Chapter 6: Sayuri’s Paranormal Talk — The Elementary School

One day, Sayuri was drifting through the sky, floating without any particular purpose, gliding around at her own pace as she looked for anything that might be interesting.

At that moment, she happened to spot an old wooden school building below her.
It was dusk—the time when the students had just begun heading home.

What’s more—it was a three-story wooden building, a structure you hardly ever see.

Drawn in by how unusual it was, Sayuri vanished and slipped through the wall into the hallway on the third floor—right at that moment.

Three elementary school boys ran noisily through the hallway.
The way they looked somehow seemed fun, so Sayuri followed after them.

They headed straight for the girls’ restroom. Without a moment’s hesitation, they went inside and stood in front of the stall at the very back—the third one.

“This is the one, right?”
They checked with each other and knocked three times.

“Hanako-saaan!”

A brief silence.
Then—

“Heeere.”

A girl-like voice came from inside the stall.
At that moment, the three of them looked at one another and lunged toward the door they had come in through.

“Did it seriously answer!?” “L-let’s run!”

They rattled the doorknob, but it wouldn’t open at all.

“Hey! This is bad!” “Why!? It won’t open!”

—CRASH!

With a thunderous crash, the door was blown off, passed straight through Sayuri’s body,
and slammed into the wall behind her.

What appeared before the boys, who were stunned—
was a girl in a red suspender skirt and a white blouse.
However, her appearance had clearly already passed through puberty.

Her skirt was too short, leaving her thighs exposed.
A slit had been cut into the waistband to widen it, and it had been altered so she could force it on.
The shoulder straps, no longer reaching her shoulders, had been tied together in front and used like a belt.
The blouse didn’t fit her body either; because of her grown chest, several of the buttons couldn’t fasten, and the sleeves were strained and looked like three-quarter length sleeves.

With an expression filled with anger, Hanako slowly walked toward them.

“…Again with this? You call me out and then try to run away. What are you even trying to do, you lot?”

Her voice was low and growling. The children only trembled, unable to make a sound.

Hanako let out a sigh and lightly tapped one of them on the head.
Caught off guard, the boy flinched and burst into tears.

“...I’m sorry...”
Hearing that trembling voice, the other two followed.

“I’m telling you to give me a reason.”

This time, she dropped light knuckle-bumps on the remaining two heads.
All three of them crouched down and burst into tears.

“…Good grief.”
Hanako crouched down and brought her face close.
“Hey, look over here.”

One of them hesitantly lifted his face. The other two remained frozen in place.

“I said look over here.”
Hanako grabbed the chins of the two who kept their heads down and forced their faces up.
“Don’t think crying’s gonna get you off the hook. I’ll go to the toilets in your houses, too. I’ll show up in your dreams. Remember that.”

She rose smoothly to her feet—

“Get home already. Don’t call me if you’ve got no reason.”

Saying that, she spat the words out and started heading back into the stall.
But—she suddenly turned around as if remembering something.

“Tell the others, too! Got it!?”

Then she went into the stall, and her figure faded away in a smooth vanish.

“Y-yes!!”

The elementary school boys shouted all at once and bolted away as fast as they could.

“…So scary…”
Slipping through the restroom wall and out into the open, Sayuri muttered unconsciously.

She had planned to look for the Seven Mysteries, but just the first one had already worn her out.

Drifting lightly through the sky dyed by the sunset, Sayuri let out a deep sigh.