【Japanese Horror】The Digital Priestess — Episode 43: A Future Without You | Haunted Kaidan Tales
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Episode 43 – “A Future Without You” (Full Text)
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The Digital Priestess —Episode 43: A Future Without You
“…This is the future you chose.”
The voice brushed past Kenichi’s ears like a soft breeze—gentle, quiet, yet unwavering.
He turned around.
There she was—the priestess.
Clad in her usual white robes and vermilion hakama, her hair ornament swaying slightly with a soft jingle.
But something was different.
Her figure seemed faint, almost transparent, like she no longer belonged to this world.
“…You… You’re saying this is the ‘optimized’ future…?”
Kenichi’s voice was hoarse. His throat burned, but he had to ask.
The priestess didn’t answer.
She only smiled. That same mask-like smile she had worn when they first met—serene, detached, devoid of emotion.
(So everything… was what I wished for…?)
To bring Tanaka back.
To lose his mother.
To forget his friends.
To erase names and memories—his very existence—from the world.
(And this… is the price I paid?)
More than anger, more than sorrow, he felt… hollow.
A gaping emptiness gnawed at his chest.
“…Tell me,”
Kenichi said, eyes fixed on her.
“In this ‘world’… was I ever really needed?”
The priestess still said nothing.
She lowered her eyes and gave a slight bow—like a parting gesture, a farewell ritual.
“So this is the ‘right answer’ to you…”
His words slipped out, part resignation, part bitter sarcasm.
The priestess didn’t change expression.
Then—
She dissolved into shimmering light and vanished into the air.
“…!”
Kenichi instinctively reached out.
But she was already gone.
Only the sounds of the living room remained—
His mother and father chatting,
the weatherman on TV,
the soft rustle of a mandarin orange being peeled.
“Looks like sunny skies tomorrow.”
“Yeah, perfect for doing laundry.”
Kenichi couldn’t move.
He sat there on the floor, staring blankly up at the ceiling.
(Was this… really okay?)
No one remembered.
No one noticed.
But everyone was alive and smiling.
That alone—
was the only “meaning” left in the choice he made.
(…So that no one else will ever have to feel this again.)
As if in prayer, he gently closed his eyes.
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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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