Ghost Hunt:Volume3 Chapter4

Chapter 4 - Curse

1

The next day, although it's daytime, I had somewhat creepy thoughts in the conference room. Nobody came yet. I was waiting for everyone to show up.

The door opened, and I thought they finally arrived. But when I turned around, it was Taka and Kasai-san who peered in.

"Eh? You're alone again?"

"No one arrived yet." I was strangely relieved. That didn't show up in this room. Although I told myself that it was targeting Naru, I was still uncertain.

" 'Not yet,' you say? It'll be lunch soon, you know?"

"...Yeah. Everyone's tired. I myself don't want to look at the desk work and do it."

"Well... Did you make some progress in your job?"

I smiled vaguely. I was wondering if Kasai-san herself wasn't to blame in this mysterious phenomenon. After I recounted yesterday's incident, it didn't bother her at all.

"Did you eat lunch already? If you don't mind, would you like to eat with us?"

"...Oh, I didn't bring my own lunch."

"That's what I thought." Taka held out something wrapped with a table napkin. "I also made your share~"

"Eeh, no way!　I'm so happy~" I squealed, teary-eyed.

"Hehe. Kasai-senpai said, 'I wonder if Mai is eating lunch regularly.' Well, we talked about how you don't look like you're eating well. So I thought, 'Perhaps I'll make an extra lunch today.' ”

I-I'm so happy~ "...Sorry for always troubling you."

"It's an untold promise~ <3"

"I'll make lunch for you tomorrow." Kasai-san beamed.

"...That's not good..."

"It's okay. Anyway, I forgot to tell you yesterday," Kasai-san said while unpacking her lunch. "Kei-sensei said you should tell her if there's anything she could assist you with. I'll also help, so let me know whatever I can do."

"Wow."

"She was impressed, after I told her Shibuya-san is an onmyouji. He's an admirable sort of person after all~"

"Really?"

"Yes~"

Taka rose and said aloud, "For me, Bou-san is better."

I gripped my chopsticks, but didn't declare anything. "Gotcha. In fact, you like him as a musician as well, don't you?" I delved.

"Yeah~"

"As a bassist, he's better," agreed Kasai-san too.

"Yeah~ <3"

Yes, yes. That was a good reply.

The three of us ate lunch enjoyably and afterwards talked about foolish things while sipping tea. It was then that Naru finally arrived. Lin-san followed behind him.

"...Kasai-san?"

"Ah, good afternoon." Kasai-san raised a hand to Naru. After that, she and Taka stood and waved their hands to me. "Then, I'm leaving. I have PE this afternoon."

"Okay."

"Really, let me know if there's anything I can help you with."

"Thanks. I shall find a mountain of work for you."

"Idiooot." Kasai-san laughed.

Taka did the same. "Then, do your best~" she said, and the two of them bowed to Naru and Lin-san and exited the room.

"...Hehh. You've become surprisingly good friends with them." Naru watched the two leaving, looking strange.

"I guess so. It's due to my charisma," I said.

"Perhaps."

...Eh? Um... I was expecting a sarcastic comeback, so I'd braced my mind for it. And he merely gave a simple reply though.

Naru sank down to a chair.

Noticing his eyes were a bit reddish, I probed, "Your eyes are bloodshot. Didn't you get any sleep?"

"I didn't. Me and that guy were glaring at each other until morning."

'That guy' ... Don't tell me… "...That guy from yesterday?"

"Yeah. Your intuition was correct. Last night, it appeared in my room."

Lin-san regarded Naru as though it were the first time he heard of that. "You should have called me."

"Indeed... I thought of that. But I had a feeling that it would be dangerous if I looked away. So we glared at each other till morning."

Why is he talking as if it seems nothing?

"I would have heard you if you knocked on the wall. Why didn't you call out for me?"

"Yeah, well... I was a little curious...if something would happen. Isn't it wrong if I wake you up while you're in deep sleep?"

"Naru, if something had occurred, what did you intend to do?"

"Well, of course, if the situation worsened, I would call you. But it didn't come to that..."

...How rare. Naru and Lin-san were having a personal conversation. I wondered what made the latter anxious that got Naru feeling a bit impatient. "Hey, Naru?"

