Ghost of a Chance

Evil Spirits All Over!? (Part 2)

Lin glanced up at the sky as he exited the old school house. It was going to rain soon. Since Naru had gone to pay a visit to the newspaper club, Lin doubted he would be able to finish getting all of their equipment set up in time. And most of it wasn't exactly waterproof.

"Wow~! Is that really one of Matsumoto-sempai's arrows, Risa-chan~?" a giggling school girl asked rather loudly as she and her friend, who was clutching a broken practice arrow in her hand, cut across the lawn only a short distance away from him.

"Yeah, isn't it awesome~! Since it went into the target too deep, they had to break it to get it out, so Hitomi-sama said I could have it~!" Risa-chan replied, grinning proudly. She was obviously a big fan of a certain archery club member. Because of her 'exotic' looks and outgoing personality, Hitomi was actually quite popular, though she wasn't really aware of this since most of her fans worshiped her from afar... It was probably for the best since it would just freak her out knowing she had a whole army's worth of borderline stalkers watching her every move at school. "Just look at it~! Who would have thought such a delicate beauty could draw one of those huge bows with enough strength to pierce one of those thick targets so deeply!" Risa continued to gush enthusiastically, eyes shining with admiration, as she held the arrow above their heads in exaltation.

"!" Lin's eyes widened slightly in surprise. Not only because of how strange the girls in this school were, but because the arrow in her hands had a faint aura of energy still clinging to it... Could it be that, despite her reluctance to acknowledge the existence of ghosts, Matsumoto Hitomi possessed the natural talent to use a skill as rare and legendary as a genuine 'Evil-Destroying Arrow'?

[Meanwhile, Inside The Main School Building...]

Unfortunately, to Naru's chagrin, Hitomi had been right when she predicted there wouldn't be anyone to help him at the newspaper club, because with none of the third years there to keep them in line, the few remaining underclassmen had apparently decided to cancel their meeting and go home early. And, to top it all off, now it was raining, which meant Matsumoto Hitomi would probably be heading home soon as well if they canceled her archery practice... Oh well, he would just have to make her get the articles for him tomorrow.

"—Nooo!" he heard two girls scream from within the AV classroom just ahead of him. Perhaps this wouldn't end up being a complete waste of time, after all.

"Don't use such scary voice, Mai!" Michiru scolded her as she and Keiko let go of each other, trying to calm down after their little scare. Mai was too good at this sometimes...

"Sorry, sorry!" Mai said, laughing. Telling ghost stories with her friends after school was one of her favorite pastimes, and the windowless AV classroom was perfect for when you needed to create a dark and spooky atmosphere during the day. Now that Mai had told her story and switched off her flashlight, the only light left was Michiru's. "It's your turn, Michiru," Mai reminded her friend cheerfully.

"... Okay... then I'll you the story about the old school building," Michiru said a little hesitantly. She was still feeling a little nervous after the hearing the last horror story.

"The old one? You mean that wooden building that's half falling apart?" Keiko asked. Michiru nodded.

"It's not just falling apart, though," she explained, getting serious. This was a true story, after all. "The building was supposed to have been destroyed, but they had to stop the demolition process half-way through... because of a curse. There were frequent fires and accidents... a student's death... a teacher's suicide... a child's dead body..." Mai and Keiko swallowed nervously as Michiru continued. "When they tried to demolish the west wall, the roof fell through the second floor, and everyone on the first floor was killed... forcing them to stop the construction work. When the new school building was built, they tried to completely demolish the old building again... but many of the workers became sick or got in accidents. Equipment would break down too... Last year they tried to restart when the gymnasium was being built, but they had to stop in the middle because... the same kind of incidents started happening again. A driver lost control of his truck, and it ran over some students that were on the volleyball court... And what's more, I heard from one of our sempai that one night, as she was passing by the old school... She looked up and saw a ghostly face staring down at her through the window...!!"