Chapter 3: Yu Ishigami is cursed

Chapter 3: Yu Ishigami is cursed

「I think I have been cursed.」

「Cursed!?」

Shirogane was very surprised by Ishigami’s sudden declaration.

They were walking slowly towards the Student Council room. After finishing some work related to the clubs, the sun was already setting as its rays illuminate the corridor through the window.

When he heard Ishigami said something weird out of the blue, Shirogane suspected that he was still immersed in yesterday’s TRPG roleplay, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

「Why do you think you have been cursed? Did you receive some strange mail too?」

「If that is so, I will just think my classmates are finding trouble with me.」

Shirogane felt a hint of lunacy from Ishigami’s calm tone, and kept quiet.

Ishigami then recounted the entire incident from the start. ♂♂♂ There were many art pieces in the Shuchin art storage room.

Most of them were award winning works, but our academy had a seriously long history that goes back for centuries. Well, because of its long history, it had an astonishing number of art pieces, which was a pain to manage.

「Really now, my luck is really bad.」

I entered the storage room and sighed after seeing the number of paintings. Anyone would think that tidying up the piles of art pieces was a job for two.

However, the number of people cleaning the art rooms were separated by room sizes. So for a group of 6, 3 would take the art room, 2 would handle the corridor and the last one would clean the storage room.

The other places just needed some sweeping and mopping… But for the storage room, the place needs to be 「excavated」 before work could be done.

「… Well, it couldn’t be helped. It would be awkward to be stuck in this cramped place with someone else.」

My classmates all treats me coldly, so it would be more relaxing for me to be alone, and I didn’t mind. Considering the fact that I might be able to slack off if I’m by myself, I volunteer to clean the storage room.

「My predictions have always been off… But this number is too much…」

I picked up the painting close by with a sigh.

I didn’t plan to work seriously, but if I didn’t clean it to a somewhat acceptable standard, I would get told off. As I was planning on slacking off and clean just well enough to not get scolded, that thing happened.

「Ehh? This painting…」

As I moved the paintings to the wall and cleared a path, One of the paintings felt off.

Before I saw the painting, I already sensed that it was different from the others.

First of all, the canvas felt different. Most of the paintings were coarse, and the painting on it had a smooth and soft feeling, which felt comfortable. That painting was the only one that felt different. How should I put it, it was painful? Yes, it hurts to touch it.

I wasn’t interested in paintings, and wouldn’t go out of my way to confirm it when I was cleaning. But this strange sensation made me want to check it out.

I knocked off the dust and looked at it.

「Uwah.」 I felt a chill on my back.

I shouldn’t have looked—— With that in mind, I turned that painting towards the wall, and felt the urge to finish up quickly. It wasn’t because the contents of that painting made me uncomfortable or irritated. Instead, it was a beautiful picture. Amazingly so. I couldn’t really appreciate paintings, but I could tell the intense passion of this painting, and was sincerely impressed. Then why didn’t I want to see that painting?

The reason was simple. It was a painting of Shinomiya-sempai.

With that painting by the side, it would feel like someone was supervising me while I cleaned the room, making it hard to relax. So I turned it around to face the wall.

After that, I chanted 「I love you 3000, I love you 3000」 as I started cleaning again. Well, 「I love you 3000」 is a spell to ward off iron deficiency, but back then, I thought it was better than nothing. 

It would be great if the story ended here, but what happened next was the main story.

The previous person who tied the place seemed to have arranged the work by chronological order, so I did the same.

In the corner was from the Showa 40s. Not all the paintings were dated and signed, so I could only gauge their age from how worned out and discolored the frame was. But that was strange. Why was painting of Shinomiya-sempai mixed in there? 

Shinomiya-sempai was part of the Heisei’s Enlightened Generation, so her painting shouldn’t be there 

Well, it might have been mixed in by mistake. Maybe the frame was reused, and the previous sorter differentiate the years by the decoloration of the frames like I did. Or maybe that frame was signed and dated, so it wouldn’t be strange for this to happen.

