Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

Behind her, Akemi closed the door, then quickly squeezed past Chinami and entered the living room through the hallway first.

"It's a bit messy, let me tidy up." She walked to the sofa, picked up all the odds and ends and books and put them on the coffee table, making room for a second seat.

Then, after thinking for a moment, he sat on the stool opposite the sofa and gestured to Chinami that she could sit opposite him.

She swayed slightly as she did this, but before Yuri and Chinami could help her up, she regained her balance.

It seems she hasn't fully recovered yet, but her willpower is strong enough to keep her moving.

Chinami hesitated for a moment, then sat down on the sofa and placed the box of snacks in her hand on top of the miscellaneous books.

"Um, are you... are you alright?" Chinami spoke first. "You don't look too good."

"Oh, I was a little sick, but I'm almost better now, much better than when it was at its worst," Mingmei quickly chimed in. "And you, have you had any relapses these past few days? Any new developments at school?"

"I'm fine, and no one else in the class has suddenly fallen ill. However, there are all sorts of rumors circulating at school, especially after you got sick. Everyone thinks the illness is a curse, and there's a lot of fear. And recently—"

As she spoke, she looked around, lingering on a particular stone lantern for a relatively long time, which made Yuri feel uneasy.

Chinami spoke again, "Under these circumstances, the teacher couldn't ask anyone to visit you, and I... I'm too timid, so I only came today. I'm really sorry!"

She tried to bow on the sofa, but the pile of things on the coffee table in front of her stopped her, and she had to get up halfway down.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, I can take care of myself. I haven’t had any problems these days,” Mingmei seemed to suddenly realize something and hurriedly began to add, “Of course, I was indeed feeling quite unwell for a while, so I didn’t go to school. I plan to recover before going back, and I expect to be able to go back soon—for example, I can go to school tomorrow.”

It seems that Akemi is trying hard to maintain her image as a good student. Yuri is noncommittal about this, as he doesn't know enough about whether Akemi is really a good student... At least this time, Akemi really didn't skip school because she wanted to.

"Have you been to the hospital for a check-up? Will there be any aftereffects?" Chinami offered her advice with great enthusiasm.

"I went, I went. The doctor said I just need to rest." Mingmei's lying skills weren't perfect, but the lingering illness on her face prevented her from giving herself away when her complexion suddenly turned red.

"Then get some more rest. After all, you suffered because of me, and I'll cover for you with the teacher!"

Akemi's efforts were completely dismissed by Chinami as mere bravado... but they were achieved in a completely different way?

"By the way, what exactly did you mean by 'recently'?" Mingmei changed the subject.

Chinami then launched into a long, detailed account of recent incidents, including a series of burglaries that stole various dangerous items, threatened security guards, and the discovery of a body nearby by the police.

"In short, we all feel that the school is haunted by something unclean. If it weren't for the teachers' reassurance, everyone would want to chip in and hire a sorcerer to take a look."

A monk? What monk? Yuri quickly searched his mental database and finally found the relevant entry in the history section—that is, a monk.

"Haha, I didn't expect so many things to happen while I was away..." Akemi, who had basically participated in everything, tried to brush it off with a laugh, "Anyway, everyone's alright, that's good."

The two then chatted for a while longer.

"Oh right, there's something else important I need to do this time." Chinami suddenly remembered, then took out a notebook from her shoulder bag, tore off two pages, and handed it to Akemi.

"What is this?" Akemi asked, her voice full of confusion.

“…I’m very sorry,” Chinami’s tone changed to a feigned somber tone, but she couldn’t hide the fact that she was secretly laughing. “It’s the assignment list for this period of time. Since you’re feeling alright, I’ll give it to you first. If you’re willing to be sick for a while longer, you can actually ignore a large part of these assignments, but if it’s only for a week, the teacher will definitely still ask about them… It’s not that you can’t just say you don’t want to do them, but it’s better to do them, right?”

Then Yuri witnessed the change in expression, watching Akemi's face turn from red to white, then from white to green, and he trembled all over.

