Chapter 22: The Bridal Gown
Iwanaga Kotoko had lost.
At least, that was how it felt in her heart.
From the moment Ogiso Setsuna stepped into the White Fox Office, Kotoko had been making comparisons with the grim seriousness of someone standing before a life or death enemy. Height, figure, temperament, face, presence, all of it.
The result was devastating.
No matter how she looked at it, she was being crushed into complete worthlessness.
And the worst part was that this was not some ordinary pretty girl. This was Ogiso Setsuna, the Houjou University Attached High School idol, the legendary songstress who had won the school title two years in a row, the girl admired by countless students.
In this category, there was not even room for comparison.
To be brutally honest, Kotoko and Kasugano Sora combined might not have been enough to match Setsuna's curves.
That realization made her mood sink even further.
"Class Rep, you didn't come all the way here just to catch up."
Sitting behind the desk, Gin Tsumugi looked at Ogiso Setsuna and spoke in a calm, straightforward tone.
The moment he said that, Setsuna's delicate body stiffened.
A trace of fear surfaced in her eyes.
Kasugano Sora, standing quietly nearby, recognized that expression immediately. She knew that kind of fear very well. Ignorant fear. Helpless fear. The kind that came from sensing disaster without knowing where it would strike from next. The kind that left a person unable to do anything except curl up and pray for someone to save them.
"As expected, I really can't hide it from you."
Setsuna let out a small, uneasy breath, but there was also relief in it.
"And that also proves I came to the right place."
From the moment she entered the office, Gin had already sensed the abnormality clinging to her. It was hidden extremely well, subtle enough that most onmyoji might have missed it entirely.
But under his current, greatly heightened spiritual sight, it stood out as clearly as an open flame in darkness.
Setsuna's eyes met his.
"And... just call me Setsuna," she said softly. "Calling me Class Rep sounds too distant."
Gin nodded without objection.
"All right, Setsuna."
Then his expression turned businesslike again.
"Are you here at the White Fox Office for a consultation, or to commission a formal investigation?" He paused, then added, "If it's only a consultation, I can waive the fee, considering we're old classmates."
"Thank you, Gin."
Setsuna's voice softened slightly, but the fear in it remained.
"But I'd like you to help me solve whatever is happening to me." She clasped her hands tighter around her schoolbag. "And I won't be stingy with the payment."
"Kotoko."
Gin called her name.
Kotoko instantly straightened, pushing down her personal resentment and slipping into work mode.
"Yes."
She pulled out the record materials and pen she always used, then looked at Setsuna.
"Then start from the beginning. Tell us in detail what's been happening to you." Her tone became serious. "Especially this mark the Director mentioned."
"Mark?"
Setsuna looked confused.
Gin explained before Kotoko could.
"You've been marked by some kind of supernatural existence. The aura is extremely well concealed, but if someone looks carefully enough, it's there."
Setsuna's fingers tightened unconsciously.
Gin continued, "Marks like that are common in certain supernatural incidents. In the eyes of Yokai, it usually means one thing. Food that has already been claimed."
Sora flinched slightly at the phrasing.
Gin did not soften it.
"Because of that, other yokai usually won't touch it."
Setsuna went pale.
Food that had already been claimed...
The phrase alone was enough to make her stomach turn.
Yet the more she thought about what had happened to her lately, the more perfectly it fit. She had gone to one supernatural office after another before coming here, and not one of them had found anything wrong. They all insisted she was merely under stress, or that the strange things she had experienced were hallucinations.
Only she knew they were real.
And only Gin had seen through it at a glance.
That alone was enough to make her understand she had finally found the right place.
At that moment, Sora quietly stepped forward and placed a cup of freshly brewed coffee in front of Setsuna.
"Please."
Setsuna took it with both hands.
"Thank you."
The warmth of the cup steadied her slightly.
She lowered her gaze into the dark surface of the coffee for a few seconds, then slowly began.
"To be precise, everything started three months ago. At Houjou University Attached High School."
Both Gin and Kotoko were caught off guard by that.
Three months.
That was longer than either of them had expected.
For something like this to have been dragging on that long, in a famous school so close by, without any rumor properly reaching them, could only mean one thing.
The school had intentionally suppressed the matter.
Which made sense.
An elite academy like Houjou University Attached would place enormous value on its reputation. If the outside world learned that a supernatural incident had broken out on campus, it would deal a major blow to its image, its future admissions, and everything tied to that prestige.
Setsuna continued, her voice growing quieter as the memory resurfaced.
"It started in the abandoned park area of the school. One day, a wishing tree suddenly appeared there out of nowhere."
Her fingers trembled slightly around the cup.
"It was covered in red ribbons. Marriage ribbons. Blessings for love, for relationships, for happy unions. It was just... there. No one knew who had put it there."
"At first, the teachers and the students were all confused. The whole thing felt strange, unsettling. Because of how suddenly it appeared, the school worried it might be connected to something supernatural and immediately contacted the Onmyo Agency."
