As the sun set, when Miyauchi Hikage looked again at the old school building, he could faintly feel the negative emotions beginning to spread outwards.
Has the shadow Yuuko appeared?
In the original story, the shadow Yuuko was simply a manifestation of resentment split from Kanoe Yuuko's painful memories before her death. Very few people could see it.
It would only quietly appear by Kanoe Yuuko's side when she herself realized the truth of her death, wanting her to accept the pain she carried.
But from beginning to end, neither the normal Kanoe Yuuko nor the shadow Yuuko ever harmed ordinary people. The shadow Yuuko's only goal was to make the amnesiac Kanoe Yuuko feel her own pain.
However, in this world, with the embellished rumors of "Yuuko-san" added by the students of Seikyou Academy and the spiritual resurgence of recent decades, this resentment may have undergone some changes.
If it really turned into a curse, what grade of curse would that shadow Yuuko be?
And if the shadow Yuuko were exorcised, what kind of impact would it have on the current Yuuko?
As he pondered this, Fujimiya Konomi, who was beside him, waved her hand in front of his eyes.
"So, what we just saw really was the rumored 'Yuuko-san,' wasn't it?"
Her tone carried a slight hint of nervousness.
Miyauchi Hikage's gaze followed the listless-looking Yuuko as she floated away, then he retracted his gaze.
"If there wasn't someone deliberately dressing up in an old-fashioned school uniform to play ghost at the school gate during the holidays, then it was indeed like the Yuuko from the rumors who only appears at dusk."
Fujimiya Konomi continued to ask him, "So, are you still planning to film here?"
Although after coming to her senses, Fujimiya Konomi's heart was also a little nervous about this "strange encounter," and she could even feel her palm, which was clutching Miyauchi Hikage's sleeve, starting to sweat.
But seeing Miyauchi Hikage's expression, which was no different from usual, her mind also relaxed a lot.
That must have been "Yuuko-san." However, in the rumors she had heard, "Yuuko-san" seemed to be a girl who was unable to graduate due to an accident, which is why she lingered in the school.
In most of the rumors, the ghost stories related to Yuuko didn't seem to portray her as a cruel and fierce evil spirit.
Although in some of the other rumors, she had heard about bad things happening to those who encountered Yuuko, looking at Miyauchi Hikage's somewhat distant gaze just now, it seemed he could see more than she could.
Therefore, even though she still felt a bit flustered facing these unknown things, Fujimiya Konomi felt that as long as she stood by Miyauchi Hikage's side, she didn't feel so nervous anymore.
"Let's leave the school first and see what Kaiji found out from the people around here," Miyauchi Hikage could also read Fujimiya Konomi's mood, knowing that the girl's worldview had just been somewhat shaken.
So he took one last look at the location of the old school building and then led Fujimiya Konomi away from there first.
Back on the street, he bought some drinks and snacks for Fujimiya Konomi nearby to disperse the cluttered thoughts in her mind.
After waiting for Itou Kaiji for a while, they saw him return, sweating profusely and carrying a lot of fruits and vegetables.
"I asked many people living nearby and finally found an old grandmother in the shopping arcade next to it. I bought a lot of things from her before she told me a little about what happened back then."
Itou Kaiji put the things he bought back in the car before explaining to Miyauchi Hikage.
"It seems it was in the last century, about sixty or seventy years ago. A major plague broke out here, and many people died. The local landlord's surname was 'Kanoe,' a family that had been guarding the shrine in this area for generations."
"However, during that plague, it seems most of the Kanoe family also died, leaving only the youngest daughter alive. And at that time, one of the deceased daughters of the Kanoe family, Kanoe Yuuko, who was still studying here, was said to have been buried around the school. She should be the prototype for the 'Yuuko-san' ghost stories that later spread around here."
It seemed that Itou Kaiji had improved quite a bit after following him for the past half month.
Although the information he found didn't touch upon the most crucial parts, aside from the true cause of Kanoe Yuuko's death, the rest was more or less accurate.
