“Honestly, can’t you do something about that childhood friend of yours!?”
In the music room on the second floor of the wooden, two-storied old school building, angry shouts rang out.
And the owner of those shouts was, of course, me.
“Ahh, that rumor, you mean? Isn’t it a masterpiece?”
The one that answered teasingly with a wide grin was C-ta.
Light-colored hair that was thin and soft-looking, and droopy, friendly-looking eyes—the typical appearance of an ikemen. If you were to ask me, I couldn’t stand him.
“….Why you….”
Just as I started to draw closer to C-ta, we heard the sound of the door sliding open again.
“…. Hey.”
——It was A-ya.
“No, it’s not just ‘hey’…. I don’t really care about your bad tastes, but would you stop using people as your topics?”
“…. What’re you talking about?”
“…. Don’t act like you don’t know!”
Desperately trying to suppress my anger, I glared at A-ya.
The reason for my anger was a rumor that had most likely been spread by him.
The rumor in question said that my imposter was roaming around.
I got annoyed every single time I was sure that he spread another rumor about time, but because A-ya always looked so calm while I was fuming with anger, I felt like I was the one being immature.
“……Haah…well, I’m used to it, so it’s fine, but you know……”
I sighed, and sat back down in my seat.
“……By the way, about that rumor that you spread, what is a doppelganger?”
D-ne asked.
“……Ah.“”
One corner of A-ya’s mouth turned up slightly, and he replied to her question.
“In German, it means ‘double goer’, and as the word implies, a specific person is seen in two completely different places at the exact same time……The point is, an imposter appears. It’s a kind of supernatural phenomena.”
Impostor……huh.
I thought it was cruel to spread that kind of rumor about someone like me, who lived off of mirroring other people’s reactions.
Well, it wasn’t the first time I’d heard this kind of story so it wasn’t like I was particularly shocked, but……
Well, in any case, just like this, we always did this activity of gathering “rumors.”
At first, it was only because I was hounding A-ya, to sure he didn’t spread any more weird rumors, but in doing so, I realized something.
I realized that I liked things that had to do with the “occult.”
Although I have never shown passion towards anything in my life before, when I heard things about the occult, I felt a tingling feeling of excitement in the depths of my heart.
When I had heard about how in the past, there was an incident at this school where students died an unnatural death, I got goose bumps from the feelings of being both afraid and interested.
“……Speaking of which, do you know any other rumors like this? It’s a story I just learned about recently, but there’s an urban legend about ‘The Person Who Committed Suicide While Laughing’.”
Once again, A-ya gleefully began to speak about his collection of urban legends.
Outside, the sun’s angle was quite low in the sky, and the sunset stained the sky bright red.
It’s pretty, but such a sinister color, I thought as I listened to the story.
“Ah, it’s about time I went home.”
After a bit of time had passed, C-ta said this and picked up his bag.
The weird doll attached to his bag swayed.
It was an enoki mushroom striking a flashy pose, but because of its unmotivated face, it wasn’t even cute in the slightest.
Also, apparently its name was “Motreevational Treenoki,” some phonetic combination that doesn’t make much sense.
“It’s about time for me, too……Ah, but, that doll, it bothers me, after all,”
I said while pointing to the doll on his bag.
“Ehh, even though it’s cute? D-ne-chan, you think so too, don’t you?”
“No, I don’t think it’s cute at all?”
D-ne said, smiling.
Even so, without breaking his smile,
“Ahaha, that sounds like something D-ne would say,”
C-ta replied.
“……Speaking of dolls, in the urban legend ‘Hide and Seek Alone’, dolls are used.”
A-ya also picked up his bag to go home. Even on the way home, we continued to talk about urban legends.
*
The next day, I was angry again.
Despite all that I’d said yesterday, the rumors had gotten even worse.
Among them, there was even someone who claimed they had sighted my imposter.
There was a limit to how far mischief could go. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be satisfied until I punched A-ya today, once and for all.
After school, I went to the old school building with D-ne and threw open the door.
“……Oh? You seem awfully angry today.”
C-ta, as usual, grinned as if he had no idea what was going on.
“……Can’t you do something about that childhood friend of yours?”
D-ne and I put down our bags and sat down in our usual seats.
“Ahh, that rumor, you mean? Isn’t it a masterpiece? As usual, it’s the best.”
……The nerve of this guy! Even though I was so sure that he was just like me—acting nice to other people while having a lousy personality on the inside!
“….Why you….”
The moment I jumped up from my seat, we heard the sound of the door sliding open again.
“…. Hey.”
——It was A-ya.
“No, it’s not just ‘hey’….I don’t really care about your bad tastes, but would you stop using people as your topics?”
“….What’re you talking about?”
“……Just like yesterday, don’t act you like don’t know. The rumors are only getting worse!”
I was desperately trying to suppress my anger.
“Look, don’t call smoke where there’s no fire. I only meant it as a little prank.”
“….Why you…”
“If someone happened to see you right now, won’t they think you’re an impostor?”
“I’m serious, if you don’t stop now …….”
“……Anyway, there’s something that I’ve been thinking about recently.”
A-ya abruptly changed the topic, and started talking about the strange phenomena that had been happening around him recently. And after he talked about the “Bookmark of Demise,” lastly, he said this,
“……Let’s do it one more time.”
And thus, we became involved, in the worst Demise Game……
*
——BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!!!!
Just when C-ta looked like he was about to finally say something, the intense noise came again.
The man’s face that was displayed on the screen was twisted as if it were something not of this world, and switched between a laughing, troubled, crying, and angry expression.
——And then, the incoming silence.
“……What was that……j-just now……?”
“……I don’t know.”
“……‘Fox?’ A ‘traitor’……?”
” It’s just a really bad joke, right……?
“…………”
We all fell silent at the same time, and looked at each other.
In the dim classroom, all of us had pale faces.
A long period of time passed……In reality, it might not even have been longer than a minute, but….The silence dragged on. Someone spoke up, saying, “….Anyway, let’s just go home for today…” and on their suggestion, we left the school.
*
Even after I got home, I couldn’t stop shaking. My heart rate was sped up, and my breathing shallow.
I could still hearing that voice ringing in my ears, which only increased my fear.
“……Help meee…….”
I called out that person’s name in a quiet voice, and clutched my cell phone.
I thought about calling his number several times, but I couldn’t muster up the courage.
……And so, I could only lay there sobbing, waiting for the night to pass.
The following day, I headed for school early in the morning.
I couldn’t bear having to deal with all that fear on my own.
As I quickly entered the school building, I saw someone I recognized in front of the shoe lockers.
——It was D-ne.
I was relieved to have found someone I could share my experiences with, and started to call out to her.
“……D—“
Right when I was about to say her name, I realized that there was someone else with her.
….. It was a girl from D-ne’s class, and if I remembered correctly, she was associated with the track club, and the type of girl that was always the center of attention in class.
We knew each other well enough to greet one another whenever we passed by in the hallways.
What could she be talking to D-ne about……?
I hid myself somewhere that was a blind spot for both of them, but still close enough to eavesdrop.
“……early……….practice………I….here……………..”