She swallowed.
"The onmyoji came, investigated, and said nothing unusual could be found. No active yokai, no curse source, nothing. All they concluded was that the tree itself was extremely old, possibly several hundred years old."
Kotoko's expression shifted slightly.
"And then everyone relaxed," she said flatly.
Setsuna gave a bitter nod.
"Yes. The school convinced itself it was some stupid prank by one of the investors. We've had incidents like that before. Some rich backer trying to be clever, causing a scene, then losing the nerve to admit it. Since there was already precedent, most people accepted that explanation."
Her eyes dimmed.
"And after that... the real horror began."
The abandoned park area, which had been ignored for years, became popular almost overnight. Students started visiting the tree. Couples hung prayer plaques there. So did students hoping to find love. The place went from forgotten to crowded in only a few days.
"During that time," Setsuna said, "someone claimed they saw dead people hanging from the tree."
Her voice dropped further.
"Brides. Wearing bridal gowns. Smiling in a way that made their faces look completely wrong."
Kotoko stopped writing for a moment.
Gin remained silent.
"At the time, no one believed them," Setsuna said. "Everyone thought it was just a student having some kind of panic attack, or maybe trying to get attention. No one took it seriously."
She stared into her coffee again.
"And then something strange happened. Everyone who hung a prayer plaque on the tree started seeing obvious progress in their love lives over the next few days."
That made the tree even more popular.
Any hesitation the students had felt disappeared.
Then the deaths started.
"One girl committed suicide," Setsuna said, her voice tightening. "She was found hanging from the wishing tree early in the morning."
Sora's face tensed.
"She was wearing a bridal gown," Setsuna continued, "and she had the same smile. That same eerie smile."
At that point, the earlier story about seeing hanging brides no longer sounded crazy.
Fear finally began spreading through the academy.
"And some people noticed something else," she said. "The bridal gown wasn't modern. It was a Heian period junihitoe. Even the makeup looked old, like something from the Heian era."
Her expression grew even paler.
"But that wasn't the end. After that, it kept happening. One death every day. Every single one of them was found hanging from the tree in a bridal gown, smiling like that."
Now the school could no longer hide behind denial.
Panic spread.
The administration hurriedly contacted the Onmyo Agency again. This time, the Agency uprooted the wishing tree entirely. After that, the deaths stopped, and everything seemed to return to normal.
On the surface, the incident was over.
But Gin already knew it could not be that simple.
Otherwise Setsuna would never have come here.
Sure enough, she continued.
"Things stayed quiet for more than a month. Everyone thought it was finally over."
Her voice trembled.
"Then, about a week ago, the wishing tree came back."
Kotoko looked up.
"In the same place?"
Setsuna slowly shook her head.
"No."
She hugged herself as if cold.
"It came back in our dreams."
That answer made even Kotoko go still.
Dreams?
This was not like Kasugano Sora's case.
Sora's incident had involved fear, distortion, and manipulation of mental perception. But this... this was different. This was direct intrusion into dreams. And not just one person's dreams, either.
Gin's gaze sharpened.
"Explain this part carefully."
Setsuna nodded.
"For the past week, I've been having the same dream every night." She took a shaky breath. "I'm in a remote village. Completely isolated. Everything feels wrong. Distorted. But everyone there is acting like it's a wedding day."
Her grip tightened further.
"I'm wearing a bridal gown. The villagers are smiling and congratulating me. My parents are there too, but their faces..." Her voice faltered. "They look like they're in pain. And relieved. Both at the same time."
The room was silent except for her voice.
"The wedding procession always leads to the wishing tree."
She swallowed hard.
"And that's when I see it. The red ribbons hanging from the branches... they're gone. In their place are brides. Dozens of them. Hanging there in bridal gowns."
Setsuna's lips trembled.
"The same dress I'm wearing."
Sora unconsciously took a step closer to Gin.
"That's when I realize what the dream really means," Setsuna whispered. "The wedding isn't a wedding at all. It ends with me being hanged from that tree too."
Her eyes were full of dread now.
"I tried to run. Once, in the dream, I turned and ran as hard as I could, trying to escape the ceremony. But the villagers changed." Her voice shook. "All of them. They stopped looking human. They became... things. Hideous. Twisted. And they came after me."
Now even Kotoko's brows were tightly drawn.
"Ever since the dreams started, students from Houjou University Attached High School have begun disappearing." Setsuna's voice had gone very soft by now. "One after another."
She lifted her head.
"And I've seen all of them in my dreams. Every one of them. Hanging from that tree in bridal gowns."
The words seemed to chill the room.
A terrible certainty had already taken hold inside her.
"I know it won't be long before it's my turn."
At last, Setsuna finished.
The office fell into complete silence.
Gin sat still, his brow furrowed tightly.
This case was more troublesome than he had initially thought.
Far more troublesome.
Because for the first time in a while, even he could not immediately see where to begin.
.....
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