Prologue
“Hu…”
I could not help sighing aloud as I opened the newspapers and the glanced at the headlines as I supported my jaw on my palms.
On the third page of the newspaper, a bold headline announced: “35 Students Suffer Mass Hysteria”
That incident occured the day before in a public high school in Chiba. Apparantly, a student complaint during class that his foot had been bitten by a black dog that could not be seen by the naked eye. Subsequently that caused a large uproar.
“Ah…”
I am Taniyama Mai, a sixteen year old student. Although this is self proclaimed, I am a very ordinary and proper student (it is true!) I only have a strange part time job. And that strange job is right here where I am reading the papers – “Shibuya Psychic Research”.
Located in an office building in Shibuya, Tokyo, “Shibuya Psychic Research” is a company that investigates paranormal incidents. That is, we investigate ghosts and super powers, and other supernatural phenomenon.
Working at such a place, there are times when I have to work at haunted houses. Of course, one should experience as much as one can in one’s lifetime. Like meeting ghosts, and making friends with girls with psychic powers, to name a few.
However, even to one as experienced as I, the article still caught my interest.
While I was re-reading the article for the multipleth time, Chiaki sempai interrupted.
“Wha~at’s up, Mai?” Raising her head from her book, Chiaki said, looking at me.
Kasai Chiaki is eighteen years old – a student in a Tokyo Girls High School with psychic powers. Although she is skilled in bending spoons, she is currently somewhat depressed. To shake off her depression, she is currently undergoing training at “Shibuya Psychic Reserach”.
“What Happened?”
In response to her query,
I showed her the article of interest.
“Look at this. It concerns that Ryokuryou High School again.”
Ryokuryou High School. A school that has appeared in the news many times in the past week.
“Them again? What happened this time?”
“They say someone was bitten by a black dog and caused a commotion in the classroom.”
“Dog?”
“Eh. Although the teacher could not see it, students claim to have been bitten and caused a rukus. Furthermore, amongst those who claim to have been bitten, some have what appears to be wounds caused by a dog bite or something similar.”
“Ah… And the reason?”
“It was explained as mass hysteria. ‘We believe that due to the spate of recent inexplicable occurences in the same school, some aggitated students experienced mild hysteria, and spread the hysteria to other students.’ Is what they say.”
“But, wasn’t someone injured? What was that about?”
“Unexplained.”
“Forget it. This is a common occurence.”
Within a month, Ryokuryou High School has already been on the news 4 times.
“What was the first incident?”
“Mass absenteesm.”
The first incident was: all the girls in a certain class claimed that there were ghosts and refused to attend school.
The next report was about mass poisoning. Nearly half of the students in a class suddenly felt nauseous and unwell. Although it looked similar to food poisoning, the conclusion was that it was not. The real reason for that incident is still unknown.
Chiaki sempai rolled her eyes.
“Eh… And was the next incident was the fires in the locker room?”
“It is as you say. Since autum, there were a series of fires in the gymnasiums’ locker room. When it came out, it was quickly published on the news.”
“Wasn’t it arson?
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)