I Was Possessed By An Unknown Manga-Chapter 236: Haunted House

Generally, haunted houses were places couples or mixed-gender groups would often visit.

It wasn’t like same-gender friends never came, but their numbers were far fewer compared to couples.

There were many possible reasons, but it was probably because of the physical contact that happened in the dark, confined space.

The thought of guys sticking close together was unpleasant enough.

“But everyone else is working. Is it okay for us to just be playing around like this?”

“Oh, come on~ Why worry? We can just work hard tomorrow.”

“Yeah, true.”

Now that I thought about it, we’d been working non-stop since this morning, about five hours straight.

If someone had a problem with us taking a short break, then their conscience must be twisted.

“Oh, by the way, Sasha’s hanging out with you next, and then it’s Karen-chan.”

“…Do I not have a say in this?”

“Ryu-chan, do you not like hanging out with your friends?”

“No, it’s not that, but…”

Caught in a trap, I avoided her gaze as I answered, and Rika lightly patted my shoulder with a soft smile.

“I’m just kidding. I already know you feel a bit pressured by our kindness.”

“…”

Rika already knew that I had someone I liked.

Of course, because of the President’s personal circumstances, we’d been secretly dating, but hanging out with other girls behind her back still made me feel guilty.

As the mood got a little awkward, Rika said, “Hehe, that wasn’t my intention,” and twirled her hair.

With a bitter smile, I said to Rika,

“You don’t need to apologize. It’s my fault for acting indecisively.”

“Ryu-chan…”

“Alright, let’s end the heavy talk here. It’s our turn now.”

“Ah.”

While we were talking, it had become our turn to enter.

As we approached the entrance, a student from Class 2-C standing at the front of the haunted house said,

“It’s 600 yen for the two of you.”

“Here you go.”

“Just a reminder, please don’t touch the staff inside, okay?”

“Oh, we won’t~”

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Although the warning was clearly aimed at me, Rika laughed it off, thinking it was a joke, and handed over the coins.

“…Then, this way.”

The curtain blocking the entrance was pulled aside, revealing a pitch-black room. We steeled ourselves and slowly walked in.

“Wow, it’s really dark.”

The inside of the haunted house was a pitch-black room where you couldn’t see an inch ahead.

After a little time inside, our eyes started to adjust to the darkness, and we could faintly make out the outlines of objects.

It seemed like the haunted house was designed as a maze to maximize the small space, so we walked slowly, one hand on the wall, moving forward.

“Kyaaaaa!”

Gasp!

A scream, presumably from the team that entered before us, came from somewhere very close.

Startled, Rika stopped walking and turned to me with a nervous expression, asking,

“Su-chan, you’re still here, right?”

“Yeah.”

She called me “Ryu-chan” when she was serious, but somehow, I was back to being “Su-chan.”

“Can you, uh, hold my hand?”

“Your hand?”

“Yeah. I’m a little scared.”

Without saying a word, I extended my right hand to Rika.

Fumbling in the dark, she found my hand and said with curiosity,

“Wow, a guy’s hand really is bigger than a girl’s.”

“Well, I’m a bit bigger than most people.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I’m big.”

“Ah, I see…”

As we chatted idly, Rika’s tension seemed to ease, and her shoulders relaxed.

Even before we encountered any students dressed as ghosts, Rika was already in this state, so maybe she wasn’t great with scary stuff after all.

But if we lingered too long, the team behind us might catch up, so we decided to keep moving forward.

“By the way, Su-chan, can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“You mentioned before that ghosts and monsters exist in the underworld, right? Have you ever seen a ghost in real life?”

At Rika’s sharp question, I couldn’t help but think of the two ghosts that followed Ryuji around every day.

“You don’t know this, but they’re really close to us.”

“What? Where? Where?”

Rika jumped in surprise and started looking around.

“No, I don’t mean they’re here right now.”

“Then what?”

“There are already two in our classroom.”

One was a pharaoh who came all the way from Egypt, and the other was a tsundere ghost who was stuck here because she couldn’t let go of her first love.

“…Now I don’t feel like going back to the classroom.”

“They’re both good spirits, so it’s fine.”

I calmed Rika down as we continued walking through the maze.

“Oh.”

There was a suspicious-looking metal cabinet sitting right in the middle of the path.

Gulp.

Because we were sticking close together, I could clearly hear the sound of her swallowing nervously.

“W-we have to open it, right?”

