This Japanese Monogatari Isn't Lame
Chapter 220 - 186. You said that in this world there are... (8000-word goal achieved!)_2

Chapter 220: Chapter 186. You said that in this world there are... (8000-word goal achieved!)_2

"No need, thank you," Beichuan Si declined the bald manager’s kindness and ascended to the second floor.

Just like its unremarkable exterior, the library’s first and second floors were empty of visitors, yet surprisingly, the shelves were not dusty—which probably spoke to the bald uncle’s diligent work attitude.

Beichuan Si skirted around the low bookshelves and ventured further inside.

Before him lay neatly organized newspapers, although the sheer volume of newspapers here couldn’t begin to compare with what was available at the Shimadu City Public Library.

There seemed to be very few reports about this secluded and tranquil town.

But this also saved Beichuan Si some time.

He scanned the newspapers laid out before him, eliminating them one by one.

Festivals held, past events, sensational wood carving awards...

To Beichuan Si, these pieces of news were of little use.

Hmm?

His fingers paused as he rapidly flipped through the newspapers.

"Yuchuan Town child disappearance case!"

A headline in bold, large black font occupied most of the page, catching Beichuan Si’s attention.

"This must be the scanned version circulating online..."

Just like the newspaper scans Beichuan Si had found online, the missing children’s faces were blurred.

However, the names listed beneath the children’s portraits were much clearer than those in the online version.

At this point, Beichuan Si finally knew the names of the meddling kids he had encountered that day while rescuing Sakura Miori and the others.

The four missing children were Hazawa Tuoye, Sato Hidehiko, Iida Yuji, and Huashanyuan Chun.

Three boys and one girl.

The specifics of the case unfolding and conclusion were similar to what Qiushan Caiyin had described, so there was no need to delve further here.

However, bypassing the children disappearance cases, Beichuan Si noticed another small headline in the bottom right corner of the newspaper.

"Drowned child? Yuchuan God’s mischief? Four children unsettled emotionally, possibly related to this disappearance case."

"Hmm?" Beichuan Si’s fingers paused.

Yuchuan God’s mischief...?

Could it be that the ’Yuchuan God’s mischief’ Qiushan Caiyin mentioned was referring to this incident?

Following the print on the newspaper, Beichuan Si read further: The incident occurred a month prior to the children’s disappearance... A Yuchuan child drowned after school when a friend accidentally pushed them into the water during play. Because of the involved children’s young age, they weren’t held criminally responsible, and no charges were pursued... To not affect the children’s growth, and under the wishes of their respective parents, their names are not reported here.

"Names not reported?" Beichuan Si put down the newspaper.

The missing child, the drowned child... four emotionally unsettled children... Yuchuan God’s mischief... no responsibility pursued...

So that was it.

Beichuan Si finally understood why Qiushan Caiyin couldn’t recall what had happened back then.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t remember; it was that the adults were vague about the incident of ’Yuchuan God’s mischief.’

Because as residents of Yuchuan Town, scandals like ’a child from one family murdered a child from another and the families got into legal disputes,’ weren’t things they wanted a child like Qiushan Caiyin to know.

So, at the time, the adults used the term ’Yuchuan God’s mischief’ to obscure the truth from the children.

But in truth, every town resident knew this wasn’t an issue of Yuchuan God’s mischief.

It was a tragic incident spurred by children’s play.

And this tragedy was collectively ignored by the Yuchuan people... More accurately, the Yuchuan people sided with the perpetrator.

And those four emotionally unsettled children... were most likely Hazawa Tuoye and his friends.

Was there then a possibility?

The irresponsibility that could not be pursued and the town’s indifferent stance on the matter might have fueled the resentment of the parents of the drowned child.

Within that dense resentment, a murderous intent slowly formed.

This parent likely abducted and killed Hazawa Tuoye and the other children when they were playing hide-and-seek at Yuchuan Elementary School.

This could also explain why Beichuan Si saw those children’s spirits with ragged wounds on their bodies in the spiritual realm of Yuchuan Elementary School.

There is no such thing as the Yuchuan God, it was purely a human killing.

However, if that were the case, the police at the time should have first suspected the parent who drowned the children.

After all, he had enough motive to kill.

"But the investigation was not successful."

Logically, this would be impossible; a premeditated, targeted murder case would naturally be unraveled by the police if they were intent on investigating.

Beichuan Si rubbed his temples.

"But even the current progress of the investigation can explain some of the earlier doubts, and moreover—"

Beichuan Si’s eyes deepened as he set down the newspaper and stepped out of the library while making a call to someone.

...

After contacting Qiushan Caiyin, Beichuan Si walked beside her on a long-abandoned sloped path next to Yuchuan River.

"This is the path that used to lead to Yuchuan Elementary School, Mr. Beichuan. Look, there are cherry trees planted on both sides, but no one has come here to view the cherry blossoms since that incident," Qiushan Caiyin explained.

"Mhm," Beichuan Si responded briefly.

It was now late evening, and Beichuan Si needed to use a flashlight to continue walking upward.

The surroundings were utterly silent; the cherry trees on either side of the road lacked their daytime beauty. The intertwining branches created an inexplicably fierce and terrifying feel when illuminated by the flashlight.

"Ha..." Qiushan Caiyin exhaled a white breath and mumbled strangely, "What’s going on...? Why has it suddenly gotten colder? Is it an illusion?"

Indeed, as Qiushan Caiyin had said, a chill was slowly spreading, as if time had returned to the cold month of January.

But Beichuan Si was unconcerned and silently continued to climb upward.

He believed that at Yuchuan Elementary School, he would find the answers he sought.

Beichuan Si and Qiushan Caiyin reached their destination after walking not much further, one behind the other.

After all, it was only a slope to an elementary school, so it was naturally not built very high.

And finally, after climbing over the slope, what entered their vision was the somewhat twisted and deformed wire fence.

Behind this deformed fence loomed the dark silhouette of the old school buildings.

That terrifying group of shadowed buildings might be Yuchuan Elementary School.

"I haven’t been up here in many years. I didn’t expect the neatly aligned wire fences to have become so twisted and deformed. That’s really strange... Mr. Beichuan, do you believe that there really are ghosts in this world?"

Qiushan Caiyin seemed to be deliberately trying to scare Beichuan Si as she spoke intentionally.

In response, Beichuan Si simply glanced at her, "There must be a reason for neatly arranged fences to have changed to their current state."

He analyzed in a calm tone:

"As far as I am aware, Yuchuan Town has experienced earthquakes in recent years, likely those minor quakes shifted the original position of the fence, pulling it into its current form."

"Oh? That’s disappointing, Mr. Beichuan, don’t you believe that ghosts truly exist in this world?"

Qiushan Caiyin pouted.

As a long-time resident of Yuchuan, she certainly knew Beichuan Si’s deduction was not wrong, but his words were indeed tad too insensitive, making her somewhat resentful.

Just as she voiced this, she did not expect Beichuan Si to suddenly look at her with an exceptionally serious expression.

His gaze was piercing, making Qiushan Caiyin’s scalp tingle. After a good while, he finally spoke, "There indeed are spirits in this world."

A mountain breeze whistled past, making Beichuan Si’s voice amidst the wind sound particularly horrifying and eerie.

A cold shiver spread up Qiushan Caiyin’s spine, and she suddenly felt that the ordinarily agreeable Beichuan Si was actually quite terrifying.

"Miss Qiushan, please be assured, I have no intentions of doing anything to you," Beichuan Si said coldly, then turned his head back to look at Yuchuan Elementary School beyond the fence.

His chilling voice resonated once more:

"It’s just... spirits of resentment indeed exist in this world."