Dead?
Shouko was stunned, unable to process what she'd just heard.
She had noticed that those girls hadn't been coming to school lately, but she had assumed they were just celebrating the fact that the curse had been lifted from them. Perhaps they had decided to skip school out of sheer relief.
But now, it seemed that wasn't the case at all.
"It's a shock, isn't it?" Arisu said with a faint smile. "Of course, the real reason I'm here is because I found the videotape you destroyed."
Shouko's breath caught.
If she hadn't destroyed the tape, if she had actually passed it on to someone else to transfer the curse to them, Arisu wouldn't have lifted a finger to help her.
But because she had destroyed it, Arisu, who at her core couldn't stand to see someone so kind suffer such a cruel fate, had decided to intervene.
"So… you managed to deduce all of this from the information we gathered?" Masumi finally spoke, looking at Arisu in disbelief.
It didn't make sense. Masumi had gone through the same materials as Arisu, but she hadn't picked up on any of this.
Was she really that dense?
"No, no, no. That's impossible. I'm not stupid!" Masumi tried to convince herself internally, but the creeping self-doubt was hard to ignore.
"I told you to read more about urban legends," Arisu said, rolling her eyes at Masumi.
Sadako's cursed videotape was one of the most famous examples of an urban legend. How could Masumi not know about something so well-known?
"..."
Masumi didn't respond, but inwardly, she felt a little humiliated.
"Wait… what videotape? What urban legend? What are you talking about?" Yaeko, who had been silent until now, finally spoke, her tone filled with urgency.
Yuzuru, sitting beside her, looked equally frantic. They were struggling to stay calm after hearing that Shoko might die.
"In that case, let me explain everything Shouko hasn't told you yet," Arisu said, her voice steady.
She then began to recount the urban legend of Sadako's cursed videotape, explaining its details and how Shouko had been dragged into it by her so-called classmates. These classmates had tried to transfer the curse to Shoko in order to save themselves.
"Those bastards!"
The moment Yuzuru heard this, she shouted angrily.
Her sister had always been kind and selfless. How could anyone take advantage of her like this?
Yaeko, on the other hand, didn't say a word. She clenched her fists tightly, her knuckles turning white. Rage boiled inside her.
Before, she might have dismissed such a story as superstition or nonsense. But now, in a world where sorcerers and curses were undeniably real, how could she doubt it?
"Why didn't you tell us?"
Tears streamed down Yaeko's face as she turned to Shouko, her voice trembling.
She couldn't even imagine it, if Arisu hadn't shown up tonight, her daughter might have died, and she wouldn't have known anything until it was too late.
"..."
Shouko didn't reply. She felt guilty, knowing she had kept this from her family.
But facing her mother's tearful gaze, she forced a faint smile and used sign language to reassure her.
I didn't want to worry you.
"Sister!"
Yuzuru couldn't hold back any longer. She rushed forward and threw her arms around Shouko, tears streaming down her face.
"What do we do? Are you really going to die?" Yuzuru's voice cracked as she buried her face in her sister's shoulder.
Shouko gently patted Yuzuru's back, offering what little comfort she could.
"So that's why…" Yaeko muttered, her voice breaking.
It was all starting to make sense now. The reason Shoko had been trying to spend so much time with them lately, it was because she didn't have much time left.
"How long do you have?"
Shouko hesitated for a moment, then slowly raised two fingers.
Two days.
Her daughter only had two days left.
At that moment, the ever-composed Yaeko broke down, collapsing to the ground.
Why? Why was this happening?
Her eldest daughter had already endured so much in her life. Why did this have to happen to her too?
"How cruel…" Masumi muttered softly, her face showing a rare moment of sympathy.
But then she glanced at Arisu, who was still smiling calmly, and couldn't help but feel irritated.
"You're still smiling? Don't you feel even a little bad for them?" Masumi snapped.
"Why would I?" Arisu replied with a shrug. "It's not like this is an unsolvable problem. Why waste time crying over it?"
"..."
Her words stunned everyone in the room.
Shouko, Yaeko, and Yuzuru all turned to look at her in disbelief.
"Wait… you're saying there's a solution?"
Arisu let out a small sigh and shook her head.
"Why else do you think I came here? Do you honestly think I'd show up just to deliver bad news and leave? Do I seem that cruel to you?"
No one answered, but their silence was enough of a response.
"Unbelievable," Arisu muttered, rolling her eyes. "Do I really look like such a heartless person?"
"..."
Everyone in the room was at a loss for words. They couldn't exactly argue with her.
"So… what do we do?" Yaeko asked cautiously, her voice trembling with hope and fear.
"Simple," Arisu said, clearing her throat. "This kind of problem? It's nothing new. And luckily for us, there are professionals who deal with these things."
"Professionals?" Yaeko and Yuzuru exchanged glances.
"Yes," Arisu replied with a small smirk. "I'm talking about sorcerers."
***
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