Ideals and Reality

"Thanks for gathering here today, everyone. I know this isn't what you wanted to do

during your summer break."

The people sitting in the student council room during summer break shook their heads

to tell Touya not to worry about it.

"No, it's fine, but…is this about changing the school uniform?" Masachika spoke up on

behalf of the others.

"Hmm? Oh, no. This has nothing to do with the uniforms. Chisaki and I are making

progress regarding that issue, though."

"Are you sure you don't need our help?"

"I appreciate it, but you don't have to worry about it. There's actually something else

I need help with instead."

"What's that?"

Touya's eyes slowly swept the room as he looked at every member besides Chisaki.

"…Have any of you heard the rumors about the seven school mysteries?" he asked with

a grim expression on his face.

"Seven school mysteries? You mean…like Hanako of the Toilet, or anatomical models

moving on their own?"

"Exactly. The mysteries at our school aren't what you'd expect, though."

Masachika shifted his gaze to Alisa, since he hadn't heard any rumors. But there was no

way she would know if he didn't, owing to the fact that she had a far smaller circle of friends

than he did, so all they could do was share puzzled glances.

"I have heard a few rumors before. I believe the onesI know of were the Shadowy Figure

on the Roof, the Turning Statue, and the Red Schoolgirl," Yuki suddenly piped up. She was

sitting across the table from them.

"Yeah, you remembered correctly. Those are three of the seven."

"Hmm… These aren't really names you hear about often, huh?"

"They aren't. You usually expect these to be like finding Hanako in the bathroom, or the

school piano randomly playing at night, or a staircase that leads to a floor that's not supposed

to exist."

"I know, right? I guess it'd be kind of weird for high schoolers to be spreading rumors

about really cliché ghost stories like that, though… By the way, what are those three rumors

about?" asked Masachika with a smirk, making Yuki's lips curl suggestively.

"Are you sure you want to hear? Some of these stories are pretty scary."

"Wait. Really? How scary?"

"As scary as finding a tiny screw near the microwave."

"That's terrifying! …But isn't that a different kind of scary?"

"Giggle. I'm kidding."

After laughing softly, Yuki began to explain what she had heard about the mysterious

seven school wonders.

The Shadowy Figure on the Roof… Students had supposedly seen a shadowy figure from

time to time standing on the rooftop of the school building, which no one was allowed access

to. Although the shadowy figure appeared blurry for some reason, making it impossible to

even guess the gender, every student who saw it said that they could feel an extremely strong,

piercing gaze watching them.

The Turning Statue… There was apparently a plaster bust in the art room that would flip

horizontally in the middle of the night. Although that was the only thing it did, there were

multiple eyewitness accounts in the art club of the phenomenon, and there were supposedly

pictures of it as well.

The Red Schoolgirl… Students claimed to have run into a seemingly injured female

student after school somewhere on school grounds. Nobody who had seen her could

remember what she looked like, but after a few days had gone by, they all had an injury in

the same spot that she'd had.

"Hmm…," mumbled Masachika apathetically after hearing the rumors.

"You seem rather uninterested in the rumors," replied Yuki.

"I mean, they're just rumors, right? You can claim to have pictures as evidence, but

anyone can edit pictures nowadays."

"Yes, I suppose." She nodded, seeming to agree with Masachika. They both slightly

shrugged in unison. Yuki probably never believed any of the rumors from the start, and these

two weren't the only ones. All the others in the room were either grinning or their faces were

blank with indifference. There was one exception, though.

"Ngh… How am I supposed to walk alone after school hours now…?"

"Huh? Masha…?"

Maria lowered her head, wrapping her arms around herself. Her usualsmile was nowhere

to be found, and the fact that she was nervously looking around the room made it clear that

she was seriously frightened. Worried by her close friend's overreaction, Chisaki, who was

sitting across from Maria, immediately tried to soothe her.

"No, Masha. These are just rumors. You don't need to be scared…"

"Mmm… But you know what they say: There are dead folk where there's a vampire,

right?"

"You mean, 'Where there's smoke, there's fire'?"

"Ha-ha! Wow. I guess it basically means the same thing, but the way you said it made

it way more complicated."

"Huh?"

