“Come on, Yoshiki. I’m beggin’ ya here!” Yuuta Maki pleaded, almost as if he was rebelling against the scratching sounds of the desks being dragged across the floor.
The characteristic dry and dusty smell of cleaning time swirled about the classroom as Maki, with his buzzcut—the kind you’d find next to the dictionary entry for high school baseball team—looked at Yoshiki with desperate eyes.
That’s why Yoshiki instinctively replied, “Naw, don’ wanna…”
Maki exclaimed, “Whaaaaa?!” and collapsed onto the desk he had just finished moving. “Come on! It’ll only take a little bit!”
“I already told you I don’t wanna deal with any creepy stuff.”
But that wasn’t enough to make Maki give up, so Yoshiki, with a broom still in his hand, turned his gaze away. This was the third time this exchange had happened since they began cleaning.
“Hey, what’s goin’ on? Yer bein’ awfully loud…,” said a girl.
With a slightly annoyed look on her face, Yuuki Tadokoro walked over toward them with a garbage bag in hand.
“What happened?” she asked.
From her shoulders, which were much lower than Yoshiki’s and Maki’s, the tips of her pigtails slunk down as if they had just let out an exasperated sigh.
“Well,” said Maki, “you know how I always take the mountain path from the eastern gate to get back to Ashidori?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Most of the students who attended Kibogayama High School were graduates of nearby middle schools. Their school was a typical, unremarkable prefectural high school in an out-of-the-way area, so barely anyone enrolled from far off.
Yoshiki, who was from Kubitachi, and Yuuki, who lived in Kibogayama, attended different elementary schools but went to Kibogayama Middle School together. Maki graduated from a middle school in the Ashidori area where he lived.
Kibogayama High was built halfway up the mountain overlooking the town, and as Maki had mentioned, the shortest route from the school to Ashidori was the mountain path that continued from the eastern gate.
“See, the tunnel there’s under construction, so now I gotta use another way through the forest. One I don’t normally use.” Maki paused and took a quick breath before continuing. “But that forest path is spooky as hell!”
“Huh?” Yuuki cocked her head in confusion.
“And that’s why he wants me to go with him,” Yoshiki clarified.
Yuuki heaved an exasperated sigh. “That’s stupid…”
“But bein’ scary ain’t the half of it… I can’t look into the forest. It’s like my eyes can’t move away from the path in front of me.”
While Yuuki remained puzzled by Maki’s incomprehensible explanation, a tall female student suddenly jumped into the conversation.
“Whoa! Freaky!! Really gotta wonder what that’s all about!”
Swaying her short, soft hair and speaking in a voice with the crisp brightness of a freshly fried croquette, the girl repeated her interest in their conversation.
“Sounds fascinatin’! Real fascinatin’!”
The girl, Asako Yamagishi, was Yuuki’s best friend who had gone to the same middle school as her. She was over five feet, six inches tall and was abnormally strong at arm wrestling.
“So, is it that you can’t look into the forest ’cause it’s so scary?” she asked, leaning forward eagerly.
Encouraged by her interest, Maki became more energetic. “Naw. Wasn’t scary at first, you know? But it’s like, even if I try to look into the forest, before I know it, my eyes are back on the road. That’s what really got me spooked. And that’s why I’m askin’ ya to come with me, Yoshiki!”
Here we go again, thought Yoshiki.
“Nope,” he said. “Sounds way too scary.”
“You can think of it as a test of courage!”
“A test of courage…? The only people who do that are stupid tourists who come through every now an’ then.”
Kibogayama Town had a surprisingly large number of haunted places. There were even tourists who came specifically to visit the town’s famous tunnel.
“But yer seriously good at tests of courage,” Maki said. “You were amazin’ the last time we went.”
“Naw. That was just—”
Yoshiki started to explain, but Asako cut in, laughing, and said, “You were movin’ like you were doin’ an RTA speedrun.”
In reality, Yoshiki had been rushing to get to a toilet and was scared out of his mind. Just as he was about to make that excuse, he heard light footsteps approaching, signaling the arrival of the very last person he wanted to get involved in their conversation.
“Sounds real interestin’ to me!” Hikaru remarked, entering their circle. “I wanna go, too!”
Surprised by this, Maki, Yuuki, and Asako widened their eyes and, in unison, said, “Huh?”
Confused by their response, Hikaru shot back with his own, “Huh?”
“Y-ya sure ’bout that? You’re the worst at handlin’ these things, Hikaru,” Maki cautiously pointed out.
Yuuki nodded. “Ya passed out for two hours when ya saw that horror movie.”
“Oh, yeah…” Hikaru scratched his cheek awkwardly and slowly turned his gaze toward Yoshiki. “Well, I’ve gotten better with that stuff lately. Ain’t that right, Yoshiki?!”
Hikaru sought Yoshiki’s agreement.
Asako glanced back and forth between the two boys before finally keeping her eyes on Yoshiki, who managed to squeeze out an “Oh. Yeah…”
Maki, taking that to mean the matter was settled, smiled. “All right, then. So it’ll be Yoshiki, Yuuki, Asako, and Hikaru. I’m so glad y’all are comin’. For real.”
Taking a quick glance around the room, Yoshiki noticed that the cleaning was mostly done. Pale sunlight seeped through the windows and reflected off the neatly arranged desks.
The red scarves on Asako’s and Yuuki’s sailor uniforms looked oddly vibrant.
“Okay. See ya at the eastern gate after school,” Maki said brightly.
Their homeroom teacher, Coach Hara, arrived shortly after cleaning time looking tired. He spoke in an equally tired and slightly lazy tone. Hikaru had always been good at impersonating him.