Part 15

Miho: Besides the neck, there's no external signs of any other injuries. It probably was just the strangling that did the job.

Makoto: Can't believe there's someone other than me who would choose suicide.

Ran: Still, Asakura, it seems like you've been much more motivated than usual. Rare to see you proactively investigating an incident like this.

Makoto: S' all cause of you, y'know.

Makoto leaned down and brought her face quite close to Ran's.

Makoto: Thanks to you, Tama's not even giving me the time of day, so all I can really do is come out and try to have some fun on my own.

Ran: Well, you do seem to be enjoying yourself.

Ran: (Leeeeeet's not tell her about Tama spending all this alone time writing letters to her, just yet.)

Ran: Tama has things she wants to do, too.

Makoto nodded.

Makoto: Yeah, she's got stuff she wants to do. It's wonderful.

Makoto: Yeah, me and Tama's problems are basically settled for the most part now. You?

Ran: Me? Me what? You mean me and Ann?

Makoto: Well, yeah, who fucking else. You've got her super worked up and anxious now, and it looks like you're the only one who can't tell.

Ran, in denial: I know far better than any of you how best to talk to miss Sakura. And miss Sakura isn't the kind of person to be anxious in the first place, ever.

Makoto: Yeah, I get it, the Miss Sakura you know is some kind of insane hypercompetent ultralogical omnipotent goddess. But the her here is far more emotionally sensitive than you seem to understand.

Makoto: Seriously, you shouldn't put too much pressure on her. Try and find a different way to get along with her.

Ran understood how Makoto was able to come to this conclusion. She'd tried changing their style of interactions before too.

But she really didn't want other people to make suggestions about how her and Ann's relationship ought to change, even if the suggestion was probably right.

Ran: This is between me and miss Sakura. Don't interfere.

Ran: (I imagine Tama's probably in no mood to think about the case. Let's go see what she's up to.)

Tama: Ibuki-san!

Ran: You sure look lively, Indou. You don't seem at all like someone who was a corpse just a day ago.

Tama: Ibuki-san, don't you know by now? If someone is revived after dying then they'll go right back to being perfectly healthy.

Ran: (It was a joke, was it that hard to- nevermind.)

Ran: So, what're you up to? Doing homework?

Tama: Oh, no. I'm writing some things for Asakura-san to see later. There's lots of things I want to tell her.

Tama: I feel like I'm being irresponsible about Koizumi-san, since she's been killed and all.

Tama looked down at her pen and the paper in front of her.

Tama: But right now I've focused both my heart and mind on this task and don't have any focus to spare on other things.

Ran: That's fine. I'm sure Koizumi will understand.

Ran: This book again? You still haven't finished reading it?

Tama: Oh, no, I finished it a long time ago. I'm referencing it right now.

Tama: The way that the book expresses thoughts and emotions is quite excellent. I'm trying to write something for Asakura-san that's just like that.

Tama: Thank goodness the young mistress taught me to read and write. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to convey all the things I want to say to Asakura-san now.

Ran: (Before, when I recalled my memories about Koizumi-sensei and Makoto, it was because the things they said or the actions they took intersected with my memories of them.)

Ran: (Which is to say, the more they talk about themselves, the more likely it is that they'll cause me to regain some of my lost memories.)

Ran: (So let's ask Tama a few more things and see where that goes. I'm pretty curious about how exactly it's possible for me to be interacting with a person from the Taisho era, myself.)

Ran: Tama, your young mistress, what was her name? Could you tell me her full name, if you don't mind?

Ran: Tama, your young mistress, what was her name? Could you tell me her full name, if you don't mind?

Tama: Sure, her name was Yanagiwara Shirohana.

After hearing that name, Ran felt like her brain had taken a blow- but the effect only sustained itself for a short period.

Ran: (I feel like I've heard that name, Yanagiwara Shirohana, somewhere before. But it didn't cause a full-on flood of memories like I'd wanted. Am I still missing something?)

Tama, obliviously continuing: At the time I didn't know why the young mistress spent so much effort teaching me my letters, but now I truly understand and appreciate what she did for me.

Ran just sort of nodded along. All she could think about was finding a time to go and look up this Yanagiwara name and figure out what kind of person she was.

Ran: Tama, could you tell me a bit more about Yanagiwara Shirohana?

Tama: Of course. But could we do so later? Right now I really want to concentrate on this letter.

Ran: Oh, uh, sure. Then until next time.

