Chapter 211: The Conjuring
Kaede's luck was good; he was the only one who had seen The Conjuring before. Otherwise, he would have had to switch to another movie.
Soon, the movie began amidst everyone's nervous anticipation.
The version Kaede found was the original English version with Japanese subtitles. Compared to the Japanese dub, the original version felt a bit more impactful.
This movie was one of the few horror films Kaede had seen where both the atmosphere and the sense of terror were excellent; Director James Wan's skill was truly impressive.
As the movie started, the mere appearance of the eerie doll in the first scene made everyone hold their breath, but fortunately, the beginning was only focused on building a frightening atmosphere, and no ghosts or monsters had appeared yet.
However, the atmosphere presented at the beginning of the movie kept everyone on edge.
Sudden jump scares were a common tactic used in horror movies, and even those who hadn't watched many were well aware of this.
Clinging to Kaede's arm, Eriri shrank her neck and whispered while looking at the screen, "Kaede-kun, you weren't originally planning for just the two of us to watch this, were you?"
"Hehe, I did originally have that thought," Kaede chuckled quietly, "But this is nice too."
Soon, the plot moved to a new scene where a couple and their five daughters moved into their newly bought house, which marked the true beginning of the movie's story.
Takasu Ryuji, who had initially claimed he wasn't scared at all while eating chips, suddenly found the chips in his mouth unappetizing after seeing the family's dog mysteriously die later in the film.
Swallowing the food in his mouth, he said with wide eyes, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, it's not starting already, is it?"
The subsequent scenes, featuring paranormal phenomena that appeared intermittently without showing any visible ghosts, completely tightened everyone's nerves, leaving them afraid to move even slightly.
Eriri didn't dare speak now; she hugged Kaede's arm tightly, half her head hidden behind his shoulder, only daring to peek out.
Utaha, sitting next to her, was not much better. If others looked at her, they would notice that Utaha's long legs, encased in black stockings, were extremely stiff right now; she didn't even dare to twitch her leg, a habit she usually did when her emotions fluctuated.
Among everyone present, only Kaede and Uchimaki Subaru were relatively calm. Kaede had seen it once before and had some psychological preparation. As for Uchimaki Subaru, his luck was good; he had just finished reading a horror novel, so he genuinely had some resistance now.
"The plot of this movie is really good,"
Uchimaki Subaru thought to himself, when suddenly he felt a slight weight on his arm. Turning around, he found that Usami, swallowing nervously, had leaned closer to him.
Uchimaki Subaru looked at Usami with some surprise, thinking that Usami-san, who usually seemed quite strong and indeed possessed great strength at school, would actually be afraid of horror movies.
With a slight smile, Uchimaki Subaru didn't refuse Usami leaning on him and continued to focus his attention on the movie.
As the movie's plot gradually advanced, and especially after the exorcist couple took the commission and arrived, the story began to become clearer, yet also more bizarre and terrifying. The atmosphere, which demanded constant vigilance, intensified, but it also firmly gripped everyone's attention, making them eager to see the subsequent developments.
After watching non-stop for nearly two hours, thanks to the efforts of the exorcist couple, the demon in the house was finally expelled from the mistress of the house. The story reached a happy ending, and no one died.
As the end credits appeared, everyone's tension finally completely eased.
Pulling open the curtains, the living room saw the light again. Kaede looked at everyone and said, "What did you think of the movie?"
"It was very good."
Utaha was the first to speak: "The terrifying atmosphere was built up very well, and during the exorcism, the feeling of the mistress fighting the demon inside her body for the sake of her family was perfectly portrayed. It's a wonderful movie. Asakura-kun, does this movie have a sequel?"
Kaede nodded: "Yes, you can look for it if you want to watch it."
Takasu Yasuko was unable to calm down for a long time after watching it. As a mother herself, she felt the deepest connection to the mistress in the movie.
Uchimaki Subaru stood up and stretched, saying, "What a great movie. Although it's a horror film, the underlying message is not just about terror. Especially after seeing the ending, the fear I originally felt disappeared. I feel like we should continue doing activities like watching movies together when we have time."
Clinging to Kushieda Minori's arm, Oosaka Taiga shook her head repeatedly: "Watching movies is fine, but no more horror movies! If it's another horror film, I definitely won't come."
Kushieda Minori hadn't expected Oosaka Taiga to be so scared, and she said with a wry smile, "Taiga, you're too timid."
Oosaka Taiga refuted, blushing, "I am not! This has nothing to do with being timid or not, I just simply don't like horror movies! I still dare to go to haunted houses!"
Unfortunately, during the movie, whenever people occasionally looked around, they noticed that Oosaka Taiga was shaking the most out of everyone.
Don't let her usual arrogance at school fool you—the way she struts around wielding a wooden sword—she was actually very afraid of such ghostly things. It was estimated that if they found an even scarier movie, she would watch it for a while and then want to run away.
After finishing the movie, it was around three o'clock. Naturally, they couldn't watch another movie, so everyone relaxed by playing cards, and the losers could take turns petting the cats to unwind.
By about four o'clock in the afternoon, everyone said their goodbyes and left.
As they were leaving, Kaede overheard Oosaka Taiga say, "Minori, don't go home today, just stay over at my place!"
"Huh! It's not that bad, Taiga?"
"Minori~~~"
"Alright, alright, I know! But I need to go back and grab some things first!"
"I'll go with you!"
Closing the door, Kaede said to Eriri, "It looks like she was quite scared."
"Hehe, that's all Kaede-kun's fault," Eriri said with a smile. "I actually thought it was fine, not too scary!"
Kaede looked at her suspiciously, then said, "How about we find another one to watch tonight?"
Eriri's expression instantly froze. She turned and walked toward the kitchen: "Never mind, never mind. Let's work tonight instead. I'm going to take the ingredients out of the fridge. Kaede-kun, you tidy up the cushions in the living room!"
Kaede smiled, deciding not to expose Eriri's small display of bravado, and went over to clean up.