"Hm?"

"This is an irrelevant question, but are you and Lin-san living in the same place?"

"...That's how it is. What about it?"

...Well, it's nothing really. I see~ That's how it is~ I didn't know his address and telephone number. (Because there's the office, it served its purpose well enough that it's unnecessary for me to know other things.) I wasn't even sure where they're living. Hehh, I felt I'd come a step closer. "Ah, that's right. Kasai-san had said we should tell her if there's anything she could help with."

"She did?"

"Yeah. Ubusuna-sensei too."

"Amateurs can't handle the situation well when we have them help us..." Naru grumbled, looking fed up.

"They aren't amateurs, are they? Kasai-san is extremely well-informed at different kinds of things. Since she said her knowledge is from Ubusuna-sensei, sensei is even more well-informed."

"Hmph..."

"If you try talking to them, you'll discover that they're good people. I thought Kasai-san was scary when we first met her at the Biology lab, but at that time my nerves were considerably on edge." That's right. Saying things such as 'I'll curse you to death!' in the company of teachers—the teachers themselves were the ones who drove her to do that. "During all this dispute, both Ubusuna-sensei and Kasai-san appear to be having a really difficult time. Isn't Ubusuna-sensei admirable? Shouldn't the teachers nowadays protect their students and so on until their own positions are at risk? We can say the same even to subordinate teachers. But still they're not capable of doing that usually."

"Is Ubusuna-sensei from Yuasa?"

"Seems like it. It's said that that's how it is for almost all female teachers in this school. But you know..." After I trailed off, I said out of the blue, "Hey, Naru?" I tried saying what was bothering my little heart. "Kasai-san can never really put a curse on anyone, right?"

Naru looked puzzled. "I guess not. No matter how much PK she has, she can't possibly curse a large number of people like this. Not to mention, there's the fact that the spirits are appearing where their victims are..."

"About cursing straw dolls and such, they don't work, do they?" I asked.

"According to hearsay, superior psychics are superior spellcasters, but...that's probably not true. When you use a straw doll, you'll have to hammer a nail into it."

Uh-huh. That's true. "It should be painful at the spot where you hammered the nail after all, right?"

"...Yes. Such instances like spirits appearing due to straw dolls are—" Naru began, but jolted aback. He turned to Lin-san; the latter also looked like he had the wind knocked out of him. "Lin..."

"That is possible."

Eh? What is? I examined the two of them. What are they talking about?

"Why didn't I notice it until now?"

"Um... Hello, are you there?" I queried, and Naru glanced back at me.

When he was about to say something, we heard many footfalls.

It was the arrival of the group of psychics.

2

"I'm sorry~" Ayako started explaining while coming in, "This depraved monk slowed me down—"

Bou-san went to pick up Ayako and the others and took them here with his car.

Bou-san frowned. "It's not just my fault. It's because Masako was grumbling that she doesn't want to come..."

At his reprimanding gaze, Masako said, "I don't want to come here and be of no use."

She's absolutely still sulking.

"Even Matsuzaki-san right there took time doing her makeup..."

"It's the way a woman grooms herself."

"You should have finished grooming before we came over to get you."

"You're fine. You do not need makeup and such after all. But I am different from a young girl like you."

"The difference is in rawness. Haven't you thought that you've painted your face about one or two centimeters thick?"

"What was that?!"

With his cold voice, Naru suppressed the two who were glaring at each other. "Can't you two just cut it out!" His eyes were chilling and steely. "The present situation is now clear," he declared, and everyone's eyes rounded.

"...What did you say?"

When Bou-san moved forward, Naru said, "I said I know what's happening in this place."

Everyone fell silent.

"It is a curse."

...A curse?

"Somebody is casting a curse on people in here. That is the cause of everything."

"Hey, hold on a moment," Bou-san interrupted in confusion. "A 'curse,' you say...? Then, does that also mean somebody is using a straw doll?"

"It's slightly different, but it's almost like that."

In a dubious voice, Ayako also said aloud, "But then, what about the spirits?"

"They're not the problem."