Ran: (What kind of weird recall point is this? What's the point here?)

But after Aya shut her door, Ran returned to the hallway again.

Meta-Ran: (Hm? What am I up to now?)

Ran: Look, I can at least help with washing the vegetables. Lemme help.

Sai: Oho. Industrious of you, kid.

Sai rummaged around in the drawers underneath the sink for a while, until she dug out a pair of plastic gloves.

Sai: Wear these while you're washing the vegetables so you don't hurt your hands.

Ran: Thanks.

Miho: Yano-san, Ibuki-san.

Miho had finished showering and come to the kitchen as well. She was clearly avoiding making direct eye contact with Ran, and stayed on Sai's side of the kitchen.

Miho: Need me to help out?

Sai: Sure. We're out of gloves though.

Miho: That's fine.

With the three of them working together, they cleaned off the whole mountain of raw ingredients quickly.

After they cleaned up the kitchen and had a few more words of chat, they headed up the stairs as a group, preparing to retire to each of their own rooms.

Makoto: Oh, hey. Three of you all in the same place. What a party.

Ran: Asakura? Where're you going so late at night?

Makoto: Nowhere, just going out for a breather. Been kind of awkward with Tama lately so I decided I'd opt for a bit of avoidance.

Sai: Oh, really? Yesterday when I saw you two together in your room, it seemed like you two were getting along great.

Makoto smiled, waved her hand lazily, and passed the three girls and left the dormitory building without answering Sai's query.

Meta-Ran: (Makoto went down the stairs yesterday... I didn't hear her bring that up, though?)

After that, the three of them went up the stairs and bade farewell to the others, before each retiring to their own rooms.

Ran: (Huh... it ends here? And here I thought the point of this recall point was to allow me to see Koizumi-sensei again...)

Ran: (But I didn't even run into her going downstairs to shower at all. Not to mention it's weird that we ran into Makoto.)

Ran: (Now I've got more questions.)

Ran relaxed her body, and let herself slide almost completely into the water, and then closed her eyes tightly and enjoyed the warmth that was now suffusing her whole body.

But even like this, she could still feel Miho's eyes on her. Even from the start, when the two of them were showering outside the bathtub, Ran would occasionally catch Miho throwing glances at Ran.

And when Ran intentionally met Miho's eyes, Miho would immediately break eye contact, only to return to stealing glances at Ran shortly later.

Ran: (What's she up to.)

Ran opened her eyes and sat up straight, and Miho immediately looked away.

Ran: Takei.

Miho: What is it, Ibuki-san?

Ran: What do you mean 'what is it'- what's with you? If you've got something to say just say it, rather than staring at me like that.

Miho: Mmmm... I'm afraid you'll get mad if I say it...

Ran: Well, if you don't want to say it, don't say it. And stop ogling me as well while you're at it.

Miho hadn't expected Ran to shut her down so harshly like that, so she replied hastily.

Miho: I want to say it even if it might make you mad anyways. If it does feel free to yell at me.

Ran: (Hah. Knew she'd panic and spill her guts if I reacted like that.)

Miho: Ibuki-san, do you have schizophrenia?

Ran Ibuki stared, and forcefully slammed her hand into the water. Then she pretended that she was wiping the water that'd splashed onto her face off, to disguise the fact that Ran was wiping tears off her face.

She'd thought that she no longer cared about others discussing that fact anymore, but after Miho had pointed it out so bluntly, Ran still instinctively shrank away from her, pulling herself to the edge of the bath and covering her mouth with her hands, as she stared with wide eyes at Miho Takei.

Miho: I'm sorry, Ibuki-san, I didn't mean anything by it, I just... if you need help with anything, you can tell me about it, okay?

Miho, upon witnessing Ran's response, would probably treat it as confirmation that Ran did in fact suffer from schizophrenia. Conflict-avoidance, being easily angered, and perpetually suspecting the world around themselves were common symptoms, after all.

Miho: Calm down, Ibuki-san. I'm not going to hurt you. You still remember that Ann's here too, and that you can go see her anytime you need to.

Ran: Why'd you have to say it like that... I'm not insane.

Miho: Sorry, it's just... I had a cousin who was like you. Later on, because of her illness, she broke off relations with her family, and left the family and never came back.

Miho: I'm worried about whether or not you might end up making some rash decisions too, which is why I was thinking about if there was a way I could help you somehow.

Ran: I've made all kinds of rash decisions before already.

Ran hugged her legs, still as far from Miho in the bathtub as she could put herself.

