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Ghost Hunt Volume 7 Chapter 5: 3pm-5:30pm 1

I looked at my surroundings.

“What’s up, Mai?”

Upon hearing Ayako’s question, I was just about to say if there was any sound, the minute sound passed once more into my ears.

(---Ah---)

John lifted his head slightly.

(---Ah---Ah---)

The sound of the rain was mixed into it so it wasn’t very clear, but what I heard was definitely a person’s voice. Simultaneous with the voice I also heard some creaking sounds; I lifted my head – the sound appeared to come from above.

“Have you heard the voice yet?”

Ayako also lifted her head to look towards the ceiling.

“There is indeed; it looks like there is something going on up there.”

Just as I spoke, the creaking muddled with the human voice rose once more. Was it the voice of a child or an adult, a male or a female? I couldn’t tell.

“There seems to be something on the second floor—”

Naru was the first to check on the situation in the corridor, with us following behind. The creaking sound was as though there was someone sneaking around the second floor.

Slowly, everyone walked to the base of the staircase, then up one or two steps, and observed the situation on the second floor. Indeed, the second floor was emitting the sound – a small, faraway sound, calling for something.

“I’m going to take a look.”

Just as Lin was about to go up, he was stopped by Naru.

“It’s better not to get separated.”

“But there is a door over there.”

Saying that, Lin looked at the false wall in front of us – there was a small door across that.

“If everyone were to get trapped on the second floor then the situation would be even more disastrous.”

“But—”

“It’ll be fine, Brown-kun.”

“Alright.”

“I’ll leave this place to you then; Matsuzaki-san too.”

Matsuzaki felt unhappy because she was mentioned just in passing. And she had the time to express her dissatisfaction – she really has enough guts.

“Yes! Yes! I know.”

Everyone nodded, then we moved to the side of the false wall. Lin-san opened the latch. Once the door was opened, we could hear the sounds from inside clearly. Although it wasn’t clear what the voice said, it was indeed that of a human.

“We will wait here.”

“We’ll be counting on you.”

Saying that, Lin-san bent his back and went upstairs. To prevent the door from closing, we propped up the door while looking at Lin-san’s diminishing back, continually following Lin-san’s figure until he disappeared beyond the bend. For some reason we felt unsettled.

“Ne, is it really alright to let him go alone?”

“It’s fine, because he isn’t you.”

– It is indeed true to say so; Lin-san is more powerful than we are – this, I’m well aware of. But for some reason I had an extremely distasteful, unsettled feeling in my heart.

“It is exactly as Matsuzaki-san has said.”

John tactfully soothed.

“Yeah…”

Due to the uneasy atmosphere, I could only nod. Just at this time, I felt some random, very large object hurtle from the school, and an extremely powerful impact.

“What was that?!”

Dong! There was a low vibration, and the building creaked and shook. A moment later the surroundings were hit several more times by the impact. I couldn’t help falling to my seat.

The false wall had crumbled; the dust that descended from the ceiling made it impossible to open my eyes.

“What in the world is this?”

Just as Ayako spoke, the resounding footsteps rushed over once more. Although what we heard was the sound of many people running, it could not have possibly been the sound of Lin-san’s footsteps running back – the sound was that of running from the second floor corridor towards our current location; the sound of running and laughter, combined with a few childish cheers.

“Lin-san!”

It’s alright, Lin-san will answer and then come back. In my fright, the door had shut.

“Lin-san!”

Hurriedly grasping the dirty wooden boards, the door opened surprisingly easily.

– It’s good, it’s still good.

“Lin-san, are you alright?! Come back.”

I stuck my head in and called, but there was no reply.

“Lin-san! Do you hear me?”

“—Lin!”

Even Naru’s voice elicited no reply. All at once the surroundings turned completely silent, only the sound of the rain continued on.

– What happened? It was strange.

“I’m going to take a look.”

Naru bent his body and squeezed through, with John following behind. To prevent the door from closing once more, this time Ayako propped it open. At this time, John turned back.

“The two of you shouldn’t stay behind on your own, come along with us.”

Naru nodded.

Ayako opened her mouth and asked,

“What about the door?”

I ignored the door Ayako pointed at, and stepped straight up the stairs.

“Let’s worry about Lin-san at this time instead.”

“Yeah… that’s right.”

