Chapter 20: Misaki Mei and the Calamity from the Dead
Because of Sakakibara Kouichi's unexpected appearance, Renji Miyauchi decided not only to reconfirm his classmates' names but also to find time later to check the school archives for the full list of teachers and students. If characters from stories like Another could walk into his life, who knew who else might show up in Toyosaki Academy?
The entrance ceremony began soon after. Their homeroom teacher—a weary man in his fifties, hair already thinning, eyes dulled by midlife burdens—shuffled them into the auditorium. The principal's speech was long, the dean's words even drier. The restless buzz of first-years barely dulled the monotony.
Then, when the student representative walked up to the podium, the atmosphere shifted.
Kasumigaoka Utaha.
Her long black hair shimmered beneath the lights, her figure poised with effortless grace. The refined lines of her face and the long legs wrapped in high stockings gave her a maturity that outshone ordinary second-years. Even the smallest tilt of her head held a natural elegance.
She had been Toyosaki's perfect flower for the past year—top grades, flawless reputation, untouchable. So when her gaze, calm yet sharp, kept straying toward the first-year seats, whispers began spreading like sparks on dry leaves.
"Is she… looking for someone?"
"Since when did Kasumigaoka-senpai show interest in anyone?"
Renji noticed, too. Her eyes flicked across the rows, settling not once, but several times. Was she searching for Aki Tomoya? Or maybe Eriri Spencer Sawamura and Kato Megumi?
Aki Tomoya, plain behind his glasses, blended into the crowd. Kato Megumi was in her unremarkable phase, so ordinary that she was like background scenery. But Eriri… her golden twin-tails practically glowed in the sea of black hair.
It wasn't hard to find her. Nor was it hard to see Kasumigaoka Utaha's gaze pause on her.
For three seconds, the auditorium seemed to freeze.
Utaha's calm, cold eyes locked with Eriri's bright blue ones. Then Utaha looked back at her speech, lips curving almost imperceptibly.
Eriri, meanwhile, flushed red to the tips of her ears. What was that look? Does she… know?
The thought of her secret alias—Eiri Kashiwagi—being discovered sent panic rising in her chest. Her embarrassment, however, was seen differently by the students around her.
"…Wait, did you see that? They were staring at each other."
"Blushing too… is something going on between them?"
By the time the ceremony ended, Toyosaki already had its first ridiculous rumor of the year: the aloof senpai and the fiery blonde freshman had some sort of hidden connection.
---
Back in the classroom, introductions began.
When Sakakibara Kouichi's turn came, he admitted his love for horror. The classroom fell into brief silence, classmates glancing at his pale face and dark eyes. The label of "gloomy loner" quietly attached itself to him before anyone could stop it.
Then it was Renji's turn.
"Miyauchi Renji. I grew up in the countryside of Saitama. My hobby is photography."
That alone drew curious stares. He was tall, sharp-eyed, good-looking in a way that drew attention without effort. A girl with carefully styled hair leaned forward, smiling:
"Miyauchi-kun, what kind of videos do you like to film?"
Renji's lips curved faintly. He let his gaze sweep across the room, noticing several other girls watching with anticipation, probably imagining themselves as models.
"Horror films," he said evenly. "Something like The Shining. I'd like to make a classic suspense-horror one day."
The silence that followed was almost comical.
"…Horror?" The girl's smile faltered, her hand slipping back to her desk. Whispers spread again, some nervous, some amused.
Handsome, into photography… but horror? What a waste.
Renji sat down without blinking, unfazed. Better to be remembered as "that weird guy" for a while. Eventually, people would grow used to him. He didn't need to stand out like Aki Tomoya.
---
The rest of the school day passed without incident. At the final bell, Renji bid a polite goodbye to Kouichi—who seemed like he wanted to say something but held back—and headed out.
He had planned to walk home with Kouka, but she texted him first: she had already found a new best friend and was going shopping.
Girls really do become close too easily, Renji thought dryly, shouldering his bag.
As he neared the gates, he overheard whispers about Kasumigaoka Utaha seeking out a first-year girl after school. He didn't stop to listen further. Rumors didn't concern him. Not yet.
---
That evening, after checking his room for intrusions, Renji pulled out his diary. His pen tapped against the page once before words began to flow.
[The weather was great today, so I played games all day at home and only remembered it was the first day of school when I ate dinner. I really envy you students sometimes. School life is a strange thing—you hate it when you're in it, but once it's gone, you almost miss it.
Still, if you asked me to go back to high school now, I'd refuse. Laziness is a permanent debuff.
@Evil King's True Eye—did you happen to meet the "Jet-Black Flame Master" today? A word of advice: don't show off too much. Ripple Breathing is one thing, but even the most dramatic chuunibyou should know that some powers are better kept hidden. You wouldn't want to end up in a lab, dissected like a specimen.
By the way, your act reminded me of someone else—another girl with an eyepatch. Her name is Misaki Mei.
Back in my world, both of your anime aired around the same time, and people joked you were like sisters. But where you cover your right eye to 'seal away your True Eye,' Misaki Mei covers her left eye because beneath the patch lies a glass one. A doll's eye. An artificial replacement that sees something far more terrifying than chuunibyou delusions.
It sees death.
Misaki Mei doesn't pretend. Her eye shows her when someone is close to dying, the shadows of death clinging to them. That's why she hides it. That's why she isolates herself.
Her story isn't like Yotsuya Miko's, surrounded by ghosts that must be ignored. It's closer to Final Destination. An unseen law, a curse woven into her classroom, where death follows a predetermined script.
Everything began decades ago.
There was once a student named Misaki in her middle school's Class 3. Popular, loved by classmates—until he died suddenly. The grief was unbearable. The teachers and students, desperate to deny reality, decided to pretend Misaki was still alive.
They even saved him a seat, wrote his name in attendance, and acted as though nothing had changed.
But when the graduation photo came back… Misaki's figure was there. Smiling faintly among them.
From then on, the curse was born. In Class 3, year after year, death returned. One by one, students and even their families fell to 'accidents'—each cruel, each inevitable.]
Renji paused, pen hovering, then allowed himself a faint smile.
[If your heart is weak, stop reading here. Go watch Teletubbies or something. The rest isn't for you.]
End of the chapter
(A/N) = 150 power stone=1 extra chapter and so on and all extra chapter will be released on Sunday