Chapter 3: Why Won’t You Praise Me?

The candle prepared for Hyakumonogatari, placed on the table, faintly illuminated Yuka and Sayuri’s faces.
The lantern was already extinguished, and the tablet’s screen was glowing dimly.

“We’re going to finish all the way up to the ninety-eighth story in one go.”

When Yuka operated the tablet, the video appeared on the streaming screen.

—Five minutes later.

“Okay, ninety-eight.”

With a soft poof sound, the thick candle was blown out.

Even while the video was playing, the comment section had been restless.

“Why at the same time?”
“How am I supposed to hear that!?”

Most of them were reactions of confusion or quips directed at the video.

“It was really hard, you know? I turned them all into a script, adjusted the speed, and…
I worked super hard on the editing!”

Yuka stared at the camera with a look that practically said, “Praise me!”

But the comments that came back were—
“You didn’t need to do all that.”
“You’re so unnecessarily hardworking it’s actually scary.”

Contrary to Yuka’s hope that her effort would be appreciated, the reactions were all somehow cold and dismissive.

“Come on! I worked so hard on it!”

After grumbling with a pout, she lifted her voice as if to reset her mood.

“Sayuri-chan! Tell a scary story! The kind that makes everyone too scared to go to the bathroom at night!”

Some of the viewers felt like throwing a quip at Yuka, but their anticipation for “a scary story told by a ghost” outweighed everything else.

“Hm… the kind that makes you too scared to go to the bathroom…”

Sayuri touched her finger to her lips, letting her gaze drift.
After thinking for a moment, she turned back toward the camera and slowly began to speak.