"Saying they’re 'not the problem '... What is the connection between the curse and the spirits?"

Naru surveyed everyone. "The practice of cursing someone by driving a nail into a doll originally came from Onmyoudou. This influenced Shinto, Buddhism, and Shugendo and was furthermore established as folk magic."

"...That's true, but..."

"There are two ways to curse someone in Onmyoudou: 'Enmi ' and 'Kodoku. ' 'Enmi ' is a cursing method that consists of using either a doll or the belongings of the person you're cursing. 'Kodoku ' involves killing an organism, and that organism's malicious spirit will be used to curse one's enemy to death. Using a straw doll is a technique of 'Enmi.'

“Onmyoudou originated from the philosophy of eight Yin-Yang trigrams which came from China. From the beginning, both 'Enmi ' and 'Kodoku ' are ancient enchantments introduced in China... They're methods from 'Fukodou.' The Onmyoudou in Japan…is a mixture of eight Yin-Yang trigrams’ philosophy and China's ancient enchantments.”

"...Uh-huh. In short, since cursing someone using a doll came from Onmyoudou, it also came from China, right? Now what?"

"Usually when cursing someone by nailing a doll, the grudge of the person who hammered the nail reaches his or her enemy through a mysterious power, and thereby one would think that malice does harm."

"Isn't that how it is?"

"It isn't. The spellcaster... By driving a nail into the doll, the person casting the curse beseeches a god or a spirit to put a deadly spell on someone. Receptive to that plea, the god or spirit will direct the death curse to one's enemy. This is the original form of 'Enmi.' In other words, through the use of the 'Enmi ' method, the god or the spirit will be used as a demon in the end."

"...Hold on. Did you say 'demon '...?" Ayako raised her voice. "What do you mean by that? Are you saying that if you cast the 'Enmi ' spell, rather than a mysterious power, it is the god or evil spirit that will come to torment your enemy?"

"That's right." Naru swept his gaze over us.

...An evil spirit will come to torment the other person… "That's..." I muttered, and Naru gave a nod.

"I think what's happening in this school is undoubtedly caused by 'Enmi.' This is the aspect of the case: Someone cast the spell of 'Enmi ' against the people involved in this school. Because of that, evil spirits go to the location of the accursed party. These evil spirits don't have the power to kill those people overnight. They will lead them to their deaths by gradually tormenting them. When the spellcaster's power isn't enough, he may not be able to call a spirit to kill his enemy.

“Anyway, according to rumors, strange things are happening in this school because of that curse. Nervous people who are affected by these rumors start misunderstanding that supernatural things are happening to them. The extreme example will be that girl who was possessed by a fox spirit. That's how pandemonium broke out in this school."

"...I get it." Bou-san groaned. Then leaning forward, he asked, "Who the hell is doing this?"

He had asked Naru, but it was Masako who answered, "I know who's doing such a thing. ...It's Kasai-san, isn't it?"

...Kasai-san?

Ayako bobbed her head. "You're right. Her own psychic ability rejected her, and she was severely criticized. People who covered up for her also suffered severely. So isn't that why she said, 'I'll curse you to death ' ? She put her words into action."

"Kasai-san didn't do that!" I yelled unintentionally.

"Ooh, why not? Is there someone else who would?”

"Kasai-san isn't that kind of person. She wouldn't do that."

"Well, as they say, appearances can be deceiving."

"She isn't like that!" They don't even know Kasai-san. "Perhaps somebody else did it! There are probably a lot of people who bear a grudge against teachers and students."

"I doubt it. ...Well, call Kasai-san. If we question her closely, won't everything be cleared?" Ayako stated plainly.

"I won't let you do that."

"Mai, exactly what is up with you?"

"It's just that you can't do that. Are you going to apprehend Kasai-san without any proof just because she has a motive? She's already hurting due to severe criticisms about her psychic ability issues!"

The first time I met her, Kasai-san's entire body was on edge because of the distrust of others. Although she had finally calmed down a bit, something like that could happen again!

Naru peered at me. "Kasai-san is the one who's the most suspicious. Yoshino-sensei, one of the victims, is the very man who accused her at the morning assembly."

"...But you're wrong."

