This Japanese Monogatari Isn't Lame-Chapter 595 - 373: Song Cards (8000-word Goal Achieved!)_2

But...

"Shimanaga and the others on the first floor... Why has their noise suddenly ceased?"

Tsukishima Risa remembered it vividly.

At first, the noise from Shimanaga’s group was loud.

Thud, thud, thud—the sounds seemed as if they were tearing the house down.

Now, everything had quieted down.

To be precise, other than the sound of her footsteps pattering now, she couldn’t hear anything else.

Not a trace of miscellaneous noise.

"What on earth was happening?"

This unsettling feeling made Tsukishima Risa’s limbs feel cold.

She swallowed hard, hurriedly running back the way she came.

But—

The moment Tsukishima Risa took a step, hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from behind her!

Tsukishima Risa’s arms trembled as she turned her flashlight around.

Behind her was the corridor, where the only thing visible was the wall.

Yes... completely empty.

As if the sound of the footsteps had been a trick.

Under these circumstances, Tsukishima Risa took another couple of nerve-wracking steps.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sounds came from behind her again!

Tsukishima Risa tensed up, turning her flashlight around once more.

Behind her, still nothing.

The dilapidated corridor seemed to mock Tsukishima Risa with a sharp, whining sound.

But this time, Tsukishima Risa didn’t dare to make any rash moves.

There was something behind her!

There definitely was something behind her!

Her heart raced, her face pale, she shuddered.

But staying frozen like this was not a solution.

Tsukishima Risa took a deep breath, kept walking backward, and continued to gaze intently ahead.

This time, the footsteps didn’t sound.

Was it effective... did it work?

A sliver of hope washed over Tsukishima Risa.

Maintaining this feeling, she continued to retreat.

Then—

She bumped into something behind her.

Tsukishima Risa’s body tensed up like a drawn bow.

There was something behind her...

It was not in front, but behind...

As this thought struck her, a smile more unsightly than tears spread across her face.

Finally, she turned slowly—

Under this stiff and gradual movement, Tsukishima Risa only saw a face.

A cold, handsome face.

The person’s black eyes gazed calmly at her.

"Beichuan, Beichuan?!"

Tsukishima Risa exclaimed in a stunned voice, and then tightly hugged Beichuan Si, her body shaking as she cried pathetically. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

To meet the strongest ally at such a desperate time.

How truly—

Just as Tsukishima Risa had this thought, a voice suddenly came from behind her.

It was a very familiar voice.

"Did you call me?"

Under Tsukishima Risa’s incredulous gaze, Beichuan Si, wrapped in a chilling black aura, walked out from the long corridor behind her.

Two, two Beichuan Sis?

Double the joy?

Tsukishima Risa’s mind went blank for a moment.

And in that instant of mental blankness, the Beichuan Si shrouded in a chilling black aura had already sprinted to her side and reached out to grab the Beichuan Si she was embracing.

As something was thrown down, Tsukishima Risa felt her hands loosen, and the other Beichuan Si disappeared, leaving only the one enveloped in black aura standing beside her.

This sudden change finally snapped Tsukishima Risa’s short-circuited brain back to reality.

She opened her mouth, uncertainly addressing the newly emerged Beichuan Si, "Beichuan, Beichuan classmate?"

"It’s me." Beichuan Si nonchalantly stuffed something into his pocket, then turned to Tsukishima Risa and said, "It’s about time to leave, they’re still waiting for you."

"Oh... Oh."

Tsukishima Risa nodded vigorously, then regulated her breathing, waiting until the weakness in her legs had somewhat subsided before following Beichuan Si’s lead.

She jogged up to Beichuan Si and asked, "Beichuan classmate, Yonai and the others are alright?"

Faced with Tsukishima Risa’s question, Beichuan Si thought for a moment before responding in an indistinct tone, "For now, it seems there’s nothing wrong."

Tsukishima Risa and the others had been in the long house for almost half an hour.

During this time, Beichuan Si had made another circuit around the long house.

Afterward, he heard the screams of Yokomaku Mitomo and his girlfriend and directly charged in.

"I didn’t do anything."

Beichuan Si made that announcement first.

Then, pointing to the faint Yokomaku Mitomo and his girlfriend at the entrance, as well as another couple exploring the first floor, he shook his head and said, "By the time I arrived, they had already lost consciousness. Yokomaku Mitomo was out cold in a small room in the second-floor corridor, and his girlfriend had collapsed directly in the stairwell, with no wounds on her. Looking at them, they seem to have fainted from fright."

As for the other man and woman exploring the first floor...

By the time Beichuan Si got there, they too had been scared into unconsciousness on the ground, the reason being the same: excessive shock.

"Just as I had expected."

Looking at the two men and two women on the ground, Beichuan Si said with certainty, "There are no resentful spirits in this long house."

"..." Hearing this, Tsukishima Risa couldn’t help but twitch at the corner of her mouth.

No resentful spirits?

Could they be scared into this state without any resentful spirits?

Tsukishima Risa looked like she wanted to retort, but didn’t know where to start.

And Beichuan Si, with his sharp senses, noticed her disposition.

Without second thoughts, he asked, "Senior Tsukishima, apart from being scared, have you suffered any other trauma? Anything physical?"

"This... No."

Tsukishima Risa shook her head.

The situation was indeed strange.

She clearly had entered the attack range of the fake Beichuan Si, so why didn’t the person kill her directly but just watched her?

"Other people were the same, they each encountered a scare but weren’t harmed."

Beichuan Si continued with a frown, "Rather than wanting to harm you, the other party seemed more inclined to..."

"More inclined to what?" Tsukishima Risa couldn’t help but follow up.

Beichuan Si’s frown eased slightly, and after a while, he said, "Never mind, it might not be what I was thinking."

"... Right."

Since Beichuan Si didn’t want to talk about it, Tsukishima Risa wouldn’t press the issue.

After all, a significant part of their safe exit this time was thanks to Beichuan Si.

Besides, there were more urgent matters at hand for her to address.

Tsukishima Risa couldn’t help but rub her temples.

Waking everyone up and leaving this place of trouble was the right thing to do...

Looking at the contorted faces of her schoolmates lying on the ground, she couldn’t help but sigh.

She had told them not to participate in this kind of ’thrilling’ adventure.

And now, look what happened.

You’ve all fainted from fear here, and in the end, she still had to clean up the mess.

Even Tsukishima Risa, who was always known for her good temper, was somewhat overwhelmed.

After all, she had repeatedly tried to talk these schoolmates out of it.

"This experience might not be a bad thing for them."

Beichuan Si suddenly spoke up.

He seemed to understand what Tsukishima Risa was thinking, "Instead of courting death by encountering a real angry spirit, this experience would suffice to deter them from seeking such thrills in their lives again."

"... You do speak the truth, Beichuan classmate," Tsukishima Risa said helplessly, spreading her palms, "It’s just seeing them, and thinking of my past self. I can’t help but feel conflicted."

She used to take Qian Xia Chiyuki to the Sanmu Puppet Factory in search of the nonexistent ’Wall of Names,’ causing trouble for many.

Now, seeing her schoolmates in such sorry states, she was inevitably reminded of her past self.

"Let’s not bring up what’s already passed," Beichuan Si said simply.

And...

He half-pulled the object from his pocket.

With the help of the moonlight, he saw it clearly.

It was a battered and tattered ’Hyakunin Isshu’ playing card.

"Not to kill... just to scare people away, huh?"

Beichuan Si stared at the playing card, recalling the content of his earlier phone conversation with Gangye Yoshiko, and slipped it back into his pocket.

It seemed like this whole affair was going to require digging deeper.