The story begins with an eight-foot-tall lady surrounded by ghost story ladies.

Evil spirits...

Or, to be more precise...

She is a woman with a gap in her life.

Natsume Fanyu uttered the name in his heart.

Urban legends in the Japanese archipelago.

The Gap Woman is an evil spirit that exists in crevices and has a particular fondness for spying on people who live alone.

Gaps in doors, windows, wardrobes, sliding doors and walls, ceiling seams...

A gap can exist as long as there is a narrow gap between any two objects.

She was neither on this side of the crevice nor on the other side; she was inside the crevice itself.

When you inadvertently peek into a crack, she is also looking back at you through that crack.

You don't know that while she's looking at you, she's still looking at you.

And when you finally realize something is wrong, when you finally realize that the dense chill creeping up the back of your neck is not unfounded.

She's been watching you all night long, through the narrowest gap closest to you.

Until the day that is "close enough" arrives.

She would reach out from the gap and pull the person into it.

Those who are pulled into the gap will never be found again.

Because no one would look into that darkness, which is only a few centimeters wide, to see if there is a missing person the same size as themselves hiding there.

People would simply push the cabinet door all the way shut and slam it shut with a "bang".

And within the lingering echo of that muffled thud, there might be a scream compressed to the extreme, yet inaudible to everyone.

If she's really just a woman with a gap in her life, then it's not difficult to deal with.

However...

That "Queen of the Legal Profession" has been under surveillance for a full month.

Over the course of a month, the initial feeling of "coldness" progressed to "being watched," and then to being able to hear "a faint breath"...

At this rate of progress, the gap woman should soon reach out from the gap and pull Ogata Mayuko into it.

However, it is not yet possible to be 100% certain whether she is truly a "gap woman".

The landlady's next words completely confirmed his guess.

Matsushita Ayano continued, her voice filled with tension and worry:

"The night before last, Mayuko was lying in bed when she experienced both a visual and a auditory sensation, with the sound coming from the direction of her bedside."

She turned on the recording function on her phone, mustered up her courage, and sat up, only to find that there was nothing in the room.

"There were no unusual sounds in the phone recording."

"But the moment Mayuko sat up, she saw something."

Natsume Fanyu's eyes narrowed slightly.

"What is it?"

"Curtains," Ayano Matsushita said.

"Mayuko said that the bedroom curtains were drawn, but she saw a shadow through the gap between the curtains and the wall."

"It's very fine, very thin, like it was squeezed out of the folds of a curtain."

"It was only about two fingers wide, but she stood there, a line peeking out from the gap in the curtains, stretching from the top of the gap all the way to the floor, completely still."

"But behind the curtains was a wall, the window was closed, and there was no space for a person to stand."

Matsushita Ayano took a deep breath and tried her best to relay Ogata Mayuko's description completely.

"Mayuko said that at that moment she was completely unable to move, and she stared at the shadow that peeked out from the gap in the curtains for who knows how long."

"Then the shadow moved, as if something was slowly being pulled away from the gap between the curtains and the wall, little by little, until it finally disappeared into the depths of the gap."

"But she saw that, a second before the shadow disappeared, a finger reached out from the gap and clung to the edge of the curtain."

"The fingers were very thin, like a woman's. They pulled for about three seconds, then slowly withdrew."

After hearing what the landlady said, Natsume Fanyu was now 100% certain.

The evil spirit in Mayuko Ogata's house is undoubtedly the Gap Woman.

"Fan Yu Jun?"

Matsushita Ayano's voice drifted cautiously from the other side.

Her expression and voice were both very tense:

"Is it... really that kind of thing?"

Natsume Fanyu did not answer directly, but simply stood up.

His tall figure cast a shadow that fell directly on Matsushita Ayano when he stood up, giving her a momentary sense of inexplicable peace.

It's a reassuring feeling that "someone is willing to stand in the darkness for you."

"Landlady, don't worry."

"It's just a minor, insignificant problem."

"Really?"

Matsushita Ayano's eyes lit up for a moment, then a layer of worry appeared on them again.

"But..."

"But what?"

"But Mayuko said that things changed again last night."

Ayano Matsushita lowered her voice even further.

"She said that the breathing that was leaking out from the crack had suddenly started calling her name last night."

Natsume Fanyu stopped moving.

"Call me by my name?"

"Yes, and in that intimately creepy voice."

"Call her... 'Mayuko'."

My name has been discovered.

This is no ordinary gap woman.

Ayano Matsushita was still saying something, her voice trembling:

"At first, Mayuko thought she was hallucinating, so she turned on the recording on her phone and put it next to her pillow."

"When she played it back this morning, she discovered that the voice was also in the recording."

Natsume Fanyu was silent for two seconds, then asked a seemingly unrelated question:

"How many times did she listen to it?"

Matsushita Ayano was taken aback: "What?"

"How many times did she listen to the recording?"

"I think I listened to it three or four times, because I couldn't believe it..."

Natsume Fanyu gently closed his eyes for a moment.

That's enough, that's enough.

Three or four times.

Each time you get closer to her, you take another step.

Don't you know?

Humans instinctively respond when they hear someone call their name.

Even if you don't make a sound, your throat muscles will twitch for a moment, and your brain will silently complete the "hmm" response.

Mayuko Ogata listened to it three or four times.

She responded every time, in the deepest part of her consciousness, in a corner she herself was unaware of.

The woman in the gap was waiting for her response.

One response would have been enough, but Ogata Mayuko gave the gap girl three or four.

The eight-foot-tall lady by the window finally turned around.

The morning light outlined her tall figure, and the usual indifference on her face, which was almost inhumanly beautiful, was quietly softening.

Instead, it evokes the kind of interest that arises when something finally crosses the line between boredom and danger and begins to touch upon truly pleasurable horror.

"interesting."

"She's the type of person you can never shake off once you know her name."

This is not a curse.

Rather...relationship.

Because the gap woman learned your name, you became a part of her world.

Just like when you know the name of a tree, such as a cherry blossom tree, it becomes something that can be described and found in your understanding.

The reverse is also true.

Once the Gap Woman knows your name, you become the kind of tree that grows in the cracks, and she will find you in any crack.

Door seams, window seams, the joints of elevator doors, the connecting parts of subway cars, the curved surface of a page when you turn a book...

Even the gap between your upper and lower eyelids.

When you open your eyes, the gap opens.

And she's waiting for you inside!