Psychic Detective Yakumo / Shinrei Tantei Yakumo

ANOTHER FILES - the coffin of prayer

File 01 - The Cursed Spring

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Sachiko ran -

With only the moonlight as her aid, she made her way through the dark, thick trees and grass, pushing away branches and panting as she ran frantically.

Just earlier she had seen the back of the man running in front of her, but now, she could not find him anywhere.

It seemed like she had completely be left behind.

She didn't even know where she was running towards now.

Still, she couldn't stop. If her feet stopped, she would be caught at once.

- I shouldn't have come here.

Along with her strong regret, the spring she had seen earlier formed a vivid image in her mind. A spring on high ground, surrounded by the forest.

- Let's watch the meteor shower.

She couldn't remember exactly who had said it, but Sachiko herself had thought that a photo of the meteor shower reflected on the surface of the spring would have been beautiful.

And then they had gone to that spring.

At first it had been fun. Everyone had been excited when somebody had said, as they were waiting for the meteor shower -

'I hear something.'

When Sachiko strained her eyes, she did hear something.

She hadn't known what it was at first. It sounded like the branches rustling and the sound of insects.

'Do you know the legend about this spring?'

Sachiko started talking about the legend she had heard before about this spring. She had meant it as a joke.

She could still hear the sound as she talked. It got louder and louder, and then finally, somebody said -

'This is a song.'

Those words made everything turn cold.

Sachiko held her breath and looked around.

There was nobody here besides them, and yet she could hear it. Sachiko could no longer hear anything besides the song.

Sachiko suddenly felt something and looked towards the spring. Then, she saw something bubbling up from the spring, which reflected the moon on its surface.

As the water rushed up, a black shadow appeared.

A woman -

There was panic. Sachiko couldn't remember exactly what happened. She ran, screaming.

The singing voice came down from the sky.

The voice which echoed uncannily through Sachiko's head made her tremble.

'Stop it already! What is this!?' screamed Sachiko.

However, the song continued to echo in her ears regardless.

I need to get out of her right now - despite that urgent thought, Sachiko tripped on a tree root and fell forward.

She used the tree trunk as support to stand up, but then a shocking pain ran through her ankle. It seemed she had twisted it when she fell.

As if to mock Sachiko for that, the song followed her.

'Stop!'

Sachiko covered her ears with her hands and shut her eyes tightly as she screamed as loud as she could. Then, the wind rose up, as if her scream had caused it, and made the branches rustle loudly.