All of us reached the second floor. On one side of the corridor that stretched straight in front of us were seven classrooms in a row, all of which were practically empty. Looking through the windows facing the corridor, we could tell in a glance if there was anyone there. But we still had to enter every classroom to confirm it.

However, we couldn’t find a glimpse of Lin-san anywhere.

“How could this be…?”

This was the only line I could say.

“He couldn’t have exited the building through the windows, could he?”

John said, while testing the second floor windows once more. Although everyone tested the windows, this place was the second floor; it was not possible to jump out through the windows. If he had opened the window and left, then the window should have been opened. Even I knew that it was impossible for Lin-san to run away on his own.

“Naru, look at this.”

Ayako pointed at the floor by her side. We found black colored stains on the dust on the floor.

“This…”

Naru squatted beside the fist-sized stain, and used his finger to gently touch it, then looked unswervingly at his finger.

“—It looks like blood.”

“Blood? Lin-san’s?”

“I don’t know, but it is indeed fresh blood.”

Why would it fall here?!

“Do you want to take another look? There could be a blind spot somewhere.”

Upon hearing Ayako’s words, everyone nodded.

We thoroughly checked all the windows and classrooms. We had no choice but to admit: the windows could not be opened.

And – Lin-san had vanished.

2

We just stood there like this in the second floor corridor, temporarily stunned.

Nobody spoke, an uneasy heaviness hung in the air; to escape this feeling, I looked towards Naru. He looked as though he was considering something.

“Ne, Lin-san will be fine, won’t he –?”

Naru’s reply made me very depressed.

“I don’t know.”

“How can you not know?!”

“I’m telling the truth, I don’t know what caused this, and I also don’t know how Lin is now. What we know right now is that Lin is no longer in this school compound.”

He wasn’t in the school compound, but looking through the windows as far as I could see, Lin’s shadow was nowhere to be found.

“How can this happen?”

Repeatedly mumbling to himself; these were the only words he spoke.

– If only we didn’t let him go up alone, if only someone had gone together with him. No! It should be: if only we didn’t let him go at all.

“Regardless, from now on, we must never be alone.”

– It’s already too late to say this now.

Ayako shook me, who hung my head.

“Lin is definitely alright, and doesn’t he have shikigami with him?”

“Yeah…”

“Anyway right now we must be multiply cautious, that’s why we must never be alone, and try to stay within the group.”

Naru told everyone firmly, and we nodded.

“Don’t leave beyond everyone else’s line of sight, and when anything happens, hold on to the clothing and hands of the person next to you.”

– Yeah.

Nodding my head I repeated Naru’s words silently to remember them. At this time I heard some sound besides that of the rain coming from outside the window. It was the sound of a lot of water splashed around – the sound of a car splashing water.

“It’s Bou-san and the rest!”

I got nearer to the window, and through the grimy glass I could see the white car parked on the field.

“It’s Bou-san!”

“That’s great!”

Ayako’s tone of voice had relaxed as well.

“Have that irreverent monk open the door for us from outside.”

“But, can it be opened -?”

John spoke a little worriedly.

“Although I think it is very likely the door can be opened from the outside, …”

“If it can’t be opened won’t they go ask people and tradesmen etc? Although we don’t know what power has sealed the school, if a bulldozer or something is used, it should still be possible to make an opening.”

Hn, this is over the top as well.

“–Crap!”

I heard Naru’s exclamation, but before I could comprehend it’s meaning, Naru had already started running in the direction of the stairs.

“What’s up?”

“What would we do after it is open?”

– Ai?

Although I didn’t understand the reason, it was a case of run first talk later; we exchanged a glance.

Won’t the problem be solved once it is opened?

“—Ah!”

It was John who made the sound.

“Ah ha?”

“If after the door is opened, and even Takigawa-san etc are sealed in as well…”

Opening the door wouldn’t be a problem, but if the three persons completely ignorant of the situation enter without thinking, and then get sealed in…

If we didn’t hurry, and did not wait in front of the door before Bou-san and co reached the outside of the door…

Although we started sprinting, we were stopped in our tracks. “Dong!” The school compound rang once more with an intense sound of an impact, as though some giant object hurtled around the school.

Unable to stand, I was forced to sit. Immediately I grabbed Ayako’s hand beside me.

– We definitely could not get separated.

