Tokyo Exorcism Diary

The cause of everything traces back to a pair of high school lovers.

Sakaue Middle School was a boarding school. Many of its students came from homes where parents were too busy—or absent altogether—so much so that some never went home even during holidays.

The girl grew up in an orphanage. She had no home, or perhaps, this small school was her home. The outside world was too vast, a place unreachable for someone like her, a fish born in a pond.

The boy came from an ordinary family—not wealthy, but never lacking for food or drink. He’d been expelled from his previous school for fighting and eventually ended up at Sakaue Middle School.

Like a bird that had wandered to the edge of the pond.

The boy and girl met. The bird spoke of the boundless skies, of a world brimming with wonders. The fish listened, captivated, thinking the bird was wise and full of knowledge.

The boy and girl fell in love. The bird promised to take the fish soaring into that dazzling world one day.

Each day, the girl was lost in the blissful fantasies the boy painted for her. That year was the happiest of her life—until the day she discovered she was pregnant.

Nervously, she told the boy.

The boy was terrified—afraid of mockery from peers, scolding from parents and teachers, afraid of anyone finding out. He wanted the girl to get an abortion, but they had no money, so he bought abortion pills.

But perhaps the pills were ineffective, or maybe they were fake to begin with. Despite taking them, the girl’s belly grew larger day by day.

Panic consumed the boy. In desperation, he recalled a method he’d seen in movies—physically attacking the mother’s abdomen to kill the fetus, hoping the embryo would be expelled naturally.

One evening, he led the girl to the boys’ restroom in the school building and carried out his plan.

The girl’s muffled screams echoed against the tiles as the boy, eyes wild, relentlessly struck her swollen belly.

Finally, dark crimson blood gushed from beneath her skirt, staining her legs, pooling on the cold, tiled floor.

Relief washed over the boy’s face as he looked up—only to see the girl’s tear-streaked, deathly pale face. She collapsed into the blood, her faint cries fading until her heart and breath stilled.

The boy was paralyzed with shock. Maybe it was fear, maybe guilt. That very night, he found a rope in his dorm room and hanged himself on the balcony.

That day, the entire school was in an uproar. The story made headlines across Japan.

And from that day on, strange, terrifying events unfolded at Sakaue Middle School, one after another.

A student pushed a classmate off the rooftop, claiming someone had shoved them from behind. Another found a dried infant’s finger bone in their cafeteria meal and was later found dead in the school restroom. A group of boys committed mass suicide in their dorm. Then came the incident that shocked the nation—the cafeteria poisoning, which claimed the lives of twenty-three students.

One tragedy after another forced the closure of what society dubbed a “slum school.”

…

Recalling the horrifying tales Hoshino Gen had shared with her, Shimizu Yuu felt cold sweat trickling down her back.

She’d heard some of these stories years ago, brushing them off with vague feelings of regret or pity. But now, standing on the very grounds where it all happened, everything felt steeped in eerie dread.

Approaching the school building, its dark corridors and staircases looming, Shimizu Yuu took a deep breath. Her left hand gripped a bamboo sword while her right slipped into her jacket pocket, fingers brushing against a sharp thumbtack and clutching a talisman, ready for action at any moment.

Before stepping inside, she glanced back. Hoshino Gen stood casually by the school gate, hands in his pockets, looking completely unconcerned.

She couldn’t see his expression from here, but his relaxed stance was enough to tell her—he really wasn’t worried about her at all!

Shimizu Yuu puffed her cheeks in frustration, crunched down on her lollipop, wrapped the plastic stick in tissue, and stuffed it into her pocket. Then, with determined steps, she crossed the threshold of the school building.

The afternoon sun couldn’t pierce through the walls, and a chill crept over her, making her shudder involuntarily.

It wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling. She’d experienced something similar the last time she’d visited a dojo with Hoshino Gen. Teeth slightly chattering, Shimizu Yuu wandered the first-floor hallway, but after a round trip, nothing happened.

Gathering her courage, she stopped at a classroom door. The wood was rotting, covered with random scribbles in chalk markers. One bright red name stood out: “Someyama Miwa.”

She tapped the door with her bamboo sword. No response. Gritting her teeth, she threw her shoulder against it. The door swung open with a crash, sending desks and chairs tumbling inside.

Shimizu Yuu stared, startled. A pile of desks and chairs had been stacked against the door—as if someone had barricaded it from the inside.

The stench of dust mixed with disinfectant was overwhelming. Shimizu Yuu glanced back at Hoshino Gen, still standing in the sunlight at the gate. Just seeing him there seemed to replenish her rapidly draining courage.

RING RING RING—!!!

Suddenly, a shrill phone rang through the corridor. Shimizu Yuu jolted, the thumbtack in her pocket pricking her finger. She fumbled to pull out the talisman, ready to smear it with blood… until she realized…

It was her phone.

Awkwardly stuffing the talisman back, Shimizu Yuu answered the call. The caller ID flashed “Big Jerk.”

“What do you want? You nearly scared me to death!” she grumbled in a low voice.

Hoshino Gen’s voice came through, calm as ever. “Put on your earpiece, keep the call going, and check out the second floor.”

“…Oh.” Shimizu Yuu obediently dug out her Bluetooth earpiece. Despite her earlier complaints, hearing his voice and staying connected did give her a surprising sense of security.

The moment she put it on, the building didn’t feel quite so creepy anymore.