I Created Urban Legends in Parallel World
[Original – YakuMan]
[TL – MiT7]
[PR – Spades]
Chapter 8: The New Neighbour
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"At midnight on April 8, a bizarre post appeared on the 2ch forum. It couldn't be deleted or edited. The moment it was posted, it was pinned to the top, spreading an urban legend about a Hell Girl…"
Hell Girl was an anime from his previous life, centered on a character named Enma Ai who helped people resolve their grudges.
He'd only watched a few episodes, but they'd left an impression.
The first episode, in particular, showed Hell Girl aiding a girl tormented by verbal bullying to erase her resentment.
As he wrote, Kamihara Shinji mulled it over, refining the legend's details.
As he'd noted before, typical urban legends were vague, open-ended tales meant to spread fear and spook people.
But for his legends to come true, they had to be complete stories with a beginning and end. This wasn't him overcomplicating things, it was a rule of the Chronicles of Urban Legends.
Even after writing The Gaze from the Cracks, he still lacked experience.
That's why he chose Hell Girl. With a ready-made framework to adapt, he didn't have to start from scratch—plus, it'd help him build skills for future legends.
Even so, he revised it multiple times. It took over four hours to perfect, followed by ten more minutes of proofreading, before he finally punctuated it with a period.
The moment he did, the page rustled as if stirred by an unseen wind. Seeing this, Kamihara Shinji exhaled in relief, it meant the notebook had accepted the legend.
In an instant, the white paper was enveloped in black light, the darkness seeping into it.
His eyes gleamed as the black text on white transformed into blood-red words on a black page.
The scarlet letters etched themselves deeply into the paper.
At the very end, a line of bloody text slowly emerged.
[Please select the area this urban legend will affect]
Kamihara skimmed the options. There were countless choices—Japan's prefectures, Britain's counties, America's states, France's regions…
He didn't linger, ticking the box next to "Japan."
…Nothing happened.
Silently, he checked "Tokyo" instead.
[Writing Complete]
The blood-red text faded away. As the last character vanished, blood trickled down from the top of the black page, forming four large characters.
Hell Girl.
Another urban legend had come to life through his hands. Honestly, Kamihara Shinji felt no real sense of it—just a vague feeling like he was playing a game.
With that, he flipped to the second page.
Urban Legends: 2 [The Gaze from the Cracks] [Hell Girl]
Legend Points: 3,790
Good/Evil Points: 680
Spiritual Power: 0
Lifespan: 99 days
Over the past two days, The Gaze from the Cracks had targeted a dozen more scumbags, stalking and peering at them. That's why his Legend Points had topped 40,000 before.
It seemed writing Hell Girl had consumed most of those points—over 40,000 in total. As for why it couldn't affect all of Japan, his Legend Points clearly weren't enough.
A pity.
As for Good/Evil Points, he'd used them to boost his lifespan. Spiritual Power? He hadn't explored it yet—raising it also required Good/Evil Points.
He'd look into it later.
Checking the time, it was past 10 p.m. Today was April 7, meaning midnight would mark the start of Hell Girl's spread.
He headed to the kitchen to whip up some food.
After dinner and cleanup, it was nearly midnight. He returned to the study and opened the 2ch forum.
This forum was Japan's equivalent to China's Tianya—a gathering place for a massive mix of netizens: scholars, students, workers, eccentrics, all kinds of people posting endless, fascinating topics daily.
Right at midnight, a post appeared on the main board, instantly pinned.
[Does Hell Girl Really Exist?]
Though it popped up and got pinned, it didn't draw much attention yet.
He'd experienced this with his first legend, but seeing something he'd written manifest in reality still felt surreal to Kamihara Shinji.
Soon, though, he calmed down.
When he'd written The Gaze from the Cracks, the eyeball photo had appeared on this forum with a rumor: "If you see this photo, something terrifying will happen."
But if he kept posting legends here, it'd raise suspicion after a while. Once or twice was fine—all of them would make people connect the dots.
He carefully read the post's contents. Though brief, it matched what he'd written in the notebook exactly.
Noticing no replies yet, he didn't mind. He logged into the "Hell Correspondence" site he'd created and confirmed it was live.
Satisfied, he didn't mess with anything, yawned, and went to bed.
The next morning, as Kamihara Shinji prepared breakfast in the kitchen, the doorbell rang with a "ding-dong."
He walked to the entrance and peeked through the peephole.
Outside stood a thin middle-aged man in black clothes, his hair slightly messy.
Opening the door, Kamihara looked at him quizzically. "Who are you?"
"Hello, hello! You must be Kamihara-san. I'm Matsunai—just moved in. We're neighbors now," the man said, bowing slightly. He offered a small gift with a cautious, subtle smile. "This is a specialty from my hometown. Please accept it."
Kamihara wasn't surprised Matsunai knew his name—the label by the door had his family name on it.
After a brief hesitation, he took the gift. They'd be neighbors now, and Matsunai's gesture showed he valued good relations.
That earned a slight nod from Kamihara. Compared to a bad neighbor, Matsunai seemed easy to get along with.
Seeing Kamihara accept it, Matsunai visibly relaxed, smiling. "Well, I won't bother you any longer, Kamihara-san. I'll go introduce myself to the others. Looking forward to getting along!"
"Thanks, Matsunai-san."
Kamihara didn't linger on pleasantries.
He was still a student—after breakfast, he had to get to class.
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Information/FootNotes:
The 2ch forum, also known as 2channel or ni channeru (にちゃんねる), is a Japanese anonymous textboard founded in 1999 by Hiroyuki Nishimura. It's one of the largest and most influential online communities in Japan, often compared to platforms like Reddit or 4chan, though it predates both. Its name comes from "channel 2," a nod to the default VHF channel used by old gaming consoles in Japan.