A: "What was that just now?!" B: "What's inside the locker...?!"
A: "What was that just now?!" B: "What's inside the locker...?!" [X]
MIKA: "What the..."
MIKA: "«Cats come running with BRECKIES!»..."
YUKARI: "...It's just... a box of cat... food?"
CHISATO: "Somebody must be secretly feeding this cat."
YUKARI: "Then what about that cat carcass?"
MIKA: "I guess, in the end that was nothing more than a rumour..."
YUKARI: "This is a cat, after all... It's not coming here for some deceased lover. It's coming here for food."
YUKARI: "Are you hungry?"
YUKARI: "Here, have some."
YUKARI: "We're not going to take your food away."
MIKA: "Oh well, let's check out the next mystery."
MIKA: "Ah, do you mind, if I call Aramata?"
YUKARI: "What? You're still toying with that middle-aged guy?!"
MIKA: "What do you think I am! We have a proper contract and everything!"
YUKARI: "...A contract?! Hold on, what's that supposed to..."
MIKA: "I'm allowed to do whatever I want to him!
A: "Fine, call him, then." B: "Still, a contract...?!"
A: "Fine, call him, then." [X] B: "Still, a contract...?!"
YUKARI: "Well, go ahead, but it's probably going to end with him saying some incomprehensible nonsense again, anyway."
MIKA: "It's fine. I trained him properly to be less of a social misfit these days."
MIKA: "Hello? Ah, Aramata, is that you?""
MIKA: "It's me. How are things?"
MIKA: "Yeah, exactly. I've got something I wanted to ask you again..."
ARAMATA: "I see... Seven mysteries, huh."
ARAMATA: "So your school also has seven mysteries. Ah, that brings back memories..."
ARAMATA: "We also had these, when I still went to school."
MIKA: "That was like, what? A hundred million years ago?"
ARAMATA: "How rude!"
ARAMATA: "It was just about 30 years ago or so..."
ARAMATA: "During the mid-Cambrian period, I think..."
MIKA: "Stop trying to pull off lame jokes and just start explaining already!"
ARAMATA: "......You're right."
ARAMATA: "The roots of such rumour-based stories go unexpectedly deep."
ARAMATA: "And a school having seven mysteries is just one facet of these. In general, there have always been odd rumour-based tales circulating. Can you perhaps think of any famous rumours, Mika?"
A: "Something about Nobita from Doraemon..." B: "Something about an idol that committed suicide..." C: "Something about human-faced dogs..."
A: "Something about Nobita from Doraemon..." B: "Something about an idol that committed suicide..." C: "Something about human-faced dogs..." [X]
MIKA: "That story about human-faced dogs was pretty famous."
ARAMATA: "Ah, yes. I remember this one."
ARAMATA: "Another example would be the rumour of the slit-mouthed woman."
ARAMATA: "These stories are always passed down from one to another with such sincerity and realism that they seem like the absolute truth, even though they are actually fairly ridiculous, if you just stop and think about them properly."
ARAMATA: "Whether or not they are ultimately based on truth or not, these rumour-based tales are always told as though they were definitely «stories that truly happened»."
ARAMATA: "Furthermore, the listener usually also approaches them with the same stance, basically accepting them as true stories."
ARAMATA: "Which is why – unlike stories that carry the premise of being purely «fictional» from the very start – these rumour-based tales bear a unique persuasive power that is different from others."
A: "Because they always go something like: «A friend of a friend told me, that...»?" B: "What? I have no idea what you're talking about!"
A: "Because they always go something like: «A friend of a friend told me, that...»?" [X] B: "What? I have no idea what you're talking about!"
MIKA: "They always go something like that, right? «A friend of a friend recently saw...» and stuff like that."
MIKA: "This kind of, uhm... network that we teenagers create is pretty cool, huh?"
MIKA: "If it wasn't for that, I'd probably be bored of being a high schooler after, like, 30 seconds or so!"
ARAMATA: "Most of the times these rumour-based tales and ghost stories are something you hear directly from someone else, to begin with."
ARAMATA: "In other words, you could also call them a part of the medium of oral tradition."
