Chapter 4: Can’t Meet
“Houzuki.”
The next morning, Houzuki arrives at XX High School and is greeted by a male student with silver hair and red eyes.
A silver-haired, red-eyed male student standing proudly on the other side of the window – Yuiru Enen, along with Houzuki’s best friend, Aoyagi Towako, beside him.
She’s copying Yuiru, checking out if there’s something fun. Does she feel like getting along with him today?
Houzuki hung her bag on the side of the desk and took out her chemistry textbook and notebook, scheduled for the first period. She scribbled something in the blank space of her notebook and pushed it towards Yuiru.
“What did you come here for?”
“I came to say I’m hungry.”
Yuiru puffed out his cheeks and said,
“You haven’t been able to attract any strong ghosts around you lately. I’ve had enough, I demand a tasty spirit soon.”
“I can’t possibly understand your taste preferences. Just be patient.”
“I don’t care. I’m starving, so feed me some ghosts!!”
Bam bam and Yuiru knocked on the window, causing the students who couldn’t see ghosts to show signs of fear, thinking it might be a poltergeist phenomenon. In fact, several female students started crying. It was entirely Yuiru’s fault.
When Houzuki glared at Yuiru, he just turned away as if to say, ‘I don’t know.’
For him, as long as he could eat, that was enough; everything else was inconsequential. Not caring about the surroundings was truly fitting for an evil spirit. I wonder if an exorcism would be effective.
Houzuki sighed.
‘You should go to Kuroomi-senei.”
“……Why do you know that name?”
It was evident that the atmosphere surrounding Yuiru had changed.
Houzuki glared at the four characters ‘Kuroomi-sensei’ written in her notebook, causing Yuiru to suddenly avert her gaze.
Towako, who was sitting next to her, tilted her head in confusion, wondering, ‘What happened?’ For Yuiru Enen, the being called Kuroomi Otoya was indeed a landmine.
Just as Houzuki was about to write words of apology in her notebook, the bell signaling the start of morning homeroom rang. Even the girls who had been quietly sobbing, scared by Yuiru, the invisible evil spirit knocking on the window, returned to their seats.
“Hey, Houzuki, what about my food?”
“Didn’t you have your meal already, grandpa?”
“Hey, don’t call me grandpa!!”
Yuiru seethed, but his voice was supposed to reach no one but Houzuki.
Basabasabasaa~! (TN: paper rustling)
The sound of papers and attendance sheets he had been holding falling echoed in the classroom.
The teacher who had arrived at Houzuki’s class was not their homeroom teacher.
Wearing a white coat over a rumpled shirt and worn-out slacks, with unkempt black hair reminiscent of a bird’s nest. With wide black obsidian eyes peeking out from beneath long bangs, the male teacher stood still, gazing out the window.
—There stood Kuroomi Otoya.
“Huh……”
No one asked why Kuroomi-sensei was here.
Even before that, Kuroomi Otoya himself had acted strangely.
With a face that seemed on the verge of tears, like a lost child finding their parents, he ran to the window and opened it, shouting.
“Irune!”
Upon hearing that name, Yuiru glanced at Kuroomi Otoya, who had opened the window and shouted, and then disappeared as if nothing had happened. Left behind in the room, Towako also hurriedly followed Yuiru, saying, “Eh, ah,” in a flustered manner.
Otoya searched for the vanished Yuiru, but as soon as he realized he couldn’t see the silver-haired red-eyed male student, he dashed out of the classroom.
Seeing his actions, other teachers and students exclaimed, “Kuroomi-sensei!?” “Where are you going?!” With swift strides that didn’t seem like they were just kicking bathroom sandals, Otoya dashed through the hallway, aiming for somewhere.
Among the panicked classmates, only Houzuki knew his destination.
“Kuroomi-sensei……”
He shouted out his surname, “Irune”.
It’s probably related to Yuiru.
If that silver-haired, red-eyed male student and Otoya Kuroomi were classmates, would the name Yuiru Enen be fake?
Houzuki gets up from her seat. A substitute teacher enters the classroom, but Houzuki doesn’t stop even when her name is called from behind.
She believes that that teacher must be stopped. Also for the sake of the male student called Yuiru Enen.
☆
He believes that he’s a fool.
This is a sin he burdened himself with, a mistake.
There’s no need for him to agonize over it.
“……You big idiot. You would’ve lived more comfortably had you just forgotten about me.”
Yuiru, huddled in a corner of the old school building, murmured softly.
While hoping the rumors were true, deep down he believed they were lies.
Ghosts didn’t exist in this world; scary stories were just exaggerated fantasies of someone’s imagination. He had enjoyed them precisely because he believed them to be fiction, so it was Yuiru’s fault for underestimating the old school building.
That’s why there was no need for that man to worry.
At most, he should forget about his foolish friend’s existence, marry a beautiful wife, be surrounded by lovely children and grandchildren, and peacefully welcome his old age.
At that time, it was a bit disappointing not to be able to go to him. It was lonely not being able to ask, “Did you enjoy your life?”
“Hmph. That’s why I’m going to forget him. If I convince him that he can’t see me, that big oaf would probably give up eventually.”
Then, from somewhere far off, the sound of a door closing could be heard.
Gyii, batan. (TN: Creak, door closing)
It seemed like someone had visited the old school building.
“Could it be that Houzuki chased after me? Since I disappeared without a word, she must be angry.”
Sigh, how troublesome.
Yuiru sighed deeply, brushed off the dust from his uniform, and then headed towards the entrance of the old school building.
It wasn’t until he got closer to the entrance of the old school building that he heard voices arguing in the distance.
