Chapter 542: Are you here to look for ghosts too?
After the seal was lifted, the toys sold in the toy store were put in good order again, and there have been no more thefts.
The panda doll that was lost due to the card jumping was also returned by Sakura. Although Chiharu and the store manager were a little surprised, they did not suspect anything.
I can only say that the people in this world are really gentle and generous.
After the unpleasant incident of the doll being stolen, the manager's mood gradually recovered, and the toy store business began to flourish, no longer as deserted as it was in the beginning.
Seeing the store manager smile more and more sincerely, Sakura also began to feel something different.
Maybe... finding and sealing the Clow Cards isn't such a bad idea.
Sakura rarely had a positive attitude towards sealing the Clow Cards, but in the following days, the Clow Cards that used to appear every few days suddenly became silent again.
Until Sakura's positive attitude disappeared, the abnormalities caused by the Clow Cards did not appear.
School, playground.
“I’m telling you, that’s something I experienced firsthand.”
On the playground, Naoko, wearing a summer school uniform and holding a cheerleading flower, was telling her own experience with a serious face.
"I was delayed by something that day, so I stayed in school for a while and left until almost evening."
"Because it's late, I want to take a shortcut home through the forest behind the school. You all know the forest behind the school, there are many trees and lush trees, and usually no one goes there."
"But, that evening, guess what I saw..."
At this point, Naoko suddenly lowered her voice and looked a little scared: "It was a light blue firefly. No, it's a bit arbitrary to say it was a firefly. In fact, I don't know if it was a firefly or not."
"The firefly floated quietly in the forest. After it circled in front of me, it suddenly floated deeper into the forest."
"I didn't know what I was thinking at the time, I just chased after him."
"I kept chasing the fireflies, as if I was bewitched. Before I knew it, I had run to the edge of the forest, which was the cliff at the back of the mountain!"
"Then, what was originally just a small group of fireflies suddenly turned into a long and thin beam of light. At the very center of the beam of light, a dazzling light suddenly burst out!"
"The next second, a terrifying one-eyed ghost suddenly jumped out from the light. It rushed towards me with its dark red eyes, as if it wanted to kill me directly..."
“Eh!!!”
Suddenly, a sharp scream interrupted Naoko's story and entered the ears of everyone present.
"Sakura-chan?"
Both Naoko, who was telling the story, and Chiharu, who was listening, could not help but plug their ears with their fingers and then look at Sakura.
Being stared at by the two, Sakura couldn't help but cover her blushing face with her cheerleading hand flower and said embarrassedly, "S-sorry."
Seeing that Sakura had let out her fear, Chiharu looked at Naoko and asked, "Naoko, is everything you said true?"
"Of course it's true. That's my personal experience."
"Could it be that you saw it wrong?"
"No."
Listening to Chiharu and Naoko starting their discussion again, Sakura couldn't help but turn her back and cry silently. She was afraid of ghost stories and the like, and she didn't expect her friends to be so interested in them.
"By the way, let's investigate to verify the truth of this matter." Chiharu suddenly approached Naoko and said with interest.
Sakura was completely stunned when she heard this. Since Chiharu said this, it was obvious that she was included in it.
This is a standard horror game start, she really, really, really doesn't want to go!!
"The club meeting will end early today, so let's go and take a look together."
Seeing Chiharu was still talking, Sakura hurriedly waved her hands to stop her, "Wait! Wait!"
"What's wrong?" Chiharu looked at him puzzledly.
Sakura forced a smile, "Isn't there a cliff in that forest? It's too dangerous."
"Just don't go there."
“…”
It made so much sense that she couldn't even argue with it.
After thinking for a while, Xiaoying said, "But what if there really is a ghost?"
"We'll be fine if we run away quickly."
“…”
You are such a clever little fellow.
Sakura opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but Chiharu spoke first: "Anyway, it's going to be okay."
“Wuwuwu…”
Seeing that her friends all wanted to go, Sakura couldn't help crying in her heart. She really didn't want to go.
