Interlude I

…Someone in third-year Class 3 died.

Yeah, it was a huge deal.

They said she slipped on the stairs in Building C and she landed badly…

No, that's not what happened.

It's not? Then what was it?

I heard that when she fell on the stairs, she threw her umbrella in front of her and the tip of it went through her throat.

Eek!

I heard another story that said she got stabbed through the eye, though, not the throat.

Oh my gosh. Really?

Either way, it was such a gruesome scene that they put a gag order on the witnesses or something.

She was the class representative for the girls, right? The girl who died?

That's what I heard.

I heard that her mom died the exact same day, in a car accident.

Yeah. I heard that, too.

Hey, do you think this is because of that curse?

"That" curse? You mean you know about that?

Just what I've overheard. I don't know the whole story.

They do call it "the curse of third-year Class 3."

See?

But it's dangerous to just go blabbing about it.

But secretly everyone knows the story, right? How a popular kid from that class named Misaki died twenty-six years ago…

Y-yeah…

And how this year is one of those years?

Could be.

That's awful. What if I get put in Class 3 next year?

No use worrying about that now, is there?

But…

Why not transfer out while you're still in second year?

Hm-m-m.

I mean, it's not like it happens every year. I think last year was an off year.

What about the year before that? That year it happened.

The curse is capricious.

Once it starts, something bad happens to the class every month, right?

Yeah.

Someone dies.

Yeah. Every month, at least one person with ties to the class…

Not just the students?

Their families are in danger, too. Especially the immediate family. I heard more distant relatives are fine.

Wow. You sure know a lot about it.

There's an upperclassman in my kendo club named Maejima. He's in Class 3. He's been telling me about it on the sly lately. He acts like he doesn't really believe in it, so that's probably why he told an outsider like me about it.

Okay, so he doesn't believe it. But I mean, someone really did die…

Purely coincidence. Purely an unlucky accident. Curses are baloney…That's what he says.

Maybe he's right.

I have no idea. But really, I think the best thing you can do is to just stay away from that class.

Yeah?

How awful would that be, if we got sucked into that? God forbid. I mean, just talking to you about this stuff could be super dangerous. What should we do? What if…

Hey, cut it out.

Yeah. Let's just drop it.