

As a child, he had been deeply impressed by the manga where ghosts were exorcised using spells at school, so he diligently memorized the mantra his grandmother gave him.

To the extent that he had never completely forgotten it.

“Kanji-zai-ho-sa-tsu kyo-jin-han-nyahara-mitsu-taji (觀自在菩薩 行深般若波羅蜜多時)….”

Thus, it was only natural for the Heart Sutra to flow from Tokitaka’s fearful lips.

It was a hope to escape this frightful situation, and the only lifeline that could save him.

But.

“….”

“….”

“….”

To ‘chant’ the Heart Sutra meant that it would flow forth as sound.

“….”

“….”

“….”

And to flow forth as sound meant that everyone could hear it too.

“Ban.”

“Ya.”

“Shim-kyo?”

The moment he uttered the Heart Sutra, everyone turned to look at Tokitaka in unison.

No, rather than ‘looked,’ it would be more appropriate to say they glared.

“Heart Sutra?”

“Heart Sutra?”

“Right now.”

“What are you chanting?”

They stared at Tokitaka, eyes wide in disbelief, as if their eyeballs might pop out. Then, with bizarre movements, they slowly approached him.

Some moved their legs as if they were stiff marionettes, while others approached with strange, awkward movements as if they were mice skittering about. There were even those moving without lifting their legs, sliding creepily on the ground, and others who twisted their necks to glare at Tokitaka while backing away.

“Hu, Huuh.”

What a bizarre, terrifying, and dreadful sight it was.

Forms he wouldn’t even want to see in a dream.

Tokitaka was plunged into a delusion that he had been transported into a nightmare and, without knowing it, pinched his cheek hard to wake himself.

“Doesn’t it hurt…?”

Yet, even after pinching his cheek hard, he felt no pain.

For a moment, Tokitaka seriously considered whether he might be in a dream, but he soon clenched his teeth.

“No. This is me being possessed right now.”

This wasn’t a dream.

It was reality.

If he stood there, thinking it was just a dream, he would surely die.

Tokitaka summoned all his will to move his rigid body, drawing up a sense of urgency from within.

He felt as if he were trying to cut the tension in his own toe, powering through as he swung his fist and struck his leg hard.

Bam!

The dull sound echoed as if he had hit a sandbag.

Along with it, intense pain flooded through his leg, and the pain made it twitch.

‘It moves!’

Perhaps due to the shock therapy?

Once his leg twitched, it regained its senses and began to move to his command again.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!”

Turning his back to those approaching him with their bizarre movements, Tokitaka ran with all his might.

Acting like usual?

Pretending?

None of it mattered anymore.

Given how things had turned out, he had to escape from this place as quickly as possible.

Tatata-tat.

He ran.

He ran like crazy.

With his white hair turning paler, those with bizarre movements closing in, and the sticky, spiderweb-like gaze wrapping around him, he sprinted like a madman.

But no matter how frantically he ran, the presence trailing behind him wouldn’t easily dissipate.

‘What should I do? What should I do?’

I’m going to get caught.

If it continues like this, I will inevitably be captured.

A sense of crisis surged within Tokitaka.

He was filled with the thought that he had to shake off those monsters and recalled what they had reacted to the most.

‘Right. The Heart Sutra drew their attention.’

In his desperate situation, what popped into Tokitaka’s head was precisely the Heart Sutra.

The mantra that had made everyone turn their heads as soon as he uttered it.

“Shoken-go-un-kaikuu toi-tsu-sai-ku-yaku (照見五蘊皆空 度一切苦厄)….”

Tokitaka twisted his white hair, desperately attempting to recite the next verse of the Heart Sutra.

“Shari-zi shiki-fu-ikuu kuu-fu-i-shiki (舍利子 色不異空 空不異色)….”

He kept chanting, believing that the mantra would protect his body from those unknown existences.

His lips recited the mantra, while his limbs flailed wildly, acting on instinct, running and running.

Thus, Tokitaka kept running, half-conscious….

Eventually, he stopped only after all those presences chasing him had vanished.

“Huuh, huuh—!”

Stopping his run, Tokitaka collapsed right there.

His vision had crumbled and distorted, making it impossible to see clearly, and the entire world appeared yellow. Every breath felt as if his lungs would tear apart from the pain, and no matter how much he tried to exhale, the sensation of not having enough air lingered.

His limbs, having moved like mad, twitched uncontrollably, yet there was no pain.

In fact, he felt so numb that it was starting to become unsettling.

There was a metallic taste in his mouth, and his saliva uncontrollably dripped down and soaked his clothes. Sweat poured down like rain, drenching his whole body, making it seem as if he had just come out of a pond.

Moreover, a hot heat radiated from him, to the point that he thought he’d wish for a cool breeze from a fan at that moment.

“Ugh, huff.”

Panting through his nose and mouth, Tokitaka crawled across the ground.

He somehow managed to find something that felt like a wall to lean against with his blurry vision, resting his body while he hunched over, continuing to catch his breath.

How long had he been recuperating like this?

After some time, Tokitaka gradually felt his mind returning.

Perhaps due to the excessive running, his head felt somewhat foggy, but he was slowly reaching a state where he could think again, and aside from feeling a bit dizzy, his vision had returned to normal. The heat rising from his body had cooled a bit too.

“Where am I?”

After catching his breath, Tokitaka looked around.

He found himself in a forest.

He was leaning against a cypress tree, and he was seated on the ground.

The trees rustled gently as if assuring him that this place was safe, and the sky, visible between the leaves, had clouds passing by.

“Whew, I’m alive.”

Tokitaka finally realized it as the scent of the forest filled his nostrils.

He had survived.

He had safely escaped from that cursed mansion.

He no longer felt the peculiar presence pursuing him.

The sight of the villa didn’t meet his eyes either.

The foul smell of water from the lakeside didn’t linger.

The strange people who had been after him were no longer there.

Now, he was safe.

Tokitaka placed his hand on his racing heart.

It was to calm himself, as if saying everything was alright.

Yet, his heart continued to race.

As if the danger wasn’t completely averted.

As if urging him to observe his surroundings.

To soothe this heart, Tokitaka slowly turned his head to look around.

He thought he would feel a bit more comfortable upon realizing there was nothing.

However, with that lighthearted feeling, he noticed something distinctly out of place.

“Uh, uhh….”

A person.

There was a person.

A man in his thirties leaned against a tree, staring at him.

With round eyebrows, the man looked at him discontentedly, and he seemed to fidget with his tie as if it was bothering him, exhaling hot breaths as though he had just sprinted.

“Sa, sa, sa, sa, someone.”

Tokitaka jumped up, horrified by the sight of the man.

If a person appeared in this situation, it surely had to be someone who had come out of ‘the House of Death.’

But his body, drained from fleeing with all his strength, wouldn’t move as he wished.

His leg, which he had tried to rise with, lost all its power and dropped him back to the ground, causing Tokitaka to tumble and become muddy.

Nevertheless, Tokitaka refused to give up, despite rolling on the ground.

‘I have to escape.’

With trembling arms, he struggled to push himself up from the dirt.

He aimed to rise and run away, no matter what.

“Hey.”

Was his appearance so pathetic?

The man leaning against the tree spoke to him.

“Calm down.”

Then, he slowly approached Tokitaka, pulling out a notebook from his suit pocket and opening it.

Within it was a drawing of a paper doll inside a round five-pointed star.

“I come from the Onmyo-shin.”

 

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