Kenji slowly approached Himari and Eimi. The two instinctively realized he wasn't a fake but the real one. To begin with, a being made of ghost stories couldn't even open a closed door. So the one before their eyes now was real.
"Kenji! A, are you hurt anywhere?"
"I'm fine. You two?"
"We're fine too."
Kenji nodded at Eimi's answer. He stepped on and shattered the leg of the monster, which was starting to squirm and rise again, then took in the scenery of the broadcasting room.
"Was there anything strange here?"
"Your image appeared on the monitor, then turned off again within a few minutes."
"......My image?"
"Yes. We saw you wearing a smiling mask, saying things like 'My left hand is a sleeping pill! My right hand is an anesthetic!' while hitting a weird-looking monster. It turned off after that."
"......Huh."
Kenji let out a hollow laugh and swept his hand down his face once.
Even for a broadcast ghost story, isn't it too much to broadcast someone else's image arbitrarily? If he hadn't dealt with those mouthed monsters first, wouldn't all his other antics have been broadcast as well? It was horrifying just to imagine. Kenji recalled the words he had spat out and shuddered.
-Oh my... No matter how much you like me, this kind of restraint is a bit much.
-No, fuck, my girlfriend!!!!!!! These evil bastards!!!! I will never forgive them!
-This is Buddha's wooden gong! The sound is very cheerful!
-You bas!!!!!!!!!!!! How dare a mere lowly ghost interrupt this one's prayers!!!!!!!
-Gasp! Did you just bare your teeth at me? Oh my, oh my! Looks like you're not properly trained! Did you get your rabies shot? Can't be helped! This is the rabies shot!
-Brothers~ Kenji's coming again! Don't think about running away~ To the person who threw knives at me earlier! I know you're the only one left on the 5th floor~
Thinking about it again, it was a good thing he dealt with the broadcast ghost story first. If they had seen the antics he performed on the 5th floor because he was chasing other bastards... He probably would have bitten his tongue and died. Yeah, definitely would have.
Kenji let out a deep sigh of relief and lowered his hand from his face.
"That was a really bizarre video."
As if it wasn't him who did it, but the video was just made that way, he said that and moved aside from the broadcasting room door. It meant for them to come out. Eimi came out immediately, but Himari hesitated slightly. Since she still seemed scared, Kenji grabbed the hair of the monster rolling on the floor and slammed it hard against the wall. Only then did she timidly come out.
"I, is that really okay?"
"Historically, this has been the cure."
Kenji grinned and stroked the back of the monster's head. It ground its teeth and looked at Kenji, but couldn't open its mouth because its lungs were all crumpled and its heart was half gone. The only reason it wasn't dead and still holding on was purely because it was a being derived from a ghost story. Otherwise, it would have died instantly when punched.
"But why isn't it achieving salvation?"
All the ghost stories Kenji had dealt with so far vanished when they received near-fatal blows. But this bastard was still squirming despite taking a blow that would have killed it normally. It was crawling like a worm because no strength went into its entire body, but it was still moving.
"......Guess I have to crush the head after all."
Muttering that, he clenched his fist. Then, a sudden thought.
'Do these bastards feel pain if shot?'
It was worth testing. Kenji looked back at Himari and held out his hand to her. Himari looked at him with a bewildered expression, then shyly took his hand. Then she went ahem ahem, clearing her throat.
"Th, there's no reason to refuse an escort!"
"......Not that, lend me your gun for a sec. I want to check if it works on these bastards or not."
"Ah, ah... Ahem! Yes. Here it is."
Himari's face flushed red as she spoke, trying her best to feign a calm tone. Kenji chuckled at her cute appearance and tapped her head.
"I'll escort you when we go back. Super-genius sickly beautiful girl hacker."
"O, okay. I'll specially give you the opportunity!"
"Me too."
"Sure. Got the gun safely."
Kenji carefully took Himari's pistol. It was a small revolver suited to her petite frame. Whether she painted it separately or not, its appearance was quite sleek. It seemed to be her preference. Kenji checked if there were bullets left in the cylinder, then looked at the two and spoke.
"Then you two go wait outside. I'll follow after testing something."
"Testing?"
"Need to see if those things feel pain when shot too. And we should know how to deal with it if something similar happens again, right?"
"Then wouldn't it be better for us to stay and confirm directly?"
"That's true, but it might be cruel. I don't really want to show you."
Kenji spat out with a bitter laugh.
