After I Got Tangled Up with Tomie

I have a secret.

A year ago, a beautiful transfer student named Suzuki Tomie joined our class.

He was so repulsive. He was a man, yet had features so beautiful they made your head spin, thick, lustrous black hair, and a brazen, haughty personality.

But for some reason, everyone in class seemed to lose their minds and fall madly in love with him.

At first, I didn't feel much of anything toward him, apart from a little jealousy. But after he stole my rich-boy boyfriend, I started to hate him more and more.

What a slut.

Every night, I would viciously curse him, wishing his face would rot, that he would turn ugly and melt into a puddle of pus.

But the next day, he would always show up at school perfectly intact.

This went on for about a year. No one knew what kind of hell I was living in.

Almost everyone around me stopped seeming human. All they could think about was Suzuki Tomie. They stalked him, became obsessed, and turned themselves into something neither human nor ghost.

The ridiculous part was that as their possessiveness grew more and more deranged, Suzuki Tomie only grew to despise them more, treating them like brainless dogs and playing with them.

Oh, and here's an aside.

Maybe because I was the only person at school who was indifferent to Suzuki Tomie, even disgusted by him, he took a strange interest in me.

He seemed to treat me as a friend. He gave me everything his admirers sent him, and would laugh without a care in the world as he complained to me about their terrible taste and disgusting stares.

He was always clinging to me, tangling himself around me affectionately, his dark eyes staring straight at me as he said, “Tongtong, Tongtong, they really bother me. You're the only one who's different.”

I was sick of him, but at the same time, I got all kinds of attention because of him. People would try to win me over so they could get close to him, giving me expensive gifts.

I admit I wasn't exactly a good person, either, so I accepted every single one.

Every man for himself.

Even so, I still hated him.

Every second he complained to me, held my hand, stroked my cheek, or spoke to me, I couldn't control the jealousy and disgust in my heart.

How could anyone be so revolting? He must have been so pleased with himself, thinking I was ridiculous, having to force a smile, praise him, and act close to him even though I was jealous.

So on the day our class went on an outing, when I watched Suzuki Tomie get dismembered by his admirers after they could no longer restrain themselves, I took a step back and ran away.

It was pouring, but I lowered my eyes and thought happily, at last, I'm free of him.

I was in such a good mood that I picked up a slug spattered with blood and took it back to my courtyard to keep as a memento.

The rain passed, the sky cleared, and my world returned to peace.

My boyfriend came back to me. He began confessing how he had been bewitched into liking Tomie and begging me to forgive him.

Of course I forgave him. After all, my boyfriend was the richest and most powerful young man at school. As long as he had money and could give me a good life, I could forgive him as many times as he liked.

But this time, my boyfriend seemed a little different.

He began telling me frequently, “Tongtong, I think there's always a voice talking inside my head.”

I tried to ask him as gently as I could. “What does the voice say? Could you just be tired?”

My boyfriend looked pale and confused as he told me he had no idea what it was.

As the days went by, I slowly noticed that his appearance seemed to be changing.

His eyes and brows grew narrow and long. His once-manly chin became exquisitely refined. His healthy complexion grew paler and paler, his lips turned blood-red, and a faint beauty mark appeared beneath the corner of his eye.

I was horrified to realize he was starting to look more and more like that slut.

And he was getting more and more clingy, as if he wanted to stuff himself inside my body.

I began to grow sick of my boyfriend.

Whenever I saw him, I thought of that slut.

On several nights, when my boyfriend kissed me and made love to me, I would see the faint light and instinctively tremble, thinking it was that dead slut kissing me.

So disgusting.

I have to get away from him.

I refuse to live in his shadow forever.

But things began to spiral out of control. Everything around me seemed to be covered in a shadow.

The classmates who had taken part in dismembering Suzuki Tomie began dying one after another in bizarre ways. Those who didn't die started looking more and more like Suzuki Tomie…

Even the adorable slug in the courtyard grew bigger and bigger. A huge, soft abscess rose on its back, and its sticky tentacles looked like a pair of thin, waving arms…

He's back.

No, they're back.

Important content warnings:

1. This blurb was written on May 14, 2025, and may be further developed or revised.

2. There are extensive original changes. The love interest has a Tomie-like constitution, but is not the Tomie from the original work. He attracts people regardless of age or gender.

3. The protagonist is unaffected by Tomie's influence, of course, and there is a reason for that. It will be revealed later in the story. This is also an original change.

4. There are lots of ideas and original changes, and the story's timeline is not fixed.

5. More to come if I think of anything.

Theme: Stay positive, work hard to step out of the shadows, and become a better version of yourself.