That night in the bedroom, Shinji lies on his bed lazily, holding an old book in his hand. He closes his eyes and slows down his breath, but still, he can't fall asleep, too many thoughts are running in and out of his brain holding him back from his dream.
With a heavy sigh, Shinji sits up from his bed. He decides to put his curiosity to an end so that he can go to bed soon, hence he starts to flip through the old book. That is Eitsuma's 1996 annual commemoration book, Shinji took it and replaced it with a similar old practice book from Ishiya-sensei's desk, that was how he snuck it out of the teacher's office this afternoon.
As he reaches the page of Class 1-1, he stops flipping. He looks closely at the photos and the names of every students in Class 1-1, and that is when he realizes two female students have caught his attention.
The two students were arranged side by side on the page, the one on the left was called Tomori Ai, while the one on the right was called Tomori Kokoro. The color of the photo is fainting, but the appearances of the students are still readable. Tomori Ai and Tomori Kokoro had extremely similar faces, but their hairstyles were different. With two short pigtails tied under her ears, Tomori Ai's hairstyle looks rather mischievous. Whereas for Tomori Kokoro, with her long straight hair draped over her shoulders and a hair clip clipping above her left ear, she looks way more mature than Tomori Ai.
Besides the Tomori twins sisters, something else caught Shinji's attention too. After several times Shinji flipped through the book, he eventually found something odd. The photo of the campus printed in 1996's commemoration book seems a little different from how the campus looks like nowadays. Inevitably, that would happen, after all, it has been twenty years from 1996 up until now, moreover, their school is located in the nature, there must be plenty changes time could do to the campus, it is normal for the campus to look different from twenty years ago. But, if the changes are too exaggeratedly huge, the boy's curiosity could be aroused.
At the present Eitsuma middle school, there are only two buildings in the campus. The one situated on the left is the office building, it consists only of two floors, which the upper is the teacher's dormitories, and the lower is the canteen; The one situated on the right is the classroom building, it consists only of three floors, each floor consists only of three classrooms.
However, in the photo from 1996's commemoration book that was taken twenty years ago, Eitsuma middle school actually consists of three buildings. A little distance away from the classroom building, leaning on the foot of the mountain, a four-storeys building stands alone under the shades. The building looks very old and shabby, it is hiding in the dark, just like it is isolated from the other buildings. Besides, it seems like if the plants on the mountain foot grow denser and more exuberant, the building itself could be completely engulfed.
As he ponders, Shinji suddenly drops the book on his bed and heads to his desk. Under the desk, three drawers arranged vertically at the right. Shinji first opens the third drawer and takes out two batteries, then he opens the first drawer and picks up a small but heavy flashlight in a metal case. Swiftly, he twists open the head and inserts the batteries into the battery compartment, then, he twists it back and switches it on to make sure the flashlight works.
"Yoshi. That will do."
As soon as Shinji confirmed the flashlight works, he switches it off and inserts it into his pants pocket with a complacent smile. Then, he puts on a sleeveless outer and leaves his house right away.
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In the middle of the night, the air becomes colder and thinner, the young boy slowly pushes his bicycle and walks on the path which he used to travel everyday in and out of the school. As the wheels of the bicycle run over the dried leaves and twigs, the noises disperses into the surroundings, breaking the silence in the woods.
Shinji thought he was a little noisy, hence he pauses his step for awhile. There, as he takes a glance on his bicycle, the watch on his wrist caught his attention, and that is when Shinji finds it is almost midnight. It's late, Shinji must hurry, hence, he rides onto his bicycle and starts to move forward again.
"Don't you kids try to investigate anything about it! Don't interfere any deeper! You heard me!"
Suddenly, Yamaguchi-ojisan's words rings in Shinji's ears, although he knew that what he is about to uncover might be incredible, but in spite of it, he does not stop himself from moving forward. Perhaps it should be said that he is just a young man who can't restrain his curiosity and his urge to find out the truth that needed to be exposed.
The noise of him riding the bicycle becomes louder and louder, Shinji's panting fades into the woods. Soon enough, after a few minutes, he reaches his destination. While he raises his head and looks at this familiar yet unfamiliar school, the scene triggers a huge ripple in his heart. The thought of giving up abruptly appears in his mind.
The night shrouds, the woods filtered the dim moonlight making the campus looks even darker under the foot of the mountain. The old and shabby school buildings stand quietly, exuding a secluded sense of mystery that is able to absorb everyone's eyes, including Shinji's. Shinji stares straight at the campus, he slowly puts his bicycle down on the ground and then starts to walk closer and closer to the school building, just like they are calling upon his entrance. It makes Shinji more certain that this school is concealing a huge secret in that building.
"Eitsuma, what secrets are you actually hiding?"