“……see……hurry……………”
I couldn’t really catch what they were saying. For some reason, it looked that D-ne was paying extra attention to her surroundings.
I held my breath, and watched the two of them.
And then, D-ne suddenly opened her shoe locker.
“……ah!”
I clamped my hand over my mouth to keep from accidently making any sounds.
Even from a distance, although I wasn’t entirely sure since it had only been for a second, if I wasn’t mistaken, there had been something unwanted in that shoe locker.
It was a single letter.
Even if it had only been for a second, it had given off an unpleasant feeling—a letter that was clearly not normal.
Although I couldn’t see D-ne face from where I was, why had that been in her shoe locker?
With my hand still clamped over my mouth, I leaned forward to try and hear their conversation again.
And when I did, I saw that the letter was now in the hand of the girl from the track club.
I recalled the eerie voice of the announcer.
・Kokkuri-san’s demands will be sent via letter.
・You will be given one week to fulfill Kokkuri-san’s demands.
・If the demands are ignored, you will die.
・If the demands are shown to someone outside of the game, that person will die.
D-ne! No, it can’t be! It couldn’t possibly be, right!?
If D-ne has received the letter, and that girl sees the contents, she’ll die, you know?
D-ne would never do something like that……!
She wouldn’t, right!?
My thoughts didn’t seem to reach at all, and the girl from the track club began to open the letter.
Her hand almost seemed to be moving in slow motion.
You can’t…… But……If you do that……!
“…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………..………………… What is this?”
“—Ah!”
The track girl’s face turned in my direction for a split second.
Her face was completely expressionless, lifeless, and her eyes had lost all light from them……!
I felt like crying because of how terrifying her face was.
——What could possibly have been written in that letter?
Afterwards, the track girl walked off into the school building, muttering incoherently with the letter still in hand.
I was too horrified to move from that spot.
D-ne also stood motionless for a while, but then disappeared into the school building, as well.
That day, I didn’t feel like going to class at all, and merely went up to the roof, hugging my knees to my chest and waited for the time to pass.
*
After school, while still filled with fear, I headed up to the music room in the old school building.
I must have come too early, because no one else was there yet.
Once A-ya gets here, should I talk to him about what had happened this morning……?
But, it wasn’t certain yet if that “letter” had been the real thing.
What was I supposed to do……?
As I thought this over, the door of the classroom suddenly opened.
——Clatter.
“…………!”
It was A-ya and C-ta. I felt relieved that I wouldn’t have to be alone with D-ne.
“……What’s wrong? B-ko-chan.”
“……”
“……B-ko?”
“……Y-yesterday………………w-was just a prank……right……?”
Right, the things that had happened yesterday might have just been a prank.
However, A-ya and C-ta’s expression showed that they thought otherwise.
If all of that had been true, then soon……someone would……
“……kh”
——Clatter.
“…………!”
Just as I was about to talk about D-ne and this morning’s events, the classroom door opened, and D-ne appeared.
I suddenly got scared, averted my eyes from her, and clammed up.
“……About yesterday……In the end, I wonder what that was all about.”
D-ne didn’t seem to notice my reaction, and joined the conversation.
“……It’s hard to tell at this point……I hate to admit it, but there’s a chance it might’ve just been an elaborate prank……
I felt slightly relieved by A-ya saying it was a prank, and raised my face.
"……But, if it’s true, then one of us is……”
One of us is the traitor.
“——Stop it!”
I yelled to interrupt those words, and held my head so as to cover my ears.
I didn’t want to hear those words. After all, we didn’t still know yet.
What if… What if that girl from the track club was going to die……?
No, that’s not possible! People don’t just die, or get killed so easily! That kind of unrealistic thing wouldn’t just simply—!
——THUD!!!!
There was a sudden loud noise, and a shadow appeared outside of the glass room of the old building music room we were all in.
——It was a person.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
I screamed, and a moment later, I understood. Every bad thing that I had imagined had become an even more terrible reality, bringing on a steady dizzy sensation.
——That person, was the girl from the track club.
In the midst of my fear, I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.
Right now, she was dangling in the air at the second floor, staring into the classroom.
The rope that hung from the roof held her up by the neck, and her vacant eyes met with mine.
“…… I-it’s ‘The Girl By The Window’……”
A-ya was trembling in fear, with a tight, half-smile on his face.
“…… W-we…… have to go call someone……”
C-ta was scared, too.
But they didn’t understand. None of you… Not a single one of you could even begin to understand my fear right now……!
……D-ne……!!
・If the demands are shown to someone outside of the game, that person will die.
This game was real.
No matter how unrealistic it had seemed, all of it was real.
I couldn’t take my eyes off of the vacant eyes in front of me, making me unable to see what D-ne’s face looked like at that time.
My memories after that were vague.
After the teachers arrived at the scene, and we briefly explained the situation to the police as well, we were told to go home early.
From what little information we’d heard from the police, along with what we heard afterwards, it seemed that this incident clearly had too many uncertain points.
That only made sense, because this was…… The killer was……
*
I arrived home, and just as I went into my room, my cell phone vibrated.
It was a mobile chat from a girl I got along with in class.
“B-ko, are you okay? That was really scary, huh?”
It would seem that she’d heard from someone about how I had been there to witness the suicide.
She must have sent me a message out of concern for me.
I sat down on my bed and began typing back on my phone.
“……Yeah. Sorry, I’m still pretty shocked right now……”
I felt bad for my friend who was worried about me, but I didn’t feel like talking much today.
“I see… Sorry to bother you, then. But feel better, okay?”
“Mhm. Thanks.”
“I’m sure it’s the same for the other two that saw it, but try not to let it get to you too much……”
……Two? What did she mean by that? At that time, other than me, there should have been three other people in the old school building.
“……Wait, what do you mean by two?”
“Eh? Oh….. Well I’ve kinda figured out the four of you always hang out together, you know?”
“Eh? Sorry, but what do you mean exactly?”
“Hm? I mean, C-ta-kun was somewhere else at that time, wasn’t he?”
……What was she talking about?
“There’s always the four of you, so including you, it must’ve been three altogether.”
“……I see.”
“…..? Um, are you really okay? If there’s something you need, you can tell me anytime, okay?”
“……Yeah, thanks.”
“Okay, talk to you later, then.”
I put aside my cell phone and thought for a while.
C-ta…had been somewhere else?
There was a possibility that she’d mistaken someone else for him, but…… What could that mean exactly?
「——Due to a single traitor, a “fox”, the game has begun.」
There was a single traitor.
What if D-ne had simply received the letter, and it was nothing more than that……?
But, since it was said that something would happen if the contents of the letter were seen, would D-ne really show it to someone so easily?
As I thought about it even more, my thoughts became stuck somewhere, as if I’d walked into a marsh.
The more the struggled, the more I got stuck, and I came to a point where my thoughts were far from being logically consistent.
By the time I realized it, the morning light was streaming in through my windows.
I felt confusion, fear, unease, and an amount of fatigue that I had never felt before.
……Hey, help meee……
No longer able to tell if I was thinking or not anymore, I cried out like a small child, and dialed his phone number……
“……Hello?”
