Why is my Isekai in the Slice of Life anime was become a Horror Story?

Interlude 1-05: A Meeting of Three and a Date for Two

Shijo Maki lifted her head, looking out onto the street beyond the café window.

Lowering her gaze, she lightly tapped her feet on the ground twice, shifted in mild discomfort, then raised her head to look outside again.

"So slow. That guy is way too slow."

Finally, the girl couldn't hold back and complained.

"We still have thirty minutes until the meeting time, and you've already said that five times."

Kaguya, seated next to Maki, glanced at her and spoke coldly.

"Even so, he's way too late. We came forty minutes early, after all."

Shijo Maki slumped her head onto the table, emitting a disgruntled "hmph hmph." Then, propping her chin up with one hand, she lifted her head again, her expression clearly showing annoyance as she mumbled.

"…It seems like you're really drawn to him, Maki-san."

Kaguya's expression became somewhat amused.

"Who's drawn to that guy? The one who only ever thinks about pushing himself further away, with no charm at all—I couldn't care less."

The girl sipped her coffee, speaking in irritation.

"Really? Saying that hurts my feelings."

A voice sounded from behind at that moment.

Shijo Maki was slightly startled, then quickly realized what had happened. She turned her head hurriedly, her gaze locking onto Takakai as he approached from behind.

From his hairstyle to his attire, everything was completely different from the day before.

Although his demeanor was as dull as ever, his appearance clearly showed that he had taken her advice and put more effort into taking care of himself.

Seeing Takakai like this, Shijo Maki's mood improved significantly.

"You're so late. If you're meeting a girl, you should arrive earlier."

Though her mood had lifted, Shijo Maki didn't show her happiness outwardly, instead glaring at Takakai before sitting further in and pulling up the curtain to block the incoming light.

This was a small room on the second floor of the café. Many people came here for chats or work, seeking a quiet and comfortable space.

Maki and Kaguya had chosen this spot to ensure privacy and avoid being eavesdropped on.

"Let's get down to business. There are quite a few matters we need to discuss this time."

After pulling the curtain, Shijo Maki's expression immediately turned serious.

Knowing that what they were about to discuss was important, Takakai sat beside Maki and nodded solemnly, setting aside his earlier playful demeanor.

"Alright then, I'll start. Regarding the sacrificial game and information related to the players, I've gathered some intel in my own way."

Kaguya spoke after taking a sip of coffee.

"The existence of players—or rather, the existence of a large-scale group of players—has persisted for at least two years."

"I didn't investigate the players directly but instead tried using Obsession. After discovering that Obsession could be utilized in the real world, I asked my assistant to look into some of the recent unsolvable and peculiar death cases in Japan. The result was that, starting two years ago, the frequency of such cases began to skyrocket, with nearly every region in Japan experiencing them."

"Moreover, the outbreak frequency of these incidents has been increasing in the past six months. But the strange thing is, there's almost no discussion about them anywhere. If I hadn't specifically asked someone to search, I never would've believed that just this month, Tokyo alone had 85 murders, and last year's total exceeded 80,000 cases. With incidents this serious and widespread, the police department alone couldn't possibly cover it all up. Yet the reality is that no one seems to know about these events, as if they happened just for the sake of happening."

As Kaguya spoke, she placed several printed documents on the table.

Takakai flipped through some of them. The documents detailed cases such as a family of three being decapitated, only for the investigation to reveal that after being beheaded, they had walked to the living room and sat around the table to celebrate a birthday, their throats stuffed with cake.

Or a man living alone who had called a girl for service late at night, only to wake up in the morning to find a blood-soaked human skin in the bed. Forensics determined that the skin had been flayed the previous evening.

There was even a case of cries for help heard from a sewer pipe, which, upon being opened, revealed a tightly coiled human body, determined to have crawled through several dozen meters of piping before dying when the pipe was opened.

The cases completely defy common sense, to the point of being impossible in the real world.

None of the cases have been solved.

None of the cases have drawn attention, and almost no one discusses them. There are no discussions on public platforms or underground forums about these incidents. Even though Kaguya's assistant easily infiltrated the police department's system and retrieved documents proving they weren't classified as top-secret, no one seemed to care about these terrifying events, as if people were deliberately ignoring them.

"My assistant… also behaved very strangely regarding these matters."

Taking a deep breath, Kaguya's voice began to tremble.

"When she first discovered these documents, she felt the same as I did—that these events were entirely illogical. She couldn't understand why these things happened or why there was no reaction from people afterward."

"But just half an hour after handing me the documents, when I went to ask her more about it, she no longer remembered what she had done. No, more accurately, she remembered but suddenly became indifferent. It was as if some force, some invisible power, erased these matters from her perception, making it impossible for her to pay attention to them no matter what. Even when I reminded her, she was very slow to respond. Unless she was directly looking at the documents, within half an hour, she would revert to her previous state."

Kaguya paused, took a sip of coffee, and her expression became complicated.

"After noticing this anomaly, I conducted further experiments."

"I used a blood puppet to lock one of the servants in the mansion, causing chaos throughout the household."

"But when I retrieved the blood puppet, about three to four hours later, everyone had forgotten what had happened. The mansion returned to normal, as if nothing had occurred. Even the person who was attacked was only slightly more frightened than the others for about half an hour, then completely returned to normal."

