CH 26

DECEMBER 1, 2022 / MAD HATTER

“Youiknowihowievery now and theniwhen aistaff member walksiby you stretch your neckiand glance down theiaisle, haha, did youisee a cuteigirl?”

“Oh… well, somethingilike that.” ewg

“Cute? Whichione!” fewfg

“I’ll let you knowiwhen she appears, Nishimura, sitidown.”

Whileitelling a lie, I reached for theigrilled chicken. Had Iispoken the truth, I would haveiundeniably received ridicule. Either that or they would becomeiupset and accuse me of beingiobnoxious. In anyievent, I didn’tithink they would take my storyiseriously.

“…” Not shared on aggregator websites

…No.  dewfgr

No, but… dwqf

Butiif itiwas these guys, if it wasithese guysiwho had inseparable relations withime…

“You know…” fewhr

Half inidoubt, I letimy wordsiout. Myithree friends drewiin closeito me as theyiregarded me, wonderingiwhat was upiwith my changedidemeanor.

“What’siwrong?” fege

“Um, well, it’s justithatirecently… I.” qf

“Whatiisiit?” r32g

“Youifinallyigotiaigirl!?”

“Actually… I―” YFDD

Iistartedibeing able to seeispecters―

Iidropped the bombshell andisaid it.

In front of everyoneiI had shared an unbreakable bond with, I disclosed the cause that hadibeen swirling around my chest up until thisipoint. A momentary pause reignediwith silence. The ice in theimug melted andidropped.

“Aha.” duyfygi

The silenceiwas too unbearableito tolerate, and when Iilet out aihalf-smile…

“Ha―hah, hah, hah, hah, hah!iAhahahahaha!!!”

“H-Hahaha! Hahaha! Hahahahaha! Pfft, hahahahahahaha!!”

“Pfft, Masa… you, pfft!” dwqfr

Like bombs triggered byitime lag, all three of themiblasted out in unison and torrentially.

Ah… hereiiticame. I knewiit. Asiexpected…

“Noiway! Hahahaha!!”

“You’re jokingiover theitop! Hakamada! Couldn’t youihave toldia better lie! Hahahaha!!”

“Bloop, ploop! Gofuh…. cough, hoh, oe!”

Asiif on fire, Tanaka slammed the table and laughed while his face turned toia brilliant red.

Nishimuraiwas pressing his stomach and laughing with tears in his eyes.

As for Kinoshita, hisiattempt to restrain his laughter may haveihad the opposite effect, as heiwas sobbing so profusely that heiwas gagging.

While my three friends pointediat me, theyiwere bursting out into hysterical laughter.

Ah, whatiwas this blue feeling I wasihaving…

“So you don’tibelieve me at all huh…”

My friends said one after another to me as my shoulders slumped, “I mean, this is about you, it’s absolutely impossible.”

Well… it was not unreasonable… dwqf

“I’m speaking the truth!! It’s been crazy lately!!” d

“Heh, about what?”d dd

“About what… well, you know… anyway, it’s just crazy!”

“I can’t believe you said that, Masa. You know, youidon’t have to tell a joke like that, but it’s prettyiamusing actually, haha.”

“Y-You’reiwrong.”

“Like what TanakaiandiNishimura said. It’s ratheriobvious, but I’ll giveiyou credit for the realistic performance.”

“Kinoshita!” Translator: MadHatter

Theseiguys hardly believedime more thaniI thought theyiwould… They regardediit as a joke.

“I am not lying!” ftvuweftv

“Hmm, even if that’s true, I find it awfullyihard to believe that a man namediHakamada would say that.”

“What?” dcvtyb

Nishimura shook his head whileisuppressing a laugh.

“Here is a quiz. Tanaka, what didiHakamada do during his high school days when his class decided to conduct a ‘test of courage’ during the summerivacation?”

“He quickly left after saying it was foolish and went home.”

“Then, when it turned out a haunted houseiwas planned for the school festival, what did he say to the girls who were afraid of it?”

“‘There’s no such thing as specters, your strangeivoices are much more frightening’.”

“At the old school building, where itiwas rumored to be haunted?”

“He wasieating a cup noodle.”

“On the roof, which wasiclosed off due to a suicide a long time ago?”

“He skipped class andithen went for a nap.”

“What about those supernatural photographs the occult club wasibuzzing about?”

“He said, ‘What kind of software did you use to make this?’ and rippedithem up.”

“How is it! These are yourideeds of the past, all accumulated over time! Terrific, isn’t it?”

Whatidid you mean by “deeds”? But I remembered doing it. I was mischievous at the time.

“Various times I got the chills…” few

“Masaiwasifunny, though.”wqf

“I bet there areispecters and spirits in the world, but wheniHakamada saysithings like that, my heart is most reluctant to believe him!”

“Right, right, I rememberiyou saying whoever sawispecters must have been sleeping whileistanding up. Howinostalgic.”

“…” ugvdfx

After being toldito that point, I concluded that no matteriwhat I said, they would notibelieve me, so I choseinot to add another word.

Haha, I figured it wouldn’t haveiany impact at all if I said something like that, I laughed and tried to cover it up, but my friends were amused and chucklediagain.

“Well, in a way, it did have an impact.” sv

I wasn’t thatishocked. Right. Nobody wouldieasily believe me about what a shocking experience I had been through the past few days. Had theiformer me from several days agoibeen the one to hear such a story, I would have laughed it off, just as Nishimura and the others had done.

“If it’s a story with impact, pleaseilisten to my heroic tale for a moment.”

Nishimura clapped his handsiand raised his voice as if recollecting.

Most of the heroic tales that heirecounted were mundane acts like hooking up with aigirl and nearly getting her pregnant, cuckolding a girl, seducing a marriediwoman, having a one-night stand, or setting airecord for having seven hookups. All of these inconsequential stories wereinot worthy of being called heroic tales. I mean, the fact that heididn’t get stabbed was remarkable.