But if all her friends go, and she's the only one not going, she'd feel sorry for the other friends, wuwuwu...
In the end, Sakura was unable to get her friends to give up, and they still set out for the back mountain after school.
If this happened in a horror game, it would definitely be a suicidal act, so the sober Sakura still did not give up persuading her friends.
"Let's not go."
Sakura silently fell behind the team, put her hands on her chest, frowned slightly, and whispered a suggestion.
Zhi Shi, who was walking in front, turned back and comforted him: "Don't be afraid, it's still light outside."
Lijia also agreed: "Yeah, yeah, don't worry."
But even so, Sakura lowered her head nervously and followed the team silently.
At this moment, Chiharu, who was walking in front, suddenly asked as she walked: "By the way, my mother's birthday is coming soon, what gift do you think I should give her?"
"Chiharu, your mother likes to make desserts, so you can give her a cute dessert plate." Rika replied with a smile. In the dim light of dusk, her naturally curly short hair appeared a wine red, making her look more mature.
"A dessert plate?"
Chiharu murmured, and suddenly turned her head to look at Sakura who was lagging behind the team: "Sakura, what do you think?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the team that was originally moving forward suddenly stopped. Everyone else looked at Sakura with some concern, and Naoko even warned Chiharu with her eyes.
Seeing the reactions of the people around her, Chiharu suddenly covered her mouth. She wanted to use this topic to divert Sakura's attention and prevent her from being so scared, but at this moment she suddenly remembered that Sakura's mother had passed away.
Seeing the reactions of the people in front of her, Sakura was stunned for a moment, and the three hairs on her head trembled.
After realizing what Chiharu had just said, Sakura hurriedly waved her hands at Chiharu and said, "Ah, don't worry about it. I think the dessert plate is pretty good. Your mother will definitely be very happy to receive this gift."
Seeing that Sakura didn't seem unhappy, Chiharu finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the others were also relieved.
They all knew that Sakura's mother had passed away, so they rarely talked about these things in front of Sakura. Unexpectedly, Chiharu just now did something bad with good intentions. Fortunately, Sakura did not look sad.
As the topic came to an end, they continued walking in the quiet woods. The sky became darker and darker, and even the sun had set in the sky.
As they walked deeper and deeper, the road leading to the back mountain was cut off, leaving only a dirt road.
The rustling sound of walking on the dirt road made the silence of the forest more obvious. The surrounding ancient trees were lush and tall, but this also made the journey more gloomy.
After walking for a while, Naoko suddenly stopped and led everyone off the main road and into the forest nearby.
The girls became more and more nervous.
Originally, you could still see a path to walk on on the dirt road, but after entering the forest, there was no path at all, and you could only push aside the bushes and continue walking.
At this time, the forest was full of trees and bushes, and occasionally the cry of crows could be heard, as if this was not the forest behind the mountain, but a ghost forest leading to a gloomy castle.
Crack—boom!
Suddenly, there was a loud explosion similar to lightning in front.
Although the sound was not loud, it was particularly harsh in the deep and dark forest.
"ah!!!"
Several girls were immediately frightened by the sudden explosion and screamed in panic.
However, before they could escape back the way they came, a loud shout was suddenly heard.
"who!"
Then a dark shadow appeared in the gap of the forest. The figure of the shadow was blurry and only a pair of faintly reflective eyes could be seen.
Being stared at by these eyes, Naoko and the others became stiff all over. A chill crept up their bodies. They wanted to turn around and run away, but their bodies were somewhat out of control.
"Xia classmate?"
Suddenly, Zhishi took a step forward, looked at the dark shadow and shouted uncertainly.
The loud shout just now gave Chise a very familiar feeling, and she noticed that those eyes froze for a moment after seeing them.
Although it was not obvious, she still noticed it, so the owner of the eyes obviously knew them. Combined with the sense of familiarity, Tomoyo made a bold guess and shouted.
"Xia classmate?"
When the others heard Zhishi's words, they were also stunned. It seemed that there was only one student in their class with the surname Xia. After all, this surname was quite unique.
