Chapter 84: Graduation

Everly wasn’t very sure what exactly Wester did to Jessica.

The other party’s intention to drive them away was so obvious that it wasn’t convenient for her to stay there and be in the way any longer. She quickly slipped away with Old John, taking the soundly sleeping Rebecca with them.

In any case, it definitely wasn’t anything good. Not long after the “Lucky Relief” incident ended, Jessica withdrew from school due to mental health issues and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

Although Jessica’s parents were pitiful, Everly felt that she had completely brought it upon herself. Wester’s safety was directly related to the lives of more than two hundred students in the school. In order to get rid of Edward’s harassment, Jessica had defected to Berlin and chose that moment to make a move against Wester. That was practically equivalent to indirectly endangering everyone’s lives—extremely selfish and vicious. The fact that Wester merely drove her insane was already quite merciful.

Of course, it was also possible that he had done it deliberately as revenge, wanting Jessica to stay alive and suffer longer. Either way, his action removed a ticking time bomb from the school, and Everly was quite happy to see it happen.

Another piece of good news was that the mechanical box that had sealed the evil ghost was completely destroyed after the ghost inside was defeated by the power of Paimon. Rebecca no longer had to keep containing such a terrifying weapon.

The “Lucky Relief” incident had caused too great a disturbance. In order to calm the emotions of the teachers, students, and parents, after everything settled down the school authorities partially released the report Wester had written about the incident to a limited audience.

From this, Everly filled in some details that even she had not known.

For example, Wester had somehow obtained Berlin’s autopsy report from ten years ago. The report mentioned that Berlin was a man with a physical defect—he had been born with underdeveloped reproductive organs. This was the root reason Berlin always dressed as a woman: it wasn’t gender identity disorder, but rather an attempt to conceal his physiological defect.

According to The Lesser Key of Solomon, King Paimon is described as having the head of a woman and the body of a man, somewhat similar to Berlin’s condition. Perhaps because of this, Berlin came to believe that he was the perfect vessel for King Paimon and had always wanted to summon Paimon to possess him.

But Berlin failed. Perhaps something went wrong in the ritual, or perhaps King Paimon was dissatisfied with the defective body of a eunuch-like man. In any case, Berlin suffered a backlash and died. His soul became a restless spirit that lingered in the area until the headmaster at the time invited an exorcist to seal him away.

Ten years later, four members of the Supernatural Research Club carried out the forbidden Hyakumonogatari game in Science Laboratory No. 3, accidentally summoning Berlin’s ghost.

Although Berlin had not successfully summoned Paimon to possess him, the ritual from ten years earlier had still created a connection between him and Paimon, making him Paimon’s servant.

Using the knowledge shared by Paimon, the awakened ghost Berlin created two honey-coated traps: the “Lucky Relief” and the luck-borrowing ritual. Through the four club members, these were spread among the student body to deceive students into abandoning their pure faith and swearing themselves as servants of Paimon.

Once the students’ souls were completely corrupted and fully fallen, Berlin would appear and devour the plaster figurines that imprisoned the fallen souls. This step was meant to reconstruct Berlin’s physical body, because for a demon god to bypass Solomon’s seal and descend into the human world, the only method was to possess a living person.

This also explained why Berlin’s body in the photographs appeared to change from illusory to solid—he was gradually “reviving.”

Once a new and more perfect body—one better suited to Paimon’s tastes—was completed, Berlin would presumably repeat the summoning ritual from ten years ago and call Paimon into the new body.

Fortunately, before things could become even worse, the headmaster brought in Wester. This formidable man relied on a set of extremely expensive equipment to directly eliminate the half-human, half-ghost Berlin and then had someone perform a curse-removal ritual for all the students.

The day after the curse-removal ritual ended, the bishop of Micano City held a ceremony at the church and collectively destroyed those harmful fake “Lucky Reliefs.”

By that time, the reliefs had already formed a certain connection with their owners. As a result, after the reliefs were destroyed, the students inevitably fell seriously ill. Some of those who had been more severely plasterized never fully recovered their health even after their illness passed. Various joints in their bodies showed different degrees of degeneration and necrosis, and their brains became much duller than before—they could no longer think as quickly or concentrate as well as they once had.

Because of their own ignorance and greed, they had suffered irreversible damage.

However, compared with death, this outcome was still far better.

…

After the vacation ended, Everly and Misha returned to school and continued their studies. Looking at the classrooms and sports field—now missing many people—Everly felt deeply emotional.

The only good news was that after this incident, no further cases ever occurred at the school.

Everly could finally do what she had long hoped for: focus entirely on her studies together with Misha without being distracted. Misha also successfully achieved a sufficient score in the March SAT exam.

