After our adventure at the courthouse, I spent the next two days at the dorm with the others. Hecate was back to normal. She regained her strength after some rest and went out today to buy groceries right after breakfast.

  I felt like I needed to stick around while the object monsters were still targeting us. That, and I wanted to stay close to Carol… I told Ayumu the truth so she’d leave me alone, but I didn’t know what was gonna happen.

  If she were to tell everyone about me and Miyuki, I wanted to be in a position to explain things. We still weren’t dating, even if I said what I said, so Carol probably wouldn’t be too mad about it…

  “And yet, she left the dorm without me… Why didn’t she wait? Because I was messing around too much?”

  In the end, Ayumu didn’t say anything to anyone. Well, it’s not that she hasn’t said anything, she hasn’t gone to school these last few days. Ever since I ran into her while I was with Miyuki. There’s a chance that today’s the day things will change, so I gotta catch up to Carol…

  What was she thinking? It’d be better if we all walked together. It’s the last day, after all…

  “Iroha? Can I talk to-” I was adjusting my shoes by the entrance when Narumi showed up. “Wait… are you leaving? Right… Ahahaha… I forgot you go to school.”

  “Yeah… You wanted to talk? I’ve got a minute. Just one, though.”

  “Uhmm… It’s…” She was on the verge of saying something, but… “Actually, never mind. It’s just a silly idea… Forget about it.”

  “Come on… You’re making me curious now… What is it?”

  “If you insist…” She fidgeted in place with her hands behind her back and continued with a weak tone. “I kinda figured out who’s making the monsters…”

  “Ehh… Really? You did…” Wow… Her boobs look so soft… Does she know how much they stick out when she moves like this? “Wait… What did you say?!”

  “Sorry… That was not right… I narrowed down the characteristics of the one… Does that make sense?”

  “It’s okay. I get it. But are you serious? Did you really figure that out? That’s like the opposite of a silly idea… That’s a big deal! A really big deal!”

  “I don’t know…” She hesitantly grabbed her own arm. “I’ve been trying not to think about it, so I might be wrong…”

  “This is one of those things where even a bad guess can help. Don’t worry about whether it’s wrong or not, and just tell me what you think.”

  “Well, the culprit’s probably a girl.”

  “Starting with the conclusion… Why do you say that?”

  “From the objects themselves. What you said about it being someone turning things into monsters got stuck in my head, and I kinda realized it. The make-up brush and hand mirror both led me in that direction, and both at the same time convinced me.”

  “Okay… I can see it. What about the other items then?”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “Red herrings. Though probably unintentional. Doesn’t matter for now.” She shrugged. “There are actually two types of object monsters that we’ve come across. The ones we went after, and the ones that came after us. That’s the next thing to take a look at.”

  “Sure, but… I didn’t notice anything different about them. Is there a pattern I missed?”

  Narumi had to think for a second. “That’s… Not what I meant… It doesn’t matter if there are those two types. What’s important is who they went after.”

  “So… Katja, Carol, and I?”

  “Yep! You three have something in common, and it’s very important.”

  “We’re all members of the House… The culprit is probably someone who knows that…” A light suddenly turned on in my head. “It must be someone from the PSF… I see now!”

  “Ehh… No…” Narumi looked genuinely confused. “You’re forgetting something. You have the House in common between the three of you, but Hecate and I are also members, and we haven’t been attacked. There’s another thing in common between the three of you that doesn’t apply to us.”

  The way she looked at me made me feel like a complete idiot… Was I really that far off? “Which is…?”

  “You three are members of the House who are all in the same class.” Same cl- class…? “The culprit is a girl from your school. Most likely someone from your class. It’d have to be someone somewhat close, able to see there’s a relationship between you three.”

  “No way…” I bumped backwards into the closed door. It’s someone from my class? “Are you serious?”

  Narumi nodded. I can’t believe this… Who? Who is it? Please don’t tell me it’s Miyuki… It has to be… That’d mean her future sight is also a skill… Oh no… Please… “Who… *gulp* Who is it?”

