Chapter 1 (2): The Girl Called Ghost

1. faint clues

A piano resounding in a music room at night. In order to find out what it is, the Solenatrio - Leo, Naoki, and Souta - wander around the mirror world and decide to search for clues based on the missing sheet music.
However, the school building in the mirror world is shrouded in an unnatural silence, and an unpleasant air clings to you no matter where you go. Walking through the corridors so dimly lit that one could hardly tell the difference between day and night, one felt as if only one's feet were floating. The three of them were wordlessly but surely heading for the next place to explore.

I think I'll go to the library. Maybe there are books that can be used to supplement the music scores."
Naoki suggests this with a glint behind his glasses, and Leo crosses his arms and nods, "Not bad. Souta sounds weak, "Hmm, the library, scary. ......," but he doesn't seem to have the energy to object.

To solve the first mystery, the one involving the "music room at night",Girl ghostmay be deeply related. If she exists in this world as well, we should be able to find traces of her somewhere. Believing this, the three of them decide to go to the "library" as their next destination.

2. on the way to the library

In the school building in the mirror world, the library is supposed to be in the same place as in reality. However, we are not sure which staircase we need to take to get there. After all, not only are the left and right sides of the building reversed, but the length of the corridor and the position of the turns seem to be slightly different.

"...... Hey, didn't we pass this place earlier?"

Souta looked at the painting in the corner of the hallway (a landscape reversed from left to right) and paled. Leo agreed, saying, "It sure looks like that," and Naoki bit his lip in frustration. He had expected the mirror world to be a "labyrinth," but he had not expected it to be so difficult to navigate.

Still, the three of us kept on walking, believing that we would eventually find some way out or another classroom. Eventually, they came upon a door, and saw faded letters on it. It could be read as "library. In the darkness, they opened the door half-convinced and found themselves in a room lined with dusty bookshelves.

I knew this was the library."
When Leo points the flashlight at him, Souta lets out a whisper, "Oh ....... Naoki peeks around the shelves with enthusiasm and seems to be wondering if the mystery of "disappearing books" is happening as it does in reality.

3. information on "The Ghost of a Girl

The three of them searched through the bookshelves for documents related to the "night music room" and notes about the girl's ghost. The books in the mirror world, however, are difficult to decipher because the text is reversed from side to side and the pages are unnaturally torn.

Naoki manages to look through the books from one side to the other, parsing the inverted letters rather dexterously, but he cannot find any definitive material. Souta peered at the lower shelf and said vaguely, "Maybe there is another phenomenon of books disappearing here: ....... Leo walks around, checking the scraps of paper and notes on the shelves.

"Hey, this is ......," he said. "It's a story about a kid who played the piano."
Leo picked up a small piece of handwritten note. There was an old sticker in the corner with a trace of a name that looked like "○○○○ko" (the letters were chipped and hard to make out). The contents of the note looked like a diary, with scribbles such as "the last piece I wanted to play" and "I didn't make it to the recital" standing out.

Is this the "girl" ......?
Souta fearfully tries to read it out loud, but the letters are distorted in the middle and are difficult to decipher, partly due to the left-right inversion. Still, the words "last," "piano," "song," "recital," and "feelings" are faintly recognizable.

Naoki takes the note in his hand, shines it with a flashlight, and deduces.
Maybe there was a music recital or something and this girl didn't make it out. Maybe the disappointment of that event left a ghost in this school building or something like that. ......
Souta shivered down his spine and nodded, "But is there really such a thing?" Leo kept his mouth shut in a complicated manner, remembering the mysterious melody he had just heard.

4. presence of a "ghostly" presence

A thorough search of the library turned up nothing more than a note. As the three discouraged students turn to head back toward the door, the air feels slightly cooler. Suddenly, a presence like a "gaze," similar to the one they felt in the music room, flashed behind them.

"What the hell is ...... now ......!"
As Leo turns his body, something appears to move behind the shelves. He hurriedly pointed his flashlight at it, but all he could see was a shelf of books crammed in a mess. But from somewhere, he heard a faint sound like breathing. Naoki peeks through his glasses at the shelves, but all he sees is a space covered in dust.

Souta is in a half-crying state and makes a trembling voice, "Hey, hey, I don't want to do this ....... Leo is indeed in a cold sweat, but he stays on his feet, saying, "Running away here won't solve anything. If this is the ghost of a girl, she is surely trying to tell us something - that was the most reasonable assumption.

A wind whipped in from under the shelves and a book fell to the floor. When the three of us looked at each other and approached the book, we saw that the cover of the book had a title that looked like "History of Music Recitals" written in left inversion. When they tried to open the page, it was ripped in half with a biliili ......, and an important part of the page was missing.

"This doesn't make it readable. ......"
Naoki says with disappointment, and Leo ponders, "Is there a clue in the torn pieces?" as well as the note. Souta looks around for the fragment that fell to the floor, but cannot find it. It may have been swept away by the wind and blown somewhere else.

5. modest resolutions

Although the evidence for the existence of the ghost is still thin, the three began to gather clues that seemed to point to "the music room at night" and "the girl who missed the recital" little by little. It is hard to say whether the fact that notes and books have been torn up is the result of some kind of force or mere coincidence. Nevertheless, a hypothesis emerges: the girl who disappeared, leaving behind her regrets, wants to complete her "last song.

"If the kid could complete the piece he couldn't play at the recital, might that solve ...... instead of coddling ......?"
When Souta dimly mentions it, Naoki admits, "Well, it's possible. Leo nods, but can't help but notice the look he felt in the library crawling up his spine.

'Alright. Okay, I'm going to recreate the song like I'm collecting the torn parts of this book and notes: ......!"
Leo's proposal sounds like a puzzle to be solved, but the three of us can think of no other promising means. For the time being, the first priority would be to supplement the sheet music, and then they would visit the music room at night to actually play the music.

Just as he made up his mind to do so, a sound like a faint laugh came from somewhere. Souta's shoulders shook and Naoki looked around in surprise. But there was nothing. Leo, a little puzzled, muttered a small "Thank you ....... If this really is the presence of a ghost girl, then surely she has something she wants to tell us. Thinking of this, a strange feeling rather than fear comes over him.

That's it!"

The three of us leave the library, exchanging the usual few words. If they can piece together the disjointed information and unravel the past of the "girl who was called a ghost," they may be able to solve the mystery happening in the music room at night. With this belief, the adventure to find more clues in the old school building in the mirror world continues. There is still a long way to go, but each of the three is beginning to feel that the bond and curiosity of the solenatrio will become a force that will outweigh their vague fears.