Let's Dance with Ghost Stories, and You Dance on the Stairs Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Encore

TLed by: TanoshiKara

What happened after that, none of the students knew. If anything, it seemed like the students, who knew nothing at all, had used their imagination to start their own rumors and were enjoying the gossip.

Only the three of us, who heard the truth from Satou, did not join in on our classmates' baseless gossip. We could only think about the true meaning of that incident with a heavy heart.

Aunt Yuka did not say anything else after that day. The culprit is a minor, so it will probably be a delicate incident. When I think about that, the only explanation for my aunt blurting Satou's name, during the call that night, was that it was truly a slip of the tongue. That was why, how the police solved it; What was the truth of the incident; She would not tell me no matter how many times I asked... That was why even I did not know anything.

There was only one thing. The only fact that materialized, in a form everyone knew, was that Rie Satou had disappeared ever since Monday. Satou's seat in B class was empty all of a sudden, which, together with Tanashi's seat, diagonally to its right, had a bizarre atmosphere.

No matter how many times we asked, the teachers would not tell us why Rie Satou was gone. We were expecting the principal to provide an explanation about the incident during a school assembly, but the principal treated the incident as if it never occurred in the first place, merely talking about the usual dreary topics.

Most students were in an uproar, thinking that the rumors were true after all; That Satou was the culprit. Asking the teachers about it only yielded evasive responses. As they did not deny it, the rumor of Satou's arrest eventually spread to the entire school.

No one knew where Satou was even after that. Even her friends felt bad, so they did not try to contact her residential number. That was why no one knew if she was at home, with the police, or in jail......

............Some time passed after that and we finally had the leeway to revisit the incident. However, we could not find out the truth no matter how much we dug.

...Were we deceived by Satou on that day...?

The thought that Satou was actually on the external stairway of the prefab school building; That at that time, if she had noticed that she could be seen from the rooftop and said that she was there, her alibi would then hold up, came to my mind......

No, that can't be true. I don't think I was deceived by Satou even at this point in time.

Hiroyuki and Tooru had recently started being furious about how they were lied to, but...it took some time for that to happen. In other words, we had......that much faith in the truth that Satou told us. If Satou were arrested, that would undoubtedly mean that she was framed. ......However, we were so confident that the police's forensics investigation would expose that. If that investigation had ascertained that Satou was the culprit............then we no longer knew what in the world was going on...

We went to the prefab school building. It seems like there were many students who went near it out of curiosity after the incident. The external stairway was sealed off completely by something resembling wires, ensuring that no one was able to climb up.

According to the rumors, there were students who saw contractor-esque people talking to the teachers here.

It was after an incident like that after all. There was no doubt that they would proceed with the demolition works soon after summer break started.

The prefab school building's external stairway, the only means of knowing what happened on that day. There would no longer be anyone who could come close to the truth once this is gone.

Also, there were changes to the rooftop hiding spot that Satou used as well. There were now rows of desks stacked on top of one another, forming a barricade, so one could no longer stride over the railing as easily as before.

Hiroyuki suggested that we go up to the rooftop, so we attempted, roleplaying as special forces, checking if there was no one around before heading up. However, the enemies were shrewd, so it was not that easy.

The sliding door had a new lock installed. It was not something that could easily be picked from the inside. It was a proper lock that could not be unlocked unless one had the key from the faculty room.

Satou most likely testified to the police that she was on the rooftop. As a result, the school must have heard about it and took preventive measures.

However, this preventive measure was contradictory. After all, Satou would not be the culprit if the rooftop was actually off-limits, would she? It felt like the barricade was creepy; Like it was to hide the 'fact' that Satou was on the rooftop...

And, the 'Curse of The Bone', that which we thought was most despicable. It had went silent for a while, but a certain trigger caused it to be popular in our school again. It was not as before, but it seems to have taken root in our school as a staple prank. That trigger...was Tanashi's return.

After her return, Tanashi, once a hysteric, grabbing anyone who let out even the slightest laugh, thinking that they were laughing at her, became a quiet girl, as if she was possessed by an evil spirit.

