Chapter 78: The Black Shadow
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 78: The Black Shadow
8:00 PM. Sharp.
The test of courage had finally begun.
I was currently waiting at the last of the four scare spots placed along the straight course, right before the turnaround point.
Start Turnaround Point
◎──○──○──○──●──◎
Due to the nature of the route, people would pass by twice in a short period. The plan was to let them pass the first time, and then, after they rounded the tree with the handkerchief tied to it, I would jump out and scare them on their way back.
In the daytime, it was a short walking course that would take about 15 minutes to go back and forth. But now, it was the middle of the night, deep in a forest filled with the chirping of insects.
Naturally, people were bound to walk slower.
A boy and a girl, walking along a forest path, relying on a single flashlight.
Their hearts pound because of the suspension bridge effect, and when the boy shows a dependable side he doesn't usually have, the girl goes, Oh my! and falls for him…
Ah, I’ve seen this whole rom-com episode before.
Anyway, it seemed like it would be another 10 minutes before the first group arrived, so I hid behind a tree and took out my smartphone.
[Senpai, what are you doing?]
[You're not ignoring your cute junior's messages because you're too busy playing with your friends at the forest school, are you?]
[Senpai?]
[Senpai?]
[Senpai?]
Despite being a working actress who must be busy, Minato had been sending me messages steadily every 10 minutes. I replied, [Playing the ghost for the test of courage], then took a picture of myself wearing the oni mask and sent it to her.
The constant stream of messages suddenly stopped, as if by magic, and a completely different one arrived.
[Senpai, are they okay? The people in your class.]
I was a little puzzled that she was worried about my classmates instead of me, so I asked.
[Is it that scary?]
[Yes. Imagine a burly man in a red oni mask suddenly appearing in a dark forest in the middle of the night.]
“…”
Hearing it like that, I guess it is pretty scary.
I think I finally understood why the kids from the other class had freaked out earlier.
If it was startling enough to see in a bright place, it would be even more terrifying to have it pop out of the darkness.
It really hit me just how intimidating I look. I sent Minato a reply, thanking her for her input.
[Senpai… um, please be gentle.]
[Got it.]
After sending that reply, I put my phone back in my pocket.
I could hear footsteps approaching from the distance.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Hiding in the tree, I pulled down the red oni mask that had been resting on my head.
It was time to greet my first customers of the day.
*
Akagi Shun was student number 2 in Class 2-B.
Because his name started with the 'A' vowel sound (あ), he had always been at the front of the line since elementary school.
Honestly, having a low number had more disadvantages than advantages.
For most school events and classes, he was always forced to go first for that reason alone.
But for today, and today only, he was grateful for it.
The forest school’s test of courage.
Most of the male students wanted to go through the test of courage with the person they liked.
And thanks to the advantage of his number, Akagi Shun got the right to draw first, and beating the 1-in-12 odds, he proudly became Aizawa Minami’s partner.
Meeting Aizawa Minami at the beginning of the semester had felt like fate to him.
She was always number 1, and he was always number 2.
Wasn't that a match made in heaven?
Akagi Shun was already giddy with the thought of scoring points by showing Aizawa his dependable side during the test of courage.
“Alright, group one, you can start.”
At the instruction of Matsuda-sensei, who was in charge of the event, the pair of Akagi and Aizawa began walking down the forest path.
“This is scarier than I thought…”
Aizawa, who had seemed fine at first, began looking around nervously and muttering to herself once they reached a point where not a single soul could be seen.
“Really? I’m not scared at all.”
But Akagi was too happy to be afraid.
After all, the distance between them had naturally closed.
When people feel fear, they tend to rely on the person next to them.
And a test of courage in the middle of the night was the perfect situation to induce the suspension bridge effect.
About five minutes had passed as the two carefully walked the path, relying on a single flashlight.
Suddenly, something covered in a white sheet jumped out from the bushes.
“My grudge remaaaaains!”
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
Aizawa screamed and threw herself into Akagi’s arms.
For a moment, Akagi’s happiness reached its peak, but he tried his best not to show it and gave a thumbs-up to the student dressed as a ghost.
In response, the student ghost, looking deflated, disappeared back into the bushes.
“It’s okay. The ghost is gone now.”
As Akagi soothed her, Aizawa cautiously turned her head to look at the spot where the ghost had jumped out.
Then, in a slightly frightened voice, she asked.
“Really?”
“Really.”
Aizawa blushed slightly and pulled away from Akagi’s embrace.