“Dong!” The glass in the windows groaned, the building started tipping, creating an unpleasant sound. It started to continuously hit the classroom’s walls, ceiling, and floor; as though recklessly applying a sledgehammer. I couldn’t help using my hands to cover my ears.

Ayako loudly chanted,

“归命!普遍!诸金刚!暴恶魔障!” (tl/n: I’m leaving this chant as it was in the Chinese raw. Apparently the Japanese/Chinese translator wasn’t too sure about the chant either. Literally, it means: Return to life! All! All Buddha’s warrior attendants! Hinder the cruel demons!)

All of a sudden the sound stopped, but only for a moment before it started again. I covered my ears in an attempt to block the sound of the impacts that came from below.

Naru was the first to stand up; the stairs were right in front of him.

Who was it preventing us from getting to the entrance hall? Leaning closely against the wall I followed the stairs down, and the banging noise was immediately heard. From beneath the ground were tremors that prevented us from descending; the dust that hailed from above made one blink uncontrollably. Regardless, we had to hurry down.

After that Naru stood at the small door and John also stood next to him. I went over there as well.

The door that was already half rotted away – could not be opened.

“—As expected.”

“Please take a step back.”

Hearing John’s words, I hurriedly retreated; droplets of water stuck to my face.

John shook the small bottle and drew a cross in mid air.

“In the name of the lord I order thou sinister force be gone!”

At the same time Naru kicked hard with his foot, and that little door immediately went flying.

“—how exciting.”

Yasuhara smiled, still holding a dripping umbrella. Masako and Bou-san looked blankly at us.

The sound had stopped sometime ago. Only the rain could be heard.

Then we looked at the three of them. The door behind them was closed.

3

“Bou-san! The door!”

I pointed behind Bou-san; he turned around, shocked.

“Ai?”

Bou-san was momentarily stunned, and then he reached out to pull the door.

Then, as expected, the door already could not be opened.

“—what in the world?”

We descended from the stairs. Yasuhara and Masako, who were unaware of the situation, went forward; John, Bou-san and I pushed the door together. But the door would not move an inch.

“—it can’t be opened.”

“That shouldn’t be possible, we just entered from outside—”

Hearing Masako’s words I turned my head.

“It can’t be opened anymore, we’ve been closed in.”

“—Ai?”

“It was like this after you guys left. The windows couldn’t be opened; even the glass could not be broken.”

Wu – everyone was silent.

“—then this is troublesome!”

For good or bad, Bou-san spoke a line.

“What happened? How is it, that our headcount isn’t right-?”

Bou-san looked at us; I couldn’t help clutching my chest.

– Lin-san had vanished.

“Where are Lin and Ayako?”

– Ai?

I confirmed all the members: Naru, Bou-san, John, Yasuhara, Masako,

– Ayako wasn’t there.

“How can this be?”

Turning my head to look, John, too, wore a disbelieving expression.

“When did she disappear - ?”

“She was still there while we were in the corridor.”

“When we ran down she was still there too. During the disturbance everyone was knocked to the ground, after that we stood up –”

John lifted his head to look at the stairs.

“Mai also stood up—”

His golden hair had been gripped into a bundle.

“No, at that time I had already let go of her hand and went off first—”

“Then it’s not John’s fault.”

“But—”

“I also remembered we had to hold each other’s hands, but we got separated—”

What in the world actually happened? How did Lin-san and Ayako disappear?

In a moment, the feelings of regret came upon me in a torrent. Since the start of the investigation, the most painful thing is the moment one realizes how minute ones strength is.

“Things that have past can no longer be changed.”

“Bou-san… but…”

“Regrets breed regrets; it’s better to just do the things you have to do now. – What we have to do now is handle Ayako’s situation, right?”

“—Yeah.”

Bou-san looked towards Naru.

“What should we do? Should we search the first and second floors separately?”

“It’s better not to split up.”

“True as well. Then let’s start on the second floor.”

All of us walked in the direction of the second floor. We passed through the already door-less deviding wall, and just as we were about to ascend the stairs, Bou-san, who was walking in front, stopped.

“—What’s up?”

There was a wider space right above the stairs. (Looking towards) the right hand branch of the corridor, the left side of which was suddenly filled with colored paper.

“—!”

I couldn’t help stopping in my tracks, looking at the wall.

“How could this be—?”

“This really is going too far.”

Bou-san spat out.

