Chapter 886 - 886: The Art Rooms in the Old and New School Buildings

After her words faded away, Eiren Kanagawa also fell into a long silence.

"Congratulations? Haha... I thought you'd be jealous. You're not jealous, but happy for me because I've finally decided to start a new life? Are you giving me your blessing?

"Thank you. You're still just like you used to be, always so kind, always thinking about others while rarely considering yourself.

"And that also means—even if I die, I won't be able to see you in the next world. Someone as kind as you will ascend to Heaven, while I'll probably fall into Hell.

"There are countless paintings depicting Heaven and Hell, yet every one of them is different. Does that mean everyone has their own Heaven and Hell, or does it mean that no such thing as a 'realm of the dead' exists at all?

"Hehe, the last possibility seems more likely. If ghosts truly existed in this world, my father's spirit never would have let those people go back then.

"Likewise, all those people she and I killed and tortured would never let the two of us go either.

"'The moment you kill your first person, you must be prepared to be killed by someone else one day.'

"Ironically, those were the exact words she once taught me.

"But back then, if she hadn't helped me avenge my father, the people responsible for his death not only would have escaped punishment, their crimes would never have been exposed. And every one of them worked for television stations.

"Some were reporters, others were hosts. They could effortlessly promote themselves as heroes who had rescued victims of the plane crash and create incomparably glorious public images for themselves, while dismissing every skeptical opinion as a conspiracy theory.

"Forget about those people. Just look at her and me. Back then, she had constantly abused the authority of her position to carry out utterly unconscionable, inhuman 'things,' and she concealed them extremely well. If I hadn't discovered them by sheer coincidence, I might never have realized that the kind, approachable woman I knew actually had another side like that.

"Yet after discovering it, I couldn't bring myself to condemn her or call the police. Instead, when she gently asked me, I chose to become her accomplice.

"So many years have passed. Not only have neither she nor I suffered vengeance at the hands of the dead, we concealed everything without leaving the slightest trace. I became a professor in Kyoto University's Department of Fine Arts.

"And she—as the very first art teacher hired during Sobu High School's inaugural year, her seniority as one of the school's founding staff naturally allowed her to become the head of the art department. She was deeply respected. A single word from her stopped the old school building from being demolished, and another stopped the art room in the new school building from being renovated.

"Now she's retired and lives alone in Chiba City. To ease the loneliness of living by herself, she often helps her neighbors look after their children. She's practically become a kindly old grandmother.

"I really don't know whether she's only pretending, or whether caring for her neighbors' children all these years allowed her to experience the warmth of humanity and made her begin to waver in the beliefs she once held."

Sitting on the ground, Eiren Kanagawa spoke in an incomparably calm voice, as though recounting the past and present to a girl she had not seen in many years.

Eiren Kanagawa was not someone with few friends. Quite the opposite. For someone capable of becoming a professor in Kyoto University's Department of Fine Arts, the connections and friends she had accumulated could not possibly be counted on two hands. On top of that, she had always been skilled at socializing. Although she had only just "arrived" at Sobu High School, with her social skills, it would take her less than a week to become familiar with most of her colleagues.

How could a former professor from Kyoto University's Department of Fine Arts possibly lack connections and ability?

Yet no matter how many connections she had or how many friends surrounded her, how many of them were truly confidants?

Furthermore, even if someone were her closest confidant, Eiren Kanagawa would never dare reveal the memories buried in the deepest reaches of her heart.

Because all those memories were connected to that bloody yet incomparably secret massacre from years ago.

The undercurrents surging beneath that massacre had been deep and violent, while the darkness surrounding it seemed vast enough to shroud the entire sky.

Even Eiren Kanagawa, who had participated as an "accomplice," still did not know the full truth to this day.

"Oh? You're asking what the new school building is like now? You're still as curious about the new building as you were back then. I suppose that makes sense.

"Although the new school building had already been completed while you were attending Sobu High School, and most classes were gradually moving out of the old building, I remember your class was in the fifth group to relocate. What you looked forward to most back then was the new art room in the new school building.

"Unfortunately, you never lived to see the day that new art room was officially put into use.

