The Fourth Letter
We gathered once more in a circle to unfold the final remaining letter. Having successfully resolved the incidents up to the third one somehow, the students' faces showed more anticipation for the last letter than anxiety.
“C'mon, quick! Read it already, teacher! What story's gonna come this time?”
“Will there be another complicated trick hidden in it? Or maybe it's just some happening born from a simple misunderstanding.”
Elaine seemed to be trying her best to stay composed, but even so, the corners of her mouth were twitching upward just a bit.
“I have a feeling another unexpected riddle's waiting for us. But we've gotten pretty good at piecing together clues now, so maybe we can solve it before you do this time, teacher?”
Aurora was already squinting fiercely, as if she could pierce right through the words on the page.
Elaine and Aurora appeared utterly unable to contain their excitement for cracking the next puzzle. Their energy was through the roof, and I found myself chuckling lightly along with them.
Maybe we were getting complacent because everything had gone too smoothly. We had no clue what tale this final letter would hurl at us—or what waves it would send rippling through everything.
From afar, a female student who had been secretly watching the Paranormal Investigation Club group fell into shocked confusion at the sight of the third secret—even one she herself couldn't solve—being dismantled so anticlimactically.
“No way... It actually got solved...! A problem I couldn't crack!!”
Watching the protagonist consecutively demolish the riddles she'd devised—and in just a single day, no less, as she'd never imagined—seemed to shatter her resolve.
“And the culprit turning out to be Lily of all people... That timid little girl...”
But then she spotted the Paranormal Investigation Club students pulling out a fourth letter, plunging her into even deeper turmoil.
Because one of the Paranormal Investigation Club members had produced the fourth letter.
“A f-fourth letter? No way that's possible.”
She denied the very existence of that fourth letter outright.
Because...
“I... only sent three letters...”
But no matter how vehemently she denied it, the fact remained: the fourth letter was clutched in the hands of the Paranormal Investigation Club members.
The girl muttered to herself.
“Did someone else send a letter to the Paranormal Investigation Club too? Maybe the timing lined up by coincidence, and they got bundled together...”
But then she caught sight of the stationery inside the envelope Allen pulled out, and her mouth snapped shut.
The yellow, fancy stationery he extracted was made of the exact same material as the three sheets she'd sent. It was stationery she'd brought from her hometown before coming to Everlight Academy.
There was no way something like that existed elsewhere in the academy.
She spiraled into even greater confusion, babbling incoherently.
“N-no, n-no, no. Th-this, m-my, my l-let-letter, letters... My letters...”
Every time the Paranormal Investigation Club solved one of her riddles up until now, she'd fallen into panic and disarray.
But this moment's confusion was fundamentally different from the mere flustered impatience she'd felt when they unraveled her puzzles too quickly.
Students passing through the Central Club Building jumped in alarm at her state and grew worried enough to stare.
Eventually, one of them couldn't stand it anymore and approached her cautiously.
“Um, excuse me. Are you okay...?”
“Don't touch me!!”
Slap!
But the girl roughly swatted away the hand of the concerned student.
“N-no, I'm f-fine.”
The student who'd approached out of worry couldn't even think to get angry despite the slap—instead, their face drained of color.
Because half her face had melted away like dripping candle wax.
[Why Allen Jest Killed Me and Hid My Body
To the members of the Paranormal Investigation Club.
This is the last letter.
I'm a female student who enrolled at Everlight Academy this year.
On the morning of my first day at Everlight Academy, around 10:15 a.m., I ran into Teacher Allen Jest in the 1st Main Building. He saw me but just walked right past.
The next day, and the day after that, I met him every morning on the cherry blossom path, but he always brushed right by me.
Then, a few days later—what happened? Suddenly, the teacher started talking to me, threatening and terrifying me for no reason at all.
I couldn't sleep a wink every night, living in utter terror.
And the next day... the teacher... had already killed me.
That's how I died. Not on some random day, but on my very first day enrolling at Everlight Academy.
For the record, this isn't about someone else or a dream—it's me, the one writing this right now, saying he already killed me in reality, and everything here is the pure truth, not some fabrication.
And Teacher Allen, who killed me, disposed of my body without leaving a trace and vanished off somewhere.
Then, starting the next day, he began showing up at the academy again as if nothing had happened.
Anyway, here's what I'm wondering.
