THE WHORL WITHIN THE CLOUD

'One by one, I will take you all.

The curse had promised it… and now, it had begun'

.December 25th, 2016. Tokyo. Toriyama Estate, Setagaya District. Basement. 6:20 PM.

As the spirit vanished, the crushing cold stayed. It felt like a cold blanket around them. The hum from the stone table came back. It was a low, constant sound. But now it sounded evil and winning.

Silence fell. It was heavy and suffocating. The candles on the table flickered. They made long, dancing shadows. The deep roar from upstairs echoed again. It was closer this time. It proved the spirit's words. Whatever was up there was real. And it was part of the chaos.

The group did not unite. Instead, a wave of despair and anger crashed over them. Tamiko started to cry loudly, her shoulders shaking. Hori's eyes welled up, her face twisting in pain. The boys looked worried, their faces pale.

Shiyi, her face red with tears and fury, turned fiercely on Kento. "This is all your fault, Kento!" she screamed, her voice breaking. "You and your stupid obsession! You had to know what happened! Look at us! What have you done?!"

Hori, though crying herself, tried to defend him. "Shiyi, stop! He's our friend! At least you shouldn't say such things!"

But Shiyi only cried harder, tears streaming down her face. Her voice became sharp with anger. "Friend?! Oh come on Hori, there are tons of friends in this world! But family is only one."

"You guys don't understand! It's only me and my younger brother in this world! We have no one else! No one to support us! If I die, how will he live? He's too small to bear all this alone!" 

Tamiko's crying grew louder. She pulled away from Shido slightly, her voice a miserable whine. "And me! It's just me and my grandmother! She's already sick and not well! If something happens to me, who will take care of her? I'm too small for this! It was my dream to travel the world! To go to many places and see different cultures and lifetimes and moments! I wanted to experience various stages of life like marriage and having kids and working and being old! But now it's all shattered!" She, sobbed uncontrollably. Shido held her, his own face twisted with sorrow and helplessness.

Then Hori also started crying. Her words were choked with tears. "I wanted to live long! I wanted to lead a happy life! To work and earn money and support my parents! To truly value my life! Now what?!"

Ryuichi, who had been quiet, looked down, his glasses hiding his eyes, but a tear slowly rolled down his cheek. "I… I don't want to leave my family," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "There were so many more things left to do in life." He was thinking of his parents, of the quiet life he had planned.

Shido also became sad. He thought of his adopted family. He wanted to live for them. He wanted to tell himself he was a good son. He wanted to pay them back their kindness someday.

At last, Kento slumped, his proud posture gone. His face was pale, streaked with tears he hadn't noticed. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, his voice broken. "If I had never involved you in any of my madness, everything would be alright by now." Deep down, his heart ached. He wanted to live. He wanted to support everyone he loved, who had lived by him, who had given him their attention and trust. But now he had ruined everything. He felt deeply guilty.

But then, Kento lifted his head, a desperate flicker in his eyes. He tried to sound strong. "There's no need for us to believe all this! We are practical people! Why would we believe in ghosts and spirits?!"

Shiyi, still crying, let out a harsh, angry laugh. Her eyes, red and swollen, fixed on him. "It's really true that when death is near, someone really forgets about everything and just focuses on survival. This is happening to you, Kento!"

The basement remained cold and filled with the cries of the friends, their hopes shattered, their unity broken by blame and the chilling promise of death.

December 25th, 2016. Tokyo. Setagaya District. Residential Streets. 7:30 PM.

They left the Toriyama Estate like they were in a dream. The walk back to the train station was just a blur of cold air and numb steps. No one spoke. The earlier excitement, the feeling of adventure, was gone. Now there was a heavy silence. Only Tamiko's soft sniffles and a shiver from someone broke the quiet. The streetlights of Setagaya, usually warm, seemed to make fun of their dark feelings. Every shadow felt like something waiting to attack. Every gust of wind was like a ghost whispering. They rode the train home. They sat apart, staring blankly out the window at the city lights. Each one was lost in their own fear and regret. The warm Christmas dinner, the comfort of family, felt very far away. It was a world they might never truly go back to.

Late December 2016 - Early January 2017. Tokyo. Various Locations.

The school break was a sad, cloudy time for the six friends. The usual joy of the holidays, the promise of a fresh start in the new year, felt empty. They did not meet. They did not text each other. They did not even speak about the terrible fear that stayed with them. The bond that had pulled them into Akira's mystery had broken because of the curse. Each one went back to their own life. They tried to forget that basement, that loud voice, that chilling promise.

