Ghost of a Chance

Forbidden Pastime (Part 11)

" 'Tousai goju-san,'" she read aloud. "It means 'fifty-three years old this year.'"

"That's about your age, isn't it?" Naru asked Matsuyama.

"..." Matsuyama frowned as a bead of nervous sweat rolled down the side of his face.

"Writing the kanji in this way is more out of formality than anything else," Lin said. "However..."

"If 'Matsuyama' were clearly spelled out, anyone could have guessed something was going on. That's why they went to the trouble of using Sanskrit," Naru concluded.

"W-Who could have done this!?" Matsuyama demanded anxiously.

"Invoking Orikiri-sama first became popular among the art club and first-year students," Naru said. "But not everyone is capable of creating a curse like this. This is clearly a person to be reckoned with."

"Wait!" Matsuyama exclaimed frantically. "Was it Sakauchi!? What was that idiot trying to do!? What the hell are you..."

'Sakauchi-kun,' Mai thought sadly.

'Even now, he still doesn't get it...?' Hitomi thought with a frown. Did he seriously think there was nothing wrong with the way he treated the students after one of them committed suicide under his watch?

"Sensei, don't you realize why you were chosen?" Yasuhara asked sternly, surprising the man.

"Yasuhara," Matsuyama said, taken aback. He had almost forgotten he was there.

" 'I'm not a dog', That's all that was written in Sakauchi-kun's suicide note. We... all felt the school treated us like we were dogs. Any of us could have written this about you, Sensei," Yasuhara said, furrowing his brow. He was angry. It was important that Matsuyama-sensei understand. Why all of this happened. "Sensei, you represent everything that's wrong with this school. We all know how you bullied him under the excuse that it was for his own good. You even took one of his books on the supernatural and threw it in the trash while ridiculing him." Hitomi's frown deepened. That kind of thing never would have happened at their school. Mai's chest tightened, feeling sorry for Sakauchi-kun.

"It won't make a difference if we root out the perpetrators now," Naru said. "Once they've invoked the curse, it can't be stopped."

"Then... What's going to happen!?" Matsuyama demanded anxiously.

"Any solutions?" Naru asked Lin.

"None so far," he replied.

"Is it possible to reverse the curse?"

"We could. But should we?"

"We don't have a choice," Naru said. "Death may soothe a soul's pain, but if everyone truly understood what death means, no one would ever commit suicide. We'll reverse the curse."

"!" Hitomi straightened up. But that would mean...!

"Reverse the curse?" Mai asked.

"In other words, turn the curse back onto the original conjurers. Once the last spirit has devoured everything time will run out and the kodoku will be complete. If that happens, a brutal death awaits Matsuyama," Naru explained. "That would be cruel. Even for him. Before we let that happen..."

"Ha... Ha ha haha! I'm... going to be saved?" Matsuyama said in disbelief. "Haha! Of course I am! I won't die after all. Hahaha..." Mai and Hitomi furrowed their brows at him as he continued to laugh.

"Sensei," Naru said sternly with enough ice in his voice to freeze the Pacific Ocean. "This is all your fault. Please keep that in mind."

"But, Naru-chan. Sakauchi is already dead," Bou-san pointed out. "How can we reverse the curse back onto a dead person?"