My Girlfriend is a Death Row Inmate

Chapter 40 – Nodding

“Miharu-senpai!”

When I visited the infirmary again, Miharu-senpai was about to commit suicide by holding a cutter to her wrist, which she had somehow obtained.

“Wha—Eh? Hey, wait! Hold on! Stop, don’t die!”

Before I could understand what was happening, I rushed out and pushed her forcefully. However, I failed to make her let go of the knife, so I held the blade, which was conveniently extended, to my chest.

“If you really want to kill, then try killing me first.”

Suicides are often not willing to bear the burden of sin, even if they have the courage to take their own lives. If they had that kind of courage, bullied people would kill their bullies, for example. Suicide is the ultimate form of passive self-defense and the only absolute means of shaking off hardships and tribulations. The next step would be to attain enlightenment, but where in this world are there people who aim to attain enlightenment under the bodhi tree? At least not in this country.

“…Ah. Eh… What…? Kouhai-kun, you…”

“Where did you get this? Didn’t you say you wouldn’t keep anything like this close to you, Senpai?”

“It’s impossible! I can’t take it anymore! My ears are about to break! Even if I cover them, I can still hear the sound… Please, let me die. Not in a week, but now. Please, Kouhai-kun. I won’t cause any trouble… Just leave me alone.”

“If you die, Senpai, it will cause trouble for me no matter what happens. Please, don’t die.”

“No! I’ve reached my limit! I want to die!”

“Miharu-senpai!”

I grabbed her wrists in a mount position and brought my face closer to hers. If the infirmary teacher happened to come back, it would look like I was assaulting her. The fact that we were on the floor, not the infirmary bed, also added to the plausibility of the situation.

“Let’s end ‘Karakiri-san’ today. For that, I need your cooperation, Senpai! Please pull yourself together!”

“But you can’t hear the broadcast, can you? Even if we solve that, I’ll still hear the sound in my ears…!”

“It will stop!”

“Really…?”

The man who answered the phone said―――

‘First of all, that broadcast is not a supernatural phenomenon or anything. From what you’ve told me, your senpai, or whatever you call her, didn’t have any spiritual sense to begin with, right? The reason she can hear the broadcast is because the ‘Limit’ curse has brought her spirit close to death—the afterlife. So, if you solve the curse, you can save her.’

I wish Housuke were here. While what he said made sense, I wondered if it was really that simple. He told me not to interrupt, but I figured it would be okay to ask questions. He probably meant not to interrupt him in the middle of his explanation.

“So, you could hear the broadcast during the oxen hours, too, right?”

“The oxen hours are when the boundary between this world and the afterlife is at its most ambiguous. In the past, it was believed that performing rituals during this time would make them most effective. Just think about it. Have all the people who have encountered the slit-mouthed woman or Hanako-san of the toilet had spiritual senses? If that were the case, wouldn’t ghosts and supernatural phenomena be more common rather than something whose existence is uncertain? “

That made sense. The Seven School Mysteries are famous nationwide, but on the other hand, there are only a few people who are called spiritualists, and some people don’t even believe in ghosts at all. Although I didn’t have any knowledge, his voice had a compelling force that made me think it might be true.

……Be careful, people like me are easily scammed. This time, I can trust him because he was introduced by Kusune.

‘Ah, um… Is it easy to figure out the conditions of ‘Limit’?

I knew what ‘Limit’ was, but without knowing the conditions, I couldn’t figure out how to lift the curse. The conditions were surely written down somewhere, but since I hadn’t narrowed down the list of suspects, I had no clues to work with.

I guess the culprit is keeping it, but I can’t just search everyone’s belongings just for that.

‘I can figure it out.’

‘Eh? Seriously?’

I had been trying to speak politely, but my true colors came out. What Maria told me and what was written in Housuke’s notebook didn’t give me any clues, so his response was unexpected. To be honest, I hadn’t expected anything from asking him.

The man on the phone became a little more casual.

‘I’m serious. It’s a trick, though…’

After school.

In an empty third-year classroom, Senpai and I sat across from each other, with a desk between us. On the desk were papers with the fifty sounds of the Japanese alphabet, yes and no answers, a torii gate, a ten-yen coin, and a pen.

You probably know what we were about to do. The trick he mentioned was kokkuri-san.

‘If there’s something you don’t understand, it’s best to ask kokkuri-san. However, since it’s a form of spiritualism, you never know what might happen if amateurs try it. If possible, can you do it somewhere where no one else is around?’

This method was a blind spot for me. It was a brilliant idea, and it showed the power of having a specialist like Kusune, who had a direct line. It was a victory of ideas, or perhaps a friendly use of urban legends. I learned that the ‘eye for an eye’ principle is effective against unreasonable opponents.

