Noel’s Strange Question
“Actually, that guy… oh, his name’s Jaden, right? He confessed to me a little while ago.”
“Hmm, I see.”
“It’s been a little over a week… I clearly turned him down, saying there’s someone I like right now….”
“Hmm, I see.”
“But he keeps following me around. It’s ridiculous. Stuff like ‘there’s no tree that won’t fall after ten chops’ or ‘I can match whatever you want.’ He keeps asking me to meet him just once, bragging that his family’s loaded.”
“Hmm, I see.”
“So today, he grabbed me again after school… That’s when Ares helped me out.”
“……”
Helped? It felt more like I just got dragged into it out of nowhere.
…More importantly, why am I even listening to this story?
And why am I sitting on the ground in the school backyard, leaning against the wall while doing it?
“Anyway… thanks.”
Noel buried her face in her knees and spoke softly. Then she glanced up at me.
“Glad I could help.”
Once I’d pieced together the whole situation, I finally stood up.
“Well, see you.”
I dusted off my pants and headed for the school gate.
“H-Huh?! You’re leaving?!”
“Yeah. It’s getting dark, so I should head back.”
“Ugh, o-okay! See you!”
“Yeah.”
“See you tomorrow!”
“……”
With that, I left Noel behind and made my way to the dorm. There didn’t seem to be any more girls I needed to track down today anyway.
Honestly, if I had to pick the girl I could get closest to right now, Noel would probably be the best choice. We had some bad memories from the board game ghost story, but… it looks like she’s developed a new taste because of it. And more than anything…
……She seems to like me.
‘Am I insane…?’
Why would she feel that way after everything that happened?
Maybe the ghost is just putting on an act?
That suspicion crossed my mind too. But that wasn’t the biggest reason I was hesitant to get close to her.
“Hmm…”
Lying on my bed and reading through the gallery’s opinions only made me more conflicted.
‘Yeah, if I want to survive, I shouldn’t sweat the small stuff…’
Get it together.
This isn’t some happy-go-lucky romance academy. It’s a messed-up ghost story academy.
Getting close to the girls and building favor is ultimately just a means to find the real humans on graduation day and escape this place alive.
“……”
Then what happens to the girls I leave behind… once I make it out?
The thought suddenly struck me.
“……”
For some reason, my chest felt tight.
My goal is just to survive safely. That’s all it should be.
“Ah, whatever. I’ll think about it later…”
I rolled over and closed my eyes. No point worrying about pointless things when I haven’t even found the real humans yet. Focus on what matters right now.
“Hey Noel, do you smoke by any chance?”
“H-Huh?!”
Since the topic came up, I asked Noel as we walked side by side. She jumped in surprise and waved her hands frantically.
“N-No?! Who said that? I don’t smoke!”
“Really? That’s unexpected. You’re always hanging around shady spots, so I figured you were smoking.”
“…Tch, my friends do. I don’t.”
“Hmm.”
“I’m serious…! The one who smokes is that girl with her hair tied back! She’s the only one!”
“Got it.”
Honestly, not smoking doesn’t change the fact that she’s a delinquent, but watching her desperately defend herself was pretty cute.
“By the way, I was really surprised…”
“About what?”
“…You were waiting to walk with me, weren’t you?”
“Well… yeah, I guess.”
Noel and I were currently walking to school together. If I wanted to get closer, spending time alone with her was important. So I’d come out early, waited for her, and struck up a conversation on the way.
“Hehe…”
Maybe because of that, Noel had been sneaking little grins the whole time. Was she happy…? She might be a delinquent and a bit of a flirt, but her face was pretty enough that seeing her act like she liked me made me feel strangely good too.
‘No, but she’s still a delinquent…’
Because of that one fact, there was some weird barrier compared to when I was with Lana, Ellie, or Claire. Of course, I could still act friendly on the surface, but it was harder to feel genuine with her than with the other three…
“Hey, Ares, what are your hobbies?”
“Talking to ghosts.”
“Whoa… How do you do that?”
“Their conversations just appear in the air. Then I join in.”
“What else? What do you do on your days off?”
“With the ghosts…”
“Leave the ghosts out for once!”
