Becoming a god in a low-key way in the supernatural world

Before he could finish speaking, another door opened, and Chiko Takanashi poked her head in, hesitatingly saying, "Excuse me, Kotegawa-kun, it seems there's been a man loitering around your door. Should we call the police?"

"There's a man?" Takanashi Hanamai was taken aback. She walked to the window, lifted the curtain a crack, and looked outside, but it was already dark outside. Unless she went to the street, she couldn't see anything at all.

Kotekawa Kami put down his bowl, stood up and said, "No need to call the police, I'll go see what's going on first."

"Then you should be careful. Guys who like to loiter around people's doorsteps at this hour are very likely not good people," Chiko Takanashi said with certainty.

Kotekawa Kami nodded, said "thank you for the hospitality" several times, then went downstairs, put on his shoes, took his umbrella and went out into the yard.

He looked towards his own front door.

Sure enough, in the shadows on the other side of the streetlight, a man with an umbrella was looking around at his house.

There was a familiar-looking baseball bat tucked under the man's armpit.

He scratched his head and walked over.

It was almost time for Mikazuki to get off work. If Kurumi's father were allowed to stand at the door like this, it would definitely scare Mikazuki and Yuka terribly, and they couldn't even hit him...

The middle-aged man with the umbrella was also very perceptive. He turned his head when Kotegawa Kami was still thirty meters away from him, his expression showing some anger.

He seemed to know Kotegawa Kami's identity.

Kotekawa Kami walked to within about two meters of him, which was a bit too close, because if he wanted to attack him, he only needed to swing his baseball bat.

However, Kami Kotekawa is highly skilled and daring.

The middle-aged man stared at him, his eyes filled with anger.

Kamiko Kotekawa pulled out her phone again: "Hello, is this the police station? I need to call the police!"

"You're still using this trick?" Hu Tao's father gritted his teeth. He had been hiding in the corner for a long time but no police cars came. After thinking about it for a moment, he realized that he had been tricked.

Kotegawa Kami hung up the phone.

Not long after, police cars with sirens blaring sped up from a distance.

Hu Tao's father's face showed disbelief again. Good lad! He didn't even say a word, just called the police?

Excellent! Excellent! I'll remember you!

He glared at Kotegawa, then turned and ran away again.

Kamiko Kotekawa watched his retreating figure and called out, "Take care on your way back! And next time you come, don't bring a baseball bat!"

The middle-aged man in the distance stumbled, turned around and glared at him again, angrily saying, "You brat! I will never agree to Hu Tao being with a brat like you!"

"..."

Chapter Sixty: Ghost Stories and Victims

These past few days, the exorcism club behind the teaching building has been unusually lively, with the sound of drums frequently emanating from it. Although the sound is not very coherent, you can still make out the general idea.

Therefore, many boys and girls who pass by or take a walk nearby are suspicious that other clubs or that audacious freshman may have secretly come here to practice when the exorcism club is not around.

As is widely known, this place now has a "host family," which was supposedly set up specifically for the upcoming exorcism competition, in order to make up for the school's long-standing deficiencies and shortcomings in this area.

The members of the exorcism club are very mysterious and low-key. The only somewhat credible story about them is probably the most widely circulated one on the forum: the current leader of the exorcism club is very ruthless: he beat up a senior high school student and also beat up Mr. Ichijo, a teacher in the special course; he single-handedly disbanded the "Special Security Department"...

Just hearing about this kind of thing is terrifying, so no one dares to come here now, for fear of being caught and beaten up.

After all, this place is all bamboo forest, very secluded. It used to be a favorite spot for young couples, but now it has become the most frightening place.

The reputation of the exorcism society has been damaged.

With his hands behind his back, Mr. Fujiwara strolled leisurely to the door of the exorcism club's activity room, pushed it open, and went inside. He found a stool and sat down. After Kotekawa finished playing a more pleasant-sounding warm-up piece, he raised his hand to temporarily interrupt him.

Kami Kotegawa took off his headphones.

He had just finished lunch and came to practice; it shouldn't be time for class yet.

Mr. Fujiwara had come for something else. He said slowly, "Two strange things have happened at the school recently, and we may need the help of the exorcism club."

"Strange thing?" Kotekawa Kami looked down at the drumsticks in his hand and tentatively asked, "Isn't Ms. Ichijo also at the school? Why don't you let her get some exercise? The school pays her a salary every month; they can't be supporting someone who's idle, right?"

"Ichijo is mentally preparing to become the instructor of the exorcism club..." Fujiwara-sensei adjusted his glasses: "This was your suggestion back then, but given your relationship with Ichijo-sensei, I don't need to tell you how difficult it is, right?"

