Chapter 399

"Why would they do this?" Ran asked fearfully.

"Maybe to create panic."

Akaso Kaze looked up at the school building and happened to see the art student standing by the window, who hurriedly walked away after being discovered.

Although he felt it was just a prank, it seemed necessary to solve it.

Currently, it seems that the so-called ghost incident is likely related to the deceased high school student Hosaka Hideaki. If it's not handled quickly, a murder case might really happen.

Art room.

When Akaso Kaze came to find him again, the art student's emotions were even more agitated, and he was holding his head in fear.

"It's Hosaka, th-that guy is still holding a grudge after all."

"Do you know Hosaka?" Akaso Kaze asked.

"He was a member of the art club like me. I know that day two years ago, he fell from the stairs." The art student's breathing was rapid, "Could you please leave? Don't come and bother me anymore."

"One more question," Akaso Kaze walked to the door and stopped, "There was water under the stairs. Who discovered it first?"

"It was me! Because I had to prepare for the competition, I would come very early."

"I see. If there's anything, you can come find me."

Akaso Kaze left the art room with his hands in his pockets.

Sumi Tsukamoto was a former classmate of Hosaka Hideaki, the boy with the crew cut named Seko was a childhood friend, and then there was this art student.

There were so many related people left at school.

Akaso Kaze's gaze looked through the corridor window at the courtyard below again.

The desk wasn't wet from the rain, which meant it was moved to the courtyard after the rain stopped. But there were only their footprints on the muddy ground.

This contradictory phenomenon is undoubtedly a ghost incident deliberately misled by someone, and some kind of method must have been used.

"Akaso-san, how is it?" Ran suddenly asked, "Did you find anything?"

Akaso Kaze said: "It should be a man-made incident, no need to be afraid."

"Who's afraid?!"

Ran turned her head to look at Sumi Tsukamoto, who was lagging behind, and asked: "I feel like Senior Sumi treats you differently."

"How is it different?" Akaso Kaze looked back.

He made eye contact with Sumi Tsukamoto, and the girl blushed immediately.

Sumi Tsukamoto walked a few steps faster, caught up, and said, "Should we go ask the principal?"

"Ah? Why go ask the principal?" Ran was stunned.

"Actually, I saw the principal in the courtyard just now."

Sumi Tsukamoto explained, "I saw it from the window in the corridor. The principal was standing in the courtyard worrying as usual, probably worrying about what trees to plant again."

"Principal?" Akaso Kaze said strangely, "Did you really see your principal?"

"Yes." Sumi Tsukamoto nodded affirmatively.

In the principal's office, the old principal was surprised:

"Saw me in the courtyard? No. I haven't gone out today. And when it was raining, I was presiding over a faculty meeting, which was aimed at the ghost incident that has been causing a stir recently."

"That's strange," Sumi Tsukamoto said confusedly, "Maybe it was someone else."

"Should we go ask Seko? The infirmary on the first floor is right in front of the courtyard. Maybe he saw that person too." Sumi Tsukamoto asked.

Akaso Kaze nodded.

"Are you investigating this ghost incident?" the principal asked with interest...

"Yes! Something happened again just now!" Ran was still fearful.

"Hosaka Hideaki's desk and chair from the gym warehouse suddenly appeared in the courtyard for some reason, and there was a note on the desk that said 'My hatred has not yet been eliminated'."

"Ah? Who is playing a prank again?" the principal looked displeased.

In the infirmary on the first floor, the three found Seko Kunishige, who was resting there.

"I've been lying on the bed in the infirmary sleeping."

Seko Kunishige sat up from the hospital bed, "Besides, even if I went out, I couldn't have seen it. Look for yourselves, the windows are blocked by trees. This is the first floor, so you can't see the courtyard at all. Even if there were suspicious people wandering around in the courtyard, you wouldn't see anything."

"Strange, where is the infirmary teacher?"

"He said he was going to learn to drive, so he left first, and he told me to go home and rest early, because my house is right next to the school."

Seko Kunishige sighed and looked outside.

"However, it's no wonder that such things happen. Hosaka's ghost should still be at school."

"Hey, Seko," Sumi Tsukamoto hummed, "How come even you believe in such things?"

"I'm joking," Seko Kunishige smiled and looked at Ran, "Is there really someone scared by the rumors?"

Ran's face was a little embarrassed: "N-no."

"Speaking of which, the art student from before was a bit strange, looking very scared,"

Akaso Kaze looked around the infirmary and asked Seko Kunishige, "By the way, I heard you and Hosaka were childhood playmates, right?"

"That's right, we were together in elementary and junior high school, but we didn't meet much after entering high school, because I had a car accident as soon as I enrolled and stayed in the hospital for nearly half a year. I only found out about Hosaka after I was discharged and returned to school."

