Whisper (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
whisperscrawls) wrote2023-05-05 08:00 am
whisperscrawls) wrote2023-05-05 08:00 am
Shuuen no Shiori 4: Chapter 4
Chapter 4 - Lost -Re:code-
The tape, on the verge of wearing out, made a noisy rattling as it turned.
“―Hey... I’ll be getting closer to them today, too.”
“Yo, A-ya!”
I heard my name being called from behind me.
A loud, clear voice that could be easily heard.
When I turned, I saw that a classmate of mine was about to rush in my direction.
“Looks like you’re your usual grumpy self today.”
He’s an ever-cheerful guy who’s popular in our class.
I’m not someone you need to bother with, but he spends time with everyone.
Honestly, I hate him and how he lives each day looking like he’s having fun.
“Mind your own business.”
In response to my blunt reply, he merely laughed, told me, “You’re as cold as always,” and continued talking.
“―Oh yeah, you know a lot about rumors and stuff like that, right?”
There it is... My expression relaxed for just a moment.
I love creating and spreading false rumors about people.
And not to boast, but since I’m quite clever in how I do it, most people spread the rumor without even realizing who’s behind it, and then come to ask me about it.
I’d actually spread a rumor about B-ko just yesterday, so since he often expresses interest in her, he’s probably come to me about that.
I smoothed my expression back to normal so he wouldn’t notice anything and asked a question in return.
“Hm? Something happen?”
As if happy that I’d shown interest, he excitedly began to speak.
“Y’see, it looks like a new student transferred into another class, so I was wondering if you knew anything!”
“...!”
...A transfer student?
That’s strange...
“...No, sorry, but that information didn't reach me.”
“Oh, okay! Man, I was wondering if you knew if they were a girl or a boy. It’d be real nice if they were a pretty girl.”
“...Yeah.”
“Ooh, what was that? You like that kind of thing too, A-ya? Even though you’re always so gloomy...!”
“As if. It’s not like that.”
After my classmate left, I took some time to think.
A transfer student, huh...
Well, it’s safe to say that this will probably take priority over the rumor about B-ko, then.
But for someone to transfer in this late in the year...
Though I felt a sense of uneasiness deep in my chest, I couldn’t figure anything out by thinking about it, so I began to head towards the classroom.
But when I got there, I felt a gaze on me.
It was a bit similar to the one I always felt recently.
I turned around to face where I felt the gaze coming from.
There was a student standing there.
It wasn’t like I knew every student in school, of course, but I felt like I hadn’t seen him before.
He wordlessly approached me.
Does he need something from me...?
“...What is it?”
He soon reached where I was standing.
He was walking directly towards me, so I spoke without thinking.
And then, still silent, he stared at me.
His hair, which was a bit longer than C-ta’s, was held with a hairclip, and part of it was tied back.
He was wearing a hoodie under his blazer, which gave him a casual appearance.
He was odd and suspicious, and I couldn’t take him just silently standing there any longer.
If he didn’t need anything from me, then... But just as I passed him, intending to ignore him, I heard him speak.
“...The Bookmark of Demise.”
“!”
I reflexively startled.
Those were the words I was most interested in hearing right now.
“You’re looking into the Bookmark of Demise, aren’t you?”
The boy in front of me continued.
“Who...?”
*
After school, as my classmates headed off to club activities and the such, I didn’t go home, but walked where there were progressively fewer people.
Through the passage on the first floor, past the yard, a bit of a distance away, was the old school building.
A steadily deteriorating two story wooden building that was barely used nowadays.
If you opened the door to the old music room on the second floor, you would usually find the same, unchanging group of people.
“...Hey.”
I nonchalantly placed my bag onto one of the desks.
This desk was my usual place.
“No, it’s not just ‘hey’—oh...”
The one who turned to face me was the most beautiful girl in our school, B-ko.
She was usually neat and mild, a girl with a manner more pleasant than anyone else’s, but that was only a mask that she wore in front of others. In reality, there was a violent difference between her two sides.
Though it never became a big rumor, it had spread a little, so I thought that she would get angry at me, but when she saw the person standing next to me, the words died on her tongue.
“...W-Who is that?”
“...Who knows.”
“A-Aren’t you the one who brought him here?”
“Is that true, A-ya-san?”
The one who asked me that question was someone with a lithe frame and long hair. If I had to say, she was a girl who gave off the same “gloomy” impression that I did.
—Her name was D-ne.
She was another one of the regulars here.
“I can’t really say... I guess.”
“A-ya, what do you mean?”
C-ta, who had been watching me with a smile on his face, joined in on the conversation.
Pale, soft-looking, fine hair and pleasantly friendly eyes.
He, who could probably be considered good-looking, was my childhood friend.