"Actually, it was just a regular sparring session, and it was she who suggested it herself. Now that Ichijou-sensei looks a bit childish!" Kotekawa Kami said helplessly, "Sensei, what strange thing happened? I'll go and deal with it right now."

He's been really short on time lately. Besides his unwavering six hours of practice every day, he has to squeeze in time to practice the drums, which means he doesn't even have enough time to enjoy his time with Qingkong every day.

So, if he could, he really wouldn't want to get involved in anything else right now.

Fujiwara-sensei looked at him intently and said, "It's not a complicated matter. The first thing is related to the light music club. Recently, several senior members have been inexplicably covered in injuries, as if they've been beaten up. The school has already filed a complaint, but based on the investigation over the past few days, no perpetrator has been found. Therefore, we suspect it might be related to ghosts, yokai, or tsukumogami. Kotegawa-kun... is there anything you want to say to the teacher?"

After listening, Kami Kotekawa said thoughtfully, "Could it be that they tried some dangerous rituals? Like the Ouija board game? Or maybe they summoned ghosts at midnight? And the people they summoned didn't like them and beat them up?"

"I asked around, and no one has ever done anything so dangerous. Besides, this kind of thing is absolutely forbidden in schools. If you are caught, you will not only be expelled, but it will also be recorded in your personal file and become a reference for other universities. They really don't have the guts."

"Perhaps they've done too many bad and shameful things in their daily lives, and this is their retribution? I would suggest that the school start by investigating their usual behavior to see if they've ever extorted money from younger students, harassed girls, or even done anything worse. That might be the breakthrough they can find."

Fujiwara-sensei adjusted her glasses and frowned, saying, "These things take too long to investigate, and the workload is much greater. It will also affect the studies of many students... More importantly, one student's mother is the vice president of the PTA, who has power and influence, so this suggestion is very likely to be unworkable... You are well aware of some things, but that's just how society is."

Kotekawa Kami said, "I see. Well, the Exorcism Society can't handle this either. The only advice we can give them is either to consider transferring schools or to figure out a solution themselves. Whether it's finding the head of the First Division or some kind of divine messenger, it's definitely a better choice than the Exorcism Society."

“Foutegawa-kun…” Fujiwara-sensei said with a hint of helplessness, “Let’s get down to business.”

If those students' families could hire Ishikawa Yasuhiro or a divine messenger, why would he need to come here now to plead with his students?

He lowered his voice: "The PTA may not have much power, but if things can't be resolved in time, it will affect the school's reputation and future student recruitment... Do you understand? The chairman is also troubled. You can ignore the teachers if you want to deal with them, but shouldn't you consider not affecting innocent people?"

"Hmm, what do you mean?"

"This matter ends here!" Mr. Fujiwara looked at him sternly. "At least, nothing like this is allowed to happen again at school! Is that alright?"

"Oh, but what's the point of telling me all this? It was the 'ghost stories' that did it, not me, Kotegawa."

"Still pretending..." Fujiwara-sensei snorted inwardly, adjusting her glasses as she said, "Let me tell you about the second strange thing! This one is even more serious than the last. We have to help with this no matter what. We enjoy such good conditions, so we have to fulfill our basic obligations."

"Please speak."

Fujiwara-sensei's expression became much more serious: "Recently, quite a few students have been injured..."

Kotekawa Kami stared at him in astonishment… Wasn’t this the same thing that happened just now? It shouldn’t be like this, right? He’s always been careful with his actions!

"It's not the Light Music Club!" Fujiwara-sensei's voice was heavy. "It's the Ghost Story Club that's in trouble again."

"The Ghost Stories Club! The one that likes to seek thrills?" Kotekawa Kami's expression softened. Yuka was a member of the Ghost Stories Club, but she hadn't been there in a long time because she found that some core members often said strange and bizarre things, which scared her. She had been seriously considering leaving the club recently, but the rich collection of ghost stories in the club made her a little reluctant to leave.

Speaking of this, Fujiwara-sensei's expression didn't look too good either.

If we're talking about the most troublesome clubs in school, besides the Chemistry Club which is always tinkering with weird stuff and the Basketball Club which is always getting into fights, then it has to be the Ghost Stories Club.

The Ghost Stories Club is home to about 70% of the school's strange students, whose family backgrounds span all social classes. It is also one of the most popular clubs in the school, so even though it often causes so much trouble, the school finds it difficult to make any major changes to the Ghost Stories Club.

He sighed and said, "Recently, a member of the Ghost Stories Club got hold of a supernatural object from somewhere, and as a result, seven children were injured to varying degrees. The most seriously injured child almost cut off his own finger."

