Junior High School
What poor acting.
——Hinata Aoi commented secretly in her heart.
Ikeda focused all his energy on the tears that rolled down his cheeks. He showed no panic, nor sadness, but only tried hard to show his weakness.
His acting skills were not very good to begin with, and he covered most of his face with a mask, leaving a pair of lifeless and expressionless eyes exposed.
Keeping a safe distance from Ikeda, Hinata Aoi couldn't see clearly what she was typing on her phone, so she had to turn around and get the notebook she had placed on the lounge chair.
Ikeda Anna thought Hinata Aoi was about to leave, and in her anxiety she forgot that she was pretending to be weak. She raised her foot to follow her, but was blocked at the door by Iwaizumi who came running over.
"Hello, you can't enter here casually." Iwaizumi's voice was steady, with fear in his eyes.
He recognized Ikeda and knew what happened in the hotel. He was vaguely worried that Ikeda would not only go crazy this time, but also seek revenge for calling the police last time.
The remaining team members also stopped what they were doing and looked towards Ikeda at the door.
Being stared at by several tall boys, even Ikeda would be a little timid, but now her mind was all on Hinata Aoi, so she could only shout across from them:
"Come back, I haven't finished yet!"
"You know that, right? You must know!"
"They don't know, they don't know, I can only tell you!"
"I was wrong that day. I was just too excited. I apologize to you. Come back soon!!"
Ikeda's voice grew louder and louder, his speech becoming more fluent and faster, with a hint of genuine crying in his voice.
Hinata Aoi picked up the notebook and rubbed her ears with her free hand. It was the first time she felt so annoyed by someone's voice.
She walked back to the door, with Iwaizumi Ichigo following behind her.
"If you have anything to say, just tell me directly."
The other side kept saying "They don't understand" and "They don't know", which made Iwaizumi Ichi angry.
The other team members stopped watching from afar and came to Hinata Aoi's side to support her.
Oikawa Toru chimed in with a relaxed tone:
"If there's anything we don't know, tell us."
"If you tell us, we'll know."
Ikeda was frightened by so many people watching him closely, but he kept saying stubbornly:
"You know, I can only tell you."
"Something happened to her, I can only tell you!"
…
"Hinata Aoi, don't you really want to know what I have to say?!"
Seeing that the other side was about to collapse, Hinata Aoi had no choice but to let the seniors disperse first, and she took paper and pen to communicate with Ikeda.
"What's wrong Sakurai?"
"Yes, Sakurai..." Ikeda Anna regained her composure and lowered her voice.
"There's a monster in the school, and it's been staring at me. Now Taozi is back, and it's targeting her again... It eats people, go save her!"
"So Sakurai has been caught by it?"
Ikeda nodded vigorously in affirmation, his words filled with hope:
"You're alright, aren't you?"
"You can make it disappear. Come with me!"
"If you go too late, Sakurai will die!"
Ikeda tried to grab Hinata Aoi's arm, but Hinata Aoi nimbly dodged it and added unwillingly:
"Only you can go, and you alone can go. Anyone who goes there will die."
He glanced obscurely at the people who were not interested in playing volleyball, and pronounced in a low, hoarse voice:
"You can't save so many people."
Hinata Aoi only now understood the purpose of the mask on Ikeda's face. It hindered his performance while also covering up the details, making it difficult to tell how much he was lying.
Maybe I really need to go with Anna Ikeda.
Although he is not like Gojumaki who can exorcise the cursed spirit, the cursed spirit itself cannot cause any harm to Hinata Aoi.
The only one who could harm Hinata Aoi was Ikeda, and she was confident she could dodge it if she was prepared.
Sakurai didn't know what was going on, and Gojumaki was also concerned about this cursed spirit. Hinata Aoi thought about it and decided to go with Ikeda on this trip.
Iwaizumi was absolutely opposed to it and vetoed Hinata Aoi's trip. It was only when Oikawa Toru stepped in that he persuaded them to stop.
As they were watched walking out of the venue, Hinata Aoi noticed the water bottle lying on the ground with her sharp eyes.
Looking up, Sato Daichi was sitting in the corner tapping on his phone. There were still two water bottles at his feet, and the rest had all scattered and rolled away.
When he noticed someone's gaze, he subconsciously hid his phone behind him. He only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was Hinata Aoi.
Knowing that Sato was sending a message to Inugami, Hinata Aoi complied with Ikeda's urging and followed her out.
Seeing the two girls walking away, Sato forgot to pick up the water bottles on the ground and rushed directly into the venue, almost bumping into Toru Oikawa who was about to leave.
"Where are they going?!"
"Shh!"
Oikawa Toru covered Sato's mouth with his backhand, and then let go after checking that the two girls didn't hear anything.
"We were just about to follow him." Oikawa Toru rubbed his palms on Sato's clothes calmly.
Junior Hyuga is very opinionated and determined to go, and it is difficult for them to stop her, so they can only follow her secretly to confirm whether she is safe.
"Xiaoyan and I will just follow. You guys do what you need to do and wait for news from us."
Iwaizumi was afraid of losing him, so he went out first. Oikawa Toru hurriedly followed after saying this.
No one in the gym was in the mood to train anymore, leaving only Kageyama to help Takeshi consolidate what he had learned from the recent match.
Someone's cell phone rang.
"H-Hinata sent me a message!"