  “I don’t know.” Narumi was nowhere near as tense as I was and casually shrugged. “I needed your help for this part. You should know who it is. When you or Carol were attacked, had you seen one of your classmates before? They needed to know where you are to send the monsters after you.”

  Carol said she started feeling strange after we went to the mall… If she was attacked then… “I think I did…” She was with me both times… She was right by my side… It’s Miyuki, isn’t it…?

  “…”

  But… I thought Miyuki didn’t want to go to the other world… She could be lying, but… Could it really be her? She was with me when we were attacked by the mosquito, and she was by our side the whole time while we were at the mall? Did she even have an opportunity to create the ghost and send it after Carol?

  “There are two girls actually… Two that I saw both times…” Miyuki is one… It’s very possible that she’s the one, but there was someone else… “Miyuki, whom you met the other day, and a girl named Ayumu…”

  I almost forgot, but I came across Ayumu both times too… We spotted each other at the mall, and I obviously ran into her the other day, while I was with Miyuki.

  “You saw both of them both times?” Narumi looked troubled. “That’s worse than if you had seen one only once… It’s a fifty-fifty now… Our odds would have been better otherwise…”

  “I heard what you were talking about.” A serious voice spoke at the end of the corridor. Hecate and Carol were out, so it could only be Katja. “If everything you’ve said is true, the culprit must be her… When I was ambushed when I was on my way back from the PSF, I spotted someone walking around. Ayumu.”

  “Really? Are you sure? So Ayumu’s the one making the monsters? I can’t believe it…” It’s not Miyuki… What a relief…

  “We have no time to waste. We have to look into this now!” She was taking her sweet time and was the reason Carol didn’t wait for me. “Hurry, Iroha. Let’s head to school and find her.” And now she’s in a rush…

  “Wait!” I stopped her as her hand reached the doorknob. “Ayumu didn’t go the last two days. She’s might not be there today. Maybe she’s sick or something…”

  “She’s at home then…” Katja calmed down but remained focused. “Do you know where she lives? We can go to her house. Let’s call Shinji right away!”

  “Uhmm… I don’t think that’s needed…” Narumi interrupted with a spacey voice. She scrolled through her phone before turning it to us. “I kinda mentioned this to him yesterday… He found the social media for all the girls in your class in advance, so we can just… Look at this.”

  “A photo?” Damn… This is her account… Did they really track down every single account? I wouldn’t be surprised if Shinji has access to some kind of government database like that… Eww…

  The photo was a shot of the mall’s main avenue from a higher floor. Since it works out in our favor, I can’t say much, but… Whatever happened to privacy? Not cool…

  “Isn’t that the mall near us? When was that… 24 minutes ago? Is she planning something? Why are there so many people so early in the morning?”

  Narumi answered like it was obvious. “A lot of people’s vacations started yesterday… Everyone’s probably rushing to buy things in the morning to have fun later.”

  “That’s not good… If she makes a monster there, all those people are in danger…” Katja pulled back her head and took a deep breath. “We’re moving out! Grab your weapons and let’s go!”

  “Huh?” I tilted my head. “Like, right away?”

  “Of course! We have a duty to protect those people. Every second we waste, is a second those people are in danger!” Katja pushed us, and we scrambled to gather our stuff.

  “Wa- wait…!” Narumi scrambled to grab her axe in its compact form and did as Katja ordered, but there was something concerning her. “We can’t move out on our own… What about Hecate and Carol? We don’t even have a plan… Let’s wait for them, okay? It’s too much of a risk.”

  “We can’t wait!” Katja screamed while running back to her room. “We’ll call them on the way there. They can join us whenever they’re ready!”

  We finished picking up our stuff and gathered again near the entrance. “No way this is going to end well… You’re being too hasty, Katja… Iroha, can’t you convince her?”

  “Me?” Convincing Katja? Can I even do that? And even if I could, would I want to? “Sorry, Narumi, but I’m with her on this one… Hesitation causes more problems than anything else. I think we should head out right away.”

  “I knew you’d understand, Iroha.” Katja opened the door with a satisfied nod. “Let’s go!” She ran off, and I followed right after.

  “Oh well…” Narumi shrugged. “You’re the experts. If you say so, I’ll follow.”