KINKI (近畿地方のある場所について)

Hey, did you hear about this?

Like some weird video just randomly starts playing on your phone?

- Oh yeah, I read about it! - Right, it was all over the internet.

Some female figure outside the window...

Urban legend: The Peeping Woman

And you hear footsteps following closely behind you...

Have you heard about the urban legend where this creepy video appears on your karaoke screen in late into the night? A bunch of people all in a row... Strange visual appears on the karaoke screen

You see this row of people...

And then a woman appears on the TV screen, raising her hand or something.

Haven't heard about this.

Urban legend: Dead three days later...

And if you read that manga, you'll be dead three days later.

There's this like blurry figure under the light...

So cursed to death, apparently.

Umm...

My friend has gone missing.

If you have any information of his whereabouts, please contact me.

His name is...

Have a good night, Sayama-san.

Thanks for working late again.

I'll see you tomorrow.

Let's go for drinks next time.

I'll pass.

Pfft.

Hey, that's alcohol and sexual harassment you know.

Ozawa, you should head home too.

You still have plenty of time before the deadline.

Alright then. I'm off.

Sayama-san.

What feature has you cooped up in the basement all by yourself?

Eh?

Keeping it a secret for now.

Oh, I'll say this though...

I'm really on a roll here.

Well, that's nice for a change.

Just wait till you read it.

Ooii~

About a Place

in the Kinki Region

Bunei Publishing House

Ozawa-kun.

Chihiro-san!

Hey, hey.

Sorry for making you come all this way.

It's been ages since we've met in person.

So, what's this important assignment that you couldn't discuss over phone?

It's for Beyond the Supernatural magazine, isn't it?

That's right, Beyond Super.

I'll explain it to you in the basement archives, follow me.

Okay, right behind you!

The thing is...

Our editor-in-chief, Sayama-san, has gone missing.

Wait, what?

When?

Last week, both he and his wife.

And all the working drafts for the special feature he was working on solo,

disappeared along with him.

Wow...

Ah, so you want me to work on that special feature?

Yeah.

Management has told me...

Either hunt down Sayama-san and retrieve all the working drafts...

Or use the source materials we have to quickly pull together the special feature.

Is this one of those offers I can’t turn down?

Ozawa-kun, aren't you overreacting?

Ah, sorry.

The police decided there is no indication of foul play

and won't investigate any further.

So I kinda panicked.

Well, that's the police for ya.

So are there no drafts to refer to at all?

Ah, you know Sayama-san...

He likes using his own laptop for work.

That's gone, so I don't even know what the feature is about.

All that we have are a bunch of materials he's gathered and kept in the basement.

What?

You need to at least tell me what the feature is about!

Sorry.

This way.

So when's the deadline?

If the manuscript can be ready by next week, we might just pull it off.

What? The feature is 25 pages, right?

That's really pushing it...

Management has said that if we don't clean this mess up...

They're going to shut down Beyond the Supernatural.

Thanks for helping us out!

Wow...

I didn't know of this place.

Yeah, the archives.

Though hardly anyone ever comes down here.

It smells mouldy.

Yeah, it does.

Well, this is it.

These are all the materials that Sayama-san was using for the feature.

So you should be able to figure out the theme for this feature, right?

Well, I flipped through the notes and printed materials.

The information is really all over the place.

Good episode: Yamashina Keiko-chan Kuramoto Junior High: summer camp

20th January 1985: @ 6min 21 sec 9th March 2002: @ 9min

What was Sayama-san planning with all this material?

Shall we watch this?

Sure.

The Disappearance of Keiko-chan - one year has passed - modern day spirited away

Bizarre new testimony The mystery deepens!!

Murokawa, Shiga Prefecture

Last February,

Yamashina Keiko-chan of Shiga Prefecture,

then age 7,

was on her way home from school.

After parting ways with her friend just 40 metres from her home.

She disappeared without a trace.

The home of Yamashina Keiko-chan

It was as if she'd been spirited away by the gods.

Went missing last February Yamashina Keiko-chan (then age 7)

Then inexplicably, three months later,

Keiko-chan's uncle, who lived nearby,

was reportedly seen jumping into the dam.

Keiko-chan's uncle Yamashina Keizo-san (then age 53)

His body was later found.

There was no suicide note.

Even the family were at a loss as to why.

The police ruled it a suicide.

Thereafter, strange new eyewitness accounts have surfaced near the dam.

Takemoto Yoshinori Spotted a young girl in the middle of the night

It was about... three a.m. in the middle of the night...

I was driving my truck here,

I was coming from where the dam is over there.

At the time, well... over there...

There, do you see the tree standing there?

Somewhere between the tree and the white pole there...

A girl with a red backpack was standing there, with her back to me.

I was worried and stopped my truck, wound down my window,

and I yelled to ask her if everything's okay.

Then she suddenly whipped around...

You know, her eyes were completely black.

Pitch black.

Like they were just holes.

Holes?

I was spooked, I tell ya.

It was right here, she just quickly scampered off.

The mountain was pitch black...

And...

The kid looked like she might be Keiko-chan, the missing girl.

Play

Good evening.

Everyone, the camera's here! The camera's here!

Yes, this way, look this way.

Come this way with me.

Quick! Hurry, hurry!

Wai-- what? Oy!

Hey, hey! H-hang on a minute...

Hey!

This way, here!

Wai--.. what is it?

Eh?

Can you hear the voice?

The voice?

I don't hear anything.

Ooooiii~~...

I heard that!

Huh... what?

Ooooiii~~...

Hey, don't!

Ooooiii~~...

It's speaking again! It's saying something!

Does it sound like it's coming closer?

Hey everyone, it might just be some weirdo.

- A pervert! - Hey, what do you want?

Hey, don't!

Why don't you come to the mountain?

The mountain?

Don't engage!

Will something good happen if we go?

Hey, stop it, seriously.

I have persimmons for you!

Persimmons. They have persimmons!

Rika, what's wrong? Rika!

Someone! Call the teacher!

Teacher!

- Rika! Rika!! - Teacher!

Hey, are you alright? Are... you alright? Hey? Hey?

Teacher, teacher... She collapsed suddenly!

I see something!

Everyone, calm down! Calm down!

Calm down, everyone!

Everyone, calm down. It's alright.

Calm down, everyone.

This incident at the junior high summer camp...

It's really well known.

I'd heard there was video, but it was never made public.

Is that so?

Here, look.

Mass Hysteria at Summer Camp - Kuaramoto Junior High closed

Eh?

You mean that footage was real?

There's no connection to the prior news footage either.

I wonder just what Sayama-san had in mind.

Hmm...

I bet if we keep looking, we'll be able to connect everything together.

Yeah, you're right.