Chapter 5 (r)

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Teramoto frowns immediately as soon as she hears the name of that strange girl. She looks a bit surprised and she seems indecisive about what to say.

Teramoto: "Junko Andou... just how much do you know already? How did you even learn that she's involved?"

Erika: "That's just a matter of logic. Anyone with enough intelligence and a bit of initiative would have been able to acquire this simple information."

Teramoto: "Did you talk to her already?"

Erika: "Yes... or, more precisely, Dlanor did."

Teramoto: "Dlanor? You mean...?"

Erika: "Yes, it looks like she and Andou immediately bonded. They must be kindred spirits. *giggle* *giggle*"

Dlanor: "I respectfully disagree, I do not think we have much in common at all, Miss Erika."

Teramoto: "Aaah... I give up... I don't care anymore..."

Erika: "That's the way I want you. So, is Andou one of your followers too?"

Teramoto: "Ha! That's what I wanted, but no matter how much I tried, she always refused."

Satsukawa: "I thought you never pressured anyone into becoming one of your adepts."

Teramoto: "Normally yes, but as soon as I realized that there was a girl with those skills in our school, I really wanted her to join my group. She was always alone, she had no friends, she was just a first year student. I thought I could easily manipulate her."

Erika: "Junko Andou... she's surprisingly a tough one, isn't she?"

Teramoto: "You have no idea! Just trying to get her into a conversation was a challenge. From the very beginning she told me clearly that she didn't want to join my group, but I'm used to that. I can be a very patient person, and I thought that I would eventually break her. I was very wrong on that.

I started to feel an increasing hatred toward her. She wasn't simply rejecting me, she was defying me, and I couldn't accept that. I decided that she had to be punished for her insolent behavior. Of course that was also for her own good, she needed to learn her place in society."

Erika: "So in other words you started to bully her."

Teramoto: "Bully her?! Tch... well I guess that you can say that we did bully her, if you really want to put it that way..."

Erika: "See, Satsukawa-san? She's such a nice girl, she never did anything wrong at all! *giggle* *giggle*"

Teramoto: "All right, I get it! I'm a horrible person! But why don't you listen to my whole story before concluding that Andou was just a victim and I was evil incarnate? I might have done many wrong things, but who doesn't?! It's easy to point the finger at bullies as if they are the only bad persons in the world, but you know what? Everyone deep down is a bully! The only difference is that some have power and some do not. Give them the chance and even the bullied will become bullies before you can even notice! Even those who overtly despise bullies have probably bullied someone and they don't even remember it, or they justify it with some kind of rationalization. Perhaps they think that their case is different, because they deserved it. Well guess what? I also think that Junko Andou deserved it, okay?!"

Erika: "Ha ha ha! Calm down, Teramoto, who said that I despise bullies? If anything I despise the stupid people that let themselves be bullied."

Teramoto: "Come to think of it, you're just a big bully yourself, aren't you?! Are you having fun?!"

Erika: "Yes. And what is most satisfying is seeing you reaching this kind of self-realization. You finally see yourself for what you actually are, you're not pretending to be someone worthy of admiration anymore. You came to understand the true nature of yourself and the world. You're embracing the truth at last. I'm proud of what you've become, Teramoto!"

Teramoto: "Go to hell!"

Satsukawa: "Now stop that, both of you. Teramoto, please continue with what you were saying. I must admit that I've become curious to know more about Andou."

Teramoto: "Yeah, okay... What do you expect that I did? I started by spreading rumors about her, I wanted to make sure she'd remain as friendless as she was. Everyone started to avoid her as if she had the plague."

Erika: "Seriously? That's what you did to 'punish' her?"

Teramoto: "I get your point! I actually did her a favor! I didn't know her that well back then! How could I imagine that she'd actually be happy to be a loner forever?! I had no choice but to make her life even more miserable than it already was! Soon she had to deal with pranks almost every day. Her desk was filled with insults and scribbles, her textbooks were stolen, and I'm not going to mention what she found in her locker. Naturally I never did those things myself, I made someone else..."

Erika: "Of course not, you'd never stoop so low!"

Teramoto: "Yeah, it's not like... Aaah! That was sarcasm, wasn't it?!"

Satsukawa: "Good grief... Let her talk, Erika..."

Teramoto: "I know, I get it! Give me a break already!"

