CHAPTER 115: CHAPTER 115: BULLYING

「Time rewound to ten minutes earlier.」

After searching through the girls’ dormitory, Plague Doctor entered the somewhat dilapidated school infirmary. He heard a group of girls cursing and shouting in the restroom, along with the sounds of a beating and objects smashing against the ceramic floor.

Something was off. Plague Doctor decisively pulled out his weapon and equipment and slowly approached.

He used the Wooden Long Stick to push open the restroom door, but it was empty, as if the sounds he had heard were just an illusion.

Suddenly, a bundle of black hair, like seaweed, burst crazily from the drain at the far end of the restroom.

Plague Doctor instinctively raised his long stick, preparing to unleash an offensive skill.

However, the black hair moved much faster than he anticipated. It shot out and constricted around Plague Doctor’s waist like a python, dragging him into the restroom.

The door closed.

When Plague Doctor woke up again, he found himself transformed into a plain-looking female high school student. He was wearing an Ibaraki Middle School uniform and standing in the restroom, washing his—her—hands.

Then, the restroom door was violently kicked open. Four rough-looking girls walked in, cursing as they shoved him into a corner and pulled his hair.

This was the memory of the deceased. Plague Doctor knew this very well.

He wanted to fight back, but his limbs would not obey. He could only reside within this female high school student’s body, enduring the beating and silently watching everything unfold.

School bullying is a cancer, rooted in the evil of the human heart. It thrives under the obscure hierarchy of school life, nurtured by the psychology of conformity, and gradually blooms into a flower named "group abuse."

The bullies, most often influenced by violent episodes in their own development, seek out the timid and weak. They do this out of fear, inferiority, and a lack of security, establishing emotional connections through a tacit pact of violence.

The girl Plague Doctor was inhabiting was targeted for bullying simply because she came from a poor family, had excellent academic grades, was a loner, wasn’t good at speaking, and rejected social interaction.

It started with isolation and verbal mockery.

The indifference of teachers and the neglect of parents allowed the bullying to escalate.

They placed lunchbox lids on her head, threw mud at her, pricked her with pins, kicked her, pulled her hair, and shoved her head into the toilet bowl...

The girl inhabited by Plague Doctor endured it all with difficulty, like Wild Grass bending low.

She would get through it. She always would.

However, a letter she kept in her locker, addressed to a male teacher popular among the female students, was discovered. It was then read aloud in the classroom amidst mocking laughter.

She hid in the most secluded toilet in the school infirmary, hoping the day would pass quickly.

But the bullies, who also admired that male teacher, followed her there.

Fueled by jealousy and anger, they subjected her to half an hour of torture.

Cranial injuries, a temporal bone fracture, a scalp laceration, subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebellar hemisphere contusion, pulmonary contusion, cervical spine fracture, an open ulna fracture, an open tibia fracture, along with numerous puncture wounds, cigarette burns, and bruises.

She died, submerged in wastewater and blood.

The bullies kicked her a few times. When they got no response, they stepped back in surprise, looking at each other, their previous arrogance gone.

Fear crept into their hearts, and they shed tears. But these tears were not of regret for the murder; they cried merely out of fear for their own bright futures, now in jeopardy.

They were like cowardly, weak, and timid lambs, gathered around the body, repeatedly poking the corpse that no longer moved.

The local Ibaraki police rushed over. The Soul of the deceased girl lingered above the school, watching the police cars take away the bullies, her heart filled with resentment, longing for justice.

However, the outcome was not as she had expected.

Since the four bullies were still minors, and the ringleader’s father was a local politician with significant clout, after some manipulation, the bullies were diagnosed with mental illnesses.

They spent hardly a few days in jail before returning to society and transferring to other schools.

Hatred so intense it bordered on insanity consumed the girl’s sanity.

She dragged the leaders of Ibaraki Middle School who had assisted in the perjury, the teachers who had ignored the bullying, and the classmates who had mocked her, all into the restroom. There, she forced them to experience her agonizing death over and over, until the victims were so psychologically and physically overwhelmed that they committed suicide.

The deaths of more than thirty people eventually alerted the supernatural forces of the Japan Islands. The bully’s father, the councilor, spent a fortune to hire an Onmyoji to exorcise the spirit.

The Onmyoji succeeded. The girl was Sealed inside the filthy, cramped restroom, forever unable to leave, forever unable to threaten the councilor’s daughter again.

Plague Doctor was the last person to enter the restroom.

In a mere ten minutes, Plague Doctor experienced seven rapid replays of her death. His body, limp like a tattered burlap sack, collapsed onto the sewage-strewn ground.

The girl named Hanako stood on Plague Doctor’s sunken chest with her pale feet.

"COUGH. COUGH. COUGH. COUGH."

Plague Doctor’s lips curved up faintly. He wanted to take out a cigarette, but his twisted arm was completely immobile.

Hanako lifted her head, staring intently at him with her pure white eyes.

How come you still refuse to die? That was the clear meaning in Hanako’s gaze.

"Now is not the time for me to die. COUGH. COUGH. COUGH."

Plague Doctor gazed at Hanako and smiled wretchedly.

Hanako remained silent, putting slightly more pressure with her foot. The crunching of bones was constantly audible.

Why do you still insist?

Plague Doctor began to cough violently, and small chunks of his innards splattered onto his black robe.

"Death isn’t difficult. It’s living that’s hard."

He tilted his head, managing a difficult smile. His murky eyes were slightly unfocused. "I still have people I want to see, things I want to do, battles I need to fight. I can’t just die here..."

Hanako slightly relaxed the pressure of her foot on Plague Doctor’s chest. Her gaze deepened as she looked at the unremarkable middle-aged man, the resentment on her face gradually calming.

She opened her mouth, her voice as raspy as grating metal. "Kill them for me, and you may live."

"They," of course, referred to the four bullies who had escaped punishment.

Plague Doctor gazed back at her. "....Deal."

Hanako lifted her foot. Enduring the intense pain, Plague Doctor placed his hand on his chest and activated his Title Skill.

[Title Name: Miraculous Healing]

[Activation Mode: Active]

[Special Effect: Temporarily heal the injuries of a living biological unit during a task. The injuries will reappear after the task ends.]

[Consumption: 30% of total Stamina Points]

[Cooldown: Limited to twice per task; cannot be used outside of a task]

[Note: Patients with severed hands, stand here. Patients with severed legs, stand there. Patients with severed heads... apologies, this clinic does not currently offer head reattachment surgery.]

A surge of verdant light flared. Plague Doctor’s injuries began to heal: his chest slowly reinflated, and the broken bones in his elbow began to mend.

Hanako watched indifferently as all this unfolded. After Plague Doctor took out the walkie-talkie, she gave him a long, hard look. "Remember your promise."

Plague Doctor nodded and spoke the code into the walkie-talkie.