Surviving in a School of Ghost Stories

Chapter 15

 

Meow!

Blackie meowed angrily, urging us to follow.

“…We should follow him for now.”

Erica stopped arguing and added a comment.

We quietly headed to the administrative office, following Blackie.

The administrative office was on the second floor of the main building.

Since it was the day before school started, most of the teachers’ desks were empty, with only the teacher distributing textbooks and uniforms present.

As expected, it was the music teacher.

While I was signing the receipt for receiving the uniform and textbooks as a transfer student, the music teacher asked me with sparkling eyes.

“Miss Hastings, have you perhaps developed an interest in soprano?”

“No.”

Why is he so obsessed?

Beside me, Erica looks at me in surprise.

“Melody, are you joining the choir?”

“No. I was told I need to join the disciplinary committee.”

“What? The disciplinary committee? Only top students can join that.”

Erica asks this because she doesn’t know yet that I got a perfect score on the transfer exam.

“Melody Hastings is a top student. She got a perfect score on the transfer exam.”

The music teacher explained on my behalf. His expression was full of pride.

I don’t understand why he’s more proud of my perfect score than I am.

“What? A perfect score on the transfer exam? You?”

Erica asked in disbelief.

“Really? It’s amazing enough that someone got a perfect score on the transfer exam, but it was you?”

She seemed a bit shocked.

Then the music teacher gave me additional information about club activities.

“Yes, Miss Hastings. Since the disciplinary committee and student council aren’t clubs, you can join one additional club. Think about it carefully.”

It’s the first time I’m hearing that I can join another club while being in the disciplinary committee.

“Soprano Melody! What a beautiful combination of names!”

Isn’t the singing more important than the name?

The music teacher looked so moved, as if imagining me singing an aria on stage, that I couldn’t bring myself to say that.

“It will surely suit you well. No club suits Miss Hastings better than the choir.”

The music teacher continued to promote the choir until I left the office.

“Alright then, we’ll be going now.”

Of course, I let her words go in one ear and out the other as Erica and I made our exit.

“Erica. Did you join any other clubs besides the student council?”

“No. It’s optional anyway. It’s a privilege for top students.”

It seems that top students at this school are given more privileges than I thought.

Privileges are indeed the best.

“By the way, it’s still surprising to think that you’re the perfect scorer on the transfer exam.”

Erica continued with a face that seemed to have made some decision.

“Alright. I’ll give you one more privilege.”

“What’s that?”

“From now on, you can hang out with me.”

…Should I even respond to that?

“If you hang out with me, I’ll specially take care of Blackie, feed him, and play with him. How about it? It’s a great honor, right?”

I suspect Erica might not know what the word ‘honor’ means.

“If you call him Blackie instead of Elizabeth, I’ll hang out with you with a honored heart.”

“Actually, I wanted to call him Blackie from the beginning.”

Erica quickly replied and gently stroked Blackie’s fur.

The more I saw her, the more careless Erica seemed. Somehow, it made me laugh.

“The place you need to be most careful of in Saint Gloria Private School is Johannes Castle. That’s where the F class classrooms are gathered…”

All the way back to the dormitory, Erica chattered about school life, saying I should know at least this much since I’ve earned the privilege of hanging out with her.

By the time I returned to my dorm room and finished preparing for the new semester, night had fallen.

After ironing all my uniforms, I went to bed with an uneasy mind.

‘I must meet Raven tomorrow.’

The night deepened along with my worries.

🐈‍⬛

September 1, 902. The morning of the first day of the second semester.

Easton Leaven Lauderdale glanced at the living room while preparing for school in his uniform for the first time in a while.

There, his roommate Raven Hastings had finished preparing and was ready to leave.

He seemed to have finished preparing unusually early, and it looked like he hadn’t slept well.

‘Is it because of his sister?’

The school had been buzzing due to the recent transfer exam.

It was because of the perfect scorer on the transfer exam.

It was the first time someone had gotten a perfect score on the transfer exam, and the scorer’s name happened to be ‘Hastings’.

The same surname as Raven Hastings, who had earned the nickname ‘Crazy Raven’ last semester for turning the school upside down.

Everyone knew what that meant, and Raven’s sister quickly became the school’s biggest topic of conversation.

‘Come to think of it, she came to our room last time saying she wanted to meet Raven.’

Easton recalled the woman in the photo the student council president had shown him earlier.

No matter how he looked at it, the woman in the photo looked exactly like the transfer student in question.

‘Could there be a connection?’

Recently, the student council had been busy investigating incidents called ghost stories.

Since ghost stories were frequently posted topics on the student bulletin board, the student council had no choice but to investigate.

However, most members believed all ghost stories were fake, except for a few members.

Raven was no different.

Even if Easton and the student council president told him about the Chesswind ghost story they had investigated, he wouldn’t believe it.

“Hey, why were you avoiding your sister yesterday?”

“Who’s avoiding whom? I didn’t do any such thing.”

Raven replied nonchalantly while putting on his shoes.

His indifferent answer made Easton smirk.

“The whole school knows your sister was looking for you all day yesterday. She searched the entire school with Queensbury.”

“It’s hard to maintain my image when I meet my sister.”

“Image? What image? Did you ever have an image?”

“Everyone calls me crazy, don’t they?”

“You are crazy, though.”

“Stop talking to me. We’re not that close.”

“You ****.”

“I’ve never seen a noble who swears as vulgarly as you do.”

“These days, all nobles swear. Times have changed, it’s about time you changed too.”

“Seems like you’re the only one who’s changed.”

“At least I’ve changed. Just don’t tell my brother. If my father hears about this, I’m *****.”

“Let’s stop talking.”

Raven clicked his tongue and opened the door to leave.

It’s still late summer. Yet Raven wore the winter uniform, pulling down his sleeves to cover his skin completely.

He never exposed his bare skin to people and never made physical contact with anyone.

The nickname ‘Crazy Raven’ didn’t come from nowhere. Raven was always somewhat peculiar.

Moreover, Raven’s attitude when talking about Melody seemed unnatural. It seemed like he had a reason for avoiding Melody.

‘Well, it’s not my problem anyway.’

Easton checked the time, put on his shoes, and quickly headed out.

As he passed by the girls’ dormitory, he noticed a commotion.

“What’s going on?”

A crowd of girls had gathered in the dormitory lobby.

Curious, but bound by the rule prohibiting boys from entering the girls’ dormitory, Easton approached a boy who was lingering around the lobby.

“What happened?”

“Apparently, a girl got stuck in the elevator door last night.”

Hearing this, Easton recalled the [Girls’ Dormitory Elevator Ghost Story] that had been posted on the school bulletin board last semester.

The post warned not to use the girls’ dormitory elevator after 9 PM. It said something strange appears there at that time.

Sure enough, a student peering around voiced a doubt.

“Could that ghost story be true?”

Easton stared at the girls’ dormitory lobby with ominous eyes for a moment.

There had been no further incidents after that, so he had forgotten about it.

‘Surely not…’

🐈‍⬛

Thank you for reading! ♡