Terrifying. Powerful. Dangerous.
Combining what Professor Matsuura had let slip, this was the impression the hypnotist left on Amamiya Rin.
Had he not had years of rigorous Dhyana practice to fall back on, Professor Matsuura's words alone would have been enough to make him abandon any thought of visiting this hypnotist.
「His name is Murata Yukichi. Unremarkable name, but make no mistake — he is a dangerous man. He takes commissions, accepts payment, and rewrites people's minds at will. He's always operated in the grey zone, which is why the Hypnotherapy Association refuses to recognize him. That said, rumor has it that the people whose cognition he's altered were never exactly upstanding citizens…」
Having calmed down somewhat, Professor Matsuura hesitated. He wasn't sure whether he should give Amamiya Rin Murata Yukichi's contact information.
The more powerful a hypnotist, the more acutely they understood the gulf between themselves and Murata Yukichi — and the more they feared him.
The man's Hypnosis exceeded anything one could imagine. And yet he lived entirely by his own whims, acted on personal likes and dislikes, and had no regard whatsoever for the law.
Dealing with someone like that, no one could ever be sure they hadn't received an implanted suggestion without even noticing.
「It's fine. Even if I do get caught off guard and something slips in, the vast stretches of the Dream World will wash it away in time.」
Amamiya Rin could hear the caution in Professor Matsuura's voice, but he was not afraid.
Of course, he couldn't count on Long Dream alone. Even if his Dhyana proved no match for Murata Yukichi's suggestion, the near-hundred Tomie consciousness-fragments lodged in his mind would prevent any implanted suggestion from taking root cleanly.
Besides — though in Professor Matsuura's eyes Murata Yukichi might be extraordinarily dangerous, within the source manga he was still one of the good guys, an ordinary decent person at heart. Things probably wouldn't escalate to that kind of extreme.
「All right then. If you insist.」
Professor Matsuura sighed and said as much.
He ended the call. Amamiya Rin leaned against the headboard, staring at his phone screen.
A moment later, a text message came through.
It contained a URL. Murata Yukichi apparently ran a psychological counseling practice and took appointments through his website.
「The greatest hypnotist? Sounds thoroughly suspicious.」
A voice drifted to his ear — languid, faintly sardonic. Warm breath brushed the curve of his ear.
The Vampire Tomie had crept close again without him noticing. Her sharp little chin settled back onto his shoulder, and those pale-gold eyes — remodeled at some point he hadn't registered — slid sideways toward the URL on his phone screen. Her brow furrowed ever so slightly, her distaste entirely unconcealed.
「Someone who can rewrite other people's minds at will. Absolutely the worst kind.」
She pursed her lips, one fingertip idly twirling a loose strand of her black hair.
Like repels like. As the character best known for mental contamination, she was also the one who loathed most deeply anything capable of altering someone else's mind.
「As suspicious as he sounds, he still can't be more suspicious than you lot, can he?」
Amamiya Rin glanced at her sidelong, delivered the quip, and brushed away the hair she'd let drift against him.
「How can you even compare the two?」
Before the words were fully out of his mouth, Amamiya Rin felt a sharp twinge in his stomach — and sure enough, Tomie immediately rounded on him, eyes wide, righteously indignant.
「Our charm is innate! It's those men who lack the strength of will — what does that have to do with us? What he does is deliberate, it's a technique, it's a contemptible form of interference!」
She paused, then fixed Amamiya Rin with a suspicious look.
「Wait — you're not thinking of learning this dangerous technique yourself, are you? To use on us?」
「Don't flatter yourself. No amount of Hypnosis is going to change what you fundamentally are.」
Amamiya Rin looked away and picked up his phone again, scrolling to check his missed calls.
Two from Mamiya Yuka. One from Fujino Terumi. All from while he had been sunk in that deep sleep lasting more than twenty hours.
He'd deal with Fujino Terumi first. She'd been caught up in the Vampire incident before — this was probably a follow-up.
Amamiya Rin called Fujino Terumi back.
The call connected, and on the other end came her voice — slightly strained, with an undercurrent of quiet reproach.
「Amamiya-kun? You finally called back…」
「Sorry. Overslept. You called earlier — was there something you needed?」
Amamiya Rin explained, his tone even.
A brief silence fell on the other end. Only soft breathing.
Fujino Terumi seemed to be choosing her words carefully. Several seconds passed before she spoke, her voice dropping lower, as if afraid of being overheard.
