After hearing that Nakagawa Aokiji was going to split the members into smaller teams, Kimura Kazuki kept quiet. He even thought that one person to a single unit was better, that way he could operate without regard in Akichi High School.
"Two people to a team?" Chiba Shiori, who was resting on a rock, heard what Aokiji said and was mildly surprised, "Why do we need to split into smaller teams?"
Shiori was very gutsy, and this much was evident from the fact that she was brave enough to come here alone. She just could not understand why they were splitting into smaller teams when everyone could just walk together.
She had even thought of many nonsensical scenes from horror movies…
Masato cut off Aokiji before he could answer and explained, "We came here in the first place to feel the terrifying atmosphere. If everyone stuck together, there wouldn't be any feeling of horror at all..."
If seven people stuck together, no matter how scary the situation was, the range of emotions felt would be limited.
The majority of people who enjoyed watching horror movies were usually atheists. They did not believe in the existence of ghosts, gods, or anything of the sort. As for those who refused to watch horror movies, other than being timid, most of them believed in the existence of ghosts and gods. Hence, they would typically not watch horror movies.
Masato and the others were precisely the types of people who did not believe in the existence of ghosts and gods. However, even if they didn't think it, it's only natural to conjure up negative emotions under the pressure of such terrifying circumstances.
Yet they wanted to feel this kind of spine-chilling anxiety because this helped in coping with the tremendous stress caused by work.
Those who regularly surfed paranormal forums would not even go to haunted houses because they knew they were fake. They only explored places riddled with horrific rumors. That was the only way they could truly immerse themselves into believing that there were ghosts around them.
Kazuki was silent.
Many people in the world were just looking for trouble, or rather, those who were ignorant were fearless.
Aokiji and the others were those who were ignorant and fearless.
However, he did not say much since they had met purely by chance under the circumstances. As for Shiori, she had not spoken a word after she had gotten her answer.
Aokiji walked over to Kazuki's side while everyone was resting and seeing him look up, he asked in a low voice, "Kimura, teaming up with Chiba, later on, should be no problem for you, right?"
Kazuki let the thought sink in before saying, "Can I go by myself? If two people team up, I'm afraid there wouldn't be much of a scary atmosphere to feel." Pausing for a while, he then continued saying, "Anyway, Chiba came here for the paranormal atmosphere too so she'd probably want to explore by herself too. There's a total of seven of us, isn't it enough for Yamazaki to just team up with Sakai, Yasuda with Suzuki and you with Shiba?"
Aokiji laughed helplessly, "Actually, I have my own purpose for coming here. When I was younger, my friend and I buried a time capsule around the primary school area. I came here this time to bring the time capsule back."
As Kazuki finished listening, he glanced at Aokiji and observed that his expression was sincere. Without asking any further, he nodded his head slowly and answered, "Alright."
He could still take some time out to go back to that primary school area and get his time capsule again even if he teamed up with Chiba. However, seeing that Aokiji probably had some things he could not speak of, he decided to keep his silence.
Aokiji let out a sigh of relief upon hearing Kazuki's answer and gave him a smile of gratitude. After all, he was the team leader, and now that Kazuki and Shiori had joined their little group, he had to take responsibility for their safety.
If Kazuki had insisted on exploring by himself, then he would just have to team up with Chiba.
As he was thinking, Aokiji changed the topic, "Actually, I've been curious about your identity, Kimura…" As he spoke, he pointed at the wooden sword Kazuki had been carrying, "Did you come to Akichi High School to exorcise demons?"
If he had met Kazuki somewhere else, Aokiji would definitely not have thought of this.
Since they were just outside of Akichi High School, an area demonized by the internet, it's not surprising that he had such a thought. After all, he had met similar people when he had visited other places that were rumored to be haunted.
Many so-called Masters of Yin and Yang, Godly Officers, witches and people of the sort, would the ability to defeat demons and monsters, as well as turn ill luck into good.
Of course… none of them were right.
And although Kazuki claimed that he was a novelist for the entirety of the way here, he totally did not look like one.
On the other hand, Shiori's identity as a novelist was much more believable, asking others all sorts of questions, especially interested in their experiences.
Yet Kazuki was quieter on their way here. Other than the few conversations they had when they first met, he was mostly silent on the way here.
Aokiji was not the only one curious about it, Masato and the other members were wondering as well.
However, they did not ask about it as they were too busy flirting and dating to spare any time to get to know Kazuki. They were going their separate ways after tonight anyway, and they would probably not meet each other again for the rest of their life.
They even suspected the authenticity of Chiba and Kimura's names.
"It's a family heirloom weapon, named the Sun and Moon Sword." Kazuki did not avoid this question as he had already thought of how to answer it, "The Sun and Moon Sword can exorcise evil spirits. Although I don't really believe in it, sometimes, it's better to be safe than sorry."
"I see." Aokiji suddenly realized why he never let go of the Sun and Moon Sword.
Kazuki did not care if Aokiji believed him or not since he would only tell them the truth he wanted them to know.
The conversation between both of them basically involved Aokiji talking while Kazuki responded once in a while.
In the end, even Aokiji had a headache. He was a self-proclaimed social butterfly and could make conversation with anyone regardless of who they were, but Kazuki was as unmoving as a rock… No wonder he had kept silent on the way here, his personality was most likely like that too.
Aokiji obviously thought wrong, and Kazuki was now cautious. He sensed that the others didn't believe his fabricated persona of a novelist.
Hence, Kazuki decided to act as though he was a loner. Moreover, by requesting to go ahead by himself, Aokiji truly believed that Kazuki's personality was as such.
Soon enough, Aokiji took a look at the time on his phone and clapped his hands to gather everyone's attention, "It's 1a.m. now! I believe that everyone has had enough rest so we should start our exploration operation. If we rest any longer, it'll be morning soon."
It was already 1a.m., and although Akichi High School was huge, three to four hours was sufficient for everyone to explore.
Quickly, Aokiji announced the news of splitting into smaller teams to everyone.
None of them, including Shiori, had any objectives to having two people in a team. If one of them got lost or if an accident occurred, the other person would be able to report to the rest.
After all, Akichi High School was huge.