The Shaman Desires Transcendence

---

Airi looked just the same as always.

She was exactly as I had seen her at school.

In the school-issued sailor uniform, her brown hair, slightly droopy eyes, and the corners of her mouth stretched into a long smile.

Everything was just as usual.

“Don’t skip lunch! If you do, you won’t get taller or bigger!”

While saying this, Airi placed her hands on her disproportionately large chest and lightly shook them up and down. This display was probably a provocation for her, who had always felt insecure about her smaller chest, but I could only stare blankly, as my head felt hazy like it was shrouded in fog.

“Are you seriously sleepy? You’d usually jump up and challenge me if I did this.”

Airi smiled widely, finding Rise’s blank expression cute, as she exposed her black teeth while playfully grinning. Then she casually tossed her hair behind her ear and sat next to her.

“What did you do last night? Hm? Did you get a boyfriend?”

Airi laughed as she poked Rise, who could barely move except for her head, in the side with her short finger, teasingly.

Since the only thing she could move was her head, Rise had no choice but to withstand Airi’s playful assault, and Airi found it amusing enough to lean completely behind her, using her wiggling fingers to tickle her sides and armpits without mercy.

“Yap! Tickling!”

“Ahhh! Stop! Stop!”

Airi looked like she was genuinely enjoying teasing, her eyes curved in delight as she continuously giggled, repeating the tickles with a grin that resembled a smiling fox. Finally, when Rise was nearly worn out from laughter and panting, Airi seemed satisfied and sat back in her place.

Creak.

With the sound of a chair sliding, Airi rested her chin on her hand and asked her, “So you still won’t move? Are you perhaps sleep-paralyzed?”

With that playful comment, Airi stopped teasing and asked with a hint of concern to the still-lying Rise, who could barely move her head, and it was then that Rise realized she was indeed experiencing sleep paralysis.

“Ah… sleep… I’m sleep-paralyzed.”

Her body wouldn’t budge.

Fingers, toes, waist, none of it would respond. Her mouth wouldn’t open, rendering her unable to speak, and her neck felt as stiff as if someone had indeed placed rebar into her spine, forcing her forehead down onto the desk, allowing her only the ability to move her eyes. If that’s not sleep paralysis, then what could it be?

“Eyes?”

At that moment, Rise felt something odd.

She was sure she had moved her head earlier…?

But now, knowing she was paralyzed, her head was still pressed against the desk. The way she had positioned her arms was as a makeshift pillow, with her forehead resting atop them, making it impossible for her to have moved her head at all.

So, how did she see to the side?

No… initiate all.

“How did I see Airi’s face behind me?”

Airi.

The same Airi as always.

Her clothes, hair, eyes…

And that slanted… even her elongated mouth corners…

“You noticed?”

The moment that thought connected, Airi’s mouth split open wide, revealing teeth that had decayed over time, now completely black.

And beneath those teeth lay deep sockets like an abyss, and her tongue, cut to the root, thrusted about in a desperate attempt to move.

“Now, it’s time to go back in!”

Airi placed her hands on either side of her mouth and ripped it open with force as if tearing her clothes.

That gaping mouth stretched to its limit, taking on a shape reminiscent of a long eel. The entire face had transformed into a grotesque set of jaws, the blackened teeth densely arranged as if they were suckers, forming a horrific appearance.

Airi opened her mouth wide in that state and covered Rise’s head.

“No! Nooooo!”

She felt breath.

Rotten breath.

Cold, smelly, disgusting breath.

That breath flowed over her face like a snake, sending chills down her spine. It made her fervently pray for this moment to pass, desperately wishing for the chill that threatened to make her retch to simply vanish. And perhaps her prayers were answered, for the rotten breath soon disappeared.

But it wasn’t because its source had vanished; it was that her head had slipped into a place where she could no longer feel it.

Touch.

Following that chill came a sensation utterly intolerable physiologically.

A viscous, nauseating liquid covered her head, sticking her beautiful, silky hair together. Airi’s mouth seemed to rumble like intestines, applying an unpleasant pressure as she attempted to drive in the decayed teeth that might well have shattered her temples.

And then.

Crack.

A disturbing sound echoed.

* * *

“Eeeek!”

Rise screamed, snapping her head up. But contrary to the worst thing she imagined being inside a monster’s belly, she found herself in a small room with tatami mats.