Satsukawa: "Calm down, ignore that comment and continue."

Teramoto: "I don't feel like talking about that anymore!"

Erika: "Why? Are you afraid to face the truth of your actions? You disappoint me, Teramoto! Aaah! And here I was having so many hopes for you! *giggle* *giggle*"

Satsukawa: "Erika... are you sure you don't have a personal grudge against bullies? It sure doesn't look that way..."

Erika: "What's that even supposed to mean? Can't you see that I'm the one bullying here? But I'm not shamelessly denying my responsibilities."

Teramoto: "And how does that make you a better person?!"

Erika: "It doesn't. What makes me a better person than all of you, Teramoto, is my brilliant mind. Now, if you please, would you care continuing? I haven't had my fill yet."

Teramoto: "Gh... gh... ghhhhh!!!"

Clenching your fists and gritting your teeth won't do you any good, Teramoto. If anything that only increases my amusement.

Teramoto: "Aaah! Enough! Enough! Damn it! Have it your way, I don't care!"

Erika: "Then, are you ready to expose the pathetic and shameless account of your misdeeds?"

Teramoto: "Yeah, I'm ready! Feel free to laugh and sneer to you heart's content, you witch!"

Erika: "Aha ha ha ha ha!!! Well said! Well said indeed!"

Satsukawa sighs, but doesn't comment.

Teramoto: "So I let Andou simmer in the hell that I prepared for her for a while. Then I approached her, and without being too explicit I made her understand that I could make the bullying stop, if she only accepted my offer."

Erika: "Clever, and what did she say?"

Teramoto: "At first? Nothing! She said nothing! She completely ignored me, as if I didn't even exist! Simply thinking about that fills me with anger all over again! I confronted her more assertively, I demanded an answer, and you know what she told me? She said that she didn't even understand what I was talking about! She totally looked down on me, as if she couldn't even be bothered!"

Erika: "Nice..."

Satsukawa: "Really? What kind of person is this Andou?"

Teramoto: "As if I knew! She's still a complete mystery to me, and you haven't even heard it all! That day I was completely defeated, I was at a loss for words, and she went her way, like that. And there I asked to myself, what did I represent to her? She made me feel like a mosquito trying to hurt an elephant. It became personal. If what I did to her until that point was just a small nuisance, then she left me with no choice but to seriously mess with her.

A few days later, I gathered my friends and we waited for Andou on her way out of her club. We took her to an even more isolated place. I was seriously going to hurt her, you know. I was furious!"

Satsukawa: "What did you do?"

The change in Satsukawa's tone is almost hilarious, he became so serious all of a sudden.

Teramoto: "She followed us without saying a word, without ever looking at us, but I could almost read her thoughts. She was thinking: 'what a bother', 'I just hope they'll be done quickly'. She wasn't scared at all.
We cornered her with her back against a wall, where nobody could see us nor hear us. I started talking to her, you know, to make her understand her situation, to make her know why I had to do what I was going to do to her, why she left me with no other choice. It was like talking to a statue, she didn't even react. She was like in another world, or so I thought. I soon realized how wrong I was."

Satsukawa: "What do you mean?"

Teramoto: "After a few minutes without seeing any reactions from her, I lost it. I remember I moved my right hand, almost subconsciously, with the intention to slap her as hard as I could. And there, for the first time, Andou looked at me. You can't imagine how scary that was. She never looked anyone into their eyes before, but at that very moment she did, and I could feel a murderous intent from that piercing stare. Andou realized that I was going to hit her, I hadn't even raised my hand above my shoulder, but she knew, she read the subtle movements of my body, she knew the pattern. I thought she was ignoring me, but she was actually observing me closely, with her full vision, without focusing on any place in particular.

Then I realized that some kind of pointy tool was dangerously close to my throat. I didn't even notice the movement of her hand. I should have taken away that tool belt from her before threatening her. Only then I realized my mistake. I wonder why they let her keep that on all the time. They probably think that she would never use that to hurt anyone, but they're wrong. Back then she clearly showed the intent to use that tool as a weapon."

Erika: "Intriguing..."

Satsukawa: "Wait... are you telling me that Andou, after being so passive and unresponsive for all that time, finally snapped and attacked you?"

