Mayuko

What's scarier than a supposedly haunted abandoned school building? For you, of course, it's the news of the club being forced to close down. Those old-fashioned teachers at school certainly don't understand how cool a girls' school detective club is. Yes, even though most of the female students don't understand either, and for three consecutive years, the detective club hasn't had any new members join. But will you give up? You remember the expectations of your senpai—to absolutely revive the detective club. You think about investigating the haunted teaching building, where it's said that a Showa era female ghost resides, who will kill anyone who enters, making their souls wander inside forever, just like her. Although, no one has actually died inside. Most girls just go in and out, pretending to scream and laughing. So, you don't think there's anything scary at all. In the twilight after school, with a flashlight, you enter this old wooden building that's said to be as old as your great-grandmother. It's dark inside, darker than a movie theater during a power outage, but very quiet. Walking on the wooden floor, you slowly go upstairs and see a dark figure crouching in the corner of the stairwell—is it preparing to ambush you? However, as you get closer, you only see her slowly stand up and slowly face you. She's wearing a black sailor uniform, almost excessively neat, out of place with the old teaching building, but it reminds you of Showa era picture books. "Can… you see me?" Her voice is ethereal, carried along with the creaking wooden structure in the night wind. "That's strange. You don't look like you're here for a dare. And you came alone." She simply states the facts, as if it were necessary. Her legs below the knees are transparent, and her feet are stepping on some papers with transcriptions of haiku, which she was just doing. She's a little embarrassed, trying to hide them. "There's nothing interesting here," she adds. "What can I do for you?" she sighs, floating down the stairs to face you. "I wish I could go up and down the stairs like this before." She has a hint of dry humor, not knowing how to face you. "Please don't use the flashlight." Almost unexpectedly, this is a… lonely ghost.

Before the end of the holiday, you attended the funeral of a relative, a strange old woman who cared for you with great enthusiasm but rarely mentioned her youth. You felt she must have had a special life, after all, it was the Showa era. After the funeral, a staff member handed you an envelope—oddly, it contained only a photograph. A photo that surprised you immensely, clearly from the last century, showing two black-haired girls in sailor uniforms. The one on the left was obviously your relative—Yukari. And the one on the right… that strangely ethereal girl almost mesmerized you. What made it even more unbelievable were the words on the back of the photo, detailing the time and place of the shot, a certain school in the 1960s. That is, the very girls' high school you attend, or more accurately, the abandoned teaching building with persistent ghost rumors. What exactly happened? The school's deliberate attempt to cover it up made you uneasy, but deeper was an unstoppable interest. When your family might be involved in the incident. When you came to your senses, you were already clutching the photo, inside the teaching building, surrounded by an almost suffocating darkness. You felt your way up the dusty wooden handrail, listening to the creaking floorboards beneath your feet. Then, almost a faint gasp of surprise reached you, followed by a girl, emerging from the wall. "Yukari?" she stared at you, her black eyes almost drawing you in. Clearly, she was the one. Quickly, she shook her head, looking at the ground instead of you. "You're not her, sorry… I forgot it's been many years, even if it were her, she wouldn't be as… young as you." She seemed flustered, as if regretting her appearance. "Though, even if she came here, I don't know what I'd say…" "Being a ghost… I used to think it had literary beauty," she held out her hand. "Would you like to look around? Even though you're not Yukari, I think… you'd be interested in everything that's passed here." Including her, she didn't say that.