23 Seven Mysteries Part 4
At first, Kazuma managed to ask a few students, and although he got a few who managed to respond to him, most of them were just plain rude and some looked at him strangely.
Although Kazuma is not affected by these new behaviors, it affected his Intel gathering to the point that the people around him started to shun him and whenever he tries to ask, they will actively avoid him.
"Ah, crap. Perhaps I have come to be labeled as creepy for actively asking them about the Seven Mysteries. Crap, I should have known that being a bit well-known and at least attractive would be a much better way to ask around."
Finally knowing his limitation, Kazuma is forced to stop for a while and resume his search once the lunch bell rings. Entering his classroom, a few of his classmates are looking at him with incredulous stares like seeing some pervert or weirdo. Kazuma just shrugged off all of the attention he got as he was totally used to it back in his old school but he just hadn't expected it to happen on the second day of school.
As the class continues on, he is currently devising tactics on what he should do on how to gather information regarding the other Seven Mysteries. It lasted until the school bell started to ring all over the school and he stopped. He quickly wolfed down his food in a hurry before leaving.
Moonlight clearly noticed it but only sighed.
"It's not my problem anyways..."
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Kazuma started to roam around the school. He occasionally checks the group chat in case there is an update or even a chat log but it seems both Rena and Raigaki are offline. He also doesn't know where they are so he has no idea where to look.
Since asking the students would just make him more unlikable to the students, it is not an option therefore, he decided to just go around the campus and try to hear some rumors about these Seven Mysteries.
The first thing he did was go to the third floor where the third-year seniors are currently in. If he had a better way of finding one of the seven mysteries info, it would be by listening and investigating the seniors who know the ins and outs of the school.
As he was walking around and trying to listen to some gossip for some info, he heard a snapshot from a camera and he saw the flash from behind, prompting him to turn around.
The one who shot a picture of him is a girl who is a bit shorter than Kazuma but based on her sleeves and collar, it seems she is a senpai. She wears a brown blazer over her uniform while also wearing a striped beret, covering the top of her long brown hair. She looks pretty, but she is so-so in the chest area he might be wrong since she has a blazer on top of her uniform so he might be mistaken.
"Ah, sorry about that. I just saw someone new so I instinctively snapped a picture of you."
"No worries. I am not mad, just please refrain from snapping pictures of me unless you ask, alright?" Kazuma shook his head and although he does not like to have his picture taken like that, he doesn't really mind much either.
"Really sorry about that, Here, take a look at your picture. It comes out great," the girl then handed him the camera.
Kazuma took the camera and checked his photo. It was him staring behind him which means the photo catches him turning around. Although Kazuma is not well versed in camera and photos, he can totally say that it is indeed a good shot. The only problem he found with his photo is that there is something peculiar about it especially the girl in uniform also captured in the background. She was in the corner and only her head and half of her body could be seen so she was pretty much blending into the environment unless someone took the nitpick to look closer.
"Are you a new student? I didn't see you around before?"
"Ah, indeed. I am a sophomore, and I am just exploring to familiarize myself around."
"Oh, is that so? Well, I am your senpai at one year level then. Nice to meet you!"
Kazuma only nodded. Her extrovertedness makes him a bit tired. Compared to him who likes to be alone, being with her felt a bit exhausting. He then handed back the camera to her.
"Do you want me to delete it?" she asked.
"Nah, I am fine. You can do whatever you want in that photo. Anyway, since you decided to snap a picture of me, may I ask something as well?" Kazuma decided to take advantage of this now that they were both engaged in a conversation.
"Sure, ask away! I am always ready to answer!"
"Then, can you tell me anything about the current Seven Mysteries in this school?"
"Seven Mysteries?"
"Ah, don't worry if you don't know anything. I am just asking around about it as it is part of the club's assignment..." Kazuma immediately thought of a reason he could give to her.
"Assignment? Wait, are you part of the Anthology Club?" she asked.
"Yes. I was actually collecting information about them since the club president asked us to compile it for this year's anthology." Kazuma didn't technically lie as this is indeed going to be compiled in this year's anthology according to what Voltaire and the others have told him.
"Oh, it's understandable, especially with how the seven mysteries of this school always change every year. The Anthology club is always tasked to gather them and record them."
"Is there anything you can tell me or anything?"
"Not really sure if it is counted as part of those seven mysteries but there is one particular incident that started just this school year. It began after the graduation of the seniors and until now, it keeps on happening again and again."
Kazuma's attention immediately focused on what she was saying.
"You see, there are various trash cans all around the school that are scattered everywhere right? We have the incinerator and the dump behind the school building to toss and burn all of the garbage that cannot be recycled or used for gardening. Well, during that time, the garbage is scattered all over the place and the dump is totally wrecked like it got ransacked by whoever it was. Not only that but the garbage found in other garbage cans is also scattered all over the place as well. However, in the places where it happened, a big foot of some unknown person or entity was seen and until now, it still happens. You just don't see it since it is always cleaned up but those early students always get to clean up the mess as a result."
"Eh, perhaps it's just an animal or something else."
"Maybe, but can you still say it's an animal when the footsteps of the culprit are like this?" she then propped up her camera to me and revealed a few pictures of big "footprints" on the ground. The only thing is that it doesn't look like a real footprint but I can also tell it was one as there are other prints that indicate it was walking.
"This needed some more investigation, I don't think I can say this is indeed one immediately."
"Yeah, figures. It's pretty vague and perhaps it was just an animal indeed."
"Is that all?" Kazuma asked.
"Yeah. You can go ask other people. That's the only thing I have found for now, sorry."
"Haha, no need to be sorry. It's valuable info I wanted to hear and since it sounded like the thing I am looking for, I will try to see if it is indeed worthy as one of the seven mysteries."
After that, the two of us bid farewell. I didn't bother to ask her name and neither she asked for mine. If we meet again, perhaps we can introduce ourselves properly.
Then, right as I was going to check the dump for signs of what she just said, the phone vibrated. I pulled out my phone and saw that Rena had sent a message. However, it's not a chat message but the information about the 4th Mystery.
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Photobomber
-although I was reluctant to add it as a mystery of the school, I realized that this only affects those people who got their picture taken alone inside the school premises. If possible, do not take a picture of someone alone or things will get troublesome.
- A phenomenon when someone who got a picture of themselves alone inside this school. It doesn't matter if someone else captured the photo or you shot it yourself, the anomaly occurs as long as you fulfill the condition: "YOU ARE ALONE IN THE PHOTO". To know you are caught in this, someone who shouldn't be there will be seen with you in the photo. A photobomber in short. Anyone who has this should never ever let themselves alone in any case as the photobomber will start hunting you down. You will have to endure seven days of being attacked by this entity. The attacks will cease after the seventh day. However, good luck surviving the previous six days, you will need it.
-this is an urgent one. This is a Qlipoth entity and based on its behavior, it is in between the Lilith and Gomaliel threat levels. Caution is advised and if encountered, priority to be disposed of.
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"A photobomber? That is pretty scary especially if it was a Qlipoth. Right, doesn't my photo from that girl's camera have a photobomber too?" Kazuma thought to himself as he scrolled through the information.
But as he continued to scroll, a liquid suddenly dropped on his phone. He looked around but no one was around so what was it? He looked up and tried to find it only for him to regret it. An entity that is a monster appeared before him, brandishing its sharp teeth and sharp claws. Just like the photobomber from before, but this time, it's the enemy now.
