Ghost Hunt:Volume7, page 6
part #7 of Ghost Hunt Series
“How cute, what about this?”
The one with swans printed on it was John’s.
Naru, who was looking displeased, had a cup with foxes printed on it. Lin-san’s had puppies. How about that? Isn’t it fitting?
“You lot never lose that playful spirit, really.” The one with crabs printed on it belonged to Yasuhara, who evaluated. With that he lifted his head and looked towards the sky, “Ah ne, the clouds have come out.”
The thick, grey rain clouds could be seen on the nearby mountains.
“It could be about to rain. Didn’t the weather forecast predict rain?”
When he heard John’s words, Bou-san stood up.
“It’ll be troublesome if it rains; I’ll go buy lunch since it’s still early.”
“Yeah.”
Masako also stood up, followed by Yasuhara.
“I’ll take advantage of this time and go find out any news.”
3 people should be enough to handle buying lunch, so I stayed back to keep watch.
“Then I’m counting on you!”
After Bou-san’s car disappeared, John looked at the sky, slightly worried. “It really is about to rain.”
Naru and Lin also stood up.
“ -? Is the rest over yet?”
“I’m going to the observation spot; if it rains we’ll retrieve the equipment at once.”
Right. It’d be a major issue if the equipment were to be ruined by rainwater.
Ah… ah… it was with much difficulty that I could rest a little.
The sunlight dimmed, it started feeling a little chilly. Just as I took a deep breath, thick clouds covered the sky overhead; a strong wind started blowing, the air was mixed with damp; the other side of the mountain darkened.
“This won’t do, it’s raining.”
John stood up and I hurriedly rose too. When we ran outwards, large droplets started falling pitter patter.
“Hn, we haven’t gotten there yet.”
We ran through the pattering rain, when we arrived Naru had already started keeping the adapters.
“Go to the back gardens to keep the microphones.”
“Got it.”
When John and I walked towards the back gardens, the rain started pouring down. When we got to the back gardens, it had already started coming down for real.
“Ya…”
“There’s no way we can keep it like this.”
John said that as he disconnected the microphone beside him.
“We’ll have to wait for the rain to cease before setting up again.”
“That looks like the only option.”
While we joked and retrieved the equipment, the rain got heavier and heavier. When we carried the microphones back, it was truly raining cats and dogs.
5
After running back to the observation point and replacing the microphones, we went back to the vestibule with Naru. Not only were there many holes in the shelter above the corridor, the wind also blew quite a lot of rain in; we couldn’t get out of the rain at all.
By the time we got to the sheltered vestibule, we were already drenched, and that place didn’t provide any shelter at all. Everyone gathered at where the door opened into the vestibule, and I jumped in too.
“It’s a really heavy rain.”
The wind blew the door shut. Because a bit of glass still clung stubbornly to the windows, the wind stopped. The sound of the rain was also slightly muted, and I could finally let out a relieved breath.
“I feel like I’ve just gone for a swim.”
“I wish I was wearing my swimsuit at this time.”
“Could it be that we can’t investigate today?”
Saying that, John looked at Naru, whose hair was also dripping with rain water.
“– Looks like this is the case.”
“I have deeply understood how easy and relaxed our previous investigations have been.”
“Yes.”
Although it was very uncomfortable to be drenched, we didn’t have towels or anything else, so we had to tolerate it.
“Ne, thinking about it, does it matter that we’re inside the school now?”
“Idiot! If there’s anything unexpected we’ll just jump out immediately and all will be well.” Was what Ayako said.
Indeed, the distance to the aged wooden door frame was about 1.5m; only 2 steps were needed for us to jump out.
“Yeah.”
No way. Because Naru was too cautious, even I had turned a little cowardly.
“There wasn’t anything at all before noon.”
If there was a strong spirit, there would be a rebound when psychics came, but from the start there was nothing at all.
“It was like this to begin with,” Naru said coolly.
“Hey… could there be some moderately honest spirits?”
“There are spirits that completely do not respond up until exorcism.”
Eh… is this so.
I looked out through the dirty windows. The upper halves of the doors that opened onto both sides were embedded with glass. Because that large piece of glass had shattered, I could see that it was raining cats and dogs outside.
To be in this type of building during this type of weather somehow gives one an indescribable feeling. Especially when one isn’t alone and together with others, it feels somewhat strange.
“What should we do, Naru? Should we abort it today?”
“What to do…”
It didn’t look like a shower.
“Even if we were to go back, we’d get drenched again when we run to the car.”
Ayako’s body was relatively untouched by the rain.
“Ayako didn’t get caught in the rain. Unfair!”
“As if.”
“Regardless of what happens, we have to wait for Bou-san etc to return.”
“That’s true.”
Naru suddenly took a step.
“What’s up?”
“Bring the file over.”