"Masha! Seriously?!" shouted Alisa in embarrassment; her sister simply blinked in a

puzzled manner.

"Anyway, I'm surprised. I thought you'd be more scared of ghost stories, Chisaki,"

commented Masachika as he watched the sisters' exchange out of the corner of his eye.

"Huh? No way. Why would you think that?"

"I don't know. I just thought you'd be afraid of ghosts, since you can't punch them."

It was a common trope among meatheads in comics and anime, so of course it was the

first thing to pop into Masachika's head, but Chisaki looked back at him, tilting her head as

if she couldn't comprehend what he was trying to say.

"What are you talking about? You can punch ghosts."

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

"""Huh?"""

The other five members of the student council immediately spun in their chairs and stared

at Chisaki, causing her to recoil as if she had no idea why everyone was looking at her. And

because she didn't seem to be joking in the slightest…

"So, President, what are the other four mysteries about?"

"Oh, I was actually curious as well."

"Oh, right. Uh…"

…the rest of the student council simply decided to pretend like they hadn't heard

anything. After all, asking her to expand on it would be like opening Pandora's box and

would perhaps lead to consequences far more terrifying than the school's seven mysteries.

What she'd punched was definitely not a ghost—it was something else. That was the story

everyone decided to tell themselves.

"The stories I heard…"

Touya proceeded to explain the other four rumors.

The Weeping Clubhouse… There were claims that you could hear a woman crying in

the school clubhouse, but nobody could figure out where the sobbing was coming from.

The Luck Staircase… You apparently had a high chance of pulling an SSR in any mobile

game while on the staircase to the rooftop.

"Sorry, I need to go to the bathroom."

"You are free to go to the bathroom, but we need you to leave your phone here."

"Never mind, then."

"Hmph. Not even trying to hide it, huh, Kuze?"

The Invisible Cat… People had been hearing a cat meowing from time to time in the

gymnasium's storeroom to the side of the schoolyard, but not one person had ever seen the

cat.

The Blooming Cherry Blossom… There was a cherry blossom tree behind the

schoolhouse that would sometimes bloom out of season at night. Those who were graced

with white flower petals were blessed with good luck, while those who saw crimson petals

were struck by bad luck.

"And…that about does it for the seven mysteries of our school," concluded Touya.

"Uh… I know this isn't your fault…but a lot of those stories were ridiculous. I mean, the

mobile game one just sounds like something that someone hastily made up so there would

be seven wonders, right?" replied Masachika with a finger on his forehead as if he had a

headache.

"Yeah, I…I guess so."

"The crying woman is obviously the building settling or noise being carried by the wind.

I mean, the fact that she's weeping is a little concerning, but still. And that cat meowing? A

cat probably just wandered into the storehouse. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Yeah, those would be the most obvious reasons."

"And that cherry blossom blooming out of season. The flowers on our school's trees

are all white, and the petals' color depends on the type of cherry blossom, so there's no way

anything other than white flowers are going to bloom."

"Sure…but isn't that what makes this a mystery?"

"Hmm… I feel like it just depends on who you ask. It's at night, right? Some people

might think the petals look white, while others see them as pink…"

Only after being this much of a contrarian did Masachika realize that his opinions were

starting to sound like complaints, and he shrugged.

"Sorry for being so negative about everything."

"Oh, no. We need critical feedback, so don't worry about it."

"Thanks. Anyway, why did you want to talk about these seven school mysteries?"

Touya frowned and crossed his arms.

"So…there have apparently been a lot of students sneaking into school after hours lately

because of these seven mysteries."

"Uh…"

"It's not really a problem if they wander around a bit before going to their clubroom,

but some people are trying to break into the school rooftop area, and a handful of others are

even sneaking into the school in the middle of the night."

"O-oh my. Actual high schoolers are doing this?"

Yuki expressed doubt as well, as if to agree with Masachika, who was clearly puzzled

that high schoolers were still up to such shenanigans.

"So these students sneaking into school at night… That sounds like trespassing to me.

Is it not? I'm pretty sure our school wouldn't tolerate something like that. Where did you

hear all this?"

"There's a video that was uploaded online to a private account ofsome studentssneaking

in, from what I hear. One of the students who saw the video informed us the day before

yesterday."

