Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 9, Section 09: Teacher Coke
so.
For several years, or perhaps more than a decade, the library was open at night until 10 p.m., also serving as a study room.

The reason that senior student was able to become the administrator was naturally because she also lived in the student dormitory, which made it convenient for her to lock the door every day.

One night, around midnight, she couldn't fall asleep because of the summer heat and the chirping of cicadas, so she went to the balcony to cool off. To her surprise, she found that the lights in the library of the teaching building in the distance were still on.

In the pitch black, the light from the library was so conspicuous that she couldn't help but notice it.

She was startled because she clearly remembered that she was the last person to leave the library at 10 o'clock, and that she had turned off the lights and locked the door. Why were the lights still on now?
She guessed that someone might have been sitting in the shadow of the bookshelf when she left, and hadn't heard her close the door, so they were locked inside.

With this in mind, she hurriedly left the student dormitory, grabbed her keys and flashlight, and headed towards the teaching building.

But when she got closer...

But all they found was pitch black.

The lights in the library were not on.

Could it be that she saw it wrong?
When she shone her flashlight through the window, she was surprised to see what looked like a dark shadow flash past. Even with the flashlight shining on it, she could only make out that it was roughly a dark-faced human figure.

She was terrified and didn't dare open the door for a moment, fearing that it wasn't her classmate inside, but a thief.

So she ran to the guardhouse, intending to ask the guards for help to go and take a look.

The guard room was empty, but she saw the schedule and knew it was patrol time, so she waited anxiously in place.

Ten minutes later, she finally saw the middle-aged security guard slowly returning with a large flashlight.

After hearing her words, the guard shook his head in disbelief, because he had just passed by the library during his patrol and had not found any suspicious people.

But to reassure the students, he eventually picked up his equipment and followed the female student to the library.

On the way, the guards asked for more details, and after listening to the female student's detailed description, they fell into an eerie silence.

After a long pause, she asked in a trembling voice: Could it be Teacher Jiao Tan?

The female student immediately said it was impossible; it was just a legend.

But the guard shook his head and stopped at the library door: "No. I saw it with my own eyes. In fact, this school building had been the site of two major fires: one during the war when it was the original school building, and the other shortly after the war when it was a newly built wooden school building."

The first fire did not cause any casualties, but the second one, I heard, involved a teacher and a student who mysteriously disappeared after the fire, and their bodies have never been found.

Many people say that the missing student was abducted by a perverted teacher who intended to assault him, but accidentally started a fire in the classroom that couldn't be extinguished. Both of them perished in the fire, their bodies completely burned to ashes.
The legend of Teacher Jiao Tan started around that time. At first, I thought it was an urban legend, but my senior told me not to take it as just a rumor. Later, I saw it with my own eyes.

That day, in the dark corridor, I saw the teachers' office, which should have been closed, but a light was on late at night, and I could faintly hear the sound of grading papers coming from inside. But as I approached, suddenly…
The lights went out.
The sound disappeared completely, and a strong, acrid smell seeped from the half-open, dark door crack.

The guard recounted the horrific scene he claimed to have witnessed with lingering fear. The surrounding air seemed to grow colder. Even the cicadas were too frightened to sing, falling silent.

The female student was somewhat frightened by his words, but in the end, her sense of responsibility prevailed, and she insisted on seeing what was inside.

Seeing that he couldn't persuade her, the guard could only sigh, make all the necessary preparations, and follow behind her.

Hello, is anyone here? We won't hurt you. If you just wandered in by mistake, we hope you can leave after we open the door. We won't stop you.

The female student opened the door and called out.

The library was deathly silent; there was no response.

She carefully opened the door with the key, poked half her body into the dark library, and reached out to feel for the pull cord switch next to her, only to find that no matter how she pulled it down, the light did not turn on.

Even the flashlight that had been providing illumination suddenly disappeared.

She turned around in surprise, only to find that the guards were nowhere to be seen. She didn't even know when she had walked into the library. The only light source was the stubborn moonlight that shone through the window.

She frantically tried to turn on her flashlight, but at that moment, a hand suddenly pressed down on her shoulder.

Her movements froze, her breathing became erratic and almost collapsing, and her eyes welled with tears of fear. She turned her head shakily—and saw a person, charred black and with indistinct features, wearing a teacher's badge, who opened his blackened skin to reveal a red smile, and said in a hoarse voice:

I warned you. "And now, we've built a library right behind it, in the same location. Legend has it that someone later saw that charcoal-covered teacher and even came up with a rule: never open the door at night, and never turn your back to him."

Suddenly, Sato's hand landed on Matsuo's shoulder.

"Waaaaah—hum hum hum"

Matsuo almost learned to breakdance on his own, but the sharp edge of a table shattered his dream, slicing across his arm and causing him to let out a muffled groan.

"Hahaha!" Sato, who had successfully pulled off the prank, clutched his stomach and burst into laughter. Now he wasn't the most timid one anymore!

Matsuo covered his arm, frowned, and bared his teeth fiercely at Sato.

"Uh, why are you bleeding?" Sato only then noticed that Matsuo's uniform was covered in red blood.

"It's all your fault! Ouch. That hurts. I need to go to the clinic. Ouch. Tell the boss for me that everything here is up to you, you bastard."

Matsuo clutched his wound, grimaced, and hurried away.

"Hey! It's not that serious, is it?"

As Matsuo left, the blood he left in the library seeped out quickly, dripping down the path before mysteriously and slowly disappearing.

No one noticed.

Sato slapped himself; he had really gotten himself into trouble this time.

He hunched his shoulders, rubbed his hands to ward off the chill, and with a pained expression, quickly finished setting things up, finally sprinkling blood on the props.

【Walk】

Sato felt a chill run down his spine, and suddenly turned around, looking left and right.

Who is speaking?

Hurry up and leave, or else...

Sato's eyes widened, and just as he was about to collapse to the ground, he suddenly saw the small tape recorder that Matsuo had just set up on the table. He immediately felt alive again and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness, I was almost scared by the little things I set up."

However, he had indeed finished setting things up, but he felt a chill in the air and knew he couldn't stay any longer, so he quickly ran to the rendezvous point.

But he didn't notice.

The small tape recorder wasn't even turned on.

Dusk was falling in the west.

A black figure silently appeared in the dilapidated corridor, leaned against the window, glanced at the three delinquents gathered downstairs, and a red smile appeared on his dark face.

Inoue looked up as if sensing something, but the old teaching building was still dilapidated and empty.

"Boss, what's up there?" Hosokawa glanced around a few times.

"It's nothing, just my imagination." Inoue shook his head. "Come on, it's my treat. We'll come back and wait for the newlyweds after we finish eating."

"Oh! Long live the boss!"

"Let's have a rice bowl, I really want a curry pork chop rice bowl."

As the group of delinquents walked away side by side, the setting sun slowly sank below the horizon.

(End of this chapter)