Chapter 4 “The Forgotten Girl”
She had been told that she was like a god.
Her last name was “Kami,” and her first name was “Sana.”
Perhaps because “Kami Sana” sounded somewhat similar to “Kamisama” (god), she attracted a bit of attention from others. During her elementary school years, some boys even teased her about it.
She didn’t remember feeling distant or holding any grudges because of it.
To her, it was a precious name given by her parents, and she also had a slight fondness for it.
“Going home now,” she messaged on her smartphone. She couldn’t recall what she had been doing that day. Sana, after notifying her mother of her return using the messaging app, was waiting for the train as she always did.
Even though it was relatively nearby, she had to take a train for about three stations. She had considered commuting by bicycle, but surprisingly, the distance made the train the most convenient option.
Her parents had always insisted that she must send a message when she was on her way back, to the point where she had grown tired of hearing it. Sana never missed sending the message; she couldn’t afford to worry her parents.
“Shortly, the train, Za za za, Gari gari… will arrive. For your safety, please stand behind the yellow line and wait.”
“I can’t read it…”
What was happening?
The people around her were busy with their smartphones, listening to music, chatting with friends, and paying no attention to the train’s announcement. The only one who had been paying proper attention to the announcement was Sana, who had just finished messaging her parents through the messaging app.
She wondered if the other passengers had not noticed, and as she looked around the station, she…
“―――――――ts.”
Sana gasped. The station, which had been bustling just moments before, fell into an eerie silence as if someone had flicked a switch. Every single person, who had been busy on their smartphones, listening to music, or happily chatting with friends, now gazed at the platform with emotionless eyes.
The sight was incredibly terrifying.
Gatan, Goton.
Gatan, Gatan.
The train glided onto the platform. Despite being a busy station, it was rare to find an empty seat. However, the train that arrived at the platform was devoid of passengers, exuding an unsettling aura.
Pshoo, Gakon.
The train’s doors opened in silence, and the people around Sana wordlessly boarded one by one.
She knew she must not board that train. If she did, there would be no turning back. Sana hurriedly attempted to retreat, but her efforts were in vain.
“Let’s go.”
“Let’s go.”
“Let’s go”
“Let’s go”
“Let’s go”
“Let’s go”
High school girls grabbed Sana’s arm, each of them muttering. Their eyes were bloodshot, blood oozed from the corners of their mouths, and their hands and legs were bent in unnatural directions. Fingers peeled back to reveal flesh, and their exposed bones could be seen as they desperately restrained Sana.
Screams escaped their mouths.
Sana cautiously turned to look behind her and confirmed the train. The train was incredibly old, resembling something she might have seen in a history textbook. Many passengers stared at her with intense gazes, pressing their foreheads against the foggy window glass.
What else could you call this but sheer terror?
“No, aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!”
Sana was forcibly dragged by the blood-soaked high school girls, and the train departed.
☆
“Help me”
The messy haired girl looks at her Houzuki with her sunken eyes and begs.
“Help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me”
“That’s impossible.”
The one who responded to the girl’s words was Yuiru Enen, the silver-haired, red-eyed male student.
“You’re already trapped by the supernatural. You won’t even make it home.”
“Why…”
The girl glared at Yuiru and repeated her questions frantically: “Why, why, why? Why is this happening to me?”
“Well, that’s just bad luck.”
Indeed, it was a matter of bad luck.
The girl named Kamisana had been unfortunate enough to be chosen as a victim of the otherworldly station, and she was still trapped at this station. There was no way to rescue her, and even if Yuiru wanted to help, he couldn’t.
There were no rules for achieving peace for her, even for a novice like him, and the severity of the situation was not lost on him.
“Don’t you already have plenty of allies? Look around.”
Yuiru’s gaze drifted to the train, and Houzuki followed suit. The familiar train had somehow deteriorated into a dilapidated state. Passengers on the other side of the foggy window glass stared menacingly at them.
