"Nakashima-san... Mochida-kun... I'm sorry... So sorry... If only I hadn't come up with that stupid idea of performing that charm. Shinohara... Suzumoto... Morishige... Ms Yui... are all dead because of me. It's all my fault." Ayumi Shinozaki thought to herself while fighting back tears and running along the corridor of the school.
(15 minutes ago)
"So it... was you?" Satoshi Mochida asked in slight disbelief.
"Seiko couldn't move... but instead of saving her, I put a noose around her neck." Naomi said, her brown eyes downcast.
"You don't remember any of it?" Satoshi asked.
"When I saw that scene play out, my mind just shut down. I couldn't think at all... and a black mist began forming around me. I was slipping away..." Naomi then recounted everything that happened to her when she saw the video of her possessed form hanging her own best friend Seiko Shinohara in Heavenly Host Elementary School. She could easily recall the vivid images of the black mist that surrounded her while she was crying out in despair of finding out the truth of Seiko's death. Naomi had been nearly consumed by the darkening until she continuously received the text message that Seiko had wanted to send to her before she died. Naomi then finally realised that Seiko never died hating her, and managed to break out of her darkening to join the others in performing the reverse Sachiko charm that brought them back home.
"Hey... Seiko... she... she really existed didn't she? She really spent all that time with us right?!" Naomi asked, sobbing. After they had arrived back in school, they had found out the sick twist in reality: nobody else remembered those who died in Heavenly Host except themselves. It was hard to fathom that the curse would play such a sick horrible prank on them. And worse was when nobody remembers your bestest friend.
"She did. She was real, Naomi." Satoshi said reassuringly.
"Ms Yui... and the others too... I can't stand the thought that I'll never see them again!" Naomi sobbed. "Just one last time... I just want to talk to Seiko... one last time!"
It broke Satoshi's heart to see Naomi cry. "I know you do..." He, too was grieved about the tragic deaths of their friends and their homeroom teacher, Ms Yui, and hence he could feel the same suffering that Naomi felt. Satoshi pulled Naomi into a tight embrace and mourned together with her for their friends.
Ayumi watched through the slight gap between the door and fought to hold back her tears throughout the entire conversation. Upon realising how much Naomi blamed herself for Seiko's death, Ayumi felt even more guilty for showing them the charm in the first place. Ayumi also knew that Satoshi and Naomi had feelings for each other, and felt that they would hate her for indirectly causing their friends' deaths. Ayumi could not stand the agonizing pain in her heart and burst away from the door. She just wanted a place where she could be alone.