Chapter 7: Stairs
“Second floor…”
Houzuki looked up at the stairs stretching out into the darkness.
The wooden stairs were in a dilapidated state with small holes where the steps were. The moment she stepped on the step, she wondered if a hole would appear in the step and take her foot away.
No, there are many scary stories about stairs in the first place. There are a wide variety of scary stories, such as arms reaching out from the steps and impeding her while she was climbing, or the number of steps on each staircase being different.
The stairs of this old school building are teeming with ghosts, so she’s sure to have a terrifying experience.
“I often used to climb these stairs after school, and Yuiru would always come to the front door to pick me up…”
Houzuki remembered the time she visited the old school building.
She had visited the old school building several times since she first met Yuiru, and on those occasions Yuiru would always come to pick him up. He would make a sudden appearance, saying something like, “Hey, Houzuki.”
This may be the first time she climbs these stairs at night. She never knows what may happen.
Yuiru put his foot on the step,
“Oh, be careful, Houzuki.”
“With what?”
“It’s going to fall.”
What, Houzuki looked up the stairs.
At the top of the stairs was a headless female student. She was wearing a pitch black sailor uniform, tattered socks and leather shoes. She was holding something like a ball in both arms.
Looking more closely, it was the head of a girl with her eyes wide open. Her hair was cut in a bob, blood was coming from the corners of her mouth, and the skin had lost all its blood.
Goton, goton. (TN: thud)
The girl’s head slipped out of the girl’s hands.
The head that had been rolling at the girl’s feet swayed back and forth.
With its eyes wide open, it rolled from under the girl’s feet and bounded down the stairs.
Goto, goton, goto.
Goto, goton, goto.
――Gorogorogoro. (TN: roll)
The girl’s severed head rolled to Houzuki’s feet, her dry lips moving.
“Why did you drop it…”
Her voice was vaguely filled with resentment.
“Why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why?”
She’s asking why had she dropped the head.
“Why, why, why, why, why?”
“You’re in the way.”
Houzuki grabbed the severed head and hurled it down the corridor of the old school building.
The moment it rolled at her feet she sensed malicious intent.
Houzuki was currently wearing the girls’ uniform of XX High School. In other words, a skirt. Rather than being scared, she felt uncomfortable, as if she was being spied on.
Chasing after the severed head that disappeared into the darkness, the headless female student ran down the stairs in a panic. Her luck ran out when she lost her head.
“Houzuki.”
“What is it, Yuiru?”
“You’re being unexpectedly violent.”
“Maybe it’s because I go to haunted places with you almost every day.”
Since she traveled to haunted places to provide food for Yuiru, she had already developed a sort of resistance to ghosts. Unfortunately, she wasn’t scared by that level of fear.
Of course there are moments when Houzuki gets scared just like a normal person. The black mud monster that was walking straight down the hallway, the male student who only has up to his knees that was chasing her from behind, the woman who came out from the darkness, scary things are scary.
Houzuki nonchalantly climbed the stairs,
“We’re going to the second floor, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then let’s go quickly.”
“More importantly, Houzuki.”
Yuiru pointed to the top of the stairs,
“There’s more coming.”
“What?”
Turning around, her eyes met with a male student crawling and running down the stairs. Not only did he have four arms and legs, but he had four additional arms growing out from his sides, making him look like a centipede.
A red tongue was hanging out from his mouth, which was torn to the left and right, and the male student was staring at Houzuki with vacant glass-like eyes, laughing “kikiki, kikiki.”
So the story of the stairs didn’t end with the headless female student?
Gi, gyi, gigi.
Gishi, gi~, gi~.
Gripping the step with his visibly hangnailed fingertips, Houzuki ran down the stairs to escape the male student who was leaning forward.
“Why didn’t you tell me!?”
“Those ghosts from the old school building aren’t my minions or anything. I can’t believe something like that exists.”
“Don’t make it sound like it’s none of your business!!”
Throwing Yuiru, who she had grabbed by the collar, towards the creepy male student who was running down the stairs while yelling, Houzuki somehow managed to climb the stairs to the landing on the second floor.
