Surviving in a School of Ghost Stories-Chapter 85

"Guys, you go ahead. I’ll just check on my brother."

At my words, Erica and Sally, after spotting Raven, nod knowingly with understanding on their faces.

"Alright. See you later!"

They waved to me and headed toward the library. I started running toward Raven, but suddenly stopped in my tracks.

'Huh?'

Raven, after swatting away the hands of the students reaching out to him in terror, stood up by himself.

"Ugh, that freak again. Even when I try to help."

"Hey. Honestly, wasn’t it rude to knock him over like that? Sorry, Raven!"

I could see the students bustling around, apologizing to Raven as they passed.

Raven, seemingly used to it, didn’t seem to care, brushing off his school uniform.

It looked like he really disliked people touching him.

'Was he always like this...?'

Something felt off. Raven was never like this. He was sociable and friendly, always popular in the neighborhood.

'Wait.'

At that moment, I saw something strange.

As he fell, it seemed like his sleeve had torn from rubbing against the floor, and through the tear, I could see a large scar.

I immediately ran over to Raven and grabbed his wrist.

"Raven? What’s this?"

Raven, startled, quickly covered his sleeve and stepped back.

His face had turned pale. Then, he quickly scanned my hand with his eyes. The hand that had grabbed his sleeve.

"Raven, what’s wrong?"

"Are you alright?"

"I’m fine. But you..."

I grabbed his sleeve again and pulled up his arm. Then, a purple scar appeared on his bare skin. What was this?

"Raven!! What the hell are you doing!?"

Raven, once again startled, shoved me away and backed up.

I refused to back down and approached him more. If it had been before, I would’ve felt like Raven might not like me and would’ve backed off, but now I couldn’t yield.

"What about you? What’s with this scar? I saw it clearly. Why didn’t you mention the scar on your arm?"

"What?"

Raven blinked his eyes in shock, then asked in return.

"Can you... see it?"

His question sounded a little strange.

"Well, of course I can see it! Why are you hiding the scar?"

It seemed like Raven was trying to keep the scar from others seeing it.

He also seemed to avoid contact with others.

Was all this because he didn’t want the scar to be discovered?

"When did this happen? Didn’t we agree we had no secrets? Why didn’t you tell me about this yesterday?"

Raven hesitated in his answer. He seemed really shaken.

After a moment, in a voice that almost sounded like it was crawling, he replied.

"I didn’t think you’d be able to see it."

"What does that even mean?"

"Usually, normal people can’t see this scar. It’s the mark of a curse."

Wait, what? A curse?

Raven, looking around anxiously, said.

"I... I’d like to move to a quieter place and talk."

I noticed students passing by, glancing curiously at us.

As Raven suggested, it would be better to move to a quieter spot.

We went to a secluded bench on the edge of the campus, where there were fewer people, and started talking.

Raven rolled up his sleeve and showed me his forearm. There, purple flame-like marks bloomed.

It looked almost like his skin was rotting.

"It started as just a small spot, but now it’s spread all over my forearm."

Raven said indifferently.

"But the thing is, other people can’t see it. That’s why I couldn’t show it to a doctor. Even the shaman, Eastern, can’t see it."

I quietly touched the star-shaped tear mark under my eye.

Maybe this was the reason. Because of my ability to see what others couldn’t, maybe I was able to see Raven’s hidden curse as well.

At first, I had resented this ability, but now I was grateful for it.

"The problem is that this thing is contagious."

I heard that if someone touched or came into contact with Raven, they would start complaining of abdominal pain or vomiting, showing abnormal symptoms. And the heat-flower would spread to the area that was touched, but the person who caught it wouldn’t be able to see the heat-flower, so they wouldn’t even realize they were infected.

Fortunately, it was just a brief touch, so it disappeared with time, but the longer /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ the contact or the larger the area touched, the worse the symptoms became.

"Is that why you’ve been running away? To keep me from getting infected?" ƒгeewёbnovel.com

At my question, Raven shut his mouth again. Something about it made my heart ache, and I swallowed back the rising tears.

"I’m sorry."

"What are you sorry for, you fool? You should have told me about this earlier."

"I didn’t want to cause harm."

"I’ve told you everything, and you tried to hide this from me until the end?"

That’s not it.

Raven trailed off, his voice faltering again. I sighed, watching him, then asked.

"So how did you end up getting cursed?"

He finally spoke about how he got the curse.

"I had a dream. But now that I think about it, it wasn’t a dream. I think I went to a place called the 'Otherworld.' There, I met a huge being, but I don’t know its identity. All I remember is that it had an overwhelming presence."

A huge being.

Just hearing that made the massive blue eyes and red eyes from the courage test I saw earlier come to mind.

"That being cursed me. The reason for the curse might be because I woke it from its seal."

I think I’ve finally found the reason why Raven died in 903.

It must have been because of this curse.

"To break your curse, we’ll need to figure out what that huge being is."

Since I was on my way to the library, I thought I should at least try looking up some historical records.

But then Raven spoke as though he knew exactly what I was thinking.

"I’ve already searched all the historical records, but it wasn’t there. If we find Sister Gloria’s diary, we might learn more."

"Sister Gloria’s diary?"

"Yeah. I saw it in a history book. She wrote down all the details about the seal in her diary. But now, the whereabouts of that diary are unknown."

"Unknown whereabouts?"

"Yeah. Some history books say it might be in the 'Otherworld.' I didn’t know what the 'Otherworld' was, but after going through these ghost stories, I learned about it."

"That means..."

"It means we need to find Sister Gloria’s diary in the 'Otherworld.'"

Rather than just searching with the two of us, it would be safer to ask for help from Noah, Eastern, and Father Cesario, who are experts in this area.

Of course, to get their help, I’d have to help them too.

For instance, by assisting with the ghost story investigation team.

"I came to this school because of you, Raven. So, let’s work together to lift your curse."