Find the Target!

The moment they came down from the rooftop, the familiar atmosphere of the school returned.

Fluorescent lights.

White walls.

Bulletin boards.

Voices drifting out of classrooms.

The same old everyday world.

And through it walked two people who were completely out of their minds.

~~ Ghost Investigation: Phase Two!!! ~~

⭐︎ QUEST ⭐︎
“Search the School and Find the Target!”

⭐︎ REWARD ⭐︎
“Panties.”

Quest acceptance is mandatory.

Mio walked down the hallway with her back perfectly straight.

Her footsteps were quiet.

Her stride never faltered.

She gave passing students a brief glance, and when she noticed a first-year standing in front of a bulletin board, her eyes shifted toward them ever so slightly.

Perfect.

Half a step behind her, Itsuki couldn’t help but marvel.

Goodbye, ghost lunatic.

Hello, perfect superhuman.

The investigation began.

First, the classrooms in the main building.

Then the special-purpose classrooms.

Stairwells.

Hallways.

Outside the restrooms.

The covered walkway leading to the gym.

As expected, not even the “g” in ghost.

Finally, they returned to the old school building one more time.

The records storage room on the second floor.

The dusty staircase.

The third-floor hallway.

The cracked bulletin board.

Empty classrooms.

Nothing.

“She’s not here.”

“No, she isn’t.”

“Can we stop now?”

“We’re just getting started.”

Of course we are.

And so, having accomplished absolutely nothing, they returned to the main building.

That was when—

“—Oh! President!”

Female Students ×2 came trotting toward them after noticing Mio.

“Good work. Heading home?”

“Yes! Are you still working, President?”

“Just a little. Were you two at club activities?”

Mio smiled gently.

The older girl looked amused around the eyes.

The younger girls were clearly flustered, yet unable to hide how happy they were to be talking to her.

It was such a beautiful scene, it deserved to be framed and hung on a wall.

And then, suddenly—

noise entered the picture.

“—Is Kusunoki helping you?”

“Yeah. Helping the president.”

Itsuki answered his classmate with the most refreshing smile he could manage.

He had no intention of ruining the atmosphere.

No intention of throwing mud into that beautiful framed picture.

“What’s all that stuff?”

“This? Uh… well…”

Obviously, he couldn’t say,

Ghost-hunting equipment.

“We’re cleaning up a storage room.”

He smiled.

“Ohhh.”

The response was underwhelming.

Their attention immediately returned to Mio.

Sparkling eyes.

Voices pitched just a little higher than usual.

As though their question to Itsuki had never existed in the first place.

“Hey… should we tell her?”

“Hmm… I don’t know.”

Just as the conversation seemed about to end, the two girls began whispering to each other.

Like they wanted someone to ask.

But didn’t quite know how to bring it up themselves.

Mio didn’t miss that subtle shift in the air.

“…? Is something wrong?”

Her voice was gentle.

So gentle, in fact, that there was no possible escape.

“Um… actually…”

Prompted by Mio, one of the girls glanced uneasily toward the old school building.

“I thought I saw one of the windows open earlier.”

Mio’s smile never wavered.

“A window?”

“Yes. On the third floor. Near the end.”

The other girl nodded.

“There was something like a curtain moving in the wind.”

“Nobody uses the old building anymore, right?”

For one brief moment, the air stopped.

But Mio’s perfect smile remained exactly where it was.

“Oh, sorry. That was probably me. A teacher asked me to go in there yesterday. I must’ve forgotten to close it.”

She said it so casually that both girls visibly relaxed.

“Oh, that makes sense.”

“Yeah, I figured it had to be something like that.”

“Sorry for worrying you. And thanks for telling me. Oh—but the teacher asking me to go in there is supposed to be a secret, okay? Think you can keep it between us?”

The student council president placed one finger against her lips.

“Yes!”

“Of course!”

Hearts practically appeared in both girls’ eyes.

They walked away down the hallway, looking back several times as they went.

Then they turned the corner.

Gone.

At that exact moment, Mio’s smile vanished too.

And her eyes quietly began to burn.

Goodbye, perfect superhuman.

Welcome back, ghost lunatic.

“We can’t exactly pretend we didn’t hear that, can we?”

Itsuki muttered.

With resignation.

He already knew.

There weren’t any curtains left in the old school building.

Mio didn’t answer.

She was staring out the window.

From the main building, they could see the old one across the grounds.

Its third-floor windows lined up black beneath the evening light.

“Kusunoki. Have you noticed?”

“Noticed what?”

“The room at the far end of the third floor. From outside, you can see a window there, right?”

Itsuki looked toward the old building.

There was definitely a window.

“But when you’re inside… there’s no room where that window should be.”

“What?”

And now, a sudden quiz!

What exists when you look from the outside, but disappears when you look from the inside?

Hint:

It starts with H…

and ends with M!

“A hidden room?”

“And?”

“And that’s the room where they saw the curtain.”

Correct.

A gust of wind swept past them.

Mio’s black hair fluttered.

Her eyes locked onto Itsuki.

There was unmistakable fear in them.

But no hesitation.

Then she said—

“It’s there.”