Chapter One: "They're not your friends"
It was late at night. Four female silhouettes stand in front of the fence blocking the entrance to their respective high school. Ami, the tallest of these girls, is the first to climb the fence and drop down on her feet on the other side. Her hand motions for the rest of them to follow. Haru, whose height has her head barely reaching the waist of Ami, jumps the fence as instructed. Hikaru, who is only slightly shorter than Ami but is taller than Hikaru, jumps right after, though hesitantly
"Are you sure we're allowed to be doing this?" asked Hikaru in a whisper
Ami sighs "of course we're not allowed to that's why we're sneaking."
"Still you have to admit this is pretty risky, we could get in trouble."
The female who spoke last was none other than Midori who spoke after she finishes jumping the fence herself. "I think there's a reason there are strict rules against this I mean, not even the staff are allowed in at night."
Hikaru looks down nervously until Ami rests a hand on her shoulder and speaks reassuringly "don't worry. It's a quick trip, just get it and go. We won't be here long enough for it to matter."
They walk inside the school building.
"We should turn on flashlights" whispered Haru
"Not right now." Ami said, " We'll be history as students here if any of the cameras see our faces so we'll get to the hallway we need to be in and use them to find the room number but that's it."
"Isn't there other ways to see us though like the emergency lights or something?" asked Midori
"There is but I heard they all just stop working at night and nobody can figure out why." explained Ami
"You know this yet we still ended up here. Common sense doesn't get its way around you does it?" Haru says mockingly
"Shut up!" Ami says in a loud whisper
"Guys let's hurry up and go" begged Hikaru "The school is really creeping me out right now."
The girls walk through the dark halls.
"Wait stop." whispered Midori
As instructed, they all stop. All eyes are on Midori.
"What is it?" asked Ami
Midori shushed her immediately. "Do you hear that?"
Everyone falls silent and the sound of footsteps echoes through the halls.
"I thought nobody was allowed here." whispered Haru
Ami sighs "I figured. Someone probably has to stay to make sure that nobody is here. Let's hide in the classroom until whoever that is passes."
They nod in agreement and enter the nearest classroom quietly and hide under tables and cabinets that are available to them. They hear footsteps getting closer and closer only stopping to open the door to the classroom, close it and then the footsteps start going farther away. The girls sigh in relief and leave their hiding spots.
"Alright let's get what we came here for and go" says Ami
They nod and walk towards the classroom door. As soon as Ami touches the door all the hairs on her arm stood up and she pauses.
"What are you doing?" asks Haru "let's get going."
Ami nods and reluctantly opens the door slowly. When the door is a little less than halfway opened the door suddenly slams shut and everything inside the classroom that opens does so violently. The girls scream in fear and Ami frantically tries to open the door.
"Hurry Up!" yells Haru
"I'm Trying!" Ami responds.
Hikaru looks around in panic for a way out. She grabs a chair and yells at the girls to move before throwing the chair at the door. The door breaks and the girls rush out and run as far away from the room as possible.
Something must've happened after that. Screaming could be heard throughout the school all night long. Under all that screaming a voice whispers
"They're not your friends..."
The sun finally rises and the police are at the school investigating while the doctors pull an unconscious Hikaru out of the school and into the ambulance truck. The news calls her by her full name which is Hikaru Kawaguchi, a tall student who is in her second year of high school. The rest of the girls that went in with her has disappeared. The only real chance the police have at finding them is to wait until Hikaru wakes up.
This mysterious incident has received a lot of media coverage. It is currently being watched by everyone currently occupying the Shibuya Psychic Research building.
"I wonder what went on in there…" said John
"Me too" says Monk "it's weird that the police can't find a single lead on this other than the girl."
Mai finished serving drinks to everyone and they all proceed to think until their thoughts are interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come in!" Mai called out
The door opens and a grown man walks in.
"Hello, I hope I'm in the right place. I'm the principal of the school you just saw on TV."
The man with short, gray hairs beginning to take the place of his brown strands and worn out blue eyes settles into the office and accepts a drink from Mai.
"As I'm sure you've seen in the news that the school is becoming very dangerous. We even did everything we could to keep students from going in at night but it just wasn't enough."
The man sips the drink before continuing.
"You see, the cops are trying their best to look for them. But really, we all know that they'll just turn up soon enough without a single scratch on them."
Everyone looks at the man with widen eyes.
"I see" said Naru " so this isn't the first time this happened."
"It's very strange though we're very grateful that they're returned unharmed." said the principal "all the victims have received full body check-ups and nothing was done to them at all. They don't even remember what happened the night of their disappearances. I know it doesn't seem like much but we're all worried about how far this could escalate if we leave it alone."
Naru would sigh and stand up from his seat.
"Repeated kidnappings sounds like a job for the police so you might want to let them handle this."
The man was about to protest but Naru speaks before he had a chance
"However, I am curious as to what's goes on in the school at night so I guess I'll stop by"
The man's worn eyes light up with relief.
"Thank you!" he says excitedly "I'll be in your debt if this gets figured out"
About 2 days later everyone in SPR has arrived at the school and has begun setting up their base which is being held in an unused classroom. They're about almost finished when they ask the staff to tell students to come when they have time. It didn't take long, but a couple of female students came to the classroom. The students were asked to tell them about any strange things going on in the school.
Masaru starts speaking.
"There's nothing really paranormal going on…"
Everyone blinks
"Nothing?" monk asks in confirmation
Everyone nods in agreement
Nori "wait what about the disappearing students?"
Masaru "yeah but they come back as if nothing happened so can we really count that?"
The girls begin to think until Naru speaks
"You say the students are disappearing and reappearing. Can you tell me more about that?"
The girls looked at each other and Masaru begins speaking.
"Well, I'm not sure how I can describe this any better. Sometimes students come to school at night and they would disappear only to come back a few days later."
After saying this Nori would continue.
"When they come back it's like nothing ever happened. Nothing was done to them and not to mention they don't even remember what happened the night of their disappearances"
Naru would note what they say and continue with his next question "has anything changed behaviorally?"
Nori answers "actually now that you as-"
Nori's words were interrupted by screaming in the hallway. Everyone currently in the room quickly ran out only to see a bunch of students running out of the classroom. Monk would grab the shoulders of a male student who was walking back slowly clearly in shock.
"What happened?" asked Monk
The student doesn't say anything. He simply points to the classroom the students ran away from. Everyone ran inside and the sight was definitely traumatizing. Near the chalkboard in front of the class was an adult male whose body has twisted and turned that are anything but natural. There was blood all around and the most notable was the blood on the chalkboard. The blood was a message written as follows.
"You don't belong here.
Get Out."