Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 23, Section 23: Tracing the Trail

Ping Shenglong's intuition was correct.

Compared to ghost stories, Kurosaki Chimei himself is more like a ghost story in itself.

A pure, eccentric freak who is almost oblivious to the bizarre.

After determining that the cause of death was most likely not homicide, Kurosaki unleashed his powerful execution and energy, leaving Taira no Tatsumi aside, and began excitedly picking out seemingly unrelated items from the pile of clutter, based on his notebook.

Yellowed newspapers from the Showa era.

The records and reports were so old that they looked like they would crumble at the slightest touch.

Blurry old photos
If all of this information is about Professor Jiaotan, then Kurosaki's statement that he "knows her best" is indeed true.

Ping Shenglong had already asked the school principal and the elderly, but they didn't care much about these strange tales, only had a general impression, let alone any relevant information.

"I know you're short on time right now, so I'll focus on the key points."

Kurosaki held a pile of documents beside him and first took out a photo. The photo showed male students lined up in several rows, taking a group photo in front of a building.

"During the war, the academy's school buildings were targeted and destroyed. In 22, with the reform of the education system, the school buildings began to be rebuilt. This is the new school building after the reconstruction. The photo shows the first batch of freshmen."

"In 30, a fire engulfed this wooden school building. Because it happened at night and no bodies were found inside, the impact was not significant. Perhaps to avoid bad luck, a new school building was built elsewhere, and this place was temporarily abandoned."

Kurosaki handed over several old newspapers with circled headlines.

"The fire at Komagome Academy was not considered and all the victims of Yuki were killed"

"The wooden schoolhouse rebuilt after the war has a fire-proof fire protection system. The project remains"

""Boom sound and public fire..." Komagome Academy fire night guard Nomeza"

"The earliest eyewitness accounts of Teacher Jiao Tan came from the student population during this period."

"In 37, the academy finally decided to rebuild on the original site, and a new four-story teaching building was completed." Kurosaki pulled out another photo. The building in the photo was very familiar to Heisei Ryu; it was the abandoned teaching building where the accident had occurred last night.

"From this point on, the rumors about the charred teacher spread even more wildly. Isn't it strange that when no one was injured or killed, such rumors about a teacher being burned alive appeared?"

Kurosaki unfolded the last newspaper and pointed to the headline: "Because in fact, a teacher and a student did go missing from the school after that day."

"Everyone is fine...all the students and teachers in Komagome School are unknown."

(Everyone should have been safe. The Komagome school building was completely destroyed, and students and teachers are missing and their whereabouts unknown.)
Hei Shōryū nodded slowly. He had heard these things, but they were all rumors of unknown veracity, and none of them had the substantial newspaper evidence that Kurosaki Chimei had provided.

Back then, print media were quite cautious; anything that got published was usually well-intentioned.

The article also included interviews with the parents of the missing students, who expressed dissatisfaction with the college's firm denial that the students' disappearances were related to the fire.

The reporter insisted that the school had covered up the truth. He had originally wanted to interview the missing teacher's relatives, but in the end he was unable to find any of them. Even his adopted son was nowhere to be found, so he had to give up in disappointment.

The first thing that came to mind when the missing teacher and student, Ping Shenglong, was the two skeletons in the underground chamber.

Unexpectedly, they found clues here. But according to the forensic doctor, Otani, there was originally a third set of remains at the scene. Taira no Ryu stared at the small words "adopted son" in the report.

Kurosaki carefully observed Taira no Ryu's expression and smiled, "Section Chief Taira, can you trust me now? Tell me quickly if you have any other information."

Ping Shenglong shook his head: "Go on, I now know the origin of Teacher Jiaotan, but why did the murder only happen yesterday?"

“There aren’t that many reasons for ghost stories to kill people. The lack of yin energy and resentment before can all be explained. But the more likely reason is that something happened yesterday that caused the ghost story to revive, become angry, and be released,” Kurosaki replied thoughtfully, biting on a pen cap again.

Ping Shenglong had a flash of inspiration.

The delinquent named Matsuo was unable to participate in the subsequent test of courage because he cut his arm in the library of the old school building. Judging from his wound, he must have lost a lot of blood at the time, but after blood testing, there were no traces of human blood left in the library, only some prop fake blood.

Furthermore, a long-sealed secret room was opened that day.
"There is a flaw!"

Kurosaki suddenly slammed his hand on the coffee table and shouted.

"What did you think of?" Heisei Ryu pressed.

Kurosaki took out an old notebook he had just found and started flipping through it: "There are many versions of 'Teacher Jiao Tan,' and in the photos you showed me, the black handprints on their shoulders all came from behind. The one that best matches this version is... Found it, Teacher Jiao Tan - Don't Look Back Version!"

"But actually this version is the most fake, because the time of the ghost story is clear, in Showa 39, and it also involves a library manager, a senior student. Although the academy established a girls' department in Showa 27, it did not start implementing co-education until Showa 41. Before that, there were no girls' dormitories on campus, so there was no female library manager. It is obviously a story made up by Mr. Jiao Tan."

Heisei Ryu took the notebook from Kurosaki and quickly read through it, going through each version at a glance.

There are illusionists, trap setters, and even fire-breathing creatures—enough to create a parallel universe for a character named "Charcoal Teacher."

Indeed, as Kurosaki said, the version of "Don't Look Back" featuring the charcoal teacher can be perfectly matched with yesterday's murder case, almost without any discrepancy.

A red smile, charred handprints—don't look back.
There are too many that match.

It's like a ghost story that was generated in a very orderly manner based on this version.

It feels a bit too neat and orderly.

Could it be that someone actually came into contact with Teacher Jiao Tan before this, survived, and even spread the information? The possibility of that is far too low.

Moreover, the time interval is too long.

Kurosaki frowned, placed the notebook and a newspaper together, and quickly compared them.

"The fire in the library started in the library and spread, and this strange tale also takes place in the library, which is a good setup."

“You haven’t told me about the missing teacher and student yet.” Heisei Ryu pointed to some notebooks that hadn’t been opened yet.

“We need to digest the information little by little,” Kurosaki said, pulling out a notebook. “Actually, the reason these rumors have arisen is related to the missing teacher’s usual character. Rumor has it that he was an extremely eccentric teacher who would dress formally and wear gloves even in the sweltering summer.”

"His name is Tetsuro Muto, a very reclusive person. His only family member is an adopted son from Mie Prefecture."

"The missing student was said to be an excellent student named Nobi Tomoaki."

(End of this chapter)