Ran: But I have miss Sakura to help me, so there's nothing wrong with me. You don't need to worry about me, I have my own methods of suppression.

Miho: Suppression? You're taking medicine?

Ran: Used to take Olanzapine.

Miho: That stuff's dangerous if you take too much. It increases the risk of lethal cardiac arrhythmia.

Ran: An insight freshly acquired from the Merck's Manual, if I'm not mistaken.

Miho: Yeah.....

Ran: Miss Sakura used to use the Merck Manual to help me. That's how I knew.

Ran: Anyways, Olanzapine's a thing of the past. I don't take it anymore.

Miho: Okay. If you don't feel well or if you're feeling depressed about anything, make sure to tell me about it, okay?

Ran: Don't fucking say shit like that to me!

Ran slammed her hands into the water and screamed at Miho at the top of her lungs.

Ran: What's the fucking point if I tell you?! You'll just treat me like I'm talking crazy talk! Can you see the things I see? Can you hear the things I hear?!

Ran: If I told you, all you'll do is smile and tell me that I don't need to be afraid and that all those things are just delusions, but they're real to me!

Ran: If you think I'm mentally ill then stay as far away from me as you can and don't concern yourself with me.

Ran: Don't follow me!

After Ran screamed at Miho again, all Miho could do was sit back down into the water.

Miho: Sorry, Ibuki-san...

Ran: (Ughhhhh... Talking about how I have everything under control, and then I immediately blow it and wind up furiously screaming at Miho. So embarrassing.)

Sai: But enough about me. What's up with you? Got into a fight?

Ran: (Whoops, looks like they heard me. I must have screamed too loud.)

Ran: I'll go apologize to Miho.

Sai: Good girl.

Ran: Ugh, why'd you even bother to ask me about it if you'd already overheard it all. So annoying.

She was quite aware that everybody here was just concerned for and looking out for her. It was wrong of her to throw tantrums like that.

She returned to her room, and immediately ducked into the bedsheets, and turned to face the wall.

It didn't take long for Miho to return to the room. Ran shrank in on herself, not wanting Miho to see her face.

Ran: I'm sorry, Miho. I shouldn't have spoken to you so harshly just now.

Miho: No problem, Ibuki-san. I was at fault as well.

Miho waited for Ran to say something in response, but after waiting a while and seeing that Ran had no intent of following up, she continued speaking herself.

Miho: ...Then let's go to bed and get some rest. Goodnight.

Lunchtime was the same as last time. The atmosphere was a bit glum. Sai's attempt to change the mood by enriching the girls' lunches hadn't had much success.

Ann: Sai, you must have worked really hard to prepare this many dishes for us. Please, you should really ask the rest of us to help out when we can.

Sai: It's fine, this is my responsibility.

Tama: The food is wonderful, Yano-san!

Sai: Well, I mean, you're great at cooking too, Tama. We're about evenly matched when it comes to cooking.

Ran: (Looks like the atmosphere improved just a little bit, but...)

Ran: Tama, Asakura's missing. Is she not coming down for breakfast?

Tama noticeably startled a bit when her name was called, and stuttered for a few moments before answering.

Tama: I don't know, I sent her a text but she hasn't replied.

Sai: Can't believe even you can lose track of Asakura once in a blue moon. Forget her. I'll whip up something to eat for her personally once she turns up.

Sai: Hold up.

Sai suddenly popped up out of nowhere to interrupt the conversation between Ran and Ann. She even draped an arm over Ann's shoulder as she spoke.

Sai: Sakura, could you loan me Ibuki for a bit? There's something at the swimming pool I need her help with.

Ran: What? No. I want to be together with miss Sakura.

Sai: Resistance is futile. To the swimming pool with you.

Ran: Wh- don't tell me you want me to help you clean the swimming pool with you! No! It sounds like it'll be awful and exhausting! Leave me alone!

Sai, to Ann: Alright, I'll be taking her now.

Ann nodded, and waved farewell to Ran as she struggled in vain against Sai's abduction.

Ran watched as the paper slowly turned deep blue, and nodded.

Ran: Very basic. Maybe around nine or ten, if I had to guess?

Sai: Yeah, just about- I'd say nine. Anyways, we need to lower it a bit. Most swimming pools have a pH of seven or seven-point-five or so.

Ran: Oh yeah? How're we going to do that?

Sai: Ha, I knew that you'd immediately find something like this interesting.

