Kiryu's POV

Tired…cold…bored. It was a really cold day and I had to walk to school…I hate my life.

"Good morning Shogo!" shouted Hase from behind me. Lucky him…he gets to have a jacket AND a scarf…and gloves.

"Did you bring your luggage?" I asked. Today, we were supposed to go on some kind of educational field trip and stay over night…I'd rather stay home.

"I almost forgot," muttered Hase, "Until Fujimiya-san called and reminded me!"

"Did you bring any money? We're going to Kyoto after all," I said. I don't even know why I'm bothering…I should stop being so helpful so no one expects too much from me later on.

"My parents wanted souvenirs," sighed Hase.

"Good morning Hase-kun!" shouted Fujimiya-san. The two were immediately drawn into a conversation about how cats can fit into shoes (don't ask me) leaving me ignored. I struggled up the snow covered stairs to the school, shoes soaked and toes numb. There was an excited chatter among the class. I just sighed…I liked temples and all that stuff, but I don't understand why we have to visit in the cold winter. Why couldn't we go in the spring!? Then, I felt a tug on my sleeve.

"Morning Kiryu-kun!" shouted Yamagishi-san. Every time she spoke to me, I had to look down at her…it's like she never grew.

"Saki-chan!" shouted Maiko-san, "Ask him if he knows about the monster in room 13!"

"I bet he does know!" shouted Ai-san.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I snapped.

"Ai-chan and Maiko-chan say that there's a monster in the hotel we're staying at!" exclaimed Yamagishi-san.

"Do you actually believe in that?" I asked.

"It's true!" shouted Maiko-san, "Each time a person stays over night in room 13, they all say the same thing!"

"Don't yell, I'm right here…in front of you," I muttered.

"They all complained that they couldn't sleep because there were scratching sounds and weird shadows throughout the night!" squealed Ai-san.

"It's probably just some sort of myth of fake story," I muttered.

"Really?" asked Yamagishi-san, "That's a relief."

"Saki-chan's so cute when she's scared!" gushed Maiko-san.

"Why is she scared?" asked Fujimiya-san from behind us. So, the hyper active girls told Fujimiya-san the whole monster thing and in the end, we had two frightened girls on our hands…so troublesome. Oh make that two frightened girls and one frightened Hase.

"I get why the girls are scared," I muttered, "But why the hell are you scared?"

"Well, don't you think it's frightening that there's a monster in a place where the whole grade is going to stay overnight?" asked Hase. I just stood up and walked away. I need a something to wake me up before we leave. I walked over to the vending machines on the snow covered grounds. Why can't the vending machines be indoors?

"Oh," said a voice, "It's you Kiryu-kun." I looked up and saw Yamagishi-san at the vending machine too. It's always surprising that she remembers her way around the school.

"Tea," I muttered and she replied with a giggle. I quickly bought some tea and went back to the classroom with Yamagishi-san.

"Aren't you excited?" asked Yamagishi-san, smiling.

"Aren't you cold?" I asked, glancing at her.

"I asked first," she replied. I sighed.

"Nope," I said, "Maybe if we went in the spring..."

"But the snow is so pretty!" shouted Yamagishi-san, "And the temples will probably look amazing when they're covered with snow!"

"So you're excited to see the temples," I muttered.

"Yup! There is so much though! Too bad I can't see them all," she said, smiling at me.

"There's only thing I want to see," I muttered.

"What's that?" asked Yamagishi-san.

"My house," I muttered and she only giggled.

"Is there any temple you want to see?" she asked. I didn't really know the names of any temples…so I said the first one that came in mind.

"The Golden Pavilion," I said drowsily. The tea isn't working!

"I bet it looks great with the snow!" shouted Yamagishi-san, "With all the gold on the temple and the garden, it would be great to see that!" Right…I knew it was actually made out of gold. (A/N: The first two stories are made out of gold leaf.)

"You're excited to see any temple," I said, sipping the tea.

"We should go see it together when we're allowed to explore freely!" shouted Yamagishi-san. What did I get myself into?

"Nope," I replied instantly. Yamagishi-san pouted.

"Please," she said with puppy dog eyes, "It'll be fun!" Stupid puppy dog eyes.

"Fine," I sighed and she smiled.

"Yay!" she shouted and ran inside the classroom.