The moment I heard that familiar voice, all the emotions that I’d had bottled up came rushing forward all at once.
“……A-yaaa……”
I think that may have been the first I’d ever let anyone hear me cry.
However, I didn’t have the time to be feeling embarrassed about that.
“……Help me……”
I told A-ya about all the things I knew.
About D-ne receiving the letter, and about C-ta being sighted.
A-ya didn’t say anything particular about how I spoke between sobs, and simply listened to me talk as he usually did.
After I’d finished telling him everything, A-ya was silent for a while, and then said,
“……This case is just full of impossible things…”
A-ya’s voice sounded somewhat angry.
“It’s all of the urban legends that I talked about. ‘The Person Who Committed Suicide While Laughing,’ ‘The Girl By The Window,’ ……For C-ta, I guess it’d be ‘doppelgangers’?”
“……What do you mean?”
“In this world, there are only things that seem like the truth, and things that seem like lies.”
“……Eh?”
“Only a second-rate playwright would feel the need to have them actually brought to life.”
“……A-ya? What are you…..talking about?”
Although I couldn’t see his expression over the phone, it was then that I finally realized that A-ya was laughing.
“…..I’ll end this game……”
Hearing A-ya’s firm voice, I felt like all my fear had been blown away.
End it? But…how?
・To reach the end of the game, the “fox” must be killed.
As if he’d read my mind, A-ya continued speaking.
“……The rules of this game are too unreasonable. In the first place, I think it’s doubtful whether or not the ‘fox’ is really even one of us four.”
“……Eh?”
“……There has to be another way to track down the culprit, besides following these rules.”
“…..A way…..to track them down?”
For me, that seemed almost unthinkable.
If the first place, we’d never doubted that the ‘fox’ could be among the four of us, and even now, there was still that suspicion…..
“…..But, how are we supposed to find a way to……”
“……That incident from ten years ago feels suspicious to me. But if we can find out more about it, maybe we’ll be able to learn something.”
“……That incident….from ten years ago……”
“……To begin with, that diary was odd…… So if we can just figure it out, then maybe……”
A-ya seemed to be thinking of something as he mumbled to himself.
……What…What was I supposed to do…?
Keep cowering and wait for A-ya to solve this…..?
No, I…I didn’t want that. But, I didn’t know what else I could do……
While I thought about these things, A-ya spoke up again.
“……Let’s investigate it together.”
“……Eh?”
“Let’s investigate the incident from ten years ago together……”
“…..But…..”
“I might not be able to do it all on my own…. So lend me a hand. And then, we’ll bring an end to this game……!”
Even in a situation like this one, I thought of those words as kind.
*
“…..Haa……”
After ending the call, I went to go take a shower.
The water washed away at least some of the anxieties piled up on my body, distracting me from them.
I went over what I had talked about with A-ya.
We had decided to split up searching the libraries between the two of us.
In order to gather more detailed information about the incident from ten years ago, we would investigate the newspaper articles and such from that time.
First, we agreed to meet up and discuss what kind of information we should be looking for.
There were two libraries nearby, the school library room and the local city library.
And right in the middle of the two libraries was a shopping mall.
We would meet there, and after going over the plan, we would each go to our assigned library.
I got out of the shower, got dressed, and headed for the shopping mall.
It was hot outside, and when I walked briskly, it was enough to make me sweat a bit.
When I neared the shopping mall, I spotted several people I knew there.
Inside, I could see pairs of boys and girls, most likely couples.
I remained out of sight, and headed towards our specified meeting location.
Once I got there, I took out my cell phone which I’d turned off.
This morning, there had once again been a bunch of chats, texts, replies, and direct messages that my classmates and people I got along with had sent out of concern for me.
Since I kept receiving so many notifications, I had turned off my phone until I’d reached the meeting place.
Just in case A-ya might be trying to call, I turned the power back on.
“……Eh?
There was an unbelievable amount of new notifications.
There were texts from my classmates, but for some reason, I’d received a DM on Twitter from an ID I didn’t recognize.
It was a mysterious locked account, “mearry1713.”
Even though you couldn’t send a DM to someone unless you were following them…..On that account that I couldn’t remember seeing before, they were following one person and had one follower……In other words, they were linked only to me.
Very slowly, I opened up one of the DMs they’d sent.
『I’m always watching you.』
……What is this……?
Although I was honestly still scared by the incomprehensible events that kept happening around me, I didn’t fall into a panic like I would before.
Instead, I thought about how I could hurry up and end this game.
What was taking A-ya so long……!?
“……ah!”
Right when I was about to lift my face up and look around, I felt a powerful gaze.
There was no mistake, I was positively sure that it had been directed at me just now.
Pretending that I hadn’t noticed the gaze, I turned to look in the direction it had come from.
“!”
——Although it’d only been for a moment, I felt like D-ne had been there.
A-ya had said that he didn’t know, but… What if D-ne was the ‘fox’……?
My phone vibrated again, notifying me that I’d received a DM.
I slowly opened it up.
『I’m watching you right now, too.』
“……B-ko…….?”
“……!”
The moment I tried to check which direction I felt the gaze come from, someone suddenly called to me from a short distance away. ……It was A-ya.
I realized that I could no longer feel the gaze from earlier, and walked over to where A-ya was.
“……What’s wrong?”
“……No, it’s nothing….”
“……Alright, then.”
A-ya nodded, and didn’t question any further.
“So, what’re we gonna do? Should we sit down somewhere first?”
“No, let’s just talk as we go. The basis is simple—ten years ago, the season being about the same as right now. I want to check out the local newspapers from that time. If we can find out any small detail about the incident… Like the causes of death, or what happened when the bodies were discovered, that’d be great.”
“……Yeah.”
“I’ll head to the school library room, so B-ko, I want you to go to the city library.”
“……Alright.”
“Afterwards, even if we don’t find any clues, we’ll meet up again.”
“Got it……!”
——Instead of thinking so hard about everything, right now, I had to do whatever I could……!
After parting with A-ya, I started to head straight for the city library.
However, just when I was about to leave the shopping mall, I was seen by a classmate, and they called out to me.
“B-ko-chan!”
It was a high and clear voice that travelled far.
When I turned around, I saw that it was A-ya’s classmate.
He had a cheerful, sociable personality, and often spread around rumors that he heard from A-ya.
To be honest, I kind of didn’t like him.
“B-ko-chan, you sure went through a lot yesterday…..Are you okay now?”
“…..Ah, yeah, I’m fine,”
Even in a time like this, I couldn’t take off my mask, and answered back with a friendly smile.
“I was really worried, you know!”
He continued rambling about things he didn’t really mean.
Thinking that I’d better get going, I interrupted him.
“…..Um, I have to go soon……”
“——By the way, C-ta’s been acting weird.”
……What?
“……Wait, ‘weird’?”
“Yeah. I saw him today from behind, so I decided to call him, since he was walking a bit of a distance away. And when I did, C-ta responded in a weird way and hung up on me.”
“……Was it really him……?”
“I mean, he even had that gross doll, you know?”
C-ta’s……imposter?
I tried hard to think.
What if…What if C-ta really had an imposter?
Would that be related to whether or not the traitor was among the four of us……?
