Chapter 66 "Have you heard about the old school building..."
In the end, everyone was happy.
What a beautiful night!
First, the Sarayashiki incident that had been bothering them for several days was successfully resolved... although because they resolved it so quickly, there were still many questions about the Sarayashiki ghost that remained unanswered.
For example, did Chishima Yu's mother only emotionally abuse her child, or did she physically abuse him? The fact that a teacher came to the door... suggests that the child had been physically assaulted. However, his listless state could also be a clue.
Speaking of which, if Mother hadn't opened the door for those outsiders... logically, the conversations that Tsukino, Chiya, and Ohma Kokichi heard outside should have come from the courtyard gate, not the main entrance of the house, right? However, since it's a phenomenon within a spirit barrier, this is actually the most normal thing to do.
How exactly did Chishima Yu die in the end? It seems like he fell into a well... Did he accidentally fall in while looking for his cat in the yard? Or did he jump in intentionally out of some dangerous mindset?
And what about those students who supposedly came to this Sarayashiki for adventure, only to go mad or commit suicide...? What exactly did they go through? If they were influenced by the laughter in their minds, that laughter wasn't continuous.
However, for someone encountering the strange phenomenon for the first time, the eerie laughter echoing in their mind, and the image of someone crawling out of the television like Sadako... might indeed be a bit too much. It's understandable that they would be frightened to that extent.
Of course, these are all just speculations. Just like how protagonists in some games can only uncover part of the truth in certain routes, in real-life cases of solving strange events, there are indeed situations like the Sarayashiki ghost case where the truth is not fully pieced together.
As the strange entity attained enlightenment, the spiritual phenomena surrounding the Sarayashiki also vanished. At this point, even if Tsukino, Chiya, and Ohma Kokichi were to return to the house to investigate the remaining rooms, they would only find that everything had returned to normal.
Besides, the matter has been resolved, no matter what.
That's enough.
Ultimately, the ghost of Sarayashiki and Aurora represent different things. They want to investigate everything about Aurora as thoroughly as possible, but the ghost of Sarayashiki... doesn't need to know so much detail; solving the problem is enough.
However, it's still worth paying attention to the young Chishima Yu who is still alive.
We can't let him... follow in the footsteps of the ghost of the Sarayashiki.
Lying in bed, Tsukino and Chiya thought to themselves.
He was back in his dorm room. Looking up at the familiar ceiling, he felt no sleepiness despite it being quite late... the pain in his arms and lower back was probably still affecting his sleep.
Unable to fall asleep, Tsukino and Chiya simply lay on their single dorm beds and reminisced about what had happened that night.
How can it not be a win-win situation?
Aside from resolving the Sarayashiki ghost incident, I've achieved my other goals. —Ohma wasn't injured, and I successfully made Ohma Kōkichi owe me a truth. Although that promise doesn't have any real legal force, whether or not to keep it is entirely up to Ohma Kōkichi… but that doesn't matter.
This agreement will always be used in situations where you are certain he will answer truthfully.
As long as I can find this opportunity.
Tsukino and Chiya recalled that earlier that day, after they left Sarayashiki and Chiya parked their motorcycles, they suddenly heard Ohma Kokichi's question as he got off his bike.
"Kozukino Kazu." Seemingly feeling sleepy due to the late hour, Ouma Kokichi asked casually while yawning, "Tell me, what's the point of a promise that can be broken with a lie at any time?"
At that time, Tsukino and Chiya replied, "I think so."
Wang Ma Xiaoji waved his hand: "Whatever you want! By the way, you reacted so quickly back then, could it be that you had been planning this for a long time?"
Tsukino and Chiya remained unfazed: "Well, how could that be? It was just a coincidence that this opportunity came up."
Wang Ma Xiaoji: "Hehe, um (e tto), I see~"
After that, they chatted briefly for a bit before parting ways early. After all, the undergraduates' dormitories were in the south campus of the school, while the preparatory students' were in the west campus, which was near the preparatory students' dormitories, meaning they couldn't go the same way.
In conclusion, everything has come to a perfect end today, and everyone has achieved their goals in every sense of the word.
So, what are the plans for tomorrow...?
Tsukino and Chiya closed their eyes as they thought about it.
******
tomorrow……
Of course, you have to go to school!
Although they had arranged to meet a shrine maiden, it was supposed to be on the weekend. Before that, Tsukino and Chiya, who considered themselves fairly obedient children, naturally had to attend classes diligently.
Inside the classroom, several students huddled together, discussing something in a low but not too loud voice.