All Kivotos students are fine even if shot. It was the same for the residents, and it was very difficult to leave scratches on their bodies with guns, bombs, or blades. So there were absolutely no cases of organs or brain matter flying out from being shot. In contrast, this being before them was like tofu compared to them. Like Kenji, if shot, that part would burst open.
That would be quite a cruel scene. It was no sight for mere high school girls.
"I won't lie, so don't worry and go out. I'll catch this and the human body model, then follow."
"I caught the human body model. It disappeared on its own when I realized its identity."
Eimi said. Kenji nodded. It seemed there was a method to solve it properly instead of just beating it senseless. Well, it didn't matter now anyway.
"Then this should be the end. I'll be right there."
"Will you be okay alone?"
"Yeah. It's fine."
"If that's the case... okay. I'll go out first."
"Me too."
Himari nodded, and soon after, Eimi also showed affirmative intent. Kenji took them safely outside the old school building, then returned to the monster crawling on the floor. Despite its face being buried in the floor, its crimson pupils were staring straight at Kenji. Its eyes had moved to the back of its head.
"What are you looking at."
Kenji poked and burst its eyeball with his finger. A crimson, sticky liquid came out onto his glove. Kenji swung his hand to shake off the liquid and gently gripped Himari's revolver. He had experience handling revolvers several times, so he had no difficulty with the grip.
There was no reason to have a conversation. Kenji immediately aimed the muzzle at the monster and pulled the trigger.
-Ping!
The bullet bounced off the moment it touched the monster's flesh. Kenji clicked his tongue and lowered the muzzle.
"Doesn't work?"
Then if something like this happened again, would he have to step up and solve it then too? Wasn't that a bit too harsh? A person doesn't have two bodies. It probably wasn't common for ghost stories to materialize, but even so, dealing with these things while doing work at Schale would be quite tiresome.
The only comfortable way to work would be to ask for personal contact when experiencing strange events, but then all sorts of news would come in. Among them, only one would actually be related to a ghost story, or none at all, that was certain. It would be a waste of time, and the physical and mental fatigue would be severe.
"No way...?"
Kenji thought while tapping the back of the monster's head with his fist. The back of its head slowly caved in, but regardless, he put the revolver on his finger and spun it while rolling his head.
"Ah."
As he did, a good idea suddenly came to mind. Kenji took out one bullet from the cylinder and placed it between his index and middle fingers. Then he layered fear on top of it.
Fear is the duality of mystery. An existence like the two sides of a coin. But whether the coin's side is heads or tails, the object is still just a coin, and it's the same with mystery and fear. They just look different, but their origin is equally sublime.
Then, if a bullet layered with fear could damage it, wouldn't mystery be the same?
It was a suddenly arising hypothesis. However, Kenji couldn't emit fear through a gun. The gun he fired only spat out simple metal lumps and couldn't deal any damage to Kivotos residents. It was fortunate if it even made them feel ticklish.
But it was possible to throw a bullet layered with fear. Of course, its power was much weaker than emission through a gun, but it was possible.
And he didn't even have to throw it unconditionally. Kenji aimed the bullet between his fingers toward the monster's crown and pressed his middle finger with his thumb from the other hand as if flicking it. It looked like shooting a slingshot.
This could sufficiently damage the monster's body. It didn't have to be a fatal wound. Just embedding it in the body was enough. Thinking that, he released the middle finger he was holding with his thumb. Then the bullet flew and embedded itself in the monster's forearm.
It embedded!
Just as Kenji had shattered their bodies through fear, damage through mystery was also possible. If only those who could wield mystery directly, like himself, could deal damage, not with bullets, it would have been quite troublesome, but it was fortunate to have confirmed it this way. Any student with mystery could oppose urban legends.
"Now I can go out."
He said that, then put the revolver inside his coat and stomped on the prone monster's head, bursting it. This time, no liquid splattered. Its body turned to dust and slowly scattered. Kenji looked down at the sight for a moment, then stopped by the science room and brought out a few cans of oil.
Then, humming a tune, he meticulously poured oil from the 1st to the 4th floor. Fortunately, the number of oil cans was sufficient. Finally, he poured plenty of oil near the 1st-floor main entrance, threw the last oil can he was holding behind him, and came out of the old school building.
"Uh, I'm out."
"Kenji! Is everything over now?"
Eimi and Himari, standing a little away from the main entrance, welcomed him gladly. Kenji smiled crookedly and took out a lighter from his pocket.