By the end of the 11th-grade semester, both girls had already completed the early preparations for their college applications: excellent academic performance, GPAs above 3.5, qualifying SAT scores, people willing to write recommendation letters, and impressive extracurricular activities.

During the summer vacation, the two girls got together, consulted each other, and finished writing their personal statements.

After entering 12th grade, both had clear goals. They applied through the early application round to New Osebuch State University in November. After waiting anxiously for more than a month, they learned the admission results in late December.

“We did it!”

“Yes, we did!”

The acceptance rate for early applications was already relatively high, and the two of them had been preparing diligently ever since they set their goal. Their grades were also very good. So there was little suspense—both of them received admission notices.

Upon hearing the news, Everly and Misha high-fived each other and then hugged tightly. They hopped around the room like rabbits, their joy so overwhelming it felt as if it might spill out and fill the entire space.

“That’s wonderful, kids. I’m proud of you.”

Both of their families were extremely excited when they learned the news.

To show their praise for their daughter, Misha’s parents bought her the latest touchscreen smartphone. As for Old John, he gave Everly a car key ahead of time.

Holding the key, Everly walked to the garage in front of her house—now expanded to twice its previous size—opened the rolling door, and saw a brand-new Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The vehicle was a low-key black, with driving modes covering all scenarios such as road, off-road, and energy-saving. It was sturdy and durable, fuel-efficient, with a spacious interior and an extra-large trunk.

This was the 18th-birthday gift Old John had prepared for Everly. It was currently being modified, and once the modifications were finished, it would be just in time for her eighteenth birthday.

Everly absolutely loved the gift.

Even Everly’s unreliable father, who lived on the other side of the United States, sent her 30,000 US dollars after hearing that she had been accepted into university.

He seemed quite excited that his daughter had gotten into college. Over the phone he rambled on and on, praising Everly for not wasting the good genes he and Rachel had given her, calling her an unusually smart child. Then he started wondering why she had chosen a wilderness survival major—if she had chosen an art school, maybe she would have become the next great painter, and so on…

Everly simply pretended not to hear the latter part and accepted the money from her scoundrel father.

After the early admission success, Everly and Misha’s once tense and busy lives suddenly became much more relaxed.

For the rest of their senior year, all they had to do was maintain a relatively high GPA and avoid any obvious drop in their grades. That wasn’t difficult at all.

So, aside from studying, the two girls signed up for weekend driving school at Everly’s suggestion.

Horror Movie Survival Rule #20: Master your driving skills.

In Dwight State, you can get a driver’s license once you turn sixteen. Although Misha didn’t have a car yet, she and Everly were always together—so if Everly had a car, it basically meant Misha had one too.

The two of them spent a few weeks getting their driver’s licenses. By that time, there was only a short period left in their senior year.

In mid-May, the school held a grand prom for all the seniors.

The original purpose of this kind of event was to provide students with a social platform where everyone could meet, interact, and say their goodbyes. However, based on Everly’s experience from watching youth campus horror movies in her previous life, prom was also the classic occasion for high schoolers to “settle old scores.”

Students who had suffered b*llying or injustice in the past would often explode on that day—putting on masks, grabbing chainsaws, and sending their enemies to the afterlife one by one. In some films with supernatural elements, there were even plots where the vengeful spirits of the dead possessed students that day and carried out a massacre.

In short, in Everly’s eyes, prom was a high-risk school event.

Fortunately, the school didn’t require graduates to attend the dance. So on the day of the prom, Everly casually made up an excuse about “not feeling well” and skipped it.

Misha had always followed Everly’s lead. Since Everly didn’t go, she didn’t go either.

Everly could tell that Misha had actually been looking forward to the prom. At her age, hormones were running high, and the dance also symbolized the end of three years of high school, making it quite meaningful. It was perfectly natural that Misha wanted to attend.

But even so, in order to keep Everly company at home, Misha still gave up the dance—even though she had specially bought a beautiful pink mermaid dress for the occasion.

This moved Everly deeply.

She asked Misha to change into the dress and put on light makeup. Everly herself borrowed a suit that Misha’s grandfather had worn when he was younger. Then the two of them cleared the furniture from the living room and, accompanied by a gentle waltz, slowly danced together.

Although Everly’s lead in the male dance steps was a complete mess, although the space for dancing was rather cramped, and although the only audience accompanying them was Misha’s grandparents’ applause and cheers, under the bright lights of the living room the two girls embraced each other and still spent a very joyful evening.

It later proved that Everly had been worrying a bit too much.

Nothing terrible happened at the prom; it was held very successfully. The next day, when the two girls arrived at school, their classmates were all lamenting that they had missed such a rare experience.

Regret it?

Where no one noticed, the two girls lifted their eyes and smiled at each other.

…