Erika: "That's not it, Satsukawa-san. Andou gave Teramoto a clear message: 'you can prank me and bully me all you want, I don't care, but don't you dare to touch me'."

Teramoto: "Yes, that's what I think as well. Andou didn't even open her mouth, but I received that message with clarity."

Satsukawa: "Then... what happened after that?"

Teramoto: "My friends were taken off guard as much as I was, and I feared that I could lose my authority more than I feared that I could lose my life. I mustered my courage and I calmly confronted Andou. In retrospect it might have been foolish to believe that she wouldn't seriously hurt me, that girl isn't normal. Or perhaps it's because I knew that as long as I wasn't threatening to physically harm her, I had nothing to fear. I don't quite remember what was going on in my mind back then. Faking confidence, I simply told her again that all of that could be solved pacifically if only she accepted to work for me.

She answered like her usual: 'I won't join your club'. I was losing hope and patience, but then she surprised me again. She told me that if all I wanted was to put her skills into use, she could do that."

Satsukawa: "So... in the end nothing happened?"

Teramoto: "That's right, we reached an agreement. She accepted to work on whatever project I had in mind, in exchange I promised to make sure nobody would bother her anymore. I still wonder why she didn't propose that earlier, it could have saved a lot of troubles to both of us. It was still a compromise though, she never accepted to become one of my subordinates. I think you can see why that was troublesome for me. I was going to entrust my tricks and my reputation to an unrelated person. But then I thought, who is she even going to talk to? It's not like I expected any loyalty from her, but she had no friends and she couldn't bother to expose my shams or anything of that sort."

Erika: "So, that's how your cooperation began."

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Chapter 5 (q)

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Erika: "Good. I think we've talked enough about the circumstances that led you to this point, Teramoto, I have a complete picture now."

Satsukawa: "Still, to think that you actually had such plans... I just don't get it. You're a high school student, right? Girls of your age are supposed to leisurely spend their days having fun with their friends. Why were you so obsessed with something like that?"

Erika: "Oh? Is that what bothers you the most, Satsukawa-san? I think the main problem here is that Teramoto's doings were dangerous on a criminal level, don't you agree?"

Satsukawa: "Well, of course that's also an issue, but it's never the criminal mind that disconcerts me. I can understand why someone would break the law for personal gain. What baffles me, however, is the irrationality, if not outright stupidity, of certain crimes."

Teramoto: "Wait a moment! Why are you talking as if I actually committed a crime? I never broke any laws!"

Erika: "You still say that after all that you've already confessed?"

Teramoto: "What are you talking about? That's completely wrong! Even I recognize that what I did wasn't perfectly okay, and I can understand why one would condemn me from a moral standpoint, but aren't you exaggerating? Why are you talking as if I was a criminal?!"

Satsukawa: "Relax, Teramoto, we still haven't concluded anything yet, this isn't a trial. Still, from my point of view, no matter how you look at it, that cultist stuff just sounds absolutely wrong. You'd think that a smart person like you would know better than treading in such shady waters."

Teramoto: "Why?! Why is everyone so prejudiced against groups of people that just want to believe in something? Why?!"

Erika: "Stop sugarcoating the bleak reality, Teramoto. You aren't a prophet, and you aren't a seer either. You're just a con artist."

Teramoto: "Don't pair me with those despicable individuals that are only interested in the vile money!"

Erika: "That's the same thing. Whether it's for money, popularity, or power, you're still fooling people and exploiting their gullibility to pursue your own end."

Teramoto: "Wrong! I did it for them too! I..."

She doesn't sound very convincing, and in fact she can't even fool herself.

This is no longer a witch, after all. Maaya, the witch of power, is dead. What's in front of me is just a broken vessel.

She was brought to this empty classroom, alone. Satsukawa used his authority to send all the other students back to their families. Stripped of her supporting clique and of her delusions, Teramoto, just as I predicted, became a lot more cooperative. At this point she doesn't have anything to lose by telling the truth, or so I think.

Erika: "Teramoto, it's a bit late, so let's just get to the important stuff. Exposing your lies was just an interesting side trip, my real purpose here, as you're well aware, is to find whoever killed Hitomi Gotsuji."

Teramoto: "An... interesting... side trip? A ha ha ha..."

Erika: "That's right, so why don't you tell us more about that shed? When did you start using it for your phony rituals?"