Here it comes, the students' nightmare has finally caught up with Akemi.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Despite Chinami's suggestion that she could let Akemi copy her homework, Akemi firmly refused her homework assistance and after-school tutoring.

After chatting for a while longer, Chinami got up to say goodbye, asking one last question before leaving.

"Mingmei, do you live with anyone?" She turned to look at her friend.

"Why are you asking this?" Mingmei asked warily.

“Although your house isn’t big, it’s still not a good idea for a young woman to live alone…and I have a feeling that there’s more than one person living here.”

"That intuition was pretty accurate," Yuri thought. Anyway, his main concern was Akemi. So, how would Akemi respond?

“Actually, it’s not entirely true that I live alone. I have an older sister who also lives here, but unfortunately, because of her work, her life is very irregular. It’s normal for her to be busy for several days without coming home.” Akemi’s answer surprised Yuri.

"Hey, what kind of person is your sister?" Chinami asked curiously.

"Actually, she looks a lot like me, and we're about the same height. You can't tell she's older than me... She's a suspicious person who calls herself a detective. She's always running around in that suspicious trench coat. You might run into her outside." After thinking for a moment, Akemi added, "But it's best not to greet her rashly. What if she really is just working?"

“Okay, I understand—” Chinami made sure she understood, then went out and left.

After Mingmei closed the door and returned to the sofa looking exhausted, Yuri asked her question, "How come I didn't know you had an older sister?"

"I just had it, and I wanted to make plans in advance for my face to appear in public."

Well, while it might be a bit of an overreaction, it's not entirely unfounded... however...

"What if someone wants to see your sister?"

"I'll leave it to you then, Yuri-neechan." Akemi's tone was as if she were talking to a contrarian, her teeth clenched.

Chapter Forty-Nine: Daily Life

Although she wasn't fully recovered, Mingmei had already stopped resting. In her words, "I can't fall asleep if I lie down anymore." So, under these circumstances, she chose to start catching up on her homework.

I worked from 7:30 pm, when Chinami left, until 11:30 pm, a full four hours... and finished a little over half.

At this rate, I won't be able to finish writing even if I'm busy until tomorrow's class.

"Akami, do you need any help?" Yuri, who had just returned from picking up a tape recorder, was indeed considering offering some assistance, but Akami had previously refused Chinami's offer to help with her homework, so it seemed unlikely—

“Yes.” Akemi looked up from the pile of homework, her eyes wide.

Yuri gracefully landed opposite her and began searching for subjects he was good at, such as math, physics, and chemistry—actually, he wasn't particularly good at those, but he was clearly very bad at subjects like Chinese and English.

While searching, he couldn't help but ask, "Why didn't you just copy the assignments that Chinami provided before?"

Then why was he willing to accept Yuri's help without copying his classmates' homework? However, he didn't say this aloud; Yuri kept it to himself.

He observed Mingmei's previous work performance. At the beginning, her efficiency was quite high, but as time went on, her efficiency dropped rapidly, which was obviously the result of exhaustion and inability to concentrate.

“First, homework is something you remember better if you do it yourself, and it’s easier to pass the exam. Second, I thought I could finish it.” Mingmei’s voice was rather somber. Yuri looked up and, sure enough, she was writing with her head down again. “Third… there’s no third. I overestimated my abilities, that’s all.”

Yuri pulled out the math and physics homework, but couldn't find the chemistry homework. By a simple process of elimination, he could assume that the one that Akemi had was the one she had already written herself.

"Your schoolwork is really heavy." Yuri simply remarked. Before, he would often see high school students walking down the street, singing the praises of youth. They didn't seem to be overwhelmed by their studies.

It's probably because Mingmei's school places a high value on academics and is quite formal. Although it looks old, the facilities are quite complete, so it should be a legitimate school.

"It's actually not that difficult, but it's troublesome to accumulate several days' worth of material—and then, where's your help?" Akemi looked up at Yuri, and then saw Yuri diligently turning the pages of a book and writing on it.