For some reason, though he rarely was, he seemed to be a little angry.
“It’d probably be more accurate to say he came here uninvited.”
“‘Uninvited’...”
“Somehow, he knows something about the Bookmark of Demise.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“...”
A long stretch of silence. Everyone seemed to be thinking about many things, from the indescribable looks on their faces. That phrase—“Bookmark of Demise”—was what we were most interested in right now, stemming from the rumor’s uniqueness.
— The Bookmark of Demise.
You could say that this story could probably be considered our school’s local ghost story. Unable to be found when searching online, only told within this school... a true rumor.
It seems like according to the rumor, the “Book of the End” and “Bookmark of Demise” are hidden somewhere within this school. In that book, every rumor in the world is recorded, and when you open up to the page with the bookmark, the rumor there will become reality.
Just hearing the rumor, it doesn’t seem like much. But we had a reason to see this rumor as important, different from the others.
ーSomehow, it seems that the book and bookmark really exist.
Almost exactly ten years ago, the year that the old school building was going to stop being used, a series of mysterious murders occurred.
This is a well-known story that every student in this school has heard at least once.
The reason that almost every student knows of this incident despite how long ago it occurred is because it was passed around just like a ghost story.
ーBecause during that incident 10 years ago... they had obtained the Bookmark of Demise.
Because of that, both the rumor of the Bookmark of Demise and the story of the incident are often spoken about together.
And so, one of our club’s goals became to discover all the secrets of the Bookmark of Demise.
Of course, at first we thought that it was just another urban legend.
However, there is a reason why it became so important to us.
About a week ago, we happened to find a notebook in the old school building. It was an exchange diary between students from when the building was in use.
As we read through it, we realized something.
ーThis exchange diary had belonged to the students who had died ten years ago.
The ritual to obtain the “Bookmark of Demise” and “Book of the End” was written in the diary, and the four who had performed it had died...
However, that was all the information we obtained from the diary.
There was no doubt that investigating this was more risky than it had been before we learned this. But the conclusion that I came to was that it was necessary to perform the ritual to obtain the Bookmark of Demise.
I wonder if he knows something more after all.
Or is it that...
As everyone had their eyes on him, he unhurriedly opened his mouth to speak.
“If you could, I’d like for you to come with me...”
“Come with you...?”
“And where would we be going, exactly?”
“—To the hospital.”
The four of us made eye contact, nodded, and turned to face him.
He met each of our eyes as well, one by one, before giving us a wordless nod.
<-- Chapter 3 || Chapter 5 -->
The tape, on the verge of wearing out, made a noisy rattling as it turned.
“―Hey... I’ll be getting closer to them today, too.”
“Yo, A-ya!”
I heard my name being called from behind me.
A loud, clear voice that could be easily heard.
When I turned, I saw that a classmate of mine was about to rush in my direction.
“Looks like you’re your usual grumpy self today.”
He’s an ever-cheerful guy who’s popular in our class.
I’m not someone you need to bother with, but he spends time with everyone.
Honestly, I hate him and how he lives each day looking like he’s having fun.
“Mind your own business.”
In response to my blunt reply, he merely laughed, told me, “You’re as cold as always,” and continued talking.
“―Oh yeah, you know a lot about rumors and stuff like that, right?”
There it is... My expression relaxed for just a moment.
I love creating and spreading false rumors about people.
And not to boast, but since I’m quite clever in how I do it, most people spread the rumor without even realizing who’s behind it, and then come to ask me about it.
I’d actually spread a rumor about B-ko just yesterday, so since he often expresses interest in her, he’s probably come to me about that.
I smoothed my expression back to normal so he wouldn’t notice anything and asked a question in return.
“Hm? Something happen?”
As if happy that I’d shown interest, he excitedly began to speak.
“Y’see, it looks like a new student transferred into another class, so I was wondering if you knew anything!”
“...!”
...A transfer student?
That’s strange...
“...No, sorry, but that information didn't reach me.”
“Oh, okay! Man, I was wondering if you knew if they were a girl or a boy. It’d be real nice if they were a pretty girl.”
“...Yeah.”
“Ooh, what was that? You like that kind of thing too, A-ya? Even though you’re always so gloomy...!”
“As if. It’s not like that.”
After my classmate left, I took some time to think.
A transfer student, huh...
Well, it’s safe to say that this will probably take priority over the rumor about B-ko, then.
But for someone to transfer in this late in the year...
Though I felt a sense of uneasiness deep in my chest, I couldn’t figure anything out by thinking about it, so I began to head towards the classroom.
But when I got there, I felt a gaze on me.
It was a bit similar to the one I always felt recently.
I turned around to face where I felt the gaze coming from.
There was a student standing there.
