【Japanese Horror】The Digital Priestess — Episode 31: You Must Choose | Haunted Kaidan Tales
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Episode 31 – “You Must Choose” (Full Text)
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Kenichi stared at the glowing options.
Restore everything
Postpone your decision
(If I choose this… I’ll disappear.)
That reality hit him again, just as hard as the first time.
He looked toward the shrine maiden.
She didn’t move.
Didn’t speak.
She simply watched, waiting for him to choose.
(…If I disappear, will everything come back?
Mom…
And that friend I know I once talked to…)
If he vanished, maybe his mother would return.
And maybe even Yuto—the friend whose name no longer stirred any memory in anyone else’s mind.
Tanaka had already returned.
But that return came at a cost—someone else had been lost in exchange.
This system had always demanded a price for Kenichi’s happiness.
And if he didn’t choose,
his mother, and Yuto—
they would remain gone.
Forever.
(I just have to accept it.
That’s all.)
His hand moved.
Slowly.
His fingertip hovered over the glowing phrase: Restore everything.
(Just press it. Just press it. That’s all.
And everything will go back.
Mom… Yuto… they’ll come back…)
His finger trembled.
But he couldn’t press it.
(Why can’t I do it…?
Why is it so hard…?)
His throat tightened.
His mouth was dry.
His whole body was screaming.
(Am I afraid to die…?
No—this isn’t death.
It’s worse. It’s… nothing.)
To vanish completely.
To have never existed.
No one would remember him.
No one would grieve.
(Would I even feel anything?)
He didn’t know.
No one could know.
“…Just do it.”
The words escaped his lips.
“Just press it. Just pick one. That’s all it takes…”
His own voice sounded far away.
But still, he couldn’t move.
He lowered his hand.
“I can’t…”
His voice cracked.
“I… can’t choose…”
His knees buckled.
He collapsed onto the cold stone floor, gasping for breath.
“I want to… but I can’t…”
He clenched his fists.
The shrine maiden remained still.
Her expression unchanged.
“…What are you…?”
Kenichi’s voice trembled.
He looked up at her.
“You’re not just a shrine maiden.
You’re not just an app.
What the hell are you…?”
Still no answer.
Only the two glowing options remained,
gently pulsing in the air.
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New episode drops on Saturday, August 2nd.
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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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