Kento stayed hidden in his room at the Kamitani home. The lively house felt very different from his own upset feelings. He tried to do his old hobbies, reading, playing video games, anything to stop thinking. But the pictures of the shadowy spirit, the sound of Shiyi's angry cries, Tamiko's broken sobs – they played over and over in his mind. 'This is all my fault,' he thought again and again. The words felt like they were burning his soul. He barely ate. He barely slept. His eyes, once bright, were now dark and troubled. His parents noticed, of course. Their kind questions were met with unclear answers and forced smiles. They gave him space, but a deep sadness seemed to stick to him like a second skin.

Shiyi was at home with her younger brother. She felt a constant tight knot of worry in her stomach. She cooked, cleaned, helped her brother with schoolwork. She tried to live a normal life. But every quiet moment, every shadow, brought back the spirit's words: "One by one, I will take you all!" She found herself watching her brother. She felt a fierce, desperate need to protect him. She was scared that her foolishness had put him in danger. Sleep did not help. Nightmares of dark shapes and chilling whispers filled her nights. She did not answer Kento's calls. She could not forgive him. She could not face the reminder of what they had set free. 'How could I have been so blind? So easily tricked?' Her anger burned like a fire. It was a desperate shield against her huge fear.

Hori spent her days in quiet sadness. Her usual happy mood was replaced by a fragile quietness. She helped her mother around the house. She tried to find comfort in simple chores. But her mind always went back to that cold basement. She worried all the time about Kento. She knew he was suffering. But she did not know how to reach him, or even if she should. The fear for her own life, for her parents, ate at her. Every cough, every strange noise, sent a jolt of fear through her. 'Will it be me first? Or someone I love?' The thought was always there, like a cold friend.

Shido felt restless and upset. His mind kept going back to Tamiko's scared face, to the promise he had made to keep her safe. He felt a strong frustration, a feeling of being helpless that he had never known. How could he protect anyone from a ghost seeking revenge? He watched the Kamitanis, his kind family, with a quiet sadness. He wished he could tell them. He wished he could somehow keep them safe from the bad things he felt coming for their lives. 'This isn't a problem I can just fight my way out of.' He felt a heavy weight on his shoulders, a duty he could not do.

Ryuichi lost himself in his schoolwork. He went even deeper into his world of facts and numbers. He spent hours looking through old books, science ideas, anything that might give a clear answer, a way around the problem, a way out. But the more he looked, the more hopeless he felt. The sheer impossibility of their situation, how it broke all known rules, was slowly breaking his logical mind. He slept little. His computer screen made a strange light on his worried face. He thought of his parents, their quiet pride in his good grades. 'Will they ever know what truly happened to me?' The thought was like a cold, sharp knife.

Tamiko, who was the most easily scared, felt the most fear. She stayed close to her grandmother. She rarely left her side. Her bright eyes were now always shadowed with worry. Every time her grandmother coughed, or seemed a little weaker, Tamiko's heart jumped. She saw the spirit's mocking face in her bad dreams. She heard its chilling promise. Her dreams of traveling, of a future, felt like old memories. They were replaced by a thick, heavy fear. She barely spoke. She seemed to shrink into herself, like a shadow of her old cheerful self. 'I just want to live. I just want my grandmother to be safe.'

January 27th, 2017. Tokyo. Kento's Home, Sunigami District. Evening. 7:45 PM.

The phone rang in Kento's living room. It was a loud sound in the quiet evening. Mrs. Kamitani answered it. Her smile went away as she listened. Kento, hunched over a book he was not really reading, watched her face. When she hung up, her face looked sad.

"Kento," she said softly. Her voice was heavy. "That was Tamiko. Her grandmother… she passed away this evening."

The words hit Kento hard, like a punch. Tamiko's grandmother. The one she had worried about so much. A cold, scared feeling grew inside him. It was deeper than his usual guilt. 'One by one, I will take you all!' The spirit's words came back to him. They were sharp and clear. This was it. The curse had started.

January 30th, 2017. Tokyo. Funeral Home, Suginami District. Afternoon. 2:00 PM.

The funeral home was very quiet. It smelled of flowers and sadness. Tamiko sat in the front row. She was a small, pale figure dressed in black. Her eyes were red and empty. Shido sat next to her. His arm was wrapped tightly around her. He gave her silent support. He looked thinner, his face tired.

Slowly, the other friends arrived. Kento walked in with Mr. and Mrs. Kamitani. His usual confident walk was replaced by a slow, unwilling shuffle. Hori came with her parents. She looked serious and sad. Ryuichi came with his parents. His usual quietness now seemed like he had closed himself off. Even Shiyi came. Her face was stern. Her eyes quickly looked at Kento. It was a brief, sharp look of blaming him. But it quickly changed into shared sadness.

