Chapter Summaries

Takahashi was dragged beneath the inn and drowned by an unseen presence, while Mrs. Shimada told her family to keep separate from the production crew. The dream then shifted to a woman from the makeup team waking in a snowblown dormitory where people lay sick and unresponsive.

• Takahashi felt an unseen hand grab him, then was dragged beneath the inn and drowned by a force surrounded by countless staring eyes.
• The narrator realized that a ghostly presence had killed Takahashi and returned to the room above the crawlspace.
• Mrs. Shimada told her family that the production crew had provoked the deaths and ordered them to keep their meals and other supplies separate.
• The narrator's dream shifted to a women's dormitory, where a woman from the makeup team woke among sick, listless people and tried to rouse someone.

The woman followed Han Ji and the interpreter to a warm hot spring, where they felt dizzy but were not attacked by ghosts. As the stranded crew gathered to bathe and prepare to leave the inn, the narrator noticed the Shimada family’s unease and became more suspicious of their connection to the strange events.

• The woman encountered Han Ji and the interpreter, and the three went to ask Miss Sakai to use her hot spring pool because their building was freezing.
• The narrator noticed that the Shimada family were staying in the communal-quarters building and that the Jizo statue’s red scarf had disappeared.
• Miss Sakai’s assistant let the women use the pool, where the narrator sensed yin energy and a fishy stench; the bathers grew dizzy but were not attacked.
• Mrs. Yoshinaga gathered the women and said filming was stopping and everyone would leave once the road was cleared; Han Ji and the interpreter left to check on Nan Tian.
• Mrs. Yoshinaga urged Mrs. Shimada’s family to bathe, but Mrs. Shimada claimed they were not used to hot springs, prompting a subtle exchange between Mrs. Yoshinaga and Miss Sakai.

The possessed woman noticed that most of the women in the suite were under the ghost’s influence, while the Shimada family and the two actresses were unaffected. Miss Sakai and Ms. Yoshinaga confronted Mrs. Shimada about the inn’s sealed, dusty room and the deaths there, leaving Mrs. Shimada poised to reveal what happened.

• Yin energy filled the suite and left the women staring blankly as Mrs. Shimada led Shimada Daiki out with her family.
• Ms. Yoshinaga and Miss Sakai escorted the Shimada family away, then stayed behind while the other women sat motionless under the ghost’s influence.
• The possessed woman followed Miss Sakai’s voice and found her and Ms. Yoshinaga questioning the Shimada women in a dusty room.
• Miss Sakai said she had sensed danger since childhood and had felt an even stronger warning at the inn.
• Ms. Yoshinaga pointed out a child’s abandoned toy and pressed Mrs. Shimada to explain what had happened in the room.
• Ms. Yoshinaga warned that three people had died and that the crew outnumbered the Shimada family; Mrs. Shimada finally met her gaze.

Mrs. Shimada told Miss Sakai and Ms. Yoshinaga that her husband had changed after finding an abandoned mountain shrine and later drowned in a hot spring. The group set out to inspect a sealed back door, while the eavesdropping woman fled and encountered the cat in the corridor.

• Mrs. Shimada said she and her husband had found an abandoned shrine in the mountains, after which he began acting strangely.
• Mrs. Shimada explained that her husband repeatedly visited the shrine and eventually drowned in the hot spring behind the sealed room.
• Mrs. Shimada said she had sealed off the room and back door, and suspected something from the shrine might have remained there.
• Ms. Yoshinaga suggested Mr. Honda's death might have triggered a change and asked Mrs. Shimada to show them the back door.
• The eavesdropping woman left the room, crouched in fear, and saw the cat at the end of the corridor.

The narrator lost contact with a woman who walked into a supernatural hot spring, then failed to catch Nantian after waking in Han Ji’s body. As Nantian and his assistant remained missing, Han Ji and Bian Sijun grew worried and went out to search for them.

• A cat drove a frightened woman into a hot spring, where she fell into the water and her consciousness faded as something moved beneath the surface.
• The narrator’s dream shifted to Nantian, and the narrator tried to follow him but could neither catch nor communicate with him.
• The narrator recognized that Han Ji was the person they had been possessing and returned to the room after Nantian left to check on the director.
• Nantian’s assistant later went out to look for him, leaving Han Ji and Bian Sijun alone in the room.
• Han Ji recalled how Nantian had hired her after telling her about supernatural dangers and his brother Nangong Yao.
• Worried that Nantian had not returned and that the inn’s trouble might be her fault, Han Ji and Bian Sijun went out to search for him.

