Looking Rather Expectant

The elegant Yukino dropped the piece of fabric as if it were cursed, pushed herself up from her slender knees, and stood, her expression grave. “These marks seem to explain a lot. The girl who was captured, had her hair cut, and left the note struggled here, but she clearly failed.”

“We need to be careful from now on,” Saber said, being serious for once. “That homeless man we met at the entrance is very likely the culprit behind all this. He might come back to the dormitory building at any moment and find that we’ve cleared the barricade he set up.”

Saber turned to the three of us, her posture radiating the confidence of her former tough-guy self. “If we run into the homeless man, you guys protect yourselves. I’ll fight him.”

“Won’t that be too dangerous?” I asked, a genuine flicker of worry in my heart.

“Dangerous?” A sharp, almost predatory curve formed at the corner of Saber’s mouth. “Even this cruel homeless man… won’t stand in my way of meeting the ghost girl!!!”

Are you that desperate to see a ghost?!! Your priorities are completely broken!

I felt like something had gone wrong with our ghost-hunting livestream. In my imagination, a ghost-hunting stream should feel like a horror movie. A group of protagonists, courting death, comes to a strange place. At first, they don’t realize the danger, but as they go deeper, they discover horrifying facts that make their skin crawl. Then the protagonists start to be cautious, trembling like butterflies on a spiderweb, treading on thin ice, carefully trying to escape from the dangerous and dark, terrifying place.

But now, the situation was reversed. I, who had been educated with the principles of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and integrity since childhood, was even beginning to feel a trace of sympathy for what the ghost was about to face. Our party wasn’t scared of the final boss; the final boss should be scared of us.

I looked at the stream. The number of viewers had already surpassed one thousand, and the various unexpected developments kept the comments dense:

[Wait, is someone really being held captive?]

[Hard to say, those scratch marks and the bloodstains in them look pretty real though]

[If this isn’t staged, should we call the police?]

[Can’t be sure yet. Even if it’s not staged, we can’t be certain someone is being held captive. Not enough evidence]

[Let’s watch a bit more. If there’s any definitive footage, I’ll call the police]

[The streamers are playing with fire]

[Why aren’t these streamers scared at all?]

[They look like pretty boys and girls, but every single one of them is like a brute…]

So they’re starting to believe it’s real now…

I was a little worried about what kind of outcome this first livestream would lead to, but no matter what, we could only keep going.

“Let’s look a little further,” I said. “See if there are any other traces left behind. Everyone, be careful.”

Yukino nodded. The playful smiles on our faces diminished. Several beams of light shone in different directions as we turned into the second-floor corridor.

Once again, we were faced with rows of closed wooden doors that gave off a creepy feeling. Although I knew they were just empty, unoccupied rooms, they felt like cages imprisoning some kind of monster.

The sound of our footsteps mixed with the beams of light as we walked silently through the monotonous corridor. This time, we walked much slower, our flashlights scanning the walls and floor for any other possible traces, but for the time being, there were no new discoveries.

I was carefully filming any place that might hold a clue with my phone’s camera when I saw Yukino, who was walking ahead, suddenly jump up as if someone had poked her in the butt with an electric cattle prod.

Startled, Exusiai and I, who were behind her, instantly froze.

“What happened?” I asked hurriedly.

Yukino’s elegant cheeks were tense, her deep-pool-like eyes wide with terror. “Just now… I felt something slap my butt.”

“Huh?!” An all-encompassing fear instantly invaded my heart. I couldn’t believe it. “I was walking right behind you and Saber just now. Although I wasn’t staring at you, if someone had suddenly appeared, it’s impossible that I wouldn’t have noticed. But there was nothing there just now!”

Exusiai also lost her carefree expression, rubbing my small hand twice to dispel the fear. “Could it be… the ghost just appeared?”

So why does rubbing my small hand twice dispel fear?

Is my hand some kind of buff?!

The atmosphere instantly dropped to freezing point. A cold, eerie horror surrounded us, the kind that makes the air thick and hard to breathe.

What gave us strength was Saber’s heroic and reliable voice. She lowered her fair eyelids, shook her head, and said with unshakable conviction, “No, the ghost didn’t appear just now.”

I was a bit confused. “Why… Saber, how can you be sure the ghost didn’t appear? Yukino was just slapped on the butt by something invisible!”

We were calling each other by our character names in front of the stream’s audience, which didn’t arouse any suspicion. They just thought that since we were cosplaying as these characters, using their names was to enhance the sense of immersion.

Faced with my question, Saber pushed up her monocle, puffed out her chest, and said in a firm and confident tone, “If you’re asking why… it’s because I was the one who slapped Yukino’s butt just now!!!”

“So why did you suddenly slap my butt?!!” Yukino slapped her on the shoulder, her composure finally cracking. “And how can you say it so confidently, as if you’ve done something good???”

Saber’s beautiful, golden eyebrows furrowed slightly. She said innocently, “Look over there, another room’s door is open. I just wanted to tell you about it, so I slapped you. I didn’t expect your butt to be in such a convenient spot.”

“So it’s my fault now! My butt is too conveniently placed??”

I ignored the comments in the stream like [I wish I had such a conveniently placed butt next to me!] and quickly tried to mediate. “Okay, let’s not argue over small things in such a dangerous environment… Can you save the argument for the next time she slaps your butt?”

“Are you already assuming she’s going to do it again? And why save it for next time?!”

“Because…” my gaze was distant, full of profound, nonsensical wisdom, “…arguments, like wine, get better with age, and so do butts.”

“I’ll believe you when pigs fly, you rotten old man!” Yukino was fuming, her usually bloodless, snow-woman-like cheeks turning a little red. But she still said, “Forget it, business is more important. Let’s go check out that open room first.”

See? My mediation still worked~

#If you hadn’t mediated, she probably would have stopped being angry long ago!#

But Yukino still shot Saber a glare and warned, “If you slap my butt again, when we get back, I’ll hang you up and use your butt as a drum to play a rendition of ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’!”

The threat was clearly effective. Saber’s verdant eyes widened in pleasant surprise. “Really?!”