[b]DAY 1: KUCHISAKE-ONNA – MUTILATE ME[/b]

He was out again, late at night, just the way he liked. Even though when enveloped by darkness, people tend to feel most lonely, but it didn't matter to him at all; he was constantly suffering from loneliness anyway. The darkness didn't feel comforting, either, it was just his masochism rearing its ugly head that made him take these nightly strolls around the town. Most people would be in their homes resting for the brand new, but dull and mundane day that would inevitably follow. Maybe the young man was looking for a peculiar encounter in the darkness, something that would break the bonds of the monotonous life. Night after night he had ventured out, but so far he hadn't had this encounter he had been looking for.

By the moment he had stepped out of his apartment building, the young man had noticed that the night was darker than usual. It probably was because it had been raining heavily that day, so the dark clouds were still hanging above the town, even though the rain itself had stopped. He walked through the soaked streets, the artificial light of the street lamps and signs of various buildings illuminating his way, glimmering in a soulless way on the wet ground. Somewhere in the distance he could hear the sound of cars, but otherwise, the night was silent, only the sound of his footsteps on the pavement was audible. The echo of his steps was a little haunting, but it somehow felt only fitting for him; sometimes he felt like a ghost, though, would he know that if he truly was one?

For a while the young man's walk around the town continued to be a lone one, no people came his way. The only sign of life was meeting a cat in the corner of one street, its gaze had been a strange one, and the young man wondered, had that cat taken the soul of an old person that night? He couldn't tell, and the cat probably wouldn't provide him an answer. It continued to stare at him in an unnerving way the whole time until he had walked far enough for it to lose sight of him. He wouldn't question its ways, even creatures like that had a purpose – unlike the man.

Like a wandering lost soul, he kept going forward, aimlessly, alone and his mind infested with dark thoughts; maybe the surrounding blackness was getting to him. His head was always a dark place to dwell, this wasn't anything new to him, but somehow it felt even darker that night. His head felt heavy and for a moment it felt like he would be crushed by its weight, but something he saw made the black curtains of his mind get put aside.

There was something in the darkness ahead of him. It looked like a tall woman.

The young man stopped. He simply stared in front of him, followed with his gaze how the woman was slowly getting closer, occasionally illuminated by the street lamps, then disappearing into the blackness of the night, although only temporarily. The young man could feel his heartbeat getting faster, there was something very wrong about this woman, even though she appeared to be quite ordinary-looking; black hair, pale skin, neat clothing, a cloth mask partly hiding her face. At that moment, the young man realized that he knew this woman. And he knew that this was the encounter he had been looking for.

The woman was standing right in front of him now. He could see her clear now. She looked ordinary still, but there was unexplainable darkness hidden in her eyes.

“Am I pretty?” the woman asked quietly, and the man noted that her voice was beautiful too.

The young man knew where this was going. But in his eyes, she was beautiful, and thus he responded: “Yes.”

Just like he had expected, the woman then took off her mask. She revealed her whole face, ruined by a gruesome scar that slit her face from ear to ear. A horrible mutilation of a gorgeous face, but in the eyes of the young man, she was still beautiful, in a flawed and dark way.

“Even now?” the woman asked, and although her expression didn't change, there was a gleam of malevolence in her eyes now.

“Yes.”

He was well aware what would happen with such an answer. But he was willing for it, he wanted what the woman would now do to him.

Only now he noticed that she had a pair of scissors in her hand. Without any warning, she attacked him, fiercely striking the sharp steel on his face. She cut his feeble and miserable flesh and he screamed from pain, he couldn't keep that sound inside him. The lower half of his face was getting drenched in blood as the woman mutilated his face, to resemble the horrible disfigurement she had. His face was slit in a grotesque way, but it was what he had wanted. But still, as soon as she was done, he fell on his knees and whimpered wretchedly.

And she walked away, leaving him alone again, bleeding and in agony.

But now, he was finally extraordinary and beautiful as well.



[b]DAY 2: TENOME – CURIOSITY KILLS[/b]

During the few years Osamu had lived near the graveyard, there hadn't really been much strange things going on. It had been quite peaceful, actually. But this peace had broken one night; Osamu had suddenly woken up from his dream and heard weird noises in the distance. It sounded like somebody had been screaming, but they were cut short. After that, it had been eerily silent, like the scream had faded away all the noises in the world. He wasn't the only one who had heard the sounds that night and as the morning dawned, villagers had investigated the graveyard. Nothing out of ordinary was found, which only deepened the mystery surrounding the screams. It had left an unsettling feeling among the villagers and they made no further effort in looking into the case. Osamu felt like he was the only one left with the curiosity to find out what happened.

