Chapter 012: Kanako's Diary

“This damned game really is full of morbid humor,” Su Cheng remarked, his expression unruffled, as if well accustomed to the tropes of horror games. He pulled a pair of white gloves from his pocket, slipped them on, and meticulously examined the severely decomposed human head.

As a seasoned player of horror games, Su Cheng never overlooked any clue that might lead to clearing a level—often, the most vital hints lay hidden in the details.

“Judging by the degree of decomposition, the time of death should be over a month ago. The victim is a young woman, likely a student at this school.”

After a thorough inspection, Su Cheng uncovered several clues. The head had been severed from the body with a sharp weapon—the method of death matched that of Yamazaki’s girlfriend. The murderer was likely Koji Tezuka, the man in the pig mask. As for the victim’s identity, she was probably a student at Sakura Academy. The crime scene was right here in this office.

Although the office had been scrubbed clean, Su Cheng still found bloodstains in inconspicuous corners.

What puzzled him, however, was why Koji Tezuka would kill his student. Was he a psychopathic murderer with an urge to kill, or was there another reason?

“Since the crime happened here, there must be more clues left behind.”

Following the logic of suspenseful horror games, the trail would not simply end here—he just hadn’t found the next piece yet.

Placing the decayed head back where he found it, Su Cheng opened the bookshelf beside the desk and carefully searched through the files.

“A student roster?”

Among the usual educational materials, he discovered a student roster. Opening it, he found names and photographs of a particular class.

Although the victim was likely listed in this roster, her face was so decomposed it was unrecognizable, so Su Cheng couldn’t identify her with certainty.

After some thought, he decided to keep the roster.

Next, he sat in Koji Tezuka’s chair and went through the desk drawers. None were locked, but they contained only books and miscellaneous items—no obvious clues.

He checked everything in the drawers, missing nothing. In the very back of the third drawer, he found a diary bound in a red cover.

“Could Koji Tezuka really be in the habit of writing murder diaries?”

But upon opening it, Su Cheng realized the handwriting belonged to a high school student, not Tezuka. At the bottom of the first page was the name “Kanako.”

“Kanako? That name seems familiar.”

Su Cheng recalled the name, flipped open the student roster, and found Kanako’s photograph: a girl with short brown hair and a bright, youthful smile.

He turned to the diary’s second page, where delicate handwriting caught his eye:

August 3rd, clear. Today, Yumi seemed in terrible spirits. Even when the teacher called her name at roll call, she didn’t respond. She’s been listless for days now. I’m worried something’s happened to her. There are some ugly rumors about Yumi going around school—someone claims to have seen her on a date with a man in his forties or fifties. That can’t possibly be true.

August 4th, clear. This afternoon, while changing for swimming class, I noticed large bruises on Yumi’s legs and small punctures on her arms, as if from needles. I couldn’t help but worry, so I asked how she was. Yumi told me she’s had a bad cold, which is why she’s unwell, and the marks on her arm are from hospital injections. But my instincts tell me she’s hiding something.

August 5th, rain. Today was my turn for cleaning duty. While tidying up, I saw Yumi enter Mr. Tezuka’s office. I meant to wait for her so we could go home together, but no matter how long I waited, she didn’t come out. Maybe she left early after all.

…

The first three diary entries detailed Kanako’s interactions with a girl named Yumi. Su Cheng sensed he was on the verge of a crucial clue.

Flipping ahead, he came across a new entry dated five days later:

August 10th, overcast. Yumi has been missing for five days. Today, officers from the Metropolitan Police came to the school to search her things. Some say Yumi ran away because she couldn’t stand the rumors; others say she jumped into the river. The police haven’t found any trace of her.

I didn’t tell the police that the day before Yumi disappeared, she entered Mr. Tezuka’s office.

At lunch, I passed by Mr. Tezuka’s office and suddenly wanted to check inside. I thought maybe Yumi was hiding there. Normally, Mr. Tezuka always locks the door when he’s not in, but fate must have intervened, because today he forgot.

Yumi wasn’t there. But as I was about to leave, I noticed a strange blue travel bag under the desk.

Without thinking, I went over, opened the bag, and took out a black bowling ball. I remembered Mr. Tezuka is a member of the bowling club, so keeping a ball in his office didn’t seem odd. Still, something felt off.

That’s when I noticed my hand was stained with some kind of red ink. No—it wasn’t ink. It was blood!

At this point, Su Cheng had a fair idea of the decayed head’s identity. What intrigued him now was Kanako’s fate, having stumbled onto the truth.

When I cracked open Mr. Tezuka’s bowling ball, I finally found the missing Yumi.

I held Yumi and wept bitterly. Just then, the office door opened from the outside, and I saw Mr. Tezuka standing there, his face clouded with menace…

The diary ended there. Flipping ahead, Su Cheng saw evidence of several pages having been torn out. It seemed someone had deliberately destroyed part of the diary—likely Koji Tezuka, the butcher in the pig mask.

From the clues gathered so far, the butcher had been a deranged killer even before becoming an evil spirit; he had murdered his student, the girl named Yumi.

The diary entries were dated just over a month ago, matching the corpse’s state of decay. As for Kanako, who wrote the diary, she likely survived at least for a time—otherwise, there wouldn’t be the final entries or the torn pages.

What preoccupied Su Cheng was what Yumi had experienced before her death, and the degree to which Koji Tezuka was involved.

“The next clue must be hidden in this diary. But where to start?”

Soon, Su Cheng found a line of six digits on the last page of the diary.

930928

“These look like a date… Could it be Kanako’s birthday?” Su Cheng quickly memorized the number, though he had no idea yet what it was for.

Six digits—perhaps Kanako’s password.

But the trouble was, Su Cheng didn’t know where to use it.

He recalled the scenes from his earlier search of the school building. Suddenly, inspiration struck—he thought of something.

“The game is becoming more and more intriguing.”

The corners of his lips curled upward. As the clues gradually came together, the mysteries surfaced, and his urge to unravel them grew stronger.

Pocketing the six-digit code, he was about to search for new clues when the office door suddenly swung open from the outside.