Chapter 88

"Kudou Makoto, can you believe that three high school students actually dared to soak in a hot spring in the deep mountains?"

Fumimura Daio was the first to voice his opinion.

Ah, the deep mountains back then were indeed quite dangerous. Apart from the major cities, some areas were still chaotic, and it was rather bold for underage girls to do such a thing.

"Why would the hot spring inn fabricate the legend of the gorilla-like man, Jang Ze? Isn't that quite dangerous..."

Ōno Mihina couldn't help but chime in.

One question after another popped up.

Indeed, compared to the previous episodes of "World's Most Mysterious Stories," this short drama was much weaker in terms of plot twists and storyline... It didn't seem to be well-received.

Since it was just a simple shoot, Nagayama Naoki decided to drop the original plot and start his own modifications.

"In that case," Nagayama Naoki's eyes twinkled as he decided to increase the supernatural elements, "how about we change it to a story about exploring a haunted hot spring inn in the deep mountains?"

"A few college students on autumn break decide to explore a supposedly haunted hot spring inn, only to encounter real supernatural events."

Moving doors, windows that opened at unknown times, ghostly shadows outside the door, eerie movements...

As Nagayama Naoki's thoughts became clearer, the scenes of another movie slowly began to form in his mind—Paranormal Activity, a low-budget supernatural horror film that surprisingly grossed over 200 million dollars at the box office.

After the ghost stories of the 1960s, RB's films became increasingly influenced by the West, especially after the 1990s, giving birth to the unique category of Japanese supernatural films. In the 1980s, however, pseudo-documentary horror films had yet to emerge.

"Supernatural events? Not bad~" Fumimura Daio didn't say much more, as he saw this as just another film experiment for Nagayama Naoki.

"In that case, we'll need a production crew and more actors~"

Nagayama Naoki waved his hand, "Well, I should still be in touch with the staff I often worked with, so we just need to find a couple of available assistants, and I can act in it too."

"Then who will be the director?"

Nagayama Naoki said confidently, "Of course, I will be the director!"

The only tricky part was finding an old, abandoned hot spring.

The three actors, one director, and three crew members were quickly assembled.

A total of seven people, the crew could drive, and two minivans would be enough to transport everyone.

Nagayama Naoki planned for a shooting schedule of 3 to 4 days, with a maximum of one week.

...

"Daio, why are you coming along?"

The next day, when they gathered, Fumimura Daio was also in the minivan.

"Because I'm also free, and it would be nice to soak in a hot spring~" Fumimura Daio smiled, leaving Nagayama Naoki speechless.

Indeed, after making a lot of money, people didn't want to work seriously anymore.

After a two-hour drive, they arrived at Mount Takao and found an almost abandoned hot spring inn in the mountains.

Since they had mentioned it on the phone, the elderly owner readily lent them the location and was even enthusiastic about participating.

...

Nagayama Naoki took out the script he had written the previous afternoon.

Of course, the plot had been adjusted to fit RB's national conditions and the change in location.

In fact, Paranormal Activity was similar to The Blair Witch Project, both using the pseudo-documentary format to achieve high box office success with low budgets. Modifying the story a bit wasn't a problem.

The horror elements weren't significantly changed, as the film itself didn't feature much gore, focusing more on the psychological pressure that built up gradually.

A group of four students from the University of Tokyo's Film Department (Masaharu, Mina, Hime, and Aiko) had just started their autumn break and heard about the haunted hot spring inn that was about to close. They decided to embark on a week-long exploration, using cameras to document their journey as a class assignment.

They had five cameras in total, with two assistants using two cameras for a God's-eye view, while the main characters used three cameras as the source material for the documentary.

Upon arriving at the hot spring inn, they found it to be just an old, rundown place. As for the inn's owner, Nagayama Naoki didn't tell him the plot, so he played the role of the original owner, appearing nervous and awkward in front of the camera, making it more realistic.

"Owner, I heard the hot spring inn is haunted?"

"Haunted? No such thing, my hot spring inn has never been haunted!"

"Then why did the news report it?"

Nagayama Naoki, holding the camera, had Mina ask the question.

"How should I know? TV stations always do strange things."

Aiko, who was looking around the inn, interjected, "What's this shrine?"

"It's the local mountain god, we've been worshipping it for over ten years."

...

That night, they ate dinner at the dining table in the living room.

"Masaharu, it just looks like a regular hot spring inn, the news must be fake."

"Mina, Hime, Aiko, most legends are probably fake. We should believe in science. We're just here to document reality. Even if we prove it's a regular inn, we'll still complete our assignment."

"That's true."

After settling in, they set up three cameras in the inn's guest rooms, courtyard, and hot spring, planning to film all night.

However, strange things began to happen that night. The door to their room suddenly opened, scaring the girls, who quickly called Masaharu.

"It might be the owner's doing!" Masaharu said confidently, "I'll catch him and give him a good beating."

As they started to doze off, the lights in the room flickered, and a dark shadow seemed to appear outside...

With a "thud," a picture on the wall fell off...

"Ahhh!!!" (x3)

Nagayama Naoki, playing Masaharu, was also startled awake, but he remained stubborn, "It's just the nail coming loose."

They managed to stay awake until morning, thinking that nothing strange would happen during the day. However, when they went out, a book on the table in the empty room suddenly moved and fell off.

All of this was captured by the cameras in the room...

The next day, everyone was exhausted. Aiko, the most timid, even wanted to leave:

"Mina, Hime, what if there really are ghosts? Maybe we shouldn't film anymore..."

"Aiko, don't be fooled. The owner is definitely behind all this!" Mina, who didn't believe in ghosts, said, "If we catch him, he can waive our room fees!"

"Hahaha, Aiko, if we really capture a ghost, our assignment will be the best in class!"

Despite being tired, Masaharu remained stubborn and insisted on continuing the filming.

Over the next few days, more and more strange things happened.

While soaking in the hot spring, they saw what seemed to be long hair in the water; in the courtyard, there were fleeting shadows; a corner of the shrine in the hall was damaged; in the empty toilet, they heard the sound of flushing; and the doors of the cabinets sometimes opened on their own.

These eerie phenomena, occurring between half-sleep and half-wake, made it difficult for the main characters to get any rest.

By the third day, Hime and Aiko couldn't take it anymore and begged everyone to leave, but Mina and Masaharu insisted on staying at least one more day.

That night, the camera in the hall captured Aiko bowing at the shrine until blood covered the floor...

When Masaharu and the others discovered this, they quickly drove along the mountain road to take her to the hospital.

However, after a fog appeared, they found themselves back at the same hot spring inn...

The final scene was a newspaper article: a few college students went camping in the mountains and went missing. The police found their abandoned car and cameras.

...

To shoot nearly a week's worth of events in just three days, especially with most of the scenes at night,

The seven-person production crew was exhausted...

The eerie movements of objects were achieved using transparent threads; the fleeting shadows required quick rope pulling; and even Fumimura Daio, who had come to watch, was forced to wear black and act as a ghost outside the door...

All the eerie phenomena were the result of the hard work of Nagayama Naoki and his team behind the scenes!