Not a detective

Page 68

Picking up the newspaper again, Chizuko's face instantly brightened: "Yes! We should talk more about this!"

She seemed quite pleased with her report, and seeing the topic return, she suddenly perked up: "I think the origin of this incident is due to the illegal activities the school doctor did in the basement. Generally speaking, not all ghost stories give rise to the supernatural, let alone an existence like Aoandon. Otherwise, the world would have been in chaos long ago. It's because of the 'Thirteen Steps at Night' incident. A few years ago, a student accidentally discovered a secret door in the school clinic. While climbing the ladder, he panicked and fell. Unfortunately, the school doctor discovered him and killed him. The student's hatred and resentment turned into a vengeful spirit, which aroused all the souls of those who died unjustly. These resentments formed earthbound spirits, creating the monster Aoandon."

"Having done so many evil things, I really hope that school doctor is sentenced to death."

Asakawa Riku said sincerely.

"Aoandon is indeed not an easy opponent; it's not an ordinary yokai. But I've still come up with a solution. Do you understand now?"

"...Yes, you indirectly eliminated the seven incredible beings by influencing [people's hearts]."

"Yes, since Aoandon is a yokai without a true form or physical body, and it uses ghost stories to influence reality, we can use the same method to deal with it. After this report is disseminated, the students will have a new understanding of the Seven Mysteries. When they think that all of this is not a supernatural phenomenon, but a ridiculous rumor, if it can be explained by scientific means, it will weaken or even eliminate the existence of Aoandon."

Chizuko curled the corners of her lips into a smile:

"While you're right, it's all lies and deception, but that's what's called 'fictional reasoning'."

"I don't object to this approach, as long as it can actually eliminate the monsters... but will anyone really believe that?"

Asakawa Riku frowned.

As someone who experienced it firsthand, this report, while seemingly well-structured, is still quite far-fetched upon closer inspection, as it tries to explain everything down to "it was too dark at night and I misread it."

This truly represents a step closer to science.

"Of course, don't forget whose name is listed on this report."

Chizuko pointed to the author's name below the title: "The dignified 'Cursed Woman,' the former president of the mystery club who was once considered a monster, personally provided the answer. Is there any more authoritative expert in this school than me? Not to mention the current ghost story investigator, Asakawa-kun, how could they not believe it?"

...It seems that senior has made up for her past well and can even joke about it now, which puts Asakawa Riku somewhat at ease.

But he still has some problems:

"What I'm worried about is whether someone will follow our example and try to investigate these incredible beings?"

High school students are at their most unruly and eccentric age; they are incredibly creative, but also capable of doing the most absurd things. Given how popular this report is, Asakawa Riku thinks it's quite possible that some daring students will imitate the order in the report, sneaking into the school at night to try out all seven incredible things.

The report says that the ghost stories are "harmless" and "all illusions," but in reality, they are very dangerous. If you really go to investigate, you will definitely encounter terrible things.

He didn't want to involve innocent students.

"It's okay. Did you notice? I deliberately changed the trigger conditions for the ghost stories. For example, the first one, 'Hanako in the Toilet,' changed 'Don't look in the mirror while washing your hands' to 'Don't look at the faucet while washing your hands.' 'Don't look at the ceiling while using the toilet' changed to 'Don't look at the floor while using the toilet.' Even 'Knock on the door of the third toilet three times and ask, "Is Hanako here?"' changed to 'Knock on the door of the second toilet four times and ask, "Are you Hanako?"'."

Chizuko pointed to the wording in the newspaper and compared it with the true rules of ghost stories in her notebook; the error was obvious.

"I see. That way, even if some busybody tries to do it, they won't be able to trigger the ghost story correctly."

Asakawa Riku instantly understood the intention; it seemed that her senior had thought things through quite thoroughly.

"Furthermore, we destroyed Hanako's toilet, buried the mannequin in the ground, and completely sealed off the music classroom. Once the Yorozuya is completed, both the piano and Beethoven will be replaced. Both mirrors are broken, and the school clinic has been sealed off by the police as a crime scene. After the organs are transferred, the resentment of the earthbound spirit will also disappear."

Chizuko shrugged and said innocently, "If we've gone this far, we should be able to minimize the number of imitators."

Aoandon no Autumn: Aoandon no Autumn AFTER5

"I understand!"

Asakawa Riku reread the newspaper, his eyes lighting up: "So you pinned the blame for the 'Piano in the Music Classroom at Night' case on Mizuno-sensei because she happened to be on paid leave due to the classroom being locked down, so even if the students wanted to ask her about it, they wouldn't be able to verify it, right?"