ARAMATA: "Now, if we talk about the past... about stories that were passed on by word of mouth long ago, then you would need to look into anything related to anecdotes and such which deal with mysteries in remote villages in the middle of nowhere or other such far away, lonely places."
ARAMATA: "For the people back then, these tales – although dealing with places in locations far away from them – felt more than real enough, nonetheless."
ARAMATA: "People nowadays, on the other hand, will probably not be able to regard them as anything more than fantasy."
ARAMATA: "Which then begs the question: What exactly is «realistic» folklore for you people from the present-day era? That is, folklore that conveys a sense of realism to you when you listen to it."
ARAMATA: "Even when mountains disappear and turn into townscapes with stores and houses instead, the predisposition of people's hearts to feel fear and uneasiness will not vanish."
ARAMATA: "The fact that even in modernistic buildings such as schools, phenomena like that of the seven mysteries exist, is an example of this."
ARAMATA: "Some people might be apt to do away with these kinds of stories and phenomena as mere superstition or utter nonsense, but in truth all these stories can be considered wonderful folkloristic samples."
ARAMATA: "We also call these particular stories, that are spread throughout the city... urban legends."
ARAMATA: "Do you know that term?"
A: "Of course! Who do you think I am?" B: "I don't get any of this!" C: "Kind of..."
A: "Of course! Who do you think I am?" [X] B: "I don't get any of this!" C: "Kind of..."
MIKA: "Hello? Who do you think I am!"
MIKA: "That's like basic folklore knowledge! If you don't even know stuff like that, you wouldn't pass any university entrance exams nowadays!"
MIKA: "Things are different these days!"
ARAMATA: "Are you telling the truth...? Well, either way..."
ARAMATA: "One of the peculiar characteristics of these urban legends is how they are also linked to the mass media and commercialism."
ARAMATA: "That creates a certain synergy where these tales of mysterious phenomena spread in a multiplying fashion."
ARAMATA: "The rumour you mentioned earlier is like that, too."
ARAMATA: "Records of such rumour-based stories can already be found among the oral tradition of the Meiji era when Japan's modernisation had just begun."
ARAMATA: "As an example, let's think of the time when trains were still run by steam locomotives."
ARAMATA: "Some of the passengers riding these steam powered trains would whisper rumours of ghost trains with such realism that it felt like they had witnessed these phenomena themselves."
ARAMATA: "The same goes for the telephone when it was still a novelty."
ARAMATA: "When the telephone was just a luxury item that only a hand full of people were even connected to, numerous rumours of mysterious or paranormal phenomena related to the telephone were also going around."
ARAMATA: "In other words, with the advance of modern times and technology, the mysteriousness that once had been confined to remote places like deep mountains or the bottom of the sea, now also crept into said technology."
ARAMATA: "In fact, consider the education system that you are all a part of now..."
ARAMATA: "Ultimately, we can call this another modernistic system, as well."
ARAMATA: "And these «school ghost stories», often referred to as gakkou no kaidan, have been passed down for quite a while now, too."
ARAMATA: "Ghost stories related to the restroom."
ARAMATA: "Ghost stories related to the piano in the music room..."
ARAMATA: "At the school of every region, the same sort of ghost stories can be found."
ARAMATA: "In the end, all of these are wonderful folkloristic samples."
MIKA: "What about the seven mysteries then? Does that mean they are usually not real?"
ARAMATA: "Well, who knows..."
ARAMATA: "But there's no smoke without fire, as they say."
ARAMATA: "I cannot tell you, whether a school's seven mysteries are based on lies or true stories."
ARAMATA: "But I wish you luck and hope that you will be careful while looking into your school's seven mysteries."
MIKA: "...is what he said."
YUKARI: "So in the end, all these stories related to the seven mysteries here are just made up stuff?"
MIKA: "If we just assume they're all made-up from the start without checking, then what's the point!"
MIKA: "That way, we'll never find out anything! I've decided to only believe what I see with my own eyes."
YUKARI: "You're a fine one to say that!"
YUKARI: "You're the most scared of us all, aren't you?"
MIKA: "If we go up one more floor, there will be the rumoured flight of stairs where you can sometimes count 13 steps instead of 11..."