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"No...nothing, I'm just a little confused as to why Apendragon-san would come with you."
Hachiman immediately behaved himself when he saw Yukino glaring at him. Throughout this semester, Yukino had been playing around with Kyosuke in various ways. Her method of killing a chicken to scare the monkeys had established her supreme authority in the Service Club. Hachiman didn't think that he, with his puny arms and legs, could compete with this giant.
"I borrowed her. I might need her help this time. Do you have any other suggestions?"
"Absolutely not."
Hachiman waved his hands repeatedly to show that he had no questions.
Kyosuke couldn't stand Mordred, the golden-haired guy. He had just been cheated out of a large sum of money by this guy. "How big of a heart do you have to ask this troublemaker goblin for help?"
Yukino raised an eyebrow: "Do you have any objections?"
"No, there isn't."
Seeing Kyosuke's frustrated expression, Miura covered his mouth and laughed secretly. Mordred raised her index finger to Kyosuke with a smug look (she didn't dare to use the middle finger in front of Mash), then sat on Yukino's right hand with her head tilted, like a rooster that had won a duel.
"Very good. Since no one has any questions, please sit down. Please take a look at this document first. Mashu, please distribute it to everyone."
Under Yukino's instruction, Mashu went around the table and distributed the materials to everyone. Mashu has now become Yukino's personal secretary. Except for occasionally helping Eriri with comics, she basically follows Yukino around. Some people are already calling her "Yukino's little maid".
Kyosuke looked at the photo on the paper. It was a somewhat dilapidated building. The mottled walls, the occasional falling bricks, and the thriving ivy on the ground floor all showed the old age of the building. On the top of the building were four huge mechanical clock faces facing different directions. Below these clocks was a conspicuous outdoor metal clock that looked like a bell. The flying bats in the photo added an ominous and terrifying atmosphere to the whole photo.
“It looks so familiar.”
"What a coincidence, me too. Is this... the clock tower?"
Both Hachiman and Kyosuke felt that they seemed to have seen this building somewhere before.
"Yes, and then what? What do you think of this?"
"It is recommended that the illegal building be demolished as soon as possible."
Kyosuke felt that the building in the photo was explaining the words "dilapidated" and "crumbling". If possible, Kyosuke didn't want to step into this building at all, because he was afraid that the whole building would collapse when he walked halfway.
Yukino nodded in agreement with Kyosuke's opinion: "Anything else?"
"A test of courage."
Miura noticed that everyone was looking at him and thought they were making a fuss. "What's wrong? This kind of building should be very popular with groups that want to hold a courage test, especially with this eerie feeling. It can scare many people even in the daytime."
"What Miura-san and Kyousuke said are both correct."
Yukino admitted what the two people said, and then she explained to everyone: "This building is an old bell tower next to the junior high school of Sakura Academy. Recently, the academy is planning to expand its enrollment this year, so they plan to demolish this old bell tower and build a new school building to accommodate more students."
Now Kyosuke and Hachiman finally knew why this building looked so familiar to them, because they had seen this clock tower from afar when they went to pick up their sister.
"The construction company is...your family?"
Kyosuke discovered that the contractor listed on the materials was Yukinoshita Construction.
"Yes. Because our family demonstrated high efficiency in the reconstruction of Sobu High School, we were recognized by Sakura Academy."
Hearing Yukino bragging, Kyosuke rolled his eyes. Others may not know, but he does. Yukinoshita was just a figurehead in the reconstruction of Sobu High School, and all the work was done by the Heroic Spirits. However, Cherry Campus obviously didn't know. Since it would be used after the summer vacation, it was completely understandable that they chose to rebuild Sobu High School's Yukinoshita building in about a month.
"You guys are late for the construction?"
Kyosuke thought that Yukino wanted him to go find the Heroic Spirit to solve the problem of not having enough time.
"That's not a big problem. What's that look on your face? At least we have the help of Mr. Enkidu now. It's not a problem to build a school building within a month."
When Yukino saw Kyosuke's "are you kidding me" look, she glared back at him in dissatisfaction.
"So, my dear president, what do you want us to do this time?"
"It's simple. We are going to investigate this building. According to rumors, this building is haunted."