Tanashi had changed so much that there were strange rumors going around saying that the change to her personality was, perhaps, due to the shovel hitting the wrong spot, causing her to suffer from brain damage......

No, well-behaved was not the right word to describe her. ......It might be better to say that she returned, enveloped in a kind of ghastly aura.

Tanashi got cursed with the 'Curse of The Bone' and returned. And, it got to the point where someone started a strange rumor: the changed air about Tanashi was because the real Tanashi died on that day and the current Tanashi was, perhaps, actually the reincarnation of 'The Bone'......

Due to that rumor, everyone became afraid of her and she never became the target of any bullying ever again. No, let alone that, Tanashi was so feared that the sea of people would split in half, and a path would form, once people knew that it was her.

Tanashi was probably quite pleased with how she was treated. It was said that she did not become hysterical over such an atmosphere, merely passing her days alone, without a single friend...

And so, Tanashi was never again the target of the 'Curse of The Bone'. On the contrary, there seems to be a new rule where the people who spoke badly about Tanashi would be the target.

It was said that recently, teachers, who have been 'Cursed' because they warned Tanashi, were being attacked by the entire school. ......Even teachers were being made the scapegoats, so there was no longer anyone in this school who could belittle the curse.

Would this curse cease once Tanashi graduates?

......To me, who wants the curse to stop as soon as possible, the fact that the curse was linked to Tanashi was not the least bit interesting......

Oh, right. There is another thing about the 'Curse of The Bone'. It was the Tanuki Shrine's Blaze It Commotion.

It seems like some nasty individual threw some cigarette buds into the offering box. This caused a commotion where smoke rose from the offering box. The offering box was then removed due to the commotion.

.......Come to think of it, the 'Curse of The Bone' was born from the offering box in a sense.

What meaning did its disappearance, due to the emission of smoke, hold? Did the 'Curse of The Bone' burn up and disappear from this world?

No, I don't think so. The 'Curse of The Bone' no longer needed to linger at the Tanuki Shrine. It abandoned its old body, the offering box, and probably zipped off to its new home.

The rumors and I have already alluded to where that new home is, so there is no need for me to go out of my way to cover it once again.

It was said that many coins were found in the charred offering box. How much was in it was unimaginable, but it was said that the amount was unfathomable for a forgotten shrine on a tiny plot of land. What's more, that amount only included the coins. Even if there were notes in it, they would surely have been burnt away in the flames.

......I had a sudden thought when that came to my mind.

It is not like a weather-beaten offering box is firewood, so can it really burn that intensely? Wasn't it the 'many notes', in the offering box, that caught fire when some nasty individual threw some cigarette buds in? I don't think it was filled with enough notes to burn so intensely that it would cause a Blaze It Commotion. 

......That leads to the question—what are those 'many notes' that were not monetary offerings? I think that it was either Hiroyuki or Tooru who told someone. That is because, at some point, a rumor had spread—when one put the curse's incantation, along with a lot of offering money, into Tanuki Shrine's offering box, 'The Bone' would make the curse a reality.

.........When that came to my mind, I dreaded to think about what the 'many notes' that burnt up were.

Aunt Yuka had said before: the effort put into one's wish gives birth to mental powress. In other words, even if the offering box had gone up in flames, the people who wished to the curse were granted some sort of power the moment they put the money into the offering box. That is why the 'many notes' that were put into the offering box were not notes wishing for the curse; They were notes which curses 'have already been granted'...

Half of this world is made up of curses; Half of this world wishes for curses.

As long as a new offering box is not placed at the Tanuki Shrine, this curse ritual would probably die out... There is no other way but to hope that a new offering box will never be placed at the shrine.

There was a slap on my back all of a sudden, causing me to jump.

"Yo! Tomohiro-kun! It's been a while!"

"Aunt Yuka...! What is it!"

"Well, I'm here to visit and thank your family for taking care of me. I then saw Tomohiro-kun along the way

"I'm glad that you are well."