He wondered if he should go to the graveyard after the darkness had fallen. Sometimes, things can be seen more clearly in the absence of sunlight. Though, at the same time, he was aware that during the nighttime, mysterious creatures would come out from their hiding places, even though he hadn't heard much rumors of such things inhabiting the area where he lived in. He felt safe going out even when the world was surrounded in black. He also had a feeling that the same occurrence would repeat again after dark, so it made sense to venture into the night.

That was exactly what Osamu ended up doing.

When it got dark, Osamu lit a lantern and started to head towards the nearby graveyard. A crescent moon in the sky was smiling at him as he walked alone in the darkness and the night was oddly silent, as if the world was holding its breath, waiting for what he might uncover. He traversed the narrow path that was slightly sloping downhill, green grass growing all around it. Since the graveyard was located downhill, Osamu could see it clearly before he reached the grounds of where people had been laid to rest generation after generation. With a solemn feeling, he approached the graveyard and began his task in looking around for possible clues about what transpired in that place the night before.

He walked among the gravestones slowly, shedding his light at them momentarily. None of them revealed anything to him, and so he continued to wander around, trying his best to notice even the tiniest clues of something that was out of ordinary. But there was nothing. He spent a good amount of time walking through the graveyard until he started to think that there truly was no explanation left behind of what happened last night.

Osamu was about to head back home when some movement in the darkness caught his eyes. He stopped on his tracks, raising his lantern and squinted his eyes, trying to identify what was moving in the shadows. It seemed to be human.

This observation made Osamu to loudly speak into the darkness: “Who's there?”

He got no response. The person was slowly coming towards him and little by little he could see more of the stranger's form. It appeared to be a blind old man. It was a little odd to him that the elderly person seemed to come towards his light, but how could he do that? While he was puzzled by this, the old man kept creeping closer and soon Osamu was struck with horror: the man had raised his hands and Osamu could distinguish that he had eyes on the palms of his hands, but none on his head. A surprised and horrified yelp came out of Osamu's mouth and he quickly turned around and started to run.

But it was already too late for him.

Something he didn't see caused him to trip and he fell to the ground hard, the lantern flung out of his hand. He couldn't do anything when the creature attacked him violently, he tried to struggle but to no avail. A horrible slurping sound filled his ears and right after that, an unimaginable agony spread across his whole body and his screams echoed in the graveyard's air. His bones were moving, they pierced through his skin, shredded his flesh and caused bleeding all over, and they were sucked out of his body. The creature savored every bone he had and once it was done, it left as silently as it had arrived.

Only Osamu's empty, torn skin was left behind.



[b]DAY 3: AO ANDON – WHEN THE HUNDREDTH CANDLE DIES OUT[/b]

Maybe it was Akimitsu's arrogance, which he personally didn't see, that had made him host the gathering of one hundred ghost stories that night. He had taken part in a few of those throughout the summer, but it was the cowardness of his equals that irked him greatly whenever he would partake in these parties. These fools were too terrified to fulfill the task, to tell one hundred stories about ghosts and demons. They never made it to the final one, leaving a sense of incompleteness, which Akimitsu found unbelievably irritating. He was the man with a mindset that you finish what you start and to achieve perfection. Once he would be the host, he would have the final word with the matter. And of course, the idea of hosting a perfect gathering and letting people know about it was a reputation he wanted for himself. It was almost an obsession for him.

And so when the sunlight was sparse and the darkness was approaching, Akimitsu's guests arrived to his grand dwelling, gathering in his parlor. All of them aristocrats that lived in the town, all of them people Akimitsu knew, but he secretly despised everyone, thinking he was superior compared to them. But it was the inevitable part of life as an upper-class individual to maintain a good relationship with your equals, and so Akimitsu wore a fake smile on his face, like a mask, and welcomed warmly the guests to his house.

One hundred blue paper lanterns were ready for candles. A moment later, one hundred candles were lit and placed in these lanterns, and now, everything was ready for the party to begin. A world was engulfed by darkness, but inside Akimitsu's parlor, blue lights were keeping it away, for now. The blue light gave the room an eerie touch, perfect for sharing ghost stories. Everything was just as Akimitsu wanted – and then the first story began.

Throughout the night, Akimitsu and his guests told each other ghost stories, to inflict terror as much as possible, although Akimitsu himself found most of the stories lacking the fear he desired. And after each story was finished, one candle would be put out. The parlor was gradually becoming darker and darker as the ominous sources of light were slowly extinguished. The darkness alone tends to stir fear in the hearts of people and as the party progressed, the fading of illumination started to have an effect on some of the weak-minded guests, Akimitsu noticed. He kept calm and composed, however, and so did some of his guests, but as the shadows were growing darker in the corners of the room, the people were becoming increasingly frightened, even those that weren't easily spooked.

