I'm a teacher in Tokyo!

If she knew our club was called that, she might distance herself from me, sob sob, but she's really cute, just as cute as you, Boss—"

Upon hearing this, her eyes widened in disbelief; she couldn't believe that Moriya Rie would dare to speak to her like that.

Until she realized what was happening, her face turned bright red, and she stammered:

"You bastard, what the hell are you talking about?!"

"That's the truth..."

Rie Moriya said weakly.

At the same time, Mako said frankly, "I think Rie is right, the club's name is indeed easy to misunderstand."

"That child... who looks like me, what's her name?"

Kayako asked curiously, "The teacher told me to make more friends. If they're like me, then we can be friends too!"

"Her name is Yotsuya Miko."

Rie Moriya then added another sentence immediately afterward;

"She's a very cute girl."

"If there's a chance next time, I'll bring that child over so you can see him."

……

When Yoshizaki Kawa awoke from his brief slumber, he found himself surrounded by complete darkness.

This darkness is not the kind of darkness without any light source; rather, it's like the darkness under a lamp, with bright, glaring light all around, which, reflected in the pupils, deprives one of the right to "see."

The fingers of the outstretched hand are glowing; the fingers are visible, yet also invisible.

He tried to stand up, and the next moment, the intense light in front of him seemed to change angle, and the scene in front of him rushed into his eyes;

It was desolate and barren, just like the hell I had glimpsed at the entrance of the well, utterly devoid of life.

Just like her previous life, which was empty and devoid of anything, even the smallest act of kindness could fill that narrow world.

But where is that cult leader?

There must be a guiding force in this world, after all, it's a world where the videotapes are imbued with their subjective will.

Looking at the desolation ahead, Yoshizaki tentatively called out, "Kayako?"

The next moment, a deafening rumble echoed from the far distance. He instinctively looked ahead and saw sand and gravel churning and the earth shaking violently. A cloud-like mass of blood was surging wildly toward them.

The familiar sound of curses drifted from afar;

"Kit! Saki! Kawa!"

Upon hearing that familiar tone and those familiar words, Yoshizaki Kawa couldn't help but show a shocked expression: "A Po-monster?!"

He then looked down at the sand beneath his feet, so—

Is Kayako's subconscious a moon summoned from that villa?

So, the curse of the videotape has always been present in the villa setting, right? In the exam room inside the villa, and on the moon above the villa.

However, it's getting further and further away from reality.

Furthermore, given the existence of such a thing as the Soul Demon here, the fate of that cult leader is self-evident.

After all, it would be difficult to survive if an ordinary person faced this ancient demon who had lived for thousands of years.

Hearing the cries of the living, the crazed Po Xi Demon swept madly toward this place. The curse, as vast as the ocean, resembled locusts with flapping wings and swarms of ants, making people feel physically uncomfortable just by looking at it.

If this were reality, Yoshizaki would definitely run away.

But this was in my own dream.

—The first rule of dreams is that you are invincible!

The next moment, Yoshizaki lifted his shirt, revealing eight-pack abs, his powerful muscles seemingly containing boundless strength.

At this moment, he was wearing glasses and a suit, looking refined and elegant, with eight-pack abs.

His every move exuded an aura of dominance.

The terrifying curse of the Soul Demon, upon approaching him, seemed to slip away like sand from between his skin, and Yoshizaki Kawa felt no discomfort whatsoever.

However, the massive amount of sand cannot be destroyed. Even if a few grains are crushed, it is useless against the almost infinite quantity.

But Yoshizaki still had a way.

"Kayako, are you really not going to come out and see me?"

As Yoshizaki Kawa's calm words fell,

"Boom!"

The dull sound, like a muffled bell, seemed to strike his heart, and his skin tingled slightly from the curse.

Almost instantly, he felt something resting on his shoulder;

At the same time, the Po-Xu Demon in front was almost instantly pulled into the sand by some terrifying force, and after a moment, there was no trace of it left.