Han Ji and the others discovered a hole in the resort’s fence and footprints leading out through it, prompting the director to organize an outing into the snow. Nanten finally beckoned Han Ji and Bian Sijun to join the group, though he continued to keep his distance from Han Ji.

• The group examined the chained back gate, then followed a cat to a hole in the fence and found footprints leading outside.
• The director decided to follow the footprints, while Mrs. Shimada, Shimada Hikaru, and Shimada Daiki prepared to go along.
• Nanten heard Han Ji call his name, spoke to the director, and beckoned Han Ji and Bian Sijun to join the outing.
• Han Ji and Bian Sijun bundled up as the group set off toward a shrine in the snowy mountains, while Nanten continued to avoid Han Ji.

As the group trekked through the snowy woods, Han Ji grew increasingly frightened by the ghost following her. The strange cat mesmerized her and led her away from the group toward a stream.

• Han Ji and the others crawled through a hole in the hotel fence and followed the director into the woods.
• Han Ji noticed her unease growing as the group walked, while the narrator sensed ghosts following them from a distance.
• The exhausted group stopped to rest after Mrs. Shimada refused to let them pause earlier, and Han Ji left to check on Nantian.
• Han Ji encountered the cat, whose gaze left her vacant and compelled her to pick it up.
• Han Ji walked across the snow without leaving footprints as the cat led her toward the source of the yin energy, where the narrator found a flowing stream.

Han Ji drowned in the stream and was taken over by one of the faceless female ghosts, who warned the narrator not to interfere. The narrator followed her back to the group, where the possessed Han Ji focused on the Shimada family and Nantian reacted with irritation.

• Han Ji was forced beneath the stream, drowned, and rose with a human skin mask covering her face.
• The narrator recognized the possessing ghost as one of the faceless women and wondered whether the film crew were reincarnations of their enemies.
• A line of faceless female ghosts appeared and warned the narrator, speaking through Han Ji, not to meddle.
• The ghosts vanished, and the possessed Han Ji walked back toward the group while the cat disappeared.
• Han Ji rejoined the group and looked toward the Shimada family, while Nantian glanced around and glared at the narrator.

The narrator followed the film crew and the Shimada family through a ruined torii to a shrine, where dense yin energy gathered around a pond. As the director confronted Mrs. Shimada about what she had concealed, Bian Sijun’s expression turned fearful.

• The group reached a decaying torii, then crossed a slick stone path to a ruined shrine with an empty interior and a hole in its floor.
• The narrator sensed dense yin energy behind the shrine, while the female ghosts remained hidden from view.
• The crew discovered a pond behind the shrine, and the director led several cameramen there with the Shimada family.
• The female ghost took Bian Sijun through the woods to spy on the director’s group, where the narrator saw them gathered around a dark pond.
• The director questioned Mrs. Shimada about what she had been hiding, and Bian Sijun’s face filled with fear as Mrs. Shimada answered.

The narrator watched the shrine group encounter a waterless shishi-odoshi that knocked by itself as the pond turned blood-red, while Nantian silently urged the narrator to save Han Ji. After the group fled back to the shrine, the narrator found a hanging cat skeleton and the same Kṣitigarbha statue seen at the inn.

• Mrs. Shimada explained that a stream and waterfall had once fed the pond, and the bamboo shishi-odoshi began knocking despite the lack of water.
• The pond's reflection turned red and then blood-red as the shishi-odoshi tapped faster, frightening the group and prompting Nantian to signal the narrator to save Han Ji.
• The narrator asked the female ghost whether Han Ji was a target, then prepared to revive Han Ji and leave with Nantian if necessary.
• Bian Sijun announced that they could return, and Han Ji led her away as the others fled the blood-red pond.
• At the shrine, the narrator found a rotted cat corpse hanging from a beam, with the Kṣitigarbha statue from the inn standing behind it.

As the crowd fled the shrine, the narrator discovered they could no longer touch Nantian and suspected Ye Qing was interfering with their abilities. Back at the inn, the group learned the broken gate had destroyed the talismans protecting it, and a lone set of footsteps sounded inside.