"Can you tell that for sure? If we leave her be, someone might end up dead, you know?"

...No way. I cast my eyes down. When he says something like that, I can't say he's absolutely wrong…

At that moment, an image crossed my mind. I couldn't describe it very well. It's kind of a colored shadow. I had a feeling that that unidentified thing was clearly telling me "No."

I lifted my face and returned Naru's gaze directly. There were spirits as I'd thought. Naru was being targeted as I'd thought. I will believe in myself. "It's not Kasai-san. I'm sure of that."

Ayako and Masako burst into sarcastic laughter.

"You look stupid!"

Naru's jet-black eyes gazed back at me. "...Are you positive about that?"

"I am."

"Is it your intuition again?"

"Yes, it is." ...Have any complaints?

Unexpectedly, Naru's eyes softened. "Very well. I'll believe you."

"...Really!?"

"I owe you a lot this time, so I'll put my faith in you here. For now we'll settle with the hypothesis that Kasai-san might not be the culprit, and we'll search for the very culprit himself."

...Yay! Thank you!

Ayako and Masako looked displeased.

"Naru, are you serious?"

"Of course."

Masako appeared even more displeased than Ayako. “Are you going to leave things be until the culprit is known? As things are, we do not even know if someone is dead."

"I'm aware of that. We can't leave the curse alone. Lin and I will look for the perpetrator. I want everyone else to search for the dolls."

Everybody went speechless.

"What?"

"There are two ways to break Enmi; it's either we return the curse to the spellcaster, or we look for the doll used for Enmi and burn it. As a rule of Enmi, one must bury the doll nearby the cursed person, such as in his or her house or workplace. If the culprit is connected to this school, then it's highly likely that the dolls are in the vicinity."

"And who will you have looking for them? Us?" Bou-san looked weary. "How vast do you think the school grounds are? If you include the planned construction site for the adjacent student center, do you know what a huge area that is? Are you saying we should dig up the whole place for that!?"

"At least, the culprit must have buried a doll of me on the second or third day. I think we'll know if it's still buried later."

Bou-san eyed Naru resentfully.

Naru gave him an icy stare in return. "How about you go home if you don't want to do it?"

"...I'll do it. I'll do it, okay?" Bou-san shrugged.

Naru turned to Lin-san and me. "Let's begin. Come with me."

3

Lin-san and I followed Naru who walked ahead of us. There’s a dead silence in the school building where afternoon classes had started.

“Naru! Where are you going?”

“There’s something I want to check,” was his short reply, and he headed to the 2-5 classroom.

At present, Taka’s 2-5 class had apparently transferred during school hours. The classroom was deserted; unattended, it was cold. It appeared totally different when there were people in it.

It’s the cursed seat. The girl who was sitting on it was injured and hospitalized right now.

“What are you going to do?”

Naru took out the belongings inside the desk without a word. He peered into it and then turned it over. “…Found it.”

…Lin-san and I peered into the desk as well.

A paper was stuck directly deep inside it. Naru peeled off that paper. Behind that, a board of hitogata was affixed with a packing tape. He tore off that hitogata and held it out to Lin-san.

Lin-san regarded the hitogata and remarked, “…It’s well-made. There’s no mistake it’s Enmi. However this…doesn’t put a curse on a specific individual, but seemingly on someone who has this seat.”

“Indeed.” Naru nodded. He turned to the dazed me and said, “This seat doesn’t cause accidents to anyone in particular, but to the person who sat on it. Besides that, I believe the one it’s cursing isn’t a person but the desk.”

…I see.

“If we take this as an example… we can suppose that the curse at the track-and-field clubroom also didn’t target anyone specifically, but the entire track-and-field club members. …Let’s go and see.”

The tenement-like building where the track-and-field clubroom could be found lay on the edge of the field.

Naru glanced inside and tilted his head a bit in doubt at the clubroom’s concrete floor. “Is it usually underground?”

“Yes. It can also be above the ceiling, but…”

Naru cast his eyes up at the ceiling Lin-san had mentioned. It was a ceiling merely formed by a square board. Naru dragged a chair from that area and stood on top of it. He started examining the room’s ceiling board. “It’s possible that any of the guys have moved it though…” Naru knocked on the ceiling board.

