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The sudden voice made all five students leaning over the window freeze at the same time.
It was only for a split second.
Even their breathing seemed to stop.
One of the girls started trembling all over, her face twisting into a miserable, near-crying expression.
"No… no way… right…?"
Her voice shook as she spoke. Like a broken machine, she slowly turned her head.
And when she saw the pitch-black figure standing right beside her—
"Ah—!"
"G-g-g-ghost!!"
Her scream set off a chain reaction. The other four students let out terrified shrieks of their own, then in the very next moment, they scrambled away in a panic. They tripped over each other as they bolted down the hallway, screaming all the way down the stairs.
"...Huh? Why did they run off again?"
"I finally thought I'd found some new friends…"
"But… there's still one left."
As she spoke, the black figure shifted her gaze toward Takahashi Kuria, who was still inside the classroom, searching everywhere for the Yuko doll.
At this moment, Kuria was practically cut off from the world. He hadn't noticed at all that the other students had already fled the hallway in terror.
He was too busy tearing the room apart.
But as time dragged on and the doll stubbornly refused to appear, anxiety crept into his chest.
So much so that, in his frustration, he completely forgot the game's rules: don't leave the school building, don't make noise, don't get found.
"Damn it! Hey! Where the hell did you hide the doll?!"
He shouted angrily and looked out toward the hallway.
What he saw was an empty corridor.
Not a single person in sight.
"???"
"Huh? Where did everyone go?!"
Kuria stood there, totally dumbfounded.
He had only turned his head for a moment. How could everyone have vanished?
Confusion flooded his mind.
Then, an outrageous thought popped up.
"They wouldn't have all been… taken by a ghost, right?"
But he quickly shook his head.
"No, no way. Ghosts are just stories. There's zero proof they even exist!"
"I'm just overthinking it."
"They're definitely messing with me. Just wait till I find them. I'll make them regret it."
He clenched his fists, veins bulging on his forehead.
Whether he truly wasn't scared, or was just pretending, only he himself knew.
Seeing as everyone seemed to be gone, Kuria felt there was no point in continuing.
And being alone in this empty, abandoned school building…
For some reason, it made his skin crawl.
Once he made up his mind, Kuria decided to leave.
But just as he took a step toward the wooden classroom door—
Clatter.
The sound of something falling to the floor suddenly rang out behind him.
"!"
Kuria froze instantly. Even the leg he had lifted stayed suspended in midair.
In a deserted classroom like this, a sudden noise was terrifying no matter how you looked at it.
Could it be that a pale-faced female ghost was standing right behind him?
Scenes from horror movies flashed through his mind like a slideshow.
Without realizing it, his breathing grew shallow and slow.
After standing there for a while, Kuria finally decided to turn around, carefully and bit by bit.
…But when he did, he let out a long sigh of relief.
The horrifying image he'd imagined never appeared.
What had fallen was just an old potted plant that had been sitting by the window for who knows how long.
It was a little worn down.
Probably just the night wind, he told himself.
After all, this was the third floor. Strong winds at night weren't that strange.
"Haa…"
The explanation was flimsy.
But it was good enough to calm him down.
Letting out a deep breath, Kuria felt lighter than he had in a long time.
Relaxed at last, he turned around to leave the classroom.
But the moment he turned—
"…Ah!!"
A startled cry burst from his throat.
Kuria froze, stiff as a statue.
Standing right in front of him was a tall, slender figure, dressed in an old-fashioned black school uniform dress. Just from the outline of her body, it was clear she was a woman.
And in her hands, held carefully with both palms, was the prop for their game of hide-and-seek.
The doll with the name "Yuko" written on it.
"Hehe~"
"Are you looking for this, classmate?"
Boom.
Her words hit Kuria's ears like a thunderclap.
"Aaaaahhh—!"
"A ghost! A ghost!"
"There really is a ghost!"
"Y-you, don't come any closer!"
Once his brain finally caught up with what was standing in front of him, pure terror swallowed him whole.
His body shook uncontrollably as he stumbled backward, until his legs gave out and he collapsed onto the dusty floor.
Seeing how utterly terrified he was, the woman simply raised a long, slender finger to her lips, her voice tinged with apology.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."
"I just wanted someone to play with."
"Would you be my friend?"
As she spoke, she bent down and gently extended the doll toward him with both hands.
But faced with this scene, Kuria could only prop himself up with his hands and keep backing away.
Until there was nowhere left to go.
Without hesitation, he swatted the doll out of her hands.
"Who would ever want to be friends with a ghost?!"
"Just disappear already, okay?!"
After shouting that, Kuria scrambled to his feet, crashed through the classroom door with a loud bang, and ran off screaming down the hallway.
"..."
The woman stood there, stunned, watching him flee.
She didn't move for a long time.
Eventually, she crouched down and picked up the dust-covered doll from the floor.
After carefully brushing the dirt off it, she hugged it tightly to her chest.
"Sniff…"
"Why won't anyone be friends with Yuko…"
Her voice was small and hurt.
Her shoulders trembled.
She was clearly sobbing.
But ghosts don't have tears.
Just as she stood there in quiet sadness, a calm, steady sound of footsteps drifted in—
from the hallway outside.
"....."