• The narrator saw the crowd being driven toward the inn by ghostly cats and realized the female ghosts had stopped suppressing them with yin energy.
• The narrator tried to pull Nantian away but could not touch him, then suspected Ye Qing was blocking their abilities.
• The crowd trampled the inn's bamboo gate, and Bian Sijun translated Mrs. Shimada's warnings about the water and the destroyed talismans.
• The director confronted Mrs. Shimada, who warned that something had already entered the inn, as the group noticed the crew inside had not responded to the commotion.
• Soft footsteps sounded in the inn's hallway, though only one person seemed to be walking.

The crew learned that the inn had been taken over by ghosts and pressed Mrs. Shimada to reveal the truth. Shimada Hikaru accused his mother of possibly killing his father, but Mrs. Shimada began speaking before the mystery was resolved.

• The narrator sensed that female ghosts had flooded the inn from the shrine while the surrounding woods grew quieter and the snow stopped.
• The director gathered key crew members with Mrs. Shimada, Shimada Hikaru, and Shimada Daiki, while the people left outside smiled like "Han Ji."
• Mrs. Shimada warned the group through Bian Sijun that ghosts had possessed everyone at the inn and urged them to escape immediately.
• Mrs. Yoshinaga challenged Mrs. Shimada's earlier story, and the crew began to suspect that handing over the Shimada family might save them.
• Shimada Hikaru revealed that he suspected Mrs. Shimada had killed his father, describing their conflicts and his father's grave and property.
• Mrs. Shimada began speaking as the narrator wondered whether the ghosts had come to avenge Shimada Hikaru's father.

Mrs. Shimada confessed to killing her abusive husband and explained the protections she had put around the inn. After a black-and-white cat entered the barrier through Shimada Daiki, the defenses failed, and a crowd gathered outside the room.

• Bian Sijun translated Mrs. Shimada's account of her husband's crimes, her resentment, and how she killed him by extinguishing the charcoal fire and leaving him in the cold.
• Mrs. Shimada said she had tried to protect Shimada Hikaru from the dead man and the cat by using rituals, talismans, and a shrine, but the inn's barrier was damaged during the land survey.
• Shimada Hikaru blamed Shimada Daiki for bringing a black-and-white cat into the inn, and Daiki cried out, "Cat."
• The narrator realized the cat had helped undermine the defenses while the female ghosts gained control of the inn, and suspected they intended to torment their targets rather than kill them immediately.
• A large group gathered silently outside the paper door, and everyone in the room backed away from it.

After waking from the dream, the narrator learned that the hot spring resort crew had escaped, though most had been possessed by female ghosts and the ghosts refused to fear or cooperate with Wu Ling. News of Mrs. Shimada’s confession spread, leaving the narrator uneasy about why she had turned herself in.

• The narrator woke from the dream before taking Nantian away and suspected Ye Qing had stopped them.
• The narrator and Wu Ling considered whether Nantian’s unusual luck was a supernatural ability and discussed the ghosts’ concentrated presence at the resort.
• The narrator tried to return to the dream but remained awake while news reports said the trapped crew had escaped and several people had died.
• Wu Ling told the narrator that most of the crew were possessed like Han Ji and that the female ghosts acted as if they could not be destroyed.
• News outlets publicized the resort case and Mrs. Shimada’s past, while the police announced she had turned herself in.
• The narrator wondered why Mrs. Shimada had confessed when the old accident case could not easily be reopened.

The narrator witnessed the black-and-white cat’s memories and learned that a young Mrs. Shimada had killed the cat, contradicting what she had claimed about her past. The chapter ended as the cat’s grieving owner confronted Mrs. Shimada and attacked her.

• The narrator entered the black-and-white cat’s memories and saw Mrs. Shimada arguing with her husband about his cats while she was pregnant.
• The cat’s memories revealed that Mrs. Shimada’s husband had once known a young girl who cared for the cat before the girl was taken away by her family.
• Mrs. Shimada grabbed the elderly cat, threw it into a pond, and beat it with a branch until it drowned while Tanaka Haruka and Shimada Hikaru watched.
• Mrs. Shimada’s husband found the cat’s body, buried it by the shrine, and apologized as the cat’s spirit watched him.
• Mrs. Shimada’s husband confronted her at the inn, accused her of killing the cat, and shoved her to the floor by the throat.

