Chapter 44. The Orange-Haired Woman at First Meeting. ...

This dinner was ultimately not finished satisfactorily.

After everything was settled, it was time for a pleasant meal. Unfortunately, Kenji Hagiwara suddenly received a phone call midway through the meal, and then looked apologetic, saying that he needed to leave first.

It was obvious that something had come up unexpectedly, so Tsukino and Chiya naturally had no objections. After Hagiwara Kenji left, he leisurely ate the half-eaten yakiniku rice bowl in front of him.

The TV in the restaurant, which was originally showing children's cartoons, was somehow switched to another channel.

"...The following is a report on the school massacre in H City, Tokyo."

Tsukino and Chiya paused slightly while eating. His ears, oblivious to what his brain was thinking, absorbed all the sounds around them without missing a single one.

After providing a general overview of the incident, the scene shifted to interviews with the victim's family.

The scene then cuts to the vicinity of that school.

Tsukino and Chiya looked up, and through the lens, he could see the school that wasn't entirely unfamiliar to him since he had been there once before. Yet, less than three days had passed, and this horrific massacre had occurred in this supposedly haunted school.

Tsukino and Chiya didn't know if there were any survivors left in the school.

However, according to current media reports, most accounts seem to say that everyone in the school was brutally murdered, each stab fatal, and not a single person survived with serious injuries.

Of course, in such a situation, if there are indeed survivors in the school, their existence may be temporarily concealed for protection reasons.

To confirm this, perhaps we should...

Tsukino and Chiya lowered their heads and put the spoonful of grilled meat rice into their mouths, continuing to think about whether there were any survivors and how to find out their identities. However, it was clear that his concentration was not very strong at the moment, and his eyes unconsciously glanced towards the television.

Many people have spontaneously placed white flowers near the school as a form of mourning.

Among those interviewed were passersby who came to offer flowers after hearing the news, as well as family members and friends of the tragically deceased students or teachers. Some of their faces were blurred on the screen, but even without seeing their expressions, their grief was palpable.

"That child was perfectly fine at home this morning and said goodbye to us."

"I just celebrated my birthday a few days ago, and we made a promise to travel abroad together a year from now..."

"He had originally planned to quit his job after a while to do what he truly loved...!"

"My sister promised to take me to the amusement park this weekend! Why did she suddenly..."

"..."

The TV channel was switched again, this time showing a performance by the currently very popular idol group Love & Hero.

Ai Kashiwagi, one of the members of this idol group, was also a former Ino, but Tsukino and Chiya weren't particularly interested in the idol stage. He lowered his head again, preparing to finish the rest of his meal in one go.

Although their abilities weren't particularly outstanding, Tsukino and Chiya knew very well that compared to most people in this world, they had encountered quite a few strange and unusual things.

He had been caught up in the crises brought about by the battle between the Calamity Envoys, witnessed the attack that killed a god, and was once used as a pawn by some people... Of course, he had also solved strange and unusual incidents.

In these events, he inevitably encountered some death. For example... that Natsukawa classmate not long ago, that was also one of the regrettable deaths.

Having experienced those things, Tsukino and Chiya knew very well that some things were almost unavoidable, just as the spread of strange rumors often meant that it had already caused the death of at least one person.

Under normal circumstances, even knowing that some people are facing tragic ends, he can still remain calm.

Because if we don't calmly and quickly investigate and resolve the matter, bad situations will continue to occur one after another.

But... an entire school? Massacred? Students, teachers, or other staff... all of them?

This was the first time he had ever witnessed such a scale of death.

Although they were rationally clear about what they should do, emotionally, Tsukino and Chiya couldn't help but think about developments that would ultimately do nothing to change the current situation.

if……

If I had followed Wang Ma's suggestion over the weekend and sneaked into that school disguised as a student, would things have been different?

...

It's raining outside.

Hopefully Mr. Hagiwara drove or brought an umbrella, otherwise this situation is really troublesome.

Having sorted out their thoughts and stopped dwelling on those meaningless ideas, Tsukino and Chiya stood up and walked towards the shop entrance.

Perhaps because of the rain, the store suddenly became much more crowded. Many people who didn't bring umbrellas came in to seek shelter from the rain.

Neither Tsukino nor Chiya brought an umbrella.

He sighed softly, perhaps because of the emotions in his heart that he couldn't completely calm down, or perhaps because of the unfortunate situation he had encountered at that particular time.

However, he deliberately stopped by the glass window near the outside of the store to observe the size of the raindrops. The rain wasn't too heavy yet, and if he was fast enough, he could easily go to the nearest convenience store to buy an umbrella before the rain got too heavy.

Suddenly, his breathing faltered slightly.

Through the glass, where raindrops dripped and slid down, Tsukino and Chiya saw a figure that shouldn't have been there.

The purple-haired boy stood with an umbrella beside a bench across from the restaurant. The bench was already soaked by the rain, and even if it were empty, no one would sit on it at this time.

The restaurant isn't particularly far from Hope's Peak, but getting there within the time it takes to eat a meal is theoretically impossible.

Moreover, Wang Ma Xiaoji originally had no intention of meeting with the police. According to this evil leader, he was too busy to meet with the police because he was involved in a brutal struggle with other forces.

Although the truth of that last point remains uncertain, Tsukino and Chiya are certain that when they spoke to Ohma in the restaurant, he was still at the school building. They had faintly heard the school bell ringing at that time.

So why?

