Before long, Komachi's two companions slowly woke up.
"What... what happened?"
Saki groggily sat up, only to feel the cold, hard floor beneath her. It was so uncomfortable that she couldn't figure out what was going on. Suddenly, a piercing scream from beside her jolted her awake.
"A ghost! A ghost!"
Eri, who had just woken up, screamed in terror with a face full of panic.
However, as she frantically looked around, all she saw was Komachi Hikigaya's helpless expression and a startled Saki. The monster from her memory was nowhere to be seen.
"Huh? Wait..."
Eri blinked at her surroundings, realizing she was still in the music classroom. Her mind was filled with confusion.
"Why am I in the music room? Didn't we already escape to the first floor?"
"And then... then I got caught by that monster..."
Eri looked at Komachi with suspicion. Komachi forced a smile and replied, "What monster? Eri, you must've had a nightmare."
Thanks to the dim lighting, Eri couldn't see the stiff and awkward look on Komachi's face.
"A nightmare?"
"Why did you suddenly scream, Eri? My head's pounding because of it," Saki complained, rubbing the back of her head in frustration.
"You're feeling that because you fell and hit your head," Komachi "kindly" reminded her.
"Huh? Really?"
Saki jumped, her face full of disbelief. She instinctively rubbed her head again.
"The wind knocked the drumsticks off the cabinet, and the sound scared both of you. Saki, you fell and hit your head, and Eri got so frightened when she saw you unconscious that she thought there was a ghost and passed out too."
As Komachi explained, she almost couldn't hold her expression steady, secretly grumbling in her heart, *Couldn't Hayashizaki come up with a more believable script?*
"Is that really what happened?"
Eri stared at Komachi skeptically, but the dim lighting made it hard to read her expression. She could only vaguely sense that Komachi seemed to be stifling laughter.
"What about the piano sound we heard earlier? That wasn't fake, was it?"
"Oh yeah, the piano playing on its own in the middle of the night!"
Reminded by Eri, Saki also recalled the strange event they had come to investigate. They had indeed seen the grand piano in the corner of the music room, and it had been playing by itself.
"I can explain that," a low, unfamiliar male voice suddenly spoke from behind them.
Both girls instinctively turned around, only to see a pale face illuminated by a beam of light.
"It's here!!!"
"Aahhhh!!!"
Both Saki and Eri opened their mouths to scream, but Komachi and Hayashizaki moved quickly, each covering a girl's mouth before any ear-piercing cries could escape.
"Mm! Mm!"
The two girls seemed genuinely terrified. Even with their mouths covered, they didn't struggle or resist. Tears welled up in their eyes, and their legs gave out as they collapsed to the floor.
"Sorry, sorry, I guess I went too far with the joke," Hayashizaki said apologetically, stepping back and lowering the flashlight. This allowed the girls to see his face—a stunningly handsome face that could outshine any male idol, paired with a warm, gentle smile.
*Handling middle school girls? Easy as pie.*
"Who are you?"
Eri took two cautious steps back, pulling Saki with her to put some distance between them and Hayashizaki.
The smile on the black-haired youth's face froze.
*Are girls these days no longer impressed by this kind of charm? What a pain. Can I just use a memory-erasing spell on them?*
Luckily, Hachiman had already left and was waiting at a nearby family restaurant. If he had been here to witness Hayashizaki's failure, Hayashizaki would've definitely needed to wipe his memory.
Sensing the awkwardness, the observant Komachi quickly stepped in to ease the situation.
"This is the one who was playing the piano. But, well... he sneaked into the school just like us."
"Really?"
With Komachi's explanation, the doubt in Eri's eyes eased, and she gradually let her guard down.
Although the man in front of her was undeniably handsome, pulling a stunt like shining a flashlight to scare people right off the bat could hardly blame her for treating him like some weirdo.
"Why did you sneak into our school to play the piano?"
Saki asked curiously.
"It's purely out of desperation,"
Hayashizaki sighed deeply before beginning to explain to the two middle school girls.
He painted himself as a struggling musician who had run away from home after a family argument. With nowhere to practice piano, he came up with this idea, never expecting to be mistaken for a school ghost story or for anyone to actually stay late at school to investigate.
Of course, none of this was true. Every word was made up on the spot. It sounded absurd, yet considering this was in Japan, it somehow felt believable.
Reality often surpasses fiction in its absurdity.
What mattered was that the handsome young man told his tale so vividly that it brought out the tension of family conflicts, the clash between dreams and reality, and the hardships of a wandering life. Even Komachi, who knew it was all nonsense, found herself captivated.
The story's credibility soared.
After fooling the two girls, they were scolded by the school security guard before leaving through the main gate. Hayashizaki, on the other hand, climbed over the wall to leave.
After seeing Eri and Saki off, Hayashizaki and Komachi met up with Hikigaya Hachiman at a nearby family restaurant.
They decided to register Komachi for a position at the relevant office that weekend. Hayashizaki initially planned to join the siblings for dinner, but after receiving a message on his phone, he politely declined.
---
.....
Hearing a noise from the balcony, Yukinoshita Yukino instinctively looked toward it.
"Good evening, Hayashizaki."
The black-haired girl, wearing an apron, placed a plate on the dining table and greeted him calmly.
"How did things go?"
"Well, we saved the person, but a girl still got hurt,"
Hayashizaki replied casually as he sat down at the table.
"But unexpectedly, we found out Hikigaya's sister, Komachi, can see curses. We're planning to register her this weekend."
"Do you want to come along?"
"Komachi?"
While hanging her apron on the wall, Yukinoshita thought for a moment.
"Will it be dangerous?"
"Doesn't make a difference."
"Fair enough."
Without needing a lengthy explanation, Yukinoshita already understood his reasoning.
"Then I'll join."
"Let's also check out the high school there."
Hayashizaki flashed a sly smile that looked like it belonged to a villain.
"?"
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You can read 10 advanced chapters at my patreon.com/YeyeQiu