He could see how the unnerving feelings crept into the faces of his guests, but he couldn't see how the fear had started to linger in the air, like a strange mist, and it was starting to prepare to summon something he hadn't believed to even exist. The others did, however, and that was the reason why no gathering had been actually completed. But Akimitsu was stubborn to see this end, and he waited patiently as more and more stories were told, dimming the room.

Finally, the ninety ninth story ended. Only one lantern remained lit and alone it was feeble and couldn't provide much light. At this point, all Akimitsu's guests were paralyzed with fear, this was the most dreaded moment of the gatherings, and none of them dared to tell the final story. But Akimitsu was adamant, he was so close to perfection, and he did the unspeakable and started to tell the hundredth story of the night. Maybe his voice nailed all his guests to their place, they didn't dare to move, not even to flee. No one they knew had ever got to the hundredth story, this was something unimaginable for their simple minds.

Eventually Akimitsu's voice faded. He had done it. He had successfully hosted a complete gathering of one hundred ghost stories. Rather smugly, he snuffed out the last candle, thus inviting the darkness in.

But as soon as he did that, he let something else in as well. From the smoke of the candle appeared a creature, a horrible one, brought into the night by the power of the fear of all the people that had gathered to his parlor. It glowed with blue light, thus its form was clearly visible to everyone. It appeared to be a blue-skinned woman with monstrous features, such as wearing horns on its head, dressed in a white kimono. Long black hair billowed in the air, it extended its sharp claws and smiled a wide and disturbed smile, revealing its blackened teeth. It was here for the fear, that delicacy it most yearned for, and although there was already terror in the air, the being wanted more.

No one made it out alive. The creature attacked Akimitsu and his guests, slitting their throats, slicing them up with wounds too deep, ripping out bits of their bodies and spilling their guts out. It was a massacre, blood staining every corner of the parlor. The monster guzzled all that fear it induced by slaughtering the people one by one, and once it was done and there were no breaths of life being performed anymore, it disappeared like the smoke where it had come from. It left behind the brutal scene, the result of the complete gathering of one hundred ghost stories.

This horrendous event would turn into one of those stories told in these parties. And if the following people would dare to get all the way to the end, to the hundredth story, this tale would repeat again.



[b]DAY 4: SAZAE ONI – BLOODY WATERS[/b]

A beautiful full moon of silver, so bright, so magical and witness of great deception. It had risen to the sky to both bless and curse the world and none could deny its might as it revealed the horrors of the night. Its glow was haunting, but magnificent and many were grateful for its light, all creatures for different reasons. Terrifying was the heaven, so utterly black like void, like death, but the moon was there to cast its radiance so the night wouldn't seem so bleak. Many humans felt relieved, but in this world dwelled other creatures of wicked nature that celebrated the brilliance of the moon.

The sea had absorbed the blackness of the sky and the waters were horrifyingly dark and still, it was phantasmal and the sea almost seemed like a black mirror. But the light of the moon glistened on the surface, bringing a faint sense of relief that the waves hadn't turned into a void as the darkness had fallen into the world. There weren't many ships out on the seas that night, perhaps most people had suspected that it would be a dark one with no guidance from the stars, and only the moon ruled the sky, alone and powerful. Those few who were sailing across the black waters prayed for the deities that they could have a safe journey. And to some people, they were granted one, but of course, not all were lucky that night, and demise was sure to befall onto some poor souls.

Out in the open sea, a form of a wicked one had emerged from the depths and greeted the silvery sphere far above her ugly head. Still she retained remnants of the sins of lust back in the days when she had been a maiden that dwelled on land, but then was thrown into the sea where her mortal life ended, and there she danced seductively among the feeblest of waves on the night that induced bloodlust within some entities. She had lost her legs a long time ago, but her form imitated her past physique and maybe from afar, one could have mistaken her for a pretty maiden dancing on the surface of the water. But now she was slimy, disgusting and her dark skin filled with barnacles, blisters and seaweed that had got stuck and thus became permanently part of her. This was her true form, a perfect reflection of a monster she had become. But she was devious and very much capable of deceiving unsuspecting men, fooling a mortal man's eyes is a remarkably easy task, and she had succeeded in that, just a few moments ago.

Eerily afloat in the sea was a fishing boat, slowly ploughing through the blackness that seemed endless. But as it moved forward almost like a solemn funeral convoy, it dripped bits of crimson into the waters. On board was not a single soul alive, the blood of fishermen flowing overboard from all the tiniest bits of holes and low railings. Most likely the very essence of life would drive certain sea dwellers mad with bloodlust and they would savor it all. In the hands of the dancing creature, the unfortunate fishermen had faced a gruesome fate, the kindness in their hearts ultimately costing them their lives. When they rescued a drowning woman from the sea's clutches, they hadn't known that they had just invited a demon on their boat. What they thought to be a beautiful woman turned out to be a hideous creature that slaughtered them all, striking its monstrous teeth in their flesh and tore apart their fragile bodies. Perhaps their dying screams could be heard by people on the shore, but just like the light in their eyes, those screams faded away, never to be heard again.