-Click. A flame bloomed on the lighter. Bewilderment rose in the two people's pupils, and Kenji threw the lighter toward the old school building without looking back. Even he thought it was a very cool move. But the two didn't think so.
"K, Kenji?!"
"Wh, what are you doing?!"
-Whoosh! The oil and lighter met, and intense flames burst out. The flames instantly covered the building along the oil Kenji had poured. The building, which had not let in a single light, became bright as the sun and drove away the dark aura. Kenji watched the scene with a pleased expression. But Eimi and Himari had their mouths agape, making shocked expressions.
"Wh, what is this......"
"Arson...?"
"Not arson, purification."
Kenji answered Eimi's muttering while sticking his hands in his pockets.
"The ghost story materialized in this building is courage training. So as long as the concept of courage training exists, this building will forever attract people and produce strange phenomena. I eliminated all the anomalies inside this building, but if the next guests come, other ghost stories will probably fill the courage training."
"......"
"......"
"Then how should it be solved? If the ghost story doesn't disappear even after eliminating all the anomalies inside, how can we free the old school building from the ghost story? I kept thinking of a method after realizing the identity of the ghost story and finally found the answer."
"......Arson?"
"A crime?"
"Purification."
He approached Himari and Eimi and continued.
"Erasing the concept of courage training from the world is close to impossible. It's not a newly created word, and erasing a concept that has existed since ancient times from people's minds overnight is absolutely impossible unless you're a god. So I switched my perspective and realized that to cleanly eliminate the ghost story, I had to erase something other than the concept."
"......That's the old school building?"
"A virus can only survive if it invades someone's body. In other words, the courage training ghost story is the virus, and the old school building is the body. Just as the virus disappears if you burn or smash the entire body, the ghost story should be the same."
Kenji grinned and looked at the burning old school building.
"If the old school building loses its form as a building, the ghost story should disappear too. That's why I set the fire."
"......Are you really crazy? So that video on the monitor wasn't fabricated but was really you, Kenji?"
Himari spat out in an incredulous voice. Kenji lightly ignored her words.
"Honestly, there was no other way. The only methods were to burn it or smash it, one of the two, but to officially destroy a building, site verification is essential, and for that, people have to come directly. Then they'd get caught up in the ghost story again. We can't create more victims. I could have smashed it, but that would take too long. I would have done it eventually if I hadn't found the oil cans, though."
"......Haa. I get it. I understand. And honestly, we don't care if the old school building burns and disappears or gets smashed. It's a building no one uses and isn't even managed to begin with. But......"
Himari pointed at the fiercely burning building with her finger.
"Did you think of a way to put that out? If left as is, the flames might spread to the sides."
"I thought of that. Wait a moment."
Kenji stood next to Himari and Eimi and stretched his hand toward the burning building. Warm heat transmitted directly. The two looked at the scene and let out hollow laughs as if it was absurd, but within a few minutes, they took the same posture as Kenji. It was already a chilly dawn, but thanks to the flames, their bodies became quite warm.
It would have been a romantic atmosphere if the source of the warmth wasn't a burning building.
"That should be enough now."
About an hour after the building was engulfed in flames, Kenji stood up and muttered. He left a message saying he'd be right back to Himari and Eimi, then strode toward the building. As he got closer to the fire, hot heat conducted throughout his body.
Kenji exhaled air mixed with heat and created a huge ring in his grip. It was a ring that was hard to even call a technique—he just compressed energy and altered its form—but its power was at an astonishing level. Even that 'Shiro' guy Kenji faced directly would have that part torn off entirely if hit squarely by this.
However, its recoil was as severe as its power. If it were a proper technique, the usage would be stable and the recoil less, but by stupidly packing only power, he felt an impact as if his organs were shaken. It seemed he had sustained some internal injury. The throbbing pain became slightly more severe.
But it was bearable. He swallowed the blood surging up to his throat and flung the ring in his grip into the sky. The rising ring shook unstably, then soon exploded with a fearsome level of power. A huge shockwave burst out in the air.
Thanks to precise power control, the three people were not within the range of the shock. But the building wasn't. The flames covering the building instantly disappeared from the erupted shock. More precisely, the building, which had burned to near ashes, collapsed completely. It still maintained the shape of a building, but had lost its function. Kenji watched the scene of dust spreading like an avalanche and spat the blood he couldn't swallow onto the ground.
Fortunately, the two seemed not to have seen. Kenji turned his head toward the two people who were looking at the collapsed building with blank expressions and chuckled.
"It's over. Let's go home."
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