Chapter 58 The hand reaching out from the well.
Tsukino and Chiya turned their heads.
Suddenly, another "smack" sound came from behind them. Tsukino and Chiya shifted their gaze and looked over silently.
While watching the video, Wang Ma Xiaoji finished his potato chips and crumpled the packaging into a ball. When he saw Qianye looking over, he looked up at him and gave him an innocent smile.
As long as he's happy.
At this moment, the contents of the second videotape had also finished playing. Tsukino and Chiya estimated the time when the dizzying laughter from yesterday had occurred, knowing that they didn't have much time left for their investigation today.
However, the harvest was quite fruitful.
Although they had heard footsteps, the area behind Tsukino and Chiya was now empty.
The room remained the same as before, with only Tsukino, Chiya, and Ohma Kokichi present.
But in reality, just as they turned around after hearing the footsteps, Tsukino and Chiya saw it.
The red-clad figure, who had only appeared in the corridor, suddenly appeared in the bedroom, and instead of appearing out of thin air, there were even footsteps.
Wang Ma Xiaoji must have noticed that figure as well.
So Tsukino and Chiya asked directly, "What do you think?"
Wang Ma Xiaoji fell into deep thought: "Hmm... I don't think I saw a trash can in their house before. Are they forcing me to litter?"
Tsukino and Chiya: "You didn't go into the kitchen before; there's a trash can there."
Wang Ma Xiaoji: "Hehe, maybe I can just throw it into their fridge. Anyway, that smelly fridge is practically a garbage can now. Huh? When did it disappear?"
Tsukino and Chiya: "While you're crumpling up the potato chip bag."
Wang Ma Xiaoji sighed regretfully, "Sigh, it runs really fast. I should have made it throw away the trash when it left."
No, we couldn't even touch that red-clad figure before, let alone make it throw away the trash.
Tsukino and Chiya only thought about it internally, without saying it aloud. Because at this moment, Ohma Kokichi changed the subject again, answering the question that Chiya had asked to break the silence at the beginning.
So, this guy really did know what he meant from the very beginning...
"That guy appeared in the last scene of the videotape, right?" Ouma Kokichi took the tissue Chiya handed him and wiped his fingers, which were covered in potato chip crumbs. "Maybe if we replay the video, it will reappear."
“That’s a bit too much of a waste of time.” Tsukino and Chiya shook their heads and rejected the idea. “Besides, after the recording was played, it only appeared for a brief moment. It came suddenly and disappeared quickly, making it difficult for anyone to do anything.”
Wang Ma Xiaoji immediately leaned back on the bed, stared at the ceiling, and made a do-or-die statement: "Well, I don't have any other options~ Insufficient clues, let's just wait to die together?"
Tsukino and Chiya extended their hands to Ohma Kokichi: "You won't die."
"I still remember those words. They were a promise you made."
Having understood his meaning, Wang Ma Xiaoji smiled and tossed over something he had placed on the bed, watching as the black-haired boy caught it precisely.
"To be honest, it's almost laughably naive to think you can put people at ease with a baseless, casual remark. But... perhaps it's because you're mysterious enough and have revealed that you have certain abilities that, in a sense, you give people the feeling that 'it's not entirely without basis.'"
"But ultimately..."
In the darkness, the smile on the purple-haired boy's face seemed to fade considerably. Perhaps because the surroundings were too deep and eerie, his calm voice even carried a hint of coldness.
"Including this incident, this is the third time. If it's Kazuo Kozuki, he should understand what I mean, right?"
"Yes, I understand."
As if oblivious to the change in Ohma Kokichi's attitude, Tsukino and Chiya lowered their heads and opened the phone that the purple-haired boy had just tossed to them.
"The only examples we can refer to at the moment are the Death Mark incident and the Sibito incident at Konoeen Academy. That's far too few, so I'm not sure if Aurora will lose patience after a few incidents, like the culprits who caused Mr. Hachishiki's two previous incidents, and finally take matters into her own hands."
They are currently in a passive position. Unless Aurora reveals herself, there is no way to find the elusive doll. If she never shows herself again, then the two of them will have no choice but to keep running around dangerous and eerie locations just to buy themselves a little more time.
Although the possibility is very small, it is indeed true.
Tsukino and Chiya understood what Oma Kokichi meant.
They still need to regain some initiative. Otherwise, if this endless drags on, they'll only exhaust their own energy in the end.
