Chapter 217: Hunterghost
Chapter 217: Hunterghost
After returning to Kitsuwa City, Fang Jing unexpectedly received a phone call.
“What…?”
He was clearly shocked, because this was something he had not expected.
“Wait, Ōsumi, let’s go to the hospital first!”
Fang Jing patted Ōsumi’s shoulder from the driver’s seat and asked him to change lanes.
“Okay.”
Ōsumi responded and honked the horn. The car turned and drove into another lane.
—————-
“Hey! Have you heard the name ‘Hunterghost’?”
“Huh? What’s that?”
“It’s a rumor that’s been popular online, on MSN, and on Line recently. It’s said to have started around the Inner Case City area, but somehow it started spreading here too…”
“Eh? So it’s like one of those urban Ghost Stories then!”
“Well, you could say that. It’s spreading through things like Chain Letters…”
—Chain Letters usually contain vicious curses, with phrases like ‘If you don’t forward this, something bad will happen.’ For a while, these were quite popular on social networks.
“So ‘Hunterghost’ is also a cursed email then…”
“Yes, for now it’s mainly sent via text message to people’s Phones. In this era where smartPhones are common, no one bothers to check messages on a computer!”
A girl in the front seat quietly leaned closer to her friend. She lowered her voice and whispered, “The email says this—Hunterghost is coming. In the dead of night, it wears a red cloak and comes to you. It asks you: Do you like the Red Cloak or the blue cloak?”
“It’s a death choice. If you choose the blue cloak, all the blood in your body will be drained instantly. You die from massive blood loss, leaving behind a blue corpse.”
“On the other hand, if you choose the Red Cloak, Hunterghost will cut you with a Sickle, covering you in blood. You die a gruesome death.”
“Ah… What the heck! So either way, you die?”
“Pretty much. The only way out is to forward the text message to five other friends, because the message states: If the recipient does not forward it to five people within one day, they might encounter ‘Hunterghost’.”
“Ha… What kind of malicious joke is this?”
“Whether it’s a malicious joke or not, if you receive that email, you have to send it to five others immediately. Otherwise, you might really get targeted by ‘Hunterghost’.”
If you get targeted, you die!
So, absolutely, do not let “Hunterghost” find you.
“You… Are you eavesdropping on what we’re saying?”
A voice suddenly came from the front seat.
Nishizuka Satsuki was startled. She looked up and saw two girls in the front seats staring at her strangely.
The corners of their mouths curled slightly, as if mocking, or perhaps pitying.
“You heard, right!”
“You—heard everything, didn’t you!”
“No…”
Satsuki’s face showed surprise, mixed with an inexplicable fear. Especially when she saw their faces, her complexion turned even paler, and cold sweat dripped down her body.
Because she clearly saw that the two girls had noses, mouths, even eyebrows—but they had no eyes.
Yes, no eyes. The eye sockets were empty, as if eyes had never existed there.
“Ah!”
An inexplicable horror rose from deep inside her. Nishizuka Satsuki screamed, knocked over the seat behind her, and fell to the ground.
Suddenly, everything went black before her eyes.
All around, it was pitch black.
It felt like sinking underwater.
Thump!
Her forehead hurt—she had hit the train’s handrail. This made her open her eyes again.
“Where is this…”
Memories flooded back into her mind.
…I remember, today I went to cheer for the softball club’s inter-school match.
So that’s it, I was just dreaming.
She had joined the girls’ softball club in middle school. Even after entering high school, she had participated in club training for over half a year.
Later, even after leaving the softball club, she often helped out at the club office upon the club president Kagiyama’s invitation.
This time, she had traveled with the girls’ softball club to a neighboring city for a match.
On the way back, she parted ways with the softball club members and took the train home alone.
After getting off the train, she planned to head back to her home at the Ichinose Apartment.
The Apartment wasn’t far from here, but it would take walking through three blocks to get there.
Since it was getting late and the sky was dark, she decided to take a shortcut.
Located on a slope lined with coniferous trees, this place was far from the commercial district. The surroundings were a Residential Area; it was a walking path, but too deserted.
Come to think of it, the streetlights were on, but she hadn’t seen anyone.
From a while ago, the only living things she could see were at the level of stray dogs.
Climbing up a tiresomely long staircase, she reached a cement platform. Suddenly, a distant howl came from afar.
For some reason, the dogs in the city started to stir, barking one after another.
“…”
Remembering the dream from earlier, a creepy feeling crawled up her spine.