In that case, maybe D-ne had an imposter, as well.
What if it had been D-ne’s imposter who was watching me, and chasing after me?
「——Due to a single traitor, a “fox”, the game has begun.」
There was still something that didn’t quite make sense.
I ended the conversation with A-ya’s classmate, and went around the whole shopping mall once, searching for C-ta’s, or possibly even D-ne’s imposter, before heading for the city library.
By the time I made it to the city library, it was already late into the afternoon. It would seem that I’d spent more time at the shopping mall than I’d planned to. I had to hurry and investigate the incident from ten years ago.
The city library was located a short distance away from the school area. Because it was a smaller library, it looked like there was only one staff person at the counter, and no other visitors besides me.
I headed for the reference corner in the back, where there were old books and technical books that looked thicker than dictionaries, and other collections of reference materials that had been specifically organized.
There were many thick books, so it would took a while to find what I was looking for.
After looking through several bookshelves, I suddenly noticed that there was a book lying on the small table in the back.
Had someone just left it there after looking through it?
With that light-hearted thought, I peered at the cover.
……It was a pitch black book, and stuck inside was a bookmark with a black cat drawn on it.
“……ah!”
An extremely ominous feeling swept over me.
My heart pounded as if it was striking a bell, and my breathing became so harsh that I could hear it with my own ears.
I leaned back against a nearby bookshelf, and at that moment, something fell down from above me.
……It was…a single letter.
I fought hard to not go into flight mode, and slowly opened the letter, for the sake of ending this game.
——Request from Mearry-san Author: B-ko——
Don’t answer the call from Mearry-san.
The moment I looked at the letter, my phone vibrated.
“……ah!”
I pressed a hand over my mouth before a scream could escape, and checked the screen on my phone.
It was a DM from the account from earlier.
Feeling a little relieved that it hadn’t been a phone call, I opened up the DM.
『I was at the shopping mall earlier.』
……Eh?
As I finished reading that DM, the next one came immediately after.
『———Right now, I’m already in front of the library.』
——!!!!!!!!
At that very moment, I heard the sound of someone entering the library.
I hid behind a nearby shelf and held my breath.
I don’t know how many times I’d felt fear during these past few days.
But during that time, it was clear that the true fear was slowly coming, one step at a time.
The person that had come into the library headed straight for the reference corner.
And after looking through the shelves for a while, they took several reference materials and seemed to be heading towards the tables.
While still feeling very afraid, I peeked out to look at that person from behind.
——It was D-ne.
“………is…..”
Although I couldn’t see her expression from where I was, she seemed to be looking for something, as well.
Was she…really the ‘fox,’ after all? Was she…trying to find information…about ten years ago?
No, that…that can’t be, right…..!? D-ne……!
Slowly, very slowly, I crept up to her.
D-ne seemed so engrossed in what she was doing that she didn’t notice me at all.
With determination, and still a bit of hope, I tapped her on the shoulder.
——Tap.
“……Eek!”
Surprised by the sudden tap on her shoulder, D-ne turned around.
I’d already noticed it once I’d come up close, but it seemed that she really was investigating that incident from ten years ago.
D-ne learned forward slightly, as if trying to hide it from view.
“……Wh-what’s wrong……? Why are you h——”
“What’ve you been doing?”
“……What?”
“I asked you, what’ve you been doing all this time?”
“……”
I don’t think I was able to hide my feelings of disgust and despair.
“……Aha, what’s wrong? B-ko-chan, you seem angry about some——”
But even still, D-ne continued to play dumb.
“Earlier, too! You were looking for someone at the shopping mall, weren’t you?”
“……What?”
“Were you looking for me……? Did you think that you would corner me here?”
“B-ko-chan, what’re you talking about……”
What was I saying, really? It was if, I was trying to say that D-ne was——
“I saw it, you know!”
“……What?”
“………That day, at the shoe lockers…”
There was no going back once I’d said this.
Even though I knew this, I couldn’t stop myself from doing so.
“I saw you show her the ‘letter’……You killed that girl, didn’t you!?”
“……N-no, that’s….not…….”
“Enough already, just stop it! I’ve started to think that you might really be the ‘fox,’ and……If that’s really true, if you really are then……Just put an end to this nightmare already……!”
I was distraught from being caught up in all the confusion.
“……B-ko-chan, you’re wrong……I’m……”
D-ne started to say something, but then fell silent again.
A long silence followed. I thought about how I wouldn’t care even if I was killed right then and then.
However, I never expected to hear the next thing that D-ne said.
“……B-ko-chan.”
“……Wh-what is it……”
“I said that I liked you, B-ko-chan……”
“……What?”
After saying this, she brought out her best smile, the same as she usually would.
“….When I said that before…. It wasn’t a lie.”
Walking past my motionless figure, D-ne left the library.
Even after D-ne had left, for a long time, I could only continue standing there, dumbfounded……
*
I was regretting it now.
If D-ne wasn’t actually the ‘fox,’ then I might have said something really terrible just now.
“……We have to…hurry and end this game……”
I stood up, and went over to the material that D-ne had left open.
From here, I could see the table where the “Book of Demise” had been earlier, but the book had already disappeared without a trace. ….I felt like no matter what happened now, nothing could really faze me anymore,.
I scanned the material that D-ne had been looking at.
Written there were the details about that incident of unnatural deaths that had taken place at our school ten years ago.
Four Students from the Film Club Die of Unnatural Causes.
An Accident During School Club Activities? Evidence May Show Possibility of Murder.
……Film Club?
That was strange. Such a thing hadn’t been mentioned at all in the diary from ten years ago.
I was certain that they had been in the Occult Research Club, or something similar, just like us…. So what did this mean…..?
I tried looking around for other useful articles.
After comparing several of them, I noticed something strange about how they were presented.
In the majority of the articles, there was no mention of the causes of death, among other important facts. “Details are currently unknown” was written in most of them, and as if the entire incident had been forgotten about thereafter, no further articles were published.
Thinking that I had to tell A-ya about this as soon as possible, I took out my cell phone. However, no matter how many times I pressed the call button, there was only a monotone voice informing me of poor reception.
Becoming anxious, I decided to leave the library with the materials that I’d gathered up.
Just as I was thinking that I’d better hurry to the school, my phone vibrated again.
I glanced at the screen, thinking that A-ya had returned my call, but instead, it was a text from D-ne.
In the body of the text, the only thing written was this:
『Re: Starting now, I will prove to you that I am not the traitor.』
……D-ne…..!
I had a bad feeling.
What if… she really wasn’t the traitor, and she had received a letter, as well? What if…what she’d told me……hadn’t been a lie, after all…..!?
——I changed my mind about heading to the school, and started to break into a run.
And at that moment, my phone vibrated again.
I hurriedly checked the screen….and saw that it was an incoming call from ⋆⋆.
『You have one missed call.』
Staring at the screen, I left out a single sigh. And at the same time, the phone vibrated again.
My fingers shook, but not because of the phone’s vibrations.
“Aｘ I thｘｘght, tｘe ｘｘｘ wｘs ｘoｘ.”
——I said, and laughed with my final breath.
