"Ahhh~ It's been so long since I've felt this relaxed."
"Yeah, it feels like forever since we last went diving."
"The ocean floor is still as beautiful as ever~"
"There was even a squid just now."
"That thing looked delicious!"
Kohei shook his still-damp hair. Mentioning squid made him think of street food, and thinking about street food made him want alcohol, which in turn made him want a group activity.
Perfect timing!
Recently, he'd found an ideal spot for a group outing!
"Hey, you guys—how about we take a trip to an elementary school next week~?"
(???)
As soon as they saw Kohei's beaming face, the atmosphere instantly froze. Kamishiro Shiro and the others stared at him with increasingly dangerous expressions.
"Elementary school?"
Shiro asked uncertainly, wondering if he'd misheard. Kohei was a pervert, sure—but surely he wasn't about to cross into criminal territory… or was he?
"Yup, elementary school!"
"You're going back to elementary school?"
"I'm not the one going back to school."
"Ohhh, I see—you're going to an elementary school."
"Haha, that sounds great."
Shiro and Iori both smiled, looking like they completely agreed with Kohei's idea.
But the very next second—
Shiro and the other three instantly teleported several meters away from the pervert, clearly dividing tasks:
"I'll distract this guy with Kitahara, you two do your thing!"
"I got it! This is where we call the cops, right?"
Beep beep beep—
Chisa, cold-blooded and efficient, immediately dialed the police. Scum like this really were safer behind bars.
!!!
Σ(っ °Д °;)っ
"Wait wait wait!!"
Kohei dashed forward and snatched the phone from Chisa, ending the call. No way was he spending the rest of his life in jail!
"This kind of petty misunderstanding doesn't need the police!"
(Sweats nervously)
"Petty misunderstanding?"
"You trying to get yourself locked up?"
"I think this qualifies as a major incident already."
"You're basically walking, talking evidence."
Shiro stared dangerously at Kohei. He'd lost a ton of money on stocks yesterday and was seriously tempted to report him—but then again, Kohei was still his buddy.
The reward money wasn't worth it. Especially since Kohei wasn't worth much right now anyway…
"Either way, I'm not supporting your perverted idea."
"Same here—this is messed up!"
"Actually, I—wait, no—I'm against it too!"
Shiro had originally considered supporting it—after all, catching him in the act might bring a bigger reward—but seeing the murderous stares from his three friends, he quickly chickened out…
He was terrified they'd think he was Kohei's accomplice and toss him in jail for pork cutlet dinners.
"What kind of person do you guys think I am?!"
Even Kohei, slow as he was, finally realized it—they all thought he was a damn pervert!
"And for the record, I'm not even interested in 3D (mutters) elementary school girls!"
?_?
"Did you just mutter something?"
"Don't think whispering makes it better, okay?"
"You clearly have a thing for 3D middle school girls."
The three fired back furiously. Even Chisa held onto her phone with a suspicious look, debating whether she should go ahead and call the police.
"Actually, I found this."
Seeing they didn't believe him, Kohei had no choice but to show them the truth. He held up his phone screen, displaying a message:
"Let's spend the night at school!"
"An abandoned elementary school has been repurposed into a lodging facility."
"The playground can be freely used as a dormitory."
"Campfires can be held on-site depending on guest preference."
Everyone stared at the message again and again—was this… actually real?
So abandoned schools were being upcycled now?
Weren't they afraid of ghosts like Hanako-san in the bathroom or something?!
Shiro gulped, he felt this was definitely a red flag and maybe they should pick another spot…
"This actually sounds kind of fun."
"Spending the night at school?"
"The listing says it's a big campus surrounded by forest."
Before Shiro could voice any objections, his three friends were already visibly excited.
Seeing everyone's interest, Kohei puffed up with pride.
"I just happened to come across it online. Plus, if we get enough people, it'll be way cheaper."
"Really!"
"Sometimes you come up with decent ideas."
"You're making me blush here, haha! So in that case—"
"WAIT!!!"
Kohei was cut off mid-sentence by Shiro, whose face had gone completely pale.
"You guys are seriously okay with going to a place like that?!"
(Sweats nervously)
Everyone looked confused. "Why not? It's just an abandoned elementary school."
!!
"That's exactly the problem!" Shiro's voice trembled. "Abandoned. Forest. Elementary school… Doesn't that scream horror movie?! What if a killer or Hanako-san shows up—or a cursed well with Sadako in it?!"
"..."
The others stared at the trembling, ghost-name-chanting Shiro with increasingly strange expressions.
Wait a second…
Could this guy be afraid of ghosts?
Even Aina, who was starting to feel scared, found herself suppressing laughter watching Shiro's expressions and actions.
The way he was acting, you'd think he'd just seen something filthy attached to them.
Iori's mind suddenly recalled a childhood memory—one time, Shiro had dragged him home from the mountains at night, claiming they needed to go back for a "late-night snack." Looking back, that was probably because he was scared of ghosts~
A sinister smile crept across Iori's face.
He slowly crept up behind the still-mumbling Shiro and blew a puff of air in his ear.