Streamers dangled from the ceiling; colored paper was cut up and joined in a flower chain. Many tendrils decorated the ceiling, and tissue paper flowers decorated a shredded gold colored paper.

On it was written – “Congratulations! Ayako-san!”

4

All those colored paper were already faded, with spots on them; the tissue-paper like paper was also badly stained. We took all these paper down and burnt them.

Returning to the entrance hall, we started up the bonfire that had already extinguished. After we related the happenings to Bou-san etc who went to buy things, Yasuhara said: “We are completely stuck in a predicament.”

“It looks to be so.”

I nodded, but Yasuhara shook his head instead.

“When we asked the people who sought shelter at the supermarket where we shopped at, most people refused to speak of this place. Once in a while there were some who said not to get close to the school and such.”

“—Ai?”

“We felt there was something up, so we went to the local library. Regardless of how it was explained, it still felt very strange that the school was closed in May 5 years ago, so we dug out the newspapers that were published then, and came easily to a conclusion. – This is a photocopy.”

Yasuhara took out a folded piece of paper from his shirt pocket.

“Yamatusnami.”

“Ai?”

“Do you still remember? The landslide 5 years ago: cars, houses – everything was swept away; many people died.”

“Now that you mentioned it – something like that did happen.”

I had a vague impression of it. The scene of tea-colored earth collapsing and falling to the ground, and that of heavy vehicles used to retrieve buried vehicles from the mud, etc.

“That—”

John’s face was filled with confusion. Yasuhara and I looked at John.

“Oh yes, John doesn’t know of this incident.”

“Because, 5 years ago I wasn’t in Japan yet, that’s why I don’t know.”

“I remember it –, indeed, I think the landslide happened on a motorway.”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

“I remember the newspapers and (broadcasting) networks at that time were full of this. Due to deforestation the earth had softened, on top of that there was a long period of rain, which resulted in a landslide. Buses and cars and the houses by the roadside were all swallowed by the earth. Amongst them was a tour bus. And everybody on board died: they were all the students of a branch of a school, and the school also shut down. It was described as a ‘tragic closure’ and such; I still remember the scene of a black clad old man locking up the school gates.”

Yasuhara nodded.

“It was a major event which caused 26 deaths and 16 people to be seriously injured. Amongst the dead were the 18 students returning from a trip, the teacher in charge of them, the bus driver and tour guide; and there were 2 cars which were also swept away – the drivers died on the spot; 4 houses by the roadside were also swept away, with 3 deaths, making a total of 26.”

– I hate this type of topic; it makes one feel very depressed.

“Because the school lost all its students at the same time, and there were no new enrolments the next year, in reality it meant closing the school. The second year after the reservoir was completed, there was indeed a village that moved away; but in reality the exodus was before this incident, and has no relation to the school’s closure.”

“—if this is the case, then why would they tell such a big lie?”

“The problem is right here, –first, following convention to appease the dead, we heard a large memorial was built near to the site. Disregarding this first, in reality, the situations that affected the people involved in this incident (occurred in this place), so the problem is right here.”

– !

“According to accounts from youths from the library, ‘the dead primary school children call for companions as they are lonely’ – there are such rumors; and, ‘therefore there are children who go missing in the mountains nearby’.”

“That can’t be…”

“Takigawa-san and Hara-san both helped to check, and indeed there are many incidents of children going missing. And these incidents did indeed start happening frequently starting 5 years ago. Taking June 5 years ago as the start, every 3 to 4 months, a child would go missing; but last year it all stopped suddenly.”

– ??

Yasuhara’s brow wrinkled slightly.

“To be precise the last incident was October last year. From the newspapers, it looks like the disappearances have stopped for a year and a half. – Why was that? Don’t you think it’s strange?”

“Strange?”

Naru spoke,

“What the Village Chief and co came to request, should be related to these disappearances. – if that’s the case it means that the disappearances did not stop, although there might be some time between disappearances. At least, it’s not possible that it ceased completely; that the newspaper did not report it, is probably because arrangements were made prior to the incident in order to prevent it being reported.”

Yasuhara gently clapped his hands with the paper.

“Brilliant! – On the way back we went nearby to check it out, and asked, ‘do you know the news of a child going missing a couple of days ago?’ Although we tried very hard to fish out a story, the answer was still, ‘why do you ask about this type of thing?’ and denials of any incidents of disappearances – they wouldn’t say anything at all.”

