The next moment, Kazuya reached his hand toward the wall by the door, fumbling for the light switch. With a click, he flipped it on.
WHOOSH!
A sharp cutting sound tore through the air.
Kazuya's eyes went wide as he froze, staring at the figure that had suddenly appeared in front of him. His body locked up completely. No time to dodge.
CRASH!
A chair smashed down, missing its target and slamming hard into the floor with a dull impact.
"H-Hayato-san, thank you!"
Kazuya looked at the chair in front of him, cold sweat dripping down his face. If Hayato hadn't pulled him back just now, he'd be seriously injured, even if he didn't die!
"What the hell are you doing?! Are you trying to kill me?! Kawasaki, weren't you killed by the ghost? Did you turn into one, too?!"
After shouting twice, Kazuya backed away several steps, staring warily at Kawasaki.
"Heh."
"Hayato-san, be careful! This guy might actually be a ghost!"
Kazuya warned.
"Oh, so now you're trying to frame me as a ghost?"
Kawasaki laughed coldly.
"Makes sense, I guess. The guilty accuse first. After all, back at the shoe lockers, you pushed me toward that ghost to buy yourself an escape. But too bad for you, the ghost didn't go after me. She went after a selfish bastard like you instead, just like she went after your friend first!"
"That's bullshit! Stop making things up!"
Kazuya cursed.
"Haha, getting all flustered now that I've exposed you? Chiharu, stay away from him. He might sacrifice you at any moment!"
Chiharu instinctively shuffled a few steps away from Kazuya.
Kazuya wanted to explain, but Kawasaki spoke first.
"I'd suggest you abandon this piece of trash who'll push anyone around him toward danger. You're strong, so you'll be fine. But that girl beside you might not be so lucky."
His gaze shifted to Fujibayashi Ryou, making her tense up uncomfortably.
"There's no way I'd hurt Hayato-san's woman! But what about you? How did you survive all this time? And why are you conveniently here in the art room of all places?"
Kazuya fired back with his own question.
Running into the surviving Kawasaki anywhere else in the school building would be normal enough, but meeting him specifically in the art room made people suspicious.
"Heh, because of this, obviously."
Kawasaki pulled something from his pocket, producing a note.
"You... where did you get that?"
Kazuya exclaimed.
Besides the shoe locker and the Class F desk, were there other places with notes?
"From the shoe locker, of course. There was another note inside. You didn't even take such important evidence with you. All that time you spent pushing me accomplished absolutely nothing. You threw everything away just to run for your life. Haha, pathetic!"
Kawasaki's mocking laughter grew louder.
"I took the book and the note! I gave them to Hayato-san!"
Kazuya said frantically.
"Oh, so you're not denying you pushed me. Now do you all understand?"
Kawasaki's gaze fell on Hayato.
"This is between you two. If you want revenge, I won't stop you."
Those words made Kazuya's heart sink. Was I being abandoned?! No way!
"But you'll have to wait until after we successfully escape this place alive."
Hayato pointed at the text on the note Kawasaki had provided.
"It probably means 'don't let people die.' I guess that when people die, her power grows stronger."
With four notes now, they'd managed to fill in most of the information that individual notes had been missing.
Placing two notes with different wording but the same meaning in one location to reduce interference and provide more useful information was a clever strategy.
But why not put three notes, or four, or even all versions of the clue in one place?
Hayato couldn't help but wonder.
For now, with Hayato's stance made clear, the conflict temporarily ceased.
The four of them entered the art room.
Fluorescent lights released their white glow, illuminating the spacious room. Paintings hung on the walls: an oil painting of Mount Fuji, a scene of cherry blossoms in full bloom, and placed right in the center, a portrait of a young woman.
Immediately, everyone's attention was drawn to that portrait.
A gentle breeze stirred the curtains as a black-haired girl gazed at the distant scenery outside the window, showing only her exquisitely beautiful profile.
Hayato recognized her.
The female lead from the movie. The beautiful girl with long black hair who'd also become the blood-stained, twisted ghost haunting this school building.
"She's so beautiful!"
Fujibayashi Ryou couldn't help but be amazed.
Even as a girl herself, she had to admire this girl's beauty.
"It looks exactly like a photograph. It perfectly captures her stunning appearance and aura. The details are incredible, the nose, mouth, all the features, especially the eyes. They've completely conveyed that cold, aloof look in her expression. I think the boy who painted this must have really loved her!"
Fujibayashi Ryou didn't know much about art, but this time she couldn't help commenting. Her vocabulary was a bit limited, but she still managed to praise the painting's quality.
"Don't touch it!"
Just as Fujibayashi Ryou was about to reach out instinctively, a voice suddenly stopped her.
It was Kawasaki.
"I wouldn't recommend touching anything in this place. Who knows what it might trigger?"
"I-I'm sorry."
Fujibayashi Ryou immediately apologized.
"You got here before us. Did you find anything?"
Hayato asked Kawasaki directly.
Kawasaki shook his head.
"After I ran here, I just turned on the lights at first. Then I turned them off and kept hiding here the whole time. I never searched the art room at all. But that ghost girl, Yuuko, never came here. I think this place is safe. We can stay here and wait until dawn."
Kawasaki ran to the art room and just hid here the whole time?
Chiharu, as Kawasaki's girlfriend, felt an uncomfortable twinge in her chest.
Her boyfriend had been hiding here without any intention of coming to find her, so they could hide together.
Just because she'd chosen Hayato back then? She'd done that for her own safety, but also for his sake! If they'd encountered the ghost together and he'd tried to come back to save her, that would've been terrible.
By staying with Hayato, she'd completely avoided that problem. If Kawasaki ran into danger, he could focus entirely on escaping and saving himself without worrying about her.
She'd clearly been thinking of him, trying to reduce his stress and burden, but he'd just hidden here by himself, trying to survive alone.
"Search around for anything special. If you find something strange, don't touch it right away!"
After Hayato spoke, Fujibayashi Ryou and the others started moving.
Only Kawasaki stood in place, looking like he didn't want to do anything.
Hayato didn't force him. If he didn't want to do it, fine.