That's really clever... They used a suspect who can't speak to replace the ghost story of playing the piano with the teacher who does after-school exercises.

“No, that’s not right.” Chizuko shook her head. “I really did see Mizuno-sensei practicing, although I saw her by chance when Kiku was patrolling the school.”

"You're even more competent than the school's security guards..."

Asakawa Riku felt a little awkward and could only mutter as he took a sip of matcha.

Yukie seemed to be secretly laughing from the side.

“But what you said isn’t entirely wrong.” Chizuko chuckled as she cut the remaining half of the chestnut dumpling in half and put a quarter of it into her mouth. “Ms. Mizuno usually practices after school in the evening, which is also her club activity time. But the ghost story actually takes place at night. I just changed the time of the crime. Even if someone noticed this detail, by the time the music room is repaired and Ms. Mizuno comes back from her vacation, she probably won’t remember it very clearly herself, and maybe no one will care about the whole incident anymore.”

"I see."

After reading the newspaper, Asakawa Riku realized that the entire report was a complete lie, but also a carefully designed trap.

"It's amazing that you could write something like this in just one night."

"It's not entirely a lie." Chizuko seemed aggrieved; she leaned on the table and pointed to the last line:

This report is entirely fictional and aims to help students at this school break free from superstitious beliefs, rationally view objective phenomena, and avoid letting anxiety and fear affect their mental health. It has no connection to any real people, events, groups, or organizations. Please treat it as a fictional story. Thank you.

"I wrote it. It's purely fictional. If they want to believe this kind of thing, that's their own problem."

"This is taking advantage of the rebellious mentality of high school students."

Asakawa Riku had already figured out her trick: "The more you write like this, the more it makes people feel like you've been 'gaged'; the disclaimer is completely useless."

"Hee hee hee."

Chizuko flashed her pearly white teeth as she sat back down. "However... I'm not sure if this will completely eradicate Aoandon. I doubt it will. Although we can temporarily break the 'blind faith' and eradicate Aoandon's ghost stories, once this report is completely forgotten, or even after we graduate and the students at this school have changed, a new 'Seven Mysteries of the School' will emerge. In that case, Aoandon will revive, but that's beyond my control."

"Monsters are immortal..."

Asakawa Riku seemed to be deep in thought. He had heard this saying before, and now it seemed that he had a deeper understanding of it.

Monsters and superpowers are completely different. Although both are born from humans, one is "outer" and the other is "inner".

They will not perish due to temporary setbacks; as long as they are not forgotten, they will continuously revive.

"Oh, right." After this reminder, Asakawa Riku suddenly remembered something: "There are seven school ghost stories in total. Aren't we still missing one?"

He counted them. Although the newspaper listed seven, the last item, "the super-strong boy in the first year of high school," was not actually resolved. None of them had seen the ghost story itself.

"Isn't that your ghost story?" Chizuko tilted her head.

"I mean, wouldn't Aoandon materialize the rumors about me into specific monsters...?"

Asakawa Riku had been thinking from the beginning that, if things continued this way, the final boss should be him fighting his "copy".

He had been looking forward to this exciting match for a long time...

"No way."

Chizuko laughed and waved her hand: "You are a living, breathing person. The rumors about you are just rumors, they can't be elevated to something extraordinary. Neither time nor the depth of history is enough to turn them into a ghost story. You've only been rumored about for a few months, while I've been labeled with that title for a year and nothing has changed, has it?"

"In other words... if it's to be transformed into a ghost story, it needs at least a certain amount of time to accumulate?"

Asakawa Riku had a general understanding of the situation.

"Yeah, but I think it's better to avoid that kind of thing from happening. Otherwise, if you graduate one day and a weird guy with super strength suddenly appears in the school, I really don't know who will be able to deal with him."

Chizuko paused for a moment as she spoke, then said, "However, that's just my guess. Perhaps there's another possibility..."

"what?"

"That is... even Aoandon cannot replicate you."

...

That evening, Asakawa Riku finished washing up as usual and lay down in bed to go to sleep.

After all, tomorrow is Thursday, and we still have to go to school as usual. That's how it is for high school students; no matter what happens, they still have to continue attending classes.

But he had barely closed his eyes when he suddenly opened them without warning, practically leaping out of bed.

“Who is it…!”

His instinctive alertness told him that someone had broken into the room.

Since the incident that happened in the summer, Asakawa Riku's alertness during sleep has increased several levels.

