The Ghost of Golden Time is the second chapter of Voices in the Dark.
Plot[]
A comedian is found dead, his face contorted into a horrible rictus. Keisuke discusses the news with his friend Tsuguo. Keisuke never smiles or laughs so Tsuguo insists on taking him to a stand-up comedy show, despite Keisuke's protests.
One of the acts is "Twilight Pacific Peace", a girl duo who claim that if they get enough laughs they can rule the world. Their act is terrible. At first, no one pays attention, but then audience members start violently, uncontrollably laughing one by one. The girls notice Keisuke is the only audience member not laughing, and sneer at him as he drags Tsuguo out of the performance.
Tsuguo doesn't know why he began laughing. He's convinced he was just caught up in the psychological effect, and that the audience members were shills. Tsuguo wants to go and see Twilight Pacific Peace perform again but Keisuke warns him not to. Later that night, Tsuguo appears outside Keisuke's house, this time with the girls. Tsuguo once again begins uncontrollably laughing as they ask Keisuke why he walked out on their show and didn't laugh. Keisuke breaks away from them and drags Tsuguo into the house.
Keisuke explains that when the girls were on stage, he saw them astrally projecting, sending out spirits that tickled the audience members and forced them to laugh. Keisuke has always been able to see spirits and dead people ever since he was a child. At this point, the girls appear in spirit form and say they will have to kill Keisuke and Tsuguo. They attack Keisuke and Tsuguo, with Tsuguo again convulsing with laughter; and Keisuke's mother is also attacked when she walks into the room. Keisuke loses consciousness and wakes some time later. His mother survived but Tsuguo has asphyxiated. Keisuke does not tell the police the truth.
Twilight Pacific Peace become so popular on the stand-up comedy circuit that they finally achieve their dream of appearing on national primetime show Golden Time. They become famous everywhere due to their ability to send their spirits through electronic channels and induce unstoppable laughter in anyone watching.