I was stunned that heihad done something strange once more, but my earlier bombshell was going to be overshadowed by Nishimura’s foolish talk, so I decided to listen to him.

“Oi, you didn’t doisomething terrible again, did you?”

“You’re wrong, this is notiabout women, that’s for sure.”

Tanaka, a rough, young man, detested suchiconversation very much. He castia dubious glance toward Nishimura, who seemed eager to discuss the subjectiwith him.

“You know, when we have time off from work, myigirlfriend and I like to go about and visitivarious places.”

What, so it wasia love story, damn it.

“Heh, so?”

“But lately, it’s become a pattern, andishe said that itiwas dull to watch the nighttime landscape. I thought itiwould be wonderful to have a little stimulation, so recently, we’ve been exploring several well-known haunted locations in the area.”

“Eek.” Not shared on lightnovelreader.me

“Wow, you.” Not shared on novelhall.com

While Tanakaiand I frowned in disbelief, Kinoshita seemed to be deeply intriguediandiexclaimed, “You’re a real prick, you know that?”

“Sheiwas so terrified, and she wasiso cute, clinging to myiarm the whole time.”

“Hmm, what kind of places haveiyou been?”

WheniKinoshita asked, Nishimura proudly listed the places he had been to so far. Tunnels I hadiheard of, an unknown ruin, a deserted house, an abandoned hospital ward, etc. 

“Just how many places have you been, that kindiof thing is only done on TV, your girlfriend must be pitiful.”

“Oh, what, are you jealous, Tanaka?” efw

“It’s not likeithat, idiot!”wdq

“Brave of you, Nishimura. Iiwouldn’t dream of going to a place like that myself.”

“You’ll beicursed for sure.”

“Don’t worry, I haveiexperienced no such thing before,” Nishimura saidithat it was a light test of courage, feelingirelaxed. “Where is theinewest one again… ah, yes! That one, theiold mansion on the outskirts of town that wasiabandoned following a suicide. It was minor, but very realistic, especiallyiwhen a chair and a ropeiwere left in the room where the woman committed suicide! Even I had goosebumps!”

Nishimurailaughed creepily, not concealing his excitement. Until theiother day, I would haveidismissed his story as absurd. But now I couldn’t say such a thing andicleared my throat.

“So what did youido after that?”

“Had sex on the front porchiand came home, haha.”

“Perfectlyidumb…”

In response toiNishimura, who laughed itioff, saying, “I’m scared, but the specters didn’t actually come out, so it’s a bit of a fluke,” Tanaka put his hand on his forehead and emitted a dismayed voice.

Unless he gotihurt in some way, Nishimura was the type of person who would never stop, and he had always been like that.

“…” Not shared on pirated sites

“What’s the matter, Hakamada, you’re gettingiall quiet?”

“You canislap him like you always do. Come on, come on.”

I was shakenion the shoulder by Kinoshita and was told I wasn’t being myself. My lips were tightly sealed, and I couldn’t say anything.

Myiheadihurt―

It was asithough the back of my head was bound with a rope or such.

An inexplicableisound pierced my eardrums. The fact that none of the three men seemed to be paying any attention to the sound apparently implied that I was the only one whoicould hear it.

Despite not drinking a drop of alcohol, a sudden feeling of queasiness and a gradual chill overtookime.

Whatiwasithis… Hey.

What was that… thing. hu

As I suppressed the nausea that was building up within me, I forgot to blink and couldn’t pull my gaze away from what I was witnessing.

Rightibefore my eyes, around Nishimura’s neck.

A thin, branch-like armiwas wrapped around Nishimura’s neck. Like hugging him from behind, the arm was loosely constricting his neck.

Disgusting…

Myifaceinaturallyigrewitense.

The bony arm rested on Nishimura’s shoulder, occasionally wobbling like a living creature.

I immediately grasped it. That was something Nishimura had “brought” from theiruin.

It was a part of the woman who committed suicide in the ruin. What kind of a place did Nishimura step into when he wasiplaying around…

“Ah, I wonder what it is.”

Nishimura casually began to rotate both shoulders in a circular motion.

“Lately, my shoulders have been feelingistrangely heavy.”

Nishimura’s soliloquy made me want to tell him that this was not the case. Both Kinoshita and Tanaka asked me what was wrong as I remained motionless with my eyes wide open.

Nishimura, in front of me, was hitting hisishoulder with his fist, and every time he did so, the white arm that was entangled in his shoulder would twirl tightly, trying to keep itifrom separating from his arm.

Even though Iicouldn’t see past the arm and couldn’t tell what sort of expression was on the face since thereiwas no face to be seen, I could sense a quiet but sinister malevolence in that entwining whiteiarm.

Hatred, killing. dqwfqe

It wasn’t something as simple and acute as that. Somehow―

It was somethingideep and vicious.

Itiwas like… I am going to make you suffer the same thing…

For some reason, suchian uncanny phrase floated through my mind.

Another grindingistrange sound emerged. As if to dispel the sound, I chugged down my glass of juice and stood up.

The three of them naturally sent me a startled lookisince I stood up so abruptly.

“Nishimura! Get yourself exorcised somewhere in the near future…! Listen, you must absolutely do that!!”

Sputteringiout in a tongue-lashing manner, I shoved Kinoshita, who was seated by the aisle, aside and proceeded directly to the toilet. My brow wrinkled as I bumped into passing customers and storeistaff. I repeated it over and over in my mind.

Damn it, damn it, damn it. DWQF

Damn it. Not shared on other websites

Again, again… IUFEWVU

Not shared on other websites

Iicaughtisight of another strangeithing again―