Let's Dance with Ghost Stories, and You Dance on the Stairs Chapter 14

Chapter 14

It's No Longer Someone Else's Problem

TLed by: TanoshiKara

We no longer went near the Tanuki Shrine.

That is why we were now using another place, a park, as our hangout spot.

We had been feeling moody ever since Tanashi's incident. We tried to act tough, saying that it was no fault of ours whenever we spoke, but......everyone undoubtedly felt that we were all to blame for creating the root cause, the 'Curse of The Bone'.

One day......I made up my mind and spilled the beans to the rest. I told them that my aunt I lived together with was an officer; That the incident this time was being investigated by the police; That they were revisiting the blackboard scribbling incident.

Everyone was not as shocked as I had expected. This meant that everyone had expected that the police had gone back to investigate the blackboard scribbling incident.

"......Honestly, I feel we can tell the police the truth."

"Hey, wait a minute, don't joke with me! Won't we have to take all of the blame then...!"

"That's right, that's right! I'm telling you, we are not to blame in the first place! After all, we ain't involved in Tanashi's incident at all, right?"

"Yeah, we're not. Hiroyuki, Tomohiro, and I, we were all in our classroom that day. The others were there with us, so our alibis should be perfect."

"That's not it! Try imagining what will happen if it comes out that we were the ones who made—'The Bone', the thing that causes this much of a stir—popular. I'll have you know that it wouldn't stop at us being called to the Student's Guidance Office! Our parents would probably get called to school, and who knows what would become of our academic report!"

Academic report. ......Everyone fell silent when they heard that.

We already felt that we were at fault for doing something bad. Everyone\ was thinking that they should apologize one day, if there were an occasion to do that. However, if it affected our academic reports, it would even impact our lives in the near future. ......That was why we hesitated.

"......Have the police figured out who the prick who pushed Tanashi off was?"

"She said there were no leads at all, that's why there's a possibility that the culprit is the same one as the blackboard scribbling incident, and that they were going to investigate from there."

"...Seriously, this is no laughing matter......"

"Say, isn't it more important to find the true culprit faster than the police can bust us?"

"Would've done that if I could."

"You know, that letter! I think the person who put that in is probably the culprit or an accomplice."

"I think so too! The fingerprints of the culprit might have been left behind! Come to think of it, what happened to that letter?"

"...I don't have it."

"I don't know as well..."

......I do not remember what we did with that cursed letter after that.

We were shifting the blame among ourselves for a while, saying that someone else was the last to read it. ...However, we, ultimately, had no idea who had it. That said, it was doubtful if any one of us even had it.

Would one of us even go out of our way to keep that creepy letter?

......Even if one of us had it, he would surely have crushed it into a ball and thrown it in the drain.

"......Even though it was our only lead to the culprit......"

"However......it is true, if anything, that some individual pleaded with the deities to curse Tanashi. Someone who hated Tanashi so much that they wanted to curse her......There's someone like that, right?"

We are from a different class, so we do not quite know, but they are probably well-known in class B. There might be an individual in the group who hates Tanashi, but they hate her much, much more, so much so that they want to curse her...

"You know, the more I think about it......The more I suspect that the prick who put in that fifty-thousand-yen had intended to do this from the start. ...Cause an incident and shift the blame to us."

"I don't think shifting the blame is the right term. They deemed that we could be used and included us in their plan. They even anticipated that we could not confess all of this to the police."

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

Nobody refuted. This was because, looking at the current situation objectively, there was no mistaking that we were the ones who were the most questionable.

Should the police come up to us......even if we could prove our innocence for Tanashi's incident, it would not end there. That is because we would need to tell them everything to prove our innocence. If it comes to that......the school would not let it slide. Our school life and future would surely be ruined.

...That is why we must find the true culprit before the police get to us.........

"......How do we even do that... We're just normal students, you know? It's impossible to search for the culprit...!"

"But, I am also in favor of Tomohiro's suggestion... Even if we sit on it, the noose around our necks will only tighten, no doubt about that."

