Chapter 25, Chapter 25, is probably about someone who died.
"Hyuga." Tsukino and Chiya, who had arrived silently without anyone noticing, blinked and calmly said, "If you continue standing here, you'll be blocking the way."
Hajime Hinata, recovering from the shock of someone suddenly appearing behind him, thought: "..."
Kazuki Tsukino! People can be really scary!
Perhaps because Tsukino and Chiya's behavior was so familiar, the chill that had been lingering in Hinata Hajime's heart gradually dissipated.
He regained his voice: "Tsukino and..."
As soon as he opened his mouth, Hyuga Hajime seemed to realize something and slightly stepped aside to make way for his classmate who had been saying "blocking the way": "You startled me. You haven't left yet... When did you get here?"
Tsukino and Chiya stood still, not in a hurry to leave: "Just now. I was about to leave, but when I got to the stairs, I heard a noise coming from upstairs. Then I looked up and saw you chasing someone, so I followed you up to see what was going on."
At this point, Qianye paused slightly, then looked around: "If I'm not mistaken, that person should be Xia Chuan from next door, right? Where is he?"
“He…” These words pulled Hinata Hajime back to the reality that he still didn’t understand the situation. “I followed Natsukawa, who seemed to be acting strangely, all the way up here, thinking that I could catch up with him on this floor and return the notebook he dropped. But as soon as I got up here, I found that he was gone.”
"Huh? Things seem to be getting interesting."
Suddenly, a voice that Hinata had heard before but wasn't quite familiar with rang out.
Wangma Xiaoji popped his head out from behind Tsukino and Chiya, then hopped over to Chiya's side—only then did Hinata Hajime realize that there was another person there.
"Tch, Hinata's reaction after seeing me was so calm. She was totally startled by Tsukino earlier," Ohma Kokichi complained. "Looks like the same tricks don't work out twice in such a short time."
Hyuga Hajime was helpless. He had just experienced a rollercoaster of emotions, but now he had calmed down. Besides, he wasn't bad-tempered to begin with, so he wasn't angry at Ohma's words: "Did you really want to scare me like that..."
"Hahaha, scaring people is just the most mundane of all the bad things I've ever done in my life!"
As the two of them talked, Tsukino and Chiya's gazes drifted deeper into the corridor. No sooner had Ohma Kokichi finished speaking than he seized the opportunity to say, "Hyuga, you said you noticed Natsukawa was missing after you came up... Did Natsukawa leave from this side?"
Tsukino and Chiya pointed to the direction that Hyuga Hajime had been facing when he was standing there lost in thought.
*******
There is no one.
Initially, Hyuga Hajime still harbored a sliver of hope. Perhaps Natsukawa had simply escaped somewhere else with astonishing speed? However, this thought gradually vanished as he, Tsukino, Chiya, and Ohma Kokichi conducted their step-by-step investigation of this floor.
Natsukawa was nowhere to be found. As their efforts seemed to be utterly futile, the thought that "Natsukawa has really just vanished" grew stronger in Hinata Hajime's mind.
Even though he was unwilling to give up even the last glimmer of hope, reason kept telling him... something terrible had happened.
But... just what kind of "terrible" is it? Hajime Hinata didn't know, or perhaps he just didn't want to think about the more detailed and cruel aspects of the situation for the time being.
No one has yet said "let's end this," which implies giving up. However, this corridor is not endless, and their investigation will eventually come to an end.
Finally, after emerging from the innermost room on this floor—the bathroom they had last investigated—the three of them slowed down in unison.
"Tsukino Kazuya," Hinata Hajime said after they had finally checked all the rooms, his doubts only growing stronger. "About Natsukawa..."
After a brief hesitation, Hajime Hyuga finally voiced his guess: "Do you two know something?"
This is a question, but in reality, Hajime Hinata already has a pretty good idea of the answer.
After all, the two of them were being far too obvious, so obvious that even a blind person could tell something was wrong.
Not everyone would say "We must do our best to find Xia Chuan" while simultaneously pulling out a school building key from their pocket—which they somehow obtained—and, as if it were premeditated, searching every locked and unlocked place, including the restrooms.
How should I put it... it was as if the two of them had planned this whole thing all along, that they were going to conduct an investigation at the school.
Upon hearing this, Wang Ma Xiaoji, who had been unusually silent during the investigation, revealed a meaningful smile. However, his next words seemed inconsistent with his smile due to their lack of credibility: "Of course, don't underestimate my organization's intelligence network. I even know exactly how many days ago Natsukawa last wet the bed, you know?"
...No, the phrase "a few days ago" seems too ambiguous, doesn't it?
"Besides," Wang Ma Xiaoji said, changing the subject just as the other two were feeling a surge of urge to complain. "Logically speaking, isn't it already quite obvious where Xia Chuan went?"
"You mean...you know where Xia Chuan is?"
Although they hadn't spent much time together, Hyuga Hajime had already fully realized that "what Ohma Kichi said was often unreliable." But even knowing this, seeing the purple-haired boy's confident and unwavering demeanor, Hyuga Hajime couldn't help but still hold onto a sliver of hope.