"Wow… How stupid can you be? The world's full of idiots like that, though, huh?"

Depending on the circumstances, that video could get leaked to the public. The backlash

would be brutal, and once people on the internet figured out who posted the video, everyone

involved—or even somewhat related—could essentially be doxed. Not only Masachika but

also Alisa and Chisaki frowned at the thought. There seemed to be some clowns at this

prestigious school who were completely oblivious to how the real world worked and had

little to no personal risk management.

"But, well, we did contact the student who uploaded the video, in private, and gave them

a strong warning, so the video has apparently been deleted. But while the imminent crisis

has been averted, this doesn't mean there won't be other students who'll do the same thing.

The student in question this time got lucky because no school staff found out, but if one

of the teachers heard what happened, then they would have been severely punished without

question."

"Yes, we are very lucky that everything went smoothly this time," agreed Yuki.

"That's why I would like for the student council to investigate these seven school

mysteries. To put a stop to these rumors and prevent people from doing anything illegal.

What do you all say?" continued Touya, slightly raising the tone of his voice.

"By 'investigate,' do you mean you want us to find the cause of these rumors? In other

words, to make the students lose interest, you want us to get the word out that all these

mysteries have simple explanations, right?"

"Exactly, Yuki. To be honest, I don't even care if you fabricate the evidence. Like if you

found a cat somewhere and took a picture with them, then you could claim this was the same

cat that people had heard meowing in the gymnasium storeroom. Your goal is less about

discovering the actual causes behind these rumors and more about making it seem like you

discovered the actual causes. At any rate, I want to put an end to these rumors as quickly

as possible."

"Honestly, I heard some members in the kendo club talking about the rumors, too. I

doubt any of them would actually trespass, but it is a little concerning…," added Chisaki.

Uh… That probably has something to do with you telling them ghosts are real, thought

Masachika, but he kept that to himself and replied:

"All right. I mean, thisis a student issue,so it isthe student council'sjob to do something

about it."

The other members individually agreed with Masachika's point of view, and none of

them seemed reluctant, bringing a smile of relief to Touya's face.

"Thanks, everyone. I want to get started right away…but Chisaki and I have a meeting

about the school uniform that we must attend, so we probably won't be able to help. I know

I'm the one who suggested investigating these rumors, so I'm sorry…"

"Yeah, we're really sorry. The meeting's probably going to last the rest of the day, so

I doubt we'll be able to help at all."

Both Touya and Chisaki looked apologetic, but the other five members didn't seem to

care.

"No, don't worry about it. If anything, you're doing us a favor handling the most difficult

task. Plus, you're letting us stay at your family's house when we go to the beach, so this is

the least we can do."

"Exactly. Five people is more than enough. Let us handle this."

"Yes, there is nothing you two need to worry about."

"I agree with the others. Good luck."

"Yeah… Good luck… I—I can't say I'm not scared, but I won't let you down!"

Touya and Chisaki gently smiled, relieved.

The group continued to discuss the plan in detail for a while after that until they came

up with enough concrete ideas.

"All right, so let's split up and start investigating. We're gonna need to wait until night

to look into about half of these, though."

"Yes… But unfortunately, Ayano and I have a curfew, so…"

"It's not your fault, so don't worry about it. Alya, Masha, and I can take care of all the

night ones. Sound good, you two?"

"I'm fine with that."

"Y-yeah, sure."

"Again, thanks, everyone. And sorry to leave you three with the night shift. I'll make

sure to tell the teachers what we're up to just in case. Of course, I won't tell them about the

trespassing. I'll tell them that there are many students who've been feeling uncomfortable

lately because of these seven mysteries."

"Sounds good. Thanks."

They decided to take a short break after the meeting before starting the actual

investigation.

"Oh, Kuze. Hold on."

"Yeah?"

Each member went off on their own during the break, with some going to buy a drink

and others going to the bathroom. Masachika did the latter, but on his way to the bathroom,

Chisaki suddenly called out to him from behind. When he turned around, she took something

out of her bag and tried to hand it to him.

"Here, you can borrow this."

"Is this…?"

What Chisaki was handing him…was a Buddhist rosary, and one with beautifully

polished obsidian prayer beads at that. It was strangely authentic-looking.

What is she trying to give me this for?!