Teramoto: "You destroyed my life! You destroyed everything that I worked so hard for! And now... now you..."

Erika: "Yeah, sure! And I found it a mildly enjoyable experience, so what? Do you expect me to feel compassion? For you?"

Satsukawa: "Erika..."

Erika: "What about you, Teramoto? Do you not feel any pity for the girl that actually lost her life?"

Teramoto: "Ugh..."

Erika: "Then begin to talk. If you still think that spirits exist, perhaps you might want to do something useful for once and help me to find the murderer. Then maybe Hitomi Gotsuji will find some rest."

Teramoto: "I..."

Oh my, I can't believe I said that with a straight face. The whole thought that a criminal must be found or the spirit of the victim won't be able to ascend to heaven is so cliched. The truth is that Hitomi Gotsuji simply doesn't exist anymore, I don't get why people still need to indulge themselves in such childish and comfortable fantasies. There is absolutely nothing heroic or redeeming in catching a criminal. That's just a hunt, a cruel and merciless hunt. The dead won't get any benefit from it, the criminal will have its life destroyed, and those who wish for retribution will just get their bitter and trivial satisfaction. The only one who wins is the detective, for solving another case and receiving the well deserved praises.

In other words, this is just for my own delight.

Satsukawa: "Erika is right, Teramoto, we need to know the truth, for Gotsuji's sake."

Sure, what he said.

Teramoto: "I... as you might have guessed... as soon as I became a student of this school... I tried to create a new cult here..."

Erika: "Good, continue."

Teramoto: "I started by founding the occultism club. Finding members was easy because many of my friends from middle school followed me here."

Erika: "But your club has never been about studying the occult from the approach of a true believer, am I right? It was really about learning everything about all those phony supernatural events, and then reproduce them to impress your classmates, isn't it? Stuff like bending spoons with the power of the mind, levitation and all that stuff."

Teramoto: "Tch..."

Erika: "So?"

Teramoto: "Yes! That's right! That's just what you said! That's really what our club was truly about! In the end... In the end I was the first in not believing in the supernatural... Ha ha ha... This is so funny... Why is it that this thought never crossed my mind before?"

Erika: "Oh, I'm sure you've always known, but it was simply more convenient for you to never truly reflect on that."

Satsukawa: "Let's focus on the facts. Earlier Erika asked you to tell us when you started using the shed, we still need to hear your answer."

Teramoto: "I don't remember precisely when... I think it was by the end of the first year. Before we would simply perform in our club room, but there was a limit to what we could do there."

Erika: "I see, I guess that Nakamura did show up from time to time to check on you."

Satsukawa: "Nakamura?"

Dlanor: "Mrs. Nakamura is the teacher responsible for the occultism club."

Satsukawa: "Oh, right."

Teramoto: "Again... why are you..."

Satsukawa: "Let's not sidetrack, Teramoto. Sorry for the interruption, go on."

Teramoto: "Well... okay... To make it short, we were looking for a room to furnish however we wanted, a more suggestive place where we could gather some of our classmates and show them our magic... Then one day Kagami rushed to me with her usual enthusiasm and she told me that she found exactly what I was looking for."

Erika: "And that was the abandoned shed."

Teramoto: "That's right. At first I wasn't even too fond of that idea, but then I was convinced that it could work. There were many advantages, especially the fact that the abandoned P.E. shed was so isolated from the rest of the school's facilities."

Erika: "The perfect place to commit a crime."

Teramoto: "I never thought of doing anything wrong there!"

Erika: "Sure, absolutely nothing wrong. Anyway I know for a fact that you deemed necessary to make several adjustments."

Teramoto: "Of course, that was the very point..."

Erika: "I'm talking specifically about the door."

Teramoto: "Yeah... that was one of the reasons I didn't think that place was suitable for my needs."

Erika: "It wasn't fitted with a proper lock, right?"

Teramoto: "We just used a chain and a padlock at first, but of course that was just a temporary solution."

Satsukawa: "All of this happened during your first year here, right?"

Teramoto: "Yes..."

Satsukawa: "And you were already performing those rituals back then?"

