Teiichi:
Yuuko-san, you are quite unique in that regard.
Uh, I mean, no, that's not why I said that...
Stop being mean.
All right, I'm going home now.

Yuuko:
Oh, so soon?

Teiichi:
Well, Okonogi-san already went home.

Yuuko:
What's wrong with us being alone?

Teiichi:
But it's getting dark.

Yuuko:
It's more romantic that way, don't you think?

Teiichi:
Can't you just, uh, give me some space?

Yuuko:
What do you mean? You don't like me anymore?

Teiichi:
That isn't what I meant, but...

Yuuko:
I understand. You're thinking about sex.

Teiichi:
No. Not at all...

Yuuko:
It's okay if you are. I don't mind.

Teiichi:
Wh-What do you mean, you don't mind?
Would you please not undress on top of me?!

Yuuko:
If it's you, then I don't mind showing you everything.



Teiichi:
Huh? What's this?

Yuuko:
Good morning!

Teiichi:
Yu-Yuuko-san!

Yuuko:
How do you like my summer uniform?
It's getting warm, so I thought I'd switch, too. Huh?
I have to keep my eye on you, you know.

Teiichi:
Well, I-I have to go. See you later.

Don't tell me... This is a l-l-love letter?
I wanna talk about the girl behind you.
After school, come to the designated place.



Yuuko:
You're late, Teiichi-kun...

Momoe:
Huh? No one's here.

Yuuko:
Oh, it's her...

Momoe:
Niiya-san's not even here yet.
And just when I got a great new scoop...

Yuuko:
Hm?

Momoe:
I wonder if he'll like the story about the mysterious disappearances.

Yuuko:
Where is he?



Teiichi:
Are you the one who wrote this letter?

Kirie:
Maybe I should tell you exactly how dire your situation really is.
I hate ignorance. You're about to die, and you don't even realize.
Come on, you are about to disappear.

Teiichi:
Huh?



Yuuko:
Do you have any idea where Teiichi-kun could be?

Momoe:
I know...

Yuuko:
Huh?

Momoe:
...this story has another ending.

Yuuko:
This weather is so unpleasant.



Kirie:
What's haunting you is an evil spirit.

Teiichi:
You can see her, too?

Kirie:
Have you heard the ghost story about people who mysteriously disappear?
Years ago, back when the academy had just been founded, there was a girl who died in an accident.
Enraged at her own unjustified death, she... she sank into a deep despair, and began to haunt this school as a ghost.
And wishing for others to understand her misery, she takes people to the other side, so they will suffer with her.
You must not be around her. She will steal your soul, and take you away.

Teiichi:
Thank you very much for your concern.
Goodbye.

Kirie:
I see that you don't believe me.
Have you ever wondered what ghosts really are?
It isn't as though everyone who dies becomes a ghost.
What stays behind in this world, are powerful emotions--the extreme regret or suffering at the moment of death.
Ghosts writhe about, trying to transfer the emotions to anyone they can.
Rule one: Never open your heart to the unknown!
Rule two: The living are stronger than the dead!
If you bear those things in mind, you might just survive, if you like it.

Teiichi:
Wait a second.
Tell me, did you really see Yuuko-san and...

Kirie:
If I see something I should not see... I'll just pretend to have seen nothing at all.
Consider yourself warned.

Teiichi:
Yuuko-san is lying to me? Is that really possible?

Yuuko:
People who fear things that aren't there will see me the way they expect.

Teiichi:
But... Yuuko-san...

Yuuko:
What's haunting you is an evil spirit.

Teiichi:
Yu-Yuuko-san.

Yuuko:
Achoo!

Teiichi:
Huh?

Yuuko:
I'm gonna catch a cold.

Teiichi:
I can't believe that she's an evil spirit.
Huh?

Yuuko:
So, Teiichi-kun...

Teiichi:
Yuuko-san, clothes, clothes, clothes, clothes! Now! Please! Gee...

Yuuko:
I'm sorry. I'm not used to being seen, so I forgot.
But I think it embarrasses me a little that you get so embarrassed, you know.

Teiichi:
If that's the case, then please put some clothes on.

Yuuko:
Why didn't you come to the club room today?

Teiichi:
Huh? Un, no reason, really.
I was just running a little late, that's all.

Yuuko:
I kept getting this bad feeling... because I heard a weird story...

Teiichi:
What do you mean?

Yuuko:
It was some kind of ghost story, about people disappearing, ghosts that haunt students, and drag them away.
So I've gotten this bad feeling that you were going away.
Hey, Teiichi-kun, would you mind telling me what I look like when you look at me?

Teiichi:
What?

Yuuko:
Please tell me.

Teiichi:
Why are you asking me this?

Yuuko:
My hair?

Teiichi:
Well, it's long and black.

