Not a detective

Page 55

Without hesitation, Asakawa Riku immediately turned around!

As he turned his head, he also took the opportunity to step forward and twist his wrist, delivering a heavy punch to the sneaky guy behind him, but unfortunately, he missed.

The force of the punch reverberated through the air, producing a violent roar, and even caused the toilet door in front to open and close repeatedly, creating an extremely noisy scene.

The sound behind them had no source; it was still the dark toilet, except that on the innermost wall were large, red letters:

【3】

These three red characters, each one larger than the last, initially occupied only the center of the mirror, but now they have covered the entire wall.

It was as if the bloody battle flags and graffiti were about to swallow Asakawa Riku whole.

1...2...3, from the mirror to the ceiling to the wall, a triangle is formed, almost covering the entire space of the toilet, and the atmosphere suddenly becomes eerie.

He was now at the center of this vortex, where strange echoes reverberated, as if isolating him from everything outside the world, and he could no longer feel Chizuko's voice.

All preparations have been completed.

Next, only the most important and crucial part remains.

Chizuko's notebook reads: "After doing these three things, you will see all sorts of bizarre and inexplicable phenomena. If you feel scared, it's not too late to run away. If you knock on the door of the third toilet three times and ask, 'Is Hanako there?', a reply will come from inside: 'Yes,' and Hanako will appear after the door opens, dragging you into the toilet and killing you."

Having come this far, Asakawa Riku naturally couldn't escape.

He walked toward the wall marked [3], which was the deepest and darkest part of the women's restroom, where the light from the windows was blocked and could not reach.

With each step, I could feel a sticky sensation coming from the soles of my shoes, and I had no idea what I was stepping on.

Asakawa Riku was initially a little worried. There were two rows of stalls, which meant there were two "third toilets." Which side was being referred to?

But when I got there, my worries vanished instantly... because only one of the rooms had its door tightly shut.

When was it turned off?

He remembered it very clearly, or rather, he was absolutely certain that when he first entered the restroom, all the stall doors were open.

The toilets here are no different from toilets elsewhere, except they can only be locked from the inside, which means... someone's inside? When did they go in?

When Asakawa Riku looked away, it had only been a few dozen seconds since he went to the toilet, during which time he did not hear anyone's footsteps.

Although he was very curious, he wasn't there to solve the mystery of the locked room.

Bang, bang, bang.

He knocked on the door three times readily, then calmly asked:

"Hanako, are you there?"

------

I accidentally opened the wrong book from the treasure chest, how embarrassing...

But since I mentioned a bounty, I'll add two more chapters.

Aoandon's Autumn: Chapter Eleven: The Rally

"Yes, I'm here."

Just like the ghost stories and rumors, the response came instantly.

A chillingly real voice came from inside the door.

Before he could react, the door swung open with a bang, and a pale hand reached out from the dark cubicle, grabbing Asakawa Riku's wrist.

He was so thin that it seemed as if only skin covered his bones, with sharp features, yet he was very strong; if you grabbed his wrist, it seemed as if you could leave a mark.

Red liquid flowed from her fingertips, instantly staining her freshly washed hands.

"Oh!" Asakawa Riku's eyes lit up.

Then he waited for a while.

The awkward silence lasted for a minute or two...

"and then?"

He couldn't help but ask, "Nothing else, it seems Hanako just grabbed my wrist but didn't make any further moves."

Although the sharp nails were gripping his wrist tightly, it seemed that there was nothing else. The blood that flowed out wasn't his either; it was all going to pool on the ground.

Asakawa Riku suddenly understood... she couldn't pull her.

By the way, Hanako's story is that once all the prerequisites are triggered, Hanako will drag that person into the toilet and kill them.

However, despite Hanako's great strength, she was unable to pull Asakawa Riku in; he remained motionless in place.

That's for sure. After all, the foundation of martial arts training is mastering the legs. Even before you can learn any boxing style, you have to practice the horse stance for several months before you can start learning formally. The legs are the source of power and the core of maintaining a standing position. In a fight, if you want to gain the upper hand, you must maintain a higher position than your opponent, or at least not be easily knocked down.

This principle is shared by all fighting techniques in the world. Even wrestling, which involves dragging an enemy to the ground for grappling, emphasizes the power and explosiveness of the legs.

Therefore, Asakawa Riku was naturally not lacking in this aspect either. He could easily maintain a standing posture and would not be knocked down or pulled away by any sudden impact. As the saying goes, "Stand like a pine tree," his legs were like the roots of a pine tree rooted into the ground, firmly gripping this area. Even if a cavalryman on horseback charged over, he could probably withstand it.

