On this typically brittle morning in Aso, a mountain wind swept through the city streets beneath a clear sky.
Shira River’s current sparkled in the morning sun.
Cars heading for the station and the city crossed back and forth over Yotsugi Bridge
. It was rush hour.
Busy trams and buses conveyed passengers to work and school, passing people in business suits and uniforms walking briskly along. A magnificent castle on a green hill in the middle of the city overlooked this routine morning scene.
Kumamoto Prefecture, Kumamoto City.
Occupying a central position on Kyuushuu, it had developed from the 540,000-koku castle town of Higo Province and was known as the heart of western Kyuushuu. Kumamoto Castle, which could be called the emblem of the city, had been built by Sengoku commander Katou Kiyomasa and was a famous historic landmark; the city had sprung up around it. The distant Aso mountain range could be seen beyond the busy lines of tall buildings.
There had been many clear mornings since the start of February.
The difference between summer and winter was extreme enough that it brought Kyoto weather to mind, but on clear days the breeze felt quite pleasant.
The roof tiles of Kumamoto Castle’s tower were glitteringly beautiful in the morning sun.
The morning proceeded prosaic as clockwork as the city came to life.
Let another new day begin.
“I was spellbound! Shiba-sama is the best!”
Among the students who got off the tram from Senbabashi Station was a female high-school student exhibiting an odd excitement at this early hour.
She’d already made quite a lot of noise on the tram, but she didn’t seem to notice the scowls of all the other students who had ridden with her. Based on her sailor uniform, she attended the closest school, Kumamoto Prefectural Old Castle High School.
“A-all right already, Akemiii. Speak a little softer, will you!”
“I saw him live! Shiba Eiji in person! I couldn’t sleep last night!”
She took her friend’s arm and swung it merrily about, her shoulder-length hair flying around her face. Her name was Inaba Akemi, and she was a junior at Old Castle High School. She‘d become a huge fan of the rock singer ’SEEVA’, which had recently entered the Japanese music business world’s list of red disk trending hit-makers, and had gone to one of their ‘Japan Cross-Country Tour: 2 Days in Fukuoka’ concerts over the weekend. Perhaps because of the lingering excitement, she’d been so worked up she hadn’t had much sleep last night.
“It was horrible getting a ticket, but my hard work paid off. Shiba was so good! Getting to listen to him singing live was the best!”
“Argh...you’ve got way too much energy for a Monday morning. Enough already!”
“Shiba! This is Shiba-sama’s era! C’mon, Ma-chan! Shiibaa! Shiibaa!”
“Aaagh...!”
Drawing all eyes to her, she twisted and turned as she walked along. Akemi’s Prefectural Old Castle High School had been built in a section of Kumamoto Castle’s ruins as a Western school by foreigners during the Meiji Period.
They made their way quickly past the students storing their bicycles by the side of the school and crossed the small moat right in front of the gates.
As always, students wearing yellow armbands stood at the ticket barrier-like gate. All the students who went to the school had to present their student handbook.
“Shiba-sama’s face paint yesterday was the English flag! It was so cute...”
“Hey, Akemi, student handbook!”
Oh! Akemi thought, and hurriedly took it out and showed it to an armbanded student. The gatekeeper glared coldly at her.
“You’re too loud. Tone it down when you’re on school grounds,” he warned her.
Akemi pressed a hand against her mouth and answered despondently, “S-sorry.”
She hung her head.
As she came up to the front entrance, Akemi spotted a tall female student ahead of her.
“Oh! Kyouko—! Good morning!”
The girl turned at the sound of her name. Though she wore the same uniform as Akemi, she somehow gave the impression of being more flamboyant in comparison.
Her full name was Koganezawa Kyouko. She’d been friends with Akemi since junior high, so though they were in different classes, every time they met they greeted each other warmly.
“Oh, Akemi-yan. Good morning!”
“Listen, listen! I went to a ‘SEEVA’ concert at the Fukuoka Dome yesterday!”
“Sheba? Like the cat food?”
“Nooo—! Shiba Eiji, c’mon! I even gave you a tape the other day!”
“Shiba...oh,” she slowly recalled. “The guy who’s really popular right now.”