Teramoto: "Not quite... I mean, I was already spreading the legend of the spirits of the dead students, and I even mentioned the demon Pazuzu... but it wasn't until the second year that I devised and perfected my show as you have witnessed it. Before I simply invited some students to my club room where I showed them my spirit summoning or I divined their future through tarot reading. They came for the curiosity and the thrill, to have some laugh and fun, but I slowly shook their skepticism, and more of them started to believe that I wasn't just messing around. The fact that my father is a Shinto priest added credibility to my claims."

Erika: "Even though there isn't any logical connection between that and western magic."

Teramoto: "Laugh as much as you want! What did you expect? If they could really use their heads they wouldn't have fallen for my tricks from the very start. Isn't that right, great detective? I was a fool for thinking that I could impress you... I should have never accepted your challenge!"

Erika: "My, my! Your overbearing self-confidence has turned into self-loathing now. Amusing! *giggle* *giggle*"

Teramoto: "And whose fault is that?!"

Satsukawa: "Ahem... regarding the victim, did you two already met by then?"

Teramoto: "I think so... but it's not like I really remember when and how that happened. All I knew is that she was one of Kagami's club members. I didn't have any particular opinion of her, and she wasn't interested in my activities either."

Erika: "Anyway, you must have gained a lot of popularity already by then, in spite of being just a first year student."

Teramoto: "You can say that. I was pretty successful, even more than I initially imagined..."

Erika: "Then by the second year you had already enough power to pull all the strings that you needed. Somehow you found out about Kubota's weakness and used that to ensure that the shed would remain yours. The statue of Pazuzu was likely crafted by some of your followers in the art club."

Teramoto: "Correct..."

Erika: "Then let's get to the interesting part. What can you tell me about Junko Andou?"

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Chapter 5 (p)

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Now, for every story that ends there is another that begins. The next is about Maaya Teramoto when she was still in middle school. The disillusionment that she gradually experienced during her childhood caused her to lose her faith and her innocence, but her pride couldn't simply allow her to abandon all that she used to believe in. Rather than accepting a world that gives little importance to the supernatural and go with the flow, Maaya developed an obsessive fascination for everything that had the power to make people believe. She had accepted the reality of a highly secularized society, but she found that there was still a consistent minority who displayed a strong faith, and while in Japan religion didn't have that much importance anymore, in many parts of the world it was still prominent.
That's why Maaya began to look elsewhere, to find the answers that she sought in other forms of spiritualism. Naturally she couldn't simply be satisfied with some kind of mild devotion or a strict set of beliefs that excludes everything else. She valued the concept of syncretism, because it's based on a philosophy that is open to many possibilities. She found that the more fundamentalist views were filled with that very disbelief that she despised.

But in the end it didn't take her long to discover that what she was looking for could be found in small cults and sects. True belief, true devotion, and an open-mindedness to any kind of supernatural phenomenon. Often seen with suspicion by the government and the media, quite a lot of those cults appeared in Japan after the war. Reports usually described their followers as dangerous fanatics or victims of elaborated scams and brainwashing techniques. That was supposed to be a negative portrayal of that phenomenon, but on Teramoto it had the opposite effect. From her point of view it was extremely fascinating. The very existence of those cults was an incontrovertible proof that there were still people that needed faith to be a central part of their lives and charismatic figures to lead them. The world distrusted them, but that was the same world that Teramoto regarded as a betrayer. She had no reason to listen to what the media said, because they were the main tool of a secularist propaganda. And yet amidst this strong opposition, cults were founded, grew, and flourished. Teramoto couldn't help but asking herself: how?

Learning the secrets of those cults became an obsession for her. She wanted to know more about their tricks, about their systems, about their strategies. Surely their success couldn't simply be the result of chance alone. Teramoto wanted to pry the box open and examine its contents. She wanted to understand the minute mechanisms. And indeed there was much to learn. Making people believe in a bunch of lies, slowly increasing their faith to the point of fanaticism, it's an art.

But Teramoto was alone, she was the kind of person that everyone dislikes, she was arrogant and obnoxious, she had no allies. Because of her obsession there was only one thing that she could really talk about, and that wasn't an argument that could interest middle schoolers. Pretty much everyone realized that it was better for them not to get involved with that strange girl, and they avoided her whenever possible. Almost all of her classmates did so, except one, and obviously that one exception wasn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier.

