Chapter 274: Word of Mouth Spreads
"It's true!" shouted Shuichi. "If you don't believe me, look in the mirror next to you. That's not a crescent-shaped scar! It's a vortex!"
"What...?".
Asuka suddenly looked in the mirror and saw the vortex-shaped scar on her forehead.
"I know. It was originally crescent-shaped," said Shuichi suddenly. "Then the two sections extended and became a vortex!"
"This is all the fault of Kurozu Town!"
"Because this town has been contaminated by the vortex... You should get out of here quickly."
Kenji Tanaka, upon seeing this, truly believed that Kurozu Town was mysterious.
Asuka's scar had transformed into a vortex.
The key was... that Asuka not only disobeyed Shuichi, but even convinced her parents to rent a house in Kurozu Town.
And that she visited Shuichi every night.
"Shuichi, please open the door!"
Asuka said, watching him frantically pound on the Shuichi family's door. "Please open! Before, it was the boys who took the initiative to like me, but this time, it was me who fell in love with you...".
Was she really falling in love with Shuichi?
Kenji Tanaka found it strange. Although Shuichi was quite handsome, he wasn't someone Asuka would fall head over heels for. Shuichi ignored Asuka, while Kirie tried to persuade her.
"Asuka... don't bother Shuichi," said Kirie, frowning. "He hates it when you do this... and he's my boyfriend!"
"No!"
Asuka, still somewhat morbid, said firmly, "I have to make him fall in love with me!"
Just when Kirie didn't know what to do... a strange tornado swooped down on her and Asuka.
It blew Asuka's bangs away, revealing a terrifying scene!
The crescent-shaped scar on Asuka's forehead had transformed into a gigantic vortex.
The base of the vortex had even penetrated deep into Asuka's skull!
Kenji Tanaka's heart stopped upon seeing it and his eyes widened.
A cold sweat flooded his back, and fear invaded him again.
"Ah... Asuka... your forehead..." said Kirie in horror.
However, Asuka simply used her bangs to cover the vortex on her forehead and ran back.
"Asuka... wait for me."
Kirie immediately chased after her.
But in the end, Asuka left her behind.
However, Asuka also met a boy she liked and confessed her love to him.
"You're a nuisance! I already told you no!" exclaimed Asuka in disgust.
Now she only had Shuichi in her heart.
However, the boy said at that moment, "I know, but you have an indescribable attraction... I get carried away by you without realizing it, and I can't control myself...".
This was... influenced by the vortex on Asuka's forehead.
The rumor about Asuka turned out to be true. It was that special "scar" that gave her that vortex-like attraction! It was only an attraction for others, but for Shuichi, who hated and feared vortices because they had caused family changes, it was a great fear!
After that, Asuka stopped going to school.
Faced with Kirie's visit, Asuka didn't open the door, but watched her from the window.
"What happened to her forehead?" thought Kirie with concern, remembering what she had seen before. "It seems like a vortex has eroded her forehead...".
"But... how is that possible?".
"I must be seeing things...".
Just as Kirie was thinking this, the boy who had said he liked Asuka that night called her.
He asked her to let Shuichi know that he would be waiting for him in a nearby park to talk about something.
In the end, although Shuichi didn't know the boy, he felt less scared because it wasn't Asuka, so he went anyway.
After hanging up, Kirie couldn't help but feel a little worried and had a bad premonition.
So she also headed to the park.
Halfway there, she saw Asuka, elegantly dressed and wearing a fisherman's hat.
"Asuka... is that you?" asked Kirie, surprised.
Asuka turned slowly, showing only her left eye to look at Kirie.
"It's you!" asked Kirie with concern. "What's wrong with you? I'm very worried about you!".
However, at that moment, Asuka suddenly said sadly, "Kirie... I feel like there's something wrong with my right eye and I can't see clearly...".
As she spoke, she took off her hat and said, "Can you help me take a look?".
However, after taking off her hat, a huge vortex appeared on the right side of Asuka's face in the image.
Then, in the vortex, her right eye was spinning with it, but soon it sank completely into the depths of the vortex and disappeared completely. Kenji Tanaka's scalp was numb. This, this, this, this is so terrifying!
At that moment, he suddenly noticed that the closet behind him seemed to be covered in vortices like wooden rings.
"Don't be afraid..."