“The most popular! I stayed over at my older sister’s place in Fukuoka and went two days in a row! Shiba-sama is so cool, look! I ended up buying a SEEVA calabash gourd key ring as a souvenir! Isn’t it cute?” she said, proudly showing off her bag. Akemi’s fascination with celebrities was nothing new, so Kyouko, who’d known her since junior high, was used to it.
“Haah, you’re pretty worked up. Fukuoka Dome? Even if you saw him live, he couldn’t’ve been more than a tiny speck, right?”
“But live is live. He was the real thing!”
“Fangirl Akemi. If you keep running around after celebrities, you’ll never find a boyfriend.”
“Oh, shut up. One thing has nothing to do with the other. If you saw Shiba Eiji live, you’d change your mind. Let’s go together next time! I’ll lend you my videos, too!” Akemi declared, tugging repeatedly at Kyouko’s sleeve.
Kyouko floundered, “A-all right, all right already! Let go!”
“Shiba-sama is the best! He was moving like this while he sang! Like this! Like this, see?”
“Okay, okay already. Anyway, did you hear the news?”
Akemi looked back her blankly. “Huh? What news?”
“Your class is getting a transfer student.”
Akemi and her friend exchanged looks.
“Wh...huh?! What did you say? Transfer student?”
“Transfer student? But it’s already February!”
Finally free, Kyouko sighed before collecting herself to inform the two girls with some satisfaction, "Saturday after school I went to the staff room for a club errand, and the transfer student had just arrived. I was staring because it was an unfamiliar face, and my homeroom teacher told me about the transfer student thing. They decided on Kurokawa for the homeroom teacher—B class, I’m sure of it.
“No way! Boy? Girl?!”
“Boy,” Kyouko grinned. “The look in his eyes was kinda rough, but he’s tall and he’s got a decent enough face, not at all boyish. Firm hips, quite nice. The type that you don’t see many of in our school. It’s been a while since I’ve been this fired up, but he checks all my boxes.”
Now Akemi’s friend grabbed her. “No way, really?! Is he cool? When’s he coming?”
“Today. I’m looking forward to it.” Kyouko placed a finger with its pale pink manicured fingernail against her lips and smirked. “I’ll come visit your class later, Akemi. I’m calling dibs.”
“What? You can’t, Kyouko! You already have Nakaoka-kun!”
“Nakaoka? I dumped him ten days ago. ...This is a good chance for you too, Akemi, so try a little, why don’t you? You’re gonna graduate soon, you can’t just keep chasing after celebrities. Anyway, I’ll see you later.”
“It’s none of your beeswax, Kyouko! Don’t you dare meddle! Are you listening to me—?!” Akemi’s cheeks swelled as she shouted after her friend. “Aaargh. She’s doing that thing again. She’s changed boyfriends six times since school started. Six! And she still hasn’t had enough.”
“A t-t-transfer student, Akemi... What should we do? She said he’s cool. He’s probably already here.”
“Don’t expect too much, or you’ll probably be disappointed.”
“But he’s cool. And he’s got nice hips. We’ve gotta let everybody know!” her friend said, changing into indoor shoes, and then, to Akemi’s irritation, took off like a shot up the stairs.
“Waah, Ma-chan! C’mon—!” But her friend was already off. Akemi gave up. “Geez, really! This is indecent! Why is everybody like this...raah!”
Someone suddenly shoved her shoulders from behind, sending Akemi tumbling forward to fall hard to the ground.
“Ow! Who—!”
“You’re in my way, stupid. It’s your fault for standing around and not paying attention.”
Akemi looked up, surprised. “Te-chan!”
The boy was dressed in the same school’s uniform, and he was in her class.
His name was Miike Tetsuya. He had short hair with the front sticking up, which was why Akemi had nicknamed him ‘Hedgehog-head’. Since she rarely saw ‘Hedgehog-head’ around this early, she burbled, “What’s wrong? It’s not like you to be early instead of squeaking in at the last second! What happened? Snowfall? Eruption of Mt. Aso?!”
“Well, sorry for being not like me.”