Sai got a bag out of the plastic box, and handed it to Ran, before pointing at the other end of the pool.

Sai: This is disinfectant powder. Go over that way and sprinkle it into the water. I'll start from this end. Try to shake it out evenly.

Ran: And here I thought we were going to drain the water and then go down and manually scrub the pool.

Sai: Eh, that'd be way too much effort. No need for it this time. Once we toss in the disinfectant, it'll kill the bugs and floating scum and such, and then we can cycle the water underground to filter and cycle it.

Ran: Wait, wait. Underground? Filtering? Cycling? What?

Sai: There's a machine under the swimming pool that'll filter out the stuff that isn't supposed to be in the pool's water. After that, all I have to do is pour in the pH-adjustment solution, and everything will be OK after that.

Sai: Winter's almost here, and once it freezes over we won't be able to use the swimming pool. So we'll wait for the ice to melt in the spring, before we drain the water down there to wash it.

Ran: I see. And here I thought that there was no way to wash the pool without draining all the water.

Sai: Well, this time our primary goal is to clean the water in the pool, not the pool itself. Anyways, that's enough blabbering, let's get started.

Sai nudged Ran in the butt with one of her knees to tell Ran to get to work already. Ran turned around and made a silly face at Sai, before jogging off to the other end of the pool with the disinfectant.

Ran: (The last time I had to do something this repetitive and mindless, I was at the Delusory Crossroads, I think.)

The Delusory Crossroads

The Delusory Crossroads are an anomalous phenomenon situated within the city of Najaf. Getting lost within local graveyards in the city will cause one to unconsciously enter an altered space. The altered space contains endlessly repeating crossroad intersections, as well as large numbers of regularly positioned coffins.

The names of individuals, as well as their date of birth and death, are inscribed upon the coffins. By entering and falling asleep within a coffin, one can converse with the designated deceased person within their dreams. However, when they awake, they will completely lose their memories of the dream.

Those who enter the Delusory Crossroads accidentally must find a coffin without a name and carve their own name, date of birth, and date of entrance into the Crossroads. Then they must enter and fall asleep within that coffin. If they do this, they will awaken at the last place where they fell asleep.

Ran Ibuki once found the coffin of a certain person here (details lost due to memory loss), and laid herself within that coffin, using the Notebook to record their conversation. Afterwards, she scratched the existing name off of a different coffin, and scratched her own personal details into that coffin, to secure her escape from the Delusory Crossroads.

Ran: (But here it's just like when I'm showering- I can calm down and contemplate other things, such as-)

Ran continued her mechanical actions as she passed one of the corners of the pool.

Ran: (Like the situation with Koizumi-sensei and Makoto Asakura. It seems now like all the students in this school have some kind of connection to me. They have some kind of position in my life one way or another.)

Ran: (But when I first came here, I didn't have any memory of them- and yet despite that I didn't feel any irregularity.)

Ran: (Even though I'd forgotten Koizumi-sensei, I didn't see any inexplicabilities appear in my memories of high school.)

Ran: (Just like, if my original memories were 'A and I went to eat hamburger', and they were changed to just 'I went to eat hamburger'. Despit the clear difference, as a self-consistent snippet of memory, there's no problem at all; only the involvement of the other party was redacted.)

Ran: (So can I assume that the being who tossed me here, wanted me to regain my memories of everybody here?)

Ran continued spreading disinfectant, as she looked up towards the sky.

Ran: (From my standpoint, it seems kind of pointless. But I don't need to guess at their goals; all I need to do is what I want to do.)

Ran: (Rather, there's a more interesting theory this presents to me. If my redacted memories don't cause any feelings of irregularity for me, then is it possible that, when I was going through anomalies like the Red Ruins or the Delusory Crossroads, that I could have had a companion with me?)

Ran: (Even though I'm sure that I was strong enough, that I could do anything I had to, to find miss Sakura, it's still possible that perhaps-)

Ran spread another spoonful of disinfectant into the air, and when the powder touched the surface of the water, the ripples they kicked up were stark black, as though Ran had tossed a spoonful of the night sky into the pool.

Ran: Huh?

Ran bent over and stared at that patch of water intently, waiting for the dark ripples to settle and for the water to return to normal.

Hesitantly and disbelievingly, she tossed out another clump of powder, but this time the water displayed nothing out of the ordinary.

Ran: (What's going on? Is there something off about this patch of water? Can't be- I went into the water during a recall before, and nothing weird happened back then.)