“So that’s the case—”

Naru mumbled to himself.

“At the very least, ‘a couple of days ago’ a disappearance had occurred. What happened to the children that disappeared?”

Yasuhara’s expression turned serious simultaneously.

“What’s more suspicious here is that, at the beginning, when the children who disappeared were found, they were all already dead.”

“At the beginning?”

“From the June 5 years ago – till about a year later.”

“And after this?”

“They were not found.”

Naru was once again, forcing a smile.

“Could you be actually waiting for me to ask where the bodies were found?”

Yasuhara scratched his head embarrassedly.

“You really are annoying, if you know then don’t be so naughty, I’m waiting.”

“Where were they found?”

“Halfway up the mountain of 騰矢字支野田.”

“Is this the same as the location of the school?”

“The same.”

“So that’s the case, it was actually like this—”

– I completely did not understand what they were talking about.

“That… excuse me…”

I was clearly already asking nervously; Naru’s heartless reply still hit me on the head.

“Your brain is really useless.”

– it’s none of your business!

“In other words, the situation is like this –”

Saying that, Naru’s dark gaze turned to the school compound, which was already submerged in dusk.

“A month after May 5 years ago, when all the students in this school died in the accident, a child disappeared, and the body was found in this school.”

“—Yeah.”

“After the tragedy, in order to prevent people from investigating, they made it such that to inquire about the abandoned school one could only use its registered name.”

“ –??”

“However, within a year, similar incidents continued to happen, so to locals it would definitely feel very strange; even amongst unrelated individuals, there would definitely be someone curious about the place 腾矢野, where the bodies are found. – Hence they decided to announce to the outside world that they did not find any bodies after that.”

Yasuhara cut in,

“Or else, they found the bodies but pretended not to have found them, or taking one step further, they could have hidden the bodies.”

“—that they do it to this extent, – let’s not talk about this first. Because the disappearances continue to happen unceasingly, the volume of tourists will be affected, so financially the income from tourism is insufficient. In order to prevent the newspapers from leaking the news they made arrangements, but despite that, the disappearances still continue.”

“That’s why they would consult us?”

“It’s such a situation. From the decision of the Village Chief and co, I can see that while they really want to prevent the continuation of the disappearances, they are very afraid of the details of the situation being known. On the other hand they are afraid that psychics are difficult to find, and they also have to confirm the abilities of the psychics. Just as they have run out of options, they encounter, by chance, psychics who arrive at this place.”

Ah— ah— Why would I feel anger rising?

“Just like this? Just because they are afraid of the disappearances being known that they weave a huge web of lies to trick us, to make us come to this place? We don’t know the actual situation, they don’t even tell us how dangerous this place really is. At least if we knew the situation before hand we wouldn’t have carelessly gotten sealed up like this. How can they be so despicable!?”

They caused Lin-san and Ayako to both –

“And not only that.”

Naru looked at Yasuhara.

“Are you hiding anything else?”

Yasuhara smiled embarrassedly.

“—you caught me. The victims of the disappearances that were reported in the news – almost all were tourists. Children from the nearby campsite or ski resort have disappeared without anyone noticing.”

“Ah—ah, so that’s the case, if it’s like this it will indeed affect visitor volumes.”

– It’s so despicable, to let ignorant people come to this place, almost to become a sacrifice. How can they be so low?

“—but, if it’s like this…”

John asked cautiously.

“—Yeah?”

“The victims of the disappearances – those people aren’t still here, are they?”

Still… here…

“Your meaning is…”

“Regardless of what happened, if they found a body they’d pretend they did not find it, and the body might even have been hidden somewhere. If we search the school we might even find a body, but even if we find one, it might not necessarily be good news – that’s what I think.”

If this is the case—

Naru nodded.

“Then the bodies of the victims who disappeared over the past 4 years – the chance of them being in the school is very high.”

5

“You’ve got to be kidding—”

I hurriedly stood up and looked all around, and also whacked Bou-san with my hand.

“Haven’t we already searched the school several times? If it’s an easily found location, we would have already found it.”

“It is indeed so, but—”

“If the bodies rotted away, the stench would not completely disappear. If it’s an obvious location, we wouldn’t be sitting around so leisurely.”

“—Yeah—”

“Perhaps we should search for where the bodies are hidden.”