Masachika froze, unable to process why an upperclassman was trying to lend him prayer

beads.

"You know, just in case you run into a real one, you can use this," added Chisaki as if

she'd picked up on how bewildered he was.

"Oh… Uh… A real one? You don't mean a ghost, right? And how am I supposed to

even use this…?"

Was he supposed to sandwich it between his hands and roll the beads while reciting

some sort of Buddhist prayer? He began to daydream about comic books where priests did

that to exorcise ghosts.

"'How'…?"

On the other hand, Chisaki seemed somewhat puzzled by his question, but she soon

began weaving the prayer beads under and over her fingers…as if she was wearing brass

knuckles.

"First, you do this."

"…Uh-huh."

She squeezed the beads wrapped around her fingers tightly and formed a fist before

throwing a fierce straight right.

"And then this!"

"Got it."

Put simply, punch them. Don't waste your time chanting some Buddhist prayer. Punch

them. It appeared violence really did solve all problems.

"Oh, but if you're having trouble getting close enough to strike, I recommend taking the

beads off and flicking them at your opponent."

"You make it sound like everyone can do that. I mean, I'm a professional nerd, so of

course I can do it."

"Oh, perfect. Then here. Take the Renyouhou Renheki Gaiju and protect the girls for

me, okay?"

"That's clearly an item you're supposed to get in the last dungeon. Are we sure that I

can even equip it at my level?"

"Don't worry. You can still equip it even if you don't have enough strength. It'll just

absorb some of your life force instead."

"Oh, that's it? Well, gee! I'm relieved to hear that!" he exclaimed sarcastically, then

carefully accepted the prayer beads.

…How in the world does she have such a nice smile?

Masachika still had no idea how much of whatshe said was a joke, but he made a promise

to himself that he would never wear these beads, no matter what happened.

"All right, then. Let's start the investigation."

"What are you talking about? We already finished investigating the first case."

As Alisa's fed-up voice echoed down the staircase leading to the rooftop, Masachika's

pupils widened, and he smiled shakily as he turned around.

"Ha-ha-ha. What are you talking about? We're just getting started…right?"

"No. Just now, we've been standing on these stairs—"

"And nothing happened. Nothing at all. The five thousand gems I've been diligently

saving after watching ad after ad every single day did not disappear, right? That was just

my imagination."

"Sigh…"

Yuki was wearing an eerie grin next to her brother, who still couldn't accept reality.

"Ha…ha-ha…! We still need to try a few more times before we can be sure the rumors

were false. Wouldn't you agree?"

"You mustn't, Ms. Yuki. You would only be digging yourself into a deeper hole."

Yuki, who had the same bothered expression as Masachika, was about to move out of

free-to-play territory until she was stopped by Ayano, her very rational maid. The siblings

were crushed. Not only did they not get any SSR draws, but they also didn't even pull a

single SR. A complete failure. If anything, it seemed like they were getting worse draws than

usual. The investigation had just started, and they were already losing their sanity, but not

because of any ghost. Meanwhile, Maria, who never played mobile games, smiled nervously

as she observed their despair.

"Um… Are you two okay? Do you need me to pat you on the head?"

"He doesn't need any consoling."

"Yes, please."

"Unbelievable!"

A few minutes went by before Masachika finally recovered mentally and was able to

ignore Alisa's disgusted "I hope I never end up like him" gaze as he swiftly pointed up the

staircase.

"To the rooftop! Come on!"

"Why are you suddenly so excited to go to the rooftop…?"

"Why wouldn't I be? Aren't school rooftops magical?"

"How are they magical?"

Although Alisa furrowed her brow skeptically, Maria was firmly nodding.

"I know what you mean. ♪ It always feels like something wonderful is going to happen

on school rooftops."

"Giggle. Yes, the protagonistsin young adult novels always gather on the school rooftop,

and something wonderful usually happens to them." Yuki added to Maria's excitement by

smiling elegantly and agreeing. Ayano was air.

"You hear that, Alya? Plus, the fact that the door to the rooftop is normally locked makes

this even more exciting. We're about to have our own secret base," Masachika said

enthusiastically.

"Uh-huh." Alisa sighed as if she couldn't keep up with Masachika as he weirdly and

passionately looked up at the door to the rooftop.

