I'm a teacher in Tokyo!

Upon hearing this, Kayako thought for a moment and realized that the ballpoint pen she used for writing in her diary at home had run out of ink, so she could use this pen instead.

Writing in a diary uses too much ink. If I had a fountain pen, I wouldn't have to replace it so often.

Just as Kayako was about to leave with her new pen, Yoshizaki Kawa called her back.

"By the way, Kayako, go and ask Mako to come over here."

"Okay!"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 171 Mako, you don't want to lose your scholarship either, do you?

Yoshizaki thought about it for a long time, and finally decided that he had to get the camera back from Mako.

After all, what Kotoko said is highly likely, and this stuff is still a bit too much for the "ghost-catching trio".

So he asked Kotoko to prepare a new camera, hoping she could pretend to be stupid and get the camera with special abilities back from Mako.

At the same time, when Mako, who was full of questions, was pulled over by Kayako and saw Yoshizaki-sensei, she was slightly taken aback.

I have this inexplicable feeling that Yoshizaki Kawakawa has changed a lot, and he even has some strange resemblance to the person in my bizarre and strange dreams.

Of course, Mako only remembered some fragmented pieces of the dream, but among them were some of Yoshizaki Kawa's memories.

I wonder if this teacher has eight-pack abs?

Thinking about this, Mako couldn't help but curse herself inwardly, wondering what she had been thinking about all day long!

Gathering all her thoughts, Mako walked to the desk: "Teacher, you wanted to see me?"

Yoshizaki took out a form and said, "If Mako-san thinks there are no problems with the monthly allowance, please sign here to confirm!"

"scholarship?"

As expected, when she heard that the photography shop had been shut down, Mako Yamamura's eyes showed a look of shock.

A chilling smile appeared on Mako Yamamura's expressionless face as she picked up a pen and began to fill in the paper.

Taking advantage of Yamamura Mako's shock at what he had just said, Yoshizaki Kawa immediately pressed his advantage.

Yoshizaki Kawa lies without batting an eye; he had already prepared his excuses beforehand.

"Yes, before, at that shop, the owner said that if I passed the test, I could get a good camera, so I went to participate. Luckily, I passed the shop owner's test, and then the shop owner gave me the camera."

however--

"That photography studio was shut down by the police this afternoon. I don't know why. I'm asking you this because I'm afraid you might get involved."

But when she heard this, Yamamura Mako hesitated, because to be honest, she really liked the camera.

Regardless of the fact that the camera is said to have the power to capture ghosts, Mako also likes it simply because it can take pictures.

As Mako Yamamura carefully filled out the information, she answered.

Let's try using the police and such as that to see if we can fool Mako into handing over the camera.

"what?"

The shop owner was arrested this afternoon after saying those things in the morning—that's way too fast!

She vaguely remembered the shop owner's ambitious demeanor when he said he might not return to Japan in the future. At that time, she promised the shop owner that she would send the photos of the ghosts she took to the mailbox outside the shop.

Meanwhile, Yoshizaki asked indirectly, "By the way, I heard that you won a camera, Mako-san?"

"Mako, how about we hand the camera over to the police station together later, so we don't get involved in this?"

So, Mako was still very reluctant to hand it over like that.

Just then, Yoshizaki Kawa pulled out a wooden box from the side and continued, "My friend brought a camera back from America before, but I don't really know how to use it. It's been gathering dust and I've forgotten about it. If Mako likes it, she can take it and play with it."

The camera was naturally given to him by Kotoko. Even if Yoshizaki Kawa could afford it, he wouldn't have the means to buy such a limited edition item so quickly.

At this moment, Mako Yamamura looked very conflicted. She glanced at the camera in front of Yoshizaki Kawa, which looked much better than her old and worn-out camera, both in terms of its packaging and appearance.

But actually, there's a very crucial thing here.

What makes me think I'm qualified to use Yoshizaki Kawa's camera to play around with?

Mako didn't feel she deserved to have such a close relationship with Yoshizaki-sensei as Kayako.

The shop owner's gift could at least be considered as something he received for completing a task, but Yoshizaki Kawa's was purely a gift. Since he hadn't done anything to deserve such a valuable gift, Mako was still a little hesitant to accept it.

So she paused for a moment, and finally said hesitantly, "Teacher, this camera was a gift from the shop owner, so it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"I know you're embarrassed to take the teacher's things, but the teacher doesn't use them anyway, and they're just sitting there doing nothing, so you can just take them and use them without any worries."

Yoshizaki Kawa's insight was naturally sharp, and he easily saw the only reason for Yamamura Mako's hesitation.