Finally, Kaguya sighed, set her coffee cup down, and concluded in a low voice:

"I think only players can remember these events—things that go beyond normal human perception. The abnormal can only be known and remembered by players."

"Like two islands separated from each other. Ordinary people are on one island, and we're on another. This separation is essentially one-way because we can know everything ordinary people do, but they can't comprehend the world we see."

From the expression on Kaguya's face, it was clear that this discovery had deeply shocked her, perhaps even more than the life-threatening danger she faced at the Shirakawa apartment.

Takakai immediately thought of Maeda Miwa.

That woman had died gruesomely in a hotel. As a player, her death had been reported by the media. What did this mean?

Was the perpetrator an ordinary person? Or was the killer someone who didn't use any supernatural powers?

He checked his phone and confirmed that news about her death could still be found.

This realization made Takakai feel an unsettling sense of caution.

"That's about all oba-sama's investigation revealed. Now it's my turn. I've discovered a gathering place for players. At least for now, it appears to be a place where players arrange to meet. The time is three days from now, and the location is an underground shopping mall in an abandoned part of the old district."

Shijo Maki calmly sipped her coffee, ensuring Kaguya had nothing more to add before she slowly spoke and placed a photo on the table.

It was a picture of a TV screen showing a weather forecast advertisement. However, where the presenter should have been, the screen was instead filled with glaring red blood-like text, clearly stating the date, coordinates, and the word "market."

"This bloody text appears during the evening weather forecast. But aside from me, no one in my family can see it. To them, it's just a normal presenter. I think this information is being sent exclusively to players."

"There seems to be a group of players organizing through TV to communicate with other players, establishing a trading market. But the specifics of what's going on there are completely unclear. I think investigating it will require extreme caution. There might be some kind of trap."

After finishing, Shijo Maki took another sip of coffee, her expression becoming slightly more serious.

"Another matter, I believe someone from the Shijo family—or more accurately, the Shinomiya family—is secretly active as a player. When oba-sama returned from the game to the real world, she was alone in her room, so no one noticed her changing clothes. But in my case, many people saw it. As a result, last night, a guest from the Shinomiya family came to my house. That person seemed normal, but I noticed his shadow was strange, as if it belonged to two people."

"My parents rarely entertain members of the Shinomiya family, but they warmly welcomed him. Moreover, he seemed very interested in me, asking a lot of questions. Some were ordinary, like my academic performance or school life, but others were bizarre, like whether I felt mentally at ease, if my room felt cramped, or if I felt my body was brimming with energy. All these questions were strange. I suspect this might have been a kind of probing, so I pretended not to know anything and said the clothing issue was because I accidentally stained it in the activity room. But whether this response worked, I'm not sure."

Could there be a player secretly active in the Shinomiya family?

This information caused Kaguya to frown deeply.

"If we are to investigate the underground market, I fear I can't go myself. I'm under strict supervision and can't easily leave home, let alone go to such a suspicious place. In other words, if someone has to investigate, it can only be the two of you."

After a moment of thought, Kaguya sighed, looked at the two people in front of her, and slowly said:

"Understood. I'll go investigate with Kai-kun. By bringing along those Obsessions, I think we'll have some means of self-defense if we encounter danger. Not to mention anything else, but just the enhanced physique from my A-grade evaluation alone gives me the confidence to face enemies like the ones in the Shirakawa apartment last time."

Maki let out a small scoff, her face showing a faint trace of pride.

After finishing their exchange of information and Takakai retrieving the more difficult-to-carry Obsessions, the three left the private room.

Takakai noticed that the surrounding rooms were all empty and marked with signs reading "Reserved." He guessed this was likely the work of Maki or Kaguya to prevent eavesdropping.

What he thought would be an easier reality now seemed anything but simple.

Because of her family's strict supervision, Kaguya eventually left first, returning to her grand mansion.

As Kaguya departed, Maki seemed slightly uneasy, lightly stomping her feet as she alternated between looking up at the sky and down at the ground, refusing to speak first.

"By the way, want to take a walk and chat a bit? This might be the first time we're together without worrying about survival. Plus, your outfit looks great today."

Turning to the girl beside him, Takakai smiled. His gaze swept over Maki's simple dress. After a moment of thought, he gave her a thumbs-up and praised her.

"What a cliché way of complimenting someone. Instead of that, why don't you think about what we need to prepare before investigating the abandoned underground market? That place definitely isn't somewhere we can just walk into carelessly."

Maki shot Takakai a glance. Her tone was sharp, but the slight curve of her lips betrayed her improved mood.

"You're right. How about we check out some nearby stores and at least buy a few useful things? Like, maybe a flashlight?"

After some consideration, Takakai nodded and offered the suggestion.

"If that place really is a gathering spot for players, ordinary items without supernatural properties might not be much help. Still, it's good that you came up with some ideas. Let's take a look."

Maki gave a small nod, murmuring as if trying to convince herself.

She then began walking down the street.

"What are you standing there for? The great Shijo heiress is personally going shopping with you. Hurry up, baka!"

She turned around, glaring at Takakai with mock annoyance.

"Haha, understood, Oujou-sama."

Hearing her somewhat haughty tone, Takakai couldn't help but chuckle lightly, quickening his steps to walk beside Maki.