"Yeap. Your aunt's well! Tomohiro-kun looks well too. That aside, what are you doing here?"

"............Ah, well.........I just wanted to come here for a bit."

"Is it because this place has ties to 'The Bone'?"

"Ahahahahahahaha... I've had enough of the 'Curse of The Bone'."

"How has your school been? Has the curse roleplaying died down after that?"

"It has changed forms and is still going on. Tanashi has now been treated as the reincarnation of 'The Bone' and it seems like a person who talks behind her back will get bones thrown at them."

"Ahahahahah! My, my, kids sure are strong."

Ever since that day, my aunt had not broken her silence regarding the incident, no matter the topic; Even when the term 'Curse of The Bone' was mentioned. That very aunt of mine said the term, 'The Bone', so it might mean that things have calmed down...

Will my aunt tell me the truth......if I ask now?

"Aunt Yuka............I won't tell anyone so please tell me."

"About the incident?"

"......Yes. ......I have talked face-to-face with Satou before. At that time, Satou told me very clearly; Asserted that she was not the culprit. ...I looked at Satou's eyes at that time, and even now, I believe that she did not lie to me."

"Commendable, commendable. A girl's words should be trusted."

"But, Satou is the culprit, right? Why......no...what in the world happened!?"

"Tomohiro-kun, you are misunderstanding one thing. ......Well, I guess such rumors are being spread in your school, huh. The bad side of the Juvenile Act sure showed itself there."

"What do you mean by misunderstanding?"

"Rie Satou was never arrested."

"Eh!? ............T-That's impossible......! After all, right now, Satou is...............!"

"We confirmed that, at the time of the act, Satou-san was, as stated in her testimony, on the rooftop. There is a witness who could testify that she was, undoubtedly, there. That's why Satou is not the culprit. So Tomohiro-kun's right."

Only you believed, even when the whole school pinned her as the culprit, admirable, admirable, or so my aunt said as she patted my head.

...However, I was even more confused as to what was going on.

"Then, after all...um, um...!! Erm, Aunt Yuka said it out loud during that call that night, right!? Remember? The night when there was a call about Tanashi-san regaining consciousness. At that time, you said that Tanashi saw the culprit, and mentioned...Satou-san's name...!!"

"It seems like her own memories got jumbled up because of the shock from the fall. They say that it's normal for her memories to be muddled as she had been unconscious for quite some time."

".........Eh? .........Eh? .........Eh!?"

"Miyoko Tanashi went up to the prefab school building's external stairway landing on the second floor voluntarily. She then fell from there."

"Who pushed her over!?"

"There was no culprit. After all, it's not an incident. It was an individual accident."

"T-.........That's......!!"

"According to the report, on that rainy day, Miyoko Tanashi headed to the prefab school building 'on a whim' and went up the external stairway 'on a whim'. She then fell."

"Wa-Wa-Wait a minute, please! Are the police alright with something that vague!?"

Not an incident......but an accident, you say......!? 

My mouth was what people would call agape.

"Then, why did Satou get arrested!?"

"I'm telling you she didn't."

"Then, why did Satou vanish from my school!?"

"...............Haaaaaaaaaaa......"

Aunt Yuka stopped the conversation there and let out a long sigh.

Does that mean 'This is the limit to what I can talk about if someone asks'?

However, I did not feel satisfied. The things I actually wanted to ask about lay beyond that...!

"I guess I can tell you if you don't tell anyone..."

"I-I promise..."

"For sure? You're not lying?"

"Y-Yes..."

"Ahahahahahaha, then I can't!"

"W-Why! That's not fair...!"

"I sure can't tell a kid who lied that he had a friend in the soccer club."

"...............ug..."

I was flabbergasted; Aunt Yuka smirked before flicking my forehead with her finger.

...That kind of hurt.

"I am sorry......"

"So Tomohiro-kun was the one who thought of the name 'Curse of The Bone', right?"

"I came up with it with two other friends..."