Dust descended upon us, and I covered my eyes. In haste, I looked down and blinked. The floor nearby a locker had a crack, and I noticed a small rise on it at that instant. “…?” When I looked at it properly, I could tell that the concrete that covered the floor was broken, and that that spot was slightly elevated. I touched the little risen concrete as a test.

—It budged.

With all my might, I lifted that chunk of about thirty centimeters on all sides. The ground under it became visible. “Naru!”

At my call, Naru jumped down from the chair. He looked at the gap I’d indicated and came digging up with his immaculately white hands. Oddly, I felt as though I’d committed a crime, so I hurriedly helped him dig.

“…I got it!” I touched a hard object with my fingertips right away, and I pulled that out.

It’s a hitogata made of a whittled board. On its surface, characters were written with black ink, but I couldn’t read them because it’s muddied.

When I gave it to Naru, he handed it over to Lin-san. Lin-san simply nodded wordlessly.

Naru turned around to me. His eyes held a faintly tender expression. “Well done, Mai.”

…Uwaaa, he p-praised me!

“As expected, it’s Enmi. No doubt about it. All we have to do is to collect the rest of the buried hitogata. Mai did a very good job this time.”

…Ehehehe~ I didn’t do much.

“Collecting them all will be difficult,” said Lin-san, and Naru stood up while he dusted off the dirt on his hands.

“I don’t think so. We could ask the culprit.”

“How will we find the culprit?”

“It’s not impossible. We should find out who’s connected to that cursed seat and the track-and-field club. The culprit would be at the extension of that line.”

“…Yes.”

4

Naru ordered Lin-san to do something, and the latter went out to investigate. Me and Naru searched for Taka.

Once we had forcibly pulled her to the conference room during her class, we briefly explained the circumstances to the bewildered girl and asked for her cooperation.

“That’s fine with me, but… What can I assist you with?” inquired Taka in curiosity.

But Naru said, “Don’t you have any idea about that cursed seat?”

“I would have told you if I had any…”

“Then I’ll rephrase the question. The culprit has a grudge with a person who sat on that cursed seat. —Who was sitting on it initially?”

“I don’t remember who it was on the first term. On the second term, it was a girl named Murayama.”

“From what day and until when did she sit on that chair?”

Taka was wrapped in thought for a moment. “Um, we first changed seats on the middle of September. We change seats every 15th day of the month. So with summer break in between, I guess Murayama-san sat there from July 15 to September 14.”

Naru nodded and took a note of that. “She had an accident, didn’t she?”

"Yes.”

“When did Murayama-san get into an accident?”

"Um, I forgot what day it was, but it was two or three days before the seat change. That’s why at the beginning everyone thought nothing of it.”

“Right… The culprit has July 15 to September 14 with summer break in between… So two or three days before…would be the 11th or the 12th day. It might be during that time that the jufu was stuck to the desk. Since the series of accidents and illnesses started occurring on mid-September, the person who sat there before Murayama-san probably had nothing to do with it. Murayama-san must have done something to cause the culprit’s grudge.”

“…I wouldn’t say such a thing—” Taka tilted her head.

“How about another victim of an accident?”

“Nuh-uh…” Taka tilted her head thoughtfully more and more.

“Someone at least holds a grudge. It’s possible that the culprit only knows how Murayama-san looks like. Meaning, a teacher who’s not in charge of her class or a student from another grade may have that limitation.”

“About that, just a second… You see, Murayama-san sometimes comes in contact with teachers who aren’t in charge of her class, and she even gets involved with clubs and people from other grades at times. The strict Murayama-san also regularly visits the people in the literature club.”

Naru tapped his pen against the desk. “Well, how about the track-and-field club? Who has a grudge with that club?”

“…Track-and-field… I heard that they have a never-ending squabble with the softball club regarding who has the right to use the field. But then there’s a strong disagreement between the track-and-field and volleyball clubs. Because of that, the former seems to have a bad relationship with the volleyball club as well. And…” All of a sudden, Taka said, “The track-and-field club’s advisor is a realist.”

