Chapter 15: Astonishment

Chapter 15: Astonishment

“Still, Yin Energy is indispensable…”

He took out some chocolate, Snickers, and energy bars from the desk drawer and ate them in big bites.

“There are still 3 units of Growth Value left. Let’s continue strengthening. This time, I’ll choose Competitive Kendo. That way, I can slightly increase it by 0.1 again.”

Next, Competitive Kendo also cost 2 units of Growth Value to advance to the Intermediate Level.

But the feeling after strengthening was unusually noticeable. For example, his hand holding the Bamboo Sword felt unusually solid and strong. He tried a practice swing. When the Bamboo Sword cut down, it made a whooshing sound. Compared to before, the sound of the swing was quieter, but the force seemed stronger.

“This proves that control and explosiveness are improving.”

Good control makes it easier to use strength. The higher the precision, the stronger the skill.

Fang Jing felt that the Competitive Kendo, Judo, and Gōjū-ryū Kenpō he practiced were different techniques, but they shared some common underlying principles.

“Alright, there’s only a little Growth Value from the leftover Yin Energy. I won’t use it this time. I’ll wait until I find other sources of Yin Energy…”

The neighbors next door, the Mitsui family, finally quieted down, ending their long exchange of fire.

Fang Jing also felt sleepy. He wanted to go to bed.

Before sleeping, he took a shower first. But when he stepped out of the bathroom, towel-drying his hair, he noticed something was off about the house.

To put it simply, the atmosphere in the house had suddenly changed.

But he couldn’t quite say what the reason was. It felt like there was a chill in the air.

Wearing slippers, he carefully examined the room’s layout, but nothing seemed out of place.

However, the moment he looked down, he was startled to find an extra footprint on the floor.

A small footprint.

It seemed about the size of a child’s foot, leading in from the main door.

And, at some point, the main door was left slightly ajar.

The door… was open?

But it should have been locked.

Who would just leave the main door open like that for no reason? And what was with this strange footprint?

He crouched down and looked closely, finding the footprint was smeared with mud.

Fang Jing walked to the door, pulled it open, and looked outside. The corridor was empty, with no other footprints.

“This is really…”

For a moment, Fang Jing couldn’t find the right words.

But he was clearly aware that this situation was not normal.

His younger sister Satsuki was asleep, and his mother Motoko was not home.

Fang Jing first wiped the footprint off the floor, then checked if all the windows and doors in the house were locked.

After finishing all that, he returned to his own bedroom.

“Oh right, my window might not be closed properly. Should I check that too?”

Fang Jing reached out to pull the curtain. The moment he pulled it open, he locked eyes with another eye.

What?

A feeling of shock rose from within. Fang Jing blinked his eyes again and was surprised to find nothing outside the window glass.

He even opened the window and leaned out to look down, but still found nothing.

————————

He did not sleep well that night.

He stayed up late, only climbing into bed well past midnight. After falling asleep, he kept dreaming. He couldn’t remember the dreams clearly, but he faintly heard the sounds of children playing and laughing.

Fang Jing stood by the bathroom sink, looking at himself in the Mirror. The dark circles under his eyes were heavy.

“It seems this Apartment, no, probably the room itself has some problem.”

Fang Jing muttered to himself, but he also knew that not many people would believe him if he told them about these things.

Moreover, even he found these situations full of mystery.

Who left the footprint in the room?

Who left the door slightly ajar?

And what was that eye behind the curtain all about? He checked; his window was on the fourth floor. An ordinary person couldn’t climb to that height barehanded.

Which meant… it really was a ghost.

He let out a long sigh, finding it hard to accept this reality from the bottom of his heart.

(However, since even I could travel through time and be reborn, I can’t completely dismiss the possibility of ghosts in this world either.)

After thinking seriously for a while, Fang Jing felt it was necessary to investigate this matter.

The key point was probably a problem with the Apartment itself. The area where this Apartment building was located wasn’t too bad, but the price was relatively cheap, which was worth thinking about.

“Now it really seems like there are some problems! But… it seems there’s no clear information to start with regarding the Apartment.”

There should be people in the Apartment building who knew the situation, but Fang Jing had no way to find out.

He had tried asking around indirectly a few times, but it didn’t seem to have any effect.

…Even Kuraruka, who had lived here for two years, said she didn’t know anything.

“Some long-term residents probably know, but I can’t ask directly. Besides, even if I asked, no one would tell me.”

This country’s unique “culture of shame” made relationships between people hard to navigate.

Fang Jing didn’t want to stand out too much in front of others. It didn’t fit his identity as “Nishizuka Tsukasa,” an ordinary high school student.

“Seems the only way is to gather information through other methods.”

Actually, Fang Jing had some ideas. He thought he could use the internet to investigate.

“Not having a smartphone is troublesome. Looks like I’ll have to use the computer in the school library.”

His school didn’t really encourage students to have phones anyway. Plus, due to his family circumstances, Fang Jing didn’t have a smartphone.

He did get a Phone from Fujiwara Shoichi, but the internet service was cut off.

Thinking about these things, he changed his shoes, left the house, and headed towards school.

When he was halfway there, a voice called out from behind him.

“Nishizuka-senpai, wait for me!”

The energetic Kuranaga Kuraruka caught up from behind.

“Senpai, you wake up really early. I was actually planning to walk to school with you.”

“Oh!”

Fang Jing nodded. Recently, he noticed this girl named Kuranaga Kuraruka seemed a bit attached to him, so he was deliberately trying to keep some distance.

“Kuraruka, you’re in Class 1-B, right? By the way, do you know my sister Satsuki?”

“Nishizuka-san is in Class C, right? I’ve greeted her a few times. She probably remembers me.”

Kuranaga said with a smile: “But she doesn’t know I live here too. We just haven’t had a chance to meet.”

“I’ll introduce you properly some time.”

Fang Jing replied absentmindedly.

“Oh! I just remembered something, Senpai. Yesterday I saw you with Nishizuka-san and another senior…”

Kuranaga Kuraruka said casually: “That… wasn’t your girlfriend, was she?”