Five heads gathered in front of the screen, unable to see clearly, waiting for Sato to read out every word.
"Senior, could you please ask Sakurai what time he will come tomorrow?"
"Is this some kind of code?"
Sato didn't understand but did as he was told. Sakurai replied, "It's about the same time as today," and sent it to Hinata Aoi exactly as it was.
Hinata Aoi was speechless with relief after receiving the message.
I didn't expect that the reason Ikeda called her out was so easily overturned. Could it be that Ikeda knew that she didn't like to add other people's contact information and dared to lie like this?
"Why is Sakurai going to school?"
"I, I lied..." Ikeda lowered his voice as if he was guilty.
"I didn't want to do this either. That monster made me do it. If I didn't do it, it would have eaten me. It's all because of it!"
These two sentences were more sincere and heartfelt. Hinata Aoi even began to suspect whether Sakurai's reply was sent by the curse spirit. After all, she knew almost nothing about curse spirits and had no basis to refute what others said.
She laughed at herself, but Ikeda, who was paying close attention to her, took it as a mocking sneer.
"Everything I said is true! If I don't listen to it, I will really die!"
"…You can influence it, right? You can fix it, right!"
"Of course." Hinata Aoi didn't even blink.
Ikeda breathed a sigh of relief and continued walking towards school with Hinata Aoi.
When she just left the venue, she pretended to be anxious to save Sakurai and ran a few steps. Later, when she thought that she was going to find a monster, she walked slower and slower. Every few steps, she would look back to see if the quiet Hinata Aoi was still there.
Under the dim street lights, Ikeda felt like he was leading a ghost to find another ghost, swallowing madly to slow his heartbeat.
Finally reaching a worn-out wall, Ikeda skillfully but with difficulty stepped on the stacked stones and clung to the wall. He gritted his teeth and sat down on the top of the wall. After panting for a while, he reached out to Hinata Aoi.
"Come, shall I pull you up?"
Before Ikeda could finish his words, Hinata Aoi took a few steps back, ran up the wall, hung on the wall, and retracted her arms. She also sat steadily on the wall, raised her eyebrows and asked her where to go next.
Ikeda put away his surprise and felt delighted that his chances of winning had increased. He struggled to climb down the wall and led Hinata Aoi all the way to the equipment room.
The door, which should have been checked and locked, was slightly ajar.
"I won't go in." Ikeda took a step back, leaving Hinata Aoi standing alone in front of the door.
"Go ahead, I won't hold you back, Sakurai is right here..."
Not wanting to listen to any more nonsense, Hinata Aoi walked over, grabbed Ikeda by the back of his collar, and dragged him into the equipment room.
Ikeda screamed but was afraid that the security guard would hear him, so he struggled but could only let Hinata Aoi drag him in.
The faint moonlight poured into the darkness through the fully open door. Hinata Aoi fumbled on the wall for a while but couldn't find the light switch, and she loosened her grip on Ikeda's collar.
As a result, the cloth slipped away from his fingertips at a rapid speed, and when Hinata Aoi looked over, Ikeda had been thrown upside down by the invisible cursed spirit and was hanging in the air.
The girl's eyes were wide open, her hair was hanging down, but her coat seemed to be tied tightly to her body, and the mask was sunken and fit her mouth perfectly, making the girl unable to make a sound.
You shouldn't have come in!
Regret did not affect Hinata Aoi's actions. She quickly moved the abandoned tables and chairs, stepped on them and jumped, reaching out to touch Ikeda.
But at the moment when they were about to touch, Ikeda passed by like a shooting star, was pulled to a corner of the wall and disappeared completely.
Swallowed?!
Hinata Aoi rolled forward to relieve the force and fell to the ground. She didn't care about the dust all over her body. She just stared at the corner of the wall. She propped herself up and pushed the desk towards the corner. She was determined to climb up and feel around.
"Hinata!"
"Hinata-san! Where are you?"
"Hey, there's a door open!"
A deliberately suppressed call came from outside the equipment room. Hearing the footsteps getting closer and closer, Hinata Aoi instantly decided to give up on Ikeda first, ran out of the equipment room and held the wrists of the two seniors one by one.
"Hinata? What's wrong with you?!"
There was a lot of dust on the girl's clothes and skin, and the sweat from her forehead wet her hair. She rushed to their side like a small stove, breathing slightly with a little panic.
There was no time to explain to the two seniors, Hinata Aoi pushed them towards the place where they had climbed over the wall without saying a word.
Oikawa Toru and Iwaizumi didn't understand why, but they still obeyed Hinata Aoi and climbed over the wall to leave the school.
"Don't come in."
"Please!"
Looking at Hinata Aoi sitting astride the wall, Oikawa Toru and Iwaizumi didn't know what to say.
Something must have happened that they couldn't help with.
As seniors, they should stop Hinata Aoi and bring her back safely, but they couldn't open their mouths.
The pleading look in his eyes seemed to be about to produce tears in the next second, blocking their throats.
Before they could express their opinion, another person came running in the moonlight.
The soft white hair was blown messy by the wind generated by the galloping. Goujuan didn't care about the seniors under the wall. He put up a tent while running, stepped on the top of the wall and looked at Hinata Aoi.
"On the left, in the equipment room next to the playground, Ikeda was arrested."
Turning around and jumping into the school, Inumaki Saki ran in the direction Hinata Aoi said.
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