The only one who could say such horrendous words would have to be Naru.

“You’re joking, right?”

“I’m not joking. Suppose that our enemy, or an animal that hoards its prey in its nest, has a habit of hoarding in a particular location, then Lin and Matsuzaki-san would probably be there.”

– Ah!

Thinking about it to this point, I suddenly felt a chill down my back.

Are they still alive? – Or—

I desperately wrecked my brains; such a thing couldn’t possibly happen: the two of them couldn’t be dead – stop thinking like this, about such inauspicious thing!

“To put it literally it’s the grave. Just thinking about it chills me to the core.”

“Are you afraid?”

“It’s very interesting.”

Uncle, you’re such a liar.

“It’ll be a little difficult to relax, but it’s still better to go and search.”

Naru nodded, and looked straight at Masako.

“Hara-san, do you feel anything?”

“What I can clearly detect are spirits with extremely weak presences – probably the spirits of the victims who disappeared; there are more than 20 of them.”

“Masako, it takes such a long time to get a simple answer out of you.” (tl/n: sarcasm)

Bou-san said laughingly. Masako turned her head angrily to a side.


“Are they all children?”

“Because there isn’t much presence that’s why I can’t feel it. – But I can clearly tell some have turned a little gloomy or lively.”

“Where are they?”

“They aren’t gathered around one spot, they drift around the school.”

“Do you feel anything else?”

Masako frowned slightly.

“I feel a huge distortion: at this place there are a lot of spirits with very strong fates gathered around. But their individual presences have mixed and meshed, so I can’t tell the exact situation, neither do I know the exact location. It’s like it’s very carefully hidden.”

“So that’s the case – do you feel the presence of Matsuzaki-san?”

Masako shook her head.

“Starting from just now, I was already thinking that I couldn’t feel them already –”

“Is that so. – If that’s the case, then try looking for a lead.”

– Yeah.

“What does everyone here have on them?”

When Naru was asking that question, I was spacing out. After I realized it I hurriedly searched my body. I only had my watch, and the plastic bags used just now to collect the wires.

“I only—only have my watch—”

“Idiot, who asked you for that?”

Once again, Naru rained on my parade.

– Didn’t you ask what we had on us?

“I only have some holy water and a cross rosary.”

It was John who answered thus. Bou-san reached into his vest pocket and took out a 独怙杵. (tl/n: no idea what this is.)

“I have this, and a refillable lighter.”

“A Buddhist rosary and a bit of salt.”

Was Masako’s reply.

So that was what he was asking about. *blush* I didn’t have anything, and neither did Yasuhara.

“That means that we only have minimum preparation,” Naru said.

“Anyway, definitely do not get separated, and take note of Bou-san and John’s positions. Don’t increase the distance between people, and definitely do not go beyond reaching distance. If anything happens, grab the people around you immediately.”

– Yeah, got it.

“Once again we will investigate all the classrooms, including the floors and walls – give all of them a knock to check if there are any abnormalities.”

Yes! This time I honestly raised my hand in question.

“What if we don’t discover any abnormalities anywhere?”

“Under those circumstances the location the bodies are kept is outside the school, then we search for a way to get out.”

“—got it!”

6

We first went to the second floor where Lin-san and Ayako disappeared.

“The bodies may be in a place where we cannot see, but we do not have a clue about where we should start looking. At this point we can only look for any places that feel strange, or look at whether the planks of the stairs can be dismantled; besides that count the footprints left in the dust, and see if there are any other things left behind.”

We would pay special attention to the classrooms where blood was found when Lin-san disappeared, and where the nasty message of ‘Congratulations, Ayako-san!’ was found.

Lastly, after prying up each plank of wood to check, we found nothing unusual.

The rain outside the window had started to ease; the weak light passing through the thick clouds was practically useless. Furthermore since we were really about to enter dusk, it’d have been impossible to investigate.

The worry in my heart increased yet another degree. Entering the classroom nearest to me, it was filled with worthless things.

“There isn’t anything at all!”

We crawled on the ground to search for anything that might have dropped on the dust, and to check if there were any suspicious places on the floor boards.

“Ayako – answer me!”

“Annoying! You’re always shouting loudly like this – be a little stronger in this type of situation!”

“—Mai!”

Masako called me, as though to criticize.

“Yeah—if I didn’t say anything then I’d get demoralized.”

