Gruffydd’s laughter cut through the air like a knife.  At least, his friends reacted like it had, intent as they were on the tales of the mysterious building and its mysterious magic.  Or whatever they thought was going on.  HE could see in his peripheral vision that he had attracted some attention for it.  No matter.

	“What’s so funny, Iorwerth-san?”  

	[i]Aside from how you still can’t pronounce my name right, Sano?[/i]  It had bugged him at first, when he had first moved here, but there was almost nobody in this country who could pronounce a Welsh name properly, so he had gotten used to it.  Now he even found it amusing.  But that’s not what this was about.  No, his friends were being stupid, so he was going to have some fun.

	“Doesn’t it seem odd to you,” Gruffydd said, a grin plastered on to his face, “that it would be so easy?”  A wry chuckled wormed its way out of his throat, “You know I’m a big fan of old stories, right?  Well, whenever the supernatural comes on to the scene, and its offering something, there is [i]always[/i] a price.  What does it mean, I wonder, that whoever spread this rumor neglected to say what that might be, hmm?”  He leaned in to the others as he went for the kill.

	“How horrible it must be, that they’d be so worried about scaring everyone away.”  It would seem that quite a few people had paid attention to his little performance—while not entirely silent, the classroom was a lot quieter than it had been.  Not like he minded. 

	Sano Masao was the first, of those he’d actually been talking to, to speak again, “Iorwerth-san, you shouldn’t say things like that.”

	Gruffydd grinned.  “But you opened yourselves up to it.  Besides, it’s the truth.”  And it was—these people really had no appreciation for the old stories.  “And besides, if there is any actual merit to these rumors, fear is the appropriate response.”  Sano blushed with embarrassment, as did the others.  Before any of them could say anything more, Gruffydd stood up, slinging his bag on to his back.  “Anyways, I have a few things to take care of.  Just remember to be careful if you send texts from any strange buildings, alright?”  And with that, and one final chuckle, he slipped out of the room.

	But for all of his joking, Gruffydd had to admit to himself that he was just as enraptured by the rumor as anyone else.  In part, because he had been right—if there was anything behind the rumor, there would be a price to pay.  [i]And there’s no way it’s about finding your ‘soulmate.’  Maybe talking to the dead.  [u]Maybe.[/u][/i]  And he had overheard something, in all that dribble back there.

	[i]“There's no way Keigo didn't write that himself.”

	“He swears he didn't!”[/I]

	[i]Alright, Keigo, let’s see how this story of yours pans out.  Probably nonsense, which’ll be good for a laugh.  But if not—however unlikely that is—they’ll need someone who has [b]some[/b] idea what they’re doing, or they’ll wind up dead and hanging from an antenna, or something.[/i]  The second-year wasn’t someone he was overly familiar with, but it as chance would have it, he did recognize the name.  And he did know which class he was in.