006 Ghost in the game and people in reality

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"Maybe it's because my Charm is high, but the Thousand Silver Needles are very effective. The quality grade of this little silver rod is rare, I reckon it's a notch above Kappa's slightly used yellow cucumbers and Daitengu's wood-caked clogs rated as excellent."

Kamiya was walking home from work.

During his evening part-time job, he used Kawai, the store manager, Okamura, and two familiar customers to test the effects of the little silver rod.

The results were very satisfying.

As long as the lies Kamiya spread weren't too outrageous, Kawai, the store manager, and Okamura would all choose to believe them unconditionally.

He guessed that if he was a bit bolder and dared to deceive them all into being sold off, they would even happily help count the money for a short while.

Of course, such a chaotic and evil thing was not something Kamiya would actually do in reality.

Moreover, through testing, Kamiya had also deduced a rule to remember when using the Thousand Silver Needles—

When holding the little silver rod and lying to the same target repeatedly, the chance of being found out increased with the frequency of the lies.

So, he couldn't keep deceiving the same person over and over.

Thinking as he walked, Kamiya turned into a narrow alley; he was almost home.

His home was close to Kabukicho, bustling with nightlife, not far from him.

The alley was narrow, humid, dimly lit, and dirty, strewn with cigarette butts and bento boxes, with crisscrossing wires hanging low overhead, oppressively so.

Perhaps because it had rained during the day, there were small puddles on the ground.

The moon was very bright tonight, its light reflecting off the puddles, casting a blurry glow.

In the alley, there was an apartment building with a messy array of air conditioner external units and drain pipes on the wall.

When Kamiya's gambler father was still around, the two of them had always lived on the second floor of this building.

The accommodation was about 20 square meters, one room, one living room, and one bathroom, with slightly old furniture, but overall clean and odorless.

The house was naturally rented, with a monthly rent of 40,000 yen.

The fixed monthly rent added to the already not-so-abundant financial struggles of Kamiya's life.

Therefore, working part-time was truly necessary for him.

After returning home, Kamiya first took a shower, then lay on his bed, facing upwards, and pulled out his phone.

Strange Tales, start.

[No open map detected, please proceed to the specified location to start the game.]

Well, this trash game is still the same; it can't start properly unless near the Sakura woods close to Karin High School.

Exiting the game, Kamiya turned his gaze to the somewhat yellowed ceiling, starting to review the events of the day. Of course, most of his thoughts were on the encounters within the Strange Tale game world.

"The Drowned Ghost I encountered in the game, her name was Sachiko Kuriyama."

"In the original owner's memory, Karin High School indeed had a drowning incident many years ago."

After idly thinking for a while, Kamiya opened the browser on his phone and began entering keywords—Karin High School, drowning incident, female high school student.

After some time, bypassing numerous irrelevant pieces of information, he found an eight-year-old news article written by a local city newspaper.

"Sadly, a Girl from Karin High School Drowns!"

The report was very brief, perfunctory. It didn't record the name of the person who drowned, and the end of the report stated that the cause of the drowning was "still under investigation," but it included a picture of the drowning site.

It was taken at a corner of the artificial lake at Karin High School.

"So, that artificial lake at the school did actually claim the life of a female high school student."

Images of the Drowned Ghost surfaced in Kamiya's mind.

Not finding any follow-up reports to the drowning incident in this news outlet, Kamiya added the words "Sachiko Kuriyama" to his search history, hesitated for half a second, and also included the name "Keisuke Nagasawa."

```

This time it took even more time, but he finally found some useful information.

It was an old post from a local student forum, posted eight years ago as well.

The discussion was centered around "that incident at Karin," but no one explicitly stated what the incident was. However, it seemed everyone participating in the discussion knew without saying.

In this years-old post, Kamiyagawa found the names of Sachiko Kuriyama and Nagasawa Keisuke—

[Kuriyama was really foolish, truly.]

[What do you mean? I think it's remarkable to die for love.]

[Don't talk nonsense! Suicide doesn't solve any problems.]

[Nagasawa is scum.]

[He was just scared, wasn't he?]

[It was Nagasawa who proposed the suicide pact to Kuriyama, and once she jumped into the lake, he became scared?]

[...]

Through these vague messages, Kamiyagawa roughly understood what had happened at Karin High School eight years prior.

Sachiko Kuriyama and Nagasawa Keisuke were both students at Karin High School, a couple.

Due to reasons yet unknown, they made a pact to take their lives together at the school's artificial lake.

Without a doubt, it was a foolish and impulsive decision.

On the day of their planned joint suicide, Sachiko Kuriyama jumped into the lake. Nagasawa Keisuke, either from a sudden fear of death or for some other reason, ultimately gave up on taking his own life.

As a result, Sachiko Kuriyama drowned on the spot, while Nagasawa Keisuke survived.

The story could be summarized as such, but the specific details were impossible to reconstruct through just fragmented sentences from an old forum post.

"The incident from eight years ago. So, there's a high likelihood that Nagasawa Keisuke is still alive?"

Kamiyagawa closed the forum and searched for information about Shimizu Corporation.

[Drowned Ghost Sachiko Kuriyama hopes you can deliver an important letter for her to Nagasawa Keisuke. It's recommended that you try your luck at the Shimizu Corporation building; you might find the person you're looking for.]

After accepting the request from the Drowned Ghost in the game, Kamiyagawa did receive such a quest prompt.

The search this time yielded results quickly.

Shimizu Corporation was an investment company, and its building was located in Sumida Ward in the city. It would take about an hour to get there by train.

"If Nagasawa Keisuke is still alive, then the Shimizu Corporation building mentioned in the quest prompt isn't some unlocked map in the game, but actually refers to the Shimizu Corporation in the real world."

"In Shimizu Corporation, there is a high likelihood of finding the living Nagasawa Keisuke himself."

Kamiyagawa lightly pressed the joint of his right thumb against his upper teeth, his mind somewhat chaotic at the moment.

After a short while, he got up from the bed and opened his backpack, which was casually thrown on the floor.

Besides textbooks and stationery, the bag contained several incomplete paper dolls, a battered ancient book The Five Thunderbolt Method, a smooth small silver rod, and a piece of white paper dampened by moisture.

These were the items Kamiyagawa had obtained from playing the Strange Tale Game in recent days.

He took out the piece of white paper.

The paper was slightly damp, as if it would never dry, with no visible text on it.

"The letter Sachiko Kuriyama asked me to deliver to Nagasawa Keisuke."

Kamiyagawa murmured to himself, his gaze flickering uncertainly.

A ghost from the game, sending a letter to a real person.