Tokyo Exorcism Diary

Is this… is this sleepwalking?

Saya didn’t know whether she truly believed that, or if she was just trying to comfort herself.

But as she stared at her best friend—so eerily strange in her behavior—she was genuinely scared, and deeply worried.

Still, there was a possibility that Ryouko was really just sleepwalking. After all, even though her eyes were open, red-rimmed and full of tears, Saya knew that most sleepwalkers do keep their eyes open. It’s just that what they see doesn’t get processed by the brain in any rational way.

Saya’s breathing was unsteady as she stared at Ryouko, not daring to make a sound. If this really was sleepwalking, any sudden noise could shock her awake and cause serious harm. But if it wasn’t sleepwalking…

Saya’s teeth chattered softly, and her whole body froze.

She had no idea how much time passed before Ryouko suddenly stopped dancing.

Saya tensed.

Ryouko stood perfectly still in front of the door, her posture ramrod straight, head slightly bowed. Then, she slowly reached out, slid open the shoji door with a mechanical motion, and stepped out into the hallway in that same stiff, unnatural way.

Gulp.

Ryouko’s footsteps gradually faded away. Saya stared wide-eyed into the pitch-black corridor beyond, then finally collapsed back onto her futon like a marionette whose strings had been cut. Her face was drenched in sweat, and she gasped for air.

Truthfully, she had already realized midway through the bizarre dance that this wasn’t sleepwalking.

Ryouko’s expression while she moved—it was just too vivid. Too alive.

There was no way someone in a dreamlike trance could show that kind of expression.

Saya lay limp on the bedding for a few more seconds, but then—

Through the sound of the rain, she heard knocking from the hallway.

Knock, knock, knock.

Saya bit her lip, grabbed the thick black-framed glasses beside her pillow, and crawled over to the other futon, where the curly-haired Yuri was still sound asleep. She shakily reached out and shook her by the shoulder, voice trembling as she whispered, “Yuri! Yuri, wake up!”

Yuri’s eyelashes fluttered as she groggily opened her eyes, clearly still half-asleep. She squinted up at Saya and murmured, “What’s wrong…”

“Don’t sleep anymore! Ryouko… Ryouko’s acting weird!” Saya urged, flustered.

“Mm,” Yuri smacked her lips and rubbed her face, forcing herself to sit up. Her expression was still foggy with sleep, mixed with a bit of confusion. “What do you mean? Acting weird?”

Without explaining, Saya grabbed Yuri’s hand and pulled her along.

Yuri, puzzled but curious, followed her. She noticed right away that Ryouko’s futon was empty, and grew even more curious about what Saya meant by “acting weird.”

The two of them crept to the door and peeked out into the hallway.

In the dim light, they saw Ryouko standing stiffly, mechanically knocking on the door across the hall.

If they remembered correctly… wasn’t that the room where those three oddly charming guys were staying?

Yuri’s face twisted into a strange expression. A girl sneaking off to knock on the room of three guys in the middle of the night? What kind of late-night drama twist was this?

But when she turned to look at Saya, she was shocked.

“You look awful! I mean, I know you really admire Ryouko and all, and maybe it’s a little upsetting that she’s knocking on some hot guy’s door, but come on, this is a bit much. I get that Ryouko’s always looked out for you, and she’s got that cool, tomboy charm, but you’re not seriously…”

“It’s not that—!” Saya didn’t even react to Yuri’s half-joking remark. Her lips trembled as she nearly burst into tears. “I think… I think Ryouko’s possessed by a ghost!”

…

Knock, knock, knock—

In a certain apartment in Chiyoda, Tokyo, a sudden knock at the door caught the attention of two girls curled up on the sofa watching a movie.

“Did… someone just knock?” Hoshino Rin tilted her head uncertainly toward the girl beside her, Asahina Kaoru, who was wearing matching pajamas. “Was that just me? Could it be your mom coming back?”

Kaoru furrowed her brows, equally puzzled. “I thought I heard it too… but that doesn’t make sense. If Mom was coming home, she would’ve called first. And it’s so late—plus, she has a key…”

She paused the movie with the remote and strained to listen.

Sure enough, the knocking came again. A clear and deliberate knock, knock, knock from the other side of the front door.

The two girls exchanged a glance.

Kaoru lifted the blanket they’d been sharing and slipped on her fuzzy slippers, heading toward the door to check the peephole.

Their apartment, like many in Tokyo, was in a high-rise. Though not as spacious as Rin’s place, the decor was warm and tasteful. Rin’s gaze followed Kaoru as she approached the door.

Kaoru leaned in close to the peephole.

Barely two seconds passed before she let out a piercing shriek, falling straight to the floor and scrambling back across the wood floor in a panic.

Rin jumped off the couch. “What happened, Kaoru?!”

“Rin… Rin-chan…” Kaoru’s face had gone ghostly pale, her finger trembling as she pointed toward the door. “There’s… there’s a ghost…”

Rin froze. For anyone else, hearing that might have sparked laughter or disbelief—maybe even suspicion that it was all a prank.

But Rin was different. She knew ghosts were real. She had seen them. More than once.

Her hands began to tremble slightly, but she managed to keep her voice steady. “C-calm down, Kaoru. Are you saying… there’s a ghost at the door?”

“It’s… it’s real!” Kaoru was near tears. Even so, she shook her head slightly, as though her rational mind still couldn’t accept it. “I don’t know if it’s a ghost, but… it’s an old woman with no eyes… her skin is deathly pale…”

Rin’s whole body broke out in goosebumps.

Just hearing that was enough to set her imagination spiraling.

Her first instinct was to call her older brother for help—but then she remembered: he wasn’t even in Tokyo right now.

Swallowing hard, she crept to the door herself and cautiously peeked through the peephole.

Just like Kaoru had described, there stood an old woman. Her eye sockets were empty black voids, her skin paper-white and mottled with what looked like corpse spots. And those hollow eye sockets…

They seemed to be staring directly at the peephole.

Rin gasped sharply and stumbled backward, dragging Kaoru with her as she bolted back to the living room, as far from the door as possible.

Frantically, she grabbed her phone from the couch and, hands shaking, called her brother.

As the dial tone rang in her ear, her mind was spinning in a panic.

This is bad. This is really, really bad.

There was really a ghost at the door!