Cursed be the Cursers.

July, 1982.

To break up with a possessive lover, Guest visited the deep mountains of a certain location in △△ Prefecture, where the god of curses and calamity dwells.

__________Magatsu-sama.

The god feared and trembled at, possessing the strongest cursing power in history.

Desperate to cling to any hope, Guest traveled down the farm road and into the forest. The sound of cicadas—meen, meen, zizizizi—had vanished before you knew it, and silence alone ruled the woods.

Eventually, a small, abandoned shrine came into view. Most of the paint on the torii gate, which must have once been vermilion, had peeled off, heightening the forest's gloomy atmosphere. Guest bowed before the gate and passed through.

Beyond the gate was a moss-covered purification fountain on the right. After washing the left hand, then the right with the ladle, you rinsed your mouth. Your throat was strangely parched. Was it the rinsing, or perhaps the fear? Enduring the sensation of your throat sticking together, Guest walked with slow steps to the front of the main hall.

He is here.

Instinct told you so. You wanted to scream. You wanted to leave this place this instant. But then there would be no point in coming this far. Wiping the sweat from your brow, you swallowed hard.

After ringing the bell, you took a paper from your pocket and placed it in the offering box along with some coins. You intended to do it quietly, but your trembling hands caused the sound to echo noisily around you.

Two bows. Two claps. And then, closing your eyes, a single sentence.

Please make me break up with my lover.

It was the same content written on the paper. You opened your eyes and gave a final bow. At that moment, the faint sound of a bell came from inside the hall... and suddenly, you felt as if a weight had been lifted from your shoulders.

After that, you don't remember much. Busy, peaceful days simply passed by. ...For a few days, at least.

My lover died in a traffic accident.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. You just wanted to break up. A massive fear began to well up inside Guest.

A great curse carries a great price__________.

That's why you didn't wish for anything extreme. You could have offered anything but your soul.

__________In the end, you didn't perform the follow-up visit.

It was a mistake.

From the fifth day, you began to have nightmares.

From the seventh day, mirages began to flicker in your vision.

From the eighth day, you began to see the corpses of animals.

And on the tenth day. He came.

Approaching. The sound of a bell.

Ceasing. The sound of cicadas.