Furthermore, judging from the initial changes in Mako's expression and various behaviors after she revealed that the video studio had been shut down.

This shows that he did not fully trust the shop owner, so he was likely skeptical of the shop owner's claim that he could "capture ghosts."

Unless Mako herself took the photo, this suspicion will only intensify over time.

Therefore, Mako did not believe the ghost story about the camera at this moment, which was good news for her.

After all, if Mako thinks that this camera that can capture ghosts is incredibly cool and doesn't want to trade with her, then there would be a big problem.

At this moment, Mako was still hesitating. She handed the form she had just filled out to Yoshizaki Kawa.

Just then, Yoshizaki suddenly said, "If you're found to have violated the rules, Mako-san, your scholarship for staying at school might be revoked—"

"Mako-san, you don't want to go without your stipend, do you?"

Yoshizaki's calm words carried an extremely powerful blow, like a sledgehammer smashing into Mako's heart. She couldn't help but clench her fists, her fingers turning white from the effort.

Mako couldn't imagine that after losing such a large sum of money as the supplementary funding, everyone in the orphanage might have to eat one less bite of food every day at noon!

This kind of thing... this kind of thing is absolutely unacceptable!

Silence, respond with silence.

After a moment, Yamamura Mako gritted her teeth and said, "Teacher, can I go to the police station with you? I'll tell you everything. If anything happens in the future, the police won't arrest me, right?"

Seeing that Mako had relented, Yoshizaki Kawa breathed a sigh of relief, but his face remained calm and composed, and his expression did not change much; he remained amiable.

"Of course, anyway, you were just given a camera out of the blue, and you weren't involved in the whole thing."

"Then...then I'll go back to the dorm to get the camera right away. Teacher, please wait for me, let's go to the police station together."

"It's okay, teacher, I'll go with you."

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 172 Minakami Village (Thanks to the guild leader who loves quills for the generous donation)

）

Kotoko led Kunihiko Aso to the car and drove towards Minakami Village.

The journey is long and arduous; Jieshen Village is located in a remote mountain area.

It is divided into two areas: the outer village and the inner village.

In the past, people from the two regions exchanged goods and services. Most of the children born in the outer village were born in the inner village. The inner and outer villages were always controlled by the Kurosawa family. There were also some smaller families among them, such as the four great families, but they were all under the control of the Kurosawa family.

The main reason why the Kurosawa family has such terrifying influence is that their sacrificial "twin" ritual has repeatedly suppressed the existence of "void".

Of course, what they call "emptiness" is actually the gates of hell.

The so-called Twin Ritual is the use of the power of resentment to suppress the gates of hell.

According to Yoshizaki Kawa's previous statement, and based on Kotoko's speculation, Kurosawa Sae and Kurosawa Yae should be the victims of the last "Twin Ritual" of the Kurosawa family.

But this time, due to the bond between her sisters, the entire ritual failed, the Gates of Hell went out of control, the curse overflowed, and the village became a true hell.

Then, for some unknown reason, a sudden earthquake struck, causing Uchimura to disappear into the mountains. The curse that had been spreading was blocked by the earth and rocks, and could only slowly seep out from some cracks.

It is precisely for this reason that nothing has happened in the outer villages.

The cult leader was also beaten and forced to flee in a sorry state.

But now it seems that the flaw was perhaps deliberately left by the cult leader. The root cause might be that he could no longer stop the evil spirits from descending, so he wanted to use his own power to send them back to hell.

A moment later, a traffic policeman wearing a reflective vest and holding a baton came forward, saluted, and then took control of the vehicle, driving it in the designated direction.

However, the previous leader was probably a villager from the foot of the mountain who, for some reason, was affected by the overflowing curse, entered the inner village, took away an evil spirit that had escaped from the gates of hell, and established that so-called "cult".

Kunihiko Aso, wearing glasses, stood awkwardly to one side, his hands clasped together.

At this moment, even Kotoko couldn't help but admire the cult leader's courage.

At this moment, Kotoko belatedly realized that she had also had a very coincidental encounter with that evil spirit before.

At that moment, the yellow-blue sky ahead came into view, and Higa Kotoko slammed on the brakes and came to a stop.

He's not stupid; he knows this person is no ordinary individual, given that he could mobilize so many police officers.

However, there is actually a very crucial issue here—

Because evil spirits also possess their inherent arrogance, they cannot allow unclean women to conceive and give birth to them. Otherwise, the woman might give birth to someone else's child, which would then become someone else's child, thus falling into a lower realm in terms of cause and effect.

— Just as the cult leader was trying to summon the evil spirit, he happened to discover it and then sent the evil spirit back to hell.