“Honestly, can’t you do something about that childhood friend of yours!?”
In the music room on the second floor of the wooden, two-storied old school building, angry shouts rang out.
And the owner of those shouts was, of course, me.
“Ahh, that rumor, you mean? Isn’t it a masterpiece?”
The one that answered teasingly with a wide grin was C-ta.
Light-colored hair that was thin and soft-looking, and droopy, friendly-looking eyes—the typical appearance of an ikemen. If you were to ask me, I couldn’t stand him.
“….Why you….”
Just as I started to draw closer to C-ta, we heard the sound of the door sliding open again.
“…. Hey.”
——It was A-ya.
“No, it’s not just ‘hey’…. I don’t really care about your bad tastes, but would you stop using people as your topics?”
“…. What’re you talking about?”
“…. Don’t act like you don’t know!”
Desperately trying to suppress my anger, I glared at A-ya.
The reason for my anger was a rumor that had most likely been spread by him.
The rumor in question said that my imposter was roaming around.
I got annoyed every single time I was sure that he spread another rumor about time, but because A-ya always looked so calm while I was fuming with anger, I felt like I was the one being immature.
“……Haah…well, I’m used to it, so it’s fine, but you know……”
I sighed, and sat back down in my seat.
“……By the way, about that rumor that you spread, what is a doppelganger?”
D-ne asked.
“……Ah.“”
One corner of A-ya’s mouth turned up slightly, and he replied to her question.
“In German, it means ‘double goer’, and as the word implies, a specific person is seen in two completely different places at the exact same time……The point is, an imposter appears. It’s a kind of supernatural phenomena.”
Impostor……huh.
I thought it was cruel to spread that kind of rumor about someone like me, who lived off of mirroring other people’s reactions.
Well, it wasn’t the first time I’d heard this kind of story so it wasn’t like I was particularly shocked, but……
Well, in any case, just like this, we always did this activity of gathering “rumors.”
At first, it was only because I was hounding A-ya, to sure he didn’t spread any more weird rumors, but in doing so, I realized something.
I realized that I liked things that had to do with the “occult.”
Although I have never shown passion towards anything in my life before, when I heard things about the occult, I felt a tingling feeling of excitement in the depths of my heart.
When I had heard about how in the past, there was an incident at this school where students died an unnatural death, I got goose bumps from the feelings of being both afraid and interested.
“……Speaking of which, do you know any other rumors like this? It’s a story I just learned about recently, but there’s an urban legend about ‘The Person Who Committed Suicide While Laughing’.”
Once again, A-ya gleefully began to speak about his collection of urban legends.
Outside, the sun’s angle was quite low in the sky, and the sunset stained the sky bright red.
It’s pretty, but such a sinister color, I thought as I listened to the story.
“Ah, it’s about time I went home.”
After a bit of time had passed, C-ta said this and picked up his bag.
The weird doll attached to his bag swayed.
It was an enoki mushroom striking a flashy pose, but because of its unmotivated face, it wasn’t even cute in the slightest.
Also, apparently its name was “Motreevational Treenoki,” some phonetic combination that doesn’t make much sense.
“It’s about time for me, too……Ah, but, that doll, it bothers me, after all,”
I said while pointing to the doll on his bag.
“Ehh, even though it’s cute? D-ne-chan, you think so too, don’t you?”
“No, I don’t think it’s cute at all?”
D-ne said, smiling.
Even so, without breaking his smile,
“Ahaha, that sounds like something D-ne would say,”
C-ta replied.
“……Speaking of dolls, in the urban legend ‘Hide and Seek Alone’, dolls are used.”
A-ya also picked up his bag to go home. Even on the way home, we continued to talk about urban legends.
*
The next day, I was angry again.
Despite all that I’d said yesterday, the rumors had gotten even worse.
Among them, there was even someone who claimed they had sighted my imposter.
There was a limit to how far mischief could go. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be satisfied until I punched A-ya today, once and for all.
After school, I went to the old school building with D-ne and threw open the door.
“……Oh? You seem awfully angry today.”
C-ta, as usual, grinned as if he had no idea what was going on.
“……Can’t you do something about that childhood friend of yours?”
D-ne and I put down our bags and sat down in our usual seats.
“Ahh, that rumor, you mean? Isn’t it a masterpiece? As usual, it’s the best.”
……The nerve of this guy! Even though I was so sure that he was just like me—acting nice to other people while having a lousy personality on the inside!
“….Why you….”
The moment I jumped up from my seat, we heard the sound of the door sliding open again.
“…. Hey.”
——It was A-ya.
“No, it’s not just ‘hey’….I don’t really care about your bad tastes, but would you stop using people as your topics?”
“….What’re you talking about?”
“……Just like yesterday, don’t act you like don’t know. The rumors are only getting worse!”
I was desperately trying to suppress my anger.
“Look, don’t call smoke where there’s no fire. I only meant it as a little prank.”
“….Why you…”
“If someone happened to see you right now, won’t they think you’re an impostor?”
“I’m serious, if you don’t stop now …….”
“……Anyway, there’s something that I’ve been thinking about recently.”
A-ya abruptly changed the topic, and started talking about the strange phenomena that had been happening around him recently. And after he talked about the “Bookmark of Demise,” lastly, he said this,
“……Let’s do it one more time.”
And thus, we became involved, in the worst Demise Game……
*
——BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!!!!
Just when C-ta looked like he was about to finally say something, the intense noise came again.
The man’s face that was displayed on the screen was twisted as if it were something not of this world, and switched between a laughing, troubled, crying, and angry expression.
——And then, the incoming silence.
“……What was that……j-just now……?”
“……I don’t know.”
“……‘Fox?’ A ‘traitor’……?”
” It’s just a really bad joke, right……?
“…………”
We all fell silent at the same time, and looked at each other.
In the dim classroom, all of us had pale faces.
A long period of time passed……In reality, it might not even have been longer than a minute, but….The silence dragged on. Someone spoke up, saying, “….Anyway, let’s just go home for today…” and on their suggestion, we left the school.
*
Even after I got home, I couldn’t stop shaking. My heart rate was sped up, and my breathing shallow.
I could still hearing that voice ringing in my ears, which only increased my fear.
“……Help meee…….”
I called out that person’s name in a quiet voice, and clutched my cell phone.
I thought about calling his number several times, but I couldn’t muster up the courage.
……And so, I could only lay there sobbing, waiting for the night to pass.
The following day, I headed for school early in the morning.
I couldn’t bear having to deal with all that fear on my own.
As I quickly entered the school building, I saw someone I recognized in front of the shoe lockers.
——It was D-ne.
I was relieved to have found someone I could share my experiences with, and started to call out to her.
“……D—“
Right when I was about to say her name, I realized that there was someone else with her.
….. It was a girl from D-ne’s class, and if I remembered correctly, she was associated with the track club, and the type of girl that was always the center of attention in class.
We knew each other well enough to greet one another whenever we passed by in the hallways.
What could she be talking to D-ne about……?
I hid myself somewhere that was a blind spot for both of them, but still close enough to eavesdrop.
“……early……….practice………I….here……………..”
