“Qin Zi-jie.” Lin Ze knew why the principal was nervous. Except when exorcising, Qin Zi would never let anyone follow her, even when she was with him. Now, a whole row of people in black were standing in the corridor, who wouldn't be nervous? Especially the principal, who was not clean.
“Hmm, Lin Ze, have you eaten?” Qin Zi got up and walked in front of Lin Ze, ignoring the principal who was standing there awkwardly.
“I have, I was just discussing joining a club with Gako and Hana. When I heard you might be here, Gako rushed me to find you.”
“Club?” Qin Zi thought for a moment and suggested, “Why don’t you start a club? Isn’t Gako socially anxious? This way, you can take her with you, and you can consider who joins later. It’s good for Gako too.”
Qin Zi thought more about it. With Gako's personality, what if she joined a club she didn't like and got bullied? Even if Lin Ze could protect her, she would still be under the pressure of others, and Gako might develop negative emotions.
“Start a club? We have enough people, but we need to find a teacher…” Lin Ze was also a little tempted. With Qin Zi’s implication, he felt this was indeed a win-win solution.
“Of course, there’s a room in the west wing of the teaching building, it’s fully equipped, and the teacher is just a formality. Let Xiao Chun be the teacher, I’ll approve it. Lin Ze, what kind of club do you want to start? How much funding do you need?” The principal finally had a chance to speak. The room was actually new, prepared for himself. As for what he was going to do with it… Anyway, it was fully equipped with new appliances, so it was worth giving it to Lin Ze to please his sister.
“Thank you, Principal. I won’t be polite. I’m only this enthusiastic because of Qin Zi. And she agreed, too.” Lin Ze wouldn’t be polite, he clearly knew it was because of Qin Zi that he was so enthusiastic. Besides, Qin Zi had just agreed.
“You? Ha, don’t bother thinking about the name. With someone like you, just call it the Supernatural Paranormal Research Club.” Qin Zi remembered Lin Ze's strange constitution, then thought about Gako and Hana, who would join later, and couldn’t help but complain.
“That’s a good name! Students should be bold and proactive in researching new things, exploring and discovering! That’s it!” It wasn’t Lin Ze who said this, but the principal, flattering him.
“… Alright, it’s just a name, it doesn’t matter.” Lin Ze didn’t care.
“Principal, can you give us some space? Lin Ze and I have something to discuss.” It seemed like a question, but it was actually a notice.
The principal not only didn't get angry, but also happily agreed and quickly left his office.
After everyone left, Qin Zi took out a file from her bag and gave it to Lin Ze. “The identity of the person from Hachishaku has been confirmed. This is Fujie’s file, take a look. She was abandoned at the gate of an orphanage, and she was very pretty from a young age, so she was always loved. Her adoptive parents were wealthy, but they never had children because of health problems. When they saw seven-year-old Fujie at the orphanage, they fell in love with her at first sight. They adopted her and lived together until last year, when they both died in a car accident where the car fell into the river. Because they loved her so much, they made an agreement before their death, so all their inheritance was left to Fujie.”
Lin Ze read through the file with a serious expression. Qin Zi continued, “She’s a good person. The people around her all praised her. But if you look at her from the side, you’ll find something wrong. For example, when she does good deeds, she just says it and someone else does it for her, and she always takes credit for the good deeds. The only good thing is that she hasn’t done anything bad, just that she likes to be surrounded by people and is a little bit spoiled. But that’s not a problem. Didn’t you say she was interested in you? If you have the chance to interact with her, be sure to pay attention to her mental health, just like Gako.”
Lin Ze pondered for a while and pointed to the parents’ section of the file. “Qin Zi, I think her parents’ situation is strange.”
Qin Zi nodded in agreement. “I think so too. The initial investigation concluded that it was an accident caused by fatigue driving. I’ve already had someone reinvestigate it to see if they can find anything. Be careful yourself.”
“I know.”
After sending Qin Zi off, Lin Ze thought about Fujie, but he didn’t have much contact with her yet. He couldn’t be passive about her personality, he had to find a way to make her take the initiative to contact him.
“Lin Ze, was that Qin Zi?” Gako asked with concern when she saw Lin Ze come back.
“Yeah, Qin Zi came to tell me that she’s too busy recently, so she needs to stay at my place longer. By the way, I applied to start my own club with the principal. What do you think? Do you want to join?” Lin Ze didn’t say much about Qin Zi, but he was eager to ask them about the club.
“Really? The principal agreed? Of course we want to join, right, Gako?” Hana was excited, she raised her hand to join the club and pulled Gako along.
Gako nodded. She was also happy. Not having to interact with so many strangers, but starting a club with her friends was the best.
“What are we going to call our club?” Gako looked forward to Lin Ze.
Facing the two of them with their expectations high, Lin Ze was a little hesitant to say it. After all, the club was so strange. “Super… Supernatural Paranormal Research Club.”
Contrary to Lin Ze’s expectations, Hana, who he thought would be scared, was excited, while Gako, who he thought wouldn’t care, was a little scared?
“Lin… Lin Ze, are we… are we going to find ghosts?” Gako was indeed afraid. She usually had to hug Xiao Hei for company when she was alone in her room, and she didn’t dare watch horror movies. This Supernatural Paranormal Research Club wouldn’t be researching paranormal events and finding ghosts, would it… She definitely wanted to join, after all, everyone was in it, but she was still scared.
“Oh, it’s fine, Gako, I’ll protect you.” Hana patted her own already flat chest, assuring Gako, “I’m here.” She thought about it, when she had the last incident, Lin Ze rushed over to save her, it must have been the help of heaven. So she wanted to prove the existence of the supernatural.
“Don’t worry, Gako, it’s just us few in the club. If something really happens, it’ll be like being a detective, investigating the truth. You know, there’s no such thing as paranormal events in this world. All paranormal events can be explained by science. We’re just playing. Besides, our club location is really good. The principal said it’s fully equipped.”
Gako gently patted her own flat chest, realizing she was being silly. What Lin Ze said made sense, there were no paranormal events in this world. Like the ghost stories that had been circulating before, they were either people pretending or could be explained by science.
“The location is on the third floor, inner layer of the west wing of the teaching building. Let’s go early tomorrow morning to take a look.” After making an appointment, Lin Ze went to find Kobayashi Junsuke. Today, he actually stayed at Midori’s place to eat. Did they make some progress?
He originally wanted to invite Kobayashi to join, but he said with embarrassment that he had joined the Food Club with Midori. Lin Ze knew he was using this as an opportunity to interact with Midori, so he didn’t force him, just teased him a little.