Chapter 178 - 178 Seven School Mysteries Part 3

178 Seven School Mysteries Part Oliver with his silver short sword slowly approached the cubicle where the crying was coming from, and without saying a word he kicked the cubicle door open.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”

Somebody suddenly screamed which in turn surprised Oliver and the others. Oliver quickly got into a defensive stance as he shifted his silver short sword into a slant covering a part of his body. When Loki saw this scene he was rather surprised, he already knew before that Oliver had a tiny amount of mana and he also had this weird thought process, now seeing his fluent movement Loki felt like not everything Oliver was saying was pure nonsense.

Even the three martial artists from the Student Council were surprised, not by the screaming but by Oliver’s defensive action. The way Oliver moved was as if the weapon in his hand was part of his body, which was not something ordinary swordsmen can do, not to mention ordinary people even some high-ranking martial artists aren’t as good with using a sword.

...

Unaware of everyone’s thoughts Tsukasa came rushing to Oliver’s side to protect his new friend with his large muscular body. When he saw the person screaming inside the cubicle he was dumbfounded.

“Huh, who are you guys?”

The person inside the cubicle wasn’t some ghost or monster it was just an ordinary boy, and it seems like he was eating his lunch while seating on a toilet. Seeing this scene Tsukasa already has some guesses as to what was happening.

The other members of the Occult Club approached the cubicle and when they saw the boy who was eating his lunch crying most of them had the same thought.

.....

“Um, who are you guys?”

“Hello fellow student, surely you must know who I am.” Ichika stepped forward showing her ever-kind smile.

“Student Council President!” The student who was on the toilet instinctively stood up and the food on his lap scattered on the floor.

“Yes, so my fellow student can you please tell me why you’re eating here on the toilet crying?”

“Umm...” The student was embarrassed and could not answer.

“It’s alright, there’s no need to feel embarrassed.” Seeing the kind smile on Ichika’s pretty face was able to calm the student down and he actually felt like answering.

“Umm, my name is Daniel Mendoza and I’m a second year of the general studies course. I... I eat here because my classmates and other second-years talk behind my back and think I’m a depressing character and they find me uncomfortable to be with. I didn’t like them to feel uncomfortable that they can’t eat properly so I hide here every time I have lunch or sometimes when I want to avoid...” Daniel no longer continued what he wanted to say.

“I see... Alright, I have something to say privately to student Daniel Mendoza, so can the other please leave for now.”

Hearing what Ichika said the other members except for Erika left the washroom. While waiting outside, Erika suddenly came out of the washroom went somewhere and brought back a few students into the washroom. After several minutes the students including Daniel came out of the washroom bowed their heads and thanked Ichika. Seeing this scene Michael could not help but ask.

“Um, Ichika-san what did you tell them to turn things around?”

“Hmm, that’s a secret.” Ichika winked and placed her finger in between her closed lips.

...

After easily solving the crying washroom mystery, the group from the Occult Club headed to the next mystery that doesn’t really have a time frame as to when it happens, the cherry blossom tree that bleeds which was located at the back of the Martial Arts Course Building.

This Cherry Blossom tree was the only one in the entire school grounds, and it was also the largest tree within the school grounds. There were no longer any students following them this time as some of the teachers came to stop them.

The Occult Club members looked at the Cherry Blossom that bleeds and there were indeed some blood stains on the tree trunk. When Loki saw the position of the blood stains on the tree trunk as well as how large they were Loki already had a guess as to what these blood stains were, but he did not voice out his opinion and allowed the group of students to figure it out by themselves.

...

“Hmm, it’s not like the entire tree is bleeding like I imagined,” Oliver spoke sounding a little disappointed.

“Also the blood on this tree all comes from one place.” Michael also chimed in this time as he touched the cherry blossom tree.

“The tree itself is not bleeding, so the blood must come from an outside source.” Cho Ha-Eun spoke after she stabbed one of her daggers into the tree and pulled it out.

“I see, I already have some idea as to what’s happening here.” Michael then started to explain his own theory.

“These blood stains should come from someone else, not the tree itself, and every time this person comes to the tree he or she is bleeding. The position of the blood stain is only in this part of the tree, so maybe the person doing this is using the tree as a punching bag and hitting the tree continuously until he or she started bleeding and he or she does not stop even when they start bleeding. I can say from experience that sometimes when you’re too focused on your training you won’t be able to notice such things.”

...

After hearing Michael’s explanation the others all agreed with his theory.

“So now all we need is proof and the only way to get it is for one of us to stay behind to see if anybody else comes to the tree later. We aren’t sure if this mystery person will come after classes or during.”

“Are you suggesting one of us skip classes, and you’re even suggesting this in front of me the Student Council President?” Ichika spoke which made Michael finally realize what he just said and looked at the smiling Ichika feeling guilty.

“Hmm, no worries, I didn’t hear anything. So if one of you skips afternoon classes just today, I wouldn’t really know.”

Ichika suddenly said such a thing which surprised the other members. After the initial surprise and a little bit of discussion, Tsukasa was the one left behind.

...

After leaving behind Tsukasa seeing that the other mysteries all happen at night the other members went back to their respective classes.

When afternoon classes were over the members of the occult club received a group message from Tsukasa asking everyone to gather near the cherry blossom tree.

...

Once all the members arrived near the Cherry Blossom tree, they saw that someone aside from Tsukasa was near the tree. The person in question was punching the tree repeatedly and you could see his hands were bandaged.

Seeing that Michael’s guess was right, the group did not bother the young man with his training. It wasn’t really their obligation to tell other martial artists how to train, even if they see him bleeding.

...

The remaining five mysteries the group was going to investigate were all happening during the night time when most students have already gone home, but since it was still a few hours before night to arrive the group headed back to their clubroom.

...

“We already investigated two of the seven mysteries, and they weren’t supernatural after all, and it wasn’t as mysterious as I initially thought they would be.”

Upon arriving in the clubroom the group started a discussion about the two mysteries they saw today, and Oliver was the first to speak.

“I guess, most of the time supernatural events do have a logical explanation behind them.” Edward shrugged his shoulder and gave his own opinion on the matter at hand.

“Yeah, those two mysteries came to have boring conclusions, I hope the other mysteries are more exciting, especially since they’re all happening at night.” Cho Ha-Eun also spoke a little disappointed as well.

Seeing the disappointment on the faces of some of the club members, Michael thought that as the nominal president of the club he needed to say something.

“Well, don’t be too discouraged guys we do have five more mysteries to investigate. Maybe one of them might turn out to be truly supernatural.”

While the group of students was talking about the two mysteries, Loki who was sitting in the corner of the room was deep in thought.

‘The next mystery the group would most likely investigate is the one about going to another world, the thirteen steps.’

Loki was feeling nervous about this one mystery, he started to wonder if he should do it or not. Even though the probability of such a thing working was minuscule, the chance was still there.

‘It’s also possible that this thirteen-step thing doesn’t work on these students because it needs something specific, maybe someone like me who comes from another world is a trigger, or it’s possible that mana is involved. Anyway no matter what it is I better not try it out, I already have people I care about here and back there... There is no longer anyone.’