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D-d-d-d-stuttering

In the dark and gloomy Old School where the lights wouldn’t turn on, the five of us were walking down the hallway, each with our own appearance.

In the meantime, my body was trembling from fear.

Indirectly.

To be precise, it wasn’t me who was trembling, but Yuli, who was clutching my left arm tightly, causing me to tremble along with her.

Selian, who was holding my right arm, was probably feeling that same vibration too.

Creeeak, creeeak

In the quiet Old School where there was no one around, every step we took made the old floorboards emit unsettling noises.

“The Old School guide says there are up to five floors.”

Leading the way was Frecia. She was holding the Old School guide given by the academy with both hands, directing us along the path.

Of course, it was originally my role, but having lost the freedom of my hands, Frecia took over.

“Anne! If you keep wandering around like that, you’ll get lost.”

Meanwhile, Anne seemed quite excited, exploring the various rooms of the Old School.

“Eh. It’s fine, fine! I’m not a kid!”

If I said she looked and acted like a child, I’d definitely get hit.

Whoosh

As I was lost in such useless thoughts, an unsettling sound filled the hallway.

“Eek! W-what is that…?”

“Is it because the building is old?”

Yuli was startled by the mysterious sound that felt as if the entire building was resonating, pulling me in tighter once more.

In the meantime, Selian must have discovered something as she let go of my arm for a moment and moved her feet.

She was headed toward one of the windows in the hallway that was a bit apart from us.

“It seems to be the sound of the wind coming through this open window.”

Indeed, as Selian approached the window she mentioned, a breeze was coming in through the wide-open window, just as she said.

“Close the window and lock it up.”

“Anne? It’s great to explore, but we shouldn’t just leave windows open like this, right?”

While all the other windows had their locks secured, this one was clearly left open on purpose by someone.

And the only person among us who would do such a thing must be the perky Anne, who had been bouncing around since earlier.

Since a wild animal residing within the academy grounds might come in through the open window, I tried warning Anne.

“Anne?”

There was no reply. I looked around to check what was happening, but I couldn’t see Anne anywhere.

It wouldn’t be because she was silently exploring somewhere; I couldn’t even hear the sound of her running footsteps.

However, I wasn’t the only one missing. Frecia, who had been guiding us up front, had also vanished without a word.

“Selian? Have you seen the two of them…?”

I decided to ask Selian, wondering if I had missed the fact that they had moved ahead while I was preoccupied with the window.

Likewise, Selian, who had just been right next to me a moment ago, was also nowhere to be found.

That was when I finally realized something strange was happening. But by the time I realized it, it was already too late.

Suddenly, my left arm, which should have been restricted due to being tightly held by Yuli, was freed.

Turning my head, I found that Yuli, who had been closely attached to me since entering the building, was no longer in sight.

Only after noticing that the others had disappeared did I realize the hallway I was in looked incredibly unfamiliar.

Even though the dilapidated hallways resembled what I’d seen before, this was clearly a different hallway than earlier.

Beyond the window I had just checked, a view of a height that seemed to be four or five floors was displayed.

…You said they’re nothing but weaklings, boss.

—

After wandering around and taking a look, I managed to determine that, judging by the room numbers, the place I was standing was somewhere on the fifth floor.

However, that was as far as my observations got.

I couldn’t find any trace of the others. They were probably scattered around somewhere in the Old School like I was.

At least the comforting thing is that it doesn’t seem to be a very dangerous situation, right?

Of course, I can’t say that with 100% certainty. But from the looks of it, the evil spirits in the Old School didn’t seem inclined to harm us.

If they had such intentions, they would have attacked us after splitting us up.

However, what the evil spirits had done was push me away when I tried to jump out the window, occasionally dropping objects, slamming doors, and at times, producing creepy sounds like “Hee-hee-hee” right next to my ear.

While it’s a bit too meek to call them evil spirits… they’re indeed just basic energies all knotted up, so they’re probably just playing mischievous tricks.

