019 Hanako in the Bathroom

After attempting direct combat, Kamiyagawa, in his next game login, adapted to the special characteristic of the Bloodstained Chopper that granted extra damage from backstabs and started another mode of fighting—

Stealth assassination.

Truth be told, as a robust man skilled in the flashy techniques of the Wild Greatsword Mizugami-ryu, Kamiyagawa initially looked down on such sneaky methods.

But after reaping the rewards once, he was absolutely sold.

The extra damage from the [Kidney Strike] was simply too high!

If he could successfully stab a Kikimora with the Bloodstained Chopper in the right spot, that backstab would guarantee an instant kill!

What about the Wild Tachi Self-Manifestation Style? Not my cup of tea.

Kamiyagawa defected on the spot.

No, that's not quite right, it's not really defection.

What's wrong with a swordsman who wields a Tachi mastering a righteous backstab?

Isn't that quite reasonable?

Besides, the Wild Tachi Self-Manifestation Style still had its uses.

After all, there are only so many kidneys to aim for, and it's not easy for an ordinary person to hit the mark perfectly from three steps away with a charge.

Kamiyagawa was different—through AFK training in the Wild Tachi Self-Manifestation Style, he had gained the level of physical coordination that would normally take years of rigorous practice for an ordinary person to achieve.

After paying the price of a few deaths in the game, Kamiyagawa had—"Nothing but to be familiar with the hand"—mastered a quite impressive level of backstabbing skill, successfully hitting seven or eight out of ten attempts.

The remaining two or three attempts also allowed him to deal damage first and gain the upper hand in subsequent head-on fights.

Additionally, although he now had a means to kill the Kikimora,

Kamiyagawa could only handle two monsters at a time at most.

And that was under the condition they were unaware, allowing him to sneak up behind and execute one with a backstab. Then he would engage in direct combat and, at the cost of taking damage, kill the remaining one.

That was quite good already.

Being able to kill monsters meant that the game's progress could advance.

...

Through the progress he made during this period, Kamiyagawa discovered a new mechanic in Strange Tales.

The monsters killed in Strange Tale World would not respawn.

For example, the vengeful JK by the cherry blossom forest or the Chopper JK by the artificial lake—after dealing with them, Kamiyagawa never saw them again.

Combined with information from the "Strange Tales Ghosts Enthusiasts Exchange" forum by the Lv6 forum guru[Purple Supreme], regarding the Kikimora—

"Kikimoras are said to be low-level spirit entities born from the negative emotions of young students."

If this piece of information was accurate, perhaps a new Kikimora would only appear in Strange Tale World once the negative emotions of young students accrued sufficiently in the real world?

But, back to the point.

Because monsters did not respawn with the restart of the game, Kamiyagawa's "immortal" advantage came into play.

After the efforts of the past few days, he made his way deep into the teaching building. Starting from a corridor with fewer Kikimoras, he fought his way up, clearing a path through trials and tribulations.

On the Friday morning, he finally reached the entrance to the girls' bathroom on the third floor of the west teaching building.

Every sight in Strange Tale World inherently comes with otherworldly effects.

And an empty bathroom, already a somewhat spooky place on its own, had its otherworldly effects doubled!

The dark, silent surroundings, the damp air and walls, the flickering incandescent lights, and that almost imperceptible dripping sound.

This was the place rumored in the real world to be haunted by the ghost doll Hanako.

In Japan, Hanako, also known as Hanako of the Toilet or Hanako of the Third Stall, is a very famous school ghost story.

An evil spirit that is very keen on drowning people in the toilet.

There's a saying that if you're alone in the school bathroom and someone hands you toilet paper from behind, never take it.

That could be Hanako, and if you take the toilet paper, she'll push your head into the toilet and drown you alive.

Besides, there is a widely known ritual to summon Hanako—

Knock three times lightly on the door of an empty girls' bathroom at school and ask, "Classmate Hanako, are you there?"

From the third stall, a faint voice will answer, "Yes, I am."

Open the door with the response, and you'll see a short-haired girl in a red skirt. That is Hanako. Then, she'll forcefully pull you into the bathroom and push your head into the toilet, drowning you alive.

"I wonder if Karin at Karyou Ghost School's area boss Hanako could be hiding in there."

After briefly recalling the legends related to Hanako, Kamiyagawa felt an inexplicable tension and pressure. He swallowed, then peeked around the entrance to the girls' bathroom like a pervert.

He saw no misty door, no campfire or Save Stone to save his game.

Crappy game, not user-friendly at all.

"Well, since I'm already here. The worst case, I just have to wait for a 12-hour cooldown to revive."

After hesitating at the entrance to the girls' bathroom for a while, Kamiyagawa steeled his heart. With a sense of "now that I'm here," he gripped the Bloodstained Chopper tightly, took a deep breath, and pushed open the door to the girls' bathroom.

He had planned to knock three times on the door in that bathroom, hoping to summon Hanako.

But the sight that greeted him inside the bathroom completely stunned Kamiyagawa.

In the cramped girls' bathroom, there were five toilet cubicles. Except for the middle third cubicle, the other four were wide open.

In the first stall, there was a man with his head drooping down on the toilet seat.

The second stall had a woman with long hair covering her face, wearing rags.

The fourth stall had a girl in a white dress with long hair.

The fifth stall had a little boy with a buzz cut.

The moment Kamiyagawa stepped foot inside the bathroom, all four individuals simultaneously lifted their heads, revealing only the whites of their eyes in their hollow sockets.

These people, like puppets, mechanically opened their mouths and uttered stiff, emotionless words:

"Looking for our Hanako, what do you need?"

"Looking for my sister, what do you need?"

Kamiyagawa: ?

Damn!

Did Hanako's whole family move into the toilets or what!

This isn't what was supposed to happen!

Kamiyagawa felt it was hard enough to handle two Joyful Child Spirits at once, and fighting against four in the small bathroom space was even more impossible.

"What do you need?" "What do you need?"

"What do you need?" "What do you need?"

Hanako's family stood up from the toilets, their mouths endlessly chanting as if under a spell, moving like marionettes with arms outstretched, taking quick steps towards him.

However, Kamiyagawa was not intimidated by this mobilization of the whole family, making the most rational yet most reckless decision in an instant—

He held the Bloodstained Chopper horizontally, ready for battle.

All in!

As long as Hanako's dad, mom, little brother, and sister don't respawn, stabbing one means one less to deal with!