Masako only gave an it-can’t-be-helped smile, and didn’t say anything.


I moved a box that was in the way onto a table that was by the side. After that I noticed a few pieces of ceiling board that had very large stains on them, and felt the distance between the boards were abnormally large; and the joints between the boards also had severe dirty grey stains, which looked like they were still expanding; it also felt like it was shaking mildly.

“What is that?”

While everyone lifted their heads to look up, I peeled my eyes and noticed a small flying black object: a black, small object was flying near to the ceiling boards.

– an insect.

Thinking about it brought a wave of nausea.

“—Mai, that is –”

“Stop!”

Masako and I grasped each other.

– How disgusting, it really made me want to vomit.

The ceiling boards of the second floor were all stained. Perhaps the rain from the outside had soaped in; the filth from above soaked up water and dripped down.

But the color of the filth here was completely different; it was so dark that it was almost a burnt brown. And the insects – those insects fully filled the joint between the ceiling boards.

Bou-san climbed onto the tabletop, reached out and gently tapped the ceiling. Suddenly hearing the buzzing of moving wings, I couldn’t help shirking and clamping my hands over my ears. All at once, black insects were flying all around me.

“Good fellow! – this is getting really interesting, -- John, take care of Mai and Masako and go to the corridor; young man (Yasuhara), you too.”

“Yes!”

John shielded us and let us to the corridor. When we walked through the door I couldn’t help lifting my head to look at the ceiling; the ceiling of the corridor and that of the classroom were not too different.

“Naru, do you have a stick or something?”

Naru, who was standing by the side of the table, took a long broomstick and handed it to Bou-san; we grasped each other’s hands tightly and stood at the door.

“Bou-san – don’t.”

My voice was shaking a little.

“That won’t do!”

Saying that, he used the stick to push the corner of the ceiling board gently upwards.

“Normally it should be a large movable wooden board. – This piece?”

The piece of ceiling board next to the blackboard and the windows moved. All at once we saw countless black insects swarming out. Bou-san fanned them away, then stood on the table to push the approximately 4 meter square board. All of a sudden, a gust of wind brought forth a terrible stench.

“—Gross!”

Crap, I really wanted to vomit. I hurriedly covered my face with my handkerchief, but such an object completely could not block that wave of smell. Bou-san had also jumped down from the table due to the stench; he glared at the ceiling with a deep frown.

“It looks like it’s up there—”

Naru merely wrinkled his brow before nodding.

“What should we do, Naru?”

“It looks like we have to confirm it – although I don’t think it will be up there.”

Did he mean Lin-san and Ayako? I suddenly felt a bout of dizziness. A conscious human being, or even an unconscious person – I don’t think one could stay in that stench-filled sort of space.

“As expected, then… then am I the one to go?”

“If you’re scared, I can go instead.”

“Bou-san! Don’t go!”

I called back Bou-san. – This – I knew we needed to confirm it, but—but—

Bou-san moved the table to the corner of the classroom.

“Let’s do it like this: I’ll go take a look!”

“Just a look, OK?!”

“If I were to climb up, the ceiling will collapse!”

Naru took down a piece of glass that was facing the corridor, and placed it slanting by Bou-san’s feet, who was standing on the table and chair, to reflect the weak sunlight from outside above the ceiling.

“As expected, it won’t work unless I use a lighter!”

“I think it’ll be safer not to use that thing, – and it’s better not to breath the air inside there.”

Bou-san’s face turned serious, then he used one hand to support the ceiling board before sticking his head into the ceiling. After a while he quietly withdrew from the ceiling and bent his body.

“Bou-san—?”

After replacing the ceiling board, Bou-san heaved a sigh of relief before sitting down on the floor.

“It doesn’t work – I practically cannot see a thing!”

“What about Ayako and Lin-san?”

Just as I was asking,

Suddenly clattering sounds came from inside the ceiling – the small sound of some things chasing each other. Looking up at the ceiling, shocked, the ceiling board appeared to be shaking.

No! It wasn’t merely shaking: the center of the whole ceiling board was moving violently.

The shaking rapidly spread horizontally, then suddenly a black hole split through the ceiling, and something from inside slid out.

With just a moment’s glance at the object, I immediately cried tragically and shut my eyes tightly!

“—No!”

It was the wet sound of a hard object dropping down.


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