“L-Let’s hurry up and go.”
Akagi nodded, feeling like he could fly.
*
After that, other ghosts played by students from different classes continued to jump out from the shadows.
Each time, Aizawa would scream and cling to Akagi.
To be honest, the last one had startled Akagi too, but he clenched his teeth and held back his scream, thinking he couldn't show such a pathetic side in front of the girl he liked.
After a total of three surprise events, the two finally reached the turnaround point where the handkerchief was tied.
“This must be the proof of completion Matsuda-sensei was talking about.”
From a box placed under a large pine tree, the two took out a slip of paper with a red circle drawn on it and put it in their pockets.
Now, all that was left was to go back.
Frankly, the way there had been scary, but the way back was just retracing their steps, so it didn't seem like it would be as frightening.
Reassured, the two began walking back with light steps.
About five minutes had passed since they turned around and started heading back.
Rustle!
“Huh?”
Hearing a sound from above, Akagi looked up, wondering what it was, and was rendered speechless.
A burly man in a red oni mask was standing on a tree branch, backlit by the moonlight.
The moment his eyes met the ones behind the mask, the figure leaped down from the tree.
“My grudge remains—”
A deep, heavy voice pierced his eardrums.
It sounded familiar, but that wasn't what was important right now.
Just by standing there, the man in the oni mask exuded an unprecedented level of terror.
Shudder, shudder, shudder, shudder—
His hands and feet trembled on their own.
Aizawa’s face was deathly pale, and she stared at the masked fiend with trembling eyes, unable to even scream.
They say you can’t make a sound when you’re truly terrified, and it seemed this was one of those moments.
Thud!
The sound of a footstep seemed to echo unusually loudly in his ears.
The man, wearing geta sandals, took a step forward and spoke.
“Give me your head.”
Akagi couldn't take it anymore.
“I’M SOOOORRYYYYY!”
And so, he ran.
Without a single look back.
Like a man possessed, Akagi sprinted through the 500-meter-long path at full speed. He was about to ask Aizawa if she was okay when he belatedly realized the truth.
He had abandoned Aizawa and run away all by himself.
“Ah…”
Later, Aizawa Minami returned alone, sniffling. She wouldn't even meet his eyes as she headed toward the group of girls who hadn't departed yet.
It went without saying that Akagi’s reputation among the girls plummeted.
*
“…Was that too much?”
I felt a little guilty, like I had unintentionally broken up a couple by putting a bit too much effort into my first customers.
I had to take off my mask and explain the situation to Aizawa, who had collapsed on the ground in shock, before I could finally send her on her way.
Maybe she was the type to regress to a child-like state when she got too scared. She sniffled but nodded her head earnestly before heading back down the path, guided by the light of her phone.
After that, I reflected on my actions and toned it down, only scaring the pairs by suddenly popping out of the darkness when they were off guard, thinking it was all over after the turnaround point.
Of course, there were still kids who fled in terror, which made cleaning up the aftermath a bit of a pain, but at least no one was bawling their eyes out like Aizawa. I was able to safely send the students who ended up alone back to the starting point.
As I kept at it, I got the hang of it. From the sixth group onward, I would hide my presence, utter a single "My grudge remains," and then appear after a slight delay to give them time to prepare.
That made them less surprised than I expected.
Of course, those who were naturally timid still fled in terror even with a warning.
I had just sent off the seventh group and was waiting for the next one.
“It’s about time for some familiar faces to show up.”
As I was fiddling with my smartphone while waiting for Satoru, Sasha, Rika, and the others who hadn't come yet, I heard footsteps in the distance and quickly got up.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
But something was different.
The distance between the third scare spot and the turnaround point was quite significant, so there was no reason for anyone to be running and screaming this loudly.
Yet a voice, clearly terrified, was rapidly approaching.
Wondering what was going on, I shone my flashlight down the path.
A dark figure running from the distance spotted me and sprinted at full speed.
“Yoo-Sung!”
They were familiar faces.
One was Satoru, and the other was the Class President.
The two of them were running desperately toward me, their faces as pale as if they had seen a ghost.
It was hard to see in the dark at first, but I belatedly realized that a massive dark figure was chasing them from behind.
ROOOOAAAR!
As if bothered by the sudden light, a roar echoed through the pitch-black darkness.
The true identity of the large shadow that was furiously chasing Satoru and the Class President was a wild bear.
“???????”
What the hell is a bear doing here?