“…?”

“The advising teacher is the kind of person who doesn’t believe in things like spirits and psychic abilities. Consequently, all club members are non-believers as well. Sawaguchi-san has track-and-field as a club of her required curriculum. But track-and-field club members are mostly there in the curricular track-and-field, and it’s very likely that she was bullied by them.”

After Naru pondered for a bit, he asked for the name of the advising teacher. The advisor was the teacher who said on our first day that a ghost appeared in his car, and he was hospitalized due to an accident afterwards.

…Sawaguchi-san…

“Did Sawaguchi-san frequent Takahashi-san’s class?”

“…Yes. You see, during the Kasai Panic… That is, when the school was in an uproar since Kasai-san said she can bend spoons, she became greatly sought after. If they found her on the hallway or somewhere, everyone would drag her into a class. Sawaguchi-san was always found together with Kasai-san, so she had come to our class many times.”

“I see…” murmured Naru, and then he asked, “Is Murayama-san, who had an accident first, a non-believer of psychic abilities? Or is she a believer?”

“…She’s a firm non-believer.” Taka stared at Naru anxiously. “Which reminds me, when we took Kasai-san into our classroom and such, she spoke with extreme sarcasm for us to hear. She wasn’t sarcastic to Kasai-san and us only; even members of the biology club and Ubusuna-sensei were under fire as well. She clearly complained to us, who invited Kasai-san.” After saying that, she looked at me. “Mai… is this the cause? Is Sawaguchi-san the culprit? Or is it…?”

“…I don’t know.”

Sawaguchi-san didn’t come to school. We heard she was persecuted by teachers and bullied by students and that in the end she dropped out of school after being absent.

She might have a strong grudge towards the people who attacked her. Since Sawaguchi-san wasn’t in school anymore when we arrived, we forgot about her. Even she could bend keys… Naru had said that ‘Superior psychics can be superior spellcasters.’ In that case, the culprit could be Sawaguchi-san…

5

Naru asked Taka about the names of the people in the anti-Kasai faction and marked them on a list of names. As far as Taka knew, they’re the people who attacked Kasai-san.

After we let Taka return to her classroom, Naru and I gazed at that list of names. The marked people were all tormented by the curse, and they had come to consult with us.

“So this is it, as expected…” Naru muttered.

“…Is Sawaguchi-san the culprit?”

“I don’t know. It sounds wrong to you, but it’s also very likely that it’s Kasai-san.”

“It is, right? I don’t want to say it, but doesn’t Ubusuna-sensei also have a motive? What do you think about her?”

“I’ve got nothing to say… However, if anyone can cast the curse, there’s no guarantee it will be successful. That’s if that person didn’t have a training beforehand.”

“…Or have an ESP?”

"Yes. The person has psychic powers or had a formal training and so on.”

How about Ubusuna-sensei?

She’s well-informed about parapsychology, but no story came up about her having had formal training.

Besides, was there anyone who had a formal training in this school? Or someone who had ESP? Or someone with psychic powers?

…No matter how much I thought about it, the most suspicious ones were Kasai-san and Sawaguchi-san…

However, I believe in my own intuition. Kasai-san isn’t the culprit. If that’s the case, the one who remains to be suspicious was only Sawaguchi-san…

Naru stood up. “Let’s meet up with Sawaguchi-san.”

“…Yeah.”

Naru and I went to a teacher to ask for Sawaguchi-san’s address. Because she herself hadn’t come to school, we had no choice but to visit her house. When we asked Sawaguchi-san’s homeroom teacher, the latter said something unexpected.

“It seems like Sawaguchi-san ran away from home.”

This homeroom teacher was in the group that attacked Kasai-san and the others, so it’s expected that he would be tormented by loud rapping sounds wherever he went.

“I got a call yesterday from her home. I was told her money and belongings were gone, so she probably ran away. I told them to go out today for certain to file a missing person report to the police.”

Naru went silent, looking perplexed. After leaving the faculty room, I parted with Naru to look for Kasai-san.

I caught Kasai-san before her class. I pulled her into an empty classroom around that area. “I heard Sawaguchi-san ran away from home.”