Now, "Hanako's" strange strength is even greater than "Cavalry's," which is not the wrist strength that a little girl should have. However, Asakawa Riku is not without experience in dealing with enemies of this level. He skillfully uses the "force dissipation" technique to evenly transmit the huge pulling force through his body and joints, dispersing it to the ground beneath his feet...

In this way, even the power of ghosts and monsters could not move his body.

Time remained awkwardly frozen, the two of them, or perhaps it wasn't quite right to say two of them, were simply playing an inappropriate tug-of-war game.

Asakawa Riku wanted to take the opportunity to see "Hanako's" face clearly, but the girl was completely hidden in absolute darkness, and even his eyesight could not see her clearly.

All that could be seen was a small, thin silhouette sitting on the toilet seat, with a faint kappa-like hairstyle, but everything else was just a shadow.

Just like back then... "Black Snow".

Hanako should have used all her strength, but Asakawa Riku did not. He stomped the ground and shouted, unleashing even greater power than before, pulling in the opposite direction!

In an instant, Hanako was unable to withstand such a strong force and was pulled off the toilet.

Asakawa Riku even considered that he couldn't break the other person's hand. Taking into account the other person's strength, he carefully allocated the amount of force he exerted. Just as the other person was about to be exposed in front of him.

"Disperse!"

Suddenly, a very strong voice came from behind.

Chizuko's figure appeared in mid-air, as if she had crawled out of the wall, making a strange hand gesture and shouting loudly.

Asakawa Riku instantly realized that she must have been riding on the ghost's shoulder. Before he could even call out, the senior had already fallen.

He slammed his right leg into Hanako's face, kicking her back and sending her tumbling into the dark toilet.

As she chanted a series of indistinct incantations, Chizuko's expression turned serious, and she finally shouted—

"Uhhhhhh!"

Hanako let out a sharp, pitiful scream from the toilet, and then, like water evaporating, she disappeared with a hissing sound.

Silence returned, except for Asakawa Riku, who was still holding the severed arm that had been violently torn off, which had also turned into a pool of blood and disappeared.

"You just kicked someone with your prosthetic leg, if I'm not mistaken?"

"Titanium alloy, it won't hurt, and it's more powerful."

Chizuko smiled and patted her skirt to cover up the area that was almost exposed.

Asakawa Riku sighed, "I was just one step away from seeing Hanako's true face, why did you have to come and ruin it?"

However, in that last second, it seems that what Hanako saw was not a girl's face, but a pitch-black void with no facial features, no outline of eyes, nose, or mouth.

"You shouted once, I thought you were in danger."

"That was just me pulling her up."

"How would I know... By the way, this place was actually under a [barrier]. I tried to open the door a few times and called out, but it wouldn't open. I was only able to get in thanks to Kiku."

Chizuko hummed and changed the subject, but since this senior had only barged in out of concern for him, Asakawa Riku couldn't say anything more.

He has already met "Hanako," so today's investigation can be considered a complete success... right?

The third toilet is now completely empty. No matter how much you search, you can't find any trace of Hanako. She was probably driven away by Chizuko.

Asakawa Riku quickly washed his hands; the sticky, dirty feeling was unpleasant. Only then did he notice that the bloody words on the mirror had disappeared.

Not only [1], but also [2] on the ceiling and [3] on the wall disappeared without anyone noticing.

It felt like everything that had just happened was a dream... but Asakawa Riku felt that it was a real memory.

"So, senior, what exactly is 'Hanako in the Toilet'? Didn't you say I have zero inspiration? Why can I see her?"

Not only did he see it, he also touched the ghost with his own hands, experiencing a real ghostly "paranormal event".

This is a completely new experience.

"No... you probably wouldn't believe me if I said it was a person, but it's not exactly a monster either, nor is it a superpower. How should I put it... it's more like a monster."

Asakawa Riku looked up and saw Chizuko's troubled expression for the first time.

She stood in front of the restroom door, pinching her chin, her brows furrowed: "This shouldn't be happening, the last thing I wanted has happened... How could this be?"

"Is Hanako a troublesome yokai?" Asakawa Riku dried his hands and asked, "Didn't you just defeat her easily? Could she come back to life?"

"No, the problem isn't Hanako."

Chizuko shook her head, looked at Asakawa Riku, and said, "I'm sorry, we have to go back today. The investigation will be suspended for now. I need to check the information and then I'll tell you the details."

Aoandon's Autumn: Chapter Twelve - Aoandon

"Green Lantern?"

"Yes, I believe the culprit in this case is—Aoandon."

The next day at noon, before the club activities after school even started, Chizuko couldn't wait to begin the conversation.

