Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Ghost in the Mirror / Chapter Twenty-Eight: Confession? A Confession!

"Haha, Ichinose, you really do like to joke. Where did you get the idea there's a curse of fate?"

No, Ichinose, you're wrong. The curse of fate is real. It's right here, on me.

"Please wait a moment. I'll submit this form to the dorm manager first." With that, Ichinose jogged over to the manager.

"A form? What form?"

"Don't worry. It's not something every first-year class has to do. If I'm not mistaken, the form lists suggestions from students in our class for improving the dorms. Things like noise control and adjustments to the water facilities."

"They've gone this far already? I never even thought about things like that..."

"I didn't expect it either. Ichinose is the class leader, after all. It makes sense that she'd consider more than we do."

"Class leader... Come to think of it, you mentioned class officers earlier. I remember this school doesn't have committee positions, though."

"Yeah, but our class held an election on its own. The advantages are pretty obvious. Once everyone has their own role, dividing up the work makes us more efficient."

That was exactly why Ayanokoji could so clearly sense the team spirit in our class.

"So you have a position, too?"

"Why are you asking that as if you're certain? There's no way I'd volunteer for a responsibility. You just said I have a gloomy air about me. Even if they held an election, someone as lousy as me wouldn't get any praise."

"I thought every student involved in the investigation would have a position. So Raku has his own reason for helping, then?"

"Maybe." I gave a noncommittal answer, trying to throw him off the scent.

After all, I was doing this of my own free will. Heh.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Ghost in the Mirror

Seven parts human, three parts ghost—together, they make a person.

Perhaps at night, when yin prevails and yang declines, things appear to the eye.

And that is why people say you shouldn't look in the mirror at night. Around midnight, the ghostly energy within the human body gradually rises, reaching its peak for the day. If you peer into a mirror at that hour, you'll see something you never imagined—something you can't see in the daytime.

Actually, rather than a ghost, it might be more accurate to call it your true self. After all, as the saying goes, a mirror can only reflect a real image, never your real self.

That's probably how it works.

1

"Sorry for the wait. Ayanokoji-kun, you came to ask about the clues, right? Unfortunately, I haven't gotten any useful information on my end so far. How are things with Raku?"

"It's the same as with Ichinose. I've already explained that to Ayanokoji."

"Hmm... Well, is your investigation going smoothly?"

"We've made a little progress, at least. The photos taken with the digital camera can serve as an alibi." Ayanokoji then gave a brief summary.

The situation still favored Class C.

"It sounds like you're having a hard time, too."

"I'm fine. Kushida and Horikita are the ones mainly handling this."

And Ichinose was the one in charge on our end... With the spread of gender equality, seeing powerful women in society had become commonplace. If things continued this way, would men eventually enter an era of decline?

As our conversation continued, we reached the school and gradually became the center of attention. It wasn't because of Ayanokoji, and certainly not because of me. It was Ichinose's striking figure.

Her pink hair, clear eyes, and proudly prominent chest all reflected her open personality. Even without Ichinose acknowledging it, her cute and charming appearance had already made her famous around the school—especially when paired with her gentle nature.

"Good morning, Ichinose!"

"Good morning, Ichinose!"

"Good morning, everyone!"

Ichinose warmly returned the students' greetings.

A rose-colored life bloomed before my eyes in all its glory. I tried to escape the crushing damage it inflicted on me, but its reach was far beyond anything I could imagine. What's more, I was bound to a fixed spot.

I wanted to run away...

"Um, Raku, what are you doing? Hurry up and catch up with us."

"I am walking."

"You're moving slower than a seahorse."

"..."

Tch. What a nag.

"Then I won't keep you. See you next time."

"Yeah. If we get any useful information, I'll send it to you right away."

"Thanks."

After saying goodbye to Ayanokoji outside the Class D classroom, Ichinose and I hurried over to Class B. Along the way, Ichinose seemed to deliberately slow her pace, but when she saw I wasn't taking the hint, she quickly fell in behind me.

Just as I thought I'd imagined the whole thing, Ichinose suddenly tugged on the loose sleeve hanging from my arm.

"Um, is something wrong?"

I turned to Ichinose in confusion and saw that she had her head bowed, looking flustered.

"If you don't mind, could you wait a little before going into the classroom, Raku? There's something I'd like to tell you..."

"Something you want to tell me... Don't tell me you're going to confess your feelings?" I asked hopefully, imagining a scene from a novel.

...Of course I was joking. There was no way that could happen, no matter how you looked at it. The next thing she said would probably be a criticism of me. It wasn't as if this had only happened once or twice. I was used to being lectured, whether by Teacher Hoshinomiya or Ichinose. The difference was that Teacher Hoshinomiya criticized me right in class, while Ichinose tried to keep it out of other people's sight.

"..." Ichinose didn't respond right away. Instead, she lowered her head even further, her face growing red.

After a long, agonizing wait, Ichinose tremulously nodded.

"Y-you're joking, right...?" At her answer, I instinctively took a step back and nervously swallowed.

