I'm a teacher in Tokyo!

Within two minutes, medical staff arrived and assisted Qinzi in the rescue efforts.

……

Kayako curled up by the bedside. When she opened her eyes, the terrifying images from her dream still echoed in her mind.

She didn't say a word, but tears kept streaming down her face, soaking her pillow.

Even if it was just a dream, she shouldn't have done something so outrageous... She wanted to call for her teacher, but she was afraid that Yoshizaki would see her so worried, and even more afraid that everything in the dream would become real.

Teacher... has he come back?

where is he?

Teacher, I miss you so much.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I was wrong.

I shouldn't have hurt myself, and I certainly shouldn't have hurt you. But alas, I'm just that petty and narrow-minded, that's my dark personality, and even my dreams are so twisted.

How can I change it?

As long as the kind of thing that happened in my dream doesn't happen, I'm willing to change myself for you.

……

Inside the van, Tomie opened her eyes and saw a lifeless corpse staring at her with its dull eyes.

Even in the morning light, the interior of the car remained dim.

Any normal person would feel scared in this situation, but Tomie did not feel scared.

"This is my real world, the world where I have the people I love."

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 206 Brain Death

Inside the emergency room, Higa Kotoko listened to the doctor's report with a somber expression. The report was brief: loss of brain activity, or brain death for short.

Kotoko had no idea what happened in the dream. From her perspective, Yoshizaki Kawa inexplicably suffered a sudden cardiac arrest, just like when he was poisoned before.

According to Yoshizaki himself, he was able to be resurrected because of Tomie.

But this time, Tomie disappeared.

Looking at Yoshizaki Kawa, who was being resuscitated, Kotoko was at a loss for a moment. She was extremely skilled at killing and even exorcising demons, but she had almost no skills in saving lives. Even the first aid she had just learned on the spot was something she had learned on the spot.

"Is it confirmed that it cannot be recovered?"

Normally, Kotoko wouldn't ask the same question more than twice in a row.

But now, perhaps unwilling to believe it, or perhaps hoping for a mistake, Higa Kotoko asked again.

After receiving an affirmative answer, she fell silent.

Kotoko's feelings were somewhat complicated, like a friend leaving without saying goodbye, but in reality, she had experienced this kind of thing many times before.

Exorcists who once traveled together may die during their next exorcism.

If it were the old her, she would definitely start thinking about how to clean up the mess Kayako and the others made of, but now Yoshizaki Kawa is also a friend of hers, and they have been through life and death together in the face of Ju-on, so she is surprised to learn of this outcome.

According to the doctor, although he survived after being rescued, Yoshizaki's brain activity was reduced to almost the lowest level, which means that he is now in deep sleep and his brain has only lost its basic metabolic function.

Car accident? Poisoning? Overwork?

Kayako is suspicious and deep-thinking, a fact that Yoshizaki Kawa didn't even need to tell himself; it was evident from her constant head-down posture, yet her ever-observant gaze upon her surroundings.

Therefore, she did not grieve for her life or lament her death. After a brief period of sadness, she began to consider whether she should tell others about this matter.

For a patient, intubation means that their life is entering a miserable and undignified countdown.

The main issue is Kayako's side—

He became a completely brain-dead, vegetative state patient.

Ah, Tomie hasn't been found yet.

As a suspicious person, Kayako would not believe anything she said. Thus, the worst outcome was that resentment overflowed, destroying the goodness rooted in Yoshizaki River's heart, and then, the curse descended.

After a brief moment of thought, she decisively suppressed the idea.

Will that child believe it?

Intubation refers to inserting a tube into the airway, gastric tube, or urinary catheter through a flexible tube to assist with mechanical breathing, pump in liquid food, and guide urine output.

This kind of thing is quite normal for exorcists.

At this moment, a somewhat sentimental Kotoko Higa remembered Tomie's situation, chuckled, patted her head, and then turned back to instruct, "Intubate her."

Or perhaps the second, less-than-ideal outcome is that Kayako begins to investigate everything. Under the influence of Ju-on, even she herself is unsure whether she has the ability to keep it all a secret.

If Kayako knew the whole story, what would happen to Tomie...?

If Kayako finds out about this, how am I supposed to explain it?

From this point on, patients are deprived of even the dignity to die.

"Yes."

But compared to losing her dignity, Higa Kotoko believed in that miracle, that perhaps one day he would come back to life.

—After all, this is for the paranormal world.

So-called brain death is actually caused by the loss of one's soul, because Yoshizaki had dreamt of Tomie in his dream.

Therefore, his soul was lost in Tomie's dream.

However, Higa Kotoko indeed had no way to retrieve it in her dreams; she could only rely on herself.

All I can do is try my best to ensure that his body is still functional and free of serious illness when he returns.

According to Kurosawa Sashige, at dusk, the van where Tomie was would appear on the road.

But when Kotoko Higa walked out of the ICU and took off her sterile gown, she saw missed calls from the police station on her phone.

She called back, and the voice on the other end was respectful, with very few words.

“Miss Qinzi, we found the missing van at the intersection of Dongjin Road and Haitao Avenue. Everyone in the van except for a little girl was dead. We have taken the little girl to the police station for temporary shelter. Please come over as soon as possible.”

Listening to the police's report, Higa Kotoko asked a question that was very strange to the latter.

Is she awake?

"She is conscious."

Upon hearing the word "awake," Kotoko Higa's hand involuntarily tightened around her phone, then slowly relaxed.

"I am coming over now."

The dreamer is awake, but the person who enters the dream is still asleep, and their once active brain has lost its activity.

Based on Kotoko's understanding of dreams, and the advice she received from dream masters regarding Yoshizaki Kawa.

There is only one possibility: Yoshizaki died in the second dream, fell into a chaotic subconscious, and thus lost the ability to return to reality.

Currently, there is no solution to this situation.

This is because the soul is caught in a self-contradiction, believing itself to be dead, thus entering a state of being both alive and dead. Unless one can see through this, no one can save it.

Kotoko Higa slammed her foot on the gas pedal, and the speeding car, as if reflecting her bad mood, roared as it recklessly sped along the highway. She rolled down the window, and the howling wind swept in.

The cold wind cleared her mind a little:

"What a pushover! A stingy pushover!"

For no apparent reason, this sentence suddenly came to her mind.

Then he started laughing to himself, as if he were listening to some kind of joke.

When Higa Kotoko saw Kawakami Tomie, the bloodstains on her body had been washed off. She had changed her coat into her school uniform, which was still clean in her backpack, but perhaps because she didn't have a shirt, the shirt underneath hadn't been changed.

There were still specks of blood, like plum blossoms.

If Yoshizaki were here, he would see that the shirt looked exactly the same as the one in his initial dream.

She observed the inside from the doorway for a moment before turning the doorknob and slowly walking inside.

Tomie's personality has changed again. What exactly happened in the dream?

With this question in mind, she casually took off her hat, placed it on a shelf to the side, and walked towards Tomie Kawakami.

As they approached, before Higa Kotoko could even speak, they heard Kawakami Tomie exclaim in delight:

"I know you."

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 207 The Dialogue Between Tomie and Kotoko

Before Kotoko could even speak as she approached, Tomie seemed to recognize her: "I often see you next to that guy Yoshizaki Kawa. You're definitely not an ordinary person!"

Tomie had actually been keeping an eye on Yoshizaki Kawa, so she would occasionally see this strange woman in the trench coat coming from outside the school to find Yoshizaki Kawa.

Furthermore, every time you look at her, the people around her seem to treat her with great respect.