“So a teacher threatened you,” Akemi’s eyes narrowed maliciously. “It’s almost the end of the school year, so if you don’t take things seriously you won’t get credit—something like that, right? You’re pretty cowardly for all your pretentiousness.”
Tetsuya turned his back to her, offended. His lips were twisted to the right around the cigarette constantly in his mouth—it had already become habit.
“Wrong. I had a nightmare last night and couldn’t sleep, that’s why I’m here so early.”
“Blah blah blah. You’re just afraid of being kept back.”
“You’d better shut it or I’m gonna hit you, you blabbermouth,” he threatened. Then Miike Tetsuya changed his shoes, lips twisted again, and walked off wearily.
“Ah! Te-chan, Te-chan! We’ve got a transfer student coming to our class today!”
“Transfer student? ...The hell?”
“It’s a guy—somebody totally cool. Kyouko’s already celebrating. Te-chan, you’re going down.”
“Blech.” Tetsuya walked off with a sour expression. “Boy-crazed Koganezawa? She pant after someone just because they’re a transfer student. What idiot would transfer now? It’s already February!”
“Not that it matters—the seniors just go up a class. Anyway, Te-chan, you’d better not be mean to him. Don’t you dare do anything scary to him. Like shoving him or finding a pretext to call him out.”
“Who’d do something like that? You’re so melodramatic.” Tetsuya’s refusal to show the interest she was hoping for made Akemi lose her tempo. “If there’s a guy around who’s my equal, I’d like to meet him. See ya,” Tetsuya said, walking away, and Akemi hurriedly chased after him.
“Wait, Te-chaan!”
All the B class juniors knew about the transfer student before the start of morning homeroom.
The rumor had spread before Akemi had gotten a chance to tell it. A new desk had been placed at the back of the classroom, so it was definitely true.
“A male transfer student!”
“I’m so excited!”
"I saw him, he was in the staff room!
“Really?! What’s he like?!”
The usually sleepy morning classroom was entirely awake today—especially the girls who liked to gossip.
At the bell, homeroom teacher Kurokawa entered into a still-chattering classroom. The noise grew even louder when an unfamiliar male student followed Kurokawa inside.
“Woah,” exclaimed the girl in the chair in front of Akemi. She turned. “Akemi, it’s him. It’s the transfer student!”
“Ye...ah, I know.”
Her face flushed, and without knowing it her breathing (through her nose) grew uneven. She‘d been shocked by her friends’ behavior only a little earlier, but now she strained forward for a glimpse—such was the sad disposition of a fangirl.
(Woah.) Akemi involuntarily gulped. (He’s just like Kyouko said.)
The transfer student was wearing a brand-new school uniform. He was indeed quite tall. But that wasn’t all. He was certainly well-portioned to a fascinating degree, and she couldn’t help but endorse Kyouko’s endorsement. His features were quite nice, and his silky black hair coupled with his rather tanned skin gave him a kind of wild, uncouth impression. But more than anything, he had amazing eyes.
When he brushed up his long fringe, their sharp gleam completely stole the attention of all the female students, Akemi included. And not just the female students, for the male students went quiet for an instant as if they too felt the daunting power of those eyes, and an odd silence filled the classroom.
“Great. Let me introduce our transfer student. Quiet down,” said Kurokawa to the already quiet room. He picked up the chalk and carefully wrote a name on the blackboard.
“Er... Here we have the transfer student who will be joining our class starting from today. He comes to us from Matsumoto City’s Prefectural Jouhoku High School in Nagano Prefecture. I trust you’ll make him welcome.”
At Kurokawa’s urging the transfer student stepped forward. He hadn’t smiled. He stood with his hands in his pockets and bag tucked beneath his armpit. Maybe he was intensely shy of strangers, for he seemed extremely unsociable and even angry. Obviously not an approachable type.
He curtly opened his mouth. “I’m Ougi Takaya. Nice to meet you.”
(O...Ougi Takaya...) Akemi repeated to herself as if trying to imprinted it into her brain. (He looks kinda scary.)
“Ougi, your seat is in the last row next to the hall. It’ll probably take him a little while to adapt to our school, so I want everyone around him to help him out.”
