Death Anniversary Of Class Four Of Sophomore Year

The incident Kazuki was worried about did not occur. Everything seemed to be just fine, and this came as a shock to him. He was sure that the trace of spiritual energy was at this teaching block.

Perhaps this demon was weak, so much so that it was afraid of the Yang energy from all the people gathered there, even though it was at night.

He felt satisfied as he thought of this, but not overtly as the strong burnt smell in the sports warehouse still made him uneasy.

Everybody lost interest in exploring Akichi High School very quickly.

Aoi knew that he was responsible for everybody's loss of interest, and after apologizing, promised to treat everyone to a meal the next day as compensation.

On the way back to the school gates, Aichi was grumbling about Aoi's second act of scaring everybody. Aoi and two staff members from the haunted house placed quite a few mannequins in Class Four of the sophomore year on the second floor of the teaching block. Even though the mannequin was wooden, the pitch-black night in combination with the scary valley theory made everything so much more terrifying.

To make things worse, the head of a mannequin suddenly rolled down and came to a halt in front of Aichi. Its creepy wide smile scared her silly.

Despite Aichi's grumbling, she also sincerely apologized to everyone, instead of pushing all the blame on Aoi, causing the rest to tease the two of them. 

Nothing out of the ordinary happened along the way to the school gates.

"We drove here. If everyone is willing to squeeze a little, there should be enough space for everyone. Shall we give you a ride?" Nakada Yuuki, one of the haunted house staff, said with a bashful smile while holding on to the head of a mannequin.

Everybody nodded, obviously not wanting to walk anymore.

"I won't be coming along," said Kazuki. Seeing the shock on everybody's faces, he smiled and added, "I didn't book a room in the Herian District. I had planned to walk around Akichi High School the whole night and return to school in the morning, so I'll stay here."

"It's fine, the hotel I booked happened to run out of single rooms, so I booked a double room. You can stay with me," Aokiji offered with a smile. They were a group of five, and they had booked three double rooms, so there was one spare bed.

However, Kazuki immediately rejected his offer, and said jokingly, "Actually, I was interrupted even before I had the chance to explore this place. Moreover, two in a group isn't the least bit scary. Now that you guys are gone, I can finally explore Akichi High School without restraint!"

Masato and a few others opened their mouths but did not know what to say, as Aoi and Aichi had indeed interrupted the exploration.

Aokiji gave Kazuki a long stare and nodded, "Alright then. Be careful. You have my number, feel free to give me a call if you need anything. The fact that we're here together means that we're connected by fate." 

"I will."

Not long after, Aokiji and the others left by car.

Aokiji had settled his personal matters, and since Masato and the others were no longer interested in continuing the exploration, he naturally lost interest as well. After all, Akichi High School belonged to the Nakagawa family, and there was nowhere he had not been here. 

Shiori had been looking at Kazuki suspiciously, but in the end, she did not say anything. 

As the car disappeared from sight and the noise grew more and more distant, Kazuki heaved a sigh of relief. He doubted that Aokiji, and the others realized anything out of place.

They were not close, and as an outsider, he did not feel the need to consider their feelings even if he wanted to stay behind.

It was the same with Aokiji. They met for the first time tonight, and merely walked two rounds around Akichi High School together, so they were basically just strangers.

Also, since bumping into Aokiji and the others, Kazuki had not spoken a word of truth.

All his words had been nothing but lies and made up stories. Naturally, he could not be expected to harbor any friendliness toward them.

Even when Aoi and Aichi were in apparent trouble, his only concern was the possibility of the police sealing the place from public entry.

Kazuki could be considered as a very apathetic person.

After making sure that Aokiji and the rest have left, Kazuki wasted no time and immediately bolted toward the teaching block. As he approached the building, Kazuki could once again feel the trace of that spiritual energy. 

The trace of spiritual energy quickly led Kazuki to Class One of freshman year. The classroom seemed pretty reasonable. Traces of chalk on the blackboard, tables, and chairs piled atop one another, nothing was out of the ordinary. 

Kazuki who entered Class One of freshman year through the front door quickly exited through the back door. He then began Class Two of freshman year for just 10 seconds, then left through the back door again. 

Afterward, he proceeded to enter Class Three of his freshman year through the front door.

Kazuki did not show a hint of impatience. He knew that the evil spirit must have claimed the whole teaching block as its territory, and could have been patrolling its area regularly like this.

However, why was there no trace of that burnt smell at all?

If it were to patrol this place daily, it would definitely leave behind some smell. 

This could be proven from the burnt smell in the sports warehouse. Kazuki was sure the sports warehouse was that evil spirit's resting ground. 

A thought suddenly struck Kazuki. 

Perhaps that evil spirit only patrolled its territory once a year?

He recalled that the current time was past two in the morning, and the date was the 6th of April.

The 6th of April was the date Ito Shunji was burnt to death by the students of Class Four of sophomore year, and also their death anniversary.

Aokiji was mentioned this on the way. It was the reason why the people from the 'Final Forum' decided to come on this day. Shiori also mentioned that she had intended to come to Akichi High School a while ago, but decided to come today as it would be the 6th of April once the clock struck 12.

After all, today was the death anniversary of the students of Class Four of sophomore year. Perhaps something different would occur. 

Kazuki was speechless when he finally put the puzzle pieces together. This group of people really had no fear.

The trace of spiritual energy served as proof that there was indeed an evil spirit patrolling Akichi High School on the 6th of April, the day of the death anniversary. The only thing puzzling Kazuki was why Aoi and the rest were not attacked. Could the evil spirit have gone somewhere else?

With this thought in mind, Kazuki decided not to search for the source of spiritual energy, but instead follow the trace of spiritual energy movement, roaming every classroom on the first floor. 

He wanted to see if he could discover anything unusual.

Unfortunately, Kazuki did not discover anything. After searching the first floor, he followed the trace of spiritual energy up to the second floor without hesitation.

The second floor was not as spacious as the first.

He stood at the far right side of the second-floor corridor and looked ahead. Everything was pitch black. He shifted his gaze toward the windows and noticed that the moon had been entirely covered by the dark clouds. It was a dark night as if dark ink had been painted all over the horizon. 

Each door of every classroom disappeared into the darkness. The entrances looked like gigantic dark mouths, waiting to devour every soul that entered.

There was no sound in the eerie corridor. The silence was stifling and nerve-wracking. 

Kazuki, however, did not feel nervous at all. The sound of his light footsteps around that atmosphere was more than enough to increase an average person's heartbeat, and send their thoughts into an uncontrollable spiral of horrifying delusions.

But apart from thinking that it was a little too quiet, he did not feel a thing. In the next moment, Kazuki heavily stomped his foot, producing a loud thump which echoed through the stifling silence. 

Kazuki stood still and concentrated on the sounds around him. When he was in the abandoned building at Sakura Kyu, bugs and rats would be running around every night. He found it extremely odd that this place remained so silent even after he made such a loud sound. 

Puzzled, he quickly arrived at the entrance of a classroom. He lowered his head slightly, and with his excellent night vision, managed to read the blurry words of a plaque lying on the floor. 

"Class One of the sophomore year."

Reading that silently in his mind, Kazuki entered the classroom.