"Offering money to dispel the curse is just weird. I heard that the offering box's lock was a dial-type cylinder lock. What's more, the three of you once used this shrine as a hang-out spot. Day after day, the three of you tried each combination tirelessly, and were able to unlock it; Is that right?"

"............Y-......Yes."

"It seems like quite the amount of money was found in the offering box after the blaze. ...It is unthinkable for such an amount to be accumulated over a short period. ...That means Tomohiro-kun and your friends unlocked the offering box but did not retrieve its contents...Is that correct?"

.........I had the thought of leaving it at that for just a moment, but there was no way I could deceive Aunt Yuka. And, I am done with the 'Curse of The Bone'.

"......No, we split the money among the three of us; Once, or twice at the start..."

"Ughhhhhh, sheeesshhhh!! I'll treat it like I didn't hear about it! That money, return all of it back to the shrine! The offering box is gone, but the townspeople will probably think that it is a monetary offering if you place it at the statue."

"I-I am sorry... I will return it for sure..."

"Never do curse roleplay in school ever again! Pranks that will be reported to the police is out of the question!"

I got a thorough scolding from my aunt......and, for the first time, I told her about all of the sins I have committed up until today and apologized for them.

Come to think of it...I have not apologized to Tanashi. I must apologize to her......

"*nag, nag, nag*... ......Phew. Welp, with that, I'll forgive you this time!"

"T-Thank you very much..."

"Well then, it's a promise, so I'll tell you. Be sure to keep it a secret from your friends, okay!?"

"Okay. Please tell me. What in the world......happened?"

"......Hmm. The first thing I can say is what I have just said. Tanashi's fall was an accident. No one else was involved in it. Even the investigation results of the scene identified no other traces except Tanashi's, and, Tanashi also admitted that it was done alone. That's why this is truly an individual accident."

"........................Individual...accident."

"But, you know. ......Looking at the way bigger picture, this was a 'Plan' cleverly devised by Tanashi, with the individual accident as the key part of it. ......It can even be called a trap. Take note that this includes my assumption and is not the police's opinion, okay?"

"By trap, you mean a trap to entrap someone? Who, for who!"

"Before we get to that, I must first talk about Miyoko Tanashi and Rie Satou. Do you know the relationship these two share?"

If I remember correctly, from what I have heard......it seems like they were on good terms during elementary school, but they had a falling out, and shared a dog and cat relationship after entering middle school.

"The key also lies in the reason for their fallout. I think Tomohiro-kun doesn't know anything about it though. This sort of talk only spreads within the girls' circle after all."

"The reason...for their fallout...?"

"Miyoko Tanashi had a boyfriend. But this is in the past. Tanashi broke up with her boyfriend, and Satou got together with this very boyfriend after that. It looks like the people in the girls' circle have even gone as far as saying that it was NTR. Did you know that?"

Of course, I have never gone out with a girl before. ...So love affairs have nothing to do with me.

"...N-N-Not at all......"

"In other words, to Tanashi, Satou is a homewrecker who stole her lover. Of course, being Satou's boyfriend's former girlfriend, Satou thought of her as an eyesore. That is the truth behind their cat and dog relationship."

"Erm, then, that means......by trap, you mean...Tanashi set it up to entrap Satou? Eh!?"

This trap meant that A set it up to ruin B. Tanashi and Satou are the only names that fit A and B. In other words, is it Tanashi who wanted to ruin Satou or Satou who wanted to ruin Tanashi; Those are the only possibilities.

Currently, Satou has not shown up to school and Tanashi has returned. ......That means.........

"Right, in other words, there is a possibility that the accident this time might be an act by Tanashi to entrap Satou. ......Girls sure are scary when they're mad."

"Wa-Wait a minute, please. ...Why would Tanashi causing an accident be a trap to entrap Satou!?"

I don't get it. It was like she was saying that any event can bring about unexpected results.

"Didn't it become well-known in your school that Satou's lunch break alibi is vague, right?"

"It did. The rumors started off as no one knowing where Satou goes off to during lunch break, then escalated to Satou being the undoubted culprit."

