The blood on the feather wasn't dry.
It gleamed under the faint light of Souta's lamp—dark red, fresh… real.
He dropped it with a gasp and stumbled backward until his back hit the wall.
His mind raced.
He was here. In my room. Again.
And worse… he'd been close enough to take a photo of him sleeping.
Souta felt like his sanity was being chipped away, piece by piece.
He picked up his phone with trembling fingers and dialed Toru.
No answer.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
On the third try, the call connected.
But instead of Toru's voice…
There was laughter.
Slow. Raspy. Familiar.
Souta's hand went numb.
Then—
"He can't help you now."
The voice wasn't Toru's. It was deeper. Tainted.
Kuroda.
Souta ended the call immediately and threw his phone across the room like it was cursed. It hit the wall and bounced onto the floor with a soft thud.
He couldn't breathe.
His mind was spiraling.
He wanted to run. Leave the village. Escape this madness.
But Kuroda's words haunted him.
"You've been marked."
There was no running from that.
---
The next morning...
Souta didn't go to school. He barely slept at all.
Toru showed up at his front door just before noon, his face pale and tense.
"I lost my phone," he said quickly. "Did he contact you?"
Souta nodded slowly. "He answered your phone."
Toru swore under his breath.
"He's accelerating," he muttered. "This shouldn't be happening so fast. He's usually slow… careful. He likes to break people over time."
"Then why is he rushing with me?" Souta asked, his voice hoarse.
Toru looked at him, serious.
"Because you're not like the others. He senses something in you. Fear, yes. But also... resistance."
Souta blinked. "Resistance?"
"You're fighting him. Most people crumble after the first few visits. You're still standing. That's not what he expected."
Souta didn't feel strong. He felt terrified.
But somehow, that gave him a tiny spark of confidence.
"What do we do?"
Toru reached into his bag and pulled out a map—hand-drawn, aged, and covered in strange symbols.
"There's a place," he said. "Outside the village. In the forest. My grandfather used to call it The Echo Field."
"What's there?"
"An old bunker. Hidden underground. It's not on any real maps. During the war, it was used to test sound-based weaponry."
Souta frowned. "And you think Kuroda… came from there?"
"No. I think he left something behind there. And if we find it… we might learn how to stop him."
Souta stared at the map. Then back at Toru.
"If we go there… he'll follow us."
Toru nodded. "Good. That's what we want."
---
That night…
They left the village quietly. Avoided the main road. Entered the forest through a narrow trail that looked almost abandoned.
The deeper they went, the less noise they heard. No birds. No wind. Just their footsteps.
After an hour of hiking, they reached a clearing surrounded by twisted, blackened trees.
At the center—
A metal hatch, half-buried in the earth.
They looked at each other.
Souta knelt and brushed away the dirt. The hatch groaned as he pulled it open.
A ladder descended into darkness.
Without a word, they began to climb.
---
Underground…
The air was stale. Heavy. Full of dust and something… unexplainable.
Their flashlights flickered as they moved through the narrow tunnel.
The walls were lined with speakers, wires, old devices.
At the end of the corridor, they found a control room—abandoned, but intact.
Souta wiped off a monitor and pressed a few buttons.
A light blinked to life.
And then—
Footage began playing.
Grainy black-and-white video.
A figure strapped to a chair.
Tubes connected to his head. Soundwaves blasting through the room.
The man screamed. Clawed at the air.
But his screams weren't human. They were distorted. Like they were being bent by the sound itself.
Toru paled. "That's him."
"Kuroda?" Souta asked.
Toru nodded. "This is how they made him."
The video kept playing. And then—
The man stopped screaming.
He looked at the camera.
And smiled.
That same smile.
Suddenly—
The monitor exploded.
The room shook. Lights flickered.
Souta and Toru backed away, coughing in the smoke.
And then—
A voice echoed through the bunker.
"Curious little mice..."
Kuroda's voice.
"You think you've found something? You found nothing but your own graves."
Souta grabbed Toru's arm. "We need to go. Now."
They turned and ran through the tunnels.
But behind them, the lights began to die. One by one.
The speakers on the walls came alive.
Laughter. Screams. Souta's voice. His mother's voice. Toru's. All twisted. Echoing.
They covered their ears as they ran.
At the ladder, Souta climbed first. He pushed the hatch open—
But standing above the hatch…
Was Kuroda.
Face pale. Eyes glowing. A twisted smile carved across his face.
"You came to find me," he whispered. "Now let me show you what I found inside you."
He raised his hand.
And the world screamed.
---
To be continued…