For some reason, the location was not a suggestion but a ‘designation,’ so we moved to the old school building. No one was there because of that reason. This place was so old that even the security guards didn’t bother to patrol it. It was obvious that walking down the rotten hallway would result in injury.

However, unlike the security guards, who had to thoroughly inspect the premises, it wasn’t that dangerous to sneak in. The reason we were in the third-year classroom, the farthest away, was that it was the closest classroom as we rushed through the relatively safe zone of the stairs.

“Okay, this is it! I believe you… Wait, calm down… I really do. I’ll calm down, so… Okay. Let’s do it!”

“Okay, let’s begin.”

I followed the instructions for kokkuri-san from Housuke’s notebook. We were ready, so we proceeded to the next step of the spiritualism. However, the air felt colder than usual… or was it just my imagination? It must be my imagination. Yes, that’s it.

We placed the ten-yen coin on the torii and put our fingers on it.

“Kokkuri-san, kokkuri-san. Please come. If you do, please move towards ‘yes.'”

The coin didn’t move.

“Kokkuri-san, kokkuri-san. Please come. If you do—”

“Kouhai-kun! The ten-yen coin!”

There were three taboos of kokkuri-san.

　・ Don’t do it alone.

　・Don’t take your fingers off in the middle.

　・Don’t send it away.

No matter what happened, we couldn’t take our fingers off. Even if a terrorist suddenly broke in and pointed a gun at us. Before I could finish speaking, the ten-yen coin moved towards ‘yes,’ and I was startled, trying to suppress my agitation. All I had to do was keep my fingers on it.

―――I need to ask a question.

“Kokkuri-san, kokkuri-san. Please tell me the condition of the ‘Limit’ curse on Miharu-senpai.”

The condition was the physical evidence that needed to be preserved, and the method of finding out was irrelevant. Kokkuri-san didn’t respond at first, but when I asked the same question again, it slowly started to move.

‘Yu’

‘Bi’

‘Ki’

‘Ri’

“Yubikiri?”

“Yubi—Ahhhh!”

Miharu-senpai reflexively stood up, and if it weren’t for me holding her other hand, she would have definitely taken her fingers off. She sat down again, trying to suppress the pain in her finger joints.

“It hurts—! I’m sorry. Thank you.”

“Do you have any idea what it could be?”

“Of course! Six days ago, I went out with my friends! We made a pinky promise then. It was nothing special, just saying that we’d come back here someday…”

“Six days ago!? But you started hearing the broadcast—”

Reading the letter would curse you as ‘Karakiri-san.’ The original ‘Limit’ curse was the same, so making someone do the same action would be enough. In other words, the letter was a bluff, and the real curse was cast when they made a pinky promise. If it was six days ago, then tomorrow would be the deadline of ‘in a week’ from then.

I felt a chill down my spine and reflexively straightened my posture. Something had felt off. Despite having a week’s leeway, Senpai’s physical condition had deteriorated significantly, and she was emaciated. Now that I thought about it, everything made sense. Combining the information I had so far, the ‘Limit’ curse was decided by the conditions set when the curse was cast (if you didn’t know how to do it, you couldn’t do it, but if you knew how, you could). The letter, which served as a bluff for ‘Karakiri-san,’ was not important. The fact that she knew about it meant that the person who made a pinky promise with Miharu-senpai was quite knowledgeable about curses.

“Please move your fingers back to the torii.”

“Okay, I’m back. Next, it’s my turn. Kokkuri-san, kokkuri-san. Please tell me the condition of the ‘Limit’ curse on Sakisaka Ryuma.”

Despite being driven to the point of suicide, she still cared about me. I was a little touched. It would have been fine if she had ignored me since we still had a week’s leeway.

The ten-yen coin moved from the torii.

‘Ka’

‘Tsu’

‘Te’

‘I’

‘Na’

‘I’

“It’s not on me?”

That was strange. Maria had said that if you knew how to write it, it was better to use a letter, so it was probably just a prank. Kokkuri-san didn’t lie, so it was probably the truth.

So, the next step was simple.

“Please move your fingers back to the torii.”

I waited until she moved back to the torii. The questioning was over. Let’s bring this to a close.

“Kokkuri-san, kokkuri-san, please go back.”

If kokkuri-san didn’t go back, we’d be in trouble. I had to patiently call out to kokkuri-san to go back, but if I took too long, Senpai might have a mental breakdown. Her mental state was obvious from the way she stared with wide-open eyes, trembling slightly and frozen in place. I had to help her quickly.

……………………..

………………

……………

……

―――Kokkuri-san wouldn’t go back.