Chapter 73. Komaeda gradually understands everything. ...

Komaeda Nagito felt like he was having a bad day.

No, "today" seems a bit too broad... To be more precise, it should be "starting from the way back from that shopping mall, he didn't go very far."

This includes, but is not limited to, being suddenly grabbed by the leg and called "Dad" by an unfamiliar child, finding your clothes smeared with tears after the child has successfully found their parents, being hit on the head by a water cup falling from the sky and showing off a few minutes of good sleep in the street, being bitten on the trouser leg by a strange dog and not being allowed to leave, being forced to listen to a drunken stranger sobbing about the pain of life for more than ten minutes... and finally getting back to school, only to have the bag of oranges you were carrying suddenly break just as you were about to leave the central square.

Ugh, what utter bad luck! I'm supposed to be "Ultimate Lucky Person," but my luck hasn't run out since the brief hostage situation ended. It's really...

That sounds amazing!

Luck is followed by misfortune, and misfortune is followed by luck... This has been how Komaeda Nagito has lived his life for more than ten years.

In other words, Komaeda Nagito, as the person involved, had already summarized some experience regarding his innate lucky talent.

For Komaeda Nagito, the idea of ​​being perpetually unlucky is simply not true.

On his way back to school, he encountered nothing good at all; it was just a series of extremely unlucky things... Although none of them were particularly serious, there was no doubt that none of them were good.

Such misfortunes, one after another...

What kind of good fortune will they be brewing and what awaits them afterward?

Just thinking about it made Komaeda Nagito tremble with excitement... especially since he was currently in this hopeful school.

However, having reached this point, what will happen next is beyond the prediction of Komaeda Nagito, who currently has no clear goal to achieve through luck.

But precisely because of this, what might happen next... is all the more exciting!

Of course, similarly, such luck and misfortune... are simply things that Komaeda Nagito can only accept as they come. Indeed, sometimes he can freely choose the outcome he wants because of this luck, but he cannot control the process of how luck comes about, nor can he change the misfortune that always accompanies it.

Therefore, Komaeda Nagito has no idea what kind of luck might come his way in the future.

But it's okay, what's meant to happen will happen.

After returning to school, Komaeda Nagito planned to go back to his single dormitory room with the things he bought from the shopping mall, just as he had originally intended.

He had gone through so much today, and although Komaeda Nagito felt that he was mentally fine, he was still somewhat physically exhausted.

Then... after picking up the last orange that had rolled onto the ground, Komaeda Nagito saw Ohma Kokichi.

Perhaps everything before was for this moment.

In that instant, Komaeda Nagito felt he was gradually understanding everything.

Without much hesitation, after noticing Ohma Kokichi, who was out late at night despite curfew, as well as the unimportant Tsukino and Chiya, Komaeda Nagito immediately decided to follow them.

It's not really stalking, though.

Before Komaeda Nagito could even step out from under the tree, the two surprisingly agile figures had vanished from his sight.

...Ah, I lost track of them before I even started following them.

However, for Komaeda Nagito, this is not a big problem at all.

Because Wangma Xiaoji, Tsukino, and Qianye were clearly heading to the school's North Campus via the Central Plaza, which was their only route. And the North Campus was now just empty land besides the old school buildings. Thinking about it this way, their destination became immediately clear.

To avoid being discovered, Komaeda Nagito waited a little longer before heading towards the North Ward.

The result was slightly unexpected.

Upon arriving at the North District and heading straight for the old school building, Komaeda Nagito did not see a single guard.

This could perhaps be attributed to his own luck, which allowed him to skillfully evade all the North District guards... Indeed, that possibility cannot be ruled out. However, Komaeda Nagito is actually more inclined to believe that this situation is related to Ohma Shokichi.

It must be precisely because they knew that the North District wouldn't be guarded or patrolled as usual tonight that Ohma, along with Tsukino and Chiya from the preparatory course, dared to carry out their suspicious actions at this time.

It's started raining.

Nagito Komaeda was successfully blocked outside by the fence surrounding the old school building. In the very considerate weather that caused rain to fall around Komaeda, Nagito Komaeda managed to find a gap in the school building's fence and successfully climb over it.

However, before he could directly enter the interior of the old school building...

What is that?

Komaeda Nagito felt as if he had stepped on something.

He lifted his foot slightly and then saw a key lying quietly on the ground.

"...After that, I went to the old school building, only to find that I had made a slight mistake. It was so dark inside, and my phone was out of battery, so I could hardly see anything after I came in."

