Chapter 115: The Beginning And The Ending Of Chiyoko

Right after school, Kimura Kazuki followed the address given by Nakagawa Aokiji, which led all the way to the Spring Cherry Blossom District.

The Spring Cherry Blossom District was a place where the upper-middle class congregated. It was an area occupied by wealthy residents, those who were rich but not quite on the level of billionaires yet. However, their lifestyles were lavish enough to draw the envy of commoners.

Kimura Kazuki arrived at Kageyama Park, a community of villas quite well-known in the Spring Cherry Blossom District.

At the entrance of Kageyama Park, Kimura Kazuki was stopped by a guard.

"I'm looking for Nakagawa Aokiji."

"I see. Please wait a minute," the security guard in blue answered politely.

Soon, Nakagawa Aokiji drove there in his car after being notified. When Nakagawa Aokiji got out of his car and saw Kimura Kazuki, the anxiousness in his heart was miraculously reduced by half.

"Kimura-Kun," Nakagawa Aokiji greeted while smiling brightly. It was their first meeting after their separation at Akichi High School. Since then, they had been staying in contact only through their mobile phones. Then, he turned to the security guard and spoke politely, "Sato, Kimura-Kun is my friend."

"Alright, Mr. Nakagawa. However, according to the rules, your friend still has to sign the guest log at the guardhouse," the security guard named Sato replied respectfully.

Nakagawa Aokiji nodded before escorting Kimura Kazuki to the guardhouse to deal with the paperwork. He then said apologetically, "Everything is excellent here in Kageyama Park, but the procedure is rather inconvenient if we were to invite friends over. That's why I don't usually stay here."

"There are always benefits behind strictly-enforced rules," Kimura Kazuki replied with a smile. He did not mind the paperwork as he understood deeply that different rules applied to different places. In order not to create unnecessary hassle, he would have to obey the rules.

"You're right. It actually feels safer to stay here."

After both of them got into the car, Nakagawa Aokiji started to make small talk with Kimura Kazuki while driving. They no longer talked about his mother, for they had discussed it in the phone call, and he was not really clear about the details.

Instead, the two of them talked about the happenings at Akichi High School. Although Nakagawa Aokiji was no longer prying into Akichi High School's matters, he was still adamantly interested in whatever was happening there. After all, Akichi High School was one of the Nakagawa family's properties.

As for Kimura Kazuki, he held none back when sharing the information he knew of Akichi High School. He retold the story of what happened last night without leaving out any details, which left Nakagawa Aokiji stunned and speechless. It was apparent that the fire at Akichi High School was a tragedy to him. However, when they spoke of Nishiyama Chiyoko, he fell silent before he spoke again, "Koho Arai had something to do with the reason why Nishiyama Chiyoko wanted to destroy Akichi High School."

When he saw the question in Kimura Kazuki's eyes, Nakagawa Aokiji sighed, "Koho Arai used to belong to our circle of friends. However, he strayed from his path and begun to indulge himself in alcohol and women. That was why we stopped talking to him. Two years back, he passed away suddenly, and the Arai family never disclosed the cause of his death. They had only mentioned a weird disease... Now that I think about it, he probably passed away because of HIV/AIDS. Besides that, he was a teacher back in Akichi High School. Perhaps he was the one who infected Nishiyama Chiyoko before abandoning her..."

The Arai family and the Takashima family were both members of the Board of Akichi High School.

Kimura Kazuki began to understand. However, his feelings for Nishiyama Chiyoko remained the same. Being a victim was not a reason for one to hurt others. It was none other than a suicide if you went on the streets carrying a knife and wanting the surrounding people to die with you. Was there any difference if you labeled yourself as a victim before doing that? Those who had done the same carried enormous sins and should never be forgiven even after death.

The topic was probably too serious, causing both of them to lose interest in continuing the conversation.

Soon, the car was halfway up the mountain, and it stopped in front of an elegant and well-kept villa. Kimura Kazuki did not have much time to look around before he was ushered into the villa by his companion.

When they reached the living area, Nakagawa Aokiji spoke up as soon as he saw his mother, who was sitting on the sofa, "Mother, I have brought Kimura Kazuki here."

Even without Nakagawa Aokiji's announcement, Nakagawa Akira had already turned to look at Kimura Kazuki, who entered the house behind her son.

The sophisticated lady was already more than fifty years old, but her complexion was fair, youthful, and obviously well taken care of. Aside from the faint wrinkles on her forehead, it would be pretty believable to claim that she was still in her forties. Her eyes drooped slightly, and her features were soft. She looked rather pale. When she saw Kimura Kazuki, she stood and greeted him with a courteous smile, "I heard Aokiji calling you Kimura Kazuki, so I shall call you Kazuki then... Dinner isn't ready yet, but you are welcome to sit down and have some light refreshments."

"Thank you," Kimura Kazuki smiled as he graciously accepted the courtesy offered.

Akira was not bothered, yet Nakagawa Aokiji ended up speaking anxiously on her behalf, "Mother... Aren't you having nightmares these days? Since I've invited Kimura-Kun here, let him take a look now."

Akira glared at her son, feeling helpless inside. Of late, her nights had been repeatedly plagued by the same nightmare. She did not feel anything unusual affecting her body though, she was only a bit mentally exhausted. When she told her son about her nightmares at the hospital, he became distraught. He was panicking as if she had been harmed by some supernatural beings.

She had heard many times that Aokiji had started a forum about supernatural occurrences. It seemed to her that her son had become a bit of a fanatic after getting himself involved regularly in the forum.

Although she was Buddhist, she only regarded religion as a solace for the heart and soul. She had not believed in the existence of supernatural beings in this world. They were just myths and urban legends to her. There was even the legend of the Eight Million Gods in Japan, and if they truly existed, the world would have been ruled by the deities. Although eight million was only a symbolic depiction of the enormous amount of Gods, she had never once seen any of the supernatural beings for the fifty years she had lived.

However, her upbringing had taught her to treat Kimura Kazuki with the utmost politeness and respect even though she did not believe him. Besides, with him wearing a school uniform, she really could not bring herself to trust Kimura Kazuki.

Kimura Kazuki smiled at her. Using the words any Japanese could understand, he said, "When I first entered, I realized that your complexion is healthy and rosy. Aside from being a little bit exhausted, it doesn't look like you're troubled by any supernatural being. There is no scent of a vengeful spirit around you too. There's a high chance that you're just having normal nightmares, but since Mr. Nakagawa invited me over, I will investigate accordingly, so I'm going to ask you a few questions."

He could understand Nakagawa Akira's distrust toward him as he had come directly from school, still wearing the uniform of Sakura Kyu High School. Who would believe that a high school student was capable of exorcising ghosts and destroying demons? They were not even filming a scene for a movie. It was his fault indeed for disregarding his attire.

Yet, he was grateful that Nakagawa Akira was a lady with polite mannerisms who did not make things hard for him.

Akira, on the other hand, gave Kimura Kazuki a surprised look. She thought that he was just being diplomatic with his words and speech, but since he had been able to gain Aokiji's trust, he should not be underestimated, even if he was a high school student. She was so ready to debunk this con man's tricks that it did not occur to her that he would overturn all her backup plans before she even started the battle.

"Ask away," she nodded, wondering whether Kimura Kazuki really had the ability as claimed.

"I want to know the exact day you started to have those nightmares."

Although Nakagawa Aokiji had told him that it started a week ago, he still had to confirm the exact date.

Akira thought hard about it. Her memory was not as good as before, due to her increasing age. Her gaze then shifted to the drama being played on television before responding, "I think it started on the first day of airing for 'It's Your Turn Now.'"