Looking at the "Seikyou Academy" plaque at the school gate and listening to Itou Kaiji's reminder, Miyauchi Hikage nodded. "Even though we're already in Saitama, if we really plan to film, we do need to inform Nanami-san first."
He explained Nanami Kento's identity to the somewhat confused Fujimiya Konomi.
Upon learning that Miyauchi Hikage had to report to and discuss with some official personnel before filming these videos, a look of interest appeared on Fujimiya Konomi's face.
"Do ghosts really exist in this world?" She looked at Miyauchi Hikage, trying to read something from the face of her childhood friend.
After all, before he went to high school in Tokyo, the most she heard was that he wanted to film videos about food tours and the like in Tokyo. She had never heard Miyauchi Hikage say he was going to Tokyo to film suspense and supernatural videos.
Does that mean that something happened to Miyauchi Hikage during his month in Tokyo that changed his original plans?
Or had this change already occurred before he went to Tokyo?
Fujimiya Konomi, who probably knew more about the cash flow of Asahigaoka Media than even Kagayama Kaede, was naturally aware of how much capital Miyauchi Hikage had on hand.
Although it was indeed a stunning nine-figure sum for an ordinary person, it was still far from enough to purchase a Western-style villa in the heart of Tokyo.
Anyway, Fujimiya Konomi didn't believe for a second that this guy, Miyauchi Hikage, would have secretly made tens of millions, or even more, through stock trading and investments behind her back.
And this afternoon's "date" made Fujimiya Konomi feel this even more clearly:
The current Miyauchi Hikage was just too "lucky."
He would find banknotes lost by other students or teachers at school, and an extra drink would fall out when buying from a vending machine.
Even when participating in a lucky draw at a dessert shop, Miyauchi Hikage could draw the first prize with a casual attempt.
Throughout the day, the things Miyauchi Hikage had gotten for free were almost equivalent to an ordinary person's weekly salary.
Even back in Asahigaoka, Miyauchi Hikage was called the "Ebisu" of Asahigaoka by many villagers, meaning the god of commerce and wealth. But Fujimiya Konomi knew that Miyauchi Hikage had actually taken many wrong turns at the beginning.
He had spent nearly half a year at school and only succeeded with their help.
However, Fujimiya Konomi didn't care about these things.
Because if you really went back to the beginning, Miyauchi Hikage's differences had been apparent since childhood.
Growing up in a small Japanese village, he became fluent in Chinese without a teacher and was also quite knowledgeable about that country's traditional customs, as if he had been reincarnated with memories from a past life.
From the time she met Miyauchi Hikage until now, Fujimiya Konomi knew that he would not be an ordinary person.
She just thought that if she could quietly stand by his side as she had in the past, without being left too far behind, that would be enough.
Miyauchi Hikage looked at the curious eyes of the girl before him, then shrugged and shook his head. "Before you actually see those things, who can give a definite answer? I'm just a video blogger who makes a little money off the audience's curiosity and sensationalism. I just have to do as I'm told."
As he said this, he turned his head to look at Itou Kaiji.
"But having said that, before we film, we still need to understand the specific information about this school, to see where the rumors came from. After we decide to film, we'll explain it to Nanami-san."
As he spoke, he looked at the sun, which was about to set in the distance.
"And since it's almost dusk, isn't it the perfect time to verify whether that rumor is true or false?"
Miyauchi Hikage arranged for the somewhat timid Itou Kaiji to first inquire for information from the school's janitors or locals living nearby. He himself planned to wander around the school to see if there were any other vengeful spirits or curses.
He turned his head again to look at Fujimiya Konomi, intending to ask her to wait for him at the school gate for a while, but she just shook her head directly, indicating that she wanted to go with him.
Miyauchi Hikage knew Fujimiya Konomi's personality. Since she had said so, he might as well take her along.
Although the current Miyauchi Hikage was fairly certain that the ghost appearing in this school was likely the ghost girl from an anime he had once watched.
According to the anime's plot, that ghost girl should be harmless.
But this school also concealed a shadow ghost that had absorbed her negative emotions, such as her memories and resentment from before her death.
In this world, which was a mishmash of various settings, that shadow ghost could probably be considered a curse by now.
With this in mind, Miyauchi Hikage led Fujimiya Konomi into the middle school, which was built on a small hill.
The inside of the school was indeed very clean. Not to mention vengeful spirits, he couldn't even see any normal ghosts.
He also didn't sense any reaction from cursed objects, which clearly meant that either the ghost or the shadow ghost was cleaning up the other dirty things in the school.
Standing at the entrance of the old school building, Miyauchi Hikage felt the premonition in his heart.
It was indeed in here, but it seemed incomplete, as if something else was in another location not far away.
Then, he tilted his head up slightly, and Fujimiya Konomi followed suit, looking at the building at the top of the hill behind the school.
"That should be the office, right?" she explained to Miyauchi Hikage.
Miyauchi Hikage nodded slightly. "Let's go take a look. This old school building looks even more rundown than the Asahigaoka Branch School did before its renovation. I'd rather not accidentally step through the floor inside."
Fujimiya Konomi also chuckled. "Yeah, the Asahigaoka Branch School is only about thirty or forty years old, and it was already in such bad shape. Before you had people renovate it, we had to use a lot of buckets to catch water from the leaks on rainy days."
"But since this school building is so old and takes up a lot of the school's space, why doesn't the school administration tear it down and rebuild it?"
Miyauchi Hikage answered casually, "Maybe because this building also holds some important things. After all, when we renovated the Asahigaoka Branch School, many people who graduated from there, including the teacher who taught us for a few years before Kazuho-nee, came over to check on the situation."