Rise hurriedly looked around.

Dozens of candle flames flickered in the room, surrounding her friends sitting in a formal position, their startled eyes fixed on her. They were all dressed in white clothes, and beside them were stacks of books or bundled papers, resembling preparations for some kind of story.

And among them was Airi.

“Oh, Airi?”

Airi looked just like she always did.

In a white dress, with a large chest, slightly droopy eyes, and a small mouth highlighted by thin lips.

She stared at Rise, as if questioning why she had been called, while Rise shook her head vigorously, rubbing the back of her neck.

‘Wet.’

Was it cold sweat?

The nape of her neck was thoroughly soaked.

Not just that; her white clothes, hair, and face were all drenching wet as if she had just emerged from a river.

“I dozed off during the Hundred Tales…”

“Did you have a nightmare?”

“Rise~! The shrine daughter can’t be that weak!”

Her friends casually tossed a few remarks at her.

‘Hundred Tales? I was doing the Hundred Tales?’

And it was then that Rise grasped the situation.

Hundred Tales.

A ritual where one prepares a hundred candles and alternates telling a hundred scary stories, extinguishing one candle per story. Once the last of the hundred candles goes out, one can summon a ghost related to the participants through necromancy.

‘So, I dozed off during the Hundred Tales and had a nightmare…’

She understood she had fallen asleep while listening to scary stories and had dreamt a nightmare.

“Now that Rise is awake, shall we move on to an extremely scary story? Here we go!”

Mahiro, who was sitting next to Rise, glanced at her as she struggled to calm her racing heart from the nightmare and acted cheerful. Rise smiled subtly, grateful for her consideration to lift her out of the nightmare, while Mahiro winked, giving her a thumbs-up.

Mahiro cleared her throat dramatically and began her story, deliberately lowering her voice.

“This is a story I experienced in my third year of middle school…”

As the tale began, the friends who had been sitting formally suddenly turned their gazes to Mahiro.

Even in a sealed off room with no wind blowing, the candle flames swayed oddly, casting strange shadows against the walls, and the illumination from the candles only revealed Mahiro’s face below, creating an eerie atmosphere that made her seem more ghostly than human.

And for some reason, it felt chilling watching her cover her mouth with one hand as she spoke.

“I was part of the drama club in my third year of middle school, and we were preparing for a culture festival, so I was returning home late after rehearsals. But strangely, that day, there were no people on the street, and it felt eerie. I was already exhausted from the demanding role I was playing, and with the street seeming so desolate, it made me quite frightened…”

Mahiro leaned closer to the flickering candlelight as she aimed to create a sense of dread.

“Thankfully, nothing happened until I could finally see my home. It was just a creepy vibe and no sounds of people. There weren’t any evil spirits appearing or assailants lurking. But I guess I must have been really scared back then. The moment I laid eyes on my front gate, every nerve focused there, and I found newfound strength. I really sprinted with all my might!”

Swallow.

Someone gulped audibly.

“But strangely, the house was dark. The entire place was completely pitch black. So I thought my mom might not be home. But then, as I walked down the hallway, I noticed a small light in the kitchen. I eased up a bit, as I saw my mom was cooking. However, I couldn’t shake the odd feeling and decided to talk to her. ‘Mom? What are you doing?’ like that…”

Rise concentrated as she listened closely to Mahiro’s tale.

“But then Mom kept cooking without a flicker of acknowledgment. At that time, we had frequent fights at home, so I thought maybe she was mad at Dad again and just went to my room to change. Of course, after sweating so much, I showered too. But when I came out of the shower, the house was still dark! So I thought to check the kitchen again… and there was Mom, still cooking.”

Was it the toned-down voice?

Or was it the atmosphere?

Mahiro’s tale held a different ambiance than the urban legends Rise was used to hearing.

“So, thinking my mom must be really angry, I thought I’d try to act cute. So I tiptoed over to her. Yet no matter how close I got, she kept on cooking. Chopping with the knife, thud, thud, thud.”

Thud, thud, thud.

Mahiro mimicked the sound by tapping her fingers on the tatami mat.

“But the vegetables on the cutting board turned to almost dust, while my mom continued with those thud sounds. I sensed something was off, so I tapped her shoulder and said ‘Mom! What are you doing?’”