“……see……hurry……………”
I couldn’t really catch what they were saying. For some reason, it looked that D-ne was paying extra attention to her surroundings.
I held my breath, and watched the two of them.
And then, D-ne suddenly opened her shoe locker.
“……ah!”
I clamped my hand over my mouth to keep from accidently making any sounds.
Even from a distance, although I wasn’t entirely sure since it had only been for a second, if I wasn’t mistaken, there had been something unwanted in that shoe locker.
It was a single letter.
Even if it had only been for a second, it had given off an unpleasant feeling—a letter that was clearly not normal.
Although I couldn’t see D-ne face from where I was, why had that been in her shoe locker?
With my hand still clamped over my mouth, I leaned forward to try and hear their conversation again.
And when I did, I saw that the letter was now in the hand of the girl from the track club.
I recalled the eerie voice of the announcer.
・Kokkuri-san’s demands will be sent via letter.
・You will be given one week to fulfill Kokkuri-san’s demands.
・If the demands are ignored, you will die.
・If the demands are shown to someone outside of the game, that person will die.
D-ne! No, it can’t be! It couldn’t possibly be, right!?
If D-ne has received the letter, and that girl sees the contents, she’ll die, you know?
D-ne would never do something like that……!
She wouldn’t, right!?
My thoughts didn’t seem to reach at all, and the girl from the track club began to open the letter.
Her hand almost seemed to be moving in slow motion.
You can’t…… But……If you do that……!
“…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………..………………… What is this?”
“—Ah!”
The track girl’s face turned in my direction for a split second.
Her face was completely expressionless, lifeless, and her eyes had lost all light from them……!
I felt like crying because of how terrifying her face was.
——What could possibly have been written in that letter?
Afterwards, the track girl walked off into the school building, muttering incoherently with the letter still in hand.
I was too horrified to move from that spot.
D-ne also stood motionless for a while, but then disappeared into the school building, as well.
That day, I didn’t feel like going to class at all, and merely went up to the roof, hugging my knees to my chest and waited for the time to pass.
*
After school, while still filled with fear, I headed up to the music room in the old school building.
I must have come too early, because no one else was there yet.
Once A-ya gets here, should I talk to him about what had happened this morning……?
But, it wasn’t certain yet if that “letter” had been the real thing.
What was I supposed to do……?
As I thought this over, the door of the classroom suddenly opened.
——Clatter.
“…………!”
It was A-ya and C-ta. I felt relieved that I wouldn’t have to be alone with D-ne.
“……What’s wrong? B-ko-chan.”
“……”
“……B-ko?”
“……Y-yesterday………………w-was just a prank……right……?”
Right, the things that had happened yesterday might have just been a prank.
However, A-ya and C-ta’s expression showed that they thought otherwise.
If all of that had been true, then soon……someone would……
“……kh”
——Clatter.
“…………!”
Just as I was about to talk about D-ne and this morning’s events, the classroom door opened, and D-ne appeared.
I suddenly got scared, averted my eyes from her, and clammed up.
“……About yesterday……In the end, I wonder what that was all about.”
D-ne didn’t seem to notice my reaction, and joined the conversation.
“……It’s hard to tell at this point……I hate to admit it, but there’s a chance it might’ve just been an elaborate prank……
I felt slightly relieved by A-ya saying it was a prank, and raised my face.
"……But, if it’s true, then one of us is……”
One of us is the traitor.
“——Stop it!”
I yelled to interrupt those words, and held my head so as to cover my ears.
I didn’t want to hear those words. After all, we didn’t still know yet.
What if… What if that girl from the track club was going to die……?
No, that’s not possible! People don’t just die, or get killed so easily! That kind of unrealistic thing wouldn’t just simply—!
——THUD!!!!
There was a sudden loud noise, and a shadow appeared outside of the glass room of the old building music room we were all in.
——It was a person.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
I screamed, and a moment later, I understood. Every bad thing that I had imagined had become an even more terrible reality, bringing on a steady dizzy sensation.
——That person, was the girl from the track club.
In the midst of my fear, I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.
Right now, she was dangling in the air at the second floor, staring into the classroom.
The rope that hung from the roof held her up by the neck, and her vacant eyes met with mine.
“…… I-it’s ‘The Girl By The Window’……”
A-ya was trembling in fear, with a tight, half-smile on his face.
“…… W-we…… have to go call someone……”
C-ta was scared, too.
But they didn’t understand. None of you… Not a single one of you could even begin to understand my fear right now……!
……D-ne……!!
・If the demands are shown to someone outside of the game, that person will die.
This game was real.
No matter how unrealistic it had seemed, all of it was real.
I couldn’t take my eyes off of the vacant eyes in front of me, making me unable to see what D-ne’s face looked like at that time.
My memories after that were vague.
After the teachers arrived at the scene, and we briefly explained the situation to the police as well, we were told to go home early.
From what little information we’d heard from the police, along with what we heard afterwards, it seemed that this incident clearly had too many uncertain points.
That only made sense, because this was…… The killer was……
*
I arrived home, and just as I went into my room, my cell phone vibrated.
It was a mobile chat from a girl I got along with in class.
“B-ko, are you okay? That was really scary, huh?”
It would seem that she’d heard from someone about how I had been there to witness the suicide.
She must have sent me a message out of concern for me.
I sat down on my bed and began typing back on my phone.
“……Yeah. Sorry, I’m still pretty shocked right now……”
I felt bad for my friend who was worried about me, but I didn’t feel like talking much today.
“I see… Sorry to bother you, then. But feel better, okay?”
“Mhm. Thanks.”
“I’m sure it’s the same for the other two that saw it, but try not to let it get to you too much……”
……Two? What did she mean by that? At that time, other than me, there should have been three other people in the old school building.
“……Wait, what do you mean by two?”
“Eh? Oh….. Well I’ve kinda figured out the four of you always hang out together, you know?”
“Eh? Sorry, but what do you mean exactly?”
“Hm? I mean, C-ta-kun was somewhere else at that time, wasn’t he?”
……What was she talking about?
“There’s always the four of you, so including you, it must’ve been three altogether.”
“……I see.”
“…..? Um, are you really okay? If there’s something you need, you can tell me anytime, okay?”
“……Yeah, thanks.”
“Okay, talk to you later, then.”
I put aside my cell phone and thought for a while.
C-ta…had been somewhere else?
There was a possibility that she’d mistaken someone else for him, but…… What could that mean exactly?
「——Due to a single traitor, a “fox”, the game has begun.」
There was a single traitor.
What if D-ne had simply received the letter, and it was nothing more than that……?
But, since it was said that something would happen if the contents of the letter were seen, would D-ne really show it to someone so easily?
As I thought about it even more, my thoughts became stuck somewhere, as if I’d walked into a marsh.
The more the struggled, the more I got stuck, and I came to a point where my thoughts were far from being logically consistent.
By the time I realized it, the morning light was streaming in through my windows.
I felt confusion, fear, unease, and an amount of fatigue that I had never felt before.
……Hey, help meee……
No longer able to tell if I was thinking or not anymore, I cried out like a small child, and dialed his phone number……
“……Hello?”
