"Kishinuma, we need to talk."

I paused in packing up my books and looked up to see Shinozaki looking down at me, her arms crossed.

"What is it?"

"Meet me in the courtyard."

Without another word she marched out of the classroom and joined the tide of students leaving school for the day. I sighed and resumed packing my books. I noticed I still had Satoshi's math notes from two weeks ago, and looked over at his desk. Empty.

I thought I was the one that skipped classes for weeks on end…

I picked up my bag and flipped out my cellphone to see if Satoshi had finally responded to my messages. Nothing. I'd have to pay a visit to his house at this rate. It was tough, trying to live on like what we had been through never happened. But he couldn't just give up like this.

Making my way to the courtyard, I passed by a group of students whispering to each other. I looked over and saw that they were talking about a printout of a photo where some of the faces had been blacked out. Curious, I stepped closer and realized it was the photo Morishige took of my class the night after Kisaragi Fest.

"—their faces are blacked out, because they aren't real."

"What do you mean, not real?"

"Look at it closely… it's just the same few people in different poses. Shinozaki probably used an image manipulation program or something to make it look like it's all one photo."

I realized these students were kids from my class. Or at least they were now. When we came back from Heavenly Host, those who died there seemed to have never existed in the real world. And so a number of my classmates were replaced by students who had been in other homerooms, as if it were always this way.

I stepped in and grabbed the photo from them. "Show and tell is over." I ripped the photo apart and crumpled it into a ball. "Now why don't you guys go do something more productive?"

The students gave me a strange look and quickly walked away before starting to whisper to each other again. I tossed the remains of the photo in a nearby garbage can and continued on my way to the courtyard.

Looking around the courtyard, I found Shinozaki sitting on a bench under the shade of a tree. I took a seat next to her and dropped my bag to the ground to get her attention. She jumped a little, then calmed down when she realized it was me.

"What took you?"

I scowled. "Those new kids in our class were making fun of the photo you printed out last week."

Shinozaki sighed. "It's not like we can blame them. As far as they know, our friends never existed."

"That doesn't give them the right to be jerks about it."

Shinozaki shook her head and pulled out her phone. "Any word from Mochida? He hasn't responded to me at all."

"Nothing. I'm thinking of heading over to his place later to see how he's holding up. Losing his sister and Nakashima must have really gotten to him."

Shinozaki held her phone out to me and I looked at the screen. It was open to a blog, Naho's Nods to the Netherworld.

"Wait… didn't Naho die in Heavenly Host?"

Nodding, Shinozaki withdrew her phone. "Exactly. I think there's more to this curse than we've learned so far. I've also found a lead for finding out more about what happened in Heavenly Host."

"Really? What did you find?"

Shinozaki slid away from me a bit. "Err, Kishinuma, you're getting a little close."

I noticed that I had been leaning in close to Shinozaki and pulled back, looking out at the students leaving school to play off what just happened. "What's this lead of yours?"

"I found the address of the Shinozaki estate in Kishi, where Sachiko and Yoshie once lived."

I turned and looked at Shinozaki. "How does that help us?"

"Maybe it didn't cross your delinquent mind, but the home of the people behind the curse might be a good place to start!"

Sighing, I rubbed my forehead and looked away. "Alright, if you say so. When are we going to check this place out?"

Shinozaki slumped her shoulders. "Well, I was waiting for Mochida to show up at school so he could come, but I can't keep putting it off so I guess I might as well go tonight."

"Did the thought of bringing me never cross your mind?"

Shinozaki glared at me and I frowned. After everything that happened, was she really planning on going to someplace dangerous alone?

"Considering how long it took you to figure out how the closed spaces in Heavenly Host worked, I think it might not be so bad to leave you behind." Shinozaki turned her head away and started whispering. "But since I need someone to back me up and Mochida isn't here, I guess I'll settle for you."

Gee, thanks Shinozaki. I feel so great being the second choice.

"So are we heading out now, or should I go change?"

Shinozaki stood up. "We'd better go now. I don't want to waste any more time waiting."

I stood up and picked up my bag. "Lead the way."

We went to the nearest train station leaving for Kishi and sat through the thirty minute trip into the countryside. Shinozaki didn't say anything to me once we were on the train, and I doubt it was the other two passengers in our car stopping her. I passed the time by counting things we passed as best I could, but eventually the speed of the train made it too difficult to keep track and I started to get bored.