She glanced at this quiet path.
The streetlights were sparsely lit. The same Residential Area stretched on, but now the street view seemed very monotonous. The road was only wide enough for one car, with gray walls surrounding the houses and Apartment buildings.
The lights from inside the houses were blocked by the gray walls.
The only things visible were the streetlights, scattered here and there, stretching forward and back.
In the dark realm, only they stood out clearly. And at the far end, as if from another world, something was stirring.
For no reason, she felt a dizzy sensation, similar to when one has anemia. This made her knees tremble.
She took a few steps back.
That thing started to approach.
There was probably a faint “snap” sound from an electric light.
The distant streetlights began to go out one by one, the light extinguishing lamp by lamp.
Under the far-off light source, a black shadowy figure started moving. With each step it took closer, the lights naturally went out and disappeared.
In the darkness, something laughed.
Someone in the darkness let out a scornful chuckle.
From that dark, lurking area, laughter flowed out.
Hehehehehehe.
In the darkness, a little ways from the streetlight, that thing opened its mouth and let out a hollow laugh.
The atmosphere changed.
The air, which had felt normal until now, turned unusually cold and eerie.
Her back stiffened painfully.
Her teeth began to chatter.
Nishizuka Satsuki saw a red shadow drifting closer.
It was a strange red cloak, and a man wearing a hood was slowly approaching.
He had an empty smile.
“Hunter… Hunterghost.”
The word suddenly popped into her almost-blank mind.
Her whole body trembled, but she forced herself to turn around.
She had to escape. She absolutely had to get away.
Stumbling slightly, Satsuki clenched her teeth and pulled her nearly scattered focus back together.
She turned and ran, rushing down the stairs in one breath.
Sweat from running trickled down her forehead, across her cheeks, and dripped from the tip of her chin.
She kept running, but suddenly her foot slipped, and she fell to the ground.
“Ouch!”
She twisted her leg and couldn’t help but let out a groan.
At that same moment, a chilling presence emerged, and the figure from behind caught up.
“Help… help me!”
She crawled on the ground, trying to get away from the terrifying shadow.
And in that instant, the figure lunged at her.
Darkness suddenly fell.
After that, she remembered nothing.
————————
Outside the intensive care unit’s observation room, two figures stood.
“How is Shiori doing now?”
Fang Jing had rushed to the hospital’s intensive care unit as soon as he heard the news.
“The doctors only said her condition is still unstable.”
Higashi Yuantai frowned quietly as he smoked a cigar.
“Were there any signs before this happened? People don’t just suddenly fall into a coma.”
Fang Jing was skeptical.
The call he received said that Shiori had fallen into a coma for some unknown reason.
She had collapsed at school.
She was just sitting in class, like any normal day.
Then she strangely slumped over her desk.
Both the Sunao-gumi and the Iwamoto Group had assigned people to protect Shiori.
There were personnel specifically monitoring her surroundings, and her meals, daily life, and routine were all secure. It was hard to imagine anyone could harm her under such conditions.
Especially after Hahn, a senior member of the Black Devourer Syndicate, showed up last time, the security had become even tighter.
“It’s not poison, and it’s not any other method. But they also haven’t detected any illness in Shiori herself. She just fell into a coma for no reason.”
The matter was like an unsolvable puzzle.
There was no way to explain it.
Even Higashi Yuantai found it extremely troublesome.
Or rather, this was a situation that even the powerful yakuza, with all their money, authority, and manpower, couldn’t handle.
“Besides, there’s another point worth noting. At Shiori’s school, including her, six elementary school girls experienced the same ‘condition’.”
“Condition?”
“Yes, they all unexpectedly fell into a coma and haven’t woken up.”
Higashi Yuantai pointed out another factor worth attention—Shiori wasn’t the only “victim.”
Several other elementary school girls had the same symptom of “unexpected coma.”
“So why did this happen? Is there really no clue at all?”
“If we’re talking about clues, there’s only this one thing.”
Higashi Yuantai pulled something out of his pocket.
It was a child’s phone, which naturally belonged to Shiori.
“Shiori’s phone doesn’t have many numbers saved. Aside from her friends, there’s only Lady Shikibu’s number. Her chat logs are also very simple…”
Higashi Yuantai tapped on a message and showed it to Fang Jing.
“Take a look at this text message.”
Fang Jing took the phone and looked at it carefully. He lifted his head, his eyes filled with deep confusion.
What is this—?
“Hunterghost?… What kind of ghost is that?”