Tokyo Detective Chronicles

Evening, at the Akiyama residence.

The bathroom was filled with steam, and the light, shining through the rising steam, appeared hazy and distorted.

Akiyama Aiko submerged herself completely in the hot water of the bathtub, leaving only her nose and above exposed.

The tape around the gauze patch on my forehead was slightly rolled up from being soaked in water, and a dull, throbbing pain came from underneath.

The hot water enveloped my body, but it did nothing to dispel the unease, embarrassment, and anger in my heart.

Everything that happened today keeps replaying in my mind... the uncontrollable kowtowing and choking in the toilet... and the shameful sight of my brother and the others kneeling on the ground in the back alley.

"Useless... all of them are useless..." she muttered to herself, growing angrier the more she thought about it, her chest heaving violently.

She had never been humiliated to this extent since she was very young... Hayakawa... and that Fushimi...

Then, she raised her hand and slammed her fist heavily into the water, creating a large splash.

Shortly after, the hesitant voice of the older brother, Tatsuya Akiyama, came from outside the door:

"Um... Aiko? Are you alright?"

"roll!!"

Aiko Akiyama roared and sat up abruptly from the water, grabbing the shower gel bottle she could reach and slamming it against the wall by the door.

"Bang!"

"It's all your fault for being useless! I don't want to see you!"

The plastic bottle deformed and cracked, and the thick, milky-white shower gel splattered, mostly onto the walls, the edge of the bathtub, and the ceiling.

A little bit splashed onto her face.

"..."

"Sorry." There was silence for a few seconds outside the door, then the footsteps faded away hesitantly.

Aiko Akiyama was panting heavily, her chest heaving violently.

Lying back in the hot water, the comfort it brought vanished. Frustrated, she wiped the shower gel off her face and prepared to get up.

My gaze inadvertently swept over the wall where the shower gel had just been splashed, and I froze.

"..."

Why is the shower gel this color?

On the white tiles, the large patch of thick, milky-white shower gel... had turned into a dark red that was slowly dripping down.

"Tick-tock".

A drop of liquid fell from the ceiling into the bathtub, spreading into a small, fleeting patch of crimson.

That was undoubtedly the color of blood.

"Heh...hehe..."

Akiyama Aiko chuckled twice, rubbing her temples vigorously with her palms, and blinked her bloodshot eyes: "Hallucination... It must be from bumping my head today, causing me to hallucinate..."

I closed my eyes and rinsed my face with the hot water from the bathtub.

But when she opened her eyes again, her vision gradually cleared... only to find that her hands were covered in bright red blood, thick and sticky.

At this moment, she is soaking in a pool of blood...

"what……"

The scream that should have echoed throughout the house was stuck in his throat.

When faced with sudden, extreme terror, a person may lose their voice...

The clear hot water had turned murky and dark red, with a layer of grease-like filth floating on it, and it emitted a nauseating rusty smell.

Akiyama Aiko stared blankly, momentarily forgetting to react, and began to breathe rapidly.

The moisture she inhaled made her cough uncontrollably.

But just then...

Akiyama Aiko suddenly felt a chill on her legs, and two hand-like things suddenly grabbed her ankles!

"what!"

The water that should have been still in front of her rippled, and something black and seaweed-like was emerging from the blood...

That's... hair?

A few long, wet strands of black hair... were rising to the surface at an unsettling speed.

"..."

A human face swollen and deformed from being soaked in water.

There were no clear facial features, only two sunken eye sockets and a gaping mouth that stretched all the way to the ears...

He gazed silently at Aiko Akiyama, a smile playing on his lips.

She tried to climb out of the bathtub, but her legs were held firmly down.

"No, no, no! Help! Brother!!"

"elder brother!"

The Akiyama house wasn't big, and the soundproofing wasn't good either. Even if you made a slightly loud noise, everyone in the house could hear it.

But there was no response from outside the door...

In the midst of the struggle, something even more despairing happened: the monster chuckled and dived back into the water... as if trying to approach her body from the water!

He pressed his cold hands against her feet and began to stroke upwards!

"Aaaaaaahh ...

A piercing scream, so loud it was inhuman, erupted.

She practically leaped out of the bathtub, her naked body splashing up large amounts of bloody water.

The next second, however, he was dragged into the blood!

Blood splattered all over the bathroom.

A painful and helpless stabbing sound rang out!

The water in the bathtub was sloshing violently, but she couldn't break free at all. She endured the pain in the hot water and struggled to open her eyes, only to find that pale, swollen face was pressed tightly against hers!

But underwater, she could no longer make any sound.

Blood rushed into her lungs, and just before she was about to lose consciousness from suffocation...

The face and the hand gripping the ankle finally disappeared...

Akiyama Aiko scrambled out of the bathtub, her mind blank with extreme fear.

The wet, slippery edge of the bathtub caused her to slip suddenly, lose her balance, and fall heavily onto the tiled floor. Her elbows and knees ached, but she didn't care at all.

She scrambled to her feet, slipping several times, and lunged toward the bathroom door.

He gripped the doorknob tightly with both hands, twisting, pulling, and banging it with all his might!

