As evening approached, the sun gradually slanted, its color turning an increasingly fiery red.
The golden-red afterglow slanted diagonally through the layers upon layers of branches and leaves in the small woods, casting long, dappled patches of light and shadow onto the forest clearing. The air carried a hint of damp, grassy fragrance. A deep breath of it was refreshing and soothing to the heart.
"So, why on earth did you two drag here to play blindfolded hide-and-seek?" Fuyuji Mikage said helplessly.
He had originally wanted to find Katsuragi and get his advice on buying a pot. He'd heard that Katsuragi's family circumstances weren't great and that he usually cooked at ho, so asking him for guidance should have been a reliable budget-friendly choice.
Fuyuji Mikage folded his arms and tilted his head slightly upward. On a tree branch a bit further off, two Eurasian blackbirds, one large and one small, were hopping about, chirping noisily.
"What if Yamamura Miki really does get spirited away?"
Morishita Ai wagged her index finger, speaking with great conviction. "It is currently spring, and the hour of twilight, when demons roam—the ti when yin and yang intersect. The location is a small woods. Add to that Yamamura Miki's peculiar presence. The three essential elents—heaven, earth, and man—are all in place. The ti has co to open the gateway to the supernatural world."
"If it really does open, what use is one extra person—? Did you drag along because you think I'm not dying fast enough?" The genuine psychic user bellowed in rebuke.
"Obviously, I called you over so we could go die together. That way, I won't be lonely on the other side." Morishita Ai blinked her eyes and replied with righteous confidence.
"..." Do I have so grudge with you? You have to drag along even to die?
"N-No such thing. I'm just simply not very noticeable, that's all." Yamamura Miki, the most peculiar one of the three, was, at this mont, the staunchest believer in science.
"Then, I shall first read out the rules of the ga." Without waiting for the other two's reactions, Morishita Ai began speaking on her own.
She pulled out, from who knows where, a book with a yellowed cover—"Accounts of Yokai Folk Customs."
Fuyuji Mikage felt the corner of his mouth twitch. "Where the hell did you dig that thing up from?"
"This? I borrowed it from the school library at noon. Also," Morishita Ai glared at Fuyuji Mikage, "please do not interrupt my speech."
The Advanced Nurturing High School library even has this kind of stuff? Is this purely a waste of taxpayer money?
After a pause, Morishita Ai opened the book's pages. Her flat, emotionless voice echoed through the quiet woods.
"Sumr, Taisho 15. The cicadas chirped like sudden downpours. Kenta, Kazuhiko, and Kou played 'blindfold hide-and-seek' in the woods outside the village. Kazuhiko, blindfolded, counted 'One! Two!' When he opened his eyes again, only the empty, desolate sound of cicadas remained in the forest. The handkerchief Kou had tied fluttered down upon the branch of an ancient cedar. Where the wind rolled up the dead leaves, the intermittent sound of a child's voice saying 'Three...' drifted through, as if utterly swallowed by the deep, dark shadows of the trees."
A gust of wind blew, and the leaves in the woods rustled and trembled.
"Eeeek!"
Yamamura Miki, who had not been scared at all until now, felt her heart suddenly lurch at Morishita Ai's story. She looked back into the depths of the small woods, as if sothing might burst forth at any mont.
"That is roughly how it goes." Morishita Ai snapped the book shut.
"However, to prevent Yamamura Miki from truly being captured, whether the one seeking or the one hiding, we shall call out our designated number at regular intervals. I am One. Fuyuji Mikage is Two. Yamamura Miki is Three. Thus, it is decided."
"Isn't that even more terrifying?" Fuyuji Mikage said, speechless.
This small patch of woods wasn't large, but there were only three of them. Whether the seeker or the hider, being all alone, crouching in the grass sowhere and calling out a number... that feeling of deep, quiet darkness, it truly felt like they'd end up summoning sothing truly unclean.
"Can I... not play?" Yamamura Miki was already curled up into a ball under a bush.
"Thus, the Twilight Spiriting Away Ga officially begins." Ignoring Yamamura Miki's protest, Morishita Ai decisively announced the start of the ga.
"Next, rock-paper-scissors to decide who will be the 'it.'"
"..."
Fuyuji Mikage refused to engage in such childish behavior.
"Hurry up," Morishita Ai urged. "If you don't join in, you'll be 'it' by default."
One second later, Fuyuji Mikage chose to join.
"Rock, Paper, Scissors!" x3
...
"Absolutely no running out of the woods. Fuyuji Mikage, do you hear ?" Morishita Ai pressed both hands, stacked, against a tree trunk, eyes closed, back facing Fuyuji Mikage, and declared loudly.
Fuyuji Mikage rolled his eyes. "That kind of thing—you're the only one who would do it, okay?"
He then turned his head to look at the trembling Yamamura Miki. "Yamamura, let's go together."
"Yes!" Yamamura Miki let out a long sigh of relief and said gratefully.
"I heard that!" Morishita Ai's voice drifted over, deep and ominous.
The small woods, though not large, still had plenty of places to hide. However, the two didn't bother hiding seriously at all.
After casually finding a spot to hunker down, Fuyuji Mikage leaned his back against a tree trunk and sat down, striking up a conversation with Yamamura Miki.
"Co to think of it, Yamamura, why do you go along with Morishita's nonsense? If you just ignored her, she'd go off on her own sowhere and pass the ti." Fuyuji Mikage asked, lowering his voice.
"Because... Morishita-san... is the only person so far who has ever taken the initiative to co and talk to . That day... I was eating in the cafeteria, and she suddenly appeared right behind ."
Yamamura Miki touched her chest, a smile lifting the corner of her lips, as if speaking in reminiscence.