Kagami Hibari in her naivety didn't notice anything strange about Teramoto, and so she behaved around her like she would have around anyone else. The latter would have probably preferred a more intellectual partner to discuss her findings and her theories, but she wasn't in a position that allowed her to be picky. And in the end while Hibari couldn't really actively participate in philosophical disquisitions on the supernatural, she was a good listener. Even if she didn't quite understand everything that she was told, she still showed attention and a genuine interest. Oblivious to the outrageous logic and the controversial arguments in Teramoto's speeches, all that Hibari could think was that her new friend was really an amazing person. But what she was struck with admiration for wasn't the above average intelligence and the peculiar knowledge, but the ambition, the burning passion, the strong and indomitable will.

And so this is how their improbable friendship began. Albeit so different in many ways, they were just what the other needed. They lived in separate worlds and yet they could communicate more easily between each other than they would with anyone else.

It was just a small thing, it was really not a big deal, but for Teramoto that was the spark that allowed her to put her machinations into motion. Not only she gained an accomplice to aid her in her endeavor, she also acquired confidence in herself, and she became more conscious of which was the best approach to conquer the heart of people. She had the theory, all that remained was to test it.

Thanks to Hibari she realized that her gloomy and embittered attitude was the main reason everyone avoided her. People like winners, what they seek in a leader is confidence and optimism. It wasn't hard for Teramoto to figure out what Hibari admired the most in her, she only needed to show those qualities to everyone else.

She decided to proceed with caution and patience. She had learned that to gain followers she had to take it slowly and in a roundabout way. The proselytizers never approach their marks by directly telling them who they are and what their cult is about, rather they initiate conversations about general themes and make statements that are likely to be agreed with. Distrust and disbelief aren't insurmountable barriers, once you get past them it's a straight and easy path. So Teramoto only needed to figure out a way to attract the interest of her classmates and to get them closer to accept the supernatural. That part was easy, she started promoting herself as a fortune-teller. Of course it's not like anyone seriously believed that she was a clairvoyant, but a lot of her schoolmates eagerly started to flock around her to have their futures predicted. There wasn't any particular reason, it was simply fun. What else would you expect from middle schoolers?

Perhaps it was then that Teramoto decided to restrict her followers to female students, because for the most part boys just weren't interested in fortune-telling.

She steadily became more popular and as time passed she refined her techniques. She learned that western occultism was more appealing to her peers because it was considered particularly exotic. She was already educated on that subject, but she explored it further and she took her fortune-telling system to the next level with tarot reading. It was a great success, but as long as her predictions wouldn't become true, nobody would take her divination sessions as anything more than funny games. That's when Teramoto realized that it was pointless to wait for magic to manifest on its own. If magic was nowhere to be found then she needed to forcefully summon it in her world. That day she became a witch.

The more she spent time in libraries researching occultism, the more she found books that approached the subject with skepticism, explaining the tricks behind the alleged miracles and the inexplicable phenomena. Teramoto loathed and despised those authors, and yet she read everything they wrote with particular attention. The message that she was supposed to receive was that the alleged supernatural phenomena are just vulgar tricks, what she learned instead was that those tricks were successful in making people believe, and that was all that she cared about. Without noticing the blatant contradiction, she decided to use that knowledge to become a performer of 'magic' herself.

With the help of Hibari, Teramoto arranged for several events to occur exactly as she predicted. Suddenly the attitude of her schoolmates changed. Many of them started to look for her tarot readings with a genuine desire to know what the future was preparing for them. However, at the same time, there were those who looked with skepticism and distrust at that new development. One girl was particularly harsh towards Teramoto and openly challenged her and insulted her. She frequently pointed out how nothing of what was predicted was something that couldn't possibly be manipulated by a student of that school. There were no predictions about what the newspapers would tell the next day, no predictions about which questions they would find in the upcoming tests, just trivial and mundane events. Their feud protracted for several weeks, until one day Teramoto made a grisly prediction. According to her foretelling, her archenemy would be the victim of a very unfortunate accident that would prevent her from attending school for several days.