After a few seconds of silence, the black shadow walked out from the gaps between the trees. The darkness on his body gradually faded away. When he came in front of the girls, they also saw the true identity of the black shadow.
It was their classmate, Xia Yu.
At this time, Xia Yu was wearing a school uniform, holding a thick book in one hand and an exquisite wooden stick in the other.
"Xia, why are you here?"
Naoko, who was standing at the front, looked at Xia Yu and her pounding heart slowed down. Fortunately, he was a classmate she knew and not a ghost.
She was so scared just now that she thought she had encountered a new ghost.
Thinking of this, Naoko couldn't help but feel a little regretful. She was very keen on all kinds of supernatural events and ghost stories. It would be nice if she could meet a new ghost like last time.
"I also want to ask you? Why are you here?"
Looking at the little girls in front of him, Xia Yu was speechless. Who would have thought that he would meet his classmates by chance while practicing magic here?
The mountain behind their school is quite desolate, with a cliff at the end. It is extremely scary once it gets dark, and normally no one comes here.
When he first came here to practice magic, he did set up a Muggle shielding spell, but after a few times no one came, so he got too lazy to do it.
Besides, even if you really encounter someone, you can just kill them with one shot and forget them all.
Simple and clear, without any trace.
But who could have thought that he would be met by his classmates in such a desolate forest. If they were ordinary classmates, it would be fine, he could just use Oblivion to make them forget this part of their memory .
But since Sakura and Tomoyo are also here, things are a bit difficult to handle.
Sakura has magic powers, but he doesn't know if Obliviate will work. Secondly, out of selfishness, he doesn't want to use Obliviate, a magic that manipulates memory, on them.
Seeing that the atmosphere seemed a bit awkward, Naoko rubbed her arms and replied: "We are here to look for ghosts... Wait, could it be that Xia is here because of ghosts too?"
"ghost?"
Xia Yu blinked. This was not his first time here, and he didn't see any ghosts.
But since Naoko gave him a reason, he could just explain it based on that reason.
Retracting his thoughts, Xia Yu smiled and said, "Yes, I am here to look for ghosts. Dust returns to dust, earth returns to earth, and everything is nothing. This kind of soul drifting in the world should return to the underworld. I am here to save it ."
“…”
It is indeed classmate Xia. Only classmate Xia can say such impressive words so naturally.
Although they didn't quite understand what Xia Yu meant, the girls realized that Xia Yu, like them, came here to look for ghosts.
"Eh? Since we're here to look for ghosts, why are you holding such a thick book, Xia?"
"Book?"
After being reminded of this, the other girls also noticed the book in Xia Yu's arms. The book looked very old and thick, with the letter "H" in the middle of the cover.
The person asking the question was Chiharu. Xia Yu wanted to step forward and rub Chiharu's head angrily because of his curiosity. You are just too sharp-eyed!
The book in his hand is "The Wizard's Field Guide", which wizards can use to record their learning progress.
Although he could directly use the spells he exchanged from the system proficiently, that usually required the assistance of a wand. He wanted to be proficient enough to cast spells without a wand, to the point where he could use the spell with just a thought without having to say it.
Seeing Xia Yu remained silent, Zhishi quickly stepped out to smooth things over: "Okay, okay, since Xia is also here to look for ghosts, let's act together. Besides, Xia is a boy, so we will be safer with him."
As soon as these words came out, the other girls' eyes lit up.
"Oh, yes, what Chise said makes sense."
"Then let's act together with Xia. Xia got here before us, so maybe he has already discovered something."
"Yes, yes."
Seeing that the other girls had shifted their attention from the book in Xia Yu's hand to Xia Yu himself, Tomoyo pulled Sakura forward to block the other girls' sight, and silently made an OK gesture to Xia Yu behind his back.
Seeing this, Xia Yu gave Zhishi a thumbs up in his heart, secretly stuffed the book behind his back and put it into the system space. At the same time, he took out his schoolbag from the space, put it on his back, and then he walked towards the group of girls.