Yuuko:
My skin?

Teiichi:
It's white.

Yuuko:
My face? My eyes?

Teiichi:
Your face...

Yuuko:
I'm happy, because that's the same as what I see in the mirror.
You see me the same way. You really see me.

Teiichi:
Yuuko-san...

Yuuko:
Please stay with me... forever...

Kirie:
You wanna die, Niiya Teiichi?!
You really are too stupid to bear.
It appears you did not understand the first thing from my warning.

Yuuko:
Who's this?

Kirie:
I came here to help you because you're utterly unreliable.
To be honest, having you drifting around is a pain.

Teiichi:
So, you really can see her, can't you?

Kirie:
Don't you find yourself pathetic?!
Because of your regrets, you keep wandering this world, seducing the living, trying to cause them the same fate that befell you!
Niiya Teiichi, I'll show you her real form.
I'll expose the true nature... of that which seeks to entrap you.
I can see it.

Yuuko:
Teiichi-kun?

Kirie:
And so can you.
Her ugly form, brimming with negative emotions.
Her tangled black hair. Skin the color of dirt. Her face twisted by hatred. Festering limp limbs. The reek of rotten flesh.

Teiichi:
No! Yuuko-san doesn't look like that!

Kirie:
See for yourself, then. Look behind you.

Yuuko:
Teiichi-kun...

Kirie:
Niiya, come on!

Yuuko:
Teiichi-kun...



Teiichi:
What the hell was that? Was that Yuuko-san?

Kirie:
Snap out of it!
That was her true evil form, the form I always pretended not to see.

Teiichi:
Who are you?

Kirie:
My name is Kirie Kanoe.

Teiichi:
Kanoe? Could it be...?

Kirie:
The girl who met her tragic death fifty years ago, who would later come to haunt this school...
Yuuko Kanoe, who's called the dusk maiden...
She is my relative.



Kirie:
Yuuko-san. It's a name that every student at out school has heard at least once.
The ghost in the mirror, that haunts the old school wing.
The one that plays hide-and-seek with you.
I thought they were just normal ghost stories at first, like you hear at any school.
But then I found a photograph... at my grandmother's room.
I asked my grandmother who this Yuuko person was.
She told me Yuuko was a girl who used to live there.
Yuuko Kanoe was my grandmother's older sister.
Yuuko died when she was fifteen.
Ever since she told me, I started seeing her ghost.
Actually, I could probably always see her, but I just didn't notice.
She was the same pretty girl that I'd seen in the photo.
But I had no inclination to get involved.
Since she was not of this world, I naturally thought that my connection to her was of no significance at all.
But it turns out I was being naive. I ended up seeing her true appearance...
The disgusting form, filled with hatred, and twisted by anger, despair, and regret.
And that is the thing that's attached itself to you.

Teiichi:
But Yuuko-san said she doesn't have any regrets or hate.

Kirie:
Everything she's told you is a lie!
I finally found the ghost story that reveals the truth.
The story about the mysterious disappearances!
That girl who died in the old wing of this school is a repulsive thing.
The people she haunts are dragged away to die.
I found the truth, and I've seen its real form.
However, you have been consumed by the deceit.

Teiichi:
Deceit?

Kirie:
Pervert.

Teiichi:
Ugh...

Kirie:
You're totally overcome by lust, so you overlook her true form.
But thanks to me, you've finally been able to see the sinister guise of the dead.
That is the truth.
If you understand, then stay away.
Once she traps you, your soul will be locked in the old wing.

Teiichi:
In that basement room... right?

Kirie:
Basement? What are you talking about?

Teiichi:
I saw Yuuko-san's corpse down there, beneath the clubroom.

Kirie:
You idiot! Why didn't you mention that sooner?!
If there's an actual body, we may be able to...
She's here. We have to run.

Teiichi:
Yuuko-san...

Kirie:
What are you doing?! Hurry up! Come on!



Kirie:
So this is it.
If we open this, we'll be cursed, huh?
She already has you in her clutches. How annoying can you be?!
Is it really in a place like this?
Let's go.
Now you and that thing will be able to part.

Yuuko:
I got you.
You took... You took Teiichi-kun... from me.
I'll never forgive you.
She's gone.
Look. Why won't you... look at me?!
Oh, I see... I'm sure I look horrible now, don't I?
I really was very happy...
Before, I was constantly alone, doing nothing at all.
But you changed that.
I enjoyed each day with you. And I was so happy that you were able to accept me.
I got spoiled and started wishing we could go on this way forever.
I never needed to know the truth about myself...
In reality, maybe I am a scary monster.
I'm sorry. You must have been so scared...
Can you even hear me talking to you anymore?
Goodbye, Teiichi-kun. Thank you. You made me happy, so happy.