“They get bored without me, so I can’t.”
Anyway, we chatted casually as we walked to school together. Could I really get close to her when my feelings weren’t real? “Hehe, Ares. I didn’t notice at first, but you’re actually pretty fun.”
“……”
She seemed to like me for some reason. Getting closer probably wouldn’t be a problem.
“Ah! Noel~!”
Just then, a girl’s voice called out from behind us. It sounded familiar. When I turned around, a girl with wavy hair approached with a bright smile.
“Hi! And next to you is… ah…”
“Hello.”
Our eyes met and I greeted her. Her cheerful expression instantly drained of color.
“W-Why…? That incident was supposed to be over…!”
“Huh?”
“How long are you planning to keep tormenting us?!”
“……”
The wavy-haired girl grabbed Noel and pulled her away, her voice filled with fear. Should I explain? While I was hesitating, Noel spoke up instead.
“Ah, no…! It’s not like that this time! We made up! Right?”
“Made up…?”
I wasn’t sure if “made up” was the right word for what had been a one-sided bullying relationship, but the wavy-haired girl seemed to understand and just stared at me warily. Then she whispered to Noel.
“Are you sure it’s okay…?”
“It’s fine. He helped me yesterday too, remember?”
“…That creep who kept hitting on you?”
“Yeah, Ares helped when he showed up and started acting crazy again.”
“That guy…?”
“Yeah… so don’t worry.”
“If you say so… Ah, and by the way… If you’re late to school, would you rather get 10,000 Cocoon or just go normally? Which one would you pick?”
“What? Out of nowhere…?”
“Yeah.”
Their whispers were loud enough for me to hear, so I just kept walking in silence, listening in. Noel glanced at me. Then she answered her friend’s strange question.
“…I’d rather not be late for 10,000 Cocoon. I think I’d just go normally.”
“Okay.”
After finishing their odd conversation, the wavy-haired girl kept watching me with wary eyes.
“I’ve got some stuff to do, so I’ll head in first. See you later, Noel.”
“Ah, yeah.”
Looking uncomfortable, the wavy-haired girl quickly took another path and left.
“You sure it’s okay not to hang out with your friend?”
“I-It’s fine. We have to go to school.”
“You used to skip a lot, didn’t you?”
“Huh? No! I’m actually pretty diligent! It’s just that my friends like to mess around. Hehe.”
“……”
She was probably trying to paint herself as a normal student while her friends were the delinquents. …Did she really want to look good in front of me that badly? That part was kind of cute…
“Ah, and also…”
“Yeah?”
“Remember Miel…? The girl we used to bully?”
“Ah, yeah.”
Noel suddenly brought up the name of the victim from the board game incident.
“……After that incident ended, we apologized to her right away.”
“You apologized…?”
“Y-Yeah… So it’s not like what we did wasn’t wrong. …But we really regretted it. …I’m being completely serious!”
“……”
“I know it might sound weird to say this, but… after the board game was solved, my head felt clearer. …Like I’d been under some kind of spell. Looking back now, even Sarah… I don’t understand why we bullied her.”
“……”
“It’s like we were possessed or something…”
Possessed…
‘Was it really the board game that possessed them?’
The board game ghost had used the chain reaction of revenge to force the game to continue. The bully and the bullied. The bully would make the bullied play the game. The loser would have their soul taken and die. Then someone enraged by that death would turn around and bully the original bullies, forcing them to play. Back then, I’d also been possessed by the board game ghost and ended up bullying the three delinquents. For some reason, I’d felt an overwhelming urge to torment them.
‘Then Noel and her friends… were they just caught up in the ghost story too?’
Maybe they were just ordinary students who liked to have fun, not actually bad people at heart.
“…That doesn’t mean what we did wasn’t wrong, but… we do regret it.”
“……”
Realizing that, Noel no longer seemed like just a delinquent. She was starting to look like a normal girl.
Noel wasn’t a bad person after all. She was just a bit of a delinquent who liked to have fun. Aside from Sarah and Miel, the victims of the board game ghost story, she didn’t seem to fight or bully anyone else. That’s why I decided to try getting close to her.
“Ares.”
“Yeah?”