After all, the villagers who made the decision to sacrifice Kanoe Yuuko to ward off the plague mostly died from the plague themselves in the end. Now, more than half a century had passed, and very few people who knew the truth back then were still alive.
Even the elderly living nearby probably didn't know much about what happened back then.
Itou Kaiji said, wiping his sweat.
He then asked Miyauchi Hikage curiously, "Didn't you guys take a look inside the school? Did you find anything?"
In response, Fujimiya Konomi directly told him that the two of them had found Yuuko-san's stone monument on the school's hill, and at the same time, saw the black-haired girl appear at the school gate from the mountain, only for her to disappear quickly.
Hearing this, Itou Kaiji's hands started to tremble.
He was just asking casually. He didn't expect his boss to actually run into a ghost after just taking a walk inside.
He quickly looked over his boss, wanting to see if he was being haunted by some vengeful spirit.
Miyauchi Hikage waved his hand. "We're not sure if it was someone playing tricks yet."
At least in front of Fujimiya Konomi, he certainly couldn't say that the figure they saw was indeed Yuuko herself.
"However, I feel that this school and Miss Kanoe Yuuko's story from back then still have a lot of potential to be explored. So I plan to tell Nanami-san first, and then take a day to come here and film."
As he said this, Miyauchi Hikage called Nanami Kento, with whom he had been in constant contact recently and had become quite familiar.
Of course, the reason their relationship had improved so much wasn't because Miyauchi Hikage had been trying to please Nanami Kento with various words, nor was it his red envelope offensive, preparing to corrupt the other's heart with money.
Those things probably only accounted for ten or twenty percent of the effect.
The real key was that his recent videos had gained a considerable number of views.
Viewers who saw the videos were constantly posting about local ghost stories and urban legends in their residential areas in the comments. Out of caution, Nanami Kento had reported Miyauchi Hikage's videos and the comments below them.
Not to the puppet-like higher-ups of the Jujutsu world, but to the principal of the Jujutsu High.
Compared to the crappy Jujutsu world and the even crappier higher-ups, he obviously trusted his old principal more.
As for what exactly they talked about, because of the distance and the fact that they didn't keep mentioning his name, the information Miyauchi Hikage obtained wasn't particularly complete.
But hearing that the inner world seemed to have accelerated its spiritual resurgence, the number of ordinary people awakening to supernatural powers and the appearance of cursed spirits and vengeful spirits this year had doubled compared to previous years, and this trend was still on the rise, faintly giving the feeling of returning to the heyday of the Pandemonium of a hundred demons.
The inner world had also been recently debating whether the secrecy agreement signed with governments around the world a hundred years ago needed to be revised.
Although Principal Yaga Masamichi of the Jujutsu High didn't support making the supernatural public, he wasn't strongly against it either.
He was probably planning to observe the situation through Miyauchi Hikage, a popular video blogger on the internet.
In addition, Miyauchi Hikage was also considered a talented youth who might not have awakened yet and could become a member of the inner world in the future. Therefore, the principal had now entrusted this matter to Nanami Kento to follow up on.
For this purpose, it seemed he had even assigned some low-level jujutsu sorcerers to Nanami Kento to be responsible for confirming the authenticity of the rumors in Miyauchi Hikage's comment section.
Therefore, after the call was connected, when Nanami Kento heard that Miyauchi Hikage had suddenly left Tokyo and was preparing to film an episode in his hometown, although he complained a bit, he didn't directly refuse.
Especially after hearing Miyauchi Hikage say that they seemed to have really seen the suspicious "girl" at dusk, he obviously became much more serious about the matter.
"I'll investigate it. I'll contact you after I've confirmed the specific situation..." After recording the location and the information about the "vengeful spirit," Nanami Kento paused for a moment.