It wasn’t like I knew every student in school, of course, but I felt like I hadn’t seen him before.
He wordlessly approached me.
Does he need something from me...?
“...What is it?”
He soon reached where I was standing.
He was walking directly towards me, so I spoke without thinking.
And then, still silent, he stared at me.
His hair, which was a bit longer than C-ta’s, was held with a hairclip, and part of it was tied back.
He was wearing a hoodie under his blazer, which gave him a casual appearance.
He was odd and suspicious, and I couldn’t take him just silently standing there any longer.
If he didn’t need anything from me, then... But just as I passed him, intending to ignore him, I heard him speak.
“...The Bookmark of Demise.”
“!”
I reflexively startled.
Those were the words I was most interested in hearing right now.
“You’re looking into the Bookmark of Demise, aren’t you?”
The boy in front of me continued.
“Who...?”
*
After school, as my classmates headed off to club activities and the such, I didn’t go home, but walked where there were progressively fewer people.
Through the passage on the first floor, past the yard, a bit of a distance away, was the old school building.
A steadily deteriorating two story wooden building that was barely used nowadays.
If you opened the door to the old music room on the second floor, you would usually find the same, unchanging group of people.
“...Hey.”
I nonchalantly placed my bag onto one of the desks.
This desk was my usual place.
“No, it’s not just ‘hey’—oh...”
The one who turned to face me was the most beautiful girl in our school, B-ko.
She was usually neat and mild, a girl with a manner more pleasant than anyone else’s, but that was only a mask that she wore in front of others. In reality, there was a violent difference between her two sides.
Though it never became a big rumor, it had spread a little, so I thought that she would get angry at me, but when she saw the person standing next to me, the words died on her tongue.
“...W-Who is that?”
“...Who knows.”
“A-Aren’t you the one who brought him here?”
“Is that true, A-ya-san?”
The one who asked me that question was someone with a lithe frame and long hair. If I had to say, she was a girl who gave off the same “gloomy” impression that I did.
—Her name was D-ne.
She was another one of the regulars here.
“I can’t really say... I guess.”
“A-ya, what do you mean?”
C-ta, who had been watching me with a smile on his face, joined in on the conversation.
Pale, soft-looking, fine hair and pleasantly friendly eyes.
He, who could probably be considered good-looking, was my childhood friend.
For some reason, though he rarely was, he seemed to be a little angry.
“It’d probably be more accurate to say he came here uninvited.”
“‘Uninvited’...”
“Somehow, he knows something about the Bookmark of Demise.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“...”
A long stretch of silence. Everyone seemed to be thinking about many things, from the indescribable looks on their faces. That phrase—“Bookmark of Demise”—was what we were most interested in right now, stemming from the rumor’s uniqueness.
— The Bookmark of Demise.
You could say that this story could probably be considered our school’s local ghost story. Unable to be found when searching online, only told within this school... a true rumor.
It seems like according to the rumor, the “Book of the End” and “Bookmark of Demise” are hidden somewhere within this school. In that book, every rumor in the world is recorded, and when you open up to the page with the bookmark, the rumor there will become reality.
Just hearing the rumor, it doesn’t seem like much. But we had a reason to see this rumor as important, different from the others.
ーSomehow, it seems that the book and bookmark really exist.
Almost exactly ten years ago, the year that the old school building was going to stop being used, a series of mysterious murders occurred.
This is a well-known story that every student in this school has heard at least once.
The reason that almost every student knows of this incident despite how long ago it occurred is because it was passed around just like a ghost story.
ーBecause during that incident 10 years ago... they had obtained the Bookmark of Demise.
Because of that, both the rumor of the Bookmark of Demise and the story of the incident are often spoken about together.
And so, one of our club’s goals became to discover all the secrets of the Bookmark of Demise.
Of course, at first we thought that it was just another urban legend.
However, there is a reason why it became so important to us.
About a week ago, we happened to find a notebook in the old school building. It was an exchange diary between students from when the building was in use.
As we read through it, we realized something.
ーThis exchange diary had belonged to the students who had died ten years ago.
The ritual to obtain the “Bookmark of Demise” and “Book of the End” was written in the diary, and the four who had performed it had died...
However, that was all the information we obtained from the diary.
There was no doubt that investigating this was more risky than it had been before we learned this. But the conclusion that I came to was that it was necessary to perform the ritual to obtain the Bookmark of Demise.
I wonder if he knows something more after all.
Or is it that...
As everyone had their eyes on him, he unhurriedly opened his mouth to speak.
“If you could, I’d like for you to come with me...”
“Come with you...?”
“And where would we be going, exactly?”
“—To the hospital.”
The four of us made eye contact, nodded, and turned to face him.
He met each of our eyes as well, one by one, before giving us a wordless nod.