The seven mysteries of Ichijo Academy, as told by Satoru over the phone, were as follows:
1. The Fox Staircase
2. The Ghost Girl of the Music Room
3. The Radio in the Broadcast Room
4. The Human Specimen in the Infirmary
5. Hanako of the Restroom
6. The White Face in the Window
Apart from the last one, they all seemed like familiar tales I had heard somewhere.
“Wait, if it’s the seven mysteries of the academy, why are there only six?”
[Oh, that. Apparently, anyone who experiences all six of these mysteries will die. That’s the seventh mystery.]“……”
That was scary in its own way.
Feeling goosebumps, I rubbed my arms.
[Aren’t you getting close to the classroom by now? Why is it taking so long?]
“That’s because you suddenly started telling me these ghost stories. If we hadn’t talked, I would have arrived much earlier.”
Grumbling, I reached the door of Class 2-B.
Clank!
“Ah.”
Now that I think about it, every class locks its doors at the end of the day to prevent theft.
I couldn’t believe I just remembered this simple fact. It seemed I had a bit of forgetfulness.
‘What should I do?’
The keys to the classroom were in the sophomore teachers’ office.
Even if I wanted to sneak in and take them, the security system was so tight that an alarm would definitely go off.
As I was contemplating giving up on the Korean book and going home, my eyes suddenly fell on the hallway window.
The lock was open.
It seemed that today’s duty student didn’t check it properly when leaving.
For me, it was like a stroke of luck, so I opened the window and reached inside.
Click!
Soon, with the sound of the lock disengaging, the door to Class 2-B opened.
I carefully opened the door and went inside.
“……”
Inside the quiet classroom.
My seat was at the very back of the class, so it was right in front of me as I opened the door.
I bent down to rummage through the desk drawer.
“Ah, here it is.”
Fortunately, the Korean book I was looking for was safely inside the desk drawer.
Having achieved my purpose for coming to the school, I put the Korean book in my bag, locked the door from the inside, and stepped out into the hallway.
‘Time to go home.’
Just as I was thinking that and turned around,
Flash!
Suddenly, a blinding light shone towards me, and a small figure let out a scream like a tearing sound.
“Aaaaaaaaah!!”
It was like the cry of a pterosaur, loud enough to be heard throughout the entire school.
Instinctively feeling trouble, I quickly covered the mouth of the person screaming with my palm.
Mizuki Nanae, the homeroom teacher of Class 2-B, was on duty, covering for another married female teacher, with final exams just a few days away.
Originally, it was her turn next week, but because the other teacher had left early, citing menstrual discomfort, Mizuki, the junior in the staff room, ended up taking the duty.
Although this wasn’t her first time on duty in a darkened school, she still couldn’t get used to it.
Most people don’t know how lively spaces during the day become so desolate at night.
“No, no, no, you can’t react like that there! Nao-chan! A bit more innocently!”
“Like this?”
“Wahahahahaha”
Sitting under the kotatsu in the duty room, watching a late-night variety show featuring actors and idols on her smartphone, Mizuki thought so.
But it was just then…
Thud!
“Huh?”
Startled by the sudden footsteps outside the duty room, she turned around in surprise.
“……”
It was 9:30 PM.
It wasn’t yet time for the security guard to make his rounds.
But what she had just heard was definitely someone’s footsteps.
Normally, she would have dismissed it as a mistake and stayed quietly in the duty room.
But now it was the exam period.
Extra caution was needed, as thieves might target the newly completed exam papers in the staff room this week.
In the end, she had no choice but to take a flashlight and step out into the dark hallway.
Unlike the brightly lit duty room, the classroom building was filled with bleak darkness.
The long, long corridor became darker as it went, naturally stimulating the imagination of anyone looking.
What could be beyond that darkness?
Feeling goosebumps, she shivered and then, with the flashlight in hand, headed towards the second-year staff room.
“…Phew.“
Fortunately, there were no signs of anyone having broken into the staff room.
After checking the lock on the door once more, she looked around with her flashlight.
The footsteps of unknown origin.
It was certain they weren’t from the security guard.
Because if it had been the guard, she would have definitely heard the jingling of keys.
But Mizuki, lacking the courage to wander alone in the dark school, decided to return to the duty room.