Ran Ibuki put down the plastic bucket, kneeled at the water's edge, and reached towards the surface of the water.

Sai: Hey. Don't move.

Sai grabbed onto Ran's wrist and halted her.

Sai: What do you think you're doing. We just scattered all that disinfectant into the pool, if you reach and touch it you'll burn the skin on your hands.

Ran nods and pulls her hand back.

Ran: (Was I just seeing things?)

Ran: If it burns skin now, how're you going to swim from now on?

Sai: Once the disinfectant's fully dissolved into the water and we've filtered it out, all we'll have to do is to do a pH rebalancing.

Sai: Have you tired yourself out or something? If you don't feel like doing it anymore, then feel free to leave the rest to me.

Ran: No, I just thought the color of the water looked a bit off, so I stopped to check it out.

Sai: Alright, keep on with it then.

Ran: (It was probably just a hallucination. Let's not think too hard about it. I'll cheer myself up by thinking about miss Sakura instead.)

Scattering disinfectant over the pool proved to be a much more arduous chore than Ran had imagined. By the time that Sai announced that they could pack it in, Ran felt like her arms had dislocated themselves.

Ran, dangling her arms, swayed her way over to Sai's side.

Sai: I'm about to go activate the filter machine. You wanna come with?

Ran: ...How long's the thing gonna take.

Sai: Probably gonna run all the way until just before dinner.

Ran: Forget it, I'm out. I'm pooped.

Sai: Go ahead, go ahead.

But then, she noticed Tama Indou standing at the door, looking this way and that, with quite a nervous expression.

Ran: (What's going on. Ah, Tama noticed me.)

Tama quickly ran towards Ran. Ran subconsciously put her hands out with the palms facing up, and lo and behold, Tama actually put her tiny little hands into Ran's palms, like a little puppy doing the shake-hands trick.

Ran: (CUTE! SUPER CUTE!!!)

Tama: Ibuki-san! Hurry! Miho and Aya are having an argument in the kitchen! Koizumi and Asakura-san aren't around, and I don't know what to do!

Ran: What about miss Sakura? She's around, right.

Tama: S-Sakura-san is trying to break it up, but it doesn't look like it's working! Please hurry and help!

Ran: (What do these two think they're doing, causing trouble for miss Sakura like that.)

Ran released Tama's hands and quickly entered the dorm building.

As soon as she entered the kitchen, she heard Miho shouting at the top of her lungs.

Miho: Can you not be so childish!

Aya, on the other hand, had put her legs up on the dinner table, and wasn't even sparing a glance towards Miho. Her expression was filled with displeasure.

Ann stood between the two of them, helplessly repeating 'let's not fight, let's sit down and talk it out properly'.

Ran: (Miss Sakura??)

Ran was more concerned with the bewildered expression on Ann's face, than she was with the spat itself.

Miho: Ibuki-san!

Ran: Eh?

Miho rushed over and seized Ran's wrists.

Miho: We're leaving!

Ran: Eh? What?

Ran found herself dragged up the stairs to the second floor and there to her and Miho's room. Miho slammed the door shut behind them and sat into one of the chairs.

Ran: What are you even doing.

Miho: Nothing, just using you as an excuse to get out of there. You came just in time.

Ran pulled up a chair next to Miho's chair and sat down.

Ran: At least this means you're going to finally spill the beans about why exactly you two are fighting, right??

Miho: Our reason for fighting would sound quite mundane to an outsider, so I don't want to talk about it.

Ran: You two are really causing problems for everyone though at this point.

Miho: It's fine. I'll figure out a way to deal with it.

Ran: This is a problem between you and Aya. I'm pretty sure that you trying to figure something out just by yourself isn't going to be sufficient.

Miho wanted to contradict Ran, but she found she had nothing to say.

Miho: Let's talk about it later.

Ran: ...No.

Ran leaned over the table, reached out, and grabbed Miho's shoulder.

Ran: Miss Sakura came out to try to mediate between you two herself. But neither of you paid any attention to her. You've made quite a lot of trouble for miss Sakura.

Miho shrank back a little- just like she did in the classroom, when the newly arrived Ran Ibuki had forcefully asked her the name of the culprit.

Ran: So I need to do something about your problem quickly, so that miss Sakura can be free of the need to worry about the two of you.

Even though Ran said it in a reproaching tone of voice, the words she'd said immediately made Miho seem to relax.

Miho: Wow, you really are terrible at showing your concern for others.