"Ever since I was small, I've never stood out. In kindergarten, playing with toys, I was always in the corner, next to the pile of building blocks, watching the other kids laugh and play in a group. When the teacher handed out snacks, sotis she'd miss my raised hand. In elentary school group activities, I was often the last one left over, the one no one fought over or competed for. The teacher could just slot into any group..."
"In middle school, I tried to blend in. At first, everyone was very welcoming. But the next day, they were still right there, talking about those topics I didn't understand. At that mont, I knew—that place didn't belong to . Whether I was there or not, they would still go on right there..."
"Later on, I got used to it. Not being liked, but not being disliked either. Just... always alone..."
"But!"
Yamamura Miki's eyes suddenly lit up.
"One day, Morishita-san suddenly called my na from behind. Not the kind of na where she got it wrong—it was my full na!"
Listening, Fuyuji Mikage smiled silently. Morishita Ai, that girl, always calling everyone by their full na... turns out it had this kind of benefit.
"At that mont, I knew Morishita-san was different from other people. She would rember my na, she would take the initiative to befriend , she would thank with the utmost seriousness."
"So, I don't want to stay stuck in that place anymore. I want to try doing things that I absolutely couldn't have done alone before!"
"Even if the thing itself is terrifying?" Fuyuji Mikage added teasingly.
"Eeek!"
Yamamura Miki, who had just puffed herself up with courage, reflexively shrank back. She looked left and right, closed her eyes, and with a slight tearful note in her voice, said,
"Fuyuji-kun, don't scare anymore!"
"Alright, alright. I won't scare you anymore."
Fuyuji Mikage laughed and raised both hands. "I surrender, I surrender..."
The personality of this girl, who jumped up at the slightest poke, genuinely made it very hard to suppress the urge to tease her.
After calming her nervous emotions a little, Yamamura Miki also voiced her own question:
"What about you, Fuyuji-kun?"
"?"
Yamamura Miki stole a glance at Fuyuji Mikage, then quickly averted her gaze again, murmuring, "Aren't you just the sa, going along with Morishita-san's nonsense..."
Fuyuji Mikage was not like her, a person with no presence. To a certain extent, he was, in fact, the most conspicuous existence in Class A.
"Now that you ntion it, that's true." Fuyuji Mikage lowered his head and pinched his chin, pondering on the spot. "Yeah... why am I accompanying that Morishita in this nonsense here?"
"Naturally, it's because Morishita-sama is very cute..."
A voice, utterly emotionless, cold and piercing as an arctic wind, ca from behind the two of them.
The two who were still chatting both shuddered simultaneously, their breath stopping for an instant. They stiffly turned their heads back.
They suddenly realized one thing: the two of them had been so absorbed in their chat just now that they seed to have forgotten sothing that absolutely had to be done.
"Heh heh."
Morishita Ai rustled through the weeds and dead branches beside them, her laugh completely expressionless.
"Do you two know the sheer terror that Morishita-sama felt, standing all alone in the dark, lightless woods, shouting 'One'—only to have absolutely no one respond?"
"The entire woods, only the blackbirds answered . Oh, right, and the crows by the school building, cawing 'Aho~ Aho~'."
"The twilight hour, a silent, still small woods, the cry of crows... and so, the original three people, now only one remained..."
The voice, devoid of any emotional fluctuation, echoed in the woods. Combined with that icy face, it utterly maxed out the sense of horror.
"I told you not to take this so seriously. See? Now you've scared yourself." Fuyuji Mikage retorted in a low voice.
"Fuyuji-kun, please stop talking." Yamamura Miki reached out and tugged at the hem of Fuyuji Mikage's clothes.
"Fuyuji Mikage, are you implying that this is Morishita Ai's fault?"
"Cough, cough. No, not at all. Not following the ga rules was indeed my fault..."
As he spoke, Fuyuji Mikage's expression gradually beca strange.
"Then, have you two prepared yourselves for the consequences—"
"Er... sorry to interrupt," Fuyuji Mikage swallowed a mouthful of saliva, cutting off Morishita Ai's words. "Did either of you just hear a strange sound?"
"Are you still trying to scare Morishita-sama even now?"
"N-No, Morishita-san... I think I heard it too." Yamamura Miki's voice started to tremble, her body unconsciously edging closer to Fuyuji Mikage.
"How is that possible? Who else would be here at this hour besides us?"
Morishita Ai was full of suspicion. She folded her arms and stood in place, perking up her ears.
In the silent woods, there was the fluttering and chirping of birds. A gentle breeze brushed through the leaves, producing a continuous rustling sound. Occasionally, lingering drops of rainwater quietly dripped down, striking the ground with a tapping sound...
"Listen... there is, right?"
"It seems there actually is."
"Y-Yes, there is."
The three of them stopped and began this back-and-forth chorus.
"What is it saying? 'Four'? It wants to play blindfold hide-and-seek, or the spiriting away ga too?"
"Idiot. It's clearly saying the word 'die'."
"Er... it seems like it's saying 'go die'..."
"..."
A gust of wind swept through. Only a dead silence remained in the small woods...
"What did I tell you? I told you not to court death, didn't I? Now we've run into the real thing. Great! Now all three of us are going to be killed by you!"
"How can this kind of thing be real?! Co on, let's go take a look!"
"Eh... W-We're... we're going over there?"
"Now you believe in science? Also, Morishita-san, could you kindly stop hiding behind and pushing forward?"
"The reason I called you here is precisely for this mont! Go! Fuyuji Mikage, I will cheer you on!"
"Actually... we could... just choose to leave right now..."
The two, one in front and one behind, turned their heads simultaneously: "No way! We've co this far. How can we not take a look?!"
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