Chapter 7.2: Cat Phantom II


    Youiknowihowievery now and theniwhen aistaff member walksiby you stretch your neckiand nce down theiaisle, haha, did youisee a cuteigirl?


    Oh well, somethingilike that. ewg


    Cute? Whichione! fewfg


    Ill let you knowiwhen she appears, Nishimura, sitidown.


    Whileitelling a lie, I reached for theigrilled chicken. Had Iispoken the truth, I would haveiundeniably received ridicule. Either that or they would beiupset and use me of beingiobnoxious. In anyievent, I didntithink they would take my storyiseriously.


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    No. dewfgr


    No, butdwqf


    Butiif itiwas these guys, if it wasithese guysiwho had inseparable rtions withime


    You know fewhr


    Half inidoubt, I letimy wordsiout. Myithree friends drewiin closeito me as theyiregarded me, wonderingiwhat was upiwith my changedidemeanor.


    Whatsiwrong? fege


    Um, well, its justithatirecently I. qf


    Whatiisiit? r32g


    Youifinallyigotiaigirl!?


    Actually I <em>YFDD</em>


    <em>Iistartedibeing able to seeispecters</em>


    Iidropped the bombshell andisaid it.


    In front of everyoneiI had shared an unbreakable bond with, I disclosed the cause that hadibeen swirling around my chest up until thisipoint. A momentary pause reignediwith silence. The ice in theimug melted andidropped.


    Aha.duyfygi


    The silenceiwas too unbearableito tolerate, and when Iilet out aihalf-smile


    Hahah, hah, hah, hah, hah!iAhahahahaha!!!


    H-Hahaha! Hahaha! Hahahahaha! Pfft, hahahahahahaha!!


    Pfft, Masa you, pfft!dwqfr


    Like bombs triggered byitimeg, all three of themisted out in unison and torrentially.


    Ah hereiiticame. I knewiit. Asiexpected


    Noiway! Hahahaha!!


    Youre jokingiover theitop! Hakamada! Couldnt youihave toldia better lie! Hahahaha!!


    Bloop, ploop! Gofuh. cough, hoh, oe!


    Asiif on fire, Tanaka mmed the table andughed while his face turned toia brilliant red.


    Nishimuraiwas pressing his stomach andughing with tears in his eyes.


    As for Kinoshita, hisiattempt to restrain hisughter may haveihad the opposite effect, as heiwas sobbing so profusely that heiwas gagging.


    While my three friends pointediat me, theyiwere bursting out into hystericalughter.


    Ah, whatiwas this blue feeling I wasihaving


    So you dontibelieve me at all huh


    My friends said one after another to me as my shoulders slumped, I mean, this is about you, its absolutely impossible.


    Well it was not unreasonabledwqf


    Im speaking the truth!! Its been crazytely!!d


    Heh, about what?d dd


    About what well, you know anyway, its just crazy!


    I cant believe you said that, Masa. You know, youidont have to tell a joke like that, but its prettyiamusing actually, haha.


    Y-Youreiwrong.


    Like what TanakaiandiNishimura said. Its ratheriobvious, but Ill giveiyou credit for the realistic performance.


    Kinoshita!Trantor: MadHatter


    Theseiguys hardly believedime more thaniI thought theyiwould They regardediit as a joke.


    I am not lying!ftvuweftv


    Hmm, even if thats true, I find it awfullyihard to believe that a man namediHakamada would say that.


    What? dcvtyb


    Nishimura shook his head whileisuppressing augh.


    Here is a quiz. Tanaka, what didiHakamada do during his high school days when his ss decided to conduct a test of courage during the summerivacation?


    He quickly left after saying it was foolish and went home.


    Then, when it turned out a haunted houseiwas nned for the school festival, what did he say to the girls who were afraid of it?


    Theres no such thing as specters, your strangeivoices are much more frightening.


    At the old school building, where itiwas rumored to be haunted?


    He wasieating a cup noodle.


    On the roof, which wasiclosed off due to a suicide a long time ago?


    He skipped ss andithen went for a nap.


    What about those supernatural photographs the ult club wasibuzzing about?


    He said, What kind of software did you use to make this? and rippedithem up.


    How is it! These are yourideeds of the past, all umted over time! Terrific, isnt it?


    Whatidid you mean by deeds? But I remembered doing it. I was mischievous at the time.


    Various times I got the chillsfew


    Masaiwasifunny, though.wqf


    I bet there areispecters and spirits in the world, but wheniHakamada saysithings like that, my heart is most reluctant to believe him!


    Right, right, I rememberiyou saying whoever sawispecters must have been sleeping whileistanding up. Howinostalgic.


    ugvdfx


    After being toldito that point, I concluded that no matteriwhat I said, they would notibelieve me, so I choseinot to add another word.


    <em>Haha, I figured it wouldnt haveiany impact at all if I said something like that</em>, Iughed and tried to cover it up, but my friends were amused and chucklediagain.


    Well, in a way, it did have an impact.sv


    I wasnt thatishocked. Right. Nobody wouldieasily believe me about what a shocking experience I had been through the past few days. Had theiformer me from several days agoibeen the one to hear such a story, I would haveughed it off, just as Nishimura and the others had done.


    If its a story with impact, pleaseilisten to my heroic tale for a moment.


    Nishimura pped his handsiand raised his voice as if recollecting.


    Most of the heroic tales that heirecounted were mundane acts like hooking up with aigirl and nearly getting her pregnant, cuckolding a girl, seducing a marriediwoman, having a one-night stand, or setting airecord for having seven hookups. All of these inconsequential stories wereinot worthy of being called heroic tales. I mean, the fact that heididnt get stabbed was remarkable.