"I died a tragic death…"
!!!
Shiro's body jolted like a spring-loaded trap. He activated his reflexes and threw Iori over his shoulder in a clean judo toss—then proceeded to step on him in a frenzied panic, screaming,
"AAAAHHHH! GHOST!!!"
"Hey!! Shiro, you bastard! Look properly!"
Iori was stunned, unable to tell if Shiro was faking it or genuinely terrified. But at this rate, it looked like ghosts should be afraid of him!
The onlooking trio twitched at the corners of their mouths. These two clowns never failed to deliver comedy gold.
(???皿??)??3??
"You totally did that on purpose!!"
After the chaos, Iori crawled back up with a twisted face. He was now certain Shiro had done that on purpose.
(;?＿?)
"Who told you to sneak up on me like that?! It was just my body's reflexes, okay?! Like… like my underwear!"
Once Shiro realized it was Iori, he calmed down—at least his body had stopped trembling, though his face was still pale.
The thing is, despite being a transmigrator and believing in ghosts, Shiro normally wouldn't be this scared.
It's just that… lately, Azusa had somehow developed a sudden obsession with horror films.
Maybe she just couldn't find anything to suit her taste recently…
Either way, she's been turning off the lights at night, and Shiro had been subjected to every terrifying scene imaginable.
Seriously, who watches the entire Ju-On (The Grudge) series in one sitting?! Did she not think ghosts might actually be real?!
(╥_╥)
"I can't believe it—you're really that scared of ghosts. And when we were kids, you told me we had to go back for a late-night snack."
Seeing Shiro's pale face, Iori couldn't bring himself to keep mocking him. He already looked pitiful—piling on would just be bullying.
But deep down, he'd already decided—no matter what, Shiro was definitely coming to that haunted elementary school.
#EvilSmileActivated
(???皿??)??3??
"Lies! I was just giving you guys a crash course in ghost knowledge!" Shiro tried to deny everything, though his face didn't back him up. At this point, the only thing not trembling was his stubborn mouth…
"Besides, this is all Kohei's fault! What normal college student Googles elementary school stuff?!"
Shuffle shuffle shuffle
Everyone's gaze instantly locked onto the back of the suspect's head: Kohei.
"..."
"…Are we sure this won't turn into a criminal case?"
"Suddenly I feel like maybe we should call the police first."
Silently, Iori and the others mentally flagged Kohei as a high-risk individual. If any young girls goes missing in Izu lately, they could immediately pinpoint the culprit.
"Forget it for now, the idea itself is still pretty good."
Iori was the first to break the awkward silence. After all, he needed this project to carry out his series of pranks on Shiro Kamishiro~
"Yeah! Who cares about the reason—if the result's good, that's what matters!"
Hearing someone back him up, Kohei was instantly revived, looking nothing like the embarrassed mess from just moments ago.
Σ(っ °Д °;)っ
"You changed your expression way too fast! And that thing was clearly…"
"This is totally normal, okay? Don't they always have test-of-courage episodes in dramas?"
Aina cut off what Shiro was about to say. In her mind, the scene of her and Iori clinging to each other during a test of courage was already playing vividly.
The more she imagined it, the more excited she became. She stood up abruptly, saying,
"Senpai, Kohei found something interesting. Are you guys interested?"
As she spoke, she handed Kohei's phone to the seniors for them to take a look.
"So that's how it is—this could work!"
"Looks like a great location."
Upon seeing the abandoned elementary school, the two seniors' faces lit up with surprise and excitement.
"This is perfect! Let's go there!"
"Hooray!"
Hearing their decision, Aina nearly jumped up in joy. Even if they didn't do a test-of-courage event, a nighttime bonfire was also a classic drama scene!
The male and female leads dancing slowly under the glow of a bonfire, cheered on by their friends—
Ahh!
So romantic!
And if they added fireworks, it would be perfect.
Wait—she could prepare the fireworks herself!
She'd go buy them right after this!
"Perfect?"
Unlike Aina who was already in full romantic fantasy mode, Shiro and the others picked up on the word "perfect" in the seniors' reaction.
For some reason, after seeing the bodybuilder physiques of the seniors, Shiro wasn't so scared of ghosts anymore. But now... he was worried about other things—especially that ominous "perfect."
PaB's Sixth Sense was tingling!
"We were already planning to do something summer-like—a club training camp—but our budget's a bit tight."
"We were just looking for a cheap place that could fit a large group."
Hearing the explanation, Shiro and the others understood. In that case, the abandoned elementary school really did check all the boxes.
"Then I'll go ahead and book it."
"How many vehicles do we need to borrow?"
"Should we prepare some snacks?"
Now that the decision was made, Shiro's group started asking about the logistics—they wanted to help take the load off the seniors.
However...
They were met with confused expressions from the seniors.
Then, the seniors turned their backs to the first-years and began whispering amongst themselves, deliberately keeping their voices too low to hear.
(′｀;)?
Now it was Shiro and his friends who were confused. They exchanged looks—had they just asked something sensitive?