I wonder what was the reason?

I turned to check on that painting.

If my speculations were correct, there should be some clue on the frame. I turned the painting around, so I could see the answer with a glance.

However, I didn’t find out why.

Because the painting of Shinomiya-sempai was facing towards me.

I froze on the spot.

I definitely turned it towards the wall. Because Shinomiya-sempai staring at me was scary, so I turned it. No matter what, I wouldn’t make the mistake of putting down the painting with it facing my way. That was how much I feared Shinomiya-sempai.

I thought someone was pulling my leg. However, the door to the art room was still shut. I could hear the faint laughter of my classmates cleaning the art room. That door was very worn out, and would make creaking sounds when opened. I would definitely notice when it opens, even if I was in the middle of cleaning.

「……」

Despite the chill I felt, I still placed the painting back onto the easel. I then wrapped a cloth around it to cover it tightly.

I then cleaned the place promptly, since I didn’t want to spend even a second more in that place.

I couldn’t shake the looming feeling out of my mind, but I endured it and finished cleaning up. In the end, I was done ahead of the scheduled time.

I then turned off the lights and closed the door.

However, the door wouldn’t close. Wondering if the door was caught onto something, I looked in through the gap——

And the painting of Shinomiya-sempai was looking right at me. ♂♂♂

The staircase was completely silent.

Ishigami who was talking turned quiet. His bangs flickered with the wind blowing through the window.

Shirogane thought about it for a moment.

When he heard it was a painting of Kaguya, Shirogane thought it was the drawing he did of her during class, but the date didn’t match. He wasn’t part of this story, and was just a bystander being asked for his opinion.

In that case, he only had one thing he wanted to say.

However, saying that would be too inconsiderate.

Or rather, it would be too mean spirited.

As he was considering what to say, he realized what Ishigami was worried about, and stated slowly:

「… This is just like one of those seven mysteries Fujiwara and the others talked about last time.」

「Yes, the 【Moving Painting】.」

Shirogane thought back to Fujiwara’s conversation back when they played a TRPG.

「That sounds like the 【Visiting Skeleton】.」

Kashiwagi clapped her hands and said. Shirogane asked after hearing that:

「Visiting Skeleton?」

「Haven’t you heard of the seven mysteries of this school?」

The moment Kashiwagi said that, Fujiwara raised her hand and answered happily.

「I know that too〜【Moving Painting】, 【Invisible Piano Sonata】 and stuff like that.」

「There’s also the 【13 stairs】, 【Suicide Tree】, and the 【Wish Fulfilling Ring】, I think.」

The 【Moving Painting】 was often found to be part of a seven mysteries in schools.

Usually, it would be a painting of a person in the music room. Like the eyes of Beethoven or Bach moving or glowing.

Another type was a person or part of the scenery in the painting disappearing, or a student trapped in a painting.

And last of all, the painting moving physically even though no one else was there. The 【Moving Painting】 in this academy belonged to this category.

And so, Ishigami experienced another one of the seven mysteries.

「That’s three now… this is bad…」

Ishigami held his head, and his gloomy expression turned even darker.

The third one.

The most awful thing about this seven mysteries, was that the seventh one stated 【Those who experienced six of the mysteries will fall from the roof and die】.

So when you encounter six mysteries, the seventh one would be fulfilled automatically. The countdown to death was not at three.

The 【Invisible Piano Sonata】, 【Suicide Tree】 and 【Wish Fulfilling Ring】 were left… Ishigami had progressed to the halfway mark.

Shirogane was timid, but instead of being afraid, he felt more bewildered instead.

「I’m not sure how to feel about Shinomiya’s painting being part of the seven mysteries.」

「I think we can’t dismiss the possibility that Shinomiya-sempai is actually a monster close to her sixties.」

Ishigami said with a serious face.