And then, she went on…

“At that moment, I was able to see my mom’s face… and it looked just like mine?”

Mahiro grinned slyly as she continued.

“With an expressionless face that looked just like mine, she just stared at me. While her hands continued thudding rhythmically on the cutting board, it sent shivers right through me…”

Thud, thud, thud.

“So, out of fear, I took a step back, and that’s when the face that looked just like mine opened its mouth. With an expressionless face that appeared to wear a mask, it opened its mouth to speak… do you know what it said?”

“What, what did it say?”

Mahiro grinned wider at her friend’s question.

“Mom! What are you doing?”

“Gahhh!”

“Gah!”

Screams erupted all around, and Mahiro smiled at their reactions, thoroughly enjoying herself as she continued the tale.

“That face kept staring directly at me as it repeated, ‘Mom! What are you doing? Mom! What are you doing!’”

“Eeek!”

“So I was so terrified that I turned my back and ran outside! I bolted outside and slammed the door shut, but I could still hear the sounds from inside… ‘Mom! What are you doing?’”

“How scary…”

“But the sounds kept getting closer, and suddenly, I heard a creaking noise as the entrance door swung open. So I dashed all the way to the police station and spent the night there before going home! But…”

Gulp.

“… there were the finely chopped vegetables right where I had left them the other day. It dawned on me that what I saw wasn’t a dream.”

Hooow.

Mahiro blew out the candle flames and grinned.

Then she sneaked a glance at Rise and suddenly leapt up and shouted, “Wahhh!”

“Gahhh!”

Rise, startled like a cat, fell back in shock.

“Hahaha!”

“Rise, what was that?!”

“You were like a cat!”

“Rise! What on earth are you doing? Hahaha!”

As her friends roared with laughter, Rise tried to calm her racing heart, shouting.

“Mahiroooooo!”

“Oh, sorry, sorry! Hahaha!”

No matter how much Rise shouted, her friends couldn’t stop laughing.

“Hahaha! It’s so funny! Way too funny!”

“Rise! What are you doing? Hahaha!”

“Hahaha! Rise, what was that?”

“You were like a cat!”

“Haha, Hahaha!”

The friends were rolling on the floor, holding their bellies laughing.

The sheer intensity of their joy was so overwhelming that even the candles they had set up would tumble to the ground, yet they wouldn’t notice at all.

“Haha! Oh, Rise! What are you doing?”

“Rise, what was that? Hahaha!”

“You were like a cat!”

“Hahaha!”

Her friends pointed at Rise, clutching their stomachs and laughing uproariously.

“Hahaha!”

“Hahaha!”

“Haha!”

“You were like a cat!”

And then, Rise noticed something strange.

“… what are you all doing?”

Yet the laughter continued, unabated.

“Hahaha!”

“Haha!”

“Hahaha!”

“Haha!”

“You were like a cat!”

Her friends persisted, laughing hard enough that it seemed their mouths would split open.

“Hah.”

“Hahaha!”

While they laughed on the floor, the candles tumbled around, snuffing out the light, causing the sealed room to grow ever darker. Each extinguished candle brought a deeper shade of darkness, and when ten went out, it cast tenfold shadows.

“Hahaha!”

All that could be heard was laughter.

The thin sources of light dwindled until only a slender flame remained, barely illuminating a fraction of the sealed room, ultimately leaving only a frail flicker that couldn’t even cast proper shadows.

“You were like a cat!”

“Hahahahaha!”

“Hah!”

Their laughter echoed as the last remaining candle flickered out, causing them to begin rising one by one. However, strangely, laughter kept spilling from their lips as they approached her slowly.

Then… they all leaned in, shoving their faces toward her own.

“Eek!”

Their faces were all identical to Rise’s.

And those masks, resembling her face, all opened their mouths in unison, the vast mouths taking up half their faces slowly yawning…

“Rise, what are you doing?”

“Rise, what are you doing?”

“Rise, what are you doing?”

“Rise, what are you doing?”

Then they lunged at Rise, their wide mouths stretching wide as though to devour her…

Crack!

A disturbing noise echoed.

* * *

“Gaaaahhh!”

“Ah, are you awake?”

Rise yelled as she jolted upright.

Before her stood a doctor.

---