Unexpectedly, there was a student from Class 4 of the second grade who was still alive.
Everyone suddenly saw the light at this moment.
No wonder Nakagawa Aokiji knew so much about the incident, he actually found the survivor of the fire incident in Akichi High School.
Of course... he was not really a survivor. This was because according to Aokiji, as a matter of fact, the only student from Class 4 of the second grade who survived was simply a participant in the [Nonexistent Person] game.
He survived out of sheer luck.
"Did the survivor say anything else?" Chiba Shiori continued, she was quite curious about it.
"No..." Aokiji shook his head. "Maybe he was covering something up, but it shouldn't be much... It's highly likely that the fire had a psychological effect on him, that's why there's something he doesn't want to say."
Everyone nodded their heads. After all, the entire class died, and the student was the only one left. It was inevitable for him to be panicky if he was asked about the incident years later.
It would still leave a shadow even though years had passed. Those with a bad state of mind could also suffer from mental illness.
Aokiji did not say anything about Akichi High School later on. Obviously, that was all he knew about Akichi High School. As for the rest of the information, news reports from the time would tell the story.
According to the description in the news, Ito Shunji was played around by the game for a whole year. In the end, to conduct an experiment to confirm whether he really was a [Nonexistent Person], he slapped Takashima Izumi hard while they were in the class.
Takashima Izumi was whom Aokiji talked about, the most delinquent person in Akichi High School and also the President of the Student Union.
This fellow was slapped by Ito Shunji, he flew into a rage out of humiliation and decided to abandon the game! He did not even care whether they were in the class or not, he grabbed Ito Shunji and beat him up.
He was still unwilling to take it lying down after being stopped by the teacher. He called up the whole class to block Ito Shunji in the sports warehouse and sprinkled gasoline on him, intending to burn him to death.
The fire killed the students from Class 4 of the second grade, except for the sick student who asked for leave.
The news was reported by every media outlet at that time.
Anyone with a discerning eye could easily see that there were many doubtful points in the incident. However, the society at that time revolved around the abominable game of [Nonexistent Person].
Class 4 of the second grade used the game to bring campus bullying into a new realm.
The general public largely ignored the deaths of the students from Class 4 of the second grade. As they were the chief culprits of the incident, most believed that they were not worthy of compassion.
Accordingly, the nature of the incident was soon determined. Under the circumstances of paying respect to the deceased, and the law did not punish the offenders, people could only scorn the participants of the game.
Afterward, everyone kept their eyes on Akichi High School. They spit on the failure in the education of Akichi High School. Soon, Akichi High School was asked to make rectification, and eventually, there was no more enrolment for new students.
In the end, the directors of Akichi High School were forced to abandon the old campus and move to a new campus. They gave up the gated education system as well.
Now the new campus of Akichi High School was no different from other high schools. Besides, time erased everything, and the heat of the incident had already dissipated. The fire incident back then was just a story around the dinner table of the general public.
Although Aokiji's gang already knew about these, they were afraid that Kazuki and Shiori were ignorant about it, so they spread a little information. They joked and chatted all the way freely, soon they were away from people.
There were still some pedestrians and wine houses on the street. As time went by, the seven of them were soon far away from the center of the street. The buildings on both sides of the road were quickly becoming scarce. There were only woods around them after the last house disappeared from their eyes.
The three girls were soon exhausted from the half hour's journey.
Maybe they would have been a little sore after an hour or two on a flat road, but they wouldn't have been this tired.
However, they had been walking uphill for 15 minutes, their legs and feet were extremely sore.
"Almost there, hold on a little longer," Aokiji kept encouraging and did not let them stop. His eyes swept around, and he was slightly surprised.
Next, to him, both Yamazaki Masato and Yasuda Aohi were sweating profusely and began to breathe disorderly. The other three girls were even worse. Especially Shiori, obviously she did not exercise regularly, breaths kept coming out of her mouth, and now her lips had turned pale.
On the other hand, Aokiji noticed that Kazuki's breath was steady, his face was as usual, and his eyes were brimming. He did not look tired at all. It seemed like Kimura had a strong constitution.
"Akichi High School is too isolated. The location is not only offset but also it's all uphill." Sakai Keiko was sweating buckets during the 15-minute walk, and she was not feeling very well.
Suzuki Aichi, who was beside her, nodded. She did not have the strength to talk anymore. She was a little chubby after all, and she was even worse than Sakai Keiko when she made her way uphill.
Upon hearing this, Aokiji explained with a smile, "You guys probably don't know that Akichi High School used to be Akichi Private Advanced Middle School. This area covers 300 acres, and it has a history of more than 70 years. Previously Akichi Middle School covered elementary, middle and high schools. The Japanese territory itself is small, such a big area couldn't be built on a prime location. That's also the reason why Akichi Middle School was so remote."
After a short pause, Aokiji noticed that Shiori was stumbling, "Student Kimura, I think Student Chiba is a little exhausted, just give her a hand."
Kazuki had yet moved upon listening to Aokiji, Shiori, who was next to him, shook her head gently, "It's not necessary, I can still hold on." She remained silent after that, she was too tired to talk.
Both the eyes of Yamazaki Masato and Yasuda Aohi lit up upon hearing what Aokiji said. They came to the sides of Sakai Keiko and Suzuki Aichi.
Later on, Aokiji talked incessantly along the way to make their walk easier. He spouted a lot of information about the history of Akichi High School.
Everyone was astonished by how much Aokiji knew.
"It's because I studied in Akichi High School for my primary education," Aokiji did not hide and said brightly. "Moreover, my great-grandfather and his friends invested and built Akichi High School, that's why I know it quite well."
Their eyes almost popped out, they did not expect Akichi High School to be the property of the Nakagawa family!
"What about the new campus of Akichi High School?"
"It was invested and reconstructed by my dad," Aokiji said. "After all, the school was built by my great-grandfather, it could be counted as a family inheritance."
All of them were amazed, never had they thought that Aokiji was actually the son of the school director of Akichi High School.
Before long, they arrived at their destination while chatting with Aokiji.
When Akichi High School ultimately appeared in front of everyone, even Kazuki could not help but be astounded.
For none other than the fact that the school was too large.
What came into view was a cement fence stretching away to infinity. The pure whiteness of the white-painted wall had long since disappeared. It was corroded beyond recognition and showed some gray-black cement. The current dominant color was dirty.
There was barbed wire atop the dilapidated fence. The school road was almost entirely occupied by the weeds growing wild on the ground. The trees that were left unmanaged wantonly spread over the whole land. The rustling sound of insects could be heard from time to time, and it was hair-raising.
Upon closer observation, there were all kinds of words written in blood-red paint on the wall.
All kinds of malicious curses painted in blood-red paint were dreadful and terrifying.
The most frequently written word was the word 'Death' in blood-red letters. The word was completely embedded in the wall, revealing a strong sense of resentment.
Although what they saw sent chills up their spines, there were seven people present after all, so they were not very frightened. Besides, the moon was shining bright and clear tonight, which made everyone more daring.
Aokiji looked blood-red lettered words and sighed, "These were all written by the parents of the students from Class 4 of the second grade." Being aware of the somewhat depressing atmosphere, he laughed, "Everybody is tired, let's take a break. Later we will pair up to explore Akichi High School."