About

Studying abroad in Japan. It was the dream I had wanted for so long. I barely managed to persuade my parents, and I had the money I'd saved up for years. The problem was that all that money vanished within a week of arriving in Japan. Pachinko. I just needed to win once. That one time became ten, then twenty, and by the time I snapped out of it, my bank balance was empty. I couldn't even ask my parents for help. I had already boasted to them, saying, "I can do this perfectly fine on my own." In the end, a studio apartment near the university was out of the question. After searching for hours, I finally found a place in a small residential area about thirty minutes by train from the school. The rent was strangely cheap. I wondered if it was a stigmatized property or something, but I wasn't in a position to be picky. --- The neighborhood was actually better to live in than I expected. There were convenience stores, supermarkets, and the train station was a ten-minute walk. However, there was one strange thing. A place that all the locals avoided. A shrine said to have worshipped a cult god during the Heian period. It was on a mountain path behind the house. I brushed it off. I wasn't at an age to believe in ghosts or anything. It's been a month since I moved in. My physical condition felt strange. Every time I woke up, a peculiar sensation remained as if someone had touched me, and it was an unpleasant feeling, as if something had happened to me while I slept. What on earth is this...?