He thought about some of the rumors he had recently heard at the Jujutsu High about Saitama, and then reminded Miyauchi Hikage, "Also, some wild beasts have appeared in the mountains of Saitama Prefecture recently. Have the people in your village try to reduce their trips up the mountain to avoid any accidents."
Miyauchi Hikage had heard a few mentions of the wild beast from Itou Kaiji and Kagayama Kaede before and hadn't paid much attention to it.
But now that even Nanami Kento in Tokyo had heard about this matter.
It seemed that the origin of that "beast" was probably not small.
Although Miyauchi Hikage was a little curious about this, he didn't ask much.
He just remembered this matter, chatted a few more sentences with Nanami Kento, expressed his thanks, and then hung up the phone.
After contacting Nanami Kento, he turned his head directly to look at Itou Kaiji next to him.
"Nanami-san said he will confirm the situation here and should give us a reply soon."
As he said this, he patted Itou Kaiji's shoulder.
Itou Kaiji didn't have much to do these few days, so he asked him to come over during the day to investigate the rumors in the surrounding area and at the schools. If possible, it would be best to get a filming permit from the school.
And he could also practice his driving skills.
As for himself, he had to accompany his sister at home for the next few days.
Hearing this, Itou Kaiji's hands and feet immediately started to tremble.
"Just me alone?"
Although the videos they filmed before were scary, the main thing was the atmosphere at night.
To be honest, apart from that suspicious ghost shadow, no other strange things had really appeared.
But this time was different. His boss and the future boss's wife candidate had both personally seen the girl who only appears at dusk.
At this moment, he kind of missed Sakakibara Kouichi.
If Sakakibara Kouichi were here, at least when he was scared out of his wits, he would have a companion's leg to hug.
It wasn't until Miyauchi Hikage offered double overtime pay that Itou Kaiji's desire for money, having not had a good life for long, immediately suppressed these nervous emotions.
This sum of money was enough for him to live lavishly for a good while after returning to Tokyo.
As long as he didn't enter the school at dusk or at night, he probably wouldn't run into any trouble there.
In short, after motivating this guy, Itou Kaiji, with money, his enthusiasm seemed to have increased a lot, and he even drove home much faster than before.
As for Fujimiya Konomi, although she still chatted with Miyauchi Hikage from time to time about their discoveries at the school on the way, she was very quiet when not speaking.
But she did have some reaction after all.
She even forgot to mention what she had said before about inviting Miyauchi Hikage to her house for dinner.
When he dropped her off at her doorstep, Miyauchi Hikage, while telling her to rest early and not think too much, also secretly sent a subtle stream of Hamon into her body, allowing her to sleep more soundly that night.
What surprised Miyauchi Hikage a little was that after dropping Fujimiya Konomi home, a short while after he had just gotten home himself, he received a text message from her.
The content of the message was also very simple. She said that if Miyauchi Hikage was really planning to film there, he should remember to call her, as she also wanted to find out what really happened at that school back then.
Looking at the content of the message, Miyauchi Hikage sighed.
Although Konomi didn't seem to have much of a reaction on the way back and seemed no different from usual, Miyauchi Hikage, who was familiar with her, naturally felt the turmoil in the girl's heart after she came into contact with those things.
The fact that she sent this message was probably a decision she made after struggling at home for a while.
Miyauchi Hikage felt the girl's intentions and then asked Fujimiya Konomi in a teasing tone if she wasn't worried about being targeted by that female ghost.
And Fujimiya Konomi gave her answer directly.
"I just made an offering to that 'Yuuko-san' this afternoon. Although it was just some nearby wildflowers, for that reason, I believe that Yuuko-san won't harm me. It's you, Hikage, who should be more careful about her visiting you at night."
In response, Miyauchi Hikage thought for a moment.
If Yuuko really climbed into his bed tonight...
Thinking of that scene, Miyauchi Hikage decisively shook his head.
He wouldn't mind being the Japanese Ning Caichen, but how could there be such a good thing in this world.
It's better to eat dinner and then honestly write in the diary to get the reward.