Dark forest trees stand like crooked teeth. A muddy path cuts through the woods, winding toward an old shrine. Yuto Azami, a brooding high school boy who avoids crowds, leads the way. By now, adventure isn’t a thrill for him. It’s a burden. He’s searching. But for what, really? ‘Why am I running out here for legends?’ he whispers. Kumiko, short-tempered but fearless, gives him a glare. ‘Because you owe me. And because you’re the only one who’ll notice things everyone else is too scared for,’ she bites out.
Mika, their quiet classmate, wants to leave at once. ‘These things in the news make me sick. Look, let’s just go back.’ Her fingers twist the flashlight, its thin beam touching moss. But Yuto stops. He turns, eyes scanning the brush. There’s nothing. Not yet. And he’s always believed these woods are hiding scars and secrets—ones not sent by ghosts, but made by someone in the world. A dark, hard world. Are you curious what kind of secrets ancient woods can hide?
Data from the town archives pointed to the shrine once used in desperate weather rituals, then left to fall. Friends criticized Yuto’s choices in his search for these lost truths. ‘If you chase stories, sometimes the stories chase you,’ his uncle warned, half-joking. Now, the air prickles with fog. Mika grabs Kumiko’s hand. Silent shapes perch on branches—owls, maybe. Or something not so easy to name.
Suddenly, a yelp: something slips across the path. Fast, pale under the moonlight. Kumiko gasps. Yuto snatches his friend behind him. Everyone freezes. Mika’s breath hitches; Yuto can hear it just at his shoulder. Low voices mix with drifting silence. ‘Did you see it? Was that an animal?’ Kumiko asks. Yuto doesn’t answer—his spine stiffens, heart ramming. He feels hunted. The path is all around them now, nothing clear to tell left from right. Have you ever felt watched when you were sure nobody was there?
Mika sobs out, ‘Please, Yuto. Please go home now!’ Her tone cracks, pure panic. But he shakes his head and quietly replies. ‘It’s close. Something’s trying to stop us—even if it’s not real. I’m not afraid anymore. I need to see.’ The three press on, passing deeper into wild thicket and gloom. It’s nothing like the city. Kumiko smacks branches away in growing anger. At an old gate, snapping twigs echo.
The shrine appears without warning. Ancient statues wear scratches. Ropes hang broken by wind. Yuto raises his faint lantern and picks out tracks in the mud—too big to be wolves. Kumiko kneels, pulse racing, to examine them closer. Mika hides by the torii, shaking. Some deeper instinct stirs. The shrine wall pulses. Shrieks break out behind them. Shadow twists. Plaster splits away. Something waits inside the stones, writhing with a flurry of claws and mouths. Its form keeps shifting, refusing to hold a normal shape even for a second. Eyes open in patches across its skin, wet and bright. ‘Go!’ screams Kumiko. All three run, slipping. One eyeless head lashes out and clips Yuto’s jacket, tearing the sleeve. It feels cold—numb, unheard by the world.
Breathless, they stop safe at the river bank, only then realizing how close they came. Kumiko turns to Yuto. ‘Explain. You said it would only be small animals here!’ He stays quiet, gazing at the deep woods. His anger and guilt show in the tense set of his jaw. Nobody says a word for a long time.
Back at school, the next day, Shota—the new biology teacher—finds deep claw marks on Yuto’s jacket. And after class, a note in Mika’s bag reads, “WHAT YOU SAW IS ONLY THE FIRST.” It’s written in crimson, the handwriting strange, half-ink and half something thicker. Whose hand wrote it? Are warnings like that just threats—or a sign of something much bigger in the night? Memories of the monster burst back.
Late at night, Yuto can’t sleep. Unseen shapes keep moving behind the trees outside his window. Moonlight floods the walls. Fazed, he grips the edge of his bed. Next week is the school trip—inside those woods. Why is the air so cold, even in summer? Brush the what-ifs aside if you can. Yuto can’t. Neither can Kumiko or Mika, late calls and piercing questions haunting all three. How many truths can you stand to discover? Last scene: a monster’s red eye cracks open, deep beneath the ruined shrine, as the moon drowns in cloud.
To be continued…