「No, I hope you can dismiss that notion.」

Ishigami continued:

「Well, leaving that aside, encountering three of the seven mysteries in such a short period of time is pretty spooky. At this pace, I will breeze through the seven mysteries by the end of the week, right?」

「No, I think you are overthinking it.」

If these were isolated incidents, and Ishigami wouldn’t be too bothered about encountering several seven mysteries, or even knew he encountered them. But he grew conscious about it after learning the existence of the seven mysteries—— that should be the logic behind his thinking.

「But this is too much of an coincidence.」

「What else could it be? Like that 【Invisible Piano Sonata】, that’s just the person who heard the piano failing to meet the one who played it. I think that happens quite often.」

「Yes, indeed, they just happen to miss each other…」

At that instant.

「!?」

Shirogane and Ishigami turned back at the same time.

Their gazes were on the music room ahead. A playing piano could be heard from there.

「… The timing seems impeccable.」

「… You got that right.」

They looked at each other and laughed awkwardly.

When they were chatting about how it wasn’t scary to hear the piano, they heard the piano playing—— like some kind of joke.

「But it’s already past the time for club activities. Let’s greet them.」

「Yes, ghost don’t exist in reality.」

Shirogane stood before the music room and placed his hand on the door.

He just need to open the door and greet the student inside. Shirogane didn’t plan to nag too much, and just tell them: 「Remember to go home before it gets dark.」

He can then prove that the piano playing wasn’t some paranormal activity. However——

「President… don’t tell me the door won’t open?」

Shirogane felt sweat forming on his brows. No matter how hard he tried, the door to the music room wouldn’t budge.

「Hey, who’s there?」

Shirogane gave up on opening the door, and shouted instead.

However, after a long wait, the piano didn’t stop playing, and the door didn’t open either.

「Who is it? Club activities time is over. Unlock the door.」

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a glass panel on the door to peek in, so there was no way to tell what was happening inside.

Shirogane’s patience was at its end, and he started knocking loudly on the door.

「I won’t get mad, so come on out. Please. Just let me see your face. I mean it, no lie.」

「P- President…」

Ishigami was freaked out.

The music room door was thick, but the student definitely noticed after such intense knocking. And after they heard what the Shuchin Student Council President said, they would definitely answer. Shirogane was respected by the student body, and wouldn’t be ignored without reason.

That’s right, normal students wouldn’t ignore him.

Shirogane suddenly stopped.

「…President?」

Ishigami looked up, his eyes seeking salvation from Shirogane.

「The student inside must be too engrossed with practice, and didn’t hear me. The door is locked to stop others from disturbing. Let’s go, Ishigami, let’s leave it be.」

Shirogane seemed to be saying that to himself, then turned away.

「No, this is definitely someone’s prank… Please wait. I can look inside from the windows of the next block. I will be right back, President, please see if anyone comes out.」

「… Are you serious?」

Ishigami started running, leaving Shirogane standing there alone. ♂♂♂ For the forthright Ishigami, doing something that makes him think of the seven mysteries was unforgivable.

He wants to find out who the culprit was and tell him off, so he could get the matter off his chest. Ishigami ran angrily with his shoulders heaving.

When he reached the block, he looked through the window in the corridor into the music room.

—— However.

No one was there. It was empty.

Maybe the angle wasn’t good, so he moved on to get a better angle to check. But he still couldn’t see anyone.

Did the piano player left? If that was so, Shirogane should be teaching him a lesson.

He sighed and took out his phone, then called Shirogane.

「Hello, President? Who is the fella that played such a malicious prank?」

There wasn’t any answer? Maybe the signal wasn’t good, Shirogane didn’t reply.

「Hello? Hello?」

After asking a few times, he finally got a response.

『… The piano is still being played.』

Ishigami was at a loss for words.

There wasn’t anyone sitting in front of the piano. None. No one could be playing the piano. There shouldn’t be any sound from the piano.

Ishigami opened the window, and could hear the faint sound of the piano from the next block.

He was sure that was the unique sound of a real musical instrument. Which means that this wasn’t a recording played back through speakers or the broadcast system in the music room.

Suddenly, he realized that he recognize this tune.

