The Author Is Speechless
Chapter 269: The Mourning Ceremony. Part 8

Chapter 269: The Mourning Ceremony. Part 8

"Who said I could sleep forever!! I have a lazy master to take care of! How dare I slack off!"

He jumped out of his bed and found himself in an unfamiliar place. His brain lagged a few times before realizing where he was and what he was doing.

He then fell on his bed again and looked at the ceiling. "My goodness, I thought I was going to be late for work. I almost got worried for my master that he could be sleeping for a week straight but I am not even near my master now. Hah.."

Adonis then reached for his phone near his pillow and looked at the tons of text messages on his phone. Not only that, there were about 32 missed calls from his classmates.

To satisfy his curiosity, he called Ryoko and went inside his blanket with his phone stuck to his ear.

"What is it, Ryoko? Sorry, I was sleeping."

*Futaba, something terrible has happened.*

"You caught my interest, continue please."

*It’s about Kanna. She just disappeared.*

"We all know she disappeared. What did the police say? Did they start the investigation? Do we have to write some description of what happened inside the house now?"

*It’s nothing like that, Futaba. It’s Kanna who disappeared from everyone’s memory except for the 6 of us. There is no evidence of her existence anywhere. No photos, no books, no phone numbers. Even Mahiko went to Kanna’s house but there was only her elder sister. There is no girl named Kanna anywhere, Futaba.."

Adonis went deep inside his blanket and replied, "Ryoko, can you come over to my place now?"

*Now? Man that was out of nowhere. You rarely invite anyone to your place. I don’t even know your address.*

"You will be surprised to see the distance between our houses. I will send you the address."

*Ook!*

A few minutes later....

Ding Ding..!!

Adonis opened the door and saw the pale face of Ryoko and another person who tagged along because he was interested in Futaba’s personal life.

"Yo.." Hajime waved.

"I can’t believe I just have to take 2 turns and find your house. So Futaba... are you a princess? You live in our neighbourhood like a shy Ojou-sama!!" Ryoko yelled and went inside his house. "Woh! Your place is really huge! Why don’t you invite us from time to time?"

"I can’t because I have a big family living here. But all of them are outside so I called you guys over. I’m kinda...not comfortable around my family, I’m sorry guys.."

Both of them were taken aback by his words. "It’s... it’s okay Futaba. You can always come over to our place. Right, Hajime? Everyone has their circumstances."

Adonis smiled a little and replied, "Thanks, guys. Let’s go inside my room."

After they walked inside the room, the 1st thing they noticed was the silver-coloured decorations. The house wasn’t a new one but his room looked way more advanced than any other room of the house. From his desk to bed, most of his things had some touch of silver colour.

And the next thing they noticed was the gaming setup right beside his study table. "I didn’t know you were fond of games, Futaba. Walking into your house does feel like we are unlocking a new part of your life. You look more real now."

"Real? What do you mean, Hajime?"

Hajime laughed and said, "Isn’t it obvious? You’re the school prince who doesn’t carry a hint of imperfection. Unlike us, there are countless students from our school who envy you, hate you and even wish for your downfall. Just because they can’t see any fault in you. But seeing you in your house in normal clothes, your messy hair and the gaming setup with tons of mangas beside the academic book, makes us feel like we have the privilege to see you slack off. You’re a real person just like any other person in this world."

Adonis pouted in disgust and said, "Quit it, man. You’re talking creepy." He then threw two cans of soda at both of them and again said, "Help yourself. I’m going to try looking for CCTV footage of us from taking the bus until we reached the shrine gate."

Hajime opened the can after fixing his shirt and brown hair and said, "Isn’t that illegal? If someone tracks you, man you’re as good as dead."

"No, they can’t trace anything. I know more tricks than those old guys can do. Moreover, I’m not stealing any important data. I’m just trying to look for Kanna."

"We checked our phones countless times but there was nothing. She was not there. It’s like she didn’t even exist but in our memory. Futaba, do you know anything about what’s going on? You were the one who helped us to get out."

"I only know one thing. That is, that house eats people when they break certain rules that we weren’t aware of. If we had known those rules, all of us would have safely come back home. But I don’t understand why Kanna just disappeared from everyone’s memory except for the 6 of us. There must be some reason behind it. Or the house is simply telling us to go back and look for her? I don’t know man. Let me concentrate."

Adonis turned his attention to the computer screen and kept tapping on his keyboard like a professional. He kept trying to break into their security to get access and after 15 minutes of hard work, he gained access.

"Guys, I got it."

Futaba and Hajime also looked at his screen and saw he hacked into the traffic control department which was supposed to be only accessible to only a handful of people. They were surprised to see his skills.

"You’re really something, Futabsa. But what now?" Hajime asked and took a seat on the edge of the bed.

"I’m just going to enter the street name and check the CCTV footage of the available surveillance camera on the road we travelled yesterday at noon. Then, I am going to check the moment Kanna and others approached the bus stop. I am sure they were walking on their way there."

Adonis entered the street name and found out there was not one, but three cameras on Live and yesterday’s record was right below the screen. He quickly downloaded the 24 hours of video and erased every trace that he was even there.

"I got it. Let’s see what we got."

Adonis clicked on the video and what awaited everyone was something they could never imagine. It was past 3 pm when Adonis arrived at the bus station and started to eat his hamburger. Then, his other friends came before Kanna’s group was about to show up.

But what showed us wasn’t Kanna. Instead of her, there was a tall old woman with white long hands that they had seen inside the house before. The woman had a creepy smile but her eyes were covered due to her long white hair.

She was also floating a few inches above the ground when she walked but seeing everyone talking and holding her hand made 3 of them creeped out.

"W..what is that.. that isn’t Kanna, right?" Hajime pointed at the screen and began to shake in terror. Ryoko’s situation wasn’t good at all to see the ghost on the camera so he just went closer to the window and opened it to get some fresh air. He then said, "Futaba, do you think we should go back and look for Kanna after all these happened?"

"I don’t know. But this is really bothering me. The total situation feels like the house is calling for us to get her back since we are the only one who remembers her. If we don’t, something might happen to us."

Adonis was secretly giggling at the fact that everyone was automatically drawn to the house. They were scared of it but they were jumping into false conclusions on their own. And the feelings they were getting were simply a survival instinct to get as far away from that house as possible. They weren’t attracted to the house.

Adonis cleaned his throat and said, "Ryoko, how is Mahiko doing?"

"Mahiko... he shut himself in his room. He’s not talking, not even eating since yesterday. We tried to talk to him this morning but he didn’t even open the door. His family is so worried about him."

At that moment, Hajime’s phone rang and after reaching inside his pocket, he saw it was Umiro who was calling. So, he picked it up.

*Hajime, Mahiko’s mother, had just called me. He... he ran away.*

"Ran away? Where?"

*She said Mahiko was mumbling something about the house all night. But she didn’t know what he was talking about. Since we were with him yesterday, she decided to call us to learn about the house he was talking about.*

"Did you say anything to her?"

*No, because nobody is believing anyway.*

"Good, thank you for informing me. I will call you later."

Hajime turned off his phone and said, "Guys, you heard it, right?"

Adonis nodded his head and stood up to reach his jacket. He was getting ready. "Let’s go. It’s best to capture him before he goes inside the house. We can’t afford to lose any of our friends now."

Both of them smiled to bury their worries because they had a good friend to lean on. But they totally forgot about the fact why they again decided to go inside the house instead of calling the rescue team.

’Um.. I can’t wait to taste my breakfast now. So, which one will die today? Is it Hajime? Ryoko or Mahiko?’