Chapter 4: The House of Mysteries

[Argus Andromeda POV]

Sip! I was sipping a cup of soda as I stare at the wall of the convenience store, it has a weird eye-like art that has stars encircling the iris of the eye and in the middle of the pupil was a sun that has 7 rays that are pointing weirdly.

By weird is that near the eye art was a map of the entire world, and each of the rays is pointing at each of the seven continents of Earth.

Not only that but at the very bottom left of the entire artwork was some sort of text written in Latin.

"Hmm... Latin huh?" In terms of languages learning Latin was a tough one to do, even if I'm not fluent in the language at least I have a vague idea of what the text said.

As an aspiring Historian learning old languages is something I needed to do to fully qualify as one, so I asked Himiko to help me study Latin.

"She who sees all punishes; the eye that cannot be deceived shall punish. In day and night, she who sees everything shall punish, in times of peace and trouble, she who sees everything shall punish. - Haxs 4: 30" That's what the text said, reading through it, it feels like it's a part of some religious book.

Books like the Bible from Christianity and the Quran from Islam have the same concept as this text.

"What is this?" I asked in confusion, I sipped my soda again as I stare intensely at the artwork. "Who believes in a God in this day and age?"

I threw the cup on the teach and continued walking to school, as I was walking on the street I notice Himiko looking at the trash can intensely like I was.

What was odd was I saw her writing something on a notepad as she was looking at the trash can.

"What is she doing?" I went toward her and looked at what she was looking at, and when I saw it with my very own eyes I was speechless.

All three of the trash cans that we were looking at have Latin texts on them, but this Tim it wasn't a verse from a religious book but a coordinate to someplace.

I looked at Himiko and saw her intensely writing down the coordinates on her notepad, it seems like she was figuring out where the location could be, so she didn't notice that I was behind her.

"Hoy Himiko."

"So depending on the written coordinates, this could be here." She was still writing on her notepad, eyes sparkling from what she was doing and not hearing what I said.

"Hoy Himiko!" I shouted as loud as I can, but it didn't get through to her, she was still mesmerized to find where the location of the coordinates are to listen to anyone calling for her.

I could see her smiling and shaking like a little kid who has gotten a new toy from her parent, she looks cute doing it but seeing her act like that made me disgusted at the same time.

"Seriously... I hate it when she does this thing..." I snickered, this wasn't the first time this has happened, if Himiko found something that caught her interest she won't stop until she got it- she's truly the greediest girl I've ever met.

"Based on this, it's really close to my school, really close! Why didn't I even think about it in the first place? This place has been creepily suspicious ever since I first saw it!"

My face was dumbfounded at this overly excited brat, I looked around and grabbed a newspaper on the stand beside us, I rolled it and looked at her angrily. "You think you can just ignore me huh you brat?!

The role of the newspaper went very high as I thrust it toward her, as soon as the newspaper connected to the back of her head she was surprised by the strong force and she was pushed toward the trash can, hitting and getting the trash on her.

"What the hell was that for?!" She looked around angrily to see who was the suspect, and immediately she saw me in front of her staring at her with a massive smug and satisfied smile with a roll of newspaper in my hand. "You?! What the hell was that for?!"

"Seriously, what are you, one of those disgusting obese otaku? What will happen if a random pedo comes when you're distracted like that?"

"Shut up! I can protect myself from any trouble!"

"Said the girl who can't throw a fastball properly..." I whispered to myself, but it looks like she heard what I said and became pissed off.

"What did you say?!" She grabbed an empty bottle from the trash can and threw it at me, I barely dodged it and was shocked that she actually did it.

"Hoy you dumbass! Why the heck did you do that?!" My face was tensed up from anger at what she did. "Didn't you know that you could've killed me?!"

"*Tsk* Almost hit you..." She snickered.

What the hell?! Does this girl really want me to die?! Oh, if there isn't a biased law against women I would've to beat the hell out of this dumbass!

"Anyway..." Himiko stood up and picked up her notepad, she patted her shirt to remove the trash and dust and handed me the notepad. "Good timing, I was planning to go to your house after I investigated this place so that we can go inside the said building in the coordinates."

"Huh... Don't you think that those coordinates are sketchy?" I grabbed the notepad and took a look, on there was a detailed map of our school and places near it.

Seeing it I was both in awe and surprised at the same time, I've known Himiko for a long time and I didn't know that she was smart enough to fully locate a coordinate by just drawing it on a notepad. "Hey, Himiko... How sure are you that this is the right place?"

Just from the map, I know what the place that the coordinates are pointing to is, it was an old and abandoned house near our school that Himiko, the other two, and I always walk past by when going to school.

By passing by it is already enough to give someone the creeps, even I heard some cases in which police who patrol the area sometimes say they heard someone crying there and there are even rumors that some serial rapist in the past has murdered and raped about 30 or more women in that house.

This is why it is said that all of those women he murdered have haunted the place and whoever set foot kn the house would feel an indescribable pain in their chest.

In this day and age where science is absolute, it's normal for anyone to think that everyone here doesn't believe in paranormal things such as ghosts.

Even I myself am afraid of going to that place, not because of ghosts or anything but mostly due to fear, and that's what makes people avoid places like that.

Psychologists and many people know that fear is a factor in hallucination, hence why things such as ghosts exist in the first place, due to severe fear and stress in the human brain it'll start to malfunction and cause the paranormal to exist in our confused eyes.