"It seems this old school building also carries a lot more memories. Though I still think renovating it the year after I graduated was a bit too late," Fujimiya Konomi sighed with emotion.
After graduating, her alma mater was renovated. Not only were the memories lost, but she also couldn't experience what it was like to study in the new building.
The two of them walked up the hill along a stone path, chatting about their time at school in Asahigaoka.
About halfway up, Miyauchi Hikage suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?"
Fujimiya Konomi looked at Miyauchi Hikage, who then pointed to a small path on the side that looked like only a few people had walked on.
"Let's go check this way, see where this path leads."
The path wasn't very long; they reached the end after only a minute or two of walking.
At the end was a stone monument, about twenty to thirty centimeters high, placed there by someone unknown.
There were only two kanji characters on the monument.
"Yuuko..." Muttering the words on the monument, Fujimiya Konomi seemed to recall something.
"Speaking of which, I have heard rumors among my schoolmates about a 'Yuuko-san'. Could they have all originated from this school?"
On the back hill of a school, in a place not too conspicuous but not too hidden either, stood a strange monument that wasn't very stable, yet had a name written on it.
This was indeed enough to spark a lot of imagination among middle school students, so it wasn't surprising that so many new school rumors would emerge from it.
But this was only what Fujimiya Konomi could see.
On Miyauchi Hikage's side, he could see more.
Right next to the stone monument was a gray diary.
There was no mistake.
This was one of the diaries from the second batch.
Kanoe Yuuko, who was killed by ignorant villagers half a century ago and turned into a white and a black ghost, was the holder of a second-batch diary.
So, ghosts did have a chance of getting a diary.
What concerned Miyauchi Hikage, however, was why this diary was left here.
He pretended to squat down and look at the monument, while also picking up the gray diary.
As the owner of a diary, he could check the contents of another person's diary and the status of its holder after picking it up.
This was something Miyauchi Hikage had confirmed with Shiina Mashiro.
So with just a quick look, Miyauchi Hikage knew that although this diary had already locked onto Kanoe Yuuko as its holder, it was currently in a subtle "unowned state."
The reason was simple: the current Kanoe Yuuko was incomplete.
"So, either one of the two Yuukos has to come here and see this diary, or the two Yuukos have to merge back into one, otherwise this diary will stay here forever?"
No, there was now a new option.
That is, Miyauchi Hikage could retrieve this unread diary and personally arrange for a girl to receive it.
Seeing this option, the corner of Miyauchi Hikage's mouth twitched.
There was no problem with retrieving the diary, but for him to personally arrange for a girl to receive it sounded so awkward.
He finds a girl, gives her a diary, and then has her watch him write in his diary every day.
Just hearing it felt inexplicably embarrassing.
Miyauchi Hikage put the diary back where he found it. He didn't want Konomi or Kaede to see the things he wrote.
Since the diary chose Kanoe Yuuko, let it stay here.
At least she was the first ghost to get a diary, which confirmed some of his previous speculations about diary holders.
Next, he would see if any aliens also got his diary.
With that thought, Miyauchi Hikage stood up.
"There shouldn't be any remains under this. It's more like a cenotaph for this Yuuko-san. But since we have a specific name, we can start our investigation from her past."
Fujimiya Konomi also nodded. "I can ask my friends about it. Many of them graduated from here."
She picked some wildflowers from the side and placed them in front of Yuuko's monument as a tribute, then followed Miyauchi Hikage back down the original path.
After returning to the stone path and looking at the school below the slope, Fujimiya Konomi couldn't help but exclaim, "The view here is really nice."
Under the light of the setting sun, the entire school and the city below could be seen quite clearly.
Even though she had been studying at a nearby high school for two years, this was the first time Fujimiya Konomi knew the view from here was so good.
Then, in the next moment, Fujimiya Konomi seemed to see something and tugged hard on Miyauchi Hikage's arm.
"Hikage, look there! Is that a girl in a school uniform over there?"
She pointed towards the school gate.
Miyauchi Hikage naturally saw it more clearly than Fujimiya Konomi.
A girl with long, purplish-black hair, wearing an old-fashioned school uniform, was currently leaning against the school gate, looking at the scenery outside.
He glanced at the position of the sun, which was setting but hadn't completely set yet.
As expected, at this time, even ordinary people were more likely to see things they normally couldn't.
Fujimiya Konomi quickly pulled Miyauchi Hikage and ran towards the school gate, seemingly not worried at all that the other party might be a ghost.
Even Miyauchi Hikage, who had grown up with Fujimiya Konomi, didn't know that his childhood friend would be so interested in these so-called "ghost stories."
However, as they jogged all the way down, by the time they reached the school gate, the girl's figure had disappeared, just as the rumors said.
After all, the witching hour only lasts for a short period, and it's not always possible to see those beings so clearly.
This time, it was likely because Fujimiya Konomi had just paid her respects at the cenotaph and formed a slight connection with her, allowing her to see her figure at this time.
As for Miyauchi Hikage, with his spiritual vision activated, he could naturally see more clearly.
But her figure still looked indistinct.
It wasn't the blurriness from when his spiritual vision was of a lower level, but a semi-transparent, shimmering state.
It gave the feeling that because she was about to be forgotten, the ghost's existence had also become faint.
This phenomenon made Miyauchi Hikage feel that something was not right.
After all, rumors of Yuuko were still circulating among her sister and the students of the nearby schools. Plus, this was an era of spiritual resurgence. Kanoe Yuuko's situation should be more stable than in the original story.
So, was it because of the shadow Yuuko, which might have already become a curse?