It was an awkward meeting. Diran refused to budge. He grabbed a stool and put his dirty shoes up on the table. Cail hated that posture very much.
He ignored him. Jael and Oris had gone out to get something, and Sirae was outside, taking pictures of plants.
Cail walked out. He sat on the edge of the flower bed and thought, Should I just ditch them and go home? He had nothing to do but sit here. Might as well go home and sleep. While he wanted to mess with Diran, there was no opportunity or chance to do so. Making him look stupid didn't give a sense of accomplishment, and isolating him would do nothing.
What was suitable for Diran were those types of pranks that could shatter a person emotionally.
He probably approached Oris because he wanted to find a new victim, Cail thought. Diran's last toy had almost died. He jumped off the three-story admin building. Whether it was unfortunate or fortunate, he didn't die. Both his feet were broken, and something was messed up in his spine. He was paralyzed below the neck. He could only move his head.
That guy's parents were obviously angry. They confronted the school, but the school adamantly denied Diran's involvement. Diran's parents were rich, so that's why.
Until now, that guy's parents were still camping outside the school campus, holding their son's banner in an attempt to seek justice.
While Cail didn't feel much for the family, he thought, Since Diran is a bad guy, bad guys should be killed, right? Just like that man wearing a skull headdress.
Cail's thought sounded very immature and childish. But his world was divided into four sections: the people he cared about, the people he didn't care about, the people who could give him benefits, and the people he considered bad.
That division was quite ironic once you knew that Cail didn't have a clear distinction as to what was bad or good. In Cail's view, the world was driven by benefits. He probably had a conscience, but his conscience didn't know how to function.
He guessed his bottom line was society's standard. What society saw as bad was bad; what was good was good.
Just as Cail was thinking about some philosophical questions, his eyes caught a movement from the second floor.
At the window, he could see the torso of what seemed like a marble statue. He couldn't clearly see the details, but the silhouette of the hand and body was very visible.
He quickly stood up and looked at it. Unlike those horror movies where, once you pay attention to the ghost it vanishes, this one was tough. It just stayed there. The head wasn't visible because of how tall it was—so, just like what Cail said, only the torso was visible.
"Gasp!"
Cail looked back and saw Sirae, pale as she gazed at the marble statue in the window.
I guess she can see it too?
That was normal. Cail wasn't wearing his glasses this time, and he could still see the thing in classroom 1-A.
"I guess I wasn't hallucinating at all," he muttered as he remembered what he had seen a while ago.
Cail felt a bit excited. "Hey, you stay here. I'll call Diran to accompany me to check it out."
Sirae pulled on Cail's uniform. "D-Don't! I think that's too strange. We don't have something like that in our school. Classroom 1-A isn't an art room, so there shouldn't be any sculptures in there. I think we should call a teacher."
Cail pulled his arm away, feeling a bit repulsed by the touch but not really minding. He pointed at the window. "Don't overthink it. Besides, ghosts aren't real. And even if they are, they probably wouldn't show themselves this blatantly." Of course, what he was saying was the opposite of what he was actually thinking.
He walked back to the clubroom and leaned on the doorframe. "Diran, something looked strange in classroom 1-A. We should check it out."
Diran ignored him and continued gaming.
Since he had a plan, Cail was patient. "Are you afraid of ghosts? If that's so, why did you join this club?"
Diran put down his phone. He still had that sleazy look on his face. "That better be something interesting, or I'll punch you in the face."
Cail didn't comment. Now that the fish had taken the bait, Cail felt a bit of goodwill toward Diran.
They went out of the clubroom. Sirae was outside. She was getting paler, to the point that Cail couldn't help but wonder if she was about to faint.
"C-Can you two not go? Let's tell a teacher about it." It was obvious that Sirae was very socially awkward base on how much she stuttered.
Cail thought for a moment. "Well, if you notice some commotion above, call a teacher. Aren't we the Supernatural Club? What's the point of forming this group if we don't investigate strange things?" Cail smiled at her. "It's fine."
As they walked towards the building, Diran noticed something. "You seem to have become talkative," Diran remarked. Cail had been silent the entire time—now he was talking.
Cail didn't hide it. "Well, maybe I'm a bit excited. Let's go."
If Diran followed his gut, he would have been probably alive. Unfortunately, his compliancy lead him to his demise.
The two of them walked inside the building. Sirae was looking at them, she looked terrified and apprehensive. But she had extreme social anxiety, and she couldn't assertively tell someone she had just met, "Don't go there!"
She looked at them, filled with worry.
...
Second floor hallway.
"It was in classroom 1-A," Cail said as he walked down the hallway.
Diran was already feeling the tension. He held his breath as they walked toward the classroom. He looked outside. The sun was already setting, and it was almost nighttime.
"Bro, can we just leave? I think that was probably just nothing."
"No."
"It's already getting late. My parents are probably looking for me."
Hearing the excuses, Cail's smile widened, but Diran couldn't see it because he kept glancing to the side.
"Why are you such a scaredy-cat? Scared of your parents, scared of ghosts? Is this all you've got?" For smooth-brained people like him, taunting was the best way to manipulate them.
Diran took a deep breath. "Fine. But can we turn on the lights? It's already dark—"
Before Diran could even finish, he felt a strong push to his side. He slammed into the classroom floor.
His shoulder hurt. He looked up, and his eyes widened when he saw Cail slamming the classroom door shut.
"What are you doing?!" he screamed.
Cail was peeking through the small window in the door. His hand tapped on the glass.
At first, Diran didn't understand what Cail was doing, but once he heard something dragging behind him, he looked back.
Behind him was a statue of a tall woman. It was just standing there, looking at him.