He heard Iino played this in the past. If he was right, it was called... ——「Funeral」.

Chopin’s 「Funeral March」.

At that moment, all the rage disappeared from Ishigami’s face, leaving only pure terror.

【Those who experienced six of the mysteries will fall from the roof and die 】

After encountering another seven mysteries, Ishigami was one step closer to death, and this sounded like a song dedicated to his interment.

Ishigami said between sobs:

「President, I have enough… This is already the fourth one. I don’t think it’s a coincidence anymore…」

『… Thinking about it seriously, when you encountered the 【13 stairs】, I was also there. That means I also encountered my second one.』

Shirogane said in a trembling voice.

『Let’s get out of here for now, I will meet you in the courtyard.』

「G-Got it.」

Ishigami ended the call and put his phone back into his pocket, then sprinted out of there at full speed. ♀♀♀ Going back in time for a little.

About 30 minutes before Shirogane and Ishigami ran away in panic.

After Kaguya finished some administrative work in the Student Council room, Fujiwara declared out of the blue.

「Operation Romantic!」

「「Operation Romantic!?」」

When they heard Fujiwara’s sudden announcement, Kaguya and Iino repeated that line at the same time.

This was after the three female Student Council members gathered in the room. Iino said 「Nice weather today.」, and Kaguya answered 「The chance of precipitation in the evening is 30%, but it don’t look like it will rain.」, and Fujiwara made that declaration.

It was futile to ask the Student Council Secretary to speak logically.

「Previously, didn’t we let Kaguya-san to pretend dating the President or Ishigami-kun in order to ward off the guy who sent that letter. We expressed our opinions back then, but don’t you think the boys’ reactions were too mean?」

「I remember when it was my turn, Secretary Fujiwara reaction was the most mean…」

Kaguya muttered with gloomy eyes, but she was ignored.

Fujiwara was wearing a hunting cap and chewing on a toy pipe.

She had transformed into a love detective, and pointed at Iino forcefully before saying:

「Mi-chan, isn’t that right? When you shared your idea of the encounter and confession scene, didn’t they mocked it thoroughly?」

「Ehh? Y-Yes… it’s as you say.」

Miko Iino was in mesmerized by Chika Fujiwara mode. Kaguya didn’t understand what Iino did wrong to end up like this. Kaguya prayed quietly for Iino, hoping she wouldn’t get conned by a suspicious cult or salesmen.

Anyway, Iino was convinced by Fujiwara immediately, as usual.

「The President did reject my proposal.」

「He did! He was so mean, and acted as if we didn’t have any love cells at all. However, even though the boys put on such a front, I’m sure they will want to fall into heart pounding love if that scenario happened to them.」

「I see.」

Iino nodded repeatedly, showing no doubts toward what Fujiwara said. Fujiwara seemed to be encouraged by Iino in return, and spread her arms open with a smile:

「So, let’s put our earlier theory into practice. Let the boys experience the ideal encounter and confession we came up with, and make them want to fall in love. That’s Operation Romantic.」

「I understood now!」

You understood nothing.

Iino was nodding repeatedly, but to Kaguya, Fujiwara’s explanation was too vague for her to understand what she was saying.

And so, Kaguya asked Fujiwara:

「You want them to experience the ideal encounter and confession scene, but don’t we already know them? It’s physically impossible. Or do you want to scout for an actor or something?」

「Well, that is one way, but that would be the actor who made them fall in love instead, right? That’s not my idea, the key of this operation is to make their heart race with just the Romantic scenes, so we have to hide.」

「Hide… Which means, we have to make their heart race without showing ourselves, correct?」

「That’s right!」

Kaguya thought for a moment. Even though Fujiwara always bring up random topics, but there were many instances where Kaguya could make use of it. It was the same this time too.

Indeed, this operation had no downsides for Kaguya. This was a chance for a battle of love and brain against the President. Even if they were found out, she could use Fujiwara as a shield, by saying 「Fujiwara-san insisted…」

If the plan worked and Shirogane’s heart skipped a beat, they just need to reveal themselves to increase his affection for Kaguya. Maybe he would be so moved that he would confess.

