The Terrifying Stone Carving
That night, the wind blew through the wooden corridor, and the moonlight fell on the torii gate, becoming the only remaining "sound" of Miyamizu Shrine.
...
Meanwhile, in the equally deep night, Kazuma, who was on a business trip at the Itomori Town e-sports hotel, was still awake, playing online games with Iori all night.
"Hey bro, did you know? A beautiful witch is coming to our department soon!"
"Huh? How beautiful?" Iori's voice suddenly became full of interest.
"Beautiful, and the shrine maiden outfit is amazing!" Kazuma exclaimed.
"No picture, no truth." Iori's interest grew even stronger.
"Hey, I'll take her to the bureau to complete her onboarding procedures tomorrow, then you'll see." Kazuma laughed.
"Hey! Don't get distracted! I've fallen down; help me up!" Kazuma cried out urgently.
"Hold on!" Iori shouted.
"Godfather!! ...Wait, why do I suddenly feel a little cold?"
Looking at the game character being helped up by Iori on the screen, Kazuma's voice was full of gratitude.
But just then, he suddenly felt a chill down his spine.
"Huh, why is the window open?"
He turned his head and looked at the hotel's open window, a hint of confusion flashing across his forehead.
He clearly remembers that the first thing he did after checking in was to close the windows and turn on the air conditioner.
Was it blown away by the wind? Or was he so engrossed in his game that he didn't hear it while wearing headphones?
The thought flashed through Kazuma's mind, and he found the night wind in Itomori Town rather unbearable.
The scenery here is beautiful, resembling a basin formed by a meteorite crater, but the wind is incredibly cold.
"Wait for me a moment."
After he finished speaking, he moved the game character to a safe place and got up to close the window.
Just as he closed the window and turned around—
A figure suddenly appeared behind him, startling him so much that he was scared out of his wits!
"****!!!"
The scream startled Iori on the other end of the earpiece.
"Kazuma? What's wrong?" Iori asked hurriedly.
"Didn't you want to see a picture of the shrine maiden? I can give it to you now." Kazuma's trembling voice came through the earpiece.
Iori's brows furrowed instantly, her gossipy instincts reaching their peak, her surprise mixed with envy and a hint of suspicion:
"Why didn't you give it to me earlier? Wait... you're not saying that the shrine maiden is in your room in the middle of the night, are you?!"
'You guessed right!!!'
"Send it!"
Kazuma replied, trembling.
Iori's phone vibrated, and a photo popped up in her chat.
A pretty and bright young girl, dressed in a dignified and gorgeous traditional shrine maiden outfit.
However, this photo sent chills down Iori's spine: the lifelike girl was actually a stone sculpture with her neck twisted off!
"Brother, are you still there?" Iori asked nervously, sensing that something was wrong.
"For now... it's alright."
Kazuma stared intently at the eerie, motionless stone sculpture before him, his hair standing on end.
This is clearly the girl I saw during the day!
"This is a strange incident. Report it to the station immediately!" Iori warned.
'That's exactly what I was thinking…'
Kazuma nodded, preparing to dial, his gaze momentarily shifting from the stone sculpture named "Mitsuha."
—Perhaps due to an extremely high level of "luck," he actually twisted his ankle on flat ground.
In that instant, he was horrified to discover that the Mitsuha stone sculpture, which should have been directly in front of him, was now quietly standing behind him.
"What the hell is that?!"
Kazuma was terrified.
How did they switch places in the blink of an eye? He stared intently at the stone sculpture, but it remained motionless.
Could it be... a line of sight?
Sensing this, Kazuma maintained his watchful gaze, slowly backed to the window, groped to open it, and then leaped out.
The moment his gaze left Mitsuha, a chilling feeling, like a thorn in his back, surged from behind.
—Not just one, but many!
He turned around in a panic.
Then… He saw "them."
Many, many stone carvings.
On the streets, in front of hotel windows, on car roofs, on walls... many of them were Itomori Town residents whom they had seen during the day, some of whom should have been taken back to the station for mental treatment.
Others are...
His fellow investigators who came with him.
"Yama... Takagi…" Kazuma uttered these names with trembling lips.
And they, along with Mitsuha, who was just inside the house, were all "looking" at him at this moment.
"Damn it! Am I the only living person left in Itomori Town? Am I lucky... or unlucky?"
Kazuma murmured to himself as he ran desperately toward an open space, his eyes scanning the stone sculptures that triggered the uncanny valley effect.
But there were too many stone sculptures, and he didn't have a 360-degree view. In the end, he could only retreat to a wall and lean against it.
'That way, I only need to guard against 180 degrees. But... what if their hands can go through walls?'
Just as he was thinking this, Kazuma suddenly realized that the stone sculptures, which had been motionless like puppets under his gaze, had changed.
—They weren't moving, but their eyes…were glowing?
At first, it was just a faint, jewel-like glow, then—
Bang-EEEEEEEEE
A familiar white light exploded, but there was no roar of an explosion.
Kazuma's heart sank.
The next instant, all he saw was pure white, and his phone slipped from his hand.
In the quiet Itomori Town, only the urgent calls from the Anomaly Management Bureau emergency operator could be heard on the phone:
"Sato! Sato! Can you still hear me? Do you have anything to add regarding the stone sculpture's 'do not look away' rule?!"
'A flash...their eyes will emit a bright light!'
Kazuma could no longer utter those words.
His neck had been silently snapped by the Mitsuha stone sculpture.
...…
The time was moved to the next day.
Having just dealt with the "Tomie" incident, Hayashi received an urgent notification early in the morning and rushed to the operations command center outside Itomori Town.
"What happened?" There weren't many people in the command room, but most of them were familiar faces.
Elysia, Jeanne, Yukino, Kaguya, Yuki... and several other unfamiliar high-ranking officers.
"The Itomori Town incident...last night..."
Yuki beckoned to Hayashi, gesturing for him to sit between her and Yukino.
Yukino then handed over a document.
"It seems your precognitive abilities aren't all-powerful after all."
Kaguya's tone carried a hint of barely perceptible disappointment.
In her opinion, if Hayashi's prediction was indeed accurate, last night's tragic outcome could have been avoided.
"The future has endless branches, and I naturally cannot know everything."
Hayashi responded calmly, without revealing the truth—the future may be uncertain, but he can decide the ultimate course of the tide of time.
"What a pity. If you could have foreseen it, perhaps they would have..."
Kaguya sighed softly.
Although she still maintains the cold and ruthless demeanor of the Shinomiya Family, the kindness in her heart has never been extinguished, which is why Yukino and the others still regard her as a friend.
"Kazuma got into trouble too?"
Hayashi's gaze lingered on the name "Mitsuha" for a moment before finally settling on "Kazuma."
After all, he was an adopted son with whom he had bathed and shared meals.
"Their entire team went missing last night."
Yukino flipped through the photos in her hand, stopping at the page where Kazuma had turned into a stone sculpture.
"This was discovered by the special forces team when they entered the town early this morning..."
Clap, clap~.
Elysia, seated at the head of the table, clapped her hands gently, drawing everyone's attention.