The Tremors of Penglai Academy!

Kazuma Shinya
Illustration: Hirofumi Nakamura

“Penglai Academy” is a solitary island in the South Pacific, located 1,800 km south of Tokyo—Utsubune Island. At its center stands the massive residential high school known as Private Penglai Academy High School. With a student body numbering 200,000 and including faculty and staff, the total population approaches 300,000—so excessive that under the banner of self-reliance and autonomy, every club, hobby group, committee, unofficial organization, and even illegal factions operate in secret. The students enjoy a uniquely eccentric school life—this legendary series, originally born from PBM (Play By Mail), has now returned after its various media expansions, set against the backdrop of Penglai Academy in the 2020s, as a certain new student stirs up fresh chaos.

Episode 04: The protagonist seems to have no clue—neither they nor the author themselves know exactly how they’re supposed to save or fix this school—but here’s the protagonist entering the old library! (Part 3)

Ten minutes later…
The return expedition had dwindled down to just us four and one dog. That is, me, Lady Shion, Senior Ami, Kyotaro-kun, and Appu-chan.

Those legendary figures—those valiant lone warriors—well… due to the massive collapse of the main hall floor earlier, they all tumbled helplessly into either the second basement level or perhaps straight into hell’s depths… I have no idea what happened after that. Namo Amida Butsu.

“Seemed like quite a flashy performance, but you guys packed it in real quick,” Senior Ami sighed, looking down at the hole in the floor, arms crossed. Her biceps looked somehow more defined than usual.

“…Well, at least the books are safe—so we can call that a silver lining.”

As Lady Shion said, the books scheduled for return to the old library were safely secured in Senior Ami’s hands.
They were supposed to be an old set of four textbooks—but something about it sounded familiar… Where had I heard this before?

Anyway, let’s head down to the first basement level.

Tall bookshelves—many half-collapsed—were scattered everywhere. In fact, they’d been completely abandoned. The ceiling stood about three meters high, but the shelves were almost as tall as that.
Most of them were full—but it was clear no care had gone into organizing them. Thick leather-bound books lay piled haphazardly—or even tipped sideways—making titles impossible to read.
Other than our headlamps, there were no lights or windows. Only silence ruled everything.

This…
Yes, we know exactly how to describe this in one word. At least I did.

“A graveyard…”

It was like a cemetery for books.

“No,” Lady Shion shook her head. “Some shelves still seem alive. Let’s be careful as we proceed.”

As we moved forward through the eerie rows of bookshelves—marching single-file—I suddenly remembered something important.

“Kyotaro-kun, about that weird writing glitch from earlier…”
“Yeah, exactly! That thing!”
“But how do you even make it happen?”

I’ve been saying “that thing,” “that thing”—but I’m definitely not talking about that kind of thing. Seriously, it’s completely different! Believe me!

“What’s wrong with you, Soyo-san? Then maybe you should just… avoid bringing up Apros again… achoo!”

After that came a barrage of sneezes and coughing fits from Kyotaro-kun. Lady Shion grimaced and instinctively stepped back, while Senior Ami quickly reached out to wipe his nose with concern.

Yes—that’s right.
We’ve noticed something: ever since the sports festival, whenever he tried to tell me that thing, some kind of interference always interrupted him.

Not just sneezes or coughs—there were power failures, runaway tram accidents, impromptu cheerleading practice sessions, entire schools of dolphins stranded on shore… even surprise exams!
We don’t know the cause. In fact, Kyotaro-kun claims he discovered it last week after an epic adventure deep into the boys’ dormitory to reach the old island’s hidden storage—known as the Ebisu Clan’s warehouse—but whenever he tried to tell me about it, sneezes, power outages, and surprise quizzes would strike simultaneously.

Ultimately, our chosen method of communication became this:
I’d think of a random word, Kyotaro-kun would read my expression, then signal “yes” or “no” through gestures.
For some reason, using this technique prevented those bizarre incidents—allowing us to exchange information smoothly—especially regarding that matter—the true identity of Appu-chan.

By yesterday, I’d already learned everything Kyotaro-kun discovered from his epic journey:

• The handsome professor’s statement on the tram was actually true.
• Furthermore, Appu-chan appears to be a companion—a spirit or supernatural phenomenon known as “Apros.”
• This strange occurrence had been happening at Penglai Academy—or its predecessor, an Edo-period private academy—for decades, even centuries… but it intensified significantly after a meteorite or comet passed near Earth from outside the solar system (though still millions of kilometers away) several years ago.
• And this autumn, when another such “interstellar meteor” approaches Earth—there’s no doubt that the event which will shake the academy to its core is about to happen!

And so on.

Ah—but maybe we’ve been underestimating Penglai Academy just a little bit? No… not a little. A lot. Like honey-drenched, red bean-stuffed, extra-rich thousand-leaf pastry from Senkaku’s finest fruit assortment.
How ironic—after getting so close to the truth, we end up having our final discussion smack in the middle of the old library!

※

〈 Previous　●　Next 〉

※ Next installment scheduled for October 25.

Penglai Academy’s Tremors! Serial Page