Chapter 86 Kirino: Those who hear the bell will really be cursed~
Kyosuke looked at the dilapidated building in the distance. He could more or less understand where the rumors of haunting came from. After all, such a thing standing on campus was a natural material for ghost stories.
"So what's the rumor?" Kyosuke asked the leader Yukino, "Why would this big bell be rung for no reason?"
"That's right. According to rumors, this bell tower, which is no longer usable, will be rung in the afternoon."
Hearing Yukino's words, Hachiman pouted and said with disdain: "This is obviously a prank."
"That's right, but this rumor has always existed. The person in charge of the construction team is quite superstitious. After hearing this rumor, he said that he would not start the construction unless the evil spirit was cleared away. I don't know where my sister found this weird thing."
Yukino didn't seem to believe in such random rumors, but she brought Mordred with her just in case. After all, she had been having strange things happen to her since she met Kyosuke, so it was a bit of insurance if there really was an evil spirit this time.
In fact, Haruno, who entrusted this commission to Yukino, also had this intention. In the past, everyone was an atheist and would just treat such things as a prank. In the construction industry, some stubborn residents will do anything to avoid moving, and pretending to be ghosts is a small matter. However, after learning that there are actually all kinds of unscientific things in this world, the originally staunch atheists will become all kinds of nervous and will be cautious about any small matter as if there are really ghosts. It was because of this mentality that Haruno entrusted this matter to Yukino, or Kyosuke, to handle it.
After hearing what Yukino said, Miura hugged Kyosuke and said in a frightened tone, "If there really is a ghost later, Kyosuke, will you protect me?"
Kyosuke turned his head away without saying anything. He didn't know whether Miura was really scared or just pretending. What if he agreed to her casually now and she took the opportunity to take advantage of him later?
"It's better to just ask the local natives about this kind of thing. I've already emailed my sister to ask her to come over. She should know more clearly."
Kyosuke has already decided that this was a prank, so she hopes to learn the method of the prank and the motive of the perpetrator through Kirino's description.
"Then you guys wait here for sister Kirino. I'll go find the person in charge to get the key."
Yukino nodded to Kyosuke and left.
"I really envy you. Your sister is always here when you call. I wanted to ask Komachi to come over, but she said she couldn't come because she had something to do with her classmates."
Hachiman looked at the email on his phone with regret. His sister's reply made him cry silently.
Kyosuke laughed and cried as he explained to Hachiman, "No, I only convinced her after I signed an unequal agreement."
At this time, Zaimokuza suddenly appeared from behind the two of them and said, "I really envy Kyousuke-dono. People like me who don't even have a sister are really envious."
Kyosuke felt very strange that Fatty was here: "Fatty, what are you doing here? Aren't you about to meet the deadline?"
"Of course I'm here to collect materials." Zaimokuza pushed up his glasses, seemingly cosplaying as a certain elementary school student who plays the god of death. "It would be a shame if I didn't experience such interesting materials myself."
"Really? Then take your time to read it."
Although the fat man's words were reasonable, Kyosuke always felt that he had other ideas. Especially since he hadn't even looked at the clock tower from beginning to end, and had only been staring at his arm being held by Miura, Kyosuke couldn't help but doubt his real purpose for following him out.
"Tsk, can't I just use a laser cannon to destroy this broken building? Why do we have to go through such a big detour?"
Mordred put her hands on her hips and looked at the clock tower in the distance with some dissatisfaction. Anyway, she, Lord Mordred, was least afraid of such things.
ghost?
Sorry, I can beat ten of those weaklings!
"It's not a good idea to do this, right? If there really is a ghost, it will probably really haunt you, Mo-chan."
The timid Yui shrank behind Mordred. She was naturally afraid of ghosts and monsters, and if Yumiko and Yukino hadn't come, she would never have come.
"Well, this is just a prank, and we just need to catch the person. As for that legend, it was probably made up by some bored guy."
“I’m not making this up, bro.”
A sinister and terrifying voice suddenly came from behind Kyosuke. He turned around and found that Kirino had arrived.