(Eek!) Akemi pressed a hand against her mouth to hold back the squeak. He was diagonally behind her to her right. (His seat is so close! What should I do?)
“Room monitor,” the homeroom teacher called, and a student in the first row stood up.
“Here.”
“Ougi, this is our class monitor Shimada—our class representative, so to speak. If there’s anything you don’t understand, feel free to ask him. Shimada, I’ll hold you responsible for looking out for Ougi.”
“I understand.”
Shimada nervously bowed toward the transfer student. With a return nod barely discernible as such, Takaya walked to the desk prepared for him with that irreverent look back in his eyes.
The room fell once more into silence.
All eyes were on Takaya. He was no ‘mere student’—everyone seemed to feel it. It was impossible to speak casually to him, but everyone was extremely curious about him. For good or ill, the transfer student had a presence that instantly roused the interest of those meeting him for the first time.
The boys had been intimidated into silence by the insolence in his every motion as he took his seat.
(Woah...woah...woah...) Akemi, too, was intensely shaken. (What should I do? Be friendly. Be friendly!)
“I-it’s nice to meet you, Ougi-kun,” she managed with a convulsive smile, and Takaya looked indifferently back at her.
Then he replied with the expected curtness, “Hi.”
But he’d responded, and Akemi’s cheeks flamed. (He spoke to me!)
Ignoring Akemi as she pressed her hands against her burning cheeks, Takaya placed his very thin bag on the table, leaned his chair back, and looked around the classroom.
The students peeped back at him with unassuming but intense curiosity.
“...”
Takaya seemed to sense something from several of the gazes turned on him.
He didn’t let it show, instead quietly lowering his eyes.
One of the students had been glowering continuously at Takaya from the seat hindmost of the window:
Miike Tetsuya.
(Math first thing Monday morning? You’ve gotta be joking.)
Koganezawa Kyouko of junior D-class dragged out her textbook in annoyance as the first bell rang. Math was her weakest subject, and she had it first period. She’d played so hard over the weekend that she hadn’t paid much attention to her homework.
(That old geezer Kobayashi is so boring it makes me want to go to sleep—)
Given her student number, she had a feeling she was going to be called on today, but if it came down to it her neighbor was always willing to show her the answer—was her exceedingly happy-go-lucky attitude.
Dazedly gazing at the flower clock next to the school gates, Kyouko rested her chin in her hands.
(I’ll go visit the transfer student in Akemi’s class later.)
“Kyouko, Kyouko—!”
“?”
The classroom had been rather noisy for the past while, she realized—something seemed to be happening. One of the female students gathered at the front came over.
“Kyouko—! We’re in luck! The math teacher, Kobayashi—he’s on sick leave today!”
“No way!—Does that mean class is canceled?” She kicked her chair back and stood. “Seriously? Woah, super lucky!”
“Kobayashi’s in the hospital. He probably won’t make it back for the rest of term.”
“All right! Kyouko trumpeted, raising her clenched fists. ”I hope I never have to hear that droning voice again. Rest in peace, Kobayashi."
“If I’d known about this earlier, I wouldn’t have bothered coming in for first period.”
“It’s awesome just to get out of class. See you, I’m going outside for a bit.”
Kyouko shouldered her bag and walked out while her friend hurriedly called, “Wait! Kyouko, where’re you going?!”
“Parco’s holding a sale starting at 10. I’m gonna go stand in line,” she said, glancing sidelong at the noisy group, before heading out briskly.
“What about second period PE?”
“I’m skipping it, make up an excuse for me, will you?”
“Kyouko, if you cut class again you’ll get a yellow card.”
“I’m not cutting class, I’m just not feeling well.”
“They’ll know you’re lying—”
“See yaaa,” Kyouko said, and threw open the door. As soon as she set foot outside, however, she crashed into the person standing in front of the doorway. “Oof!”
She looked up in surprise to see a tall man standing there looking back at her.
“Wh...whaaaat?”
“Hey now!” The young bespectacled man cast a sharp glance at Kyouko. “Class is about to start—where in the world do you think you’re going—young lady?”
“???”
