This Japanese Monogatari Isn't Lame-Chapter 594 - 373: Song Cards (Goal of 8000 Words Achieved!)
Beichuan Si watched as Tsukishima Risa and her friends entered the long house’s courtyard.
Once they were completely out of sight, he glanced thoughtfully at the empty path beside him.
Here, the little girl’s figure was no longer visible.
The wind began to pick up.
The long house, already full of draughts, tore at its tattered throat, emitting a sharp, sobbing sound–
In such a wind, the ringing of Beichuan Si’s cellphone cut through.
He perked up a bit when he saw the name on the screen.
"Hello? Liangzi? About the thing you were asked to do yesterday..."
...
Entering the long house felt completely different from before they had gone in.
An involuntary coldness gradually enveloped their bodies.
Combined with the gloomy environment and the sudden silence as they reached the second floor, their bodies couldn’t help but tremble slightly.
The bespectacled man A, whose real name was Yokomaku Mitomo, couldn’t resist looking around.
He and his girlfriend, the short-haired girl B... a girl named Yeze Younai, had come to the second floor of the long house.
The second floor of the long house was more cramped compared to the first, with fewer places to explore.
Thus, the two of them were separated from the group of five to explore the second floor.
Tsukishima Risa and the others were tasked with exploring the more spacious first floor.
"Mitomo... I just feel really uncomfortable here," Yeze Younai said, rubbing her bare shoulders as she looked around.
An unpleasant musty smell wafted from every corner of the second-floor corridor, and the creaking wooden floorboards underfoot certainly did nothing to ease the discomfort.
"Just bear with it for a bit, Younai. We’ll finish exploring the second floor and then go down to meet up with Shimanaga and the others," Yokomaku Mitomo said without turning back.
From this side of the corridor, the rooms were neatly arranged.
However... though they were meant to be neatly arranged, there was an indescribable... particularly irritating sense of disarray.
Yokomaku Mitomo continued to advance alone, flashlight in hand.
As he moved forward, he "explored" the rooms...
But instead of exploring, it was more like a quick scan with the flashlight at the doorway before moving on.
Under this half-hearted search, Yokomaku Mitomo quickly reached the end of the corridor. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
Nothing had happened during this period.
It seems like what Beichuan Si said was true, there was nothing here.
But humans are creatures easily prone to suspicious and fearful thoughts.
Especially in such enclosed spaces, this is even more so.
"Ha ha... Just the last room left. Younai, let’s just not look into this one, okay?" Yokomaku Mitomo said with forced laughter, shining his flashlight at the room in the corner of the corridor while turning back.
Silence...
Aside from the section of corridor illuminated by the flashlight...
Everything else was swallowed by darkness.
Only now did Yokomaku Mitomo realize.
At some point, he had arrived at a place of utter darkness.
There was no way forward, the way back was cut off.
Even the voices of the buddies on the first floor had completely vanished.
Sweat poured down his forehead in large drops; Yokomaku Mitomo was shaking all over.
He was the type who was timid and particularly liked watching horror movies.
Only in such a moment did he truly realize how fragile he was.
Yokomaku Mitomo was careless, and the flashlight slipped from his hand powerlessly.
The flashlight tumbled into the darkness behind him under his gaze–
And then even the light beam of the flashlight was completely devoured by the darkness.
His throat felt as though it was stuffed with ice, and as his body was cold and shivering, he heard someone laughing softly nearby.
Hee...
Hee hee hee...
That laughter, close at ear, made Yokomaku Mitomo’s hair stand on end!
"Who’s there?! Who is it?!"
He flailed his arms wildly, trying to fend off the unseen threat lurking in the darkness with this primitive defense mechanism.
It seemed as if his actions had frightened whatever it was.
The soft laughter vanished instantly.
Phew...
Yokomaku Mitomo breathed a sigh of relief.
But then–
The soft laughter escalated into loud laughter, and finally into a maniacal laugh that exploded in his ears in an instant!
Cackle cackle cackle...
HA HA HA!!!!
Struck by such terror, Yokomaku Mitomo’s legs gave out, and his slanted face fell heavily!
Thump!
...
Meanwhile, Tsukishima Risa and her companions were also searching around the sinister long house.
Their method was simple.
Tsukishima Risa was a team by herself, chosen to explore the less scary perimeters.
The other two went together to explore the inside of the long house.
Places like the living room and bathroom, for example.
"I wonder how they’re doing," Tsukishima Risa muttered as she glanced briefly around the kitchen.
The kitchen looked unused for a long time, and the sink was stained with rust-like stubborn residues that looked disgustingly horrific.
"No abnormalities..."
After talking to herself, Tsukishima Risa walked out of the kitchen.
She had been exploring alone for about five or six minutes, and had nearly finished searching the surrounding area.
Just as Beichuan Si said, there was nothing unusual here.
"I wonder how Shimanaga and the others are getting on... and since a while ago, there’s been no noise from the second floor... which is also a bit concerning," Tsukishima Risa pondered while stroking her chin, planning to go back and look for her classmates.
But soon, as if realizing something, her expression changed slightly.
There had been no noise from the second floor since earlier... that was rather normal, after all, considering it was the second floor and she was in the outer perimeter of the first floor where it was quite normal not to hear.