As soon as I said that, Kasai-san was a bit puzzled, and after that she crouched down there. “…It’s my fault.”

“No, it’s not. That’s not true.”

“It is. …Mizuho told me that she would quit school and leave her house to work. She intended to run away from home since the beginning…” Kasai-san buried her face in her knees. “It’s true, you see. She told me she was bullied at school, but her family scolded her to go to school. …It’s my fault.”

“No, it’s not. It’s not your fault. Sawaguchi-san isn’t fair!”

As though saying, 'What?’ Kasai-san stared back at me.

"Well, isn’t it true? You should do your best to not lose to those around you. If you’re friends, you should do your best together. Kasai-san, although you’re crying and worrying that it’s your fault, you stayed at school alone, and she just ran away by herself. She should realize that!”

Aah, it makes me angry. Why did she run away? She left her friend and ran away by herself.

"It’s not your fault. It’s just that Sawaguchi-san is a coward and a slick one at that. You were also attacked. And yet you haven’t given up. You don’t have to feel responsible for someone who ran away and abandoned a friend that’s in the same boat as her!”

Tears fell down Kasai-san’s face while she squatted, and she looked up at me. ”…It seems like I also thought of that… Now I feel a bit relieved.“

"Of course you should.”

After those words left my mouth, Kasai-san laughed. “That’s right. …Amazing. Mai, you’re optimistically willful.”

“Yup. I don’t think like everything is my responsibility. I’m not a weakly emotional girl.”

“…I’m sentimental, huh…? I think you’re right.”

“Yes, I am.” I sat down next to Kasai-san.

“Mizuho…didn’t go to school, and no matter how many times I asked her to go, she doesn’t want to. Even though I called her recently, I just admonished her, so she didn’t even answer my calls. I’m worried about Mizuho, but in my heart I felt sad. It seemed like she left me behind, so I felt helpless.”

“Yeah.” …Of course she would think like that.

“I wonder when was the last time we talked on the phone. It’s quite a while ago. At that time, Mizuho told me she’d quit school and go to work, and I cried after she hung up. Even I don’t know why I cried, but I thought I was sorry for Mizuho so I cried. But right now, when I think back on it, it wasn’t that. I felt abandoned by Mizuho and felt betrayed by my friend, so I cried because I was lonely.”

“Yeah.”

“Mizuho is unfair.”

“I told you so.”

“I won’t lose.”

“Excellent.”

“I won’t give up and I’ll do my best. Mizuho will have a place she belongs to when she got the courage to come back home.”

“Say, Kasai-san…”

“Yes?”

"You’re the best~”

Kasai-san laughed once I said that.

“Don’t you think it’s stupid of Mizuho to abandon suuuch a good friend like you?”

"I do, I do. I even want to declare a candidate to succeed me.”

“If you’re on the right side, who’s the opposing one?”

“You mean the left wing?”

“The stupid Mizuho will have it then.”

“Yeah.”

I was silent for a bit, staring at my feet.

“I have to go to my lesson.” Kasai-san rose to her feet.

“You shouldn’t worry too much.”

“…Yeah. I’ll do my best. Good luck on your work too, Mai.” After smiling at me, she said, “In the field of that person as well, okay?”

“That person?”

“Shibuya-san.”

…Aagh. As I said, that's…

“Does it seem like you have a chance?”

“Not at all. But you see—”

“But what?”

Ehehe~ I was useful, so he praised me~

When I told her my story, she said, "Heh~ Doesn’t that mean you’re not absolutely hopeless?”

“…I wonder~?”

“You’ll be fine. Keep fighting.”

“You too, Kasai-san.”

“I’ll win.”

We both giggled.

“Alright, now I’m really going to class.” Kasai-san raised her hand.

I also raised my hand and then abruptly called, “Hey, Kasai-san?”

“Hm?”

“You said it’s been a long time since you’ve spoken to Sawaguchi-san, right?”

“What about it?”

“Then, Sawaguchi-san doesn’t know the school’s current state or that we came here to investigate?”