Rika asked me in a trembling voice.

“Yeah, we probably should.”

Rika, clearly reluctant, moved closer to the metal cabinet.

“I’m opening it, okay? I’m really opening it.”

Rika repeated herself like a parrot, as if warning any ghosts nearby, then tightly shut her eyes and swung the cabinet door wide open.

Clang!

“…Huh?”

But there was nothing inside.

Just as Rika let out a sigh of relief, suddenly…

“Kyaaaaaaa!”

Two hands shot out from below, grabbing her ankles. She let out a huge scream and threw herself into my arms.

Squish!

At that moment, I felt the soft, round sensation of her body pressing into mine.

‘Thank you.’

Grateful for the unexpected bonus, I mentally gave the ghost a thumbs up while I gently patted Rika’s back until she calmed down.

“I-I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s nothing.”

It took Rika about a minute to calm down after being so scared out of her wits.

“I didn’t think they’d get me like that when I let my guard down.”

I smiled wryly, listening to Rika complain.

In fact, I had to give credit to the students playing the ghosts—they were really clever.

They distracted us with the cabinet in the pitch-black room and then grabbed our ankles—unless you could sense their presence like I could, you’d definitely fall for that trick.

“I’m not letting my guard down anymore! Just wait and see!”

But despite her determination, Rika kept falling into the traps set by the students of Class 2-C, screaming each time.

Honestly, even I was startled by the last trick with the mirror.

The two of us were looking into a large, full-length mirror when suddenly a ghost appeared behind us—that was pretty effective.

I almost sent the ghost straight to the afterlife.

“Ah! That was fun!”

After about ten minutes in the haunted house, Rika came out grinning and said that.

Seeing her act so differently from how she was inside, I asked, a bit dumbfounded,

“Weren’t you saying you were scared the whole time?”

“Huh? Well, that’s what makes a haunted house fun, right?”

It wasn’t exactly wrong, but…

Recalling how scared she was inside, I couldn’t help but feel a little confused by the contrast.

“Ah, I can let go of your hand now.”

As if she had just remembered, Rika let go of my hand, which she had been holding tightly, and smiled brightly at me.

“I had a lot of fun today, Su-chan. You really live up to being our class’s secret weapon with how well you hosted.”

“I’m glad you had fun.”

It hadn’t been that long, but this was the first time Rika and I had hung out alone since we went to the amusement park.

There were a few hiccups along the way, but overall, it felt good to be able to hang out comfortably with her like in the old days.

“Next up is Sasha’s turn, so you’d better keep your schedule open. If not, she might get upset that I had all the fun.”

“Got it.”

It was too late to refuse, so I decided to just quietly offer myself up for sacrifice.

Still, it’d be better to be honest with the President about all this.

“I’m heading back to the class now. What about you, Su-chan?”

“I’m going to drop by the Student Council room for a bit. The President’s probably busier than ever since it’s the last cultural festival.”

“Okay, got it. I’ll tell the others!”

Rika maintained her upbeat energy as she waved and quickly disappeared.

I waved back until she was out of sight, then stretched, feeling oddly tired despite not doing much, and headed toward the Student Council room in the annex.

Oh, and of course, I was going to change out of this ridiculous outfit first.

“You’re late! Way too late, Kim Yu-seong!”

As soon as I opened the door to the Student Council room, I was greeted by the Vice President pointing at me dramatically, something I hadn’t seen in a while.

“Finally, you’ve returned! Vice President!”

I couldn’t help but express my joy, and the Vice President blushed slightly before replying,

“You idiot! Do you think I’d be happy just because you said that?”

But his body couldn’t lie—his lips were twitching upward despite his words.

“You’re embarrassing, Brother.”

“Honestly, to start a fight as soon as you return… It seems you haven’t reflected at all during your probation, Shinji.”

“Haha, well, that’s just my identity, isn’t it, my lady? But more importantly…”

The Vice President suddenly stopped mid-sentence and looked around at the Student Council members before continuing.

“Now that the last member has arrived, we can proceed with the meeting that we delayed until Kim Yu-seong got here.”

The Vice President said that while pulling something out from inside his jacket.

It was the remote for a projector.

Beep!

As soon as he pressed the button, a large projector screen slowly descended from one side of the Student Council room wall.

Once all the Student Council executives had taken their seats, the Vice President spoke as the representative.

“Let’s begin the meeting regarding the campfire event on the final day of the cultural festival.”