But I can't open it no matter what I do.

"No! No! No! No!"

She pounded on the door, her fingernails scraping against the glass, her voice distorted by extreme fear.

"Open the door! Brother! Dad! Mom! Open the door!! There's something! There's something in the bathtub!!"

There was complete silence outside the door.

There were no footsteps, no response, no worried questions from parents, and even the usual subtle sounds of the house disappeared.

It was as if she was the only one left in the house, along with the "thing" swimming in the bathtub.

Blood gushed from the bathtub, which was originally only three-quarters full, quickly rising above her ankles. When she looked down, she could see herself covered in blood...

It was emitting a foul, putrid stench.

The entire bathroom was stained blood red, resembling the deepest hell.

She leaned against the cold door, her body trembling uncontrollably with fear, and slowly slid to the ground.

"Ah...ah..."

She didn't even dare to blink, her eyes fixed on the bathtub not far in front of her, where blood was still gushing out.

That thing...

It's still in the bathtub...

I found myself locked in the toilet with something I didn't know.

No one could save her, and her brother had disappeared.

Tears mixed with blood streamed down his face in a disheveled manner.

"I'm sorry... I was wrong... I really know I was wrong... Please... let me go... no matter who you are... please..."

She cried incoherently, her voice hoarse, shrill, and filled with despair.

Time passed slowly, perhaps only a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

The blood started to cover her waist and abdomen...

She prayed that in the next moment, everything would disappear and return to normal.

But things didn't go as she wished. That face surfaced again, staring at her from less than two meters away...

"Hehehehehe..."

A hand, swollen and white from being submerged in water, with thick knuckles and black mud stuffed under its fingernails, emerged from underwater and grabbed the edge of the bathtub.

It's as if it's trying to use some leverage to climb out from inside.

It's coming out!

"Ahhh..."

"No, no, no!"

Finally, sounds came from outside the door again—anxious shouts and banging from her parents and brother.

"Aiko! Aiko, what's wrong? Open the door!"

"My dear son! Don't scare your mother!"

"Calm down!"

Like a dying person grasping at a straw, Aiko Akiyama suddenly stood up, turned around, and tried to twist the doorknob again.

This time, the door lock clicked open easily.

The parents and brother rushed in and were stunned to see their sister sitting naked on the ground, pale-faced, shivering and dazed.

"My dear child! Oh my god! What happened?" The mother quickly knelt down and hugged her.

Akiyama Aiko pointed tremblingly at the bathtub.

His teeth chattered, and his speech was rapid and incoherent: "Blood...red...face, monster...is moving...it's looking at me..."

Her father and brother, Tatsuya Akiyama, looked in the direction she pointed.

The water in the bathtub rippled slightly, was crystal clear, and had a few bubbles floating on the surface; otherwise, it was empty.

The white tiled wall was smooth and clean, with only a few slow-moving streaks of ordinary shower gel.

No other abnormalities were found...

"Aiko, are you too tired?"

The father frowned, his face filled with worry: "Did you have a nightmare? Or was it at school today...?"

"No! I really saw it! The door wouldn't open either! Why didn't you answer when I called you?!"

Aiko Akiyama seemed to have finally found her anchor, and excitedly grabbed her brother Tatsuya Akiyama's arm, her nails almost digging into his flesh.

"I'm sorry, Aiko, I didn't hear anything just now..."

Tatsuya Akiyama patiently explained, but was interrupted by Aiko's scream.

"How could there be nothing at all—"

Her voice abruptly stopped...

He lowered his head blankly and looked at Tatsuya Akiyama's arm.

He was beaten so badly by Fushimi in the alley earlier that day that he couldn't even lift his arm, but now he can move freely, and there are no bruises or marks on the rolled-up sleeves.

"Your hand..." she murmured.

"My hand? It's fine." Tatsuya Akiyama replied, "By the way... what face were you saying you saw?"

Aiko Akiyama opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

The slight sense of security she felt from her family's arrival vanished completely... because only now did she finally remember that her parents were divorced and that she was living with them.

She only has her brother... She hasn't seen her parents for almost half a year.

"don't want……"

"No, no, no, no..."

With a last glimmer of hope, she slowly turned her eyes, raised her head, and looked at her brother standing in the direction of the bathtub, praying, "It must be..."

"Is this the kind of face you're looking for?"

The voice of the older brother came from a swollen, white corpse.

Only now did Akiyama Aiko finally see things clearly.

It turns out that the monster did not lack eyes, but rather its eyes were so swollen that only a tiny hole remained, from which foul-smelling, thick black blood was flowing out.

His teeth were sharp and covered in yellow stains. He had his arm around her shoulder and was smiling at her.

She clearly felt one... two... countless hands touching various parts of her body... cold, wet...

"My beloved son?"

From the side and behind, several identical heads stretched out, mouths open, revealing the voices of parents that hadn't been heard in a long time.

"My dear child, are you alright? Hehehehe..."

"..."

"Thump..."

Akiyama Aiko lost consciousness completely amidst the unbearable terror that overwhelmed her brain.