Chapter 67 So why not call it Chainsaw Man...?
Old school building.
It refers to the one located in the North District of Hope's Peak, right?
Hope's Peak Academy North Campus is now an empty lot with nothing but abandoned old school buildings.
Entry is currently prohibited there. School guards usually keep watch, and since it's a desolate place with nothing particularly noteworthy, students don't usually go there for no reason.
But this is a place that no one cares about—
"...It seems something has happened."
Originally, after receiving Tsukino and Chiya's replies, "Sorry, I don't know, what's wrong?", Hyuga Hajime initially intended to brush it off with a casual "No, it's nothing," but in the end, he explained what he knew to his classmate and friend.
Unfortunately, Tsukino and Chiya seemed to have their interest piqued. And although it was just hearsay and its veracity was uncertain... there was nothing they couldn't say. After all, with a little more time, Tsukino and Kazuya could easily find out what had happened from the other classmates.
So, under the watchful eyes of Tsukino and Chiya, who showed absolutely no curiosity, Hyuga Hajime spoke slowly.
"I just overheard my classmates talking about it at the vending machine... about the 'paranormal events at the old school building in the North District'."
...A paranormal event?
Although Tsukino and Chiya had a vague premonition when Hinata Hajime suddenly mentioned the old North Campus school building that was usually ignored, did it really turn out to be true?
While for Tsukino and Chiya, who are currently troubled by the mark, this situation of the paranormal events coming to them without them having to spend time searching for them is barely a good thing... however...
What's going on with Hope's Peak? This is the second time... Is the feng shui bad? The last school with such frequent paranormal events was Konoeen Academy, which also had dolls.
However, it's still hard to say whether what happened at the old school building in the North District was a real paranormal event. After all, there are cases where things are just rumors that get exaggerated over time.
It's clear that Hajime Hyuga thought the same way.
“I’m not sure if it’s true either… but after what happened before, I really can’t just dismiss these rumors as false. And you and Ohma went through those things, right? So you should be able to judge the situation better… Ah, anyway, let me tell you, here’s what happened.”
Hey, have you heard of this?
The story of a multifaceted person who lingers in the old school building.
That happened one night.
Hope's Peak Academy has a rule that "entry into the central square is prohibited from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.," but on that day, a student still came to the central square at night in order to find an item that he had lost there.
As a result, he failed to find what he had lost and instead bumped into a guard patrolling the central square.
In his frantic escape, he arrived at the northern district of Hope Peak and saw the old school building that was off-limits.
"Luckily, I didn't run into the guards on the North District side." "But the people on the Central Square side are still chasing me." "Maybe I should hide inside for a while." Perhaps with this thought in mind, the student eventually climbed over the fence and slipped into the interior of the old North District school building.
The old school building, which had long been abandoned, seemed to be cleaned; it wasn't dirty to a certain extent despite being abandoned.
The student didn't know if there was electricity here. Probably not, right? But even if there was, he had no intention of turning on the lights and attracting the attention of the guards chasing him.
But the school building was pitch black, and the student who had taken refuge there belatedly felt afraid. However, considering the presence of the guards, he hesitated, unsure of when to leave.
It was at this time that...
The student suddenly realized something.
He turned around stiffly and saw a blurry figure that had appeared silently not far behind him at some point.
The environment was so dark that the students could only make out that there was one person standing there.
Have the guards caught up yet? But why aren't they using lights? Why aren't they chasing after me? Why are they just standing there motionless, as if they're... staring intently at me?
Something was wrong. Realizing this, the student turned and ran. At the same time, the sound of a chainsaw suddenly came from behind.
He kept running and running, his fear making him forget his exhaustion, and he kept running through the empty old school building.
But besides his own heavy footsteps, the persistent, inescapable sound of a chainsaw could also be heard.
Finally, he slowed down, and the sound of the chainsaw that had been behind him grew closer and clearer, until it was almost within reach.
The student turned around abruptly.
The last thing he saw was a chainsaw being raised high, about to strike him.
And a face that kept changing its appearance...
"That's roughly the story I just heard."
After briefly explaining what he knew, Hyuga Hajime looked at Tsukino and Chiya, who were listening attentively to his explanation, and gave them a slightly embarrassed smile, asking for confirmation.
"As expected... this is just one of those common school ghost stories that you see in many schools, right?"
