Chapter 02 - Yamikumo Apartment

My name is Asami. I am a 22-year-old girl aspiring to become an actress. I recently moved to Tokyo - to be clear, I moved about five months ago - and I am still struggling to get used to the new environment. I currently live in a small, rented-out old apartment that has three stories, and I live on the top floor.

I work in a small restaurant in the city as a waitress while seeking out work in the film industry. I also have a friend who works in the same restaurant as me, and she recommended that I install Discord. It has been almost 4.5 months since I installed it, and I have been using it ever since. One of the servers is my favorite, and I have been using it for almost four months now. The people there are supportive and nice.

I haven't met any of the staff there, though. Probably, they are all retired now, but the server is still active, which is quite unusual. One week ago, Kugo (this is Kurogami's Discord username) also went inactive on Discord. I am not sure, but he might be busy with his work.

Would you believe that there is a rumor that no one can stay for more than 5 months on that server? This is probably the funniest thing I have ever heard. I have been using Discord for almost 4.5 months now, and I am still active. I am pretty much sure that I won't leave anytime soon.

1 fortnight later

I just got free from my evening shift. I will probably eat something at the restaurant because today I am too tired to cook something at home. I sighed happily as I finally got the audition for a movie. It's tomorrow and I am so excited about it. Will I be even able to sleep tonight?

My order finally arrived which is a bowl of ramen. It looks so delicious and I gulped it down in almost no time. I left the restaurant and now was heading for my house.

I finally reached it within 30 minutes and it was now 10:00 pm. I entered the main gate of the apartment and started climbing the stairs. I was so tired and happy that I didn't even realized that I was on the fourth floor and not on the third floor. I realized this when I saw floor sign which indicated it's "4" and not three.

I went down the stairs to check the floor number, but it was the 4th floor again and I was confused. I went to the top floor and it was the same floor. I was not able to grasp what was happening around me.

How in the world does this building have a fourth floor when it only had three floors until this morning? I had no choice but to move forward and enter the corridor. To be honest, I was scared at this point. It was already very late at night.

This floor also had the same layout as the others, with doors on both sides of the walls. The landlady of this apartment is an orthodox lady, so she skipped room number 4 in the building as it is considered taboo and is associated with death.

I am sweating as I say this, but every room on this floor is room number 4. I ran through all of the doors until the end, and none of the doors were opening. I even tried calling out to people, but I got no response. I took out my phone to call Chiho, and there was one notification from Discord. While I was unlocking my phone, it said 'Welcome to Abandoned Sanatorium.' I panicked, so I swiped out the notification and tried calling Chiho, but eventually, the automated voice said, 'The person you are calling is out of the service area.'

Then, I suddenly heard footsteps. Someone was climbing the stairs as fast as they could, and I was at the other end. I was just there, trying to make no noise at all. The person who climbed the stairs was a young boy, hardly 16 years old. As soon as he reached the corridor, he opened the first door and entered it. I was about to move to see if I could go into that room or not. I moved past the last door, but then the last right door opened by itself. I turned back to see what it was, and it was the head of the same boy, rolled out in front of my eyes. He was smiling with a creepy look.

My heart was beating so fast that I could not think straight and I was just standing there. I heard the sound of approaching footsteps once again, and as before, the boy entered the room and closed the door behind him. This time, the head came out of the left side, and now I knew what was going to happen. It continued until the heads came out of all 20 doors, and I was just standing there. The floor was now covered with blood.

I wanted to scream, but even my voice was not coming. Then I collapsed on the floor, and tears started coming out of my eyes. Suddenly, the floor started moving towards the first room. I knew what would happen if I went into that room. I somehow stood up and started running in the opposite direction, but it was not enough as I was still getting closer to it, no matter how fast I ran. I was now just 15 cm away from the door, and the floor stopped.

I was relieved at this point, but then a drumming sound started from somewhere. I couldn't tell where it was coming from, but it was getting louder and louder, and I couldn't bear it at all. I covered my ears with my hands, but that didn't help. At that point, a notification came, but I couldn't check it, so I let it be.

NEWS(6th July, 2022): Police are investigating the disappearance of a resident of Yamikumo apartment. Asami, age 22 was last seen on 2nd July,2022. Large traces of blood were found in her apartment but no body was found.Further investigation is underway.