「I… I still feel like something's wrong. After what happened before… when I'm home alone at night, or sometimes walking back after work, I keep feeling like… something is watching me. Not the way a person watches. It's more like… something cold and creeping, as if it's right outside the window, or just beneath the gap under the door…」
Fujino Terumi's words trailed off.
A few days ago Amamiya Rin had told her he'd found a lead, but she'd heard nothing since, and had half-feared he'd been killed in the interim.
「These past few days — any new leads? Any attacks?」
Amamiya Rin pressed carefully.
「Nothing like that…」
Fujino Terumi hesitated, then answered.
「I've been careful. At night I stick to well-lit streets, and when I get home I check every door and window several times over. It's just… that feeling of being watched won't go away.」
Amamiya Rin listened, and a rough picture formed in his mind.
「Don't scare yourself. It's almost certainly psychological. Because — the afternoon before yesterday, I tracked down the true identity of the Vampire and handed her over to the police officers who handle these kinds of special cases.」
If she'd been attacked, that might mean another supernatural encounter entirely. If she hadn't, it was most likely just her nerves.
Fujino Terumi didn't have his kind of supernatural constitution — the sort that stumbled into paranormal events no matter where it went.
「You… you caught her? The day before yesterday? Seriously? Who was it? It's not in the news at all!」
Fujino Terumi froze, her voice shooting up.
「The perpetrator's identity is a bit complicated — the police are probably still working through the procedures, so nothing's been made public yet… Kawahara Miyuki. You know that name, right?」
「…Who?」
Fujino Terumi's voice was saturated with disbelief.
「You just said… who?」
「Kawahara Miyuki.」
「That's impossible. The national idol, the singer with an even brighter future than me — how could she possibly be a serial killer?」
Fujino Terumi blurted it out. It was too absurd — there was simply no way.
「I'm not joking. I wish I were, but it's true. She admitted it herself. Apparently during some paranormal TV show, she came under the influence of a curse of some kind and committed terrible acts without being consciously aware of it. But even so… whether you're aware of it or not, the harm has been done.」
Amamiya Rin said it plainly, and let out a quiet sigh.
「The victim count is already in the double digits, isn't it? Even in Japan, where death sentences are rarely handed down, she's going to have to pay for what she did with her life.」
Kawahara Miyuki was also a victim in her own way — but she was a perpetrator too. And the crimes were too egregious. The death penalty was unavoidable. It was only a question of sooner or later.
Fujino Terumi was clearly still in the grip of profound shock, murmuring incoherently — 「How could this be」, 「That's terrifying」, 「I never imagined Miyuki would end up like this」.
Eventually she steadied herself somewhat.
「A paranormal TV show? You said a paranormal TV show? Again?」
The emotion in Fujino Terumi's voice defied easy description.
The factor Amamiya Rin had mentioned made her mind involuntarily leap to another victim of a paranormal TV program.
「Don't follow that thread. None of this has anything to do with you. And — I have a favor to ask.」
Amamiya Rin caught the shift in her tone immediately and cut in, redirecting her attention.
「Eh? You have a favor to ask of me, Rin-kun? What is it? I'll definitely do it!」
Fujino Terumi's spirits lifted instantly. She pushed the paranormal TV show business to the back of her mind and pressed him eagerly.
She had never forgotten that she owed Amamiya Rin her life, and he had never once asked for anything in return. This was finally a chance to repay even a little of that debt.
「Have you been watching that prime-time talk show lately?」
Amamiya Rin asked.
The topic of the entertainment world put Fujino Terumi visibly at ease, and a faintly professional quality crept into her tone.
「Oh, those two. They've been riding a real wave lately — I've heard the ratings for that timeslot are through the roof. Though…」
She paused, seeming to search for the right words.
「I've watched it myself, and honestly, I couldn't really find the funny. The material isn't exactly fresh. But what's strange is — the studio audience and the people watching at home seem to absolutely love it. The moment those two open their mouths, no matter what they say, the place erupts. It's almost like some kind of magic. At the rate things are going, their profile and commercial value as comedians will probably overtake mine before long.」
「…Are you feeling a little anxious?」
Amamiya Rin caught the undercurrent in her voice with practiced ease.
She'd remarked on Kawahara Miyuki's brighter prospects as an idol singer earlier. And now, mentioning these two — Ago and Azuki, what peculiar stage names — another note of wistfulness crept in.
「I can't help it.」
Fujino Terumi gave a soft sigh and didn't bother to hide it from him.