The moment I heard that familiar voice, all the emotions that I’d had bottled up came rushing forward all at once.
“……A-yaaa……”
I think that may have been the first I’d ever let anyone hear me cry.
However, I didn’t have the time to be feeling embarrassed about that.
“……Help me……”
I told A-ya about all the things I knew.
About D-ne receiving the letter, and about C-ta being sighted.
A-ya didn’t say anything particular about how I spoke between sobs, and simply listened to me talk as he usually did.
After I’d finished telling him everything, A-ya was silent for a while, and then said,
“……This case is just full of impossible things…”
A-ya’s voice sounded somewhat angry.
“It’s all of the urban legends that I talked about. ‘The Person Who Committed Suicide While Laughing,’ ‘The Girl By The Window,’ ……For C-ta, I guess it’d be ‘doppelgangers’?”
“……What do you mean?”
“In this world, there are only things that seem like the truth, and things that seem like lies.”
“……Eh?”
“Only a second-rate playwright would feel the need to have them actually brought to life.”
“……A-ya? What are you…..talking about?”
Although I couldn’t see his expression over the phone, it was then that I finally realized that A-ya was laughing.
“…..I’ll end this game……”
Hearing A-ya’s firm voice, I felt like all my fear had been blown away.
End it? But…how?
・To reach the end of the game, the “fox” must be killed.
As if he’d read my mind, A-ya continued speaking.
“……The rules of this game are too unreasonable. In the first place, I think it’s doubtful whether or not the ‘fox’ is really even one of us four.”
“……Eh?”
“……There has to be another way to track down the culprit, besides following these rules.”
“…..A way…..to track them down?”
For me, that seemed almost unthinkable.
If the first place, we’d never doubted that the ‘fox’ could be among the four of us, and even now, there was still that suspicion…..
“…..But, how are we supposed to find a way to……”
“……That incident from ten years ago feels suspicious to me. But if we can find out more about it, maybe we’ll be able to learn something.”
“……That incident….from ten years ago……”
“……To begin with, that diary was odd…… So if we can just figure it out, then maybe……”
A-ya seemed to be thinking of something as he mumbled to himself.
……What…What was I supposed to do…?
Keep cowering and wait for A-ya to solve this…..?
No, I…I didn’t want that. But, I didn’t know what else I could do……
While I thought about these things, A-ya spoke up again.
“……Let’s investigate it together.”
“……Eh?”
“Let’s investigate the incident from ten years ago together……”
“…..But…..”
“I might not be able to do it all on my own…. So lend me a hand. And then, we’ll bring an end to this game……!”
Even in a situation like this one, I thought of those words as kind.
*
“…..Haa……”
After ending the call, I went to go take a shower.
The water washed away at least some of the anxieties piled up on my body, distracting me from them.
I went over what I had talked about with A-ya.
We had decided to split up searching the libraries between the two of us.
In order to gather more detailed information about the incident from ten years ago, we would investigate the newspaper articles and such from that time.
First, we agreed to meet up and discuss what kind of information we should be looking for.
There were two libraries nearby, the school library room and the local city library.
And right in the middle of the two libraries was a shopping mall.
We would meet there, and after going over the plan, we would each go to our assigned library.
I got out of the shower, got dressed, and headed for the shopping mall.
It was hot outside, and when I walked briskly, it was enough to make me sweat a bit.
When I neared the shopping mall, I spotted several people I knew there.
Inside, I could see pairs of boys and girls, most likely couples.
I remained out of sight, and headed towards our specified meeting location.
Once I got there, I took out my cell phone which I’d turned off.
This morning, there had once again been a bunch of chats, texts, replies, and direct messages that my classmates and people I got along with had sent out of concern for me.
Since I kept receiving so many notifications, I had turned off my phone until I’d reached the meeting place.
Just in case A-ya might be trying to call, I turned the power back on.
“……Eh?
There was an unbelievable amount of new notifications.
There were texts from my classmates, but for some reason, I’d received a DM on Twitter from an ID I didn’t recognize.
It was a mysterious locked account, “mearry1713.”
Even though you couldn’t send a DM to someone unless you were following them…..On that account that I couldn’t remember seeing before, they were following one person and had one follower……In other words, they were linked only to me.
Very slowly, I opened up one of the DMs they’d sent.
『I’m always watching you.』
……What is this……?
Although I was honestly still scared by the incomprehensible events that kept happening around me, I didn’t fall into a panic like I would before.
Instead, I thought about how I could hurry up and end this game.
What was taking A-ya so long……!?
“……ah!”
Right when I was about to lift my face up and look around, I felt a powerful gaze.
There was no mistake, I was positively sure that it had been directed at me just now.
Pretending that I hadn’t noticed the gaze, I turned to look in the direction it had come from.
“!”
——Although it’d only been for a moment, I felt like D-ne had been there.
A-ya had said that he didn’t know, but… What if D-ne was the ‘fox’……?
My phone vibrated again, notifying me that I’d received a DM.
I slowly opened it up.
『I’m watching you right now, too.』
“……B-ko…….?”
“……!”
The moment I tried to check which direction I felt the gaze come from, someone suddenly called to me from a short distance away. ……It was A-ya.
I realized that I could no longer feel the gaze from earlier, and walked over to where A-ya was.
“……What’s wrong?”
“……No, it’s nothing….”
“……Alright, then.”
A-ya nodded, and didn’t question any further.
“So, what’re we gonna do? Should we sit down somewhere first?”
“No, let’s just talk as we go. The basis is simple—ten years ago, the season being about the same as right now. I want to check out the local newspapers from that time. If we can find out any small detail about the incident… Like the causes of death, or what happened when the bodies were discovered, that’d be great.”
“……Yeah.”
“I’ll head to the school library room, so B-ko, I want you to go to the city library.”
“……Alright.”
“Afterwards, even if we don’t find any clues, we’ll meet up again.”
“Got it……!”
——Instead of thinking so hard about everything, right now, I had to do whatever I could……!
After parting with A-ya, I started to head straight for the city library.
However, just when I was about to leave the shopping mall, I was seen by a classmate, and they called out to me.
“B-ko-chan!”
It was a high and clear voice that travelled far.
When I turned around, I saw that it was A-ya’s classmate.
He had a cheerful, sociable personality, and often spread around rumors that he heard from A-ya.
To be honest, I kind of didn’t like him.
“B-ko-chan, you sure went through a lot yesterday…..Are you okay now?”
“…..Ah, yeah, I’m fine,”
Even in a time like this, I couldn’t take off my mask, and answered back with a friendly smile.
“I was really worried, you know!”
He continued rambling about things he didn’t really mean.
Thinking that I’d better get going, I interrupted him.
“…..Um, I have to go soon……”
“——By the way, C-ta’s been acting weird.”
……What?
“……Wait, ‘weird’?”
“Yeah. I saw him today from behind, so I decided to call him, since he was walking a bit of a distance away. And when I did, C-ta responded in a weird way and hung up on me.”
“……Was it really him……?”
“I mean, he even had that gross doll, you know?”
C-ta’s……imposter?
I tried hard to think.
What if…What if C-ta really had an imposter?
Would that be related to whether or not the traitor was among the four of us……?
