Brave Story Read Online Free PDF Page A

blissfully unaware of his friend’s mortification. Before Wataru could jab him in the ribs, Mr. Daimatsu spoke.
    “Yes, as you can see, my daughter’s not well. She doesn’t like it when there’re lots of people around.”
    “So you go out when it’s quiet at night,” Katchan said, nodding as though it all made perfect sense. When Wataru glanced up at the men, he saw Mr. Daimatsu and his son exchanging nervous looks.
    Kaori Daimatsu was a pretty girl. No, she was beautiful. When people around her pointed and said “beautiful,” the little fairy herself would have blushed and said something along the lines of “No really, you’re too kind”—that’s how pretty she was.
    In Wataru’s eleven years, he had never met someone so beautiful. He had never met a girl so doll-like. Maybe, he thought with sudden horror, she was a doll. After all, she didn’t speak. She didn’t smile. She didn’t react at all to the outside world. Her gaze was a blank. The only motion she made was to occasionally blink her eyes. They say that eyes are the windows to the soul, but her eyes were windows to a dollhouse.
    “Kaori is in junior high,” Noriyuki said, glancing sideways at his sister in the wheelchair. “That makes her only a little older than you. What grade are you in?”
    Wataru was on the verge of saying “sixth.” Both he and Katchan were short for their age, so they couldn’t hope to lie and say they were in junior high. But there was little harm in making themselves one year older.
    Katchan dashed his hopes by replying first. “Fifth. Over at Joto Elementary.”
    “Joto Elementary School? Ah, then let me guess: you must be the paranormal investigators,” Noriyuki said, smiling. Next to him, his father laughed so hard his belly shook, and his hand on the arm of the wheelchair shook its occupant. Kaori’s head lolled to the other side.
    “Paranormal…how…” Wataru sputtered.
    “There’s a rumor going around that this building is haunted, right? Apparently, kids have been coming out here at night, trying to sneak inside. The Joto Elementary PTA even lodged a complaint with our company.”
    “When was this?”
    Mr. Daimatsu scratched his head. His son answered. “I’d say about two weeks ago.”
    Wataru was devastated. Someone had gotten the jump on them.
    “The earlier paranormal investigators, they came to take photos,” Mr. Daimatsu explained. “Like those photos of ghosts people are always showing on TV these days?”
    Noriyuki nodded. “They had a Polaroid camera.”
    “Well, we’re not ghost hunters. We didn’t come here to play pranks,” Wataru insisted. “We came here to find out the truth.”
    “Wait, I know,” Katchan said, clapping his hands together in sudden enlightenment. “Those earlier paranormal investigators, they were from sixth grade, right? Weren’t they talking about sending pictures of the ghost to the local television station?”
    “Yes, those are the ones,” Noriyuki said with a rueful smile. “Their leader—what was his name?—some foul-mouthed kid.”
    “Ishioka, right? Kenji Ishioka?”
    “That’s the one! You friends?”
    “Not at all. But my old man and Ishioka’s dad are fishing buddies. See, he told me that Ishioka’s dad was saying something about his son appearing on TV with some sort of ghost photos…if you follow.”
    Kenji Ishioka and his gang of miscreants were the reigning punks of sixth grade. In fact, they were a terror to the entire student population of Joto Elementary School.
    Most students, if asked, would reluctantly agree that the purpose of going to school was to learn. Ishioka’s gang hadn’t the faintest idea what that meant. They paid no attention in class. They entered and left the classroom as they pleased. They came late, left early, or simply didn’t show up—all as a matter of course. They stole other kids’ school supplies. They broke things. They bullied their classmates. They took lunch money. They were still in