I'm a teacher in Tokyo!

But I can't say it out loud.

Seeing Kayako staring blankly, Tomie's eyes reddened, and she felt extremely wronged.

That happened in the morning, but by evening it felt like a lifetime ago.

When Kayako heard Tomie's apology, tears welled up in her eyes again. She knew that none of this was Tomie's fault.

The doctor drew two vials of blood, which were then refrigerated and stored.

There's also food prepared with medication at home.

She couldn't say it herself. If she did, what kind of person would she be? A despicable person, a rotten person, a bad person, a disgusting woman to the core.

And also—

The ambulance drove into the hospital, and Yoshizaki Kawa was carried off and quickly taken to the ICU.

She choked back tears, wiping away the tears from the corners of her eyes. At this moment, she was no longer some arrogant young lady, nor the president of a school club.

She really didn't know why everything had turned out this way. Yoshizaki Kawa, you can't get hurt... I won't let anything happen to you!

Tomie thought of the way Yoshizaki Kawa shielded her, how he dressed her in her dream, how they fell into the bath together in reality, and how they sat together, shivering in front of the fireplace.

Tomie, looking completely lost, bit her lower lip and stared blankly at her thigh, seemingly lost in thought.

That gentle smile was like the winter sun.

Without Ox-Head and Horse-Face, without Hell, or rather, this desolate world without any living beings is what is called Hell.

Because the milk in the stomach diluted the poison, and because the amount of the drug ingested was not large, and because only fifteen minutes had passed since the poisoning, there is still a high chance of recovery.

Looking at the red "No Entry" sign in front of me,

Tomie bit her lower lip tightly.

All around was shrouded in mist.

Looking at the scene over there, Kayako's fingers clenched until they turned white, and her face was deathly pale.

"Sorry……"

It was all my own damn selfish thoughts at work; Tomie-kun did absolutely nothing wrong!

But can I really say such things myself?

The words spoken in the early winter morning sun, inside a police car filled with the smell of gasoline.

Kayako wanted to strangle herself.

If the teacher can't be saved, I'll take the medicine and leave this world... to be with the teacher forever.

No, it's not my fault!!

Kayako recalled the way her teacher handed her the umbrella in the beginning, the first time he held her hand, the first time they ate together, and how he patted her head.

But she felt that even death could not atone for her sins. At this moment, even death could not make up for her mistakes.

She was like an ordinary girl, helpless and hopeful.

The world of death is... so desolate?

"Pinky promise, hang yourself, for ten thousand years, never to change!"

Yoshizaki Kawa was still preoccupied with the real world and had no idea what was going on with Kayako and Tomie.

He wandered aimlessly through the world, believing himself to be dead.

Isolated and helpless, Yoshizaki River stood atop the hill, surrounded by layers upon layers of peaks that seemed to hang upside down in the sky, rising from below.

The first step is gastric lavage, followed by the administration of atropine to metabolize the dimethyl in the blood.

At first, he held onto his own hand;

"Tomie, be my girlfriend!"

……

Before,

Despite his best efforts, Yoshizaki deduced from the limited information Kotoko provided that Kayako's medicine was problematic.

He tried to avoid it, but eventually let his guard down around Tomie.

It's my own fault, not theirs. They were just being used by the Curse.

Unfortunately, his mouth went numb at the last moment, and Yoshizaki Kawa wanted to say that he didn't blame them, but he couldn't say it.

Moreover, in his dazed state, he felt his mouth being pushed open. Who could be giving him artificial respiration?

Kayako?

Wandering aimlessly, my mind was unusually active, and I even felt an unprecedented sense of ease.

Yes, the pressure of living is just too great.

He was constantly watching over Tomie and the others, protecting the world from destruction, and the scheming and intrigue were making him quite tired.

Once I die, all will be over, and I will never have to think about those problems again.

This is one of the reasons why he felt unusually relaxed.

At that moment, Yoshizaki suddenly noticed a well in front of him;

It was a well covered in weeds and entwined with vines. In the midst of countless upside-down mountains, such a thing suddenly appeared, which could not help but draw people's attention to it.

Yoshizaki Kawa was no different; moreover, since he was already dead, he had little fear.

He slowly walked towards the well.

With each step he took, the thorny vines clinging to the well opening seemed to come alive, slowly loosening their grip and making way for him.

As Yoshizaki approached the well, he suddenly realized the truth about its name: it wasn't a well, but a door.

Or rather, a door called "Ancient Well".

Why is a well called a door?

Yoshizaki Kawa found it hard to understand why such a door would appear in Hell.

At that moment, a sound of crying suddenly came from inside the door;

However, his curious nature made Yoshizaki feel that he was already dead anyway.

He wouldn't care even if he died again, so without the slightest hesitation, he pulled the thorny vines aside with his hands.

Perhaps it was due to his soul, but he didn't feel any pain in his hands;

Pushing aside the thorny vines, I looked down into the well.

The next moment, Yoshizaki Kawa was slightly taken aback;

Because inside the well was another world!

Upon closer inspection, it was a cave resembling a stone chamber.

At this moment, in the middle of the stone chamber, stood two girls who looked almost identical and were dressed in shrine maiden outfits. One of the girls was crying and holding a sharp blade in her trembling hand, while the other girl sat helplessly on the well, looking pleadingly at the girl holding the blade.

Around the girl stood four men whose eyes were covered with black cloth and whose backs were covered with talismans.

On the other side of the stone chamber, an old man dressed in sacrificial robes stood with a sinister look in his eyes, staring intently at the two girls in front of him.

A weeping girl, a guardian as still as a stone statue, and a sinister old man performing the ritual.

Yoshizaki Kawa inexplicably felt that all of this was actually happening.

At that moment, a resolute glint seemed to appear in the eyes of the girl holding the blade. She suddenly raised the blade, and as the old man showed a satisfied expression, the girl, blade raised, lunged at him.

The old man's expression changed slightly, and he shouted angrily, "Kurosawa Yae, if the Great Sacrifice occurs, the entire village, including your parents, will die. How dare you do this?"

The girl seemed to be crying but wasn't, her trembling voice evoking pity: "Does the Minakami Village, which survives by sacrificing itself in this way, still have any reason to exist?"

"you!"

The old priest kicked the girl, then ruthlessly pulled out a dagger and stabbed it into her heart. Blood gushed out like a bursting berry.

The girl grabbed the old man with one hand, blood gushing out and her speech slurred, but she shouted loudly:

"Little sister, run!"

"Quick...run..."

The world in the well is like another world, like the moon reflected in the well—visible but untouchable.

Yoshizaki was like a bystander, only able to watch from afar, unable to control or stop it.

In fact, this might not even be happening now.

The girl seemed terrified and ran frantically outside;

"Stop her! Stop her now!"

An exasperated voice came from the old man. The men who stood motionless like iron around him groped around like blind men, but they couldn't find their way at all.

Just then, a sharp roar suddenly came from the wellhead, and countless black auras, like terrifying ghosts, filled the entire cave entrance in the terrified and desperate eyes of the old priest.

"The great retribution has arrived."

The priest sighed softly, turned around, and was almost instantly enveloped by the black mist, collapsing to the ground.