Tokyo: I can enlighten all obsessions

Kamiki Tetsu remained with his back against the iron gate of the entrance, holding his breath and letting his senses extend in the darkness.

The air was filled with a musty, stale smell, the unique odor of old tatami mats soaked in moisture.

The paper door of the closet in the corner was half open, and the inside was dark, like an open mouth, as if something might crawl out of the shadows at any moment.

In this deathly silent space, the only sound was the buzzing of electricity from the old light bulb overhead.

Just as Kamiki Toru gripped the utility knife in his hand, preparing to activate [Spiritual Vision] for reconnaissance.

"jingle--"

A clear, ringing sound pierced through the thin wall on the left and entered his ears.

Immediately following was the clear, resonant voice of a young girl reciting a blessing with perfect diction and precise rhythm:

"...Takamagahara, you, the god, please sit here..."

"The mother of the hanging scroll is so strange, the Great God Izanagi..."

Kamiki Tetsu's previously tense shoulders relaxed slightly.

That voice is so familiar.

Good luck. It seems that idiot wasn't randomly teleported to some unknown corner; he was just separated from us by a thin layer of concrete.

He did not interrupt.

In this unfamiliar and perilous territory, interrupting Kujo's chanting at this moment would clearly be a foolish act, given that Kujo is currently building a defensive line.

Only after the ethereal final notes of the blessing had completely dissipated in the air, and the last lingering resonance had subsided into tranquility, did Kamiki Tetsu slowly walk to the yellowed wall on the left.

He stretched out his fingers, bent his knuckles, and tapped the wall.

"Thump, thump".

"Hey, Kujo-san."

He leaned against the wall, his tone as flat as if he were greeting a neighbor early in the morning:

"You seem to be in good spirits. How's the situation over there? Any discoveries?"

The deathly silence next door lasted only half a second.

Immediately afterwards, there was a rapid rustling sound of fabric, indicating that the other person was quickly pressing against the wall.

"Kamiki-kun?!"

The girl's voice was filled with undisguised surprise, followed by a long sigh, proof that her tense nerves had finally relaxed.

"Phew...that's great..."

"I thought we'd be thrown to some far-off place like in those third-rate horror novels."

After a brief moment of relief, Kujou Hisana's tone shifted, becoming confused and serious:

"As for what was discovered... the room seems normal at the moment, except..."

"The exorcism incantation just now had no effect whatsoever."

She tapped on the wall, the sound somewhat muffled:

"Not only did it fail to dispel the oppressive feeling, but my spiritual energy was also swallowed up by the surrounding darkness the moment it left my body. This situation... is very bad."

"Was it swallowed up...?"

Kamiki Tetsu frowned slightly, his fingers unconsciously stroking the cold handle of the utility knife.

Even the purification technique of the Nine-Tailed Demon had no effect, which shows that the strength of the rules of this [Calamity] domain is indeed not something that can be easily overcome by a simple burst of spiritual power.

However, bad news often contains clues.

Since they can still leisurely exchange information through the wall in this environment filled with high concentrations of malice, instead of engaging in a life-or-death struggle with vengeful spirits...

That explains one thing.

"The fact that we haven't been attacked means that we haven't triggered the killing rules in this field."

Looking at the lifeless room, Kamiki Tetsu calmly made a judgment and whispered to the wall:

"As long as we don't do anything unnecessary, this house is safe for now."

The voice just fell.

"Sizzle... sizzle... sizzle..."

A burst of shrill electrical microphone noise shattered the brief peace.

The sound came from the tactical terminal that was always silent, which was located on Kamiki Tetsu's waist.

The communicator, which should have been equipped with military-grade anti-jamming capabilities, was now flashing a red light indicating "signal loss" frantically, uttering a few broken shouts intermittently:

"Buzz... Alpha-1 calling... All personnel... Buzz... Location..."

"Cannot find... Connection lost... Buzz... I'm on the third floor... Who's there... Buzz..."

"Damn it... I'm all alone... Ugh... Requesting backup... Can't see anything..."

The sounds were noisy and chaotic, with muffled sounds of something being violently torn apart mixed in the background.

Shenmu Tetsu raised an eyebrow slightly.

It seems these highly paid elites aren't having much luck.

In that forced spatial displacement, they were not as lucky as themselves and Kujo to have landed next door. Instead, they were completely scattered and thrown into various corners of the building, isolated and helpless.

Moreover, in this [Calamity] realm where even the air is filled with viscous malice, even expensive official equipment has become scrap metal, and even the most basic communication is difficult to maintain.

"What a disastrous start."

Shenmu Che turned off the annoying noise from the terminal.

Just as he was preparing to continue extracting more information about "exorcism" from the neighboring Kujo,

"Click...click".

