Note: I do not own Corpse Party.

Corpse Party: Another Tale

Chapter 1

?'s POV

For so long, I have been wandering around these hallways. These hallways never change for the better. They only get worse as time passed by. The number of corpses increases every time I re-visited an area. Everywhere I went, I would see people running from something screaming for help. Some would just hide in a single place waiting for assistance that may not come at all. At times, I would try to warn them when they were about to be found but they could not hear me nor see me. I tried to make myself known to no avail.

I watched helplessly as the ghosts would play and torture them in various ways. Some were killed on the spot by being stabbed multiple times at various parts of their body. Initially, I would flee from the scene as I could not stand the gruesome sight of the poor victims. However, over time, I had gotten used to it. I would stay and pray that the victim's suffering would end quickly. When the victims die, they become spirits wandering the school just like me but there is a difference.

They could not see me just like the other resident ghost children and walking zombie. Whenever, I try to converse with them, they would just ignore me and go somewhere else. These poor souls could interact with each other and the victims who were still alive. I was not discouraged at first and worked hard to try to communicate with others however after numerous attempts, I realized I just did not exist to others in the school.

In the end, I had nothing better to do and decided to do research on the school. Interestingly, while I could not interact with others, I was just like an ordinary ghost and could touch solid objects with no trouble. I learnt of the school's name, from some newspaper clippings in the reference room, which was Heavenly Host and of the murder of the four school children. I deduced the resident three ghost children were the victims which left one I had not seen at all. The one responsible was their teacher and looking at the picture closely, it resembled the walking zombie. Suddenly, I heard something…or rather somebody, entering the room. I quickly put down the newspaper I was reading and turned to see a bespectacled girl behind me. Her uniform was unfamiliar to me since it was my first time seeing it. The girl walked past me and went to the shelves of books and I decided to take my leave. Before I could take a step, the girl spoke.

"Where are you going?"

I was stunned. I turned and the girl was giving me quite an eerie-looking smile which made me feel a little nervous. Then she chuckled.

"Relax. I won't bite you…though there is no way to do that since you are a ghost."

I was still recovering from the fact she could see me. The girl spoke again.

"Your presence was extremely weak so it took me a while to be certain that you were here or not."

I finally regained my composure.

"Y-you can see me?"

The girl gave me a puzzled expression as if I just asked an odd question.

"Well of course I can see you. If I didn't I- wait why are you crying?!"

I was so happy….It was the first time somebody saw me. The girl waited for me to stop crying before asking me a question.

"So…what kind of spirit are you?"

"Eh…?"

"Well…all I can identify you as is a little blue wisp. Are you a human spirit?"

"Of course!"

I was a little offended that the girl would think I was not human. If I were not human, what else would I be?

"Alright…my name is Saenoki Naho. What's yours?"

"I'm…."

I had forgotten my name. Naho then explained to me that the reason I lost my human form was probably due to that. She then asked me if I could remember my life before I died in the school. I found myself unable to remember anything. I was dumbfounded and extremely frustrated. I had totally lost my memory and due to that, I had forgotten how I looked like thus could not form an image of myself. I was stuck as a little blue ball of fire.

"Well…as long as you can communicate with others, isn't it fine?"

Naho found my situation funny and laughed. I berated her for being amused at my situation but was not really angry. I was still happy that I was finally able to talk to someone.

"Well, since you seem to have been here for a while, shall we exchange information?"

"Like what?"

"Like how you got into Heavenly Host…"

It was then I noticed the change in tone of Naho's voice. She was glaring at me intensely as if I just did an unforgivable crime. The sudden change of mood and atmosphere in the room was scaring me.

"T-that's…."

It was then I felt a presence I had not felt before. Naho's expression changed but it was not fear. She was smiling and then suddenly she disappeared. Was Naho a ghost as well? However before I could ponder the question, the presence I felt at the door of the room became stronger. I quickly went to the other end of the room and turned. I came face to face with a little girl in red. I recognized as one of the victims of the murder…Shinozaki Sachiko. She stared at me with her dead eyes. I noticed behind her were the other three children. They then surrounded me and Sachiko walked closer to me.

"GET OUT!"

She suddenly screamed at me and I felt myself being pushed away by a strong invisible force but for whatever reason I refused to budge. Somehow, my refusal created a counter to Sachiko's attack and it sent the children flying backwards all landing with a thud. Sachiko got up and her expression was mixed with surprise and anger. Then she start laughing like a maniac.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Aren't you interesting?"

Sachiko was about to get ready to attack again when an extremely strong earthquake occurred. I was shocked by the magnitude of it as the earthquakes I had experienced before were not as bad as it. Sachiko stopped her attack and signalled to the children to leave. The three children obeyed and left their own way. Sachiko then addressed me again.

