Let's Dance with Ghost Stories, and You Dance on the Stairs Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Cultivating the Curse

TLed by: TanoshiKara

The birth of a new, modern curse! One that all the students believe in and have to pray that they are not the ones to be cursed. Even though everyone believes and is afraid of it, only the three of us, its creator, know the truth. There is no doubt that the feeling of superiority is on another level.

During lunch break, we were having a meeting at the back of the school discussing topics such as the kind of curse we were going with and how to spread it.

Well, the one we brooded over the most was the curse's name.

A cool name'll be nice, or so we said, determined, but there was no way we could think of something like that. Therefore, until we thought of a cooler name, we decided to go with 'Curse of The Bone', a name that sounds 'cheap'. Of course, the name is so 'cheap' that the way we decided it was also, truly, 'cheap'. It was because the first thing the three of us briefly saw when we looked around was the word 'Bone'. This was the only reason we chose 'Bone' as its image, and, without any twists whatsoever, we added 'O' and 'Sama'1 to it. And so, it was decided that its name would be 'Curse of The Bone', a name that sounds like a children’s folktale.

That is only natural. This is Shishibone City of XX Prefecture. The school is called Second Shishibone Middle School.

We live here and do not usually notice it, but, should we pay a little more attention, we will realize that the word 'Bone' can be found on signboards, telephone poles, and in various other locations all over the city. When we realized this, we finally noticed why the word 'Bone' gave off such an eerie feeling.

Well then, I wonder what kind of curse 'Curse of The Bone' is.

"That's, well, it's only on the Bone level so. A curse that causes things like fractures I guess?"

"...Hmmmmmmmm, you see, we shouldn't go with such common injuries. We should go more curse-like, it's the Curse of The Bone you know. It should be like 'bawawaaaa' and they get surrounded by bones. Bawawaaa!!"

"What do you mean 'Bawawaaa'! Ahahahaha!"

It seems like bones will go 'Bawawaaa!' and surround the person when they get cursed; The person will get covered in bones it seems. It does not come to mind right away, but it has a mysterious feel and sounds like a curse, which is probably better than saying to someone that they will fall and get a fracture.

"Okay, so we say it's a curse, but how would the person get cursed?"

"By doing something that would get them cursed I guess."

"That means someone'd have to do that or no one'd get cursed."

"It'll be nice if it gives off a more 'Everyone will get cursed!' feel; A curse that'll spread throughout the school."

"Hmmmmmmmmmm, something that fits will do no? The Bone is a scary diety so they live on school grounds, cursing anyone and everyone without exception. That's why it's scary!"

"Whoaaa, that's scary! Or rather, a real nuisance to others huh!"

" "Ahahahahahahaha!" "

In the end, we went with the setting that 'The Bone', a Diety of Curses, lives on school grounds and curses ill-natured people. It would have been nice if one of us was knowledgeable about these types of settings. Unfortunately, none of us were, which was how the setting became this ‘cheap’.

And, we cannot do without a way to dispel the curse. This one we decided from the beginning; Visit the Tanuki Shrine and offer money there. We added that the curse will grow stronger should the person be too stingy with the amount, thus it will be best to go big with the sum. This is the very key. We can freely open the offering box, so, if this 'Curse of The Bone' spreads, and there are people who believe it and seriously offer money, then that money will become our pocket money.

"The more it spreads, the more we profit. What's more, once it spreads to a certain extent, it will spread on its own by word of mouth."

"Also, you know, if it takes root like the school's Seven Mysteries, that'll mean that it'll remain forever, right?"

"That means we'll profit from it forever, right!!"

This is an innovative idea that can even be called a business. After all, it is not like we are threatening them to fork over the cash. It is just people, who deluded themselves into thinking that they have been cursed, offering money; We are merely taking that money for ourselves.

That is why…should this ghost story spread throughout Japan.........there is no doubt that the three of us will get our hands on enough money to fool around for our entire lives!

Well, of course, it is all sunshine and rainbows in our imagination. Most people would probably not believe it, and even if they do, it is questionable whether they would actually offer money. Also, the amount will probably be ten yen at most. There is no doubt that it will be considered a huge success if we manage to cheat them of a thousand yen in total.

However, that is where the Romanticism lies. We might make a fortune. This dream makes us even more engrossed in this game.

With the setting for 'Curse of The Bone' mostly decided, the time to disseminate it to the class has finally arrived.

The three of us are best friends but it is not like we do not have other friends. We each have lots of friends we can hang out with, to some extent, if we head to our classroom. We will breathe it into them and have them spread it by word of mouth. First to the class; Then to the year; Then to the school...

...However, they will probably not believe in a topic like 'Curse of The Bone', which they have never heard of before, that easily...

"Well, they probably won't."

"As expected, we need to show them that there is actually a curse. There is a need for special effects."

"What do you mean by special effects?"

"Hmmmm, for example, wouldn't it be scary if we went to class and the blackboard had 'Bone, Bone, Bone, Bone..' written on it?"

"Whoaa, that I'd hate, ahaha!!"

"Like piling up suspicious bones on the teacher's desk!"

"Ahhhh, they may cry if they arrive in the morning and find their desk compartment stuffed with bones!"

In other words, we need a 'Curse' demonstration to lend credibility to the 'Curse of The Bone'. This makes us feel the same kind of exhilaration we would feel when pulling off some extremely elaborate prank. The thrill of the repercussions being worse than stealing donations, if we were found out, excited us.

"Won't going to school first thing in the morning and writing 'Bone, Bone' on the blackboard do?"

"The people who have morning practice come pretty early, you know? Ah, but they won't be in the classroom. Ain't that a blindspot!?"

"We three are always together, so saying we will have alibis if we said 'We three were together' when something happens. It's fine, it's fine!"

Commute to school two hours earlier tomorrow and make preparations for the eerie prank in the classrooms; That is to say that we are going out of our way to waste the most important time of our day, that we would have wanted to spend sleeping, to pull off such a foolish prank. However, that is why this is the most thrilling thing ever. This thrill cannot even be compared to the time when we were cracking the lock.

We called one another by our special forces-esque code names, the very same we used when we were trying to steal donations; A show of our determination to pull off this truly foolish and large-scale prank with utmost seriousness.

1 - In this context, O and Sama are added to the front and back of 'Bone' respectively to give it a godly feel.

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Feel free to comment/pm me if you find any mistakes. Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.