"How tragic."
Carrying a bag of vegetables, standing in the middle of the crowd watching from behind the stretched yellow police tape, Naoki sighed as he looked at a corpse not far from him.
The third suicide victim from Fujou Building.
Looking up at the sky, even without activating his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, thanks to their characteristics, Naoki could still see several phantom-like figures above Fujou Building.
There were eight ghostly women floating there.
"Eight... then there are still five left, minus Fujou Kirie... seven people?"
Recalling "Overlooking the Scenery." Naoki sighed softly.
This matter was beyond his capabilities.
He had coincidentally resolved some incidents in Garan no Dou, "Remaining Sense of Pain." "Paradox Spiral" had already failed before it happened two years ago, "The Hollow Shrine" didn't exist at all, and the rest were "Murder Speculation." "Overlooking the Scenery." and "Oblivion Recorder"... "Murder Speculation" and "Oblivion Recorder" could still be dealt with, but only "Overlooking the Scenery" was something Naoki absolutely couldn't resolve.
It wasn't that he didn't want to, but that he couldn't.
For example, the root cause of "Remaining Sense of Pain" was that Asagami Fujino had experienced long-term abuse by thugs, which accidentally caused her congenital anesthesia to malfunction, while Naoki rescued her the first time she was kidnapped, and her appendicitis was also treated in the hospital.
Therefore, this could be considered resolving the incident from its roots.
For "Murder Speculation" and "Oblivion Recorder." if they actually happened, the situation would likely be similar.
But "Overlooking the Scenery" was different.
It was something that was about to happen before Naoki even came here, and he was powerless to prevent it. Fujou Kirie's condition was the result of Araya Souren's long-term influence, already irreversible, with only a path towards destruction.
If Naoki wanted to intervene, all he could do was accelerate Kirie's destruction.
Of course, there was also the option of him constantly guarding Fujou Building and saving every person who wanted to commit suicide before they did, but in reality, he didn't have that much free time.
Therefore, he had no solution for "Overlooking the Scenery"—or rather, no new solution.
'Just go back.'
He had only gone out to buy vegetables; if he didn't return soon, Touko would definitely nag him again.
Thinking this, Naoki turned around, but his eyes met someone standing behind him.
Kokutou Azaka.
And noticing Naoki standing in front of her, Azaka, who felt he looked somewhat familiar, paused for a moment, then quickly remembered who he was, "Ah, you're the person I met at the supermarket before..."
"You still remember me. I'm Natsukawa Naoki, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Kokutou Azaka."
Because handsome blond young men like you are very rare—Azaka didn't say that sentence. After a brief greeting, her gaze returned past the crowd towards the corpse in the distance.
"Interested?"
"She's a senior at the same school." Azaka explained, "The previous victims were also my classmates."
This time also from Reien Girls' Academy?
Naoki was silent for a moment, "Sorry, I didn't mean to."
"It's okay, I was just a little curious and came here anyway."
"Curious?"
"Why my senior and classmates would commit suicide here. They were all students often praised by the teachers, there's no reason for them to commit suicide... Sorry, it's very impolite to say this next to someone's corpse."
Azaka hurriedly took two steps back and apologized.
"In that case, I guess I should go back to school soon. See you later."
"Don't approach this area again in the future."
Naoki's voice suddenly came from behind. Azaka stopped in her tracks and turned back, only to see him looking at her with a slightly serious expression.
As if realizing his expression was too serious, Naoki chuckled softly, "Well, you see, three people have died in this place consecutively. Should we say it's a feng shui problem... I think it's best not to approach it. So you should also not approach it, otherwise you might end up like the person over there."
"I see..."
After staring at Naoki's eyes behind his glasses for a moment, Azaka finally nodded, "You really are impolite saying that. Besides, I already noticed when we met at the supermarket last time, your storytelling skills are terrible."
"Eh? Why do you say that?"
Naoki couldn't help but be stunned.
His storytelling skills were terrible?
Really!?
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
"So, you were rejected by a high school girl?"
"Not at all."
Inside Garan no Dou, after listening to Naoki's story, Touko couldn't help but laugh, then lit a cigarette, "Giving her advice was the right thing to do. There's definitely something strange around Fujou Building. Unfortunately, our police colleagues are completely off track with their investigation; they're running full speed in the wrong direction."
"The police?"
Naoki frowned.
"Does Master also have connections with the police?"
"I was once invited for tea because of the Araya Souren issue, and then I exchanged phone numbers with a police officer."
"A male friend?"
"No."
Glaring at Naoki, Touko continued, "The second and third victims were students of Reien Girls' Academy. The first victim had attended Reien some time ago and then transferred. In other words, all three victims who have appeared so far are from Reien Girls' Academy."
"Is there some kind of connection between them, or is this actually a serial murder case disguised as a series of suicides, actually targeting Reien Girls' Academy—that's what the police concluded, right?" Naoki understood Touko's point.
Nodding, then firmly waving her hand, Touko laughed, "Unfortunately, this general direction is completely wrong. The fact that all three deceased are Reien students is just a coincidence; it's an indiscriminate accident. Almost like a car accident. The investigation is completely meaningless."
A series of accidents caused by someone's superpower—that was the truth about what was happening at Fujou Building.
Looking at Touko, who was looking down while smoking, Naoki suddenly asked, "Master, haven't you known for a long time? About Fujou Building."
"Who knows?"
Smiling mysteriously, Touko put out her cigarette, "Compared to me, you're showing a more blatant expression. It's really like someone who wants to eat sweets but has to diet because of their weight."
"Is my expression that obvious?"
"Yes." Touko replied with a laugh, "By the way, it's been a month by coincidence. I'm going to give you a task."
"A task?"
Every month, Touko would randomly choose a time to give Naoki a task. This was a rule Touko had established since he became her apprentice, but it was almost the end of the month, rounded up, Naoki hadn't done a task for almost two months.
"Master, could you choose a better time to give tasks in the future? There are only three or four days left this month, I don't really want to stay up late."
"It's okay, this is a very simple task, you can finish it in one night—here."
Touko threw a document lying on the table to Naoki.
"This time it's not a task to make dolls, but a task as an employee of Garan no Dou. Resolve the incident at Fujou Building. The requester is the police, the request fee is Gray's salary for this month."
There are currently three employees at Garan no Dou, but only Gray receives an official salary. Naoki signed a voluntary work contract when he became an apprentice, while Shiki doesn't need it at all.
Naoki flipped through the request letter in his hand, "Then what about my supposed salary for this month? If I remember correctly, we only completed two orders in the middle of the month."
"That... I saw some nice holy relics earlier, so I bought them all at once."
"..."