Can’t you forget work while we’re getting out of the rain? Really.
“It’d get wet.”
“It’s already wet.”
Indeed.
Naru reached out to grab the door.
“-?”
“What’s up?”
Naru pushed the door with all his strength. But it was stuck somewhere. The door merely creaked and groaned but didn’t move. Ayako almost burst out laughing.
“Naru you’re weak.”
“It’s the door’s problem. It’s too old!”
I said that as I reached out. Although I used all my strength…
“-? Why doesn’t it move?”
Naru shook the door with some violence and used his shoulder to ram the door. Following that his expression turned serious.
“Could it be locked…?”
I mumbled to myself… On the other hand I was aware there couldn’t have been that possibility.
Lin and John also ran over, and the three of them pushed the door together. They reached a conclusion immediately.
“– The door can’t be opened.”
Chapter 4: August 13th 11am to 3pm
1
“What? Are you kidding?”
Not daring to put it into words, silence reverberated between us.
“Could it be that because of the rain, the wooden door has taken up water and gotten stuck? If the door cannot open, let’s try the windows.” This was Ayako’s voice.
Thinking about it, there were many windows in this place, and the glass was already broken; there was no possibility of being trapped in this place.
“Mai, John, retreat.” Ayako picked up the empty glass bottle by her feet.
“Let’s break this glass and open it from the outside.”
“We’ll discuss who gets out of here first later.”
“As long as it isn’t me.”
Although our tones were relaxed, our facial expressions had stiffened a little. Ayako banged the empty bottle against the glass, creating a sound that put shivers down my spine; shards of glass littered the ground.
The bottle that was used to hit the glass, and the glass that was hit – the only one that shattered was the bottle.
“You’ve got to be kidding!”
I gestured to Ayako, who was slightly unsettled. “Aren’t there many other windows? Do we try them?”
“Y…yes.”
Naru stopped us, who were about to make a move. “Don’t move unnecessarily.”
“Ah?”
“I’m going to investigate it first. John, go to the second floor to check. – Mai!”
“Here!”
“Go with John, do not ever get separated from him. Matsuzaki-san, can you go with them too?”
“Go. Mai, go, explore forth.”
“Yeah!”
I hurried behind John and Ayako. My drenched clothes stuck heavily around my body.
Stairs were right in the center of the corridor straight from the entrance hall. If we climbed up the stairs, straight ahead would be the stage, further up were walls made from plywood, completely blocking any possible exit.
“Ah ne, there’s nowhere to go from here.”
“What a short exploration.”
“There’s a door.” There was a small door where Ayako pointed, it was locked with a small metal lock.
Although it was locked with a padlock, the lock came off the wood with a slight tug. The wood had already rotted away. Pulling aside the wood was a small doorway, we couldn’t pass through unless we bent over. Inside was a flight of stairs.
“… What should we do?” I looked towards John. Should we go down from here? What should we do if the door won’t open after we enter?
“Mai and Matsuzaki-san, stay here and keep the door open. I’ll go ahead to take a look.”
“But Naru said not to get separated.”
John smiled and said, “I’m just going a little further up, I’ll come back right after checking the state of the windows. If it’s open there I can still get out; if the windows there cannot be opened, then the rest of the windows cannot be opened either.”
I could see a window not far from the top of the flight of stairs.
“You’re just going up to that place, right?”
“Yeah, just there. I’ll test if that window can be opened and come right back.”
“Yeah…”
I propped the door open with my back, Ayako also held the doorframe tightly. John bent over and went inside. It was far dustier inside than outside.
Besides the window, there was no other light source. The light from the window was also very dim due to the rain. Inside the school building, it felt like it was already dusk.
At the top of the stairs, a corridor stretched out. Because it was a two storey building, on the first floor on the right, there were seven classrooms lined up in a row.
“Why are there so many classrooms?”
“Probably because there were so many students when this school was first built.”
“Is that so… as the number of students decreased, the second floor was not used and sealed off.”
“Probably.”
As I spoke, my eyes followed John’s back closely. John stood in front of the window and shook the window slightly, before coming down immediately. It felt like the window couldn’t be opened, it didn’t budge an inch.
“Doesn’t it work?”
John smiled bitterly, “No. I somehow feel like the windows here are all crooked.”
Saying that, he emerged from the doorway. Only at this point did I realize how tense I was; only after John emerged fully, did I finally relax. Ayako, too, let out a breath.
After we came down, Naru and co were still testing leaving through the windows. After hearing John’s explanation, Naru’s expression turned extremely severe.
“How’s it going down there?”
“It can’t be opened.”
“Let’s use a more forceful method.”
“Let’s do so.”
Lin opened a near-by classroom and took out a chair. John thoughtfully took out a small bottle from his pocket, and gently scattered drops of water and drew them into a cross.
