第１１３３堀：見える人 (Part2)
As I was pondering this, Kirika, who had been standing by Yuki’s side, shifted her gaze away from the monitor.
"My Lord. Everyone. Souta-sama and Enol-sama have arrived."
At those words, everyone turned their eyes toward the door in unison just as it swung open.
"Man, I think it every time I come here, but this is one massive school."
"I suppose the Haiden Academy of Magic is not exactly lacking in scale, either. Still, there is a certain charm to the differences found on a different continent. It is quite a novelty. But, apologies for the wait, everyone."
"Hmm. It seems you are in the middle of something."
There stood our ultimate anti-spirit weapon.
"Souta-san. Everyone, we’ve been waiting for you."
I greeted them with those words. Both husband and wife were undead; while they appeared to be nothing more than elderly folk, their bodies were heavily reinforced with magic, granting them strength far exceeding that of an average adult male. Even so, they were our elders, having lived long lives in this world. It was only natural to treat them with care.
"Ahaha, thank you, Taizou-san."
"Taizou-dono, I know it is simply your nature, but you need not be so formal with us."
"Indeed. You may leave Souta to his own devices. Now, I heard from Kirika’s subordinate that something has already appeared?"
"Yes, that is correct, but it is a rather strange situation..."
Since Souta-san and his wife were eager to begin, I explained the situation as best I could. Though, in truth, it amounted to little more than the fact that there was something present that only Popuri-dono could perceive.
"Hmm. Might we see the footage immediately?"
"Yes, right this way."
I had Souta-san and the others look at the monitor Popuri-dono had been watching. As always, to me, it looked like nothing more than an empty hallway.
"What is this? Nothing is being displayed."
It seemed Enol-dono couldn't see anything either; her reaction was identical to ours. Given that she was a renowned shrine maiden, I began to wonder if Popuri-dono had simply been mistaken—but Souta-san, eyes fixed on the screen, spoke up.
"Yuki-kun, can you switch camera five to thermal imaging?"
"Oh? Ah, yes. Switching now."
As Yuki-kun complied, the screen shifted to show heat signatures...
"Oh, that is a person."
Zargis-dono exclaimed in surprise. Indeed, a humanoid heat distribution was visible on the monitor. Though, for some reason, it was registering at sub-zero temperatures.
"Then, if we switch the other cameras, will they show up too?"
"That’s a fair point. Let’s try it."
At Taiki-kun’s suggestion, we switched all the monitors to thermal, but in the end, the figure only appeared on camera five.
"Souta-san, Enol-san, what could this reaction mean?"
"Well, it’s hard to say without seeing the site in person, but at the very least, this ghost possesses almost no power. After all, its presence is so faint that only Popuri-san can perceive it."
"Indeed. The fact that it can only assert its existence to a specific individual indicates a lack of strength. Since only Popuri can see it, we should assume there is some sort of connection between them."
"A connection? But I cannot recall anything at all."
Popuri-dono tilted her head, clearly still unable to remember. Souta-san did not press her for answers.
"That is quite alright. In cases like these, the person involved has often forgotten the details themselves. However, the moment they do remember something, they tend to act on their own, so... Lara-san."
"Yes?"
"From now on, please stay by Popuri-san’s side."
It was a classic pattern: the moment someone recovered their memories of such events, they would take independent action and end up going missing.
"If only we could see it as well, someone might be able to sketch it, but is there any way to make that possible? We can't even tell what it looks like—oh, wait, was it only showing its back to begin with?"
"Yes, this footage only shows the back. Therefore, our immediate goal is to confirm its face. For now, I will head to the site in broad daylight to investigate. Everyone else, please remain here and continue monitoring the screens."
And so, the ghost investigation began in the middle of the day.
It seems Souta and Enol were indeed able to confirm the entity's presence. Now, what could be the reason for this? Why did it only appear on camera five? And what will Souta and Enol discover at the scene?