Chapter 24: The Hannya’s Shadow and a Twisted Assignment

“January 4th? Wasn’t that a month ago?” Qichuan Feng pointed out.

“Yes, it seems the person mentioned in this diary is connected to that Matsui guy’s death,” Bai Yuliang mused, his curiosity piqued. “By the way, what exactly is a Hannya?”

“A Hannya is a type of vengeful spirit from legend, said to be an oni born from intense jealousy and resentment,” Qichuan Feng explained, then asked, puzzled, “Why do you ask?”

‘Another ghost?’

‘Heh…’

“No reason,” Bai Yuliang shook his head. “Let’s keep reading.”

[Reiwa 1, January 5th. I spent another whole night having fun in the red-light district today. Hmph, to say I’m dying? That guy clearly doesn’t understand the body of a Showa man!]

[Reiwa 1, February 17th. I feel terrible today. Could it be the virus? Damn those Shenzhou people, why did they bring the virus here!]

“What an idiot…” Bai Yuliang muttered, flipping the page.

[Reiwa 1, February 17th. I feel awful. I’ve thrown up so much blood… Am I dying?]

[Addendum: I remember now, I must have contracted the same illness as Mom and Dad. Everyone in my family died from this disease, and I thought I could escape it… I don’t want to die. I need to find that strange person!]

[Reiwa 1, February 18th. That person said they would help me, but I had to do something… The price, though, is too great.]

[Addendum: That person’s hands were as cold as a corpse’s.]

[Final day. Now, I can finally die in peace.]

Upon turning to the next page, the notebook was completely blank.

“That’s it?”

Bai Yuliang stared for a long moment, a hint of frustration in his eyes.

Seriously? This damned Matsui wrote a diary with such a terrible attitude and skill? He rambled on and on, yet there were only a few useful sentences.

Damn it… If you dared to appear before this Daoist now, I’d make sure to transcend you, you bastard!

“There’s no more information,” Bai Yuliang said, closing the diary and calming himself. “It looks like Ichiro Matsui committed suicide sometime after February 18th, which was last Wednesday.”

“Although there isn’t much useful information, we can make a few bold deductions.”

“First, the entity we’ve been communicating with all this time is likely Ichiro Matsui’s ghost.”

“Second, the mysterious person wearing the Hannya mask possesses some terrifying power—a power that can even alter Ichiro Matsui’s fate of dying from his illness.”

“Third, Ichiro Matsui willingly became a ghost, and the price he paid for it was perhaps to initiate this death assignment.”

As Bai Yuliang finished his deductions, Qichuan Feng and Nishionji Mitsuki’s faces turned visibly pale.

Though they now possessed more information, the hidden truths behind it seemed far more terrifying than they had initially imagined.

In the unseen depths, everyone’s fate appeared to be controlled by an invisible, colossal hand, leaving them powerless to resist.

Perhaps dying in ignorance was, in itself, a stroke of luck.

The group searched the room for a while longer but found nothing useful. After taking a few photos of the diary, they left.

****

After they departed, a black sedan, parked among the vehicles at the funeral home, slowly lowered its window, revealing a grotesque Hannya mask.

****

When Bai Yuliang sent the news of Teacher Matsui’s death to the newly created ‘Survivors’ group, everyone in the chat expressed their utter shock.

“What the hell! Teacher Matsui actually died? Then what was talking to us all this time?!”

“Asakura Mirai and the others can still talk in the old class group, so Teacher Matsui must have turned into one of *those* things too…”

“Are you saying… he became a ghost?”

“That’s the only possibility, isn’t it?”

“Oh my God…”

“By the way, does the school know Teacher Matsui is dead?”

“Teacher Mori probably doesn’t know. Last week, didn’t he say Teacher Matsui just had the virus?”

“He’s such a lucky idiot! He doesn’t have to go through these horrible things like us!”

“Then let’s just pull him into the group! That way, he’ll have to die with us, hahahaha!”

Reading the various messages in the group, Bai Yuliang felt an inexplicable chill run down his spine.

In just a few short days, classmates who had once seemed rational were now uttering such words.

He suddenly felt a strange unfamiliarity with them. However, after reading ‘Matsui’s Diary,’ he couldn’t be sure if these individuals had been twisted into this state by the death assignment, or if these dark thoughts had always lurked within them, merely hidden from plain sight.

This feeling was terrifying, for Bai Yuliang deeply believed in one saying: ‘All men know the horror of ghosts, but evil spirits know even better the poison of human hearts.’

Coupled with memories from his previous life, he had a vague premonition. In this death assignment, perhaps the most frightening aspect wasn’t the assignment itself, but rather the darkness stirred from the depths of human hearts. Compared to that, ghosts seemed almost clean.