What Tooru said was correct. Hiroyuki had no other choice but to nod in response......

The next day, we steeled ourselves.

Rather than steel ourselves, perhaps it would be better to say that we could not bear the nervousness of passing the days without doing anything...

Ever since that day, Tanashi's incident has spread throughout our year like wildfire. So no one thought it was suspicious, even if we showed interest in Tanashi and asked about her.

The first thing we learned was that many girls hated Tanashi. Tanashi was smart and had a mature side to her, so she tended to act Precocious. Due to that, she was hated, especially by the girls around her. Those girls were more or less involved in the recent curse.

......This was all the information we already knew.

And, the existence of a girl, who had an especially antagonistic relationship with Tanashi, was brought up soon after—-a girl from the same class, Rie Satou.

"So she's well-known...?"

"Uh-huh. Seems like verbal arguments were a daily thing. Seems like they got along in elementary school, though. Apparently, their relationship got really sour in middle school."

"Then, is this Satou girl the culprit.........?"

A very hasty conclusion, but it was one that anyone would reach. That was not all, though. Satou had an extremely unfavorable testimony. Although it was not limited to that rainy day... Rie Satou had a habit of leaving the classroom during lunch break to hang out with others. The person herself said that she hung out with so-and-so from another class, but it seemed like it had questionable parts, which made her alibi seem even more suspicious.

"......I have also heard many other stories of Satou's group being the one that persistently planted the bones. Sounds suspicious, right?"

"Yeah. I asked my network of friends, and an overwhelming majority were suspicious of Satou."

"Then it's decided right!? Rie Satou, who was on bad terms with Tanashi, jumped on the 'Curse of The Bone' bandwagon and drove her into a corner."

The rumor that Rie Satou was the perpetrator or the mastermind was already so widespread that it could be her downfall.

But...isn't it all too straightforward?

On the contrary, the many circumstantial evidence that were too good to be true left me feeling hardly convinced. I could not express that uncanny feeling in words, so I was not able to speak up.

......What is this uncanny feeling?

That was probably because we arrived at the answer, Satou, too easily, and she did not seem like someone with the ability to figure out that we were the ones who created the 'Curse of The Bone', anticipate our behavioral patterns, and have the cunningness to include us in the plan. Assuming Satou was the culprit, would such a smart and sharp prick like her make a blunder like not preparing a proper alibi on the day itself......? If she had the cunningness to use us, she should have been able to prepare a way more impeccable alibi. Would it even be possible for her to be so careless that she did not make any preparations, which caused her to be suspected by an entire school year......

"How about telling Tomohiro's aunt that Satou's suspicious? I think that she'd cry and confess if the police interrogated her!"

"..................True, I think that Satou undoubtedly bullied Tanashi. ...However, I don't know whether Satou wanted to kill Tanashi."

"Why do you say that?"

"If we assume that Satou called Tanashi over to that place. Do you think that Tanashi would just go there nonchalantly?"

"Perhaps she said that she wanted to tell her about something top secret or something and called her there...?"

"The leader of the group who persistently bullied her, and they share a cat-and-dog relationship. There's no way a girl like Tanashi would've gone there willingly if she was called to a deserted place by a prick like that."

"Did Satou have dirt on her that forced her to go?"

"Having dirt should've been enough. There'd be no reason for Satou to kill."

"Then, was it the opposite? The one who did the calling was Tanashi, and the one who got called to the place was Satou. Tanashi must have had dirt that could serve as payback for the bullying. She then tried to force Satou to stop the bullying, but the tables turned on her."

"......It then turned into a scuffle, and Tanashi's feet slipped or something, causing her to fall off the landing. She, then, unfortunately, hit the shovel and fell unconscious......"

"..............................Hmmmmm......"

If my uncanny feeling is just my own imagination......then the following theory is the most plausible: Satou was never cunning; She merely wanted to bully Tanashi. She put in the cursed letter without thinking too much about it. No, perhaps the cursed letter had nothing to do with her... Tanashi then got some kind of dirt on her that was enough to stop the bullying, and called her to that place, on that day. ......Things then turned sour and they got into a scuffle..................