Every one of them had some part missing or torn away, revealing grotesque conditions that were unbearable to witness. Their skinless fingers scratched at the glass, but all that resulted was the sound of bones breaking through their exposed flesh.
Kotsu, kotsu, kotsu, kotsu.
Kotsukotsu, kotsu, kotsu, kotsu.
It’s as if they’re begging to be released.
Kotsukotsu, kotsu, kotsu, kotsu.
Kotsukotsu, kotsukotsu, kotsukotsu.
Oh~……Ah~……Oh…… Ah……
Kotsukotsu, kotsukotsu, kotsu. Kotsu.
Kotsukotsu, kotsukotsu, kotsu. Kotsu.
Oh~……Ah~……Oh…… Ah……
Even their groans resonated in Houzuki’s eardrums, shaking them.
I don’t want it hear it. I don’t want it hear it.
She didn’t want to hear those groans that seemed to come from the depths of hell.
As she covered her ears as if trying to escape reality, she could hear Yuiru’s rather cheerful voice through her palms.
“I see, I see. They’re a stubborn bunch. You guys jumped into the train to commit suicide, and you were dragged to this Kamisana Station by fate.”
With a piercing look in his red eyes, he continued,
“Well, you might as well be a snack. At the point when you’re trapped in Kamisana Station, your bodies have become ones that can’t go to heaven or hell, anyway.”
Yuiru brandished a silver knife, seemingly conjured from nowhere, and wore a disturbingly serene smile. The girl, sensing something was amiss, hurried to retreat to the train, but it was already too late.
The silver-haired malevolent spirit, driven to cannibalism, seized the girl’s disheveled hair and forced her onto the overgrown platform of Kamisana Station. Without mercy, he thrust the silver knife into her slender neck, causing a dark mist to spew forth from her throat.
It was the same as back then.
In the old school building bathed in the sunset, the eerie darkness that engulfed the contorted female teacher’s face as she was devoured was the same unsettling sensation.
With precision, Yuiru detached the girl’s head from her body with the silver knife and then sank his teeth into her lips as if delivering a kiss.
“I~ta~da~ki~ma~su”
He pulls the girl’s lips off.
Mushari, mushari. (TN: chewing sounds)
Gorigori, gorigori. (TN: crunching sounds)
Mushari, mushari.
Gorigori, gorigori.
Chewing on the girl’s lips, tearing her hair, plucking out her eyeballs, and then savoring them with relish, the malevolent spirit, the girl, was equivalent to the finest marbled meat in front of Yuiru Enen.
She was an incredibly sweet and delicious dish, and despair was like nectar to him. The black mist was a condiment that enhanced his appetite.
Houzuki, watching this nauseating meal, couldn’t help but ask,
“Hey.”
“Hoo~at?” (TN: what?)
As he meticulously carved up the girl’s now unresisting malevolent spirit with the silver knife, Yuiru responded to Houzuki.
“Is it delicious?”
“For me, it’s top-notch cuisine.”
He licked his fingertips and continued to cut the girl’s arm from her body with the silver knife.
“The fear you exude while I’m eating, that’s also quite delicious. It’s like a beverage.”
“I see…”
She could no longer say anything.
The only one who understood the deliciousness of this meal was the malevolent spirit, and there was no way Houzuki could ever comprehend it, so she simply averted her gaze.
Yuiru continued to enjoy his meal with evident delight, and then, once he had meticulously consumed the girl, leaving only her uniform and tattered leather shoes, he looked up and said,
“Now.”
He grasped the silver knife and turned toward the train, licking his lips.
“By the way, there are still plenty of ghosts around here, aren’t there?”
After that, Yuiru delivered his closing remarks approximately one hour after he had devoured the malevolent spirit of the first girl named Kamisana.
TN: I’m using Kamisana in this chapter because the author explicitly mentioned that it’s spelled as such. But I will go back to Kamishana next chapter because the author again indicated that it’s “Shana”.