I'd read plenty of descriptions of confessions, but this was the first time I'd ever faced one in real life.

Say something, Ichinose! Hurry up and shoot down these ridiculous fantasies of mine!

"I'm serious..."

"There's a limit to how far you can take a joke..." I tried to respond calmly to Ichinose's seriousness, but there was no doubt I'd already panicked.

"But rather than saying there's something I want to tell you, Raku, it's more that I want to ask you for a favor."

Helping Ichinose with a confession...

What did she mean? Could this be one of those famous hints at romance, hinting that Ichinose wanted me to take the initiative and confess to her?

That was impossible. In love, whichever person confessed first lost completely. My male pride would never let me suffer that kind of humiliation.

So, I'm afraid I'll have to refuse!

"Raku, you've probably been confessed to by girls quite a few times, right?"

Did she assume I'd been confessed to a lot and want me to take the initiative this time instead of staying passive? No, that explanation couldn't be right. What kind of normal person would think like that? Relax. Maybe it was just a simple question.

All right, then. Think carefully. Experiences of girls confessing to me...

"Not once."

"N-not once?" Ichinose glanced at me cautiously, her troubled gaze melting away at my ironclad male pride every second.

Trading my male pride for the affection of a beautiful girl... That kind of thing, that kind of deal... How could it possibly be unacceptable?

It's a bargain!

"Yeah, not once. Maybe there was someone who liked me before, but after we went our separate ways, I never saw her again."

Rest in peace.

"I-is that so..."

"That's how it is. So, what exactly was the favor you mentioned?"

"It's about a confession... Could you spare some time after school today? I'd like to meet you behind the gym."

"...Can't you tell me now?"

"I could, but it wouldn't be very convenient..."

"Does it have to be me?"

"Yeah... There's no one else I can ask, Raku."

I was her only choice... What could it be? No matter how I thought about it, there was only one answer.

"O-okay. I don't know if I'll be much help, but I'll do my best."

"So that means you're agreeing?"

"Yeah."

"Then please wait for me after school."

"Got it."

Once I agreed, Ichinose hurried into the classroom. With indescribable feelings, I went over to Kanzaki.

"I only asked you to come to school a little earlier today. You didn't have to be so unhappy about it."

"Unhappy? I thought I was in a pretty good mood... Does my face really look that awful?"

"Doesn't it? Your brows are furrowed."

"That alone isn't enough to tell how someone feels, is it? Couldn't it also be a side effect of thinking?"

"I've never seen you furrow your brows when you're thinking normally... All right, maybe I don't know you well enough. You're usually so expressionless, like a blank-faced puppet."

"Don't you think you're making me sound a little scary? A blank-faced puppet, really?"

"Ah, true. Puppets have their eyes and mouths turned crooked. You're more like a mask. I can't even imagine how ugly you'd look crying or smiling."

"I can understand looking ugly when I cry, but wouldn't a smile make people feel happy inside and seem more beautiful? Also, isn't that even worse?!"

"Anyway, it's time you did something about your personality. Otherwise, it'll cause problems sooner or later."

"I disagree."

Kanzaki and I had been bickering for ages. Usually, I'd find all sorts of ways to argue back, but Ichinose's hint had left me too exhausted to deal with it.

I'd witnessed that bloody scene with my own eyes back then without panicking, yet now my heart was truly pounding.

What sort of thing was this?

For a moment, I thought I understood what he meant by falsehood, but only a little.

"Hey, pay attention."

"My routine's been disrupted. Couldn't you cut me some slack?"

What sort of thing was this, exactly? I seemed to lack even the basic information about it. At that moment, I realized that unless I took complete control of those things, I'd never have a peaceful morning.

I turned my gaze to the glass window on my left. My face was faintly reflected in it.

For a long time to come, I would never again be as close as I was now to the truth about myself.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Confession? A Confession!

Genius itself was a flaw.

The British poet John Dryden once said, "Genius is next to madness. There is only one step from genius to insanity."

This wasn't some baseless claim. Not long ago, Dr. Bruce Miller of the University of California had discovered what was known as the "genius button" in the human brain.

You could think of it as a simple preventive mechanism that suppressed the emergence of genius. It was called suppression because that was what it did. Whenever an idea occurred to someone, their "error detector" entered a state of restriction—"This isn't allowed"—making the idea seem uninteresting and causing them to lose interest in it.

But once this constraint mechanism malfunctioned, the ideas in your mind would pour out uncontrollably, giving rise to extraordinary geniuses and their great theories. Of course, they also carried hidden dangers. When too many contradictory ideas were proven true at the same time, a person could become insane.

Therefore, genius itself was a flaw. There was only a hair's breadth between genius and madness.

So the best way to destroy a genius was to leave them to their own devices, while the best way to cultivate one was to place them among other "geniuses."

Then perhaps Class D was a haven for malformed geniuses.

1

Lately, I'd been absorbed in stories about supernatural events on school campuses, and I'd looked up a great many related books in the library. I'd found that schools where similar stories took place were either built on former graveyards or had seen murders in the past, after which the ghosts wandered endlessly, with nowhere to go.