"Having Miss Ying as a friend is Shihua's good fortune."

Beichuan Si earnestly gave his assessment, then added, "Anyway, I'm leaving everything in your hands."

To be honest, there was a tone in Beichuan Si's voice like 'an old father handing his daughter over to her boyfriend.'

This inexplicable feeling made Qianye Ying somewhat confused, and she hesitated for quite a while before nodding, "Leave it to me."

The two exchanged pleasantries at the door for a while, and then—

"Brother Temple?!"

A familiar voice came from behind, prompting Beichuan Si to instinctively turn around.

Standing behind him were Beichuan Huili's close friends, carrying small handbags, wearing little leather shoes, and medium-length skirts.

Sakura Miori, Sakurai Saki, Otomoto Ai, Takiyama Nanako.

The one who had just called out was the somewhat self-admiring Sakura Miori from the quartet.

She came forward, her white, straight legs moving, her voice carrying a hint of surprise, "I didn't expect Brother Temple to be here, what a coincidence."

A coincidence...?

Beichuan Si glanced at the fruit basket in Otomoto Ai's hands and the fresh flowers held by Sakurai Saki and Takigawa Nanako...

Beichuan Si knew at a glance that these young girls wanted to visit Nakajima Michika; it wasn't really a coincidence to say.

But at times like this, there was no need to say anything that would spoil the mood, so he politely greeted:

"Long time no see."

"It really has been a long time." The lively Sakurai Saki burst out from behind, excitedly saying, "Congratulations, Brother Temple, on getting the second-highest rank in the grade again!"

Nowadays, aside from talking about celebrities and internet celebrities, these four often discussed Beichuan Si.

In fact, they spent more time talking about Beichuan Si than about celebrities.

After all, Beichuan Si was more handsome than the internet celebrities or those on TV, and coupled with his good academic performance and his exorcism skills...of course, the most important thing was the ample pocket money he usually gave Beichuan Huili.

This had indeed made the eyes of these young girls, except Otomoto Ai, turn red with envy.

How could there be such a perfect older brother in this world! The nation owes me a brother!

Standing on the other side, Beichuan Si naturally had no idea about all these mental activities of the young girls; he nodded to Sakurai Saki:

"Mm. You've done well too. Keep up the good work."

These four girls, including Beichuan Huili, had once again firmly held the top five ranks in the previous examination for their grade.

"You're here to visit Shihua too, aren't you?"

Beichuan Si asked, while taking the fruit basket from Otomoto Ai's arms.

"Yep. Today, Huili mentioned this to us. We were taken care of a lot by Sister Shihua during our trip in Yamanashi Prefecture..." Otomoto Ai hesitated a bit before asking, "Brother Temple, are you also here to visit Sister Michika?"

"Correct."

Beichuan Si did not hide this fact.

"Is that so..." Otomoto Ai's gaze flickered, as if she had something to say.

However, she soon saw Sakura Miori and Sakurai Saki already planning to enter the hospital room, so she could only turn her head towards Beichuan Si and whisper softly, "Brother Temple, could you wait a moment later? I...no, we have something to tell you."

Mm...

Seeing Otomoto Ai's demeanor, Beichuan Si did not hesitate and nodded in agreement.

...

Since Beichuan Huili was still preparing for the grand prize competition, they estimated that she would take another hour to arrive, so Sakura Miori and the others came over in advance.

Their visits to the patient were actually quite straightforward.

It was nothing more than arranging the fruit baskets, flowers, and then chattering about Nakajima Michika's health issues.

During this time, they were noisy enough to be warned by a passing nurse.

Then, about another half-hour passed, and Nakajima Michika was taken for some basic tests, while Qianye Ying, as the companion, followed along.

After this series of events, only Beichuan Si and Sakura Miori and the other three young girls remained in the entire hospital room.

However, it was just right, wasn't Otomoto Ai supposed to tell him something?

Beichuan Si then turned to look at Otomoto Ai.

Under his gaze, Otomoto Ai took a deep breath, then pulled over a caregiver's chair and invited Beichuan Si to sit down.

However, on the other hand, Takiyama Nanako and Sakurai Saki seemed to have understood something.

Takiyama Nanako looked a little hesitant, "Ai, should we really tell Brother Temple about that incident?"

Sakurai Saki also looked a bit troubled, "Ai... I know the incident with your friend might be hard for you to accept… but what happened, happened, and telling Brother Temple won't do any good, right? After all, Brother Temple isn't a deity who can bring the deceased back to life."

Faced with the persuasion of her two close friends, Otomoto Ai just shook her head firmly.

"I'm not just troubled by the fact that my friend passed away; it's seeing more people die because of that incident that makes me want to tell Brother Temple."

"...But is that rumor really true, though?"

Sakura Miori spoke up as well.

Their back-and-forth conversation left Beichuan Si momentarily unable to discern the specifics.

But Beichuan Si didn't say much, just silently watched Otomoto Ai.

Feeling Beichuan Si's gaze, Otomoto Ai took a deep breath, no longer hesitant, "I am from Yamanashi Prefecture. You know that, right, Brother Temple?"

"Mm," Beichuan Si nodded.

Beichuan Huili had earlier visited Yamanashi Prefecture, guided by Otomoto Ai, which Beichuan Si remembered very clearly.

Otomoto Ai continued, "The incident happened a week ago in Yamanashi Prefecture..."

Otomoto Ai actually stayed frequently in touch with her hometown in Yamanashi Prefecture, as many of her friends attended high schools there.

And this incident… occurred to one of her friends from Yamanashi Prefecture.

"My friend Fukuda passed away. It wasn't an accident, nor a sickness... he just died very strangely."

Died very strangely?

Using the word "strangely" to describe the manner of death was unnatural in itself; considering what Otomoto Ai had mentioned earlier about "not an accident, not a sickness"... could a living person just suddenly die?

Beichuan Si didn't interrupt Otomoto Ai and just quietly listened as she continued to unravel the details of the incident.

"The body was discovered at seven in the morning, on the second floor of his house, in Fukuda's own room."

"When he was found, he was lying in a pool of blood, with his mouth open, his tongue hanging out, staring pale-faced at the ceiling, his throat completely slashed open with a sharp weapon."

Hearing Otomoto Ai's words, Beichuan Si's eyes flickered, and he said, "This sounds like homicide."

Indeed, the use of a sharp weapon was definitely a human act, considering homicide was not entirely unreasonable.

But the murder location of Otomoto Ai's friend, Fukuda, was a bit bizarre.

Killed silently on the second floor of his own house?

What was that about?

Could it be that a thief broke in and Fukuda discovered them, so they killed him?

But that was strange too.

Normally, a person would resist, yet there had been absolutely no noise from Fukuda when he died…

Of course, it might be possible that Fukuda was killed in his sleep, a quick death that came without any struggle.

This would explain the lack of resistance sounds.

"I was thinking that way too."

Otomoto Ai cupped her chin with her palm and continued, "Killed by a thief… that seemed like a reasonable theory. But then the next day, another death message came."

"That's why I wanted to find Brother Temple."

She didn't reminisce further, probably because she had already discussed it many times with Sakura Miori and the others.

"My other friend, Inuzuka, also died. At his own home, in the same manner."

"His throat was slashed, staring pale-faced at the ceiling."

"Two of my friends have already died."

"So... who will be next?"

Otomoto Ai lifted her head.

The summer breeze inadvertently stirred the curtains.

Despite the warm scene, under the voice of Otomoto Ai,

It seemed rather grisly and eerie.

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