Chapter 88 - Top Secret and Thousand Blade Festival [5] (2/2)

「Take a deep breath. Take your time to catch your breath.」

「U-Un…」

「A-Aa… yeah……」

They probably panicked a lot.

「「Hi-Hi-fuu… hi-hi-fuu…」」

They practiced the wrong breathing method simultaneously.

(Well, as long as it helps them calm down.)

When they gradually began to regain their composure,

「「Hi-hi… HIII!?」」

A scroll fell from the ceiling.

I picked it up as it rolled on the floor and checked the content.

「…I see, it’s a map.」

It was a rough sketch map of this haunted house.

The curse dispelling amulet is probably at the location where it’s marked with a red x-mark.

(Even so, top, bottom, top, huh…)

It’s a clever trick to shift people’s attention around.

「Yoshi, let’s hurry ahead.」

「「U-Un…」」

If we stay here for too long, the two will not be able to sleep all night.

(…Perhaps, it’s already too late even.)

Thinking about that, we resumed searching for the curse dispelling amulet.

(Kuh, as expected of Allen-kun. He easily saw through the trick!)

(What should we do, Sie?! As expected, he’s quite strong!)

(T-The way things seem, I don’t think we’ll be able to scare him though…!)

(I-It’s okay. We still have a lot of set ups!)

■

After that, Ria and Rose braved through the haunted house despite falling for various tricks.

Ria grabbed my right hand, and Rose, my left. Both of them firmly grasped it and didn’t let go.

The only problem was that it was difficult to walk.

(And more importantly…)

The “soft” feeling on my arm from a while ago. I can’t help but worry about it.

I tried to distance myself indirectly several times, but…

They never left.

As I walked down a narrow passage in such an indescribable situation, we came out to a place that was wide open.

(This is definitely our destination.)

Looking at the map, we are at the red x-mark on the map.

(But man, they really put a lot of work into this…)

The place looked like a temple.

There is a main temple in the center, and large statues placed on either side of it.

And right in front of the main temple was an offertory box and a pure white amulet adorning it.

It was probably the curse dispelling amulet for the curse.

「T-There it is! It’s over there, Allen!」

「W-We did it… With this we can finally…!」

When we finally found what we were looking for, the two ran towards it in high spirits.

However, it was too obvious that there would be a trap there.

「W-Wait both of you!」

I tried to stop them, but…

My voice did not reach the ears of Ria and Rose, who were oscillating between fear and joy.

「We did it! We got the curse dispelling amulet!」

「Yoshi, if we find the keystone after this…!」

The moment the two of them got the curse dispelling amulet and smiled with joy,

「Give it baaaaaaack!」

A bloodstained woman jumped out of the offertory box directly behind them.

「「……N-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!」」

The two reached the critical point of fear, and ran to the back of the haunted house at full speed.

「Hey, Ria!? Rose!?」

……They were gone.

Well, this is a haunted house built by the president and senpais.

I’m sure there will be no danger to the both of them.

「You both did well…」

Even though they’re poor at scary things… they did well to endure so far.

While sending generous praise to their guts, I proceeded through the haunted house.

I got the curse dispelling amulet that was dropped by Ria and Rose, and enjoyed the various set-ups prepared by the president.

And finally,

「Is this the end, I wonder?」

I placed the curse dispelling amulet on the keystone which was in the back of the building.

Then, a tranquil music which is normally played at churches sounded, and the door at the end of the keystone opened slowly.

It looks like the exit is ahead.

(This was a lot more fun than I expected…)

After successfully completing the clear condition of the haunted house, I proceeded to the exit pointed to by the light.

At that moment,

「BOO!」

The president, dressed in a white ghost costume, jumped out of the shadows of the pillars.

It was a development I expected, so… I wasn’t particularly surprised.

「Thank you, president. There were a number of elaborate props that were aimed at the gaps of consciousness. It was a lot of fun.」

When I conveyed my honest impression,

「……Eh? T-Thank you… No, that’s not the point!」

She stared at me blankly for a moment, and soon pouted sullenly.

「W-Why didn’t you get surprised at all?! And the surprise just now… Any human being would have definitely been surprised!」

The president said so in desperation, getting angry unreasonably.

「A-Ahaha… Sorry.」

I scratched my cheeks with a wry smile.

Indeed, the last surprise attack was a wonderful fright that aimed at catching a psychological blind spot.

It’s a wonderful attack that precisely targets the moment when the curse dispelling amulet was placed on the keystone and everything was over – the moment when the on-edge mind finally relaxed.

However,

「I could smell your nice smell from behind the pillars, so, unfortunately, I knew you were hiding there, president.」

Man is surprised at the unexpected.

Conversely, not surprised at the expected.

And then,

「N-Nice smell…」

She probably noticed her mistake, as she blushed red.

「Yes. Well then, I have to find Ria and Rose… So I will take my leave here.」

Thus, I cleared the president and senpais’ special three classroom haunted house.