「Right now I'm a national-level idol, sure, but what I'm actually aiming for is an acting career, and the only reason I broke through was my looks. If I don't build my craft into something real, in a few years when the next wave of newcomers arrives, I'll be swept aside easily enough.」
Amamiya Rin understood. Any industry built on appearance had that same brutal churn — new faces replaced old ones at dizzying speed. There was nothing he could do about it, so for now he settled for simply listening.
「Anyway, enough about that,」 Fujino Terumi adjusted quickly, bringing herself back on track. 「Rin-kun, why did you suddenly bring up that comedy duo? Is something wrong with them?」
「You've already noticed something's off, haven't you? They're not actually funny — but people laugh anyway.」
Amamiya Rin went straight to the heart of it.
「Now that you mention it… I thought maybe my sense of humor was just weird, or they happened to hit the right note for me.」
Fujino Terumi blinked. She hadn't thought too hard about it — after all: 「Who on earth has a superpower or a curse that makes people laugh?!」
She couldn't help herself — that ability alone was more absurd than anything those two had ever said on stage.
「There are cases on record of people literally laughing themselves to death.」
Amamiya Rin's voice was calm, but it carried a faint chill.
Laughing someone to death. There was nothing remotely funny about that.
Fujino Terumi went silent.
「…Seriously? Ago and Azuki are that dangerous? I've crossed paths with them a few times — they don't seem like it at all…」
She had met them in passing. It was genuinely hard to connect that image with the kind of brutal thing he was describing.
After all, even if those two had impure motives, they were already using this ability to work as stand-up comedians. Like someone with superhuman strength who just chose to haul bricks — someone that straightforward couldn't possibly go around doing evil on a whim, could they?
「To my knowledge, they've already killed an entire household. The reason being that one member of that family had the ability to see ghosts — and could see their Ikiryo scratching the audience to provoke laughter. That's right — Ago and Azuki's power manifests as Ikiryo. Do you need me to explain what an Ikiryo is?」
「No, I know what that is. But… just because someone could see how they were making people laugh, they tracked them down and killed the whole family…」
Fujino Terumi's voice dropped, full of bewilderment.
No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't fathom why Ago and Azuki would go to the lengths of silencing an entire family over something so minor. So what if one person could see their method? What did that even do to them?
Were they afraid of being exposed? Even if that person had gone public with it, no one would have believed them — they'd have been written off as spreading rumors.
「Don't try to understand people like that. Anyone who possesses an Ikiryo cannot be a normal person.」
Amamiya Rin said it without a trace of softness.
An Ikiryo arose from extreme negative emotions — jealousy, resentment, that sort of thing. Anyone who harbored one was no different from a lunatic. The only people who could ever untangle the thinking of someone like that were either fellow lunatics or psychiatrists.
「…」
Fujino Terumi was silent for a beat, then decisively gave up trying to understand and cut straight to the point.
「What do I need to do? Rin-kun, how do I help you? Figure out a way to capture Ago and Azuki?」
「No need to put yourself in danger. Just keep an eye on them for me. The next time they're scheduled to record a show, give me a call and tell me where — I'll go take care of it.」
A glint passed through Amamiya Rin's eyes. He said it evenly.
All going to plan, Ago and Azuki were a key piece in giving one of his ideas a concrete form.
「Just that?」
Fujino Terumi confirmed.
「Yes. That's more than enough. And remember — your own safety comes first, always.」
Amamiya Rin added the reminder once more.
「Understood.」
Fujino Terumi could feel the care behind his words. The ghost of a small smile touched the corner of her mouth, and she answered with quiet sincerity.
The call ended. Fujino Terumi held her phone, the faint smile not yet fully faded — but somewhere beneath it, for reasons she couldn't name, that subtle unease from before crept back. Or perhaps it was better described as a low, directionless anxiety.
She didn't understand it herself.
Amamiya Rin had already told her: the serial killer was in custody, and the Vampire's true identity had been brought to justice.
And yet that lingering unease, that shadow that had clung to her for days, showed no sign of lifting with the news. It remained, quiet and settled, in some corner of her awareness.
As if whatever had been unsettling her these past few days wasn't that Vampire at all — but something else entirely.
「Am I overthinking it?」
Fujino Terumi shook her head.
How could she possibly keep stumbling into one paranormal incident after another? That was just too far-fetched.
Most likely, she decided, it was the anxiety that came from her career.
____
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