Chapter 1- Hell 

The Occult Club’s clubroom smelled like old paper and instant ramen.

Four people were staring at me.

Yuki the president, with her head in her head in her hands. Tanaka who only joined because he likes horror  movies. Sato, who is here because Yuki is here. And Mika, the first-year who thought Occult Club was Gardening Club.

I couldn't take it anymore.

I SLAMED both hands on the table. The pile of blurry printed photos jumped.

“YOU GUYS AREN'T LISTENING!”

Yuki sighed. “Amagi-Kun, we are listening. For the third time this week.”

No you're not! You think it's all made up! But I'm telling you, Yokai are real! They are NOT myths!

I grabbed a marker and started drawing on the whiteboard like a maniac. Two circles.

“Fear! Guilt!”

I circled them hard enough that the marker squeaked.

“Everyone thinks Yokai are from old stories, right? Foxes, long necks, whatever! Wrong! That's just what they LOOKED like back then! Because people back then were scared of foxes!”

I drew an arrow to a new circle. Wrote YOKAI in big letters.

“Now we're scared of different stuff! We're scared of failing tests! We're scared of being ghosted! We're scared of being left on read!”

“And then we feel guilty about it! ‘Ah it's my fault they hate me!’ That double feeling! plus guilt! When you feel both at the same time in the same place in the same place, it doesn't go away! It stays there! It sticks!

Tanaka raised his hand. “Like….mold?”

“YES! Like mold! But alive! If one person does it, it's small! Tiny! No one can see it! Only special people can! That's why no one believes us!”

I was breathing hard now. I pointed at the window , toward the small bridge behind the school.

“But if a HUNDRED people feel the same fear and the same guilt in the same spot? It gets BIG! Like the bridge! Urami-bashi! Everyone is scared to cross it at night! And everyone feels guilty about that girl last year! So there's something under it! Something huge!”

Silence

Mika whispered, "Isn't the Bridge just old…??”

“THATS WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO THINK!”

I slammed the table again. My photos scattered on the floor.

“And that's where sorcerers come in! They're real! They're not a forum creepypasta! They are people who can see them! They  kill the big ones and then people say ‘oh it was just a gas leak’ or ‘oh the student was stressed’! It's a cover up! It's always a cover up!”

Yuki finally looked up. “Amagi. Do you have any proof that isn't a blurry orb photo?”

I froze.

“I… I will! I don't have spiritual power yet! I know! You keep saying I have zero! But I KNOW they're real! I joined this club to prove it!”

I picked up my photos off the floor, clutching them to my chest.

“One day I'm gonna see one. And then you'll all see I'm not crazy.”

The four of them looked at each other. That look. The look says "He's doing it again”

I walked out of the clubroom.

When I sat down, someone had drawn “Occult Freak” on my desk. Again. A guy from basketball pretended to be possessed when I passed him. ‘Ooooh im a Yokai, Amagi.” Everyone laughed. Even the teacher didn't say anything.

I just wiped the desk off. I'm used to it.

After the last period I didn't even stay for cleaning. I left angry.

On the way home I stopped at a store. Bought cheap snacks and a cup ramen. The bag crinkled loud as I walked.

“Damn it… damn it…” I was muttering to myself. “I'll show them… One day I'll have proof. Then they won't laugh…”

I was looking down the whole time. That's when I almost missed it.

When I looked up, I was at Urami-bashi. The small bridge behind the school.

And there was a man standing on the concrete block where the rails are. Right on the edge. Staring straight down into the water.

He had black messy hair with two long bangs near the middle of the forehead, he was shirtless. He wore an open white gakuran jacket, the school button up kind, flowing in the wind behind him like a coat. School pants, low on his waist with a loose belt. And in his right hand, hanging down, a katana with a tsuba that was similar to a butterfly.

He looked like he was about to jump.

“HEY! Man! That's dangerous” I shouted, dropping my ramen. “Get down from there!”

He didn't look at me.

For a few seconds there was only the wind and the water.

Then he said, quietly.

“Your reflection never lies. It only shows you what you really are”

His voice was calm. Too calm.

I frowned. “What…?”

I looked to my right for just a second, to see if anyone else was seeing this

When I looked back-

He was gone.

No sound. No splash. Nothing.

Just the empty rail and the water moving underneath.

And my cup of ramen rolled toward the river…

I went home.

My apartment was quiet. Mom at work. Futon on the floor. My ramen is cold.

I sat in the dark scrolling. Then it popped up.

Local Horror Thread - New

“Room 304, Saito Danchi. Abandoned 2 years. Neighbors hear dragging and talking at 3AM. Landlord won't go in. 2-15-8, north building.”

