Chapter 27. A game for just the two of them. ...

Tsukino and Chiya hesitated, "Hmm..."

His name? His name does indeed appear in *Ooparts* magazine, but…

"That." After a brief moment of thought, the black-haired boy readily admitted, "That was just something I said offhand at the time. After all, 'I was once written about in a monthly magazine' is much more credible than 'I don't know why, but the school really approached me, someone who has absolutely nothing to do with paranormal events.'"

"Oh~!" Wang Ma Xiaoji suddenly realized, "I see... Hmm, indeed, this explanation is much more credible now!"

"...If I said that, would Kazuo Kozue believe me?"

But the next second, the purple-haired boy's expression changed. He first sighed as if helpless, then began to righteously and sternly criticize.

"That's so unfair! You can't lie and cheat!"

"And even if it's a lie, why is it such an obvious one that I can spot immediately?" Wang Ma Xiaoji retorted mercilessly. "I stopped telling such low-grade lies that are so easily exposed after I learned to speak!"

Tsukino and Chiya: "That last sentence doesn't sound quite right... By the way, you just said something like 'Little Tsukino, do you know that Uncle Hikami is actually an alien tanuki' yesterday afternoon."

Wang Ma Xiaoji: "Huh?! There's such a thing?!"

Tsukino and Chiya: "It's too late to pretend to be terrified at a time like this."

"I really don't remember~ After all, I can tell forty lies a minute, and I tell so many lies every day, it's normal that I can't remember a few, right? Kozuki, you should be understanding! Besides—"

Wang Ma Xiaoji changed his tone, and his voice changed from a lazy complaint to a slightly more serious one.

"This kind of careless lie, which can be noticed by simply flipping through all the previous issues of 'Monthly OOPARTS,' is almost like... deliberately trying to make people discover something is wrong."

"It's so obvious that it's quite different from Kozuki's usual habits, making me feel like I've been invited."

Tsukino and Chiya asked in confusion, "An invitation?"

"Hmm, an invitation—it's like Kozuki is actively inviting me to expose him." Ohma Kokichi casually rested his hand on the back of his head. "Or should I remove the 'like'?"

"It's normal to want to find out an article after learning that someone you know has been featured in a magazine, right? So, telling such an easily exposed lie is definitely not like Kazuki Kozue's style... Could it be that!"

Wang Ma Xiaoji, who had been looking relaxed, suddenly widened his eyes and began to make a haphazard analysis with a serious expression.

"Generally speaking, when a person's personality suddenly becomes abnormal and they do things that are not their usual self, it is very likely that they are crying for help!"

"Could it be—that Kozuki has encountered some terrible, super crisis?!"

“That’s right.” Tsukino and Chiya stirred their coffee with spoons. “Um, I’ve been coerced by the evil leader. Please save me.”

"Oh dear, that's really pitiful~ Because if you're targeted by an evil leader, you might never be able to escape for the rest of your life~"

After a few lighthearted banter, Tsukino and Chiya took a sip of coffee and, after putting down their cups, said, "So, will Ohma find it fun? If he thinks it's fun, then there's no problem."

"Hmm?" Wangma Xiaoji first let out a puzzled hiss, then his expression turned intrigued after realizing what was happening. "Eh—so, it really was an invitation. The clumsy lie was exposed, but what followed was revealing even more mysteries... Indeed, quite interesting~"

"Furthermore, since Kozuki Kazuha said that, it means you're not worried about your secrets being deliberately explored. Why is that? Is it because Kozuki Kazuha's hidden past isn't actually anything shameful, or is it because Kozuki Kazuha is a clever liar, so confident that the mystery won't be solved?"

"Although... solving mysteries should be a detective's job, it's rare for Kozuki to 'provoke' me like this, and I feel like I'll be looked down upon if I don't accept the challenge."

"So I'll try my best too. Oh my, it's rare for Kozuki to invite me to play a game just for the two of us, I feel so excited I won't be able to sleep tonight... Whew—zzzzz..."

Tsukino and Chiya: "..." Didn't he fall asleep instantly?

*******

The premise of games and challenges is that one is still alive.

They also carried marks on their bodies that resembled death warrants.

At this moment, Wang Ma Xiaoji, who had suddenly woken up from his sleep, put on a respectful and attentive expression, looking both obedient and innocent.

They were discussing the Hope's Peak quest.

Tsukino and Chiya slowly said, "I conducted some investigations, but the feedback I received was rather complicated. Anyway, here's what happened..."

On the day that he met with Huang Ying Gongyi in the conference room, which was also the day that Wang Ma Xiaoji first came to Qianye's dormitory.

That night, Tsukino and Chiya explored the preparatory course school buildings with flashlights, and then...

