"Someone called you?... Then does that mean someone else is here besides us… lurking in the dark, completely silent. Maybe waiting for a chance to attack, perhaps."
Sayo gulped at the mere thought. She had already faced enough in this so-called 'haunted' mansion. She wasn't ready to deal with another round of bullshit.
"But… that person called my name. My actual name… how would a different person know it? I don't have that big of a social circle, nor am I some celebrity. Neither do I look like one. Why would a random person know my name…"
Hina's eyes kept darting away, subconsciously glancing back at the spot where the voice had come from.
"Didn't those first years tell us a similar story?"
Fuyumi's words drew everyone's attention. Ryuga, in particular, looked rather intrigued.
"What was the story? I'm interested to know about these kohai[1] and their ghost stories. After all, these tales are the foundation of their confidence in the supernatural," he added.
"They talked about a group of 'ghost-tubers,' you know—general influencers, but focused on ghosts and spirits. According to them, a certain group of influencers called Lesser Evil once came to this mansion for an investigation.
"This place isn't that popular but still makes the charts of the supernatural. They were a fairly new group, so they thought this would be a great place to start. Their adventure went fairly well at first; they hadn't encountered any ghosts or anything paranormal. Their stream was doing fine too, around two to five thousand people were watching them live.
"It wasn't until 3:00 AM that the group of four—two boys and two girls—finally noticed their first paranormal activity. One of the members of Lesser Evil had to pee, so he wandered off to the bathroom.
"Of course, he didn't bring a camera with him, but he had a flashlight to see clearly in the dark. About five minutes after he left, a shrill, gut-wrenching scream was heard near the bathroom. His friends immediately felt their scalps go numb. According to them, he was the most courageous in the group, so they were terrified of whatever could've scared him that badly.
"Still, they couldn't just abandon him. So they quickly followed the sound and stood before the bathroom door. They called his name but got no response. Even so, they didn't rush in blindly. Instead, they waited, five more minutes passed. Their anxiety spiked, and so did the number of viewers in their chat. Everyone was urging them to go inside.
"But they were too spooked to move. It wasn't until exactly 3:33 that the bathroom door creaked open. Their attention snapped toward it instantly. The doorknob twisted slowly, and the door opened… just an inch.
"Through that narrow gap, they saw a person's back just behind the door. But it wasn't their friend. It was someone else, wearing a dirtied rag crawling with maggots.
"The sight horrified them beyond belief. But when they glanced at their chat, they froze completely. There was a single message being spammed across the screen, over and over.
"And it made their legs go numb. The message read—'The door opened from outside.'"
Once the story ended, they all swallowed hard. The story itself wasn't that scary; if they had heard it anywhere else, they would have simply shrugged it off. But right now, they were standing exactly where the incident had taken place. In the corner of their minds, fear had already begun to fester.
Well everyone… but the exorcist himself.
Ryuga.
"Hmm… but how does that bathroom ghost correlate with Hina's situation? The ghost was in the bathroom, and if I put my bias aside and assume ghosts do exist, then according to my family, a family of exorcists, some ghosts are bound to a specific area, usually their place of death.
"And from the looks of it, this bathroom ghost didn't wreak havoc until their friend went inside the bathroom. So, I can safely assume that this ghost has area-specific restrictions, which doesn't explain Hina's situation.
"But you know what does explain it? It's Hina herself."
His words made frowns appear on everyone's faces. Fuyumi, who had told the story, herself believed it didn't really connect to Hina's case. She had only shared it to plant the seed of doubt about ghosts in their minds.
Seeing the confusion on their faces, Ryuga sighed. "What I mean is simple. Hina is a blabbermouth. She tends to mumble whenever she's distressed or panicked. And her mumbles aren't exactly quiet. Especially in a place like this, where it's completely silent, if someone listened closely enough, they could easily hear her voice."
Hina's eyes contracted at his analysis, but he wasn't done yet.
"Adding to that, she also has a habit of speaking in the third person whenever she's upset or being sarcastic. Now, I have a question for you, Hina. Think carefully and tell me, did you or did you not say your own name while mumbling in distress?"
Hina listened closely and pressed her memories. She didn't deny his words, she knew she had that habit. And there was no point in denying it, especially in a situation such as this. It would only make things worse.
After focusing, she remembered something. 'No, no, no. Those were just made-up stories by those first years. Yeah… think about it, Hina. How could a perfectly normal person live in this place all alone? Those sightings of a skinny man glancing at passersby must've been made up.'
Hina abruptly stood from her chair and shouted with enthusiasm, "YES!!"
Others flinched at her sudden outburst, and a streak of red crept across her cheeks. Embarrassed, she sat back down and cleared her throat.
"I mean, yes. I did mumble my name. Ryuga's reasoning might be correct. I know my tendency to speak a bit loudly when I'm stressed. And if what Ryuga said is true…"
"Then there's someone else here besides us."
Ryuga finished the sentence.
The thought of someone unknown being with them inside a haunted mansion, one that was also a murder site, was far from comforting.
And to heighten that unsettling knot in their chests, Daichi began voicing his hypothesis. "Guys, let's stop for a moment and think about this. Why would anyone stay inside a deserted, supposedly 'haunted' mansion? On top of that, this place is completely drowned in darkness, not a single ray of light passing through.
"If someone had been living here for a long time, their mind would surely be affected and not in a good way. I get it if they're homeless; they might've found this empty mansion a convenient place to stay. But the stench of that corpse should have driven them away. Yet they never tried to remove it or even locate its source. That entire room was untouched, it's also the dirtiest one in the mansion.
"So why did they do that? You know what, I think there's only one reason why they didn't touch it… they're the killer themselves."
[1] Kohai: A kohai is a junior or someone with less experience in a group, school, or workplace. Japanese nouns generally do not change form between singular and plural. Context determines whether you mean one or more people. And in this context, it's plural.