Chapter 310

"What do you mean by leaving the rest of the work to the 'experts'?... Don't you want me to solve it alone?!" Iwanaga Kotoko slammed the table in anger and stood up, protesting to Edmund, "As a gentleman, you don't even know how to take the initiative to share the worries of a lady - and a lady as charming and lovely as me!"

"You didn't borrow the clothes you wore when you first appeared on the scene from someone else, did you?!"

"Iwanaga..."

"When we first met, you introduced yourself as an expert in handling supernatural events." Edmund reminded Iwanaga Kotoko expressionlessly, using the words and sentences he had used to deal with social situations in his lifetime, "I am just telling the truth. If you can't handle it, don't brag. This is the advice of the revenge ghost, this pitiful lady."

"There is always a solution if you break the problem down." Iwanaga Kotoko sat back in her chair somewhat frustrated and began to think about the action plan for tonight. "First, we need to restrict the actions of the living festival Kaguya-hime. This aspect should be handed over to Senior Kuro who can be resurrected no matter how many times he dies. Then, we need to prepare——"

"I can convince people that the living festival Kaguya-hime does not exist."

The gloomy revenge ghost disappeared from the two people's sight, leaving this hotel room for Iwanaga Kotoko and Sakuragawa Kuro to prepare for the battle at night. On the other side of the campus, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Masashi were collecting opinions about ghost stories and this case that were circulating among students, and they were especially collecting opinions about the supernatural interest group that had encountered the living festival Kaguyahime not long ago.

"…Sure enough, it's pretty much what I guessed." Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at the many different opinions he had sorted out in his notebook and came to the conclusion, "Most people just want to read an 'interesting' story - that's why they linked the living sacrifice Kaguya-hime to the case reported this morning."

"That is, most people don't care about the truth, they just think it's interesting."

"Then, if we want to convince people that 'the living sacrifice Kaguya-hime does not exist' and 'the murderer of the death case is someone else'..." Mash blinked, her eyes fell on the word 'interesting' circled several times by Fujimaru Ritsuka on the notebook, "we have to come up with a story that is more interesting than the current one, and one that revolves around ghost stories!"

"Yes, the only correct way to solve a case is to unravel the truth like Mr. Holmes did. But the truth of this case must be denied as a lie." Fujimaru Ritsuka turned the page and wrote down his opinion on this incident on a blank paper. "Most people pursue 'fun' because they have never encountered a strange story in front of them."

"In that case, for most people, since they have not encountered it, the fact that the fantasy that should have been imaginary actually exists in reality is 'interesting'."

"This group of people *believes* in the existence of ghost stories. Before they saw the living sacrifice of Kaguya-hime and were attacked, the members of the supernatural interest club belonged to this category."

"According to the questions we asked them before, they all joined the supernatural interest club because they thought 'supernatural stories are interesting' and actively participated in the expedition activities... until they were attacked by the living festival Kaguya-hime."

"Next, we will continue to use the supernatural interest club as another representative of the group of people who also pay attention to strange stories and death cases." Fujimaru Ritsuka turned the pen in his hand and looked at Mashu who was sitting next to him. "Although after the supernatural interest club was attacked, Edmund followed Iwanaga Kotoko to chase the living sacrifice Kaguya for three days, so today's death case is the first case in the true sense."

"Either the witnesses' personal safety was not threatened, or the attack by the living festival Kaguya-hime was interrupted - but we still use the appearance of the supernatural interest being attacked by the living festival Kaguya-hime as the dividing line of the witness incident."

"Before that, the witnesses did not feel any danger from Kaguya-hime, so even though she attacked them, after a while, most of them changed their mindset from 'I hope the ghost story is just a fun story' to - 'A ghost story without danger is really boring, I hope the ghost story can become more interesting'."

"But... the situation of the paranormal interest club doesn't look like it will return to normal in a short while." Mashuu recalled the scene he saw when he asked questions to the students in the paranormal interest club.

"So I said that the attack encountered by the supernatural interest club is the dividing line." Fujimaru Ritsuka smiled, turned back to the timeline he had drawn before and circled a point. "In fact, according to Edmund's judgment, the attack by the living festival Kaguya that day was aimed at the hearts of the witnesses - this is why he attacked the living festival Kaguya that day."

"Unlike the previous witnesses, they felt the approach of death, so they were still stuck at the crossroads that night. This kind of members felt the danger of the Living Festival Kaguya Princess and faced the attack of the Living Festival Kaguya Princess, so they are absolutely convinced that this strange story really exists. But -"

"They're going to be longing for the guy who wishes the horror stories weren't real."