"Looks like we are going to be busy. Let's play again sometime. Hahahahaha."

She licked the scissors in her hand before disappearing. I heaved a sigh of relief before I went to find out what had caused the strong earthquake.

I noticed the number of people in the school had increased. Students were various schools started appearing everywhere. It was a disaster.

Just what could have attracted so many young people to the school which only promises death?

Whatever the case, the high number was not a coincidence. I tried to gather information by conversing with the students but to no avail. It would seem for some reason I was back to square one in the communication department again. This did not bother me however as I still managed to get some info by listening to the conversation of the students.

It would seem they all did something called the 'Sachiko Ever After' ritual which involved a white paper doll and each person taking a piece of it. I had not heard of such a thing before. Nevertheless, it was still worrisome that many teenagers were brought here due to practising a ritual they thought nothing of and now were going to play the price. More deaths occurred again and I could do nothing to stop it. Sachiko had appeared to me a couple of times mocking me for unable to prevent any of the deaths.

However, I still continued to try. I tried using the same power I had used when confronting Sachiko in the reference room during our first encounter to save some of the victims from death however I was just delaying the inevitable. Eventually after a while, I grew tired of it all and became just one of the wandering souls of the school…doing nothing but pitying myself. Sachiko stopped appearing to me but I could hear her maniacal laughter from a distance at times. Usually that was a sign of another death. I did not care anymore and decided to just hang around the infirmary. It was then I would meet a girl whose fate snapped me back to my senses.

"Is there anybody here?"

I was at the corner of the infirmary when I heard a sweet and soft voice from outside. I did not respond. The door opened and revealed a teenage girl whose hair had a tiny ponytail on the right side of her head. The girl seemed very afraid which was understandable. She looked around the room expecting to see another living human to put herself at ease. It was then she looked at the corner I was at.

"Is someone there? Please come out…."

Could see me? I did not move for a moment to be sure however the girl's gaze was still fixed at me and she was pondering whether or not to take a closer look. I emerged from the corner and she gasped.

"Are you a ghost?"

What kind of question was that? What else do you think I am? An animal?

"Yes…"

"Why are you different from the rest?"

So she had met other spirits already…

"Different?"

"The others looked human…but you are just a fireball…"

"It's a long story…"

"My name is Suzumoto Mayu. What's yours?"

"I-I don't have a name…"

"Then…how about Mr Fireball?"

"Eh?"

After Mayu giggled at the silly name she gave me, the both of us chatted. I got to know of her school and the friends she had. She told me how she was going to move away and did the charm ritual. She wished to see all her friends again especially a guy by the name of Morishige Sakutaro. Talking about him, I could see a certain glow from Mayu so I decided to tease her a bit.

"So do you like this Sakutaro?"

As expected, Mayu blushed.

"E-eh?! N-no way. Anyways…he sees me as a younger sister."

I chuckled. We continued chatting and I thought that I finally found myself somebody I could talk to and possibly help as well.

Suddenly the door to the infirmary opened. I saw the three children; Ryou, Yuki and Tokiko by the door. Instead of being afraid, Mayu approached them as if they were lost children. I tried to warn her to stay away from the trio and run away but somehow my voice could not reach her. I looked at Yuki who was snickering at me. It must be the children's doing. Mayu then remembered about me and looked around.

"Where did it go…?"

She looked for me for a good one minute before the three children forced her to keep them company. I could see it though…the trio were partially controlling Mayu's mind. I tried to interfere but my efforts were thwarted somehow by Yuki who kept an eye on me while the other two enjoyed Mayu's attention. The three children told Mayu of their sad story which brought the teenage girl to tears. She comforted the children who to my amazement, cried as well. It was the first time I saw the children showed sadness. I wondered if Mayu was someone special to be able to bring tears to the otherwise menacing and dangerous ghost children.

However, it all went downhill when two of Mayu's schoolmates arrived. It was all over in an instant. The children started yelling and I was pushed back due to being too slow to react. They lifted Mayu in the air. No…no. I had no idea why Mayu's impending death was affecting me so much. Was it because she was the first real person I ever interacted with? All the other deaths had never shook me so much before. Whatever the reason…I found myself begging the children to let Mayu go.

"Kids…please let…Mayu go."

The children ignored me. It was then Mayu looked at my direction and I knew she could finally see me again. Her eyes were begging me to help her.

"H-help…me…"

She managed to say that before being dragged away at high speed.

"MAYUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

I heard her two schoolmates shouting her name outside the hallway as well.

"SUZUMOTOOOO!"

Without thinking, I flew out as fast as I could...and everything went blank.

End of ?'s POV

Naho was nearby the infirmary when she heard the loud screaming and went to investigate. When she arrived at the scene, she chuckled.

"Well...cannot leave it like this."

-End of Chapter 1-