[Club Recruitment Notice:]
[Ghost Story Club Now Recruiting! Join Us~ ?]
[Do you believe in another world?]
[Do you believe in things others cannot see?]
[Do you want to seek the extraordinary?]
[Do you crave encounters beyond the mundane?]
[If so, join the Ghost Story Club!]
[We're all tired of ordinary life. Let's live differently!]
[Find us in the unseen. Become one of us!]
[How to Join:]
Between 1:00–4:00 AM, enter the main building through the windows of Class 1-9, 1-11, or 1-13 (unlocked in advance).
Search for the atrium key hidden somewhere in the school.
Open the atrium door before 4:00 AM.
Welcome to the club.
The poster was visually atrocious.
A crude, black-smeared paper with a lopsided grinning ghost doodled in the corner—so poorly drawn it made Shirasawa Elementary's child scribbles look like Renaissance art.
The contents, however, were disturbingly specific.
Break into the school at 1 AM?
Search for a hidden key in the dark?
If this was a real club from Yoruyama's past, its members had a death wish.
By third period, all teams had regrouped—empty-handed.
No trace of the Living Club or Ghost Story Club in the main building.
The original core obsessions—[Asamoto Eriko] and [Morihara Kouji]—were nowhere to be found. Students in their former classes insisted: "No one by that name has ever been here."
Kumami's team failed to access the atrium, despite trying nine different methods to unlock its door.
The conclusion was unavoidable:
The dungeon's secrets were hidden in the night.
Five more classes stretched ahead.
Takakai slumped at his desk, spinning a pen between his fingers.
Twenty-something years old, dragged back to high school.
In a foreign country.
With mandatory attendance.
He groaned internally.
At least the leg-watching was mildly entertaining—until he noticed every female student had bowlegs worse than a cowboy's.
Not a single pair worth appreciating.
Even Chika's chubby thighs outclass these.
By now, Takakai had pieced together how to uncover hidden rules:
Trigger a rule's condition (e.g., check under the bed → see the Bedframe Man).
Survive the encounter → gain access to that rule set.
But there was a catch:
You only see the rules after breaking them.
For example:
He'd already violated the "no unseen communication" rule by responding to the note.
Tonight, he'd have to sleep elsewhere to avoid the Bedframe Man.
No free lunches in this dungeon.
Ding-dong— Ding-dong—
Class ended.
Chika tugged at Takakai's sleeve. "We're going to the restroom. Miko-chan really can't hold it anymore."
Miko flushed crimson but nodded urgently.
Takakai hesitated.
Avoiding bodily functions isn't sustainable.
"Be careful," he warned. "Not a word inside. Don't respond to anything."
The three girls entered the restroom—Chika and Miko to relieve themselves, Hayasaka as lookout.
Alone in the stall, Miko exhaled.
All morning, and we've found nothing.
I should've seen something by now.
Where are they hiding?
The toilet flushed automatically as she stood.
Then—
[Miko-chan.]
A voice.
Directly behind her.