Miho: But, you and Ann are both decent folks, and I don't want to cause any more trouble for the two of you.

Ran sat back down and shook her head.

Ran: Any decency I possess is entirely the result of miss Sakura's influence on me.

Miho: Anyways, just- give me a little time. Once I've prepared myself I promise I'll tell you about it.

Ran: Alright. Let me know after dinner, then.

Aya: Ann, look! My romantic rival!

Ran: Oi! Toyama!

Aya feigned intimidation and cartoonishly hid herself behind Ann Sakura.

Ran: You're fighting this badly and you still don't want to talk about the reason?

Aya: Oh, by that question, you've let me know that Miho didn't tell you while you were upstairs, either! So I'm not telling either.

Ran: Even though she hasn't told me yet, but she's agreed to talk about it with me afterwards. So if Miho's willing to make up with you, are you willing to cooperate as well?

Aya splayed her legs, supporting herself with her arms pushing down on a nearby chair, and started waving her body around.

Aya: Well, I can't answer either, since you haven't actually gotten anywhere yet. Anyways, as long as Miho agrees with my ideas, we can immediately make up. That's been my stance since the beginnings.

Ran: Sure. Whatever. We'll see what Takei has to say about it when we get there, I guess.

Sai: You sure are busy, Ibuki. You've got to think your way through the case and to handle all these interpersonal relationships too now.

Ran: Don't just mock me from the sidelines, you try coming up with a way to fix this too, Sai.

Sai: Well, I guess I'll put some thought into what these two troublemakers would like to eat, then.

Ran: (Is it just me or does something seem seriously off.)

Tama: Asakura-san... I don't know where she's gone. She still hasn't replied to my texts.

Miho: Been a while since I've seen her as well.

Aya: D'you think she's been murdered??

Ran: (Not to mention that I was suspicious that Makoto was the culprit anyways.)

Miho: Well, in theory, the culprit can kill people other than the designated victim. Like if the culprit were obstructed, or just wanted to create additional complexity for the case. Of course, if they get exposed before they even get to their designated victim, then it's a big fat zero for them.

Ran: (Right, that time Asakura killed me in the recalls, it was because she was afraid that I'd notice some inconsistencies.)

Ann: Makoto could still be alive. If she's in a situation like what Ran and Koizumi encountered before, that'd be quite unfortunate. We should go look for her.

Ran: Miss Sakura is right. Let's go looking. Dinner can wait until afterwards.

The students paired up and started searching for Makoto all over the school. Except, Miho and Aya, who would normally be inseparable from each other, had each paired up with Sai and Tama, respectively.

Even though the lights were on in the hallways, it was still quite dark. Ran and Ann held hands, fingers fully intertwined, and stuck very close to each other.

Ann: Is Ran afraid of the dark?

Ran: Ah? Um, yes! A little bit!

Ran: (Really, it's the other things I'm afraid of.)

The two of them slowly advanced, calling out Makoto's name as they walked. Soon they'd reached the damaged stairwell that Ran had discovered previously.

Ran: Miss Sakura, do you know when exactly these stairs broke down?

Ran: (The situation is now very different from before. And disregarding the other students, perhaps miss Sakura, who shares certain pecularities with me, can tell me something useful.)

Ann: Yeah, it was when we'd just arrived at the school. We wanted to visit the second floor to see what was up there. Makoto was at the very front when suddenly the stairs just completely collapsed.

Ann: Because Makoto was really tall, she didn't fall over even when she missed a step. She just sort of stood there dazed in the pit. At the time we all found it hilarious.

Ran: (What? That's it??)

Ran: And the second floor? What was there?

Ran: (I didn't see anything particularly interesting when I visited the second floor. Maybe if miss Sakura and the rest were able to reach it from some different route, they could perhaps have seen something?)

Ann: We're not really sure. We've never tried going up again, mostly because there's no use for the upstairs.

Ann: The school's very old in many places, and signs of decay can be seen. We were worried that the other stairs were suffering from similar issues, so out of safety concerns we didn't make any other attempts.

Ann: But the places we frequently use are all very durable. Only the places we almost never go seem old and dilapidated.

Ran: Huh. I never noticed.

Ran: (Could it really be that simple...? If I'd known, I would have asked Tama directly, and saved myself a lot of speculation.)

Ann: Because we only operate in the mostly commonly used areas, after all.

After Ann finished speaking, the phone in Ran's pocket started vibrating, echoing mildly in the hallways.