"SLIT-MOUTH WOMAN" "COSMETIC SURGERY" "TAMAI HOSPITAL" "Maybe we shouldn't." "Don't say you believe that nonsense too." " But..." " It's alright." "TAMAI HOSPITAL NO ENTRY" "Our previous special issue on gaining beauty through sex was targeted at women in relationships, but this time I'm thinking about a special issue aimed at single women." "Yeah." "OK, OK." "Well, leave that aside for now." "Could you help out with the horror project instead?" "What about Kato?" "We extended the deadline, hoping it would become a scoop, but we've lost contact with him." "It's been three days now." "Investigation:" "Urban Legend Number 5." "The Mystery of the Slit-Mouth Woman." "It's one of Kato's, so it should be alright, but we've already announced publication, so I'm a bit worried." "You can use whatever is on Kato's desk." "Will you have a go at it for me?" " Mr Kuroiwa, a phone call." " Right." "Thanks." "This is a tough job for you, Yoko." "I wonder what happened to Kato." "Do tell me if there's anything I can help with." "Thank you, Suzuki." "TAMAI HOSPITAL" "HASEGAWA YUI MEDICAL TRIBUNAL" "TSUMURA" "I get it." " This one?" " Thanks, brother-in-law." "Hey, hey." "I'm back!" " Hi!" " Hi, sister." "You mo seem to be having fun." " Kazumi, weren't you going out?" " Well, things happened." "I had no idea Kazumi was such a good cook." "Hey, Yoko, what did you buy?" "It's alright. I need it tomorrow." "So what else do we need..." "Isn't it going well with Koji?" "Yes, but we haven't been seeing each other so often since I refused to go on that dare with him." "Where was it he wanted you to go?" " The hospital." " On the other side of the highway?" "Yeah, that cosmetic surgery place." " What about it?" " It suddenly closed three years ago." "They say both the staff and patients suddenly vanished." "There are even rumours that ghosts appear and study." "That's right." "They say the slit-mouth woman was once a patient there." "So you know about the slit-mouth woman." "She says "Am I pretty?", takes her mask o_ and shows her slit mouth." "And if you try to escape, she comes after you at an incredible speed." "I don't like stories like that." "That was a lovely meal." " How are things with our parents?" " Disastrous." "I wonder how long she's going to stay with us." "I don't know why you dislike her so much, just because she's your stepsister." "I don't dislike her." "Kazumi is just like a real younger sister to me." "Like a real sister." "Kazumi was the only one who defended me from my father's concern with keeping up appearances." "Given that you fell out with your father over these things, it's ironic that your articles are all about outward appearance." "She's just the kind of girl I'd want as a little sister, though." "Kazumi." "That's what worries me." "You're worrying too much." " Oh no!" " Koji, who was that?" " A friend." " There's something going on!" "Are you cheating on me?" "Koji?" "Sorry." "Did I scare you?" "You swine. I was frightened." "Sorry, sorry." "Misao?" "It's just a mirror." " Let's get out of here!" " No. I can't!" "Pull yourself together!" "Come on, move!" "Hurry up!" "Misao!" "Misao!" "Misao!" "is anybody there?" "You must be Ms Hasegawa." "I phoned earlier." "I'm from the weekly Kira." "My name is Asagiri." "Please come in." "I guess my nose upsets you." "No, not at all." "The fact is, I had a nose operation at Tamai Hospital." " Was the tribunal because of that?" " Yes." "I also spoke about it to Mr Kato, whom I met before." "But I lost my lawsuit." "I believe you know something about the slit-mouth woman." "Yes, I do." "Around the time when I was a patient at Tamai Hospital, there was an unused room there." "I asked a young nurse about it." "She said the staff called it "the forbidden chamber"." "A senior colleague had told her it was where the slit-mouth woman had been." "I When darkness fell the slit-mouth woman would escape from the hospital room and murder people in the street." "Her father, who was a politician, knew about it." "He had her killed secretly." "They say her grudge still inhabits that hospital room." "So, actually, this is just what a young nurse told you." "I also..." "It doesn't matter!" "It's because that rumour spread..." "It serves them right!" "Cosmetic surgery is only about making money anyway." "When I went to have the operation done at Tamai Hospital fixed, the next hospital was terrible too." "Because of them, my nose got even more messed up." "The court is also looking into that at the moment." "But... ..this time I'm sure I'll win in the end." "It's an illness." "A disease of the mind in which one's own body image is destroyed." "A doctor told me about it when I was researching cosmetic surgery." "Even though their operations didn't go wrong, there's a small number who sue one hospital after the other." "What causes it?" "An ego that makes them want to be more beautiful?" "Mostly..." "For instance, we in the media often stress external appearance, don't we?" "They're influenced to think they should look a certain way." "Then they get upset over a slight skin imperfection or a faintly irregular nose that nobody would notice." "They get so hung up that they stay in front of the mirror all day." "Then they have cosmetic surgery, which