From my first day enrolling at Everlight Academy, I ran into Teacher Allen Jest every single day—why did he suddenly start threatening me, someone who'd done absolutely nothing wrong, and for what reason did he kill me and dispose of my body?
To expose Teacher Allen Jest's evil deeds, I've been steadily digging traps to corner him for the past month since my death.
Those were the three previous letters I sent you.
Through those letters, I planned to denounce him to everyone in the academy as a demon.
But Teacher Allen Jest ultimately dismantled every single one of those letters.
Since I'm already dead, I can no longer spread word of his crimes.
My voice, belonging to the dead, no longer reaches anyone.
All that's left to me now is this final letter.
Please... I beg you... uncover Teacher Allen Jest's crimes in my stead.
Why Allen Jest had to kill me... and who the 'me' was that Allen Jest killed... please reveal it.]
Our faces hardened in an instant upon reaching the final line of the fourth letter.
This was no longer content we could dismiss with lighthearted jokes or fun deductions.
Rone was the first to speak up. Her usual cheer was nowhere to be found—her voice stiff and rigid.
“This... isn't a joke.”
Elaine's hand, holding the stationery, trembled faintly. Her face had gone deathly pale.
“...This isn't some simple misunderstanding or happening. For someone to write a letter like this...”
“A real... ghost story... has come.”
Aurora's voice quivered.
The very last one. As if all the previous letters had been mere pranks, the real ghost story had arrived.
Every one of their expressions had drained to a sickly blue.
“Everyone, calm down. For now... we need to grasp the situation coolly.”
I tried to soothe the students, but my own voice carried a faint tremor all the same.
Of course it would be like this. Had I taken too long a vacation? My heart was pounding wildly on its own.
I fought to regain my composure and slowly observe the letter's contents.
But before re-observing the letter, there was something incomprehensible.
Obviously, I'd never killed anyone—not since joining the academy, nor before that.
Sure, I'd bankrupted a few nobles trying to steal my merchant guild and forced them to kneel before me, but I'd never spilled blood over it.
Even the communist revolution I'd staged as my own false flag ended with me slamming the brakes—no blood was ever shed.
So who the hell sent this letter? Who the hell is claiming I murdered them?
What ghost story sent this bizarre letter...?
My mind began filling with chaos.
Amid her turmoil, the girl roughly shoved away the students worrying over her—or those drawn by the commotion—and fled to a deserted spot.
Rumble!
The sky, clear just moments ago, had darkened abruptly. With a deafening roar, a downpour began hammering down, and students passing through the Central Club Building hurriedly sought shelter inside buildings.
Luckily for her. The moment the deluge hit, the streets emptied in a flash.
Soon, no one paid any mind to her, standing alone and forlorn in a forgotten corner of the academy, drenched by the rain.
Whoosh...
Rain lashed down from the heavens, slicing through the air to pummel the earth. Water cascaded from building eaves like massive waterfalls, and raindrops pooling on the roads formed small puddles in seconds.
Wet leaves gleamed an even more vivid green after being washed by the downpour, and the earthy scent rising from the soil stung sharply at the nose.
The whole world seemed shrouded in a gray veil, the hazy, blurred landscape swallowed by the relentless patter of rain.
The girl stood fully exposed to the torrent.
Rain streamed down her cheeks, blurring tears from water. Her soaked hair clung to her face, and her uniform plastered transparently to her body.
Her face, half-melted like candle wax, seemed to harden again under the rinsing downpour.
Melting and solidifying in cycles. Amid that horrific sensation, she suddenly realized something.
Memories that hadn't existed flooded her mind.
No—forgotten memories poured in like a waterfall.
“I remember now... I... I... was murdered by Allen Jest.”
The reason she'd hated Allen Jest so fiercely.
The reason her guts twisted every time she saw him, now a kindly teacher with a spotless reputation.
During the failed hotel dare, when gas exploded and rumors spread of his heroic sacrifice saving students—why she'd wanted to scream at everyone that there was no way...
It all came rushing back, so vividly she couldn't fathom why she'd ever forgotten.
“If I died... then...”
But another question arose.
“Who... am I?”
Whoosh...
The rain continued to pound fiercely.
Amid the jumbled memories and chilling realization, the girl stood alone in the downpour.
Her body, chilled by the rain, felt as cold as her heart, which seemed to be freezing solid.