"Nothing was found, everything is normal, and it doesn't seem like there's anything strange going on."

"Is this always the case?"

No, that's not it.

Tsukino and Chiya took a sip of coffee: "I checked the surveillance footage."

Whether it was the surveillance cameras that were openly installed in the school buildings, or the few that Hope Peak had casually installed when he was investigating the school buildings that night with their tacit approval.

“I specifically reviewed the surveillance footage following Xia Chuan’s trail, but…”

Tsukino and Chiya gently shook their heads: "According to the school's existing surveillance footage, Natsukawa behaved perfectly normally a few days ago. This normalcy continued until school ended this afternoon."

"After school today, Xia Chuan packed his things and left the school. What happened after he left the school is unknown for the time being because there is no surveillance footage. In any case, after Xia Chuan had been gone for a while, he suddenly returned. After that, Xia Chuan appeared on the surveillance footage as described by Hinata."

"And on the top floor..." Tsukino and Chiya said, "Perhaps due to the influence of the spiritual barrier, the surveillance cameras did not capture what happened after Natsukawa arrived at the top floor."

"So the most crucial information is still missing." Wang Ma Xiaoji said knowingly. "It's hidden so well. It seems that this anomaly is paying close attention to protecting minors from restricted scenes."

To kill a high school student directly but protect him from other students seeing the scene? That's really hardcore.

"In addition, I found a highly skilled hacker to help investigate Xia Chuan's intelligence."

"Oh? I didn't expect Kozuki to have hacker friends? What an impressive social circle~ They're only slightly less influential than mine."

“No, we wouldn’t call them friends,” Tsukino and Chiya denied. “That person was just doing things for money.”

The hacker who received the request from Chiya and investigated Natsukawa is named Shinmura Kou.

Shinmura Kou is young, but his computer skills are superb. However, he's the kind of person who will do anything for money, without considering the terrible consequences for others. Tsukino and Chiya once thought that the only warmth he might have left was reserved for his pet black cat named Mint.

Tsukino and Chiya remained noncommittal about Shinmura Kou's usual practices. In any case, at least when it came to intelligence gathering, it was certainly convenient to ask Shinmura Kou for help, since all you needed was money.

...It's just that this guy's offer was really expensive.

Thinking of this, Tsukino and Chiya felt a pang of regret: "You contacted me at a very opportune time. I had just finished reading the information that hacker sent me."

"They're very efficient. Both the speed at which the hacker sent the intelligence and the speed at which Kozuki finished reading it."

"It's just because the intelligence we received didn't contain anything of real importance."

Tsukino and Chiya shook their heads again.

“Xia Chuan’s life… from birth to now, has been nothing more than an ordinary daily routine. He has a harmonious family, a stable life, and a few friends. Although there are people he dislikes, they are not so much so that he would do something extreme. At most, he would just complain to his friends about it.”

It seems ordinary no matter how you look at it, but in today's context, this ordinary life is also the most unusual thing about it.

Because most strange phenomena arise from people's obsessions after death. This leads to the fact that the appearance, behavior, and abilities of these strange phenomena are related to their obsessions.

Some supernatural beings linger in places connected to their obsessions in life, and focus on killing people associated with those obsessions... For example, some supernatural beings have prioritized targeting those who bullied them in life, while others have prioritized targeting the group of "delinquent youths" because it was these delinquents who caused their wives and children to break up in the past.

If this applies to a graffiti artist, it means they'll kill anyone who criticizes their comics.

So what kind of situation will Xia Chuan encounter?

“Xia Chuan hasn’t offended anyone, nor has he been directly or indirectly involved in any murder cases. So we can rule out that he killed this strange person. And if anything else has happened to Xia Chuan recently that no one else has, it’s definitely…”

Tsukino and Chiya were talking for a while when, as if suddenly remembering something, they changed the subject and asked a question.

"By the way, Wang Ma. Do you need Xia Chuan's information? I can send you a copy."

"Well... never mind. Anyway, Kozuki has already finished reading it, so I just need to listen to Kozuki's summary. Ideally, even the strange creatures can be solved by Kozuki without me even realizing it, and I can just slack off and relax."

"Well, this trust is really unsettling."

"Hehe, what's wrong? Is Tsukino Kazuha finding it troublesome? Thinking about it, it's true. In a sense, I'm entrusting my life to you."

"...I see, so this is the high emotional intelligence way to say 'wanting to be lazy'? I've learned something new."

Tsukino and Chiya picked up their water glasses again and drank the remaining coffee in one gulp.

This statement may sound a bit heavy in terms of its content, but it's not unpleasant.

-----------------------

Author's Note: Shinmura Kou is from "Wolf Game," a green-haired character with amazing computer skills. He's just making a cameo appearance here and probably won't have any more significant appearances later on.