But Kenji Tanaka was still struggling to suppress the fear in his heart and said, "It's just a manga... It's not real...".
He continued to read the manga...
"Ahhhhhhh...!"
Kirie let out a loud scream and collapsed on the floor.
At that moment, Asuka put her hat back on, turned, and left.
She went to the place where Shuichi had a date.
Shuichi and the boy were face to face in the park and asked, "What do you want to talk to me about?"
However...
"Wait a moment."
The boy frowned and said, "Wait a moment, she should be here soon...".
"Who? Kirie?".
However, behind the boy, Asuka's figure appeared.
"No, look, she's here."
The boy immediately pointed at Asuka behind him and said.
"Look, I brought Shuichi here as I promised," the boy told Asuka with some joy. "Does that mean you're willing to go out with me?".
"No! I don't need you anymore."
However, Asuka, with her face almost hidden by her hat, her eyes completely invisible, smiled and said, "Go back."
"What! Of course we agreed!" exclaimed the boy, furious. "I brought him here, so you'd go out with me."
However, Asuka still couldn't see his full face, only his smiling lips. She said, "Hehehehe... I don't care about agreements. I just used you to see Shuichi."
Hearing that he was being used, the boy became furious.
"Damn it! How dare you lie to me?" he stepped forward furiously and tore the fisherman's hat off Asuka.
However... Asuka, standing in front of him, saw a deep vortex on her face, which had already swallowed her brain, eyes, and nose!
"Really... a lunatic!" cursed Kenji Tanaka with fear, an uncontrollable fear.
But he wasn't cursing Asuka in the manga, but Ren, the man who drew it! Is this a scene someone could imagine?!
After seeing it, the impact was as great as the final scene of Shuichi's father's twisted body in the first chapter of Uzumaki.
In fact... even more!
Kenji Tanaka was terrified!
At that moment, he felt the closet behind him move.
"My closet moved!"
He closed the manga before even finishing the chapter where the boy was attracted to Asuka's vortex, who was completely absorbed by it.
Kenji Tanaka immediately ran to his bed, covering his head and body with the sheets, scared.
"Waaaaaaa! My closet moved! I'm not reading anymore! Uzumaki!"
...
"The sales of Mr. Ren's single volume of Uzumaki are also quite good," said Takashi with emotion, looking at the sales of the newly published single volume of Uzumaki.
"Because Mr. Amamiya is quite famous, and..." said the deputy director of the manga horror night magazine, "It seems this Uzumaki has also received very good reviews. Everyone is crazy on the internet."
"Oh, really? Seriously?" asked Takashi, curious, opened the official website and related forums and immediately saw hundreds of comments about Uzumaki.
And yet...
"It's a great horror manga! It's not scary at all, and it maintains Mr. Amamiya's imaginative setting and excellent plot. Highly recommended!"
"'Not scary at all,' damn it! It scared me to death!"
"If you're timid, don't read it. Seriously, Uzumaki is not scary at all, and the plot is also very interesting!"
"As good as Fire Punch, right?"
"Indeed, Uzumaki is not scary at all, just as Fire Punch is not depressing at all."
"I was terrified, especially Asuka. I had a fever that night."
"I can only say he's a mental patient. How could a normal person draw such a terrifying manga? It caused me traumatic stress from the vortex pattern."
"Ren's state is still stable... Curiosity killed him! Why did I have to read this?"
"Other horror comics and novels: This ghost is very scary, and this monster. Ren's horror comics: Do you think this vortex is scary?"
"I just wanted to ask you if you're scared!"
"Scared, really. After reading it that night, I almost lost my mind on the spot, like Shuichi's mother in the manga."
"Awesome! The Amamiya Psychiatric Hospital has a new guest!"
"Ren is ideal for drawing horror manga. With his condition, the main feature of horror manga is the unexpected and terrifying."
On the forums, the comments mainly focused on how terrifying the manga Uzumaki was, either directly or indirectly. Some fans even cursed Ren for it, saying that Uzumaki almost scared them. But it was actually a compliment to Uzumaki.
Horror manga are scary, and that's the greatest praise there is! At the same time, the fans who had read Uzumaki continued, intentionally or unintentionally, to pretend, just as with Fire Punch, that it wasn't scary at all, but that the plot was great, and they continued to recommend it.
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