Teiichi:
You're right. I was scared.
I was afraid of finding out the truth.
I tried to tell myself that I wasn't scared by pretending not to see.
I'm a coward. I'm sorry.
But the Yuuko-san that I know...
Her hair is black and long and straight.
Her skin is so white, it almost shines.
Her eyes are almond shaped, and her build is tall and slender.
That... is my... Yuuko-san.

Yuuko:
Teiichi-kun...

Teiichi:
But there's more!

Yuuko:
Huh?

Teiichi:
If we're going to move on, I need to examine your body more closely.
That's why right now I'm going to look at your remains in the basement.

Yuuko:
No! No! You can't just go and look!
First, I need to work on my courage.

Teiichi:
I wanna see them right now. I wanna see all of you!

Yuuko:
I guess if that's... what you really want to do, I can't say "no"...
Why do you tease me like this?

Teiichi:
E-Excuse me!



Teiichi:
Kirie-san?

Kirie:
N-Niiya, are you all right?
I'm sorry I left you there, but I thought it would be better to take care of her real body first, so I came down here...

Teiichi:
You weren't crying just now, were you?

Kirie:
O-Of course not!
I fell down in the dark, and I couldn't get up again, so I...

Teiichi:
It's okay.

Kirie:
Listen to me!

Teiichi:
Here comes...

Kirie:
So, this is Yuuko's...

Teiichi:
Yes.
I've actually been here once before, but at the time I didn't get a proper look at her body.
Maybe if we look closer, it will give us some kind of clue about Yuuko-san's past.
Uh, hey...

Kirie:
What's wrong, Niiya?

Teiichi:
Her leg... It's broken.

Kirie:
So I guess there really was an accident after all, just like the ghost story.

Teiichi:
She probably fell down the stairs, then grew weaker and weaker, was never found since no one ever uses this basement room.

Kirie:
Niiya, look up ahead!

Teiichi:
Huh?
Wait... What is this? Was this really an accident?

Kirie:
Are you saying that the ghost story is wrong?
That Yuuko isn't the ghost making people disappear?

Teiichi:
A ghost story is something that's passed on, from person to person.
The story could have been warped at some point, or it could have been deliberately twisted.
I wonder what this was used for?
Maybe it's related to the shrine that was here?

Kirie:
At any rate, it looks like my theory was totally off the mark.
I'm very sorry, Niiya.
But I still think you should be careful.
It doesn't automatically mean she isn't an evil spirit.

Teiichi:
No. You're right.
But if that's true, that means that I have all the more reason to face Yuuko-san directly.

Kirie:
That's right, big guy.
Well, if you ever need any help, just tell me, and I'll be more than...

Teiichi:
Uh, Yuuko-san?

Kirie:
Did you look... at my remains?

Teiichi:
Uh, yeah, I did.

Yuuko:
All over?

Teiichi:
Uh, I suppose so... pretty much...

Yuuko:
Ooh, I wanna die!

Teiichi:
I could, yeah, but I-I mean, it's... it's no big deal, right?
And you're already dead, so... uh, you know...



Kirie:
But then, if all the stories were wrong, and Yuuko isn't the evil ghost... what was that evil spirit I saw?



Yuuko:
All done!

Teiichi:
Yuuko-san is the older sister of Kirie-san's grandmother.
She's a ghost who appears to people the way they want to view her.

Momoe:
Hello!
Niiya-san, what happened to you yesterday?

Teiichi:
Those who aren't conscious of her can see neither her nor anything she does.

Momoe:
I heard a really great ghost story!

Teiichi:
Is it the one about the mysterious disappearances?

Momoe:
Huh? How did you know about that?

Teiichi:
Well, uh, it's a famous story.

Momoe:
Then do you also know the other story about mysterious disappearances?

Teiichi:
You mean there's another story?

Momoe:
There's a story that this school is cursed, since it was built over the site of an old temple.
They say that the girl who supposedly died due to an accident was actually cursed and spirited away.

Teiichi:
That would mean Yuuko-san was the victim of...

Kirie:
Looks like Yuuko is involved, after all.

Teiichi:
Kirie-san.

Teiichi:
I'm not apologizing, by the way. This mystery has not been solved yet.

Momoe:
Um! Might you be a new club member?!

Kirie:
Y-Yeah, I guess. I look forward to this, Niiya.

Teiichi:
What?!

Momoe:
My name is Momoe Okonogi! So nice to meet you!
People mix up the kanji in my name a lot, but it's actually not that difficult...

Yuuko:
Well, I guess that's fine.
Welcome to the Paranormal Investigation Club.



By the sigh of the moon and the whisper of the stars, draped in a curtain of night, a girl's eye shines in the school yard.
Ghost Story Four: "Maiden of Dawn"