"Yep, this is the right place." She proudly declared, with a smug smile. "I'm not good at pinpointing coordinates but just from the coordinates found in the trash can, this is its location. Of course, it's normal that you won't believe me because it's impossible for anyone to precisely pinpoint the exact location, even someone as smart as me... wouldn't be able to..." Her face was in pain to admit that she was not able to pinpoint the location with just her intellect. "But remember that our school has its coordinates written on the walls of the principal's office, and this house is only about 60 meters from our school."

"Oh, I see... I guess that makes sense." Even though I'm able to do that, there's still something bugging me. "How can you be sure that isn't a prank Himiko? Doesn't it seem sketchy that a coordinate from a mysterious place is mysteriously written in a trash can?"

Both are mysterious in their way, the house is filled with a bunch of mysterious rumors around it that can give you the creeps, while a coordinate is somehow written in the trach can. Anyone in my position right now would think that this is odd, so I can't see why Himiko of all people would be interested in this bs.

"Tell me then, what normal man would be able to write Latin?"

My face immediately looked at her when I heard that, I was shocked that I wasn't even able to think of that. No one in their right mind would study an extinct language, even though I'm having a hard time studying Latin, so whoever wrote those coordinates must be planning something or a genius fool who likes pranking people.

But even so, this is quite exciting! I've always wanted to investigate that shady place, and now I have the time to do that. "Then let's skip school Himiko, we need to go to that place stat!"

I grabbed Himiko's hand immediately, my eyes shining like a starry night and my face had an excitedly grin that any scientist would have when they start a new experiment.

"Hey wait! Stop pulling me!" While Himiko was trying her best to catch up to my speed so that she wouldn't trip when I was pulling her.

In front of us was the creepy house that was filled with nasty rumors, just looking at it was giving us a chill in our spine, not only that but just standing here in front of the rusty metal gate we could hear something creaking inside the house.

"So... Ladies first." I said with a nervous face, saying that has broken my pride as a man but there's the time when gender equality is a must and this is the time to do so.

"Hoy shitty asshole, isn't this the time for you to be a proper gentleman? What happened to your bloodline of the Andromeda clan?"

My face twitched from embarrassment and defeat at what she said, hearing her using my family has broken my pride as the son of the great Andromeda clan. "Fine, okay... Let's go together at the same time."

Her face gave off an 'are you serious?' face, but she heaved a heavy sigh and agreed to what I said.

We entered the house at the same time, with sweat coming out of our faces as we walk inside the creepy front yard, from what we've seen it hasn't been cleaned for a long time- dead weeds and grass were around the entire front yard, not only that we could smell something foul as we get closer the house.

Finally, we got to the door, I reached for the doorknob but as soon my hand touch the doorknob the door opened by itself slowly along with a loud screech.

Himiko immediately jumped behind me, she was already starting to tremble and she hid her face behind my back.

Of course, as a guy whose pride has been destroyed not too long ago, I wanted her to come out and face this creepy house alongside me, but as her friend, I just can't do that. "*Sigh* You can hide behind me as long as you want, so let's go."

Upon entering the house the door closed by itself which shook Himiko more, tears were already starting to fall in her eyes so I did my best to remain my composure so that I can talk to her to make her calm down.

"Did Argus and Himiko enter that house?" Outside of the house was Marine, she witnessed us going inside the house of mystery that everyone even the polices avoided because of the rumors. "I'm worried, even if they bullied me every day it's still unsafe there so I need to do something to ensure that they go back safe." Marine went inside the house and closed the door slowly, she was walking slowly and carefully behind us so that we wouldn't notice her following us.

The two of us continued walking to what felt like an endless hallway, there were lots of webs and insects everywhere which made Himiko panic every time we take a step.

Based on the design of the house I could see that the house walls were very thin so anyone could hear us outside if Himiko screamed very loudly- plus there are holes everywhere too.

As we walk in this endless creepy hallway I stopped which caused Himiko to panic, but I immediately covered her mouth to stop her from screaming. "Seriously, this is like the 100th time I stopped you from screaming."

"What can I do?! This place is scarier than I thought it would be?! Also, why did you stop walking?!"

I heaved a heavy sigh and looked at her with pity. "Looks like this is the end of the road, but look there." I pointed in the direction we were going too.

She looked at it and saw the end of the hallway, but two things caught her eyes. First, there was another Latin text on the wall, and the second one was a mini table that has a shady book on top of it that has no title on it.

"Another Latin text!" Himiko immediately went closer to the text excitedly and started to take notes in her notepad.

Seeing this made me dumbfounded. "You were just afraid a moment ago and now you're standing in front of me as nothing happened?"

"Forget about that, what matters now is the present."

I really want to punch her right now.

"Anyway, translate it for me please. Out of all the four of us, you and Arisu are more fluent in Latin."

"*Sigh* Okay..." I looked at the text and observed it carefully, unlike Arisu she is very fluent in Latin while I only know the basics, so good thin that the text has no difficult words on it. "The book that contains all of the cards, it foresees everything in this world- with unimaginable strength the Universe has given to it. By the purity or pollution, residing on the brain the Lord Xiana shall give us those strengths that resonate with the chosen ones. - Haxs 4: 5"

"I see..." Himiko stopped and looked at the book for a moment, she was hesitant to open it upon hearing the text on the wall. "Argus, as an aspiring Historian you're better suited for things like this."

I let out another sigh but I decided to follow her order and open it. "Okay, let's see what's inside."