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"Isn't there a really scary dummy in the infirmary? Four nights ago, it was running down the hallway..." Genta started to sweat cold. "And it... it was so fast... so fast!" Genta's teeth chattered.
"There's no way that's possible!" Conan said, utterly exasperated.
"Hey, Ayumi, quickly tell Conan what you saw!" Genta called out to Ayumi, who was reading a book.
"What, Ayumi, you saw it too?" Conan looked at Ayumi in surprise.
"Mhm!" Ayumi frowned and nodded, but she didn't turn around.
"In any case, if our Junior Detective League doesn't investigate this soon, things might get out of hand!" Genta anxiously told Conan, who was still staring blankly at Ayumi.
Whack! Genta received a heavy smack on the head.
Ms. Kobayashi stood with her hands on her hips, glaring fiercely at Genta: "If you don't like my class, go home right now!" After scolding him, Ms. Kobayashi stormed off.
"What a tyrant!" Genta muttered, pouting as he watched Ms. Kobayashi's retreating back. "Thinking back to Mr. Toya before, he was so much better, so gentle!"
"What can we do?" Mitsuhiko turned his head and said. "Mr. Toya quit his job after he got married."
"What a shame!" Genta sighed, slumping onto his desk.
While cleaning after school, Conan asked Ayumi, "Did you really see a strange person?"
"Mhm! I saw them in the classroom two weeks ago at night!" Ayumi said, a hint of fear in her voice.
"Then why were you at school at night?" Yuu found it odd that a young girl would come to school alone so late.
"I was worried about the fish!" Ayumi turned and pointed to the fish tank in a corner of the classroom. "Because I forgot to feed them that day, so I went to check if they were alright. Who knew I'd see that! At the time, the classroom was pitch black, but I saw someone wearing a white mask walking around."
"Then why didn't you tell a teacher about it?" Yuu continued to ask.
Ayumi replied, "I did! I told the Head of Academic Affairs, who lives nearby. He promised me he would get to the bottom of it!"
"And what did he say afterwards?" Conan interjected.
"That's what I'm afraid of!" With that, Ayumi couldn't help but start crying. "He hasn't come in yesterday or today. I asked Ms. Kobayashi and the other teachers, but they all said they didn't know! I went to the Head of Academic Affairs' house and rang the doorbell several times, but no one answered..."
"Maybe he's sleeping because he has a cold!" Genta tried to comfort Ayumi.
"If that were the case, he should have contacted the school!" Mitsuhiko countered.
Conan and Yuu exchanged glances. They remembered that the Head of Academic Affairs had been living alone ever since his wife passed away.
Just then, Ms. Kobayashi walked over. "What are you all arguing about here? Hurry up and sweep the floor! And remember, all of you, make sure to deliver the parent-teacher meeting notice I handed out today to the homes of the students who are absent, so they know about it! Understand?"
"Got it!" Yuu and the others replied in unison.
Ms. Kobayashi pulled the door shut casually as she stepped out of the classroom. She closed her eyes, leaning weakly against the door.
"Ms. Kobayashi, what's wrong?" Mr. Ohta walked over. "You look so pale! You've just joined our school, and they gave you the first-grade class. It must be tough on you!"
"I don't feel it's tough at all," Ms. Kobayashi said in a faint voice, then quietly walked away.
Mr. Ohta was about to leave as well when he suddenly heard someone call him from behind. It was Conan: "Mr. Ohta, I have something I'd like to ask you, if that's alright?"
"What is it?" Mr. Ohta kindly crouched down.
"Do you know what's happened to the Head of Academic Affairs recently?" At the mention of the Head of Academic Affairs, Mr. Ohta's face instantly changed color. He nervously took a few steps back: "Well... about that! I only know he hasn't come to school for three days, but he hasn't requested leave! I think he'll be back at school very soon!" With that, Mr. Ohta turned around and quickly left.
Yuu looked strangely at Mr. Ohta's retreating back and said, "From the way he acted, he's definitely hiding something!"
"Darn it, it seems like every teacher at our school has a big problem! Ugh!" Genta said, then angrily kicked the classroom wall.
"How can you kick public property like that!" An old man's voice came from behind Genta. They turned around and jumped in surprise. It was Principal Uematsu!
Principal Uematsu stroked the classroom wall as if caressing a child. "Our school will be thirty years old this year. All these years, it's been like an extension of myself, working hard alongside me! You all should cherish it properly!"
"Principal!" Conan called out to the principal, who was about to leave. "Excuse me, do you know where the Head of Academic Affairs has gone?"
The principal paused, then turned his head and said, "Hmm, secrets can't be kept forever! That man has truly terrible luck! It's fate!" With that, the old principal walked away with his hands behind his back.
Yuu and the others looked at each other, unsure what to think.
...
That night, in the dead of night, the Junior Detective League quietly made their way to the school.
The hallway of the school building was pitch black, completely deserted!
"I can't believe how eerie the school gets at night!" Genta walked along, looking left and right.
"Right? It's actually pretty exciting!" Ayumi said, mustering her courage.
"We can't let anyone else know about this! The teachers would be angry if they found out!" Mitsuhiko said earnestly.
"Let's go to the Art Room first!" Genta suggested.
Inside the Art Room.
"Wow, it's so dark in the Art Room! I'll turn on the light!" Genta said, then tiptoed to the switch.
"Don't turn on the light!" Conan stopped Genta. "If you turn on the light, they'll know we're in here!"
Yuu turned on the flashlight on his phone. Seeing Yuu's action, everyone else followed suit.
In a corner of the Art Room, several plaster sculptures were stacked.
Conan walked over and carefully examined one of the plaster statues, finding that someone had made a mark where the statue met the table!
"There's nothing suspicious here at all!" Genta complained.
"Then, let's go to the infirmary next!" Mitsuhiko said.
The infirmary was still pitch black!
"How strange, why didn't we see it?" Mitsuhiko said, rubbing his head and frowning.
Just then, Ayumi unintentionally pulled back a white sheet covering something. Under the night's faint light, the revealed anatomical model looked especially terrifying! Ayumi screamed in fright and ran out.
Yuu and the others didn't know what had happened, but they chased after her closely. "Ayumi, what's wrong?"
Ayumi just kept running, and without realizing it, she bumped into a cardboard box. "Ow!" Only then did she stop.
"Are you alright, Ayumi?" Yuu asked with concern.
"Mhm! But, I think I dropped my handkerchief somewhere!" Ayumi looked down and searched around her.
"Hey, what's that?" Genta asked, pointing to a bundle next to Ayumi.
"It's a doll! It must have been in this corrugated cardboard box!" Ayumi grabbed it, then peered into the box to see that it was full of dolls!