A cracking sound rang out directly in front of him.

The sound did not originate from the terminal.

It came from the wall directly in front of the room.

There, the once intact, yellowed wallpaper suddenly bulged out with a small, eerie bulge, as if something was desperately pushing out from the cement layers of the wall.

"Sizzle."

The wallpaper is cracked.

A pitch-black hole, no bigger than a fingernail, appeared out of thin air on the wall.

Almost the instant the wallpaper cracked, Kamiki Tetsu jerked backward, pressing his back against the iron door behind him. Instantly, the utility knife in his hand was held horizontally in front of his chest, its tip trembling as it locked onto the suddenly appearing gap.

He held his breath and stared intently at the hole.

One second, two seconds...

No poisonous gas was emitted, nor did any strange insects emerge.

The tiny, dark hole, no bigger than a fingernail, hung silently on the wall, like a strange eye that had suddenly opened in this secret room.

"...No aggressive response?"

Kamiki Tetsu narrowed his eyes slightly, his brain working at a rapid pace.

The hole appeared in the room where Kujo Hisana was.

"Hey, Kujo."

Kamiki Tetsu remained vigilant, calling out in a low voice while maintaining a defensive stance, his body pressed against the wall like a wary gecko, inching closer and closer to the hole:

"It looks like there's a hole in your wall."

Although the sound confirmed that everyone was safe, in this eerie environment, being able to see the condition of one's teammates in person or observe the layout of the next room through the hole would undoubtedly provide more information.

After confirming that there was no dangerous aura emanating from him, Kamiki Tetsu turned to the side and cautiously glanced into the depths of the dark hole out of the corner of his eye.

I had expected to see a dimly lit room, or the figure dressed in a red and white shrine maiden outfit.

however.

What came into view was neither Kujo Hisana nor the moldy tatami mats.

All I could see was a murky crimson.

The red patch sealed the other end of the hole perfectly, blocking all light and view, leaving no depth of field and making the material invisible.

"……ha?"

Kamiki Toru paused for a moment, then subconsciously shrank back, his brows furrowing tightly.

What is this?

Red wallpaper?

Or did that idiot push that red cabinet over to block the wall?

"Hey, Kujo."

Kamiki Tetsu stared at the unsettling red color and asked through the wall, his tone tinged with confusion:

"Did you pile up some red furniture against the wall?"

"It's completely blocked out; you can't see anything at all, it's all red."

A brief silence fell over the next room.

Immediately afterwards, Kujou Hinana's confused voice pierced through the wall:

"Huh? What are you talking about, Kamiki-kun?"

"This is one of those bare-bones Showa-era slum-style apartments. Apart from the moldy tatami mats, the room is completely empty. Where did this red furniture come from?"

Accompanied by the rustling sound of fingers stroking the wallpaper, the girl continued:

"And...you mean holes? There are no such things."

"My walls are a bit old, but they're absolutely perfect. There's not a single crack in them; they're so smooth you could stick a poster on them."

"..."

Kamiki Tetsu, who was still trying to see the material of the "red object" through the hole, suddenly froze.

A bone-chilling coldness shot up his spine to the top of his head, causing the hairs on the back of his body to stand on end.

Even when facing real demons, he had never felt such a chill run down his spine.

The logical chain is closed.

He saw a hole in the wall and through the hole he saw red.

However, just across the wall, Kujou Hina stated unequivocally that the wall was intact.

The laws of physics fail here.

"I see……"

Kamiki Tetsu slowly, as if afraid of startling some wild beast, moved his face away from the wall little by little, and then took a step back.

If that red thing isn't furniture or wallpaper in room nine.

If it can still block the other end of this tiny hole, no bigger than a fingernail, even if the adjacent wall is "intact"...

That means the "rules" unique to the [Calamity] realm have come into effect.

Kamiki Tetsu stared intently at the small, motionless, dark hole, his Adam's apple bobbing as he lowered his voice and spoke to the wall:

"Hey, Kujo... can you hear me?"

"Now, immediately, get away from that wall."

He gripped the utility knife tightly, his voice becoming somewhat hoarse with alertness:

"I don't know exactly what it is... but it seems like I've triggered some kind of rule."

"It's right here on this wall."

Before he could finish speaking...

As if in response to his warning.

The scarlet object, which had been blocking the depths of the hole and looked like a clot of congealed blood, suddenly twitched.

"Guji."

The entire expanse of murky red suddenly contracted inwards, then rapidly expanded again—

It blinked.

Immediately afterwards, the layers of congested red blood vessels receded like a tide, revealing a slender, vertical pupil radiating an eerie red light from the depths of that murky blood-red depths.

Through the thin wall, with undisguised malice, it immediately locked onto Kamiki Tetsu, who was standing in the center of the room.