"You're free to feel however you want, but don't forget we have a job to do."

"Yeah, yeah…"

After giving Alisa a half-hearted reply, Masachika climbed the stairs, then began

scrutinizing the door to the rooftop area.

"Hmm… The doorseemsto be installed correctly. The doorknob and keyhole don'tseem

to be broken, either, which means there's no way anyone forced their way through…right?"

"Yeah, it doesn't look like any students broke into the rooftop area."

After thoroughly examining the door, they concluded that there was no way anyone got

onto the rooftop without a key.

"All right, then! Let's do this!"

"Okay. ♪ Allow me to unlock it."

The door to the rooftop area was finally opened with the key Maria had borrowed from

the faculty room.

"Whoa…," muttered Masachika, his voice brimming with excitement as the door to a

new world opened before his eyes. He squinted in the bright light of the sun but then—

"It's filthy! What the hell?!"

He frowned at how not magical the dirty sight was. Of course, he wasn't expecting it to

be spotless, since nobody ever cleaned it, but this was on another level. The entire rooftop

area was covered in something black, bird droppings were scattered about, and green moss

was sluggishly growing under the fence.

"Wow…"

"…This is something else."

"This is… This is awful…"

The three who were expecting the rooftop to be a magical place of fantasy were met

with crushing disappointment and brutally shattered dreams. Alisa rolled her eyes at her

particularly depressed sister and decided to remind everyone what they had come to do.

"So what do you want to do? I believe the easiest option would be to explain to everyone

that the mysterious shadowy figure appearing here was just an ordinary person, but what do

you all think?"

"I agree… Perhaps we could leave some footprints near the fence facing the schoolyard

and then take a picture of them? After that, we could simply spread a rumor that a maintenance

worker or someone had been fixing something on the rooftop. After all, nobody can disprove

it, since we now know that there have not been any students sneaking onto the rooftop,"

suggested Yuki.

"Yeah, that sounds reasonable… In fact, that might be our only option," agreed

Masachika, then he suddenly realized that all of them were staring right at him.

"…Wait. Me?"

"Your shoe size would be the most believable, yes?"

"And your weight should make it easier for you to leave footprints. Congratulations.

You always wanted to hang out on the school rooftop, right?"

The two candidates for the next student council president were perfectly in sync while

clinching the argument. Although what they were saying was perfectly reasonable, it was

painfully obvious that they just didn't want to step foot onto the filthy rooftop.

"Whaaat? Seriously? In my shoes?"

But Masachika was no different. In fact, nobody wanted to step onto the filth. He shifted

his gaze to Maria in hopes that there had to be some other way, but…

"Sniffle… Playing with sparklers on the rooftop… Having lunch on a picnic blanket…

Secretly smoking between classes…"

She appeared to still be chasing a dream…which smoking definitely shouldn't have ever

been part of. Therefore, Masachika had no choice but to turn to Ayano for help.

"Uh… I could do it if you would like me to?" she replied, giving him no choice.

"No, I'll do it…"

After returning to the first floor and grabbing his shoes, he stepped onto the rooftop area

and began making footsteps while sweating under the burning summer sun.

I have to wonder if there has ever been a student council job this miserable before…

When he looked down at the schoolyard, countlessstudentsin sports clubs were working

up a sweat with their friends, living their teenage years to the fullest. When he looked up,

birds were freely soaring in the sky. Ah, how wonderful it must be, Masachika thought. I'll

never forgive those damn birds for covering the entire rooftop in crap, though. Never.

"Masachika? You stopped moving. Is everything okay?"

(Caw! And I'll never forgive you, either, you asshat. Caw! Whose idea do you think this

was?)

Tsk… Whatever.

The frustration only continued to build. First, his dreams were crushed by the filthy

reality of this rooftop, then he was made to do this miserable job… It was all too much

for him. Unable to control his urges any longer, he impulsively executed his eleventh-most

"thing he wanted to do on the school building's rooftop." After taking in a deep breath, he

ran over to the fence and yelled at the schoolyard:

"Where is my youth, dammit?! Where is my adventure?! You're all a bunch of idiots!"

"You're the only idiot here."

And he was immediately shot down by Alisa's sharp tongue.