In the deep night, on the silent mountain road, the blond-haired man's question made everyone who had just gotten out of the car feel their hearts skip a beat. A chill ran down their backs.
But someone quickly figured out the reason.
Hanai Takuto looked at the wooden fence on the ground, then raised his head to look overhead and understood. "This is right below the mountaintop—the fence surrounding the summit must have loosened from wind and weather, and a section happened to fall from above."
Hearing the words "happened to," Amuro Tooru frowned uneasily.
In the nearby car, the blond-haired man let out a heavy sigh of relief at that explanation. He stuck his head out from the driver's seat and called to the others outside, "Since it was just a misunderstanding, stop dawdling and let's get up there already. I never looked closely before, but now that we've stopped, I realize this place is pretty creepy."
As he spoke, he looked around, then warily pulled his head back into the car.
Tendo Haruka, standing beside the car door, nodded in agreement. "If it gets too late, the fireworks will be over."
The group turned and headed back toward the vehicle.
Amuro Tooru pretended to tie his shoelaces. After crouching down, he suspiciously checked beneath the car and behind the wheels.
Only after confirming that they had not run over a corpse did he stand back up, climb into the car uneasily, and close the door behind him.
Once everyone was accounted for, the blond-haired man stepped on the gas. With a whoosh, the vehicle circled along the winding mountain road and soon rushed to the end of the narrow path.
This was the highest hill in the area, artificially leveled into a flat square. Half-height wooden fences stood