【Japanese Horror】The Digital Priestess — Episode 42: Absent Within Peace | Haunted Kaidan Tales
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The Digital Priestess —Episode 42: Absent Within Peace
Kenichi returned home with heavy steps.
At university, no one noticed him. No one heard him. His name had vanished from every list. Every form of “proof” now denied his existence.
Even when he opened the front door—there were no voices waiting. No one had ever heard his footsteps to begin with.
(…Did it mean anything?)
He took off his shoes and headed toward the living room.
His mother was folding laundry. His father was peeling a mandarin orange while watching TV.
It was the very image of “daily life returned.”
—The future Kenichi had chosen at the cost of his own life.
But—
(I… don’t exist in this world.)
Their conversation was calm, natural—just an ordinary day.
Except… Kenichi alone was missing from that day.
He tried to speak, but the words died in his throat.
He already knew they wouldn’t reach anyone.
He slowly sank onto the living room sofa.
Quietly, so no one would notice.
Carefully, so he wouldn’t get in anyone’s way.
As if to disappear into the silence.
(Was this… really the right choice?)
His mother’s laughter.
His father’s casual nod.
Each one pressed painfully against his chest.
This daily life was peaceful.
And yet, the subject—himself—was no longer part of it.
Once, he had longed for this.
He had dreamed of this scene, again and again, after his losses.
But to bring it back… he had to remove himself from it.
His mother stood and carried dishes into the kitchen.
His father yawned quietly and changed the channel.
Everything was so natural, so automatic.
As if their son—who now sat among them—had never existed at all.
(Why… What was I even fighting for…)
Suddenly, the faint jingle of a bell rang out behind him.
“…!”
A chill ran down his spine.
There should’ve been no one there—yet the sound echoed through the air.
“You made your choice.”
A voice.
Soft. Calm. Unforgiving.
Kenichi turned slowly.
There stood the priestess in white—just as he remembered her.
But her figure was faint and trembling, like something that no longer belonged to this world.
(…Priestess…)
Her eyes were the same—blank, reflecting nothing.
“…This… is what I chose…?”
She gave no answer.
The priestess stood in silence.
(You…)
Words swelled in his chest—but never became sound.
(You call this… the optimized future…?)
She gave a slow, graceful bow.
Like a ritual.
Like a silent farewell.
Then without a sound, she began to fade, dissolving into the air.
Kenichi could only watch, eyes wide.
(…Is it over? Is this… the end?)
What he had gained was “normal life.”
But it was a normal life without himself in it.
That was the meaning of “optimization.”
The shape of the future that had been “chosen.”
—But who gets to decide what’s right?
Kenichi exhaled into the still air of the living room.
And the unanswered question twisted quietly in his chest.
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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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