Chapter 20 My favorite Kozuki no Osaki died...
Matsuda Jinpei was originally sending a message to Date Wataru from the hospital.
It was late at night, and after things quieted down, a wave of exhaustion washed over him from all the things he had experienced that day. However, on the surface, Matsuda Jinpei didn't show any signs of distress.
The mark on my back is throbbing slightly for some reason.
Perhaps because Matsuda Jinpei was marked by the anomaly much later than the two high school students, this ace of the explosives disposal team, although he has had the feeling that "his death is imminent," has not yet been so precise as to say that he will die at dawn.
Matsuda Jinpei stayed with Yukimura Mio at the hospital, partly so that he could be informed of the news in time if she woke up, and partly just in case... what if that strange creature came to the hospital in order to kill Yukimura Mio?
Now that it was late at night and all was quiet, and Matsuda Jinpei didn't need to do anything else for the time being, he took the opportunity to review his experiences of the day in his mind and think about the strange thing he had witnessed.
As those two high school students once explained, some of the strange characteristics overlapped with elements of the ghost stories associated with the series of disappearances. So... could the truth behind the recent series of disappearances be...?
Is this strange entity, temporarily referred to as the "Ghost Artist," a random killer? Or, as described in ghost stories, does it target those who belittle its comics? Did Yukimura Mio encounter this strange entity because of doing something similar? Now that she is actually alive, will the strange entity give up or return?
Damn it, there's so little information, both in terms of clues and our understanding of the supernatural. Based on the information we have so far, Matsuda Jinpei has some guesses, but he can't confirm their accuracy.
After all, this was the first time he had encountered something like this. His understanding of the strange was limited to what he had heard from Tsukino and Chiya, as well as the descriptions in horror movies and novels he had read in his spare time.
However, it remains a mystery how much of the content, which is likely fabricated, can actually be of reference value in actual combat.
The comforting thing was that, according to Tsukino and Chiya, most of the strange phenomena could actually be attacked using physical or chemical means. Before Hagiwara Kenji left the hospital with the two teenagers, Tsukino and Chiya quietly handed Matsuda Jinpei a dagger.
That seemed to be some kind of magical artifact capable of successfully harming the supernatural.
Seriously... these two kids are getting more and more mysterious the more you look at them. Putting aside Ohma Kokichi's title of "Ultimate Leader" acknowledged by Hope's Peak and his occasional self-proclaimed "Evil Leader" like a chuunibyou, just look at Tsukino and Chiya... what ordinary kid can just pull out a spirit tool out of their hand?
Well, it's possible that he himself doesn't understand "the other side of the world that is unnatural." Perhaps for those who are aware of the existence of strange things, spiritual tools are indeed as common as roadside stalls.
Who knows?
Just as Matsuda Jinpei's thoughts were drifting away, he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket.
It was a message from Ida Air.
The squad leader clearly remembered the hideous scratches on Matsuda's back that he had noticed during the day. However, he had probably encountered some unexpected incident after returning to the Metropolitan Police Department and was temporarily conscripted. Now that he finally had some free time, although he was still concerned about Matsuda's condition, he felt that calling directly at this time might disturb his rest. So he sent a message and waited for Matsuda to see it before replying.
Matsuda Jinpei has dexterous hands, which are not only steady when defusing bombs, but also incredibly fast when typing.
But... how should I tell the class monitor what happened today?
He didn't intend to hide anything from the class monitor, but if he told the truth directly, would the class monitor really believe him?
Well, of course he wouldn't believe it. After all, he himself had been skeptical at first, and only fully accepted it after experiencing the feeling brought by the mark on his back and witnessing the strange existence firsthand.
As Matsuda Jinpei was editing the message "Let's talk face to face later," he realized that the feeling brought about by the mark on his back had suddenly disappeared.
This is actually quite normal. After all, the sensations from the mark on his back come in waves, occasionally popping up with a wicked reminder that "you're going to die." But most of the time, the mark, resembling a wild animal's claw mark, doesn't react at all, as if it doesn't exist at all.
But this time...
As if struck by a sudden inspiration, Matsuda Jinpei realized something. After hurriedly telling the squad leader that they would talk later and sending the message, he got up and walked towards the hospital bathroom, intending to find a quiet place to check his back.
—It's really gone.
Then, after confirming this, Matsuda Jinpei felt a little unreal for a moment. The strange thing was resolved just like that? He didn't have to die after just sitting in the hospital for a while?
However, rationally speaking, Matsuda Jinpei knew this made sense. After all, if the two boys weren't lying, then their lives were already capped at dawn, meaning they had to resolve the incident before daybreak.
Matsuda Jinpei, who was originally waiting in the hospital and ready to offer help or fight the strange things that appeared in the hospital: So I just won by lying down?
Regardless, the disappearance of the mark should mean the matter is resolved, which is a good thing, but...
Matsuda Jinpei called Hagiwara Kenji to check if he was injured.