But the hostility vanished as soon as they saw who it was:

"How come it's you—"

"Shh, keep your voice down."

Chizuko jumped over in three quick steps: "It wouldn't be good to wake Yukie."

Chizuko is also staying at his house today. The celebration party went on unintentionally until very late, and she used this as an excuse to stay so she could go to school tomorrow.

The house felt more and more lively. Even though she thought that, Asakawa Riku had no reason to refuse, since the two sisters lived in the same room anyway.

I never expected Chizuko to sneak over so late at night.

"If you don't knock properly next time, I'm afraid I might accidentally throw you out the window."

She must have used ghost teleportation to pass directly through the wall to get in. Asakawa Riku was at a loss with this girl; she was such a mischievous upperclassman.

"...Asakawa-san wouldn't do that."

Chizuko grinned, but instead of stopping when she got close, she turned around and sat in Asakawa Riku's lap.

“You…!” Asakawa Riku was startled.

He woke up with a start and sat on the edge of the bed, where Chizuko was sitting right in front of him, her back pressed tightly against his chest. Through her thin pajamas, he could almost feel her body heat.

The girl's neck was fair and slender, and her short black hair could not completely cover it. Due to the height difference between the two, it seemed as if one could peek at her entire back through her collar.

I couldn't tell if it was the scent of the shampoo or her natural fragrance, but I felt the whole room was getting warmer...

Asakawa Riku quickly looked away; the distance was too close. He was, after all, a young teenager, and this was going to cause him a physical reaction.

Just as I was about to tell her to sit further away, I saw Chizuko dismantling her arm...

"……Is it okay?"

Asakawa Riku's expression also calmed down.

"It's okay, it'll be easy once you get the hang of disassembling and assembling." She seemed to press a few times on the joint of her right shoulder, then twisted it, causing her entire arm to bend in an unbelievable direction and rotate continuously until a click was heard: "I'll show you, Asakawa-kun, so you won't be unable to disassemble it later."

"I know I was wrong... I was just having too much fun at the time..." Asakawa Riku smiled bitterly.

"I don't mean to blame you, but I think it's time to show you the real you."

In the quiet room, Chizuko's breathing was rapid; she seemed very nervous.

Following the same method used on her arms, she removed her right leg as well, and all the prostheses came off:

"...See?"

Aoandon no Autumn: Aoandon no Autumn AFTER6

"Don't look at my face."

Chizuko refused to turn around, curling up in Asakawa Riku's arms as if trying to avoid him: "It's ugly... and weird, right? That's why I didn't dare tell you."

At this point, the girl's right leg and right hand had been removed, her arms were placed on the bed, and her legs and feet were on the ground, leaving her with only a literal "half-body".

Chizuko, who was originally as delicate and cute as a doll, now trembled in the dark room like a rag doll with its limbs cut off.

It appears incomplete and unbalanced, but...

Asakawa Riku gently pressed down on her shoulder to stop her trembling:

“I think it’s beautiful.”

"nonsense."

"It's true. I think physical charm is just a superficial level. True beauty lies in the heart. Senior, you've lost a hand and a foot, yet you still live with such confidence and optimism. I probably couldn't do it either. That's really amazing. So I admire you very much and don't find anything ugly or strange about you."

"..." Chizuko was silent for a while, then she suddenly said, "Asakawa-kun is such a kind and gentle person."

She leaned her head closer, pressing it against Asakawa Riku's chest, and pushed back a little.

"Really? I don't think so. I was just expressing my thoughts."

Asakawa Riku saw that Chizuko tilted her head back, and the two stared at each other from opposite directions for a long time without saying a word.

Strands of hair slipped from the corner of her eyes, fully revealing the girl's face.

There was not a trace of falsehood in the boy's clear eyes.

So she turned back and began to answer:

"The Kazamatsuri clan is a lineage of Onmyoji, but as you know, all power comes at a price. We have mastered the ability to communicate with yokai, forge contracts and shikigami relationships. Each generation of lords must give up something as proof of their connection with yokai... which is a part of our bodies."

"Wait a minute." Asakawa Riku frowned, having to interrupt her: "It sounds like some kind of curse. You're not some kind of cult, are you?"

"A cult...? Although the legitimacy of the gods we worship is questionable, it can hardly be called a cult. First of all, we never recruit followers, nor do we ask others to worship us. The so-called believers are just our family. Moreover, we also exorcise demons and protect others. We are probably just ordinary Onmyoji."

Chizuko's explanation is convincing.

But Asakawa Riku was still uncomfortable with this "price," and actually took away his senior's right hand and right leg...