Missing

• by Kouda Gakuto
• published by Dengeki Bunko

Stories can be dangerous.

They can infect the human mind, alter it...and open it to outside influence.

There is another world, a world of monsters and nightmares, and these beings have been invading our world, spreading themselves through viral stories.

Urban legends.

Folklore.

Superstition.

Missing puts a group of very bright high school students at odds with the other world, struggling to keep themselves from being absorbed into it...and trapped between two opposite but equally menacing forces -- the agency, authoritarian men in black who show no mercy in the name of all mankind, and a mysterious magician who exists everywhere and nowhere.

What makes the series especially fun for me is that the author has actually done his homework, and all the theories, folklore, and magic in the series is based strickly on actual recorded fact. Jungian collective unconscious, the beliefs of magicians like Crowley, and the sinister side of youkai.

• Missing -- A Tale of kami-kakushi

The first novel in the series sees the literature clubs resident Dark Lord vanish...shortly after introducing everyone to his new girlfriend. But she was no human girl, and now they may never see him again...

• Missing 2 -- A Tale of Curses

Someone starts faxing a curse to Kidono Aki, one installment each night. As her finger rots away, the others race to lift the curse before the agency takes action. But what are the invisible dogs the witch warned about?

• Missing 3&4 -- A Tale of the Hanged Man

There is a book in the library that must never be loaned to anyone, for those who read it always end up hanging by a noose from a tree. Why is it always the youngest child that succeeds?

• Missing 5 -- A Tale of Blindfolds

Takemi gets involved in a kind of ouija board ritual, calling forth a blindfolded little boy who loves red crayons. But the ghost they summon bears a striking resemblance to Utsume's long lost little brother...

• Missing 6&7 -- A Tale of Opposed Mirrors

Totally explodes the formula. Starts with a series of paintings of the other world, and fragments of a magic mirror embedded in the painter's eye, and then goes insane.

• Missing 8 -- A Tale of Sacrifices

There's a girl buried in the wall of the school. If you don't want to join her, don't take a shower alone. Completely turns the tables on everything that's happened so far...

• Missing 9&10&11 -- A Tale of Zashiki-warashi

Slow start, big finish. Bringing everything back home.