****

On Monday, Bai Yuliang returned to the classroom.

After a weekend of rest, it seemed the students were beginning to adapt to the terrifying assignment. The once-somber classroom now buzzed with a bit more life, as everyone chattered away.

“What is wrong with this class?!”

Teacher Mori, who was substituting, slammed his hand on the podium, looking utterly furious.

“The moment I walked in, I saw you all bickering like a marketplace! You are students, and third-year high school students at that! Is this how you intend to come to class? Do you even want to study?”

After his outburst, the chatter below paused for a few seconds, but quickly resumed its noisy clamor.

No one wanted to pay attention to Teacher Mori anymore; they simply felt he understood nothing.

“Hey!”

Seeing his efforts were futile, Teacher Mori stepped down from the podium and walked directly up to a handsome male student.

“Yuto Kirigaya! Look at your attitude right now. Is this the attitude of a student who wants to learn? I just heard you talking about your dating experiences with other classmates. What are you doing? Do you want to become a host in the future?” Teacher Mori sneered, a look of disdain on his face. “That profession is utterly shameless!”

“Whoa, whoa, Teacher… what’s wrong with being a host?” Yuto Kirigaya replied with a roguish grin. “With my looks, if I went to work at Takamagahara in Kyoto, I’d earn more in one night than you do in a year.”

Yuto Kirigaya spoke with confidence. Firstly, he was the school’s recognized heartthrob, not only handsome but also 180cm tall with an eight-pack. More importantly, he possessed extremely high emotional intelligence. It was rumored that he had already ‘conquered a hundred’ by the time he entered high school, and was currently dating a wealthy young lady from Class A.

“You… you have no shame!” Teacher Mori was on the verge of exploding. “Do you think being handsome means you can do whatever you want?!”

“Sorry, Teacher, but being handsome *does* mean you can do whatever you want!” Yuto Kirigaya said with a dismissive look. “I only applied to this school to get close to the rich young ladies here. My goal has been achieved, so whether I get into university or not is irrelevant to me.”

“To be frank, Teacher, my girlfriend has already agreed to marry me after high school graduation. Then I’ll just happily live off her family’s money…”

Yuto Kirigaya rubbed his stomach, a mocking smile playing on his lips.

“Teacher, I just have a sensitive stomach; I can only eat soft food.”

“I can’t teach this class anymore!”

Teacher Mori stormed out, his face a terrifying shade of black.

“Hahahaha!”

Watching Teacher Mori leave in a huff, the classmates erupted in laughter.

Already under immense pressure as third-year high school students, everyone had now chosen to let loose due to the death assignment, unable to control themselves any longer.

Even if the death assignment were canceled now, most of them would likely struggle to return to their former, normal selves.

“It’s great to be handsome,” Bai Yuliang remarked, a hint of envy in his voice as he watched Yuto Kirigaya’s smug expression.

As if hearing Bai Yuliang’s voice, Nishionji Mitsuki, seated in front, turned around.

“Don’t say that, Yuliang-kun, you’re not bad-looking either.”

Bai Yuliang wasn’t sure how Nishionji Mitsuki managed it, but today she was again wearing the same glasses as before, her hair thick once more, perfectly concealing her formerly cute face and ample figure.

“Oh, haha… I’m just average. I can’t compare to a school heartthrob like him,” Bai Yuliang said with a touch of self-deprecation.

“Oh, actually, you’re quite handsome sometimes… it’s mainly that you don’t usually wear makeup. Yuto Kirigaya, in fact, wears full makeup to school every day; it’s just so natural-looking that most teachers can’t even tell.”

“Wow, really?”

“Really. And he even pursued Qichuan-san once, but she completely ignored him, making him look quite foolish.”

“Ha, he deserved to be made a fool of for daring to pursue *that* person.”

Hearing this news, Bai Yuliang felt a surge of happiness. After all, Qichuan Feng had passionately kissed him for a while last time, making him feel far superior to Yuto Kirigaya.

Just like that, the classroom’s commotion continued for a while longer until everyone’s phones vibrated.

Their voices abruptly ceased, their expressions grim.

Everyone knew what that vibration meant.

– Teacher Matsui: “Classmates, I’ve missed you all so much! (Smile) 🙂”

– Everyone: *You want us dead, don’t you?*

– Teacher Matsui: “Today’s assignment is hereby announced: Yuto Kirigaya and Maruta Tsuchiya are to engage in a relationship. Reward for success: 100,000 yen (approximately 5200 RMB). Punishment for failure: death by castration. Time limit: 24 hours.”

The moment they saw the assignment, everyone exploded.

No one doubted Kirigaya’s skill at charming girls, but Maruta Tsuchiya…

He was a man, for crying out loud!

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