"There is a reason for Satou's vague alibi. It is because lunch break was the time for a tryst with her boyfriend."

"T......Tryst......"

"The location of their tryst was the rooftop. They would get out to the rooftop from the stairwell-"

"I-I know. Take a turn to head to the back of the stairwell, a blindspot, right...?"

"Hm? So you know about that, huh? Correct. That was the actual location for Satou's tryst with her boyfriend. Due to a smoking incident that occurred in the past, the rooftop was off-limits. The teachers would make their rounds regularly, so none of the students went near that place. That's why it's a blindspot."

"That's right. So, Satou didn't tell the truth as she was at a place that was off-limits, right......?"

"You got it wrong. It was because she didn't want to make her tryst known."

That's true......illicit romantic relationships go against school rules. It would probably be quite problematic.........if one's tryst in school were to be discovered.

"Hey, Tomohiro-kun! Don't stop thinking at that point! You won't be a good officer if you are convinced just because one of the more probable reasons was brought up, you know?"

"That means......Eh...?"

"Even Tomohiro-kun knows, don't you? The rooftop was off-limits because of a smoking incident that occurred in the past. Students supposedly stayed away from it because teachers made their rounds regularly, you know?"

"Erm...but that just means that Satou was in a blindspot, at the back of the stairwell, so it just so happened that she didn't get discovered and......"

"The sliding door leading to the rooftop is always locked. Due to its design, it cannot be locked after someone goes out to the rooftop. Doesn't this mean that a teacher making their rounds would know right away, after seeing the lock, that a student had gone out to the rooftop?"

"...Ah.........I see. Even if Satou hid in a blind spot, she could not hide the fact that she went out to the rooftop......!"

"That's it. Even so, Satou, who was having trysts on the rooftop during lunch break, was never once found out by a teacher making their rounds. This means that...?"

"........................Er..................m..."

"I'll tell you the answer. The answer is that very teacher. In other words, the teacher making their rounds was the partner Satou was having trysts with, her boyfriend. This means that it was a forbidden love between teacher and student. ...Do you see where this is going?"

"Then......Tanashi and that teacher were dating at first, Satou then snatched that teacher from her......"

"You got it. In order to get revenge on Satou, for stealing her boyfriend, and the teacher, for abandoning her, Tanashi thought about exposing their tryst. It is a forbidden love after all, the student would be disciplined if it was found out; The teacher wouldn't be able to get out of a transfer."

"That means......the reason Satou didn't come to school was not because of the police......but the punishment from the school!?"

"Correct. I heard that she got suspended for several days. But it looks like she is skipping school even after that. It's a weird age nowadays, so I hope she gets back up on her feet while there is still a chance for a do-over."

...............Come to think of it, there was a teacher who got transferred even though it was in the middle of the academic year. We were told that it was due to the teacher's personal circumstances, so I didn't pay it much mind.

"A science teacher, Ozawa-sensei, got transferred, right? It's because his love affair with his student was discovered. Even though it would be slightly easier to go out with Satou-san, if he waited a few more months, as she would graduate then. I guess I should chalk it up to youthfulness."

During lunch break on that rainy day. Satou and Ozawa were having a tryst in a blind spot on the rooftop. At that time, the two of them accidentally noticed; Noticed that a student had fallen near the prefab school building's external stairway.

Ozawa immediately remembered his duty as a teacher, shouting that a student had gotten injured as he went down the stairs. He then brought several teachers along from the faculty room to the prefab school building and discovered that Tanashi had fallen. 

Everyone was shocked, so they did not question who was the first to find Tanashi and how they discovered Tanashi, who was in a blindspot, blocked by trees.

"All of this was a trap set up by Tanashi. However, there were two miscalculations that Tanashi herself couldn't have anticipated. The first one is not that much of an issue for her. It was Satou and Ozawa, the people she wanted to entrap, being the first to discover her fall. It was better for the plan if they, as always, enjoyed their fill of their tryst until the end of lunch break. But, this was a blessing in disguise. This is related to her second miscalculation. She didn't anticipate that she would be in a coma after falling. ......That was why it was really lucky of her that the two of them on the rooftop noticed. If they didn't, we wouldn't know how much time she would be left there, unnoticed. It might even have been life-threatening."