"Wow, what's this? It must be hard to get these days!"
"It's all because you guys mentioned this last time... I was curious to see just how bad it could get, so I bought it. Now, I feel like I can secretly resell it for a good price!"
"What? What are you talking about?"
"That's him, the manga artist you guys mentioned before, the one whose drawings are terrible, his name is Eiichiro Saiyama! He was recently arrested by the police!"
"Huh? Could there be some inside story?"
"Because that man is actually a serial killer! The corpses in his comics are drawn based on the deaths of people he personally killed!"
"How scary~ But this kind of direction is also very manga-like, right? Speaking of which, he went to such lengths to draw, but the result is still just so-so. That guy really doesn't have any talent."
"After all, not everyone is a Super High School Level... Sigh, let's not talk about this, I'm a little sad. But why haven't I heard of anything like this before? That shouldn't be the case."
"Because when this incident came to light, something else happened... that incident... that middle school... you should know about it."
"That incident... ah, indeed. A school massacre is definitely more terrifying. Just thinking about it gives me the creeps. The killer hasn't been caught yet, right? What if they come to our school?"
"Don't talk about such scary things! But the security at Hope's Peak is definitely not on the same level as that kind of high school..."
"That's just the treatment for undergraduates, right? We're just in the preparatory program... Even if you're talking about security, the security for us in the preparatory program is actually just so-so, isn't it?"
"Okay, okay, stop scaring yourself. Compared to this, that manga artist—the one named Saiyama—is actually more popular right now! Suddenly more people want to collect his manga. Oh dear, thank goodness I didn't throw all my manga out as trash before!"
"Really? People actually idolize that kind of scum?"
"I don't really understand why serial killers are so popular, but if I can make some money from it, there's nothing wrong with that, right? I'm going to sell the comic for a high price!"
Because the cartoonist was exposed as a serial killer, some people actually started paying attention to his comics, which inexplicably made them a little popular... or so it seems.
After listening for a while, Tsukino and Chiya felt a vibration coming from under the table. He looked down and opened his phone, which was placed under the table, and found that Hope Peak had transferred money to him.
It's the remaining commission fee that was promised earlier.
The commission fee offered by Hope Peak was substantial. Looking at the numbers displayed on their phone screens, Tsukino and Chiya felt their usually composed expressions begin to falter.
...My mood improved instantly. Is this the power of money?
And speaking of feeling better...
Tsukino and Chiya glanced instinctively at the empty seat to their right. It was Hinata Hajime's seat, but he had gone downstairs to buy a drink from the vending machine and wasn't there right now.
Hinata seems to be in a pretty good mood lately.
As friends, Tsukino and Chiya believed they were aware of Hinata Hajime's emotional changes.
Since admission to the preparatory course at Hope's Peak requires a large tuition fee, most students who enroll here are willing to pay such a large sum of money to enroll in the preparatory course because they aspire to attend Hope's Peak's undergraduate program. This is because, apart from cases like Tsukino and Chiya who are exempted from tuition fees due to special privileges granted through commissions.
The same applies to Hajime Hyuga.
Perhaps it was because Hope's Peak University was so close yet so far away... Since enrolling, Tsukino and Chiya could sense that Hinata Hajime's emotions weren't actually very high.
No, perhaps there are other reasons besides that he was in a bad mood.
Tsukino and Chiya recalled the time when they first met Kizaki Kouichi and encountered Hinata Hajime.
It seems Hinata has his own secrets too; it's intriguing.
Hinata's mood has improved recently, seemingly because he has made new friends.
Thinking about it carefully, it seems that it happened shortly after the Ghost Painter incident, before the investigation into the Sarayashiki ghost incident officially began.
And his new friend, if he remembered correctly... seemed to be an undergraduate student at Hope's Peak.
Chiaki Nanami is the "Ultimate Player".
"Here, this is yours."
The sudden sound interrupted Tsukino and Chiya's thoughts. The black-haired boy looked at the canned drink placed on his table and subconsciously thanked them, "Thank you, Hinata."
"It's nothing, I just grabbed a drink for you."
Recently in a good mood, Hyuga Hajime sat down in his seat. Tsukino and Chiya could tell that he seemed to be hesitating about something, and after a few seconds, he seemed to have made up his mind and then turned to ask Chiya a question he had never heard of before.
"By the way, Tsukino Kazu. Do you know... about the rumors circulating at school lately regarding the old school building?"
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Author's Note: A transitional chapter [pat on the head]
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