Chapter 37 Ghost Mystery
School day.

School, playground.

"I'm telling you, that's something I experienced myself."

In the empty training ground, Naoko, wearing a summer school uniform and holding a cheerleading flower, was telling the story of a mysterious incident that she had personally experienced with a serious face.

"I was delayed by something that day, so I stayed in school for a while and left until almost evening."

"Because it's late, I want to take a shortcut home through the forest behind the school. You all know the forest behind the school, the trees are very lush, and generally no one goes there."

"But, that evening, guess what I saw..."

At this point, Naoko suddenly lowered her voice and looked a little scared: "It was a light blue firefly. No, it's a bit arbitrary to say it was a firefly. In fact, I don't know if it was a firefly or not."

"The firefly floated quietly in the forest. After it circled in front of me, it suddenly floated deeper into the forest."

"I didn't know what I was thinking at the time, I just chased after him."

"I kept chasing the fireflies, as if I was bewitched by something. Before I knew it, I had run to the edge of the forest, which was the cliff on the back mountain!"

"When I arrived at that dangerous place, the small group of fireflies suddenly turned into a long, thin column of pale blue light. At the center of the column, a dazzling light burst out!"

"The next second, a terrifying one-eyed ghost suddenly jumped out from the light. It rushed towards me with its dark red eyes glaring at me, as if it wanted to kill me directly..."

“Ehh!!!”

Suddenly, a sharp scream interrupted Naoko's story and entered the ears of everyone present.

"Sakura-chan?"

Both Naoko, who was telling the story, and Chiharu, who was listening, could not help but plug their ears with their fingers and then look at Sakura.

Being stared at by the two, Sakura couldn't help but cover her blushing face with her cheerleading hand flower and said embarrassedly, "I'm...I'm sorry."

She was really afraid of these things, and when she heard the scariest parts, she couldn't help but scream in fear.

After the fear on Sakura's face dissipated a little, Chiharu looked at Naoko and continued to ask: "Naoko, is what you just said true?"

"Of course it's true. That's my personal experience." Naoko said with certainty. The story she just told was not a lie.

"Could it be that you saw it wrong?"

"No, I was sober."

Listening to Chiharu and Naoko discussing the horror story again, Sakura couldn't help but turn her back and cry silently. She was afraid of ghost stories and the like, and she didn't expect her friends to be so interested in them.

"By the way, in order to verify the authenticity of this matter, let's go investigate." Chiharu suddenly approached Naoko and said with interest.

Since Naoko is so serious about it, why don't we go explore it together? She is also very interested in ghosts.

Hearing Chiharu's excited tone, Sakura was completely stunned, because she knew in her heart that Chiharu obviously included her in this.

This is a standard horror game start, she really, really, really doesn't want to go!!
"Today's club activities will end early, so let's go and take a look together."

Seeing Chiharu was still talking, Sakura hurriedly waved her hands to stop her, "Wait! Wait!"

"What's wrong?" Chiharu looked at him puzzledly.

Sakura forced a smile, "Isn't there a cliff in that forest? It's too dangerous."

"Just don't go there."

"..." It made so much sense that she couldn't even refute it.

After thinking for a while, Xiaoying said, "But what if there really is a ghost?"

"We'll be fine if we run away quickly."

"..."

You are such a clever little kid.

"But...but..."

Sakura opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but Chiharu spoke first: "Anyway, it's going to be okay."

"Woooooooo..."

Seeing that her friends all wanted to go, Sakura couldn't help crying in her heart. She really didn't want to go.

But if all her friends go, and she's the only one not going, she'd feel sorry for the other friends, wuwuwu...

In the end, Sakura was unable to get her friends to give up, and they still set out for the back mountain after school.

If this happened in a horror game, it would definitely be a suicidal act, so the sober Sakura still did not give up persuading her friends.

"Let's not go."

Sakura silently fell behind the team, put her hands on her chest, frowned slightly, and whispered a suggestion.

Tomoyo, who was walking in front, turned around and consoled him: "Don't be afraid, it's still very bright now."

Lijia also agreed: "Yeah, yeah, don't worry."

She was afraid even if it was daybreak!

Why are all of you so brave!
Sakura cried silently in her heart. Perhaps it was a psychological effect, but she always felt that there were strange sounds coming from the forest behind the mountain.

Realizing this, Sakura lowered her head nervously and followed the team closely like a little quail.

At this moment, Chiharu, who was walking in front, suddenly asked as she walked, "By the way, my mother's birthday is coming soon. What gift do you think I should give her?"

"Chiharu, your mother likes to make desserts, so you can give her a cute dessert plate." Rika replied with a smile. In the dim light of dusk, her naturally curly short hair appeared a wine red, making her look more mature and not like a primary school student at all.

"A dessert plate?"

Chiharu murmured, and suddenly turned her head to look at Sakura who was lagging behind the team: "Sakura, what do you think?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the team that was originally moving forward suddenly stopped. Everyone else looked at Sakura with some concern, and Naoko even warned Chiharu with her eyes.

Seeing the reactions of the people around her, Chiharu suddenly covered her mouth. She originally wanted to use this topic to divert Sakura's attention and prevent her from being so scared, but at this moment she suddenly remembered that Sakura's mother had passed away.

Seeing the reactions of the people in front of her, Sakura was stunned for a moment, and the three hairs on her head trembled.

After realizing what Chiharu had just said, Sakura hurriedly waved her hands at Chiharu and said, "Ah, don't worry about it. I think the dessert plate is pretty good. Your mother will definitely be very happy to receive this gift."

Seeing that Sakura didn't seem unhappy, Chiharu finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the others were also relieved.

They all knew that Sakura's mother had passed away, so they rarely talked about these things in front of Sakura. Unexpectedly, Chiharu just now did something bad with good intentions. Fortunately, Sakura did not look sad.

As the topic came to an end, they continued walking in the quiet woods. The sky became darker and darker, and even the sun had set, leaving only a little afterglow.

(End of this chapter)