If that is truly the case, Satou is at a potential crossroads where it will not be weird for her wrongdoing to be discovered at any moment.

She would readily admit to her wrongdoing if we shake her up a little, wouldn’t she.........?

"Anyway, it's Satou, Satou! We don't have any evidence, but finding it is the police's job, right?"

"I'm sure she'd give up and admit it even if we don't have any evidence! No doubt, no doubt!"

Hiroyuki and Tooru were saying it as if it were set in stone that Satou was the culprit. ...I was the only one who felt doubtful, and even I did not know the reason.

However, there was no time left. ......Steam ahead we must, as we had no other choice.

"......Let's try calling Rie Satou out for a talk tomorrow."

Even if Satou is not the culprit, that in itself would be important information for us. After all, we cannot move on right now if we do not suspect Satou, our prime suspect.

However, if there is proper proof that Satou is not the culprit, then who do we suspect next......?

An all too perfect criminal profile; Our entire year was gossiping about Rie Satou. However, there were no rumors about our next suspicious individual.

If it was not Satou......we would be out of leads. Hiroyuki and Tooru seemed to understand this. That was why they said that it was undoubtedly her. That did not mean 'it was undoubtedly Satou', but a howl for it to be Satou, or else they would not know what to do.

"......Let's assume it's not Satou. ...Then what?"

The two of them fell silent. ......There was no way they could answer. But it was something we had to anticipate.

"I think......if it's not Satou, then our hands are tied."

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

"...Ain't no way it's like that. Satou has to be the culprit, she has to be!"

By putting on a brave front, Hiroyuki wanted Tooru and me to agree with him, but we did not nod.

"With this, I am thinking of ending this 'Curse of The Bone' role-playing."

".....................Yeah. Fair point. I agree with Tomohiro." Tooru replied immediately.

Hiroyuki did not reply even after that, but I felt that not denying it was his own way of replying.

"As I thought, 'Curses' is not something that people should create for fun. It might have been a prank to us, but the people getting cursed do not think of it like that. ......If we didn't create it, the weird bullying wouldn't have happened, and even Tanashi wouldn't have met that sort of fate."

We were not involved with Tanashi's fall. However, we were clearly to blame for Tanashi's bullying. That is why we must take responsibility, even if the incident the police are investigating is no fault of ours.

"If Satou's not the culprit..................No."

I thought it over again. I was convinced…that we were wrong. Trying to find the culprit before we were suspected was an act that showed we were trying to hide our own wrongdoing. We must do some self-reflection.

"I think we need to own up to the incident............regardless of whether Satou is the culprit or not."

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

".........Do we...really need to own up...?"

"Yeah. ......We were the ones who created 'The Bone'. 'The Bone' then grew bigger and was used as the trigger for an incident. Even if the incident this time did not occur, Tanashi would have had to face a long and painful period of bullying."

We were clearly to blame for Tanashi's bullying, so much so that we could not talk our way out of it. But that was not all. If we leave the 'Curse of The Bone' as is, someone, somewhere, might use the curse to bully someone else and bring them misfortune. Our guilt would only continue to grow as the number of victims soars.

That is why, as the ones who created the curse, we must be the ones who dispel it. That is our responsibility......and something that only we, the creators, can do.

"If it spreads around the school that the curse is merely our prank, it will become a laughing matter and disappear. Nothing else will happen after that. An incident like Tanashi's will never occur again."

"Everyone'll probably not believe us, you know? They'll only think it's our fictional tale."

"It's no use to tell everyone. We must tell the teachers everything."

Even if we tell our classmates, it is likely that no one will believe us. However, in a school, the words of a teacher have absolute credibility. If we tell the teachers everything and the teachers can convey the truth to the student body, then we can get rid of the spread of the curse in one fell swoop.

However, Hiroyuki and Tooru had reluctant expressions on their faces. They could not nod even if they understood the logic behind it.