"What would Tanashi's plan be like......if there were no miscalculations?"

"Hmm, you'd understand it quite well if we assume that she regains consciousness. She'd fall and get somewhat injured. She'd most likely stagger to the faculty room after that, I guess? And this was the most important objective for her: falsely claiming that she was pushed over by Rie Satou.

It is true that the first thing Tanashi said when she regained consciousness was that she was pushed over by Satou. Those were the words she would have said on that very day she fell if everything went according to plan.

"I did think that Tanashi staged everything to accomplish some kind of objective. But, wouldn't the police see through the lie, that Satou pushed her over, when they start investigating? That's why doing something like that is meaningless. ......I was clueless from there."

"Hmmmmmmmmmm, you were so close Tomohiro-kun. Your line of thought was on the right path, but you always stop thinking right then and there. Listen here, okay? Tanashi's aim was not to frame Satou as the culprit by falsely claiming that Satou pushed her over. Tanashi's true aim was to force Satou to talk about her own alibi to clear her name."

"Force her to talk about her alibi...... In other words, in order to clear her own name, Satou must disclose and prove that she was on the rooftop. The police will be fine with that. Satou has the alibi that she was on the rooftop, so the police will exclude her from their investigation. However, the faculty will not be done with her at that point. Satou was on the rooftop, a place where no students should have been able to enter. They will then ask the young male teacher, who diligently did his rounds, if a student went out to the rooftop during lunch break. ......Hmmmmmm, whether it's because of his youthfulness or his love, a teacher called Ozawa eventually said that Satou was on the rooftop and he could prove it. The faculty then sought an explanation from Ozawa......and it all fell apart there."

"That is, in other words..................Tanashi's trap..."

"Uh-huh. That's how I see it. Tanashi didn't tell the truth, but......I guess it's intuition from the same gender? Ahahahaha, I just knew somehow. Well, that said, it is not like Tanashi broke any laws. She merely jumped off on her own, got badly injured on her own, and caused a huge commotion. So, anything after that has nothing to do with the police. I will not involve myself with Tanashi nor will I be probing her about her thoughts ever again, though."

"............................................."

"Say, Tomohiro-kun, you told me, right? You said that some of the bullying against Tanashi might have been an actual curse at work; Like how bones were inside a bag that no one had touched."

"I did. ......Then......that was also part of Tanashi's plan......?"

"Probably. ......In order to set up the trap, Tanashi needed for there to be a sense of tension, so that there was a possibility that her 'accidental' fall was an incident. Otherwise, the police would not act. The police's mobilization was vital to Tanashi's plan after all."

"It must become an incident that involved the police, or it wouldn't lead to the issue of Satou's alibi during lunch break..."

"Right. That's why I think that Satou had to act as if she was in danger; That her bullying in school, which kept escalating, might one day turn into an actual incident."

"In other words.........all the rumors, such as the one about bones coming out of a bag that no one had touched, were all..."

"Uh-huh. Probably staged by Tanashi. However, she never thought that someone would clearly see that no one had touched her bag, which turned it into a strange rumor that...it might have been an actual curse. I think this was a miscalculation on Tanashi's part. She probably laughed when she heard the rumors. Even the three of you felt that it was comical at the start when rumors started to spread, right?"

"............Well, yes. We were somewhat elated that the prank we played was deified."

"With that, everything has been explained, I guess?"

"Ah......one more thing, an envelope was actually put into the offering box some time ago. It had a lot of money in it, and a letter that asked us to curse Tanashi. Was this also done by Tanashi...?"

"Probably, I think so...... But, if that is the case.........Tanashi-san is quite clever then. That would mean she, from the keywords 'Curse of The Bone' and monetary offerings to dispel the curse, figured out that the three of you were behind it. ......I see......if she put money into the offering box after that, the three of you would be on cloud nine and would, no doubt, play the prank... That's only natural. A curse that's been staged by the person themselves lacks impact on its own. .........I see, I see..."