"There was nothing I could do. Who told you to be such an incurable do-gooder and insist on being so close to that incredibly curious upperclassman? I remember she was the vice president of Sobu High School's Paranormal Club, wasn't she? No wonder she became interested in Sobu High School's seventh entry among the Seven Wonders and insisted on uncovering the truth.

"She was already a third-year student at the time, so originally I had no intention of paying any attention to her. But who could have imagined she would actually discover the tip of the iceberg? I had no other choice but to... If I'd simply left her alone, she might eventually have uncovered the entire truth."

As Eiren Kanagawa muttered to herself, the images resurfacing in her mind suddenly made her retch. Her stomach churned, and both hands began trembling. She clutched her head with both hands, her expression shaking along with her voice.

"I wasn't wrong... That's right, I wasn't wrong! If anyone was wrong, it was that upperclassman. If she hadn't smugly texted you to show off after discovering the first fragment of the truth and invited you to come to the school immediately, then I wouldn't have had to...

"When she discovered 'that' inside the art room of the new school building, it was already ten o'clock at night. It was that late, and she still asked you to come find her at school. No matter how you look at it, that was her fault! She never considered your safety at all.

"I'd been telling you for ages to stay away from that upperclassman, to stay away from her! Why wouldn't you listen to me?

"I had everything planned. The moment we graduated, I was going to marry you. Once we'd saved enough money, I was going to take you to Denmark in Northern Europe, the place you'd always dreamed of visiting. I was going to take you to downtown Copenhagen, then to Tivoli Gardens. Wasn't that where you wanted to go most? You called it the 'City of Fairy Tales.'

"I had arranged everything so perfectly. All you needed to do was follow the path I'd planned for you, one step at a time. But you just had to stray from the path I arranged!"

Perhaps because her emotional monologue had become too intense, Eiren Kanagawa was left gasping heavily after she finished. She continued like that for an unknown length of time before finally speaking again.

"Sorry. I got so worked up that I forgot to answer your question about what happened to that art room in the new school building. It's been many years since the new building was completed. That once-new art room is now called the old art room by the students. I wonder whether you still have any sense of how much time passes in the real world over there?

"Several years ago, the new school building underwent a major renovation. That art room was originally supposed to be renovated as well, but she used her authority as head of the art department to stop the project, just as she had stopped the old school building from being demolished years before.

"The reason she gave publicly was that she had poured countless amounts of effort into the new building's art room, and that it also held the precious school-day memories of generations of Art Club members. She didn't want former Art Club students to return to visit their alma mater after graduation only to discover that the art room they had known so well throughout their three years of high school had completely changed.

"Because she wielded considerable influence at Sobu High School, the art room has remained unrenovated to this day. The current Art Club members have had it rough because of that. Without renovations, they can't install air-conditioning. And without air-conditioning, the students obviously suffer through the heat of summer and the cold of winter.

"Originally, according to the regulations, she hadn't yet reached retirement age. But perhaps because she consecutively blocked both the demolition of the old school building and the renovation of the new building's art room, she faced considerable criticism within Sobu High School. To appease the board's dissatisfaction, she voluntarily compromised, accepting half her retirement benefits and retiring early as the price.

"Even then, she still insisted on preserving the old school building and preventing the art room in the new building from being renovated. After all, every single thing hidden inside the old school building and the art room is extremely important to her.

"I came back this time precisely to continue guarding the things buried inside the old school building and the art room on her behalf.

"The things buried in those two places absolutely cannot be discovered by anyone!"

At that point, the sharpness in Eiren Kanagawa's eyes softened. She rose to her feet, looked toward the old school building once more, and spoke quietly.

"After everything I've told you, you should understand why I had to kill you back then, right? Even though I loved you so much...

"There was nothing else I could do. That upperclassman from the Paranormal Club had already discovered part of what was hidden inside the old school building and the new building's art room. After finding it, she called you to the school under cover of night, and you saw it too.

"If you hadn't come back then, or if you'd walked a little more slowly and only reached the school after I'd finished dealing with everything, I wouldn't have needed to kill you. Maybe the two of us would already be married by now."