"Where have you been?" asked Hase.

"Vending machine," I replied, "And I just got dragged into visiting temples."

"That's amazing! Who got you to actually do something?" asked Hase.

"Don't ask," I muttered.

About 30 minutes later…

"Want to sit next to me Fujimiya-san?" asked Hase. We were on an unusually large bus and seats were limited to two people. I'll just sit by myself and sleep. The tea was completely useless...and to my luck, the only seat that was empty was the one next to Yamagishi-san.

"Is this seat empty?" I asked, hoping for her to say no so I could sit somewhere else.

"Nope," she replied. I sighed and sat down.

"Where's Maiko-san and Ai-san?" I asked. I expected them to sit somewhere near Yamagishi-san.

"They planned to sit next to each other all along," Yamagishi-san said sadly, "And they said I could sit alone because I might forget them anyway."

"Are you mad at them?" I asked. Yamagishi Saki mad? Is that even possible? Even in elementary school, a bunch of people teased her and bullied her but she never got mad.

"Not really," she said, "Just a bit sad."

"I see," I said, not knowing what to do. Sure I've seen her cry and sure it was my fault, but this time, I was supposed to comfort her! I've never done that to anyone! "Well, maybe you should forget about them." I felt so strange.

"Why?" she asked desperately, "So I can lose all my friends? What am I doing wrong?" No one on the bus seemed to be paying attention…so…I replied.

"Well," I said hesitantly, "You aren't doing anything wrong. If your so called "friends" don't want you around, they wouldn't be friends, would they?" I breathed a bit…this was really awkward…even more awkward than the time she said, "I bet you'd make a good husband!" to me. I don't even want to think about that right now.

"You're acting strange," replied Yamagishi-san, "It's funny." She started giggling. I sighed.

"I'm going to sleep!" I snapped and she giggled once more before giving me in absolute silence.

"I be you'd make a great husband! We could be family! You could be my–ow!" shouted Yamagishi-san. The scene replayed over and over. What the hell is going on?

"Kiryu-kun…" said a voice, "Wake up…" The scene slowly faded away.

"Wake up," said the voice once more, "We're here." I slowly opened my eyes I saw the person I was dreaming about…I was dreaming…about Yamagishi-san. How weird.

"I'm up, I'm up," I muttered. As we got of the bus with our luggage in hand, we also got our room numbers. My room number was…

"Uh oh," I heard Yamagishi-san say.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I got room number 13!" she shouted, scared.

"Oh you did?" I asked, "So did I."

"You'll protect me from the monster, right?!" she asked, already panicking.

"Let's go inside and find out our other roommates first," I said, trying to calm her down from saying weird things. After I put one foot inside our room, I instantly regretted it.

"Kaori-chan!" shouted Yamagishi-san.

"You two are our roommates too?" asked Hase, who sounded kind of disappointed.

"Sorry to spoil your weird plans with Fujimiya-san," I muttered.

"Shut up!" shouted Hase.

"We should get going Kiryu-kun," said Yamagishi-san, tugging my sleeve, "We have two hours of free exploring."

"Fine by me," I muttered, and hesitantly walked out into the cold city.

"Should we get there by taxi?" asked Yamagishi-san.

"Is it faster?" I asked.

"Taxi!" waved Yamagishi-san and a taxi immediately pulled over.

"I guess it is," I muttered and got in.

"Where're you and your girlfriend headed to?" asked the driver.

"She isn't my girlfriend," I muttered.

"C-can you take us to the Golden Pavilion?" stuttered Yamagishi-san, cheeks red.

"Sure I can," replied the taxi driver, "As long as you pay me." I handed him some money and he started to drive.

"How long have you been driving?" I asked, after he ran pass two red lights.

"Oh, I'm new!" he replied.

"What?" I hissed, "You just skipped two red lights and stopped on a green!"

"I have five other brothers," replied the man, "And we don't believe in red lights."

"Then w-why do you stop at green lights?" asked Yamagishi-san nervously, holding the handle bar…or more like attempted to hold it.

"You never know when my brothers might be driving," stated the man as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I dead panned and silently prayed that we would get out alive…and not in a hospital of some sort. "We're here!" shouted the man and did an abrupt stop…causing us to lurch forward.