Tsukino and Chiya nodded in agreement, saying, "It's quite normal for a school to have ghost stories. Besides, there haven't been any rumors of students going missing or getting into trouble lately... so I think we don't really need to be too worried about it?"
"Yes, I know. It's just that the previous incident happened not long ago, and it was the first time I had actually witnessed something like that... so when I heard similar news at school, I was a little too sensitive."
Hajime Hinata pulled the tab on the can.
Since being accidentally caught up in the "cloth strip man" incident that day, and then working with Tsukino and the other two to resolve the matter and successfully help the deceased Morikawa Yoshiko attain enlightenment, Hyuga Hajime has returned to his daily life and has been living a peaceful life for several days, no different from before.
The marks that once appeared on his arms, resembling the scratches of a wild animal, had long since disappeared, seemingly indicating that he had completely distanced himself from the strange world he had once wandered into.
Regarding this, Tsukino and Ohma should feel the same way, right? Now that the matter of the cloth-striped men is over, the marks on their bodies should have disappeared as well. And the disappearance of the marks means that their lives are no longer in danger for the time being.
Kazuya Tsukino said that the existence of supernatural beings is quite rare, so the situation where there are two supernatural beings in one school is obviously extremely rare, right?
Even if the rumors are true...
But what should we do?
Even if you were to ask the school's security guards or the police outside the school, they probably wouldn't investigate just because of a strange story circulating on campus, right?
And those people I know who know the true existence of the supernatural... Ohma, Tsukino, everyone finally managed to deal with the supernatural and get rid of the mark. Are I really going to ask them to risk their lives to investigate again? No way.
He even thought to himself, "We've finally gotten over being inexplicably marked by the strange entity, so shouldn't we stop actively getting involved now? Because if something were to happen, we could really die."
But... is this really a good idea?
"Have there been any reports of students or teachers going missing at school recently?" Tsukino and Chiya's voices interrupted Hinata Hajime's thoughts. "At least I haven't heard of any such reports. What about you, Hinata?"
"This one? I've never heard of it either."
Hajime Hinata shook his head.
Logically speaking, students are usually quite adept at detecting and spreading information within the school. If someone were to suddenly disappear, the news should spread very quickly.
...However, judging from the disappearance of Xia Chuan from the next class, it seems that the sudden disappearance of a classmate in school can just be left unresolved.
Hajime Hinata then recalled the school's proposal regarding... the human experimentation with "talent."
Hope Peak, which is able to secretly prepare to conduct such a human experiment that would definitely cause serious problems if exposed, must have the ability to suppress some bad news, right?
Will the school be aware of the incident involving the cloth strip man that happened in the preparatory school building?
*******
Their conversation ended abruptly when the school bell rang.
This was the last class of the afternoon, after which school would be over. Students going to club activities headed straight to their clubs, while most of those without club activities were free to do as they pleased... For example, Hinata Hajime had made plans to hang out with his new friends.
Unfortunately, it was Tsukino and Chiya's turn to be on duty today.
After a brief farewell to Hyuga Hajime, Tsukino and Chiya stayed in the classroom to clean.
As he wiped the blackboard, he pondered what he had recently heard from Hajime Hinata.
Campus ghost stories... Are they the multifaceted characters living in the old school buildings in the North District?
Speaking of that ghost story, the chainsaw element is obviously more shocking, so why not call him Chainsaw Man?
After I finish my cleaning duty, should I go check out the North District?
...Hmm, while it's nice to have news come knocking on our door, we just finished dealing with the Sarayashiki incident yesterday, and now another one is already popping up. Even Tsukino and Chiya are starting to feel a bit tired. Mr. Hachishiki is truly amazing; he managed to solve one case after another even while suffering from amnesia.
However, just in case, it's still necessary to go and check it out.
However, without Hope's Peak's permission, it might be a little troublesome to sneak into the restricted old school building in the North District for investigation, but it's not a big problem.
Thinking this, Tsukino and Chiya suddenly felt their cell phones, which were in their uniform pockets, vibrate incessantly.
He stopped wiping the blackboard, reached for his phone, and paused slightly when he saw the caller ID on the screen.
...It seems he's about to get a new job?
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Author's Note: Actually, based on the plot of Zero, the old school building was completely closed about half a year before the Zero story began, so it shouldn't be completely off-limits yet... This is a bit of a butterfly effect [hugs]
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