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

"........................I......don't wanna." Hiroyuki disagreed.

It was only natural.

"How about you, Tooru?"

"............If I'm being honest, I, too......am opposed to this. ...I feel that I am at fault, you know? I also know that the 'Curse of The Bone' has become no laughing matter. I want to put an end to this game. I think that I did something bad to Tanashi. But...the only thing I don't want to do is tell the faculty everything..."

"Do you think we can take the responsibility like that?"

"......There should be other ways to take responsibility, like apologizing to Tanashi. ......We'll be punished even if we apologize to the faculty. What are we gonna do about our entrance exams if we get punished during this period? I think Tomohiro'll be fine cause your T-score's decent and all, but mine's gonna be in bad shape if my academic report's a goner. My parents are saying that they'll only accept my enrollment at a public school. I need a decent and normal academic report to advance to a public high school...!! I feel responsible for it and want to take the responsibility. But, it's not to the point where I'd throw away my future!"

"They're saying they don't know when Tanashi will regain consciousness. ...No, it'll be nice if she regains consciousness. She might not come to for her entire life. ......Are you sure you are fine with that as your way of taking responsibility?"

"..................I get the logic! I know that I can't take responsibility like this! But I don't want to! It's your choice if you wanna tell the faculty everything, Tomohiro, but please, leave me out of it! I'm begging you......for real............"

Tooru got on his knees, joined his hands, and begged, drops of tears slowly trickling down his face as he sobbed silently.

Unable to think of any words I could say to Tooru, I could only stay silent, just like him.

"......I'll at least promise this as well. I'll not involve myself with the 'Curse of The Bone' from now on. And, I'll apologize to Tanashi. ...Even if she doesn't regain consciousness, I'll visit the hospital and apologize to her. Come along, Tooru, alright? Let's visit and apologize together, the three of us." Hiroyuki eventually said as he scratched his head.

"...............Uh-huh. ......That's a good idea."

"Give us some time...before you tell the school everything. Let's tell them together. ...Let's tell them everything after all three of us have agreed to."

I thought it was an excellent way to phrase it, one that took the views of Tooru and me into account.

"...............That's true. ...We might just need some time."

"......Satou's first for now, right? How do we go about it?"

"...There's probably no other way. ......We can only go for broke and hit her with it straight up."

"You know, about taking responsibility for what happened to Tanashi… Apologizing's not the only way, right? I think tracking down the culprit who pushed her off is also an excellent way to take responsibility."

Tooru said that, and Hiroyuki nodded, but.........are they really okay with that? Aren't they merely trying to fool their guilty conscience by using the culprit, who pushed Tanashi off, an existence more guilty than us, as a scapegoat...?

Are we, the people who ran the red light first, guilty? Or is the culprit who committed the crime guilty? ...Everyone's guilty. The logic here isn't one where someone's guilty, so someone else is not guilty. That's right. It is now that I have finally understood. There was no weight to who was to blame......no, to guilt. The act of ascertaining the weight of guilt itself is a person trying to search for a more guilty person to assert the ‘lightness’ of their guilt, the epitome of irresponsibility.

When I realized that guilt has no weight...this situation became very simple. 

We are guilty for creating the 'Curse of The Bone', spreading it, and being the trigger that allowed Tanashi to be bullied. And, all the students who took advantage of the prank’s anonymity to carry it out repeatedly are guilty. All the students who joined in on Tanashi's bullying are guilty. And, of course, the culprit, who persistently targeted Tanashi and pushed her off on top of that, is guilty as well. All of us are equally as guilty...

............I smiled bitterly at myself.

The view that guilt has no weight is, to those who assert that guilt has weight, like a Tokuseirei1. Our guilt is the heaviest, so we are eager to deny that guilt has weight......

Guilt filled the air all over the school. Of course, it is smeared all over us as well.

...That, itself, is the 'Curse of The Bone'.

1 - A Debt Cancellation Order issued by the Emperor or Shogun back in the Muromachi and Kamakura periods

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