After all, no matter what, such irrational existences as the supernatural are definitely very dangerous, and to deal with the supernatural, one must confront it... Are Hagi and those two boys alright?
To Matsuda Jinpei's surprise, when the call connected, Hagiwara Kenji on the other end seemed to be even less aware of the situation than he was.
Kenji Hagiwara: "What? It's already resolved??"
Matsuda Jinpei: "...You didn't know?"
Kenji Hagiwara: "I was the only one of the three with a driver's license, so I stayed in the car to be there to meet them from the outside. I would send them messages every few minutes to check on each other's safety, so I could provide immediate support if anything happened inside or if they needed anything from outside. But I thought they would come to me after they found some clues to discuss how to deal with the strange creatures together. I never expected that... it would already be over?"
That's very efficient.
It's unclear who hung up first, but the two ended the call abruptly and tacitly. They then dialed Wang Ma Xiaoji's number—they had exchanged contact information before.
The call went unanswered, and Matsuda Jinpei felt his heart sinking deeper and deeper into despair.
Fortunately, just before the call was about to hang up automatically, Wang Ma Xiaoji finally got through.
"Hello? Who is it? Just so you know, I'm not buying a house."
I finally got through.
The voice coming from the other end of the phone was as unreliable as ever, but the fact that Wang Ma Xiaoji could still make such a joke in this situation meant that he, Tsukino, and Chiya were probably not in any bad situation. This made Matsuda Jinpei, who heard the voice on the other end of the phone, breathe a sigh of relief.
Matsuda Jinpei said directly, "I am Matsuda. I just noticed that the mark on my body has disappeared, so I think you must have succeeded... How is the situation now? Are you and Tsukino injured?"
Wang Ma Xiaoji: "..."
Wang Ma Xiaoji: "...Ah. It's, it's Officer Matsuda."
Wang Ma Xiaoji: "I'm sorry, I thought it was some kind of spam call, that's why I acted that way. Because... because I really wasn't in the mood to check who was calling... Now, I don't know what to do..."
On the other end of the phone, the boy's voice, though slightly distorted, was filled with an undeniable sense of helplessness and bewilderment. Matsuda Jinpei knew this might be a hoax, but he hesitated, a sense of foreboding washing over him: "You..."
Wang Ma Xiaoji: "I know. Because I like to lie, Officer Matsuda won't believe me. But right now, I really need Officer Matsuda's help... because, because..."
"Everything was fine at first, and the anomaly seemed to have been resolved smoothly. But perhaps because its obsession wasn't completely satisfied, the anomaly didn't disappear entirely, so it suddenly reappeared, and then..."
"—And then my favorite Kazuo Kozuki died!! Waaaaaaah!! Kazuo Kozuki ahhhhhh!!"
*******
Tsukino and Chiya got busy as soon as Ouma Kokichi answered the phone.
Seeing that Ohma looked like he was brewing something, Chiya realized that he was probably up to something again. So, while Ohma and Kokichi were holding their phones and remained silent, Tsukino and Chiya also kept quiet.
But he wasn't idle either.
He kindly moved the full-length mirror in the bedroom back to its original place, and then went to the study on the second floor. He found that, just as he had expected, the study had returned to normal.
The torture chamber from before no longer exists, and the image of those puppets piled up together is like an illusion.
The spears retrieved from the torture chamber had all been used by Tsukino and Chiya on the demon painter, and now they had vanished along with the strange occurrences. But…
The pen and comic book are still there.
It was as if it were proving that everything before was not a dream, confirming that they had indeed been on the verge of life and death not long ago.
Although neither item disappeared, Tsukino and Chiya confirmed that the pen was just an ordinary pen, and the comic book... perhaps there was something crucial in its contents, but given that it was covered in blood, he couldn't be sure what was drawn on it.
There's nothing we can do about that.
Tsukino and Chiya closed the study door again and left, intending to go back to their bedroom to see if Ohma Kokichi had finished his phone call. But as soon as they entered the room, before they even saw him, they heard a wailing cry from the other end: "...and then my favorite Tsukino died!!"
Tsukino and Chiya: "..." Who died? Me?
Tsukino and Chiya's lips twitched slightly, but because he had just entered and was standing behind Ohma Kokichi, no one noticed it.
A moment later, Wangma Xiaoji hung up the phone. The purple-haired boy turned around, phone in hand, and when he saw Tsukino and Chiya, he smiled without a hint of guilt, as if the earth-shattering cry from just moments before hadn't come from him at all: "Yo, Tsukino, you're here!"
"Huh? Why aren't you saying anything? Is there a problem?"
Tsukino and Chiya: "No...it's nothing, it's just..."
Tsukino and Chiya: "I heard you've been telling everyone I'm dead?"
A note from the author:
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Xiao Ji: Waaaaa, Xiao Yueye and you died so tragically!
Thousand Nights: Who Killed Me?
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