Even if it fails, she could push all the responsibility to Fujiwara. It was a great plan.

Kaguya smiled brilliantly.

「… Okay then. Today’s work is done, so I will accompany you for a bit.」

「Awesome!」

Fujiwara raised both hands in the air and waved them like she just don’t care. When someone plays along with her, she would show a sincere smile.

Even though Fujiwara was always saying nonsensical things and was unfathomable, Kaguya felt that was exactly the cute part about Fujiwara.

♀♀♀

The piano’s melody faded away slowly.

When the performer—— Miko Iino turned back, Fujiwara clapped silently.

Iino jogged over and gestured 「Was my playing okay?」 Fujiwara raised a hand to stop Iino, then exhaled loudly a few seconds later.

「The President left, we can talk now.」

「How did President Shirogane and company react?」

「Hmm… Mi-chan, want to take a look?」

When she heard Iino’s question, Fujiwara showed Iino her phone. On it was the Shirogane from a few minutes ago.

They set a phone into video recording mode, then hid it behind a fire extinguisher. The angle was a bit off and their voices sounded muffled, but it was good enough to observe the boy’s reaction.

Iino stared at the phone nervously, watching Shirogane and the other’s faces when they heard the performance. When she didn’t see them showing the reaction she expected, Iino turned gloomy.

「I shouldn’t have played after all. President Shirogane seemed to have left in anger. Instead of me, Fujiwara-sempai should——」

「That’s not true! Mi-chan played well, I can feel your heart and soul in your performance!」

On Fujiwara’s encouragement, Iino smiled happily.

「Really? Thank you very much. It’s my honor to hear Fujiwara-sempai say that.」

Iino was very moved, and her mood turned for the better. The plan to make Shirogane and Ishigami’s heart race didn’t work, but she looked happy.

『If Fujiwara-san plays, we will get exposed because your performance is too good.』—— Kaguya stopped herself from saying that. She knew that Iino was an outstanding piano player among high schoolers, but comparing her to Fujiwara would be too harsh.

「Anyway, the boys don’t have any artistic sense at all. I think Mi-chan’s idea of 【the boys being mesmerized by the beautiful piano melody and imagining who is playing it】 is great. But for the President who will answer 【the tune played during the supermarket’s limited time sale】 when asked what songs he likes, this level might be too high.」

「（Angry tsundere noises）」

Kaguya felt angry when Shirogane was being treated like a fool, but she stopped herself forcefully.

【The boys being mesmerized by the beautiful piano melody and imagining who is playing it】

The person who can play such beautiful piano must be an amazing person—— that one impression would influence the overall opinion of someone else, and was known as the 「halo effect」.

Their goal was to make Shirogane and the others imagine the 「girl playing the piano」, and make them squirm from their expectations.

If they found out that the performer was Iino, they would just think 「so it’s Iino」, and the story ends.

If they wanted to create a mysterious girl, they couldn’t expose her identity.

So their plan was the 『Performance in the music preparation room』.

Iino’s 「Funeral March」 wasn’t played with the Grand Piano in the music room, but the piano in the music preparation room next door. In Italian, it’s called a pianino, which means little piano. It was commonly called an Upright Piano. 

They just need to leave the door to the music preparation room slightly ajar, then the music would fill the empty music room.

The Grand Piano and Upright Piano had similar designs, so the boys wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. They could even play back a recording without any problems—— That was Fujiwara’s idea.

However, Fujiwara felt it was too risky to play back a recording, so she chose to use the Upright Piano instead. Her judgement was on point, and she succeeded in letting Shirogane and Ishigami encounter the spirit of the 「piano playing girl」. ♂♂♂

After meeting up with Ishigami in the courtyard, the first thing Shirogane did was apologize.

「Ishigami… I’m sorry for doubting you all this time… You really are cursed.」

「Eh, President—— d-don’t be like this, there’s no need to apologize.」

The sight of Shirogane bowing in apology made Ishigami squeeze out a stiff smile.

