Chapter 225: Mental Torment
Flipping through the homework grading records before September 22nd, Takayama Keika’s comments on Kikuhide Ichi’s homework were also serious and responsible, but actually no different from those for other students. However, in the homework comments after September 22nd, Takayama Keika was clearly giving Kikuhide Ichi double the care, most notably with the word count far exceeding that for other students.
If she hadn’t known beforehand that Kikuhide Ichi was connected to the death of Takayama Keika’s daughter, Misaki Naomi wouldn’t have been able to spot the issue so easily.
Kikuhide Ichi was no fool, and he certainly felt guilty inside. For Teacher Takayama Keika’s sudden special double care, he must have felt flattered and surprised, and he could guess that Teacher Takayama Keika already knew the whole truth. In her presence, he, who was hiding the facts, was no different from the human model in the biology classroom—completely exposed.
The better Teacher Takayama Keika’s attitude toward him, and the more caring she seemed, the more tormented and on the verge of collapse Kikuhide Ichi felt.
Actually, Kikuhide Ichi’s subsequent homework performance revealed changes in his state of mind. Each time, his homework became messier and messier, with more and more mistakes that he shouldn’t have made, and Teacher Takayama Keika’s red markings also increased, becoming denser and denser as a result.
Seemingly, every rigorous and meticulous comment was a teacher’s care for a student, but in fact, for Kikuhide Ichi, each red word was a mouth from Takayama Keika, urging him to step forward, personally admit his mistake, and confess the truth.
“This Teacher Takayama Keika is quite mature and calm, and good at scheming.” He Jia’an’s mouth curved up slightly, revealing a hint of cold mockery toward Kikuhide Ichi’s homework book, as if he were seeing Kikuhide Ichi himself. “Kikuhide Ichi hid the truth for his studies, but the price of lying was so heavy that it kept him awake at night, nearly breaking him, unable to focus on learning anymore.”
“If I had a teacher like that, I definitely wouldn’t dare not study hard.” Misaki Naomi shivered, imagining if there was such a teacher by her side, she would surely be the most diligent student in the class.
He Jia’an closed the homework book. “With this, we seem to have a general understanding of the background to Hanako’s story.”
“But we still can’t confirm Hanako’s being, and how did Kikuhide Ichi suddenly disappear in the toilet stall? Was he really taken to hell by Hanako… These questions remain unexplained.” Misaki Naomi felt some regret, still puzzled.
He Jia’an: “Let’s look for any other clues.”
Misaki Naomi nodded and searched Takayama Keika’s desk again with He Jia’an. Soon, He Jia’an found a letter under a folder, and when flipped to the front, it boldly read “Resignation Letter.”
Takayama Keika had actually resigned!
Opening the envelope of the resignation letter and taking out the letter to read: “As a mother, no matter what I do to those who were unkind to my deceased daughter, it would be justifiable, but as a teacher, doing such things to a student is still too disqualifying.
Originally, I wanted to do more as a mother, but I decided to leave those matters for my daughter to choose and handle herself.
Just consider me mad, spouting nonsense.
In summary, these days have been somewhat chaotic, I’m a bit tired, so I choose to leave.
Hereby, I inform you, Principal.
Seeing this, Misaki Naomi couldn’t help but sympathize with Teacher Takayama Keika again. Her daughter was gone, and in the end, she was defeated by her own conscience, choosing to abandon her job herself. As a single mother, what could she do afterward?
Unlike Misaki Naomi, He Jia’an was clearly more concerned with other parts of the letter’s content, frowning slightly: “Takayama Keika mentioned ‘all people,’ so besides ‘spiritually tormenting’ Kikuhide Ichi, what else did she do to others? And this group of people who were unkind to her daughter before her death… how did she define such a crowd?”
“But we’ve searched everything we could here, and there don’t seem to be any other clues…” After He Jia’an’s analysis, Misaki Naomi also felt a chill down her back. Judging from Takayama Keika’s methods of tormenting Kikuhide Ichi, this teacher, who might have become somewhat pathological due to her daughter’s death, could indeed do anything crazy.
Then, Misaki Naomi suddenly realized something, her heart tightening as her wide eyes looked at He Jia’an. “Biol… biology classroom, that biology classroom you can’t walk out of—is it also related to Takayama Keika?”
He Jia’an raised an eyebrow and said, “We rushed in and out too quickly back then, and I don’t have a deep impression of that classroom. You stayed in it longer—what did you see inside the classroom?”
Misaki Naomi’s breathing quickened, feeling cold all over, and said in a low voice: “Corpses, dismembered corpses, lots of human tissue preserved in jars in the biology classroom, and… strange patterns drawn on that blackboard, like a magic array.”
Upon suddenly realizing the origin of the human tissue soaking in those jars, the fear that Misaki Naomi had barely calmed surged from the bottom of her heart straight to the top of her head. A chilling dread seemed to arise from all sides, enveloping her, bringing a sense of panic like being besieged on all sides.
“Patterns?” He Jia’an frowned and asked carefully, “Can you roughly draw what the pattern looked like?”
Misaki Naomi took out the Kisaragi High School school badge from her pocket and flipped it to the back. “I might not remember the specific details clearly, but the outline of the magic array is actually the reverse side of our Kisaragi High School school badge, plus various obscure and hard-to-understand symbols and graphics.”
Upon seeing the reverse outline of Misaki Naomi’s school badge, the wrinkles on He Jia’an’s brow deepened. He picked up a banknote from the desk, found a relatively clean white paper, and then used the school badge to sketch the outline. Then, as if he knew it beforehand, based on the outline’s features, he gradually completed the magic array’s pattern bit by bit.
However, He Jia’an deliberately didn’t draw it complete, and Misaki Naomi didn’t wait until he finished to speak. When she saw He Jia’an draw the magic array pattern that she still vaguely remembered, she immediately exclaimed: “Yes! That’s the pattern!”
“As expected!” Hearing this, He Jia’an flicked the pen away and tore the paper with the half-drawn magic array to shreds, scattering it all.
Noticing the fine sweat on He Jia’an’s forehead, Misaki Naomi couldn’t help but ask curiously: “Uncle, how did you know this magic array pattern?”
“Because I’ve seen it.” He Jia’an looked at Misaki Naomi with complex eyes, his gaze shifting outside the window, murmuring first, “Circum-Pacific Region, seaside, mermaid… Drake, no wonder you personally sent me to this place—it seems you sensed it.”
Then, He Jia’an explained to Misaki Naomi: “I’ve seen this magic array pattern before. It belongs to an ancient ritual of wishing, a special array pattern used in the ritual.”
“What is that ritual of wishing used for?”
“Summoning a sea monster for a feast, with humans as the ingredients.”
