Chapter 6: The Mystery of the Old School Building
“You moron.”
Seating Kuroomi Otoya in a seiza1 position in a certain classroom of the old school building, Yuiru Enen, the silver-haired red-eyed male student, spat out his words.
“How can you not forget about your classmate after so many years? I became a ghost because of my own mistake, so you have nothing to worry about.”
“But…”
“But nothing. You’ve done nothing wrong. I’m telling you, so there’s no mistake.”
Seeing Otoya slump with a sense of dejection, Yuiru let out a deep sigh.
Houzuki and Towako, who were watching the lecture between classmates, were completely left out.
In the past, Yuiru and Otoya were classmates, and Otoya couldn’t stop Yuiru from intruding into the old school building to verify the rumors. It seemed he had regretted it all this time and had wanted to apologize.
—Sorry for not being able to stop you, sorry for leaving you behind.
“Ridiculous,”
Yuiru snorted.
“I would have entered the old school building even if you had asked me not to, and I would have ended up the same way. You should know my personality.”
“…Yeah.”
Otoya responded as if he understood.
Because he truly understood the original Yuiru Enen, he could also understand his words.
Listening from the side, it seemed that Yuiru was quite a troublemaker. Houzuki got that impression.
Looking up at Yuiru as if to ask, Otoya said,
“Irune.”
“What.”
“Will I see you if I come back here?”
“No.”
Yuiru turned away with a sullen expression.
As if to shatter the good atmosphere from earlier, this silver-haired male student bluntly rejected with “I refuse.”
This caught Otoya off guard, prompting him to say, “What…”
Houzuki and Towako were also unsure how to react. The bad attitude of a high school boy who could make grown-ups cry.
However, Yuiru didn’t refuse without reason.
“The old school building devours those who visit it. If you linger around the old school building, you’ll meet the same fate as me,” Yuiru said as he pinched Otoya’s cheek.
“I don’t want to spend time with you as a ghost. Since you’re alive, find a beautiful wife, be surrounded by children and grandchildren, and live a healthy life until you die,” Yuiru said, flashing his obsidian eyes peeking through his long bangs at Otoya, smiling reluctantly.
“Until then, let’s just hang out and complain together. You’ll be in the science preparation room, right? I’ll come by to play sometimes,” Yuiru said, then pointed his finger at Houzuki and Towako.
“Bring those idiots along too.”
“Yuiru, you don’t need food, do you?”
“What!?”
Surprised by Houzuki’s words, Yuiru exclaimed, “Why, Houzuki, are you telling me to starve to death!?”
“You’re a ghost, you won’t die. I’ve never heard of a ghost dying twice.”
“That’s cruel! Don’t you have a heart!?”
“If being nice to you benefits me, then it’s fine.”
To Yuiru’s demands for food, Houzuki casually replied.
Just as the saying goes, “trouble comes when you least expect it,” whenever Houzuki gets involved, he encounters ghostly incidents. Besides, if Houzuki accompanies them, it would soon be time for a meal anyway.
Finding the exchange between Houzuki and Yuiru amusing, Kuroomi Otoya laughed heartily for the first time.
“Hahahaha!! Irune, are you being led around by the nose by a high school girl? You used to argue with them openly before!!”
“You’re noisy, Otoya!!”
Aargh, Yuiru scratched his head while crying.
☆
The high school girl who provided the meal and her old friend departed from the old school building, while the elementary school girl who claimed to be the high school girl’s best friend went to send them off.
The only one left in the old school building was Yuiru.
Standing in the deserted classroom, he sat down on the dusty teacher’s desk and let out a big yawn. “Things have gotten complicated,” he muttered, and at the same time, it arrived.
Gishii.
Footsteps echoed in the supposedly empty corridor of the old school building.
Gishii.
Gishii.
The sound gradually drew nearer until it reached the front of the classroom occupied by Yuiru.
――Gishii.
The footsteps abruptly stopped there.
Yuiru, still seated at the teacher’s desk, directed his gaze outside the classroom.
Outside the classroom, there was nothing, and no one was standing there. However, in the corridor covered in dust, there were footprints left by someone.
Silently, Yuiru narrowed his red eyes and said,
“Such a shame, wasn’t it?”
Yuiru smiles fearlessly towards someone standing outside of the classroom.
“Too bad you couldn’t eat him, huh?”
Does the old school building devour humans?
Yes, that’s indeed true.
In fact, when Yuiru, who was introducing himself as “Irune Yuen”, stepped into the old school building, he was consumed by it. Before he knew it, his body vanished, and he became a silver-haired, red-eyed ghost.
At first, he was shocked and lamented his foolishness. He should have paid closer attention to the words of his friend, Kuroomi Otoya, who warned him it was “no joke.”
“But don’t underestimate my determination,”
Yuiru says with a laugh as he jumps down from the teacher’s desk.
“Until now, I’ve been feeding on nothing but the fear of humans, but once I consume ghosts and gain power, perhaps I’ll be able to devour you too?”
Ah, I look forward to that moment very much.
Yuiru, with his gleaming red eyes, gazes outside the classroom, waiting for a response from his opponent. The footsteps left outside the classroom slowly fade away. Perhaps they were intimidated by Yuiru’s appetite, or maybe…
Bring it on.
Most likely, the old school building has properly received Yuiru’s declaration of war.
“Ah, I’m getting hungry,” murmurs the male high school student left behind in the old school building, gazing up at the dilapidated ceiling.
TN:
Seiza is a traditional Japanese sitting position where one kneels with their legs folded underneath their thighs and sits back on their heels. It is often used in formal settings such as during tea ceremonies or meditation practices.