“A spirit? A tsukumogami?” Kotekawa Kami thought for a moment: “This is serious enough. Perhaps it would be more reassuring to have the Special Division handle it? As you know, my strength is weak and I haven’t achieved much yet, so I may not be able to reassure the students and parents.”

“The Special Division can handle it, but why should I go to such lengths?” Fujiwara-sensei looked at him and said, “You’re very good at pretending to be ignorant, but let’s skip that this time and go and handle this matter properly.”

"What do you mean by 'handling it properly'? Confiscating the spiritual item? Or something else?"

“There are several students’ names on that spiritual object. Erase those names, and the spiritual object can be confiscated. If it cannot be confiscated, then it can be banished.”

Kami Kotekawa nodded, put down his drumsticks, and said, "Then I'll go now."

"Remember to invite the Shirakawa siblings," said Fujiwara-sensei. "You're a team, so you should act like one."

After saying that, he took out three small armbands from the bag he had brought. They were black with a large, white, powerful character printed on them: “灵” (Ling).

Kami Kotekawa took it and looked at it, praising, "Teacher, the school is really generous this time! But three is not enough. Our club has five members, and there may be more in the future."

"We'll talk about it later." Fujiwara-sensei casually brushed it off: "The gi for the exorcism competition is still being made, and the size is based on your school uniform."

“Then I’ll take the larger size!” Kotegawa Kami quickly said, “So we also have gi uniforms.”

"What would it look like to compete in school uniform? Since you've decided to participate, you should do it in style!" Mr. Fujiwara took out his phone and sent out his request.

"Our school is really great! It would be even better if the school could also teach those upperclassmen a lesson!"

This time, Fujiwara-sensei didn't respond. He put away his phone, put his hands behind his back, and went out.

Kotekawa Kami stopped playing the drum and followed behind him, sending messages to Shirakawa Nozomi and Kurumi, asking them to wait for him at the entrance of the teaching building.

On the way to the teaching building, Kotekawa Kami suddenly asked, "Teacher, is that spirit object still in the ghost story club?"

“You’ll need to investigate that. I’ll give you the hospital address, and the teacher at the gate has already spoken to you.” Mr. Fujiwara said with his hands behind his back, “Those brats are rebellious and some are resisting the school’s intervention.”

"This probably isn't called rebellion, it's called being a fool."

Fujiwara-sensei remained silent for a while, then suddenly sighed and said, "Actually, they're just a group of poor kids who have no talent but yearn for that world."

After saying that, he waved his hand and walked towards the office on the first floor, his back view revealing desolation and loneliness.

Kotekawa Kami watched silently, then walked towards the Shirakawa siblings who were standing at the entrance of the teaching building, holding their phones.

"We don't have to go to class this afternoon?" Hu Tao asked excitedly.

Kotekawa Kami handed the two of them the exorcism club badges that Fujiwara-sensei had given him, and said, "Is the first period this afternoon self-study? We need to go do some work."

"The work of the exorcism society?" the junior priest asked thoughtfully.

"Well, the teacher said we can't just occupy the toilet without doing our business. The ghost story club caused an incident and we have to go and solve it."

The metaphor was very vivid, and Hu Tao showed a disgusted expression, while the little priest looked at him with great curiosity.

After thinking for a moment, Kamiko Kotekawa said, "Let's invite Yuuki as well. She's a member of the Kaidansha, so it should be easier for us to infiltrate them."

"No, please!" Hu Tao shook her head: "I heard that the Ghost Stories Club is very xenophobic. They like to stick together more than other clubs, and they especially hate 'traitors'."

"Tsk, even a little kid's power shouldn't be underestimated!" Kotekawa Kami shook his head, took the sword pouch from Kurumi's hand, slung it over his shoulder, looked at the club building, and said, "Let's go, let's check out the Kaidan Club first."

The three walked toward the club building without attracting much attention, as none of them wore armbands; they all had them in their pockets.

The armband's purpose is only realized in front of the Kaidansha (Ghost Story Society). Wearing it too early and attracting too much attention would not fit with Kotegawa Kami's usual low-key style.

The club building has seven floors and houses nearly 98% of the school's clubs, big and small. Except for the swimming club, basketball club, archery club, and exorcism club, which have special venue requirements, almost all of them are located here.

The Ghost Stories Club's activity room is located on the basement floor of the club building, in the most remote corner of the room.

The basement of the seven-story building is very cool. Even though it's not summer yet, it will still feel as cool as late autumn.

The corridor near the Ghost Stories Club is also unique, with various symbols and paintings full of mysterious and bizarre colors painted on the walls on both sides. If you know this is the Ghost Stories Club, you might think it is a gathering place for antisocial elements.