Not yet having grasped the situation, Kyouko stood blinking in surprise. It was a young man she’d never seen before. He was very tall and wearing glasses, and his hair was tied in a ponytail in the back. He was wearing a cream-colored jacket instead of a school uniform, and his face was—amazingly fine. Kyouko looked at him with blank fascination.
The young man moved in a decisive motion to the teacher’s podium and deliberately slammed the attendance record and chalk box he’d carried in with him down on the lectern. He raised his voice to call out: “Listen up! Everyone take your seats!”
Everyone stared blankly for a moment at the young man who had barged in so suddenly before shuffling to their seats. A confused Kyouko did the same. Once he saw that everyone was in their seats, the young man slammed both hands down on the lectern.
“As you know, Kobayashi-sensei has unexpectedly taken ill and will need plenty of rest this month. That doesn’t mean his class will remain untaught!”
Everyone blinked at his forcefulness. The young man grinned and belted: “I’m your substitute teacher Chiaki Shuuhei! I’ll be stepping in for Kobayashi-sensei’s math class this month! I’m gonna drive you hard, so you’d better prepare yourselves!”
“Sub...substitute teacher...?” Kyouko gaped. Everyone was dumbfounded. “No...”
(Nobody told us about that—!)
Was the silent protest in everyone’s minds.
And so the two new faces at Old Castle Prefectural High School became the topic of many a conversation.
By the time noon recess came around, all the girls on the floor knew. This kind of information spread with magnificent speed.
“Kyouko—!”
Inaba Akemi found Koganezawa Kyouko amidst the crowd at the co-op and came rushing over.
“Hey, Akemi.”
“He came! The transfer student really came to our class!”
“Transfer student?”
“His name’s Ougi Takaya. He’s really cool, just like you said. All the girls in my class are busy squealing over him!” She straightened herself in front of the taller Kyouko and flapped her hands. “He’s a little scary, but Ougi-kun is really kick-ass. He doesn’t smile much, but he’s really grown-up and totally aloof from the other boys. He’s so cool!”
“Huh, right.”
Kyouko’s response was so lacking compared to that morning that Akemi felt let down.
“‘Huh, right’—that’s it? Weren’t you gonna come by our classroom to take a look at him?”
“The transfer student, right?—he’s got an ugly look in his eyes. I’m no longer interested in little boys.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“The males in our year are all boys—little brats. They’re not worth bothering with. Don’t put me on the same level as those girls who go gaga over ’em.”
Kyouko stuck a straw into her juice carton and waved her hand.
“What’s with you, Kyouko? Your attitude is way different from this morning.”
“As of today, Koganezawa Kyouko has completely graduated from high school boys. A guy’s no good unless he’s a man. A woman can’t improve herself by keeping company with boys.”
Akemi tilted her head doubtfully at the 180-degree change in Kyouko’s attitude, but after a moment suddenly realized the reason.
“Aha, I got it. It’s the new teacher I’ve been hearing about, huh? The substitute math teacher stepping in for Kobayashi-sensei.”
“His name’s Chiaki Shuuhei.” Kyouko smiled faintly, touching a pink nail to her pink lips. “He’s young, but he gives the impression of an older man; he’s so good-looking that being in his class is heaven! I keep staring at him. His words are coarse and his teaching’s sloppy, but true genius doesn’t show off, right? His character is kinda crude too, but he doesn’t put on any weird airs—it makes you feel like you can trust him. That’s what people mean when they call a man sexy— Oh, I can’t stand it!”
Akemi looked apathetically at Kyouko as she blathered on without a sign of interest from Akemi. “I haven’t even seen him yet. Everyone’s been talking about him, but is he really that good-looking? He’ll be subbing for our class on Thursday...”
“I’ve decided to seduce Chiaki-sensei.”
“Huh?” Akemi gaped at her. "Seduce? You’re seriously going after a teacher this time? You’ve lost interest in our classmates?
“Stop calling it ‘going after’, that’s so crude.”
“Seriously? But a teacher?”
“Who cares? What’s wrong with a teacher? The forbidden love of a schoolgirl and her high school teacher! Mmm, I’m in raptures. ...Oops,” Kyouko tripped—unsurprisingly, since she was gazing up into the sky. Akemi looked at her in disgust.