The dream showed how Mrs. Shimada hung the black-and-white cat’s corpse in the shrine and how her husband later buried it again after their fight. After the man encountered a ghostly face in the pool, Mrs. Shimada brought a monk to the shrine, and the cat fled when the monk drove it away.

• Mrs. Shimada hung the cat’s corpse from a shrine crossbeam while Tanaka urged her to leave.
• The cat’s eerie cries tormented Mrs. Shimada, and her husband later forced her to take down the corpse and bury it.
• The man followed the sound of the shishi-odoshi to a pool, where a ghostly female face called Miss Sayuri dragged him underwater before he escaped.
• Mrs. Shimada brought a robed monk and other people to the shrine, and the monk’s staff caused the cat unbearable pain.
• The cat fled the shrine and ran toward the inn after finding the statue and its grave gone.

The cat joined forces with a female ghost to confront the man and Mrs. Shimada, but the man died before the cat could reach its enemy. Years later, the cat saw Shimada Hikaru return with his family and reacted to the female ghost’s renewed presence in the pond.

• The cat followed the female ghost from the pond to the inn, where the man fled from her and later died after being found unconscious in the cold.
• Mrs. Shimada persuaded the police to accept the man’s death as an accidental drowning, while the cat and female ghost remained unable to enter the inn.
• The cat continued to haunt the mountain, unable to reach Mrs. Shimada, while the female ghost’s resentment remained unresolved.
• Years later, the cat saw Shimada Hikaru arrive at the inn with his family, including infant Shimada Daiki.
• The female ghost rose from the pond as countless ghostly laughs spread through the mountains, and the cat echoed her laughter while looking toward the inn.

The narrator realized that Han Ji’s ghost was targeting Shimada Daiki’s reincarnated soul and warned Wu Ling, who revealed that Nangong Yao was staying behind with Nantian because of a family conflict and Nantian’s hidden ability. Later, the narrator read Tanaka’s interview recounting the Shimada family’s past.

• The narrator woke from a dream and recognized Shimada Daiki as the reincarnated soul sought by Han Ji’s ghost.
• The narrator told Wu Ling about the dream and explained that Bai An’s dreams showed the past rather than the future.
• Wu Ling said Nangong Yao had fought with Nantian, suspected he was concealing an ability, and planned to return home while Nangong stayed behind with his brother.
• The narrator spent Sunday and the following workday without incident, then found a translated interview with Tanaka.
• Tanaka recalled that she had been Mrs. Shimada’s childhood playmate and described how the Shimada family lost their home and how the eldest son returned with a broken leg and a changed temperament.

Tanaka recounted the tragic history of the Shimada family and insisted Mrs. Shimada had not killed her husband. After finding a news article about Sayuri, the narrator began to leave their body and heard Nakamura call her name.

• Tanaka explained that Nakamura returned after more than ten years, married Mrs. Shimada, and searched for Sayuri.
• Nakamura became devoted to cats, and after Mrs. Shimada drowned the cat that resembled Sayuri’s, he drank heavily and later died in a hot spring.
• Tanaka said the police ruled Nakamura’s death a drowning and denied that Mrs. Shimada had killed him.
• The narrator found an article and photographs showing that Sayuri had lived a long, happy life and died two years earlier.
• The narrator thought of Shimada Daiki seeing Sayuri’s photograph, then began to float out of their body and heard Nakamura call, “Sayuri.”

Nakamura Toshio recovered memories of his past life after seeing Sayuri’s photograph, then was taken with the female ghosts and film crew to the hot spring resort. There, the black-and-white cat and the ghosts confronted Mrs. Shimada, and Nakamura revealed his identity as Mrs. Shimada’s former victim.

• Nakamura recalled his love for Sayuri and the events that led him to flee his hometown and become a thief and bandit.
• His mother took him with the film crew toward the hot spring resort, but Nakamura tried to escape after realizing something was wrong.
• The film crew brought Nakamura into the resort’s dining hall and held him with the silent female ghosts.
• Shimada Hikaru and his son dragged Mrs. Shimada into the hall, followed by Nantian, Bu Sijun, and "Han Ji".
• The black-and-white cat appeared, and Mrs. Shimada admitted she had killed it while pleading for Daiki’s safety.
• Under questioning, Nakamura identified himself as Nakamura Toshio, and Mrs. Shimada’s grief turned to shock.