"T-thanks," said Yamagishi-san and rushed out of the taxi.

"Should we take another taxi back?" I asked.

"Only if it isn't that guy," replied Yamagishi-san, "I couldn't even reach the handle bar for safety!" We walked towards the Golden Pavilion and I heard Yamagishi-san gasp in awe.

"Pretty, isn't it?" I asked.

"I know!" she shouted, "We should take a picture!" She put her camera on a rock, set the timer, and rushed back to me.

"3…2…1!" she shouted.

Flash!

I rubbed my eyes…I hated pictures.

"Don't ever do that again," I muttered.

"Why?" she asked, "It was fun!" She showed me the picture…I wasn't smiling. Instead, I was hitting her head while she covered it, smiling. We walked around some more and decided it was too cold to walk around outside.

"Taxi," I muttered while waving my hand. It was the same goddamn guy again!

"How was it?" he asked, "It's great isn't it?" Yamagishi-san and I only dead panned in reply.

45 frightening minutes later…

"Have a good one you two," waved the taxi driver and sped off.

"I'm dizzy," said Yamagishi-san, spinning around. We still had 5 minutes of walking to get back to the hotel. By now, there were a bunch of people walking around and it was hard to stay together so I grabbed Yamagishi-san's wrist.

"So we don't get separated," I said, looking away. Just then, I felt someone bump into Yamagishi-san. Since I was holding her wrist loosely, she fell…onto the street…and a truck was heading towards her.

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"Saki!" I shouted and quickly pulled her back up before the truck could crush her into a million pieces. She stumbled a bit and bumped into my chest. Once she got her balance back, I hit her head.

"That hurts!" shouted Yamagishi-san, "What was that for?"

"Don't scare me like that again!" I snapped and walked ahead, but then thought about it and waited.

"Sorry about that," she replied. We walked back in silence.

"I was worried," I said, breaking the silence, "What if you got hit by the truck?"

"Well, we don't have to worry about that anymore!" she shouted happily, "But it makes me happy that you were worried. Also, you should call me Saki more. It makes me happy!" How could she be this carefree?! Because she's Yamagishi Saki, the girl who never bothered to change herself. Yeah, that's right…she chose to rely on me instead…which isn't so bad.

"We're back!" shouted Yamagishi-san after we walked back inside the room.

"What are you two doing?" I asked in disbelief. Hase was hiding under the bed while Fujimiya-san was curled up in blankets.

"Listen," whispered Fujimiya-san. The room was silent…except for a faint scratching noise that got louder and louder the more silent it got.

"And look at the walls," whispered Hase. Yamagishi-san gasped. There were shadows coming from nowhere at all.

"It's really haunted!" shouted Yamagishi-san.

"Calm down Saki," I muttered, "It's a prank."

"A prank?!" shouted everyone in the room.

"How do you know?!" asked Hase.

"The radio is on and if you turn it off…" I motioned Saki to press the off button. The scratching stopped.

"How about the shadows?" asked Fujimiya-san.

"Saki," I said, "Could you open the curtains?"

"Roger!" she shouted and pulled the curtains open.

"What do you see?" I asked.

"Cardboard cut outs of scary faces!" shouted Saki.

"The cars passing by had the headlights on so the light shined on the cut outs creating the shadows," I muttered.

"I'm going straight to the manager!" shouted Hase and everyone else agreed to go along for answers.

"Excuse me," said Saki.

"What is it?" asked the manager, kindly.

"Why are there cardboard cut outs stuck to the windows and scratching noises from the radio being played in room 13?" asked Saki. The manager looked taken aback, and then a small smile crept onto her lips.

"You solved the mystery!" she shouted, "We wanted to prank people and see if they freak out!"

"Why?" asked Fujimiya-san.

"We were bored," replied the manager. We all dead panned.

"I'm going to bed," I muttered.

"Me too!" shouted Saki and ran after me.

"Hey," I said, "How'd you enjoy your first visit to the Golden Pavilion?"

"It was fun!" she shouted, "And I enjoyed spending the day with you!"

"Really?" I muttered as I felt blood rushing up to my cheeks.

"Yup!" replied Yamagishi-san, "Oh and Kiryu-kun?"

"Yes?" I asked.

"You're blushing!" and with that I hit her lightly on the head.