“Kyouko, your reputation’s been in the dumps lately. People are saying you’ve had a new boyfriend every month.”
“Humph. That’s just sour grapes from the nerds. Akemi, why don’t you go chase your ‘cool transfer student’ like a good girl? See ya.”
She left, stepping lightly. Given the number of years they’d known each other, Akemi already knew her friend was not one to take friendly advice.
“What a hopeless case,” Akemi gave a deep, deep sigh.
“Hey, transfer student,” one of the students said, placing a juice carton on Takaya’s desk and sitting down in the seat in front of his. Takaya was filling out an official school document. He looked up to see a male student with a narrow face and slightly dyed brown hair. He was drinking the same kind of juice.
“That’s yours. A token of introduction,” he grinned.
“? ...You’re...?”
“I’m Endou. I’m the third seat in that row. You’re from Matsumoto, huh? I went to middle school in Nagano. ’s my excuse for starting up a conversation.” He leaned against a wall, one leg bent. “Where do you live now? In the city?”
“Some stuff happened,” Takaya answered as he wrote. “I had to move into a hotel because the house I’m supposed to move into still has people in it.”
“Huh, that’s pretty interesting. You here with your parents?”
“I’m on my own.”
Endou nodded vaguely at Takaya’s sullen reply. “You’re pretty amazing. Look at the boys in our class. They’re all totally aware of you. You have this weird dignity. They’re so scared they can’t even come talk to you.”
Endou laughed, indicating the other students. Takaya looked around, and everyone who’d been peeping at him hurriedly looked away. But still, they looked back again as if they couldn’t contain their curiosity.
(Whatever...)
Takaya was used to people looking at him like this, so it didn’t really bother him, but—
(Looks like there’s something more.)
There was one person staring at him outright.
He was right at the center of the group by the window. As he listened to his friends talking, he was looking past their heads at Takaya.
(Who’s he...?)
He’d noted that blunt gaze this morning.
His features stood out in sharp relief. He was not large and certainly not handsome, but there was a certain brilliance about him.
Takaya had had a keen eye for ‘status’ since long ago. Was he one of the class’ leaders? He seemed popular, and his friends seemed more like his hangers-on.
“...”
He didn’t seem inclined to look away when their eyes met. Takaya wondered about that bluntness.
“What? Is something the matter?” Endou turned his head to follow his gaze, and the other student unself-consciously dropped his gaze and rejoined the circle of conversation. Endou caught on to the situation. “Ah, you’re curious about him? Hmm, he does kinda stick out, doesn’t he?”
“Huh?”
“That guy sitting at the center of the group by the window, right? That’s Nezu. He’s a bit of a minor celebrity around here.”
"Celebrity? What do you mean?
“Mmm—...well, maybe celebrity’s not quite the word,” Endou mumbled, hesitating. He seemed to be having trouble explaining. “Hey, Ougi, I’ll show you around the school if you like. You’ll be able to get around easier. C’mon.”
From the hall window he could see the green of Kumamoto Castle Park quite close.
The school had been built around twenty years ago. There were two three-story buildings north and south connected by a series of hallways, in design quite similar to Jouhoku High School. The air conditioner in each classroom seemed quite odd to Matsumoto-bred Takaya, however.
“This is the biology greenhouse. These are the classrooms for the freshmen and seniors.”
“What about over there? It looks like it’s under construction.”
“Hmm? Oh, that,” Endou answered as they looked through a window at the building crossed by construction scaffolding, “That’s the gym. It’s being rebuilt, so it’s pretty inconvenient. We still have the clubhouse, but PE classes are pretty much all at the sports ground now, and the clubs have to rent space at the public gym. We won’t be able to use it for the whole of next year—we’ll graduate before the school has a gym again.”
“Huh...”
“And over here...”
Takaya stopped in the middle of the hall to gaze up at a speaker directly overhead. He’d noticed the music playing from it.
“What’s up?”
“Does this school always broadcast this annoying stuff during the day?”
It sounded like Western-style religious music sung by a male choir. Like a chant, maybe? It’d been playing all along, and it concerned him.
