【Japanese Horror】The Digital Priestess — Episode 29: They Shouldn’t Have Chosen | Haunted Kaidan Tales
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Episode 29 – “They Shouldn’t Have Chosen” (Full Text)
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The Digital Priestess — Episode 29: They Shouldn’t Have Chosen
Kenichi stood frozen before the glowing options.
Restore everything
Postpone your decision
He’d seen them before—
but never like this.
They weren’t on a screen.
They hung in the air, as if the entire space was waiting for his answer.
(…If I disappear… will everything really go back?)
The shrine maiden wouldn’t say.
She only watched him, calm and still.
Not forcing him—just waiting.
Kenichi took a step back.
That’s when it happened.
——Zzzhhh…
The air around him trembled faintly.
There was no wind.
And yet, from beyond the torii gate,
a low, murmuring sound began to rise.
(…What was that…?)
He strained his ears—
and the sound became unmistakable.
Voices.
“Help… someone…”
“Where am I…?”
“I can’t see… is someone there…?”
Voices that didn’t sound male or female.
Old and young, overlapping, whispering—
Wrapping around him like fog.
“Who… are we…”
“What happened to us…?”
“We shouldn’t have chosen…”
“We never should’ve…”
A chill raced down Kenichi’s spine.
(…No way…)
There was only one explanation.
These voices belonged to the disappeared.
Tanaka.
His mother.
The friend he could no longer name.
And maybe even others—those who’d been forced to choose before.
The voices multiplied.
Grew louder.
And yet, there were no bodies.
Only torii gates, lanterns, and that ever-floating set of choices.
“Why were we chosen…?”
“Why can’t we leave…?”
“Our existence… gone…”
It was a cry for help—
and a curse.
“Stop… just stop it already…!”
Kenichi clutched his head.
But the voices kept echoing,
not in his ears—
but inside his skull.
The shrine maiden still smiled, unmoving.
“Is… is this what it means to disappear…?”
His voice was barely more than a whisper.
The shrine maiden blinked slowly—
and said nothing.
“They’re crying out… they’re begging…!
What the hell does it mean…?!”
Still no answer.
Only the two choices, glowing softly in the air.
—Both hell in their own right.
Kenichi took a step toward her,
his voice rising with desperation.
But then, a voice echoed—
not from the air.
From within.
“To disappear… means to no longer exist.”
It wasn’t someone else’s voice.
It was his own thought.
The words had emerged naturally,
as if spoken by the depths of his mind.
(…Then if I disappear… what will happen to me?)
He turned to the shrine maiden, voice trembling.
“…Hey… Miko…”
His eyes met hers.
“If I disappear… what happens to me?”
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The Digital Priestess is an original Japanese horror story about a mysterious app that starts off as a weather forecast — but soon, things go very wrong.
What would you choose?
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