This is unusual. Even during the "earth spider" case last year, she remained calm and unhurried, saying that it was lunchtime.

It's rare to see her looking so disheveled; a few stray hairs are sticking out of her hair, and her eyes are shrouded in heavy dark circles.

She looked like a panda; it seems she stayed up very late last night.

Asakawa Riku didn't respond immediately. Instead, he noticed that Chizuko hadn't brought a lunchbox bag with her today. Upon checking, he learned that Chizuko hadn't even had time to make lunch.

"We agreed to have an extra meal..." he muttered. Helpless, he went to the school supermarket and bought some rice balls, bread, and drinks for the two of them.

Chizuko grabbed a piece of bread and started eating it, saying as she ate:

"Speaking of Aoandon, Asakawa-kun, how much do you know about her?"

"...Hmm, a blue lamp?"

Actually, he was thinking of a beautiful girl with long legs, but he was too embarrassed to say it directly.

Chizuko seemed oblivious to Asakawa Riku's hesitation, and continued her explanation—or rather, she had started this long-winded topic precisely for this reason:

"Aoandon is neither human nor yokai, which is why I hesitated so much yesterday. It's too unique, and I didn't dare to make a conclusion before I was certain. It doesn't have a fixed image. There's an illustration in the 'Hyakki Yakushi Shūi' that looks like a yokai with long hair, a kimono, and horns on its head, but even with its great fame, this image hasn't been fixed because Aoandon isn't a yokai in the ordinary sense. Even among us Onmyoji, there aren't any definite eyewitness accounts... It's an invisible 'rule'."

"Rules?" Asakawa Riku was halfway through his meal when this topic immediately distracted him and stole most of his appetite.

"The earliest research on this kind of monster is the famous 'Hyakki Yagyō' (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons). People in the Edo period played a game called 'Hyakki Yagyō' (One Hundred Tales)."

Chizuko lowered her voice, and even at midday when the sun was high in the sky, the atmosphere instantly became eerie:

"Simply put, it's a game where people take turns telling ghost stories. People sit together at night, light a hundred white candles, and each person takes turns telling a creepy or terrifying story they've personally experienced. After each person finishes telling a story, they blow out a candle. The game has a very interesting rule: when you've told ninety-nine stories, you have to stop and can't continue, because people believe that something terrifying will happen when you blow out the candles after telling the hundredth story."

"You could say that 'Hyakumonogatari' is the prototype of 'Aoandon.' When this game evolves further, it will become even more incredible..."

"In the Edo-period writer Asai Ryōi's *Kahashi*, a complex classical version of the Hyakumonogatari (One Hundred Ghost Stories) is described: Participants all wear blue robes and gather in a dark room. In the room next to this dark room, a lantern made of blue paper is prepared, filled with enough oil, and one hundred wicks are lit and arranged side by side. Next to the lantern is a small wooden table with a mirror on it. After each person finishes telling a ghost story, they must leave their seat, walk in the dark to the next room with the lantern, and blow out one of the wicks. Then, they must look at their face in the mirror before returning to their original dark room, and then it's the next person's turn. While blowing out the wicks, the ghost stories continue to be told until the ninety-ninth ghost story is told. The last wick is left to burn, and everyone continues to sit together waiting for dawn. Once the sun rises, they disperse and go home. Sometimes, they wait a long time, but the next dawn never comes..."

"It's easy to imagine that this rule is far more terrifying than the kind of game where everyone gathers together to tell stories. Not to mention that changing candles to lanterns completely changes the effectiveness of the ritual, each person has to leave the crowd and go to a dark, gloomy room to look in the mirror while telling their ghost stories... The psychological pressure must be immense."

"Although people didn't understand why the ghost stories always ended at the ninety-ninth one, people at the time were very superstitious about this saying. They believed that if the hundredth ghost story was told, something strange would happen, so no one dared to touch this taboo. The mysterious phenomenon of the 'Hyakumonogatari' has been passed down in this way."

"Needless to say, this terrifying experience and feeling gave rise to the appearance of monsters, and the [Blue Lantern] appeared."

Upon hearing this, Asakawa Riku seemed to understand something, even though the story was long and Chizuko was talking non-stop while eating.

But after finally managing to decipher what the other person was saying, it turned out to be aimed at the core issue...

He opened his mouth slightly: "So... the seven wonders of the campus..."

"Yes, I suspect that the Seven Mysteries of the Campus is also a variant of the [Hyakumonogatari].

Chizuko nodded seriously; they shared the same thought.

Asakawa Riku had just finished eating a rice ball and took a sip of bottled tea to moisten his throat, just as Chizuko was drinking a beverage.