Contemplating, Kasai-san slanted her head slightly. ”…Probably… I think she doesn’t know… I had no chance to say it, but since I heard that she didn’t even answer Kei-sensei’s calls, I think she might not know. I should have told her. The attitude of everyone who attacked us must have changed a bit because they had seen a ghost. They became less aggressive, including Yoshino-sensei.“

"Yeah…” I answered reluctantly.

…I didn’t want to say that.

It felt like my throat was clogged, and I tried asking her again. “Regarding Ubusuna-sensei… Can she see spirits?”

Kasai-san shook her head. “Why? If she could, she would have helped you guys a long time ago. I heard Kei-sensei doesn’t have the talent to put something into practice. She only knows how to do it by theory.”

“I wonder if she had no formal training.”

“I heard nothing about it…”

I felt struck on the head. Ubusuna-sensei had no ability to cast a curse. So the ones left were Sawaguchi-san and Kasai-san…

But didn’t Sawaguchi-san not know that Naru had come to school? In other words, wouldn’t that mean that Sawaguchi-san couldn’t curse Naru!?

She had no motive to do that. She didn’t know about Naru after all.

Then, why did the ghost appear wherever Naru was? That couldn’t be a mere ghost. That was Enmi. It was an evil spirit summoned through Enmi.

So Sawaguchi-san couldn’t be the culprit as well.

6

When I returned to the conference room and told him about the matter in question, Naru gaped at me.

“Mai, what happened to you this time? Aren’t you being extremely helpful?”

…I’m sorry, okay? For being useless until now.

“You’re right. Sawaguchi-san isn’t the culprit. Besides, why would the curse follow me wherever I go?”

"Isn’t it because you’re a hindrance?”

"A hindrance?”

"Well, aren’t you here to solve the mysterious case in this school? As you’re a hindrance to himself, the culprit decided to eliminate you.”

“…If that’s the case, then it shouldn’t be only me who’s cursed. Don’t you think all of us should have been cursed? At least, the curse shouldn’t be cast upon only me, but it should be on this conference room.”

“That’s…”

Oh, I see. I got it. Yes, it’s true. Definitely true.

“So in other words, what’s happening in this school is due to the curse, right? About the curse, didn’t it come from Onmyoudou? Then, isn’t an onmyouji the one who can break it?”

”…Yeah.“

"That’s the reason. Because you’re an onmyouji, you’re a hindrance to the culprit in particular…”

“What did you say I am?”

"An onmyouji.”

“Why do you think I am one?”

…I blinked in surprise. Why… he asked. “…You’re not an onmyouji?”

"I’m not.”

Whaaaat! No way!! “But didn’t you use a hitogata in the previous case!? Bou-san said only an onmyouji can do that…”

“It was Lin who made that.”

…Lin-san… “…Is Lin-san an onmyouji?”

"Yeah, it seems so.”

…Whaaat? Then, Naru’s simply a psychical researcher? Somehow… I’m disappointed…

“It’s unlikely that the culprit would misunderstand like that. Supposing I’m really an onmyouji, I don’t think there’s a way the culprit would know that…”

“I told someone…”

“What?”

"I told someone that you’re an onmyouji.”

“…Who?”

What should I do? ”…Kasai-san…“

After giving me an intent gaze, Naru looked up at the ceiling and breathed a sigh. "So that’s to say… Kasai-san misunderstood that I’m an onmyouji? Mai, that means…”

“Yeah. I know. The probability that Kasai-san is the culprit has gone up, am I right?”

“It was you who said Kasai-san isn’t the culprit.”

“Yeah.”

“Will your belief remain unchanged?”

"I want to ask you about one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Do you think there’s a possibility that someone can cast a curse without knowing he’s the one doing it?” Unconsciously, for instance. In a trance, for instance.

"That’s impossible. Especially if it’s Enmi...”

“Then… my belief hasn’t changed.”

Naru tapped the desk lightly with his fingers. “Very well. I’ll believe you once again. …However, if an evidence that suggests Kasai-san is the culprit comes out in the open, I won’t agree with you.”

“…Yeah.”

It’s not Kasai-san. That’s impossible.

Naru rose. “I’m going to investigate something. You’ll help everyone search for the hitogata.”

“Roger that.”

100% Translated~

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