"But I guess I was lucky? While I was trying to find Wang Ma and you, I suddenly noticed the light from a flashlight. I followed the light and saw you."

"Okay, that's the summary of what happened before."

Komaeda Nagito roughly recounted his reasons and experiences along the way to Tsukino and Chiya, whom he had met up with, but temporarily concealed the matter of the key.

Tsukino and Chiya listened patiently.

As they were talking, they returned to the main entrance of the school building on the first floor.

Perhaps because the only source of light is still in the hands of Tsukino and Chiya, Komaeda Nagito has been following Chiya everywhere they go.

While listening to Komaeda Nagito's account, which was likely true but possibly concealed, Tsukino and Chiya tentatively pushed the door of the old school building.

After Qianye and Xiaoji successfully opened the door to the old school building with the key, in order to make it easy to escape quickly in case of an accident and need to run away immediately, they simply closed the door after entering the school building, but did not lock it.

But now...

The door is locked from the outside. While kicking it open might be possible... well, given the current situation... there's no need to do that.

"Are we locked inside?" Komaeda Nagito immediately sensed something was wrong.

However, the boy with the white, flame-like hair didn't seem surprised at all. Perhaps due to his past experiences, he remained remarkably calm, even...

...Was he excited?

Tsukino and Chiya withdrew their hands that had tentatively reached out to push the door open.

In their brief conversation along the corridor, the impression Komaeda Nagito left on Tsukino and Chiya... so far, is fairly normal.

Komaeda Nagito didn't seem to have much enthusiasm for socializing. When he talked to Tsukino and Chiya, he just calmly recounted his experiences in a businesslike manner, and his words and actions were still quite proper and polite. After all, it was their first time talking, so such a social distance was actually quite normal, right?

However, Tsukino and Chiya still vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

This Komaeda Nagito... is probably not as simple as he seems on the surface.

Currently, his understanding of Komaeda Nagito is limited to reports about his talents on social media; he's not particularly familiar with him otherwise. Because of this lack of information, even Tsukino and Chiya can't pinpoint exactly what's wrong with Komaeda.

Although... what kind of person Komaeda Nagito really is is not important to Tsukino and Chiya.

"Well then, it's about time you told me. I've told you so much about myself, so shouldn't you, as a courtesy, answer some of my questions, Tsukino Kazuki from the preparatory course?"

Seeing that Tsukino and Chiya had changed direction again after realizing they couldn't get out, Komaeda Nagito followed them, saying something as he did so.

"Now that the door is locked, it means we might have to spend some more time together. So I think... there are some things you don't need to hide from me, okay?"

Tsukino and Chiya remained silent, seemingly hesitating whether to tell Komaeda Nagito what they knew, and if so, to what extent.

However, Komaeda Nagito seemed to have no intention of considerately giving him time to think. He directly and decisively raised his question, leaving no room for refusal.

"So, let's start with the first question."

"Where...did Wang Ma go?"

It was as if Tsukino and Chiya should have answered him without any room for refusal.

*******

Wang Ma Xiaoji is on the second floor.

He had only stepped onto the first step of the stairs leading from the first floor to the second floor, so how did he suddenly get teleported to the second floor?

It's even more convenient than an elevator.

Tsukino and Chiya, who were originally traveling with him, have also disappeared.

This wasn't the first time this had happened. Just yesterday, he, Tsukino, and Chiya were forcibly separated at the Sarayashiki because of some strange occurrence.

Wang Ma Xiaoji grasped the flashlight.

It's impossible not to feel nervous when suddenly faced with a situation where you encounter paranormal phenomena at a haunted location and are forced to separate from your companions.

However, being too tense at times like this is also not good.

"Alright! So now the horror game has switched from two-player mode to single-player mode. Let me think... the first step is... um, it should be to click on the shiny, glowing areas on the screen to interact, right? But in real life..."

"..."

Wang Ma Xiaoji, who had originally planned to observe the surrounding situation first, suddenly fell silent.

But even after Wangma Xiaoji stopped talking to himself, the voice he had just heard did not disappear, and it became clearer and clearer.

You can't have misheard.

That was... the sound of a chainsaw.

A bead of sweat slowly trickled down Wang Ma Xiaoji's forehead.

"Oh dear... this is... not good."

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Author's Note: Komaeda: (It seems something big has happened) (Excited) (This is exactly what I wanted to see! JPG)

Chiya: This person seems pretty normal, but also a little abnormal...

Xiao Ji: Why does this horror game start with a chase scene right away?