Chapter 5: Reunion
As expected, Kuroomi Otoya was standing in front of the old school building.
He was just about to open the door, his hand touching the rusty doorknob.
It seemed like he was determined to find that silver-haired red-eyed male student, but for his sake as well, Houzuki had to stop Kuroomi Otoya. Houzuki judged that it was probably for the best.
“Kuroomi-sensei!!”
Houzuki forcefully closed the slightly opened door of the old school building.
“It’s off limits starting here. If the rumor you said is true, the old school building devours people, right? ”
“Irune is right beyond this door!!”
Grasping the rusty doorknob, Otoya screams.
“I want to see him……. Meet him and talk to him one more time. That’s all. Just one word…… As long as I can tell him I’m sorry, I want to say sorry for encouraging him……”
Houzuki slammed Otoya’s hand away as he tried to open the door of the old school building, positioning herself to block him between Otoya and the entrance.
In his hollow black eyes, there was only a frighteningly intense obsession.
A deeply ugly emotion of wanting to meet the silver-haired red-eyed male student, Yuiru Enen, who awaited beyond. It was a feeling more terrifying than any ghosts or monsters she had seen before, a human with strong emotions standing there.
Honestly, it had nothing to do with Houzuki.
Kuroomi Otoya had willingly charged at the old school building. So, if that’s the case, why not just stop blocking him and let him rush into the old school building? Even if he were to be eaten by the old school building, Otoya probably wouldn’t mind. It would just be adding a new face to the ghosts of the old school building.
“Yuiru will not welcome you.”
Despite that, Houzuki didn’t move away from the door.
“For some unknown reason, he is avoiding you. I think it would be wiser to forget about him.”
“But he was there……!! Irune was on the other side of the window!!”
“He was. But the moment he saw you, he ran away. Please at least have the awareness that you’re being avoided. ”
Seeing that he hesitated to step into the old school building even after forcibly pushing Houzuki away, it seemed that he was aware of being avoided by whoever “Irune” he mentioned. While it was unclear what exactly was causing him to be avoided, there must be some reason behind it that Yuiru knew.
It was still too early to resolve this.
If he got too close too quickly, the other party would become wary, and if he pushed too hard, he would be pushed away. What Kuroomi Otoya needed was time.
“Kuroomi-sensei, let’s go back. I don’t know why you came to our classroom but homeroom isn’t over–”
“Is it Otoya over there?”
A familiar voice was heard from behind the rusty door.
“…….Irune, is that you?”
Otoya’s dry lips called out the name of the male student he had been pursuing.
On the other side of the door of the old school building, behind Houzuki’s back, there was a sense of something stirring.
It wasn’t human. However, it didn’t seem like Yuiru Enen would come as a joke.
Who on earth could be on the other side?
“Irune……Irune!!”
“Wait, please wait a moment!!”
Houzuki held back Otoya, who was trying to force the door open recklessly, and shouted towards the door.
“Yuiru, what’s the meaning of this!? Did you come to provoke him knowing that he will become like this!?”
As if in response to those words, the door opened.
Creak…
The hinges squeaked, and the dusty air brushed against their nostrils.
The door of the old school building opened without anyone touching it, as if beckoning Houzuki and Otoya.
A dimly lit corridor stretched out endlessly. Rotten floorboards could be seen in places, and the slogans stuck to the walls seemed like they could peel off at any moment.
Though it should have been a familiar corridor of the old school building, for some reason, it now seemed incredibly terrifying. It was as if they were peering into the depths of a living creature’s throat.
As Houzuki and Otoya stood there, stunned, as if inviting them into the corridor, an arm wrapped in a uniform sleeve extended from somewhere.
Swoosh…
A classroom opened silently, without a sound.
The slender arm that extended from there was wrapped in a stiff-collared sleeve.
The pale fingers moved up and down, as if beckoning Houzuki and Otoya.
Whose mysterious arm could it be?
“Are you Irune……?”
Otoya asks.
Yura, yura.
The arm just shakes up and down.
“Is that really you, Irune?”
“Please wait a minute, Kuroomi-sensei. That’s”
“Irune!!”
Invited by the arm stretching from the nearby room just beyond the entrance door, Otoya was about to step into the corridor of the old school building.
Houzuki hastily grabbed Otoya’s arm.
She knew she couldn’t win against an adult man, but she couldn’t let him go here. She desperately pulled his arm, trying to prevent him from entering the old school building.
“Youーcan’tーgoーthereー!!”
“Please let go of me……!! Irune, Iruneee!!”
While Otoya was addressing the mysterious arm, the next moment, for some reason, both he and Houzuki were suddenly blown backward.
A tall adult man, taller than Houzuki and with more muscles, tumbled ungracefully to the ground.
The only way such a feat could be achieved was if someone kicked them, and the culprit was standing at the entrance door of the old school building, like a guardian deity.
“Despite the decades that have passed, you still sob and whimper…… What are you to me? My girlfriend?”
Silver hair reaching his shoulders, and crimson eyes.
“Really, you should just forget about that foolish classmate who died because of his own stupidity…”
A male student with a refined face and a stiff-collared uniform, his expression contorted in annoyance.
“Otoya, why can’t you forget about me? I’d rather not see you if I could.”
The malevolent spirit who made the old school building his stronghold—Yuiru Enen stood there.