The mutilated, mangled bodies remained on the boat as it still tried to serve its purpose. But as a vessel tainted by violence and death, it would most likely turn into a ghost ship, the souls of the fishermen bound to its deck, sailing the sea, haunting it until the end of time, perhaps in search of some sort of salvation to escape their doomed fate. Many had lost their lives at the sea and now, those fishermen would join their numbers.

And the creature who ended their simple mortal lives, she was overjoyed and danced under the maddening light of the moon like she had a reason for a great celebration, and maybe, as if it was a cruel joke from her part, she wished the souls of the men a great journey on their endless travels on the sea.



[b]DAY 5: YAMAUBA – HAG IN THE MOUNTAIN[/b]

The evening was arriving in the mountains, the sun was starting to set and soon its light would fade. A young man had been traveling all day and he was aware that he wouldn't get out of the mountain area before the curtain of the night would fall. A night in the mountain could be a dangerous one for a lone traveler and he was worried about this, he wasn't sure if he would find a good – or safe – spot to rest. And as he continued to stroll forward, following the road, he was slowly becoming increasingly anxious as the gnawing feeling of dread of the darkness made its way into his heart. But he could only keep going and hope for the best.

After wandering for a while, a little hut near the road emerged into his view. He couldn't almost believe his eyes; could he really be this lucky? He felt immense relief, he could probably take shelter for the night in that small building. As he was walking closer to it, he wondered if somebody lived there or was it abandoned. Soon he got an answer for these ponderings, when he spotted the form of an old woman walking towards the hut, relying on a cane to be able to move. She noticed him and stopped her going, she waved at him and even from a distance the young man could see that she was smiling friendly at him. This encouraged him to approach her and ask for a shelter.

Once he had got closer to the old woman, he put a kind, but a little awkward, smile on his face as well and said: “Excuse me, I hate to bother, but could I rest in your hut tonight? I don't have much, but I can pay something.”

The old woman was nodding her head and started to walk towards the door of her little residence while speaking: “Sure, come in, come in! You must be awfully tired, I'll give you shelter and something to eat!”

“Thank you so much”, the young man replied, being genuinely grateful for this, and so he followed the old woman inside.

Maybe he should have thought that this was too good to be true. Maybe he should have questioned why a frail old hag was living all alone in the mountains. But maybe he was just too tired from his travel that it clouded his judgment. If only these things would have crossed his mind, maybe the night would have ended differently for him.

The food which the old lady offered to him was surprisingly good. He wasn't sure what was in it, but he didn't dare to start asking questions about it, and honestly, he was simply too grateful for getting a warm meal. After eating, he was getting rather sleepy and so the old woman prepared him a place to sleep in – what a hospitable lady she was. The darkness of the night was arriving when the young man laid down to rest and it didn't take long for him to fall asleep. He was feeling comfortable and content as his consciousness faded and his head was getting filled with pleasant dreams.

But he was suddenly woken up by the sudden sharp pain he felt in his arms. A primal instinct took over his mind before he was even fully awakened yet, he opened his eyes and was trying to struggle against his attacker. He was face to face with a hideous, demonic old woman with horns on her head and she was grinning with rows of sharp teeth. She had struck her long knife-like nails into his arms to keep him still. The young man started kicking, trying to desperately get away from this monstrous creature, as sheer panic conquered his thoughts, making him unable to think clearly. But the demonic being was too strong, digging her nails deeper into his flesh.

The young man could see something red spiraling down the creature's arms, heading towards her hands. He didn't have time to guess what he had just seen when he felt horrible pain all over his body. It was like there was something under his skin, boiling and shredding his skin from the inside. His screams filled the hut, it was the only thing he could do as he gradually started to lose the control of his body. He was in a state of total agony, something awful was circling in his veins and spread all across him. A feeling that something jagged and sharp was crawling under his skin was making him mad, until finally, pieces of red fragments punctured through every part of his body, completely ripping his skin into a bloody mess. His insides were getting torn to shreds by something invasive, killing him horribly slowly, every second was such pure suffering that there was no way he could be getting closer to hell than this.

But in the end, he succumbed to his inevitable demise. The creature started to devour him, tearing chunks of meat out of his body, making disgusting noises as she munched his flesh.

Of course, she wouldn't eat all of him right away. His meat would feed her for days, not a single piece would be wasted.

And then she would wait for the next unsuspecting victim to come.