Just moments later, the seniors turned back around, smiling.
"Regarding this activity—we've decided that each grade level will act separately!"
!!!
Hearing this sudden announcement, Shiro's internal alarms were going crazy—something was clearly wrong!
Too wrong.
He laughed nervously, "Uh, why are we suddenly splitting up...?"
"Hm?"
"Spending time just with people your own age is a valuable experience too, don't you think?"
"That's true."
"Then the first-years only need one car."
The seniors' reasoning successfully won over Iori and Kohei—those two fools.
Shiro looked at them with deep sympathy. It was truly a miracle they'd made it this far in life—it must be thanks to modern civilization.
No way was he going to trust this so-called "split up" plan!
Still, he didn't bother warning the two idiots. After all, he wasn't exactly a saint.
(λ?_??)
As long as he kept alert and minded his own safety, that was enough.
As for his other friends?
Well, once he took some embarrassing pictures of them later, he'd give them a chance to buy them back~
At that moment, Shiro's gaze met Iori's. The two nodded at each other with smiles full of mutual understanding.
Kekekeke~
Then, Shiro turned and took the little sheep Kohei to discuss the trip details with Chisa and Aina.
"Let's draft a plan."
"Good idea, looks like we'll need to bring a lot."
"I'll need some time to prepare!"
"Ah~ I can't wait!"
"Haha! You better thank me for this brilliant suggestion!"
Behind the five of them, a group of muscular seniors watched their slender backs with 'joyful' smiles—
"What?! You're going to an elementary school?!"
At the cafeteria in Oumi University, a cute girl with a side ponytail stood shocked while on a call.
Across from her, a beauty with cherry blossom-colored hair was secretly eavesdropping.
"…Alright, I got it."
Kiyoko put down her phone with a strange expression. Her best friend Aina had just told her that Shiro and the others were going on a training camp… at an elementary school?
Have training camps gotten this weird?
College students revisiting elementary school life? This was basically criminal.
On the other side, Busujima wore a look of pure disdain. "What kind of perverted hobby is that?"
Clearly, she'd heard Kiyoko and Aina's entire conversation.
"They say you can use the facilities freely, and there'll be a bonfire party."
"That's still weird. Like, how did they even find this school in the first place...?"
Busujima thought about it more deeply…
This club is way too sketchy.
Shiro and his crew were already deep into the criminal path, huh?
"Don't overthink it. People are just quirky sometimes. Like you—lately you've been stalking my adorable face and sexy body nonstop. Just so we're clear, even though you're persistent, my orientation isn't going to change!"
"..."
Staring at the smug shortie across from her, Busujima's temple twitched. She wanted nothing more than to smash her lunch tray over her head.
Huff.
She exhaled sharply and forced herself to calm down, gritting her teeth.
"I think you know exactly why I'm following you—it's just to stop a thieving cat from stealing what's not hers!"
"Tch!"
Kiyoko clicked her tongue in frustration. It was because of Busujima that she hadn't gotten any alone time with Shiro lately—and apparently, there were more vixens around him now too!
Ugh!
"You green tea b*tch! If you're so upset, why don't you go steal him yourself?"
"Ha! I'm not as shameless as you."
"Then stop following me!"
"I'm just looking out for you, so you don't get tricked like a clueless old man. We're classmates, after all~"
(?°?д°?)
"Wow, thank you so much!"
"You're welcome~"
Faced with Kiyoko's fury, Busujima turned her head nonchalantly.
In truth, she did want to steal him too…
The problem was—Shiro sometimes just didn't respond to messages!
(Too busy drinking, watching horror movies, and flirting with girls.)
Besides, she didn't want to tail Kiyoko all day either—she had her part-time job and girlfriends to hang out with.
Now her boss thought she was dating someone, and her girlfriends thought she'd switched teams…
Damn it all!
And the main reason? Kiyoko had an informant!
That flat-chested girl from their club, Aina, had been feeding her intel. Whenever Busujima and Shiro were about to make progress, she'd mysteriously pop up!
Unforgivable!
Busujima figured… she needed to plant an insider in PaB too, at least to track Shiro's movements.
As for joining PaB herself…
Forgive her—she just couldn't. That club gave off such a "dumbass" vibe.
"I'm leaving! Stop following me!"
Kiyoko gave Busujima a fierce glare and stormed off with her tray. She looked very fed up with her.
Well, they were love rivals—it made sense.
But the shrewd Busujima noticed something odd. She'd been tailing Kiyoko for days now, and this was the first time she saw her move so urgently.
And… didn't she just catch a glimpse of the reservation page for that abandoned school?
Putting all the pieces together, Busujima's eyes sharpened—
There's a thieving cat on the loose!
Meanwhile, the PaB first-years had already begun enjoying their training camp trip.
Since they were acting separately, the five of them only needed one car—and they weren't even heading straight to the destination. First, they were stopping at a scenic spot for a picnic.
It felt like the first real gathering of the PaB freshman group~
At that moment,
The little car carrying these teens was filled with laughter and youthful energy.