"...Is this your way of helping? You're just doing my homework for me?" She seemed quite disappointed.

"...What are you doing? What other help do you want?" Yuri stopped writing and glared at the ungrateful high school girl.

"I thought you would use some special ability to fill in all the homework with a wave of your hand, or give me some spiritual power to make my thoughts flow like a spring... but I didn't expect you to write it yourself... Well, you don't seem to be that omnipotent."

I'm so sorry it's not that convenient for me," Yuri said, speechless.

"Oh right, last time when I wasn't feeling well, I inexplicably finished my homework, and my handwriting was slightly different from my usual handwriting. I thought I had finished it in a daze... Could it be that you did it that time too?" Akemi suddenly remembered something.

"Yeah, by the way, how's the accuracy rate?" Yuri added, "Did the teacher find out?"

“How could they have found out? Our teachers are also overwhelmed by the amount of homework the principal has assigned, and they basically don’t have the time or inclination to check handwriting,” Mingmei answered the second question first. “As for the accuracy, it’s a little worse than mine, but the level is basically the same—did you check the book when you wrote it?”

"They investigated." Not only did they investigate, they also copied it.

"Then let's say you're a little worse than me. I'm about at this level without consulting books."

Was the high school girl relieved? Yuri hesitated for a moment, then decided to categorize it as his own hallucination. Surely no one would feel relieved just because their academic level surpassed that of a spirit who had only been awake for a little over a month and was suffering from amnesia?

…………

After writing for a while, Yuri also got bogged down in his homework. In terms of proficiency with this knowledge, he was basically not as good as Akemi. Even if he had a good memory, it was not very efficient if he had to stop and recall things all the time.

"How's it going? How does it feel to write?" The high school girl across from Yuri was trying to make conversation to distract herself.

"Your principal is really dedicated, assigning so much homework. It seems he's put in a lot of effort to improve the college entrance rate." Yuri didn't think it was a good idea to be distracted, but he couldn't help joining the conversation.

"The principal? I haven't been here long, but I've heard from others that the principal has increased pressure to improve the college entrance examination pass rate. That's true, but his method is simply to use his position to demand that the teachers below him improve the students' grades... The quality of students in our school is relatively poor. The good students, those from wealthy families, and those with special talents have basically gone to the high school next door, leaving a bunch of ordinary students. In order to achieve good results, the principal pressures the teachers, and the teachers pressure the students, and so the pressure is passed down from level to level." There was no resentment in his voice.

"Don't you feel bad? You have so much schoolwork."

"Of course it's tough, but it should get better after these three years. Once I get into university, I can relax!" The high school girl's words didn't convey any sense of relaxation; it was more like wishful thinking.

"If you're going to work hard to exercise, why do you need me to help you with your homework?" Yuri felt like he had asked this question before, but he decided to ask it again from a different angle.

"Because I can't finish writing, and I'm not planning to go to school without any homework tomorrow, the teacher should be able to accept it, but I can't stand that awkward atmosphere. -- Is there a problem with me wanting to act like a good student?"

Sure enough, as the perspective of the question changed, the answer also changed.

Yuri noticed a blind spot: "They don't even have anyone to deliver the homework, so they shouldn't be expecting you to hand it in at all. You should only find out about all this homework after you get to school."

“You’re right, Chinami only arrived today, and she probably won’t go around telling everyone that she told me about the homework,” Akemi confirmed Yuri’s words.

"Then why the rush?"

"At first, I just wanted to finish the homework I did on the day I normally went home, and then I thought I might as well finish it all."

Is this what they call being prepared for a rainy day, or just asking for trouble?

…………

After a night of hard work, the two finished their assignment—by the end, Yuri was unsure of what she was writing, but hopefully there weren't too many mistakes. Akemi was in a similar situation; no matter how strong her physical energy was, mental energy was a different matter entirely.