"In other words......on top of Tanashi totally figuring us out...she included us in her plans...?"

"I would think so. .........However, that'd be too clever for a middle schooler. She might be an officer in the near future, if not, she'd probably be chased by one. I hope that she will not cross paths with Division Two."

"What's Division Two?"

"Intellectual Crime Specialization."

......I see. Sounds about right.

"Well then, have we spoken about everything now? How about it? Have you found closure on the incident...?"

"..................Yes. I now understand that, as I had expected, this incident......was a curse."

The grudge of a girl, burning with jealousy as she had her lover stolen, had cursed Satou and Ozawa, and killed them through the 'Curse of The Bone'... ......They were banished from the environment known as our school, so it is accurate to say that they have been killed.

"Tomohiro-kun should be careful not to get cursed by girls as well, okay?"

"Okay. It's really scary, huh. I have come to understand it quite well..."

Tanashi probably thought of many ways to ruin Satou and her former boyfriend. She then learned that they were having trysts during lunch break, and came up with the idea of setting a trap for them. However, in order to set this trap, she had to be absolutely sure that one condition had been met. Indeed, she had to be certain that 'They were in the middle of their tryst' when she put the plan into action.........

"Ah.........I see! ......That's why she chose the prefab school building's external stairway...!"

"Hmm? Are you talking about why Tanashi jump off from that external stairway?"

"Yes. It was not like any place would do as long as no one could witness it. She had to ensure that Satou and Ozawa were in the middle of their tryst...! That's correct, right!?"

That's why she chose that external stairway landing on the second floor. Just like how that location can only be seen from the rooftop, only the external stairway landing on the second floor can be seen from that spot on the rooftop!

"I think so. After Tanashi learned through a rumor that they were having trysts on the rooftop, she probably went there in person and confirmed that the only place that could be seen from that spot was the prefab school building's external stairway."

......I have been completely bamboozled and could not get anything right, even with Aunt Yuka explaining the incident in detail, but it looks like I finally got something right at the very end.

However, Aunt Yuka giggled as if to say that I was still quite far off the mark.

"Eh...Did I miss the mark...?"

"Hmmmmmmmmmm, just a little. This one comes down to one's experience in life. Study a ton, okay, Tomohiro-kun?"

"Eh......then, is there any reason for her to choose another external stairway landing to jump off from!?"

"......Hmmmmmm, it's not like Tanashi said it. This is just your aunt's speculation, but......Say, Tomohiro-kun, do you know the exact time when Tanashi fell?"

"Erm......I don't know exactly, but Satou saw the exact moment when Tanashi fell, so she should know."

"According to the testimonies of Satou and Ozawa, it was roughly five minutes before the end of lunch break."

If I remember correctly, it was roughly around such a time. It was exactly around the end of lunch break that news of an accident occurring spread among us students like wildfire.

"Satou would head to the rooftop after her meal. Ozawa would do the same, so I think they would spend around the same amount of time there, letting their hair down, as they always do."

They might raise alarm bells if they went back at the same time, so they probably went back separately. Taking this into consideration, five minutes before the end of lunch break is, without a doubt, the exact time when they are about to part with each other. They definitely spent around the same amount of time together on that day as well.

"Well then, on the other hand, it was about the same for Tanashi. She would disappear after finishing her meal. However, the fall took place when lunch break was about to end. ............Hey, hey, think about it, okay?"

"Erm......um.........where was Tanashi...during that time...right?"

It was raining that day, the perfect timing when there would be no one around the prefab school building. That is why Tanashi finally put her plan into action, so she would have headed for the prefab school building...

............However, it only takes five minutes at most to reach the prefab school building from the classroom. She would have quite a lot of time to spare.

".........Was she making preparations to jump off? ......But......Jumping off doesn't need any preparations............ ......Don't tell me she prepared a shovel beforehand and buried it...?"