Why is he here again?

Before Tsukino and Chiya could think about it, they saw Ohma Kokichi, who would normally be looking at the restaurant door if he was waiting for someone, suddenly look up and stare at the glass as if he sensed their gaze.

"...!"

Their eyes met, and Tsukino and Chiya stopped thinking about it and went to the door. He didn't care whether his fast pace would splash water onto his trousers, and strode quickly towards where Ohma Kokichi was.

As the taller one and the one who didn't bring an umbrella, Tsukino and Chiya quite consciously took the umbrella from Ohma Kokichi.

The sound of raindrops hitting the umbrella continued, and Tsukino and Chiya asked, "Why did Ohma suddenly appear here?"

"Hmm... how should I put it? It's like that~ sometimes people just do things out of the blue and on a whim~!"

Wang Ma Xiaoji rubbed his arm, which was a little sore from holding the umbrella, and then stuffed something into Qianye's hand.

"But since we're already here, even though it's still raining, it feels a bit unfair to just leave like this—hey, there seem to be a few interesting shops around here, Kozuki, would you like to come with me to check them out? Ah, no, I shouldn't have asked that."

"A loser without an umbrella has no right to refuse the Ultimate Leader~ So let's go~!"

"...In that case, there's nothing we can do."

As a result, they didn't get back to Hope Peak until midnight that day.

They were just playing around.

From beginning to end, neither Wang Ma Xiaoji nor Yueye and Qianye mentioned those things again—the strange events, the school massacre, the dolls, the impending death...

Everything seemed the same as usual. Tonight was just an ordinary night, without any life-or-death decisions to be made.

No passersby thought anything was wrong; after all, they looked like just two ordinary high school students walking together among countless people on the street at night.

*******

The next day was still a workday.

However, if there's anything different from before, it's that the students from the previous year's preparatory course, the seniors, had some kind of competition this afternoon... which benefited the freshmen this year, as they didn't have to attend classes this afternoon.

There's such a good thing.

Tsukino and Chiya aren't particularly bad at studying, but... of course, it would be even better if they could have a holiday. What student doesn't like a holiday!

This activity for second-year students is limited to preparatory courses. In theory, undergraduate students should still attend classes as usual, but apparently…

"This cake tastes pretty good~!" The purple-haired boy sitting on a bench in the corner of the school took a bite of his cupcake and made a satisfied sound. "What Kozuki said earlier, that incident was definitely man-made?"

"Such a grand display doesn't seem like strange behavior at all."

Tsukino and Chiya hummed in agreement. He had now readjusted his emotions and was completely calm inside and out.

"And this morning I checked with...a guy I know from the Metropolitan Police Department."

The golden-haired fox had a voice that was remarkably similar to Ouma Kokichi's. To be honest, Tsukino and Chiya were quite surprised when they first found Ouma Kokichi and heard his voice.

However, that's not the focus right now.

The fox spirit named "Wildfire" is currently working for Iiu Yoko, a fox monster who is also a police inspector at the Metropolitan Police Department. Iiu is the type who prefers to delegate and doesn't do things herself. As a result, Wildfire has gathered a considerable amount of information within the Metropolitan Police Department.

Of course, Nohimaru's responsibilities mainly involve monsters, but this doesn't conflict with the fact that he, as a police officer, can easily obtain some internal information about the Metropolitan Police Department.

Tsukino and Chiya recalled how the fox had replied almost instantly after they tentatively brought up the school massacre incident.

[Oh dear, does Chiya care about this? You're right, this has nothing to do with monsters. For something to cause such a tragedy, humans are truly terrifying creatures.]

[Oops, I seem to have said too much. Anyway, consider this a bonus message: this was definitely done by you humans.]

It wasn't an accident.

At that time, Tsukino and Chiya turned off their phones, and they roughly understood the situation.

Nohimaru had no reason to lie to him about this. Therefore... the original guess can now be completely confirmed.

They really are human.

However, who knows what kind of strange things might happen to the entire school in the future? Moreover, are the rumors about paranormal events that suddenly appeared at that school truly unrelated to the subsequent tragedy? And Aurora…

However, these speculations... still need some time to be verified.

Wang Ma Xiaoji's eyes widened: "Is that so? It's so clear... Xiaoyueye and the people they planted in the police force are really no less capable than me! Suddenly I feel a bit threatened!"

Tsukino and Chiya: "The word 'plant' doesn't sound quite right."

Wangma Xiaoji: "No way, as the 'Ultimate Leader,' I can't lose in a place like this!"

Tsukino and Chiya: "Aren't you listening at all...?"

"Anyway, the police investigation will take time... so let's listen to some ghost stories from my connections!"

Seemingly aroused by a strange competitive spirit, Wang Ma Xiaoji brought up something he had briefly mentioned earlier over the weekend.

"You've probably heard of Kozukino, right... the very famous one—the legend of Sarayashiki."

"That's right, it's the story of A-Ju. Legend has it... Who are you?"

The story had only just begun when Wang Ma Xiaoji turned his head in confusion, looking at the strange woman who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was now smiling at them.

"Found you!"

The orange-haired woman, whom I was meeting for the first time, asked cheerfully.

"—You must be Ohma-kun, right?"

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

Author's note: Wildfire Maru is from "Monster Incident" and is a male fox voiced by the same person as Kokichi.

Chiya: If I had been at that school back then...

Me: Then we're going to fight Mukuro, really? Should we go for it?