Japanese Terrorist: What? I'll fight Hellstar!

"Don't come any closer!"

The Slit-Mouthed Woman's voice was hoarse and broken, like sandpaper rubbing together. Amamiya Rin noticed that her throat was also bleeding, clearly from a cut caused by shrapnel from a grenade.

"Come any closer... and I'll crush his neck!"

As she spoke, the Slit-Mouthed Woman clenched her fist, her fingertips piercing Sekiguchi's throat. Blood flowed from her nails, and Sekiguchi's body trembled. He opened his eyes in a daze and let out a painful cry.

"Please! You're a ghost story! An urban legend, an immortal being! Taking hostages! Don't you feel ashamed? What's the difference between you and a human?"

Amamiya Rin stood there, hesitant to speak, then finally couldn't help but complain.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman was completely different from the urban legends he had imagined.

She's so human!

The urban legend is not true at all!

You should have your own rules and mechanisms, strictly follow the content of the ghost stories, and not kill people indiscriminately, nor run away when you encounter powerful people, and you must not take hostages.

"My child...! My child! Give me...the child!"

The slit-mouthed woman roared hoarsely, her fingers gripping the throat of the pass tightening, causing blood to seep out even faster.

"Huh? You're about to die! And you still want to grab children? Well, you've got guts! I thought you were just a coward."

Amamiya Rin paused for a moment, then felt relieved.

He had thought that the Slit-Mouthed Woman was running away and taking hostages to save her own life, but he never expected that she was taking children.

Well done! You didn't lose face! Even on the verge of death, you still live up to your urban legend.

"……child?"

Upon hearing the Slit-Mouthed Woman's voice, the kidnapped teacher was jolted awake. He opened his remaining eye wide and struggled to turn it to look at the Slit-Mouthed Woman's hideous profile, which was now very close to his.

"You...you're looking for your child? Why...?"

Is it...

Ms. Sekiguchi, who had briefly regained consciousness due to the pain inflicted by the Slit-Mouthed Woman, suddenly recalled her earlier speculation in the teachers' room.

"You ask why... those are my children... those children... my kidnapped children..."

The slit-mouthed woman suddenly lowered her head, bringing her face close to the passerby's. Her bloodshot eyes churned with a mad obsession and a deep-seated pain. Her shrill voice echoed through the corridor.

The storage room, which was just a stone's throw away, allowed Mr. Ando and the five elementary school students inside to hear everything clearly.

For a moment, everyone was taken aback.

"Is Professor Sekiguchi's guess... true?"

With his back against the table, Mr. Ando felt a tremor in his heart and his face turned pale.

In other words, the Slit-Mouthed Woman's child attends this school?

The five elementary school students' eyes widened immediately, as if they had discovered some great secret.

"……ha?"

Amamiya Rin was stunned; this time, he was truly dumbfounded.

Although the mask on his face concealed his expression, the astonishment in his voice was unmistakable.

"You want a child? Wait, your child? You have a child? What's going on here?"

Amamiya Rin's mind was a little confused.

The situation unfolded completely differently than expected. The Slit-Mouthed Woman's behavior was not only different from the urban legends, but she also had a child that the urban legends had never mentioned!

real or fake?

Or……

"So, in order to survive, you're going to fabricate a child to make me go easy on you?"

Amamiya Rin had never heard of this version of the Kuchisake-onna ghost story before. He raised his cane, took a step forward, and pointed the tip of the cane at the Kuchisake-onna's head.

Narrowing his eyes, Amamiya Rin calmly assessed the distance.

One step, two steps, three steps, four steps... ten steps, which is seven to eight meters.

With unparalleled swordsmanship and the state of perfect swordsmanship and Zen, can he unleash a thrusting sword technique and hit the head of the Slit-Mouthed Woman before she kills Sekiguchi-sensei?

"What she said... might be true... but please don't..."

Teacher Sekiguchi strained his eyes to look at Amamiya Rin in the shadows ahead, and with a determined look, warned Amamiya Rin.

However, before he could finish speaking, the slit-mouthed woman's hand pinched him so hard that he couldn't speak.

"Mine...is my child...! The child I finally gave birth to, and now they say I can't raise him/her and forcibly take him/her away...How despicable! Give my child back!"

The slit-mouthed woman's breathing became heavy and rapid, and the hand gripping her throat trembled slightly with excitement.

"I searched for so long... so many schools... so many files... and she's right here!!"

Her voice was shrill and piercing, her almost sobbing breaths revealing a hint of desolation.

"Give her back to me... She's mine! No one can take her away!"

That was a mother's cry for her child!

Faced with the near-collapse of the Slit-Mouthed Woman's agitation, Amamiya Rin's face beneath the mask remained unusually calm.

He quickly sorted through the information he heard.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman might actually have a child.

She used to be a human being, and she had children, but those children were taken away.

According to her, "she was unable to raise the child" and "she was forcibly taken away"... It is highly likely that social welfare institutions or the court intervened and determined that she did not have the proper ability to raise the child due to mental problems, economic conditions, or other reasons, so she sent the child to an orphanage, and the child was later legally adopted by another family.

After learning about this, the Slit-Mouthed Woman investigated and eventually found her.

A tragic past gave birth to a twisted monster.

However, the ripples that this tragedy stirred in Amamiya Rin's heart quickly subsided.

There is too much tragedy and distortion in this world. Moreover, in the story of the Slit-Mouthed Woman, was she the one who suffered the most?

The Slit-Mouthed Woman attacked and killed so many innocent people in her search for her child.

Those victims also have families. Are their loved ones suffering any less pain than the Slit-Mouthed Woman? Aren't those broken families more pitiful than a mother who loses her child because of her own problems?

Moreover, if this blood-soaked, mentally unstable woman were to find her child, would it be a reunion for that child?

No, that's the real hell.

If a child is entangled with a monster mother from an urban legend, their entire life will be dragged into an abyss.

Compared to the obsession of a monster mother, protecting the child who may be completely unaware of the truth, and the life of the teacher in front of her, are the higher priorities.

"I think I understand what you mean."

Amamiya Rin's voice came through the mask, calm and without a trace of emotion.

"You feel it's unfair that your child was taken away, so you're searching everywhere like this, even hurting innocent people... It's regrettable, but that's no excuse for you to hurt others..."

After saying that, Amamiya Rin paused, a hint of hesitation flashing in his eyes.

Something seems off?

It doesn't matter. Even if his analysis is wrong, it's probably just a matter of order. What matters is the present moment.