At that moment, Yoshizaki Kawa felt a soft, burning, and slightly stinging pain on his shoulder, as if blood was flowing through it. This made Yoshizaki Kawa turn around and look at the girl on his shoulder.

The girl's arms were pitch black, and the blood flowing from her body dripped onto her like flames, igniting black flames.

—The curse of the "future" that helped me hold back the demon back then.

Previously, Yoshizaki had researched why Ju-on would appear as something burning in flames.

After all, in the original work, Kayako was dismembered and tortured to death, so her body was in a fragmented and twisted state.

Later, in his calculations, he realized that his arrival might have affected the entire mechanism of Ju-on.

Therefore, the future is no longer the future.

Kayako's manner of death is constantly changing, or rather, Kayako is different in each of the different timelines.

While Yoshizaki was thinking, the Ju-on that had been perched on his shoulder nuzzled against his shoulder.

Like a kitten, it nestled gently, its burned skin oozing blood that stained Yoshizaki Kawa's shirt.

"Teacher, I miss you so much—"

"I'm so happy that you...aren't afraid of me like before."

The information conveyed in those few words sent a chill down Yoshizaki's spine.

Despite his shock, he still wore a gentle smile, raised his hand, and touched the burned cheek, feeling the burning sensation in his palm and the blood, rotten flesh, and skin stuck between his fingers.

"How could a teacher possibly dislike you?"

"I've always been behind you."

Chapter 160 Embracing the Curse

I am so ugly, but there is no disgust in the eyes of the teacher in front of me. Instead, there is a hint of pity and tenderness in his eyes.

Among the memories of countless timelines, there is one memory where Ju-on was burned to death, but Yoshizaki Kawa escaped because he was away on business.

But among the chaotic memories of Ju-on, the most profound one is the scene where she appeared before Yoshizaki Kawa as a ghost, and Yoshizaki Kawa fled in terror.

It was precisely for this reason that Kayako was initially afraid to meet Yoshizaki Kawa. Later, after Yoshizaki Kawa pointed it out, and with the help of other memories, she developed an attachment to him.

That's why it was so hard to suppress the strong emotions in my heart, which arose from listening to Yoshizaki's voice.

But the teacher's most memorable action still tugs at its heartstrings at all times.

In fact, Ju-on has split into countless parts, existing in reality, in the videotapes, and in this dream.

Even the real-life Ju-on is divided into different categories: "before meeting Yoshizaki Kawa" and "after meeting Yoshizaki Kawa".

A curse that spans time will be affected by countless factors and have countless possible outcomes. As a result, the curse will become complex and multifaceted, and when the influence of factors becomes too intense, the curse will split.

Ju-on, curses and resentment.

All the world's resentment and insults will converge here.

At the same time, as her cheek was stroked by the teacher's hand, memories and emotions of being "Kayako" intertwined, and her dark eye sockets and blood-red eyeballs trembled slightly.

When curses and resentment are no longer pure, they begin to split at the nodes until their most essential parts are preserved and that part of the resentment is dismantled.

When Kayako died with resentment, her body became a vessel for that resentment, which then merged with her own.

Curses and resentment can transcend time and space. When one person hates another, when one person specifically hates someone at a particular time, when the hated person exists in the hater's mind and is constantly on their mind, this intense emotion is continuously nourished and grows.

Just like the siphon effect, the ocean absorbs the water from rivers and streams, and black holes gather the surrounding stars.

The third hand, which had grown out of Yoshizaki's back and was about to grasp Yoshizaki's heart, slowly withdrew from his chest.

Emotions make the container impure, and they make the curse impure as well.

"Then...can you hug me?"

And this part of the resentment that has been shattered will only continue to exist because of its obsession.

The blood that had originally turned into sharp, blood-red spikes on the ground and underground gradually softened.

As initially stated, these actually exist separately; the curse became Kayako, and resentment lingered outside.

For such a purely malicious curse, emotions are the most deadly poison.