“Lately… you’ve been getting pretty close with that short-haired girl, haven’t you…?”
It was Thursday lunchtime. Ellie brought it up while we were eating together. She was sitting right next to me, sharing her lunchbox, and glanced over.
“The day before yesterday in the morning too… and yesterday and today…”
“Ah, yeah… Haha, that’s…”
“Do you… like her…?”
“Huh?! No?! I-It’s not like that?!”
“Really…?”
A cold sweat ran down my back at Ellie’s question. Why? Ellie wasn’t even my girlfriend, and getting close to Noel wasn’t wrong, but my mind was blaring warning sirens.
“I just helped her out recently. That’s how we got close.”
“……I see?”
“Yeah, just friends. We’re just friends.”
“……I see.”
With her fork in her mouth, Ellie stayed quiet for a moment, thinking. Then—
She slowly scooted closer to me.
Ever since the lying incident, Ellie had been feeling guilty and hadn’t tried to seduce me much lately. Now she leaned her shoulder against mine, creating an affectionate atmosphere. At the same time, she hooked her arm around mine and pressed against me.
Soft…
‘Whoa…’
It had been a while since I’d felt that massive softness, and I couldn’t help but marvel inwardly.
“That girl…”
“Huh…?”
Ellie, who’d been quiet until now, spoke up.
“She seems a bit strange.”
“Strange?”
“Yeah, like she does weird things.”
“……”
Was this… jealousy because I was getting close to Noel? Was she trying to badmouth her to keep me away? It was cute, and my heart started pounding.
“What kind of weird things…?”
“Um… suddenly asking strange questions to teachers passing by in the hallway.”
“Questions…?”
“Or suddenly going into the boys’ bathroom to cause trouble…”
“……”
“Or running around the field nonstop…”
“……”
“Anyway, I’ve been watching her a bit… Ah, I mean, I heard about it!”
“……”
Realizing she’d been caught stalking Noel, Ellie quickly corrected herself and started explaining. But I was more concerned about Noel’s strange behavior.
‘What…?’
She hadn’t seemed like the type to play pranks. Or maybe I just didn’t know her well enough. She could be more lively and cheerful than I thought. Running around the field might’ve just been a sudden burst of energy. We’d only been close for three days, so there were bound to be things I didn’t know about her. But…
‘What if…’
There was always the possibility. The first thing that came to mind after hearing Ellie’s story was that.
——That she’d been caught up in a ghost story.
‘……Am I overthinking this?’
Over the past three days I’d been hanging out with Noel, I hadn’t noticed anything particularly strange. Maybe she was just hiding a mischievous side. Her expression hadn’t been dark or anything. ‘Still, I should ask her about it…’
Better to clear up any dangerous doubts early. I’ll ask her after school.
“Yeah… thanks for telling me, Ellie.”
“Huh…? Ah, I mean…! It’s not gossip…! I was just really worried, so I said something!”
“I know. That’s why I’m thanking you.”
“……Really?”
“Really really.”
Thanks to Ellie, I’d learned about something strange I hadn’t noticed. I was genuinely grateful for that. Of course… she probably said it to badmouth Noel, but still. After finishing lunch and classes, I went to find Noel right after school. But—
“Ah, Ares.”
“……Noel.”
She’d come looking for me too, like we were on the same wavelength. She was smiling, but her expression was dark. She looked scared.
‘I knew it… something’s up.’
My uneasy suspicion had been right. Noel’s demeanor was off.
“Noel.”
“W-Wait…! Ares…!”
“Huh?”
“Can I… talk first…?”
“……”
Noel’s eyes trembled. Tears were starting to well up.
“…Yeah, go ahead.”
“……Thanks.”
She’d probably come to me because she’d been caught up in a ghost story. She hadn’t shown it before, but she must’ve been struggling and came to me for advice. That was exactly what I’d been hoping for anyway. So I waited for her to speak. And then—
“Ares…”
Noel asked in a trembling voice.
“——Would you rather get 1,000,000 Cocoon but have to run naked down the hallway, or get nothing and do nothing?”
“……What?”
But—
“Which one would you pick…?”
Noel wasn’t here for advice. Tears streaming down her face, she asked me a completely bizarre question.