That's ten minutes away. I know that building. Everyone says its empty because of a suicide.

Something in my chest snapped.

Enough. I'm tired of being the “Occult Club idiot’ Tired of getting laughed at. Tired of having no proof. Tired of talking big and being nothing.

“Fine! You wanna call me crazy? I'll show you crazy! 

I grabbed my bag. Flashlight, phone, a bottle of salt. Ran out.

Saito Danchi was dead. Lights off in every window. Room 304 had yellow tape, but it was torn. The door was unlocked. It creaked open.

It stank. Mold, old sweat. The floor was covered in trash. A TV still on static.

“Hello? Anyone? Yokai? I'm Amagi! I'm not scared!” I lied, my voice cracking.

I pointed my flashlight around. “See? Nothing! Just-”

The closet moved.

Not open. Moved. Like something inside was breathing.

Then the walls moved.

Faces. Hands. Pressed from the other side of the wallpaper. Whispering my name. My name the way kids at school say it. Mocking.

Occult freak. Freak. Freak. Freak.

A big shadow peeled itself off the ceiling. It was made of futons, clothes, and hair. It had no face, only a mouth made of many small mouths.

I grabbed my leg.

I fell. My flashlight rolled. Salt spilled everywhere. It did nothing.

It dragged me toward the closet. My nails scratched the floor.

“NO! GET OFF! GET OFF ME!” I was screaming, kicking, punching it. It didn't care. It was heavy. So heavy. Like every desk drawing, every laugh, every “Amagi shut up” was sitting on my chest.

I hit it. My hand went through it. Cold.

It slammed me into the wall. My head hit hard. I tasted blood.

I couldn't fight anymore.

And then I just started crying. For real.

“I'm sorry… I'm sorry, I'm so annoying… I know I'm annoying… I just talk and talk because if I stop no one will look at me… I'm not brave… I'm not special… I have zero spiritual power, zero friends, zero anything! I'm just a kid in the occult club because no other club would take me!”

I was curled up, its weight on me, sobbing into the dirty floor.

“I’m just… I'm scared to be alone! I just wanted to be a sorcerer! I just wanted someone to need me! I'm a loser! I'm a loser! Im a-”

I screamed. Not words. Just a scream from my gut.

It opened its big mouth over my head then-

Light.

A white line cut through the dark apartment.

The pressure vanished.

The yokai above me was split straight in half. A blade inches from my as I look up I see the man from the bridge as he looks up sighing as he smiles

“Phew, looks like I made it just in time! Hey your the guy from the bridge”

I stare at him in silence as he slowly approaches me

“Ive been looking for that yokai for a few days now looks like its madness did a number on your mentality”

He raises his hand up opening his palm as a bubble of liquid appears as he places it on my head it explodes like liquid but doesn't make anything wet as i feel my chest lighter my tears stop as im able to think clearly

“T-thank you” 

He gives me a small warm smile 

“Its no problem dont menton it”

I see his face become serious as I look behind him the yokai starts regenerating parts o his body assembling back

“Well I figured it wouldn't be that easy…”

He looks at me

“Please stay here for a bit while I handle this…”

He stood up holding his katana as the yokai’s multiple hands stretched toward him as he slashed them as more soared through as he dash into  room the hands chasing as he leaped over a table slashing  the hands  as the regenerate he blocks two hands as he leaps off a wall leaping forward as he raises his blade slashing the yokai across the chest as he skids to a stop the Yokai screams

The man blocks one of his ears  

“I see…a Yokai born from madness…”

He slashes more hands coming for him as he leaps backwards

“The wave of madness even hits me huh…well that leaves me no other option”

I stared at him as he sheathed his blade holding it out and in this moment I realized what a real Sorcerer looks like…

“Drop Dead Kurohane”

He drew his blade rainbow glowing threads stretch out from his sheath as his body turns black with as one glowing rainbow butterfly wing grows on his back  as he opens his eyes, the base pitch black but his eyes having a blue and purple outer layer with a second layer being red the middle where his pupil is pitch black.

My mouth opened widely, completely speechless stunned as the yokai also seemed puzzled as he launches multiple arms he got in a stance slashing all the hands at hyper speeds.

He dashes in front of the yokai disappearing through the hands placing his hand on the yokai’s chest as red energy surges through it as it lights up in a red sphere of energy

“Divergence”

He blows up the yokai as I watch in pure shock, completely silent throughout the whole battle as I watch as everything goes black. 

If you made it this far thank you it means alot out of all of my novels this feels like my most complete if you want to know more discord server is here:

https://discord.gg/xxcbvPQNU