“Hmm? Oh, that. It’s always been like that.”
“Always?”
“Up here is the roof.”
Endou began climbing the stairs. Takaya looked rather dubious. As he followed, he muttered, “What a weird school.”
Endou turned to look over his shoulder. “Is it?”
“Isn’t it? When you’re at school for the whole day, don’t you feel anything?”
Oh! Endou muttered, and turned his entire body around. “Huuuh. Ougi, can you sense the supernatural, by any chance?”
“—Sense the supernatural...”
“Huh, I guess the people who know, know. This school is famous for it,” Endou explained as he started climbing again. “Old Castle High School is famous, you know. This place is called Old Castle Town—you can see we’re inside Kumamoto Castle’s moat, right? Actually, the old castle was right here.”
“Here?”
“Yeah. When Katou Kiyomasa came to Kumamoto, the castle he first entered stood here. But the old lord did something bad and committed seppuku, and Lord Kiyomasa didn’t like that, I guess? So he took down the old castle and built a brand new one where it stands now. So that’s why this place is called ‘Old Castle’.”
“Katou Kiyomasa...”
The historical figure most closely associated with Kumamoto. The person most would recall over the Hosokawa family, which ruled over the area for two centuries plus a couple of decades during the Edo Period. Even now the locals familiarly called him ‘Lord Seisho 1’-san. Incidentally, the historical masters of Kumamoto-han, the Hosokawa family, was a noble family whose current head was famous for having been prime minister a couple of years ago.
“So this school is built on top of the ruins of a castle, and sometimes the ghosts of ancient warriors will appear.”
Takaya raised his eyebrows.
“They were spotted constantly. I’m not sensitive at all, but even I sometimes saw them—so there must’ve been a lot.”
“There are that many sightings?”
“It’s like everyday from what I hear. When I first came to this school of course it was really creepy, like ‘ugh’, but after two years I’m kinda used to it, so the small stuff doesn’t surprise me anymore. I don’t know if it’s that or something else, but this school gets a lot of people coming and going.”
Endou opened the door to the roof and stretched hard.
“People falling mentally or physically ill, people skipping or transferring to another school—there’s always a couple every year. Teachers, too. I just heard that our math teacher Kobayashi was hospitalized today, but it’s pretty frequent. Even if it’s a coincidence, it’s pretty funny to have this many, don’t you think?”
Endou crossed the rooftop, leaned back against the railing, and turned to look at Takaya. He sucked the straw of his juice carton back into his mouth and actually laughed.
“These six months alone three teachers have died. ...Though they were all pretty old.”
“Died?” Takaya asked, a suspicious look on his face. “... Have there always been so many ghosts around here?”
“Who knows? I heard some ghost stories from the older students, but it feels like it’s been getting worse. Given how used to it I am now, there must be a lot.”
Takaya stared with a fixed, grim, forbidding look at the school building opposite.
“But it’s like that for everyone, so you stop thinking it’s weird. And there’s something else out of the ordinary about this school, too.”
What’s that? he was about to ask, when the rooftop door opened. Both Takaya and Endou turned to look as five, six students of both sexes came up.
All of them wore yellow bands on their right arms.
They looked over at the two juniors.
“Here they come,” Endou whispered. “The other thing that’s ‘out of the ordinary’ about this school...”
“...What?”
The students walked over, all of them wearing government official-like expressions.
(They’re—...)
Among them was 2-B class monitor Shimada. He appeared to be acting as their guide. He was whispering something to the others, drawing to the back of the crowd. Takaya frowned at the odd tension.
“So this is where you’ve been,” said the male student with rimless glasses trailing the others, who appeared to have the most authority among them. From the insignia on his collar, he was a freshman. His uniform was perfect. He came forward and said to Takaya, “You’re the junior B-class transfer student, yes?”
Takaya scrutinized him without interest. “What’s with you guys?”
“We came looking for you. You weren’t in your classroom. We thought we should introduce ourselves, so we came to call.” He smiled faintly and offered his hand. “All students at this school have to introduce themselves to us first thing. Now why don’t you come with us, transfer student-kun.”