“That’s right, of course.” Wangma Xiaoji nodded repeatedly with an air of importance, affirming, “Because, Kohinata said something like this before, right?... Hmm, something like ‘Natsukawa came down the stairs to this floor, turned right and then disappeared.’”
After receiving confirmation from Hinata Hajime, Ohma Kokichi's smile widened: "The room closest to the stairs in the corridor is locked. But no matter how you look at it, Natsukawa only has two options: continue running forward in the corridor or go into the room next door."
“But if he continues deeper into the corridor, he'll likely be spotted by Kohinata, who will catch up quickly. And the nearest room is locked; he can't get in. So, after thinking it over, I realized that since Natsukawa has simply disappeared, there might actually be a third route, which is…”
Wang Ma Xiaoji snapped his fingers: "—'Bang!'"
"..."
Wang Ma Xiaoji didn't say it explicitly, but his behavior was no different from saying it directly.
Hyuga Hajime was momentarily startled by Ohma Kokichi's guess. But at that moment, his mind raced, and almost the instant after his initial shock, he realized the inconsistency: "No, putting aside the fact that Natsukawa doesn't have the speed to jump over the outer wall of the corridor... if he really had fallen, it's impossible that there wouldn't have been any movement by now."
Although there weren't as many people in the school building as before because school had already let out, it wasn't completely deserted. If someone had actually fallen from the school building, there would probably be a crowd gathered downstairs by now.
"That's right, don't worry."
Tsukino and Chiya decided to take action to confirm their guesses. He went to the wall and peered down.
"There's no one down there, and no blood."
"That's why I said earlier that this is 'according to common sense'." Despite his incorrect guess, Wangma Xiaoji remained completely unfazed. "Hehehe, all three paths being blocked means the current development is illogical...right? That's what makes it interesting~"
When he heard Ouma Kokichi mention that the current development was unreasonable, Hinata Hajime seemed to feel his heart pounding even harder than usual.
Although his earlier question, "Do you two know something?" was gradually steered to a new topic by Ouma Kokichi's lies, Hinata Hajime already had an answer in his heart.
He had a premonition that what he was about to hear... might not be so simple.
Hinata Hajime looked at Tsukino and Chiya with a questioning gaze. Chiya had also turned his gaze away from the ground floor. Looking at Hinata, who was waiting for an explanation, he slowly said, "Actually, I still know too little about the specifics, and I can't make any definitive conclusion about Natsukawa's disappearance right now. So, although I really want to explain the situation to you, before that..."
"Hinata, why don't you check if you have anything new on you that wasn't there before?"
*******
The mark on Hyuga Hajime's body did not appear in any remote or hard-to-find place.
Unlike the marks that Tsukino, Chiya, and Matsuda Jinpei couldn't even see with their own eyes without external help, Hyuga Hajime's mark was on his right arm, visible as soon as he rolled up his sleeve.
"...That's about it."
As the saying goes, practice makes perfect, and now, Tsukino and Chiya can explain things about marks to others with great fluency, ease, and conciseness.
"Since you, Hyuga, also have a mark on you, this means... you, like the two of us, have been unintentionally drawn into an event related to the supernatural."
To put it bluntly, it means, "If the three of us unlucky guys don't get rid of the mark quickly, then none of us will be able to escape and we'll all die."
"Is that really how it is??" Hyuga Hajime was dumbfounded when he learned the truth.
He was taken aback by such an unrealistic statement, yet he was acutely aware that he had not doubted Tsukino or his seemingly absurd claim in the slightest.
Perhaps it's because... I've had this vague premonition in my heart for a long time?
"So."
As Hyuga Hajime was trying to quickly digest what Tsukino and Chiya had just said, he couldn't help but think of that vanished figure.
"Is Xia Chuan... alright?"
This is a huge problem.
Tsukino and Chiya, who always answered quickly and promptly, paused briefly: "...We don't know the specifics of this strange event yet, and we haven't been able to find Natsukawa. It's hard to say what Natsukawa's current situation is until we see it for ourselves."
"Eh~ that's definitely the truth~ using half the truth to cover up a more cruel truth is indeed a trick that Kozuki Kazuha often uses. In a sense, isn't this another kind of clever deception?"
As the sun set, the sky gradually darkened.
Without the brighter sunlight, the smile on Wang Ma Xiaoji's face seemed to lack warmth.
"Hmm... I guess it counts, right? After all, even though she says it's 'hard to say' or something, I think Kozuki Kazuya actually knows the answer, doesn't she?"
"Hey, what we're about to face is a matter of life and death, you know? Especially in such a bizarre situation, if it's not explained clearly, people who are new to this kind of thing will find it very unreal. And if we relax in this situation and take chances... it might lead to very bad consequences."
"So, since Kozuki-no-kazuki can't bear to say it, then I'll do it~"
The boy, who had always enjoyed lying, now laid bare the bloody truth directly and clearly before the other two.
"—That Natsukawa... he's probably dead by now."
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