「I actually couldn’t believe it myself. It’s just a topic for idle chatting, or seeking advice to make my daily life more interesting, that’s all. So… please, say something like 『the seven mysteries is just some dumb fad』 and laugh it off.」

「Haha, haha」—— intermittent dry laughter came out of Ishigami’s throat.

He either wanted to escape reality because he was too afraid, or was acting cheery in an attempt to laugh off the seven mysteries.

It pained Shirogane to see him like this, and Shirogane felt the urge to look away.

「And President, even if we assume that the seven mysteries are true, then this should be the end. Aside from the last one, the other two will never happen.」

Ishigami was a little agitated because of fear, and continued without waiting for Shirogane to respond.

「For example, the 【Wish Fulfilling Ring】. I heard that ring is hidden somewhere on campus, but it’s impossible for it to exist. If the person who finds it gets to will be granted one wish, then I just to make this wish—— 【Please don’t let me die to the curse of the seven mysteries】. Everything will be resolved. If the ring can’t grant wishes, then it won’t be the 【Wish Fulfilling Ring】 stated in the seven mysteries, which will contradict the logic.」

After saying that, Ishigami looked up at a tree in the courtyard.

「And this 【Suicide Tree】 is one of the seven mysteries too. This used to be a lucky tree, where you will succeed if you confess under it. But after a student hang herself there, the rumor turns into 『whoever gets confessed here will experience a sad and twisted love』.」

Shirogane was shivering from fear.

「You sure are well informed…」

「It was bothering me, so I investigated it a little… Maybe I’m better off not knowing…」

「Hey, since this is one of the seven mysteries, we should get out of here quicker. Your body seemed to have the constitution of attracting the seven mysteries after all.」

Ishigami suddenly turned serious at that.

「Constitution of attracting the seven mysteries…」

Ishigami realized something.

「So if I stay here, I will receive a confession!?」

「Of all the things you can say…」

「But it’s true. It’s no exaggeration to say that I have the power to attract the seven mysteries. So I can trigger the confession event tied to this tree’s 『whoever gets confessed here will experience a sad and twisted love』, correct?」

「Don’t you mind the sad and twisted part?」

「I’m fine as long as there is love.」

Ishigami laughed out loud.

He then turned towards the 【Suicide Tree】 with a smirk on his face.

「Ohh, seven mysteries-san, try it if you can. Go on, show me how will I receive a confession?」

This boy is seriously taunting it… Shirogane felt fear from the mysteries all this while, but at this moment, he felt a different kind of fear.

「Let’s have a match then, my ****** power against your powers of the seven mysteries, the dream match of the century.」

A monsters had to be defeated by another monster. The sight of Ishigami saying that with a smile made Shirogane break out in cold sweat.

「Ishigami… You do know that you will be in deep trouble if you encounter two more of the seven mysteries…?」 ♀♀♀ 「Hmm—— Next will be 【Operation Love Letter】.」

Fujiwara announced gleefully.

「I think in modern times when email and phonecalls are prevalent, a hand written letter will be more touching. We can’t sign off on the letter because of the rule this time, but even if they receive a letter without knowing who it is from, they will still be moved.」

Kaguya was shocked beyond words.

After flapping her mouth like a fish out of the water, she finally squeeze out her words:

「…Fujiwara-san, do you remember why we are doing this operation?」

「I wonder why?」

With a brilliant smile on her face, Fujiwara tilted her head.

Kaguya was troubled because of the love letter she received from someone she didn’t like. In order to help Kaguya, everyone decided to let Kaguya pretend to date someone—— that was how it all started. In order to choose that person, everyone started sharing their ideal encounter and confession scene.

And the purpose of this Operation Romantic was to put that theory into practice, correct?

Kaguya was troubled because of that love letter, and Fujiwara still proposed a 【Operation Love Letter】.

「Let’s divide our tasks. Mi-chan will think up the heart racing content, and Kaguya-san will write the letter!」

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