“Recently, a friend of mine contacted me. One of her high school classmates is a shrine maiden at a shrine, and she might be able to help,” Tsukino and Chiya continued. “This could be an opportunity. But it’s hard to say what will happen until I meet her.”
This is why he didn't immediately tell Wang Ma Xiaoji about it.
If they could successfully obtain the item that could seal Aurora, that would be ideal. But if they failed... while such a setback probably wouldn't have a significant impact on the sometimes quite rational Ooma Koki, if possible...
The greater the expectations, the more likely one is to fall into the abyss when things turn out badly. Isn't that exactly what happened to the ghost of Sarayashiki?
However, since Wang Ma Xiaoji took the initiative to inquire about the progress, there is no need to deliberately hide it.
As soon as they finished speaking, Tsukino and Chiya, who had dragged the progress bar on their phone screen to the end, let go of each other's hands and clicked play.
The bell sound recorded by Wang Ma Xiaoji immediately rang.
The bell rang briefly, and Tsukino and Chiya played this short clip over and over again. They'd heard that some video recorders had playback functions? But such things were still a bit tricky for Tsukino and Chiya, who hadn't used them much. Recording with a mobile phone was definitely the best option.
The faint sound of bells rang incessantly, echoing throughout the room.
Just when Tsukino and Chiya thought they had misjudged the situation and that the reason the red-clad figure suddenly appeared in the room had nothing to do with the ringing of the bell, he felt a chill that seemed to pierce his soul.
The next second, the figure appeared.
Considering that the figure disappeared shortly after the ringtone faded, Tsukino and Chiya did not stop playing the recorded brief ringtone over and over again.
Therefore, the task of contacting the woman in red can only be entrusted to Ouma Kokichi.
The purple-haired boy didn't seem afraid of the ghostly red-clad figure that appeared out of nowhere—at least not on the surface.
Tsukino and Chiya adjusted the phone's recording settings with one hand while using the other to shine a flashlight on Ohma Kokichi. This time, at close range, they finally managed to capture the true face of the woman in red, who no longer seemed to vanish suddenly.
Sure enough, like the previous male doll that had hanged itself, this one was also not very well made.
Wang Ma Xiaoji circled the doll once, as if searching for pockets in its dress. Finally, his gaze settled on the red-clad doll's clenched hands.
"Ugh, I really don't want to touch this thing..."
Muttering to himself, Wang Ma Xiaoji successfully pried open the doll's hand, revealing a crumpled piece of paper inside.
The moment he successfully retrieved the paper, the doll vanished from their sight once more.
Wang Ma Xiaoji unfolded the paper. This was indeed the last small piece missing from the family portrait they had pieced together from various sources.
Tsukino and Chiya naturally carried the previous pieces of paper with them. After returning the phone to Ohma Kokichi, he took out the pieces of paper from his bag, and together with the piece that Ohma had just received, he finally pieced together the complete painting.
The instant the painting was completely pieced together, a bright white light suddenly emanated from it. Such light was quite harsh on the eyes in the dim environment, causing the two to instinctively close their eyes.
After the light faded, the spot where the painting had been was empty. In its place, the television, which had been taken out of the videotape and was supposedly not powered on, reappeared with an image.
It was almost like forcibly playing an invisible new videotape.
The new images that occasionally flashed on the screen were equally familiar to both of them.
The lawn is messy due to lack of maintenance.
A dark night with few stars and an inexplicably eerie atmosphere.
And, in the very center of the picture, there is a well.
—Isn't this the scene in the courtyard outside this Sarayashiki?
After realizing this, what they had been waiting for finally happened.
That was the sound of children laughing, exactly the same as the sound I heard last night.
But the only difference is the sound.
Unlike yesterday's laughter, which immediately popped into my head and made me dizzy, this time the laughter came from the television.
Perhaps for this reason, the dizziness caused by their laughter, which had been troubling them for the time being and had no solution, did not occur. However, the two did not breathe a sigh of relief.
When a troublesome thing doesn't happen as expected, it may mean that something even more troublesome is about to happen.
Wangma Xiaoji, Tsukino, and Chiya all have excellent eyesight.
Therefore, they both saw the hand that suddenly emerged from the well and clung to the edge of the well, accompanying the laughter coming from the television.
Tsukino and Qianye: "..."
Wangma Xiaoji: "...Wow, are you serious?"
The two exchanged a glance instinctively.
Is this development... really like The Ring?
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