After those words fell, Eiren Kanagawa let out a long sigh. Whenever she remembered what she had witnessed with her own eyes and done with her own hands all those years ago, her heart would remain unsettled for a very long time.

All these years, she had constantly struggled between right and wrong.

Eiren Kanagawa believed that the love she had felt for her back then had been sincere. Every day they spent together had felt like being immersed in happiness.

Yet if time were turned back once more to that night when black clouds obscured the moonlight, she would still choose to kill her. Or perhaps she would kill the upperclassman from the Paranormal Club before that girl had the chance to send her a message.

After all, the things buried beneath the old school building and the art room could absolutely never be discovered. If they were exposed, both Eiren Kanagawa and the head of the art department would face consequences they could never bear.

If Eiren Kanagawa alone had to suffer those consequences, perhaps that would have been acceptable. But she did not want the head of the art department to face them as well. She did not want to see the benefactor who had helped her avenge her father sent to prison.

To protect her benefactor, Eiren Kanagawa had not hesitated to raise the butcher's knife against the woman she loved.

Then, even as she cried until she had no tears left, she used one coldly gleaming blade after another to dispose of her lover's corpse.

At that moment, the dismissal bell rang from the new school building. Only then did Eiren Kanagawa realize that she had already spent an entire class period on the rooftop.

"Whenever I talk to you, time seems to pass so quickly. I really wish it could slow down, slower and slower. I'll go for now. After work this afternoon, I'll come back to the rooftop and keep talking with you. Goodbye."

After saying that, Eiren Kanagawa gave the old school building one last lingering look.

Then she turned around and left the rooftop.

Perhaps because class had just ended, the corridor was rather noisy. Eiren Kanagawa listened with a smile. The sounds of students chatting and making a commotion gave her the illusion that she had traveled back through time to her own school days.

Eiren Kanagawa reminisced over fragments of her student years. So immersed was she in those memories that she failed to pay attention to what was in front of her. By then, she had reached the fifth floor and was preparing to continue downstairs when she accidentally collided head-on with a girl climbing the stairs while carrying a violin case in one hand.

"Ah!"

The girl cried out in surprise. Eiren Kanagawa hurriedly snapped back to her senses and reached out to grab the girl's wrist, preventing her from losing her balance on the stairs.

"Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going. Are you all right?" Eiren Kanagawa asked apologetically.

"I-I'm fine."

The girl holding the violin case had a pleasant temperament and did not lose her temper or complain. She merely shook her head. After regaining her footing, she breathed a sigh of relief, then raised her head to look at Eiren Kanagawa.

Seeing that Eiren Kanagawa was not wearing a school uniform, coupled with the fact that her face was unfamiliar and she did not seem like either a student or teacher at Sobu High School, the girl could not help asking curiously,

"Hello. May I ask who you are?"

Seeing the girl's puzzled expression, Eiren Kanagawa also realized that she was still unfamiliar to most of Sobu High School's students. After all, she had only just arrived and had not had much time to meet anyone yet.

"I'm the new art teacher who passed the interview a few days ago. My name is Eiren Kanagawa. I look forward to getting along with you from now on." Eiren Kanagawa introduced herself with a smile.

Upon hearing that she was the new art teacher, the girl smiled in realization.

"Hello, Ms. Kanagawa. I'm Momoka Mito from Class 2-B. Ms. Koishi mentioned before that the school recently hired a new art teacher. I was wondering what kind of person the new teacher would be and when I'd get to meet her. I never expected to run into you now. What a coincidence."

Eiren Kanagawa had originally intended to simply greet her, apologize, and leave. But when she heard that the girl named Momoka Mito was a student in Class 2-B, she hurriedly asked,

"You're a student in Class 2-B?!"

"Yes. Is something wrong?"

Momoka Mito nodded, looking somewhat puzzled as she wondered whether she had said something wrong just now.

Only then did Eiren Kanagawa realize that she had become too excited. She quickly steadied herself internally, adjusted her tone, and deliberately spoke with a slightly embarrassed expression.

"Ah, it's nothing. I just happen to know a student who's also in Class 2-B. Do you know her? Her name is Hibiki Naegi."

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