It seemed that because of Kyosuke's disdainful expression just now, Kirino deliberately explained to the few people with an expression of telling a ghost story: "This school really happened, probably around Showa 30. At that time, a young female teacher was trapped in the mechanical room of this clock tower because of a student's prank. When she tried to call from the window to leave there, the female teacher's long hair was entangled in the gears. Because of the rotation of the gears, the female teacher's hair was entangled tighter and tighter, and finally her whole body was twisted in..."
Yui was frightened by Kirino and hugged Mordred tightly.
"Finally, the female teacher died, and the clock tower stopped counting. Because it was exactly 4:44 p.m., the clock tower will ring at this time from now on. And anyone who hears the bell will be cursed... This is the last legend of the [Seven Mysterious Legends of Sakura Academy Junior High School], the [Cursed Bell]. How about it, brother? Are you scared?"
Finally, Kirino showed her cute little fangs to Kyosuke, and seemed to feel that scaring Kyosuke was really a sense of accomplishment. Then, of course, Kyosuke used a finger snap to hit Kirino on the forehead to maintain his dignity as a brother.
"pain..."
"Who told you to scare your brother like that?"
Kyosuke gave Kirino a displeased look. He did know a guy who liked to ring bells everywhere to curse others, but he was not a female ghost but an old man who was over 2 meters tall.
"Well, even though I'm just trying to scare you, what I said is true."
"Don't every school have this kind of scary legend? And your school was only established during the Heisei era, right? I'm not that stupid, your brother."
For Japanese people who like ghost stories, basically every school has seven incredible legends, which is probably the standard of Japanese schools. And they are generally similar, such as the portraits in the music classroom, or the ghosts in the girls' bathroom, but each school will make some adaptations to show the difference of its own school. Since there is such an ancient building, it is reasonable to fill it with incredible legends based on the ghost stories of this building. After all, such good materials should not be wasted.
"Yes, my brother."
Ayase, who appeared with Kirino, explained to Kyosuke in a faint voice: "Because of this accident, the school at that time was ordered to close. It was not until a long time later that a new school was almost rebuilt on the basis of the original school. This is Sakura Academy. And because the pranks were all boys, our school is a girls' school."
Are you two little sisters going to tell horror stories instead of modeling today?
Kyosuke looked at Ayase with dazed eyes with a twitching mouth, and always felt that the other party was really born to be evil.
"This kind of thing must have been written by some busybody. I remember that the school in front of me closed down due to poor management."
"Is... is that really the case? Xiao Jing?"
Well, this person was so frightened that he couldn't move.
"Of course it is. If you think about it, you will know that this kind of thing is a lie."
Kyosuke was speechless about Yui's cowardice. If she was so scared, she shouldn't have followed him in the first place.
Seeing that the time was almost 4:, Hachiman directly put forward his suggestion: "There's not much time left, so we can go and check it out to find out if it's true. Yukinoshita should have got the key."
"Hey? Brother, you guys are going to the clock tower?"
Kirino seemed to flinch after hearing what Hachiman said.
"Why are you scared? Weren't you having a great time telling ghost stories just now? Do you want to go with us to verify it?"
"No way, brother, you are such a bad person! Be careful or I will tell mom when I get home tonight! Besides, I still have work to do later, so I won't accompany you to do such a boring thing."
Kirino made a face at Kyosuke, then pulled Ayase away. Before leaving, she deliberately glanced at Kyosuke's left arm that was hugged by Miura, "Brother, Ayase and I are leaving first. Don't forget what you promised me to do to go out with me this weekend."
"This girl is really disrespectful."
Kyosuke really has no way to deal with this willful girl. Unless she is completely independent, Kirino, who has Daisuke and Kanono as her backers, will always be above him in the food chain at home.
"Forget it, this is what a sister is."
Hachiman patted Kyousuke's left shoulder, expressing his empathy. His sister has always been willful to death, and it can only be said that the identity of a sister naturally means that she can act like a spoiled child to her brothers.
"Is this Kirino's sister? She doesn't look like Kyosuke at all."
Miura, who has been staring at Kirino since she appeared, is very interested in Kyosuke's sister.
"You're not the first person to say that. Even though we don't look alike, we are indeed brother and sister. Thank you."
"I'm not talking about looks. You and Kirino are actually somewhat similar. I'm talking about personality. Kirino-sister is much more sunny than you, Kyousuke. Well... she feels a bit like me."