My Name is Hiroshi Nohara, Star of Neon Film and Television! Chapter 20: Terror

The story began.

On the screen was a young boy who had moved into a new apartnt.

The narrator, in that tone devoid of any fluctuation, recounted the boy discovering talismans pasted in his ho, and the neighbor in the opposite apartnt watching him eerily.

"...What a strange neighbor," Tanaka muttered to himself subconsciously, having already forgotten to drink his alcohol.

And subconsciously, he realized that the apartnt appearing in this story seed to be the type of apartnt very common in Tokyo tropolis. Or rather, even Tanaka himself, having co from out of town to live in Tokyo tropolis, was currently renting an apartnt of this exact type.

"Gulp." Thus, Tanaka even subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva, also developing so curiosity towards this story.

Therefore, including him, the custors seated at the bar counter all looked toward the television.

Looked toward this program.

The plot continued.

Through the window, the boy saw the woman opposite with a head full of black hair, a pale face, dull eyes, and behavior filled with eeriness.

The atmosphere in the diner grew increasingly heavy.

Akemi unconsciously hugged her arms tighter. She also lived in a single apartnt, and she actually knew nothing about what kind of person her neighbor was.

When the story reached the point where the boy, even after calling the police to take that woman away, also discovered his own ho was filled with talismans.

Even the underside of the table was talismans.

The climax arrived.

Furious and exasperated, the boy began tearing off the talismans hysterically.

Only, in the process of tearing off the talismans, this boy finally discovered that there seed to be sothing extra beside him. But he didn't dare lift his head at all, continuing to tear at the talismans, yet his entire being had already beco incomparably despairing.

Then, amidst despairing murmurs, darkness instantly descended.

The End!

"Ah!"

Akemi let out an inadvertently suppressed low gasp, her body violently shuddering, as if an auctioneer's gavel had struck heavily upon the heart of everyone in the Midnight Diner.

Dead silence.

A more thorough dead silence than at any ti prior.

The air seed to have solidified; only the low hum of the refrigerator compressor and a few heavy, suppressed breaths could be heard.

The drunkenness on Tanaka's face had long since vanished without a trace, replaced by an extrely pale complexion. His knuckles turned slightly white from gripping the beer bottle so hard, and a layer of fine cold sweat seeped out on his forehead.

Akemi's expression was even worse than Tanaka's. She bit her lower lip tightly, her eyes filled with terror and lingering fear. She didn't even dare turn her head to look at the small door of the shop, deeply afraid that a talisman would be pasted outside the small window on the door.

As for that university student, he was continuously wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, his eyes behind the glasses flickering with inconsolable trepidation.

Even the normally steady Mizukami Sho felt his back turning sowhat cold. He subconsciously touched his arm—a patch of icy goosebumps.

This animation...

No blood, no jump-scare ghost wails, and even very few dynamic movents.

But just those few simple pictures, and that eerie narration, had built up a sense of bone-deep, inescapable terror.

Because it was too close to real life.

Apartnts, neighbors, talismans, walls... these were all the most common elents in daily life. Precisely because they were common, when combined with the unknown and the eerie, the resulting fear would be infinitely magnified.

"Gulp."

It wasn't known how long passed before Tanaka swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty, breaking this suffocating silence. His voice was dry, hoarse, and carried a trace of trembling:

"What... what the fuck... kind of ghostly thing is this..."

He no longer had his previous arrogance and disdain, leaving only a weakness like surviving a disaster.

"Too... too scary..." Akemi also said in a barely audible voice. "I... am a bit afraid to go ho now... Opposite my door, it seems there's also a woman living there who doesn't go out much..."

Her words made everyone's hearts tighten once again.

"Its terror is not visual, it's psychological." That university student pushed his glasses up, analyzing in a tone that carried an academic air yet similarly couldn't hide his fear: "After watching it, it makes you unable to resist thinking: what if... what if this kind of thing happened to ? This kind of imrsion is what's most terrifying."

That's right!

Everyone nodded their heads in deep agreent.

Their minds were currently filled with that room plastered full of talismans, and those ghostly figures hanging upside down from the ceiling. This imagery would probably beco their nightmare for tonight, and even for several nights to co.

"Boss... what's the na of this animation?" the university student asked with a trembling voice.

Mizukami Sho's gaze fell upon the television screen. When the final production credits flashed by, he clearly saw those three Kanji characters.

"'Yamishibai'." he softly replied.

'Yamishibai'...

These three characters were like a branding iron, deeply engraved into the heart of everyone present.

Tanaka silently set down his beer bottle, no longer having any mood to drink. He stood up, pulled a few bills from his wallet and placed them on the bar counter, saying in a hoarse voice: "Boss, the check."

"I... I'm leaving too." Akemi also hurriedly got up, as if staying one second longer would result in being swallowed by darkness.

The custors paid and left one after another, their footsteps rushed, all wanting to return to their own hos as quickly as possible and lock their doors and windows tight.

But did they really dare to look under the table? Did they really dare to carefully inspect the ceilings of their own hos?

No one knew.

Soon, only Mizukami Sho was left in the Midnight Diner.

He silently cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks, but the scenes from just now played back in his mind uncontrollably over and over again.

He lifted his head and glanced at the clock on the wall.

12:25 AM.

"Well, it truly is a bit of a... frightening story." Mizukami Sho leaned against the doorfra, lit a cigarette, and gently smoked it.

As the hot, spicy air rolled into his lungs, he also couldn't help but think of so of the plot details in this animated short film.

He subconsciously turned his head to look outside.

Not far away, outside the alley, were those residential buildings and relatively low three-to-four-story apartnt houses.

Looking at those black, gaping windows, so palpitations also appeared in his heart.

Subconsciously, he didn't even dare to continue observing.

He rely withdrew his gaze.

"Hm!?"

Suddenly, Mizukami Sho looked at the corner of his Midnight Diner, his expression slightly changing, even the corners of his eyes twitching. Because right there, in the corner, he actually saw a talisman pasted there.

Perhaps because of its age, that talisman had sowhat yellowed. At the edge of the light's illumination, in the dim corner, it was incomparably obvious at this mont.

The hand Mizukami Sho used to hold his cigarette trembled slightly.

He even felt a bit of bitterness in his mouth.

He rembered this seed to be a talisman he had prayed for from a temple over a decade ago, used to suppress evil entities. He had originally forgotten about it long ago, but at this mont, suddenly seeing it and rembering it, sothing felt wrong in his heart, and his back felt cold.

"Boss, a serving of tamagoyaki! Add two portions of cheese!" Just at this ti, the door curtain was lifted, and a frequent custor walked in, tipsy.

"Oh... Yes! Please wait a mont." Mizukami Sho imdiately reacted, a sowhat awkward smile appearing on his scarred face.

He realized he had actually been scared.

He shook his head forcefully.

"It's just an animation." he couldn't help but grumble.

But a premonition suddenly arose in his heart.

Starting tomorrow—no, perhaps starting tonight—in countless sleepless late nights like this in Tokyo, the na 'Yamishibai' would quietly spread via word-of-mouth like a terrifying urban legend.

This kind of urban-thed horror animation, which also fit so of Tokyo tropolis's environnts, combined with so terrifying bizarre stories heard in the past.

It seed... a bit thrilling just thinking about it!