What to do after eating and drinking your fill?

"My god, this cod is just too delicious!"

Mori Nene gently cut a small piece of cod with her fork; the golden skin was slightly crispy, revealing snow-white, delicate meat underneath.

She placed it in her mouth, and her eyes lit up instantly.

"Are you serious?"

The Karuizawa clique, hearing the praise, couldn't wait to join the tasting queue.

"So tender! The meat is so firm! There's absolutely no fishy smell, only the fresh fragrance of the fish, and the seasoning is just right!"

Matsushita Chiaki closed her eyes in satisfaction, as if her entire being were immersed in this mellow flavor.

Nagami's culinary skills had earned the approval of the little rich girl of Class D, Matsushita Chiaki.

"The onion salad is amazing too!"

Kushida picked up her chopsticks and plucked a small floret of broccoli, its green surface still glistening with a bead of water, and took a light bite.

"Oh! The natural sweetness of the vegetable is perfectly preserved, the texture is so crisp, and there's no extra seasoning added—it's such a natural taste!"

As she spoke, she hurriedly grabbed a few slices of carrot and stuffed them into her mouth.

"Kagami, ah~"

Once the Michelin-level chef took his seat, Kushida was the first to feed Nagami with her chopsticks; it felt like she had awakened something new today.

"I have to admit."

Horikita chewed after taking a bite.

"I had many prejudices against Tokyo hosts before, but I need to re-evaluate that now."

Hearing Horikita's remark, a vein popped on Nagami's forehead. Why was everyone so obsessed with his "host" nickname?

Seriously, who even invented that nickname? If I catch them, they're definitely going to regret it.

He hadn't even been in a relationship since coming to this school.

"Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!"

After nightfall, the sound of an owl echoed from afar.

The night grew darker, and the starry sky revealed its true face.

Having finished the happy gourmet session, the students, exhausted from the day, finally quieted down.

Everything around them was shrouded in starlight, hazy and mysterious, as if all the noise and turmoil of the world had been swallowed by this vast sea of stars.

Aside from the "crackle" of the campfire, only endless peace remained.

It was time for everyone's favorite segment: ghost stories.

"Hey... everyone, have you heard the story of the Seven-Day Haunting?"

"Never heard of it. Do you know it?"

A boy spoke in a low voice, keeping his tone light, playing along as if afraid of startling something hidden in the darkness.

"Hey, boys. Don't try to scare us! The scenery looked so beautiful during the day, and now you're already making up ghost stories at night?"

Shinohara and another girl rolled their eyes at him, but as they spoke, they couldn't help but scoot closer to the firelight.

"Kikyo, I actually know a Seven-Day Haunting story. Want to hear it?"

"Kagami, if you think I'm a timid girl, you've got the wrong person."

Kushida held her head high, signaling that she was reliable and brave.

So, Nagami cleared his throat and began.

The story takes place in Hokkaido, where a group of fresh college graduates gathered to go mountain climbing to celebrate their graduation.

No one knew the name of that mountain; the locals only knew it had been there since they could remember, so they named it White Mountain based on its color.

An accident occurred on the very first day of the climb. L had accidentally touched a shrine tablet dedicated to the mountain god before heading up, but he didn't tell anyone.

After all, in this modern society, who still believes in ghosts and monsters?

On the first day, everyone climbed normally, and everything went smoothly. By the time they reached the halfway point, they prepared to set up camp.

On the second day, the leader took roll call and discovered that C was missing, having taken some supplies with him. Everyone was just a bit confused, and they couldn't reach C even with their expensive satellite phone.

L said that C was usually a loner who didn't like the climbing team, so he must have snuck off.

Everyone was half-doubting, but as time ticked by, they could only pray that C was safe and continued their climb.

On the third day, the leader took roll call again and found someone else missing—C's good friend. L said he must have gone to look for traces of C.

Two people missing in just two days—even the most oblivious person realized something was wrong. They prepared to head down the mountain to call the police, but a heavy snowstorm hit, and they were lucky to find a shelter built by predecessors at the summit to hide from the wind and rain.

On the fourth day, the core member of the class went missing, and they hadn't taken anything with them. A fierce argument broke out in the team; they accused each other, suspecting that there was a murderer among them who had secretly disposed of the others in the middle of the night.

At this point, to calm the argument, L had to confess. It turned out that L had been cursed by the mountain god. While climbing, he had used his phone to take a photo and saw the mountain god secretly following him through the front-facing camera.

He grew more terrified as the night went on, so he stuffed his own clothes into C's sleeping bag, hoping to lure the mountain god away. He hadn't expected it to actually work.

He swore that he truly had no intention of harming his classmates, nor did he know what the situation was with the other disappearances. He promised that once the blizzard stopped, he would go down the mountain and turn himself in.

The classmates were half-doubting, huddling together at night, while L could only crouch in the corner, excluded from the group.

On the fifth day, the blizzard stopped, and everyone in the team began to descend the mountain. Following the map, they reached an unknown location when L revealed a triumphant smile; no one knew what had happened at that moment.

On the sixth day, L took the ample supplies and descended the mountain alone.

On the seventh day, after L reached the bottom, he was shocked to discover on the street that the missing C was with another mountaineering team!

The survivor C explained that he had been taken away by the Mountain God in the middle of the night, but halfway through, the Mountain God realized something was wrong, made a mistake, and simply threw him onto the mountainside.

Fortunately, another mountaineering team happened to pass by and saved him.

Only then did L confess that starting from the second day, the Mountain God, realizing he had been deceived, became furious and demanded that L sacrifice the entire team to earn forgiveness, otherwise, he would use his divine power to curse L for the rest of his life.

L was terrified by the Mountain God's threats, so he took advantage of the moment when no one was paying attention to tamper with the map, changing the descent route to the path leading to the Mountain God's sacrificial site, and sacrificed everyone to the Mountain God.

L cried as he said that everything was the Mountain God's fault and that he was innocent.

Classmate C did not believe L's explanation and picked up his phone to call the police.

After receiving the call, the police immediately launched a search and rescue operation. White Mountain is not large, but the rescue team and helicopters searched the entire mountain inside and out without finding the bodies of the companions, including the shelter on the mountain peak that L had mentioned.

Because no one could prove the existence of the Mountain God and due to insufficient evidence, the police could only treat it as an accidental incident and gave L a suspended sentence.

"Little Kikyo, do you think there will be one less person in Class D when roll call happens tomorrow morning?"

Nagami said in a particularly eerie tone, whispering softly into Kushida's ear.

"Wah! Wah! Wah! Kagami is the worst! The lowest! The lowest!"

Kushida was so frightened by the ghost story that she danced around, her speech becoming incoherent as she kept repeating words.

If you like this book, please remember to add it to your bookshelf so you don't lose it next time.

At the request of our readers, we have now launched a VIP membership feature to remove advertisements.

Click to view