Chapter 7: Ghost Stories.
Saturday.
Tsukino and Chiya, who had been planning what to do the day before, regretfully had to cancel their original plans due to rain and spent the whole day staying in their dorm.
Then, the very next day, which was Sunday.
A street-side coffee shop in Beika Town.
"A series of disappearances, huh?" Matsuda Jinpei rubbed his temples. "Seriously, we're having a rare get-together, and this is the topic we have to talk about?"
“That being said…” Sitting next to him, Kenji Hagiwara reached out and patted his childhood friend’s shoulder familiarly, “Jinpei is actually quite concerned about that incident, isn’t he?”
It's naturally hard not to care.
Matsuda Jinpei was just saying that; the other two people at the table—Hagiwara Kenji and Date Wataru—were very familiar with Matsuda and knew that although he complained on the surface that "it's rare to have a get-together and he still looks so much like a classmate," he was actually very concerned about the disappearance incident that had recently gained some attention online.
Logically, Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji are members of the Metropolitan Police Department's Security Division, and their main work involves various types of criminals. While Date Wataru is a detective, he currently belongs to a police station under the Metropolitan Police Department. In response to the escalating number of disappearances, the Metropolitan Police Department has established a special investigation headquarters, of which Date Wataru is not a member.
In other words, none of them were involved in the investigation of the case and were unaware of some of the details. However, through reports and descriptions from some media outlets that had somehow obtained information online, the disappearance gradually piqued the interest of some paranormal enthusiasts.
If you ask why...
"Hey, have you heard of the 'Ghost Painter' who's been all the rage lately?"
"Many people involved in comics have disappeared... They could be readers, editors, or comic artists."
"What they have in common is that they have all, intentionally or unintentionally, flipped through a comic book drawn by a ghost and gave it a negative review."
"That sounds strange, doesn't it?"
“A high school student who had heard about this once scoffed at it. One day, while waiting for someone in a bookstore, he picked up a comic book at random, but after reading a few pages, he lost interest and commented, ‘It’s too much trouble to buy it and then throw it away.’”
"However, that very evening, while the high school student was washing up in front of the mirror, he suddenly noticed a figure holding a pen reflected in the mirror behind him."
"..."
"From then on, no one ever saw the high school student again. In the empty room, only a page of comics remained, depicting the high school student's gruesome death. The high school student's soul was trapped on the paper, eternally suffering the pain of death."
"...That's about it."
After finishing their monotonous reading, Tsukino and Chiya picked up the juice that was placed aside and took a few sips to moisten their throats.
And opposite him—
Wang Ma Xiaoji: "Whoosh—whoosh—"
Tsukino and Chiya quietly sipped their juice, gazing at Ohma Kokichi's "sleeping face." This guy... is he the type who uses the same tactics repeatedly? Well, he's mentioned being the head of an organization with around ten thousand members countless times, and it seems he'll continue to do so in the future.
Wangma Xiaoji: "...Huh? It's dawn?"
Tsukino and Chiya: "It's been daytime since we left home."
After all, the two of them left Hope's Peak around noon, and it's only afternoon now... Hmm, perfect time for afternoon tea.
At this moment, no matter how you look at it, these two teenagers, sipping afternoon tea and discussing highly improbable topics, are just an ordinary pair of friends who are paranormal enthusiasts. Even if someone happened to overhear their conversation, they would only think, "Ah, sure enough, people their age are interested in this kind of thing."
Wang Ma Xiaoji, one of the paranormal enthusiasts who was originally snoring loudly, was now rubbing his eyes, looking sleepy.
Perhaps because he wasn't fully awake, his voice was light and airy: "Ah, sorry, is it over already? I just dreamt that I was fighting against unemotional, evil robots on the summit of Mount Akina on a night after a zombie outbreak, and I haven't completely shaken off the dream's setting yet."
Tsukino and Chiya nodded understandingly: "Did you win?"
Wang Ma Xiaoji reached for the untouched glass of grape juice on the table: "Of course, how could a mere robot possibly be a match for an evil mastermind like me? It's just a pity that I had just unleashed my final attack and hadn't even had a chance to see the final victory when the lullaby suddenly stopped and I woke up."
Tsukino and Chiya blinked: "A lullaby?"
Wang Ma Xiaoji leaned back strategically: "Ah—right, sorry, I was so rude, how could I describe Xiaoyueye and that monotone reading voice, which sounded like ○Jiang's audiobook, as a lullaby!"
Tsukino and Chiya considered for two seconds before sincerely suggesting, "Then let's continue calling it Lullaby."
"Hehe, since it's Kozuki who made this request, it seems I have no choice but to comply."
Wang Ma Xiaoji put the straw placed in the cup into his mouth, and the level of the grape juice, which was similar in color to his hair, visibly decreased slowly in the cup.
"Wow~ I'm alive again. There's no time to leisurely enjoy afternoon tea in a zombie apocalypse."
The purple-haired boy's eyes crinkled with contentment, revealing a satisfied smile. A moment later, he released the grape juice he had just picked up, uttered a sigh of happiness, and quickly set his sights on something else.
"Actually, I've wanted to ask this for a while now... What has Kozuki been looking at all this time? Ah! Could it be that...!"
Wang Ma Xiaoji's eyes, like amethyst gems, seemed to sparkle with stars.
"Oh dear, is Kozuki Kazuya reading the manga by that infamous 'petty illustrator'? Oh dear~ that's terrible, I don't want to see my favorite Kozuki Kazuya die a horrible death—"
"No, it's just a regular comic." Tsukino and Chiya stood the comic that was originally spread out on the table, and after making sure that Ohma Kichi could see the cover, they put it down again.
“You can’t believe everything the stories circulating among paranormal enthusiasts, but there are still some things you can refer to.” Tsukino and Chiya’s fingers slowly traced across the pages of the manga. “For example… have you heard of the name ‘Eiichiro Saiyama’?”
Wang Ma Xiaoji put his hands behind his head: "Hmm? Never heard of him before. Which third-rate cartoonist is this?"
"It is said, but it is only said."
Tsukino and Chiya lowered their eyes, staring at the frame where their fingers were resting.
The corpses in the illustrations are depicted with remarkable realism. The cartoonist's skill in portraying corpses is clearly superb. Whether the corpses he draws are depicted as gruesome, painful, or desperate at the moment of death, they are all incredibly lifelike.
However, even though his eyes were watching this scene, his mind was filled with thoughts of the past few days—including some news he had gathered while staying in his dormitory yesterday.
"There's a saying... 'The art style of the comics created from people killed by ghost artists is very similar to that of Mr. Saeyama.'"
"However, if such a thing really happened, the police, who know the most inside information, would definitely know. But now, Mr. Zai Shan is still continuing his creation as usual, which means that he should not be closely related to the current disappearance... at least on the surface."
"But now there's a very serious problem..."
Tsukino and Chiya's words were drowned out by a sudden, piercing scream.
Such a sound was impossible to ignore. Instinctively, Wangma Xiaoji, Tsukino, and Chiya all turned their gazes towards the direction from which the sound came.
Something terrible seems to have happened over there.
A note from the author:
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Eiichiro Saiyama → From "Danganronpa: The Story of Harm"
In fanfiction, these are classic characters, um, some who seem to have a built-in "trouble buff" [covering face and peeking], right, the police academy group?
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