Just as I was about to pester Shinozaki for an update the train stopped at Kishi station and we got off. We were out in the middle of nowhere, with only a few farm houses dotting the long road across the countryside.

"We should probably ask the locals for some directions…" Shinozaki muttered while messing with her phone. "My GPS isn't getting any info for this area."

"First sign we aren't welcome. We're on the right track." I mused. Shinozaki shot me a glare but didn't respond.

We walked over to the nearest of the farmhouses and I knocked on the door. While we waited, I tried to peek through the windows but they all looked clouded over and were impossible to see through. I started to wonder if anyone actually lived here.

After a few minutes Shinozaki started fidgeting. "Maybe we should try a different place."

I shrugged and we walked off. I started getting the feeling we were being watched.

Further down the road we found another house, this one seeming a bit more inviting. When we knocked on the door an old woman came to the front and slid open the door.

"Well hello there, young ones. What brings two students so far out here?"

Shinozaki stepped forward and put on a smile that seemed forced. "We're here for a school project. We needed to investigate a place near here, but we seem to be lost. Would you mind telling us where to look for this address?"

The old woman stepped forward and looked at the address Shinozaki had printed out. She studied it for a moment before dropping it and gasping in fear. She started shaking nervously.

"What business do you have with the Shinozaki estate?"

I stepped forward and put a hand on the sliding door so the woman couldn't shut us out. "We need to take a look around. Do you know where it is?"

The woman pointed down the road. "It stood on the mountain, but no one goes there anymore. And I'd appreciate it if you left now!"

The woman slammed the door shut, and I had to pull out my hand quickly to avoid losing it. I scowled at the woman, but she proceeded to ignore me while she locked the door.

I turned around and marched away, grabbing Shinozaki by the arm as I did so. "Let's go. We're clearly not welcome here."

Shinozaki shivered a bit once we got back to the road. "This place feels wrong…"

I nodded, looking over my shoulder to see the sun setting. "Should we head back for the day? Maybe we can get Satoshi to come with us tomorrow when we explore the mountain."

"Seriously, Kishinuma?" Shinozaki frowned up at me. "We took a thirty minute train ride to get here. We might as well make the most of our time here."

I sighed. "Let's get going then. It's going to be dark before we get there if we don't hurry."

We walked down the long, lonely road until it reached a hill and began to wind through a forest. Shinozaki stopped to check her phone, muttered something under her breath, and we continued up the hill.

Partway up the mountain road we found a truck parked with its lights on. Out of curiosity I tried to open the door, but it was locked up tight. Shinozaki gave me a disapproving glance when I turned to face her.

"Did you really think someone would leave their truck here unlocked?"

I shrugged. "It's a mountain road at sunset. Who would leave it here unattended to begin with?"

Shinozaki didn't have an answer for that, so she just kept following the road. I fell into step behind her. I pulled out my phone to check for messages, but apparently this place didn't have any coverage and the phone couldn't read messages without a connection.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't walk directly behind me." Shinozaki muttered.

I put my phone away and looked up to see Shinozaki frowning at me. "What's the problem?"

Shinozaki indicated a spot next to her. "I don't want you getting… distracted."

I sighed. This was getting ridiculous.

"Is this really something you're worried about? It's about to be dark in a creepy forest, and having me follow you is a problem?"

"Well, you seem to have a fixation with my 'posterior' that I'd rather not encourage!"

I rubbed my head and sighed again. This was about when I told her about the blood on her skirt in Heavenly Host, wasn't it?

"Fine, I'll walk next to you. Let's get a move on already."

Walking next to Shinozaki to keep her from complaining, I noticed something off the side of the road a bit farther up. As we got closer, it turned out to be the truck from before. I'd have passed it off as a coincidence, but it had the same model, the same dents, and the lights were still on. Testing the doors proved it was still locked too.

"Well, we're definitely not welcome here." I mused. "We didn't go any direction but up, right?"

Shinozaki stared at the truck. "There weren't any forks in the road… we couldn't have doubled back or anything."

I noticed it was much darker than before and I checked my phone. "Does it feel like we've been walking six hours to you?"

"What?!" Shinozaki spun to face me, whipping out her phone as she did so. "That can't be right. It couldn't have been more than an hour…"

I showed her my phone clock. "That's what I thought too, but my phone says it's past 10."

"M-mine too…" Shinozaki looked up at me with frightened eyes.

I looked at the truck and up the mountain path. "Guess we're getting close. Whether we're ready or not."