He stayed at the Archery Club until nearly five o'clock before leaving school, taking the subway back to Komagome Station, and then, after purchasing a batch of fresh ingredients at a nearby supermarket, returned to the tower apartment.
"Shen, do you need big Sister's help?" Otsuka Natsuki from the housekeeper's office leaned out from the window with her hands behind her back and asked.
"Thank you, Sister Otsuka, I can manage it myself."
Dongshan Shen politely refused.
"Shen is truly a responsible Brother, I'm so envious..." Otsuka Natsuki exclaimed sincerely, her smile as friendly as ever.
Dongshan Shen did not reply. Cooking was a hobby he brought from his previous life and he didn't feel it was a burden.
This responsible Brother of his, in order to make his younger brother a responsible younger brother, also knew a bit of boxing and had used quite a bit of force to make his brother, who hadn't even reached puberty, willingly submit in advance, nipping the rebellious little seed in the bud.
After all, being disciplined by parents is quite different from being disciplined by a Brother two years older.
The former would become more rebellious the more they were hit, while the latter used a combination of softness and hardness, leading by example, leaving no room for disobedience.
This was also why that cheap Father was so confident in entrusting this home to him to manage.
Returning home, he started cooking. He made tomato and egg drop soup, hamburger steak, and braised chicken wings. He wasn't used to miso soup and rarely made it; drinking that was worse than drinking seaweed and egg drop soup.
"I'm home!"
Dongshan Du returned around five to six o'clock. He participated in the badminton club and the soccer club, but his talent in soccer wasn't great, unlike the country in his previous life... anyway, the soccer ball he bought was brand new and he didn't kick it at all last night when he took it out, it was purely for show.
Conversely, he really liked badminton and would occasionally go to the apartment's badminton room to play a few rounds.
"Hamburger steak! Hooray!"
Dongshan Du quickly washed his hands, served himself rice, and brought it to the dining table.
As soon as Dongshan Shen sat down, he couldn't wait to exclaim "I'm eating!" and began to eat.
"Brother, do you know? That 'Seven People Club' at school plans to sneak into the Old Teaching Building tonight to have the newcomers find the items they hid inside during the day, as a way to select new members," Dongshan Du said, swallowing a mouthful of rice with difficulty, sharing what he considered exclusive news.
The Seven People Club wasn't actually a legitimate club; it was just a delinquent gang, but it only recruited high school students. It held no attraction for decent people, who only sought to avoid it.
But for those delinquents transitioning from middle school to high school, it was a sacred place!
Even though Komagome Academy's school spirit was quite good, it couldn't avoid all sorts of people. Believe it or not, some delinquents even had decent grades.
"Old Teaching Building, huh..." Dongshan Shen repeated the phrase. With that, everything clicked into place.
He glanced at his younger brother. Speaking of which, Dongshan Du used to hang out with a group of delinquents. Later, Dongshan Shen taught those who led his brother astray a lesson, which made Dongshan Du have a sudden realization.
Hanging out with this bunch of weaklings is worse than learning boxing from my Brother!
However, many people still thought Dongshan Du was a delinquent.
And Dongshan Du was eager to distance himself from his past self. Later, he helped many people who were bullied by delinquents, got into a few fights, and often came back injured. However, this only deepened his delinquent label.
As he fought, a few people were beaten into submission and recognized him as their boss, From then on, he turned over a new leaf。
So he was also a pseudo-delinquent and was quite well-informed about the news from the real delinquents.
"None of your friends are going, are they?" Dongshan Shen asked.
"No, they only want high school students. My friends are all middle schoolers. They said they don't take little kids," Dongshan Du scoffed. "When I get to high school, I'll overthrow the Seven People Club! And change it to the 'Daily Good Deeds Gang'!"
"Okay, do you know what time they start?"
"Around eight, probably. Their boss, Inoue Yuka, will bring a few people to be 'referees', and then give those who want to join a map, requiring them to use the map to find items hidden in the Old Teaching Building. I heard they're props discarded from haunted houses, like severed hands and stuff, and they've set up quite a few scary mechanisms, haha, I just heard about this."
Dongshan Du spoke enthusiastically.
"So they might have turned the Old Teaching Building into something like a haunted house?" Dongshan Shen mused about those people's reckless behavior.
If they did that, even if that formation didn't exist, and even if it was purely an ordinary abandoned teaching building, it wouldn't be strange for some life-threatening accident to occur, let alone the fact that he was certain the Old Teaching Building was not ordinary and seemed to hide some secret.
He suspected that the ominous sign was not limited to the one delinquent he saw.
He hoped his school wouldn't make headlines tomorrow.
...
"Hurry up, don't drag your feet!"
A little earlier.
Komagome Academy, inside the Old Teaching Building, a group of four high school students carrying black plastic bags walked through the hallway, leaving behind a series of messy footprints.
"Boss, why is it so cold here? Look, phew—you can even see the hot air I'm breathing out."
Sato shivered, always feeling like countless unseen eyes were watching him in the silent surroundings.
"It's just your imagination, I don't feel cold at all, I'm almost sweating."
Matsuo deliberately rolled up his sleeves and fanned his face with his hand, putting on a show of being hot, but if you looked closely, you would see the dense goosebumps on his arms.
"Don't let the newcomers see you like this, it's too embarrassing for us," Hosokawa said contemptuously to Sato.
Sato's face flushed red as he tried to retort, but his words were cut off by Inoue before they came out.
"Alright, let's finish quickly. We'll start from here and hide the items according to the locations on the map as we originally planned. They need to match the locations marked on the map, but they shouldn't be too easy for them to find. Hmm... Matsuo, Sato, you two are a group. Sato is responsible for hiding the items, Matsuo is responsible for setting up the scary props, and Hosokawa and I will be a group..."
Inoue, as the boss of the Seven People Club, was the one who planned this newcomer selection event.
The purpose was to let the newcomers know that joining the Seven People Club wasn't easy. To get in, they had to possess fearless courage and determination! It also served as a show of force, warning the newcomers to be sensible.
The few of them agreed one after another, then took various props and went to find the burial spots according to the map.
"Hey, Matsuo, do you know the history of this teaching building?"
Sato and Matsuo chatted while working, and as they talked, they drifted to the past of this teaching building.
"Not interested, wasn't it just rebuilt after a fire? Nonsense about students burning to death, school was already suspended back then." Matsuo showed disdain for those rumors.
Sato pouted, speaking in a eunuch-like sarcastic tone: "Oh dear, little Matsuo, could it be that you don't dare to listen? Are you afraid you won't dare to go to the bathroom at night?"
"Heh, you can say whatever you want. If Sadako comes, I dare to go in and check her cup size. I'm just afraid you'll scare yourself into peeing your pants."
A trace of unnaturalness flashed across Matsuo's face, but his mouth was still dismissive. He was the type who, even if thrown into a fire, would only have his mouth left to say "it's not hot."
"Haha, well then, I'll tell you... I heard that decades ago..."
"No, to be precise, it should be showa 39. There was a senior student back then, she was the librarian here. The library was on the first floor of this teaching building at that time, and the student dormitory was still on campus, providing accommodation for a small number of students in need, so..."