“Please stay further away.” Lin picked up the chair and smashed it; I hurriedly covered my ears. An ear-piercing sound was created momentarily.
“– Ah.”
I looked at the shattered chair, then at the window. At the instance the chair was flung towards the window it swayed crookedly. But that was all: neither the window frame nor the glass sustained any damage at all. I picked up a broken chair leg and flung it towards the glass. Regardless of how hard we smashed the glass, not a single crack appeared.
Without any inflexion whatsoever, Naru said,
“We have been completely sealed in.”
2
“What should we do?” I asked. Naru shrugged.
Everyone temporarily returned to the entrance hall and sat down.
“We still don’t know the opponent’s goals –”
“Opponent?”
“Do I have to explain to you? – It’s the opponent who makes use of paranormal strength to seal us inside this place.”
“If that’s the case, then the opponent shouldn’t be human, right?”
“Based on common sense, we are currently in this type of situation.”
“– At least we’ve found out there really is something over here.”
“Yes, I didn’t expect there to be anything.”
“Indeed.”
But the unchanging fact was, the sound of the rain continued on outside, it felt as though there was a waterfall outside.
“Forget it; then aren’t we going to do anything?”
After sighing, Ayako said, “Bou-san and co who went shopping will come back soon. They might find a way to get in from the outside.”
“But if they can’t?” When I said that, Ayako’s face was filled with dislike.
“We’ll make them do a little something regardless; fortunately they can still send a little food and water in through the places where there is no glass. I think, like this, we can survive for a while in any situation.”
Naru laughed bitterly, “The problem is how much we can hope.”
“Yes.”
“Although we don’t know what our opponent is planning to do, I don’t think it simply just wants us to feel troubled or happy.”
Ayako was silent, John spoke, “Yes, it can’t be helped that we wait here, there’s nothing else we can do.”
– Yeah, it was indeed like this.
Naru nodded and looked at us. “Does anyone here have a lighter?”
“I brought one.” Ayako nodded. Naru took it from her, then glanced once more around the entrance hall.
“First use the shoe rack to set up a barricade in the corridor.”
“Are barricades any use against spirits? Isn’t it better to use the classroom?”
In response to my query, Naru shrugged his shoulders. “The classroom won’t do, we cannot get just a temporary reprieve, we must think of what might happen after the sun goes down.”
???
I felt confused, Naru immediately put on an arrogant look. “Do you want to wait around in complete darkness?”
Ah, I got it. And that was really very embarrassing, for me not to understand. With the lighter we could light a bonfire on the ground.
There were 2 footstools in the vestibule, and 2 shoe racks as well. The pieces were lined up 4 abreast – probably because there used to be many students originally. There were many more unused shoe racks piled up in the vestibule – a brief count showed there were more than 10 of them. We moved most of these onto the corridor.
“Because if anything happens, we can’t get to the other side either, so please don’t completely block it.” Lin said.
“If we don’t block it, then isn’t it pointless?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
We stacked the shoe racks on either side of the corridor up to the ceiling, with a gap in between for people to pass through. Slightly in front of that gap, we stacked up some more shoe racks. It was just like hiding the entrance with a screen.
“Is this alright?”
“It’s about there. Who brought the strap?”
“I have some – but they are plastic.”
I handed the strap to Lin; from the inner pocket of his jack, Lin took out a protective seal and stuck it side of the ‘screen’ made from shoe racks facing the corridor.
“That… may I ask a question?”
Lin didn’t reply but just looked at me.
“Why do you do this, does this not matter?”
“There is a popular believe that evil spirits can only walk straight, that’s why there’s the custom of placing a wall in front, or on the inner side of a door. It’s approximately similar to this false wall or screen.”
“Ai… is that so.”
“Although it’s only a saying that they can only walk straight, the false wall really has an effect – because the spirits perceive this as a real wall.”
“There are spirits that can pass through walls too, aren’t there?”
“There are. If we’re talking about spirits that can pass through walls, they can naturally pass through this setup easily. But if that’s the case, then blocking it totally would give the same result.”
Ah – so that’s the case.
“There’s also a door on the second floor.”
“Yeah, although it is very small.”
“Should we erect a false wall there to seal it up in advance?”
3
We broke the already worn and broken foot stools and lit them.
Although it had not darkened inside the school building, it is indeed true that the presence of fire is calming. Furthermore, our wet clothes were icy cold against our skin – that’s why we felt even more that it was a great thing to have fire.
Although there was an entrance facing the outside, it didn’t move an inch despite how much we tried. On the inside there were 2 entrances, both of which were sealed with protective seals. We gathered around the fire and sat on the cement floor. Although it was covered in mud, there was nothing we could do about it.
“Mai, do you want a drink?” Ayako called me.
“Something sweet.”