In that case, maybe D-ne had an imposter, as well.
What if it had been D-ne’s imposter who was watching me, and chasing after me?
「——Due to a single traitor, a “fox”, the game has begun.」
There was still something that didn’t quite make sense.
I ended the conversation with A-ya’s classmate, and went around the whole shopping mall once, searching for C-ta’s, or possibly even D-ne’s imposter, before heading for the city library.
By the time I made it to the city library, it was already late into the afternoon. It would seem that I’d spent more time at the shopping mall than I’d planned to. I had to hurry and investigate the incident from ten years ago.
The city library was located a short distance away from the school area. Because it was a smaller library, it looked like there was only one staff person at the counter, and no other visitors besides me.
I headed for the reference corner in the back, where there were old books and technical books that looked thicker than dictionaries, and other collections of reference materials that had been specifically organized.
There were many thick books, so it would took a while to find what I was looking for.
After looking through several bookshelves, I suddenly noticed that there was a book lying on the small table in the back.
Had someone just left it there after looking through it?
With that light-hearted thought, I peered at the cover.
……It was a pitch black book, and stuck inside was a bookmark with a black cat drawn on it.
“……ah!”
An extremely ominous feeling swept over me.
My heart pounded as if it was striking a bell, and my breathing became so harsh that I could hear it with my own ears.
I leaned back against a nearby bookshelf, and at that moment, something fell down from above me.
……It was…a single letter.
I fought hard to not go into flight mode, and slowly opened the letter, for the sake of ending this game.
——Request from Mearry-san Author: B-ko——
Don’t answer the call from Mearry-san.
The moment I looked at the letter, my phone vibrated.
“……ah!”
I pressed a hand over my mouth before a scream could escape, and checked the screen on my phone.
It was a DM from the account from earlier.
Feeling a little relieved that it hadn’t been a phone call, I opened up the DM.
『I was at the shopping mall earlier.』
……Eh?
As I finished reading that DM, the next one came immediately after.
『———Right now, I’m already in front of the library.』
——!!!!!!!!
At that very moment, I heard the sound of someone entering the library.
I hid behind a nearby shelf and held my breath.
I don’t know how many times I’d felt fear during these past few days.
But during that time, it was clear that the true fear was slowly coming, one step at a time.
The person that had come into the library headed straight for the reference corner.
And after looking through the shelves for a while, they took several reference materials and seemed to be heading towards the tables.
While still feeling very afraid, I peeked out to look at that person from behind.
——It was D-ne.
“………is…..”
Although I couldn’t see her expression from where I was, she seemed to be looking for something, as well.
Was she…really the ‘fox,’ after all? Was she…trying to find information…about ten years ago?
No, that…that can’t be, right…..!? D-ne……!
Slowly, very slowly, I crept up to her.
D-ne seemed so engrossed in what she was doing that she didn’t notice me at all.
With determination, and still a bit of hope, I tapped her on the shoulder.
——Tap.
“……Eek!”
Surprised by the sudden tap on her shoulder, D-ne turned around.
I’d already noticed it once I’d come up close, but it seemed that she really was investigating that incident from ten years ago.
D-ne learned forward slightly, as if trying to hide it from view.
“……Wh-what’s wrong……? Why are you h——”
“What’ve you been doing?”
“……What?”
“I asked you, what’ve you been doing all this time?”
“……”
I don’t think I was able to hide my feelings of disgust and despair.
“……Aha, what’s wrong? B-ko-chan, you seem angry about some——”
But even still, D-ne continued to play dumb.
“Earlier, too! You were looking for someone at the shopping mall, weren’t you?”
“……What?”
“Were you looking for me……? Did you think that you would corner me here?”
“B-ko-chan, what’re you talking about……”
What was I saying, really? It was if, I was trying to say that D-ne was——
“I saw it, you know!”
“……What?”
“………That day, at the shoe lockers…”
There was no going back once I’d said this.
Even though I knew this, I couldn’t stop myself from doing so.
“I saw you show her the ‘letter’……You killed that girl, didn’t you!?”
“……N-no, that’s….not…….”
“Enough already, just stop it! I’ve started to think that you might really be the ‘fox,’ and……If that’s really true, if you really are then……Just put an end to this nightmare already……!”
I was distraught from being caught up in all the confusion.
“……B-ko-chan, you’re wrong……I’m……”
D-ne started to say something, but then fell silent again.
A long silence followed. I thought about how I wouldn’t care even if I was killed right then and then.
However, I never expected to hear the next thing that D-ne said.
“……B-ko-chan.”
“……Wh-what is it……”
“I said that I liked you, B-ko-chan……”
“……What?”
After saying this, she brought out her best smile, the same as she usually would.
“….When I said that before…. It wasn’t a lie.”
Walking past my motionless figure, D-ne left the library.
Even after D-ne had left, for a long time, I could only continue standing there, dumbfounded……
*
I was regretting it now.
If D-ne wasn’t actually the ‘fox,’ then I might have said something really terrible just now.
“……We have to…hurry and end this game……”
I stood up, and went over to the material that D-ne had left open.
From here, I could see the table where the “Book of Demise” had been earlier, but the book had already disappeared without a trace. ….I felt like no matter what happened now, nothing could really faze me anymore,.
I scanned the material that D-ne had been looking at.
Written there were the details about that incident of unnatural deaths that had taken place at our school ten years ago.
Four Students from the Film Club Die of Unnatural Causes.
An Accident During School Club Activities? Evidence May Show Possibility of Murder.
……Film Club?
That was strange. Such a thing hadn’t been mentioned at all in the diary from ten years ago.
I was certain that they had been in the Occult Research Club, or something similar, just like us…. So what did this mean…..?
I tried looking around for other useful articles.
After comparing several of them, I noticed something strange about how they were presented.
In the majority of the articles, there was no mention of the causes of death, among other important facts. “Details are currently unknown” was written in most of them, and as if the entire incident had been forgotten about thereafter, no further articles were published.
Thinking that I had to tell A-ya about this as soon as possible, I took out my cell phone. However, no matter how many times I pressed the call button, there was only a monotone voice informing me of poor reception.
Becoming anxious, I decided to leave the library with the materials that I’d gathered up.
Just as I was thinking that I’d better hurry to the school, my phone vibrated again.
I glanced at the screen, thinking that A-ya had returned my call, but instead, it was a text from D-ne.
In the body of the text, the only thing written was this:
『Re: Starting now, I will prove to you that I am not the traitor.』
……D-ne…..!
I had a bad feeling.
What if… she really wasn’t the traitor, and she had received a letter, as well? What if…what she’d told me……hadn’t been a lie, after all…..!?
——I changed my mind about heading to the school, and started to break into a run.
And at that moment, my phone vibrated again.
I hurriedly checked the screen….and saw that it was an incoming call from ⋆⋆.
『You have one missed call.』
Staring at the screen, I left out a single sigh. And at the same time, the phone vibrated again.
My fingers shook, but not because of the phone’s vibrations.
“Aｘ I thｘｘght, tｘe ｘｘｘ wｘs ｘoｘ.”
——I said, and laughed with my final breath.