"The few remaining guys are similar to Mr. Holmes and his friends - they don't believe in ghost stories and are just looking for the truth. There may be only one person... or even no one who realizes that the truth is that the living sacrifice of Kaguya-hime caused the death. The vast majority of these guys can only leave this death case unsolved in the end."

Fujimaru Ritsuka closed his notebook, stood up, glanced at Mashu, and said, "It's just right, it's almost time for lunch break - see you after school. If you have any new ideas, let's talk about them then."

"Okay, Senior - I'm going back to the first grade classroom for class."

"How is it possible--!!!" After taking on the task assigned by Fujimaru Ritsuka, BB, who spent a much longer time than ever before to check the status of the website, screamed in frustration on the Chaldea system broadcast, "Such an obviously abnormal reply situation! How is it possible that all the people behind it are real people! How can there be a way to control public opinion on the website that even BB can't figure out!!!"

Michiman Ashiya and Haruaki Abe, who had been communicating with Chaldea since this morning, were also attacked by BB's loud voice. Fortunately, although there was no member who could directly stop BB like Ritsuka Fujimaru among the remaining members, some Heroic Spirits who were not compatible with BB also had the means to threaten this little devil who did whatever he wanted.

For example - tell BB how long it will take for Fujimaru Ritsuka to finish school, and she has not yet compiled the first review report on supernatural websites that can be shown to Fujimaru Ritsuka.

Fortunately, the first thing Fujimaru Ritsuka did when he got home was not to ask BB for the investigation report, but to open the Chaldea communicator that he should have carried with him to access the network - then he asked BB to make preliminary preparations for registration, and ate in advance to replenish energy in order to face the battle that was bound to come tonight.

"Although there are abnormalities on the website, BB has checked the traces of every user who made comments. Unfortunately, they are all 'normal' participants in the comments, senior." The projection image of Chaldea Communications has been replaced by BB's live broadcast room. "It is obvious that there is no trace of interference from abnormal forces on the Internet - the website is still normal."

"By the way, Ritsuka and Haruaki probably haven't seen Iwanaga Kotoko and Sakuragawa Kuro fight these things, right?" Asaya Michiman suddenly remembered the previous battle records and confirmed with Fujimaru Ritsuka, "That means we actually know almost nothing about them... right?"

"No, Iwanaga won't have the ability to fight head-on, nor will he participate in head-on combat." Abe Haruaki shook his head, and inferred the abilities of the two based on the records left in the Shibuya Anomaly. "And Sakuragawa Kuro can bring all non-humans the same uncontrollable fear as when facing a 'natural enemy' - only a brainless guy would not feel scared after seeing him."

“But it shouldn’t be that simple.”

"'Ate two kinds of monsters and had a full meal' - According to Iwanaga Kotoko's introduction in Shibuya's unique spot, the two monsters eaten by Sakuragawa Kuro were a mermaid and a merman." Abe Haruaki introduced them to everyone, "Although I didn't have time to explain it at that time, now is the perfect time."

"As for mermaid meat, there is a legend about Yaobikuni in Japan - eating mermaid meat will make you immortal. And this is a monster that predicts a finite future at the cost of death." Abe Haruaki smiled and looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu, tilting his head, "However, for you, the more similar type should be the prediction of the future."

"After all, prophecies are sometimes accurate and sometimes inaccurate - but if it is a prophecy that is 100% certain to come true, then the prophet will definitely pay a price for it. The price paid is their lives."

"But it's still far from Alice's vision of the future - after all, it's just an exchange, exchanging one's life for a future that is most likely to happen, or even a future that can be achieved without sacrificing one's life." Abe Haruaki spread his hands and explained to the two, "Little Alice believes that as long as the point where she is now can be connected to the future she wants, she can drag that future into reality."

"Even though there was a price to pay in the end, it wasn't something that was set in the beginning and couldn't be changed, so there was always a way to work it out - just like how she lay in bed for almost a year after the burn."

"But the guy who ate the flesh of the lizard and the mermaid... maybe he gained immortality and the lizard's prophetic ability."

"Eh?" Fujimaru Ritsuka raised his head and looked at Abe Haruaki in surprise, "In that case, isn't he——"

"Well, you can choose the future unlimitedly by committing suicide, so that the future you want will become a reality." Abe Haruaki sighed helplessly, "No matter how slim the hope of reaching that future is, no matter how few choices there are in front of you - as long as you die enough times, you will definitely be able to make the future you want a reality."

"After all, they are monsters who don't know death, just like those guys."