Seko Kunishige paused and asked curiously, "The art student you mentioned, is it Monobe Masao, who paints alone in the art room?"

"I think so. We don't know his name either. Do you know him?" Sumi Tsukamoto asked.

"Yes, because he and Hosaka were both in the art club."

"Is that so?" Akaso Kaze continued, "In that case, could you please go to the art room in a while? I have some things I want to ask you."

"Ah? Okay."

Seko Kunishige nodded blankly, only then noticing Akaso Kaze.

"You, you are Lord Akaso?"

Akaso Kaze nodded.

He turned and left the infirmary, walked through the corridor, and looked at the muddy ground in the courtyard again.

"That art student is indeed suspicious," Ran followed behind and said.

"But Seko from just now is also suspicious. The gym warehouse where the desks and chairs were placed is very close to the infirmary, and this corridor leads directly to the courtyard."

"By the way, Sumi," Akaso Kaze asked Sumi Tsukamoto, "Why did you go to the gym warehouse earlier?"

"This," Sumi Tsukamoto was stunned for a moment, "I was looking for Seko, and then I saw you guys at the warehouse."

"Conan, you don't suspect Senior Sumi, do you?"

"I already know who the person creating the ghost incident is," Akaso Kaze stood at the exit of the corridor and checked for a while, then turned to the two and said, "Let's gather at the art room now."

"Al-already know?" Sumi Tsukamoto and Ran looked at each other.

In the art room, Seko Kunishige pushed the door open with an umbrella in his hand.

"Excuse me."

"Seko?" The art student Monobe Masao said in surprise, "Why did you come here?"

"They said that coming here would reveal the truth about the ghost disturbance."

Seko Kunishige put his umbrella aside, sat down, and looked at Sumi Tsukamoto and Ran, who were also in the art room, and found that Akaso Kaze was not present, "Where is Lord Akaso? Didn't he come?"

"Lord Akaso said he would come later," Sumi Tsukamoto looked at Seko Kunishige, who was carrying an umbrella and a handbag, and asked, "Seko, are you already prepared to go back?"

"Yes, it might take a lot of time, so I plan to go back directly after things here are finished."

"Is everyone here?" Akaso Kaze walked into the art room, immediately attracting everyone's attention.

"First of all, it can be confirmed that the Sighing Gym Warehouse, the Library of Hatred, the Cursed Stairs, and the desks and chairs that appeared in the courtyard just now were all man-made."

"Eh? But how do you explain the desks and chairs in the courtyard? There were no footprints left on the muddy ground at all."

"Because the footprints were washed away by the heavy rain."

Akaso Kaze looked at everyone and smiled: "The culprit didn't move the desks and chairs to the center of the courtyard after the rain stopped, but when it started to rain. Although there were only showers today, the rain was very heavy in the middle, which was enough to wash away the footprints left at the beginning."

Ran asked doubtfully: "But wouldn't the desk get wet like that?"

"Didn't Sumi say she saw the principal standing in the courtyard?"

Akaso Kaze turned to Sumi Tsukamoto beside him, "How could you be sure it was the principal from upstairs? You should have just seen an umbrella, so you thought it was the principal, right?"

Sumi Tsukamoto, who was holding her arms, was stunned: "That's right."

"The culprit also considered the possibility of being seen, so he used an umbrella the same as the principal's to cover the rain. Because the principal often stood in the courtyard, no one would find it strange even if they saw someone."

Akaso Kaze looked at the umbrella with water stains beside Seko Kunishige.

"Of course, a rope was also attached to the umbrella to facilitate recovery after the rain stopped, so that the illusion of a ghost moving the desks and chairs could be created."

"The evidence is the path from the muddy ground to the corridor outside the infirmary. There were subtle traces left on the muddy ground, and there was also shaken-off rainwater on the corridor floor. However, no matter how hard you try, it's impossible to dry an umbrella, and rainwater will still seep out after a period of time."

Seko Kunishige's face changed, and he looked at his umbrella in silence.

"My umbrella was just a bit dirty, so I washed it."

"From the words you said in the infirmary, I felt it was you, Seko-kun,"

Akaso Kaze said calmly.

"You asked for leave and stayed in the infirmary all afternoon on the grounds of being unwell just to wait for an opportunity. Because the weather forecast only said there would be showers from the afternoon to the evening, you weren't sure when exactly it would be, and then you occasionally pretended to go to the restroom to determine if there was anyone in the courtyard."

"Today, when you saw it start to rain, you pretended to meet us outside the restroom, and only went to the gym warehouse after confirming that no one would see you, moved the desks and chairs to the courtyard, and returned to the infirmary next door to prepare to recover the umbrella after the rain stopped."