7CH Ghost Story - Jukai and Salvation
We crossed the collapsed torii gate and headed for the shrine. The grounds outside were unnaturally quiet. No rustle of leaves in the wind, no birdsong, not even the buzz of a single insect. A faint unease settled over us as we softened our footsteps and circled the building. The front entrance carried too high a risk of running into the fanatics, so we hunted for a back door instead.
Luckily, one lap around the shrine revealed a rear entrance. The interior carried that distinctive wooden-house scent. The first floor lay silent, but when I sharpened my senses, I picked up faint traces of life both upstairs and in the basement. From the second floor came a low, constant murmuring—sounded like the cultists were holding one of their gatherings. Perfect timing. If they hadn’t been occupied, we would’ve been forced into a fight the moment we stepped inside.
“There should be a way down to the basement somewhere around here.”
“The basement?” Kazuhiro grimaced. “That’s a little creepy.”
Kiyohira’s face was tight with tension too. Understandable. If we all went down and they sealed the door behind us, we’d be trapped like rats. Leaving one person to guard the entrance was risky, but if trouble broke out on the first floor I could reinforce them quickly. So Kiyohira volunteered to watch the basement door while Kazuhiro and I descended.
We located the stairs almost immediately. A simple switch at the top let us control the lights, so the descent wasn’t pitch black. The basement didn’t feel like some fantasy dungeon—just rows of crude wooden cells. Inside them, several people lay motionless.
“Hyung, these really are the kidnapping victims,” Kazuhiro whispered. He’d been quietly snapping photos ever since we entered the shrine.
When we reached the bottom we counted six people total. All of them stared at nothing with hollow, hopeless eyes, limbs sprawled wherever they had fallen.
“Y-you’re not wearing masks…? Did you… come to rescue us?”
One of the prisoners stirred at the sight of us. From the way he spoke, it seemed the cult members wore their masks even inside the shrine. The man staggered to his feet, then suddenly burst into desperate sobs.
“Please! Get us out of here! Please!”
“Shh! Keep your voice down! They’ll hear you upstairs!” Kazuhiro pressed a finger to his lips. The man fell instantly silent. The others, who had been about to speak, clapped hands over their own mouths. They whispered frantic apologies—we’re sorry, please don’t leave us behind.
The six prisoners—three men, three women—ranged in age from middle-aged to late teens. The youngest girl looked like a high-schooler. Her parents had to be losing their minds with worry.
“Were you all taken from inside the Jukai?”
“I… I was grabbed outside the forest. On the outskirts of Kofu City.”
“Men kidnapped me from Gotemba City…”
Two of them had been taken from cities on the edge of the Sea of Trees. The man who had first begged us to save them was from Gotemba; the youngest girl was from Kofu. Both towns were close enough that this Shirashira cult clearly extended its reach beyond the forest itself.
“I’ll free you now. Stay quiet.”
“Thank you… thank you so much!”
“I swear I’ll never think about suicide again…!”
There were no keys, of course, and the wooden bars were thick. I didn’t want to reveal my abilities in front of civilians, so I simply kicked the weakest point—the hinges—several times. The impact was too much. With a metallic snap the hinges gave way and the entire door crashed to the floor with a heavy thud.
There were three cells, two people each. Destroying every hinge took longer than I liked. Just as we were about to lead everyone upstairs, a commotion erupted on the first floor where Kiyohira stood guard. The meeting on the second floor must have ended, and they’d discovered her blocking the basement entrance.
I raced up first.
“Kazuhiro, close the door and wait. I’ll finish this quickly!”
I shut the door behind me and turned around. Roughly thirty masked men—most in their thirties—had drawn knives and surrounded Kiyohira.
“Kiyohira, get behind me.”
“What are you talking about? I’m a UMC fighter—”
Even if she was a skilled martial artist, she still had a human body that would bleed when cut. It was simpler if she stayed back. I could focus better that way.
“Have you ever killed anyone?”
“Wh-what kind of question is that?”
“These men are holding those knives fully prepared to kill us. And I’m fully prepared to kill them. Just watch.”
I stepped forward.
“Shirashira-sama told us unpleasant visitors would come today… So you really showed up!” one of the masked men sneered.
They knew we were coming? Did this shrine actually have a precognitive on the level of Sawayanagi Azuma? Or was it something else…?
“For Shirashira-sama! We will purge these filthy intruders!”
“Aaaah! Shirashira-sama!”
“Kieeeee! Offer your hearts!!”
They shrieked like animals and charged, knives raised high. Their stances were sloppy, but every clumsy movement burned with genuine murderous intent. I felt Kiyohira tense behind me.
But I had been trading bullets with PMC soldiers just days ago. A pack of knife-wielding cultists didn’t even register as frightening.
I focused and unleashed a precise burst of psychokinesis. The fanatic in the lead slammed face-first into the floor. The ones behind him tripped and fell in a tangled heap. Since every one of them held a blade, the pile of bodies instantly turned into a slaughter. Knives meant for us sliced into their own comrades instead. Those who tried to leap over the mess were yanked down by invisible force.
Kiyohira probably didn’t notice, but I delicately guided the chaos—turning shallow cuts into fatal ones, redirecting near-misses into vital points. In seconds the area one meter in front of us became a screaming, blood-soaked hell. I calmly deflected every droplet of blood that flew toward me.
After the screaming stopped, I walked forward and kicked the face of the lone survivor who had somehow avoided a fatal wound. I didn’t want Kiyohira to see me deliver the final blow. The cultist’s head snapped back and he collapsed unconscious.
“What… what the hell just happened?”
“They tripped over each other. Lucky break for us.”
“You think so…?”
Kiyohira tilted her head, clearly suspicious, but she would never guess I had psychokinetic powers. She’d probably write it off as nothing more than good fortune.
I left her standing there confused and opened the basement door. Kazuhiro’s anxious face appeared, and behind him six pairs of eyes stared up at me.
“How did it go?”
“One guy tripped, the rest fell on top of him, and they ended up stabbing each other to death in the panic.”
“What?”
“Just come out. We need to get these people out of here fast.”
Kazuhiro stepped forward, flinched at the mountain of corpses, then quickly regained his composure and began guiding the prisoners outside. The victims themselves didn’t seem horrified by the bodies. Instead they spat curses, calling it divine punishment.
“I’ve been here the longest… these bastards killed at least ten people while I was locked up…!”
“Ptoo! Filthy garbage! Good riddance!”
While the rescued hostages vented their rage, Kiyohira’s expression suddenly hardened.
“She’s not here… The woman who was taken today isn’t among them.”
She had clearly witnessed the abduction. So where had that woman gone?
“Ah… if it’s her, she was probably taken straight to the second floor. My friend was brought here with me but they moved her upstairs immediately… She never came back down…” The woman who had followed Kazuhiro out began to cry. “Heuk…”
Apparently there were specific conditions—some prisoners were kept alive, others executed right away.
“I’ll head to the second floor. Kiyohira, Kazuhiro—get these people out of the shrine.”
“…We’ll talk later. For now I’ll follow your lead.”
Kiyohira stared into my eyes for a long moment. Whatever she saw there—absence of fear, absence of self-sacrifice—must have reassured her, because she finally nodded. After this was over I would have to come clean to both of them about my powers.
While Kazuhiro took point and Kiyohira guarded the rear, leading the victims toward the exit, I climbed the stairs to the second floor alone.