When she left her residence in the morning, Yuri checked the spiritual energy around her and found that it had almost completely subsided, indicating that the matter at the school had indeed come to an end.

Mingmei even took the time to help Yuri test the ignition effect. In Mingmei's hands, the effect of the two wooden pieces was about the same, and Yuri's conclusion was correct.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

A great man once said, "The more you know, the more you realize how little you know."

That's just how Yuri is; after researching this and that, there are still things he hasn't finished.

He needed to start studying the notebook filled with the seeds of his own downfall as soon as possible—to ensure his safety, he needed to be in peak condition, which meant replenishing his spiritual essence.

This means we still need to go out on the streets and constantly harass those repeating the same text.

To this end, Yuri has developed his own apologetics (the doctrine of defending one's own thoughts and actions).

According to Yuri's statistics over this period, most of the "repeating ghosts" did not have an effective and continuous source of spiritual essence—yes, most of the deceased had their own relatives and friends. However, for those ghosts who have fallen to the level of "repeating ghosts," there are generally not many such supporters.

These people cannot remain immersed in grief indefinitely, endlessly commemorating the deceased—that would utterly destroy their own lives as living beings. If these "repeating machines" (metaphorical expressions of grief) had the wisdom to speak, they certainly wouldn't want their loved ones to end up like this.

On the other hand, repeaters don't actively seek out or create an impression to remind people of them. They lack the motivation to do so; as incomplete echoes, they don't act on their own.

The result is that the repeating machine always silently depletes its spiritual essence while maintaining its activities, returning to the underworld without a trace. Yuri doesn't know what the underworld is like, but he feels that once you go there, it's probably hard to come back. On the other hand, judging from how desperately the ghosts resist going to the underworld, it clearly doesn't have a good reputation for happiness and fulfillment.

Yuri's actions only accelerated this process—they would dissipate anyway, and there would be no pain in their dissipation; moreover, they were incomplete ghosts, without self-awareness, and could not even be considered independent life forms.

So Yuri taking their spiritual essence doesn't mean Yuri did anything bad... at least not something particularly serious.

This is Yuri's rationalization of his actions—which helps alleviate his guilt.

Yuri didn't know what Akemi would say if she knew, but most ghosts didn't seem to need such a theory to defend themselves... it would just be superfluous and unnecessary.

However, it might be somewhat helpful if you can soothe your conscience.

Yuri, who was wandering around the streets, noticed something was amiss.

Of course, many things seemed wrong to him, but this was the result of his own comparison with the past.

The density of repeaters is changing—the density of repeaters in some areas has recently decreased, while the density in other areas has increased.

Has the focus of the death incident shifted?

Yuri, who had been unconsciously moving towards the area with the most repeaters, decided to take the opportunity to investigate the situation.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

After walking a distance away from his usual activity area, almost reaching the garbage dump he had seen before, Yuri discovered another suspicious detail.

The large number of newly added repeaters, judging from their appearance, all indicate violent deaths, essentially homicides. Meanwhile, the number of ghosts capable of conversing with Yuri has not increased proportionally, and is even declining.

Something was wrong, but Yuri didn't know what the problem was.

During the exploration, Yuri quickly reached his daily food limit.

Let's shake it a little more. Yuri, now in a phantom form, drifts through the streets.

Whether by luck or misfortune, at a crossroads, Yuri met a very special group of people.

They were wearing slightly reflective, plastic-looking white shirts, and they were handing out flyers.

Of course, this could just be an event, but the fact that they all carried the same uniform spiritual aura is quite unusual. It's unlikely that everyone would have the same spiritual aura if only one person had been possessed by something unclean.

When Yuri approached them in his spirit form, two of them seemed to sense it and looked in Yuri's direction, but in the end they probably didn't see anything and turned back.

The proportion of inspired individuals is very high, exceeding that of ordinary organizations and groups. Based on the frequency with which Yuri was sensed while wandering the streets, the correct figure should be one in a hundred—and if we multiply that by four, five percent is already a very broad estimate.