Chapter 371: Melody |
A sorrowful, soothing melody gradually grew clearer in the corridor.
It felt as though a story was transitioning from an illusion into reality.
It was the natural flow of sound produced by piano keys being pressed in perfect rhythm. Someone was playing the piano here, inside this long-abandoned and desolate school campus.
"Did you guys... hear that?" Suzuki Sawami, who was walking beside Shimizu Yu in the middle of the group, whispered cautiously, her mouth twitching.
In truth, the moment the piano echoed through the halls, the entire group—who had been planning to take the stairs to the fourth floor of the school building to investigate the urban legend of the blackboard—halted in unison and exchanged uncertain glances.
"That is the melody of the Moonlight Sonata..." the handsome youth Fumino Haruki muttered with a strange expression. Before coming here, they had naturally done their homework on this abandoned school. There was no way they would be unaware of the supernatural rumors surrounding it.
"The piano that grants a wish to anyone who can perfectly play the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata... right?" Ikegami Shinichi scratched his head before letting out a bright laugh, breaking the eerie atmosphere. "It seems we are not the only ones who came here for an adventure today!"
His words had a significant effect. The group today consisted mostly of young girls. In an environment completely saturated with urban legends and ghost stories, it was only natural for them to be terrified when a melody from those very tales suddenly bled into reality.
However, Ikegami Shinichi's reasoning woke everyone from their sudden fright. He was right! The urban legends here were widely known, and people had even come to livestream the place before. It was not strange at all for someone else to coincidentally be exploring the school today!
As the atmosphere warmed up, Ikegami Shinichi smiled again and remarked, "But speaking of which, their piano skills seem incredible! It sounds amazing. I do not know much about the piano, but have any of you studied it?"
The group exchanged glances, but no one answered.
Ikegami Shinichi spread his hands in helplessness. "Alright, I guess not... But since we are already here today, it would be a pity if we did not test out both of these urban legends—"
He pointed upstairs to where the piano music was coming from. "How about we go check out the music room first?"
"..."
...
A series of footsteps moved to the rhythm of the piano melody, arriving at the open back door of the music room. From there, they had a clear view of the spacious, dusty room. Right in the very center sat a dilapidated grand piano.
Seated at that piano was a man with mid-length hair, wearing a black hooded trench coat.
They could not see his face from the back door, but watching those long, slender fingers dancing gracefully across the keys, it was obvious he was quite young. His perfectly straight posture gave the impression of impeccable elegance.
The man was still playing, so the group stopped outside the door, not wanting to intrude and interrupt him.
However...
Crash—!!
The heavy, jarring sound of all ten fingers slamming onto the keys instantly shattered the beautifully sorrowful and moving melody.
The person sitting at the piano abruptly turned his head. On his face—handsome to the point of being demonic—his eyes stared coldly and madly at the crowd outside the door.
For no apparent reason, everyone caught in his gaze felt their hearts skip a beat. It was like venturing deep into a jungle and coming face-to-face with a starving giant anaconda. Their scalps prickled, and the hairs on their arms stood on end!
Then, he stood up and turned to face them.
"S-Sorry!" A slightly trembling, clear voice suddenly rang out, echoing faintly in the empty music room. Shimizu Yu stared nervously at the young man who had been sitting at the piano.
Her right hand tightly gripped her left forearm. Hidden beneath her sleeve was the alchemical talisman Hoshino Gen had drawn for her on her first day working at the antique shop.
The moment the young man turned his head just now, that spot on her arm had burned so fiercely she had almost screamed out loud!
Her body trembled slightly. "We did not mean to disturb you. We will leave right away..."
The young man shifted his gaze away from the others, focusing solely on Shimizu Yu, the only one who dared to speak up in front of him. The icy expression on his devilishly handsome face melted away. The madness remained, but a twisted smile appeared on his lips. When he spoke, his voice was somewhat hoarse, "Very well. You stay. The rest of you can disappear."
As soon as his words fell, Suzuki Sawami, who had been Shimizu Yu's best friend for ten years, could not help but speak up. "You..."
"Sawami!" Shimizu Yu jumped in fright. She tightly grabbed her best friend's hand, cutting off whatever she was about to say, and quickly shifted her body to block the young man's gaze—his eyes were faintly beginning to glow red. She had no idea whether the being in front of her was human or a ghost!
But one thing was absolutely certain: he was not an ordinary person like the rest of her group. Even ignoring the violent reaction of the alchemical talisman on her arm, she could clearly sense a certain aura emanating from him—a characteristic strikingly similar to Hoshino Gen and his two friends.
But one thing was absolutely certain: he was not an ordinary person like the rest of her group. Even ignoring the violent reaction of the alchemical talisman on her arm, she could clearly sense a certain aura emanating from him—a characteristic strikingly similar to Hoshino Gen and his two friends.
Precisely because she was familiar with Hoshino Gen, she understood better than anyone else present that the lives of everyone in her group likely hinged on a single whim of this person...
"Sir!" However, another voice rang out.
It was Fumino Haruki. He had also broken free from the shock of the young man's oppressive aura. Staring directly at the youth, he tried his hardest to keep his voice calm. "It was wrong of us to interrupt your performance, but we are also—"
His words came to an abrupt stop. That was because his vocal cords had disappeared, along with his entire head. Accompanied by a fountain of spraying crimson blood, his head smashed brutally against the wall, reducing to a pulpy mess of flesh.
The headless corpse collapsed with a heavy thud. At some unknown point, the young man had moved to stand directly in the center of the crowd outside the door. Holding a handkerchief, he casually wiped his slightly bloodstained fingers and chuckled, "I despise sounds that are out of rhythm."
As he spoke, he looked past Shimizu Yu at Suzuki Sawami, who was now hiding behind her best friend with a face full of sheer terror. "Have you memorized that?"
"Ahhh—!!"
Screams instantly filled the corridor. The moment their terror breached its absolute limit, several girls could no longer hold back and unleashed ear-piercing shrieks.
Yet, an expression of pure enjoyment surfaced on the young man's face, as if these terrified shrieks were not considered out of rhythm in his book.
Then, he snapped his fingers. The surroundings instantly plunged back into dead silence. No one could make a single sound anymore. However, aside from the already deceased Fumino Haruki, everyone was deathly pale and consumed by fear, their faces painted with nothing but bewilderment and utter panic.