Chapter 1

The body was lying there as no one dared to move it. Drenched in blood, and eyes wide open like he
had stared the “Shiriyo” right in his eyes. His mouth was open as if he was killed while he tried to
scream. But there were no screams. Only the sound of a heavy downpour in the middle of the
corrupt and malevolent forest where they had seen the violent deaths. As they were recovering
from the shock of their colleague lying dead in front of them, Hikari heard a whisper in her ears that
said, “The Snakes start to sing”. This made Hikari flinch and in the next second a ratchet sliced off
Satoshi’s arm and it fell off like the last leaf from a dead tree. Satoshi screamed in pain and Hikari
could do nothing but stare with fear at his left arm, which was still twitching, even when on the
ground.

In her mind there was only one thing going on <THIS MADNESS NEEDS TO STOP>. Basically, for the
past 17 hours Hikari saw nothing but blood and death of the people she loved and cared about. The
sudden flash of the image of all the things happening to her made her eyes roll out tears as she was
trying to stop the bleeding of her friend’s ripped hand.

She was devastated and scared when the Shiriyo appeared right in front of her. The tall, dark and
sinister figure that stood there like a stone sculpture who seemed to be looking at Hikari’s pathetic
situation. She looked at the Shiriyo, he seemed to have holding a gun pointed at them. Hikari was
afraid but her frustration exceeded her fear and she screamed out;

“Why are you doing this to us? What have we done to you?”

To which the shadow replied;

“Oh You’ll have enough time to think about what you had done in the other world.”

And he pulled the trigger.

Chapter 2

The alarm was ringing in her phone on the bedside table at 6:00am. She got up and out of the bed
and stopped the annoying siren that made the firefighters’ alarm sound like a wind-chime. First thing
she likes to do in the morning is take a deep breath out in her balcony and get a positive vibe to start
her day. Hikari Koryo, a self-supporting adult who lives in Shibuya ward of Tokyo in her tiny little 60
square meter apartment. The exuberant, colourful yet subtly introverted kind of girl was finally up
and was ready to start her day.

Tea was an important part of her daily routine, so she turned on the tea-brewing kettle before
entering the shower. Hikari entered the bathroom and stared into the mirror above the wash-basin
looking into the reflection of a girl with brown eyes hidden under the butterfly rimmed spectacles, a
pointy nose, and silky dark brown hair that extended a little over shoulder length and with bangs
that covered the edge of the left eye. She had this habit of biting her mutedly pink lips. She slipped
out of her pink one-piece pyjama as she exposed her baby-like skin which glowed and ran flawlessly
all over her perfectly toned body. Her matured D cupped breasts had strawberry like succulent
nipples and her 30 sized waist was just perfectly in sync with her 24 sized toned stomach and
abdomen. Her peach butt gave her the voluptuous look that she had. Her legs went for miles and her
hairless body made her more captivating. Epitome of physical beauty.
She entered the shower and turned on the hot water.

She got out of the shower and got dressed for her job, she made and had her breakfast and she left
her house by 7:00 am. It was a 45-minute train ride from her place to RAITO, the place she was
doing her research program for her Ph.D. degree in philanthropy.

Chapter 3
*SMACK*
“You were given a choice between the library or the internet and you chose internet, so you better
work Takahashi! I need every last detail about the folklores.”

“Alright, alright. It’s not like I’m not working at all. I was just checking my emails.” Said the 23-year-
old assistant researcher and Hikari’s colleague, Satoshi Mitsuko.

Dark hair and big eyes with a child-like cut to his face, pointy nose and Dark Brown iris. His stout and
lean body with an athletic cut to it was a proof of his zeal as a basketball player in high-school.
Although his love for the sport was immense, studying about different cultures excited him more
than anything in the world. He loved the idea of people and their different cultures and how human
psychology worked.

“Ah Hikari, good morning!” said the dapper from the cubical behind Satoshi’s.

“Good morning Mr. Mokuzai!” Hikari replied.

Mr Takeshi Mokuzai, 43 years old and the leading researcher for the paper for folklore based
instances in the human life. The clean and formal looking gentle man with a tall and heavy body
structure and partly silver hairs. He was Hikari’s and satoshi’s mentor and head professor for the
department of philanthropy at Raito University. He wasn’t that scary but the thing that gave him an
edgy look was his beard.

The three of them were researching on women having given supernatural prowess in folklores of
ancient cultures. Hikari took her seat in the cubical next to satoshi’s and resumed her work that she
left of the other day.