No one said hello to each other. They just sat, spread out in the rows. They gave each other only quick, pained glances. The air was thick with unspoken regret. With the unspoken knowledge that this sad event felt different. It felt linked to that night in the basement.

The service passed quickly. It was a blur of sad prayers and quiet comforting words. Tamiko's soft sobs were the only sound that broke the quiet. When it was over, people slowly started to leave.

Suddenly, Tamiko, still holding onto Shido, looked up and softly said, "I… I just need some air. Away from... everything."

Shido nodded. He gently led her outside. The others followed. It was like an invisible string pulled them, or maybe a shared, terrible feeling of what was to come. Their parents, after saying their goodbyes, decided to let the children have some space. They thought it was just the sadness of grief. They didn't know the real heavy feeling on their children's shoulders.

January 30th, 2017. Tokyo. Ueno Park, Taito District. Afternoon. 3:30 PM.

The air in Ueno Park was crisp and cold. It was the kind of winter cold that went deep into your bones. It was very different from the warm air in the funeral home. The sky was a dull, dark gray, promising more cold weather. The trees had no leaves. They stood like bare skeletons against the bleak sky.

The six friends walked quietly through the park. Their steps made soft crunching sounds on the frozen ground. The silence was broken only by the distant sound of a crow. They came to a hidden spot near a large, old tree. It was very old. Its thick, twisted branches reached up to the sky like bony fingers. It had no leaves at all. Its trunk was marked with scars, showing many hard winters.

Kento stopped under its big shadow. The cold wind bit his face, but he hardly noticed. Seeing Tamiko's raw sadness, seeing the silent blame in his friends' eyes, was too much. His earlier denial was completely gone. Tears, began to run down his face. They mixed with the cold air.

"I'm so sorry," Kento said, his voice rough. Tears made it hard to see. He fell to his knees on the frozen grass. He could not stand under the heavy weight of his guilt. "I'm so, so sorry, everyone. This is all my fault. Tamiko… her grandmother… it's because of me. The spirit… it started with her." His shoulders shook with hard sobs. "I should have never dragged you all into this. I've ruined everything. I've ruined all our lives."

His words hung in the very cold air. They broke the tense quiet. Shiyi flinched. Her own eyes filled with tears again. This time, it was not anger, but a new, sick feeling of fear. Hori knelt next to Kento. She put her arms around him. Her own tears fell onto his hair. "It's not all your fault, Kento," she whispered. But her voice shook with the very fear she tried to hide. "We… we all went along."

As if responding to Kento's broken apology, the sky above them became even darker. A low, deep growl came from the air. Large, cold raindrops started to fall. First slowly, then quickly turning into a freezing rain. The wind picked up, pushing their clothes around them.

CRAAAACK!

A blinding flash of pure white light cut across the sky. Right after it came a very loud BOOM of thunder. It shook the ground and made their teeth chatter. The sound was not just loud. It felt very old, very strong, and very evil.

Right in front of them, the sharp lightning bolt, thick and angry, hit the old, leafless tree. There was a sudden, terrible tearing sound. The huge tree trunk split down the middle with a very loud crack. Pieces of wood flew out, sharp and dangerous, as the tree's big branches fell to the ground, one by one. The air smelled strongly of electricity and burnt wood.

Fear grabbed them. Tamiko let out a sharp scream, a sound of pure terror. Shiyi gasped. Her hand on her mouth. Her eyes were wide with pure horror. Ryuichi quickly stumbled backward. He almost fell over. Shido pulled Tamiko even closer. He shielded her face. His own breath stopped in his throat.

"RUN!" Ryuichi shouted. The voice was broken by panic. It was lost in the sound of the wind and the crashing rain.

Without thinking, they ran. Their legs moved fast. They splashed through puddles. Their only thought was to get away from the chilling, undeniable sign of the curse. The closest safe place was Shiyi's house. Its warm lights we

re a sign of hope in the storm. It was a desperate place to hide from the terror that had just happened.

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📌 Author's Note – Chapter 3: The First Strike

This chapter was... a storm in every way.

First came the tears. Then the silence. And finally—lightning. It's like the curse reached down and shattered the last bits of hope they were clinging to. 😔

Writing this truly hurt. Watching each of them break in their own way — Shiyi's rage, Tamiko's fear, Kento's guilt... and that tree? That was fate answering Kento's apology. No words. Just pain. 💔

💬 Who broke your heart the most in this chapter? Was it Tamiko's shattered dream of growing old? Kento's crushing guilt? Or the terrifying moment lightning split the tree?

Let me know in the comments. I'll be reading, and crying with you. 🥺

And if you're still with me after this emotional chapter, consider dropping a Power Stone or adding the story to your Library 💜 It helps a lot and means the world.

Thank you so much for reading. Truly. – SakuraShinomiya

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