Nopeee, or so Aunt Yuka said as she giggled and bopped my head.

"I think Tanashi headed to the prefab school building immediately after she finished her meal, immediately, okay? She then went up to the external stairway and looked up at the rooftop from the second-floor landing."

There was probably not much difference between the time taken to head to the prefab school building from Tanashi's classroom and the time taken to head to the rooftop from Satou's classroom. That means...Tanashi was there from the very start, when Satou and Ozawa met up with each other.

"Well then, you have all the clues, yes? After finishing their meals, Tanashi and Satou each headed to their respective destinations. That is why Tanashi was already able to confirm that Satou and Ozawa were having a tryst soon after finishing her meal. Despite that, the fall occurred right before the end of the lunch break. Why is that?"

"Erm............the aim of Tanashi's plan was to falsely claim that Satou and Ozawa, who were on the rooftop during lunch break, pushed her over... That means she could have executed her plan the moment she confirmed that they were on the rooftop......... Despite that... ......Why did she hesitate...for such a long time......?"

Even though it is on the second floor, it is definitely not a height that is low. Even I would readily jump from a place the height of a fence, but I would be scared, regardless of the circumstances, to jump from the second floor...

...Even though it was for her plan......did Tanashi need the courage to jump off after all...? No, it was probably not a pathetic reason like that... Then......what in the world......?

"............There's another hint, but I sure don't want to tell Tomohiro-kun about it. But, well, you are already a third year. So, you're not really a kid anymore, I guess. Last hint; We found an opened packet of rubber in Ozawa's jersey."

"What's a packet of rubber?"

"...Ah, sorry. It's alright if you don't know. I'll tell you the answer."

In the rain, Tanashi went up the prefab school building's external stairway alone and looked up at the rooftop. Satou and Ozawa met at a secret meet-up spot and were having a tryst; She was watching them the entire time. Watching as Ozawa's mouth, which had once professed his love for her, was plugged by Satou. That, and the many acts that followed; She was watching; Watching the entire time; Watching everything. I wonder what she felt as she watched them go at it. A detestable person who once stole her boyfriend. And, a detestable person who readily switched partners despite once loving her.

Is Aunt Yuka gonna tell me that she bit on her handkerchief, frustrated as she gazed at the filthy tryst of such a pair?

"......She was cursing them."

"By cursing, you mean........."

"Yeap. Cursing; Cursing; Cursing that the plan she was about to execute that day would cause the two people she despised so very much to break up. Despising; Despising; Despising. ......If Tanashi had some existence to pray to, she'd surely have done that. She'd have prayed to that existence wholeheartedly, so much so that her mind would be filled with 'curse them; curse them; curse them'; All while staring at her once beloved hustling with another girl; All while she glared at them, glared so hard that her eyes might pop out at any moment. ......I think that was what she did from the time she finished her meal until the time when lunch break was about to end."

A prayer's effectiveness is based on the ferventness one puts into their prayer.

"I wonder how hard they were cursed, by Tanashi that is. ......I can't help but be terrified when I think about what she did at that time..."

This is just my imagination at work, or so Aunt Yuka reassured me.

...But, there's no doubt that she is not mistaken......

"......I do feel somewhat afraid to go to school tomorrow."

"Ahahahahah! Boys are a species that retaliate when they get mad, but girls are a species that curse others when they hate them. In other words, curses envelop half of any class in thick invisible fog. They say apparitions like evil spirits are attracted to that, so many of them are drawn to schools. That's why schools have a lot of ghost stories. Well, boys are dense, so they probably don't care. Seems like boys have a duller sixth sense as well."

"......Then, then do girls live their lives everyday in the midst of a world enveloped in curses?"

"That's right. Did you not know that?"

My aunt probably meant for it to be a slightly scary joke. However, it did not feel like a joke to my current self.

I have understood it all too well.

Curses make up half of this world...

<End>

--------

Note that the copyright of the image in the chapter belongs to its respective owners and was uploaded to ensure that readers experience the translation as they would if they were reading the chapter in the book itself.

--------

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