Well, I can’t be surprised by this, given the environment I grew up in.

When I was young and timid, the dilapidated hideout frequently creaked and made unsettling noises, and the windows that wouldn’t do their job let breezes in, causing doors to bang shut, and the assassins before me would use hiding skills to surprise me.

So in my case, what the evil spirits are doing now is just a repeat of things I experienced countless times ten years ago.

Still, it’s kind of fun as it reminds me of old times. Not exactly a good memory, but…

“Guys!”

I called out, hoping for an answer, but only my voice echoed back without a reply.

Given how quiet it was, my voice should definitely travel a distance, but not getting any response seems to indicate that this too is the work of the evil spirits.

“Is this it then?”

After looking around and peeking into dozens of rooms, I was finally able to check the entirety of the fifth floor.

Now, even though Griffin Academy has expanded significantly, the Old School was still quite large, so it took considerable time.

With the top floor confirmed to be empty, I decided to head down to the lower floors.

So I trudged down the stairs to the fourth floor, and just thinking that I’d have to search that entire level made me feel overwhelmed.

And suddenly, a thought came to mind.

Could it be that the others are already gathered at the entrance?

Thus, I went down further, all the way to the first floor.

“Ah, Elysia!”

Upon arriving at the entrance, I was greeted by Anne’s voice.

“You’re so late.”

And then Frecia’s scolding voice chided me.

“If we suddenly scattered, the only place we’d regroup would be the entrance we came in, right?”

And then Selian’s voice pointed out my oversight.

Her words were completely right, so I couldn’t refute them. I was the only one who went charging around the fifth floor looking for my friends. I should have just come down to the entrance on the first floor sooner…

“Hmm? But where’s Yuli?”

Since only three people were at the entrance, Yuli was nowhere to be seen.

“Well… Yuli hasn’t arrived yet either.”

She wouldn’t have overlooked gathering at the entrance. In fact, Yuli would be the one most likely to notice and come first.

However, the situation wasn’t ideal.

Yuli had shown fear from the moment we entered the Old School.

Perhaps Yuli was now trembling in some corner of the Old School, unable to move a single step.

If those mischievous evil spirits were around, they were likely clustering more around Yuli, as she would react the most.

I couldn’t rule out the possibility that they were trapping her like they had pushed me away from the window.

“Let’s go find her.”

Though there was the possibility of missing Yuli if she came to the entrance after we went searching, that didn’t really pose a problem.

If she did reach the entrance, I would leave her a note telling her to wait patiently without moving.

And there’s practically no way the evil spirits would erase that note. A message left in the air by Frecia’s magic wouldn’t be something the evil spirits could easily tamper with.

“So where should we start looking?”

“I checked the entire fifth floor earlier, so I think we should look on the lower floors.”

“Well, since it’s four of us, let’s each take a floor to search. I’ll go up to the fourth floor.”

“Then I’ll take the third floor!”

“Well… it seems there’s not much risk, so that’s fine. Then I’ll take care of the first floor. I’ll go to the second floor. Once we finish searching our assigned floors, let’s all regroup back here.”

“Okay…”

I decided to leave the first floor to Frecia, who lacked stamina the most.

Individual strides and slight differences in speed might vary, but since it’s one floor each, the time taken wouldn’t differ greatly.

Thus, the four of us, having huddled together once, scattered again on our own to start searching for Yuli.

Leaving Frecia on the first floor, I began my search on the second floor, following closely behind Anne and Selian who went up.

However, after wandering around and investigating every single room on the entire second floor, I couldn’t find any trace of Yuli.

So I headed back down to the first floor as we had agreed, where Anne was waiting for me.

“Did you find her?”

As soon as she saw me, Anne asked. But when I shook my head, she started to look disappointed.

Now, all I could do was wait quietly for Selian and Frecia’s return, but even when Selian came down and Frecia returned, Yuli was nowhere to be seen.