After all, it seemed like it would only be scary to stay any longer.
So, as she was about to return to the duty room via the corridor past Class 2-B, she froze at the sight of a huge shadow suddenly appearing from inside a classroom.
A towering height that seemed to almost reach the ceiling.
An overwhelming muscular physique.
Even a hat pressed down low.
No matter how she looked at it, a suspicious-looking person had suddenly appeared before her.
In fact, people were scarier than ghosts.
Especially in the middle of the night at school, where there was no one to help, she came face-to-face with a stranger.
In this worst possible situation, the only thing she could do was scream.
Maybe the security guard somewhere in the school would come running.
“Kyaaaaaaah!!”
It was a scream with that thought in mind.
But the stranger in front of her quickly covered her mouth with his thick palm, and Mizuki was on the verge of fainting from fear.
Then, a familiar voice came from the stranger’s mouth.
“Ms. Mizuki?”
‘This voice is…’
In her blurred vision, she belatedly recognized the face of Kim Yu-seong, who had taken off his hat, and then fainted in relief.
“Hot!”
About 10 minutes after meeting me in the hallway and suddenly fainting, Ms. Mizuki opened her eyes again.
I had carried her to the lit duty room in a hurry and laid her down, and she had woken up on her own.
“Here…”
The Teacher looked around, and upon finding me sitting next to her, she gasped loudly in surprise.
Well, it was an inevitable reaction.
What else could you expect from someone who had just fainted upon encountering me in the hallway?
I waited quietly for the Teacher to calm down on her own.
After a while, the Teacher, seemingly having calmed her confused mind, took a few deep breaths and then looked at me and asked.
“Kim Yu-seong, why are you at school at this time?”
Hearing the Teacher’s question, I scratched my head in embarrassment.
It was indeed the first question to ask.
Because a student sneaking into school late at night wouldn’t have a normal reason for doing so.
I opened the bag on my back and showed the Korean textbook inside.
“Actually, I realized late that I left my book at school after lending it to a friend at lunch. So, I sneaked into the school to get it.”
“You know that’s against the school rules, right?”
“…I’m ashamed.”
As I said that and rubbed the back of my neck, Ms. Mizuki sighed lightly, and then, placing her hand on her waist, spoke in a stern voice.
“Luckily for you, I’m on duty tonight. If it were another Teacher, there would have been no excuses. I’ll keep today’s incident a secret, so go home quickly. Your parents must be worried.”
“Yes.”
After hearing the Teacher’s scolding, I put the Korean book back in my bag and stood up.
“Sorry for the trouble. I’ll see you next Monday.”
“Alright. Off you go.”
The incident in the middle of the night at school seemed to have ended well, somehow.
I was thinking this as I was about to open the door of the duty room and leave.
“Teacher? What happened?”
Suddenly, someone’s voice came from outside the door.
I hesitated…
I stopped trying to open the locked door and quickly turned to look at the Teacher.
Then the Teacher gestured hurriedly and said,
“Hide for now!”
I took refuge in a corner of the duty room as the Teacher had said.
Meanwhile, the Teacher talked to the person outside, with the door between them.
“Oh, I’m sorry, security guard. I screamed earlier because I saw a mouse.”
“Is that so? I thought something had happened to you, Teacher. The scream echoed throughout the school.”
“Ahahaha…”
As the Teacher awkwardly laughed, trying to brush it off, the security guard outside spoke.
“Teacher, if it’s alright with you, could you open the door for a moment? I’d like to speak with you face-to-face.”
Then, the Teacher quickly made an excuse.
“Ah! Can we… can we do it a bit later?! I’m changing clothes right now!”
“How long would that be…?”
“30 minutes! 30 minutes will be enough!”
Then, after a moment of silence, the security guard said he would return in 30 minutes and left.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The sound of footsteps beyond the door gradually faded away, and I, who had taken refuge in a corner of the duty room just in case, sighed in relief and muttered.
“I survived…”
It was fortunate that everything passed without incident, right?
Thinking this, I turned to thank Ms. Mizuki once again.
“……”
But the Teacher’s complexion was somehow pale.
I asked the Teacher what was wrong, and she said to me in a frightened voice.
“I didn’t hear the sound of the key bundle…”
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