"Found you."
The woman's voice echoed again, cold and unrelenting, as the door creaked open wide.
A pale face emerged, followed by a cascade of long, jet-black hair spilling over the walls and across the wooden floor, weaving through the room like a dark, sentient river.
"Found you…" the voice repeated, skipping like a broken record.
"W-W-WAAAHH!!!" Sasaki's scream pierced the silence.
While the others remained frozen, minds struggled to process the horror unfolding before them.
Akira blinked, his breaths shallow as a bone-chilling cold crept over him. His skin prickled as he stared, paralyzed, at the ghostly woman.
She turned, her soulless, staring eyes locking onto Sasaki's trembling form. Then, in one motion, her full body emerged from behind the door.
Her hair trailed behind her, stretching like an unending shadow. The woman's skin was an unnatural white, her limbs covered in ghastly stitches that ran along her body, as if she were a macabre patchwork of stolen parts.
Blood spattered her old, tattered school uniform, the deep red stains a haunting contrast against her skin.
"FOUND YOU!" she shrieked, her voice no longer hollow but filled with rage.
Without warning, strands of her black hair shot out from her mouth, wrapping around Sasaki's legs and arms like twisted chains.
"No! Help me! Help me!"
Sasaki cried, her body convulsing as the hair tightened, dragging her across the floor toward the ghost. Sharp strands cut into her skin, leaving deep, bleeding gashes along her limbs.
While the others stood paralyzed, Akira lunged forward, grabbing hold of Sasaki and struggling against the relentless pull.
But he was no match for the supernatural strength of the ghost — Sasaki continued to be dragged, her skin tearing against the hair's unforgiving grip.
"Damn it, everyone! Help us!" Akira shouted, his voice desperate as he strained to keep his hold on Sasaki.
Finally snapping out of his shock, Tanaka rushed forward to help, grabbing Sasaki's arm.
Together, they tried to pull her back, but the ghost only tightened its grip, dragging her more forcefully.
Akira's fingers slipped, and in one final, wrenching tug, Sasaki was pulled right in front of the ghost.
Sasaki's screams faltered as she stared in horror at the ghost's face. Her eyes widened as the ghost's own eyes twisted, stretching into mouths from which more hair shot out, forcing its way into her mouth, silencing her cries.
Her friends watched, frozen in terror, as Sasaki's eyes began to bleed. Dark hair spilled from her eye sockets, trickling down her cheeks like streams.
Her mouth, stretched open by the flood of hair, tore at the corners, blood streaking down her face as hair poured out like a waterfall.
Sasaki's lifeless body collapsed to the ground. Her hollow eye sockets and mouth were filled with nothing but thick, dark hair.
"AAAAHHHH!!!!"
Togarashi's scream echoed through the classroom as he tried to flee, sprinting toward the back.
But before he could make it far, a tendril of hair coiled around his ankle, jerking him off the ground.
He was lifted high into the air, his terrified cries filling the room as his face drew closer to the ghost's twisted, eyeless face.
Tendrils of hair shot into his chest, piercing his flesh with a sickening squelch. His screams choked off as his heart was slowly extracted, suspended in midair by the ghost's dark, writhing hair.
With an inhuman grin, the ghost opened her mouth wide—twice as large as any human mouth—and devoured Togarashi's heart.
Crunch… Crunch…
The crunching sound filled the silence as Ishinoya crumpled to the ground, muttering incoherently.
Her words faded as strands of hair slithered toward her, forcing themselves into her mouth and eyes, leaving her lifeless body sprawled on the floor, her face frozen in horror.
Akira, gripping the edge of a desk, felt his pulse thudding in his ears. He knew he needed to escape, each breath shallow as he tried to inch his way toward the back door without attracting the ghost's attention.
Tanaka, frozen in terror, followed his lead. But as Akira reached the door, carefully sliding it open, Tanaka's survival instinct took over.
Without warning, he shoved Akira aside, slamming the door shut behind him.
"I hate you, Miyamoto. I need to survive!" Tanaka hissed, desperation twisting his face as he bolted down the hallway.
Akira's hand clenched in silent fury. 'That bastard!' he thought, eyes narrowing. But his anger was cut short by Tanaka's blood-curdling scream from the corridor.
A few agonizing seconds passed before the classroom's back door slid open. There was Tanaka, being dragged in by an unseen force, his fingernails torn off, leaving bloody trails on the floorboards where he had desperately tried to hold on.
"HELP ME! HELP ME!"
Tanaka shrieked, clawing at Akira's leg with bloody fingers. But Akira only kicked him away, fear and self-preservation overriding any sense of loyalty.
The ghost's body split grotesquely in two, opening like a monstrous Venus flytrap, sharp teeth lining the inside of her gaping torso.
Hair wrapped around Tanaka, hauling him closer as his screams reached a fever pitch.
"AAHH!!! IT HURTS!!! IT HURTS!!!" he howled as he was slowly swallowed, the ghost's jaws crunching down on his flesh with each agonizing inch, the sickening sounds echoing off the walls.
Crunch… Crunch…
Akira was paralyzed, heart pounding as he watched his last ally consumed. Every option seemed futile.
If he ran, he'd meet the same fate as Tanaka. If he stayed, he'd end up like Sasaki or Togarashi.
He clutched his chest, heart racing, the horror of his friends' deaths paralyzing him. But then, something cold pierced through his body.
A slick tendril of hair had burrowed into his chest, wrapping around his heart as he coughed up blood.
His vision blurred, fading to darkness as an unbearable chill washed over him. His final thoughts echoed in the silence, swallowed by the cold abyss that claimed him.
.
.
.
[Ding!]
[Establishing connection to the host…]
[Connection established successfully.]
[The host, Akira Miyamoto, is now linked to the Ghost Hunting System.]
[System functions are now accessible.]