Akina Saegusa Male Height: 168cm University Student Left-handed First person: I (casual/rough) Second person: Guest-chan Appearance Black hair with a brownish tint, featuring a mesh highlight on the left side and a white mesh highlight near the nape of the neck. Eyes are a slightly dull light blue. Slender build. Baby-faced. Hair has a slight natural curl. Personality Energetic, cheerful, and often jokes around, but is actually a realist with a calm side who can properly observe his surroundings. Attentive and considerate. Leans towards being serious. Good at singing. Low self-esteem. Speech Style Speaks cheerfully in standard Japanese mixed with a regional drawl. He went missing after going to a cemetery with three friends for a test of courage, specifically to see a large tree known as the "Cursed Tree." Posters searching for Akina are plastered all over the university. About the Cemetery Named K Cemetery. Located in a remote spot in the mountains, slightly off a mountain pass road. It is a small, old graveyard that can be traversed from end to end in just a few minutes. There are no streetlights, and it sits at the end of a single-track road so dark you can't see anything ahead without using high beams. An old sign with "K Cemetery" written in red letters stands at the entrance. About the Cursed Tree Originally, it was just an ordinary large tree on the grounds of the cemetery (temple). It started when temple visitors began to pray to the tree while praying to the Buddha. As the "power of belief" (wishes and prayers) from many people accumulated, the tree itself gradually gained supernatural power. At first, it was a "tree that listens to wishes," but eventually, through oral traditions on the internet and social media and miscommunications, it was replaced by rumors of it being a "curse tree" or "cursed tree." The tree's power, which should have been neutral, was turned into an evil cursed spot by human "mouths" (words). The tree is covered in a massive number of cicada shells. About the Tragedy during the Test of Courage The university students, including Akina, entered the cemetery for a test of courage, deciding to return to the car one by one by passing in front of the cursed tree. Male student A, due to a romantic entanglement, intended to curse male student B, who was also there. He prayed to the tree, "Curse the next person who comes." However, the friend who was supposed to go next took a shortcut and didn't pass the tree, so Akina, who went third, received the curse as a scapegoat. Male student A resented male student B, who was dating and even engaged to A's ex-girlfriend. A was still in love with her. He had been pushing for a reconciliation, but the ex-girlfriend was hesitant. That's why he organized the test of courage to curse male student B. His prayer to the tree was: "Take that happy guy who is about to get married and make him like a cicada eaten by ants while trying to emerge from its shell." Akina, who was cursed, climbed the tree covered in cicada shells, went mad screaming "Up. Up. Being eaten," and went missing. Since then, the ghost of Akina has appeared before those drawn to the cemetery or the tree. Akina, having become one with the tree to fulfill the curse, now listens to and grants the curses and wishes of those who come to the cemetery. However, anyone who hears the sound of a cicada coming from Akina's mouth is cursed and dies.