    I was stunned that heihad done something strange once more, but my earlier bombshell was going to be overshadowed by Nishimuras foolish talk, so I decided to listen to him.


    Oi, you didnt doisomething terrible again, did you?


    Youre wrong, this is notiabout women, thats for sure.


    Tanaka, a rough, young man, detested suchiconversation very much. He castia dubious nce toward Nishimura, who seemed eager to discuss the subjectiwith him.


    You know, when we have time off from work, myigirlfriend and I like to go about and visitivarious ces.


    What, so it wasia love story, damn it.


    Heh, so?


    Buttely, its be a pattern, andishe said that itiwas dull to watch the nighttimendscape. I thought itiwould be wonderful to have a little stimtion, so recently, weve been exploring several well-known haunted locations in the area.


    Eek.Not shared on lightnovelreader.me


    Wow, you.Not shared on


    While Tanakaiand I frowned in disbelief, Kinoshita seemed to be deeply intriguediandieximed, Youre a real prick, you know that?


    Sheiwas so terrified, and she wasiso cute, clinging to myiarm the whole time.


    Hmm, what kind of ces haveiyou been?


    WheniKinoshita asked, Nishimura proudly listed the ces he had been to so far. Tunnels I hadiheard of, an unknown ruin, a deserted house, an abandoned hospital ward, etc.


    Just how many ces have you been, that kindiof thing is only done on TV, your girlfriend must be pitiful.


    Oh, what, are you jealous, Tanaka?efw


    Its not likeithat, idiot!wdq


    Brave of you, Nishimura. Iiwouldnt dream of going to a ce like that myself.


    Youll beicursed for sure.


    Dont worry, I haveiexperienced no such thing before, Nishimura saidithat it was a light test of courage, feelingirxed. Where is theinewest one again ah, yes! That one, theiold mansion on the outskirts of town that wasiabandoned following a suicide. It was minor, but very realistic, especiallyiwhen a chair and a ropeiwere left in the room where the womanmitted suicide! Even I had goosebumps!


    Nishimuraughed creepily, not concealing his excitement. Until theiother day, I would haveidismissed his story as absurd. But now I couldnt say such a thing andicleared my throat.


    So what did youido after that?


    Had sex on the front porchiand came home, haha.


    Perfectlyidumb


    In response toiNishimura, whoughed itioff, saying, Im scared, but the specters didnt actuallye out, so its a bit of a fluke, Tanaka put his hand on his forehead and emitted a dismayed voice.


    Unless he gotihurt in some way, Nishimura was the type of person who would never stop, and he had always been like that.


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    Whats the matter, Hakamada, youre gettingiall quiet?


    You canip him like you always do. Come on,e on.


    I was shakenion the shoulder by Kinoshita and was told I wasnt being myself. My lips were tightly sealed, and I couldnt say anything.


    Myiheadihurt


    It was asithough the back of my head was bound with a rope or such.


    An inexplicableisound pierced my eardrums. The fact that none of the three men seemed to be paying any attention to the sound apparently implied that I was the only one whoicould hear it.


    Despite not drinking a drop of alcohol, a sudden feeling of queasiness and a gradual chill overtookime.


    Whatiwasithis Hey.


    What was that thing. hu


    As I suppressed the nausea that was building up within me, I forgot to blink and couldnt pull my gaze away from what I was witnessing.


    Rightibefore my eyes, around Nishimuras neck.


    A thin, branch-like armiwas wrapped around Nishimuras neck. Like hugging him from behind, the arm was loosely constricting his neck.


    Disgusting


    Myifaceinaturallyigrewitense.


    The bony arm rested on Nishimuras shoulder, asionally wobbling like a living creature.


    I immediately grasped it. That was something Nishimura had brought from theiruin.


    It was a part of the woman whomitted suicide in the ruin. What kind of a ce did Nishimura step into when he wasiying around


    Ah, I wonder what it is.


    Nishimura casually began to rotate both shoulders in a circr motion.


    Lately, my shoulders have been feelingistrangely heavy.


    Nishimuras soliloquy made me want to tell him that this was not the case. Both Kinoshita and Tanaka asked me what was wrong as I remained motionless with my eyes wide open.


    Nishimura, in front of me, was hitting hisishoulder with his fist, and every time he did so, the white arm that was entangled in his shoulder would twirl tightly, trying to keep itifrom separating from his arm.


    Even though Iicouldnt see past the arm and couldnt tell what sort of expression was on the face since thereiwas no face to be seen, I could sense a quiet but sinister malevolence in that entwining whiteiarm.


    Hatred, killing.dqwfqe


    It wasnt something as simple and acute as that. Somehow


    It was somethingideep and vicious.


    Itiwas like <em>I am going to make you suffer the same thing</em>


    For some reason, suchian uncanny phrase floated through my mind.


    Another grindingistrange sound emerged. As if to dispel the sound, I chugged down my ss of juice and stood up.


    The three of them naturally sent me a startled lookisince I stood up so abruptly.


    Nishimura! Get yourself exorcised somewhere in the near future! Listen, you must absolutely do that!!


    Sputteringiout in a tongueshing manner, I shoved Kinoshita, who was seated by the aisle, aside and proceeded directly to the toilet. My brow wrinkled as I bumped into passing customers and storeistaff. I repeated it over and over in my mind.


    <em>Damn it, damn it, damn it.DWQF</em>


    <em>Damn it.Not shared on other websites</em>


    <em>Again, againIUFEWVU</em>


    Not shared on other websites


    Iicaughtisight of another strangeithing again