only increases their discomfort." "In our profession, we often play on that discomfort for our own profit." "SLIT-MOUTH WOMAN = DAUGHTER?" "FATHER A POLITICIAN?" "TAMAI HOSPITAL FORBIDDEN CHAMBER" "HASEGAWA YUI LOST CASE AT MEDICAL TRIBUNAL" "TSUMURA" "Suzuki." "You know people in the politics section, right?" " Well, sort of." " Isn't there's an MP called Tsumura?" "Didn't he retire recently?" "Can you find out if Tsumura had a daughter?" "And also if she had any connection with Tamai Hospital." "Have you found something out?" "No, nothing yet." "I'm just uneasy about it." "What's wrong?" "You're acting weird today." "Am I?" " How did the dare go?" " Yeah." " Did you go?" " What?" "Yeah." " How is she?" " She's finally calmed down now." "Have you told your parents?" "They asked if we could look after her here for a while." "So what happened?" "It looks as though Koji suddenly died while they were having sex." " What?" " But her fright is still unusual." " And you know..." " What?" "The police said Kazumi kept talking about the slit-mouth woman." "You know that Koji had asked her to go to on the dare to Tamai Hospital." "Suppose that..." "No way!" "Hello." "It's Suzuki." "I found out about Tsumura." "As you said, he seems to have had one daughter." "Her name is Hitomi." "And what about this Hitomi..." "She went missing some 30 years ago and her whereabouts have been unknown ever since." "Now, about Tamai Hospital." "When they were involved in litigation, Tsumura would stick his nose in." "Nobody could figure out what his connection was." "It was around that time that rumours about patient relations began." "Thanks." "I'll fill you in tomorrow." "See you." "It's absurd." "Nothing but unsubstantiated speculation." "The testimony from that weird Hasegawa woman is just gossip." "We can't publish studies like that." "Although Tsumura has retired, he still has influence." "And to fax it to someone like him before you meet..." "Hello." "This is complete nonsense." "I do have evidence." "Evidence?" "The fact that I'm meeting you now." "That won't wash." "In fact, my own sister is a victim of the slit-mouth woman." "Please let me hear your daughter's story." "I want to know how to lift the curse." "My daughter has nothing to do with any slit-mouth woman!" "Don't call her by that name!" "Hitomi was..." "Hitomi fell in love with a man with a wife and children." "Of course, both I and society pushed her away." "Anyway, that's in the past." "In the end, the man went back to his family." "After that... ..Hitomi gradually withdrew and said she wanted cosmetic surgery." "I disapproved of it." "She was already good-looking." "It disturbed me." "From then on, she spent longer in front of the mirror." "And then Hitomi caused a car accident." "It was a tragic accident." "A steel frame was jutting out from a parked lorry." "She deliberately drove into it." "She had nothing else to live for." "Ironically, it went as Hitomi wanted." "She needed cosmetic surgery." "After the operation, most parts were beautiful, but there was a barely stitched-up scar around her mouth." "They couldn't repair that." "Hitomi went into shock and locked herself into her room." "When it got dark, she secretly slipped out and loitered around the house of the man she had split from." "That's when the rumours about the slit-mouth woman began." "Hitomi was chased by people." "They tore her mask o_." "She was humiliated." "Hitomi escaped back to her hospital room and committed suicide in front of the mirror." "After that, staff_ and patients at that hospital started dying in mysterious ways." "Once they closed o_ the room Hitomi had been in, the incidents stopped." "After that, the hospital room was sealed o_." "After Hitomi's suicide, her lover's family also broke up." "Then it hit me." "If I had been less concerned with social standing and more prepared to believe in Hitomi," "if I had only been able to hold her..." "Will you write an article about it?" "Do you intend to humiliate Hitomi again?" "Sorry to disturb you at work." "I have something to do tonight, so I might be late." "So I'd like you to look after Kazumi." "Yeah." "Please." "See you." "Beauty brings infinite possibilities." "will be more fun." "Your transformation begins today." "A bright future awaits you." "You want to be beautiful." "We can fulfil your wish." "Hurry, we're waiting for your call." "I'm back!" "Kazumi." "Are you alright?" "Are you alright?" "I'm scared." "You poor thing." "Hey..." " What?" " Does my face look terrible?" "Not at all." "It's as pretty as always." "Will you make love to me?" " Yeah." " Good." "Hitomi!" "I understand how you feel now, too." "Do you want to continue with this forever?" "I want to help you." "It's been painful for you." "Hitomi." "It's alright to be the way you are." "You're not a slit-mouth woman." "You are..." "Hitomi." "Stay being Hitomi." "You're not alone any longer." "You're also inside me." "Hitomi." "This mirror..." "Shouldn't you have the evil spirit exorcised from it?" "That's not necessary now." "is that so?" "Hitomi must have journeyed on to a more tranquil world." " Do you know what?" " What?" "How do you think the curse of that mirror was passed on?" "Well..." "Maybe it was through sex."