Certainly no one would argue against the fact that Teramoto has always been a very strange girl, and no one would dare to deny that her obsession towards cults and occultism was very unhealthy. The morality in her fortune-telling and the related shenanigans is quite debatable, but until that point could it really be said that she was an evil person? She was selfish, arrogant, immature, undoubtedly, but she never really hurt anyone. Despite her bitterness toward a world that rejected what she held dear, she never crossed the line, she never sought anything as petty as some form of pointless vengeance. And yet, as soon as she gained even that little bit of popularity, something changed in her. She was no longer looking for acceptance, she wasn't even bothered by the widespread lack of faith anymore. She had savored the sweet and alluring taste of power, and she wanted more. Perhaps that girl that dared to stand in her way saw the evil in her actions, and perhaps in a way she wanted to stop her before it was too late. But Teramoto was already blinded by her hubris. The hostilities escalated and the fear to lose what she had just recently gained completely overshadowed the last bit of morality that was left in her.

It was just a little incident, an unfortunate incident. A young student fell down the stairs and broke a leg, such things happen all the time.

Now if Teramoto was the typical villain of a third-rate comic, she would have probably gloated and laughed maniacally at the perfect execution of her schemes, but she was just a girl, barely fourteen of age. When the news reached her ears, she was overcome by anxiety and worries. At last she realized what she had just done. Her accomplices were worried too, because, naturally, Teramoto didn't carry out that crime by herself. She had extended her influence on a few trusted schoolmates by then, Hibari wasn't the only one anymore.

Of course everyone remembered that the incident occurred just as it was announced, and there were strong suspicions that it was in truth a disguised revenge. However Teramoto had an alibi, many saw her in a completely different place when her enemy fell down the stairs. Moreover the victim always denied that someone pushed her. Some suggested that she was told to say so to avoid something worse, but without proofs that was just a baseless speculation.

Amidst that whole commotion, Teramoto fought with her remorse. She forced herself to keep her composure as she feigned confidence whereas she had none. That whole situation really tried her nerves. She knew she was guilty, but she didn't want to admit it. Perhaps a part of her wanted to be found out, so that she could find redemption through a righteous retribution. However the punishment never came. The truth is that the teachers liked the accident theory a lot more. For them it was preferable to dismiss the accusations and put a lid on that whole affair rather than inquire further and cause more trouble.

But that didn't stop the students from murmuring and whispering, and so in the end Teramoto 'confessed', so to say. She claimed that it was a curse, she claimed that her enemy fell because she placed an evil spell on her. Surprisingly many bought that preposterous explanation and started to fear her. She had gained even more power than before, and the corruption of her soul was complete. Laughing bitterly Teramoto realized that the world she lived in was completely wrong, even more than she originally thought. A world so stupid, unjust, and pathetic wasn't deserving of her compassion. Morality was a relic of the past as much as faith was, so, she concluded, there was no point in holding back, she could do everything that she wanted.

Teramoto involved her schoolmates in even more occult events: spirit invocations, exorcisms, demonic rituals, and more. Naturally she challenged and vanquished everyone's disbelief through a skillful use of her magic tricks. She mercilessly and repeatedly shook the foundations of their denials in the supernatural, again and again, until they had no other choice but to believe. She was more than a cult leader, she was a tyrant. There were those who tried to oppose her, of course. Now and then a defiant individual would appear and challenge her. Teramoto dealt with them with a terrifying calm. Subtle threats and disguised blackmails worked a lot better than open confrontations. Her most daring opponents learned that her curses weren't as much as ethereal as her spirits and ghosts, they were quite tangible and a lot more scary.

Vanquished every resistance, Teramoto's influence spread unopposed. She had succeeded. It was a small environment, it was just a single school, but in that place the supernatural was feared and respected exactly as she wished. The fools who still didn't want to believe were at least wise enough to avoid her. That was her victory, she had reached her goal, or so she thought.

She was supposed to rejoice, and yet she couldn't shake a certain feeling of uneasiness. She still hadn't reached her envisioned utopia, something was missing. She spent days tormenting herself in the desperate attempt to find out what she could have overlooked, but in the end she could only conclude that she needed more power. A single school wasn't enough, she needed to aim for more and more. Deep inside she knew that it couldn't be a simple matter of quantity, but her thirst for power was true and so her path was set.

If only the little girl in her was still alive, perhaps she would have remembered the one thing that filled her heart with amazement and pride on those special new year eves. It was just a simple and yet precious thing, but her current self had forgotten the very concept of it. There was none in her soul and none in her magic.

So many people were caught up in her fantasy, and yet nobody smiled, nobody laughed, nobody was happy.

Not even her.

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